Labels

Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts

Friday, October 14, 2022

Bonhoeffer's Discipleship: Lesson 6 – The Beatitudes & The Visible Community


 I am happy to announce that I have completed and uploaded  Lesson 6 of “Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship” : an informal study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship – with Lesson 6 – The Beatitudes & The Visible Community 

Here is a link to the audio podcast: Lesson 6 - The Beatitudes & The Visible Community

Here is a link to the video on YouTube: 


It is my prayer that this series will encourage people to read Bonhoeffer’s work but more importantly I hope the lessons encourage people to deepen their faith in Christ by pursuing a life of Christian Discipleship. 

God bless you all. 

 

M. T. Clark  

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Bible Study - Complicated Relationship - 10/09/2022


 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 10/09/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Complicate Relationship Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 



Complicated Relationship

 

“But I fear; lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” II Cor. 11:3

 

Our relationship with the Godhead may seem complicated, but not to God. Only on our side of the relationship does complication seep in. Common sense would say to us, how can we know God in all His complexity?

 

One legitimate reason for the confusion is because of the number of metaphors that the word of God uses to describe our relationship.

 

Slave/master relationship:

         “Scripture’s prevailing description of the Christian’s relationship to Jesus Christ is the slave/master relationship...the word slave (doulos in Greek appears 124 times in the original text.”          John MacArthur; “Slave”

“Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,

As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

So our eyes look to the LORD our God,

Until He has mercy on us.”     Ps. 123:2

 

Friends:

         Jesus said to His disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Jn. 15:15

 

Father/son:

         Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father…” Mt. 6:9

He said, I am ascending to My Father and your Father…” Jn. 20:17

 

Sibling:

         Jesus said, “for whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” Mt. 12:50

 

Bride and Groom:

         John the Baptist says, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom…” Jn. 3:29

Sng. 2:16 & 6:3, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.”

 

Shepherd/sheep:

         “The LORD is my shepherd…” Ps. 23:1

 

All of the above mentioned relationship, in the natural, have different nuances that make them distinct.

 

What if, in the spiritual, these are all true?

 

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; not can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  I Co. 2:14

 

The intimacy that God is calling us to defies descriptive pronouns, but God uses them to cultivate us. Read Lk. 13:6-9 “Barren Fig Tree” “I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,

Who walk in a way that is not good,

According to their own thoughts;” Is. 65:2

 

Lk. 18:16,17 Jesus says, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will bey no means enter it.”

 

Children are unaware of the distinctions in all the above mentioned relationships, but they know the voice of their mother. Jn. 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”


-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


Sunday, October 2, 2022

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Something's Wrong with my Mirror? - 10/02/2022


 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 10/2/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Something's Wrong with My Mirror? Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: Something's Wrong with My Mirror? om YouTube



Something’s Wrong with my Mirror??

 

The Christian faith is replete with paradoxes.

         You have to die in order to truly live

         In order to be greatest you must become servant to all

         We only love God because He first loved us.

         Get out of financial bondage, give more.

         Seek first the kingdom of God… all else will be added to you

 

Perhaps the biggest paradoxical notion is that, as if it were some sort of self help program, when we become a Christian we will get better.

 

First and foremost this submits the idea that “better” is the goal.

The truth is that holiness is the goal. I Pet. 1:15

 

Indeed, the surrounding verses in I Pet. 1 encourage us toward repentance and good works, but Gods’ standard for fellowship with Him is holiness.

         This understanding perpetuates the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We could never strive to be good enough to merit fellowship with God.

 

The problem is that, with careful, and honest self observation, we seem to get worse.

As we seek to “bring every thought into captivity,” (II Cor. 10:5)      we realize the monumental need to.

As we seek to do, “good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in,” (Eph 2:10) they seem fewer and far       between.

As we aim to live for Christ, (Gal. 2:20) the need to daily pray, “forgive me my trespasses” and “lead me not into temptation      becomes more pressing.

 

The apostle Paul likewise seemed to express this backward regress.

In Gal. 1:1, his earliest known letter, he calls himself, “an apostle...”

