Teaching and Addressing

1
Teaching and AddressingStewardship

• May 2, 2009 at
• Christ the King, Willingboro,
• with the Rev. Lee Powers,
• Canon to the Ordinary

2
Gods plan in creation

• Then God said, Let us make humankind in our
  image, according to our likeness, and let them
  have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
  the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and
  over all the wild animals of the earth, and over
  every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
  (Gen. 126)

3
Humans - Stewards of Creation

• The LORD God took the man and put him in the
  Garden of Eden to till it and keep it. (Genesis
  215)

4
Harmony is broken by sin

• And to the man (the LORD God) said, Because you
  have listened to the voice of your wife, and have
  eaten of the tree about which I commanded you,
  You shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground
  because of you, in toil you shall eat of it all
  the days of your life . . . By the sweat of your
  face you shall eat bread until you return to the
  ground, . . . (Genesis 317,19)

5
The first family grows

• Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived
  and bore Cain, saying I have produced a man with
  the help of the LORD. Next she bore his brother
  Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a
  tiller of the ground. (Gen.41-2)

6
After the Fall, the sons bring offerings to the
LORD

• In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD
  an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel
  for his part brought of the firstlings of the
  flock, their fat portions. And the LORD had
  regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain
  and his offering he had no regard. (Genesis
  42-5)

7
Cains jealousy and anger

• So Cain was very angry, and his countenance
  fell. The LORD said to Cain, Why are you angry,
  and why has your countenance fallen? If you do
  well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not
  do well, sin is lurking at the door its desire
  is for you, but you must master it?
• (Genesis 45-7)

8
Discussion questions

• As you read this story, why do you think God had
  regard for Abels offering, but not for Cains?
• What do you think God meant by saying If you do
  well, will you not be accepted?

9
Gods work in redeeming creation

• The genealogy of the descendants of Adam goes
  through several generations, and then comes to
  Noah whose name is a blessing.

• Lamech . . . became the father of a son he
  named him Noah, saying, Out of the ground that
  the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us
  relief from our work and from the toil of our
  hands. (Genesis 529)

10
Re-creation

• Now the earth was corrupt in Gods sight, and
  the earth was filled with violence. . . And God
  said to Noah, I have determined to make an end
  of all flesh, for the earth is filled with
  violence because of them now I am going to
  destroy them along with the earth. . . .

11
Re-creation (continued)

• . . .But I will establish my covenant with you
  and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons,
  your wife, your sons wives with you. And of
  every living thing, . . . You shall bring two of
  every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with
  you. . . . (Gen. 611, 13-14, 18-19)

12
Gods Covenant with Noah

• (After the flood waters had receded) God blessed
  Noah and said, Be fruitful and multiply, and
  fill the earth. . . .
• I establish my covenant with you, that never
  again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of
  a flood, and never again shall their be a flood
  to destroy the earth. (Genesis 91,11)

13
God calls Abram

• The LORD said to Abram, Go from your country
  and your kindred and your fathers house to the
  land that I will show you. I will make of you a
  great nation, and I will bless you, and make your
  name great, so that you will be a blessing. I
  will bless those who bless you, and the one who
  curses you I will curse and in you all the
  families of the earth shall be blessed.
  (Gen121-3)

14
Abram offers a tithe

• And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread
  and wine he was priest of God Most High. He
  blessed Abram and said, Blessed be Abram by God
  Most High, maker of heaven and earth and blessed
  be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies
  into your hand! And Abram gave him one tenth of
  everything. (Gen. 1418-20)

15
Gods promises to Abram

• The LORD took Abram outside and said to him,
  Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you
  are able. . . . So shall your descendants be.
  And he believed the LORD and the LORD reckoned
  it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 155-6)

16
Gods covenant with Abram

• I will make you exceedingly fruitful. . . I
  will establish my covenant between me and you,
  and your offspring after you, . . An everlasting
  covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring
  after you.

• And I will give to you, and to your offspring
  after you, the land where you are now an alien,
  all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding
  and I will be their God. (Gen. 176-8)

17
Being exceedingly fruitful

• - Abraham and Sarah bore Isaac.
• - Isaac and Rebekah bore Esau and Jacob.
• Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of
  hot soup.
• Esau vowed to kill Jacob after Isaac dies.
• - Rebekah sent Jacob away to her family in Haran.

