Archives by: Gary Hoag

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26

“Bless the Lord, therefore, who hath given you that counsel, in virtue of which you can say, “He is your portion.” Rejoice in the thought, that the great concern is secured: as it is natural for us to do, when some important affair is dispatched, which has long lain before us, and which we have been inclined to put off from one day to another, but have at length strenuously and successfully attended.

Remember still to endeavor to continue acting on these great principles, which at first determined your choice; and seriously consider, that those who desire their life may at last be given them for a prey, must continue on their guard, in all stages of their journey through a wilderness, where daily dangers are still surrounding them.

Being enabled to secure the great concern, make yourselves easy as to others of smaller importance. You have chosen the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; other things, therefore, shall be added unto you: and if any which you desire should, not be added, comfort yourselves with this thought, that you have the good part, which can never be taken away.

And, not to enlarge on these obvious hints, which must often occur, be very solicitous that others may be brought to a care about the one thing needful. If it be needful for you, it is so for your children, your friends, your servants. Let them, therefore, see your concern in this respect for them, as well as for yourselves. Let parents especially attend to this exhortation; whose care for their offspring often exceeds in other respects, and falls in this.

Remember that your children may never live to enjoy the effects of your labor and concern to get them estates and portions: the charges of their funerals may, perhaps, be all their share of what you are so anxiously careful to lay up for them.

And think what a sword would pierce through your very heart, if you should stand by the corpse of a beloved child with this reflection: “This poor creature has done with life, before it learnt its great business in it; and is gone to eternity, which I have seldom been warning it to prepare for, and which, perhaps, it learned of me to forget.”

On the whole, may this grand care be awakened in those by whom it has been hitherto neglected: may it be revived in each of our minds. And that you may be encouraged to pursue it with greater cheerfulness, let me conclude with this comfortable thought, that in proportion to the necessity of the case, through the merits of Christ Jesus, is the provision which divine grace has made for our assistance.

If you are disposed to sit down at Christ’s feet, He will teach you by his word and Spirit. If you commit this precious jewel, which is your eternal all, into His hand, He will preserve it unto that day, and will then produce it richly adorned, and gloriously improved to His own honor, and to your everlasting joy, which God of His infinite mercy grant.”

George Whitefield (1714-1770) in the sermon entitled, “The Care of the Soul Urged as the One Thing Needful,” excerpt from the conclusion. As I depart early from Asbury it seemed fitting to read a sermon from one of my favorite Methodist preachers.

So what is the one thing needful?

The world says that it is to look out for ourselves and sort our basic necessities. Alternatively, God invites us to seek Him first, to trust Him to sort those things, to wait on Him, and to make Him our portion. We must act on this and make ourselves easy and available in service to others.

What matters not to God is what we say or think but what we do.

For all who wish to live, give, serve, and love generously, the answer is to make God our portion. Do that and we will demonstrate to the world that in Him we have everything you have ever needed, that we need, and that we will ever need.

That’s actually why we are here: to show the world He’s all they need.

My meetings with seminary administrators concluded with a rich time of prayer late yesterday. One of the last things we inspired each other to do was to urge all those we serve to live and write a different story. Or in Whitefield’s words, to do the one thing needful.

We aim to, and we pray you join us.

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

“Active good is better than passive. Only God himself, his angels, and saints, do good; but all creatures can receive good. This principle would quickly join us; for if this were in men’s hearts, they would study to do all the good they could to one another, and to gain upon on another’s hearts; and the more good we do to any, the more will our hearts be inclinable to love them. The very communication of goodness, if it be out of a good spirit, carries the heart along with it to the subject this good is communicated to. The more good God doth to any, the more he loves them. So it is with us in our proportion. If you take a poor child from the dunghill, or out of the alms-house, and make him your heir, you do not only this good to him because you love him, but you love more because you look upon him as the object of your goodness, as one raised by you.”

Francis Asbury (1745-1816) in The Causes, Evils, and Cures of Heart and Church Divisions (New York: Carlton & Phillips, 1855) 95-96.

It seemed fitting to read from this classic work of Francis Asbury whilst sitting on the seminary campus that bears his name.

Active good. As I reflected on that this morning, three thoughts overtook me.

Firstly, God is good and always loving toward us. He actively demonstrated His love to us through the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf, when we were undeserving.

Secondly, when we follow His example and be actively good toward others (rather than our proclivity to passivity) it changes both us and them. It shows love and releases an abundance of blessings to all.

Thirdly, we must all realize that we are nothing but poor children from the dunghill or the alms-house, whom God made an heir through Christ and who are the object of His goodness.

Soak in these three thoughts for a while.

