| Author | Message | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
Yes Susan...the good ole U.S.A. State of California. The trendy, the fast pace, the smog, the cliques, the haughty, the naughty, the forgotten downtrodden, the politically correct end all state with fashionable designs..er so they say, the earthquake zone of earthquake zones, the infamous metropolis of imaginations that seem to hypnotize the rest of the west, the place where outcasts can supposedly fit in, the spiked doos, the craziness of logic, the achilles heel of america, the no smoking zone state that has red alerts for smog due to cars, the cell phone craze, the uppity, the lack of common sense state......and much more... I detest california and it's concrete jungle. you asked. Peace in Christ Jesus, Denisetheoutcastofoutcasts | ||
| James_Jean (James_Jean) |
A stewart is someone who manages the goods and conducts the business of his master in his absence. In I Cor.1:4-7 Jesus gave us His GIFTS and POWER for doing God's will, that's His goods. In I Peter 4:10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Ministry is His business. | ||
| Insideoutsider (Insideoutsider) |
There are more than 2300 verses in the Bible about money and the spending, giving and use of it. I believe one reason we are exhorted to give and give freely is because of the "hold" money has on us whether we have much or little or it. When we give, it lessens the hold. God knows that and encourages us to open our hand so that we will know more freedom in Him. Hang in there, Denise, and let people know where you are. I'm praying God will encourage you tonight. | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
AMEN to your post James Jean! That's my whole point. The Gifts that God gives to us are not always monetary. Mostly they are of the Spiritual kind that builds up the whole of the Body of Christ. For the edification, exhortation, rebuking, teaching, correcting, speaking, testifying, preaching, showing Mercy, having compassion, loving, peace keeping needs of the Body of Christ, that we, as His own, are. We are the Church. My problem earlier and still is because most Christians think that only money is the way to help others when infact, usually it's only one of the many ways to help out our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. There are things in this life that money will NEVER replace....like kindness, friendship, compassion, edification, teaching, companionship, spiritual uplifting/encouragement and so many more. These are things that money will NEVER in 10 thousand years buy. And sadly, those are the very things that most people need the most. People need love, and people need friends, and people need encouragement, and people need to hear about this wonderful news of hope that we call the Gospel...these are more weightier as Jesus would say. Mercy, Justice, Compassion. Thank you and may God Himself continue leading you as He is obviously doing. In Christ Jesus Name, this I pray. amen. denise, your sister in Christ Jesus | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
Hello Insideoutsider, Thank you for your encouragement and prayers. I can use them often, please don't forget that. I understand what you are saying in that money can get a hold on people but from what I'm seeing, that seems to be the most convenient and easy thing to give. In saying that, I mean that when it comes to time, laughter, friendship, time, time, time, did I mention time? See, it's easy to hand over a $20 bill to someone and quickly depart. But what about taking time with someone who might need a friend or encouragement, perhaps they're grieving, in pain, sick, have questions, need company just to chat for awhile and even laugh together with someone.....this seems too hard on people anymore to find friends like that. Time is more powerful than money if you ask me. Time holds onto people more than their supposed loyalty to their friends or families. Time is an enemy of mine, only because it has drawn more people away from me than any amount of money ever will. Time is of the essence. Time is no more irrelevant. Infact time has become a demi-god for too too many people. This thing called 'time' is a deadly wound to many people who simply needed a friend for perhaps an hour or maybe some laughter over a cup of coffee. Time...what a power grip this thing has on people! And here we are with such 'little time.' What a sad commentary on the entire human race. I wrote a poem about time...first line: "Hasten your pace, my enemy time. For patience I haven't like you..." Have you ever heard say at a funeral, anyone say "gee, wished I had spent more money on that guy/gal." or was it more like this "gee, wished I had spent more time with that guy/gal when they asked last week."