18
Jacobs dream at Bethel

• Jacob travelled and slept at Bethel and had a
  dream. The LORD said to him
• The land on which you lie I will give to you
  and your offspring. . . . Know that I am with you
  and will keep you wherever you go, and I will
  bring you back to this land for I will not leave
  you until I have done what I have promised.
  (Genesis 2813, 15)

19
Jacobs vow to the LORD

• Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with
  me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and
  will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
  so that I come again to my fathers house in
  peace, . . .

• . . . then the LORD shall be my God, and this
  stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be
  Gods house and of all that you give me I will
  surely give one-tenth to you. (Genesis
  2820-22)

20
Jacob returns to Canaan

• - Jacob worked fourteen years for Laban and
  married his daughters Leah and Rachel.
• - With his wives and their handmaidens, Jacob
  bore eleven sons and a daughter.
• - Jacob returned to Canaan with his family.
• Esau welcomed Jacob home in joy.
• Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.

21
Joseph and his brothers

• Joseph was the first son born to Rachel and was
  Jacobs favored son. In jealousy his brothers
  sold him to travelling merchants headed to Egypt
  and told Jacob that Joseph had been killed by an
  animal.

22
Joseph rises to power

• The traders sold Joseph to Pharaohs servant.
• Joseph interpreted Pharaohs dream and Pharaoh
  made him governor of Egypt.
• Josephs brothers were unwittingly tested by
  Joseph when they came to buy grain.

23
Joseph and his brothers are reconciled.

• Jacob and his whole family came to live in the
  best part of Egypt under Josephs care.
• Long after Josephs death, another Pharaoh became
  afraid of the Hebrews and enslaved them.
• The Hebrews cried to God for deliverance, and
  the LORD sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to Let my
  people go.

24
Passover

• - Moses did signs to convince Pharaoh.
• - Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses, hardening
  his heart against the slaves.
• - The final plague the Angel of Death killed all
  the first-born of the Egyptians.
• - Pharaoh thrust the slaves out of Egypt.

25
The Exodus

• Moses led the Hebrew slaves across the Red Sea to
  meet the LORD at Mt. Sinai.

26
God offers of a Covenant

• Moses went up to God the LORD called to him
  from the mountain, saying Thus you shall. . .
  tell the Israelites You have seen what I did to
  the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles
  wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore,
  if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you
  shall be my treasured possession out of all the
  peoples. . . .

27
The Covenant is accepted

• . . .Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you
  shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy
  nation. These are the words you shall speak to
  the Israelites. (Exodus 193-6)
• The people all answered as one Everything that
  the LORD has spoken we will do.
• Amidst terrible signs and wonders, Moses brought
  the people to the mountain of God.

28
The Ten Commandments

• Ten Commandments were given in the hearing of all
  the people. They are the cornerstone of the
  Covenant.

29
Statutes and Ordinances

• Moses then received hundreds of other statutes,
  laws, commandments and ordinances. For the LORD
  to be a living presence amongst them, instruction
  was given for the building of a sanctuary. Aaron
  and his descendants would be the priests in the
  sanctuary.

30
Consecration of the first-born

• The LORD said to Moses Consecrate to me all
  the firstborn whatever is first to open the womb
  among the Israelites, of human beings and
  animals, is mine. (Exodus 131-2)
• When in the future your child asks you, What
  does this mean? you shall answer

31
Why first-born is consecrated

• . . .By strength of hand the LORD brought us out
  of Egypt, from the house of slavery. When Pharaoh
  stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed
  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from
  human firstborn to the firstborn of animals.
  Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every male that
  first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my
  sons I redeem. (Exodus 1314-15)

32
The Sanctuary of the LORD

• The LORD said to Moses Tell the Israelites to
  take for me an offering from all whose hearts
  prompt them to give you shall receive the
  offering for me. . . . And have them make me a
  sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.
  (Exodus 251-2,8)

33
Aaron, priest of the sanctuary

• The LORD said to Moses, Then bring near to you
  your brother Aaron, and his sons with him, from
  among the Israelites, to serve me as priests
  Aaron and Aarons sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar
  and Ithamar. (Exodus 281)

34
Levites given to Aaron . . .

• Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Bring the
  tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the
  priest, so that they may assist him. They shall
  perform duties for him and the whole congregation
  in front of the tent of meeting, doing service at
  the tabernacle, . . . . You shall give the
  Levites to Aaron and his descendants they are
  unreservedly given to him from among the
  Israelites. . .

