Invest in the Future
Category: Evangelism & Soul Winning
Key Passage: Ecclesiastes 11
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
The letter I’m going to read for the missionaries tonight is for the Gorman family. They’re church planters for our military heroes: Jonathan, his wife, Tina, their son, Caleb, daughter Anna, and Abigail, Ethan, and Grace. So keep them in your prayers. I’ll read their letter. They are right now, I think, in a transition period, but they did have a church in Trenton, New Jersey. It’s a joint base area. I think all of the different branches of the military are in that area. So I read their letter. This is from May 1st. It says, “Dear Friends, Prayer Partners and Faithful Supporters.”
It would be easy to be discouraged and cast down in our souls over the situation our country is currently experiencing. Some are sick—some in our own church—and many more are hurting financially throughout our nation and the world. In this uncertain time, we must remember the compassion of Jesus for those hurting and in need. At every opportunity, may we point people to Jesus.
We must hope in God for the future and continue presently to be about our Father’s business as best we can. We are praying for you all during this challenge. We pray for good health for you and your families. We pray for opportunities and creative ways to serve the Lord and witness for Him. We pray for the Lord’s strength to help each of our supporting churches and to carry you all through the financial difficulties of this pandemic.
We are working to continue to serve as best as we are able during this time of restricted travel. We had planned to spend much of our time on the road visiting churches over the last few months. Just like many of you, we have had to change our plans. During our time at home in New Jersey, we have been working to make the best of it. We have planned and prepared, studied and sang, prayed and prayed some more.
We have actually spent more time in prayer and in the Word of God as a family than we have ever been able to before. We praise the Lord for this blessing in the midst of the storm. We also have been able to catch up on our homeschooling. We had gotten behind due to the ministry demands and weren’t sure when we would be able to get caught up. We hope and pray that you, too, will be able to experience blessings among these trials.
It has also been a blessing to connect regularly with our sending church through the internet. We have had some opportunities to help out our church plant here through phone calls, texts, and emails with the new pastor and with members. We have even had virtual church meetings. We are thankful to continue to visit even as we are locked down. Though some of our ministry opportunities for this summer have been canceled, we are praying and planning for continued ways to serve the Lord and remain faithful. Please pray for us to endure this time financially. We have not yet seen an additional drop in support, but this may happen over the next few months. We know that many of our supporting churches are struggling financially. We know many are out of work. We are praying for you. We have had many meetings canceled, and the love gifts from these meetings were going to help us make up the salary we have just given up. Pray for God to sustain us through the loss of projected income because of canceled meetings. We give this difficulty to the Lord and hope in Him. Pray that the church meetings still scheduled for the next month will be able to take place. God is in control. We are not cast down. We praise Him for what He has done and know that we shall yet praise Him for what He will do. We also praise God for those who have reached out to encourage us. Thank you for those who have sacrificed to help us get through this financial difficulty. Thank you for your help and prayers, reaching our heroes for Christ, the Gorman family.
Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we lift up the Gorman family. Lord, I just pray that You bless their finances, and I pray that You bless the finances of their supporting churches as well, Lord. Lord, I pray that You give them guidance in this uncertain time. And like the letter said, Lord, help them have creative ways to reach the lost. And Lord, I pray that You give them guidance and direction in what the future may bring for them. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Brother Cal, it is great to see you. Ecclesiastes chapter number 11. We have been going through the life of David for months and months, but we’ve kind of changed gears for just a little bit. Last week, we had a business meeting, and so it just felt like it was a little bit of church night. We talked about deacons then; we had the deacon election coming. This week we’re going to veer off, as my wife and I are about to get a getaway. We’ll be gone a little bit, and when we get back, we’ll get back to the life of David.
I thought—and by the way, this is a good crowd. We’ve got so many workers out here, there, yonder. Praise the Lord for them. This is a good crowd for all the workers being out; the majority, you know, just so many folk working. I thought we’d just…
By the way, I told someone, whoever we have in here, you know, “where two or three are gathered together,” amen. And that’s all right. I’m glad you’re in here. We’re thrilled to have you. We’ve got a visitor in here tonight: Juan over here. Hey, Juan, he’s a first-time visitor with us tonight. Good to have him with us. I was trying my Spanish with him; he wasn’t impressed. I don’t do good with that for sure. He wasn’t impressed at all.
