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FAMILY & CHURCH
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THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE.
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MARRIAGE.
Helps us understand our spiritual
relation with God for eternity as a couple.
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FAMILY AND GOD.
Helps us understand our relation and unity
with those who love God.
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CHILDREN.
Help us understand God's love for us and
the patience He must have and the fruits of it.
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WORK.
Helps us value what God has created and how hard
it is to do things well and how it hurts when others destroy them.
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FRIENDS.
Help us understand our relation with our
neighbor and how to deal with the arrogant and help the humble.
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MONEY.
Helps us understand how to administrate
assets, to show us the value of Creation and how to use it well.
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THE ORGANIZATION
OF THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE
The organization of the Church according to the Bible
is an important issue that we believers must learn from the Holy Spirit
as His guide of behaviour, because He is our
organizer until the coming
of the Kingdom of God. We, mankind, sometimes tend to over do it in
matters of organization and methodology, and other times we lack order.
However, God is a God of order and therefore we, His people, must live in
order in all that we do, specially in what we do related to God and to
the brethren, to be useful to preach the Gospel and other works of the
Lord. Before we enter in depth in the Biblical order for the Church in the
Bible, I would like to make you consider and also provide you with the
concept of life with God with the following revelation of what a son
of God needs; most of us already know this, but an overview will refresh
our minds:
To become a member of the Church of God, a person
needs to have received Yahshua, Jesus Christ, to comprehend the Gospel
and truly repent. This is the first step to begin the Christian life.
The following step a Christian must make is to be baptized, just like
Jesus Christ did, and so did the crowds, with John the Baptist. Baptism
is the act or ritual whereby he who is baptized is publically declaring
that he has received Jesus Christ as Saviour and that he becomes part of
the Church, in the congregation where he has come to know the Lord.
Baptism and Holy Supper are two Biblical sacraments, therefore whoever
is baptized can take part in the celebration breaking the bread and
drinking the wine that are symbols of the body and the blood of Christ,
the Messiah.
After the Christian is received in his church or congregation, the
pastor and the elders will help him grow teaching him the Word of God,
which we must all study during the rest of our lives because it is not
like any book written by man, the Bible is alive and it is the Verbe of
God, Jesus Christ Himself revealed to man. The Bible has several
meanings: literal, historical, doctrinal, prophetical and symbolical or
in parables. The Christian get ready to fulfill the Great Commission by
mastering the basic knowledge of the Gospel to witness to all those
around him and invite to his church those that have ears to listen. By
doing so, a Christian will became an elder in the faith in due course
and this will be a blessing for his life, for the church and for his
neighbour.
The church can be governed or managed in different ways. The local
church that one belongs to, Biblically speaking, can be independent or
be part of a group of churches which is what we usually see in
Christianity. The independence of the church and pastor ensures that the
teaching methods and the projects are specifically designed for its
congregation, whereas when a church is under a hierarchy in a specific
region or country, this advantage is lost. The independent church that
is part of a group of churches governed locally by elders (bishop
"pastor" and deacons "elders") is a baptist, evangelical church. The
church that depends on external, regional or national organization for
projects is a presbyterian or reformed church, which can be episcopal
(like the Church of England) or if the church is governed worldwide from
a single headquarters we can say it's like the Jehova Witnesses or the
Catholic Church. We have recently seen the rise of the so-called
apostolic churches than want to plant churches in places that have never
received evangelization, they are usually charismatic or pentecostal.
The character of the church is not determined by the type of government,
but there are a series of characteristics in each of them. Presbyterian
churches governed in regions or countries have their origin in John
Calvin, Martin Luther..
Good deeds, the social work of the church is part of our live, loving
our neighbour, in the example that the Lord used of the good samaritan
that helped the man who was lying on the street. We must never forget
the Master's good deeds, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in His Word
everything we need to do for others. I believe the text in Matthew 25:31
to 46 is specific in this respect:
31 “When
the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 All the nations will
be gathered before Him, and He will separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 And He will set the
sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then the King will say
to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed
of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world: 35
for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was
thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
36
I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was
in prison and you came to Me.’
37 “Then the righteous
will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You,
or thirsty and give You drink?
