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WALK – Holiness, poverty, and relationship-reform

Caring for the Poor, Biblical Mandate: Summery of “When helping hurts” How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself. 
Steve Corbett
What was the focus of Jesus’ Ministry?
Luke 4:17–21 
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
When Jesus’ Ministry was tested and questioned by John the baptist:
Luke 7:22–23 
Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Jesus Focussed on the poor: and wants us to focus on the poor:
Matthew 25:44–46 
“Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This is the fulfillment of the OT plan God had for Isreal:
Isaiah 1:17 
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
Deuteronomy 15:4 
except when there may be no poor among you; for the LORD will greatly bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance—
God gave Moses numerous commands in-  structing Israel to care for the poor. The Sabbath  guaranteed a day of rest for the slave and alien (Ex.  23:10–12). The Sabbath year canceled debts for Is-  raelites, allowed the poor to glean from the fields,  and set slaves free as well as equipping the slaves to  be productive (Deut. 15:1–18). The Jubilee year  emphasized liberty; it released slaves and returned  land to its original owners (Lev. 25:8–55). Other laws  about debt, tithing, and gleaning ensured that the  poor would be cared for each day of the year (Lev.  25:35–38; Deut. 14:28–29; Lev. 19:9–10). The com-  mands were so extensive that they were designed to  achieve the ultimate goal of eradicating poverty  among God’s people: “There should be no poor  among you,” God declared (Deut. 15:4). 
God judges our worship as fruitless and futile if we neglect the poor:
Personal piety and formal worship are essential to  the Christian life, but they must lead to lives that  “act justly and love mercy” (Mic. 6:8). 
Throughout the New  Testament, care of the poor is a vital concern of the  church (Matt. 25:31–46; Acts 6:1–7; Gal. 2:1–10; 6:10James 1:27). Perhaps no passage states it more suc-  cinctly than 1 John 3:16–18
God’s answer to the poverty question of mankind is His kingdom:
The kingdom is the renewal of the whole world through the entrance of supernatural forces. As things are brought back under Christ’s rule and authority, they are restored to health, beauty, and free- dom.
Jesus Ministry started preaching the Kingdom: Mat 4:17 instructing His disciples to do the same: Luke 9:2; Luke 10:9 and the first church did the same: Acts 4:34; 10:45
The way God shows His Kingdom to the World is by using the poor, the weak en simple to display His glory:
James 2:5 
Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
1 Corinthians 1:26–29 
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness.
God established four foundational relationships for each person: a relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation (see figure 2.1).¹⁴ These relationships are  the building blocks for all of life. When they are  functioning properly, humans experience the full-  ness of life that God intended, because we are being  what God created us to be
Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings
Every human being is suffering from a poverty of spiritual intimacy, a poverty of being, a poverty of community, and a poverty of stewardship.
The materially poor are trapped by multiple, interconnected factors—insufficient assets, vulnerability, powerlessness, isolation, and physical weakness— that ensnare them like bugs caught in a spider’s web.¹⁷ Imagine being caught in such a web.
According to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, it is this lack of freedom to be able to make meaningful choices—to have an ability to affect one’s situation—that is the distinguishing feature of poverty
Poverty alleviation is the ministry of reconciliation: moving people closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation. Material poverty alleviation is working to reconcile the four foundational relationships so that people can fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruit of that work.
We are building people, leaders, community, an economic base, and capacity, not a product for profit.
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Sermons

Overcoming the spirit of Poverty

I am greatly humbled being given this special opportunity to speak to this audience in Uganda. I am aware that true riches is the riches one finds within. Confidence, faith, hard work, passion, and determination cannot be acquired outwardly. A speaker can only point the way, give instructions, and spark enthusiasm but the work is done by the hearer and Ultimately it is God who enables us. (Phil 2:13)
Since our first visit, we have found Ugandans eager to learn, and very responsive to implement what was learned. Mar 4:20 May every listener be like those from Thessalonica who received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so (Acts 17:11)
The best speakers to address these topics are the Ugandans who understood, and applied the truth in their own given capacity having broken through to achieve financial, emotional and spiritual success. But in time I believe that this will become the legacy of this conference and its future occurrences.

I have seen abject poverty in every African nation I have ever been to. The main reason is because they are mainly a consumer society. They are not industrious nor productive. They can buy and sell. They use what the land has to offer without replenish it. It is a Nomad mentality: let the animals eat the grass, let us cut down the trees and burn the wood, until there is nothing left and then we move on to the next place, for Africa has much space, there is plenty elsewhere. The rich mineral deposits in the continent are controlled by foreign powers who keep a few of their connections in power politically in each region assuring the foreign power’s wealth. If a leader crosses them (Gaddafi) they create a war against them to ‘protect the foreign power from dictators and invasions’. This is course is all a cover for procuring wealth from the impoverished nations. Their cohorts, presidents and prime ministers of African countries, are duly enriched and the wealth of the nation never gets to the poor people. So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Until the people cannot take it anymore and then someone leads a revolution to overthrow the government. Then the revolutionary hero takes control and repeats the same pattern of dictatorship in his life time. Thus the agony of Africa continues, ad infinitum.

The only hope is this: reform the church to reform the land. Apostle Andre Pelser

Being poor is not altogether bad or wrong.

Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in the spirit – they that know how much they depend on Him For theirs is the Kingdom. It is difficult for the rich to receive the Kingdom because of they are self-efficient

Jam 2:5 Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom

Breaking the Poverty Mindset:

“Looking without” – Parable of the Talents. Mat 25:14-30

Do not chase after profit, profit follows you.

Everything belongs to God first we are merely Stewards of what He entrust to us. (Deut 10:14; Ps 24:1; Ps 95:5)

Will give account (Mat 25:31-46; Rom 14:10-12; 2Cor 5:10)

Someone with a deep intimate prayer life cannot remain poor. (Daniel 6:4, 5, 10)

I read a statement from Bill Gothard this past week that defines contentment: “If I am not satisfied with what I have, I will never be satisfied with what I want.” Being Christians in a materialistic world, we sometimes get caught in the crossfire of conflicting lifestyles. Most of us can repeat the sermons on a simple life but struggle with daily pressures to have what humankind has lived without for centuries. Possessing has never been a problem biblically. It’s being possessed by things that creates the conflict. Bill Johnson “The center of the universe” The simply Life pg 55

“The way we acquired wealth is as important as the outcome”

“What do you have in your house” The story of the prophet and the widow

“Blame shifting, resentment, entitlement, justifying self, destroys faith and hope.

“Change your self-image” Your life is hidden in Christ Col 3:3

Giving to & serving humanity – Apostolic mind set 2Cor 6:10 “as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things”

Change your confession

Pray for Wisdom | Character | Faith

Obedience | Truth | Humility

YOU WILL BECOME POOR IF:

Neglect discipline and correction – Poverty and shame come to him who neglects discipline (Prov. 13:18; 21:5)

Not living a life of purpose – he who follows worthless pursuits will have poverty in plenty (Prov. 28:19);

Talking and not doing – mere talk tends only to poverty (Prov. 14:23);

Wickedness – their abundance, wealth and pre-eminence will not remain (Ezek. 7:11);

Pride – the Lord will cast Tyre’s wealth into the sea (Zech. 9:4);

Spending unwisely – she had spent all that she had and was no better but rather worse (Mark 5:26); when he had spent everything (Luke 15:14)

Laziness – do not love sleep lest you come to poverty (Prov. 20:13; 10:4)

Letting things go – a negligent hand causes poverty (Prov. 10:4)

Wrong priorities – he who loves pleasure will become poor (Prov. 21:17)

Addiction – the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty (Prov. 23:21)

Procrastination (Prov 6:10-11)

Wanting quick wealth (Prov 21:5)

Dreams & fantasies (Prov 28:19)

Pleasure Pr 21:17

Rash promises bring poverty Pr 22:26-27

Rich without being spiritually poor.
The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it. (Pr 10:22; 3 John 2

Eph 4:28 puts work in the right perspective. We work not to eat but to be able to give, and being able to give is a blessing in itself. Eccl 5:19

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Cor 9:8)

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. (Ps 1:3)

“Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” (Ps 35:27)
God told Abraham: “I will surely make you prosper” Genesis 32:12

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered Genesis 39:2

Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper. Deut. 5:33

The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground Deut. 28:11

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8

Well, you get the idea. I could go on listing verses. But the message is clear. Faith and diligence bring prosperity. Period.

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Discover the well of God's Provision within

