Teaching for He Who Would Love Life and See Good Days 1 Peter 3:10-12
By: Matthew Robert Payne
1 Peter 3:10-12 (New King James Version)
10 For
“ He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
11 Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”
If you want to see good days you need to do a few things Peter says.
You have to stop speaking evil.
That’s goodbye to speaking about other people. That’s goodbye to saying bad things about others. That’s goodbye to bad attitudes and bad behaviour and rudeness.
That’s being nice to the salesperson that approaches you in a shop when you are only looking and don’t want to be sold anything.
That’s being polite to that waitress that forgot your order or who can’t understand you and places the wrong order.
That’s being nice when your steak is not cooked right.
That’s being nice when someone tears strips off you.
That’s telling the truth.
That’s being honest with God. Don’t tell God you love Him and disobey Him. Do you know who loves God?
John 14:21 (New King James Version)
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Don’t sing to God and deny your poor neighbour. Don’t say you love God and disobey Him and deny Him what He is due.
Malachi 3:7-12 (New King James Version)
7 Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
“ But you said,
‘ In what way shall we return?’
8 “ Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘ In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the LORD of hosts,
“ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the LORD of hosts;
12 And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
Tithe you 10% to your church and then give more and more to God. It’s clear that you don’t tithe in the USA.
This article has something to say about the truth of how people are doing.
Church tithing continues to ebb
By Chrissie Thompson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 13, 2006
Church members continue to give less of their income to churches despite increases in membership, according to a study released today by Empty Tomb Inc.
“The church as an investment in people’s lifestyles is losing market share,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, co-author of the study, “The State of Church Giving Through 2004.”
Church members gave 2.56 percent of their income in 2004, down from 3.11 percent in 1968, according to the last study on data analysed by Mrs. Ronsvalle and her husband, John L. Ronsvalle. Both figures are well shy of the biblical 10 percent tithe.
Church giving increased from 1998 to 2001, recovering to early 1970s levels before decreasing to the current average.
The study also found more than 85 percent of contributions to churches funded the general operations of the local congregation, while about 15 percent went toward “benevolence,” which was defined as for “the broader mission of the church, beyond the local congregation.”
“Both of these numbers raise the question, ‘Has the church lost its vision?’ ” Mrs. Ronsvalle said. “Is the church turning into a club, or does the church see itself as salt?”
Brian McAuliffe , chief financial officer and director of operations at Willow Creek Community Church, thinks increasing church attendance may cause per capita giving to decrease.
“A lot of times people who are new to churches don’t understand giving back to God,” he said, whose South Barrington, Ill. “It may take a couple of years before someone feels comfortable and says, ‘Yes, I really believe in this, and I want to give to support that.’ “
End of quote.
Jesus said that if salt loses its saltiness what is it good for except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
It may scare you if you are not tithing and trusting God with the 90% of your income that a trampling is prophesied for people in the outer court, those that are not set apart and holy for God.
Revelation 11:2 (New King James Version)
2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
So Jesus and John both prophesied that un-salty Christians are going to be thrown out.
Jesus prophesies that the people trusting in their money are going to be vomited out.
Revelation 3:16 (New King James Version)
16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
A person needs to tithe or He lacks faith in God. For many years I only gave my money to poor people, now I tithe and give extra to the poor.
Don’t worship God and disobey His Son or His commandments. Don’t lie to God.
11 Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
Do you know what evil is?
James 4:17 (New King James Version)
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Not tithing is a sin. Every week you go from this point on without that 10% tithe to your church is sinning. Every time you don’t have mercy on the single mothers and young children without full-time fathers with time and money you are sinning.
James 1:27 (New King James Version)
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Keeping oneself unspotted from the world is spending your money on the Kingdom and seeing other people saved and not buying the best of everything at the expense of the poor that you know and the tithe to your church.
This is the Word of God, and tithing is not redundant, as churches still have expenses and so the priesthood although now replaced with shepherds and prophets and Apostles, still need your money. Reading this and not obeying it is making you a person that deceives themselves.
James 1:22 (New King James Version)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
So give to the poor, come out of the world with its buy buy buy mentality and sow into the Kingdom of God.
12 For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”
The Lord will not even hear your prayers if you are not obeying Him. He will from this day close His ears to you if you do not repent and change your ways.
John 9:31 (New King James Version)
31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.
There are many sins you are doing right now, you need to turn from sin or else you are still a sinner. You need to do more then worship God; you need to obey the commands of God.
You need to stop coveting and wanting the best the entire world can offer you. You need to invest in the things that will increase the Kingdom.
If you are tithing 10% consider spreading this message to every person in your church. Go and photocopy it and let your pastor hand it out and it will cause a great shift and blessing for your church.
If you are not tithing you are saying you trust your money more then God and you are serving Mammon and not God. You can only have one Master.
May this penetrate your heart.
Let me pray.
Father you know I take no pleasure in preaching a hard word of rebuke and a word that makes a person either repent or leave my teachings forever in disgust. Father I know your Spirit gave me the words to say and the scriptures to use and even the right words to do the search on the Internet for that quote. Lord I pray that you convict the readers heart and have them step out in faith and start to tithe. Give them the courage to tithe 10% of their net income for a year until they see how you provide and then move onto giving up to 20% and more. Father speak to their spirits and lead them to my teachings that will help them. Help them break from the world and away from false teaching and help them become clean and unspotted from the world.
In Jesus name I ask with a happy heart in faith that some people will find repentance
Amen
Matthew shares his heart in these articles and can be found at http://www.online-prayer.net You can read more of his articles at his link below.
If you want a copy of his upcoming book of articles which will have the first sixty of the articles on this web-site called “The Musings of a Mad Prophet” please contact Matthew via email so he can contact you around February 2007 to tell you of the progress of the book.