I pray it inspires us to be actively good today because God is good and loving toward us, it transforms everyone in the process, and He wants us as His heirs to receive and share His goodness and generosity.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” Isaiah 58:6-9a

“Make thy house a shelter to them that have none of their own left. Hide not — That seek no occasion to excuse thyself. Thy own flesh — Some confine this to our own kindred; but we can look on no man, but there we contemplate our own flesh, and therefore it is barbarous, not only to tear, but not to love and succour him. Therefore feed him as thou wouldest feed thyself, or be fed; shelter him as thou wouldest shelter thyself, or be sheltered; clothe him as thou wouldest clothe thyself, or be clothed; if in any of these respects thou wert in his circumstances. Thy light — Happiness and prosperity. Break forth — It shall not only appear, but break forth, dart itself forth, notwithstanding all difficulties, as the sun breaks, and pierces through a cloud.”

John Wesley (1703-1791) in Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on Isaiah 58:7-8. It seemed fitting to read Wesley as I have arrived on the campus of Asbury Theological Seminary for a few days (pictured in the header photo above). Special thanks to Steven Jankord for pointing me afresh to this powerful biblical text last week.

How can we be a shelter for victims of injustice?

Followers of Christ in Moldova, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, and other European countries experience this as their current reality. They have taken in Ukrainians who have fled for their lives from the Russian occupation. They are making room in their homes for refugees.

God asks us to care for others as we would care for ourselves.

This is a beautiful illustration of the call of Jesus to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It means making space in the middle of our schedules for others rather than just allowing them in the margins (if we have time, which we rarely do). We all can be a refuge for others wherever we are.

God wants us to set aside our desires and give ourselves to what He cares about.

This week I am serving seminary administrators who have convened from across the USA. Pray for fruitful discussions. And I pray your service in hard times is like light in the darkness. May God’s glory shine brighter than ever through our generous service.

Lord have mercy on all those seeking shelter. Help them find it through our care.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. Habakkuk 3:17-19

“Buy yourselves this knowledge, if you can, you kings, rulers, men of wealth, from the rising to the setting sun. You who are rich in worldly wisdom, get the gift of the plowman prophet, which could not be taken away from him who had received it. For the possessions which you so eagerly desire are beset with countless risks; thieves who break into houses, tyrants who confiscate, flatterers who plot, the sea that overwhelms, and the earth that quakes and yawns.

Therefore let the right hand of God be the hope and treasury of men, the hand that led his people out of Egypt, and in the desert provided abundance of good things, which brought Habakkuk to Daniel, and preserved Ishmael when he had been cast down from his mother’s arms; which provides for those of every generation; and which, finally, multiplied five barley loaves so that they equaled a great harvest, and one loaf supplied a thousand hungry men and filled a basket with fragments besides. Now to our God be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Asterius of Amasea (350-410) in his sermon, “Against Coveteousness.” This ends my exploration of a great sermon. Read it in its entirety here. This morning, I fly to Kentucky. I will facilitate meetings with seminary administrators from across the USA at Asbury Seminary over the next few days.

Today is a special day. GTP turns 3. We got our 501c3 status on 3 April 2019. On Facebook page we will release a series of infographics starting today. Like Global Trust Partners and check out our celebration of God’s faithfulness this week. We’ve given what we have and God has done wonders.

Alternatively, those who desire possessions beset themselves with countless risks, so don’t let that be you. Instead place your trust in the “right hand of God” as your “hope and treasury” for all that you need. Notice the one who does shares what he or she has. God makes it enough.

This sermon has been rich with biblical images and has reminded me of many things but one lesson stands out. Our trust is either in ourselves or in God. There’s no middle ground. And we show where we place our trust by our pursuits and what we do with what we attain.

The coveteous person accumulates and confiscates. The caring person distributes and shares. The coveteous person lives enslaved to scarcity. The caring person enjoys an abundance of God things from the right hand of God. It’s been rewarding to share this message to the world through GTP.

My prayer for all of us having explored this powerful sermon is that we will all flee from coveteousness and instead give what we have to God. And when we do, I pray that God will sustain local ministry and multiply our gifts from His right hand for His glory. Amen.

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.” Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.” 2 Kings 4:1-7

“But I seem to hear, even though they are silent, those who are wont to say such things as these to their teachers: “How shall we continue to live, if we do not care for the getting of money? and how shall we satisfy our needs? How are loans to be repaid, and how shall a gift be bestowed upon him who asks it, if we are all to follow your admonition and be poor?”

