lifewords

12 October 2008  The Blessing is on me

 Blessing is the empowerment to prosper

Abraham was blessed  by God – to be a blessing

Genesis 12:2 (New King James Version)

 2 I will make you a great nation;
      I will bless you
      And make your name great;
      And you shall be a blessing.

Galatians 3:9 (New King James Version)

9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

 Are you of faith – are you  a believer?

If you are you are blessed too. As a believer you believe that Jesus died for you. That he took your sin and gave you his righteousness. He also took your curse by becoming a curse for you so that you might receive his blessing.

Gal 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

This is  part of the great exchange.

We are blessed- It is a done deal!

We are left with a choice – to believe it and receive the blessing – to live in it or not. Live it or miss it.

We will miss it if we try to be blessed i.e., strive for blessings. Or  try to do God’s work by our own efforts. Even Abraham tried to do it another way. He went into Hagar to father a son – Ishmael. It took another 13 years before he fully trusted God when he was an old man and Sarah was humanly past childbearing too.

 The first step in walking in the blessing is to have knowledge of what is ours.

This comes from hearing believing the word of God

Psalm 3:8 (New King James Version)

 8 Salvation belongs to the LORD.
         Your blessing is upon Your people.  Selah  

So if we are his “People” then the blessing of God is upon us.

We can confess that “the blessing of God is upon me.”“I am a blessed one”.

Note the "Selah" – we should pause and think on this – let it down into our knowing – meditate on it until it becomes revealed – revelation knowledge.

 The revelation needs to be stronger than the doubts and negative expectations.

The fear of bad news and the expectation of failure – like the things we newscasts on the economy , these are very invasive and breed lack of confidence and they sap your faith.

 Words that described the results of the Blessing are: prosper, increase, excel, succeed, rise above. When we have these – what a testimony of the grace of God – what a witness we become!

 Secondly we need faith – not just a knowledge.  We can know things but live out of the fullness of what we know.

I am talking about a strong conviction and a strong confidence based on the word of God. Faith comes by HEARING. We will need to establish the truth that the blessing is upon us. We know that God cannot lie. Can we believe that what he has said is so  and that because it is so then that is the end of the matter? This inner conviction should be greater than how we think naturally. Your feeling, your view of things, your expectations are to follow the truth of God’s word. Can hold up your Bible and say?  “This is my Bible. This is God’s word to me. I can do what it says I can do, I can have what it says I can have, II can be what it says I can be."

Lets be like Joshua and Caleb who didn’t bring a gloomy report of what they had seen because they saw with the eyes of faith – saying “Our God is able.”

Let's confess this.  "God has put his blessing on me, I’m a winner, I cannot fail, I cannot loose, I prosper, increase, excel, succeed, rise above."

 You know we often find that our faith is stronger in some areas and weak in others. Abraham chased after the kings who captured Lot with only 300 men in his 'army'. These were just servants not trained warriors and they defeated the kings.  On the way back home they visited Jerusalem where the priest/king Melchizedek recognised that Abraham was blessed of God.

However, this same man, Abraham did not have faith for a son through Sarah but fathered a son by himself through Hagar. He became the father of faith much later when he fully trusted God.

 He, the father of faith, taught that son Isaac to trust so that Isaac sowed in famine and reaped 100 fold: a great witness to the people arround him that the blessing of God upon him.

We can see today that there is a financial famine – but it’s not our problem as we are blessed. We  don’t preach about it, we don’t talk about it we stay in faith in the knowledge of the blessing upon us which causes us to prosper.

Proverbs 10:22 (New King James Version)

22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich,
      And He adds no sorrow with it.

In the Message – it says :v 22 God's blessing makes life rich;

Let’s confess, "I'm rich. I have a rich life.2

the secular definition of Rich includes: abundance, well off, comfortable, affluent, opulent, prosperous.

Our definition of the blessing of God upon us includes the RICH LIFE - not limited to the material riches.

If we are believers, we have exchanged our sad unprofitable life for the rich life of Jesus, We know it. We put our faith in what we know by the revelation to us personally from God.

I can confess that God’s blessing is upon me. I can’t and won't loose sight of God’s power working in my life.

Can you confess that? If you know that it's God's word and his will for you is revealled in his word then take it in faith and live the blessed life - Its yours because Jesus has given it to you.