Spencer Johnson wrote a book called “who have moved my cheese”, giving us a beautiful metaphor of mice in a maze dealing with change. Someone decides to moved the cheese, the mice either continue to go look for the cheese at the same place and eventually die, or begin the journey to look for new cheese.
Since we have been dealing with calling and identity, we understood that we are not chasing riches, we appreciate and acknowledge the riches we already have, and live in obedience the workethic and values of Jesus. Riches and provision then seems to follow us.
A BIBLICAL METAPHOR FOR PROVISION
The well served as a place of rest and refreshment in a dry land. Wells just outside a city or village served as a meeting place for local women but also for travelers, where news would be passed along (1 Sam 9:11; compare 1 Sam 19:22) Wells play a significant role as an image of God’s provision (e.g., Judg 15:18–19; Deut 6:11; compare Neh 9:25)
At Qumran, the well and water were understood allegorically as God’s law and the faithful followers, respectively (CD 6:2–11). As an image in common life, wells were pictures of physical beauty (Song 4:15). Likewise, a dry or broken well served as a metaphor for disobedience. Because wells were the primary source of water, a dry well was a curse (Jer 14:3). They could be used as an image for faithlessness or disobedience (Jer 2:13; compare Prov 25:26). A well could also serve as a metaphor for death (Pss 55:23; 69:15; compare Rev 9:1).
JESUS OUR PERMANENT WELL
1 Cor 10:4
SOME LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM WELLS IN THE BIBLE
Jer 2:13 – seek a living well, and live eating from the tree of Life, not the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The second tree is like a broken cistern that does not keep the water. Religion is second-hand knowledge of God, Jesus came to be our eternal fountain. John 4
Judg 15:18–19 – supernatural provision, God supplied a water source supernaturally, like the rock in the desert. Ex. 17:1–7 God can thus give you a supernatural plan, strategy, for provision.
Gen 21:31 – oath, contract. Sometimes we need to form a alliance with someone for provision.
Gen 26:18 – dig old wells open again. At times we need to go and open an old well. Many internet startups, is simply modernizing an old industry, like Uber and AirBnB.
Gen 26:22 – Made room for me. Rehoboth Walk away from places of contention, until God makes room for you.
FINDING AND INDUSTRIALIZING A WELL
Once we have have received our well of provision, we need to look after it. Towns and cities came into existence from a well. Having a well alone is not enough, we need to begin to produce food, grow plants, build homes and markets. Fruit & Veg City Holdings is the lasrgest fresh produce retailer in southern Africa. It serves customers in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zambia and Mauritius. Brian Coppin founded Fruit and Veg City with his brother Mike. He related how they took the business from one relatively modest store in Kenilworth to a multi-brand giant in its sector within less than two decades.
Faithful Stewards – 1Pet 4:10
Faithful in multiplying – Mat 25:14-30
THE RIGHT BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ABOUT RICHES
There truly is no division between sacred and secular except what we have created. And that is why the division of the legitimate roles and functions of human life into the sa-cred and the secular does incalculable damage to our indi-vidual lives and to the cause of Christ. Holy people must  stop going into “church work” as their natural course of action and take up holy orders in farming, industry, law, education, banking, and journalism with the same zeal previously given to evangelism or to pastoral and missionary work.
The organized churches must become schools of spiritual discipline where Christians are taught how to own without treasuring (Matt. 6:21); how to possess without, like the “rich young ruler”, being possessed (Mark 10:22); how to live simply, even frugally, though controlling great wealth and power.
Possessions, then, are an extension of the body and of the self, for through them our will and character extend their range, just as they do through our tongue, our arms, and our legs. Our possessions increase the range within which we can reign in life by Christ Jesus and see spiritual power defeat the deadly reign of sin
“Get all you can; save all you can; freely use all you can within a properly disciplined spiritual life; and control all you can for the good of humankind and God’s glory” Dallas Willard
Excerpt From: “The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives” by Dallas Willard. Scribd.
Prov 1:32 the prosperity of fools destroys them.
Paul understood the riches found within first: Col 1:27
2 Cor 6:10 as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Phil 4:11-13 contentment comes from living in His strength
The rich young ruler, trusted and loved his riches and possessions.
We as believers trust in Him who makes rich and ads no sorrow 3 John 1:2
THE FINAL GOAL AND MANDATE
All nations come to his light
Mic 4:2; Mat 24:14; Isa 51:4; Isa 60:3
Glory cover the earth Hab 2:14
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Giving is an issue of the heart. We give because this is who we are. God is a giver. Tithing is about consistent faithful giving, the church can rely on it. The law is like a tutor, giving your tithes teaches you to first give, before using your income. First fruits. It is an issue of the heart! We sometimes wait for the right moment to give, to feel like it, giving should be automatic. Your right hand not knowing what your left hand is doing. Mat 6:3 Generous giver. Ps 112:5; Prov 11:25; 22:9; 2 Cor 9:11; 1 Tim 6:18

Categories
Sermons

Discover the well of God’s Provision within

Spencer Johnson wrote a book called “who have moved my cheese”, giving us a beautiful metaphor of mice in a maze dealing with change. Someone decides to moved the cheese, the mice either continue to go look for the cheese at the same place and eventually die, or begin the journey to look for new cheese.

Since we have been dealing with calling and identity, we understood that we are not chasing riches, we appreciate and acknowledge the riches we already have, and live in obedience the workethic and values of Jesus. Riches and provision then seems to follow us.

A BIBLICAL METAPHOR FOR PROVISION
The well served as a place of rest and refreshment in a dry land. Wells just outside a city or village served as a meeting place for local women but also for travelers, where news would be passed along (1 Sam 9:11; compare 1 Sam 19:22) Wells play a significant role as an image of God’s provision (e.g., Judg 15:18–19; Deut 6:11; compare Neh 9:25)

At Qumran, the well and water were understood allegorically as God’s law and the faithful followers, respectively (CD 6:2–11). As an image in common life, wells were pictures of physical beauty (Song 4:15). Likewise, a dry or broken well served as a metaphor for disobedience. Because wells were the primary source of water, a dry well was a curse (Jer 14:3). They could be used as an image for faithlessness or disobedience (Jer 2:13; compare Prov 25:26). A well could also serve as a metaphor for death (Pss 55:23; 69:15; compare Rev 9:1).

JESUS OUR PERMANENT WELL
1 Cor 10:4

SOME LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM WELLS IN THE BIBLE
Jer 2:13 – seek a living well, and live eating from the tree of Life, not the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The second tree is like a broken cistern that does not keep the water. Religion is second-hand knowledge of God, Jesus came to be our eternal fountain. John 4
Judg 15:18–19 – supernatural provision, God supplied a water source supernaturally, like the rock in the desert. Ex. 17:1–7 God can thus give you a supernatural plan, strategy, for provision.
Gen 21:31 – oath, contract. Sometimes we need to form a alliance with someone for provision.
Gen 26:18 – dig old wells open again. At times we need to go and open an old well. Many internet startups, is simply modernizing an old industry, like Uber and AirBnB.
Gen 26:22 – Made room for me. Rehoboth Walk away from places of contention, until God makes room for you.

FINDING AND INDUSTRIALIZING A WELL
Once we have have received our well of provision, we need to look after it. Towns and cities came into existence from a well. Having a well alone is not enough, we need to begin to produce food, grow plants, build homes and markets. Fruit & Veg City Holdings is the lasrgest fresh produce retailer in southern Africa. It serves customers in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zambia and Mauritius. Brian Coppin founded Fruit and Veg City with his brother Mike. He related how they took the business from one relatively modest store in Kenilworth to a multi-brand giant in its sector within less than two decades.
Faithful Stewards – 1Pet 4:10
Faithful in multiplying – Mat 25:14-30

THE RIGHT BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ABOUT RICHES
There truly is no division between sacred and secular except what we have created. And that is why the division of the legitimate roles and functions of human life into the sa-cred and the secular does incalculable damage to our indi-vidual lives and to the cause of Christ. Holy people must  stop going into “church work” as their natural course of action and take up holy orders in farming, industry, law, education, banking, and journalism with the same zeal previously given to evangelism or to pastoral and missionary work.

The organized churches must become schools of spiritual discipline where Christians are taught how to own without treasuring (Matt. 6:21); how to possess without, like the “rich young ruler”, being possessed (Mark 10:22); how to live simply, even frugally, though controlling great wealth and power.

Possessions, then, are an extension of the body and of the self, for through them our will and character extend their range, just as they do through our tongue, our arms, and our legs. Our possessions increase the range within which we can reign in life by Christ Jesus and see spiritual power defeat the deadly reign of sin

“Get all you can; save all you can; freely use all you can within a properly disciplined spiritual life; and control all you can for the good of humankind and God’s glory” Dallas Willard

Excerpt From: “The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives” by Dallas Willard. Scribd.

Prov 1:32 the prosperity of fools destroys them.
Paul understood the riches found within first: Col 1:27
2 Cor 6:10 as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Phil 4:11-13 contentment comes from living in His strength

The rich young ruler, trusted and loved his riches and possessions.
We as believers trust in Him who makes rich and ads no sorrow 3 John 1:2

THE FINAL GOAL AND MANDATE
All nations come to his light
Mic 4:2; Mat 24:14; Isa 51:4; Isa 60:3
Glory cover the earth Hab 2:14

THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Giving is an issue of the heart. We give because this is who we are. God is a giver. Tithing is about consistent faithful giving, the church can rely on it. The law is like a tutor, giving your tithes teaches you to first give, before using your income. First fruits. It is an issue of the heart! We sometimes wait for the right moment to give, to feel like it, giving should be automatic. Your right hand not knowing what your left hand is doing. Mat 6:3 Generous giver. Ps 112:5; Prov 11:25; 22:9; 2 Cor 9:11; 1 Tim 6:18

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Put back the holy in ordinary secular work.

Key scripture: Mat 5:16 “may your good works glorify your father in heaven” (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV). Do all to the Glory of God
One of the key concepts of the Reformation was coram Deo: all of life is lived “before the face of God.” In other words, there was no separation between the sacred and the secular Excerpt From: “The Reformation Manifesto: Your Part in God’s Plan to Change Nations Today” by Cindy Jacobs. Scribd.  Read this book on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/book/235000503

You cannot fix crooked getting with right giving.

I find sometimes this believe among Christians that they are trying to fix with religious activities like prayer and giving a bad and wrong work-ethic. You cannot fix deceitful getting by giving tithes and offerings. The way you earn your giving is as important as the giving.
It is very clear, work is worship. The manner and way we work glorify God. After all these thousands of years, we still stand in awe at the wonder of God’s work – creation! What can we learn from the way God worked creation? His creation is sustainable, intricate, beautiful, in order, balanced, wonderful, and creative. When Godly character is evident in our work, God gets glorified. Proverbs 22:4,9 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor. Many people say I have no skills. You can teach any man a skill, but character is birthed. The most sought-after job-seekers are ones with godly character. Society is calling for leaders with character.
Made in His image we have received the same abilities and potential locked up in all of us, get working! (Prov 22:29) “excel in your work, will bring you before Kings” I believe if every Christian Born Again believer work God’s way, there will be no unemployment in the church. We would be the most sought-after individuals on the planet for employment. He has put the Christ-like ability in us at our salvation. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work (2 Cor 9:8) God even anointed certain men with the skill to do special work. (Ex 31:1-6; 35:30-35) The first ever people to be anointed by God was the artisans. Daniel worked in a Babylonian system: Dan 5:14, could find no error in His work Dan 6:4 Joseph ruled over Egypt through his wisdom and insight – Gen 41:38-39 We have the spirit of God with us, to lead an guide us in business decisions.
I learned that Genesis tells us God gave us a job even before he gave us a family. We were created in the image of God to be co-creators with Him. Gen 1:28 “fill the earth and subdue it. Subdue: kabas: A verb meaning to subdue, to bring into subjection, to enslave. It means basically to overcome. We are destined to overcome, life’s obstacles and difficulties. Every big invention we celebrate today, first have been a big problem.
Avoda, or Avodah is a Hebrew word, literally meaning “work”. In a modern context, usually refers to business-type activities, it can also mean agricultural work and, more traditionally, serving God. In its original, traditional sense, “avodah” was applied to sacrifices offered in Temple in Jerusalem. The word was also used to described the epitome of sacrificial rite, the complex and fraught main service of the The High Priest on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). Today it refers to a liturgical reenactment of the aforementioned ceremony which is recited during the Musaf Amidah of Yom Kippur.
True Christianity creates no division between secular and sacred. Every task we undertake, paid or not paid, is to be done to the Lord. May the Lord Jesus by His powerful Spirit remove the duality in our thinking today! Work is holy! In Switzerland all work is seen with dignity. Work is dignity. The oppressive slave system of colonialism made certain tasks and work seen as lower, degrading, and of lesser importance and prominence. If you are called as a street sweeper, do it to the glory of Go, so that those who pass by exclaim: “look at the clean streets, it looks like heaven”

Labor for eternal food

(Joh 6:27; Mat 4:4; Joh 4:13-14)
Working for food and belongings can never satisfy your soul, only finding your purpose in God. Our creational purpose is to be Christlike Rom 8:29 Our lives are hidden in Him (Col 3:2) The curse of work that came with Adam’s sin, is loosing our true identity. The curse is not in the work we do, but doing it like a slave, because you have to, not because it is your calling. Many people after retirement become even more busy, because they love their work. Work makes you happy. You feel good after a day’s work. Sleep well.

