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VERSES FOR OFFERINGS
Think about giving – it's truly beautiful in God's eyes. When you're preparing your offering, remember it should be your best, given with a sincere heart. It should be a joyful act, knowing how much God has already blessed us with, even when we don't deserve it. He's been incredibly generous, hasn't He?
If you only give what's leftover, well, life might just mirror that back to you. Think about it – give as if you're giving to yourself. Don't do it out of obligation or because you expect something in return. True giving comes from the heart.
Don't make a big show of it either. It's not about getting praised or patted on the back. Let your giving be a quiet act between you and God. He sees what's in your heart, and He loves a cheerful giver. Remember what it says in 2 Corinthians 9:7: "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
Giving is an act of worship, a way to give back a portion of what God has already given us. And when God gives, He gives abundantly. When you offer from the heart, you're opening the door for even more blessings. The more you give, the more you receive. It's a beautiful cycle.
I have placed my bow in the clouds; it will be the symbol of the covenant between me and the earth.When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds,I will remember the covenant between me and you and every living being among all the creatures. Floodwaters will never again destroy all creatures.
That day the LORD cut a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from Egypt’s river to the great Euphrates,
I will set up my covenant with you and your descendants after you in every generation as an enduring covenant. I will be your God and your descendants’ God after you.I will give you and your descendants the land in which you are immigrants, the whole land of Canaan, as an enduring possession. And I will be their God.”
So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me.You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the words you should say to the Israelites.”
Then he took the covenant scroll and read it out loud for the people to hear. They responded, “Everything that the LORD has said we will do, and we will obey.”Moses then took the blood and threw it over the people. Moses said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD now makes with you on the basis of all these words.”
You will still be eating the previous year’s harvest when the time will come to clear it out to make room for the new!I will place my dwelling among you, and I will not despise you.I will walk around among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.I will turn my face to you, will make you fruitful and numerous, and will keep my covenant with you.
Know now then that the LORD your God is the only true God! He is the faithful God, who keeps the covenant and proves loyal to everyone who loves him and keeps his commands—even to the thousandth generation!
You aren’t entering and taking possession of their land because you are righteous or because your heart is especially virtuous; rather, it is because these nations are wicked—that’s why the LORD your God is removing them before you, and because he wishes to establish the promise he made to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
So then keep the words of this covenant and do them so you can succeed in all you do.
Look here! Today I’ve set before you life and what’s good versus death and what’s wrong.If you obey the LORD your God’s commandments that I’m commanding you right now by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments, his regulations, and his case laws, then you will live and thrive, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
God set it up as binding law for Jacob, as an eternal covenant for Israel,God remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded to a thousand generations,which he made with Abraham, the solemn pledge he swore to Isaac.
The mountains may shift, and the hills may be shaken, but my faithful love won’t shift from you, and my covenant of peace won’t be shaken, says the LORD, the one who pities you.
I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and dishonesty. I will faithfully give them their wage, and make with them an enduring covenant.
The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant with me even though I was their husband, declares the LORD.No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the LORD. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.They will no longer need to teach each other to say, “Know the LORD!” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD; for I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.
I will make a covenant of peace for them, and I will banish the wild animals from the land. Then they will safely live in the desert and sleep in the forest.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stony heart from your body and replace it with a living one,and I will give you my spirit so that you may walk according to my regulations and carefully observe my case laws.
My covenant with him involved life and peace, which I gave him, and also fear so that he honored me. He was in awe of my name.
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many so that their sins may be forgiven.
In the same way, he took the cup after the meal and said, “This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you.
But now, Jesus has received a superior priestly service just as he arranged a better covenant that is enacted with better promises.If the first covenant had been without fault, it wouldn’t have made sense to expect a second.
This is why he’s the mediator of a new covenant (which is a will): so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance on the basis of his death. His death occurred to set them free from the offenses committed under the first covenant.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them. ” “After these days, says the Lord, ” “I will place my laws in their hearts ” “and write them on their minds. ”“And I won’t remember their sins ” “and their lawless behavior anymore.”
The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you.I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, those who curse you I will curse; all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.”
When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk with me and be trustworthy.I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.”
and said, “I give my word as the LORD that because you did this and didn’t hold back your son, your only son,I will bless you richly and I will give you countless descendants, as many as the stars in the sky and as the grains of sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies’ cities.All the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants, because you obeyed me.”
