more on giving

As a complement to our Sunday School study on giving, you may want to check out the book of Malachi.

In Malachi, God talks with His people about their unwillingness to give properly -- in the giving of worship and the surrendering of their lives, as well as in their financial giving.

Ever since I memorized Malachi 3:10 in Bible Drill, I'd known that this book talked about tithing. But reading it now I see the larger context, and that tithing is only one part of the challenge of a loving God to a disobedient and stubborn people.

It's a short book, and will help you to think through the bigger picture of why and how we give to God. Check it out!

Questions to Consider

On Sunday we'll be talking about the Christian as a giver. Here are some questions to consider in preparation for our group discussion. I'm looking forward to seeing you all there. Keep praying that God would use the truth of His word to conform us to the image of His Son and use us to shine as lights in the world (James 1:22-25; Philippians 2:14-16).

Why do we give to the church? Spiritually and practically?
What should our attitude about giving be and why?
What happens when we give begrudgingly?
What is in our heart when we don't give? What does that say about us?
Is it sin not to give?

See ya tomorrow night, and then on Sunday.

ebbs and winters

If you have ever walked (stumbled? crawled?) through a season of doubt, you will be encouraged by this sermon from Charles Spurgeon.

And if you haven't, bookmark the page, because it's almost certain you will.

Here's a short piece of the sermon (make sure you check out the link, though, to get to the part about the "divine medicine chest"; the quote here ends on a downer):

Am I now addressing one who is ready to exclaim, "I will give up all hope; I am sure I cannot be a child of God because I am so cast down"?

O thou simple soul, the most advanced saints suffer in just the same way!

Men who have been for forty, fifty, sixty years, followers of Christ, complain that, sometimes, it is a question with them whether they have ever known Christ at all. There are seasons with them when they would, if they could, creep into any mouse-hole, and hide their heads, rather than be seen among God’s people, because they fear that they are hypocrites, and that the root of the matter is not in them.

Why, I tell you, young Christians, that the most experienced believers, the men who have great doctrinal knowledge and much experimental wisdom, the men who have lived very near to God, and have had the most rapt and intimate fellowship with their Lord and Savior, are the very men who have their ebbs, and their winters, and their times when it is a moot point with them whether they do really love the Lord or no. Even the apostle Paul was not exempt from doubts and fears, for he wrote, "We were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears;" and, on another occasion, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

The man after God’s own heart, even David, a man of experience so deep that none of us can fully decipher, much less rival it, — a man of love so fervent that few of us can do more than aspire to catch the hallowed flame, — nevertheless, had to cry aloud, and that very often, "O my God, my soul is cast down within me!"