Sunday Jan. 8

This sunday, like last, was really different for me.

by the way, i've found that the notes are "copious"--there are a LOT of notes to transcribe from the audio file on this week's time in the word--so I'm going to make this blog entry about the EXPERIENCE of sunday night, trying to fit in all the scriptures about it, too...

Well, the sunday before, we were in Luke 16, looking into the issue of how we use money in this life, in the light of the topical emphasis on GIVING.

We established that Jesus is calling us to:
not serve money and God--you can't
use our money, tainted as it is, to make FRIENDS with people who will welcome us into "eternal dwellings", or "tents of eternity", as my Jerusalem Bible puts it...

What are the "tents of eternity", and who has good ones?
Answer: the tents of eternity refers to the final kingdom dwelling/state that we have in Christ.
the poor are the ones who have the good ones...

James 1:7 puts the poor in high rank
Matthew 25 puts the "least of these" in high rank, too.

we are made to fear, as we consider that God will treat the poor of this world as rich in the next...
Jas. 2:5

Then we went on to be terrified by the
next parable in Luke 16, about a Rich man and a man named Lazarus.
We noted a lot of things there, but the point made us fear, lest we forget Lazarus in our own life, seeing that Jesus described a judgment that rewards the poor...

conclusion?
it seems that the way to blessing isn't just to HELP the poor, but to BECOME the poor!

Look at Luke 6! (remember, this is a series on giving) and see how blessed the poor are! look at the curse of the rich!
Woe is us if we pile up wealth in this world! Woe!

So that was a recap of Jan 8th.

That was the point!

The notes are available from me. email me and i'll send them... They're transcribed from audio...