38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and
clothe You? 39 Or when
did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
40
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you,
inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did
it to Me.’41
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you
cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 for I was hungry and
you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;
43 I was a stranger and
you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in
prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will
answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
45 Then He will answer
them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to
one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
46 And these will go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Worship in Church. Unity in joy and enthusiasm for our God is a need in
the Church. If you have sad and spiritually low brethren, you can
imagine you will not be able to make a worship group with choir and
music. A church choir or a worship group usually follows a script as a
guide and the brethren who are part of the choir or group must not only
perform with excellence because they are doing it for the Lord but also
put their hearts and minds to it, so that they reach the Lord with their
praise but also the whole fellowship in the spirit of worship and joy of
the Lord. Every church needs worship groups, as well as prayer,
organization and spiritual leadership groups but, unfortunately - and it
is no coincidence - the common denominator in dull and sad churches and
that lose their first love are those that do not care about worshipping
the Lord who loves us. Worship expresses our feelings towards the Lord,
shares them, opens them up and favours brotherly love amongst brethren,
it manages to unify efforts and make everyone share the same mind and
the same judgment, as we are told to do in 1Corinthians 1:10 and this
helps the rest of the ministries of the church, and God receives from
us, as if we were only one, at least part of the work of that specific
church.
If you feel your church is not joyful, there is no progress, there is
lack of unity in the Lord's projects, etc., you should ask yourself
about worship, whether there is any in your church, and if there is,
whether it has spiritual excellence worthy of God our Lord, as Psalm, 33
tell us. So, my dear brethren, pastors, leaders or elders of churches or
fellowships, this is a fundamental part of your ministry and of showing
God your love, unity of God's people and the fruit of our lips. So, come
on, organize your worship and praise the Lord, because the Lord is
enthroned in the praises of His people.
Sometimes problems arise in the congregation, maybe a brother fails,
even a leader, pastor or elder, those who have taught you the Word of
God. If one of them sins, do not let your faith cool down, you should
all pray and look for the Lord's direction and His advice to win over
this brother, or brethren, but also taking a critical look inside us. It
is so easy to see the speck in your brother’s eye, but not perceive the
plank in your own eye. We must never trust man, but God. It is the only
warranty we have not to fall when we see others fall, but we shall walk
in mercy. Before we finally decide to change churches, we must have
tried everything we possibly can; but if the Lord takes us to another
congregation, our lives belong to Him. We must understand the meaning of
spiritual circumcision which, far from the circumcision in the flesh for
men, teaches us that we must circumcise our hearts, our feelings towards
our brethren, and if Christ invites us to love our enemy, how are we not
going to love our brethren even if they fail, because I also fail. God
is the only one who does not fail.
We must forgive our brethren, otherwise there is no Church, gifts are
wasted and the enemy wins the battle, although not the war. This is my
word of encouragement from this media; unless a so-called brother denies
the Scriptures and Christ as only saviour, in which case Christ tells us
not even to each with such a person, because ...By this all will know
that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35.
God wants this type of fellowship:
...Let
all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be
assembled... Isaiah 43:9.
...For
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20.
...And not for
that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the
children of God that were scattered abroad. John 11:52.
...And
all that believed were together, and
had all things common; 45And sold their
possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46And
they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And
the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Acts 2:44.
...Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some
is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching. Hebrews 10:25.
READ THESE 3 PARAGRAPHS ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
CHURCH: THEY HAVE THE KEYS. THEN LOOK FOR A FELLOWSHIP OR CHURCH WHERE YOU FIND
THEM AND JOIN IN.
...And I say
also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
(petrus, rock) and upon this rock
(the faith in Christ) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. 19And I will give unto thee
(because you have faith, and to those who have faith will be called rocks)
the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven. 20Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was
Jesus the Christ. Matthew 16:18.
...That at that
time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world: 13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15Having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to
make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16And that he might
reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby: 17And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them
that were nigh. 18For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father. 19Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20And are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
corner stone. Ephesians 2:12.
...And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we
all come in the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait
to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may
grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in love. Ephesians 4:11.
Have fellowship with your brethren!
Read Psalm 133.
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MARRIAGE
When a man and a woman marry, they must understand that
love is the base that will keep them together all their lives and will allow
them to enjoy one another. It is also the base to overcome difficult
situations. But I would like to encourage all couples to pray to God that
in the name of Yahshua, of Jesus Christ, their marriage be blessed, so that
He becomes the Rock where to build their lives together.
Each of them has virtues and defects that will be
discovered along their lives. Aspects that one does not even know about him
or herself,
because he or she has never experienced such situations before in life. But
it is a shame and painful to see so many couples divorce, and how much
they suffer, not to mention their children. So as I have experienced in my
life, I recommend that they take Christ's faith, because He has the
power to set us free from the evil day and make overcome. He is the only one
that can win for you, for instance when another person gets in the way and
calls the other's attention, that woman or man. We must understand that our flesh is attracted to procreation, so it
is normal that we are attracted
by the opposite sex, but it is not easy to reject that temptation, because it
is a
physical need of our bodies. Before more difficult situations like physical illness or
handicapped strong prayer is the way not to leave your partner for the sake
of your love. God provides the strength, but don't be sad, stay focused
in your trust for God, He will provide that strength we don't have. The
devil fights to death, so put on the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:10.
