Do the math and count the cost!
If you are a middle class working Christian family you should be able to see from the examples below that you could adjust your spending purchase choices to include postcard evangelizing the 5000 homes around you. If that does not work for you at this time another option would be to gather together others of similar heart and mind to co-op the project. If you take this to your church or fellowship groups imagine how affordable this is to do.
• 10 persons just $260 each
• 20 persons just $130 each
• 50 persons just $52 each (about the cost of a couples dinner out)
• 100 persons just $26 each (about the cost of a dinner out)
This is how affordable and doable it is to reach 5000 homes in our community with the "Good News". In the county I live in it's estimated we may have over 200 churches, that's about $13 per church per 5000 homes.
Experts in evangelism and communication agree that it takes on an average 17 contacts with a message to plant, water and grow a seed to harvest for conversion. Those in the faith who harvest know they are reaping where others have done the hard work of sowing.
If we are not sowing the Word of God into every home in our community and nation ... then who is?
Current cost to print and mail 5000 Gospel postcards.
Example: 5.5" x 11", 9pt silk card stock, 4 color both sides, quality printed.
• Printing: 750.00
• Artwork: 100.00
• Salestax: 75.00
• Imprint addresses: 375.00
• Postage/Mailing: 1280.00
Total cost about: $2580.00
For about 50 cents per mailbox/home/family you can reach 5000 in your area with a large format quality printed "Good News" Gospel postcard. We find for larger volumes of say 40,000 homes the cost can go down to about 34 cents per home.
Adjustments you could make to your spending habits:
Casual dining out: skip one per week.
Two adults (not including children) who eat out once per week or one person who eats out twice per week. If your meals average about $25 each with tips, adding the cost to get there, that would be about $3000 per year and pay for the cost to Postcard Evangelize the 5000 homes near you this year.
Latte's out: skip one per work day
Two adults who purchase one specialty drink per day per 5 day work week, at $6 each, or one person who purchases two per day at $6 each would average about $60 per week. That would be about $3000 per year and pay for the cost to Postcard Evangelize the 5000 homes near you this year.
Ok, you get the idea with the small stuff!
You can take a look at similar types of purchases to see how you could put them on a "fast" to invest that money into the Kingdom.
The big stuff you really don't need!
Now, lets move to the big items. Luxury purchases like furniture, jewelry, yard and outdoor toys, sporting and exercise equipment, RV's, motorcycles, bikes, status symbols, vacations and more. All that stuff you really don't need but it's there and you buy it. It's all part of this current age we live in and it seems so harmless, so "needable" and usable. BUT, it may be diverting your eternal rewards into the temporal for a big loss to YOU and your family. Souls are being weighed in the balance in this age. These are Jesus's own words. His own warnings to us. What we choose to do with our time and resources determines our heart's soil state and the spiritual "fruit" we produce ... and even our eternal destiny. What we value most will be known to God by what we spend our time and money on.
Then there's all that other "stuff"!
Let's move on to those impulse purchases, the "upgrades" and "extras" that get added on to the the "bigger" truck, luxury model auto, larger upgraded home and home improvements. Smartphones, services, video screens, music centers, electronics and appliances of all makes, models, types and kinds. The list of these is endless in the USA. These are things everyone else is purchasing so we think we just have to have them too. Any one of these items might pay for 1 to 5 to 10 years of reaching the lost by mail. Put together and "fasted" they might extend your Gospel message reach out 4 to 7 fold.
Do you see the math?
The intent of this message is not guilt. You are not going to deprive yourself of any of the above things for us or any other organization. It's something you need to search your own heart about, while praying and meditating in the Word of God. Why not, ask the Lord what would He do? Ask Him what would He ask you to do if your heart was willing? What does He love? Where is His heart? This is between you and Him. It's eternal stuff. He does not guilt. That is the danger of the age we live in. His voice is quieter and gentle and loving. Convicting and calling us, yet easily ignored or silenced to our own and other's eternal loss.
Scriptures
"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved" Mark 16:15-16
"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:32-34
"On hearing this, Jesus told him, You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me." Luke 18:22
"Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. ... For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world ... I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst." John 6:27,33,35
"Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings ... The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Matthew 13:7,22
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done." Matthew 16:25-27
"And He said to them, Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15
"Then He told them a parable: The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. So he thought to himself, What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops? Then he said, This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry! But God said to him, You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated? This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.” Luke 16:16-21
"Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well." Luke 12:25-26
"anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 10:38-39
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father but from the world." 1 John 2:15-16
"For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." Matthew 6:32-33
Our LORD repeatedly through direct commands, parables, teaching and His holy apostles called us to give to the poor.
Can there be any poorer persons in the universe then those who are destined to spend eternity without God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ? Who are without the knowledge of the "good news" of salvation provided by Jesus Christ. Who will be judged under the Law for their sins and sent to the eternal lake of fire. Temporal bread may be helpful but eternal bread is what is absolutely essential.
The above scriptures are provided for your meditation and reference towards your giving from your heart in love and obedience towards God within your own work for Him as He calls you. May God bless you! May you prosper in His work and Kingdom! May on that day many souls have been brought to Christ through your seed planting work and your reward and joy be great in His presence!
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