This is the objection of an unbeliever, the speech of one devoid of understanding, who does not know that God is our Master, the director of our life, and that he himself furnishes the living creature what it needs, the means of getting both necessary food and needful clothing. For the providence of God is over all his works, and the misfortune of poverty never overtakes one who is rich in faith.

By presenting one of the divine narratives in proof of what I now affirm I shall, I think, offer sufficient evidence of it. In the history of the kings a widow woman is mentioned who, on account of her solitary condition was greatly oppressed. A greedy and churlish creditor pestered her, threatening to take away as pledges for her debts, her sons who were all she had left. And when the crisis in her affairs came and none of the rich had pity on her, she went to him who had humanity and faith.

Now this was Elisha the prophet, a man poor in this world’s goods, but abounding in immaterial wealth; an unworldly soul from among the plowmen, houseless, homeless, clad with but one garment; who had just had a legacy, and had received as his inheritance a cheap sheepskin and an invisible blessing, which fell from the chariot of fire.

Yet he did not send away the suppliant disappointed, nor did he despair of helping her because he had not what she asked, nor did he utter any sordid and doubting words, as many would have done, such as, “And where am I to get money to pay your debt?” but, like a most excellent physician when there are no medicines to be had, by an unexpected device he found a remedy for the disease and said, “Woman, what have you in the house?

Call to mind whether you have anything within, however small. For no one is so poor as to have absolutely nothing.” And when she replied that she had a cruse with a little oil remaining in it, he said, “Prepare me a multitude of vessels.” So she got them ready and filled them from the cruse.

Thus the debt was paid to the money-lender, and the woman departed, having found a way out of her difficulties. For the very little oil which she had told the prophet she possessed, contrary to her expectation gushed forth and filled all the jars she had made ready, and it ceased to flow only when there was not another vessel to receive it. And the gift was commensurate with her need. That was indeed oil which no plant, but the mercies of God, produced.”

Asterius of Amasea (350-410) in his sermon, “Against Coveteousness.”

In the climax of this sermon, Asterius removes the last device that the devil uses to cast doubt in our lives keep us in the clutches of coveteousness. It’s the question of provision.

“How shall we continue to live, if we do not care for the getting of money? and how shall we satisfy our needs? How are loans to be repaid, and how shall a gift be bestowed upon him who asks it, if we are all to follow your admonition and be poor?”

The best and only answer to this is the providence of God. We see this illustrated in the story of the widow and articulated by Jesus Christ Himself in the sermon on the mount.

In plain terms we worry about what we will eat, drink, and what we will wear. We think it is our role to provide when Scripture tells us that is God’s job.

This lesson today also reveals the key to generous living. We must put the immaterial wealth to work that is trusting in the providence of God in order to tap into resources for enjoyment and sharing.

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21

“On account of covetousness men lose their natural friendship for one another, and whet their swords and array themselves against each other and like wild beasts fight one another with great ferocity. But how can one relate the consequences of these things? Massive walls are thrown down by engines, cities are taken, women led captives, and children enslaved. The land is wasted and ravaged, and the trees are warred against as though they were wrong-doers. There is great slaughter of those who are in the prime of life, and torrents of blood stream from the wretched corpses; and the wealth of the conquered is the victors’ prize.

There are, moreover, the lamentations of widows, the tears of orphans, who bewail at once both their fathers and their freedom. He who was day before yesterday possessor of great wealth, stretches forth his right hand to beg a bit of bread, and he who had many slaves at the loom, and houses full of garments, now clothed in rags does the work of a slave, forced to carry water and scrape the dung from the stable, and to perform most menial duties. There are besides countless evils which it is impossible to compass all at once. But of all of these, the beginning and cause and root is greed, unrighteous love of the goods that belong to another.

And if any one should extirpate this passion from the human heart, profound peace would be inevitably introduced into our life, and wars and tumults would be banished from among men, and all would return to the natural condition of love and friendliness. On this account, our Lord also carefully heals this disease, once declaring in his teachings; “Ye cannot serve God and mammon;” and on another occasion declaring wretched the rich man who was just about to die, even as he was picturing to himself the protracted enjoyment of luxury; and elsewhere teaching that that man was perfect who divided all that he had among the needy, and went over to a self-denying life, which is the mother and companion of virtue.”

Asterius of Amasea (350-410) in his sermon, “Against Coveteousness.”

We are near the climax of this sermon. Asterius spells out the explanation for the war and bloodshed in his day and in our own with the Russian occupation of Ukraine. It is driven by greed and coveteousness, and it leaves a wake of gloom and carnage.

But there is hope for profound peace. It’s is found only when we obey Jesus and choose the “self-denying” life of sharing what we have with those in need. This is where generosity comes into view as what the world needs most right now.

