We all invest for future returns.

Most investment professionals will tell you, “past results are not always predictive of future returns.” While often — at the very same time — they are highlighting the recent consistent performance of their recommended investments.

It’s true that we should all evaluate certain criteria of those we invest with and what we invest in. Consistency, character, purpose, creativity, and projected impact are important to consider in all of our investment decisions.

It’s important to invest in and with credible people and worthy projects; however, we often minimize one very important factor: timing — specifically, the length of time for the potential return.

We often fail to consider the ultimate credible Source of all things and His guarantee of future results.  

Most people want future results, but we often stop short — way short — of aligning with guaranteed future results.

You may ask, how can we know if future results are guaranteed?

One Who Promises Never Fails — Guaranteed!

The ultimate investment strategy is to invest alongside the purpose and plans of the God who never fails.

What if we all invested exactly the way we are told to pray?

Our Father, you are in heaven, holy is your Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…

This is a perfect investment strategy!

God is completely serious about this investment strategy for every possible investment situation whether it is — economic, governmental, artistic, educational, or relational.

In fact, God is so serious, He keeps giving us opportunities to start over and do it right.

He is a God who keeps allowing us to start over. Consider some of our great start-over witnesses: Noah, Abraham, Ruth, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, the Samaritan woman at the well, Peter, Paul, you, and me.

Thanks to the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we all have the opportunity for new life which comes with continual opportunities to start over.  

We all have start-over opportunities daily for our investments in our life and work. His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), and every time we need to start over, it’s a new morning.

3 Living Examples

Let’s explore three living examples of investments with guaranteed results…

1. Noah was a man God used to start over in an enormous way. Noah invested all he had in building the Ark — obeying God — so that His family could live and Creation could get the restart God planned / purposed from the very beginning.
2. Ken Ham invested in The Ark Encounter, as part of his Answers in Genesis ministry so that people everywhere could know the truth about how God works, by building a replica that proves creation could start over this way.
3. The true story of Noah and the Ark Encounter investment by Ken Ham have together given me the opportunity to invest in my family, so that they can be sure the stories in the Bible are real and the promises of God are true.

All three of these examples are imperfect, carried out by imperfect people, but God uses their imperfections to point people to His perfect and pleasing will (Romans 12:2) for all things.

Case Study

In this article, we are going to look at the theology of history pointing to future perfect results in a sermon given by John Piper. The sermon, titled “God’s Covenant with Noah”, was given by Piper in 1983.  

Piper explains, “If you don't believe in a God who is powerfully involved in history, then the only explanation of events you will look for are past causes, not future purposes. But as soon as you reckon with the God of the Bible, tomorrow will always be part of today's explanation.”

Here are Piper’s major takeaways with some practical application for our current investment decisions.

1. The Human Heart Is Very Wicked

"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  - [.no-reftag]Genesis 6:5[.no-reftag]

“Verse 11 shows that all this inward evil was breaking out everywhere: ‘Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.’

The reason Noah was spared was because he ‘found grace in the eyes of the Lord.’ Noah was not without sin, but he found favor with God because ‘he walked with God’ (6:9): he agreed with God about the evil of his own sin, turned from it, and trusted God for grace. He is called righteous and blameless. A righteous man is a sinner who hates his sin, turns from it, trusts God, pursues obedience, and enjoys acceptance by grace. (See Psalm 32:1–2, 10–11.)” - John Piper

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In these three examples, for each investment application, it’s important to remember that clarity from God guides obedience. The further we are removed from the direct Source, the more there is need for interpretation. God's word, spoken and written, is direct from the Source (2 Timothy 3:16).

• Noah heard directly from God and accepted a call on His life to be part of a renewed creation. Noah spent decades building the Ark — enduring unprecedented difficulties and extreme labor, experiencing personal doubt and likely ridicule by following God’s perfect plan down to the last detail. His obedience is not only a shining example for all future generations; His obedience provided a new way for creation — including you and me — to exist.