Remain in your calling

1 Cor 7:20 The Bible does not look negatively to slavery. To build a healthy economy you need workers, slaves and leaders. Each one have received a different talent all according to his own ability. (Mat 25:14, 15) Jesus Himself took on the form of a bondservant. (Phil 2:5) The quickest way to discover your true calling, begin to serve somebody. The Bible is actually specific about this: we should honor our parents, the best way to honor them, is to serve them. Jesus learned to obey earthly parents first for 30 years, before He was released for ministry. He also had no ambition to begin His public ministry, His mother prompted Him. (Joh 2:4) Paul served for 17 years in total before he was commissioned as an Apostle. (Gal 1:18; 2:1) Paul often refer to himself as a Bondservant of Christ. (Gal 1:10) This Bible actually gives specific instructions to Slaves and Owners. (Eph 5:6-9) Paul wrote a letter to the owner of a slave, to honor and respect that role. (Philemon) General instructions is given to not judge another person’s slave. (Rom 14:4)
Once we have discovered His gift of righteousness, we work from a position of rest. (Heb 4:8–11) The rest of faith and obedience. We do not work to achieve his favor, or prominence before man. We have received His favor, acceptance, sonship and want to be productive with what we have received.

Riches is produced by the way we work, not mere work alone.

It is His blessing that makes one rich not to just work harder. (Prov 10:22) It is also important to realize that it is not work itself that brings riches. There are very hard working people in Africa that remains poor. The blessing is not in work alone, but in multiplication. See the parable of the talents. We often equate faithfulness with being steadfast, consistence, dependable, reliable, dependable, loyal, true, trustworthy, devoted, truthful. Jesus equates faithfulness with something else – multiplication. Whatever God gives to us, He expect us to multiply and present it back to Him.

Remove the curse of sin out of work

Most Christians see work as secular and worldly, unholy. With this mindset they seek to now work for God. How do you work for God? Preaching, prison visitation, feeding the hungry? What do pastors do with all their time, when everyone else is working? At least the apostles gave themselves to prayer and study of the Word. Instead we should take the holy back to the workplace, we need Pastors at the forefront to be examples in this.
APOSTLES WORK HARD
Joh 4:38 – and you have entered into their labor
2 Cor 6:5 – labors
2 Cor 10:15 – measure of our labour – We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others
2 Cor 11:23 – with far greater labors 1 Cor 15:10
1 Cor 4:12 Working with our own hands
2 Thes 3:8 with toil and labor
Work is a blessing to be enjoyed. (Eccl 2:24, 26) God is delighted in our fruitfulness. When the faithful servants brought their returns to their master, he not only blessed them, and gave them more he said: Enter into the JOY OF THE LORD. (Mat 25:20)

Work is ordained by God

Ge 1:27-28 See also Ex 20:9 pp Dt 5:13; Ps 104:23
Work is part of the rhythm of life. Like sleep, food, and fun, we need to work. It keeps us healthy. When an old person can do no more work, they die soon. Work keeps you moving, productive, feeling dignified and healthy.
God works Joh 4:34; 5:17; John 17:4 thus being created in His image, there is something Godly and divine about work. Employment is going to become the most scarce resource on earth. May we take up our Godly call not to only find work for ourselves, but create work for others. Like Paul we say: “as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” (2 Cor 6:10)
In his book “Jesus a Pilgrimage” James Martin explains in great detail life in Nazareth, we Jesus grew up as boy and young man. Nazareth was located “on the fringe of the Roman Empire, both geographically and politically.” Only two to four hundred people lived there in Jesus’s day. Today the ruins of the houses in Nazareth are scant, but the archaeological evidence has revealed small dwellings built with local stones (basalt or limestone) that were stacked roughly atop one another. The floors were of packed earth and the roofs thatched, constructed over beams of wood and held together with mud. Families lived in small houses clustered together around a “yard” where common activities were performed. Evidence from the rooms points to little privacy for the inhabitants, but a great sense of community. Every one knew each other, is this not the carpenter’s son Mt 13:55–56.
The conditions was “filthy, malodorous and unhealthy” by contemporary standards. Most skeletal remains predictably show iron and protein deficiencies, and most had severe arthritis. A case of the flu, a bad cold, or an abscessed tooth could kill. Life expectancy, for the luckier half that survived childhood, was somewhere in the thirties. Those reaching fifty or sixty were rare.
Life was hard, and people lived perilously close to the edge, economically and socially. People did not travel afar much, since it was both dangerous and expensive. When they did— for example, for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem— they did so in larger groups so as to ward off bandits. Life was, as Crossan and Reed say, “predominantly local.”
Nazareth is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. Nor is it mentioned in the Talmud, which lists sixty- three other villages in Galilee, or in the writings of Josephus, who names forty- five other Galilean villages. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” asks Nathanael. 23 In that Gospel passage Nazareth is, quite literally, a joke. And yet, just four miles from Nazareth was Sepphoris, a bustling city of thirty thousand, which was being rebuilt at the time by Herod Antipas. Yet Jesus chose Nazareth as the proper place to prepare himself for public ministry.
One archaeological team wrote about Nazareth: “The principal activity of these villagers was agriculture. Nothing in the finds suggests wealth.” In his parables and stories Jesus frequently makes use of images not from carpentry, which one would expect, but from farming— the sower and the seeds, the mustard seed, and the weeds that grow up alongside the wheat,

We will eventually be judged by our works:

Mat 16:27 reward each one according to his works
Mat 23:3 but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do.
Mat 26:10 she has done a good work for me
Your works bears witness of who you are: Joh 5:36; not being able to work is compared with darkness. Joh 9:4

Faith is work

Works of faith vs works of the law (James 2:14- 26 vs Heb 6:1)
We are called to be workers of miracles not waiters until he does the miracles
Faith is proven by its works (James 2:22, 25)
Good works acceptable unto God are only possible through God’s grace active in one’s heart (Matt. 5:16; John 6:28; 14:12). They are always the result of salvation and not the means of salvation. Man cannot do any work to earn God’s favor unto salvation (Rom. 4:1- 5; Eph. 2:8, 9; Titus 3:5). Salvation is given by God in grace, and there is no way that it can be earned.

THE PURPOSE OF WORK IS:

God ordained work as the normal routine of living. Every legitimate human task, therefore, is of intrinsic worth, however menial it may seem, and is potentially a means of glorifying God.
• That people should be self-supporting Ge 3:19 See also Ps 128:2; 1Th 4:12
• That people should find self-fulfilment Ecc 2:24 See also Pr 14:23; Ecc 3:22; 5:19
• That people should serve/give to others Eph 4:28 See also Pr 31:15; 1Th 2:9; 1Ti 5:8
• That people should glorify God Col 3:17 See also 1Co 10:31; Eph 6:5-8 pp Col 3:22-24
Surely like all good things the enemy seek to corrupt what God has given as a gift. People get absorbed in their work, they only work and not rest in Christ, we work and have no fun, loosing our playfulness, we become work orientated and task orientated and loose loose our sensitivity for people. Getting the job done becomes more important than people. It is not easy to learn to balance all these priorities and tasks. But the life of the spirit is a life of rhythm, being focussed on HIM, working for Him, obedience to the spirit, rather than obedience to the TO DO list. Daniel made it his duty to pray 3 times per day. Dan 6:10 Cornelius work, and good deeds, and prayers became a remembrance before God. Acts 10:1-3
Your workplace is the only church some people will ever see. Let God open our eyes to see the god-given value of work. We are called to do even greater works than Him Joh 14:10. This is why He has given us His strength to do all things. (Phil 4:13)
 

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Sermons

Put back the holy in ordinary secular work

Key scripture: Mat 5:16 “may your good works glorify your father in heaven” (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV). Do all to the Glory of God

One of the key concepts of the Reformation was coram Deo: all of life is lived “before the face of God.” In other words, there was no separation between the sacred and the secular Excerpt From: “The Reformation Manifesto: Your Part in God’s Plan to Change Nations Today” by Cindy Jacobs. Scribd. Read this book on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/book/235000503

You cannot fix crooked getting with right giving.

I find sometimes this believe among Christians that they are trying to fix with religious activities like prayer and giving a bad and wrong work-ethic. You cannot fix deceitful getting by giving tithes and offerings. The way you earn your giving is as important as the giving.

It is very clear, work is worship. The manner and way we work glorify God. After all these thousands of years, we still stand in awe at the wonder of God’s work – creation! What can we learn from the way God worked creation? His creation is sustainable, intricate, beautiful, in order, balanced, wonderful, and creative. When Godly character is evident in our work, God gets glorified. Proverbs 22:4,9 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor. Many people say I have no skills. You can teach any man a skill, but character is birthed. The most sought-after job-seekers are ones with godly character. Society is calling for leaders with character.

