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If you are like Bill and would rather listen to this message click here: I taught this message many times in Africa, here is me presenting to a group here in the states: https://youtu.be/8CGV_J9NH6w In march of 2023 i taught this in Africa and this is what took place after the message: https://youtu.be/bKx-rZ-Zl7E In this paper, my main point is for you to see God as an investor. In business, we know that an investor wants a return. In simple terms, you get back more than you put in. Often, it looks like materials plus labor equals a product of greater value. Labor plus materials could equal a house. The value of the labor plus all the materials might be $100k but the house might sell for $200k. The plan and design can really drive value. So let’s see what God, the Investor, has done. His plan is the Gospel that reconciles us back to God the Father. But this plan is so much bigger than just one person. It involves the whole unified body of Christ becoming the bride of Christ, meaning everyone that He has chosen. We see this in the gospels when the servants are told to go invite everyone to the wedding on one condition: you must have wedding clothes (we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness). Materials given: Christ died for you = Payment for sin = Forgiveness of sin Holy Spirit given = Investment made You see, if God had stopped at dying for our sins, we would still be in a mess. He had to invest in us His spirit. Most of the time, we say, “I forgive you, but now get out of my life.” We write people off. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. This is a lie from the devil and not what God teaches. Forgiving people plus investing in them is complete forgiveness. As Christians, we are instructed in the Lord’s Prayer to forgive those who offend or who have wronged us. Most of us don't realize that there are two more steps. First, we are commanded to forgive as we have been forgiven. The consequence of not forgiving, according to Matthew 6, is our heavenly Father will not forgive us. This might seem harsh, but forgiveness means a debt has been paid. Christ died for our sins and for all the sins of the people who would ever offend us. If we say, “I will not forgive,” then we are saying what Christ did on the cross was not enough payment for the sin committed against us. We are telling God that we want Him to do something more than what He has already done on the cross. What it means is His death was not enough to pay for this sin committed against me. If that doesn't slap you in the face, it should. It doesn't make it easy, but it’s the truth. Forgiveness, I think, is the hardest thing we will ever do in life. It requires a giant leap of faith of trusting God and releasing. Only God can truly judge and punish. Our sinful human nature wants a pound of flesh. We want the person to suffer as we have. The real truth is that, as we hold on to offenses, trying to punish our offender, we are punishing ourselves. There is also another principle going on here as our brain focuses on this person with great intensity. It doesn't understand good or bad; it just copies what it sees. This is why we see so many people who have been abused turn and become the abuser. We are commanded to love God with all our hearts. Christ tells us in John 13:34, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Later, Jesus tells us that even those of the world love those who love them. “But I say, love your enemies as I have loved you,” is what He is saying. In our human mind, this does not compute. But if you can see that this sinful person who offended you is someone Christ died for, you might understand their real value. What is the value of a man’s soul? The value of any object is determined by what someone will pay for it. Consider that a bottle of water at Sam’s is maybe worth 25 cents. But at a football game, it’s worth $3. If I were to take you to the desert, you might give me $100 for it, or more. So what changed? Did the contents change? No, but what the purchaser was willing to pay changed; this is why paper baseball cards sell for hundreds of dollars. People value them. God values you and every living soul on this planet with the value of His Son’s life. That means even your enemy’s soul is worth the life of Christ. So let’s put our investor hat back on. So God, the Master Investor, tells us a story. The Kingdom of Heaven is like the master who called His servants and gave them five, two, and one talent(s). He went away for a long time and came back. The first servant said, “Here are the five plus five more that I made.” “Well done good and faithful servant.” Then the one who had been given two said, “Here are the two plus two more that I made.” “Well done good and faithful servant.” Then the servant who had one talent said, “Here is your one talent.” The Master said, “At the minimum, you could have at least put it in a bank and earned interest.” Now if you’re an investor, what would you do? The Bible says: “You wicked unfaithful servant. Take the one and give to the one who has 10.” Makes sense to me as an investor. Give to those who know how to invest and make more. The Bible says that whoever is faithful in the small things, more will be given. God has given you time, talent, and treasure. What are you doing with it? Is it according to His plan or yours? Most people have their own plans and spend all their time working on stuff that one day will all burn up, without considering the Master’s plan. This is serious business! God has made an investment in you, and He wants a return. Don’t miss it. Now let’s put on the parent hat for a moment. You have some kids, mind you not by yourself and by no real doing of your mind and might. Now these kids who are just like you start failing and sinning. What do you do? Well, as a parent, we know that we forgive and invest (instruct or teach) every day. Our kids make mistakes; we forgive them, and we show them how to do it correctly. How many times do we do this? Well, as a parent, you know that it’s really a daily thing. The biggest thing we do as parents is to believe in our kids. We tell them they can do anything they set their mind to. We believe in them, and this helps them