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Being a Cheerful Giver
Our hearts determine if we are abundant financial giving for God’s purposes. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says that we should decide what to give in our heart and when we do so we become cheerful givers. Our heart is the thermometer of our attitude towards giving away money. If your heart has been changed and conformed to God’s will for all areas of your life, including for your bank account, you can be a cheerful giver. Because your heart is transformed…
Believers Are Rivers of Giving
God designed every believer in Christ to be river of giving. As we send money downstream, The Lord causes a flow of wealth from upstream. 2nd Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 lay out this principle of giving financially for God’s purposes. We are givers first and receivers second. We are God’s financial river to help accomplish His purposes here on earth. This principle is totally counter to natural ways of thinking but it is supernatural in its effect in our…
Invest It, Don’t Hide It!
This week you may have looked at your 401(k) retirement plan and been discouraged with the return on your investment. You may even be considering moving your money to the ‘mattress fund’. (That’s the fund where you hide your money under your mattress thinking it’s the only way to save it.) But God is not a God of hiding anything– including your money. He’s a God of investment. His spiritual principles are principles of increase based upon the Parable of…
Trust in God’s System, Not Man’s System
The leading economic indicators in America point to a slowed economy. Whether you’re old or young, you are concerned about protecting your job and your investments today, or wondering about surviving in a future retirement scenario. Many of you have a knot in your stomach today as you ponder your financial future. The knot comes from the stress of the unknown of the economic system. It comes from placing your trust in the wrong system—man’s system. It doesn’t matter how…
Grace Extends to Finances
God’s grace for the believer extends to the area of financial giving. Giving financially is an ‘act of grace’. It reflects God’s undeserved favor extended to us by us extending it to others. We can only give abundantly as we understand how abundantly God has given to us; those who don’t deserve to have been saved by Jesus Christ. 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 tells us that we can ‘excel in the grace of giving’. Wow !! We can actually tap…
Choose Faith=Choose Life
There are many Christians today who try to live by the legal requirements of the Old Testament law. The Old Testament law relied upon good works to satisfy its thirst for human compliance. There are hundreds of dos and don’ts in the law. But Galatians Chapter 3 verse 12 says “The law is not based on faith. Do you know that if you try to live by the Old Testament law you are not living by faith?”That’s right. The only…
You Cannot Earn Salvation!
George Barna, the prominent Christian social researcher of today, found about 55% of all Americans believe they can earn salvation. This statistic includes Christians and non-Christians alike. Yet we know from Ephesians 2:8 that “It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”In other words you cannot earn salvation. Period! I don’t care how good you are, how many humanitarian…
Legalism Frustrates Grace
Today in America we find about one in ten Christians who claim they are going to heaven because they have kept the ten commandments. This is a surprising statistic given the fact that under the new covenant, we know that it is our belief in Jesus Christ that gains us eternal life. Romans 3:20 says that no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. So you may say “how could self proclaiming Christians believe this?”…
What Is Your Standard of Measurement When It Comes to Righteousness?
The Bible says in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” The kind of slavery Paul was talking about is slavery to rules and regulations for being right with God. Jesus died and was resurrected to set us free from the legal standards of measure for righteousness. You’ve probably made your own set of standards: i.e. Do this, don’t do…
Life In the Sweet Spot
As a young boy I learned to play baseball. My favorite part of the game was hitting, and we only used wood bats. Hitting a baseball with a wood bat only feels good when you make contact with the ball in the ‘sweet spot’ of the bat. Hitting the sweet spot causes the ball to travel faster, and you have a better chance of getting a hit. I learned to use the ‘sweet spot’ of the bat to drive the…
Are You in God’s Will?
Have you wondered if you’re doing what God has called you to do? The Bible says that we were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10) There is an expectation by God, that once we come to know Him we will use His blessings, gifts, grace, and power to do what we are called to do on this earth! For most of us this involves going to an…
Let Grace Pave the Way to Contentment
When life seems particularly rough, it feels like we can’t go on one more day. Many of you were driving to work this morning wondering if you can go on one more day. Well, you’re not the only one who has felt this way! Given the choice we all prefer good days and good jobs. Paul the apostle knew both. He said “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.…