June 23, 2024 "Genuine Offering" (2 Corinthians 9:1-8)

Genuine offering  

1 Corinthians :1-8

 

A very touchy subject is offering. We don't like to talk about money, and it is harder when the money is being offered.

 

We need to prepare our offering intentionally with an understanding that everything belongs to God. Much the same when we prepare to worship God our worship is much better. The more we prepare the better the service goes. Preparing our heart for offering or service will make a huge difference.

 

If we are prepared to make offering and our hearts are soft, then the offering will not be a burden.

 

If we believe that God is our priority, then giving an offering is a blessing. If we believe that God will provide whatever we need, then it will be able to give easily and cheerfully.

 

2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV

[6] The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  

 

It is not only money that we can give. We can give our time, our day, our service, our prayers, our lives. We need to prepare our hearts to accept God's word.

 

Is our spare time used for us or for God. Is our left-over time given to God after everything else has been done. Our meditation and Bible study should be our priority not an afterthought.

 

When we give our time ad offerings to God a genuine gratitude to God, we will be blessed

• Holy Is The Lord
• Nothing But The Blood (Plainfield)
• Resurrecting

June 16, 2024 "The Church" (Acts 13:1-3)

 

The Church

Acts 13:1-3

 

This passage describes the first overseas mission from the church in Antioch to the gentiles. This is a reflection of how the Holy Spirit works in us. There is an overflow of the Spirit to spread the gospel to others.

 

Sometimes people may ask why go overseas when there are so many people here who do not know the gospel. It is not wrong to go overseas as long as this is where God sends you. We need to be obedient to God and His spirit.

 

We can spread the Gospel to wherever God directs us. We need to spread the gospel by living our lives in a way that abides in Jesus and glorifies God.  

 

We as a church must engage in outreaches, but this does not mean that we must all become missionaries. There needs to be support from the church for outreaches. Outreaches need people to go and for people to stay.  

 

It was only Barnabas and Saul who went. The rest of the church stayed and prayed and fasted for them. In this way, everyone in the whole church was involved in the outreach.

 

Acts 13:3 ESV

[3] Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.  

• Holy Is The Lord

• How He Loves
• There Is None Like You

Jun 9, 2024 "Ancestors of Faith" (Hebrews 11:1-7)

 

Ancestors of Faith

Hebrews 11:1-7

 

Paul reminds us that without faith we cannot keep the law. The law is important and cannot be ignored; however, it is faith that we will be saved.

 

Hebrews 11:4 ESV

[4] By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.  

 

We read that there is a connection between faith and sacrifice. To understand this connection, we need to look at verse 3.

 

Hebrews 11:3 ESV

[3] By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

 

We understand that God has made everything and has given us everything. We might view God as a means to get what we want. This was not the case with Abel. Abel had faith in God and understood that God was deserving of sacrifice and so he was grateful when he sacrificed.

 

Hebrews 11:5 ESV

[5] By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

 

Enoch had so much faith that he went to heaven without experiencing death. Enoch was commended as one who pleased God.  

 

We will experience physical death but because of Jesus' sacrifice we will not experience a spiritual death. If we abide in Jesus, we will live a pleasing life to God. It will be obvious to God and to others. We will abide in Jesus and follow our calling.

 

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

[7] By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

 

Noah heard God's calling and followed God's instructions. He lived for God and did what we was told for 120 years.  

 

We have been called to be what we are doing. It was not the job that is important but how we did it. If we have genuine faith we will spread the gospel. Spreading the gospel is a natural response to God's grace.

 

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

[1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  

 

Faith is assurance of things hoped for and our confidence is the reality of our faith. Faith is seeing God's plan realized. A life of faith is living by responding to God's promises and knowing God will judge.

 

True faith shapes our actions. Our lives are testaments to others.

• King Of My Heart
• Good Grace
• What A Beautiful Name
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June 2, 2024 "Fulfilling the Law" (Romans 3:23-28)

Fulfilling the Law
Romans 3:23-28
 
In the Old Testament, the law is emphasized. In the New Testament, Jesus emphasizes faith. However, Jesus never came to remove the law, but to fulfill it and bring a new covenant.  
 
The law is like a manual. We need to follow the law so as to not damage ourselves and our relationship with God. After sin entered the world, God restored our brokenness, but we still need to follow the law.
 
Romans 3:27 ESV
[27]  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.  
 
Paul is not suggesting that we need to only follow faith. Paul is addressing the legalistic Jews who argue that only the Law could save.  
 
Romans 3:23-24 ESV
[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,  
 
The only way you can be saved is grace.
 
Romans 3:8 ESV
[8] And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.  
 
We do not need to sin so grace will come. Only sinners can receive grace and only grace can make us righteousness. We do not need to sin to experience grace, we are all sinners.  
 
If you do not have faith, you cannot keep the law. True faith will bring about genuine response to the law.
 
Matthew 5:17-18 ESV
[17]  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  
 
If someone truly has faith, they would work towards fulfilling the law in gratitude of the grace. It is faith that encourages us to follow the law. We will want to serve God and expand His kingdom.  

• King of Kings
• Goodness Of God
• God You're So Good