God's finances-Part 2: It is more blessed to give than to receive.

  BY Argie Simonis

The Lord's teaching on finances and especially on offering and tithes is one of the least popular topics among Christians, while it should be at the top of our priorities. Our Lord says it clearly:

"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" Luke 16:10-11

This message is the second part of the series "God's finances." In the previous post (Part 1) I dealt with three fundamental principles:

- If I can not trust the Lord with my finances how will I trust Him with my life?

- God is my source

- I am not the owner of what I have, but the stewart of what the Lord has entrusted to me, in order to secure His covenant and bless me for others.

"For who makes you to differ from another? and what have you that you did not receive? now if you did receive it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it?" 1Cor. 4:7

My wife and I have been applying these principles for years and I would like to share with you the revelations that the Lord has given us on the subject of finances. Let's see what Paul tells us here:

"Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)" 2Cor. 9:10

Here the apostle Paul speaks metaphorically to show us that the Lord supplies abundantly the people who give and covers the basic needs for food. The eater is therefore the one who uses his finances mainly to meet his individual needs, while the sower is the one who uses his finances mainly to give to others. This has to do with a heart attitude.

Those who want more money to be able to get more things, in the eyes of the Lord are eaters. Those who want more money to be able to give more are sowers. Which category do you want to belong to?

Of course sowers must be eat too. So as you trust in the Lord, there will always be much for you. Those who seek only to meet their needs, the Lord will supply up to there: To meet their needs.

They will not have the abundance and the prosperity that comes with being a sower. The Lord gets glory through our prosperity and not through our poverty:

"You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." John 15:16

This answers many questions. Those who are focused only on what they need, God does not give them this abundance. Do you know why; They would spend them only for themselves. Just two verses before the verse we are studying, Paul said:

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" 2Cor. 9:8

Notice that the reason God does grace to abound in you is that you can abound in every good work. Prosperity is not for you. It is so that you can bless others, and in the eyes of the Lord rich  is not he who has much, but he who can give much!

Many people believe that prosperity has to do with greed, and that is why they oppose it. Paul writes to Timothy:

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1Τim. 6:10

Money is not the problem, but the love of money is. It all has to do with a heart attitude.

True Biblical prosperity is being able to be a blessing to others. The "I have enough. I would never ask for more" attitude may seem humble, but it is purely selfish. This is the attitude of an eater and not a sower.

According to 2 Corinthians 9:10 we read earlier, the conclusion is that if you do not have seed (money), then you do not sow as you should. God ensures that the sowers have plenty of money for every good work.

I'm sure if there was a survey with the question "What is the reason you work?" most would answer that we work to be able to pay our bills and meet our needs.

Look at what Paul says to the Ephesians:

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs." Εph. 4:28

The Word of God tells us here that the purpose of our work is to be able to bless others! Do you see how spiritual principles work? Heaven operates completely differently from the world.

In case you are wondering: "Well, what about me? How can I be blessed too?"

And of course the Lord wants you to be blessed too, but the way to blessing is to trust the Lord, and ask Him to make you a blessing for others.

"You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your lusts." James 4:3

"But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." Μat. 6:33

God knows our needs better than we do. When we trust the Lord's promises that are "Yes and Amen" and pray how we can be a blessing to others, the Lord Himself becomes involved in our finances and covers our every need abundantly. God will take care of you much better than you can take care of yourself.

This is a great truth: The biggest obstacle to our prosperity is that we focus more on how we eat and not on how we sow. We become like the dam that blocks the flow of the river instead of letting it flow with full force.

The same God who promised eternal life when you confess Jesus as your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9), also said: "Give.and it will be given to you." 

"I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35

So why did Jesus say that it is better to give than to receive?

You know that when God asks us to do something, it is not because we need something, but because it is good for us. The Lord does not need our money or our services:

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of you, and of your own have we given you." 

For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build you an house for your holy name comes of your hand, and is all your own." 1Chron. 29:14-16

"Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, even your God.

I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds.

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.

Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

Offer to God thanksgiving; and pay your vows to the most High:" Psalm 50:7-14

Begin to trust the Lord with your finances, ask Him to teach you not only to look at your own needs, but to start sowing where He shows you. This will change your life and rivers of blessing will flow through you.

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:19

I hope you were blessed with this message. There will be a 3rd part where we will focus more on the practical applications of everything we have said so far ...

The power of His Resurrection

   BY Argie Simonis

The Resurrection of our Lord is for many people a controversial issue, but for us it is absolutely fundamental to our Christian faith.

"But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:

And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." 1Cor. 15:13-14

No other religion offers atonement for sins through a Savior who was raised from the dead. All the leaders of the other religions are still in their graves. But the tomb of our Jesus is empty because He overcame death and rose from the dead, and it is this fact that keeps all our faith alive.

The Resurrection of our Lord is a historical event that has been recorded even by non christians. Some have tried in various ways to justify the reason for the absence of Jesus' body from the tomb. They said that some people stole it, some people hid it, and lots of other unproven arguments.

The Roman soldiers guarding the tomb reported that angels had come and that Jesus had been resurrected (Matt. 28: 2-4). In fact, they were one of the first eyewitnesses of the Resurrection!

We may not yet be able to grasp the power of the resurrection in its entirety, but the Word of God promises to be fantastic:

We may not yet be able to grasp the power of the resurrection in its fulness, but the Word of God promises it is going to be awesome:

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Rom. 8:18 

Many bad and ugly things happen around us (wars, deaths, diseases, sufferings) that can bring  frustration and despair, but when we hold in our hearts this picture of Heaven, when we will be in the presence of the Lord, all these sorrows of the world are not even worth mentioning!

This is the power and hope of the Resurrection! The Resurrection cancels the fear of death. When you come to Jesus you are not just accepting a religion; you are securing your salvation and your own resurrection to eternal life with Him:

"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" John. 11:25

"if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation." Rom. 10:9-10

Death existed from the beginning of creation, but it was idle. God is the first to use this word in the book of Genesis:

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die." Gen. 2:17 

Jesus came to kill the one who wants to kill you:

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." 1John 3:8

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23

Jesus overcame death with His own death. From the moment the wage is paid, (always speaking with the prospect of eternity and not with our temporary life here on earth) death no longer has any right over us:

"​And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Col. 2:13-15 

Let me clarify something very important here: Jesus was not sacrificed to ignore sin. The Lord continues to hate sin and died to remove its power from us. In short, the Lord went on the cross for three main reasons:

- He took our place, meaning he was punished for something that normally we should have been punished,

- Ηe canceled the power of sin,

- He restored our broken relationship with the Father because of sin and reconciled us to Him.

This is the hope we have thanks to the sacrifice of our Jesus. The word "hope" does not mean that I just wish for something to happen. The biblical definition of hope is "the joyful expectation of something good to come."

When the angel of the Lord moved the stone to show that the tomb was empty, he sat on the stone to portray God above all our problems.

So let us stay with this picture in our hearts and if there is a lack of hope in some area of your life I pray the Lord will reveal to you

"what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" Col. 1:27

Amen!

Τhe parable of the ten virgins

  BY Argie Simonis

In the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) Jesus gives us a very serious warning. But in order to understand this parable, we must understand the spirit in which the Lord speaks and see what he said shortly before and after this parable.

From the previous chapter (Matt. 24:42-51) Jesus points out the need to be ready for His return. Just as the thief comes at an unsuspecting time when no one is prepared, so the Lord will return to a time when people do not seek Him. That is why God gave us in His Word the signs of the end times to help us be prepared and He prophesied that at that time there would be a state of apathy:

"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matt. 24:12

This apathy will tend to put even the faithful to sleep if we do not heed His words. So it was in the time of Noah, when people refused to prepare for the coming flood because they were absorbed in their own things:

"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:38-39

The parable of the ten virgins clearly continues the lesson of the need to be ready for the return of the Lord. As with the five foolish virgins, those who are not ready will not have time to prepare when the Lord comes. There will be no second chances. This parable, along with the other three that Jesus spoke, also teaches that the Lord will make a separation. Not everyone who cries out to Him, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21).

