September 27, 2009 | Posted by admin
Fulfilling Financial Obligations (Luke 20:20-26)
Luke 20:20-26 (Amplified Bible)
20 So they watched [for an opportunity to ensnare] Him, and sent spies who pretended to be upright (honest and sincere), that they might lay hold of something He might say, so as to turn Him over to the control and authority of the governor.
21 They asked Him, Teacher, we know that You speak and teach what is right, and that You show no partiality to anyone but teach the way of God honestly and in truth.
22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?
23 But He recognized and understood their cunning and unscrupulousness and said to them,
24 Show Me a denarius (a coin)! Whose image and inscription does it have? They answered, Caesar’s.
25 He said to them, Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
26 So they could not in the presence of the people take hold of anything He said to turn it against Him; but marveling at His reply, they were silent.
In the days that Jesus walked this earth, paying taxes to the Romans was especially grievous and difficult. The Romans were a foreign and occupying force and the tax burden was heavy. The image of the emperor and the inscription on the coins symbolized the oppressive power of the Romans. However, as governing authority in the region, Rome exercised dominion dominion under God.God holds every emperor, king, president, governor and their subordinates responsible for the way in which they exercise their authority. He also holds all subjects responsible for the way that they submit to that authority.
For this reason, it is not only lawful, it is an obligation for each citizen to support the legitimate functions of the government as an ordained institution that is ordained by God. All duties to the government are limited and superseded by the absolute allegiance owed to God alone.
Every ruler and every person ruled must remember that all things are ultimately His and He will call everyone to account for the way that they have handled His property. This is the absolute natire of stewardship.
He said to them, Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
We must remember that if we are faithful in the small things, He will make us stewards of greater things.
Categories: Faith, Success | 
Tags: Bible study, Faith, Jesus, money, Success | 
1 Comment »
September 18, 2009 | Posted by admin
Precepts are rule or laws or principles by which we need to live our lives. A promise is defined in the dictionary as: an express assurance on which expectation is to be based. God has given us His precepts and His promises in order that we can live a successful life as His children; not just in the life to come but in this present life.
The first precept and promise made that we will consider is in Proverbs 3:6 (Amplified.) “In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.” The precept or principle is to acknowledge Him, our one and true living God. The promise that follows this is that He (God) will direct our path. All that is asked of us is that we acknowledge God as our God, the Master and the Creator of the Universe and Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son and our Savior. In John 3:16 we are assured that all we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ, given to us through His Love for us, and we are promised life eternal with Him. There is no greater promise than the promise of salvation.
The second precept and promise that we want to consider is found in Psalms 37:4 (Amplified.) “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.” When we say delight yourself, what do we mean? Delight means to give or receive or take great pleasure in something or someone. It is easy to understand that when something gives us great pleasure it become the center of our attention. It becomes the object of our affection and something sought after. When we concentrate (focus) our attention on Christ, we begin to be filled with His joy. We begin to realize the extent to which He provides immeasurable pleasure and happiness in our lives. The more pleasure (joy) that is Christ that fills our lives the more He delights us. When we delight (find joy immeasurable) in God, He gives us the desire and secret petitions of our heart. This does not mean the fleshy materialistic desires. Those materialistic desires seem to fade away as we realize the essence of our relationship with God. The new car or bigger house or big bank accounts are not as important as our desire to be the conduit of God’s blessings to others. We begin to desire to accomplish His will. The amazing part of this is that when we put aside the desire for things the more He blesses us with greater things.
This, in effect, leads to our third precept and promise that we find in the Holy Scripture. When we are obedient we realize the satisfaction of accomplishing our part in the plan of God. Isaiah 1:19 tells us that “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” If we are willing to obey God’s Laws and to do the work that God has purposed us for, our rewards are unbelievable. He also tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice. By obeying God’s Commandments we demonstrate our willingness to be His children. When we obey God’s precepts, we honor Him. When we obey God’s Laws, we bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. If we are willing to do and to obey God, He will bless us beyond our imagining.
In this physical life that we are living now, the burdens of simply living sometimes bear heavily on our shoulders. There is a precept and a promise that we find in Matthew 11:29 that gives a definite solution to this. Jesus told us “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.” When we do as He says (His precept,) we are assured of rest and ease to the situations in our lives. He will help us bear under the weight of the burdens in our lives.
This brings us to a similar precept and promise that assures us that life can be dealt with in a manner that will be rewarding and bring us great satisfaction. The precept is to seek and the promise is a promise of fulfillment. We read in Matthew 6:33 “But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.” When we seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, God’s Holiness, everything that we need and want is added to us. This is such good news. We are to keep Christ as our focus, not wealth nor property nor things nor lack of things. When we focus on the Creator, all of creation is at our fingertips, without having to divert our attention to it.
