Issue #35: What If Giving Is for Your Good? 🤲🏼

Hello friend. So much of the Christian life can feel like a tug-of-war between desire and fear. You want to live generously, pray boldly, maybe even take risks for the sake of the gospel—but then money feels tight, the future feels uncertain, and it’s easier to pull back and play it safe.

Into all of that, God doesn’t just command. He promises. 

He promises to be with his children, to supply what we truly need, to use even our weakness, and to bring people from every nation into his family. He sees believers in places like Sri Lanka and Vietnam where following Jesus is costly, and he sees you as you decide what to do with your own comfort, time, and resources.

You’re not trying to impress a distant boss. You’re trusting a faithful Father. 

When we rest on his promises, generosity stops feeling like loss, and obedience—big or small—starts to look like what it really is: confidence that God will do exactly what he said he would.

In today’s edition:

☑️ How deep-rooted traditions in Sri Lanka can’t stop God from drawing people to himself.

☑️ Why radical generosity isn’t just good for the nations—it’s good for your soul.

☑️ How quiet house churches in Vietnam are training courageous leaders where following Jesus is costly.

When Tradition Blocks the Truth 🇱🇰

Sri Lanka is a land of striking beauty—and deep spiritual darkness. Known for its Buddhist traditions, most of its 21 million people live and die without ever hearing the name of Jesus. 

A small minority of believers is scattered across the island, while whole people groups remain unreached, held back by centuries of religious customs, language barriers, and suspicion toward Christianity. 

The gospel often advances slowly in places bound by tradition, but God’s mission cannot be stopped. 

How to Pray:

🙏🏼 Pray for Sri Lankan believers to remain steadfast, sharing Christ with compassion even when it costs them socially or economically.

🙏🏼 Pray for Scripture to be translated, taught, and lived out in local languages so families far from urban centers can encounter Jesus. 

🙏🏼 Pray for God’s Spirit to break through cultural barriers, planting new and faithful churches in hard places.

Give for Your Own Good 🤲🏼

When it comes to the subject of giving, we almost always focus on how others will benefit when we give. And that’s true. 

When you give, for example, to the spread of the gospel to unreached people, that leads to indescribable good for people (and entire people groups!) around the world. But what if radical giving is not just indescribably good for them? 

What if radical giving is indescribably good for you?

I love this part about Jesus’ conversation with the rich young man in Mark 10.

The man asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” This man clearly wants that which is good (eternally good!) for his life. 

So Jesus answers him, “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

When we first read these words, we hear them as a call to sacrifice. A costly call to let go of something. But look at Jesus’ words closer. 

He’s offering him an invitation to gain something—and something amazing, at that!

Jesus is inviting this man to follow Him, and think about who He is. 

He is the infinitely good, all loving, all satisfying Creator of our lives who knows what is best for our lives and promises to provide us with everything we need. And Jesus is not just calling this man to follow him on this earth. 

He’s calling this man to experience treasure for all of eternity.

When you realize what Jesus is offering this man, you realize this is an irresistible offer! It’s the most basic principle of investing. 

If you have a stock that will yield a little treasure for a little time, and another stock that will yield a lot of treasure for a lot of time, in which stock do you invest?

God, help us to apply the most simple financial sense to what matters most in our lives!

God has given you and me resources. He has invited us to follow Jesus and to use the resources he has entrusted to us (reminder: He owns them all!). He has called us to make him known all around the world—in ways that will lead to good for countless people around the world, and in ways that will lead to good for us, now and for all of eternity.

It sounds like an infinitely wise investment. Let’s not miss out on it.

—David Platt

Quiet Churches, Costly Faith 🇻🇳

Vietnam is home to more than 100 million people, where Buddhist and animist traditions still shape much of daily life. 

Around 8% of the population identifies as Christian, but many Vietnamese still haven’t heard a clear gospel message—and in rural and tribal areas, believers often face surveillance, harassment, or even imprisonment for following Jesus. Many churches meet quietly in homes, trusting God to grow his kingdom in hidden places.

In one unreached city in Southeast Asia, Radical is working alongside a local church that is training and mentoring young Vietnamese interns to plant healthy, gospel-centered churches in their own neighborhoods. 

At the same time, we’re helping equip pastors and leaders across the region—through workshops and online courses—to teach God’s Word faithfully, even when it comes at a cost.

These are small, steady steps. God is using them to spread the hope of Christ in places where fear and old beliefs still run deep.

How to Pray:

🙏🏼 Pray for strength and boldness for house church leaders who risk persecution to shepherd their people.

🙏🏼 Pray for the gospel to take root in rural communities where animist practices still dominate daily life.

🙏🏼 Pray for more Vietnamese believers to be grounded in sound teaching and courageously share Christ with their neighbors.

📍 Attention Worthy

• Mission work needs more than gifted personalities. See why character, conviction, and endurance are essential when assessing potential missionaries.

• What's best for the kids isn’t always what we think it is. Explore how trusting Jesus with their children can free families to take bold steps for the sake of the gospel.

• Disciple-making is more than information transfer. Learn how teaching Jesus’ commands must be joined with spiritual formation and growth in Christlike character.