“As having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor 6:10). Sometimes we excuse our evangelistic inactivity because of a shortage of funds. But the poverty of the early Christians was an asset, not a liability. As J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) points out: “A religion which turned the world upside down, while its first preachers were all poor men must needs have been from heaven. If the Apostles had possessed money to give their hearers, or been followed by armies to frighten them, an infidel might well deny that there was anything wonderful in their success. But the poverty of our Lord’s disciples cut away such arguments from beneath the infidel’s feet. With a doctrine most unpalatable to the natural heart, with nothing whatever to bribe or compel obedience­—a few lowly Galileans shook the world, and changed the face of the Roman empire. Only one thing can account for this. The gospel of Christ, which these men proclaimed, was the truth of God.”