35
. . .as substitute for first-born

• I hereby accept the Levites from among the
  Israelites as substitutes for all the firstborn
  that open the womb among the Israelites. The
  Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are
  mine when I killed all the firstborn in the land
  of Egypt, I consecrated for mine own all the
  firstborn of Israel, both human and animal they
  shall be mine. I am the LORD. (Numbers 35-13)
  (see also Numbers 814-19)

36
Total tribe of Levites given

• The total enrollment of the Levites whom Moses
  and Aaron enrolled . . . was 22,000. . . .Then
  the LORD said to Moses Enroll all the firstborn
  males of the Israelites, . . . So Moses enrolled
  all the firstborn among the Israelites, . . . the
  total enrollment . . . was 22,273. . .
• (Numbers 339,40,43)

37
Redemption of the firstborn

• But you shall accept the Levites for me I am
  the LORD as substitutes for all the firstborn
  among the Israelites . . . . Give to Aaron and
  his sons the money by which the excess number of
  them is redeemed. (Numbers 341,48)

38
Priests and Levites portions

• The LORD spoke to Aaron I have given you
  charge of the offerings made to me, all the holy
  gifts of the Israelites I have given them to you
  and your sons as a priestly portion due you in
  perpetuity. . . .

• To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel
  for a possession in return for the service they
  perform, the service in the tent of meeting.
  (Numbers 188, 21)

39
Promise Land apportioned

• After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and to
  Eleazer son of Aaron the priest, Take a census
  of the whole congregation of the Israelites, from
  twenty years old and upward, by their ancestral
  houses, everyone in Israel able to go to war. . .
  .To these the land shall be apportioned for
  inheritance according to the number of names. . .
  . every tribe shall be given its inheritance
  according to its enrollment. . . .

40
Levites dont share in land

• This is the enrollment of the Levites . . . the
  number of those enrolled is 23,000, every male
  one month old and upward for they were not
  enrolled among the Israelites because there was
  no allotment given to them among the Israelites.
  (Numbers 261-2, 53, 56-57, 62)

41
Moses preaches to Israel

• It was not because you were more numerous than
  any other people that the LORD set his heart on
  you and chose you for you were the fewest of
  peoples. It was because the LORD loved you and
  kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors,
  that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty
  hand, redeemed you from the house of slavery,
  from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know
  therefore that the LORD your God is God, the
  faithful one who maintains covenant loyalty with
  those who love him and keep his commandments, to
  a thousand generations, and who repays in their
  own person those who reject him. . . .

42
Moses tells of blessings

• . . . If you heed the ordinances, by diligently
  observing them, the LORD your God will maintain
  with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to
  your ancestors he will love you, bless you, and
  multiply you he will bless the fruit of your
  womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and
  your wine and your oil, the increase of your
  cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land
  that he swore to your ancestors to give you. . .
  .

43
Fruitfulness and health

• . . . You shall be the most blessed of people,
  with neither sterility nor barrenness among you
  or your livestock. The LORD will turn away from
  you every illness all the dread diseases of
  Egypt that you experienced, he will not inflict
  on you, but he will lay them on all who hate
  you. (Deuteronomy 77-15)

44
Remember your deliverance

• This entire commandment that I command you today
  you must diligently observe, so that you may live
  and increase, and go in and occupy the land that
  the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors.
  Remember the long way that the LORD your God has
  led you these forty years in the wilderness, in
  order to humble you, testing you to know what was
  in your heart, whether or not you would keep his
  commandments. . . .

45
God cares for you

• . . . . He humbled you by letting you hunger,
  then by feeding you with manna, with which
  neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted,
  in order to make you understand that one does not
  live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
  from the mouth of the LORD. The clothes on your
  back did not wear out and your feet did not swell
  these forty years. . . .