In I Cor. 15:9 he is suddenly, “the least of the apostles, who am not worthy        to be called an apostle.”

In Eph. 3:8 he has slipped to, “less than the least of all the saints.”

By I Tim 1:15 he considers himself, “chief of sinners”.

 

Did he get worse???

 

The truth is that as we draw nearer to Christ, and glimpse His holiness, we are undone, and sense that even our greatest works are as filthy rags. Is. 64:6

 

Yet, in I Cor. 4:4, Paul says, “For I know of nothing against myself”. Has he forgotten that he persecuted the church, (Phil. 3:6) or that “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…”?

No, because, as he goes on to say, “but I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of out Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” I Tim. 1:13,14

 

“We see now in a mirror, dimly” I Cor. 13:12. I liken this, sometimes, to glimpsing an image in a kaleidoscope, but then it vanishes. We sense for a moment that we know God, as if we have touched the hem of His garment, but then that moment is gone.

 

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” II Cor. 3:18. This is a process. As we hold our lives up to the mirror of Gods’ word we may feel convicted. That’s a good thing. We may feel as though we haven’t changed much, but His promise is that, “we are being transformed…”

 

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror: for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was” Js. 1:23 We mustn’t depart from the mirror of God’s word in fear or neglect, but we should write it on the tablet of our hearts.

 

                     “Your word, I have hidden in my heart,

                     That I might not sin against You. Ps. 119:11

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


Thursday, September 29, 2022

Bonhoeffer's Discipleship - Lesson 4 - Discipleship & The Cross


 I am happy to announce that I have completed and uploaded  Lesson 4 of “Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship” : an informal study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship – with Lesson 4 – Discipleship & The Cross  

 

Here is a link to the audio podcast: Discipleship & The Cross Podcast

Here is a link to the video on YouTube: Discipleship & The Cross on YouTube

It is my prayer that this series will encourage people to read Bonhoeffer’s work but more importantly I hope the lessons encourage people to deepen their faith in Christ by pursuing a life of Christian Discipleship. 

God bless you all. 

 

M. T. Clark  

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Good Wisdom - Bad Wisdom - 09/25/2022


 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 09/25/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Bible Study Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: "Good Wisdom - Bad Wisdom" On YouTube


Good Wisdom / Bad Wisdom

 

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” Js. 3:17

 

We live in a hyper-educated society. I’m not the first to say this, but James Joyce also said it of the early 20th cen.

We have placed great emphasis on education. In truth, it hasn’t changed anything.

D. L. Moody said, “If you take a man who has been stealing bolts off the rail, and educate him, he’ll steal the whole train.”

 

The same hyper-educated scenario can and has seeped into the church. It’s one thing to know about God, but it’s an entirely different matter to know God.

 

Pr. James Finn use to say, “every great move of God begins in a cave and ends in a cathedral.” He was speaking of the comparison between David’s, “cave of Adullam” experience verses Solomon’s temple.

 

If we contrast the lives of these two kings of Israel we can discover   some interesting, and timeless principles that apply to the church throughout the ages as well as today.

 

David was a shepherd                            Solomon was a prince.

David was a musician                            Solomon, no indication

David wrote Psalms                               Solomon wrote proverbs

David became a man of battle               Solomon a man of intellect

David built a kingdom                           Solomon inherited it.

David was a man after God’s                 Solomon’s “wives turned

         own heart. I Sam. 13:14                             away his heart. I Kg 11:4

David had Nathan                                  Solomon, no prophetic voice

                                                                        he was on his own.

         It seems as though whenever the church moves into an intellectual mode of operation it equally drifts from power. See I Cor. 2:1-5;Also see Acts. 4:13

 

         Acts 17:16-34 tells of Paul’s experience in Athens, competing with some of the intelligentsia of the day; the Greek philosophers. Whenever we enter into a battle of wits conjecture wins the day, but manifest power is a daunting apologetic. In Mt. 12:22-27, the Pharisees (intellectuals) try to undermine Jesus by saying, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.” But Jesus points out the fallacy of this logic.

