Advent | December 4 FOR GOD’S LITTLE PEOPLE (Luke 2:1-5)

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be registered. This was the
first registration when Quirinius was governor of
Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own
town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from
the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David,
which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the
house and lineage of David, to be registered with
Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. —Luke 2:1–5

Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that
God ordained beforehand that the Messiah be born in
Bethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 5 shows); and that
he so ordained things that when the time came, the Messiah’s
mother and legal father were living in Nazareth; and
that in order to fulfill his word and bring two little people
to Bethlehem that first Christmas, God put it in the heart
of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be
enrolled each in his own town?

Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a
world of seven billion people, where all the news is of big
political and economic and social movements and of outstanding
people with lots of power and prestige?

If you have, don’t let that make you disheartened or
unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth
political forces and all the giant industrial complexes,
without their even knowing it, are being guided
by God, not for their own sake but for the sake of God’s
little people—the little Mary and the little Joseph who
have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields
an empire to bless his children.

Do not think, because you experience adversity, that
the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity
but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart. And to
that end, he rules the whole world. As Proverbs 21:1 says,
“The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the
Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”

He is a big God for little people, and we have great
cause to rejoice that, unbeknownst to them, all the kings
and presidents and premiers and chancellors of the world
follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in heaven, that
we, the children, might be conformed to the image of his
Son, Jesus Christ.

© Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Good News of Great Joy

The Christmas Story Week 1

About the Author

Message by:
Pastor Terry Crawford
Covenant Church
Shepherdstown, WV

The Christmas Story, how it changes my story.

IDEA:

If you can trust the Author you can trust his words.

God gave it to us for a reason. He told it to us to guide our hearts and path.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Scripture has inspired, transformed, empowered, and enabled, us to do the good that needs to be done.

God is the author of the Christmas Story.

What it the Author (God) like?

An attribute is not a part of God but what is true about God in his very nature.

Although the purpose of the next few minutes is to give a peek at some of the Attributes of God, I must apologize because all I can share in the words of Job are "the fringes of His ways and how faint a word we hear of Him!" God’s attributes are to be learned over a lifetime and digested slowly, purposefully and personally and at times we will find ourselves still and knowing that He is God. But to not touch on who God is today would be a shame and a loss since he is the author.

God is faithful.

Psalm 100:5
For the LORDis good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

We don’t care how much you know until we know how much you care.

God has, from the beginning, faithfully invested himself in humanity. He has relentlessly chased us and called us to himself. He even says we can call him Father which helps convey a picture of a faithful parental figure.

God is Omnipotent - He can do it.

Jeremiah 32:17
‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

God is Omnipresent - He is here.

Psalms 139:7-12
⁷Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” ¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

God is Omniscient - He knows it.

Daniel 2:21
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

1 John 3:20
If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

God is immutable - He never changes

Malachi 3:6
“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

God is truth.

John 17:17
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Truth - That which coincides with reality. God cannot lie, that is reality and so he is truth.

God is love.

Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

“The Bible is a whole series of highways, all leading toward God. And when the text has been illuminated and the believer of the text knows that God is the end toward which he is moving, then that man has real faith.” ― A.W. Tozer

30 Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God

So when we trust the Author, and we trust the facts, then we can trust the story.

Infinite/eternal/limitless - Psalm 90/147

God is just. Balance the scales morally. His nature and character is the standard by which he judges. Why is lying wrong? Because, God is truth.

God is good. Psalm 119 shows God exercising his goodness and provokes praise. Do not grow weary in doing good. No matter how we respond God keeps exercising his goodness.

God is love. Not does he loves, but God is love. The more I learn of him the more I love him. Jeremiah - I have loved you with an everlasting love. Christ’s love is uninfluenced. Nothing made it happen. Nothing triggered it.

God is faithful - Psalm 119 and Deuteronomy 7:9, knowing that God is faithful increases my confidence in him.

The greater we know God, true God, the greater he will be glorified in our lives.

“When Jesus died on the cross the mercy of God did not become any greater. It could not become any greater, for it was already infinite. We get the odd notion that God is showing mercy because Jesus died. No--Jesus died because God is showing mercy. It was the mercy of God that gave us Calvary, not Calvary that gave us mercy. If God had not been merciful there would have been no incarnation, no babe in the manger, no man on a cross and no open tomb.” ― A.W. Tozer

Trusting God’s word benefits us and glorifies Him.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 12:2
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

NEXT STEPS

• Today I commit my life to Christ, the author and perfecter of faith.
• Today I commit to read the Christmas Story with an open heart and mind.
• Today I commit to let God’s word equip me and complete me.

