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Thursday, March
6, 2008
A Free Gift
Isaiah 55:1-3 Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy,
and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (2)
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour
for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. (3) Incline
your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. (KJV)
Salvation is truly a free gift, the good
and perfect gift which came down from above in the form of Jesus Christ the
Son of God who came to bring reconciliation between God and mankind. While
the world is constantly peddling its goods to people and spicing up its ads
with the offer of a free gift included, in the end the buyer ends up
footing the bill, it’s just disguised somewhere in the fine print. The Lord
who provided a free gift to all mankind having paid the price by His own
sacrifice has now asked us to receive this gift freely and distribute it
that way also. Mankind may play favorites especially with the rich, but
God’s word is available to all and should be made available by those that
have been called to teach and preach without a price tag. Now that doesn’t
mean that if you are getting fed somewhere and the Lord asks you to help
support the cause, that you ignore Him; but the key is knowing when the
Lord is asking and not when these fat cat preachers are begging the
congregation with their giving messages. Those that are operating in the
liberty of Christ will be preaching messages that are building up the
people and showing them who they are in Christ. Those that haven’t been set
free and are still more concerned with the treasures and upkeep of this
life will center their sermons around the upkeep of their ministry and
their works, not on the ministry and work the Lord has done for them.
Luke 16:19-25 There was a certain rich man,
which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every
day: (20) And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at
his gate, full of sores, (21) And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his
sores. (22) And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by
the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
(23) And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (24) And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (25)
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. (KJV)
When looking at this example it parallels
what I see going on today in the so called churches and with many of its
worldly preachers. Because they have spent so much time and effort on their
own upkeep, which many of them do on the backs of others instead of giving
the congregation the meat of the word of God, they just end up with crummy
self serving doctrines. Those that had come to their organizations seeking
the Lord ended up with nothing less than watered down doctrines and a few
crumbs while those that should have been giving them the bread of life were
more concerned with collecting the bread from the congregation. As we see
the end result, with what measure they gave was measured back to them,
having chosen the riches of this world over the eternal riches of the Lord.
If you find you are being bombarded with endless sermons that focus more on
giving and supporting the organization rather than focusing on the
spiritual needs of the congregation, it may be time to move on if you truly
desire to grow in the Lord. And by the way, whose lame brain idea was it to
do these stupid telethons, especially this stuff I see on TV? I don’t care
who they are or who they think they are, the last time I looked the Lord
went into the temple with a three-fold cord and cast those cheap hucksters
out. It was the devil that invited them back in to set up their cheap
carnival side show acts and its people that don’t spend enough time in the
word of God that support this junk and will also be held accountable for
doing so. Oh, they may promise you liberty but the truth is they are the
servants of corruption because of the fact that they have sold out
themselves and have been overcome by their own desires and are now brought
into bondage of them. Just because they have sold out doesn’t mean you have
to support them in their folly. Many of these people have taken the calling
of God and then added their own interpretation to it and have created a
monster, thinking bigger is better, the more the merrier. Just because they
haven’t lived within the means God had intended doesn’t mean it is up to
you to feed their monster which is just a manifestation of their inflated
egos.
Matthew 23:16-23 Woe unto you, ye blind
guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but
whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! (17) Ye
fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that
sanctifieth the gold? (18) And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is
nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
(19) Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar
that sanctifieth the gift? (20) Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar,
sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. (21) And whoso shall swear by
the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. (22) And he
that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that
sitteth thereon. (23) Woe 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. (KJV)
Basically what they are saying here is
the priority has been misconstrued, putting the cart before the horse.
Today I see and hear a lot of doctrines that have the people sitting in a cart,
getting what comes out the backside of the horse as well. Instead of being
more concerned with the weightier matters, faith, mercy and righteous
judgment, they are more concerned with their commitment to giving and
supporting the temple. They are willing to overlook spiritual matters, it’s
the gold they are concentrating on and holding the people to. It doesn’t
matter to them if you don’t spend time in the word of God or grow in the
things of the Lord, that seems to be the least of their concerns, but don’t
you dare miss tithing or that’s when they claim you will suffer the wrath
of God. Everything to these people and their fallen nature’s is center on
giving, which is why they twist the scriptures and sermons to make it look
like God is more concerned with it as well.
Again it is important and your obligation to support wherever you
are being fed, but when the outward temple becomes more of a priority than
feeding the inward one, then it may be time to rethink and pray about
moving on.
Matthew 23:24-26 Ye blind guides, which
strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (25) Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. (26) Thou blind
Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the
outside of them may be clean also. (KJV)
God is more concerned with the inside
rather than the outward appearances. Now it is up to you to discern and
rightly divide the truth so that you too can freely receive the gift of God
and freely distribute it as well.
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