Archives by: Gary Hoag

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Isaiah 55:1 (cf. Mark 10:13-31)

“If you’re interested in God doing a work in you like He promises to do to Israel [in Isaiah 55], you need to meet two requirements:

(1) You need to be thirsty, and (2) You need to be broke.

God’s invitation doesn’t go to those who think God would be lucky to have them. It goes to people who are needy and have nothing to offer God.

You may have come here this morning reluctantly because you don’t think you really have anything to offer to God. You are just the person He’s looking for.”

Rich Cathers of Fullerton Calvary Chapel, sermon notes on Isaiah 55:1.

For complete notes see: http://www.calvaryfullerton.org/Bstudy/23%20Isa/1999/23Isa55a.htm

“For as the good fruit is not the cause that the tree is good, but the tree must first be good before it can bring forth good fruit; so the good deeds of man are not the cause that maketh man good, but he is first made good by the Spirit and grace of God, that effectually worketh in him, and afterward he bringeth forth good fruits.” (cf. Matthew 7:15-20).

Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) recorded in The Church of England: Quarterly Review 1842: 154.

“If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me.”

St. Patrick (c. 450) in the Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus translated from the Latin by John Skinner in The Confession of St. Patrick (1998).

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.”

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) in Spiritual Gems from Mother Teresa ed. Gwen Costello (2008) 11 (cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

To sponsor a child through Potter’s House International, visit: http://www.pottershouse.org.gt/sponsorship/

“The New Testament gives us three areas where we need to be content:

Content with your current possessions: Hebrews 13:5, “be content with what you have.”
Content with your current provisions: 1 Timothy 6:6, “if we have food and covering with these we will be content.”
Content with your current paycheck: Luke 3:14, “be content with your wages.”

If we get a handle on these three areas of our lives we will experience a level of financial, spiritual and emotional contentment and freedom beyond anything we have every known before.

Keep in mind there is a huge difference between being financially independent and being financially free. You can be financially independent and not be financially free. Likewise, you can be financially free without being financially independent. I know some very wealthy people who are clearly financially independent, but they are anything but financially free. They are “slaves” to their possessions. I also know people who do not have “two nickels to rub together” and they are anything but financially independent. Yet, they are entirely financially free.

Our goal is to be financially free. We may never realize financial independence in our lifetime. But let me ask you, what would be wrong with living a hand to mouth existence if it is God’s hand to your mouth?”

Jay Link, excerpt from How Much is Enough? blogpost for March 2012: http://www.stewardshipministries.org/blog/2012/03/01/how-much-is-enough/

And for his [Jehoiachin’s] allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.” 2 Kings 25:30

“In this He provides us with a picture of the happy position of all the Lord’s people. A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow’s supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are yet unborn…

if we have enough for each day as the days arrive, we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day’s supply of food and clothing; the more we have the more we have to store, and we worry about it being stolen…

This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin’s case is ours; we have a sure portion, a portion given to us by the king, a gracious portion, and a perpetual portion…

In Jesus everything you need is provided for you. So enjoy your continual allowance. Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.”

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) Morning by Morning: A New Edition of the Classic Devotional Based on the ESV ed. Alistair Begg, reading for February 14 (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007).

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. Ephesians 4:28

“Christ calls us to work in order that we may have something to give away. Paganism would rob others of what is rightfully their own; Christianity leads me to give to others what is rightfully my own. This different genius of the two systems appears here very clearly. Observe the true use of superfluities—look out for the needy, and give for their relief.”

The very Rev. H.D.M. Spence in Pulpit Commentary on Ephesians, notes on Ephesians 4:28.

“Let us give with glad and generous hearts. Giving has a way of routing out the tough old miser within us. Even the poor need to know that they can give. Just the very act of letting go of money, or some other treasure, does something within us. It destroys the demon greed.”

Richard Foster in The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money Sex and Power (New York: HarperCollins, 1985) 35

“This abundant blessing, then, which God has caused to rest upon our labours among the Orphans, year after year, has greatly encouraged me, among other reasons, to seek yet more to enlarge this work. The longer I live, the more I am enabled to realize that I have but one life to live on earth, and that this one life is but a brief life, for sowing in comparison with eternity, for reaping. The consideration of these truths, while they have practical influence upon my life, in general, so they also lead me in particular to labour for Orphans, poor destitute Orphans, who have no helper and friend.”

George Mueller in The Bristol Orphan Houses, Ashley Down by William Elfe Tayler, 139.

He heals the brokenhearted
He binds their wounds
He is love

He finds those forgotten
Those have been abused
He is love

He knows your name

A father to the fatherless
A healer of the brokenness you make
Beauty from the ashes

A helper to the helpless
A fighter for the hopeless you love
Those who are alone
Those who are alone

He comforts the lonely
He hears their cry
He is love

He holds the children
Through out the night
He is love

He knows your name

A father to the fatherless
A healer of the brokenness you make
Beauty from the ashes

A helper to the helpless
A fighter for the hopeless you love
Those who are alone

Gives us your heart, Lord, help us love the unseen
And give us your eyes, Lord, help us love those in need

You’re a father of the fatherless
A healer of the brokenness you make
Beauty from the ashes

You’re a helper to the helpless
A fighter for the hopeless you love
Those who are alone
Those who are alone

He knows your name

Esterlyn: Esther YouTube Music Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_3ugn0Imlc