“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who heart it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

“I have no problems with the Bible,” some people say. “It’s just those hard parts – parts about judgment, doom, damnation, exclusion – that I have problems with.”

Ever hear that?

If you only believe in the parts of the Bible that you like and reject the parts you don’t like and that are hard, it’s not God you believe in. You believe in yourself.

The Bible is God’s word. All of it. If you don’t like it, the problem is not with God but with us. If you don’t understand it, then it’s our responsibility to work and study until we do get it. The Bible doesn’t change to meet us where we are. We are to change to the standards God presents to us in the Bible.

When we are at odds with the Bible, the problem doesn’t lie in the Bible. It’s our rebellion.

When we put ourselves over the authority of God’s word, we put ourselves as a higher authority than God.

Good luck with that.

We submit to the authority of the Bible because it is God’s word to us. We submit by standing under the authority of God’s word. When we stand under the authority of God’s word, we begin understanding the world God has created.

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

This is a ludicrous scripture! Who in the right mind would choose death? curses? Duh!!!

Right?

Yet people choose death over life and curses over blessings all the time. All the time. We do so by holding on to things we ought to let go, by going after things we ought not, by choosing what is easy rather than what is right.

I am not sure who wrote this but this summarizes what we’re talking about:

Hate has four letters but so does Love
Enemies has seven letters but so does Friends
Lying has five letters but so does Truth
Cry has three letters but so does Joy
Negativity has ten letters but so does Positivity

Choose life. Choose God’s blessings. You have to make a choice.

Choose life.

“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 9:10-11).

John Piper writes, “God gives his people money so that we can use money in a way to show that money is not our God.”

The text today teaches us several things about wealth.

First, God “will increase and enlarge the store of seed.” God will give us more than enough. Why does God give us more than enough to take care of ourselves and our families?

Second, the text tells us that God gives us more than enough so that we “can be generous on every occasion”. God gives us more than enough so that God’s people can be engaged in God impacting the world.

Why doesn’t God just distribute his wealth to others? Because when the church is leading the way in the ministry of compassion and generosity, it “results in thanksgiving to the Lord.”

God is not against God’s people having things. In fact, God is not against God’s people having much. What God is against is when things have us. The plan for God’s people is the tithe. Look, if you need to upgrade your television, go for it. If you need to upgrade your car, go for it. But, make sure you have given God his tithe first. After you have dedicated your tithe to God, go ahead and upgrade your tv or car or laptop or phone or whatever. But the problem arises when you upgrade your things at the expense of God’s tithe.

God is not against you having stuff. God is against stuff having you. Got it?