Tithing

Is Tithing for the New Testament Believer? • Cortni Marrazzo A few weeks ago I wrote an article called "Why it's Important to Keep Tithing in Tough Economic Times" and, quite frankly, I was surprised by the many follow up comments from Christians who don't believe that tithing is for today. Many expressed the belief that tithing was only done in the Old Testament and thus it shouldn't be a part of a believer's life. Their comments made me wonder: Whether tithing is restricted to the Old Testament or not, is the practice of tithing such a bad thing for today's believer? Matter of the Heart First, let's look at the purpose of the tithe. The main principle behind tithing and giving is the fact that what we do with our money shows where our heart is. Matthew 6:21 says "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." When we are able to give 10% or more of our income instead of keeping that money for ourselves, it shows that our heart isn't tied to our money and that we love God more than our money. The Bible mentions money over 800 times and of all of Jesus' parables, more than half of them talked about money. Why? Because that is where so many people get tripped up! When we are able to release at least 10% of our income back to God, our money doesn't have as tight of a hold on us because we realize that God is in control of our finances. We remember that everything we have has been given to us by Him. Even though most of us probably work for the money we make each month, even God has his hand there - He has given us the ability to do our jobs. Many who grasp what God has truly given them seem to agree that 10% doesn't even feel like enough! Mandatory Many readers who responsed took issue with idea of tithing being "mandatory" or "required" - as if it is something that keeps believers in bondage. But do God's standards really keep us in bondage? Just like God tells us to keep sex within marriage, to love one another and to seek first His kingdom, tithing is a blessing to our lives and something that will help better our lives (as well as help the lives of others). We are not saved by works, thus failing to tithe will not necessarily send you to hell, but doing so will help improve your life and strengthen your relationship with God. I personally don't believe that God will curse us if we don't tithe, but I do believe He will help us escape the curse that is already in the world if we do. I also understand that there may be some church leaders who try to guilt and coerce people into giving, but studies show there are plenty of church leaders honoring God in this area -- the majority of them want to share God's best with the people they love and have been tasked to lead. Old Testament vs. New Testament Whether the tithe is only for Old Testament or if it is also included in the New Testament is probably the most debated issue. The scripture most frequently referenced regarding the tithe is indeed in the Old Testament (Malachi 3:10-12), but the tithe is also referenced in the New Testament. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus talks to the Pharisees, condemning them for tithing to the penny but neglecting the more important issues of justice, mercy and faith. He then goes on to tell them that they should in fact tithe, but that they shouldn't neglect the more important things. Jesus recognized the importance of keeping the tithe and we should, too. There are many practices in the Old Testament that don't make sense to us today, yet many of these ancient ways carry over to the New Testament law of grace as part of Christ's promise to not abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). For instance we no longer sacrifice animals but as believers we are called to offer ourselves up as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Men no longer are required to be circumcised, but we all have a circumcision of the heart through the Holy Spirit (Rom 2:29). Most of us don't have grain and produce to bring to the storehouse, but we do have incomes that we can bring the first tenth of into the church. In other words, just because something is written in the Old Testament doesn't mean it lacks application to us today in some way or another. One Crosswalk.com member, Zoe4Ever, left a comment on my previous article regarding this principle that I found insightful: When I think of Christians asking themselves whether "tithing" is commanded in the Bible, is an Old Testament or New Testament teaching, I wonder how many of these Christians "send back" the many scriptural blessings God has given His people in the Old Testament. How many people when they are blessed and given hope through the mention of God's works, words etc. through the Old Testament Scriptures say ‘I don't receive this or that blessing or confirmation because it's in the Old Testament'?" While it is true that we are no longer under the old law, that we are under grace, we must not forget the purpose of grace: to help us live for God and do the things He wants us to do. Romans 8:4 tells us that Jesus came that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, not so that we could altogether dismiss it. And Romans 3:21-31 talks about how we have righteousness through faith and not through following the law, but verse 31 adds "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law." God's grace gives us the power and ability to tithe! The Number 10 Most of us are aware that we as Christians are to give, but many people get hung up on the 10% part of the tithe. The fact is that God knows we can not all give an equal amount because we all have different resources, so He gave a percentage ensuring it would equal out. "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." Mark 12:41-44 Jesus understood that even though this widow gave a small amount compared to the others, her heart was more giving because she gave a larger percentage of what she had than all the others. This verse is also interesting because this widow gave all she had to live on. There are many people today who say they can't afford to tithe but this woman realized she couldn't afford not to. God knows we are naturally inclined to be selfish and will want to keep our money. So while, yes, we should give cheerfully, sometimes we need to take the step and actually give regardless of our internal feelings. The act of giving allows God to change our hearts so that ultimately we end up doing so cheerfully. Many of us, if we let our natural minds decide how much to give, would likely opt for a lot less than 10%. Having a standard keeps us accountable. Trusting the Church So what if you don't take issue with the concept of giving or even the concept of giving 10%? What if you, like many of the commentors, take issue with those you hand your money over to: the Church. Those who express this concern reveal two potential problems that need to be addressed: 1. This individual's trust isn't in God (and the church He's placed them in). Or 2. This individual is attending an untrustworthy church and should consider finding a new one. The truth is, church leaders are responsible for using church money in a responsible way - they have more accountability for that than we do. And as mentioned previously, most of them do a pretty good job of this. Still, it's worth bearing in mind that our accountability as believers is simply to give and trust that God will take care of the rest. Hopefully you are in a church where you can trust your leaders to do what is right. If you are unable to find such a church, then it would be beneficial to work on your trust in God, asking Him to help you trust the leaders He has placed you under (or pray to help you find a solution if there is a genuine problem of corruption present). But just remember, you're responsible for what you give and for your heart, and the church leaders are responsible for how to use it. In closing, I'd like to point out that the percentage you ultimately give is between you and God, however there are many who do give 10% and want to offer encouragement to others to do the same. Think about it: If some individuals are willing to give 10% of their income (or more) to their church -- the place that feeds and teaches them -- and if some individuals are experiencing the blessings of giving away income to care for the needy and want to encourage others to experience the same blessings they've been experiencing - is that such a bad thing?