Advent | December 3 THE LONG-AWAITED VISITATION (Luke 1:68-71)

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited
and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of
salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as
he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies and from
the hand of all who hate us…” —Luke 1:68–71

Notice two remarkable things from these words of Zechariah
in Luke 1.

First, nine months earlier, Zechariah could not believe
his wife would have a child. Now, filled with the Holy
Spirit, he is so confident of God’s redeeming work in the
coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense. For the
mind of faith, a promised act of God is as good as done.
Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has
a remarkable assurance: “God has visited and redeemed!”

Second, the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a visitation
of God to our world: “The God of Israel has visited and
redeemed.” For centuries, the Jewish people had languished
under the conviction that God had withdrawn:
the spirit of prophecy had ceased, Israel had fallen into the
hands of Rome. And all the godly in Israel were awaiting
the visitation of God. Luke tells us in 2:25 that the devout
Simeon was “looking for the consolation of Israel.” And
in Luke 2:38 the prayerful Anna was “looking for the
redemption of Jerusalem.”

These were days of great expectation. Now the longawaited
visitation of God was about to happen—indeed,
he was about to come in a way no one expected.

© Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Good News of Great Joy

Advent | December 2 MARY’S MAGNIFICENT GOD (Luke 1:46-55)

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me
blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” —Luke 1:46–55

Mary sees clearly a most remarkable thing about God: He is
about to change the course of all human history. The most
important three decades in all of time are about to begin.

And where is God? Occupying himself with two
obscure, humble women—one old and barren (Elizabeth),
one young and virginal (Mary). And Mary is so moved by
this vision of God, the lover of the lowly, that she breaks
out in song — a song that has come to be known as “the
Magnificat” (Luke 1:46–55).

Mary and Elizabeth are wonderful heroines in Luke’s
account. He loves the faith of these women. The thing that
impresses him most, it appears, and the thing he wants to
impress on Theophilus, his noble reader, is the lowliness
and cheerful humility of Elizabeth and Mary.

Elizabeth says,“Why is this granted to me that the
mother of my Lord would come to me?” (Luke 1:43). And
Mary says, “He has looked on the humble estate of his servant”
(Luke 1:48).

The only people whose soul can truly magnify the
Lord are people like Elizabeth and Mary—people who
acknowledge their lowly estate and are overwhelmed by
the condescension of the magnificent God.

© Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Good News of Great Joy

Thanksgiving Message

The Not-So-Secret of a Thankful Heart

Message by:
Pastor Terry Crawford
Covenant Church
Shepherdstown, WV

Being thankful is good for you

• Thankful people thank God
  
  Romans 6:17-18 NIV
  ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
  
  2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV
  But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
  
  1 Corinthians 15:56-57 NIV
  ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
  
  
• Thanklessness and ingratitude are not fruits of a follower of Jesus
  
  2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV
  ¹But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
  
  Philippians 1:3-6
  ³I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
  
  
• Thankful people thank people



• Thankful people are changed people
  
  1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 NIV
  ¹²Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. ¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray continually, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.



• A thankful heart is an outward focusedheart

My Next Steps

• Today I commit to give thanks to God in my daily prayer time.
• This week I commit to tell someone in my circle of influence why I am thankful for them.
• This week I commit to tell some in my church family why I am thankful for them.

Transformed Week 8 - Facing the Giants in Life and Work

TRANSFORMED – Facing Giants in Life and Work

Message by:
Pastor Terry Crawford
Covenant Church
Shepherdstown, WV

God has given us a great gift. The ability to dream, to imagine the future.

Dream Busters

These problems can be financial problems. They can be emotional problems. They can be relational problems. They can be problems with your health. What do you do when you face these giants in life? How do you face the giants in your life and work?

1 SAMUEL 17:1-52
¹Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. ² Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. ³ The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

⁴ A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. ⁵ He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; ⁶ on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

⁸ Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” ¹¹ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰ Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

²⁵ Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

²⁷ They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

²⁹ “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.⁴³ He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

⁵¹ David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

⁵⁴ David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵ As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

⁵⁷ As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.

⁵⁸ “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

An Important lesson from David and Goliath Story: Giants are not what they seem.

The kinds of obstacles we face in our life are not nearly as insurmountable and depressing and overwhelming as they appear to be at first blush. Look closely and you’ll see a different truth. Giants can be slain. Particularly by those who have the Spirit of the Lord in their hearts.

It’s unlikely that you’re ever going to have to face a physical giant like David did. But it is highly likely that you’re going to have to face a whole lot of other common giants. Giants of financial problems, relational problems, marriage problems, work problems. Problems that keep you from going after your dream. You are far more likely to have to face those giants than a Goliath. But they can be just as big and just as intimidating and can keep you from becoming who God wants you to be and fulfilling the dream that God has put in your heart.