46
Walk in Gods ways

• . . .Know then in your heart that as a parent
  disciplines a child so the LORD your God
  disciplines you. Therefore keep the commandments
  of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and
  fearing him. For the LORD your God is bringing
  you into a good land, . . .

47
Eat and bless the LORD

• . . . a land with flowing streams, with springs
  and underground waters welling up in valleys and
  hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and
  fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees
  and honey, a land where you will eat bread
  without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a
  land whose stones are iron and from whose hills
  you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and
  bless the LORD your God for the good land that he
  has given you. . . .

48
Do not exalt yourself

• . . . When you have eaten your fill and have
  built fine houses and live in them, and when your
  herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver
  and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is
  multiplied, then do not exalt yourself,
  forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out
  of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
  slavery, . . .

49
for the LORD gives wealth

• . . . Do not say to yourself, My power and the
  might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.
  But remember that LORD your God, for it is he who
  gives you power to get wealth, so that he may
  confirm his covenant that he swore to your
  ancestors, as he is doing today. . . .

50
Moses ends with a warning

• . . . If you do forget the LORD your God and
  follow other gods and serve and worship them, I
  solemnly warn you today that you shall surely
  perish. Like the nations that the LORD is
  destroying before you, so shall you perish,
  because you would not obey the voice of the LORD
  your God. (Deuteronomy 81-20)

51
Entering the Promised Land

• When you have come into the land that the LORD
  your God is giving you as an inheritance to
  possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,
  you shall take some of the first of all the fruit
  of the ground, which you harvest from the land
  that the LORD your God is giving you, and you
  shall put it in a basket and go to the place that
  the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for
  his name. . . .

52
Tithe of the bounty of the land

• Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed
  that is brought in yearly from the field. In the
  presence of the LORD your God, in the place that
  he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you
  shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and
  your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd
  and flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD
  your God always. And you shall eat there in the
  presence of the LORD your God, you and your
  household rejoicing together. (Deuteronomy
  1422-23,26b)

53
Tithe for the Levites . . .

• As for the Levites resident in your towns, do
  not neglect them, because they have no allotment
  or inheritance with you.
• Every third year you shall bring out the full
  tithe of your produce for that year, . . .

54
. . and aliens, orphans and widows.

• . . . the Levites, because they have no
  allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the
  resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in
  your towns, may come and eat their fill so that
  the LORD your God may bless you in all the work
  that you undertake. (Deuteronomy 1428-29)

55
Worship and Creeds

• When you have come into the land that the LORD
  your God is giving you as an inheritance to
  possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,
  you shall take some of the first of all the fruit
  of the ground, which you harvest from the land
  that the LORD your God is giving you, and you
  shall put it in a basket and go to the place that
  the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for
  his name. . . .

56
Remembering Gods faithfulness

• . . .You shall go to the priest who is in office
  at that time, and say to him, Today I declare to
  the LORD your God that I have come into the land
  that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.
  When the priest takes the basket from your hand
  and sets it down before the altar of the LORD
  your God, . . .

57
A God who goes with them

• . . . you shall make this response before the
  LORD your God A wandering Aramean was my
  ancestor he went down into Egypt and lived there
  as an alien, few in number, and there he became a
  great nation, mighty and populous. . . .

58
A God who saves them

• . . . When the Egyptians treated us harshly and
  afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we
  cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors the
  LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our
  toil, and our oppression. The LORD brought us out
  of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched
  arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with
  signs and wonders and he brought us into this
  place and gave us this land, a land flowing with
  milk and honey. . . .

59
A God who provides for all

• . . .So now I bring the first of the fruit of
  the ground that you, O LORD, have given me. You
  shall set it down before the LORD your God and
  bow down before the LORD your God. Then you,
  together with the Levites and the aliens who
  reside among you, shall celebrate with all the
  bounty that the LORD your God has given to you
  and to your house. (Deuteronomy 261-11)

60
Discussion Questions

• What did the LORD offer the Israelites in the
  Covenant of Sinai?
• 2. What did the LORD require of them?