The LORD said to Moses: “Write down these words because by these words I hereby make a covenant with you and with Israel.”Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He didn’t eat any bread or drink any water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.
The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Mount Horeb.The LORD didn’t make this covenant with our ancestors but with us—all of us who are here and alive right now.
God set it up as binding law for Jacob, as an eternal covenant for Israel,which he made with Abraham, the solemn pledge he swore to Isaac.
LORD, you are my God. I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, planned long ago, faithful and sure.
He was pierced because of our rebellions and crushed because of our crimes. He bore the punishment that made us whole; by his wounds we are healed.
I will make a covenant of peace for them. It will be their covenant forever. I will grant it to them and allow them to increase. I will set my sanctuary among them forever.
“Don’t even begin to think that I have come to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I haven’t come to do away with them but to fulfill them.I say to you very seriously that as long as heaven and earth exist, neither the smallest letter nor even the smallest stroke of a pen will be erased from the Law until everything there becomes a reality.
The promise to Abraham and to his descendants, that he would inherit the world, didn’t come through the Law but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
Brothers and sisters, I’ll use an example from human experience. No one ignores or makes additions to a validated will.The promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn’t say, “and to the descendants,” as if referring to many rather than just one. It says, “and to your descendant,” who is Christ.
Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.
But the LORD’s faithful love is from forever ago to forever from now for those who honor him. And God’s righteousness reaches to the grandchildren
The LORD says: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, choose what I desire, and remain loyal to my covenant.In my temple and courts, I will give them a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give to them an enduring name that won’t be removed.
“This day will be a day of remembering for you. You will observe it as a festival to the LORD. You will observe it in every generation as a regulation for all time.
The LORD said: I now make a covenant. In front of all your people, I’ll perform dramatic displays of power that have never been done before anywhere on earth or in any nation. All the people who are around you will see what the LORD does, because I will do an awesome thing with you.
So all of you, watch yourselves! Don’t forget the covenant that the LORD your God made with you by making an idol or an image of any kind or anything the LORD your God forbids,because the LORD your God is an all-consuming fire. He is a passionate God.
If you listen to these case laws and follow them carefully, the LORD your God will keep the covenant and display the loyalty that he promised your ancestors.He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your wombs and the fruit of your fertile land—all your grain, your wine, your oil, and the offspring of your cattle and flocks—upon the very fertile land that he swore to your ancestors to give to you.
All the earth’s peoples will see that you are called by the LORD’s name, and they will be in awe of you.The LORD will establish you as his own, a holy nation, just as he swore to you, if you keep the LORD your God’s commandments and walk in his ways.
The LORD said: At the right time, I answered you; on a day of salvation, I helped you. I have guarded you, and given you as a covenant to the people, to restore the land, and to reassign deserted properties,
No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the LORD. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
So I ask you, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! I’m an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.God hasn’t rejected his people, whom he knew in advance. Or don’t you know what the scripture says in the case of Elijah, when he pleads with God against Israel?
“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ” “after those days, says the Lord. ” “I will place my laws in their minds, ” “and write them on their hearts. ” “I will be their God, ” “and they will be my people. ”But God did find fault with them, since he says, “Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, ” “when I will make a covenant with the house of Israel, ” “and I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah. ”“It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors ” “on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, ” “because they did not continue to keep my covenant, ” “and I lost interest in them, says the Lord. ”
A record of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amos. Amos was the father of Josiah.Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers. This was at the time of the exile to Babylon.After the exile to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor.Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Achim. Achim was the father of Eliud.Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob.Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary—of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Christ.So there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the exile to Babylon to the Christ.Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Aram.Aram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon.Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse.Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asaph.Asaph was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Joram. Joram was the father of Uzziah.Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and remembered his holy covenant,the solemn pledge he made to our ancestor Abraham. He has granted
You are the heirs of the prophets and the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he told Abraham, “Through your descendants, all the families on earth will be blessed.”
They are Israelites. The adoption as God’s children, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises belong to them.The Jewish ancestors are theirs, and the Christ descended from those ancestors. He is the one who rules over all things, who is God, and who is blessed forever. Amen.
All of God’s promises have their yes in him. That is why we say Amen through him to the glory of God.
