Monthly Archive for December, 2010

Living on God’s Economy, part 2

by Jonas Harley | December 31, 2010

It is very important that Christians focus on living on God’s economy rather than worrying about the world economy.  In case you missed it, click here to read part 1. Otherwise, here are 3 more reasons why you must live on God’s economy.

3. Giving Worships God – Paul informed the church that he received their gift, via Epaphroditus’ arrival and is amply supplied. This was his receipt. Paul then goes on to described the Philippians’ financial gift using O.T. language and terms. Why? Because their gift was an acceptable and sacrificial act of worship to God. Just as the OT people made animal sacrifices to worship. NT believers worship by giving.

Giving is an act of worship! When you cheerfully and willfully give in tithes and offerings to the local church that is true, biblical worship! How do I know that? Psalm 96:7-9 “Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.” The reason many Christians don’t give to the ministry is because they have no interest in worshipping and giving to God. Giving is a spiritual sacrifice that proves your love and loyalty to God (Rom. 12:1; 1 Pet. 2:5).

4. Giving Guarantees Provision – Paul informed the Philippians that their financial generosity would be backed by a promise that only God can offer, He would supply their every need from His unlimited resources. When you sacrificially give of your earthly possessions to support God’s work, God will always adequately supply your needs. Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought of your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and they body than raiment?” However, this promise is only for those who cheerfully give to Lord’s work. When you do not give to the Lord’s work you remove yourself from God’s blessing and security!  It is impossible to outgive God!

Proverbs 3:9-10 “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” When you obey God and claim His promises you will see God provide and meet your needs first hand! No bank, investment firm, or stock market can guarantee that. When you shovel it out, God will shovel it in, and God’s shovel is bigger than your shovel! Amen! 

5. Giving Glorifies God – Because of the promise in v.19 this led Paul to break out into a final doxology of praise!  Because of the wonderful doctrinal truth and character of God found in v.19 Paul can’t help but praise God! (On a side note, giving to glorify God refutes the prosperity gospel thinking. This believes that if you aren’t wealthy then you must be out of God’s will. This is simply the sin of covetousness, which is idolatry.) You will always give when you are passionate about glorifying God. Giving honors God and God honors giving!

You have an awesome opportunity to make an eternal difference using your temporal resources! Use your affluence for eternal influence!  Let’s live on God’s Economy rather than man’s economy!

Photo above taken by: Sibaudio (www.sxc.hu)

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Living On God’s Economy, part 1

by Jonas Harley | December 17, 2010

During the holiday season it is very easy to focus on receiving – getting – rather than giving, and unfortunately in some cases when we have to give we go as cheap as possible! We always give or spend on things that we consider preeminent.

Therefore, in the series of two posts, I would like to present 5 biblical reasons why we must financially give to the work of the ministry in Philippians 4:14-20.

1. Giving Advances the Gospel (v.14-16) – Paul makes an important transition to assure the Philippians that their financial support was greatly appreciated! In other words, this is Paul’s thank you note to the Philippians for their financial support.

The word, “communicate” means to “share, fellowship, join, link, co-participate.”  The Philippians were joyfully willing to associate (share, join, link, co-participate) with Paul’s gospel ministry. Why? Because they had an overwhelming desire to advance the Gospel throughout the land and meet Paul’s needs (“affliction”)! Their sacrificial giving was a noble and honorable thing (read v.15-16) (cf. Acts 16; Acts 17:1-3; 2 Corinthians 11:8-9)!  

You know what this reveals? There was a little church in Philippi that was filled with people who wanted to use their financial resources to advance the gospel worldwide! And it was effective! The gospel goes forth when you give! You are responsible for financing the great commission! The mission of the local church is worthy of your investment! Why? Because Christ gave the local church the responsibility of reaching the entire world with the gospel (Acts 1:8).

You want a heart for your local church? Give and your heart will follow. You want a heart for worldwide missions? Give and your heart will follow. You want a heart to advance to gospel? Give and your heart will follow. Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

2. Giving Benefits the Giver (v.17) – Paul wanted the Philippians to know that he was not looking to satisfy his own needs by being greedy, nor was he demanding a gift. He was more focused on informing them how their financial giving to the Lord’s work would benefit them.

Paul pointed out that their giving would be credited/ applied/ deposited to their spiritual account in heaven and that they would accrue interest (“fruit”) that would benefit them! 

The day we trust in Christ alone for salvation was the day an eternal bank account was opened in the “Bank of Heaven” for eternal investing. It is the only SAFE, RELIABLE, and RECESSION PROOF investment! Giving through your local church is the best way to see eternal fruit for your giving. The local church is the investment firm that we ought to be focused on and faithful to.