• Jesus said that the first and great commandment
  is this Hear, O Israel The LORD is our God,
  the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God
  with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
  with all your mind. (Deuteronomy 61-2)

61
Discussion continued

• 3. How did the Israelites show their love for the
  LORD their God?
• 4. What did they need to do to provide for a way
  to love the LORD their God?
• 5. Does this commandment still pertain to
  Christians today?
• 6. How do we show our love of God?

62
Conquest of Promised Land

• Joshua led the Israelite army in the conquest and
  possession of the land.
• The tribes settled in their allotted places two
  for Josephs sons Manasseh and Ephraim, ten for
  Jacobs other sons.
• Levites lived in cities.

63
Life in the Promised Land

• - When invaders conquered Israel, God raised up
  judges to deliver them again.
• - Israel asked for a King and Saul was chosen.
• - After Saul was killed in battle, David became
  King of Israel.

64
Prosperity, then Civil War

• - Davids son Solomon made Israel greater.
• - Solomon built a house for the LORD.
• - Solomons son was a harsh King, and the
  northern ten tribes rebelled and left.
• - Davids descendants ruled in Judah and the
  people worshipped in Jerusalem.
• - Northern tribes named Israel, had intrigue,
  murder, many kings, and they worshipped at a
  shrine in Samaria.

65
Israel forgets its Covenant

• - Israels King Ahab married Jezebel, daughter of
  the King of Sidon.
• - Jezebel brought Baal prophets to Israel.
• - Israel began to follow other gods.
• - God sent a 3 year drought on Israel.

66
The LORD destroys Baal prophets

• - Elijah challenged the Baal prophets to call on
  Baal to end the drought.
• - Elijah called on the LORD and ends drought.
• - Elijah killed the 400 Baal prophets.

67
Prophets call people to the LORD

• Thus says the LORD . . . Because they have
  rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept
  his statutes . . . So I will send a fire on
  Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of
  Jerusalem.
• For three transgressions of Israel, and for four,
  . . . I will press you down in your place . . .
  (Amos 24-6, 13)

68
Amos prophesies to Israel

• Even though you offer me your burnt offerings
  and grain offerings, I will not accept them . . .
  Take away from me the noise of your songs I will
  not listen to the melody of your harps. But let
  justice roll down like waters, and righteousness
  like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 522-24)

69
Isaiah speaks the LORDs anger

• Let me sing for my beloved my love-song
  concerning his vineyard My beloved has a
  vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and
  cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice
  vines he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
  and hewed out a wine vat in it he expected it to
  yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. . . .

70
Judah is yielding wild grapes

• . . . And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and
  people of Judah, judge between me and my
  vineyard. What more was there to do for my
  vineyard that I have not done in it? When I
  expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield
  wild grapes? . . .

71
The LORDs wrath

• . . . .And now I will tell you what I will do to
  my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it
  shall be devoured I will break down its wall,
  and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a
  waste it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it
  shall be overgrown with briers and thorns I will
  also command the clouds that they rain no rain
  upon it. . . .

72
No justice in the land.

• . . . .For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is
  the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are
  his pleasant planting he expected justice, but
  saw bloodshed righteousness, but heard a cry!
  (Isaiah 51-7)

73
Micah tells people the way

• With what shall I come before the LORD?
• Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
  with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
• Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
  the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? . .
  . (Micah 66,7)

74
What does the LORD require?

• He has told you, O mortal, what is good and
  what does the LORD require of you but to do
  justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly
  with your God?
• (Micah 68)

75
Jeremiah foretells destruction

• And when you tell this people all these words,
  and they say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced
  all this great evil against us? What is our
  iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed
  against the LORD our God? then you shall say to
  them It is because your ancestors have forsaken
  me, says the LORD, and have gone after other gods
  and have served and worshiped them, and have
  forsaken me and have not kept my law . . .

76
Exile to another land

• . . . and because you have behaved worse than
  your ancestors, for here you are, every one of
  you, following your stubborn evil will, refusing
  to listen to me. Therefore I will hurl you out of
  this land into a land that neither you nor your
  ancestors have known, and there you shall serve
  other gods day and night, for I will show you no
  favor. (Jeremiah 1610-13)

77
Promise of a New Covenant

• The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when
  I will make a new covenant with the house of
  Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be
  like the covenant that I made with their
  ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring
  them out of the land of Egypt a covenant that
  they broke, though I was their husband, says the
  LORD. . . .