I don’t just mean sending aid to Ukraine through Mission Eurasia or some other group. That’s part of it, for sure. I mean living differently where God has us to show the world that doing good overcomes greed and caring surpasses coveteousness.

Don’t miss the message from Jesus. Hear it again. “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Anyone out there willing to choose the way of perfection?

And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Luke 3:10-11

“This is your fruit, O abominable covetousness! Spurred on by you, the child becomes his parent’s enemy. You fill the earth with robbers and murderers, and the sea with pirates, cities with tumult, courts with false witnesses, false accusers, betrayers, advocates, and judges who incline whichever way you draw them. Covetousness is the mother of inequality, unmerciful, hating mankind, most cruel.

On account of it, the life of men is full of inequality. Some being surfeited, loathe the abundance of their possessions, as one disgorges food which has been too greedily swallowed; while others are in peril through extreme hunger and want. Some lie down under gilded roofs and live in houses that are like small cities, adorned with sumptuous baths and chambers, and most extensive porches, and every kind of extravagance, while others have not the shelter of two boards.

When they cannot live in open air, they either take refuge beside the furnaces of the baths, or, finding the attendants of the baths inhospitable, they dig into the dung like swine, and so contrive to get for themselves the needful warmth. Such is the marked disparity in the conditions of life, between men created equal in worth, and the cause of this disordered and anomalous state of things is nothing else than covetousness.

One is put to shame by his naked limbs; the other, beside having almost countless garments, dresses his walls with purple hangings. The poor man has not on his wooden table any bread to break; while the luxurious man sitting at his broad silver stable is delighted with its glitter. How much more just it would be that the poor man should feast to the full on the other’s luxury, and that the support of the needy should be the decoration of the rich man’s table!

One man, aged and unable to walk, or lame by reason of some outrageous mutilation, does not possess the ass that he needs to carry him about, while another does not know his droves of horses for their very multitude. One lacks oil to light his lamps, while another has a fortune simply in lamp-stands.

One has only the ground for his bed, while he who is unreasonably rich, is dazzled by the splendor of his couch, with its silver balls and chains instead of cords. These are the results of insatiable covetousness. For had it not introduced inequality into life, these anomalous heights and depths would not have existed, nor would manifold misfortunes have made our life joyless and tearful.”

Asterius of Amasea (350-410) in his sermon, “Against Coveteousness.”

One of the dastardly fruits of coveteousness is inequality. Imagine if instead we who aim at growing in generosity worked toward equality as noted in today’s text from the Gospels or from these words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:13-15

“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

God’s design and desire is that everyone has enough. The lesson of the manna teaches us that God is the faithful Provider. We also learn that those who have more than enough share with those who gather less than enough.

As I reflect on the powerful words of Asterius, it seems that at the core, inequality finds its root in selfishness and cherishes possessions and comfort over people and caring. The biblical texts call us to share sacrificially and to place our trust in God and not ourselves for our future care.

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 Timothy 4:1

“For how are those drawn into the service of demons who were once of the company of Christians and partakers in the mysteries? Is it not by the desire of acquiring great wealth, and of becoming masters of what belongs to others? Upon receiving from godless and impious men promises either of official preferment or of wealth from royal treasuries, they quickly put off their religion as a garment.

And such examples occurring in previous times, memory and tradition have preserved and handed down to us. And there are also instances which belong to our own generation, and are within the range of our experience. For when that emperor [Julian the apostate], who all at once cast aside the character of a Christian, and disclosed the farce he had long been acting, himself shamelessly sacrificed to demons, and offered many gifts to those who were willing to do the same, how many left the church and ran to pagan altars!

How many, taking the bait of emolument, swallowed with it the hook of apostasy, and branded with disgrace are wandering about among the towns, objects of hatred; pointed at as betrayers of Christ, for the sake of a little money; stricken from the list of Christians, as was Judas from the roll of the apostles; known by the name of apostate, as horses are known by the marks branded upon them; who simply allowed themselves to be drawn into the basest of all sins, and promptly followed the teacher of unhallowed and abominable impiety!”

Asterius of Amasea (350-410) in his sermon, “Against Coveteousness.” I am nearly done with this deeply serious and powerful sermon. But, it seems fitting for the challenging times in which we are living.

Throughout church history, people have “put off their religion as a garment.” It’s still happening today. The closer we get to the great Day of the Lord, the more rapidly people will abandon the faith. The deceptive doctrine that lures people away is associated with the love of money in Paul’s first letter to Timothy.

Put simply, God blesses obedient servants, then demons intervene. They tempt stewards to think the money they possess is theirs to spend as they please. They spout lies that stewards need money to sustain us, when God is the One who supplies all we need for enjoyment and sharing. This is just a sampling of the deception.

