The Good News

On December 16, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Malachi 3: 10 – 11

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts.

I promised you good news last Monday. Last week’s message was pretty hard and the whole topic is uncomfortable for some folks, BUT here is the good news, and don’t you know that the gospel is Good News? Everything God said is for our benefit.

So now this section of Malachi 3 is just as loud to me as last week’s passage. God comes right out and tells us why He has made this requirement. And that is not like God. He doesn’t usually tell us why He wants us to do a thing. We are supposed to just trust Him and do as He says. He tells us here that we are the ones that supply His house.

Then, no sooner does He gets these words out of His mouth than He starts making some BIG promises: 1) He will open the windows of heaven for you, 2) He will pour out a blessing on you so huge that you will not be able to contain it and, 3) He will rebuke the devourer for you. Now, any one of those is enough but all three is really above and beyond.

I want you to see and understand that the promises He makes are part of the same sentence as the dictate to bring the tithe into the church and the explanation of why He gave the directive in the first place. In other words, in the same breath He starts telling you about the benefit to you when you stock the storehouse of God. The reason these are all together is that provision for you is the reason He wants you to give in the first place. He is telling you something for your own good. He is so adamant about this that He invites you to test Him in this. Isn’t that remarkable? Wow! God wants you to put Him to the test. He wants to bless you, and He wants to protect your seed and your harvest. He is trying to show you how His kingdom operates. He is trying to get you to let Him into your finances so that He can be the cultivator and protector of your harvest.

You see, we are in covenant with God. When you take care of the finances of His house, you have just invited and given permission to Him to take care of the finances of your house. It really is that simple. That is what He is trying to get over to us. He is trying to get something to you, not something from you. He wants to stand in your garden and protect it from the devourer. You have sown seed when you give into God’s house, so you are due a harvest. He is going to watch over that crop until the harvest if full and ripe. That is what it means when he says your vines won’t cast their grapes or fruit. Fruit which has fallen off of the vine is no good. It needs to stay on the vine until it is ripe, receiving nutrients, and then it is picked at the height of maturity.

If we could really grasp this, I mean really get it down into our hearts and into our understanding, we would never hesitate to give to God. No, we would give with great joy and excitement. When you are a tither, you can make a demand on God’s resources. When hard economic times come, you know with confidence that your harvest is protected by God. You will increase while others decrease because your wealth is tied to God rather than to the economy. If something bad heads in your direction, you will have the boldness to stand strong in the promises of God. You won’t have to ask God about your finances. That is already handled. You will just stand firm with that shield of faith out in front of you declaring and decreeing the Word of God.

So tithing is good news. Tithing is good for you. It was designed to bless you and protect your finances. It is part of God’s kingdom resources. You need to be a tither today more than anytime in the past. I know it is tough when you first start, but start. Get involved in God’s economic system. Don’t let another day go by that you don’t tell God you want in. If you don’t have an income, find something, anything to sow into His kingdom. You can always give time. You can probably find something of value in your house that will really bless someone else. Just do whatever you need to do in order to become part of God’s economy. Get in on His system today.

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Favorable Conditions

On November 11, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Exodus 3: 21; 12: 35 – 36, Psalm 105: 37

And I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty handed (Exodus 3: 21). Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians (Exodus 12: 35-36). Then He brought them out with silver and gold (Psalm 105: 37).

I am showing you these three verses to demonstrate just how separate your finances are from those of the world and why you should not connect your fortunes to those of the world.

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Yet the time came for them to leave and God sent Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. Being slaves, though, they had not accumulated for themselves wealth. None the less, God promised them that when they left Egypt, they would take the wealth of Egypt with them. Sure enough, when they left Egypt, they took silver, gold, articles of clothing and jewelry and large herds of livestock with them.

How did they go from slaves one day to wealthy the next? It was the favor of God. Exodus 12 says that God gave them favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. This was a big deal. Can you imagine giving all of your wealth to your slaves? It wasn’t enough that the Egyptians lost all their slaves but also the slaves left with immense wealth.

We have so much in common with those ancient Israelites. We too have been enslaved. We have been slaves to a world economic system that has broken our backs. But like the Israelites, God has ordered us to be freed. What I really want you to see is that when economics failed the Egyptians, the Israelites were improved. The Israelites were not tied to the economy of the Egyptians. When the Egyptians were doing well, the Israelites certainly were not. So, a booming economy in the land of Egypt was not benefiting Israel even though the Israelites lived in Egypt. Are you seeing this? Then when God sent His people out of Egypt, they carried the wealth of Egypt out with them. You see, when the world’s economy is failing, you do not have to fail with it. God has separated you out. Further, I really believe you should arise and succeed in such times even as the Israelites fared well while Egypt was emptying itself.

