Money and Time

God's House

       Today being Sunday I was in service. All Christian's should be in a Bible believing,Bible teaching fellowship on Sunday or whenever during the week the service is. ACTS meets on a Sunday. Victory Christian Fellowship meets on a Saturday.The day isn't important. The attendence is.
        Pastor Joe was finishing up his series on money today. He said we should think of our finances not only as the money we have in our pockets but also the witnessing we do and the service using our spiritual gifts
        To help us in our understanding of money and its use, ACTS is hosting a series on Tuesday nights taught using DVDs and study groups; using the Dave Ramsey series on money. I highly recommend Dave Ramsey. Learn not only to give but how to save. The series will show you how to handle your money and how to budget.

Telling

           The whole of our life should be service. Even our work. Some of us are put in places of employment that are easier than others. I work at a grocery store in the deli department. It is not somewhere where I am able to use my intelligence. I feel like my brain shuts down. I basicly wash the dishes and tie up chickens for the roasting. I have trouble at certain times feeling this is what God in His sovereignty wants me to do. But that is the mind set I must take.  He has me there for a purpsoe.
      Please comment about your work situation. How do you manage it?
      Also follow me .

The offering

Tithe

   It is important when the plate is passed during the service that you put something in. You should give because you are part of that group. The ministry needs money to exist. The bills have to be paid. The place you meet in must be cleaned.. The minister must eat.
   God recommends that we give according to as He has prospered us that week. If we have prospered little, we can only give little. If we have prospered much, we should give much.
    God allows us to prosper by our labor. Even the poor man has something to give. There is n o cop out allowed. If we have recieved food by the poreaching of the word, we shoulod give back monetarily, if possible, in the plate.
     Jesus one day was sitting by the temple treasury. It was the storehouse for the needs of the people. He saw thr rich people drop a few coins into the offering box. They would never miss it. There was pleanty where that came from. And their motive could have been to look good before those who were watching.
     Then Jesus saw a poor widow drop in her few coins. She was not going to be able to duplicate these coins by working. Her motive was not to have people say how good she was and holy. She wanted to honor God by giving to support His work which at that time was done in the temple. Just as today God's work is being done in Church.
       "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. And test me now in this," says the Lord Of Host, "If I will not for you open the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing that will overflow." Micah 3:10

      Jesus commended the widow for giving. he didn't commend the rich people who gave. Why? Motive is the answer.

God's storehouse today

Be Content

  This morning Pastor Joe of ACTS church gave us a sermon on money and how the receiving of wealth is okay if we keep the right attitude about it. Money is not evil. It is the love of money that is evil. When money dominates your life or the lack of it dominates your life so much that all you can think about is possession, so much that it shuts down your concern for God, that is evil. But to have money,to be wealthy, there is nothing wrong in that.

     In fact, I see money as a means to help others. The kingdom effort on this earth needs money to go ahead. It costs to do God's work. God gives man the ability to make money. He can also take it away. He can blow on it and it is gone. Money is only a form of exchange.
     Here in America we work and we get paid. We give a form of service and we get paid. We take the money and we exchange it for a good or service. That is what I mean by a form of exchange.
    But we also need to save some and invest some. The period of time we have to make money is limited. We need to work while we are able to.
    Consider the ant..It works while it can and eats the fruit of its labor. The Bible states if a person will not work, don't feed him. He has not earned his right to eat. Tell him to go out and consider the ant. The ant labors. the ant is not seen to feed ants who are not laboring.

      Yes, we need to invest. We need somethning to live on when we can no longer work. That honors God. That is the purpose of the Christian.--to honor God. So let's honor God with our money

God's Ownership

  This posting is being done on a Sunday. I have just been to service and heard a great sermon. Pastor Joe has reminded the congregation that God owns everything.
   EVERYTHING.
    God got you up this morning. He owns the day. He owns the air you breathe.
    You have money. That is His also. He gives you the ability to make money. He gave you that job. Or He gave you that investment that has not yet gone south. By using your brain, which He also gave you, you can make choices.
    Pastor Joe spoke of the offering plate. God deserves from the people He has a relationship with, rather He requests, a portion of what He has allowed them to get. "On the first day of the week, set aside a portion..."
     In the Hebrew Scriptures it was the first fruit He wanted. Today it is as a man purposes to give. God will not bless a man or woman who does not give into the storehouse. It is all His. He has allowed you to receive. If you can handle much He will give you much. If you don't have much, well, figure God knows you can just handle that much. I am not making a promise. I am just stating a principle that is in the Bible. Read your Bible for yourself.
     And be content with what you have. God is in the much and in the little. What I share with you God has allowed me to do.
      How has God blessed you this past week?

Prosperity Gospel

Before I go on with the Roman Catholic Church I feel I must warn you about a deviation from the teachings of the Bible. There is a group of people who teach that since the Christian is a child of God and God is our Father we can demand things in prayer and we will receive them. "God will not deny His children anything. Demand it and you have it."' is what the teachers say. Jesus said that we should pray for our needs to be met. Not our greeds. This "Name It and Claim It" teaching is not found in the Bible. God never taught it. Jesus never said it. A prominent person who does this type of teaching is Joel Osteen. I have read a book by him. He has written a lot of them. I researched him. He inherited his church from his dad. Joel was a camera man before he stepped into the footstep of his dad. He is a good master of language. He is cool. He is good at what he does. But he falls short of being a true messenger Be discerning.

God Wants you Free

Let me talk about finances. More especially about money. God is very interested in how you use money.
 Basicly it is not yours. Oh, yes, I know you work for it. You work hard for it and at pay day it is eatten away by all those deductions. So much so that you wonder how you are going to be able to pay for food, buy clothes, pay for lodging, whether that is an apartment or a house. Unless you were wise enough to seek early financal help and had taken that help to a level where you were able to be financally free, you feel it is impossible to get free.
You don't make enough in your paycheck to dream with. Cash flow is hard. Especally in these present days where the stock market is doing a great imitation of a roller coaster.
  Let me recomend a great web sitre. http://www.daveramsey.com/ is the site. I wish i had heard about him earlier. I get no kick back by mentioning the web site. No commission. Just something I feel I should tell you about. He will offer a total money makeover starting with 10 steps you can do now. And it doesn't start out with the line"If you send me ___"