It is almost impossible to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans without getting into his understanding of "Law". The Epistle to the Romans is a law-book, the burden of which is justification by faith and grace apart from works of the Law.
The word "law" is the key word in Romans and it has a great bearing on our study of Law and Grace. The Greek word "nomos", translated "law" is used some 75 times. (Refer Strong's Concordance).
In the almost twin Epistle of Galatians, the same Greek word "nomos", translated "law" is used some 32 times. In other of Paul's epistles, Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians and Timothy, the sum total use of the same word is about 15 times. The burden of Paul's references to "law" and his teaching has to be found predominantly in Romans and Galatians.
In Romans, Paul refers to a number of various laws each of which need to be understood in order to help us understand what Paul meant when he wrote, "We are not under law, but under grace." We note these laws with a brief but suitable comment for clarification..
1. The Law (Romans 2:12)
This expression is often used in a broad and general sense to designate the will of God (1 John 3:4, Rom 7:22). Only the context will help us.
2. The Law of Conscience (Romans 2:14-15)
The moment man sinned, this law began to operate (Gen 9:7-10). This is also called the law of our mind (Rom 7:23)
3. The Law of Works (Romans 3:27)
A guilty conscience drove man to operate in the law of works in self-effort to cover himself and make himself presentable to God (Gen 3:7-10). Conscience drives men to seek to atone for their sins before God.
4. The Law of Faith (Rom 3:27)
The sacrificial victim which provided Adam and Eve with coats of skin necessitated an operation of the law of faith; faith in the substitutionary death of another to cover themselves acceptably before God (Gen 3:21-24)
5. The Law of Ten Commandments (Romans 7;&)
This expressly speaks of the Law of God as contained in the Ten Commandments given to the nation of Israel (Ex 20). Until this time, God dealt with man under the law of consciences. This is why Paul said that sin was in the world from Adam to Moses, but the law entered under Moses to give a more clear and full definition of sin (Rom 5:13,14; 3:20, 4:15, 7:7). But more of this in the following chapter.
6. The Law of Sin and Death (Romans 7:23, 8:2)
The law of sin entered man the moment he disobeyed God's law in his heart. The external act was only the outward evidence of an internal fall. The law of death followed as the subsequent penalty (Gen 2:17)
7. The Law of the Spirit of Life (Romans 8:2)
This is opposite to the law of sin and death. It was symbolized in the tree of eternal life which man forfeited but it is restored in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit (Gen 2:9; Rev 2:7; 22-14).
8. The Law of Righteousness (Romans 8:4, 9:31)
This law is also opposite to the law of sin. In Christ Jesus, the law of righteousness is put within man to overcome the law of sin and death. God's intention is to make an end of sin and bring in everlasting righteousness through Christ (Dan 9:24)
9. The Royal Law of Love (Romans 13:8-10 with James 2:8-10)
This is the highest law of God's Being, back to which redemption will bring redeemed mankind. The grace of God in Christ will restore man back to the law of loving obedience to the will of God. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Against love there is no law (Gal 5:23). The only answer to the sin problem is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. His redeeming grace deals with the law of sin, and brings man back to the law from which he fell.
The issue is : Sin is lawlessness, selfishness and self-will. But through the redeeming work of the cross, God will have a people who will freely, willingly and lovingly submit their will to His good and perfect will. He will write His laws in their hearts and sin will be brought to an end in them. Law, order and harmony will prevail in the universe eternally upon the basis of the New Convenant (Heb 8:8-13, 13:20; Jer 31:31-34).
The scriptures close with the promise, "Blessed are they that do His commandments that they might have right to the tree of life..." (Rev 22:19).
It is important to understand Paul use of the word "law". Grace is not lawlessness. The universe is governed by the laws of God. Mankind is to be governed by the laws of God, laws which are given for man's benefit and protection. These are the laws of life. The law of self-preservation is the strongest law in man's being, which necessitates man taking care of himself, the need for food and drink and finding the necessities of life itself. God has put these laws into the very being of man.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I AM NOT UNDER LAW, I AM UNDER GRACE!
