Tag: Money
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Render to God the Things that are Gods
(Luke 20:19-26) This piece of scripture contains many insights, especially into the nature of money and the kingdom of God. So often in many modern churches we hear the message that God wants you to be rich. This is the thrust of the wealth ministries that plague the Christian church today. And many Christians fall…
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A House of Prayer
(Luke 19:45-48) There has been a lot of discussion in recent times about the separation of church and state. It comes up in all kinds of places and we see those opposing the church in general focussing to remove any mention of Jesus or God from schools and public places. Well the situation in this…
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A Camel through the Eye of a Needle
(Luke 18:24-30) The expression that something is like a camel through the eye of a needle is meant to show the impossibility of the thing under discussion. The likelihood that you could ever get a camel through the eye of a needle is so implausible as to be laughable. It is the height of impossibility…
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Whoever Seeks to Gain His Life Will Lose It
(Luke 17:33-37) The warning in this scripture is quite a difficult one for many people in this world. It flies in the face of human wisdom, which is not unusual because God’s wisdom is different to human wisdom. But this particular saying in Verse 33 is a bit of a puzzle and it has quite…
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Knowing God’s Will – A Good Rule of Thumb
(Luke 16:14-15) It is useful to have rules of thumb for many things. They help us to make decisions about matters when there is no other guidance. A rule of thumb according to Wikipedia can be described as, “An easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making…
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Why the Buck Doesn’t Stop Here
(Luke 12:13-21) Most people would look at this title and wonder what the heck is going on. It is a common saying that “The Buck Stops Here” which was popularised by President Harry Truman who meant it to mean that ultimately he took responsibility for most things. Some have “bent” its meaning over the years…
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What does it Profit a Man to Gain the Whole World and Lose His Life
(Luke 9:23-27) In these words, “What does it Profit a Man to Gain the Whole World and Lose His Life,” Jesus makes a number of highly valuable and important points. He goes on to say that if any man saves his life he will lose it and if any man loses his life for the…
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Blessed are the Poor
(Luke 6:20) Jesus began the sermon on the mount teaching the blessings we have come to know as the Beatitudes. These short teachings are powerful messages that still offer hope and promise today as much as they did then. Their insight has rung down through the centuries with the offer and promise of a hopeful…
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The Lesson of the Widows Mites
(Mark 12:41-44) Jesus sat in the temple opposite the treasury and watched the people giving gifts. Many rich people put in large sums, but there was a poor widow who contributed just two coins. These coins in total amounted to about one penny. Rather than consider this to be insignificant Jesus teaches us a valuable…
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Render to Caesar the Things that are Caesar’s
(Mark 12:13-17) The Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to try and entrap him. The chief priests were looking for a reason to arrest Jesus and hoped that he could be trapped by teaching something opposing the laws of the land. First they tried to get under Jesus’ guard with flattery saying they knew…
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Driving Out the Merchants and Money Changers from the Temple
(Mark 11:15-19) Jesus came to the temple in Jerusalem and saw the merchants and money changers carrying on their business. He made the point saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Verse 17) And with…
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Wealth Will Not Make You Secure
(Mark 10:23-31) Why do people seek money? Why are people focussed on wealth creation? Why do people desire so greatly to be rich, to the point that some will seek illegal methods of getting there? Security is the reason. Money and wealth in this age equals security. People want wealth so that they don’t have…