Yes, man needs a woman and vice versa. Why, then,
some religions propose celibacy when the patriarchs were polygamists?
...Let every man have his own wife in sanctification, says Paul.
Following is some Bible support
for the attitude in
those couples that believe in God and love each other:
...Neither shalt thou commit adultery. 7th
Commandment. Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5.
...Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2:24.
...Marriage is honorable in all. Hebrews 13:4
...Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is
far above rubies. 11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her,
so that he shall have no need of spoil. Proverb 31:10.
...For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by
the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else
were your children unclean; but now are they holy. 1Corinthians 7:14.
...Wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the
body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives
be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh;
but nourished and cherished it, even as the Lord the church: For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I
speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of
you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see
that she reverence her husband. Ephesians 5:21-33.
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FAMILY & GOD
WE ALL KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THE
UNITY OF THE FAMILY IS. The family must be built like a house, on
the rock and not on sand, so that house may stay up when difficulties
arrive. That rock is the faith in Christ, in His Word, the Bible. We could
call the Bible the book of instructions for life, for every man, for the
family. The sand is the arguments of the world that end up in divorce and
children turn to drugs or alcohol as well as to homosexuality. Everything is
accepted in society.
Yahshua says: Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which
built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for
it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which
built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended
these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught
them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Matthew 7:24-29.
The scribes are the leaders of religion. Jesus speaks the truth. Acts 2:41-47.
The base of those who make the
Church of Christ is precisely that the church is in their homes. Take
Holy Supper in your homes, like we see the first Christians do in Acts
2:41-47.
This is where we must have communion with
one another. Fathers, as the head of their families must pastor them and
teach their members. If the wife is the only one in the Lord, she should
find other sisters and church groups to worship and share the matters of
God and to take Holy Supper, and teach her children in the ways of the
Lord. If you are the son or daughter share your faith in the Lord with
your parents, if they reject you, honor them however because that is the
commandment, which has a promise of blessing for doing so. Those of you
who do not have all your family members in the Lord, pray, and He will do. Sometimes
they will take years to convert, so pray to Jesus for patience, and that
waiting time will
seem shorter. We who know the Lord want everyone to know Him, but we
must not forget that every person has an individual relationship with
the Lord, which is private and belongs to them - the individual and the
Lord - and we must respect the privacy of that relationship until the
person truly falls in love with God. Then He will give them faith. Amen?
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CHILDREN
..Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may
be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Exodus 20. 5th commandment.
...Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this
is right. 2Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first
commandment with promise;) 3That it may be well with thee, and thou
mayest live long on the earth. 4And, ye fathers, provoke not your children
to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4.
They are a blessing of God, although some couples may not
have them. God knows each circumstance.
Being parents is hard, but precious. There
are no course to
teach you how to be a parent. Each child is different from another and every family and parents are
different too.
Once again we must come to the Master, to our heavenly
Father, He really knows how to be a good Father.
His Word says: Who doesn't discipline his son considers
him a bastard. God Himself disciplines us so that we seek Him and make
ourselves
humble.
It's vital to pray for your
children. To be their friends.
Even though they - like we did and so did our parents too - will come to
us with their fashions and being part of a group which they consider to
be "in" while the parents are "out".
Recommendation: Do not despair and
never give up guiding them in
admonition of the Lord even though it may seem that there is no result now.
You will see the fruits later on and it will be a blessing. Parents must bring
their children to the knowledge of God as the most important teaching to
provide. The rest
will come from us, depending on our culture, background and era.
RETURN TO THE TOP
WORK
1Timothy 5:8: ...But if any provide not for his own,
and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and
is worse than an infidel.
The kingdom of God is not a place where you need to
work to provide for the needs of your loved ones; as we can see in the paradise
where Adam and Eve were. God doesn't propose an eternal life of work
but an eternal life in paradise with Him without the need to provide,
because He is the provision and the bread of our spirit. Praise God who
has given us resurrection for eternal life by the sacrifice of His Son
Yahshua the Messiah who delivered us from sin.
But now in the meantime,
while we are in this world we need some
guidance in the work system.
Man is not willing to accept
anything for free,
...come on! I have intellectual knowledge and I can create a company and
have my own projects and succeed!..; and he doesn't realize he is a slave
in Egypt: the world, where we must fight to survive, sometimes we even
believe that those who are making it, who feel very important by their
achievements, who feel superior and more intelligent that the rest, in
other words, the personal ego, is very high in a successful businessman
or an employee who is outstanding for his efforts. This
circumstance causes that man's arrogance does not allow him to be humble before God.
Without God and in the world, seeking profit and success,
man falls in the arms of the devil. But you may be successful and know that
is God who is making you succeed, and therefore share and give opportunities
to those in need.
