Title: Legacy of Great Blessings
A legacy of great blessings (Deuteronomy 11:18-25)
<God Gives Unexpected Gifts>
There is a movie called <Sunny> that was released recently. When I was a high school girl, one of the <7 Princesses Circle> was in her 40's and was dying in the hospital. Her last wish was to see all her former classmates of the 7 Princesses and die. But before she can find all her classmates, she dies. And six old classmates gathered in front of her portrait.
Then suddenly a lawyer appears there. He was a lawyer in charge of the execution of the wills of a deceased friend. It turns out that the deceased friend was a business woman with considerable fortune. The lawyer reads the will of a dead friend directly to his living friends. The friend who died in the will provides a home and a business for some of their poor friends. And the last request is read. It was a request to sing a pop song called <Sunny> that my old friends sang the most in front of his portrait.
After hearing the will, the living classmates sing the song <Sunny> and dance happily in front of the spirit of the deceased friend to commemorate the dead friend. How happy would it be to receive an unexpectedly great gift, especially for friends who lived in hardship and had little hope of living? And how happy the rest of your friends will be. The movie ends with a happy ending, as such joy dominates and the funeral hall becomes an untimely banquet hall.
Watching that movie, I felt a heartbreaking feeling as I recalled my precious old classmates. I also sometimes receive unexpected gifts from old classmates from 30 years ago. Without them, I would not have been able to help the missionaries much, and even my basic life would have been difficult. There would be no car. This kind of confession comes out when you receive gifts from those friends. "God! To give you a gift like this, you made them meet 30 years ago.”
God is a God who gives unexpected gifts. Sometimes life's roadblocks are cleared by that unexpected gift. So how strong is it? Saving souls with such an unexpected gift is ‘missionary work’. I don't know how many times I experienced and rejoiced in 'God who gives unexpected gifts' while doing missionary work. Mission is the most beautiful and blessed ministry under the direction of ‘God who gives unexpected gifts’.
< Legacy of Christian Missionary Federation >
The Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination to which I belong is a denomination that places the highest value on 'mission' in the blood and bones. In other words, the DNA of our missionary association is ‘mission’. Our missionary federation has made a great history through numerous missionary activities around the world for the past 120 years and has accumulated many know-hows related to missions.
The core content of the mission we pursue is ‘sharing’. Therefore, the churches belonging to our Missionary Federation did not grow very large. In fact, if you put effort into sharing, the outward growth of the church will surely be delayed. So, there are very few large churches among the 2200 churches belonging to our Missionary Federation in the United States. The largest church, ironically, is Bethel Church, a Korean immigrant church in Irvine, below LA. Bethel Church has about 3,000 members.
Why aren't there such big churches? Because sharing is the best value. For example, if you build a church well, more people will come. However, when the construction finances are sent to the mission field, the church construction will naturally be delayed and the possibility of church revival will decrease that much. But even if growth is delayed, how wonderful is the church?
The same goes for our church. Our church also has a lot of places to spend its finances. There are a lot of things to decorate here and there. But before that, we support missionaries first. Even if I can't receive a reward, I send it to the missionary first if it's urgent. This time, a long-awaited project, the church entrance signage construction was done. However, that work could have been finished long ago if it had not sent missionary funds. There is still a lot of work to be done in the church canteen. The work could also have been completed long ago if the missionary funds had not been sent.
If you make the church and bulletin more plausible, spend more on publicity and program expenses, and have one more minister, it will greatly help the revival of the church. If we didn't send missionary expenses, we could do anything like that, but we sent missionary expenses first. So, the revival of our missionary union churches is inevitably slow. But the important thing is that it is by no means a retreat from God's point of view.
Now, there are a total of 40,000 missionary association churches around the world. The number of saints is about 6 million. In the last 15 years, the number has increased by 2.5 million. In the Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Canada, and many countries in South America, like the Presbyterian Church in Korea, it is the main denomination. Although the mother churches in the United States that have been helping hard are weak, the number of daughter churches around the world continues to increase. The true mission is to save others by sharing like that. After all, missionary is not easy if you do not give up your greed.
Our American Christian Missionary Federation is one of the denominations in the United States that sends the most missionaries and spends the most in terms of the number of members. We send tens of millions of dollars in missionary expenses each year. It's not easy, but strangely enough, it pays off almost every year.
A few years ago, we seriously discussed the issue of withdrawing some missionary families due to lack of money. Then, like a scene from the movie <Sunny>, a lawyer suddenly appeared one day. He was a lawyer who executed the will of a member of our missionary association who went to heaven. Hearing the news of the enormous wealth donation, we miraculously overcame the financial crisis of that time with “God’s hand that gives unexpected gifts.”
In the United States, about 5-10 members of our Missionary Federation go to heaven every year and donate their heritage. It becomes the biggest foundation for missionary support. When you go to heaven, think of the end of leaving behind an unexpected gift, opening the way to heaven for countless souls. what a wonderful ending
< Spiritual legacy to be left >
Now dream of leaving a good legacy. Among them, the most precious legacy is ‘believing children and descendants’. The church should strive to nurture characters. Encourage your children and future generations to work hard for that, and pray for them. Above all, be a role model for yourself. So, have big dreams and show that you always live confidently in God.
An American pastor is very short. But he always lives with confidence and talks with humor like this. "Everyone! Adam was probably short. I am the standard from God's point of view. You too are all standards from God's point of view. So always buy with confidence.” So don't be discouraged under any circumstances. Be a holy cheerleader who leads tomorrow's blessings by constantly instilling a vision in your children and future generations with a big vision.
Children and future generations are the bridge to the future. Take good care of those legs. Call your children the best. Then, even though they know it's a lie, their happiness and self-esteem increase. Such words are true words like lies that are not bad no matter how many times you say them. In the same way, constantly encourage your children. "Hey! God has a brilliant plan for you! God will protect you till the end! Be strong!” As such, parents should be their children's best friends and first love. If you let your children and future generations live in faith and in the Word, they will never deviate from the path of blessing.
Look at verses 18-20 of the text. This word went