by Micah Olson | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
Treasures in Heaven Part 2—Where is your treasure? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Part 1 – What Is Your Treasure? Part 2 – Where Is Your Treasure? Part 3 – How Do You Store Up Treasure? Part 4 – How Do You See Treasure Clearly? Question: How do you know if your treasure is being stored up on earth or in heaven? None of us have the ability to check our heavenly bank account. Therefore, on this side of the grave, there is no way we can objectively know to what degree we are storing up treasure in heaven. Nevertheless, Matthew 6:19-21 is a call for us to examine ourselves on this question. The difficulty in obeying Matthew 6:19-21 is immediately obvious. Who among us does not attach importance to earthly possessions? There is not a man reading this who would not experience some angst if he lost his life-savings. Any of us would be deeply grieved upon losing a loved one, especially a wife or child. And if we are being honest, there are much less important temporal possessions that would cause us great pain if they were taken from us. To be human is to attach importance to temporal things. Intrinsic in Matthew 6:19-21 is the idea that the desire to store up treasures on...
by Micah Olson | Sep 5, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Treasures In Heaven Part 1- What Is Your Treasure? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Part 1 – What Is Your Treasure? Part 2 – Where Is Your Treasure? Part 3 – How Do You Store Up Treasure? Part 4 – How Do You See Treasure Clearly? Question: What does Christ mean by treasure? In order to think about Matthew 6:19-21 clearly, it is helpful to make a distinction between possessions and treasures. The Greek word translated “treasure” is thesauros which means “the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up.” I think the best definition for treasure, in the context of Matthew 6:19-21, is: “something that is very special, important, or valuable.” See Note 1 In the context of this article, I define the word “possession” to mean any form of worldly belongings or assets. All men, in some form or another, have worldly possessions. Whether it is your savings account, your 401K, your house, the clothes on your back, or a little food that you have saved for your next meal, no man is completely without worldly possessions. To review…a treasure is something that is very important to you, and a possession is just something that belongs to you. You have many possessions, but not all of your possessions are treasures. My sock...
by Micah Olson | Feb 8, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Balaam is an interesting character in the Bible. The biblical narrative about him is mostly confined to 3 chapters – Numbers 22-24 – but his story clearly resonates with numerous authors of the bible. He is referred to in Deuteronomy, Joshua, Nehemiah, Micah, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. I will summarize the story of Balaam, but I mostly want to focus on the New Testament references to Balaam which highlight the importance of Balaam’s story to us today. The New Testament warnings regarding Balaam focus on two things: 1) he loved the wages of unrighteousness, 2) he tempted Israel to commit idolatry and sexual immorality It is the warning regarding sexual immorality that I want to focus this article. God promises to Abraham in the book of Genesis that He will give Abraham’s future descendants the land of Canaan “for an everlasting possession.” From Exodus through the end of Deuteronomy, Scripture describes Israel’s journey from Egypt to the plains east of the Jordan River, where in the book of Joshua the Israelites will launch their attack and eventually conquer the Promised Land. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the new generation of Israelites were finally on the cusp of entering the Promised Land. In Numbers 22, Balak, the king of Moab, gets nervous that the nation of Israel is making their camp in his land. He becomes fearful of Israel’s military might and hires a famous diviner from Mesopotamia named Balaam. Balak’s goal is that Balaam would curse Israel, which would then allow the Moabites to destroy them. If all we knew about Balaam was what we read in Numbers 22-24, we might be inclined to think that he was a righteous man....
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