Margaret Cornell
Sunday@6 Lighthouse-Ely 24th August
In the book of Job we see Job cry out if only there were someone who could intercede on my behalf!!!!
32For [God] is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in court. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both, would that there were!
God was not pleased either that there was nobody to stand in the gap so....
GOD SOUGHT AN INTERCESSOR
Is 59
15Yes, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice.16And He (GOD ) saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor [no one to intervene on behalf of truth and right];
So what did he do ????
therefore His own arm( JESUS) brought Him victory, and His own righteousness [having the Spirit without measure] sustained Him 17For [the Lord] put on righteousness as a breastplate or coat of mail, and salvation as a helmet upon His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal [and furious divine jealousy] as a cloak 18According as their deeds deserve, so will He repay wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; on the foreign islands and coastlands He will make compensation.19So [as the result of the Messiah's intervention] they shall [reverently] fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight [for He will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives].20He shall come as a Redeemer to Zion and to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from transgression, says the Lord.
NT talks of JESUS

Hebrews 12:22-2422But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering, 23And to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect,24And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance
Hebrews 7:25 (Amplified Bible)
25Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Romans 8.26
26So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
27And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will
However
Jesus is the greatest and truest and most visible pattern of an intercessor
First of all..
• He must have said not my will but thy will to the father
• Secondly he did all he could to identify with man
• He walked with us shared human life and was the perfect connection between man and God on the earth because it says
1. he only did what the father told him to do and
2. what he saw the father do
• His identification went as far as to take on man’s sin in his own body and bear the punishment instead of man on the cross and triumph over it

because we could not do it ourselves.
• Then in our place he rose from the dead and took his place in heaven

• where he is now interceding for us and waiting for us and working through us to put all the rest of his enemies under his feet

JESUS>>>>John 15:13-15 (Amplified Bible)
13No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.
God seeks those who identify with Jesus.
• Dying with him
• rise with him
• sitting with him in the heavenlies.
We are to have entered into rest as he has
Being an intercessor is not the same as praying the prayer of intercession...
We are called to pray for others , intercede for them standing in the gap for them before God and being the go between because they are unable to do it themselves,
but we always need to remember that God can call us to be the answer to our prayers ...which would be being an intercessor
EG send labourers into the harvest ....Here am I send me!!!
(And in the prayer of intercession we perhaps need to know the victory in our own heart before we can gain it in another’s )
back to Is 59.16!!!!
16And He GOD saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor [no one to intervene on behalf of truth and right]; therefore His own arm brought Him victory,
The true life of an intercessor is one which is dedicated, yielded...a life laid down , a life of service , obedience and not counting the cost
Only the Holy Spirit can lead us in this life to be the arm of HIS victory
The prophets knew how to be true intercessors
At God’s command they revealed truth..BY WHAT THEY DID
Ezekiel...
Had to lie on one side for 390 day to show the number of days God would bring judgement on the land
He was not allowed to cry for his wife when she died to show that when the temple was destroyed they were not to mourn either
Hosea...God told him to marry a harlot to demonstrate his unconditional love for His people
Isaiah...was an aristocrat but had to walk naked and barefoot for three years
Jeremiah God did not allow him to marry at all
Moses left the palace of Egypt to identify with his people the Jews. Purified by God by 40 years in the wilderness he was used to lead his people out of Egypt and through the desert
Such was his intercession that he told the Lord ...Blot me out or forgive them!!!!
More modern men
Wesley saved England from revolution
John Wesleystarted a movement of practical piety-- a movement that continues today.
He wanted men to
• deepen their Christian walk in word and deed.
• Develop disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and fasting.
• Discoverthe roots of mission, spirituality, and justice.
• Act with him on issues of poverty, slavery, substance abuse, education of children, women's leadership.