Chapter 3 - Understanding the Place of Law
The Laws of the Universe
In an age of lawlessness (Matt 24:12), the very mention of the word "law" often produces a reaction in some people. It is a reaction against any form of authority, of Divine or human government. It is evidence of great short-sightedness as to the meaning of and the place of law. Can we imagine a universe without governing laws.
1. God Himself is governed by law - the laws of His own being; the law of holiness and the law of love. These moral attributes govern His essential attributes. God is holy, God is love.
2. God Himself is the Lawmaker and the Lawgiver (Isa 33:22, Jas 4:12). When He created the universes of worlds, when He flung the star-worlds, the planets into space, He established laws which would govern and control chaotic universe. Without law, we would be chaos; there would be worlds in collision.
God is a God of order; order means law. It is a blessing to know that it is a uni-verse, not a multi-verse. The world of planets all move in the orbit of God's will, His plan, His law, His order (Ps 19:1-6,24:1,2)
The Law of Created Beings
1. When God created the archangels and the angelic hosts, though they will created as freewill beings, not robots or zombies, these freewill angelic beings were governed by God's law, the law of loving obedience. As long as the angelic hosts submitted their free wills to the will of God, that good, perfect and acceptable will of God, there was harmony in heaven. Law means order and order means harmony. Lawlessness is chaos. Disorder, disharmony and chaos entered heaven the moment Lucifer sinned. He became the original lawless one, the original Antichrist. The angel who followed in rebellion became part of his counterfeit kingdom (Isa 14:12-14, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6)
It is senseless to even think of a universe or created beings not being under law, or governed by Divine rule.
2. The same is true when God created this planet, Earth and when He planted Adam and Eve on it for His purposes. God created man, as the angels, with a free will. They were to serve and worship the Lord God by the law of loving obedience. As long as they submitted their free wills to God's good perfect and acceptable will, there was order, peace and harmony in the earthly Garden of Eden, the paradise of God.
But Lucifer, the serpent and satan, came and did in Eden with Adam and his bride what he had done in heaven amongst the angels. The Fall took place Adam and Eve violated the one "you shall not", the one law, the one rule of life and conduct, the one commandment God had given them. The rest is seen in the tragic history of the human race (Gen 2:16,17: 3:16)
Law means order, peace and harmony in the universe, in the angelic heavens, in the earth of mankind, in the family of today.
Lawlessness means disorder, disharmony and chaos in the universe of worlds; or in created beings, whether they be angelic or humankind. The Bible and history confirm the truth of these things. There must be law - God's law to have peace, order and harmony.
It is senseless to even think of a universe or created beings not being under law, or governed by Divine rule.
2. The same is true when God created this planet, Earth and when He planted Adam and Eve on it for His purposes. God created man, as the angels, with a free will. They were to serve and worship the Lord God by the law of loving obedience. As long as they submitted their free wills to God's good perfect and acceptable will, there was order, peace and harmony in the earthly Garden of Eden, the paradise of God.
But Lucifer, the serpent and satan, came and did in Eden with Adam and his bride what he had done in heaven amongst the angels. The Fall took place Adam and Eve violated the one "you shall not", the one law, the one rule of life and conduct, the one commandment God had given them. The rest is seen in the tragic history of the human race (Gen 2:16,17: 3:16)
Law means order, peace and harmony in the universe, in the angelic heavens, in the earth of mankind, in the family of today.
Lawlessness means disorder, disharmony and chaos in the universe of worlds; or in created beings, whether they be angelic or humankind. The Bible and history confirm the truth of these things. There must be law - God's law to have peace, order and harmony.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I AM NOT UNDER LAW, I AM UNDER GRACE!
Chapter 2 - The Problem of Grace and Law Extremes
R.E. McMaster Jr, some years ago (1980's) in the Chalcedon Report, has this to say about law/grace extremes.
"Where Christians becomes exclusively "grace" oriented, the overwhelming tendency is to become lawless. "Grace-only" believers in their subjectivity and emotionalism can and do justify almost anything. Their desires become "right in their own eyes" since they have no firm standards. They have no "law" to guide their own eyes" since they have no firm standards. They have no "law" to guide them... Such believers forget and/or ignore that Paul said in 1 Tim 1:18, "that the law is good if one uses it lawfully..." The end result is that the "grace" extremist becomes autonomous, a law unto himself. He may become self-righteous. He is no longer under hose authority. He has manifested Satan's first sin as recorded in Isa 14L12-14, the sin of pride and lawlessness, leading to autonomy. This is humanism.
