Dear Christian friends:

God wants your heart and your love. "My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways"(Proverbs 23:26) Sometimes people think the church only wants my money they don't want me. Same with Faith Forward. Just another trick or plan to get our money. People are suspicious. They were suspicious of Paul also.

God doesn't want your money and service without your heart. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." (Matthew 15:8) Faith Forward is a plan to help all of us grow in faith and love and cheerful service.

We ought to be glad to surrender our heart to Him. Show a picture of the prodigal son. Explain (Luke 15) Show picture of a modern son and father. Show a picture of the evil eye. How we appear to God: evil eye of pride and vanity; greedy eye; lustful eye; jealous eye; hateful eye; vengeful eye; race-hating eye; mocking eye mocking and hating God; rebellious eye; ugly eye.

But God loved you and pitied you with your ugly sinful eye and heart. He sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross to pay for all our ugly sins. He by His word calls us to sorrow and change and offers us full and free forgiveness.

We have turned our backs on God, but He calls with great mercy and love, Come Back! (Show picture) He seeks the lost sheep. Have you heard His gentle call? Have you turned from the way of sin and come again to your heavenly Father, confessing your sins and trusting in Jesus' blood for forgiveness and life with God? If you have not, do it today before it is to late. You may not have another chance to come back.

And you who say that you have come back to God, are you sure? Do you really sorrow about your sins and want to stop sinning? Do you really believe in Jesus Christ? Now is the time to answer that question and make sure. Don't excuse your laziness and failures. Don't argue that you are right. But with a honest heart confess and believe.

He wants you for His mission. If you have really come back to God by sorrow and faith in Jesus Christ, then He has a mission for you and you will gladly accept that mission. What is that mission? To go and call other sinners to come back. The mission is missions. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" (Matthew 28:19)

If you believe in your heart in Jesus Christ, can you say, "No" to Him? Jesus has first loved you and He wants to love others through you. One Christian who caught that idea wrote a song, "Lord, Lay Some Soul Upon My Heart."

Lord, lay some soul upon my heart,
And love that soul through me;
And may I bravely do my part
To win that soul for Thee.

I hope you catch that idea today, too. God wants you and He wants others through you. He could send angels. He could come Himself. But He has decided to use you. And as you let God love you and use you to love others and forgive others through you, you will see that your faith goes forward and grows stronger and stronger.

God in His wisdom uses you in His mission. That is His way of helping you to practice and exercise your faith and love. Children never appreciate their parents until they get married and have children. Then they begin to understand how much love and care and work and sacrifice their parents did for them. So it is with the children of God. You will never appreciate or understand your heavenly Father's love until you try to love other sinners and forgive them as we do in church work and missions.

That is why it is very important for us to let God use us in His mission to others. While we help others we are chiefly helping ourselves.

During the next three months on Sunday we will hear a short talk from this book to let us know how God wants to love others through us. We will see that we are God's heart, God's voice, God's signs, God's hands and feet to love a sick and dying world, to bring it salvation and life everlasting.

Amen.