Freely Give
Praise God for sisters in Christ!
In Matthew 10 shows we are to freely give and that's what we should be doing on a daily basis as situations come into our lives that allow us to do so. Obviously we are to use discernment in what we give and how much we give. For example, we can freely give time to someone who wants the strive in the truth of God's Word but if they don't want to obey then we are not to freely give our time for someone who is rebelling against the Word. We can freely give food and help beggars but if they don't want to work to get off the street and support themselves, we are not to freely give all our resources away to someone who will squander them. We are to freely give compassion to our children as we raise them but if they are disobedient and won't obey, they will need discipline.
In our life we come across all sorts of situations that we give time, resources and of course the main one....the gospel.
This morning I had just finished cleaning the cooler and van when I saw the nose of a nice white car sneaking right up to the open van door. When I got out I saw a very fancy car and an expensively, well dressed older woman holding a $100 bill in her hand. She said 'I want to give this to you.'
I thanked her and said that we freely give the gospel and don't take money from anyone. I explained that we have sold most of our belongings and are on the street full time, sharing the gospel good news for free. I gave her a gospel card and she said 'I know Jesus'. I encouraged her to test herself and shared that the religious places are not teaching people the truth based on God's Word. She looked at me and said 'I know Jesus.' I thanked her again for the offer and said to feel free to do something for someone else with that money. She started driving away and said 'I know Jesus'.
Based on what I saw and her just saying she 'knows Jesus', she has the classic signs of being a typical church goer, not rooted in God's Word but instead rooted in the religious system.
And let me share a lesson with you...she had no clue who we were or what we taught because she just pulled into the parking lot, saw us and offered us money because she saw our signs on our van proclaiming Jesus. This is dangerous because if we were a false cult, she would have been helping us spread false doctrine.
By the way, we have never accepted and never will accept donations from anyone, we provide for ourselves.
And I'll say this...when she saw me get out of the van, her eyes got bigger. People are not used to seeing a biblically dressed woman and it can be a shock to those who are ignorant of the truth. We're in the heart of the bible belt and down here people wear their 'church' or 'Chrisitianity' on their sleeve. Meaning, they almost boast about 'knowing Jesus' and 'going to church' because that's the mindset here. We don't see any more biblical truth here than anywhere else except they verbalize their faith a bit more... until you bring them the truth.
Brother Jim brought some truth to the Salvation Army Bell ringers outside the store. One was a woman who was enticing people to give money by letting them see her little dogs in the shopping cart next to the bucket and another was a man with a horn.
In Matthew 10 shows we are to freely give and that's what we should be doing on a daily basis as situations come into our lives that allow us to do so. Obviously we are to use discernment in what we give and how much we give. For example, we can freely give time to someone who wants the strive in the truth of God's Word but if they don't want to obey then we are not to freely give our time for someone who is rebelling against the Word. We can freely give food and help beggars but if they don't want to work to get off the street and support themselves, we are not to freely give all our resources away to someone who will squander them. We are to freely give compassion to our children as we raise them but if they are disobedient and won't obey, they will need discipline.
In our life we come across all sorts of situations that we give time, resources and of course the main one....the gospel.
This morning I had just finished cleaning the cooler and van when I saw the nose of a nice white car sneaking right up to the open van door. When I got out I saw a very fancy car and an expensively, well dressed older woman holding a $100 bill in her hand. She said 'I want to give this to you.'
I thanked her and said that we freely give the gospel and don't take money from anyone. I explained that we have sold most of our belongings and are on the street full time, sharing the gospel good news for free. I gave her a gospel card and she said 'I know Jesus'. I encouraged her to test herself and shared that the religious places are not teaching people the truth based on God's Word. She looked at me and said 'I know Jesus.' I thanked her again for the offer and said to feel free to do something for someone else with that money. She started driving away and said 'I know Jesus'.
Based on what I saw and her just saying she 'knows Jesus', she has the classic signs of being a typical church goer, not rooted in God's Word but instead rooted in the religious system.
And let me share a lesson with you...she had no clue who we were or what we taught because she just pulled into the parking lot, saw us and offered us money because she saw our signs on our van proclaiming Jesus. This is dangerous because if we were a false cult, she would have been helping us spread false doctrine.
By the way, we have never accepted and never will accept donations from anyone, we provide for ourselves.
And I'll say this...when she saw me get out of the van, her eyes got bigger. People are not used to seeing a biblically dressed woman and it can be a shock to those who are ignorant of the truth. We're in the heart of the bible belt and down here people wear their 'church' or 'Chrisitianity' on their sleeve. Meaning, they almost boast about 'knowing Jesus' and 'going to church' because that's the mindset here. We don't see any more biblical truth here than anywhere else except they verbalize their faith a bit more... until you bring them the truth.
Brother Jim brought some truth to the Salvation Army Bell ringers outside the store. One was a woman who was enticing people to give money by letting them see her little dogs in the shopping cart next to the bucket and another was a man with a horn.
Brother Jim shared with them that the Salvation Army is not a Christian organization like they claim. They may be an American Christian organization but certainly NOT biblically Christian.
They feed off people, asking them to 'freely give' into their bucket while they blaspheme our Father by slapping Christ's name on their organization. Brother Jim gave them the gospel and explained the truth to them.
I used to be that person years ago, taking the church girls youth group out to ring bells and gather money. They will take anyone who can shake a bell. We saw a woman in a wheel chair, covered with a blanket inside the doors of the store with the bucket on the other side of the glass.
It's shameful. They may do some good deeds but that means nothing to the Lord if they aren't done in Truth.
This is the time of the year people give more money because they have that 'spirit' going on but they are not any closer to the Holy Spirit because they don't want to heat truth anymore than any other time.
The churches also hit people up really hard this time of the year because they have annual budgets to fill and commitments to get from people for the next year. The beggars know how to kick it up a notch also, using the holiday and family time to soften people.
Of course we are to help people who are truly in NEED, which is hard to find nowadays with all the government programs, but most of all we are to freely give the gospel and our time behind it to do so.
Before all that we are to freely give of ourselves to the Lord in all things.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
(Romans 12:1-2)
Blessings to you sisters,
Sister Deb
The biblical gospel...