Time of Grace With Pastor Mike Novotny

All blessings in our lives ultimately come from God. He gives us as much as we can handle in order that we can honor him by being generous with others and helping him in his mission of touching people with his message of love and compassion and help. If we trust God and honor him, than our possessions will not be mammon but tools for use in his kingdom.

God blesses each of us and wants us to enjoy what he has given us. There is nothing wrong with spending on ourselves unless it becomes addictive and obsessive, putting ourselves before God. But God promises that if we spend our money in accordance to his will, he will bless us with even more.

God tells us in the Bible that saving money is a good thing. We are to be wise stewards of the blessings he gives us. But he wants us to be careful of greed and putting the building of wealth before the building up of our faith. Wealth should not interfere with being rich in our relationship with God. When God is your greatest treasure, your resources will be used in a godly way to provide for yourself, your family, your community, and in investments to help other people. 

Money is a blessing from God, a tool we need in life. But when money becomes more important to us than our God, it becomes mammon, filthy lucre. God tells us that if our treasures are in heaven, than our hearts are in the right place. Money made honestly and used for self and others is a blessing as long as it doesn’t become more important to us than God and what he has done for us. 

Every person on this earth is a slave to sin. There is nothing any of us can do on our own to free ourselves. But God sent his Son, Jesus, to be our only way to heaven. The truth that is found in God’s Word shows us Jesus, and if we hold to that Word our faith will save us. Jesus unlocked our sin shackles by living, dying, and rising for us. Through Jesus we are set free.

In Psalm 68:1-10, the basis for this message, David speaks of the awesomeness and limitlessness of our God. He stoops down to us to be involved in our lives. Our God is victorious over his enemies, he controls nature, he shows limitless mercy to all who need it, and he blesses us abundantly. This is the God whom we worship, not a God of scarcity but a God without limits.

Peter spoke at the first Pentecost of the gifts the Holy Spirit brings. It is through his power that we can all speak up about our Savior. We are living in the last days, and God has given us the commission to share the news of Jesus. Outfitted with what we need from the Holy Spirit, we proclaim the truth to all who will listen before it’s too late.

King Belshazzar “saw the writing on the wall,” which was God’s judgment on him for his wicked ways. We too are accountable to God, and God is very interested in how we spend the time he gives us. He wants us to live for him and for others, sharing the news of Jesus with as many as we can.

Hannah persisted in prayer and asked God for a son. She trusted him to deliver her from her troubles, and she trusted that he would answer her prayers. When God gave her a son, Hannah returned him so he could be trained at a young age to serve his Lord.

God showed himself in a dream to Jacob to assure him that he was with him and would never leave him. He also assured Jacob that he would be a great nation and the Savior would come from his family. Today we too can know that God is also working in our lives to accomplish his will and do what is best for us.