Christmas message by Billy Graham

The Cradle, the Cross and the Crown By Billy Graham • November 25, 2014 This has been a very disturbing year in American history. Millions of Americans at this moment are confused, discouraged, cynical, frightened and disillusioned. Each day seems to add to our problems. In the midst of all this upheaval and crisis and difficulty and problems and fear, comes the message of Christmas with all of its hope, goodwill and cheer. I think the message of Christmas has been terribly misapplied and misunderstood for many years in this country. Some think of business profits, shopping, gifts, tinsel, toys and celebration. Others think only of Bethlehem, of the star in the sky, shepherds in the field and angels singing. Still others cynically ask, “Where is this Prince of Peace in a world filled with so much trouble?” But the real Christmas message goes far deeper. It answers all the great questions that plague the human race at this hour. The Christmas message is relevant, revolutionary and reassuring to us today. I believe it can be summed up in three words: a cradle, a cross and a crown. First, the cradle. On that first Christmas night, the Bible tells us about the angel coming to those fearful shepherds and saying, “Fear not, I bring you good news” (Cf. Luke 2:10). What is the real meaning of that Good News? During World War II, many a mother would take her son and try to keep the memory of the father, who was away at war, in the memory of the boy. One mother I heard about took her son every day into the bedroom and showed him a large portrait of the father who was away. And one day the little boy said, “Mom, wouldn’t it be great if Dad could just step out of the frame?” That’s what happened that first Christmas. For centuries men had looked into the heavens longing for God to step out of the frame, and at Bethlehem that’s exactly what God did. Incredible and unbelievable as it may appear to a modern man, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was a visitor from outer space. He was God Incarnate. That virgin-born baby was God in human form. He humbled Himself, He took the form of a servant, He was made in your likeness and mine, He identified Himself with the problems of the human race. And thus it was that the Apostle John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14). What a difference the baby born in Bethlehem’s manger 2,000 years ago makes to our world today. The educational systems He has inspired, the social reforms that His teachings have instituted, and the transformation of families and lives that have come about as a result of a baby born at Bethlehem! The whole world was thinking of Caesar. The whole world was thinking of Rome. But in God’s eternal plan, He was thinking of a baby in a manger in the little tiny town of Bethlehem. Second, there’s the cross. Christmas, to have meaning, cannot be separated from the cross. The angel said at the birth of Jesus, “He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus Himself said, speaking just before His death, “For this cause was I born” (John 18:37). He was the only person in history who was born with the purpose of dying. The Apostle Paul, years later said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). The central message of Christmas is that Jesus Christ, by His death and resurrection, can transform both individuals and society. Almost everyone at some time or another feels moral guilt and failure. In every newspaper or magazine that we pick up, and in every newscast that we watch, we see a picture of hate and lust and greed and prejudice and corruption—manifested in a thousand ways. The fact that we have policemen and jails and military forces indicates that something is radically wrong with human nature. The Bible teaches that the human race is morally sick. This disease has affected every phase of our life in society. The Bible calls this disease by an ugly, three-letter word: sin. The Bible teaches that the only cure for sin is the blood that Christ shed on the cross. Christ became the Lamb of God who bled and died on the cross for our sins. The cross and the resurrection stand today as man’s only hope. It was on Good Friday and Easter that God did for man what man could not do for himself. From these momentous events, God is saying to sinful man, “I love you. I love you so much I gave my Son.” But He’s saying more than that. He’s saying, “I can forgive you, because of what He did on the cross.” And this is good news this Christmas! Some may dismiss it as idiotic and ridiculous that a man dying 2,000 years ago could be relevant today. Paul anticipated that we’d say that. He said, “The preaching of the cross is, I know, nonsense to those who are involved in this dying world, but to us who are being saved from that death it is nothing less than the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18, Phillips). I believe that America stands on the threshold of divine judgment. Morally, socially, economically, politically, spiritually, we are in deep trouble. We’ve turned away from God, and every month seems to take us further away from the only One who can reverse the tide, forgive our sins and forestall the imminent judgment. We must alter our course if we are going to see many more Christmas seasons as a free people. Our greatest need is a change in the hearts of people. That is why Jesus said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). That’s why He said, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Paul, in his famous sermon at Mars Hill, said, “God … commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world” (Acts 17:30-31). Who should repent? Everybody. This is what the cross calls for. The heart of its message is simple: Repent or perish. The Scripture says, “A broken and a contrite heart God will not despise” (Cf. Psalm 51:17). If we as individuals and as a nation would humble ourselves and turn from our sins, God has promised forgiveness, healing to the nation and eternal life to the individual. Third, there’s the crown. Chiseled into the cornerstone of the United Nations building is a quotation from the Bible that has never yet been fulfilled. It reads, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4). This is a thrilling thought. It has often been repeated by those who long for peace. However, this quotation must not be taken out of context. The passage speaks of the time when the Messiah will reign over the whole earth. This is the era about which Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This is the time when He who came as the baby of Bethlehem shall come back as King of kings and Lord of lords. The Bible teaches that there will be an end to history as we know it. Man will have his last Armageddon. But when it seems that man is about to destroy himself, God will intervene. Christ will return. At the cradle, He was in the stall of an animal. At the cross, He wore a crown of thorns. But when He comes again, it will be as Commander in Chief of the armies of Heaven. He will take control of this war-weary world and bring the peace that we strive for and long for. A new world will be formed, a new social order will emerge. Sin will be eliminated. Tears will be wiped from every eye. Disease shall be no more, and even death will be eliminated from the human scene. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and war shall be no more. This is the promise of Christmas. This is our hope. This is the Christmas star that lights our darkness. This is the assurance that a new day is coming, through the Messiah, whose name is called by Isaiah the prophet, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). This is God’s gift of Christmas: the cradle—His Son; the Cross—His life; the crown—His coming kingdom. ©1974 BGEA Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version. The Scripture quotation marked Phillips is taken by permission from The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition, translated by J.B. Phillips, ©1958, 1960, 1972 J.B. Phillips, Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., New York, New York; Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., London, England.