But Ecclesiastes chapter number 11. For just a little while, we’re going to talk about investing. I know you have millions of dollars to invest, and so we’re going to talk about investing just a little differently than that. But Ecclesiastes chapter number 11. We’ll just read the first verse and pray. Then we’re going to do a little bit of a Bible study going down through the first six verses of this.
Would you please stand? Let’s just try to show the Word of God respect tonight. It’s worthy of it. And Ecclesiastes 11, verse number one: “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.”
Tell you what, would you read that first verse out loud with me? Just that first verse. Here we go: “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.” And let’s pray. We don’t have a whole lot of time, but you pray and just ask the Lord to give us something tonight. We all need it; I sure do. Let’s pray. Now, Lord, we come to you. Father, it’s a little bit of a diverse crowd, even though it’s small. Lord, I do ask, would You meet the needs of every age group, every person here? Lord, You know what’s going on in their lives, and only You can do it. Lord, thank You for the privilege of representing You. I’m not worthy, but, Lord, I preach it. Just work through a simple preacher, Your Word with Your Spirit. Father, we’ll thank You and brag on You and praise You for what You do. Father, I’m asking for this in faith because of Jesus. We’ll thank You in advance. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
That’s interesting. He said, “Cast thy bread.” Now, what does the Bible mean when it says bread? Bread, of course, you get it from corn, okay? Or wheat. Many would think it’s talking about your seed. Think of it in some of these countries like Vietnam and different places where they have the rice fields. They’ll be flooded with water, and they cast a seed in there. A lot of times, oxen or different things would come along and tread upon it and kind of get it planted down in there. But it’s a little bit like that. By the way, the Nile River over in Egypt, or the Jordan River often in Israel, would flood over. Very interesting: Egypt, for miles on each side of that Nile River, it’s very fertile. That’s where they did all their agriculture, on both sides. And it floods over, and maybe during that time—what this Bible verse would apply to during that time—when it’s flooded over, there’s water there. You cast your bread or your wheat or your corn or your seed, if you will. Once you get this thought in your mind, then he says, “thou shalt find it after many days.” It’s not going to come up like that; it’s going to take time. That’s the thought that he’s sharing there: you’re casting your seed out on the waters, right? There’s a lot more there than that, but can I just say this: your investment?
Can I encourage you just a little bit tonight to invest in eternal things? This lifetime down here is pretty short, but if I’ve been investing in something eternal, okay? Investing in the Lord’s work. I’ll go over and see Ms. Barber, who’s been playing her piano for I don’t know how many years now. I played in the church before when they were in Baltimore. And even now, with her husband, Brother Larry, being sick, whatnot, she still plays on Wednesday nights, and she’s investing in the Lord’s work. There are a lot of different ways to invest in the Lord’s work. Ken, I encourage you along that line: invest in your family—eternal things I’m talking about. Not for your own selfish motives, but for the Lord, and to raise your kids for the Lord and have a good marriage. But investing in people. Can I just say that? Spend your life investing in people. I’ve enjoyed Vacation Bible School. I’ve been lazy; I already admitted I didn’t even come Monday night. But I was here last night, and I just had such a joy watching our people all over the place investing in those kids. It was awesome.
We had somebody who rented a bounce house on their own last night; they were going to do it Friday night also. They just found a good deal and wanted to do it for the kids. And so many of our people—Ms. Brenda Carlson, she’s been working in crafts, oh my goodness, for twelve, maybe thirteen years—she’s been working in our VBSs around here, and she’s been investing in kids for a long time. Can I just encourage you, these young guys up here—I got to play football with some of them last night, I enjoyed it, had a ball with it—wouldn’t it be good if, even from a young age, they learn to invest in people? And you just spend your life investing. I look back, Brother Glenn has been playing guitar forever around here, you know, ever since they moved down from Kentucky and played over there. But he’s investing in the Lord’s work. There are a lot of different ways to invest, but can I just encourage you to invest in people?