Concerning the other extreme, McMaster continues : "The 'law' extremist ends up in the same place. He just arrives there by a different path. The "law" believer rightly condemns the "grace believer's" perspective as akin to magic... But more often than not, the "law" extremist accomplishes his works "in the flesh". The result is that this legalist attempts to become righteous by his own efforts... In such realms, the "letter of the law" is upheld, to the exclusion of the "spirit of the law." Striving to keep the law by his own efforts, such a believer becomes his own law, and thus is under the authority of no one".
Grace without Law - Antionomianism. "Antinomianism" is made up of two other Greek words - "anti" meaning "against" and "nomos" which means "the law." Those who are against law - in the last days, "lawlessness will abound and the love of may will wax (grow cold)" Max 24:12. One of the designations for the Antichrist is the "man of sin, the lawless one" (2 Thess 2:1-12).
1. What Paul Said - Rom 3:4-8, 5:20,21, 6:1,2,14,15
2. What Jude Said - Jude 4
3, What Peter Said - 2 Peter 2:1-3
Summary
All believers, and more so leaders, need to avoid being a grace extremist ending up in antinomianism, or a law extremist ending up in legalism. It is necessary to seek the Lord to help us all to have a balanced theology.
Grace and truth belong to each other. "Grace reigns through righteousness" unto eternal life.
"The law is good, if a man use it lawfully.."(1 Tim 1:18)
"The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified through faith (Gal 3:24)
But no one can be saved by works of the Law, or by legalistic ceremonies of the Law. All can be saved only by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Antionmianism on the one hand, an legalism, on the other hand, must be avoided at all costs. Either extreme can destroy the people of God.
R.E. McMaster Jr, some years ago (1980's) in the Chalcedon Report, has this to say about law/grace extremes.
"Where Christians becomes exclusively "grace" oriented, the overwhelming tendency is to become lawless. "Grace-only" believers in their subjectivity and emotionalism can and do justify almost anything. Their desires become "right in their own eyes" since they have no firm standards. They have no "law" to guide their own eyes" since they have no firm standards. They have no "law" to guide them... Such believers forget and/or ignore that Paul said in 1 Tim 1:18, "that the law is good if one uses it lawfully..." The end result is that the "grace" extremist becomes autonomous, a law unto himself. He may become self-righteous. He is no longer under hose authority. He has manifested Satan's first sin as recorded in Isa 14L12-14, the sin of pride and lawlessness, leading to autonomy. This is humanism.
Concerning the other extreme, McMaster continues : "The 'law' extremist ends up in the same place. He just arrives there by a different path. The "law" believer rightly condemns the "grace believer's" perspective as akin to magic... But more often than not, the "law" extremist accomplishes his works "in the flesh". The result is that this legalist attempts to become righteous by his own efforts... In such realms, the "letter of the law" is upheld, to the exclusion of the "spirit of the law." Striving to keep the law by his own efforts, such a believer becomes his own law, and thus is under the authority of no one".
Grace without Law - Antionomianism. "Antinomianism" is made up of two other Greek words - "anti" meaning "against" and "nomos" which means "the law." Those who are against law - in the last days, "lawlessness will abound and the love of may will wax (grow cold)" Max 24:12. One of the designations for the Antichrist is the "man of sin, the lawless one" (2 Thess 2:1-12).
1. What Paul Said - Rom 3:4-8, 5:20,21, 6:1,2,14,15
2. What Jude Said - Jude 4
3, What Peter Said - 2 Peter 2:1-3
Summary
All believers, and more so leaders, need to avoid being a grace extremist ending up in antinomianism, or a law extremist ending up in legalism. It is necessary to seek the Lord to help us all to have a balanced theology.
Grace and truth belong to each other. "Grace reigns through righteousness" unto eternal life.
"The law is good, if a man use it lawfully.."(1 Tim 1:18)
"The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified through faith (Gal 3:24)
But no one can be saved by works of the Law, or by legalistic ceremonies of the Law. All can be saved only by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Antionmianism on the one hand, an legalism, on the other hand, must be avoided at all costs. Either extreme can destroy the people of God.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I AM NOT UNDER LAW, I AM UNDER GRACE!
