Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 9-10 NIV

Podcast Introduction

This is Epistles Sunday, and we’ll read 2 Corinthians 9-10. And we’ll have a time of Praise and Prayer Requests. 

Comments on 2 Corinthians 10

Is it ok with you if I am really, really honest with you today? Is it ok with you if I step on some toes today? What if those toes are yours? Is it still ok? Listen, if the shoe fits, it is for your benefit, not mine. I’m just going to say these things because what I have learned has been a tremendous blessing in my life, and I want you to be blessed, too. 

Paul wrote this: 

6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

I have discovered in my life, thanks to a large extent to the Lovely Lady LeeAnn, that this is true. When I was younger, I had a limit on the cheerful index. As long as the gift or offering didn’t exceed $20, I was cheerful. And I convinced myself that tithing was an Old Testament command. Hang in there with me, okay?

Tithing is Old Testament, to be sure. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still hold a blessing today.

For many, many years after I became a believer, I never felt like I had a compelling reason to tithe, which means to give 10%. When the offering plate came around, the most I would give was, as I said, twenty dollars. 

The Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I grew up in completely different households, with far different values. Hers was a strongly Christian upbringing. Whenever the church doors were open, they were there. Sunday morning. Sunday evening. Wednesday nights. Literally, if there was something going on at church, they were there. And both her parents were very much involved in ministries at church. They didn’t just attend, they were integral parts of the functioning of whatever church they were at. And since theirs was a military family, they moved several times during LeeAnn’s childhood. But as soon as they relocated in a new place, they immediately plugged in and got busy. So, all this to say, to LeeAnn, tithing was not even a question. A Christian tithed. Period. 

I came from a non-believing family. As a matter of fact, my dad literally did not trust “preachers” any further than he could throw them. He was almost militantly against anything that had to do with church. So when I came home from my friend, Del Brixey’s church one day when I was 15 years old, and told my parents that I had become a Christian, by dad spent 10 minutes or so telling me what a fool I was. Yeah. Fun day.

So, with that background, I thought I was doing a good thing to put $20 in the collection plate. And after we married, LeeAnn wanted to tithe, but deferred to me. She would gently let me know that we should give more, but I reminded her that we were “no longer living under the Law”.

And then, in the mid to late 2000s, one day while I was praying, God laid on my heart that He wanted me to trust Him in my giving. I felt that God wanted me to begin tithing, at a minimum. In Malachi 10, God says: “Test me in this,and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” And I really felt that God was saying this to me.

Beloved, I can only tell you my experience, okay? But when God laid this on my heart, LeeAnn and I were struggling parents. Our boys were very young. I was working full-time in our business. LeeAnn was a stay at home, homeschooling mom. We often ran out of money before the month ran out. 

But when I told LeeAnn about my prayer, and what God laid on my heart, she was thrilled. 

And so we began to tithe. And I am not going to tell you that from that point on, we got richer and richer. Far from it. Except not. Monetarily, we didn’t all of a sudden become wealthy. But spiritually, I know that tithing has helped to make me much more of a man of faith than I was. I find it so much easier to trust God now than I used to. Sure, tithing is not the only reason. But it’s a big reason. 

And yes, I believe that God has blessed us financially, too. As I told you on a recent show, we are still just working stiffs, but we do not have the financial pressures we used to. Things are more comfortable for us. And when giving opportunities present themselves, whether it be through church or we find out about someone in need, we are often able to help out. Cheerfully.

I don’t tell you this to gain any kind of brownie points. I just want you to know that giving can be a bigger blessing to the giver than the receiver. I know that sounds trite. But it really, really is true. If you give from a willing heart, as unto the Lord, then He will bless you in ways that you can never, ever know. If you are like I once was, reluctant to open your wallet, let me encourage you to do as God said in Malachi: Test me in this.

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Transcript

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Steve Webb 0:00
I want you to be blessed as well.