“'So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.  I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.  But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.' Noah did everything just as God commanded him." - [.no-reftag]Genesis 6:14-22[.no-reftag]

• Ken Ham accepted a call on His life to prove the Bible was true and started a ministry called Answers in Genesis to help renew creation. Ken used the information available to him in the Bible, and spent decades and over 100 million dollars building the Ark Encounter — facing unprecedented difficulties with never-done-before work, experiencing personal doubt and much ridicule by attempting to show others what God did in His perfect plan. Ken Ham with Answers in Genesis considered twelve different possible lengths for the biblical cubit, and AiG chose to use a length of 20.1 inches (51 cm); this produced plans for an ark measuring 510 feet (155 m) long, 85 feet (26 m) wide, and 51 feet (16 m) high.

• I accepted a call on my life to lead my family to know and trust God and assist them in being part of the renewed creation. I witnessed what Ken Ham built and was amazed. And I believed this was an excellent resource to guide me and my family in understanding how the Bible is true and without error, so we decided to spend a few dollars and a spring break in order to experience this part of the Bible made to scale.

2. God's Patience Does Come to an End

“The second lesson of the flood is that God's patience does come to an end and he destroys unrepentant sinners. According to [.no-reftag]Genesis 6:7-17[.no-reftag], ‘The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them . . . for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall die."’

When Jesus came into the world, he taught the same thing about sin, only he made the punishment eternal. ‘If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.’ - [.no-reftag]Matthew 18:8[.no-reftag]

God's flood and God's Son teach the same lesson: God hates sin and punishes unrepentant sinners with unspeakable judgment.” - John Piper

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• Noah trusted God and knew that not following God’s direct instruction would lead to death for himself and his family.  Noah received confirmation from God that his investment was working as the actual dimensions started to take shape into the enormous rescue boat God promised.

• Ken Ham trusted God and knew that not following God’s guidance could lead to death for him and for those he was called to teach. Ken started studying the details of God’s word and discovered the investment idea was feasible and that it was possible to bring the history of Noah and the flood to life.

• I trusted God’s word and knew it was my responsibility to teach others, especially my family. I knew that all types of disobedience can lead to death. I became excited about the prospects for the investment of our vacation to see God’s word on a true physical scale.

3. God Does Not Surrender His Purposes for Man

“The third lesson from the flood, namely, that in spite of man's intolerable sinfulness God does not surrender his purpose in creating man. . . to fill the earth with God's glory reflected in man's faith and righteousness. Therefore, he preserves one righteous man and his family and gives him the duty and blessing of filling the earth again.

Notice how [.no-reftag]Genesis 9:1[.no-reftag] is the same mission given to Adam in 1:28: ‘God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”’ - John Piper

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• Noah's investment paid off! Creation was reborn and God established a new covenant with Noah, providing the sign of the rainbow we all still see today (Genesis 9: 7-17). Noah became one of the great witnesses of our faith in God.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. - [.no-reftag]Hebrews 11:7[.no-reftag]

• Ken Ham’s investment has paid off with approximately 800,000 visitors annually. Answers in Genesis and The Ark Encounter are expanding to reach more people in additional ways. The Ark Encounter has been repeatedly named best religious museum in the United States, by USA Today’s Readers Choice Awards. Ken Ham is a respected and often cited biblical apologist

"'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.'” - [.no-reftag]Luke 19:17[.no-reftag]

• I have had the incredible blessing of participating with my family as we grow in knowledge of God’s word and trust in God’s perfect promises.

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." - [.no-reftag]3 John 1:4[.no-reftag]

What about you?

You have a perfect way to make investments too. We all do.

You see, investments don’t have to be $100 million or take decades. Most of our investment decisions are right here in front of us. Many times, investments are the people God has given us to lead.

We do need to align all of our investments with God’s future guaranteed results. To work any other way is foolish and causes us and those around us to stumble (Matthew 5:30). We should cut fruitless investments off now (John 15:4). Jesus is our always-available investment partner, and He commands us to bear much fruit.

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit — fruit that will last — and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” - [.no-reftag]John 15:16-17[.no-reftag]

Our Father, you are in heaven, holy is your Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…

Let’s invest this way!

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Resources:

Video: "Invest with Confidence in Guaranteed Future Results" | Howard Graham

Article: "Made to Create Value"

Video: "The Way to Add Value" | Howard Graham

Article: "Work — So That Your Joy Is Complete"

Sermon: "God’s Covenant with Noah" | John Piper

Ark Encounter

Answer in Genesis