While sitting in a coffee shop in Taipa, I picked up a Reader’s Digest belonging to the shop.

Reading the article “News worth sharing,” (Reader’s Digest, October 2018), reminded me again that I have really news worth sharing.

The article “News worth sharing” contained three short news items, which I wrote down on a small paper bag from the shop with a borrowed pen. One item told the reader about a New Zealand Company and their successful Four-Day week. The second item was about an honest taxi driver, who returned an excessive “Tip”. The third item I cannot make out properly because of my handwriting, but it was something about robots.

The news worth sharing I have we find in the Bible.

A dictionary defines the ‘gospel’ as the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. And in Romans 1:16,17 the Apostle Paul says:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

With great interest I read actually the three items in the Reader’s Digest and I think they were really worth sharing.

But all the news we read about and hear about will soon be forgotten, but the Gospel, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, will never pass away. Matthew 24:35 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

The gospel is not only worth sharing, the Gospel must be shared. Are we sharing the Gospel?

Reading about the mission of the Waipu Cove Surf Life Saving Club, “to help spread the word about water safety, and try to help prevent people drowning and getting into trouble at the beach or any other ‘water space,'” in our local paper, The Northland Age, Thursday, January 17, 2019, brought to my mind the mission of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 4:19)

The mission of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ is to help spread the word about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, about the Bible, about Salvation, etc.

Some Lessons about Salvation are the new birth, faith, repentance, forgiveness, etc.

And what happens when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? The moment a sinner accepts the Lord Jesus Christ many things are happening, things in relation to God the Father, to God the Son, to God the Holy Spirit, to sin, to Satan and to others.

Of course, “to help spread the word about water safety” is important, but I think to help spread the word about what the Bible says is more important than anything else.

That’s why I went as a missionary to Thailand.

We can learn from sunflowers.

“Tournesol” is the French word for sunflower. The meaning of “tournesol” is “turns with the sun.” Seeking out the sun and facing the sun, is what sunflowers do. They do that in their bud phase and heliotropism is this trait of the sunflower called.

The Bible teaches in Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield, the LORD bestows favor and honor.” And in Malachi 4:2 we read, “But for you, who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”

Throughout the Bible many wonderful names and titles are ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Sun of righteousness is one.

I don’t know if you are familiar with the hymn “SUN OF MY SOUL?” Here is the first verse:

“Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear, it is not night if Thou be near; O may no earth-born cloud arise to hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes.”

Read also Matthew 17:2 and Revelation 1:16.

Just as sunflowers are literally seeking out the sun (the star that is source of heat and light for the planets in the solar system), and facing the sun, let us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ seek the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness, as we are commanded in Psalm 105:4 and as David did in Psalm 27:8.

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” – Abraham Lincoln

“My mother is my rock whom I admire immensely,” I am reading in an article called “The best move a family can make,” (HUMANS OF KAITAIA), in our local paper, The Northland Age, Thursday, February 7, 2019.

I am a reader of the Bible and reading that brings straight away “My Rock” to my mind.

In Psalm 40:2 David says that the LORD set his feet on a rock and gave him a firm place to stand. In Psalm 18:2 David says also that the LORD is not only his rock in whom he takes refuge, but that he is also his “fortress” and his “deliverer,” his “shield,” the horn of his salvation and his “stronghold.”

I can also say with David, “The LORD is my rock.” What about you? Do you have a rock to stand on?

In Isaiah 26:4 we read, “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.”

The writer of the article “The best move a family can make,” tells us also what the rock whom she admires immensely, has taught her. And just as she tells us what her “rock” has taught her, I can tell you what “My Rock”, the Lord Jesus Christ, has taught me over the years.

“Wenn wir wirklich an die Liebe und Allmacht Gottes glauben, brauchen wir keine Angst zu haben, dass wir etwas, das er und zugedacht hat, nicht bekommen werden.” – Watchman Nee