Steve Webb 0:09
This is the Lifespring one year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. I’m your sunburned. pahoehoe je Godcaster Steve Webb, this is the daily podcast where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year. Well, how am I sunburned? Well, it’s just my face. I went out to the desert today near Palm Springs with my friend Mark to watch radio controlled jets for most of the day. Man, I’m telling you, this is the first time I’d ever seen something like that in person. And it was great. The wingspan on these ranged from probably about two feet to about six or seven feet. So some of these things were enormous. They really look and sound like the real thing. It was fun. So back to the show. This is a pistol Sunday, and we’re going to read Second Corinthians nine and 10. We’ll have a time of praise and prayer requests since it is Sunday. And the title of this episode is watch your toes. But before we read, let’s pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. Bless us as we read it today and we invite the Holy Spirit to teach us I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, let’s get started.

Steve Webb 1:22
Second Corinthians chapter nine. There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people, for I know your eagerness to help, and I’ve been boasting about it to the Macedonians telling them that since last year, you and a Kea were ready to give and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. But I’m sending the brothers in order that are boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you might be ready as I said you would be for if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared. We not to say anything about you would be ashamed of having been so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brother to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given. Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for the 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 God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people, but it’s also overflowing in many expressions of Thanks to God, because of the service by which you have proved yourselves. Others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them, and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

Steve Webb 3:36
Second Corinthians chapter 10. By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you, I Paul, who am timid when face to face with you, but bold toward you when away, I beg you that when I come, I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be towards some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, and we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience. Once your obedience is complete. You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down. I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. For some say his letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing. Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we’re absent, we will be In our actions when we are present, we do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God Himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory. But let the one who boasts boast in the Lord, for it is not the one who commands himself who was approved, but the one whom the Lord commands.

Steve Webb 6:04
Beloved, is it okay with you if I’m really, really honest with you today? Is it okay with you if I step on some toes? What if those tools are yours? Is it still okay? Listen, if the shoe fits, it’s for your benefit, not mind that I say the things I’m going to say today. I’m just going to say these things, because what I have discovered has been such a tremendous blessing in my life. And I want you to be blessed as well. In chapter 10, that we read today, Paul wrote in verse six, remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Beloved, I have discovered in my life, Thanks to a large extent to the lovely lady Leanne, my wife, that what Paul wrote is true. When I was younger, I had a limit on the cheerful index, as long as the gift or offering didn’t exceed $20, I could be cheerful. And I convinced myself that tithing was an Old Testament command, so I didn’t have to type. All right, hang in there with me, okay. Tithing is Old Testament, to be sure. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still hold a blessing today. For many, many years after I became a believer, I never felt like I had a compelling reason to tie five, which means by the way to give 10% In case you didn’t know, when the offering plate came around, the most I would give was, as I said, that $20 bill. All right, let me give you some background. Leanna and I grew up in completely different kinds of households with far different values. Hers was a strongly Christian upbringing. Whenever the church doors were open, her family was there. Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday nights, literally. If there was something going on at church, they were there, you’d see all seven of the collinses Yeah, there was Leanne’s mom, her dad and four other siblings. So there were five kids. And both of her parents were very much involved in ministries at the church. They didn’t just attend. They were integral parts of the functioning of whatever church they were at. And since Theirs was a military family, they moved several times during Leanne’s childhood, but as soon as they relocated in a new place, they immediately plugged in and got busy. So all this to say, to Leann tithing was not even a question, a Christian tithed period. And I came from a non believing family. As a matter of fact, my dad literally did not trust preachers. And I’m putting that in quotes, because that’s what he called anybody that was a pastor, just a preacher. He didn’t trust preachers any further than he could throw them. He was almost militantly against anything that had to do with church. So when I came home from my friend Dale bricks, his church one day when I was about 15 years old and told my parents that I had become a Christian. My dad spent at least 10 minutes telling me what a fool I was. Yeah, fun day. So with that background, I thought that I was doing a good thing to put $20 in the collection plate. And after we married Leanne wanted to tithe, but deferred to me, she would gently let me know that we should give more but I reminded her that we were, quote, no longer living under the law. Unquote. Now Liana and I got married at the end of 1989. And then in the mid to late 2000s. I don’t remember exactly when this happened, but one day While I was praying, God laid on my heart that he wanted me to trust him in my giving. I felt that he wanted me to begin tithing at a minimum. In Malikai 10. God says, Trust me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. And beloved, I really felt that God was saying this to me. I can only tell you my experience, okay. But when God laid this on my heart, Liana and I were struggling parents. Our boys were very young. I was working full time on our business, and Leanne was a stay at home homeschooling mom. And we often ran out of money before the month ran out. But when I told Leanne, about my prayer, and what God had laid on my heart, she was thrilled. And so we began to type. And I’m not going to tell you that from that point on we got richer and richer for our from it. Except not. monetarily, we didn’t all of a sudden become wealthy. But spiritually, I know that tithing has helped to make me much more of a man of faith than I used to be. I find it so much easier now to trust God than I used to. Sure tithing is not the only reason. But it’s a big reason. And yes, I believe that God has blessed us financially to, we’re still just working stiffs, but we don’t have the financial pressures we used to, things are more comfortable for us. And when giving opportunities present themselves, whether it be through church, or we find out about someone in need, we are often able to help and we do so cheerfully. Now, I don’t tell you this to gain any brownie points, and I’m not trying to manipulate you at all, please believe me, I just want you to know that giving can be a bigger blessing to the giver than to the receiver. And I know that sounds trite, but really, it really, really is true. If you give from a willing heart as unto the Lord, then he will bless you in ways that you can never, ever know. If you’re like I once was reluctant to open your wallet. Let me encourage you to do as God said in Malachi: Trust me in this. Not me, God speaking, trust him in this. God is faithful. God is trustworthy. God wants to bless you. Well, what do you think are your toes okay? I really didn’t mean to step on anybody’s toes. Let me know what you’re thinking call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 195173 to 8511. Comment via boostagram. If you’ve got one of those new modern podcast apps, if you don’t have one, go over to new podcast apps.com and pick one up, or you can also go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Or you can email me at Steve at Lifespringmedia.com. Tomorrow will be the law Monday and we’ll read Exodus 25 through 28

