An Offering God Can Respect

I'm currently reading through the Bible and came across something interesting in Genesis 4:3-5. The Bible says, "And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering." Notice how God joins each person to their offering - Abel and his offering . . . Cain and his offering. I've often heard the teaching that the reason God rejected Cain's offering was because it was not an animal sacrifice. I'm not sure this is right. Pastor Robert Morris in The Blessed Life points out that Abel brought of the first of his flock, but Cain brought his offering in the process of time. God received other offerings in the Bible that were not animal (blood) sacrifices, so what's the problem? The problem was Cain's heart, not his offering. And because Cain's heart was not right, he did not revere God highly enough to put him first the way Abel did. This is evident later when Cain kills Abel and has the audacity to say to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" So God sees our offerings as linked to the condition of our hearts. And we are not just talking about financial offerings, but even our offering of praise that we bring every Sunday. If our hearts are right with God (notice I did not say perfect), then God receives our offerings as worship to Him. If our hearts are not right, then God does not care to receive our offerings because they don't mean anything. I've heard some pastors say, "God wants you to be a cheerful giver - but He'll take it from any old grump." But I say, if it makes you grumpy to give to God (time, talent, treasure) then don't - because from what I can see, He won't accept it anyway. So the next time you offer something to God, you might want to pause and ask yourself, "Is my heart right with God?" Because if it's not, sin might be crouching at the door.

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This Is Good

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and saying, "This is good!" One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!" To which the king replied, "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail. About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way. As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this." "No," his friend replied, "This is good!" "What do you mean, 'This is good'? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?" "If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you."

Last week the A/C went out in our house. The heat was stifling, but thankfully my sister had a window unit we could borrow to cool the downstairs for a few days. Today I got to see an old friend who I worked for nearly twenty years ago. He fixed my A/C and only charged me $270 vs. the over $600 that a local company wanted to charge. Just being around him took me back to a time when I was younger, stronger, and had few responsibilities. Today things are different. I am older, hopefully a little wiser - and my life abounds with responsibilities. Now I wouldn't trade my life for anything, but it felt nice to talk about simpler times. So it was good that the air conditioning went out in our house. Sure the last few days were inconvenient, but our mini-crisis created a circumstance that allowed me to reconnect with an old friend. Whenever things seem to go bad, just remember, God might be getting ready to do something good in your life.

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Illustration provided from Sermon Central

Convinced and Confident Because of God's Love

Guest Blogger - Rev. Rippert Roberts, Jr.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39

You can have amazing confidence when facing life's challenges once you are convinced of God's love for you.
No matter what you may lose in this life you will never lose God’s love. No matter what you may gain in this life you will have nothing of greater value than God’s love.
You can’t run far enough or fast enough to escape God’s love for you. You will never fall so low that God’s love won’t reach you. God has passionately pursued you for the sake of His love. In fact He loved you into existence and then gave you the gift of His love-child Jesus to remove anything that could ever possibly separate you from His love. Times may be hard right now. The outcome of situations or circumstances may be uncertain. You may even be in a place where you are wondering why God has allowed certain events to come into your life. God knows and He understands. He saw this day of your life before it ever arrived. He made certain that you would not face today with out His love being available to you.
Today there is nothing that you will encounter, experience or endure that God’s love wont be present and turned toward you.
Look for it. You will find it.
God will show His love for you in a number of ways.
Some of them will be fairly easy to spot. Take those opportunities to be grateful.
Some may come in unexpected ways. Take those opportunities to be amazed!
God’s love may come in the form of discipline. That’s your opportunity to change.
God’s love will give you an overwhelming victory in any and every difficulty.
You can choose to enter this day knowing that nothing can ever separate you from God’s love.
Death can’t do it. He showed you that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ when even death and the grave came up empty in the face of His love for you. (Oh and make no mistake that was about you!)
Life can’t do it. He showed you that when Jesus died for you. (Yep, that was for you too!)
The angels can’t. (Yea, they’re real)
The demons can’t. (They’re real too)
Not even the powers of hell can separate you from the love that God has for you.
Your fears for today and worries about tomorrow may cause you to be anxious but they can’t keep God’s love away from you.
You may take some convincing.
That’s okay. God understands.
He will be patient with you until you are won over.
Then you will know the confidence that comes with being convinced of God's love for you.

Taking Time to Celebrate

This past Sunday we looked at an incredible reversal of fortune when Elijah, who had just called down fire from heaven, ran for his life after hearing Jezebel's dark promise. In 1 Kings 18, God gave Elijah a life changing victory, and the enemy blindsided him with a threat on his very life. Have you ever experienced a glorious victory, only to be bombarded with bitter disappointment? Have you ever won a battle, only to have your character questioned and integrity maligned? It is the nature of the enemy to try and steal what God has given. He doesn't want you living in victory. He doesn't want you giving God glory with your life. So there are two things we need to understand. First, when a victory comes, celebrate it. God wants us to acknowledge and celebrate the victories that He gives to us. And don't wait too long or one day you might question if it was ever a victory at all. Second, stay on guard. It is possible to celebrate and keep a watchful eye. When Nehemiah rebuilt the wall, his workers carried their weapons while finishing the construction. When you get a chance, read Nehemiah chapter 4 and look at the mindset of the people. No matter how much progress they made, there was still a determination to stay focused on the task at hand. What if Elijah had not run away? Would Jezebel have killed him? We will never know for sure, but my guess is that God would have rescued Elijah because He still had work for Elijah to do (1 Kings 19:15-18). What is God doing in your life right now? Are there any victories that you are taking for granted? Take time to celebrate those victories before the wicked one convinces you that they never existed.

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