Every Christian in America has some minimal responsibility to get involved in helping the poor brethren in the church in other countries.

The lesson is obvious. True missionaries concentrate on doing the work of Mark 16:15 rather than operating social-welfare programs. True missionaries serve the message of Christ, not the institutions of the church.

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages". To that, Calvert replied, "We died before we came here". Believers who have the Gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story.

Lifting your eyes from the things of this world is an activity that must begin WHERE YOU ARE.

The most important factor in abandoning our thoughts is to look in the Bible and see what God says about a matter. Then we must determine to act on His Word rather than on our own thoughts or those the devil may whisper into our minds.

Love was the bedrock of Jesus' life, the very reason He came to seek and save the lost.

All too often, it seems, we're willing to be students of Christianity rather than disciples of Christ.