believe. My mother told me I could do anything that I set my mind to. At some point, I believed her. She did not let me fail. No matter what, we finished what I started. She helped me do it until I learned how to do it. When I left home, I left with a strong belief in myself. Why? Because she believed in me. This is the greatest investment we can make in anyone. Simply believe in people. Now let’s put on the employer hat. We enter business to make a profit, and most of the time, we need others to help us. So we hire people to do a job. Then they fail us. Option 1 is to fire them, or Option 2 is to forgive and instruct them on how to do correctly. Quickly, I learned that this, too, became a daily thing. Forgive and instruct, but when I started believing in them, that was when business started getting fun. At our core, we want to be believed in more than anything. Being a part of a team that is doing something much greater than we could do by ourselves is so fulfilling—because God made us for this, to be a part of His family. Our love for team sports shows us this. Accomplishing anything together is better than anything we will do by ourselves. Marriage and family that God created reflects this as well. Most teams are chosen based on skills and values, but families just happen. As a father of five kids and nine grandkids, surely, to me, it looks random. But it so amazes me that all the parts are needed. If I have learned anything in business, it is that I need all the parts, not just the people who think like me. I hire people who I know think different than me. It's so easy to write people off who don’t think like you. But over time, I have learned I need to know what I don’t know from people who are not like me. So my point here is: keep forgiving and investing in people, and let them invest in you. True Story of Huey Coon: Huey entered a 711 store, pointed a gun at the cashier, and said, “Give me the cash.” There was $131 dollars in the drawer. The cashier moved the wrong way, and Huey shot and killed the man. Later, he was caught and convicted and put on death row. After five years of thinking his time was up, the warden told him he had a court appearance. So Huey went to court to find the wife of the man he had killed in the court room. The judge addressed the woman and asked her if she had anything to say. She arose and pointed at Huey and said, “I want that man taken off death row.” Then she said, “I forgive you; now I want you to do something with your life.” She forgave him and invested in him. She gave the most important thing that we can do for anyone: that is to believe in them. It was heart felt, and, most importantly, it transferred to Huey. Huey had done nothing to earn this; she simply gave it to him as an act of faith. Huey went on to give his life to Christ, and now 41 years later, he has led more people to Christ in the Donaldson prison than anyone ever in this violent prison. Wow! What an example for us all to follow. My sister was killed by a young man who was drinking and driving too fast on Altadena Rd. 50 years ago. My parents, though not Christians, said suing this man would not bring Lisa back. A few weeks later, I started reading the gospels and gave my life to Christ. I’m not sure how many people my life has impacted, but I know it's in the thousands. So what’s the point? We don’t get to choose what happens to us in life, but we do get to choose how we respond to it. I propose that we follow Christ’s example to forgive and invest. I want to close this out by coming back to God, the master investor. When I look at the investment that God has made in me—the life of His Son and His Spirit living in me—it causes a holy fear in my heart. I hear in my heart: God wants a return, and that return looks like multiplication. I think it’s a 100-fold return. My mind goes to the seed. If the seed does not die and go into the ground, it remains by itself. If we will die to self and surrender to God’s Gospel plan, then we will see a 10-fold or even a 100-fold return. The biggest obstacle to God’s plan is unforgiveness in the bride of Christ. He ends the Lord’s prayer with, “And if you don’t forgive, your heavenly father will not forgive you.” This is all serious business, but I hope that you will become an investor and see the world through our Master’s eyes. Forgive quickly, and invest in people. Here are some practical examples of investing. Start by praying for God’s goodness to come upon this person. Then ask God what you are to do. At times, prayer might be as far as it goes, but don’t miss the joy of seeing people drawn to our great Savior through you. Some of my best friends are people who have offended me and hurt me in many ways. Surely marriage is a great picture of this. My wife, almost daily in some small way, offends me, and I’m sure I do her. But we keep investing in each other because that’s what a marriage does. We are in covenant with each other in the body of Christ. Have we forgotten that? The Bible talks about how we are to show preference to one another in the body of Christ. I think we have forgotten this truth. We have lost our faith in each other and gone to judging. Stop! I believe each person reading this paper has been called to engage the lost, release the offenses committed against them, and start speaking words of faith to those around them—words that give life, purpose, and, most importantly, forgiveness through the grace of God. I taught this message many times in Africa, here is me presenting to a group here in the states: https://youtu.be/8CGV_J9NH6w In march of 2023 i taught this in Africa and this is what took place after the message: https://youtu.be/bKx-rZ-Zl7E

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"We completed our workshop yesterday. We were expecting 50 people. But 85 attended and completed Level One Bible Listening Group Facilitator Training. We hope to be back for Level One and Level Two. We plan to develop a team of trainers here." -Efi Tembon, Oasis Network The following day, they headed to the Kaba area for work with the community for a couple of days. "The Kabas have invited Kaba leaders from across the country, local chiefs and government administrators to their community meeting to discuss Bible translation."