THE OTHER “GIANTS” DAVID HAD TO FACE - Dream Busters

Samuel anoints David as King and then says wait.

1. DELAY
   
   1 SAMUEL 17:12-15
   Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. … David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
   
   Sometimes the people who hold you back the most are those who love you the most.
   
   
2. DISCOURAGEMENT
   
   1 SAMUEL 17:8-11
    ⁸ He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.  ⁹  If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.”  ¹⁰ And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” ¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
   1 SAMUEL 17:16
    For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
   
   1 SAMUEL 17:23-24
   As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.
   
   Negativity is contagious.
   
   
3. DISAPPROVAL
   
   1 SAMUEL 17:26, 28-29
    And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? … Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” And David said, “What have I done now?
   
   Here’s the problem. The reason why most people don’t ever go after their dream is they’re afraid of disapproval. They are afraid of rejection. In this case David’s own brother questions his motives.
   
   Sometimes it’s your own family that doesn’t want you to accomplish God’s dream.
   
   It may be envy. It may be jealousy. It may be they think they know you better than you do and they know your weaknesses. But they don’t know God’s strength. It may be that they would be embarrassed. It may be that they would resent you being successful and it would make them look bad. Whatever it is ,sibling rivalry often leads to resentment.
   
   Let the size of your God determine the size of your goal.
   
   
4. DOUBT
   
   1 SAMUEL 17:32-33
    And David said to Saul, “Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”  And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
   
   Am I capable of this? Am I up to the task for this? Can I actually do what God is asking me to do?
   
   Then there are people all around you who tell you, you can’t. In David’s case the expert doubted his ability. There was nobody who was a greater expert on war than King Saul because Saul had been in battle his entire life.
   
   How do you defeat the giants that are keeping you from being the man God wants you to be? How do you defeat these fears that are keeping you from being the woman God wants you to be? To be a person of great faith with a great dream and a great life work. How do you overcome those giants?
   
   You do the very things that David did. The four things that David did to defeat these giants before he gets to Goliath.

HOW TO DEFEAT GIANTS

1. I remember how God has helped me in the past.
   
   1 SAMUEL 17:37
   And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”  
   
   
2. I use the tools that God has given me now!
   
     1 SAMUEL 17:38-40
   Then Saul clothed David with his armor. …Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off.  Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
   
   
3. I ignore the dreambusters!
   
   1 SAMUEL 30:6 (KJV)
   And David was greatly distressed; … but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
   
   
4. I expect God to help me for his glory!
   
   1 SAMUEL 17:45-47
   Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts…. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”

Transformed Week 7 - How I See and Use Money

TRANSFORMED – How I See and Use Money

Message by:
Pastor Terry Crawford
Covenant Church
Shepherdstown, WV

Have you ever been where the bills are more than the income? You have more month than you have money. Or you want to do something bigger or deeper or more compassionate with your resources and when you look around, you don’t have any extra. Every person who lives in this century will be affected by their use of money or someone else’s use of money. And as we go through our 50 days of Transformation, dealing will spiritual health, physical health, mental health, emotional health, relational health and vocational health, we also have the great opportunity to look today at another area of our lives that needs health.

Parable: An earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Luke 16:1-9 (NIV) ¹ Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. ² So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ ³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— ⁴ I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ ⁵ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ ⁷ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ ⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. ⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Jesus was talking to managers, not masters.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT MONEY

1. IT ALL BELONGS TO GOD!
   
   Luke 16:3 (NIV) ³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—



2. WE CAN MANAGE IT WELL OR BADLY.
   
   Luke 16:1, 8 (NIV) ¹ Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. , ⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.


Reasons We Aren’t Better With Our Finances •
• We don’t want to be.
•
• We want to be but don’t know how.
•
• We want to be and know how, but keep sliding back into bad habits.



3. THE BEST USE OF MONEY IS TO GET PEOPLE INTO HEAVEN.
   
   Luke 16:9 (NIV) ⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.


MONEY IS A:


• TOOL OF GREAT VALUE
  
  Luke 16:9 (NIV) ⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.



• TEST OF OUR PRIORITIES
  
  Luke 16:10-12 (NIV) ¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
  
  Mathew 6:19-21 (NIV) ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
  
  Proverbs 11:28 (NIV) Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.



• TRADEMARK OF WHO WE ARE
  
  Luke 16:13 (NIV) “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

NEXT STEPS

• Today I recognize my mismanagement of God’s resources and commit to prioritize my finances.
• Today I commit to join what God is doing at Covenant through regular giving.
• This week I will do one thing financially to invest into eternity.