N T Wright sermon on the gospel of John 1st chapter

Full of Grace and Truth Hebrews 1.1–4; John 1.1–18 a sermon at the Eucharist on Christmas Morning 2006 by the Bishop of Durham, Dr N. T. Wright If I asked you where in John’s Gospel you would find a wedding scene, several of you would know the answer at once. Don’t worry; I am not going to use the excuse that this is Christmas Day to turn this august congregation into a glorified Sunday School, though actually Christmas Day of all days is a great time to celebrate childlikeness and some of you may perhaps have been enjoying doing so already. But the obvious wedding in St John is of course in chapter 2, the wedding at Cana in Galilee, where Jesus changes the water into wine. But I want to suggest to you this morning, as a matter of considerable importance for understanding our Christian pilgrimage and mission, that there is a wedding of equal if not greater significance in the famous passage we just heard, the extraordinary Prologue to John’s Gospel. John’s Prologue, as again many of you will know, is like the great doorway to a great building. These eighteen verses, so apparently simple yet, like their primary Old Testament background in Genesis 1, so utterly profound, introduce us to the subject-matter of the whole gospel. For many generations and in many traditions they have been read as the Christmas morning gospel, because of their central and earth-shattering announcement: And the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. That is the mystery which lies at the heart of Christian faith and life, mission and ministry, the mystery at which the other two great monotheistic faiths, Judaism and Islam, completely balk: that the one true and living God should pour out his very self into created flesh, that the playwright should come on stage and take the leading part because nobody else can play it. And that God-in-human-flesh theme isn’t a flash in the pan, a one-off experiment which, having riskily been tried in Jesus himself, God quickly gave up. Part of the whole point of John’s Gospel is that when the Word made Flesh accomplishes his work of glory, love and passion, he pours out his own Spirit on his followers so that they, too, can become Words-become-Flesh. This, too, is stressed in the Prologue: as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, born not in the normal way but with a new birth from God. We can watch it happening immediately after the resurrection, when Jesus tells Mary Magdalene to tell the eleven ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father.’ Christmas, in other words, isn’t supposed to be just a truth about Jesus. It’s supposed to be, in utter dependence on Jesus, a truth about us. Christmas isn’t a spectator sport. It’s an invitation. And, yes, it’s a wedding invitation. So where is the wedding in John’s prologue? Back to Sunday School again, this time with a guess-the-text puzzle. I said that Genesis 1 was the primary Old Testament background for John’s prologue; but what are the other major Old Testament passages that John is echoing? Hands go up in this imaginary classroom: yes, Proverbs 8, God’s wisdom through which the world was created – very good; Isaiah 55, with the Word like rain and snow coming down from above and accomplishing God’s work through the ministry of the Servant: yes, excellent; Ben-Sirach 24 – well, yes, not exactly the Old Testament but very important. But what about Psalm 85? Think about it with John in mind. ‘Grace and Truth are met together; justice and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs up from the ground; and justice looks down from heaven.’ And suddenly that little phrase in John’s prologue, ‘grace and truth’, so easy to say that it just slips down almost unnoticed, like the second glass of ginger wine, stands out in three dimensions and demands that we pay attention to it. My friends, Christmas is in one sense all about a birth, but in another sense it is about a wedding: the marriage of grace and truth, which is in fact the marriage of heaven and earth. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the Father’s only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace; for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. When John repeats something in this way, he wants us to pay it close attention. It’s all too easy, reading a phrase like ‘grace and truth’, to suppose that these abstract nouns denote two of the many miscellaneous good things which are given to us in Jesus Christ, along (that is) with justice, peace, salvation, wisdom and a host of others. And in a sense that’s true. But with Psalm 85 in the background – and I’ll say more about that in a moment – a new possibility opens up, which means that among the mysterious envelopes under the Christmas tree we discover an invitation to this wedding. Psalm 85 is a prayer for restoration, for forgiveness, for the mercy and grace of God to break through the long dark night of Israel’s exile and bring about that new life for which God’s people ached. It is, in other words, an Advent psalm; and we who have prayed our way through Advent these last four weeks ought to know something of its longing and hope. But then, as the poem turns its corner into the second half – it’s not long, it’s like a sonnet, you could sit down and read it in two or three minutes, though you’d better take a bit longer to get the best out of it – the Psalmist has a moment of vision, and this is what he sees. First, he sees that God will speak a fresh word, a word of peace to his people, to those who have faith. Second, he sees that God’s glory will come once more to dwell in the land – in other words, that the Temple will be restored, and the tabernacling presence of the living God will come to live there in full majesty. And, thirdly, he sees that when this happens it will be like a cosmic wedding, with heaven and earth coming together in a rich and fruitful embrace: grace and truth will meet at last, justice and peace will kiss each other; truth will spring up from the earth, and justice look down from heaven. Psalm 85 is, in other words, a Christmas poem: Advent is over, God’s fresh Word is spoken, breathed out, received by those who have faith deep in their hearts, and God’s glory, his tabernacling presence, has come to live in our midst. The word became flesh, and dwelt – the word means, ‘pitched his tent’, or ‘tabernacled’ – amongst us, and we gazed upon his glory. And in this glory we find the coming together of heaven and earth, of grace and truth. So what does it mean that grace and truth come together in this way? Both are gifts of God, yet in this Psalm grace is the fresh love of God coming from