Made in His image we have received the same abilities and potential locked up in all of us, get working! (Prov 22:29) “excel in your work, will bring you before Kings” I believe if every Christian Born Again believer work God’s way, there will be no unemployment in the church. We would be the most sought-after individuals on the planet for employment. He has put the Christ-like ability in us at our salvation. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work (2 Cor 9:8) God even anointed certain men with the skill to do special work. (Ex 31:1-6; 35:30-35) The first ever people to be anointed by God was the artisans. Daniel worked in a Babylonian system: Dan 5:14, could find no error in His work Dan 6:4 Joseph ruled over Egypt through his wisdom and insight – Gen 41:38-39 We have the spirit of God with us, to lead an guide us in business decisions.

I learned that Genesis tells us God gave us a job even before he gave us a family. We were created in the image of God to be co-creators with Him. Gen 1:28 “fill the earth and subdue it. Subdue: kabas: A verb meaning to subdue, to bring into subjection, to enslave. It means basically to overcome. We are destined to overcome, life’s obstacles and difficulties. Every big invention we celebrate today, first have been a big problem.

Avoda, or Avodah is a Hebrew word, literally meaning “work”. In a modern context, usually refers to business-type activities, it can also mean agricultural work and, more traditionally, serving God. In its original, traditional sense, “avodah” was applied to sacrifices offered in Temple in Jerusalem. The word was also used to described the epitome of sacrificial rite, the complex and fraught main service of the The High Priest on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). Today it refers to a liturgical reenactment of the aforementioned ceremony which is recited during the Musaf Amidah of Yom Kippur.

True Christianity creates no division between secular and sacred. Every task we undertake, paid or not paid, is to be done to the Lord. May the Lord Jesus by His powerful Spirit remove the duality in our thinking today! Work is holy! In Switzerland all work is seen with dignity. Work is dignity. The oppressive slave system of colonialism made certain tasks and work seen as lower, degrading, and of lesser importance and prominence. If you are called as a street sweeper, do it to the glory of Go, so that those who pass by exclaim: “look at the clean streets, it looks like heaven”

Labor for eternal food

(Joh 6:27; Mat 4:4; Joh 4:13-14)

Working for food and belongings can never satisfy your soul, only finding your purpose in God. Our creational purpose is to be Christlike Rom 8:29 Our lives are hidden in Him (Col 3:2) The curse of work that came with Adam’s sin, is loosing our true identity. The curse is not in the work we do, but doing it like a slave, because you have to, not because it is your calling. Many people after retirement become even more busy, because they love their work. Work makes you happy. You feel good after a day’s work. Sleep well.

Remain in your calling

1 Cor 7:20 The Bible does not look negatively to slavery. To build a healthy economy you need workers, slaves and leaders. Each one have received a different talent all according to his own ability. (Mat 25:14, 15) Jesus Himself took on the form of a bondservant. (Phil 2:5) The quickest way to discover your true calling, begin to serve somebody. The Bible is actually specific about this: we should honor our parents, the best way to honor them, is to serve them. Jesus learned to obey earthly parents first for 30 years, before He was released for ministry. He also had no ambition to begin His public ministry, His mother prompted Him. (Joh 2:4) Paul served for 17 years in total before he was commissioned as an Apostle. (Gal 1:18; 2:1) Paul often refer to himself as a Bondservant of Christ. (Gal 1:10) This Bible actually gives specific instructions to Slaves and Owners. (Eph 5:6-9) Paul wrote a letter to the owner of a slave, to honor and respect that role. (Philemon) General instructions is given to not judge another person’s slave. (Rom 14:4)

Once we have discovered His gift of righteousness, we work from a position of rest. (Heb 4:8–11) The rest of faith and obedience. We do not work to achieve his favor, or prominence before man. We have received His favor, acceptance, sonship and want to be productive with what we have received.

Riches is produced by the way we work, not mere work alone.

It is His blessing that makes one rich not to just work harder. (Prov 10:22) It is also important to realize that it is not work itself that brings riches. There are very hard working people in Africa that remains poor. The blessing is not in work alone, but in multiplication. See the parable of the talents. We often equate faithfulness with being steadfast, consistence, dependable, reliable, dependable, loyal, true, trustworthy, devoted, truthful. Jesus equates faithfulness with something else – multiplication. Whatever God gives to us, He expect us to multiply and present it back to Him.

Remove the curse of sin out of work

Most Christians see work as secular and worldly, unholy. With this mindset they seek to now work for God. How do you work for God? Preaching, prison visitation, feeding the hungry? What do pastors do with all their time, when everyone else is working? At least the apostles gave themselves to prayer and study of the Word. Instead we should take the holy back to the workplace, we need Pastors at the forefront to be examples in this.

APOSTLES WORK HARD
Joh 4:38 – and you have entered into their labor
2 Cor 6:5 – labors
2 Cor 10:15 – measure of our labour – We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others
2 Cor 11:23 – with far greater labors 1 Cor 15:10
1 Cor 4:12 Working with our own hands
2 Thes 3:8 with toil and labor

Work is a blessing to be enjoyed. (Eccl 2:24, 26) God is delighted in our fruitfulness. When the faithful servants brought their returns to their master, he not only blessed them, and gave them more he said: Enter into the JOY OF THE LORD. (Mat 25:20)

Work is ordained by God

Ge 1:27-28 See also Ex 20:9 pp Dt 5:13; Ps 104:23

Work is part of the rhythm of life. Like sleep, food, and fun, we need to work. It keeps us healthy. When an old person can do no more work, they die soon. Work keeps you moving, productive, feeling dignified and healthy.

God works Joh 4:34; 5:17; John 17:4 thus being created in His image, there is something Godly and divine about work. Employment is going to become the most scarce resource on earth. May we take up our Godly call not to only find work for ourselves, but create work for others. Like Paul we say: “as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” (2 Cor 6:10)

In his book “Jesus a Pilgrimage” James Martin explains in great detail life in Nazareth, we Jesus grew up as boy and young man. Nazareth was located “on the fringe of the Roman Empire, both geographically and politically.” Only two to four hundred people lived there in Jesus’s day. Today the ruins of the houses in Nazareth are scant, but the archaeological evidence has revealed small dwellings built with local stones (basalt or limestone) that were stacked roughly atop one another. The floors were of packed earth and the roofs thatched, constructed over beams of wood and held together with mud. Families lived in small houses clustered together around a “yard” where common activities were performed. Evidence from the rooms points to little privacy for the inhabitants, but a great sense of community. Every one knew each other, is this not the carpenter’s son Mt 13:55–56.

The conditions was “filthy, malodorous and unhealthy” by contemporary standards. Most skeletal remains predictably show iron and protein deficiencies, and most had severe arthritis. A case of the flu, a bad cold, or an abscessed tooth could kill. Life expectancy, for the luckier half that survived childhood, was somewhere in the thirties. Those reaching fifty or sixty were rare.

Life was hard, and people lived perilously close to the edge, economically and socially. People did not travel afar much, since it was both dangerous and expensive. When they did— for example, for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem— they did so in larger groups so as to ward off bandits. Life was, as Crossan and Reed say, “predominantly local.”

Nazareth is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. Nor is it mentioned in the Talmud, which lists sixty- three other villages in Galilee, or in the writings of Josephus, who names forty- five other Galilean villages. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” asks Nathanael. 23 In that Gospel passage Nazareth is, quite literally, a joke. And yet, just four miles from Nazareth was Sepphoris, a bustling city of thirty thousand, which was being rebuilt at the time by Herod Antipas. Yet Jesus chose Nazareth as the proper place to prepare himself for public ministry.

One archaeological team wrote about Nazareth: “The principal activity of these villagers was agriculture. Nothing in the finds suggests wealth.” In his parables and stories Jesus frequently makes use of images not from carpentry, which one would expect, but from farming— the sower and the seeds, the mustard seed, and the weeds that grow up alongside the wheat,

We will eventually be judged by our works:

Mat 16:27 reward each one according to his works
Mat 23:3 but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do.
Mat 26:10 she has done a good work for me
Your works bears witness of who you are: Joh 5:36; not being able to work is compared with darkness. Joh 9:4

Faith is work

Works of faith vs works of the law (James 2:14- 26 vs Heb 6:1)
We are called to be workers of miracles not waiters until he does the miracles
Faith is proven by its works (James 2:22, 25)
Good works acceptable unto God are only possible through God’s grace active in one’s heart (Matt. 5:16; John 6:28; 14:12). They are always the result of salvation and not the means of salvation. Man cannot do any work to earn God’s favor unto salvation (Rom. 4:1- 5; Eph. 2:8, 9; Titus 3:5). Salvation is given by God in grace, and there is no way that it can be earned.

THE PURPOSE OF WORK IS:

God ordained work as the normal routine of living. Every legitimate human task, therefore, is of intrinsic worth, however menial it may seem, and is potentially a means of glorifying God.