Chapter 1 - Law and Grace
Moses
--------
The Law was given
By or through Moses
The mediator of the Old Convenant
The Law was given to a person
Jesus
-------
Grace and truth came
By or through Jesus Christ
The mediator of the New Convenant
Grace and truth was personified
The words inspired by the Holy Spirit are full of significance. Law is contrasted with grace. But grace does not come alone. It was grace AND truth which came personified in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was not grace alone. It was not truth alone. It was grace and truth in perfect balance in the person of Jesus.
If there is grace only, there is the danger it could lead one into license or licentiousness. If there is truth only, there is the danger of letterism or legalism, which is the other extreme. And this is what Jude was burdened to write about in his Epistle :-
"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain have crept in unnoticed (unawares), who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn (twist) the grace of God into lewdness (lasiviousness) and deny the only ord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3,4)
Moses
--------
The Law was given
By or through Moses
The mediator of the Old Convenant
The Law was given to a person
Jesus
-------
Grace and truth came
By or through Jesus Christ
The mediator of the New Convenant
Grace and truth was personified
The words inspired by the Holy Spirit are full of significance. Law is contrasted with grace. But grace does not come alone. It was grace AND truth which came personified in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was not grace alone. It was not truth alone. It was grace and truth in perfect balance in the person of Jesus.
If there is grace only, there is the danger it could lead one into license or licentiousness. If there is truth only, there is the danger of letterism or legalism, which is the other extreme. And this is what Jude was burdened to write about in his Epistle :-
"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain have crept in unnoticed (unawares), who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn (twist) the grace of God into lewdness (lasiviousness) and deny the only ord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3,4)
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Work Matters - God Given Work by R Paul Stevens
The Bible is “an album of casual photographs of labourers…. A book by workers,
about workers, for workers – that is the Bible.” Paul Minear1
The Trinity and Human Work
The relational character of God has implications for work.
First, human work, shaped by the Triune God is essentially personal. Just as each person of the Trinity brings otherness and difference—origin, implementation and empowerment—so each human being has a distinctive work to bring to the world. .
Second, human work is God‐like when it is relational. This means that we are designed to work together, each person’s work is to be enriched by and intended to enrich his or her neighbour.
David Jensen describes this beautifully: “The work of creating, redeeming, and transforming the world is not a one‐time fiat of a divine monarch or the result of three separate decrees, but a movement of distinctive personal work sustained by a community of love.”
7 Gone, or rather, never to have been invented in the first place, is a hierarchy of occupations with the pastor and people‐helping professionals at the top and the ditch digger and stock‐broker at the bottom. Each person has something to give and each person needs others to complete their own work. This is something revealed throughout the first five books and the stories of workers contained in these accounts.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Money Matters 4 - BELIEFS
The late Dr Edwin Louis Cole has cogently and potently put it :'your beliefs has the greatest potential for good or evil.' Our beliefs can directly affect our effectiveness and productivity which God both demands and deserves from us.
Money Matters 3 - TOP TABOO TOPIC
Money matters are fragile, sensitive matters as it remains one of the most difficult issues to openly deal with in Christianity today.
4) The Privacy of Money
Since the fall, man constantly hides and runs both from God and his true self! He became more self-conscious than God-conscious. It is common fact that everyone of us wears masks to hide our true selves from others. As one has aptly put it, there are 3 persons inside of us :
i) the one we think we are
ii) the one others think we are
iii) the one God knows we are
One of the surest way to discover the true character of a person, beneath his facade is by noting the way he uses his money. Money issues are undeniably personal issues. The way a person uses his money can and clearly reveal his true life-values and his character.
It's all My Money - Every working person legitimately thinks he is entitled to spend his hard earned money any way he thinks right and proper. It reasonably follows therefore that a person's money represents his very life. It is something personal and very close to him. The fact is money issues are heart issues! How we spend 'our hard earned' money reveals our innermost values, priorities and beliefs, ie what we consider to be good, evil, right, wrong, human and inhuman, etc are revealed through how we spend money given or entrusted to us.