 

         It is very important to study the Word of God and seek to understand it. II Tim. 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” But if we fail to cultivate our relationship with God, through prayer, and the application of faith, then all we will have is head knowledge.

The adage goes, “Too much word, not enough Spirit and you dry up; too much Spirit and not enough word and you blow up”

 

Paul says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” I Co. 8:1

 

         We must consider the heart behind our “Godly activity”. Do we genuinely long to see friends, family members, coworkers, etc. delivered from the bondage of sin, or do we wish, instead, to be thought perky, charismatic, right, exalted, and superior???

 

         Great evangelists of recent church history such as Peter Cartwright,  Billy Sunday, D. L. Moody, and George Fox the founder of the Quaker movement, were unschooled in theology, yet powerfully used by God to advance His kingdom here on earth.

 

         When we engage in a strictly intellectual gospel we run the risk of moving exclusively in our own strength. “The joy of the LORD is (our) strength,” Neh. 8:10 and our greatest joy comes only from knowing Him!!!


-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Friday, September 23, 2022

Overwhelmed - Purity 844




Overwhelmed - Purity 844  Purity 844 Podcast

Purity 844 09/23/2022  

Good morning,

Today’s video of the view from my home “down by The River” comes to us from yours truly and September 24, 2021, the day after TammyLyn Sequin agreed to be my girlfriend.  I don’t remember recording this but I find the fact that the perspective goes “sideways” is rather fitting and may have been a  prophetic indicator of the seismic shift that was happening in my life when TammyLyn and I decide to be more than friends.   

On this day, the 23rd of September, a year ago I realized, and the Holy Spirit may have woke me up to this fact, that the “there was no other” for me. TammyLyn was the faithful Christian woman of God that I had been praying for and despite the uncertainty of how our lives could come together as one, I asked her to marry her, via FB messenger, in a text.  

She said no! So I asked if she would be my girlfriend, via text, and she indicated I had to ask her in person.   So although FB messengers video conferencing feature was somewhat alien to me, I immediately sent her a video call and to my delight she answered and said yes to my request to be my “girlfriend”.  Two weeks later, we were engaged and a few months later on January 1st, 2022 we were married.  So today is the one year anniversary of our being a couple of being more than friends!

And what a year it has been! When I reflect on all the changes that have come to pass since last year I am overwhelmed.  Not only do I have the love of my life as my wife and a new extended family in the Seguins and those Pinter kids, I have a new church in Starpoint Church in Clifton Park, and it was after TammyLyn and I got together that the opportunity to teach the Freedom in Christ Course online nationwide, to men that span from, New York, to Florida, to California for Freedom in Christ ministries came about.  I even got a new car!

TammyLyn’s journey over the last year was just as eventful but I will leave that to her to share on her Ask Seek Knock Podcast, which she started in the last year.  

When I reflect on how we have both been blessed by the Lord with each other and everything that has happened since we got together it reminds me of the Big Daddy Weave Song “Overwhelmed”.  The Lyrics say”

“I see the work of Your Hands

Galaxies spin in a Heavenly dance oh God

All that You are is so overwhelming

 

I hear the sound of Your Voice

All at once it's a gentle and thundering noise oh God

All that You are is so overwhelming

 

I delight myself in You

Captivated by Your beauty

I'm overwhelmed, I'm overwhelmed by You

 

God, I run into Your arms

Unashamed because of mercy

I'm overwhelmed, I'm overwhelmed by You”

Today’s Friday guys, and if you are not overwhelmed by the goodness of God in your life let me encourage you to be “more than friends” with the Lord.  Let me encourage you to make a commitment to surrender to His will, to become a living member of His Church, to become the Bride of Christ.”  

If you are just “playing house with God” by limiting your relationship with Him by just visiting with Him at a church service for an hour a week, it is no surprise to me that your faith life may be a bit underwhelming.  

When Christ called you to place your faith in Him, He wants all of you. And unfortunately because of fear or the opinion of others, or ourselves, sometimes Christians hold back on fulfilling the “marriage vows” that come with being the Church, the Bride of Christ.  We may love and honor Jesus but we fail to obey His call to abide in Him and to be conformed to His image.   