beyond our world, and truth is the plant which springs up, strong and tall and resilient, from within our world. As I said, the phrase suddenly becomes three-dimensional. Something is happening before our very eyes, as we gaze upon the baby in the manger, the Word made Flesh, and reflect on what it all means. God’s gift of his own very self isn’t, as people so often imagine, a kind of alien invasion, an intrusion from outside. It is of course a matter of grace, of (that is) totally undeserved mercy, the free gift of an uncaused and overflowing love – and if you want to see what free and overflowing love looks like and feels like, and which of us doesn’t, then read the rest of John’s gospel and marvel at Jesus loving his own who were in the world and loving them to the uttermost. But this free grace, coming to us from beyond the world, is precisely coming from the one who created the world in the first place and made it to be a place of truth, of solid reality – the reality about which T. S. Eliot commented sadly that humans can’t bear too much of it – so that when grace happens, truth happens. And in the baby in the manger we see them both happening; we see them both married for ever. In the Word made Flesh we gaze upon the glory not just of the living God, coming to us in utter love in the person of this tiny baby, but of God’s design for his whole world. As St Paul put it, God’s plan from the beginning was to unite, in Christ, all things, things in heaven and things on earth. And part of the point of Christmas is that this marriage of heaven and earth, of grace and truth, has now begun and isn’t going to stop until it’s complete. Welcome to the wedding. I hope you don’t find this all too abstract. That’s always a danger with heavyweight theological terms like ‘grace’ and ‘truth’, and part of the point of John’s gospel is of course that words become flesh and that you can see what they mean because look – there they are, walking around. And we desperately need them to be walking around right now, in the world and in the church. Let me sum it up like this: our world has tried for far too long to get truth without grace; and the church has been in danger for a long time of offering grace without truth. Only when we put them together can we find the way out of the darkness and into the true Christmas light. Because it really is dark out there, and alas sometimes in here too. The great revolution of thought which happened in Europe over three centuries ago, associated with Descartes in particular, was the attempt to grasp truth as it were from scratch: by doubting everything, we would see what we could be sure of and build out from there. We would know the facts, and the facts would set us free – free from God, free from any responsibility except to our own self-interest. There’s a straight line from Descartes to Dawkins: we can doubt God, but we can’t doubt the facts, the empirical evidence. And the results of that arrogant attempt to possess truth are all around us, etched in the horrors of the twentieth century and now already the multiple follies of the twenty-first, as we in the West blunder blindly on, believing firmly that because we know the facts and have the technology we can do what we like with other people’s countries, other people’s stem cells, other people’s crops, other people’s money, other people’s lives. And meanwhile the worm in the apple has hollowed it out more or less completely: the ‘truth’ which we thought we knew has been eaten away not just in theology and philosophy but in its heartland of physics, by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and in its deeper heartland of the human being, where Descartes began. We have become a society paranoid about truth: so we make each other fill in more and more forms, and set up more cameras to spy on each other, to check up on one another because we want the truth, we want an audit trail, we want more and more Enquiries and Judicial Reviews and Investigations, but we can’t get at truth because Descartes’ experiment has itself made it impossible, has generated a world of suspicion and smear and spin. The project of truth without grace has become one of facts without trust, and has finally run into the buffers in the smashed cities of Iraq, in the Snooping and Sniggering Society, in the tail-eating philosophies of postmodern deconstruction. That is the darkness where we have waited for too long in Advent hope, waited for a fresh word, a living Word, the tabernacling of glory in our midst, and for truth to be called forth to its long-awaited marriage with grace. Only when we receive this world as a gift from the creator can we understand truth; only when we see one another as bearing his image can we relearn trust. My friends, Christmas sets us a cultural and political agenda which we must pray will enable us to shine a bright, searching light into the world where ignorant armies still clash by night. But if the world has tried to have truth without grace, the church has often been tempted towards grace without truth – as Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, ‘cheap grace’. God has become a benevolent old softie, ready to tolerate everything, to include everyone, to throw away all those unpleasant old moral standards and say it’s all right, do your own thing, if it feels good it must be OK. And once again the results are all around – both in the anti-moralism of the arch-liberals and the anti-authoritarianism of today’s new conservatives, who don’t realise that they are simply producing an ecclesiological parody of the do-it-yourself morality they so detest. But no: grace and truth must meet together; if it really is grace, it really must produce truth, a rich, deep personal, moral and ecclesial integrity which is deeply true to the created order and to its recreation in Christ, to the deep structures of God’s wise and loving ordering of his world and of us human beings. Cheap grace – assuming, in whichever direction, that God is on your side because your agenda seems to urgent, so obviously right, and not troubling to ask the hard questions – is to genuine grace as ‘facts’ are to ‘truth’: a late modern parody to be named and shamed and rejected in the name of the Christmas message, of the grace and truth which we find in the baby in the manger. But if that larger, global picture gives a brief indication of why John’s repeated ‘grace and truth’ matters, and matters urgently, in the wider world and church, we cannot of course ignore its message for our own lives. One of the great truths of spirituality is that you become like what you worship. We beheld his glory, says John: we gazed at it, long and lovingly, with