Money in itself is amoral, that is, it is neither good nor evil. However, it only becomes good or evil through its use. A man's life values, convictions and heart are revealed through the way he redistributes the money in his possession.
The Bible teach that the worker must be paid his wages. This is non-negotiable payment made to a person in exchange for his labour and value added contribution into an industry or business. This payment is not a gift. It is a person's salary. Every hour a worker contributes through his work in a company represents a part of his life. In short, time really represents life. This is obviously something personal - it is his life.
5) The Misconception of God
This final and probably the most widespread cause of financial breakdowns in Christianity today is the ignorance of God's stewardship or management plans for His resources on earth. It is our ignorance of God's ways, will and word that is the root cause of our many defeats and destructions. The church is attempting to serve and work with a God of Whom she knows nothing or very little about. No wonder she did not boasts of great exploits except for those who know their God shall be strong and do mighty things.
In other words, only those who keep seeking will find. Those who keep asking receive. If saints are not going to grow up through actively pursuing truth in and for their lives, they aren't going anywhere in God.
Misunderstanding God
The prayer of faith is one that must be based on true revelation of God - the One to Whom we pray. One who does not believe, will have difficulty making his prayer effective. When a saint prays according to this true revelation, his prayer becomes effective because his faith can then be released. It suffices to state that without an accurate revelation of God, no saint can ever breakthrough in any matter, let alone money matters.
Our perceptions and attitudes in life generally determine our approaches and responses in life. This is especially so with God - the Source of all things!
In confronting our true conditions, we are enabled to confront our mountains. Remember, we cannot conquer what we are not willing to confront.
Summary of Principles
1. Money matters has been a neglected issue in the Church because of its sensitivity. In order to conquer the territory of money, the Church must first confront it. To defeat the enemy, we must be willing to deal with our weaknesses and the enemy's strengths.
2. Money is a sensitive issue because of the evil element attached to it. It is the love of money, not money in itself that is evil. Money is amoral.
3. It is sensitive also because of its misuse and abuse especially by Christian ministers. The issue of trust, credibility and integrity of ministers is a key issue for breakthrough in these times.
4. Thirdly, poverty has been wrongly connected with virtue and spirituality. Dealing with it can be quite ugly or unwelcoming because of religious spirits that have been allowed to breed like lice for decades under the carpets of the church.
5. The private nature of money is such that the way it is used unmasks the real worth and character of its users. Hence, it's sensitivity.
6. Finally, money is sensitive because sincere but misled saints still do not understand their God for His true character and nature. To talk about money requires knowing the true prospering, increasing, blessing nature of our God. Many will be faced with the reality that they have been dealing with a 'wrong God' in these lectures on money.
5 reasons for the tabooness of money...
1) The Evil of Money
1 Timothy 6:10 - For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith...
1 Timothy 6:17 - Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, Who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
Many Christians have been conned into believing that God is against riches and against His people being rich. For far too long, sincere but foolish Christians connect and label wealthy people including rich Christians as being ungodly and worldly. This is the first reason why money issues are sensitive issues. Anyone who keeps talking about money is almost always regarded, at least subconsciously as being evil or wicked.
2) The Misuse of Money
Money has been abused and misused. Sadly, the perpetrators include Christian ministers who have not broken out of the grip of covetousness and materialism.
People fully receive ministry when they can believe the integrity of its main leaders. When trust is violated, any ministry will spiral downhill, and if necessary changes and rectifications are still not made, that ministry will disintegrate.
Over the last 2 decades, we have seen the general trust between church leadership and laity erode because of the abuse of money, especially by church leaders. Much of the abuse centered on extravagant living, misappropriation and mismanagement of church funds. Today the Church still carries the ugly scars of resentment, hostility and skepticism caused in the first place by greedy ministers.
3) The 'Virtue' of Poverty
Proverbs 6:11 - your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.
In many Asian countries today, poverty is stll celebrated as a virtue. Here, it is honourable for young children to go around in the cities, barefooted, bald, clad in orange robes and begging for their food from pathetic looking, dirty bowls. To many here, it is a sign of great spirituality and considered sacred. This is still a prevalent practice in countries like Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, India and China and Many other Asian countries. It also prevails in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and other eastern religions too.