Are you making regular and frequent deposits into that account?  Or are you more focused on improving your earthly bank account and investments? Too often we are more concerned about our retirement, financial security, and comfort than fulfilling the great commission of the local church!

J.L. Kraft (1874–1953) was an entrepreneur and inventor. He was the first to patent processed cheese. In 1903, he began selling cheese from a horse-drawn wagon in the Chicago area. By 1914 J.L. Kraft & Bros. Company, which would later become Kraft Foods, Inc opened its first cheese manufacturing plant in Stockton, Illinois. He had given approximately 25% of his enormous income to Christian causes for many years, said, “The only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord.” (W. A. Criswell, A Guidebook for Pastors, p. 154. // Wikipedia “J.L. Kraft”)

Consider more what the Bible has to say about faithful and cheerful givers…

Proverbs 11:24-25, “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” Giving benefits the giver!

Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”Focus on sending your finances to impact eternity! Do your giving while you are living so you know where it’s going!

2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” God blesses cheerful givers! For many of us we will be ashamed that we selfishly horded our financial resources for ourselves rather than the kingdom of God!

This is what takes places when you live on God’s Economy rather than man’s economy! Keep checking for part 2. May this Christmas Season and New Year be one of giving!

Photo above taken by: Sibaudio (www.sxc.hu)

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I Love the Church!

by Jonas Harley | December 10, 2010

 I love the church! The Church has many functions and many vivid illustrations come to mind when I think about the Church. Here are five of them:

A Factory – Have you ever gone to an industrial plant where items are produced? It’s always fascinating to see how everyday household items are assembled and then distributed across the world. Isn’t that a great picture of what the local church ought to be doing? Throughout the New Testament, especially in Acts, you see this factory like model taking place by believers who has a heartbeat for the great commission. Paul, and others, went from place to place planting churches. This process of multiplication is a lot more effective than one church trying to reach every person with the gospel truth. Churches ought to be planting churches! Think about it…your church was planted by someone who was trained by someone who was involved in a great commissioned minded church and so forth. Philippians 1:27, “…striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

A Lighthouse – There are a countless number of people who are groping in their darkness and aimlessly looking for truth. They are being tossed to and fro between the rocks of hopelessness and bogus beliefs. What do they need? They need a local church to brightly and boldly shine the gospel light that offers satisfying peace and eternal truth for all. In order for this lighthouse to shine it needs people who are willing to do the work. Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see you good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  

A Schoolhouse –The church must disciple, train, and teach Christians how to live redemptively in a culture full of wrong. God has organized and appointed Pastors and teachers to nurture and equip believers with the Word of God. The spiritual maturity and edification of the church is vital in order to have a healthy church. Ephesians 4:11-12, “And he gave some…pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (cf. 2 Timothy 2:2).

A Pillar – The world is overflowing with false teachers and erroneous religious systems that are blinding many people from the truth of the gospel. Where are people to turn? How do we find the truth? Answer: The Bible. The church must uphold and boldly proclaim this unchanging truth that is directly from God.  1 Timothy 3:15, “…the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”   

A Body –We can all relate to this one. A body that is healthy and properly functioning can accomplish much.  Wouldn’t it be weird if one day your elbow stop performing because he or she was jealous of all the attention and glamour your eyelashes receive??? Your body would be crippled and simple tasks would become difficult till your elbow repented. A local church is gifted with all kinds of abilities that are specifically designed to serve that body in order to fulfill its duties. 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” (cf. Colossians 1:18).

You want to know why I love the church? Because Christ loves the church. Ephesians 5:25-27, “…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

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The Ark is Coming!

by Jonas Harley | December 2, 2010

So check this out…Answers in Genesis (AiG) is raising funds to build Noah’s Ark to the exact dimensions stated in Genesis 6! Yeah, really! In November of 2009, a CBS News survey revealed the finding that the remains of Noah’s Ark would be the greatest archaeological discovery of our day. A recent web survey asking which archaeological discovery people would most want to see made next was Noah’s Ark (43%)!

Noah’s Ark seems to capture the general public and people want to know more about this biblical event. That is why the leaders at AiG are taking on this gigantic (no pun intended!) task of researching and building a full-scale Noah’s Ark! They are projecting to finish and open to the public by year 2014. I bet the real Noah wishes he could have built his Ark that quickly! They are considering a site in Grant County (Kentucky) within a 40-mile interstate drive of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Praise God for this project and may it be a great tool that will spread the truth of the gospel to the world!

If you want to read about the real Noah’s Ark get a Bible and read Genesis 6-9. The main lesson you will learn is that God always blesses obedience! That is still true for today!

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