adoration and worship, so that the marriage of grace and truth which we see and know in the Christ-child can be born in us as well, so that we can be people, we can become communities, in whom God’s grace generates and sustains a human integrity, a wholeness and holiness of character. And the definition of mission – mission to which we as a Diocese have firmly commited ourselves as a priority – can be restated in exactly the same terms: we are to become people in and through whom God’s grace overflows to the world around, producing a new integrity, a new truth and truthfulness, at every level from politics to university study to sexual morality to ecology (where the image of grace from above producing fruitfulness below is especially poignant), and reaching out into human hearts and lives and imaginations with the news that there is such a thing as truth, because there is such a thing as grace, because there is such a person as Jesus, and because in him we see and know God’s living word made living flesh and are summoned to become living words in living flesh ourselves. Grace and truth have met together; justice and peace have kissed each other; truth springs up from the earth, and justice looks down from heaven. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace; for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Come to him today, taste his grace and truth in bread and wine, and become yourselves wedding guests, feasting at the marriage of heaven and earth. http://ntwrightpage.com/sermons/Christmas06.htm

Adrian Rogers sample sermon

The World in a Week By Adrian Rogers Main Scripture Text: Genesis 1:1 Outline Introduction I. The Meaning of the Days II. The Miracle of the Days III. The Message of the Days Introduction And, I want you to pay attention today, to the message from God's Word and incidentally, again our scripture is very easy to find. Genesis 1:1. Turn to it, would you please. The first book and the first chapter and the first verse. Today we're speaking on this subject, "A World in a Week"—"A World in a Week." We find here the story of the creation and the formation of the world in a week. I begin here in Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light, and there was light and God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Now let's just stop right there. The evening and the morning were the first day. In 1859, Darwin wrote his famous book, The Origin of the Species, and in that book he proposed to tell us from whence we came. And he talked about the origin of the species. I've been thinking about that. And I believe that the destiny of the species is far more important than the origin. Now, I'm not demeaning the origin. And we need to know and learn from whence we came. And I trust this morning we will and I just want you to draw close and listen and tell you, dear friend, from whence you've come has already been decided wherever it was. But where you're headed the destiny of the species may not yet be decided in your own heart and in your mind and so you'd better pay attention. And it is the Bible, not Charles Darwin, that's going to tell you both about the origin and the destiny of the species. And I'm so glad today that we could talk about these things. And you say, oh the destiny, that's so far away. Not necessarily. Eternity is just a heartbeat away. Eternity is just around the corner. You know, sometimes we get in a habit of talking about some horrendous experience we went through. Maybe an automobile accident, or something like that, and we say I've never been so close to death in my life. But, friend, you weren't close to death at all because you're still living. You are closer to death now than you've ever been in your life, this moment. You're closer to death now than you've ever been. And one second from this you'll be even yet closer to death. What I'm trying to tell you is this: that your destiny is right around the corner—only a heartbeat away from many who are listening to me right now. And so, we need to pay attention as to what God says not only about the origin of the specie but the destiny of the species. And I believe that both are told us very clearly here in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, and in the message that we're going to entitle today, "A World in a Week." Three basic little simple thoughts I want us to gather the rest of our thoughts around this morning. First of all I want us think of the meaning of the days as we think about these days in the week listed here in Genesis 1. And then secondly, I want us think about the miracle of those days. And thirdly, I want us to think about the message of those days—a very simple little outline. I. The Meaning of the Days But, notice if you will please, in Genesis 1:5, "And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And then look if you will please in verse 8. "And God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day." And then look if you will please: "And the evening and the morning were the third day." In verse 13. And six times we find this specific statement, The evening and the morning were the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day. Now, what is the meaning of these days? Because the word day is used in the Bible in many different ways over 1400 times it's, it's listed in the Bible, this word day. And it's translated about 44 different ways in the King James Version of the Bible. This one Hebrew word yom—y-o-m—is translated many ways. And so, as we look at these days—the evening and the morning were the first day—we want to ask ourselves, what did God mean? Did He mean literal 24-hour days as we mean them? Because some people have tried to make the Bible coincide with geology. You know, the geologists and the uniformitarianist school of thought tell us that the world is actually billions and billions of years old. And so, they try to say that these days were not literal days but these days were great ages that God just simply called days. Now, let me say that the word day is used in the Bible in several senses. The word day does mean a 24-hour day. That's ones use. Actually, it's not 24 hours; it's 23 hours, 56 minutes, and four seconds, if you want to be a nitpicker. But anyway, that talks about the time that the earth revolves on it's axis one time. And the Bible calls that a day. The evening and the morning were the first day. But, then also, the Bible calls that portion of what we call a day—that is daylight. The Bible also calls that a day. For example, you can see in 1:5, "And God called the light day and the darkness, he called night." So right away, there's a different use of the word day other than the 24-hour day, the evening and the morning being a day. But then, God also uses the word day in a generalized sense just to mean an indefinite period of time. Here's an interesting verse, so you can just jot it down in your margin—Isaiah 4:1: "And in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man saying we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel only let us be called by thy name." Hmm, fellows, there's coming a day, when there will be seven women after you. And, just say, I'll make my own way, just let me use your name. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not going to preach on that today. But anyway, I'm just going to tell you that I'm using that phrase there to show you that God speaks of the word day, He says, in that day, in that general period of time. So the word day there is used to talk about a general period of time And then, the word day is used to talk about an inclusive period of time. For example, look, if you will, in Genesis 2:4: "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." The day, and yet we find out that God did it in six days and rested on the seventh. And, yet, God called all those six days, one day. See. So, I'm trying to say that's just not just a simple thing when we're talking about the days. Are these days that we're talking about, are they indefinite periods of time, sort of like geological ages. Or do these days refer to 24-hour periods of time? Or do they refer just to daylight? Or do they refer to an inclusive period of time and so forth? I want to tell you that I believe that God made this world in six 24-hour days. That's what I believe. And, thank you for those amens. I was afraid so of you were going to arch your eyebrows when I said that. But, I believe that. I believe that God made it all in six 24-hour periods of time. Now, having said that, let me just tell you why I believe that. First of all, I don't have any difficulty believing that. Because I believe in God, you know, it's no difficulty for me to believe that God made it all in six days. God could have made it all in six seconds. Amen? That's no difficulty. You believe in God, you don't have any difficulty with those kind of questions. That doesn't bother me one little bit, because I believe in God. Remember, the Bible says, "In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and earth." And remember, Elohim is that word for God which speaks of His mighty strength. Elohim made it all. But, let me tell you why I believe that it was six 24-hour periods. First of all, just the normal usage of the word—the evening and the morning. If you were to read that, just look at, just the normal usage of the normal language, letting language say what it seems to say, you would say that's a 24-hour period. The evening and the morning were the first day. The evening and the morning were the second day. The evening and the morning, the third day, and so forth. Just the plain use of the language. The other thing is this: that if you make these geological ages, you get into all kinds of difficulty. For example, if you have on the third day, plant life created, and it was created, and then on the fourth day, you have the sun that's made to appear, well, you've got some real difficulty there. Because, if you make these geological ages, you've got hundreds of thousands and millions of years with plant life and no sunlight. You see the problem there? The sun gives energy and life to the plants. And all plants operate by a process that we call photosynthesis, which means, literally, "put together with light." And so, you have an impossibility. And then again, you find out that, on the fifth day, the sun's not made you see until the fourth day, and then, on the fifth day, you have animal life that is created. Now, these are geological ages, and great ages, you have hundreds of thousands of years of plant life and no sunlight, and then, finally, you have animal life and everybody knows that animal life and plant life are interdependent. And so, the animals eat the plants and the animals breathe, and give out carbon dioxide, take in oxygen, the plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen, and it's necessary. Many plants cannot exist without the pollination of little insects, and so forth, that would not have been created until hundreds and thousands and millions of years later. We make these geological ages. So, I just believe it, like God said it—like I believe God said it. God just created the whole shebang in six days. I mean, God just spoke and it was so, and God just moved through, and God said, "Let there be light, and there was Light." And God said, "Let the earth appear, and the earth appeared." Let the sun, moon, stars shine, and gave animal life, created man, all of it. I believe that God did it in six days. And I believe that as you look through the Bible and read the language of the Bible, it is like that the writers of the Bible believe. For example, in Exodus 20, where Moses is talking about the Sabbath, he says in verse 11, listen to this, put it in your margin, Exodus 20:11, "And in six days the Lord made heaven and the earth, the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it." Now, just reading that, it seems obvious that Moses believed that God did it in six literal days because he's referring to the Sabbath which is a literal day, a literal 24-hour period, you see. Now, some people say, oh he's talking about a Sabbath age, they say that one, two, three, four, six work days and then geological age, the Sabbath day. We're living in the last generation. And, they think that the Sabbath time started from creation and we're all living in the final Sabbath. Well, God, you have some real difficulty, because the Bible says, God rested on the Sabbath day. If you make it an age, what are you going to do with that statement where the Bible says, Jesus speaking, said, "My father worketh here to and I work." See, God's not resting according to Jesus, He was working. So, what I'm trying to say is, that these are, in my estimation literal 24-hour days. I don't have difficulty believing that at all. I just accept it. I say praise God for it. I have a God of might, a God of miracle, a God who did it like He said He did it in the Bible. I believe the simplest way is to read it and believe it. Somebody said, if God didn't mean what He said, why didn't He say what He meant. And so, God made these things, I believe, in six 24-hour days. II. The Miracle of the Days Now, let's talk, let's move on, and talk not only about the meaning of the days, but, let's talk a little bit about the miracle of the days. I believe that God did it miraculously. Now, you say, well Brother