“Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, “prompt to do it”) giver [whose heart is in his giving]”. This is the verse in the bible that is used before the offering is received in church. We are told here, God loves a cheerful giver, whose heart is in his giving. When we give our finances in church it gives God the right of passage to bless us back more than we can receive. As we give, it shall be given again unto us, good measure, pressed down shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom. The amount you give determines the amount you receive. So why give? Your participation in the law of reciprocity puts you in God’s financial program with points like in credit card use. It helps us stay away from the spirit of ” the love of money”. Our finances are very connected to us, once God sees your liberation from it, He can trust you giving you more than you have room to receive, and that’s so you can give to others less fortunate. Boom!

“And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it”. The darkness represents everything wrong, demonic, without hope, and devilish in nature. The light is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the light that lights every person. The light is the life of man. We have no existence without the light of the creator. The force of God’s light will never be held back by the darkness in this world. The light of God can and does shine right through the darkest areas of our lives. When we find ourselves in a low place, darkness gets in. The degree of darkness in a life varies from person to person. Some areas of darkness in our lives may not even be detected until we’ve said something that clearly represents it, or our actions have demonstrated our position, it’s subtle in many cases. Our words always paint a picture of our heart motives. ” In Him was life, and that life was the light of men”. The less Jesus in your life, the better chance for darkness to do its thing in you.

“Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]..…..…..”. Confessing to others your faults and slip ups in your life takes humility. When you cannot talk about or simply admit you messed up, that’s a sign of your pride meter being in the red. A person that always wants to be right no matter what the cost to others, doesn’t have a humble bone in their body. This frame of mind is detrimental to their own life. If you mess up, ask for forgiveness from the other person or God if it were a private sin, and keep it moving. Don’t get hung up on condemnation after you’ve repented. If people can’t forgive you when you mess up, then you’re around the wrong people. There are none able to live sin free other than Jesus when He walked the earth. When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us, that’s His own words. Most healing from God is hindered from getting to you because of the sin in your life. Get rid of it, confess your way out of sin, and into healing.

“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour and a moment when you do not anticipate it”. The Son of man talked about here is Jesus Christ. He’s coming soon refers to the rapture. It’s best to be ready because He will come at an hour when you do not expect Him. Once He comes back to take God’s family outta here, hope of salvation will be no more. Each letter of the word B.I.B.L.E. could stand for, basic instructions before leaving earth. Without following these instructions, eternal death will be your lot when your body dies here on earth. This can be a hard saying to digest for some people but I must tell you the truth based on my knowledge of the word of God, it’s all in the book. God says in His word, man will be without excuse when the end comes. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the driving force of stability in this world but it is not, or shouldn’t be forced on anyone. God wants willing people to come to Him, your heart must be in it. From a natural standpoint, no one knows the outcome when you die, but it’s all laid out in the bible. He could be here at any minute now.

“For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation”.
if it were difficult to be right with God, not many of us would be. It is about the willingness of a person to choose God for themselves. Our words and our belief behind the words we speak, is where the power lies. God said in the beginning, ” Let there be light”, and He believed what He said would come to pass, hence the example given to us as His children. God could have thought existence into being but gave us the tool of confessing with our mouth and believing in our hearts. The power on our lips of confession can change the world. We don’t have unlimited power like God for obvious reasons. Your power will increase, as your knowledge and commitment to serve the Lord increases. Once you’ve gotten hold of this principle and the law of reciprocity concerning the power of your words, you will be unstoppable. For now if you haven’t yet, follow the instructions at the beginning of this message and get saved, right with God. Your eternal life depends on it!

“O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!”. The mercy of God is everlasting and new every morning. Without His mercy and loving-kindness we would all be on our way to hell, which is one of or the most important acts of mercy shown to mankind. Sending Jesus to be crucified on the cross, and He never did anything wrong, would be a complete act of God’s mercy and love for us. Most of mankind does not have this understanding of God’s mercy because it doesn’t affect us right now in our everyday life, but once your body dies, you will know His mercy and love if you’re a christian, in God’s family before death on earth. The Lord’s mercy reaches out to our everyday life as well, most aren’t aware it was God who got you out of that mess you got yourself into, that’s His mercy behind the scenes of our life. Mercy is, you deserve punishment for the wrong doing you committed, but God’s sovereignty intervened on your behalf. Grace is, you didn’t deserve His favor concerning a bad situation that just came, not your fault, but the grace of God got you through it unscathed. Thank God for His mercy.

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you”. The apostle Paul was thanking God for the saints at Philippi. There should be someone in our lives that we can thank God for. Thanking Him for trouble is another side of the coin most of us want no part of. We are blessed by the people in our lives who encourage, build up, and that really help take care of that which concerns us, thank God for them. Thanking the Lord for the trouble that comes to us from a natural standpoint seems crazy. As we mature in the ways of God, His teachings and precepts, we learn to appreciate the fact that our faith must be exercised, as the word of the Lord in us must be tested from time to time. Giving God praise and thanksgiving during a crisis opens the door for the Lord to move more swiftly on your behalf to bring you through the trouble. Sense is sense, and faith is faith. We need our five senses for this natural world, but we need faith to activate and receive from God in the spiritual world, where He and Satan are. The spiritual realm affects the natural where we live. Thanking the Lord through your problems in faith, trusting and believing Him for deliverance based on His word is all that matters for successful victory.

“And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching)……..”. To do God’s commandments is to love God. All of His commandments can be summed up with the latest one Jesus gave after the ten commandments, love your neighbor as yourself. If everyone loved each other, there would be no stealing, killing, hurt, pain, or anything that makes us sad or feel defeated in life. If everyone would at least try to walk in love towards everyone else, the world would be unrecognizable, for the better. To love one another isn’t as difficult a thing to do when truth and honesty are the underlining motive of trying to understand them. When we have truth, honesty, and understanding working in our lives, there’s nothing we can’t handle or go through victoriously. The force of love is very strong in the life of a person when integrity, character, and understanding come together in unity. We begin to see things more like the way God does concerning others. Always being mindful people aren’t perfect and prone to mess up, so we love them through it.

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven”. Moral excellence, does that still exist? Today’s world questions and wants to reevaluate morals. Good morals are an internal governor that can control bad behavior. The morals system had been put into place by God when He created us. Over time, the deteriorating idea of good morals has been grossly attacked, and brought to its knees by the sin nature of mankind. The light of your life is affected by bad morals. We are the light of the world (christians). We bring the uncomfortable feeling of conviction to the heart of people that wash out in wrong doings. This world and the Lord see your works on the earth, good and bad. We shine brighter when we love harder.

“Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the Messiah) have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another……..”. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches which are to bear fruit. The only way to bear fruit is to know the words of Jesus. Jesus is the living word of God who was manifested in the flesh (given a human body) on earth. God’s word should be on our lips on a regular basis. Our words are important, they should be life giving and not death doomed filled words. As His words dwell in us richly, we will become more attractive to God, and His grace and favor start to show up in our lives. All we do should be motivated by God’s word. God made this statement to His people long ago, ” My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. Knowledge is vital to a successful life, and wisdom is the proper allocation of knowledge. Once you’ve been turned on to this, you will out-smart your problems, and troubles.