• That people should be self-supporting Ge 3:19 See also Ps 128:2; 1Th 4:12
• That people should find self-fulfilment Ecc 2:24 See also Pr 14:23; Ecc 3:22; 5:19
• That people should serve/give to others Eph 4:28 See also Pr 31:15; 1Th 2:9; 1Ti 5:8
• That people should glorify God Col 3:17 See also 1Co 10:31; Eph 6:5-8 pp Col 3:22-24

Surely like all good things the enemy seek to corrupt what God has given as a gift. People get absorbed in their work, they only work and not rest in Christ, we work and have no fun, loosing our playfulness, we become work orientated and task orientated and loose loose our sensitivity for people. Getting the job done becomes more important than people. It is not easy to learn to balance all these priorities and tasks. But the life of the spirit is a life of rhythm, being focussed on HIM, working for Him, obedience to the spirit, rather than obedience to the TO DO list. Daniel made it his duty to pray 3 times per day. Dan 6:10 Cornelius work, and good deeds, and prayers became a remembrance before God. Acts 10:1-3

Your workplace is the only church some people will ever see. Let God open our eyes to see the god-given value of work. We are called to do even greater works than Him Joh 14:10. This is why He has given us His strength to do all things. (Phil 4:13)

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Cultivating the Finished Work of Christ

Notes By Dr. Andre Pelser
Not DO, but DONE – Living from the completed work of Christ (Alan Platt)
It is Finished – (David Wilkerson)

The inception of our spiritual lives began the moment He said it is finished. – Mike Wood
We cannot attain righteousness without God’s inward help.
Eccl 7:20
Isa 64:6
Mat 5:20
Our righteousness is an abomination for God.
Luk 16:15
Mat 23:28
Luk 18:9
Rom 3:10
Rom 3:20
Phil 3:6
Seek and find His righteousness – Mat 6:33
It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. –Hebrews 10:14, The Message
Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. –Romans 10:1–4
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” –Romans 1:17 Herein lies the secret of the power of the gospel; there is no good news in it until the righteousness of God is revealed! –Romans 1:17, The Mirror
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. –Romans 5:18 The J.B. Phillips translation of Romans 5:18 reads as follows: We see, then, that as one act of sin exposed the whole race of men to God’s judgment and condemnation, so one act of perfect righteousness presents all men freely acquitted in the sight of God.
In Eden the only work Adam had to do was to cultivate the finished product of a perfect Garden and name all the animals (work from a position of rest). The names that Adam called them became theirs forever. His words had so much creative power.
When Adam sinned God drove him and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and commanded him to till the ground and earn his bread by the sweat of his brow (self effort). He had to continually make sacrifices for sins. (Genesis 2:5; 3:23)
Flesh tills the ground; spirit cultivates the finished work of Christ Jesus.
Flesh represents the works that self effort produces (not the physical body as we presume). When you try to finish what God has already finished it is called the works of the flesh. In other places in the Scriptures it is called ‘dead works’ that we have to repent of.
We are not trying to get; we have already received.
We are not trying to get there; we have already arrived.
We are not trying to get healed; we were healed 2 000 years ago already.
We are not trying to become; we are.
The very act of trying spells unbelief.
Mercy destroys sin in people’s lives.
When God planted the Garden of Eden everything was good and perfect in His sight. The fruit were pleasant in man’s sight and pleasant to eat.
The Messiah finished the transgression. He made an end of sin. Sin is no longer a problem. Daniel understood the revelation of the Messiah through reading Jeremiah’s prophecy and then Daniel prophesied: Daniel 9:23: Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
The righteousness Jesus brought into the world is everlasting righteousness – not righteousness until your next sin.
Preachers of condemnation tell you to try to get forgiven. It is too late, God already forgave us all at the cross 2 000 years ago. It is the same with healing. You were already healed.
What a glorious Gospel we have! We can only appreciate and enjoy the glory of the Gospel when we are no longer under condemnation and guilt. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who learn to walk according to the prompting of the Spirit and not the flesh. Romans 8:1-8
The spirit realm is the third dimension where things are already established and permanent. When we walk in the spirit we enjoy eternal blessings, not temporal ones. We engage in eternal things because we enjoy eternal life – now in this life, and not just in the life to come.
We don’t take communion to get healed; we are already healed. We take communion to claim Christ’s death where healing was already accomplished. When we worship God in spirit and truth we have fellowship with God and with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanse us from all sin – continually! Jesus’ blood flows through his body (the Church) just as our blood flows through our entire body.
We cultivate the finished work of Christ.
We are complete in Him. When Jesus died on the cross he announced: it is finished! He fulfilled all the requirements of the law that was against us, and wiped out the handwriting that is against us, nailing it to the cross! Colossians 2:13-15
We don’t fight for victory; we fight from a standpoint of victory. God always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. II Corinthians 2:14, 15
Adam named all the animals and birds in the Garden of Eden. What he said remained true forever. His words had such power. When we are in Christ Jesus our words of faith also have creative ability. The Father of our faith had to learn to speak according to what he believed. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. God told Abraham, ‘you are a father of many nations!’ Abraham believed it and started confessing it continually.
Abraham called things that did not exist as though they were – in spite of sense evidence that proved contrary. He called himself ‘father of nations’ when he and Sarah had no son. He called her, ‘mother of nations’ long before she bore Isaac (meaning laughter). Romans 4:17-24
How you hear determines how it will be given to you. When you hear the anointed Word of God it enters your spirit before it enters your mind. Your spirit illuminates your understanding. That is why we receive the engrafted Word by faith and not by reason. By faith you receive what God says, long before you understand it, and the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ enlightens the eyes of your understanding to see the hope of your calling, the riches of God invested in the saints and the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead that works mightily in us who believe! (Ephesians 1:17-21)
The entrance of God’s Word brings light. When God’s Word enters your spirit you see a lot of good things inside yourself. When you acknowledge the good things Christ has already done in you it stimulates your faith. You communicate your faith much better when you focus on the good things Christ has already accomplished in your life. (Philemon 6: Let the communication of your faith become more effectual by acknowledging the good things of Christ in you – Phillips Translation of the New Testament) If you focus on all the things that still have to change in your life, it makes you discouraged.
The anointing on the Word switches on the light of the Word.
When someone preaches with anointing, it switches on the light. You see the answers you were looking for. You know what to do. David said, ‘in Your light we see the light!’
In order to cultivate the finished work of Christ, we have to stay tuned to the wavelength of Grace. The moment you switch wavelengths, you lose your peace and joy and fall back into the works of the flesh. You try to obey the Law again in your own strength, instead of waiting patiently for the Lord to change things inside of you. It is a work of His grace. Every time you try to change yourself you fail, become discouraged and lose hope. The creature cannot change itself. The Creator alone can change his creatures.
You can yield yourself to God to speed up the process, though. When we worship in spirit and truth, God does so much inside of us that we do not even notice. When we have fellowship with God and with one another, God affects the changes and brings the cure we so desperately need. Then no man can get the glory except God. He does the work we cannot do. He does it by the power of His Spirit. It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. It is a Spirit of grace and supplication. He graciously makes supplication for us. He intercedes for us, because we don’t really know how to pray. Therefore everything works together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:26-28)
So if God closes a door it is because He is about to open a more effectual door. When God ends one relationship, He is already preparing a better relationship. God only has good things in store for us. He is our loving heavenly Father. Jesus paid the price to reconcile us with Him. The more we love Jesus the less we sin. To whom much has been forgiven, loves much. We love Him because He first loves us.
Love is a grace frequency.
Our faith works through love (Galatians 5:6). When we distort the grace of God and frustrate it in our lives, we feel unloved and deserted by God. Then we feel sorry for ourselves and throw a pity party. The grace is still there, but we have moved positions. We have changed frequency.
God’s grace is sufficient for us – He supplies all our needs. He has already provided everything we need to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. He gave it together with His own son that He sacrificed for our sins. It is already done. We need to cultivate the habit of glorifying God for what Christ has already accomplished for us.
 

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Inside the mind of a procrastinator

‘Procrastination is the assassination of motivation.’
‘Procrastination is the thief of time.’
4782 Epigram On Procrastination
• Saying “It is too early,” makes it too late —Japanese Proverb
• Alexander the Great, being asked how he had conquered the world, replied, “By not delaying.”—Foster
• We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
• The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
• Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it—Everywoman’s Family Circle
• Every time a man puts a new idea across, he finds ten men who thought of it before he did—but they only thought of it—Advertiser’s Digest
 
ge·sloer delay, dawdling, procrastination, uit·stel n. 1 delay, postponement, deferment; 2 procrastination; 3 stay, respite, extension of time; van uitstel kom afstel a (there is) no time like the present. [Pharos English-Afrikaans Dictionary]
 
Some general scriptures:
We must not procrastinate in choosing to serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15)
God does not procrastinate (Habakkuk 2:3)
Those who procrastinate lose out (Luke 14:16–21)
Today is the day to be saved (2 Corinthians 6:2)
No hurry to obey, 2 Chronicles 24:5 (cev).
Attempting to delay God’s call, Matthew 8:21–22; Luke 9:59–62.
Five procrastinating virgins, Matthew 25:2–13.
Making excuses, Luke 14:16–21.
 
Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. James 4:17 (NIV)
“What have you been postponing?
 
1.  Indecision. “A double minded man is unstable in all he does.”  (James 1:8 LB)  Have you ever sent a waiter away at a restaurant because you couldn’t make up your mind?  Indecision causes you to postpone buying a car, choosing a college, getting married, buying new clothes, changing a job.
 
2.  Perfectionism. “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done!” (Ecclesiastes 11:4 LB) If you wait for things to be perfect, you’re going to wait a long time. You don’t have the time or the money for things to be perfect.
 
3.  Fear. “The fear of man is a trap.”  (Proverbs 29:25 LB) Have you been postponing going to the dentist?  Or having that needed surgery?  Or getting into marriage counseling?  Sharing your faith at work?  Ask yourself, “What am I afraid of?”
 
4.  Anger. “A lazy person is as bad as someone who is destructive.” (Proverbs 18:9 GNT) Procrastination is a way to get back at people we don’t like.  We delay.  Kids are great at procrastination.  You ask them to clean up their room.  They do it but they take so long doing it. One of the reasons may be that they’re resisting your control. Procrastination is passive resistance.  I don’t want to do it because I don’t like you telling me to do what I have to do.  Anger causes us to put things off.
 
5. Laziness. “Lazy people want much but get little, while the diligent are prospering.” (Proverbs 13:4 LB) One of the most popular words in America is “easy.” If it’s easy, we like it.  If it’s hard, we don’t like it.   Can you imagine a best seller titled, “Ten Difficult Steps to Change Your Life” or “Fifteen Difficult Ways to Get in Shape”?  If it’s easy, we like it.  If it’s hard, we don’t like it. Enjoys comfort. Passivity.
 
6. Lack understanding. Prov 24:3 Understanding establishes you. You will only do that what you understand.  Sometimes we simply do not know how to do it.  It takes 20 hours to acquire a new skill.  Break it down and make it simple, get the basic steps, practice these steps diligently.
 
7. Wait till it feels right. Being led by the Spirit is not a feeling. You will never feel like forgiving someone. Feel like giving something away. We are led by faith. Faith comes. Lack of faith is lack of spending time in the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  Rom 10:17. When you hear, do it immediately while there is faith. It gets more difficult to do it, the longer you procrastinate.  God enables you to obey.
 
8. Shifting the blame, responsibility It is in human nature to wait for someone else.  Bystander effect.  The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. Catherine Susan “Kitty” Genovese (July 7, 1935[1] – March 13, 1964) was a New York City woman who was stabbed to death outside her apartment building in Kew Gardens, a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, on March 13, 1964.  37 or 38 witnesses saw or heard the attack and did not call the police. The incident prompted inquiries into what became known as the bystander effect or “Genovese syndrome”.
 
