Financial Wisdom: How to Spend by Charles Stanley

Financial Wisdom: How to Spend Read | Philippians 4:11-19 God entrusts each believer with a share of His resources. And like any wise overseer, He gives His stewards guidelines for how best to use His wealth: • The Essential Expense. A believer's wisest money management decision is to set aside the first portion of income for the church. As we promote and provide for God's work in this way, He protects what is left (Deut. 26:2; Mal. 3:10-11). • The Next Priority. God promised to supply for our needs (Phil. 4:19). We get necessities like food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and schooling mainly by paying for them with what He provides. • Pursuit of Godly Goals. Next, we're to use money to meet the Lord's goals for us and our family. He may lead us to invest in education, start a business, or purchase a particular item—whatever it may be, instead of "floating" through life, believers should seek and pursue God's will. • A High Calling. Giving to the needy is an investment in God's kingdom. While we should not promote laziness, a gracious act to a poor man "lends to the Lord and He will repay . . ." (Prov. 19:17). • Uses for What's Left. Last on the list is fulfillment of desires. Believers who delight in the Lord also obey Him. He then blesses them with good things that fit His will for their lives (Ps. 37:4). Good stewards manage the Father's resources by asking Him, "What is Your will for the wealth that You have given me?" You'll be amazed at how fulfilling it is to live according to biblical principles. Even a little money seems like more than enough when you spend it as the Lord intends.

Sunday's Sermon of June 1, 2014

This past Sunday I concluded preaching through the book of Ruth with this sermon from Ruth 4. There is no audio of the message; only notes.

Click here for the notes.

R.C. Sproul Proves that God Does Not Exist

I gave a lecture once at an Orlando conference where the whole point of my lecture was to deny, as emphatically as I could and as categorically as I knew how, the existence of God. And when I began that lecture I said, "What my task is today is to convince you folks that God does not exist." "Uhh?" came this gasp from the crowd. "What are you talking about? What kind of game are you playing?" "I'm not playing," I said, "The worst thing that could ever happen to us is to discover that God exists...in the specific meaningof the term exist." Because the term exists in our language has derived etymologically from the Latinexistere—ex means out of, and stere means to stand.

So somebody who exists is somebody who's outstanding, but outstanding in what sense? Well what was meant by this word philosophically centuries ago, going all the way back to Plato and before Plato, was the idea that there is being, pure and simple. And pure being depends on nothing for its ability to be. It is eternal, it has the power of being within itself; it is by no means creaturely.

The thing that characterizes creaturely existence is not being, but becoming, because the chief character trait of all creatures is they change. Whatever you are today, you will be different ever so slightly tomorrow. And today, you're that much different from what you were yesterday if it's only that you are 24-hours older than you were at this time yesterday.

Now the idea of existence says to exist is to stand out of something. And the idea meant to stand out of being. So that something that exists is something that has one foot in being, and the other foot in becoming, or in non-being. Unless it's connected somehow to being, it couldn't be. We wouldn't be humanbeings, we would be human becomings. And if it had both feet in being, it couldn't be a creature. Well the point I'm saying is that we don't want to think of God like this.

If you ask me, "Is God?" I say, "Yes of course God is." But does He exist? Not in this sense, because that would make Him what? A creature, a dependant, derived existence. But rather we say God is here [pointing on board to being]. God is being, not becoming, not changing. He is eternally the same. And so we say there's one being.

Now within that being are not three separate existences. Remember the difference in the prefix. Existmeans to stand out of being or non-being, but the word that the theologians use with respect to the trinity is not the word three existences, but three subsistences. That is, underneath the pure being of God, at a lower dimension, we must distinguish among these subsistences which the Bible calls Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Not three existences, not three beings, but rather three subsistences within that One eternal being.

Real Worship

Real worship is not restrained to a particular place or time; instead, worship is a 24/7 experience that can happen anytime, anywhere.

Such is the case with Abraham in Genesis 22:5 when he told his servants on the brink of him taking his only son, Isaac, to offer in sacrifice, "I will go yonder and worship..."

Worship is a response to God and His actions.

Genesis 22:1 God spoke to Abraham.  He still speaks and has spoken most loudly through His son, Jesus.  The cross and resurrection of Jesus is the greatest act of God in the history of an eternal God.

How we respond to God is the basis of our worship.  We does not just want an emotional response, but a response that changes us internally with evidence of a life change.

The greatest act of worship was not just the offering of Isaac at the altar, but the initial response of Abraham of "getting up early the next morning and saddling his donkey..." (verse 3).  Immediate obedience is the ultimate act of worship.  Do what we know to do now and the future will follow rightly.

Abraham's response of worship was not according to tradition.  No one had ever given their son and especially, Abraham believed God would raise him back from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). That was not in the church order book.  True worship led Abraham to a great faith expressed through his works (James 2:17)

In the midst of this act of worship, God revealed Himself to Abraham in a fresh, new way that will resound throughout all human history - "YHWH - The Lord Will Provide."

Have you seen at experience at work today that could have been seen as an act of worship?  Is something occurring in your family that could been seen as an act of worship?  Hear the voice of God, act without delay, faith will rise within you and God will lead you to a place of fresh revelation of Himself.

written by David O. Cofield
david@crbcshoals.org

A Martyre's Poem

Bill  McChesney wrote the following poem, “My Choice,” before he left to serve as a missionary to the Congo.  He was martyred there.

      I want my breakfast served at eight
With ham and eggs upon the plate
A well-broiled steak I’ll eat at one
And dine again when day is done.

      I want an ultramodern home
And in each room a telephone;
Soft carpets, too, upon the floors
And pretty drapes to grace the doors.

      A cozy place of lovely things,
Like easy chairs with inner springs,
And then, I’ll get a nice T.V.
-
Of course, I’m careful what I see.

      I want my wardrobe, too, to be
Of neatest, finest quality,
With latest style in suit and vest
Why should not Christians have the best?

     But then the Master I can hear
In no uncertain voice, so clear:
“I bid you come and follow Me,
The lowly Man of Galilee.”

     “Birds of the air have made their nest
And foxes in their holes find rest,
But I can offer you no bed;
No place have I to lay my head.”

     In shame I hung my head and cried,
How could I spurn the Crucified?
Could I forget the way He went,
The sleepless nights in prayer He spent?

     For forty days without a bite,
Alone He fasted day and night;
Despised, rejected – on He went,
And did not stop till veil He rent!

     A man of sorrows and of grief
No earthly friend to bring relief;
“Smitten of God,” the prophet said
Mocked, beaten, bruised, His blood ran red.

     If He be God, and died for me,
No sacrifice too great can be
For me; a mortal man, to make;

I’ll do it all for Jesus’ sake.

     Yes, I will tread the path He trod,
No other way will please my God,
So, henceforth, this my choice shall be,
My choice for all eternity.

Challenge to the Graduates - Sermon, Sunday, May 18, 2014

This past Sunday was Senior Recognition Sunday at CrossRoads Baptist Church.  I seldom ever preach to that topic, but the Lord laid this "Challenge to the Graduates" on my heart based out of Philippians 2:3-8.

You can hear it here:

Sunday, May 11, 2014 Sermon

I continued the series through the book of Ruth this past Sunday, May 11, 2014, with part two of the message "Jesus, Our Gracious Redeemer" from Ruth 3.

Here are the notes (click on the red "A" in the box below) and the audio of the message: