2 Corinthians 8:10
Instead Of Begun Before
Be Forward A Year Ago
Let's look at a wise saying from Paul at 2 Corinthians 8:10 that says And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. In other words don't just say I've begun before starting anything without completing your goals. Instead say I was forward a year ago and will continue to move forward for Jesus completing all my plans to tell everyone around this earth about Jesus.
Don't say I've begun before promising to read the whole bible and stop reading at Genesis. Don't say I've begun before starting to pray for people and become too busy to finish your prayers. Don't say I've begun before starting to diet and lose weight while you keep eating and gain weight.
If you are struggling and getting persecuted for serving Jesus, struggle forward; Don't struggle backward. Eventually you will become a winner and succeed if you don't quit. Galatians 6:9 promises And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
If you made a commitment a year ago, don't just begin but keep going forward and complete your commitments. Don't quit. Be forward a year ago. Restart your commitments and do them again and again, refusing to stop. Don't just say I'll complete a task. Perform the task. Paul said to be forward a year ago because you performed and completed all your promises. Paul said at 2 Corinthians 8:11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
God places desires in our hearts to reach people for Jesus and we have to be willing and finally perform these desires to reach and witness Jesus to multitudes all over this earth. Brother Bob today is going to complete his promise and tell people everywhere reading this bible study how to get saved. Get saved, repent, decide to stop sinning, confess that Jesus is God, and believe the gospel that Jesus died on the cross for you, was buried, and rose again.
Don't just begin to serve Jesus and throw in the towel because of persecution saying Why should I even try again? Just keep trying to witness and tell everyone everywhere about Jesus and eventually you will be successful, while millions of souls all over this earth become saved.
Keep Moving Forward Like William Carey
Be like missionary William Carey who plodded for God witnessing Jesus to the people of India in the 1700s. Plod means to work and persevere slowly with effort refusing to quit. The bible tells us to plod for God at Galatians 6:9 saying And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. In other words keep telling people everywhere how to be saved. Get saved, repent, decide to stop sinning, confess that Jesus is God, and believe the gospel that Jesus died on the cross for you, was buried, and rose again. Eventually your labor for Jesus will be rewarded and you will be blessed. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
When William Carey began thinking about going to India as a missionary pioneer, his father told him that he had no academic qualifications that should fit him for such a task. William Carey replied the following three words: I can plod; I can go to India and I can plod for God. William Carey plodded and went to India where he slowly won souls to Jesus daily. It took William Cary seven years of relentless missionary labor to baptize his first Indian convert to Christianity.
William Carey arrived in Calcutta, India, in November 1793. After seven years of poverty, illness, and language study, he finally baptized a local carpenter named Krishna Pal on December 28, 1800. Krishna Pal did not just convert. He went on to become an ordained minister, preached the gospel for more than 20 years to his fellow countrymen, and authored several well known christian hymns. Eventually thousands of people in India got saved because William Carey translated the bible into the languages spoken by the people of India. Let's all follow William Carey's blessed advice: Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.
Why William Carey Said
Expect Great Things From God; Attempt Great Things For God
William Carey's blessed saying tells us that the confidence and vision for our lives should be measured by the vastness of God's power and not by our own human limitations. Faith must precede action. Notice the order of William Carey's blessed statement. He did not say attempt great things first. He said that you must first expect God to move. Your expectations dictate your actions. If you have a small, limited view of what God can do, you will only try small, comfortable things. High expectations of God's faithfulness expand your capacity to serve the Lord Jesus.
When William Carey delivered this message, he was a self educated, working class shoemaker. He had no wealth, elite status, or institutional support. "Expecting great things" meant trusting that God could take a flawed, ordinary individual and use them to impact the world. It shifts the pressure of achieving results away from human talent and onto the divine capability of the Lord Jesus.
William Carey preached this blessed statement during a historic speech called the "Deathless Sermon" to a group of complacent ministers. At the time, church leaders actively dismissed the idea of global missions, believing that if God wanted to convert people, He would do it without human help. William Carey used this phrase to shock people out of their spiritual comfort zones, challenging them to believe that God wanted to work actively and globally through them.