9. Disillusionment. We have tried and failed. We loose motion.    4770 Starting From Dead Stop – It requires six times as much power to start a flywheel from a dead stop, as it does to keep it going once it is in motion.  A locomotive must exert a pull of as much as thirty pounds for every ton of weight in a railroad car to start it from a standstill, and even more in very cold weather. Once the car is in motion, only about three pounds per ton may be needed to keep it moving on a straight and level track.  Disappointment can lead to passivity.  We simply do not want to be hurt again.
 
10. False spiritual expectation. 1983 God gave AJP a prophetic word. I specifically waited on God, that He would appear to me. he said: “If I appear to you this is what I will tell you. ‘Go and preach the gospel… Make disciples, teach them, and I will confirm my word. Etc” It is not the appearance that makes the difference. It is our obedience. Some wait till God would directly speak to them, and miss God speaking through their wives, children and family. Jesus spend 30 years obeying earthly parents and a small family and community of people in Nazareth.  God’s mission always remains the same: “go and tell”. There is no special message. It is His great commission to the church.

 
 

Categories
Sermons

Die Tiende Vraagstuk

DIE TIENDE VRAAGSTUK

Die vraag oor tiende is soos die weegskaal vraagstuk in vele mense se lewens. Ek weet ek moet ʼn sekere gewig weeg, maar ek weet ook dat daai syfer nooit ʼn realiteit op my skaal gaan word nie, so ek bly maar stil en praat nooit daaroor nie. Niemand moet ook weet wat ek weeg nie, dis uiters belangrik dat dié inligting maar eerder net in my kop alleen bly. Die realiteit van die kerk se boeke is egter ʼn refleksie van hoe min mense werklik hulle tiende betaal.

In ons gemeente verplig ons niemand om tiende te betaal nie. Ons gee geen spesiale tiende koevertjies uit nie, en merk nie af wie tiende gee of nie. Al hoe ons weet wie getrou gee is die maandelikse internet betalings, of as iemand per tjek betaal. Die realiteit is duidelik, die meeste mense betaal nie tiende nie. Dit gaan skynbaar ook so met die meeste mense wat oorgewig is … maar die skrywe is nie om jou te kry om gewig te verloor nie, en ook nie om meer geld uit mense te probeer kry nie. Ek soek duidelikheid oor wat God wil hê ek as Sy rentmeester met Sy geld moet doen.

Tot hede is die praktyk oor tiende in ons gemeente die volgende: Alles wat ons doen moet uit geloof wees, mense word dus geleer om by God self te hoor waar en hoeveel hulle moet gee. Dit is ook die rede hoekom ons elke Sondag vir mense geleentheid gee om te deel wat God hulle gesê het en te getuig oor die seën van gee. Geloof kom deur die gehoor, en gehoor deur die Woord van God. (Rom 10:17) Hierdie skrywe is ook nie ʼn poging om mense te probeer forseer, manipuleer of te oortuig om tiende te betaal nie! Ons volstaan dat God gehoorsaamheid eer! As ons as kerk leierskap gehoorsaam is en bly, sal God vir ons sorg! Ons dank God dan ook vir diegene wat op hulle beurt gehoorsaam is God, want sodoende kry God alleen die eer!

Moet ek tiende betaal of nie?

Is dit nie maar net ʼn Ou Testamentiese wet nie? Ek móét soveel dinge betaal, en ek kom nie uit met my geld nie, ek het nie genoeg om my tiende te betaal nie! As ek my tiende betaal, gaan ek nie genoeg geld oorhê vir kos nie.

Daar is baie dialoog op die internet oor die misbruik van tiendes en offergawes deur televisie predikers en die wyse waarop hierdie predikers geld uit mense mergel vir hulle bedieninge. Daar word dan ook geargumenteer teen tiende vir die volgende redes: Die Jode betaal nie vandag tiende nie, want daar is nie meer ʼn tempel nie, en ook nie meer ʼn levitiese orde nie. As hulle nie tiende betaal nie hoekom word Christene verplig? Dit is ʼn Ou Testamentiese wet en dus nie meer op ons van toepassing nie. Nêrens in die NT word die kerk opgeroep om tiende te betaal nie, nie deur Jesus of die apostels nie. Tiende was bereken op landbou produkte en nie geld nie. Dit impliseer dus dat net boere tiende moet betaal en nie salaristrekkers nie. Indien mense wel ver moes trek met hulle produkte kon hulle, die tiende omruil vir geld.

Wat is God se doel met tiende? Lees (Deut 14:22-29)

Ons word nie meer regverdig deur die wet nie, maar die wet is ‘n leermeester ‘Tutor’ om ons te onderrig in God se wee. Indien iemand nie die onderrig van die wet ontvang nie, bring mense God is nie die skande soos ‘n seun wat werklik koning is deur sy genetika, maar omdat hy hom nie laat leer deur die koninklike hof nie, maar hy dwase besluite.

v23 die doel van die tiendes is om jou te leer om altyd die Here jou God te eer.

v27 vir die leviete wat nie ʼn erfdeel ontvang het saam met al die ander stamme nie. Hulle behoort aan die Here. (Num 18:20 – 32) Vergoeding vir die Leviete se diens wat hulle in die tempel doen, en hulle moet weer op hulle beurt ʼn tiende van dit wat hulle ontvang het aan die Here gee. (Neh 12:47) die leviete se tiende was vir die priesters. (2 Kron 31:6-21) het die hele volk getrou hulle hele tiende gebring en verdeel aan al die Levitiese seuns vanaf drie jaar en op, wat nog sou bedien in die huis van die Here!

v29 vir die vreemdelinge, wees en weduwee.

(Lev 27:30-33) v30 dit behoort aan die Here en is heilig. In (Jos 6:17-27 – 7:1-26) Lees ons van die stad wat aan die Here behoort en geheilig is met die banvloek. Niemand mag daarvan gevat het nie. Tog het Akan van die buit weggesteek in sy tent. Sy ongehoorsaamheid het daartoe gelei dat hulle nie die volgende stad kon beset en oorwin nie. Akan, sy familie en al sy besittings is saam met die buit verbrand.

(Deut 26:1-15) v10 Om God te aanbid omdat Hy jou uitverkies het en gebring het na die land.

Daar is verskillende offers gebring waarvan tiende maar net een was.

(Deut 12:6-7) brandoffers, ander offers, tiendes, julle gawes, julle gelofte-offers, julle vrywillige offers en die eerstelinge uit julle bees- en skaaptroppe bring.

(Neh 10:36-39) Die beste van die eerstelinge van die oes.

Waar bring ek en gee ek God se tiende?

Aangesien die engele nie God se tiende kom haal en opeis nie. Vir wie gee ons dit? En waar gee ons dit? (Deut 12:13-18) v13 Moenie jou offers sommer op enige plek bring nie. Alleenlik die plek wat die Here sal aanwys… dit sou later die tempel word. Ons glo jy sluit nie by ʼn gemeente aan nie, God voeg jou by. Ons glo dat elkeen wat deel is van ons gemeente deur God gestuur is, en dat God persoonlik in elke persoon se hart gewerk het om deel te wees.

v18 In die dorp saam met julle familie, en werkers en die leviete wat in die dorp woon… as die plek (tempel te ver is) mag julle by julle huis die tiende geniet. Tiende word geniet saam met die mense waar jy bly. Wanneer ons die hoofstuk van die begin af lees, sien ons dat hulle eers die afgode en afgodstempels moes afbreek en dan die Here met hulle tiende in hulle dorpe dien. Om jou tiende in ʼn dorp of plek te gee waar jy nie bly nie, is om jouself te verdeel, en nie algeheel betrokke te wees in die plek waar God jou geplaas het nie. Jou eerste verantwoordelikheid glo ek lê by jou plaaslike gemeente, want God wil dat Sy heerlikheid die aarde vul, en dit is hoekom hy elkeen van ons op ʼn sekere plek geplaas het om daar ʼn verskil te maak. Alleen is dit nie moontlik om in ʼn gemeenskap werklik ʼn verskil te maak teen duisternis nie. Daarom ons visie: “Reform the church to reform the land!”en “It takes an accurate church to raise a village!” (Mat 16:18) Wanneer gemeentes akkuraat funksioneer sal hulle nie die tiende net vir hulleself gebruik nie, maar uit die inkomste vir die wees, weduwee en arme voorsien. Verder sal hulle saam vir die betrokke organisasies met wie hierdie gemeente skakel en netwerk voorsien. Ons probleem is dat die meeste gemeentes nie soos ʼn liggaam funksioneer nie, en daar ʼn te groot skeiding is tussen die leierskap en die res van die gemeente.

Die tiende is gebruik om fees te vier en saam met die leviete, die wees, en weduwee asook jou werknemers. Uiteindelik was alle tiendes, en offergawes by een plek gegee naamlik die tempel! Dan is daar van jou verwag om “charitable” te wees. Die basiese fondasie stene van die Jode, is liefdadigheid en barmhartigheid. Daar is ʼn duidelike onderskeid tussen liefdadigheid en jou offers aan God. Die een kan nie sonder die ander nie. Jy kan nie jou offers bring en nie ook barmhartig wees aan almal wat oor jou pad kom nie. Jy kon ook nie barmhartig wees aan die vreemdeling en nie jou offers aan God bring nie. Jy moes beide doen, uit dankbaarheid vir wat God vir jou gee en doen!

Wat is die inherente geestelike vrug van tiende betaal?

Almal van ons beleef die angs en vrees wat oor ʼn mens kom, omdat jy besef jy gaan nie genoeg hê of uitkom met jou geld nie. Die enigste manier om hierdie vrees te konfronteer is deur die geloof. Deur jou tiende te betaal konfronteer jy juis hierdie vrees direk. Jou verklaring van geloof is nie net met jou woorde en belydenis nie maar ook jou dade dat jy volkome op God vertrou. Hy is my bron en nie ʼn mens nie!