When Egypt was enjoying great wealth, it was really wealth that was created by the Israelites. The wealth of the land was tied to the labor of the Israelites. Then there was a realignment. The wealth of Egypt became the prosperity of Israel. Well, in the same way that the Father was looking after the Israelites, He has been watching over you. He has wealth stored up for you. Don’t look at what is happening in the world’s economy unless that is the system that you want to be a part of. Look to God who has been laying up treasure for you all along. He has unlimited resources with which to bless you. Don’t watch the evening news and expect to hear anything that relates to you and your condition. Just because you live in Egypt does not mean that you are a part of Egypt’s system. I tell you that you are not. Your news broadcast is called “The Good News” and it is broadcast everyday, all day between Genesis and Revelation. If you want to know what is happening in your economy, then you’ve got to read the book. God is telling you what to expect and believe me, it is the Good News Report. Hallelujah! When the world system fails, look to heaven because maybe, just maybe, it is about to rain manna from heaven for you just like it did for the Israelites.

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Broke and Busted

On May 22, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 10: 17 – 21

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Not all of what we believe in our Christian walk comes from the teachings of Jesus or from the Bible. We are informed and influenced by what other Christians believe, especially our friends and acquaintances. We are certainly influenced by Christian culture and even things we hear from popular culture. As time moves on, some of those “beliefs” move further and further away from Biblical truth. As this happens, it even becomes harder to see what is in the scripture. I want to share an example of that with you today.

You may be familiar with this passage, but what does it say to you today? There are many thoughts worth pondering. One of the lessons we can take away from this passage is about Jesus financial well-being.

It is popular to paint Jesus as broke and busted. Obviously, if we buy into that misinformation, it will become very hard for us to pray to him about our finances with any faith. How can Jesus help us in our finances if he couldn’t help himself? I don’t generally take advice from people who haven’t succeeded on the path I am travelling. Would you expect me to get cycling advice from someone who hasn’t been on a bike since they were a child? Of course not, and you wouldn’t do that in any area of your life either. Why, then, would I go to Jesus for help and advice on my finances if he spent his years on earth broke? There really is a great deal of evidence to the contrary but just look at this passage today.

The rich, young ruler went to Jesus asking for the secret to eternal life. The actual answer Jesus gave him (look closely and you will see it) was, “Follow me!” There was something in the way of this young man following Jesus though. His wealth was a hindrance to his faith walk. So, Jesus said, sell your possessions, give to the poor and come, follow me. Now, here is the question this presents. If Jesus was broke, why didn’t he have the young man put that wealth in to his own ministry? Do we think Jesus told the man to give his money to the poor and then went to the temple to beg for his own needs.

Here is another brief example. In Matthew 26 we read the story of the woman who poured an entire bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. No doubt, the apostles complained at the expense and lamented over all they could have done with the money represented by that jar of perfume. However, if they were broke, if Jesus didn’t have the means to pay his staff and feed his team, don’t you think this story would have been different? Surely, this woman was a benefactor of his ministry, as were others. Is this her first and only gift? Did those who followed him not support him. Was he a man of such little faith that he couldn’t appeal to his heavenly father?

There is a romantic version of Jesus being born in poverty and living his entire life in rags, denied the simplest of needs. However, that is all it is, a romanticized version of the real Christ. When he died, the soldiers cast lots for his clothing. They wouldn’t have done that for rags.

It is important that we continuously go back and tie our theology back to the Bible. When we don’t read the Word for ourselves, it is easy to get led down wrong paths. We are very fortunate to have access to the Word. We need to continually refresh our minds to the Word so that we will be well grounded and sure.

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Called

On February 27, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 45: 2 – 3

“I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.”

What is most exciting here, that God will smooth out the rough places, give you hidden wealth or that you are called by name? One exciting bit is that God is willing to prove by these measures that you are called by Him and for Him. He doesn’t call you as a servant then leave you to your own devices. It is by His strength and His power that accomplishments are made. God is willing to give you attesting miracles to prove, not that He is almighty God, but that you are called by name. That’s pretty exciting! He will validate your calling with Him signs.

This is also a good verse to think of when you are faced with a big project. When God first spoke these words, He spoke literally about rough places and doors of bronze. Those were the obstacles of the day. Today your rough places aren’t quite as literal and Father doesn’t need to shatter strong doors for you but still, isn’t this attractive? You will not have to endure closed doors and God will make the way smooth for you. By prospering you, He shows Himself. God, Himself, becomes your attesting witness.

You should expect to be blessed. You should expect favor. You should expect to be successful in everything you do because He has promised to bless the work of your hand. God isn’t looking for downtrodden Christians. He wants to show off so that everyone knows that you have been called by the God of Israel, the Almighty Lord and that He is well able to care for His own, and in style.

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Reliance

On October 23, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Timothy 6: 17          GW

Tell those who have the riches of this world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, they should place their confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

This is one of the greatest challenges of wealth, trusting in it rather than trusting in God. This is the story of the rich, young ruler. Jesus invited him to join the team but instructed that first he should go sell what he had and give to the poor. That is where the young ruler stumbled.

Has God ever asked you to give something away? Did you stumble? If so, why do think it was hard for you. I find some of us become very connected to our “stuff.” Others of us find our security in those items. Sometimes we hang on to things because we do not trust that we will have the resources for a later need. That is a sure indication that we are relying on our ability to meet our needs. Trusting in riches can be a problem for people who have wealth, but it can also hamper those without much money. The same reliance issue affects people in each group.