Let's take a look at the symbolism and the lesson the Lord teaches us through this parable:

It is shown here that half of those who sought the Lord

they did not find Him, which means that many will end up in perdition with the coming of the Lord:

"Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:" Matt. 7:13

The wise virgins took extra oil with them showing that they were ready to wait as long as necessary for the groom. The application for us is that we should stand as long as necessary without setting limits on serving the Lord.

At some point they fell asleep. Sleep is often used symbolically for death. With that logic, these virgins represent all humanity. We will all sleep or die and then appear before the Lord:

"And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9:27

Oil symbolizes life. They all had life but only five of them had eternal life. As soon as the five foolish virgins died, the ones that were not born-again were not given eternal life:

"Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3

When the Lord comes at midnight, this symbolizes two things:

- He will come at an unsuspecting time and

- Midnight is the end of the day, or death, as I commented a little above.

Continuing the symbolism of these sleeping virgins, the Lord refers to death. They all died and were resurrected, showing that there is a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous:

"And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts 24:15

The fact that the foolish virgins could not receive oil from the wise ones, symbolizes the fact that there is no second chance after death to settle your relationship with God. We must be prepared to stand before the Lord based on the choices we make in this life. We can not bring anyone to paradise with us based on what we have. They must have their own personal relationship with the Lord.

There are people today who reject and ridicule the Lord, but after death, when we all stand before God, every person who has lived throughout the history of mankind will confess Jesus as Lord:

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2:10-11

These foolish virgins called on the Lord to let them in, but the Lord answered them:

"Truly I say to you, I know you not." Matt. 25:12

None of us knows the day of our death or the day of the Second Coming of the Lord. We must be ready at all times, so that when our Lord comes He will find us with our lamps filled up:

"if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation." Rom. 10:9-10

The answer to your problem

 BY Argie Simonis

As we get closer and closer to the week of the Passion, the crucifixion and the Resurrection of our Lord, the Word of God reminds us:

"Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

Just as an athlete has a goal or a prize to which he is committed and strives to achieve it, so we are called to have our Jesus as our main concern. He is the author and finisher of our faith and if we are not committed to Him, our faith will never be complete.

So how did the Lord run His own race? We know that he won and the above verse reveals to us how he achieved this. He was focusing on the "joy that was before Him."

Jesus suffered more than any other human being on earth. He took upon Himself the disease and curse of the whole world, and became literally a sin for our sake:

"For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2Cor. 5:21

"As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:" Isaiah 52:14

The Lord did not look at the torment He would endure, but at the spoils of His victory, and this is the example we must imitate. In order to be able to face the difficulties in our life we ​​must focus on the good and not the bad. Jesus knew very well what was coming before Him. We see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His crucifixion praying to the Father and asking him if it is possible to fulfill His will in another way:

"Saying, Father, if you be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done." Luke 22:42

 But as soon as he realized that this was the only way, he put aside the agony of His sufferings and focused on the joy of His victory. He saw you and me as the fruit of His sacrifice and He rejoiced!

Just like the Lord, we have the power to value or devalue everything that happens to us. Some say that we are just products of our environment and that we can not control the way we react. In the verse we read here, however, Jesus teaches us the exact opposite.

Our mind is like a magnifying glass. The more we focus our attention somewhere it gets bigger and from where we move our thinking away, it gets smaller and with less influence on us. We are solely responsible for the value we place on everything that happens around us and that is why many people, while going through the same situations, react differently. Some become psychotic with their problems while others may put aside what happened and move on with their lives.

We live in wicked times and with all that is happening around us it is very easy to fall into traps and become disoriented. What kind of person do you want to be? Do you want to be with those who are carried away by every wind that blows, or by those who follow the example of the apostle Paul:

"Brothers, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13-14