? I can venture to say say your answer is NO. See, the realities really hit home when you live around nothing but senior citizens that are your friends and are dropping dead like flies, left and right. All of a sudden, when time catches up with us all, like it has me, time is most relevant and matters much. It is giving the most needed element to a human being, to the human spirit. And it is the spirit in us that drives us to live. When our spirits give up, our body follows. The human spirit is what we always have heard about in miraculous stories and such but I don't think any of us paid much attention to it before. It is the human spirit that gives us our personalities, our emotions, our desires, our ambitions, our love, our anger, our frustration, and much much more. Sometime, do a study on the greek meaning of spirit. And even though we are believers, all through the Bible we are taught through and through to give of our time. Whether that be in encouraging, or compassion, or edification, or feasting...Time is required to fulfill any of our gifts of the Spirit. Without time, we have nothing to offer. Jesus spent all His days spending time with people. Giving of His time. And we, well, what can we say? I didn't have time to do this or to do that. Time is passing us by. Now, I bring it to the forefront of all. My intent, no this Law thread never imagined it to drift to time. Forgive me everyone and I will revert back to the orginal topic, at least on this thread. Please, let us all remember that some people you see today, just may not be there tomorrow. Time is of the essence. Peace to all and forgive me my shortcomings if I have offended anyone. This has been one of those days I can't explain. Denise Gilmore TIME IS PASSING US BY | ||
| Loneviking (Loneviking) |
I hear what you're saying, Denise, however the way that someone handles their money says a lot about them. Do they give reguarly a portion back to the church? Do they handle their family finances in a responsible manner?---doing so is one of the qualifications given for being an elder in the church. And, although time is important, so is money. Yesterday,I was out with a church crew building small houses to take down to Mexico. The lumber,nails, windows, doors etc...all of that costs money which is all donated. Ditto for Habitat for Humanity projects and these efforts directly help the poor. Soup kitchens need donations to buy the food to fix for the needy. I guess what I'm saying is that there needs to be a balance. There is a need for money and some folks have lots of it but very litte time. Others have little money,but have time and talents. Use what you have to increase the Kingdom and don't fret over what you don't have! Bill | ||
| Susan_2 (Susan_2) |
Dear Deniseplease e-mail me at: susan1555@webtv.net, I'c courious what part of Cal. you are in. You mention the concrete jungle, well, there is hardly any concrete around where I live, it's just a litte funky beach town. Lots of senior ciizen wh were smart enough t buy here back hen people still thought the area was worthless, and lots of just moderate income working people. I don't go much into large cities, too emotionally stressful. E-mail me. | ||
| Susan_2 (Susan_2) |
Dear Bill, yes, I totally agree with you. Frankly, I've never made it out of the official mpoverty level of income and this even includes when I worked full-time with a county job. But, I do donate my time-once per month serving at the soup kitchen here locally, whenever I can with the local Catholic Worker's, various other things, including Vacation Bible School. I don't have much $ to donate but I went to the local elementary to ask the kindergarten teacher if she could use my empty coffee cans for projects. She wa all jazzed at that. It works ou that we can all work toether. Remember-it takes a village. | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
The parable in Luke 16 is not remotely saying we "buy" salvation by using our money for the poor. Rather, Jesus was saying that believers have an obligation to be as wise with the blessings he gives them (and as many have pointed out, those include money as well as time and compassion and all spiritual and material gifts) as wordly people are wise with their assets. He wasn't saying we should manipulate people to protect our own futures, as the unfaithful steward did, but he was saying that if we do not commit our blessings to Him for spiritual purposes, how can we hope to be blessed eternally? ALL we are and have is from God. If we serve ourselves with those blessings, we are not surrendering ourselves to the work of God. Even those with few to no material possessions still must give to God whatever they do have. As a wise friend of mine said to me today at church, (I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact words) money makes even the poorest of us slaves if we do not give to him even in our poverty. Even our poverty we must entrust to Him. We can make decisions regarding our worldly goods when we are poverty-stricken that are as self-serving and destructive as the decisions we might make when we have plenty. The issue Jesus addressed in this parable is the issue of surrender. All we are, all we have, we must surrender to him. All our deeds and decisions we must surrender to Him. We are to be accountable and honest, and we take our ministry and marching orders from Him. Praise God for the Holy Spirit who saves us in our sins and continually deals with us to transform us into the image of Christ! Colleen | ||
| Susan_2 (Susan_2) |
Do any of you attend services at a Catholic church? One thing that I totally love about a weekly mass is the offerings brought and laid at the alter at the beginning of the serice. Usually these offerings consist of food. Sometimes clothing or even sleeping bags and camping gear for the homeless in the community. the offerings can be anything. Also, every Catholic church I have been in has a slot in one wall with a note by this slot that the money put in there is the poor offering. The regular offering taken in the basket I think generally is earmarked for church expenses. Even the very poor Catholics contribute for the needs of those who are even more poor than themselves. | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
