Offerings part 1

Many people think an offering is the time in a church service where the worship team plays a song and the ushers pass around the plate. The Pastor himself might even say, "at this time we are going to take up an offering." However, an offering is far more then that. An offering is something that is offered in worship or devotion. So really an offering can be just about anything that we give to God. Paul in writing to the church in Corinth said, "do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not you own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (I Corinthians 6:19, 20) We as Christians must come to the realization that we do not belong to ourselves, but to God. This will affect what we offer to God, and the motive of our offering.

The Trinity

The Holy Trinity is probably the most debated, and yet important building blocks of Christianity. We know that the early church believed in the Holy Trinity. In fact, one of the ancient hymns that we sing in church says, "praise, praise, the father praise the son, praise, praise, the spirit three in one, oh praise him!" In Luke's gospel, doctor Luke tells us that when John was baptizing Jesus, "The holy spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, a voice came from heaven which said, "You are my beloved Son; In You I am well pleased!" (Luke 3:22) Here we have Jesus standing there, then we have the Holy Spirit descending upon him, and finally God the Father speaking audibly from heaven. Just like we believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord by faith, we too must believe in the Holy Trinity by faith.

Prayer

Someone has said that, " A man without prayer is like lungs without air." I would have to agree with that. As important as it is to breath in order to stay alive, so should prayer be to us in order to stay connected to God. Prayer is important. The Christian should be in prayer continuously. In the book of Philippians the Apostle Paul urges us to, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Philippians 4:6 Often times, for the Christian, prayer is the last resort instead of being the first priority. Prayer is how we communicate with God and how we align our will with his will. No matter how big or how small the request may be God cares for our needs. If we would do this constantly and regularly we would have less anxiety and would make better decisions in life.

The Word

Years ago, there were some funny infomercials on television promoting a knife set. These knives were amazing. You could cut through an aluminum can and immediately cut through a tomato with no problem. The whole idea behind the infomercial was to show how sharp they were and how they never dulled. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper then any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." As Christians, we should engage in the battle using our offensive weapon God's Word. It slices and dices. It tells us how to live, how not to live, and helps us to explain spiritual things to friends and family. When we don't use the Bible, it's like having a fancy knife set still in the box. In order to use it, you have to actually pull it out read it!

Salvation

The word salvation has been defined as: the act of saving someone or protecting someone from harm. 2000 years ago, God sent His Son to the world to pay the penalty for your sin. You and I were both drowning in our sin, but Jesus saved us from eternal condemnation. In Titus 3:5 it says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." The most remarkable thing about salvation is the fact that we did absolutely nothing to attain it. It was given to us through God's grace, as a free gift. That my friend is what salvation is all about!