Every day pray that everyone you know will either become a Christian or influence others to become a Christian, and please share this online book with others - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com
Worship music - Please click the links and sing along if you know the words (You can also click skip ad to go straight to the songs) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEENmENsLrw&list=RD30sY4Mhvhr8&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wZaItExbKk&index=14&list=RD30sY4Mhvhr8
For Sunday evening services, the Lord has lead me to do a Bible study for practical Bible verses in Mark. Please come back to these Bible lessons in order to review them and learn them. Whenever we have learned the meaning of Bible verses and think about them throughout each day, we will be in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Not only that, but when we are in a situation in our daily lives and are tempted to sin, we can think back to what we have learned from the Bible and say to ourselves, "The Bible says not to do what I am tempted to say, think, do, and/or desire right now, so I am going to refuse to give in to this temptation." This is what Romans 12:2 means, and it says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." This is also the pattern that Jesus used when the devil tempted Him to sin in Matthew 4:1-11.
Chapter 12
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK
Mark 12:41-44
41And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
These verses describe sacrificial giving, and it is whenever a need or cause appears that you feel the Lord wants you to give a certain amount to, you have a strong desire to give that amount, and you give that amount without anyone asking or begging you to give. An example of this was when the Macedonians begged Paul for the opportunity to give to the relief offering Paul was collecting for the poor Christians in Judea (2 Corinthians 8:4). Although, the Macedonians were extremely poor. Second Corinthians 8:2 confirms, “How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” This proved that the Macedonians were true Christians, because 2 Corinthians 8:5 says, “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” A similar instance is recorded in Mark 12:41-44 when a poor widow gave an offering of two mites, and that was all she had to live on. These examples seem to mean that if someone is a Christian, they will give all their money for God’s purposes. From reading this chapter, you can see that this isn’t true. The Macedonians and the poor widow were in a situation where they felt that the Lord was leading them to give a certain amount, they had a strong desire to give that amount, and they gave that amount without anyone asking or begging them to give. It just so happened that the money they wanted to give was all they had. The amount that is given isn’t what is important.
Paul encouraged the Corinthians to have the same kind of willingness to give as the Macedonians. He recognized that the Corinthians had many Christian characteristics, and he listed them in 2 Corinthians 8:7, which says, “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also (Paul was referring to giving.).
Then in the next verse, Paul said, “I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.” Paul didn’t command them to give, but he was testing the sincerity of their love. If they really loved (were Christians), they would have given like the Macedonians. Paul had to remind the Corinthians that they had promised to give to the relief offering for the poor Christians in Judea a year ago (2 Corinthians 8:10). The Macedonians, on the other hand, begged Paul for the opportunity to give to the relief offering. This doesn’t mean that none of the Corinthians were Christians, but God disciplined those who were Christians because they belonged to Him (Hebrews 12:5–11). As a result, they needed to repent of this, and Paul told them how to do that in 2 Corinthians 8:11, “Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. (They needed to give the money they had promised to give a year ago, and they needed to give it with the same eagerness they had a year ago. This was the kind of eagerness the Macedonians had.) Second Corinthians 8:12 explains this more, “For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.”
If someone professes to be a Christian but never in their life has a desire to give a certain amount of money to people in need or to another one of God’s causes and gives that amount without anyone asking or begging them, that person may not be a Christian.
Please follow chapter 10 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com if you have asked Jesus into your heart, believed that Jesus is your Savior, or trusted Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase your sins and let you into heaven and believed He arose from the dead, etc., but you have never in your life had a desire to give a certain amount of money to people in need or to another one of God’s causes and gave that amount without anyone asking or begging you.
If you have prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, but you are not sure you are really a Christian (Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 21:18-22, 1 John 5:14, and Hebrews 11:1), please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven
If you have not prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, please follow chapter 41 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com