Daar is iets geesteliks en heilig omtrent die 1ste tiende, die eerstelinge van ons oes. Jesus was God se beste gawe gegee vir ons. (Joh 3:16; 1 Kor 15:20, 23) Die kerk is die eerstelinge van Jesus se gawe en offer. (Rom 16:5; 1 Kor 16:15; Jak 1:18; 2 Tes 2:13; Rom 8:23). God werk deur die beginsel van die eerste gawe, die eerste offer, die eerste saad in alles wat Hy doen. Adam se eerste sonde bring ʼn vloek op sy hele nageslag. Die perfekte offer en gehoorsaamheid van Christus herstel God se plan en uit Christus kom ʼn nuwe nageslag voort. Ons eerste vrugte van ons inkomste is ʼn profetiese aksie en daad van geloof wat in die Gees gemeet en raakgesien word.

Die volgende punt is moeilik om te verduidelik. Maar sien dit in die gees. Daar vind ʼn geestelike “impartation” plaas wanneer ons, ons tiende en offergawes vir ʼn sekere gemeente gee. In die gees maak jy jouself deel van die openbaring en gewig van die spesifieke gemeente. Ek het dit al self beleef dat jong gelowiges selfs sonder dat hulle die Bybelskool of dienste gereeld bywoon, hulle in die openbaring en salwing van die liggaam begin optree asof hulle al lankal deel is omdat hulle getrou is in hulle bydraes. Hulle sê en doen dinge wat niemand vir hulle al geleer het nie, asof hulle dit inherent weet.

Indien ons nie tiende betaal nie, watse alternatief moet dan gevolg word om vir die gemeente se bedryfsuitgawes te betaal.

Geld moet dan tog van iewers af kom. Diegene wat teen tiende praat, moet dan uiteindelik ʼn alternatief voorstel oor hoe die predikante, werkers, huur, en bedryfsuitgawes van ʼn gemeente betaal moet word. Sommige stel dat die kerk bloot sy uitgawes bekend moet maak en dat mense dan soos hulle gelei voel daarvoor instaan. My kritiek op hierdie voorstel is; waar staan dit in die Bybel? Verder sal die gevolg wees dat net die ryk mense en vermoënde mense die las gaan dra in die gemeente. Wat is geestelik rondom hierdie proses, het iemand gebid en God vertrou sonder om iemand te sê?

Die Jode se alternatief vir tiende is ʼn Sinagoge belasting, waar jy letterlik jou sitplek by die Sinagoge huur per maand/jaar, die voorste sitplekke kos duurder.

ʼn Verdere voorstel wat ek gelees het, is dat predikers eintlik almal voltyds moet werk en soos Paulus ‘n tentmaker bediening hê en nie ʼn las is vir die gemeente moet wees nie. Dit is verseker ʼn moontlikheid; diegene wat dit wel al gedoen het sal vir jou sê wat ʼn swaar las dit op die persoon en uiteindelik die gesin plaas, en dat dit nie volhoubaar is nie. Daar is mense geroep vir dié bediening!

Wat moet die kerk met die tiende doen.

Dit is uiters belangrik dat die kerk wat hierdie tiendes en offergawes ontvang korrek volgens God se plan optree en handel en nie die altaar ontheilig nie.

Die tiende was hoofsaaklik vir Leviete en priesters – Die Christene in die NT het nie hulle tiende betaal nie, want dan moes hulle indirek hulle vyande en vervolgers betaal. Die Jode het Christus verwerp en gekruisig, en die vroeë Christene vervolg. Dit beteken egter nie dat hulle nie bydraes gemaak het nie. Hulle het bydraes versamel vir die in nood, en moes dit weekliks vergader en stoor tot Paulus sou kom en reëlings tref oor hoe dit na Jerusalem sal gaan. (Hand 11:28–30; Rom 15:25–27; 1 Kor 16:1-4) Paulus, Petrus en ander was nie net tentmakers nie, hulle het ook uit die bydraes van die Christene geleef. (2 Kor 11:8–9; Fil 4:15–18; 1 Kor 9:3-6) Die leviete se roepingsopdrag: Laat hulle nou u bepalings aan Jakob leer en u gebooie aan Israel. Hulle sal reukwerk voor U bring en brandoffers op u altaar offer. (Deut 33:10)

Die leviete is die eerstelinge van die 12 stamme wat aan God behoort. In die NT word die hele liggaam en al sy lede as lewende stene opgeroep tot diens en bediening. Daarom is die gebruik van die tiende nie net vir ʼn sekere uitverkose pastor wat al die werk doen en die res van die lede kyk toe nie. Die tiende is vir die liggaam. Dis hoe die liggaam van God in ʼn sekere lokaliteit beweeg en saam God se koninkryk uitbou! Die doel van die geld is nie om ons eie koninkryke te bou nie, ook nie net ons eie gemeente nie. Ons doel is om deur ons tiende en bydraes die geestelike koninkryk van God te bou deur die verkondiging van die evangelie.

Daar is verskillende bedieninge en variasies van bedieninge in die Nuwe Testamentiese kerk. Sommige is geroep om as priesters hulle reg tot ʼn inkomste op te gee en hoofsaaklik vir die Here te werk. Ander is geroep om as konings in die markplein op te tree. Ek glo nie dat die twee bedieninge noodwendig teenoor mekaar staan nie. As jy kan, moet elke bedienaar van God se Woord probeer om van sy of haar inkomste aan te vul deur ʼn beroep van die een of ander aard wat nie te veel van hul tyd opneem nie te beoefen. Ook sodat hulle in tred kan bly met die werklikheid van die beroepswêreld. Die wat in die beroepswêreld staan moet ook leer om te bedien, en God se woord te kan verkondig. Uiteindelik moet ʼn gesonde akkurate gemeente ʼn variasie van bedieninge ondersteun soos nodig.

Ek glo dat ʼn gesonde liggaam waar almal gewig dra en getrou is aan hulle bydraes, niemand iets sal kortkom nie. (Hand 4:32-37) ʼn Liggaam is ʼn lewende organisme wat spontaan en natuurlik aan elke lid voorsien, want elkeen leef en bestaan vir die ander. (we exist for the sake of the body) (1 Kor 12:25) Ek glo verder dat ʼn gemeente wat akkuraat Bybels funksioneer ook sal Netwerk met legitieme organisasies wat deel uitmaak van die liggaam, en as liggaam hierdie organisasies bystaan. Geen gemeente kan net na binne gee, en geseënd wees nie. Ons moet as gemeente uitgee na ander gemeentes en dele van God se liggaam. Omdat die regering nalaat op soveel sosiale gebiede word die druk meer vir die kerk om te help, met ouetehuise, kinderhuise, en die armes. Dis reg so, want dit is immers die roeping van die kerk, wat vir te lank op die regering afgeskuif het.

In die OT is die fokus op die hou van die wet soos ʼn formule. Die fokus in die NT is om deur die Here gelei te wees om te gee. Daarom die geweldige straf vir Ananias en Saffira se leuens teen die Heilige Gees. (Hand 5) Ons kyk baie keer hierdie radikale daad mis in die begin van die handelinge van die Apostels. God was weer besig om die eerste dinge te heilig.

Daar is so baie misbruik in die kerk omdat mense uit óf vrees óf hebsug funksioneer. ‘n Gemeente waar beproefde geloof die grondbasis is beleef nie hierdie probleme nie. Die kerkleiers vra nie vir geld nie, en maak nie ‘n appél op die mense om te móét gee nie. Op geen wyse nie! (2 Kor 9:5-7) “Dan sal dit gereed wees as ’n vrywillige dankoffer en nie as iets wat afgepers is nie… Elkeen moet gee soos hy in sy hart besluit het, nie uit spyt of dwang nie, want God het die blymoedige gewer lief.”

Spesiale behoeftes van die gemeente of van die in nood word wel bekend gemaak. (Hand 11:28–30; Rom 15:25–27)

Die gemeente lede maak ook nie hulle behoeftes aan mekaar bekend sonder geloof nie! Geen skimpe, enige vorme van manipulasie word geduld nie. “almal is vry om te vra en ook vry om nee te sê”; (Fil 4:15–18) Die beste manier om te gee is in die geheim. (Mat 6:4) Die apostoliese fonds bestaan vir hierdie doel. Geld of items word deur die apostoliese fonds gehanteer volgens individue se behoefte of in opdrag van die donateur.

Amal gee uit hulle oorvloed wat hulle oor het, of soos die Here lei (Deut 16:17; Spr 3:9; 1 Kor 16:2) Jy kan net gee wat jy het. (Jakob – Gen 28:20-22) Die hoofrede hoekom ons nie skuld moet maak nie, is omdat jy sodoende jou reg op jou geld vir iemand anders gee. Jy kan nie skuld maak en vrylik gee nie!

Wat is my tiende?

Die beginsel is duidelik. Van alles wat jy ontvang, die ekstra ongewone inkomste (Gen 14:20) Abraham het vanuit sy buit vir Melgisedek ʼn tiende gegee. (Gen 14:20)

ʼn Tiende van alles gevra. (Gen 14:20; Gen 28:22; Deut 14:23)

Dit is ‘n opdrag van God en heilig. (Lev 27:30–33; Deut 12:6–7; 2 Kron 31:4–8)

Getrouheid:

Ons is meer getrou om ons Sanlam polisse en versekering te betaal as om die Here se deel te gee. Sien, tiende is ʼn refleksie en getuienis van wie jy werklik vertrou. Dit is belangrik om te sien dat die verskil tussen die Ou Testament en die Nuwe verbond ʼn verskuiwing is van wet tot geloof, van werke tot gelei deur die Heilige Gees, van offers vir myself tot offers vir die liggaam. Die tempel bestaan nie meer nie, ons verantwoordelikheid is dus om Sy liggaam te versorg, die nuwe organiese lewende tempel.

Baie mense wil hulle tiende en bydraes iewers anders gee. As God regtig vir jou gesê het, is dit reg so. Maar ek glo binne ʼn liggaam word daar besluit watter organisasies ons ondersteun, wie ons help, en ons doen dit saam. Want soos in ʼn kompanjie in die weermag, wat alles saam doen en hulpmiddele en kos deel, elke troep nie sommer net kan besluit om kos uit die kombuis te gaan haal en vir ʼn ander kompanjie te gaan gee nie. Wanneer ons nie saam vir dieselfde goed gee nie, is dit soos ʼn weermag waar iemand ‘rank’ breek en ‘resources’ buite die kamp met ander deel. So neem ons ‘resources’ van die lokale troepe.