I thought about this: some of the greatest Christians I know are very focused on investing in individuals. I haven’t ever heard of John Rice—a lot of you know him—a great Christian God used greatly. I thought about John Rice. He wasn’t really planning on being in the ministry. He was going to be a professor at a university, climbing the ranks to maybe be over a university one day. And yet he went to a rescue mission, and he would often say this: he had the privilege of telling a drunken bum about Jesus Christ. That alcoholic man got saved, and God changed his life. He watched that man bring in other people the next couple of nights after that. John Rice said—man, when he talks about a call, he’ll talk about that story—he said, “I don’t know if I was called or not.” Well, I told the Lord, “Lord, if You let me do this for the rest of my life, I’ll spend the rest of my life just trying to win souls like that.” I thought about how he was focused on an individual. He enjoyed investing in the individual. That’s why God could use him. He didn’t get caught up too much in the big hand or the positions and all that. He was just focused on influencing an individual for the Lord. Just encourage: invest in people.
I thought about Lee Robertson. How many of you know Lee Robertson? Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple. My dad went there; I was born when Dad was going to Tennessee Temple. Lee Robertson heard Brother Bobby Robertson tell a story—I heard him tell it several times. Brother Lee Robertson was staying at their church; they had a little prophet’s chamber where he could stay. Lee Robertson was up in years. He was not the pastor of the Lord’s church, but God had used him so greatly, and he was very well known. He was preaching at a little church down the way a little bit and staying at Gospel Light in a little prophet’s chamber. Brother Bobby said he was just glad they could help him stay there for free while he was preaching at this little church.
He noticed one night that Dr. Robertson and his wife got in real late. The next morning, Brother Bobby was teasing with Miss Robertson a little bit. He said, “Boy, you and Brother Robertson, y’all stayed out late last night. Where were y’all at so late?” Brother Bobby was amazed. Dr. Robertson—actually Miss Robertson—said, “Well, that preacher over there is a little discouraged.”
Here’s what I’m getting at: That church was just a handful of people. Dr. Robertson pastored thousands, I don’t know the numbers in their heyday, but just thousands. I remember sitting in the auditorium balcony just packed out with thousands. Dr. Robertson is older now, and he could say, “I’m tired.” And yet, at that age, Dr. Robertson wanted to stay over there for a little while and encourage him. He spent a couple of hours with that little preacher over there, trying to encourage him. He never lost his desire to help an individual. I’m talking about spending your life investing in people. He’s talking about casting your bread upon the water, for after many days it will come back—just investing for the Lord, investing in people.
I thought about Brother Howe, who was my pastor for years. Even at the end, when he had to have surgery, and they said a male nurse was taking care of him, even at the very end, he was trying to witness to that guy. He spent the last couple of days, working those 12-hour shifts and whatnot, trying to build a relationship and tell that young man about the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m saying, even at the very end, he was trying to invest in someone. The last way to spend your life. The thought here is, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days it will come back,” if you will.
Look in verse number two and verse number three. We’ve got to hurry along. Verses two and three of Ecclesiastes 11. He’s going to talk about diversity, okay? If you invest in the stock market or something, they’ll always say, “Hey, diversify.” That’s basically what the Bible is saying here: “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall be.”
Let me just explain a little bit. He’s saying, look, you don’t know where it’s going to be a good investment, and where somebody’s just going to fall apart. Where that tree falls, it’s there. He’s saying, sometimes—I got this one person I’m going to invest in—sometimes the person you think is going to make it, they hurt you the worst. Sometimes you don’t know necessarily who the one is. You just invest in people, and you diversify a little bit, and you invest in the things of God and in people’s lives. It’s amazing how often the people that we think, “Well, they’re in,” are not. Can I say, maybe you’ve been there—you invested in somebody in the ministry, and you got hurt? Can I encourage you: keep investing. Don’t throw in the towel and say, “Well, it’s not worth it.” No, just keep investing in people.
I thought about Aaron Meatham. I’d have never dreamed Aaron Meatham would have been in Bible college. He’s married in Bible College now. He used to roll one of our buses, and he wasn’t one of those that came to camp and came Sunday morning and Sunday night. For maybe four years, he’d come Sunday morning only. He rolled the bus one time, got saved, and as a teenage young man, he started driving in and sat down front here—Sunday morning only. He would bring a lot of friends from school with him, but just Sunday morning only. I remember when he wanted to talk with me about being a preacher, what it means to be called to preach. I shared with him a little bit, though he just came Sunday morning only. Then I remember when he wanted to meet to talk about Bible college. I told him about all the different Bible colleges and said, “Look, these are serious Bible colleges. They’re going to expect you to be in church every time the doors are open. And you’re not going to be able to interact with the opposite sex. They have rules and guidelines, and they have dress codes and all this.” I never forget; he said, “Yeah, that’s what I want.” I thought, “Wow, okay.” And I never dreamed—he got married to Cassidy, you know, you’re set. And he’s in Bible College. You just don’t know. You just invest, and you keep investing. You diversify somewhat, because here’s the thing: when I’m on disciple, that one right there—you don’t know who that one is. You just invest, and you keep investing, you keep investing. That’s what we’re talking about: diversify. You invest in the work of the Lord, and you invest in people, wherever you can invest in them. Just invest for the work of God in the people’s lives.
Let’s keep going. Look in verse number four. We’ve got to hurry along. Verse number four, Ecclesiastes 11:5. You’re there? Amen? Y’all there over here on this side, amen? Got fewer in numbers, so we got you speaking out over there now, you know. Verse number four right here. Here we go, verse number four: “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.”
Here’s a thought here, concerning this verse and before: If you’re looking for just the right circumstances to start sowing the seed or investing, you’ll never invest. You just won’t. And you’ll never reap. Of course, you can’t reap without sowing.
A whole lot of people—it’s funny, and I’m not against it—we’ve got a guy coming in August, I think, starting a church up in Gallatin. He’s a good guy, and I’m excited about being all the help we can be to him. I love it. But sometimes, early on, someone starting a church feels like they have to have everything just right. I remember back in the day, a fellow got in his car, literally started driving out west until he ran out of money and ran out of gas. He just said, “This is it.” He got him a job and started a church, and it became a great church. I’m not saying don’t plan and prepare; I’m not against those things. But if we’re not careful, waiting for the right moment and everything to be perfect, then you’ll never sow. Back in the day, the old school, they would just set up a tent somewhere and start a church, start preaching and winning souls. I’m not against planning; I do all that. I’m for all that. I like it. But somewhere you’ve got to say, “There’s never a perfect time to invest.” I’m just going to do something for the world where I’m at, or else you’re just going to be waiting for the bright opportunity, the right position, the right place, and just sow.
Giving. Sometimes I get a little irritated with some of the old Christian philosophy out there about finances on the radio: “Well, get everything just right in your finances, and then you can give.” No, that’s not the Bible order. The Bible says if you give sparingly, you’re going to reap sparingly. You’ll reap bountifully if you just give. “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” That’s the Bible order. Because if you’re waiting for everything to get right, you will never give anything. Besides, where is the faith in that?
Don’t look at it. Maybe one day, we’ll do this: “When I learn the Bible, then I’ll start telling people about Jesus.” Friend, I’ve been preaching for thirty-something years and read the Bible. I don’t know of a time when I still don’t feel like, “Man, I have so much to learn.” The woman at the well, she just got saved. She was living a rough life, living with a guy at the time, been married five times. And yet she got saved. She went into town and started telling them about Jesus. A lot of people got saved too. Just sow seed. Don’t always be trying to figure it all out. I plan and prepare and all that, but friends, you just have a soul sometime.
Old Brother Glenn spent a whole lot of time in Sarah Cannon Cancer Center sitting with his wife here lately, a lot of days and nights. Those little chairs fold out; they don’t make good beds, really. You can ask Brother Glenn about it; he can tell you all about that. He said it’s not a good time for him to sow seed—his wife is sitting there with a brain tumor and so on. But you know he has tracts out all over that place. Friends, is it a perfect time? No. I don’t know if there is a perfect time. Just sow seed.
By the way, I went to Taco Bell this afternoon right before Vacation Bible School started, and I went to give the girl there—some of you will get offended over this one—she had an Alabama mask on. Come on now. Good, bad, ugly, no. Brother Humphers is shaking his head, “No.” I’ll tell you what: Tennessee first, but then we’ll, you know, anyway. But I went to give her a tract, and she said—I don’t know how she knows I’m a pastor—she said, “The people at your church…” (not mine, as God’s, but she said) “…the people at your church are so nice. They’ve given me so many of those.” I said, “Hey, how many got about 20, 30?” She said, "I don’t know. She said, “I want that one, though.” She liked it. I love it; they’re investing. There are a thousand different ways you invest, but don’t watch everything to make sure it’s right, because you’ll never invest if you do that, and you’ll never reap.