Hey no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus right.  But let me encourage that while we thank Him today for another end of another work week, let’s consider “popping the question” and asking God about His will for our lives and choosing to follow where He leads, as a faithful bride follows her husband.

Since coming to faith in Christ and making the decision to follow Him with the way I live by repenting of my old worldly ways, my life has been transformed and I am continually overwhelmed by the goodness of God in the land of the living.  So as I celebrate the first year with the love of my life, let me encourage you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all you mind, and with all your strength as you continuall walk and talk with Him.

 

---------

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Psalm 32:7 (NLT2)
7  For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.

Today’s Bible verse assures us that the Lord protects us from trouble and He surrounds us with songs of victory.  

Oh Lord, from today’s verse I remember the Iron Bell Song  - The God that Saves – That Chris Manchuck used to sing when I was teaching at my old church’s recovery ministry, Celebrate Freedom.  

The lyrics say: 

This soul once torn and beaten

Left without reason to move on

Then You reached down and brought me

Up from the valley of dry bones

 

You are the God that saves

You are the One that rescues me

You rescue me

You are the God that saves

You call me from the grave

You rescue me

 

Ransomed out of the wreckage

Pulled from the ashes of sin's hold

Hope is flowing through these veins

Life born from grace, grace alone

 

You are the God that saves

You are the One that rescues me

You rescue me

You are the God that saves

You call me from the grave

You rescue me

Oh, You rescue me, Lord!

You rescue me

 

I hear the song, I hear the song

Of victory ring over me

Yes I am overwhelmed today because of the God who saves. Because like the psalmist, I know He protects us and surrounds us with Songs of victory.

_____________________________________________

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

Chapter Three

Simple Obedience

When Jesus demanded voluntary poverty of the rich young man, the young man knew that his only choices were obedience or disobedience. When Levi was called from tax collecting and Peter from his nets, there was no doubt that Jesus was serious about those calls. They were supposed to leave everything and follow him. When Peter was called to step out onto the stormy sea, he had to get up and risk taking the step. Only one thing was demanded in each of these cases. That was their entrusting themselves to the word of Jesus Christ, believing it to be a stronger foundation than all the securities of the world. The forces that wanted to get between the word of Jesus and obedience were just as great back then as they are today. Reason objected; Conscience, responsibility, piety, even the law and the principle of Scripture intervened to inhibit this most extreme, this lawless “enthusiasm.” Jesus’ call broke through all of this and mandated obedience. It was God’s own word. Simple obedience was required.

If Jesus Christ were to speak this way to one of us today through the Holy Scripture, then we would probably argue thus: Jesus is making a specific commandment; that’s true. But when Jesus commands, then I should know that he never demands legalistic obedience. Instead, he has only one expectation of me, namely, that I believe. My faith, however, is not tied to poverty or wealth or some such thing. On the contrary, in faith I can be both—rich and poor. The main concern is not whether or not I have any worldly goods, but that I should possess goods as if I did not possess them, and inwardly I should be free of them. I should not set my heart on my possessions. Thus, Jesus says, “Sell your possessions!” But what he intends is that it is not important if you actually do this literally, outwardly. You are free to keep your possessions, but have them as if you did not have them. Do not set your heart on your possessions. Our obedience to Jesus’ word would then consist in our rejecting simple obedience as legalistic obedience, in order to be obedient “in faith.” This is the difference between us and the rich young man. In his sadness, he is not able to calm himself by saying to himself, “In spite of Jesus’ word, I want to remain rich, but I will become inwardly free from my riches and comfort my inadequacy with the forgiveness of sins and be in communion with Jesus by faith.” Instead, he went away sadly[6] and, in rejecting obedience, lost his chance to have faith. The young man was sincere in going away. He parted from Jesus, and this sincerity surely had more promise than a false communion with Jesus based on disobedience. Apparently Jesus thought that the young man was unable to free himself inwardly from his wealth. Probably the young man, as a serious and ambitious person, had tried to do it himself a thousand times. The fact that at the decisive moment he was unable to obey the word of Jesus shows that he failed. The young man was sincere in parting from Jesus. By the way we argue, we distance ourselves fundamentally from a biblical hearer of Jesus’ word. If Jesus said: leave everything else behind and follow me, leave your profession, your family, your people, and your father’s house, then the biblical hearer knew that the only answer to this call is simple obedience, because the promise of community with Jesus is given to this obedience. But we would say: Jesus’ call is to be taken “absolutely seriously,” but true obedience to it consists of my staying in my profession and in my family and serving him there, in true inner freedom. Thus, Jesus would call: come out!—but we would understand that he actually meant: stay in!—of course, as one who has inwardly come out.[8] Or Jesus would say, do not worry; but we would understand: of course we should worry and work for our families and ourselves.[10] Anything else would be irresponsible. But inwardly we should be free of such worry. Jesus would say: if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. But we would understand: it is precisely in fighting, in striking back, that genuine fraternal love grows large. Jesus would say: strive first for the kingdom of God.[12] We would understand: of course, we should first strive for all sorts of other things. How else should we survive? What he really meant was that final inner willingness to invest everything for the kingdom of God. Everywhere it is the same—the deliberate avoidance of simple, literal obedience.[1]