How does this relate to our generosity? The generous person must abandon “the desire to acquire.” During Lent we set aside our desires to partake of the only One who satisfies. If we don’t abandon “the desire to acquire” it will not only hinder our generosity, it can lead to apostasy.

I think that those who “put off their religion as a garment” (like Judas or Julian) don’t intentionally choose that path, but rather they make small bad choices that lead them way off course over time. Ultimately, they regret it. To avoid apostasy, set aside “the desire to acquire” by giving what you have to God.

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:1-2

“The fine linen perished, the kingdom departed to another, the luxuries passed away; but the sin of them went with him, as a person’s shadow follows him when walking. And for this reason, after his extravagant banquets, and his luxurious table, he begs for a drop of water that falls from a leper’s finger, and calls to alleviate his punishment the beggar who, perhaps, when he lay at the gate, did not even have hands; for surely if he had had them he would have driven away the dogs that licked his sores. And he desires to join Lazarus, seeing him on the other side, and is hindered by the ditch or gulf between them, which was no hole that had been digged nor artificial ditch like that which one can see between hostile camps in war. But the Scripture, I think, means that his sins were the obstacle that cut off the approach of the condemned to the righteous. And the prophet Isaiah sets his seal to my interpretation, when he sternly rebukes a foolish people and says, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened, that it cannot save? Or is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear? But your sins stand between you and God.”

Asterius of Amasea (350-410) in his sermon, “Against Coveteousness.”

Why sit in such strong preaching and share excerpts as posts? The lack of generosity rooted in coveteousness is not a financial issue but a spiritual issue. And during Lent, the only right response is confession and repentenance because God first and foremost wants our hearts.

The rich man should have aided Lazarus whilst he was living. Now is the time for us to use what we have to show love of God and love of neighbor. Soon the time will come when the luxuries will perish. Many will regret squandering God’s resources at that time who have not put them to work today.

Father, forgive us for our many sins related to coveteousness. We have cared more about comfort than Christ, more about luxuries than the lives of those in need around us. Help us chart a new course by your Holy Spirit, lest our desires destroy us. Hear our prayer in your mercy in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:25-31

“Pass over in thought to the time to come, when you shall be no more; when a small plot of earth shall hold your body, insensate, returned to dust, and a little tablet, a few spans in size, shall cover all that remains. Where then will be your wealth and your gathered treasures? Who will be the heir of what you leave behind? For it is by no means certain that it will be he whom you suppose. If you leave children, perhaps they will be beaten, and driven weeping from their ancestral home by some covetous man like you.

But if, being childless, you mean to transmit the inheritance to one of your friends, do not regard your will as an immutable law, a thing strong and incapable of being set aside. It will require but little exertion to make the writing invalid. Do you not see those who are constantly contesting wills in the courts, how by all kinds of attacks they wrest them by putting forward as advocates skilful lawyers, invoking the aid of eloquent orators, suborning witnesses, corrupting judges?

So from what you see while you are alive, learn what will happen after you are dead. If you have gotten your wealth justly, use it, as did the blessed Job, for needful purposes; if unjustly, restore it to those who have been defrauded of it, as you would a thing captured in war, giving back either just what you took, or that with something added, as did Zacchaeus. If you have no wealth, do not get any by wickedness.

For as you go the inevitable way, your sin, a bitter portion, will follow you, while the enjoyment of your ill-gotten gains will be left behind for whom you know not. And then you will admire David because he says, “He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” And observe also the rich man contrasted with Lazarus, of whom we have just read in the Gospels, a narrative which is no fable composed to inspire terror, but a true picture transmitted to us of what is to be.”

Asterius of Amasea (350-410) in his sermon, “Against Coveteousness.”

Luke’s Gospel gives us a true picture in a world filled with false messages. The time to live out your faith through generous giving to the poor is now. Jesus also cryptically alludes to His own death and resurrection and the disbelief of many that accompanies it.

The time to live out what you believe is whilst you are living, for it is not what you say but what you do shows what you really believe and where you place your trust. If these words from Asterius sound striking, it is because he aims to get your attention and mine.

He would add: do your giving while you are living, then you will be knowing where it is going! This leads me to celebrate the recent formation of the GTP Trust Fund which accepts complex asset and major gifts like estates. If you want to know more reply to this email.

People who own all or portions of buildings and businesses need help to give those assets to God. That’s why at GTP, we partnered with MB Foundation to draw on their expertise. Give one or more assets today to lift up the poor not with a handout but a hand up. Don’t wait until it’s too late!