GIVING

“And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem" (Ezra 1:4 NKJV).

In our verse, Cyrus decreed that the Jews who did not return Jerusalem should give financial support to the returning exiles. The verse contains some good lessons about giving. Thus we want to note the ability in giving, the amount in giving, the admonition in giving, and the attitude about giving.

Ability – “Whoever is left.” When Cyrus made the proclamation of freedom, not all the Jews chose to return to Jerusalem. Not going to Jerusalem meant not incurring any expenses. This meant extra money to contribute to those who did return. And because of this ability, they were expected to contribute. Giving is always based on ability. The greater our wealth, the greater should be our giving.

Amount – “Besides the freewill offerings for the house of God.” Those giving were to be liberal. Their gifts were to be extra besides what they were giving for the Temple service. This was above the tithe. In Scripture, the tithe is never the total of a person’s giving; it was the place to start. The giving guidelines and encouragements given in Scripture all point to more liberal giving than just the tithe.

Admonition – “Besides the freewill offerings for the house of God.” This is an implied admonition. We should never short the Temple offerings for others causes. When the church takes a special offering, we should not short the regular offering to give to the special offering. The special offering is in addition to our regular offering.

Attitude – “Freewill.” All giving is to be freewill. No one was taxed or forced to give unwillingly. If we do not give freely, we will lose the rewards for giving, for God looks on the heart to check the motivation for giving. Freewill giving is heart giving. If our heart is right we will give freely, which is another way of saying give liberally.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“You are not really giving to God until you enjoy it!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Distress

In 1 Thess. 3:7 we read, “Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith” (NKJV).

Distress is the Greek word anankē (ἀνάγκη = an-ang-kay'). It is made up of two words: “ana” which means up, again, back, intensity and “agkale” which means arm when bent. Thus the word refers to any necessity or compulsion, outer or inner, brought on by a variety of circumstances. It can mean necessity imposed either by external conditions or by the law of duty.

In secular Greek, anankē is the controlling principle of all existence, the irresistible force which steered all reality on its course. In the Septuagint anankē refers to the various difficulties of life. In the New Testament anankē relates to the worldly trials and hardships that we must encounter, the outward pressures from powers and circumstances. Yet, these pressures and circumstances must be viewed from the perspective of God’s will. For example, Paul employed anankē to describe the necessity and the urgency which he felt to preach the gospel (1 Cor. 9:16).

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – The Messiah would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9)

New Testament Fulfillment – John 13:21.

Bible Facts

Air has weight (Job 28:25). It was once thought that air was weightless. Yet 4,000 years ago Job declared that God established “a weight for the wind.” In recent years, meteorologists have calculated that the average thunderstorm holds thousands of tons of rain. To carry this load, air must have mass.

Bible Quiz

How many months was baby Moses hidden by his parents before he was placed in a basket and left on the river?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: Who asked to be blotted out of God’s book if the LORD refused to forgive the sins of Israel? Moses (Exodus 32:31-33).

That’s in the Bible

"Escape the lion and fall to the bear”

“It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him” (Amos 5:19 NKJV).

“Escape the lion and fall to the bear” - The expression “escape the lion and fall to the bear” means to go from bad to worse. This means trying to escape one calamity, but falls into another. Here in the Book of Amos, the idea is that once the judgment came there would be no escape. No matter how rebellious sinners try to escape or avoid the judgment of God, it will catch up with them. There is no escaping God’s wrath because there are no hiding places! Today we would say, ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire!’

Did You Know - Christian History

John Mott was born in Livingston Manor, New York on May 25, 1865. He was a leader of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF).

On January 14, 1886, John Mott walked in late into a meeting at Cornell University and heard C. T. Studd say, “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” That night John couldn’t sleep so he sought out Studd for a private talk. That encounter changed his life - and the world. Mott was to demonstrate a living faith in Christ and became a notable evangelist, a YMCA leader and a co-founder of the Student Volunteer Mission.

Indeed, in 1900 he published a book entitled ‘the Evangelization of the World in this Generation” which became a challenge for the young men and women of his day. Further, the sum of Mott’s work makes an impressive record: he wrote sixteen books in his chosen field; crossed the Atlantic over one hundred times and the Pacific fourteen times, averaging thirty-four days on the ocean per year for fifty years; delivered thousands of speeches; chaired innumerable conferences. Among the honorary awards which he received are: decorations from China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Jerusalem, Poland, Portugal, Siam, Sweden, and the United States; six honorary degrees from the universities of Brown, Edinburgh, Princeton, Toronto, Yale, and Upper Iowa; and an honorary degree from the Russian Orthodox Church of Paris.

John became so well-known that heads of state greeted him. At 81, the Nobel committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize. He achieved what he did at an enormous expenditure of energy, personal attention to hundreds of letters, non-stop prayer and endless work. John died at his home in Orlando, Florida in 1955 – he was eighty-nine.

A Little Humor

Do you have any idea how many members of the Tate family belong to your church? There is old man Dic Tate who wants to run everything, while uncle Ro Tate tries to change everything. Their sister Agi Tate, stirs up plenty of trouble with help from her husband Irri Tate. Whenever new projects are suggested, Hesi Tate and his wife Vegi Tate want to wait until next year. Brother Facili Tate is quite helpful in church business. Cousin Medi Tate always think things over and lend a steady hand. And of course, there is the bad seed in the family, Ampu Tate, who has cut himself off completely from the body of Christ.

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“God can do without us, but we cannot do without Him!”