We mustn't forget that this is our world, not the
Kingdom of God, this is a world of egoists where the neighbor doesn't
matter to them, they only want to achieve material things for their joy.
We also have to look at the circumstances of those who die of hunger daily, who have no hope, no
work, no health or who have fallen in a spirit of drugs or depression,
who are in prison... and we must do something for this society. We can
eradicate poverty, we can have jobs for everyone, we can provide a worthy life
for all humanity, but we don't achieve it due to the world's egoism.
But nobody teaches us God's
knowledge - the most important of all -
and to await with hope the arrival of the Kingdom of God and of our Savior Yahshua, who will provide us with a new order, where we will no
longer have to worry about anything. Why is this is not discussed in the
workplace, like football, stock market, or the internet?
Joseph in Egypt was the richest man in the world and was
serving God. We must seek God first and the rest of things will come on
addition; says the Word.
In our work or business relations
we must bear witness as followers of Christ, so when they see us having
a serious and correct
attitude in business or a job they can see a testimony that proves to them
that you can be honest and still be financially blessed. A disciple
should know well the laws of his time and fulfill them, must help colleagues at
work, a boss must help his staff and not become a
dictator.
He who calls himself a disciple of
Christ must be seen as Jesus in action. And when he is asked how is that
possible, he must reveal his faith in the Lord.
He who honors God will rejoice in
using the tenth of his income for God's purposes, for preaching and for
humanitarian aid, and the Lord will open the windows of heaven and will
pour out His blessings that there will not be room enough to receive it.
The tithe isn't originally in the Law of God, but of the faith of
Abraham, then it is not an obligation, it is rather a way to honor and thank God
for His financial blessings. Read Malachi 3:8-12 and Genesis 14:18-20.
Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest
news on business profit and wellbeing is precisely that Yahshua is going
to set us free from the bondage of work, He proposes
everlasting holidays, we will no longer be sad for the poor, because
there won't be any, and that we will be able to enjoy the presence
of God and the biggest emotion: To discover it all, understand it all
and listen to all the wonders of our great Father that He will show us
when we are with Him.
In
the mean time, be good and
give example to all those around you own and in society, and may the Lord bless you so much that your
tithes may be abundant and that the food, physical and spiritual, and the
wellbeing in all this planet are plentiful until He comes.
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FRIENDS
You may, as our Master teaches us,
love your enemies and share your life with those who don't believe in God,
nor seek Him, but your true friends, those that will not let you down, you
will find them amongst those who believe in God's salvation and fear God and
obey Him in His Word and love their neighbor. A child of God will not only introduce himself as your friend, but will
also talk
to you about God. Hard task to find many of these. In many religions they
will talk to you about God, but be aware. Ask God and He will show you who
are your real friends. If they believe that Yahshua, Jesus Christ is the Son
of God made man and that He resurrected from the dead and they don't
impose belonging to a religion or denomination to receive you, there is no
fear.
The best friend is the Lord. A
real friend will never invite you to break God's law nor to do evil to
others.
A friend in Christ is always there
when you call him. His house is your house and your house is his house.
There is no excuse for you. If one says he is your friend but doesn't
have God, that is not a real friend.
BIBLE
Texts:
...A friend loves at all times, and
a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17.
...A man that has friends must show
himself friendly: and there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs. 18:24.
...Wealth makes many friends; but
the poor is separated from his friend. Proverbs. 19:4.
...Thine own friend, and thy
father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day
of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far
off. Proverbs. 27:10.
Yahshua says: And I say unto you,
Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye
fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Luke 16:9.
...Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye
do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the
servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for
all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever
ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17These things I
command you, that ye love one another... John 15:13 and more.
...Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?... 2 Corinthians 6:14.
...Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4:4.
...And the scripture was fulfilled
which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. James 2:23.
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MONEY
Money is a tool we cannot do without
to cover our needs. Society catches us with its consumers' system,
powered by the marketing of the manufacturing corporations which are just
focused on profit,
seeking money making to become wealthier and beat their competitors.
But instead the Lord says:
...But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33.
The Lord demands
the tithes
of our incomes as His own. Abraham and Jacob, out of their own hearts, did their own
covenant with
God so that He would bless them and they used to put away the tithe for
Him.
Be careful with the imposition of
denominations who demand it. One must feel free in how to use that 10% of
his money in whatever he receives from God as in how to use it. Malachi
3:6-11, For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine
ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto
you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 8Will a
man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?
In tithes and offerings. 9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me,
even this whole nation. 10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that
there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD
of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11And I will
rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of
your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the
field, saith the LORD of hosts.
...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. 1 Timothy 6:10.
...Wealth makes many friends; but
the poor is separated from his friend. Proverbs: 19:4.
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