Rogers, doesn't that bring you into conflict with science? True science and true Bible never conflict because God wrote two books. God wrote this book, His inspired, inerrant, infallible Word, and then also God made the book of nature. I mean, God created nature, and nature is in a sense, His book. The Bible says, Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There are books and brooks, and sermons and stones and God in everything. You see, all of this shows the glory of God. God made it all. And, God, who wrote this book, and God who created this world, He's not going to have any difficulty putting these things together. I mean, its scientific proof didn't sneak upon God. God knows it all. Nobody needed to inform God. God knew about all of this and if all Scripture's given by inspiration of God, there is no conflict between true science and true Bible. Now, often there's a conflict between the Bible and what is called science. As the Bible says, science falsely so-called. And I'm glad, I am definitely glad that the Bible doesn't always agree with what some men call science, because what some men call science changes, and what we believed yesterday is not necessarily believed today. And had the Bible agreed with what we believed yesterday, then the Bible would have been proven false today. So, I just say, let God be true and let every man be a liar and we don't check out our Bible by the science. We check out the science by our Bible. And not only that, but I don't believe there's a conflict between true science and true Scripture. And I don't believe there needs to be any kind of a fuss. But, now, what about this matter of evolution, therefore? What about the theory of evolution? And, notice I call it theory. The theory of evolution. Evolution is a theory. Now, anybody who tells you that evolution is a fact is lying to you. I mean that. He may want to believe that it is fact. But it has never been proven as a fact. It is a theory. It is a theory. I heard of a woman who called her husband theory rather than dearie, because he didn't work. And you need to understand that this thing called evolution does not work. It is a theory, and I reject it. I'm gonna tell you why I reject it in a moment. I reject it for three reasons. I reject it first of all, for a logical reason. I reject it secondly, for a theological reason. I reject it thirdly, for a moral reason. And, I'm going to discuss those three reasons with you in a little bit. But, I want to tell you, you're looking at a guy, you know, some people will look at you like you've got rooms to rent upstairs unfurnished, if you don't believe in evolution. But, I want to tell you, I reject that monkey mythology. And, I want to tell you why I reject it, and give you the reasons I reject it. And then, of course, you're going to have to make up your mind for yourself. But before we do that, let me tell you what the theory of evolution is. Now, of course, there are many different varieties of evolutionists, just as there many different varieties of people in all schools of thought. And so, let's just go back to what Darwin had to say about evolution. Of course, not all evolutionists today agree with Darwin in every detail. But, here's what Darwin said in The Origin of the Species, on page 523: "Analogy would lead me to the belief that all animals and plants, all of them now, are descended from someone prototype. All organisms start from a common origin and from such low and intermediate forms, both animals and plants may have been developed. All the organic things which have ever lived on the earth may be descended from some one primordial form." That is, here at the beginning was a little blob of life. A little amoeba-like substance, a little bit of scum, and out of that, it all came. They believe that somehow, by spontaneous generation of something, a one-celled life substance began. And that one-cell life substance that began somewhere in some primitive soup, finally, became a worm, an unsegmented worm. That unsegmented worm finally became a fish, and that fish finally, after it wiggled around for eons, became an amphibian, and that amphibian finally crawled out, and became a bird, and after a while that bird became a mammal, and after a while, that mammal became a man. Now, that's what they ask you to believe. And I've told you—friend, listen to me—it takes more faith to believe the monkey story than it does the Word of God. I'm serious. Once I was a tadpole, beginning to begin, then I was a frog with my tail tucked in, then I was a monkey in a banyan tree, and now I am a professor with a P.H.D. Now, that's what they want you to believe. That, you know, we just came on up and it all happened. And it all happened by chance. They believe�

Thou Shalt Not Steal article from Decision Magazine October 2013

Thou Shalt Not Steal October 1, 2013 - Stealing is a very serious issue when it comes to the heart of a loving God. Anyone who steals violates the sanctity of God’s divine order and design for every individual person. While murder violates the sanctity of life itself, stealing violates the sanctity of how we live out the life He has given us. By Don Wilton I prefer to understand “Thou shalt not steal” as God ordering us never to forget His gracious provision for us. The Bible tells us repeatedly that our Heavenly Father knows everything about us—even numbering the hairs on our head—and He cares for us in the most intimate way: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” says Psalm 23:1. Therefore, if our Father commands us not to steal, the implication is obvious. It is as if He says: “My child, you have no need whatsoever to take anything that is not yours. I have made you just the way you are. I have given you everything necessary for your life. Live, learn, grow, strive and ‘reach for the gold’—but never reach for what is not your own!” Let’s take a closer look at this. While all people are created by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 1:27), we are all constructed differently. Some of us are tall and some are short. Some can easily lose weight and some cannot. Some are born into wealth and means while others are born into poverty and depravation. Despite our widely differing circumstances, God loves us all and wants to have a personal relationship with each of us. When we repent of our sin and place our faith and trust in Him as Lord, His Holy Spirit indwells us and gives each of us the abilities we need to live a full and meaningful life. This is why Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). This strikes at the very heart of God’s unique and wonderful love for every person ever born. Consider the uniqueness of all of God’s creation. Everything made in this world is hand-crafted by the order of our Heavenly Father. Every individual person is “fearfully and wonderfully” made. And, not only did God design every person in a unique fashion, but He also accompanied that design with specific abilities, gifts and potential. God, in fact, has no “giftless” children. Perhaps this is what Paul had in mind when he reminded all believers to be content in every situation and in every circumstance (Philippians 4:11-12). Paul identified with both the blessings and the hardships of life. Yet he implored us to be content. Paul was emphatically telling believers that there is never a circumstance that would justify taking what belonged to someone else. This is important when it comes to God’s command concerning stealing. Theft is not just about money. Certainly some biblical examples of stealing include robbery, but it goes much further than this. Stealing also involves ensuring accuracy (Leviticus 19), the moving of boundaries (Deuteronomy 19), the taking of property, kidnapping, robbing the elderly and the cutting of corners. Sounds familiar to our world today! And the list goes on: The dereliction of duty; withholding of wages; failing to repay debts; pretending not to have money when you really do; devaluing items for the purpose of profit; not returning something found that is not yours; cheating on taxes; wasting things that could be a blessing to others; causing willful damage; injustice; dishonoring contractual agreements; going back on your word; laziness; breaking promises; assault (including rape, incest and molestation); and robbing God by not returning His tithes (Malachi 3). It is important to note how the New Testament deals with this issue of stealing. First, Jesus affirms the command when He speaks with the rich young ruler, who used his adherence to this commandment as an excuse to circumvent the need to “forsake all” and follow Jesus (Matthew 19:16-22). Jesus sent him away without salvation. Second, we see strong warnings. Writing to the believers in Corinth, Paul included thieves in the list of those who would forfeit eternal life (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Even here, though, we are reminded that believers are not “under the law” but under God’s grace: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). Third, the New Testament addresses people’s propensity to steal by accusing people falsely and extorting money from the poor. Instead, we are instructed, “be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14). Fourth, we are reminded to respect the law of the land and those who have been placed in authority over us (Romans 13). The withholding of taxes and due honor is placed side by side with theft. Fifth, the restoration of offenders and their subsequent redemption is clearly spelled out in the letter to the Ephesian church (Ephesians 4:25-28). Last, and I think most important, Jesus told us that “the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy …” (Cf. John 10:10). Satan ultimately wants to take away that which is not his to have. The devil did not create a single person, and he has no claim or power over anyone. But everyone needs to be on guard because Satan is out to thwart God’s perfect plan for His children. Satan wants to destroy every living person and he does so by creating doubt and by using deception and any other means available. His purpose is to conquer, steal, divide and destroy. But God is greater and far too powerful for Satan. So, what must we do in light of this commandment? Three things: First, determine your treasure (Matthew 6:21), for wherever it is, there your heart is also. Second, deal with your sin. Stealing is sin. Confess it to Jesus and He will forgive you (1 John 1:9). Third, do not turn back. As Jesus said to one woman who had been caught in a sinful act, go and sin no more! ©2013 Don Wilton Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version.

Wiersbe message

Welcome to 2ProphetU! Check out valuable new content and resources in this current issue. "The mind grows rich from what it takes in, the heart from what it gives out." -- Anonymous (thoughts by Warren Wiersbe) We should grow in wisdom and knowledge, and that's why we read, study, meditate and pray. But we also must grow in compassion and concern, and that's why we sacrifice and share. Peter may have had this in mind when he wrote "but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). We grow in knowledge as we take in God's truth, and we grow in grace as we give out God's love. This produces balanced Christians. I used to tell my seminary students, "There's a simple way to get rid of all the problems you have to deal with as a pastor. Get rid of the people who cause them." But this means getting rid of the church, and if there is no church, there's no salt or light in this decaying, dark world. By nature, most pastors are students. They like to close the door and open the books and not be disturbed. But life is full of interruptions, and the interruptions are the ministry! Think of how many times Jesus was interrupted and yet didn't get upset but turned the interruption into either a message or a miracle. Yes, we must take in God's truth, but we must also give out God's love. As Ephesians 4:15 expresses it: "...speaking the truth in love." Truth without love is brutality and love without truth is hypocrisy, and neither one of those results in true ministry.

John MacArthur one volume Bible Commentary

The MacArthur Bible Commentary (Hardcover) Code: 45MBC $30.00 24.00 Add to CartWishlist In this premiere volume, John MacArthur brings you a complete Bible commentary in one volume. The MacArthur Bible Commentary treats every passage of the Old and New Testaments phrase by phrase, with hundreds of word studies as sidebars throughout. It offers a broad overview of each Bible book and the internal consistency that results from having a single commentator. Includes: A general introduction to each major division of the Bible A short introduction covering author, date, time, and setting for each book of the Bible Each introduction also includes discussion of God's character, how Christ is seen, key doctrines, key words, key people, and key Scripture passages that represent the theme core of each book of the Bible A harmony of the historical books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles A harmony of the Gospels Articles providing an overview of theology, the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of the apostles, and the progress of revelation Cross-references to The MacArthur Bible Handbook as an alternate source for more in-depth treatment