William Carey told us to obey God's command at Isaiah 54:2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. For William Carey, expecting great things was a firm reliance on biblical promises that God desires his grace and love to reach all corners of the earth.
Because William Carey expected great things, he went on to attempt them. He moved to India, mastered complex local languages, translated the bible into multiple dialects, and effectively launched the modern global missionary movement. William Carey translated the entire KJV bible into 45 different indigenous languages and dialects, including Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, and Assamese.
Like Missionary David Livingstone Say
Anywhere Provided It Be Forward
A blessed missionary to Africa from the 1800s named David Livingstone won multitudes to the Lord Jesus in the jungles of Africa because he kept moving forward. Reese's Encyclopedia Of Christian Biographies tells us that David Livingstone was a pioneer missionary and explorer to Africa who preached the gospel to the central part of Africa. David Livingstone never looked backward and was determined to tell everyone in Africa about Jesus saying "Anywhere Provided It Be Forward." Let's all be like David Livingstone and go anywhere telling everyone about the Lord Jesus, provided it be forward. Don't ever go backward and fall away from Jesus. Just keep going forward like David Livingstone.
David Livingstone studied theology and medicine while he was working in a cotton mill in England during the 1800s. He was converted to christianity at age 20. David Livingstone traveled 30000 miles throughout central Africa during his life to witness and win souls to Jesus. He first arrived in Africa in 1841 and married Mary Moffitt, daughter of the missionary Robert Moffitt. They were separated half of their 18 years of marriage (wow what a commitment to tell the African people about Jesus). David Livingstone successfully witnessed Jesus to thousands of native Africans who got saved for the Lord Jesus.
His wife Mary Moffitt died in his arms on the remote Zambezi river in central Africa. David Livingstone's ministry included preaching the gospel, healing the sick, recording African geography, helping to stop the Portuguese slave trade, and seeking the source of the Nile river. Early in his expeditions he was attacked and maimed by a lion. He discovered Lake Ngami, the Zambezi river, Victoria Falls, and Lake Nyasa.
David Livingstone originally served under the London Missionary Society and under the British Government and finally under the Royal Geographical Society. He wrote Missionary Travels; A best seller. After being considered missing for some time, he was finally found by Henry Stanley at Ujiji Africa in 1871. When Stanley found Livingstone he said the famous words Dr. Livingstone I presume.
Just before David Livingstone's death, he said build me a hut to die in. I am going home. He was found dead on his knees praying. The natives of Africa buried his heart in Africa but his body was buried in Westminster Abbey back in London, England. His favorite bible verse was Matthew 28:20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
A Song About Going Forward
By Palmer Hartsow
I am resolved no longer to linger
charmed by the world's delight
Things that are higher; things that are nobler
These have allured my sight
I am resolved to go to the Saviour
Leaving my sin and strife
He is the true one; He is the just one
He hath the words of Life
I am resolved to follow the Saviour
Faithful and true each day
Heed what He saith; Do what He willeth
He is the living way
I am resolved to enter the kingdom
Leaving the paths of sin
Friends may oppose me; Foes may beset me
Still will I enter in
I will hasten to Him
Hasten so glad and free
Jesus greatest highest
I will come to thee
Don't quit; Keep serving Jesus; Keep moving forward for Jesus
The christian life requires resolution and determination
to keep moving forward and witnessing
Jesus to multitudes all over this earth
A Blessed Quote From Carl Bard
Memorize and Perform This Blessed Quote
Though no one can go back
And make a brand new start
Anyone can start from now
And make a brand new ending
Stop feeling guilty about your past mistakes. The blood of Jesus has washed away your past sins and the Lord Jesus has forgotten your past mistakes. Start from now and make a brand new ending. If Jesus can forgive the thief on the cross who murdered, raped, and lied all his life, Jesus can forgive you and use you to be a great soul winner for Jesus. The thief on the cross asked Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Jesus saved him and replied To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. In an instant, all the thief's past sins were forgotten and he was saved forevermore. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain (of the blood of Jesus) in his day, and there may I though vile as he wash all my sins away.