78
Gods laws on our hearts

• . . .But this is the covenant that I will make
  with the house of Israel after those days, says
  the LORD I will put my law within them, and I
  will write it on their hearts and I will be
  their God, and they shall be my people. No longer
  shall they teach one another, or say to each
  other, Know the LORD, for they shall all know
  me, from the least of them to the greatest, says
  the LORD and I will forgive their iniquity, and
  remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 3131-34)

79
Restored Israel Gods challenge

• For I the LORD do not change therefore you, O
  children of Jacob, have not perished. Ever since
  the days of your ancestors you have turned aside
  from my statutes and have not kept them. Return
  to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of
  hosts. But you say, How shall we return? Will
  anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me. . . .

80
Can you out-give the LORD?

• . . . But you say, How are we robbing you? In
  your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a
  curse, for you are robbing me the whole nation
  of you! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse,
  so that there may be food in my house, and thus
  put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts see
  if I will not open the windows of heaven for you
  and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.
  (Malachi 36-12)

81
Wisdom in ancient Israel

• Two things I ask of you do not deny them to me
  before I die Remove far from me falsehood and
  lying give me neither poverty nor riches feed
  me with the food that I need, or I shall be full,
  and deny you, and say, Who is the LORD? or I
  shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of
  my God. (Proverbs 307-9)

82
Discussion of Old Covenant

• The LORD offered covenants to Noah, Abraham and
  Moses. The covenants promised that God would
  never again destroy all life by a flood, that
  Abrahams descendants would receive the land and
  be a blessing to all nations, and that if they
  observed all the commandments of the LORD, that
  they would know great blessing, prosperity and
  peace in the land.

83
Questions for consideration

• What did the LORD expect from the people as their
  response to the covenants?
• Why did the LORD claim all the firstborn?
• Why didnt the Levites inherit any land?
• How did the LORD provide for the Levites?
• What was the purpose of giving the tithe?
• How do people today display the wrong attitudes
  that Malachi condemned?

84

• The New
• Covenant

85
God the giver

• For God so loved the world
• that he gave his only Son,
• so that everyone who believes in him
• may not perish
• but may have eternal life.
• (John 316)

86
Gods New Covenant

• To all who received him, who believe in his
  name, he gave power to become children of God,
  who were born, not of blood or of the will of the
  flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the
  Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have
  seen his glory, the glory as of the fathers only
  son, full of grace and truth. (John 112-14)

87
Jesus the Savior

• And you are to name him Jesus, for he will save
  his people from their sins. (Mt. 121)
• For the Son of Man came not to be served but to
  serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
  (Mark 1045)
• For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save
  the lost. (Luke 1910)
• For God so loved the world that he gave his only
  Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
  perish but may have eternal life. (John 316)

88
Jesus the lamb of God

• Do not think that I have come to abolish the law
  and the prophets I have come not to abolish but
  to fulfill. (Mt. 517)
• If any want to become my followers, let them
  deny themselves and take up their cross and
  follow me. (Mark 834)
• And I, when I am lifted up from the earth will
  draw all people too myself. He said this to
  indicate the kind of death he was to die.
  (John1232)
• Jesus said, It is finished. (John 1930)

89
The New Covenant fulfilled

• He took a loaf of bread, and when he had given
  thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,
  This is my body, which is given for you. Do this
  in remembrance of me. And he did the same with
  the cup after supper, saying, This cup that is
  poured out for you is the new covenant in my
  blood.
• (Luke 2219-20)

90
The Great Commission

• Jesus came to (the eleven disciples) and said to
  them, All authority in heaven and on earth has
  been given to me. . .

91
Sent into the World

• . . .Go therefore and make disciples of all
  nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
  and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
  teaching them to obey everything that I have
  commanded you. And remember, I am with you
  always, to the end of the age. (Matthew
  2818-20)

92
Discussion Questions

• If Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the
  prophets, and his death is the once for all
  sacrifice for sin, do we still need to offer any
  sacrifices to God?
• What does Jesus tell us to offer to God?

