{"id":5289,"date":"2019-09-25T20:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T03:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=5289"},"modified":"2019-09-21T23:45:17","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T06:45:17","slug":"2chronicles_31_1-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2chronicles_31_1-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Settle for Mediocrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Chronicles 31:1-21 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is on 2 Chronicles 31:1-21.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 31:1 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 1:\u00a0\u00a0Notice that after the worship festival ended, the Israelites continued their worship by destroying the things that had been used to worship idols.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0A natural outflow of revival, a natural fruit of the Holy Spirit working in your heart, is that you want to tear down the things that don\u2019t give God glory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 31:4-5 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the\u00a0LORD.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 2-12a: Notice that at the same time that Hezekiah assigns the priests to serve and offer offerings at the Temple (v2), Hezekiah orders the people to tithe and to \u201cgive the portion due the priests and Levites\u201d (v4) so that they could \u201cdevote themselves to the law of the Lord\u201d (v4).\u00a0\u00a0So the people tithe faithfully, and as a result the priests and Levites had more than enough and can focus on their duties (v10) and the left overs are stored for future use.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0It is imperative that God\u2019s people tithe faithfully so that those who work in the church can focus on leading the church and not have to worry about holding second jobs.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Do you tithe faithfully?\u00a0\u00a0If not, not only are you stealing from God (Malachi 3:8), but you are also stealing from and short changing those who work in the church, and you\u2019re preventing your church from fulfilling all of its God-given mission.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Tithe faithfully so that you yourself can be blessed, and so that those who have dedicated their full time to working in the church can be well provided for and can focus singlemindedly on leading the church.<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 31:17-18 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And they distributed to the priests enrolled by their families in the genealogical records and likewise to the Levites twenty years old or more, according to their responsibilities and their divisions.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They included all the little ones, the wives, and the sons and daughters of the whole community listed in these genealogical records. For they were faithful in consecrating themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12b-19:\u00a0\u00a0After receiving the tithe from the people, the priests and Levites in charge distribute a portion of those tithes to the other priests and Levites so that their respective families and children can be taken care of.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that these verses specifically name the people in charge of that distribution shows\u00a0how important it is to have trustworthy, responsible people in charge of distributing church resources.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 31:20-21 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0his God.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-21:\u00a0\u00a0Because Hezekiah sought God, did what was right and worked wholeheartedly, he prospered.\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s principles continue to work the same way today.\u00a0\u00a0Even in the kingdom of God I find that a lot of times what you put in is very much what you get out.\u00a0\u00a0Put God first, pursue excellence in what you do, work super hard, and you will prosper.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Those who really try to honor God and pursue excellence in all they do tend to do very well in life.\u00a0\u00a0On the other hand, there are plenty of Christians out there who put a mediocre effort in loving and serving their church, a mediocre effort at their work or studies, a mediocre trust in God, a mediocre effort to love those around them, and as a result they live mediocre lives that don\u2019t encourage anyone but confuse everyone, including both the Christians and non-Christians around them.\u00a0\u00a0Then they blame God or abandon God for their lack of success.<\/p>\n

Listen to me, Christian:\u00a0\u00a0You were not made to live a mediocre life.\u00a0\u00a0You were made to give God your very best in all that you do, to seek His kingdom first, to trust Him in your practical day to day decision making and find that He causes you to prosper when you do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that those who trust in You wholeheartedly, who really want to honour You and pursue excellence in all they do prosper.\u00a0\u00a0May I not settle for mediocrity and give You a mediocre effort in my ministry, my work, my studies, my home life and in how much I trust You.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that when I pursue excellence in all that I do, trust You and seek You first in my practical day and day, I will prosper.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is on 2 Chronicles 31:1-21.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 31:1 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.<\/p>\n

On verse 1:\u00a0\u00a0Notice that after the worship festival ended, the Israelites continued their worship by destroying the things that had been used to worship idols.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0A natural outflow of revival, a natural fruit of the Holy Spirit working in your heart, is that you want to tear down the things that don\u2019t give God glory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5289"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5292,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289\/revisions\/5292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}