Jingle 13:06
Lifespringmedia.com slash support.

Steve Webb 13:13
Now prayer requests and praises. Well, here’s a praise for you. You remember we prayed for Denise she was having muscle spasms and she let me know that her muscle spasms are much better. Now she’s able to get around and get things done. So praise the Lord for that. And prayer requests. The husband of one of Leanne’s cousins has rheumatoid arthritis. His name is Jim. And having rheumatoid arthritis is bad enough. But it can have an effect on some people that I was not aware of. Surprisingly, rheumatoid arthritis can affect the lungs. I don’t know much about it. But Jim is in the hospital on a respirator. He can’t breathe on his own. And the doctors are saying he may need a lung transplant. Can you believe that from rheumatoid arthritis? So we need to pray for Jim. Okay, let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for who you are. We thank You, Lord, for calling us and making us yours. We know Lord that no one can come to you unless they’re called by the Holy Spirit. And so we thank you for calling us and we thank You, Lord, for giving us the faith to believe everything we have is from you. Father right now I thank you so much for the praise that we got from Denise, thank you for taking the muscle spasms away and for giving her her health back and allowing her to do the things that she needs to get done. And now Lord, we pray for Jim, oh my goodness, I had no idea that rheumatoid arthritis could do this to a person. So I pray, Lord, that You would be in his hospital room even now and that you would touch and heal his body. And I pray, Lord, that You would give wisdom to the doctors that they would maybe see another way to go instead of a transplant. But if it becomes necessary, I pray Lord Lord that you would protect Jim. I know oftentimes you do choose to heal us through doctors. That’s why we have doctors. So whatever course it takes Father, I pray that your hand would be on Jim and his wife, candy. You are the great physician. There’s nothing you cannot do. And we’re just trusting Lord, that your will be done, which is what we all want. Jim included. Our thank you for the Lifespring family. I thank You, Lord, for calling each one of us hear me as host in the Lifespring family as community. Bless us, Lord, as we seek to follow you. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. Beloved, if you have a prayer request, or if you have a praise that you’d like to share with the family, please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com You’ll find a really easy to fill out form there. And as you fill it out, you can tell me if you want to remain anonymous. That website again is prayer dot Lifespring media.com. Scripture does tell us that we should pray for one another.

Steve Webb 16:05
Today’s show art is courtesy of Scott Snider. And thanks to the team. Scott, of course and Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Jason Paschall and Brittaney. I hope you have a great day today. Until tomorrow. May God bless you richly. My name is Steve West by Lifespring media bringing the message of hope, love and good news since 2004 Boost

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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