Robbing God

Monday, May 30, 2011: Malachi 3:8 (NKJV)

Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!

But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.

Do we rob God when someone in our Church offends us? This is the snare of the devil. We stop attending and with it, our offerings to God.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011: Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV)

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

What is a hymn? When sung with others at Church, it is an offering to God.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011: Hebrews 13:16 (NKJV)

But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Do children share easily? No, we have to teach them. Adults forget to share also. Sharing is well pleasing to God.

Thursday, June 2, 2011: Hosea 14:2 (NKJV)

Take words with you, and return to the LORD.

Say to Him, take away all iniquity;

Receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.

What are we to do after sin? Return to the Lord (repent). Ask for forgiveness. Offer a sacrifice of prayer and praise.

Friday, June 3, 2011: Romans 12:1 (NKJV)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

What can we present to God? Our bodies, as living sacrifices are what transform us closer to the image of His Son.

Free Will Offering

Monday, May 23, 2011: Exodus 35:4 – 7 (NKJV)

And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying: ‘Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood

What was the most important part of the offering? A willing heart.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011: Exodus 35:10 – 12 (NKJV)

‘All who are gifted artisans among you shall come and make all that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle, its tent, its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the ark and its poles, with the mercy seat, and the veil of the covering

Who gave gifts of time? Those who realized that their artistic skill was God’s gift.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011: Exodus 35:17 – 19 (NKJV)

the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pegs of the tabernacle, the pegs of the court, and their cords; the garments of ministry, for ministering in the holy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests.’”

Why did the priests have to have holy garments? They served in the holy place.

Thursday, May 26, 2011: Exodus 35:21 – 22 (NKJV)

Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’S offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord.

Did the willing people bring offerings for the tabernacle? The verses go further to say the work and service.

Friday, May 27, 2011: Exodus 35:25 – 26 (NKJV)

All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun yarn of goats’ hair.

What did the women do? The gifted spun different cloth.

The Nehemiah Covenant

Monday, May 16, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:29-31

The Nehemiah covenant

1.     Observe and do all the commandments of the Lord and His ordinances and His statutes

2.     We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons

3.     Not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day

4.     Forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt

Which, among these, were commandments, ordinances and statutes? Commandments,1a, 3; ordinances, 2; and statutes, 4. (You may disagree: choices are not absolute)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:32-33

Monetary offering ordinance

5.     One-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God

a.      For the showbread,

b.      For the regular grain offering,

c.      For the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts;

d.     For the holy things,

e.      For the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and

f.       All the work of the house of our God

Do the words ‘service’ and ‘work’ have different connotations? Yes, service implies the priestly functions while work represents the other things needed by the priests to perform their duties.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:35-37a

Firstborn/firstfruit offering ordinance

6.     Bring the firstfruits/firstborn

a.      Firstfruits of our ground

b.      Firstfruits of all fruit of all trees

c.      Firstborn of our sons and our cattle, herds and flocks (written in the Law)

d.     Firstfruits of our dough

What is the implication of the prefix ‘first’? God desires first place in our hearts.

Thursday, May 19, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:37b-38

Miscellaneous offering ordinance

7.     Offerings

8.     Fruit from all kinds of trees

9.     New wine and oil

10.  Tithes of our land

a.      (The Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God)

Are tithes different from offerings? Yes, tithes meant tenth, while offerings went beyond this value.

Friday, May 20, 2011: Galatians 5:1 – 3 (NKJV)

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

Are we to keep the whole Law? The Law is an entanglement, a yoke of bondage. We are free of the Law in Christ. He paid all the just demands of the Law for those who believe in Him.

The Holy Spirit equations

Monday, May 9, 2011: John 3:6 – 7 (NKJV)

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

What is Jesus Christ equating in these verses? Being born again equals being born of the Holy Spirit.

Monday, May 10, 2011: Romans 8:14 – 15 (NKJV)

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

What is the equation in these verses? Being led by the Holy Spirit equals being a son of God.

Monday, May 11, 2011: Romans 8:9 (NKJV)

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

What is the equation in these verses? Being in the Holy Spirit equals the holy Spirit of God dwells in you.

Monday, May 12, 2011: Galatians 3:2 (NKJV)

This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

What is the equation in these verses? Being born again equals receiving the Holy Spirit.

Monday, May 13, 2011: Ephesians 1:13 – 14 (NKJV)

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

What is the equation in these verses? Becoming a believer equals being sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Separated

Monday, May 2, 2011: Ezra 6:19 – 21 (NKJV)

And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves; all of them were ritually clean. And they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel.

What had seventy years of exile taught the repatriates? They separated themselves to God and away from the filth of the world.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011: Nehemiah 10:28 – 29 (NKJV)

Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding—these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes:

Can a curse and an oath be taken together? Yes it can, and the returning exiles took both willingly to keep the commandments of God and separate themselves.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011: Romans 1:1 – 4 (NKJV)

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

What was unusual about Paul’s separation? Paul, the expert in Jewish law was separated by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles!

Thursday, May 5, 2011: Luke 6:22 – 23 (NKJV)

      Blessed are you when men hate you,

      And when they exclude you,

      And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,

      For the Son of Man’s sake.

      Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!

      For indeed your reward is great in heaven,

      For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

What is your reward when you are excluded from the world’s company because of Christ? In Christ’s words, you are blessed by God and should rejoice!

Friday, May 6, 2011: Acts 19:9 – 10 (NKJV)

But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

Whom do we separate ourselves from? We separate from hardened unbelievers who speak evil of Christ.