Hello Colleen, Bill, Susan and everyone else that is trying to help me understand, Colleen, It was this line that set me off on my tangent: "In other words, if we're not responsible to use the material blessings God gives us for his service, how can we expect eternal blessings?" The operative word "material." This is my problem. I'm still saved by Grace or I'm not. By eternal blessings are you meaning "salvation?" It would be good to know that first. But if this is what you are saying then I still disagree. While I understand that it is true we are to be wise as you and Bill have stated and even Jesus states it so, I cannot believe that this will factor into our salvation. For God's Word says: John 6:28-29 "Then they asked Him, 'what must we do to do the works God requires?' vs 29 Jesus answered, "THE WORK OF GOD IS THIS: TO BELIEVE IN THE ONE HE HAS SENT." John 5:24 "I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, WHOEVER HEARS MY WORD AND BELIEVES HIM WHO SENT ME HAS ETERNAL LIFE AND WILL NOT BE CONDEMNED; HE HAS CROSSED OVER FROM DEATH TO LIFE." Of course there are many many more. My entire contention was the word "material." And as you have clarified and so has Bill, it is more than JUST material. I'm glad to know that you both agree with this but still need your definition of 'ETERNAL BLESSINGS with regards to the use of "material".' Because this entire time I've always believed and have been hearing, not to mention reading, that we are SAVED BY GRACE (which in my thought is ETERNAL BLESSINGS). Yes, we are to use all our talents that we have, this is not a problem and shouldn't be a problem for anyone who is born again. Because whoever is truly born again, would naturally give of our blessings, in my opinion anyways. Although we don't always do that, now do we. And that is where Grace still gives us that hope when we fall short as we do. I just wanted to be sure that "WORKS" weren't somehow being introduced into this SAVED BY GRACE Truth. And it is this Truth that gives us hope when we DO FALL SHORT of the Glory of God. And we ALL do. Each and every last one of us. As to tithe, I disagree with this teaching. Now I do believe what Scripture says and that is GOD LOVES AND WANTS A CHEERFUL GIVER. So in light of that, I wouldn't want to give if somehow I were begrudging it in my heart. God wouldn't count anything that is not given from the heart of Love. And HE gives us that heart. To all, the reason I seem to be disagreeing is that I see so many greedy preachers and pastors, not to mention churches out for the money while the entire time, they forget the people and the hearts and souls of those people. Giving for a good cause with a cheerful heart in doing so, is the only way we can expect God to see it as a good thing. And yes, money and time are equal. We could have all the money in the world to hand out to people but if we don't have time for those people, this money is no use really, other than material possessions and the like here on earth. Same with time. We could have all the time in the world but if we don't see the practical needs of people like food, clothing, shelter et-cetera, then our time is also useless, UNLESS we use that time for encouraging others, teaching others, loving others, holding a dying persons hand, praying with others etc., but still we need to pay heed to the practical needs of course. And NOT to the church goers ONLY. As the shrewd stewart parable doesn't portray him as being shrewd to believers but anyone so that down the road if he has need, there are people that will help him one day perhaps. Correct? If incorrect, please tell me. So, as someone has said above, I believe it was Loneviking, we do need balance in the two, no doubt. And Colleen, if I have mis-read you, forgive me. If I haven't mis-read your definitions as to my above questions, then please elaborate as this is most disturbing to me (not you specifically but this topic in general). Susan, I will email you later tonight or tomorrow,,thank you!  Denise Gilmore P.S. for the record, I'm not out to offend but need clarification into such matters. Please forgive me if this is offending and pray that God give me better wording power to say things more tactfully or diplomatic for HIS SAKE. | ||
| Another_Carol (Another_Carol) |
Denise, I certainly appeciate your spirit of just wanting to understand and while I have not been a part of this discussion I would like to convey what I think on the situation. I think that this is something that can be picked to the point of destruction and I would like to claim Romans 14: 5 for it. I realize that the verse is talking of observance of days but I think it could be extended to include other matters which are not of salvation issue, of which I beleive this is. So the latter part of the verse is this; Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind. I think it is an issue we can agree to disagree if that is in fact the feeling of some. I also believe that we could claim Ro. 8;28 All things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. I think the key to this verse is called according to His purpose and what is that purpose for you? For me it is to preach Christ crucified just as Paul did and in so doing I preach total GRACE. Since God has created many different personalities it may be that one personality would be more inclined to see giving as a very central part of their relationship with Christ. I know that my next to perfect brother and sister-in-law feel a very real need to tithe but we never part hairs on it because we