 

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 77–79.


 

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Bonhoeffer's Discipleship - Lesson 3 - Single Minded Obedience

I am happy to announce that I have completed and uploaded  Lesson 3 of “Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship” : an informal study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship – with Lesson 3 – Single Minded Obedience 

 

Here is a link to the audio podcast: Single Minded Obedience Podcast

Here is a link to the video on YouTube: Lesson 3 -Single Minded Obedience on YouTube

It is my prayer that this series will encourage people to read Bonhoeffer’s work but more importantly I hope they encourage people to deepen their faith in Christ by pursuing a life of Christian Discipleship. 

God bless you all. 

 

M. T. Clark  

 

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Biblical Finances - 09/18/2022


 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 09/18/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Biblical Finances Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: Biblical Finances on YouTube

Biblical Finances

 

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Jn. 10:10

 

The abuse of money, or what the Bible calls “increase” (which can be translated revenue) has caused untold havoc in our fallen world. Empires, nations, communities, families, and individual lives suffer under the weight of ignorance and disobedience.

 

Money and finances is the number one topic of the Biblical narrative. There are 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,300 verses on money and possessions, Fifteen percent of everything Jesus said had to do with it.

 

It is important to begin by saying that God is indifferent regarding money. Some of His greatest agents, like Abraham, Job and Solomon had great wealth, while others like Gideon, Amos, and John the Baptist seemed to have meager means. Jesus Himself had,  “no place to lay His head” Mt. 8:20. The condition of the heart, and the approach to gain is far more important in God’s economy.

 

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” I Tim. 6:10

 

Tithe is a good place to start!

         At Rock Solid Church we have always taught that tithing is to demonstrate our victory over greed. It’s more for us than it is for God. He owns everything. Essentially it means a tenth. It is the OT principle that acknowledges God supplies our needs. See Deu. 26

Also read Mal. 3:8-12

New Testament perspective.

         The NT does not compel tithing, since we are free, and no longer under the law. II Cor. 9:7, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.” This may well exceed a tithe. Indeed, Jesus said. “...for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Lk. 7:47. Love compels us to give.

 

         We also understand, from the NT that, “do you not know...you are not your own? For you were bought at a price...” I Cor. 6:20,21 From this we draw the understanding that God owns everything, including us, and we are stewards over our lives and His creation. A steward is an overseer, fiscal agent, governor, and is also translated preacher.

 

         In yet a deeper, richer sense our entire lives; all that we have and all that we are is an offering unto God. Rom 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present you bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” And Col. 3:17 says, “And whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

 

         These are deeper than just financial principles, but life changing truths that govern who we are in Gods’ universe, and what His expectation of us is. I Cor. 4:7 says, “And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

 

It is humbling to realize that, “we bought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” I Tim. 6:7

 

The Biblical approach to finances embraces the truth that God loves us, and we can trust Him to care for us.

 

Let’s close with Mt. 6:19-34, and Phil. 4:19

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship