I suppose most folks are familiar with that portion of Isaiah 55:11---“It will not return to me empty…”. Isaiah was referring to Gods word. He goes on to state that it will accomplish what he desires and the purposes for which it has been sent. Please allow me to share a little story with you.
Our Sunday School class began to take up an offering earlier in the year so that we might sow into a worthy cause. A dollar here and a dollar there. And it grew. After a time the consensus determined that we would purchase Swahili Bibles for distribution when our very own Temple Missions Team went to Tanzania. We printed up 4 x 6 photo cards to place in each Bible to let the recipient know that Believers in America had thought of them. Well---here’s the rest of the story.
We presented a case of Bibles to a partner church in the town of Sanya Juu which sits nearby Mount Kilimanjaro. We presented another case to our church-plant in a predominantly Muslim community in the port city of Tanga on the Indian Ocean. The initial plan was to hand over the cases and let the local church decide how best to distribute them. After seeing the photo card and realizing that the Bibles had been provided by our Sunday School Class, both churches determined to give a Bible and a card to local leadership along with a charge. And this is the charge---each recipient is to return to their home church and take up an offering so that they too may purchase Bibles and give them to another body of Believers to distribute. Wow! Kind of a pay it forward thing. Or even more accurately---blessed to be a blessing.
That is indeed what occurred.
God will provide the increase---and his word will accomplish the purposes for which it was sent.
Our Sunday School class began to take up an offering earlier in the year so that we might sow into a worthy cause. A dollar here and a dollar there. And it grew. After a time the consensus determined that we would purchase Swahili Bibles for distribution when our very own Temple Missions Team went to Tanzania. We printed up 4 x 6 photo cards to place in each Bible to let the recipient know that Believers in America had thought of them. Well---here’s the rest of the story.
We presented a case of Bibles to a partner church in the town of Sanya Juu which sits nearby Mount Kilimanjaro. We presented another case to our church-plant in a predominantly Muslim community in the port city of Tanga on the Indian Ocean. The initial plan was to hand over the cases and let the local church decide how best to distribute them. After seeing the photo card and realizing that the Bibles had been provided by our Sunday School Class, both churches determined to give a Bible and a card to local leadership along with a charge. And this is the charge---each recipient is to return to their home church and take up an offering so that they too may purchase Bibles and give them to another body of Believers to distribute. Wow! Kind of a pay it forward thing. Or even more accurately---blessed to be a blessing.
That is indeed what occurred.
God will provide the increase---and his word will accomplish the purposes for which it was sent.