are grounded in the Grace of God and that is the only thing that matters. Please don't get me wrong while I do not tithe persa I do give regularly, but if I were ever in finacial distress(of which there have been lean years) that amount would dwindle. Again I say if you are conviced in your own mind then let it rest there and do the best that your decission will allow. And I like you would say please do not take anything I say as offensive but rather I would want us to continue in a manner that God would be pleased and that is in my opinion the very reason He came to this earth so that thru His death(for remission of sins), His burial(for change), and His resurrection(for our eternal life) He broke down the wall of partition so that we could live at peace with one another even thru our differences. God bless, Carol | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
We are 100% saved by grace. Nothing we do materially can affect our salvation. My comments about using our material (as well as spiritual) blessings come from Jesus's words in Luke 16:11, "So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" And in verse 12-13, "And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." How we handle our money reflects the condition of our hearts. Handling our money does not determine our salvation, but our salvation does determine (or at least affect) our money handling. Even Christ-followers are tempted to provide first for themselves before others. Once we've accepted Jesus, He does call us to accountability and obedience TO HIM, and those things may look different in each individual. I believe that Jesus' parable of the wordly steward and the subsequent verses was intended to shine the light of conviction and truth upon the Pharisees' compromised and arrogant lives. In fact, this passage is followed by the statement that the Pharisees, who loved money, sneered at Jesus. Habitually greedy and self-centered people are not living by faith and are probably not true Christ-followers. If a person claims to be a Christian, however, then he or she must allow the Holy Spirit to clean up those places of selfishness. Otherwise, they betray the fact that they are not truly born-again and are choosing to live for themselves instead of for Jesus. And Carol, I completely agree with you above. We each answer to God directly. His work in our lives is completely individual. We are still saved by grace even if we see certain details differently from others. God convicts us of what we need to do to serve him, and that conviction may, depending upon circumstances, even change over time. Praise God for his life-changing love! Colleen | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
Another Carol, Thank you for your post. Now THAT is how I believe as well. And I'm glad that you are aboard for it seems as though God has used your talent (of wording things to get through to my heart) wonderfully! Thank you and God Bless you for saying what I nor anyone else could seem to put into words. You are a wise servant! Blessings to you always IN Christ, denise, your sister in HIM | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
Colleen, Thank you for helping me understand more clearly your position into this matter. I especially enjoy and agree with this line: "God convicts us of what we need to do to serve him, and that conviction may, depending upon circumstances, even change over time." I'll say AMEN to that! We are directed by God, individually, as to what He would have us do. Thank you for elaborating wherein I could better understand your position. Peace and love IN Christ, denise, your sister IN Him. | ||
| Another_Carol (Another_Carol) |
Denise, tears are flowing as I read your post because I know that it is not me but my Lord and Saviour and my heart is so full of His marvelous grace. You are so special to God just as if you were the only one on the face of this planet and you alone can make the right decisions for the way you should follow since I am sure you have that spirit in you that was left to us all that day at Pentecost by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Life is so good with Him even in the midst of turmoil, I cannot even dare to imagine how much more glorious it will be when we see Him face to face. I am looking forward to that day but until that happens I will do the work He has for me here. All for Him and none for me, carol | ||
| Janice (Janice) |
Denise, I certainly don't want to offend again, so, please look at what I say as enlightening instead of criticism, please, please, please don't take it the wrong way. I caught a quick glimpse while scanning through the forum of your disagreement with tithing. I totally agree that there is greed everywhere in Christianity these days but (not tooting my own horn here, I do tithe or come close, depends on whether you tithe the gross or the take-home pay I guess) Anyway, you are definitely correct in the fact that God loves a cheerful giver, but if you could somehow manage to turn it around and look at it from another angle. The thought here is "who gave you the other 90% of your blessings to begin with?" God only wants a tiny little dime of your dollar, that is cheap when you consider what your Uncle Sam is getting. When I lost my job two years ago, I had over $30,000 saved in an IRA and had to cash out to pay off and realign our bills so that we could make it with the $1,000 a month loss of income. Making this short, by the time I got that $30,000, it turned into $16,000 and on top of that--at the end of