Mag die Here ons gedurig reformeer om meer en meer in lyn te kom met Sy Wil en Waarheid Jesus Christus!

Categories
Sermons

Eternal Capital, the Riches we have in Christ

It is said that the greatest need in Uganda is Capital. Their is no lack of ideas and plans in Uganda. Like ants scavenging, people are constantly seeking work and means of income. People looking for ways in which they too will become the blessed, rich, wealthy, victorious kings and queens everyone is preaching about.

The truth is: God’s Capital is within you if you are a born again believer. Godly character is an Eternal commodity we carry within us – the Bible calls it the fruit of the spirit. When you meet someone wealthy their money carries weight and authority in this world, people seek to gain their favor, and they are reckoned as powerful and blessed. They get things done, and have entrance into VIP restricted areas of society. In the same way a Christlike Character and Activity brings favor.

Mother Theresa had no money when she started to look after the orphans, destitute, and Lepers in Kolkata, yet she addressed the united Nations in 1984. This is the prayer she prayed:

 

Make us worthy Lord to serve our fellow men throughout the world, who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread

and by our understanding love give peace and joy

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.

That where there is hatred I may bring love,

That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,

That where there is discord, I may bring harmony

That where there is error I may bring truth,

That where there is doubt I may bring faith,

That where there is despair I may bring hope,

That where there are shadows I may bring light,

That where there is sadness I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort that to be comforted,

To understand than to be understood,

To love than to be loved.

For it is by forgetting self that one finds.

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,

it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen.

She was granted a state funeral by the Indian government in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India.[63] Her death was mourned in both secular and religious communities.

IRENE GLEESON, 1944-2013

Mission accomplished: Irene Gleeson surrounded by some of the children she spent decades helping. Photo: Supplied —

Irene Gleeson fought and overcame many battles in her time as a missionary: late-night attacks by rebels, recurring bouts of malaria, depression, extreme isolation and the challenge of being a single white woman in one of the most volatile regions of the world.

For 22 years, her home was Kitgum – a small, isolated community 30 kilometres from the Sudan border and seven hours’ drive from the capital of Uganda, Kampala. ”Mama Irene” or ”The General”, as she was otherwise known, began her work on 7.3 hectares of dry, scrubby land donated by the local government. It was a ministry that would leave an indelible imprint on the hearts and lives of more than 20,000 war-affected Ugandans. (http://www.charismanews.com/world/40359-missionary-to-uganda-irene-gleeson-dies-at-68)

PATIENCE NAMANYA

When Patience Namanya was 12, she came home from school with a bad report card. She was failing literature, history, civics and math. Her teacher had scrawled a note at the bottom. “Patience can do better than this. Should please put in more effort.” Patience sat alone, ashamed. She ached for her parents. She was afraid of her abusive aunt. Who would she show this wrinkled piece of paper to? She knew one person who would understand. One woman who would both challenge and comfort her. Patience picked up her pencil and began to write. “The good Lord solves our problems even though they are big. This year was not wonderful for me because of the problems I had. I lost my grandma and my mummy in the same year and month, but I surrendered them to Jesus Christ.”

Patience has surrendered a lot to Jesus in her young life. She grew up in Kyebando, a slum in Kampala, Uganda, mired in unemployment, alcoholism and malnutrition. In Patience’s own home, tragedy was relentless. Her father died of AIDS, the disease that would gradually take the lives of her mother and two of her younger siblings. While AIDS still ravaged her body, Patience’s mother enrolled her at Compassion’s Gayaza Road Child Development Center.

Patience was eventually promoted to the Anti-Corruption National Strategic Planning Team for Uganda. A job at the national level affords her both freedom and safety. Her team has appeared on radio and television in their efforts to protect fellow Ugandans from government corruption. Earlier this year, Patience helped reinstate 6,000 teachers who had been illegally removed from their jobs. She says she hopes to one day be appointed to parliament, where she can fight corruption from within. (http://www.communityglobal.org/-blog/patience-namanya)

 

 

WAYS IN WHICH GOD PROVIDES FOR US:

Christ within the hope of glory:

Col 1:27 Speaks of this great mystery that now has been revealed, namely Christ in and among us! Paul knew of this riches and said that although he has nothing, he is making many rich. 2 Cor 6:10. He was content within, no matter the state of the conditions on the outside. Phil 4:11-12 in verse 13 he victoriously declares “I can do all things, through Christ that strengthens me!” God made an huge capital investment within us, His own Son!

Living the life of Jesus, is true riches indeed. As you begin to follow Him, laying down your own life, dreams and ambitions, He begins to teach you His way of riches. The greatest statesman Mr Nelson Mandela was not known for his politics and accomplishments But for his humility, compassion, forgiveness, and unity he brought about.

The Holy Spirit is our guide, but once we decided to surrender self, He is also the one that raise Christ up in us. Christ resurrected in us, and through us. In Him we live and move and have our being. We are crucified with Him, but we will also live and reign with Him.

He will lead each one of us, into the rich tapestry of Christlike destiny He has purposed for all of us. Like Him we learn obedience through the things we suffer. Heb 5:8 and being perfected by Him, we become the author of an aspect of Christ’s riches He has chosen to reveal through us to the world.

We cannot choose this destiny for ourselves, we discover it as we continue to obey Him in the small things, here a little, there a little, step upon step, line upon line. In total trust we blindly follow Him, until He choose to open our eyes, now seeing like He sees. Paul had to first be blinded naturally, and see in the spirit, before God could give him back his sight.

 

  1. Christlike character is a commodity! It gives you heavenly currency to trade and do business and gain favor and success in everything you do.  The president [Yoweri Museveni] turned to the church when it became evident that the army was getting nowhere with the war. The president went so far as to ask Christians to volunteer for public service. “The president says that only the principled can make a difference,” Senyonga told Charisma Magazine. “He would say, ‘If [born-again Christians] don’t have skills I will give them the skills. But I want the heart.” (http://www.charismamag.com/site-archives/146-covers/cover-story/1965-ugandas-miracle) More and more christians are coming in demand in the job sector, business that core character is essential to business success. For born again believers, the character of Christ becomes the fruit of your new nature in Christ.
  2. Inherent provision in creation: Every created thing has an inherent provision. (Mat 6:22-35) The way that God blesses us is, through blessing the land. Ps 65:9-13 God provides by blessing the Land.  The most natural way of God’s provision to us lies in nature, farming, sowing and reaping.  Hos 10:12 The prophet asked the widow: “What do you have?” Often God’s provision is in what we already have. “silver and gold I have not, but what I have I give you” Jesus also taught His disciples “You give them something to eat”. Like Paul I like to pray that our spiritual eyes be opened to the calling, inheritance and power we have within us. (Ephe 1:19-21)
  3. Money is only a means: Poverty lack access to a means. We do not need money, we need a means, to make, or earn money. Many people who have won a lot of money do not know what to do with it. They lack a means. We cannot trust in the means, because it can change, we can loose it, either by our own doing, or someone else doing. Mat 6:26 God cares for the birds, who do not sow or reap, nor gather into barns.  Do not trust in your sowing, trust God! We on a constant journey to discover different means of income, to provide not only for ourselves but others also. Each person ought to develop their vocation in obedience to Christ. Nic ” ” do not have any legs or arms, yet he minister all over the world. He became perfected through obedience and now have a power story to tell, thus becoming n author of hope to millions.
  4. See the Lord’s Provision: Jehovah Jireh: H3070. יִרְאֶה יְהוָֹה y hōwāh yir’eh:A proper noun designating Jehovah Jireh, a name given to designate the Lord by Abraham for providing a sacrifice in place of Isaac (Gen. 22:14). It means “the Lord will see to it” literally but also means “the Lord will provide.” You need to see your provision to be able to obtain it. Often in survival circumstances people die, because they could not see the provision in what they had around them.  Abraham had to see God’s provision in the ram.  Look at what is obvious, close proximity to you. You will not become good in anything, if it is not already within you. I was told this week by Ellen Odendaal, MD of Bokomo Uganda. If you have to do a course at something so that you will be able to do it, your were not meant to do it.  Doing course in public speaking, wont make you a good speaker, you should ready have it in. The course is only for improvement. See the gifts what God has already put in you.
  5. Faithfulness in the small things.  Being faithful is so important for success.  You will never go forward if you never learn to first be faithful in the small things.  Luk 16:19. The way I move people forward, is to first give them simple commands, then once they complete them accurately, we can ahead to greater things. No plant in God’s garden begins as a full-grown tree. We want to skip the steps, and create plastic human made plants, that looks nice, but they’re dead.
  6. Shrewdness and prudence: 5430. φρονίμως phronímōs; adv. from phrónimos (G5429), prudent. Prudently. It denotes the wise, prudent and sensible manner in which one conducts himself and his affairs. In Luke 16:8 the word means with advantage, shrewdly. “Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.” Message
  7. Principle of sowing and reaping: Everything in God’s Kingdom/creation works on this principle/law. Gen 8:22 The more one sows, the more one can reap. 1 Cor 9:6 The measure of your sowing determines the measure of your harvest.  Like a farmer, he cannot eat the seed. He will have nothing to eat in the future! Most people eat all their seed, they do not know how to make money, only how to spend it. The way of the Kingdom is: the more you need, the more you need to give.  The people in our church, who are most blessed and prosperous are the ones that give.
  8. Get going do something:Deut 8:18 Give you power to attain wealth – God has made provision for every man, it is what you make of the opportunities you did receive that will bring you greater opportunities. Charismatic and Pentecostal people can fall in the trap of trying to fix everything with prayer, laying of hands, and having more church meetings. Although these things are important for spiritual growth, it does not sustain us. Paul says: “working with my own hands” he provided for those who was in his company. Pastors who forsake work and labour, become professional beggars and shrewd in taking up offerings to sustain themselves. Much error has crept into the church because of this.  Apostles work hard. 2 Cor 6:5 – labors, 2 Cor 10:15 – measure of our labour – We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. 2 Cor 11:23 – with far greater labors 1 Cor 15:10; 1 Cor 4:12 Working with our own hands; 2 Thes 3:8 with toil and labor