Contributing to your local church not only pays the rent, keeps the lights on, provides a place to teach your kids, provides a place to interact with fellow disciples, gives a way to hear the preaching of God’s Word, but it is a place where Jesus said He would be especially present. Sure, He is everywhere because He is God, but He was especially present in the OT Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple, just as He is now abiding in His NT disciples. But, He is, again, especially present in the assemblies of the local church, where the Holy Spirit can specially minister to us and through us, like in Matthew 18:20. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20 KJV). Keep this special assembly alive with your tithes and offerings.
Old Covenant
Support Your Local Church (Part 1)
Thank you for supporting your local church! They don’t collect taxes or sell a product, but like Old Covenant Israel, God has chosen the New Testament Church to represent Himself to the world. God is looking for a people who love Him, and are willing to do His will, not to avoid punishment or gain a reward. A people so willing to do His will, they become an extension of Him. That’s why the most important thing we can give Him is our heart. “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways” (Proverbs 23:26 NIV). Supporting your local church is a princely deed! “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves — praise the Lord” (Judges 5:2 NIV). Think of how God can multiply His influence across the world with people who want no more than His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven!
Christian Liberty – Part 1
“Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1 NIV).
Would it surprise us to find that the Apostle Paul’s statement from nearly 2,000 years ago was an emancipation declaration that changed the lives of not only his first century readers, but broke the chains of addiction, servitude, and bondage of untold numbers of readers since then? Is Paul trivializing the magnitude of pain and suffering holding us today? Or, are we reading these statements of Scripture with a hardness of heart and unbelief befitting those further away from the first coming of Christ and nearer still to the second coming of Christ? “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8 NIV). Is the diabolical genius of the wicked one, simply to desensitize us to the plain meaning of the words of God, hardening us from receiving their simple truth, and barring the work of the Holy Spirit from allowing His straightforward message from having its clearly stated fulfillment in our lives? “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path” (Matthew 13:19 NIV). If you have the slightest inclination to seek understanding of what the Scripture is saying to you, then the Holy Spirit is still striving to teach you. “2 Turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding — 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:2-6 NIV).
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We Need A Miracle 