93
The New Israel

• I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,
  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as
  a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
  which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 121)
• But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
  holy nation, Gods own people, in order that you
  may proclaim the mighty acts of him who call you
  our of darkness into his marvelous light.
• (1 Peter 29)

94
Parable of the sower explained

• Jesus said, As for what was sown among thorns,
  this is the one who hears the word, but the cares
  of the world and the lure of wealth choke the
  word, and it yields nothing. But as for what is
  sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the
  word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit
  and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another
  sixty, and in another thirty.(Mt13)

95
Jesus condemns false piety

• Jesus said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
  hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill and cummin,
  and have neglected the weightier matters of the
  law justice and mercy and faith. It is these you
  ought to have practiced without neglecting the
  others. (Matthew 2323)

96
Jesus teaches us how to live.

• Do not store up for yourselves treasures on
  earth, where moth and rust consume and where
  thieves break in and steal but store up for
  yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
  moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not
  break in and steal. For where your treasure is,
  there your heart will be also. (Matthew 619-21)

97
. . . free from worry. . .

• No one can serve two masters for a slave will
  either hate the one and love the other, or be
  devoted to the one and despise the other. You
  cannot serve God and wealth.
• Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your
  life, what you will eat or what you will drink,
  or about your body, what you will wear. Is not
  life more than food, and the body more than
  clothing? . . .

98
. . .and trusting in God.

• . . . Look at the birds of the air they
  neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and
  yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
  of more value than they? . . .

99
If God cares for the lilies . . .

• . . .And can any of you by worrying add a
  single hour to the span of your life? And why do
  you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of
  the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor
  spin . . . .

100
. . .God will care for you.

• . . . yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his
  glory was not clothed like one of these. But if
  God so clothes the grass of the field, which is
  alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
  will he not much more clothe you you of little
  faith? . . .

101
Strive for the Kingdom of God.

• Therefore do not worry, saying, What will we
  eat? or What will we drink? For it is the
  Gentiles who strive for all these things. But
  strive first for the kingdom of God and his
  righteousness, and all these things will be given
  to you as well. (Matthew 631-33)

102
Early church learned from apostles

• They devoted themselves to the apostles
  teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread
  and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because
  many wonders and signs were being done by the
  apostles. All who believed were together and had
  all things in common they would sell their
  possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds
  to all, as any had need. . . .

103
And lived as Jesus said to live.

• . . . Day by day, as they spent much time
  together in the temple, they broke bread at home
  and ate their food with glad and generous hearts,
  praising God and having the goodwill of all
  people. And day by day the Lord added to their
  number those who were being saved. (Acts 247-47)

104
Collection for the saints

• We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about
  the grace of God that has been granted to the
  churches of Macedonia for during a severe ordeal
  of affliction, their abundant joy and their
  extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of
  generosity on their part. For as I can testify,
  they voluntarily gave according to their means,
  and even beyond their means, . . .

105
. . .even from the suffering churches.

• . . .begging us earnestly for the privilege of
  sharing in this ministry to the saints and
  this, not merely as we expected they gave
  themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of
  God, to us, . . . (2 Corinthians 81-5)
• For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus
  Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
  sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you
  might become rich. (89)

106
As we reap we will sow

• The point is this the one who sows sparingly
  will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows
  bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of
  you must give as you have made up your mind, not
  reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a
  cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you
  with every blessing in abundance, so that by
  always having enough of everything, you may share
  abundantly in every good work. . . .

107
And God will provide abundantly.

• . . .He who supplies seed to the sower and bread
  for food will supply and multiply your seed for
  sowing and increase the harvest of your
  righteousness. You will be enriched in every way
  for your great generosity, which will produce
  thanksgiving to God through us for the rendering
  of this ministry not only supplies the needs of
  the saints but also overflows with many
  thanksgivings to God. (2 Cor. 96-8,10-12)

108
Gods word of assurance

• Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and
  make good your vows to the Most High.
• Call upon me in the day of trouble
• I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.
• (Psalm 5014-15, Book of Common Prayer)