Hudson Taylor ..China Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was an English missionary to China. Founded the China Inland Mission which at his death included 205 mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians.
He identified closely with the Chinese and was one of the first missionaioes to ear Chinese clothes
CT STUDD 1860-1931) was an English missionary who faithfully served His Saviour in China, India, and Africa. His motto was:
With the true heart of an intercessor he said
"If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."
He and his wife spent the last 16 years of their marriage apart
William Booth ... the poor ... The Christian Mission
In 1865, Booth and his wife Catherine opened The Christian Revival Society in the East End of London, where they held meetings every evening and on Sundays, to offer repentance, salvation and Christian ethics to the poorest and most needy, including alcoholics,criminals and prostitutes. The Christian Revival Society was later renamed The Christian mission.
Booth and his followers practiced what they preached and performed self-sacrificing Christian and social work, such as opening “Food for the Million” shops (soup kitchens), not caring if they were scoffed at or derided for their Christian ministry work.
George Muller ..orphans
At the age of seventy, Mr. Muller began to make great evangelistic tours. He traveled 200,000 miles, going around the world and preaching in many lands and in several different languages. He frequently spoke to as many as 4,500 or 5,000 persons. Three times he preached throughout the length and breadth of the United States. He continued his missionary or evangelistic tours until he was ninety years of age. He estimated that during these seventeen years of evangelistic work he addressed three million people. All his expenses were sent in answer to the prayer of faith.
Greatest of all Muller's undertakings was the erection and maintenance of the great orphanages at Bristol. He began the undertaking with only two shillings (50 cents) in his pocket; but in answer to prayer and without making his needs known to human beings, he received the means necessary to erect the great buildings and to feed the 2000 orphans day by day for sixty years. In all that time the children did not have to go without a meal, and Mr. Muller said that if they ever had to go without a meal he would take it as evidence that the Lord did not will the work to continue. Sometimes the meal time was almost at hand and they did not know where the food would come from, but the Lord always sent it in due time, during the twenty thousand or more days that Mr. Muller had charge of the homes.
Mother Theresa...lives among the poor ...as the poor
was an Albanian catholic nun with Indian citizenship who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcuta, Indiain 1950. For over forty five years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.
By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcome Muggerage. She won the Nobel peace prizein 1979 and India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Rata. in 1980 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counselling programs, orphanages, and schools.
Following her death she was beatified by Pope John {aulIIand given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
Rees Howells
Called to a life of faith READ page ...45 Of book Rees Howells intercessor
These men and women show the pattern of life of he intercessor
They heard God speak to them and put what they heard into action making a full identification with those they heard God call them to
This meant USUALLY Living alongside those they were called to ...sharing their lives
What about you and me? Can we do this?
Mostly we want to live our own life and do a bit for God on the side ....
EG send labourers into the harvest ....Here am I send me!!!
EG send labourers into the harvest ....Here am I send me!!!
Maybe we will never know what God can do with a truly consecrated and dedicated believer ...sold out to him unless we do it !!!
There is our calling as a true intercessor
• to hear the will of God and
• whatever it cost to do it
If we consider this idea....JUST Praying is easy!
This life of a living sacrifice...mediating between God and the world seeking by any means to bring the two parties together ...
we sometimes call it evangelism!!!!
We share our life with someone, offer them friendship, enter into their sorrow ,walk beside them in difficulties, seek to show the unconditional love of God to them

24^th August 2008 Lighthouse Celebration

 

I heared a story that may amuse you.

Two young brothers were always in trouble. At last their mother sent them to see the pastor to see if he could sort them out.

The first went in sat down and the pastor asked him “Where is God?” No answer, so he asked again. “Where is God?” Again, no answer. He asked again, “Where is God?”

At this the boy ran out and found his brother. “We are in big trouble now,” he said, “they’ve lost God and they are blaming us.”

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

 

God is a big God. When he blesses he blesses us with every spiritual blessing.

We don’t need to limit Him with “small god” thinking – which says, “My problems are bigger”

 

Ephesians 2:7 (Amplified Bible) He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favour) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

His promises are for total fulfilment, limitless, grace, that can’t be measured.

He is far more able to bless us than we can even dream.

the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace.

 It is

Superabundantly, far over and above all we can ask imagine

 

Ephesians 3: 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us

This is a “now” promise. When we are in heaven - we won’t be asking – we won’t need his power working in us there. His promise is for the full measure of blessing now.

Ephesians 3:20 (Amplified Bible) Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

 

What he can do is beyond or dreams.

He is able to perfect, complete – bring to fullness what he desires in us.

 

Our part is not to give up believing. We are to hope; that is the have a confident expectation in Him. Trust in Him.

The time is now when he will act on our behalf.

We might be ready to give up – we are tempted, but that is the time when the breakthrough is near. The devil knows it. We need to know that the devil comes to steal kill and destroy our dreams because then we give up on believing God.

 

I preached on expectation. That is the positive hope that is required for faith, which is the substance of things hoped for.

Today I want to go further – To say that he can do more than we can hope for – more than we expect. He is the God of surprises.

We can have faith in his promises; Promises in the written word, the logos. We can have faith in what he has said to us, the rhema word, the revelation, what we hear him sayinge is the God of surpises

 to us.   

There is more. We can have faith in Him.

 

Have faith in God

In trusting him we can stand in the place were we know that God will supply all our needs. He will surprise us. We don’t know how he will bless us, we don’t know when he will bless us. We don’t know when the answer to prayer will come or how it will come. He can do more than we can ask or imagine, think or dream.

 

But, you say:

“He doesn’t do it for me. I have been praying but -----“

But he is the God that can do whatever. He can do it for you. He can do more than you can think possible. He is the God of the impossible so the improbable is easy for God.

