HOW TO SPEND YOUR MONEY

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance" (Isa. 55:2 NKJV).

The lack of good priorities is a characteristic of our society today. What is unimportant is valued much while that which is important is valued little. Our verse speaks about priorities in spending money. It speaks of loss, listening, and life.

Loss – “Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?” “Bread” here refers to a basic essential; that which is needed in life. Spending money on other less important things instead of spending it on “bread” has resulted in a great loss for many. People complain of not having enough money, but we are notorious for wasteful spending. The problem is not the lack of wealth but the lack of wisdom in spending the wealth. Yet, there are some folks who do not have much income, but do very well because they do not spend their money foolishly.

Listening – “Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good.” Here we are exhorted to listen carefully to God. In so doing, we will learn how to have good priority about where to spend our money. We need to spend it on that “what is good.” Foolish spending comes from listening to all the advertisements on TV, in newspapers and in magazines which insist we buy this and that product in order to have pleasure and profit in life. We need to ignore the sales pressure and listen to God instead. This way we will not be wasteful in our spending.

Life – “Let your soul delight itself in abundance.” An important question that we need to ask ourselves is: How much do we spend to help yourself spiritually? Mostly we spend to pamper our physical and material wants. Seldom do we spend to help ourselves spiritually. But our verse tells us that if we want real pleasure in our lives, we need to spend for the benefit of our souls. We need to put spiritual things as top priority in our spending and it will bring blessing for eternity.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“To be rich in God is better than to be rich in goods!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Displayed

In Rom. 3:25 we read, “Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed” (NASB).

Displayed is the word Protithēmi (προτίθημι = prot-ith'-em-ahee). It is made up of two words: “pro” which means before or forth, and “tithēmi” which means to place before. Thus the word means to determine, to purpose or to set forth, so as to be manifest. Literally, protithēmi means to place before oneself, to set forth, to set before the eyes, to set forth so as to be looked at and to expose to public view. Further, the word is in the middle voice, which stresses the personal interest of God; He did what He predetermined in His eternal purpose.

In classical Greek protithēmi means to propose, to set up, to put forward, and to convene. In the Septuagint, protithēmi was used in reference to the showbread being placed before the Lord (Ex. 29:23) and the act of setting out treasures. In the New Testament, protithēmi carried the same secular usage of placing before the public for display. In the present context protithēmi carries the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ was placed before the eyes of all unlike the Ark of the Covenant which was veiled and approached only by the high priest.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – Messiah, God’s Servant would be exalted (Isa. 52:13)

New Testament Fulfillment – Acts 1:8-11; Eph. 1:19-22; Phil. 2:5-9

Did You Know…

In the Bible, it states that Jesus reveals the Father (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22).

Bible Quiz

What is the last commandment?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: What was the name of Samuel’s mother? Hannah (1 Sam. 1:20).

Names of the Lord Jesus Found in the Bible

“Almighty”

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!” (Rev, 1:8 NKJV)..

1. Meaning – the Lord Jesus is all powerful

2. Insights – Christ is the all-powerful Lord and nothing is beyond His reach or impossible for Him

3. Related Titles – Mighty God (Isa.9:6); Mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8); Ruler/Potentate (1 Tim. 6:15); Power of God (1 Cor. 1:24).

Did You Know – Christian History

Frederick William Robertson was born February 3, 1816 in London England. He was an English divine.

After spending a year in France, Robertson, continued his education at the Edinburgh Academy and University, and at Oxford. Young Robertson wanted to join the army, but his evangelical father urged him to enter the ministry. He then threw himself heart and soul into training. Ordained in 1840 in the Church at Winchester, Robertson was filled with determination, having come under the influence of missionaries Henry Martyn and David Brainerd, whose lives he had studied. Robertson became one of the greatest preachers of the nineteenth century England.

Oddly, he did not really fit in any one of the three parties into which the Church of England was divided. His intelligence and feeling, his love for tradition made him seem a natural ally of the High Church, while his evangelical upbringing and his personal concern for soul-winning, made him seem a natural ally of the Low Church. Indeed, he loved the common people and preached his best sermons to groups of working men. But it was in the Broad Church that his independence of thought, love of the natural sciences and sympathy with social concerns placed him.

By “soul-winning,” Robertson meant getting a person to make a deliberate decision to follow Christ, followed by a conscious effort to live a Christian life and to join the fellowship of the church. His method was by preaching sermons that had direct application to the day.

As a preacher, Frederick was noted above all else for trying to get into the skin of Bible characters. It was this which he tried to pass on to those that he taught. He worked hard, researching his sermons and preaching them only when he was sure he had the true meaning. Preaching the truth was far better than refuting error, he believed. He made it a point always to preach his convictions, never his doubts.

The careful search for truth and the exhausting work of caring for his parish at Brighton wore him out. He took unpopular political stands and this brought him much criticism. A lonely man, the strain broke his health. He preached only thirteen years, dying at the young age of 37. His printed sermons came to be widely admired after his death.

A Little Humor

Daddy: “Why can’t you take a turkey to church?”

Little Mandy: “Because they use such FOWL language that Jesus does not like”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“You’ve tried everything else; now try Jesus!”