the year, I had to file that $16,000 as extra income which in turn threw me into a higher tax bracket--the result--$2,800 due to the IRS at tax paying time. Remember that the church has maintenance costs, utilities, and a preacher and ground's keeper, cleaning crew, and musicians to pay! It is a business, but we are in God's business, that 10% given with a cheerful heart will go a long way towards winning souls to the Lord, plus IT IS TAX_DEDUCTIBLE!!! If not for my tithes, I would have paid $3,200 in taxes instead. Malachi 3 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Hope this helps you, it was given with good intentions. Remember too that many churches have feed the hungry programs to name a few, our church even helps homeless people by putting them up in the hotel next door to the church and has helped many to get jobs and become valuable additions to the church, we had one more such person added to our church membership last month because he was lost and undone and someone led him to Calvary Baptist Church, he saw the kind hearts of our church family and wanted to become a part of it. He is loving it every Sunday that he gets to come to our church meetings. He is on fire for the Lord, and I feel that our tithes helped make it possible. But I did not say all this to lay guilt at your feet because God knows your situation and not everyone can give what is considered a tithe, for the record--a tenth was more than income, it included the first fruits of the field too. If you do a study of the church of the old and the new testament, you can see that literally thousands of people were living in the temple and widows and orphans were left at the mercy of chance if left without a brother-in-law that was willing to take them in. Sorry, I have got to go, two o'clock will get here quick enough. I will talk more when I have time. God bless you as you study his word. Love from Janice | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
Janice, you're right that God provides for us when we faithfully return our money to him. I've been astonished aas I've come to read the New Testament, however, to discover that, much like the Sabbath, tithing is nowhere commanded. Rather, the New Testament expands giving in the same way it expands Sabbath. As new covenant Christ-followers, God asks for ALL that we have. He doesn't ask for a tithe, although that's often a good starting place. He asks for us to be willing to give 'way more than a tithe, and the miracle is that he provides the means for us to give 'way more than a tithe when that's what he's asking us to do. Remember Jesus told the rich ruler to sell all he had and give to the poor if he wanted to be kingdom-ready? God asks us to surrender everything and to depend upon him to provide. Giving is extremely important, but in the New Testament there is no mandate for a percentage. God just asks us to give him ourselves, our relationships, our jobs, our possessions, and then let him do as he wishes with us. God does not always remove our posessions from us, but he asks us to hold everything in our lives loosely, willing to trust him if we should find our hands empty. He cares for us completely! I understand that many of us do need the structure of giving a baseline percentage with the willingness to go beyond that. But tithe itself is really an old covenant concept! It's expanded in the NT to include everything, just as the Sabbath is expanded in Jesus to be eternal. Praise God for his sovereign care of us! Colleen | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
Hi Janice, I've just read your post and Colleens posts as well. And I respect what you do to follow God's Word, yet as you can see, Colleen has shown to you what the N.T. equivalant to that is. While I quite agree that we need to feed the homeless, the widows, help pay for our ministries-et-cetera et-cetera, I'm also inclined to believe from my own study of God's Word, that this does not just include "church goers." As I had responded, it may have appeared that there is no giving heart in me whatsoever. So in defense of God's Word, Colleens post and lastly myself, let me tell you what I do: I seldom wander into a Church, let alone become an active participant in any church. Yet, like yourself and Colleen, I am a part of the Universal Church of Christ Jesus. As you know, or I would hope you know. There are many of us Christians that are not actively involved with any "denomination" per sae. Yet, in my own home, many come here to hear the Word of God. And this is daily. Many come here for a meal, some come because they have no place to stay for the night, while yet others will come because they know that I was once a very active alcoholic and will have 7 years sober this March. As a result of my past and how God delivered me from the alcohol, these alcoholics who have once again, due to hanging around the wrong folks, taken a drink, come here to tell me about it and they stay the night and get sober here as well. Now, while they are here, they ask how it is that I've managed to stay sober for almost 7 years. Here is a great opportunity to yet again, boast of my Lord God, Jesus the Christ for His mighty deliverance! Needless to say, they ask more questions and we end up having a wonderful Church service right here in my little ole apartment. My service to God stems to all peoples, in all manners of ways. As a result, God has seen to it that I'm well taken care of in ALL ways. And at one time I had to ask a denomination for financial help and they helped me with