          David was about to be stoned by his followers when they had lost everything to a raiding band. He strengthened himself in the Lord his God – a week later he was crowned king. The impossible situation was turned around by God.

On the other hand there are situations that you are responsible for – things you do that cause problems – attitudes, actions, habits, and ways of thinking that are not helpful. God can show you that these need to change and he can help you change. Some of these things are the ones you say, “That’s the way I am, I could never change.”  BUT God is the God who can do the impossible. Can you allow him to?

 

Deuteronomy 28:2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

‘Overtake’ here has the meaning of something coming upon you that you did not expect – a surprise.

So we can expect more than an expectation – (positive hope for something) – that is when our expectation is expecting God.

The condition here is to obey.

Jesus taught us in words and example to obey. These are his commandments: to love God, love each other and to love those he died to save – the whole world!

 

Let’s stand in the place of surprises, let’s stand in the place of blessing. Let God’s love in so that we can love with the gift of his love in us.

 

The place of blessing belongs to us. When we were born again we accepted that Jesus died for us and took upon himself all the curses that there are in this world for us to be free from them – he gave us the blessing in exchange. So we have the blessing. We are expected to live in the blessing – to know and experience the blessed life. The thing is we don’t all know it or accept it so we don’t get the blessings that our the bye-product of THE BLESSING. We need to know it, to have faith that it is so, to live in it. If you don’t know it you don’t expect it, you don’t trust in the fact.

Let’s expect the unexpected from the God of surprises.

 

When there are problems in life – there always are and always will be until we get to heaven. There is also the temptation to doubt. We confess the impossibility of anything different. We don’t believe God can make a difference. That is a bigger problem than the problem because the answer is for those who believe and we miss the blessing. It is not out there were we can see it. It is sneaking up ready to overtake us.

Here is a story I heard.

This man was due to have an operation to remove a life threatening tumour. At the last minute on the day of the operation he was ent home because the surgeon was not available for some special reason. Two weeks later he is back in hospital having tests for the operation to take place later that day. He is ready but the time for the operation comes and goes. Three hours later the surgeon comes to tell him that they will not operate. Another delay? The surgeon explains that they have been studying his test and scan results; they had called in other doctors for consultation too.  He explains that although the tumour was there in the scans from two weeks ago, today they can’t see any evidence of it and as far as they can tell he is perfectly well. Wasn’t he glad that the operation was delayed? God is a God of surprises.

 

Some of you are waiting for relatives to be saved.  Others will say “that’s impossible” It isn’t

When I got saved some said “I never thought Tony would get religion” I am glad that there were others who prayed believing in the impossible. Well I didn’t get religion, I got Jesus.

If you are sick and there are those who doubt that you can ever be well. Don’t get into agreement with them. Trust God and get into agreement with him.

Let’s get into the place where we know that we are blessed!

Ephesians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

 

We have the blessing of god almighty through Christ Jesus. Let’s trust God – expecting him to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

 

Let’s trust him when things go wrong – he can do the impossible –like he did for the man who had the tumour.

 

I heard of a girl who had a flat tyre on the way home from church – a dark and wet night. Some problem! But God is a God of surprises. Some one stopped to help her. They got married within the year. He can turn problems into stepping stones.

 

Stand in faith trusting God.

 

We stand in the blessing.

He has not left us helpless as he has sent his holy spirit to be our helper.

He lives inside us to bring us to remberance of being blessed by God.

Our sin has been taken away.

We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

We are the healed and whole ones.

We are delivered and set free.

We are called to prosper in all things and to be in health even as our souls prosper.

This is the word of God for you. Do you receive it today? Be blessed in the receiving and in living out of it.

Antony Cornell    Page 5    25/08/2008

Try this
www.telecomplus.org.uk/agcornell

Principles and patterns

Some say that the giving passages in the Old Testament do not apply today because we are not under the Law – the Old Testament but under grace. Jesus seemed to bend “the Law” according to the strict interpretation of the Pharisees.  However he also said that not one jot or title was removed.

    Romans 6:13-15 (King James Version)
 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
 15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

- As born again – new creation we have died to the law, to sin and live by grace

    Matthew 5:18 (King James Version)
 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

    Matthew 5:18(The Message) Completing God's Law

 17-18"Don't suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures— either God's Law or the Prophets. I'm not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God's Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God's Law will be alive and working.

 How do we reconcile these views?  Does the mosaic law of the tithe apply today?

