Goodevening family. I hope we are all doing great. It's always awesome being in God's presence to hear His word. I bless the Lord for making the program possible were lives would be transformed through God's word. I am Bro Ajah Kelvin and am doing this post to share some of my lessons from the mass indoctrination Day 11.
From the lesson, we saw that there are people who have rather choose to follow the wrong path inspite of the right path being made known to them. It's synonymous to like a dog returning to its vomit to feed from it. They know the truth but still want to remain in their old ways which doesn't glorify God-Proverbs 26:11. They prefer to eat of the table of the devil and Christ. The table of Christ is referred to as the church according to 1Corinthians 10:21.
In the true church, the children of God are led by the Holy Spirit and He guides our actions. There are things we are expected to do voluntarily in the true church even when we aren't told to do so or commanded, for they are meant to be done willingly and not on compulsion. According to Isaiah 1:19, willingness has a good reward.
Things to do voluntarily in the house of God
(1) vow (2) offering (3) thanksgiving (4)Giving alms,etc
Vow is to be done voluntarily based on what we decided to give, but after vowing, we are expected to keep to what we have decided-Numbers 30:2. Apostle vowed according to Acts 18:18,so vow is allowed in the true church. we can vow to serve God faithful,we can also vow to stop bad habits. But it's very important that when we vow that we should fulfilled it-Eclesiates 5:4
Giving should be decided by the individual and not to be decided by any whether it is big or little-2 Corinthians 9:7
The Macedonian church gave according to their power ie it is from what they decided, so it is unscriptural to charge fee for activities in the Church e.g baptism, confirmation, etc has fee in the Catholic practise but this not to be so. it is a payment and not voluntary ie it has a fixed amount. Offering should be according to your decision. if there must be a donation, the people should decide among themselves-2 Corinthians
We are expected to approach the box be it for offering or donation and not bringing the box to us , The widow approach the box and not the other way round- Mark 12:41-42. Contributions are asked for because most of the services are paid for ie rentage, envangelism, welfares of brwelfares of brethren, travelling for official duties, internet services,etc. Bro Eli has restaurant that generate income for him and not using contributions for his personal needs. The offering of the brethrens are used for the propagation of the gsopel. collection is usually done on the first day of the week, during large gatherings and every giving is voluntarily, for God loves cheerful givers so the people don't feel they are taken advantage of. Giving should be done voluntarily.
The people from Philippe voluntarily rendered Paul some assistance.
There should be no fixed price in giving in the church. Acts 4:3. During Thanksgiving ,we can decide to give offering unto God and is done voluntarily and not a fixed thing for the brethren. -Psalms 116:17
Thanksgiving is done by men. God didn't command us to give Thanksgiving but it's up to us to dim it fit to do so or not -Jeremiah 30:19
Doing things voluntarily is legal before God. According to Hebrews 13:16 we shouldn't forget to do good and to communicate for God is well pleased with it. According to 1Corinthians 16:1-2, when we give contribution in the church,it should be counted by five(5) persons and a report given. The report is necessary so have to ensure the money is intact. Judas did stole from the purse;if there was a report,this would have been avoided. In 2 Corinthians 12:14-15, Paul worked and provided for His needs. Apostle Paul tried not to bordered the brethren with his burden.
Thanks for going through. Hope we gained something too from the piece. Want to invite us to join us in the remaining sessions.
