STEWARDSHIP

There is no portion of our time that is not God's time; there us no portion of money that is our money, and the rest God's money. It is all His; He made it all, gives it all, and He has simply trusted it to us for His service. A servant has two purses, the master's and his own, but we have only one. ---- Adolphe Monod.

Everything is from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand (I Chronicles 29:14).

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (Luke 1610-13).

A hymn to read, sing, play, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: All Things Are Thine (John G. Whittier, 1872).

EVERYTHING

If the service of God is worth anything, it is worth everything.  -- Charles Spurgeon

 

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ...anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple(Luke 14:26-27, 33).

SACRIFICE

Consecration is resolution that is not afraid of sacrifice. -- Anonymous

 

When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, [Jesus] set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).  (Cf. Isaiah 50:7)

 

[Jesus said] "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Luke 9:21-22).

 

Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You, since you have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him" (John 17:1-2). 

 

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said..."It is finished," and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:28, 30).  

SUFFERING

We are called servants, to show how we must obey. We are called soldiers to show how we should suffer. --- Henry Smith. .

Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning..." (Luke 12:35-38).

 Endure hardship with us, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (II Timothy 2:3).

Hymns to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: Take My Life, and Let It Be (Frances R. Havergal, 1874).

Am I a Soldier of the Cross (Isaac Watts, 1724)

STRUGGLE

How daily, hourly, is the struggle with sin and fear and temptations -- it is never over! --- J. J. Bonar

 

And He said, temptations to sin are sure to come...(Luke 17:1).

 

No temptation has taken you, but such as is common to man... I Corinthians

 

But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one (II Thessalonians 3:3).

 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God:

Yield Not to Temptation (Horatio Palmer, 1868).

Two Testaments

The two Testaments are the two lips by which God has spoken to us. 

---- Thomas Watson

 

Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them. If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead (Luke 16:29-31).

 

And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).

 

Our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand...as...do...the other Scriptures (II Peter 3:15-16). 

 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: O God of Light, Your Word, a Lamp Unfailing. "From days of old, through swiftly rolling ages, You have revealed Your will to mortal men, speaking to saints, to prophets, kings, and sages, who wrote the message with immortal pen (second stanza)."

Take Up Your Cross

The world would not hate angels for being angelic, but it does hate men for being Christians. It grudges them their new character; it is tormented by their peace; it is infuriated by their joy. ---- William Temple

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake(Matthew 10:19).

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven... (Luke 6:22-23).

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:18-19). 

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (John 3:20).

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: "Take Up Your Cross," the Savior Said. Take up your cross, then, in His strength, and calmly sin's wild deluge brave; 'twill guide you to a better home, it points to glory o'er the grave.- Charles W. Everest, 1833. 

Self-Denial

Sacrifice alone, bare and unrelieved, is ghastly, unnatural, and dead; but self-sacrifice, illuminated by love, is warmth and life; it is the death of Christ, the life of God, and the blessedness and only proper life of man. ---- F. W. Robertson

And He said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or or forfeits himself ?(Luke 9:23-26) 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of Christ: JESUS, I MY CROSS HAVE TAKEN.

From the performance documentary Roots and Wings: The Story of Indelible Grace and the RUF Hymns

Generosity

GENEROSITY. A man there was, and they called him mad; the more he gave the more he had. ---- John Bunyan.

Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse(Proverbs 28:27).

...give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you(Luke 6:38).

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully (II Corinthians 9:6).

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A hymn to read or sing aloud to the glory of God: LORD, THOU LOV'ST THE CHEERFUL GIVER

Poverty

Good morning!

At issue everywhere that poverty appears is God's test of man's soul. For the poor it is a question of patient endurance of God's yoke. For the rich it is a question of love working through material goods.

The mystery of poverty is that God uses the needy to stand in His stead among all the nations of the world. Because their yoke is burdensome, God lightens their plight with excess of faith, hope, and love. And through them God tests:

1. Those whose service to Him is in talk only, mere lip-service.

2. Those who cannot resist the temptation to take advantage of the weak.

3. Those who, in their eagerness to display their love, seek Him out in the needy where He may be found, and give of their goods, time, talents, and skills to them. ---- Berghoef and DeKoster

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin....  (See also. Leviticus 19:15-16; I Samuel 2:7-8; Psalm 35:10; Luke 10:29-37). 

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A hymn to read or sing aloud to the glory of God: WHEN THE WEARY, SEEKING REST.