February 24, 2017
Acts 1:7, 8
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
In our last blog, I told of my experience running my own business 40 years ago – Successful Fund Raising. Because of the five positive points pointed out in Monday’s blog, I did well in that venture. I actually broke the old one-month sales record by 50% – in one day! In brief, here are the five points: 1) The parent company, TV Time Foods, Inc. was a first-rate company who offered a great product. 2) Good training was available from the company at their expense. 3) They furnished liberal samples to try – both for me and for potential customers. 4) The product ordered was shipped promptly, and customer support was great. 5) I could sell a lot of their popcorn products because I believed whole-heartedly in the company and what they offered in product, sales support, and customer relations.
We, as Christians, are to sell people on the Product we offer – The Lord Jesus Christ! While there are several Scriptures giving us our marching orders to go out and sell (see for instance Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15, 16; Luke 24:47-49: II Timothy 4:2), I have chosen Acts 1:7and 8 as our featured Scripture:
It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in
His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
I began to discuss the five points mentioned above, and see how they apply to us as Christians going out to offer to others Jesus Christ – as we are Selling Our Product to a lost world. We looked at the first two above, but before we go on to the last three, I want to lift up some more information concerning the Product. You see, there is no one, (nothing) better to offer people than the Lord Jesus Christ! We have the ultimate Product that ever was, is, or will be available to sinful mankind! Consider the following:
• John 10:10 – “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come [Jesus said] that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
✞ The first mention of life in this Scripture has to do with eternal life (see John 10:27, 28; 11:25, 26; 17:3; I John 5:11-13).
✞ The second mention, life more abundantly, applies to here and now. If Jesus was speaking of abundant life and applying it to our heavenly existence, He would be redundant. Obviously, such life will be abundant! (See Revelation 21:4). However, I do not believe this is a reference to material abundance, as some do who teach the prosperity gospel! I think it is a reference to what God offers us in Galatians 5:22 and 23 – the fruit of the Spirit (Lexham English Bible): “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.” If we have these nine characteristics abundantly in our life, not much else matters that could happen to us!
• John 14:6 – “Jesus said…‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (See John 10:9; Acts 4:12; Colossians 1:20; I Timothy 2:5). If there were other ways for sinful man to be reconciled to the Holy God, Jesus would never have had to die on the cross!
• I John 1:7 – “…the blood of Jesus Christ…cleanses us from all sin.” (See Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 1:18; Hebrews 9:12; Revelation 1:5).
Is there another ‘Product’ besides Jesus that was ever offered to mankind – a product that will so benefit them now and throughout eternity?
• The third point of my Successful Fund Raising sales experience has to do with the samples provided. I freely gave out samples of the popcorn products I was selling – given to those leaders of organizations that needed a good money-raising product to help bolster their treasury. And the products I offered were so good, that the samples often sold the people on my fund-raising services!
The question might be raised, “You mean to tell me that God offers to people ‘samples’ of salvation through His Son?” Well, yes! For it is written in Psalm 34:8: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good…! ” To taste Him is one thing. I don’t believe that saves you. But Jesus, in John 6:51 and 54 said this:
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of
this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I give is My flesh, which
I shall give for the life of the world….Whoever eats My flesh and drinks
My blood has eternal life….
This is much more than just tasting! The Lord is talking in John 6 about consuming Him – taking all of Him within our hearts and lives! I believe the passages that are used for ‘proof texts’ against eternal security – that we can lose our salvation – have for their basis the idea that tasting and consuming are the same thing! (See for instance Hebrews 6:4-8).
We will cover the last two points of Selling Our Product in our next blog on Monday.