Helping the poor and present our offerings to God

Helping the poor and present our offerings to God  

Acts 24:17(Paul went to Jerusalem to bring gifts to the poor and to present offerings)

¹⁷ “After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.

Acts 11:29, 30(The church in Antioch was helping the for the brothers and sisters living in Judea)

²⁹ The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. ³⁰ This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Rom 15:25-28, 31(Sharing our material blessings with poor)

²⁵ Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. ²⁶ For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. ²⁷ They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. ²⁸ So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. ²⁹ I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

We learn the following from the above verses

1)   Paul went to Jerusalem to bring gifts to the poor and to present offerings

2)   The church in Antioch was helping the for the brothers and sisters living in Judea

3)   Sharing our material blessings with poor is a blessing

God’s children do nothing wrong -- continued

God’s children do nothing wrong -- continued

Luke 23:4(Pilate could not find any basis for a charge against Jesus)

⁴ Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

Acts 25:25(Agrippa said that Paul had done nothing deserving of death)

²⁵ I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome.

Acts 26:31(Agrippa and everyone with him agreed that Paul had done nothing that deserves death or imprisonment)

³⁰ The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. ³¹ After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.”

Acts 28:18(Paul was explaining how King Agrippa and others with him wanted to release him as he was guilty of any crime)

¹⁸ They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death.

We learn the following from the above verses

1)  Pilate could not find any basis for a charge against Jesus

2)  Agrippa said that Paul had done nothing deserving of death

3)  Agrippa and everyone with him agreed that Paul had done nothing that deserves death or imprisonment

4)  Paul was explaining how King Agrippa and others with him wanted to release him as he was guilty of any crime

God’s children do nothing wrong

God’s children do nothing wrong

Acts 23:9, 29(Pharisees and the ruler could not find anything wrong with Paul)

⁹ There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,”they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

²⁹ I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment.

Psalm 119:3(Blessed are those who keep His statutes and do no wrong)

Blessed are those who keep his statutes 
    and seek him with all their heart— 
³ they do no wrong but follow his ways. 

Jer 26:16(People did not find anything against Jeremiah)

¹⁶ Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

We learn the following from the above verses

1)   God’s children do nothing wrong

2)   Pharisees and the ruler could not find anything wrong with Paul

3)   Blessed are those who keep His statutes and do no wrong

4)   People did not find anything against Jeremiah

Deacons must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience

1 Ti 3:9

⁸ In the same way, deacons^[b] are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. ⁹ They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰ They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

2 Ti 1:3

³ I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.

Heb 9:14

¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,^[c] so that we may serve the living God!

Heb 10:22

²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Heb 13:18

¹⁸ Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.

1 Pet 3:16, 21

¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

We learn the following from the above verses

1)  Deacons must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience

2)  We should serve God with clear conscience

3)  The blood of Christ cleanses our consciences from acts that lead to death,^[c] so that we may serve the living God!

4)  Let us draw near to God with the heart cleansed from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water

5)  We should pray to have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way

6)  We should keep a clear conscience so that who speak maliciously against our good behavior may be ashamed of their slander.

Fulfilling our duty to God in all good conscience

Fulfilling our duty to God in all good conscience

Acts 23:1

23 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”

Acts 24:16

¹⁶ So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

1 Cor 4:4

⁴ My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

2 Cor 1:12

¹² Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity^[b] and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. 

1 Ti 1:5, 19

³ As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer ⁴ or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. ⁵ The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

¹⁸ Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well,¹⁹ holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. 

We learn the following from the above verses

1)   We should be fulfilling our duty to God in all Good conscience

2)   We should strive always to keep our conscience clear before God and man.

3)   Our conscience should be clear

4)   Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with people of God, with integrity^[b] and godly sincerity

You may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer ⁴ or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

We were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God

(We were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God)

1 Cor 6:11

¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Eph 5:26

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Tit 3:5

⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Heb 10:22

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

1 Pet 3:21

²¹ and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.^[e] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

We learn the following from the above verses

1)  We were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God

2)  Christ cleanses church with water through word and makes it radiant

3)   Christ saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior

4)  Our hearts are cleansed from guilty conscience , as we are washed with God’s Word and His blood

5)  Water baptism saves us as it is a pledge of  a clear conscience toward God