There is also a group who think they are safe and secure because they have money. They don’t realize that the only true security any of us have is in Yahweh. Everything else is transitory. These are the folks who can become arrogant in their wealth. They feel untouchable because they think money can insulate them from problems. It certainly can help fix some problems, but it often brings on others.

If our reliance is on the money we have or even in the money we hope to have, eventually we will be disappointed. As Christians, we need to learn to lean on God 100% rather than relying on our ability to generate an income or to meet our own needs. We should learn to sow generously expecting God to increase our harvest. We can learn to listen to his guidance on money management and disbursement. It is a challenge but one each of us should ponder. How much do you rely on God versus placing your confidence in riches? Think about that question and decide if you need a shift in your focus.

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Choked

On March 14, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 13: 22

And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Today we learn about another response people have to the Word which is sown in them. Some are deceived by what the world has to offer and full of fear and worry. These people choke on the Word because it stands in opposition to the lure of the world’s pleasures and troubles.

We confronted, earlier in the week, the need to consider Christians as we read these passages; not only Christians generally, but specifically ourselves. Today the question might be, “Is the Word getting choked off in my life?”

In my own mind, I read this even a bit broader than we read here. The reason is that there is another part of our culture which chokes the word. That is the “wisdom” of the world. So, there is the deceitfulness of riches, the worry of the world, and the information we are fed through worldly outlets. This latter is a large category. We are bombarded with information. Much of that information contradicts the Word of God. So, as we assimilate all this data directed at us, it pushes out the Word. We believe the doctor’s report, are terror filled by the evening news, are co-opted by television shows, besieged by advertisements and all of that doesn’t even consider the internet and our friends and family. We see that there is a constant cavalcade of input which denies the Word of God. It doesn’t take long before we believe what we hear day and night from the world instead of believing the Word. The Word gets choked so that it withers.

To compound the problem, most of us don’t get enough of God’s Word to begin with. For example, how long do you expect to live? What does the Word say? You see, it speaks to that. Are you healed or are you sick? Is prosperity your destiny or merely a distraction and a deception?

I will tell you another source of misinformation. Our churches. I say this because some well-meaning congregation member may quote you this scripture concluding that having financial wealth is a sin or against the Word. That is not true, and their conclusion is not supported by scripture. It’s what you think about riches, or wealth, that is problematic. The deceitfulness occurs when we conceive money as our means of support. When we consider it the answer to our financial problems, we have just run afoul of the Word. God is our source. Period. We may trade in dollars, Yen or Euros but our beloved Father is the one who provides.

The point Jesus intends us to glean from today’s passage is that we can be separated from the Word and secondly, when we do, we become unfruitful. I am sure no one wants to be called unfruitful by Jesus. Therefore, we must guard our hearts because, as we learned on Tuesday, the soil of which Jesus speaks, is our own heart. We must filter this endless salvo of information through the filter of God’s Word. That means we must read it. There is no getting around it though we try. We need to know what the Word says so that we can stake our tent on that ground and then everything which contradicts it, we can reject. In this way, we protect ourselves from being deceived.

We are meant to produce fruit but there is no fruit apart from the Word. Our Lord sows the Word in us. What we do with it determines how fruitful we shall be.

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Covenant Keeper

On January 4, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 8: 18

But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

The book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ swan song, if you will. The Israelites were poised on the banks of the Jordan, ready to cross over into the promised land. This marks the end of Moses’ ministry and life. This book also represents a contract, or covenant, between God and His people. You can see that in the language of today’s verse. God reminds His people of the promises He made them and which He desires to see fulfilled in their lives.

God means to confirm His promises and His covenant to us as well. Every day we have the opportunity to cross over from the desert into the land of promise and Father wants us receive the benefits of His promises as a confirmation to all people that He is an awesome God. He wishes to bless us at least as much as we desire to have blessing flow through our lives.

At what point, though, did it become taboo to expect God to keep His word regarding wealth? The language is perfectly clear in this passage that God, Himself, is giving us power to make wealth. Sure, His design is that we do that, not in our own strength but, in unity with Him, but it is through this display of His goodness that all people will see His glory.

We have a role in this, though. We must first believe that it is God’s will to make wealth in our lives. Second, if we don’t receive this promise or its fruit, then God will appear to be an oath breaker.

For many years the church has wallowed in the false piety of poverty. We have charged God with the guilt of our sicknesses and with every other misfortune of life. The church has made excuses for failure rather than stand on God’s living Word and demand that He perform His Word. However, there is new life in the church. Believers are emerging and demanding the fullness of the gospel. They are investing their hearts, faith and even their money in the promises of God. They are living in expectation and belief and they will see their God. He has waited for a people who will believe Him and trust Him. That is us.

Let’s turn our believers and receivers to full power expecting our Father to show up and show out. The ancient Israelites certainly had no more than we, and yet look at the promise God made them. Read the twenty-eighth chapter and see the expectation level we should have. Let’s fulfill our destinies and allow the Father to confirm His Word to us.

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