What does the building of Israel’s great Temple have to do with us today? Listen to Des Smith as he explains why we should reflect on the faithfulness of King David and the people of Israel, as we think about our vision for 2019 and our preparedness to support this as we depend upon God to grow his kingdom.
Preacher: Des Smith
Over the generations, across the world, and right to your local church family, there will be numerous examples of godly and generous givers. Among those who have given, are many who have given even at times of extreme poverty or hardship (Luke 21:1-4; 2 Cor 8:2). It is right and proper to be immensely thankful to God for these saints (maybe you are one such person). Under God, what has been given has served the gospel and those the gospel has reached for centuries. Godly giving, although rarely put on display, is a wonderful testimony to the power and gift of the gospel. Praise God.
So how should a Christian organise their godly giving?
Let’s look first at our priorities and then at the practical mechanics!
Christians are called to be godly in giving. That could be giving in attitude, time, energy or money – all are important. Here we will focus specifically on the area of money and the way we generously and responsibly use the resources that God has put in our care.
Let me make four points from 1 Timothy 6 which may help our thinking.
First, Godly giving is not a means to financial gain.
Christians are givers. In fact, they are called to be godly in giving.
When it comes to financial giving, Christians are called to be different to the world around them. The world promises anything that money can buy, but God calls upon the Christian to give generously.
The battle, although played out before our eyes every day, is really a battle played out in our hearts and minds. Each day, all week, we get hit by an avalanche of advertising informing us of the best, newest, most economical, trendy, affordable, and necessary product or service available. Be it dining, travel, technology, fashion, real estate, entertainment, motoring or home furnishing. There is a lot competing for our dollar – thank goodness we have jobs to afford all these necessary things!
On the surface it looked so good – it was what was lying below the surface that really made us think!
We were all together, sharing and giving as we were able. There was something amazing about being one in mind and heart and not being territorial with the possessions we each had. And the joy in sharing with anyone and everyone ensuring that no one among us was in need – surreal really. So foreign to what we experienced in the world around.
Sermon ‘Generous In Giving’ (2 Corinthians 8:1-15) by Paul Harrington is available now in audio and video: http://bit.ly/2sFu1b9
Read the Bible text: http://bit.ly/2rwUOJw
English Support: http://bit.ly/2rwUGtw
Well if you missed Sunday night you missed this!
It is time that many at 5pm Church fell a little out of love with money! I have heard it said that the least believed verse in the Bible is this:
‘You can not serve both God and Money’ (Matt 6:24; Luke 16:13)
Least believed, because it is a verse that is either ignored, or a verse that most think is not something they should pay attention too, because they happen to be the exception – they are the one who can, love both God and Money!!
The two newspapers I most often read online are Adelaide Now and The Sydney Morning Herald. This week I had to laugh.
Front Page on Adelaide Now was ‘[Adelaide] City most livable for three years running’ (3/3/12) while front page on the Herald was ‘Sydney second least livable city in Australia’ (3/3/12).
Should we really care about this?!! I mean, what makes a city ‘livable’ will vary from person to person in the same way that our individual preferences change over which ice cream we may each like to eat! If you are interested, Adelaide tops the list because it is the most affordable place to buy a house (because of course that is the most important measure), has a good standard of living (compared to what?) and is clean (obviously Sydney has not been cleaning their toilets as regularly!).
I wonder what assessment God would hand down if asked?!
