God Giveth the Increase

The Apostle Paul was a diligent distributer of the Gospel truth, but he understood the spiritual dynamic of God’s involvement in the ministry. The Church at Corinth was disputing over favorite ministry personalities and Paul was one of them. In his attempt to squelch their division and improve their spiritual awareness, Paul explained the most important factor in all of ministry… God giveth the increase! (1 Corinthians 3:4-10)

So what does that mean? It means… We preach the Word and God giveth the increase; we go into all the world and preach the Gospel and God giveth the increase; we baptize and God giveth the increase; we teach them to observe all things whatsoever He has commanded us and God giveth the increase. We go into the highways and hedges and God giveth the increase; we compel them to come in but God giveth the increase; we preach the Gospel to every creature but God giveth the increase!

It means… We go forth with weeping bearing precious seed and God giveth the increase; we speak the truth in love and God giveth the increase; we speak the Word with all boldness but God giveth the increase; we reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine but God giveth the increase. We sow in hope because we know God giveth the increase; we sow bountifully because God giveth the increase; we work for the night is coming and God giveth the increase; we labor more abundantly because God giveth the increase.

And it means… We watch and pray but God giveth the increase; we pray with all prayer and supplication knowing that God giveth the increase; we pray without ceasing and God giveth the increase. At times we give ourselves to prayer and fasting and God giveth the increase; we make our requests with joy because God giveth the increase.

It also means… We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ and God giveth the increase; we commit truth to faithful men who teach others also and God giveth the increase. We know His Word won’t return void because God giveth the increase; we know our labor is not in vain because God giveth the increase; we can do all things through Christ because God giveth the increase; without Him we can do nothing because God giveth the increase!