Let’s keep going. We’ve got two more verses. We’ll go real quickly here. Verse number five, Ecclesiastes 11:5: “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.”
Can I just state this way? You can’t determine how God’s going to work. It’s God that does the work anyway. You can’t say, “All right, God, You work right here.” God might say, “No, I’m working over here. I want you working over there, but when you get around here, I’m going to bless over here.” God is in control of that. God is the one that brings the increase. Just like you can’t tell what’s going on inside of a mom’s belly when the bones are growing and all those things, God is doing the work. You don’t always understand what God’s doing; you just keep investing. You can’t determine how God’s going to do it.
I thought it was interesting. Ms. Brenda Crossland Crass back here, she always has taken her granddaughters to Vacation Bible School. She’s got her little granddaughter, Riley. How many of you know Riley? Her little granddaughter, some of you know, yeah. Riley had a little stubborn streak in her Tuesday. Brenda was trying to get her to come back Tuesday—I think she came. Rhonda said, “Grandma, I’m not going to VBS.” Brenda said, “Man, you got to go! They’re going to give out gifts, and there are pennies to win.” Riley said, “Grandma, I’m not going. I told you, I’m not going. I’m just not going to go.” “You got to bring your friends.” She brought some friends Monday night and all that. “Grandma, I’m not going.”
Brenda said, “Well, I got a phone.” She thought, “I think I’ll just pray about that.” She started praying. A couple of minutes later, the phone rang, and it was Riley. She said, “Grandma, I’m going to go now.” It’s God who does the work. You don’t know who the winner is; you just keep working, investing. God does the work in the hearts inside. That’s what it’s talking about.
Verse number six. We’ll get to it early. Verse number six: “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening let not thine hand rest: for thou knowest not which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.”
A lot of different comparisons this may have to do with a certain time. Well, I’m going to sow this time in the morning and evening. It may have to do with your life: I’m going to sow when I’m young and when I’m old. The key is just to sow seed. Just invest. Just spend your life investing in the work of God. You’ll never regret it. You cast your bread upon the water; after many days, notice he said, “many days”—it’s going to take a long time.
These young guys—Joel is a good boy, a good guy. If Joel started working for God now when he’s young, it might take a long time for him to see all the fruit. But if he sows all his life long, he’ll have a lot of fruit in the end, a lot of rewards when it comes to happen. A lot of lives might get changed by Joel; you just don’t know. It seems, after all these years, talking about even our people here, the ones that have just been faithful sowing over the years—and it’s not always, you can put your finger on it exactly—but a lot of mine are going to say, “Hey, God used them to reach that person, and they’re in church today.” God used them to reach that person. It hasn’t been “boom.” Sometimes God used a lot of different people, but it’s been those over the years that have just sown seed. And you just never know.
I think I was preaching at a Christian school a whole year ago, and a girl came up—I think maybe she’s in seventh grade or something like that. She said, “You remember when you preached over such-and-such church?” I kind of forgot about it. Yeah. She got saved that night. She said, “You’re the preacher.” You know, I forget all that. You can’t keep track of all that stuff. You just keep sowing seed, sowing seed. God, in His time, His way—that’s what he’s saying. Cast your bread upon the waters after many days.
Rutherford County Baptist Church—you know what it is? You ever see these tractors, man? They have newer ones; I’m not real familiar with the new ones. But they have these seeders, as you could call it. They pull them behind a tractor, and they spread out wider than these walls sometimes. They have a big tub, if you will, just full of seed. Some of the old-school ones have these little tubes running down, and they put seeds all over it. It’ll be planting—I don’t know how many rows they’ll plant at one time—and that tractor pulls along, and just seeds are put out all through the field. That’s what a church ought to be: a whole lot of people working.
It takes a whole lot of different people, different angles, different machinery, different people making it all happen to plant one of those huge 100-acre gardens like that. That’s a church, that’s Rutherford County Baptist Church—just all of us doing our part, sowing seed in a lot of different ways.
When are we going to see all the harvest? I’m not sure. Probably not until the Lord comes back. We just want to find ourselves sowing when He comes. Just sow the seed. Cast that bread upon the waters. It will come back. It’s going to take some long time, many days, but just sow the seed and watch God bring the increase in His time, His way. Leave it up to Him.
Original File: We need to Invest in the Future - Pastor Paul Chisgar 61720