Poverty is linked to virtue, holiness and great spirituality. The minds of these Christians have not been renewed.
Many Christians today still believe that true Christianity must embrace the 'holy suffering' of poverty and lack.
The people of the world have great difficulty believing God is love because they keep seeing Christian unnecessarily suffering poverty, insufficiency and debt. They Church often forgets that the world only walks by sight, sense and circumstance. They don't know anything about faith.
The people of the world have great difficulty believing God is love because they keep seeing Christian unnecessarily suffering poverty, insufficiency and debt. They Church often forgets that the world only walks by sight, sense and circumstance. They don't know anything about faith.
4) The Privacy of Money
Since the fall, man constantly hides and runs both from God and his true self! He became more self-conscious than God-conscious. It is common fact that everyone of us wears masks to hide our true selves from others. As one has aptly put it, there are 3 persons inside of us :
i) the one we think we are
ii) the one others think we are
iii) the one God knows we are
One of the surest way to discover the true character of a person, beneath his facade is by noting the way he uses his money. Money issues are undeniably personal issues. The way a person uses his money can and clearly reveal his true life-values and his character.
It's all My Money - Every working person legitimately thinks he is entitled to spend his hard earned money any way he thinks right and proper. It reasonably follows therefore that a person's money represents his very life. It is something personal and very close to him. The fact is money issues are heart issues! How we spend 'our hard earned' money reveals our innermost values, priorities and beliefs, ie what we consider to be good, evil, right, wrong, human and inhuman, etc are revealed through how we spend money given or entrusted to us.
Money in itself is amoral, that is, it is neither good nor evil. However, it only becomes good or evil through its use. A man's life values, convictions and heart are revealed through the way he redistributes the money in his possession.
The Bible teach that the worker must be paid his wages. This is non-negotiable payment made to a person in exchange for his labour and value added contribution into an industry or business. This payment is not a gift. It is a person's salary. Every hour a worker contributes through his work in a company represents a part of his life. In short, time really represents life. This is obviously something personal - it is his life.
5) The Misconception of God
This final and probably the most widespread cause of financial breakdowns in Christianity today is the ignorance of God's stewardship or management plans for His resources on earth. It is our ignorance of God's ways, will and word that is the root cause of our many defeats and destructions. The church is attempting to serve and work with a God of Whom she knows nothing or very little about. No wonder she did not boasts of great exploits except for those who know their God shall be strong and do mighty things.
In other words, only those who keep seeking will find. Those who keep asking receive. If saints are not going to grow up through actively pursuing truth in and for their lives, they aren't going anywhere in God.
Misunderstanding God
The prayer of faith is one that must be based on true revelation of God - the One to Whom we pray. One who does not believe, will have difficulty making his prayer effective. When a saint prays according to this true revelation, his prayer becomes effective because his faith can then be released. It suffices to state that without an accurate revelation of God, no saint can ever breakthrough in any matter, let alone money matters.
Our perceptions and attitudes in life generally determine our approaches and responses in life. This is especially so with God - the Source of all things!
In confronting our true conditions, we are enabled to confront our mountains. Remember, we cannot conquer what we are not willing to confront.
Summary of Principles
1. Money matters has been a neglected issue in the Church because of its sensitivity. In order to conquer the territory of money, the Church must first confront it. To defeat the enemy, we must be willing to deal with our weaknesses and the enemy's strengths.
2. Money is a sensitive issue because of the evil element attached to it. It is the love of money, not money in itself that is evil. Money is amoral.
3. It is sensitive also because of its misuse and abuse especially by Christian ministers. The issue of trust, credibility and integrity of ministers is a key issue for breakthrough in these times.
4. Thirdly, poverty has been wrongly connected with virtue and spirituality. Dealing with it can be quite ugly or unwelcoming because of religious spirits that have been allowed to breed like lice for decades under the carpets of the church.
5. The private nature of money is such that the way it is used unmasks the real worth and character of its users. Hence, it's sensitivity.
6. Finally, money is sensitive because sincere but misled saints still do not understand their God for His true character and nature. To talk about money requires knowing the true prospering, increasing, blessing nature of our God. Many will be faced with the reality that they have been dealing with a 'wrong God' in these lectures on money.
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