How To Be Forward A Year Ago
According to the Lord Jesus, let's see how we can be forward a year ago. Each year the earth revolves one time around the sun at a distance of 93 million miles away traveling at a speed of 67000 miles an hour. We are not standing still. We are continuously moving. And the earth revolves around the sun every year with unbelievable consistency. Meteorologists know the exact time and minute of the sunset for every day of the year.
In other words every second and every time you snap your fingers the earth has moved 18.5 miles around the sun. And while the earth is revolving around the sun every year at 67000 miles an hour, the earth's equator is spinning around at 1000 miles an hour while the earth wobbles back and forth at a 22 degree angle. Praise and worship the Lord Jesus who is driving all this. Job 26;7 says He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
And then our entire solar system (the sun and nine planets) are moving north at a speed of 43000 miles an hour while the earth is revolving around the sun at 67000 miles an hour. In other words Brother Bob who is 64 years old has made 64 revolutions around the sun at 67000 miles an hour while the entire solar system is moving north at a speed of 43000 miles an hour. Praise you Lord Jesus for driving and creating these heavens and earth.
Therefore God measures and schedules things by years. Determine to be forward a year ago and keep moving forward. Determine each year to learn all you can about the Lord Jesus. Keep reading and memorizing your bible so you can say I am forward a year ago. Keep getting better each year and determine to reach more souls for Jesus every year.
The Benefits Of Being Forward A Year Ago
If you started to read your bible last year and stopped at Genesis, this year start reading your bible again at Exodus and read it to Revelation so you can be forward a year ago. Don't ever quit reading, memorizing, and studying your bible so you can be forward a year ago. Psalm 1 promises that if anyone meditates and memorizes the bible whatsoever they do will prosper, and God will fix all their troubles.
If you become forward a year ago by daily reading and memorizing the Word of God, 2 Peter 1:2 promises Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. Notice that the more you read, know, and memorize the bible, that grace and peace will be multiplied (not added) unto you. When something is added it's 1+1=2; 2+2=4; but when something is multiplied it's 2x2=4; 4x4=16; 8x8=64; I'd rather have things multiplied unto me than added unto me; And if anyone reads, knows, and memorizes the bible, grace and peace will be multiplied unto them. Right now praise Jesus and say Thank you Lord for multiplied peace and grace that is exceeding abundantly above all I ask or think while I am forward a year ago in my bible reading.
Finally here's some more suggestions to become forward a year ago. Determine to pray for more people every year. Have prayer time every morning. Pray all the time while you work, shop for groceries, do the laundry, and pay your bills. Pray for people whenever God places them on your heart.
And be determined to attend every service at your local church. Hebrews 10:25 says Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Since we see that the day of Christ is soon approaching, we need to go to church more, assembling ourselves together so we can all become forward a year ago.
Don't just say you will pray more and go to church more. Pray more and go to church more so you can become forward a year ago. Take time to read the parable about two men (one who just talked and promised but did not perform his goals while the other completed and performed the request) at Matthew 21:28.
Matthew 21:28 says But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his Father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Everyone let's be like the son that completed the father's request. Instead of saying I've begun before, tell the Lord Jesus I've become forward a year ago. Get saved, repent, decide to stop sinning, confess that Jesus is God, and believe the gospel that Jesus died on the cross for you, was buried, and rose again. Start from now and make a brand new ending. Let's complete all our promises and reach more people every year for Jesus, while more and more souls all over this earth become saved.
I enjoyed writing this bible study today that I pray in Jesus name blesses multitudes all over this earth with great joy, peace and strength. Feel free to email Brother Bob anytime at rz9tlm@gmail.com or write to Brother Bob Malkin, 2233 Pinetree Lane, Apt. N., Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068. (614) 746-7071. Till we all meet again soon to lift up our Lord Jesus, everyone have a blessed day.