Another principle that carries a magnificent promise is found in Malachi 3:10. “Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” God promises us that He will open the windows of Heaven and shower us with blessing so great that we will not have room to contain them. All we have to do is give back to Him 1/10th of what He has already given us. Everything that we will ever have already belongs to God. He wants to test our willingness to follow His precepts. He wants us to prove Him.
Ezekiel 11:20 gives us a glimpse into the world that God has planned for us. “That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.” When we follow all of God’s precepts, live by all of His Laws, we will be His people and He will be our God. What a wonderful state of affairs. When we are God’s people, we are in God’s favor. When He is our God, all of His bounty is laid before us. True and lasting success can only be found when God, The Almighty Creator of the Universe, is our God.
Categories: Success | Tags: | No Comments »
September 18, 2009 | Posted by admin
When we consider the fundamental principles of successful living, we must consider several very important points. The following discussion will be of great value to anyone who is seeking a successful life.
First we must understand the meaning of success. Is attaining wealth success? Not in and of itself. Success is equipping yourself to handle life on this physical world and learning the principles that will put you on the path to success.
Secondly we must learn to recognize and map our individual path to success. These principles are covered in our Success Training Bible study and the Study of King Solomon’s Principles through the Proverbs. These can be found at the Christian Success Institute
The Holy Scripture is packed with every bit of information that is necessary to developing a successful life. Becoming a diligent student is vital to equipping the Christian to gather and handle success and to become a good steward of the success with which he has been blessed.
While learning through diligent study we can also put the learned principles into action. The Christian Success Institute also offers loads of up to date information necessary to develop an on-line business. The Internet Marketing Strategies critical to the financial success of on-line entrepreneurs.
In order for a diligent student to become successful in an Internet business, it is wise to learn the principles necessary to launch and manage an on-line business. It is possible to manage and market affiliate relationships with other successful companies, such as the affiliate program at The Christian Success Institute.
Affiliate links, however, are easily spotted and avoided. This can be frustrating. One of the best ways to use affiliate URLs is to convert them to ‘tiny urls’ at http://tinyurl.com or to purchase a domain name that can be pointed to an affiliate URL.
These are effective methods but, for the truly successful, owning at least one website is a must. I recommend that everyone needs a website (for product sales) and a ‘blog’ to direct traffic to your website.
The Christian Success Institute also owns and operates ‘iNet iMage Developers‘ (http://inetimage.com). iNet iMage Developers is a Christian based website hosting company which offers discounted website hosting and design for students at CSI. http://inetimage.com hosts many websites at affordable prices but, for CSI students, the discount is deeper. The Special hosting package can be found at
‘ Special Hosting Packages’
http://inetimage.com/csi/csispecialhosting.htm
It is our goal to help every Christian to live a successful life and to spread the Gospel to all nations.
Categories: Success | Tags: Bible study, hosting, Success | No Comments »
September 17, 2009 | Posted by admin
There are many people who believe that preachers should only preach about “spiritual” matters. They are often offended when they hear a sermon about based, crude and worldly topics such as sex, politics or money. This could be the reason that so many were offended at Jesus’ message.
Too often people do not understand that there is a ’spiritual’ side to politics and sex and money. Jesus did not limit religious practices to ceremonial affairs, ritualistic worship. Jesus extended His message to include the practical concerns of everyday life. He knew that godliness was not measured by how a person behaved in the temple (church) but by how he behaved at home, on the job and in the marketplace.
Since money plays an integral role in our daily lives, it’s only natural that Jesus addressed this topic on many occasions. In this issue of our newsletter we will begin a few lessons on what Jesus had to say about this very important topic.
The Power of Words
Using Money Wisely (Luke 16:9-13 NAS)
9″And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
10″He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
11″Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?
12″And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
13″No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Here Jesus is teaching the meaning (the lesson) of the parable in the preceding verses. The point, simply put, is: we are to wisely use the resources (money, property, etc.) that are given to us. We are to understand the purpose of money and to whom it belongs. The wealth that is put into our hands is only temporary, while we are here on this planet. It is entrusted to us by God who makes us steward of His property.
We are given the opportunity to prove our wisdom and faithfulness by how we use the resources given to us. Wise stewards use temporal wealth for eternal purposes by serving the interests of the Master, thus laying up treasures in Heaven. We can expect to be rewarded with treasures and opportunities that cannot be taken from us, that will not tarnish or rot away.
We must look at wealth as a tool to serve Kingdom purposes and bring Glory to the Master. Some seek wealth for their own greedy purposes and to have the things that please them. Others seek first the Master and then use the wealth that they are given to serve Him. We can either let money be our master or we can love and serve the Master who has the ability and the desire to make us stewards of His physical and spiritual wealth, We can not serve two masters.
Categories: Faith, Success | Tags: Faith, Jesus, money, Success | No Comments »