cheerfulness, for which I've never forgotten and have always thanked the Lord for their love and help in the mess I was in. Their help to me, I'm sure, has not gone forgotten by God and since we know God to be true to His Word, that denomination will be, if not already, blessed abundantly. My belief, Janice, as I read the Word, is that I'm to give of myself as Colleen has stated above. This I do with whatever I can, to whomever I can, in my faithfulness to God Almighty and my Thankfulness to Him for being such a God as He is, that He would come to my rescue in the midst of so many grievious outward and internal sins. He sought me out! For I can assure you that in no way, shape or form was I looking for God. Yet, here I am testifying once again, of the Love of our Lord Jesus the Christ and HIS Faithfulness! This is a summary as this should be sufficient to first give God the Glory that He is most worthy of and at the same time, not lead others astray while attesting to what God has done in my life and how I've naturally (not forced) responded. This statement of yours: "IT IS TAX_DEDUCTIBLE!!!" While I respect you for how you are led by the Word/Sword of God, I'd like to know just this one thing in regards to this short snippet of your statement. Do you pay tithes on your income tax return? While it is none of my business, it is something to ponder over. There is no need for you to answer on a public venue but do think it over. Also, please inquire of the Lord as to the accuracy of Colleens and my own beliefs in this matter. Be a berean and search the Scriptures, to see if what we say is true. And remember, above all, LET GOD BE TRUE. Peace to you Janice and Blessings to your household, in Jesus Name. amen. DtB, one of the beloved of God! | ||
| Denisegilmore (Denisegilmore) |
Hi Janice, I've just read your post and Colleens posts as well. And I respect what you do to follow God's Word, yet as you can see, Colleen has shown to you what the N.T. equivalant to that is. While I quite agree that we need to feed the homeless, the widows, help pay for our ministries-et-cetera et-cetera, I'm also inclined to believe from my own study of God's Word, that this does not just include "church goers." As I had responded, it may have appeared that there is no giving heart in me whatsoever. So in defense of God's Word, Colleens post and lastly myself, let me tell you what I do: I seldom wander into a Church, let alone become an active participant in any church. Yet, like yourself and Colleen, I am a part of the Universal Church of Christ Jesus. As you know, or I would hope you know. There are many of us Christians that are not actively involved with any "denomination" per sae. Yet, in my own home, many come here to hear the Word of God. And this is daily. Many come here for a meal, some come because they have no place to stay for the night, while yet others will come because they know that I was once a very active alcoholic and will have 7 years sober this March. As a result of my past and how God delivered me from the alcohol, these alcoholics who have once again, due to hanging around the wrong folks, taken a drink, come here to tell me about it and they stay the night and get sober here as well. Now, while they are here, they ask how it is that I've managed to stay sober for almost 7 years. Here is a great opportunity to yet again, boast of my Lord God, Jesus the Christ for His mighty deliverance! Needless to say, they ask more questions and we end up having a wonderful Church service right here in my little ole apartment. My service to God stems to all peoples, in all manners of ways. As a result, God has seen to it that I'm well taken care of in ALL ways. And at one time I had to ask a denomination for financial help and they helped me with cheerfulness, for which I've never forgotten and have always thanked the Lord for their love and help in the mess I was in. Their help to me, I'm sure, has not gone forgotten by God and since we know God to be true to His Word, that denomination will be, if not already, blessed abundantly. My belief, Janice, as I read the Word, is that I'm to give of myself as Colleen has stated above. This I do with whatever I can, to whomever I can, in my faithfulness to God Almighty and my Thankfulness to Him for being such a God as He is, that He would come to my rescue in the midst of so many grievious outward and internal sins. He sought me out! For I can assure you that in no way, shape or form was I looking for God. Yet, here I am testifying once again, of the Love of our Lord Jesus the Christ and HIS Faithfulness! This is a summary as this should be sufficient to first give God the Glory that He is most worthy of and at the same time, not lead others astray while attesting to what God has done in my life and how I've naturally (not forced) responded. This statement of yours: "IT IS TAX_DEDUCTIBLE!!!" While I respect you for how you are led by the Word/Sword of God, I'd like to know just this one thing in regards to this short snippet of your statement. Do you pay tithes on your income tax return? While it is none of my business, it is something to ponder over. There is no need for you to answer on a public venue but do think it over. Also, please inquire of the Lord as to the accuracy of Colleens and my own beliefs in this matter. Be a berean and search the Scriptures, to see if what we say is true. And remember, above all, LET GOD BE TRUE. Peace to you Janice and Blessings to your household, in Jesus Christ's Name. amen. DtB, one of the beloved of God! |