Paul says that it is about grace. The way to interpret the Law and more – all the teachings of the scriptures - are to be interpreted by grace.
We need to understand more about God. Jesus came to help us understand God and continues today through His Holy Sprit.

Firstly that He is the God of Grace. Grace is a principle that means that we are given even when we don’t deserve. (Mercy is when we are not given what we do deserve)

• We add to this that he works according to principles.
• These principles are seen through the patterns of his working in scripture.
• He works in patterns based on principles.

Lets look at the patterns – Old Testament – about giving and tithing.

 The pattern of giving is clear in the Old Testament.
Abraham gave titles to Melchizedek.
Jacob promised tithes to God.

Gen 28: 20And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
 21So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
 22And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

So Tithing was before the Law of Moses – it was a principle. We learn this by the patterns that we find in the scriptures on giving.

In the New Testament times Jesus observed that the Pharisees gave tithes of their herbs but neglected the more important things like justice. (*1) This was against a principle. We learn that giving is not by law which says “you must” or even “you should” or “you ought”, is a principle. That principle is predicated on of how we owe everything to God. When we tithe we give a memorial portion to him to remind us of this fact that God is our source of all our increase.

After Moses this was understood as a tenth of all – crops, profit, live stock, produce etc. In the New Covenant we don’t have an obligation to follow the Jewish Law. The dietary laws, circumcision, Jewish feasts and festivals were not seen as a necessary part of being a disciple of Jesus. Being converted did not mean becoming a Jew who believed that the Messiah (Jesus) had come. Never the less the principle behind giving remains unchanged.

            *1  Mat 23:23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

So let’s look at some scripture and observe the patterns and principles.

 Malachi 3:6-12 (New King James Version)

      6 “ For I am the LORD, I do not change; ¹
      Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
       7 Yet from the days of your fathers
      You have gone away from My ordinances   And have not kept them.²
      Return to Me, and I will return to you,”   Says the LORD of hosts. ³
      “ But you said,    ‘ In what way shall we return?’ ⁴

Do Not Rob God

      8 “ Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!
      But you say, ‘ In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. ⁵
       9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me,  Even this whole nation.
       10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,   That there may be food in My house,
       And try Me now in  this,” Says the LORD of hosts, ⁶
      “ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing
      That there will not be room enough to receive it.
       11 “ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your        round,
      Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;
       12 And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts.⁷

 Patterns.

1. God doesn’t change. v6
2. People miss it!
3. God wants his people to return to him v7
4. People don’t understand the principles.
5. Neglecting Tithes AND offerings is robbing God of what belongs to him. vv9,10
6. There is forgiveness and restoration. v10
7. God’s promises and released to the obedient. vv10,12

Principles

So – do we tithe because of Law or because of Grace?

When we tithe and bring our gifts we respond to his grace. The first commandment – Old Testament and New Testament – is love God. If we love him the last thing we would want to do is rob him! The principle of the Tithe is set out as a pattern in the Law. We - under Grace can follow the principle. Our covenant is a better covenant. Under his grace we have the grace of giving, so if follows that our grace of giving is at least at the same level as under the Old Covenant. By grace, giving10 percent is a minimum. We see that all we have belongs to God and “of his own do we give him” (prayer book)

Serving.

Serving is part of stewardship. Jesus taught a pattern in the parable of the talents. What we have is given to us to use and develop - in his service.

The Parable of the Talents Mat 25

14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

 Serving is linked with Faithfulness

 Luke 19:17
And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Again principles. What God has given to us is for use. When we use what he has given we receive more.

 There is a testing for faithfulness. Those who pass are possible leaders who can teach others.

2 Timothy 2  And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Practicalities.

Giving of finances, time and talents is all part of  the ministry of the church. It enables God’s work to proceed. It establishes the local church as an effective centre for discipling, encouraging, equipping and reaching out to others. We are called into the body of Christ to fulfil his commission. Each part of the body has a function – all have gifts and abilities. These are released into the kingdom when we know we belong (connected) and are motivated to do our bit. Those who feel that their financial contribution is small may well have time to do things. Remember that the menial tasks are just as important – or even more so- than special-skill based jobs.

 The man who prayed with me when I accepted Jesus was the chaplain at a Cambridge College. He had been to a charismatic community in Houston to serve there – right at the heart of the charismatic revival in the late 60’s and early 70’s. With all his learning, (he was a scholar who went to Patmos to read John’s Epistles in Greek because God told him to) he was surprised when they said that thy really needed him to clean the building and gave him a broom and a loo brush. This he did in humility and was blessed in his place in the grace of serving.

Look at the patterns and find the principles in this passage.

 1 Cor 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, on these we bestow greater honour; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honour to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.