All those who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse, because it is written, “Everyone is cursed who does not keep on doing all the things that have been written in the Law scroll”.But since no one is made righteous by the Law as far as God is concerned, it is clear that “the righteous one will live on the basis of faith”.The Law isn’t based on faith; rather, “the one doing these things will live by them”.Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—because it is written, “Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed”.He redeemed us so that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, and that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
So then the first covenant had regulations for the priests’ service and the holy place on earth.
With this, the Holy Spirit is showing that the way into the holy place hadn’t been revealed yet while the first tent was standing.This is a symbol for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices that are being offered can’t perfect the conscience of the one who is serving.
Today the LORD has gotten your agreement that you will be his treasured people, just like he promised—by keeping his commandments—
God proclaims his word to Jacob; his statutes and rules to Israel.God hasn’t done that with any other nation; those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules. Praise the LORD!
Suddenly the LORD was standing on it and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth; you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. Every family of earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.I am with you now, I will protect you everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you.”
But God said, “No, your wife Sarah will give birth to a son for you, and you will name him Isaac. I will set up my covenant with him and with his descendants after him as an enduring covenant.
I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live—by loving the LORD your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him. That’s how you will survive and live long on the fertile land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loves.God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven and like the earth, which he established forever.
As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD. My spirit, which is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth won’t depart from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your descendants, nor from the mouths of your descendants’ children, says the LORD, forever and always.
I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be their prince. I, the LORD, have spoken.
I tell you, I won’t drink wine again until that day when I drink it in a new way with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
“Bless the Lord God of Israel because he has come to help and has delivered his people.He has raised up a mighty savior for us in his servant David’s house,
This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.”
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives richly to all who call on him.“All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved.”
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light.
I will set up my covenant with you so that never again will all life be cut off by floodwaters. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
“But me, my covenant is with you; you will be the ancestor of many nations.And because I have made you the ancestor of many nations, your name will no longer be Abram but Abraham.
God: the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, God: who is faithful forever,
Therefore, I will give him a share with the great, and he will divide the spoil with the strong, in return for exposing his life to death and being numbered with rebels, though he carried the sin of many and pleaded on behalf of those who rebelled.
This is what the LORD says: If one could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that they wouldn’t come at their proper time,only then could my covenant with my servant David and my covenant with the levitical priests who minister before me be broken; only then would David no longer have a descendant to rule on his throne.
I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit in them. I will remove the stony hearts from their bodies and give them hearts of flesh
That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us.
Brothers and sisters, I’ll use an example from human experience. No one ignores or makes additions to a validated will.
But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law.This was so he could redeem those under the Law so that we could be adopted.
“Don’t even begin to think that I have come to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I haven’t come to do away with them but to fulfill them.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them. ” “After these days, says the Lord, ” “I will place my laws in their hearts ” “and write them on their minds. ”
The LORD said to Moses: “Write down these words because by these words I hereby make a covenant with you and with Israel.”
And because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, God brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his own great power,in order to remove larger and stronger nations from before you and bring you into their land, giving it to you as an inheritance. That’s where things stand right now.
But if his children ever abandon my Instruction, stop following my rules—if they treat my statutes like dirt, stop keeping my commandments—then I will punish their sin with a stick, and I will punish their wrongdoing with a severe beating.
LORD, remember your compassion and faithful love— they are forever!But don’t remember the sins of my youth or my wrongdoing. Remember me only according to your faithful love for the sake of your goodness, LORD.
In this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion. ” “He will remove ungodly behavior from Jacob. ”“This is my covenant with them, ” “when I take away their sins”.
Give thanks to the one who struck down the Egyptians’ oldest offspring— God’s faithful love lasts forever.Give thanks to the one who brought Israel out of there— God’s faithful love lasts forever.With a strong hand and outstretched arm— God’s faithful love lasts forever!
Look, my Servant whom I chose, the one I love, in whom I find great pleasure. I’ll put my Spirit upon him, and he’ll announce judgment to the Gentiles.
Live in this way, knowing that you were not liberated by perishable things like silver or gold from the empty lifestyle you inherited from your ancestors.Instead, you were liberated by the precious blood of Christ, like that of a flawless, spotless lamb.
God sent redemption for his people; God commanded that his covenant last forever. Holy and awesome is God’s name!
But the LORD wanted to crush him and to make him suffer. If his life is offered as restitution, he will see his offspring; he will enjoy long life. The LORD’s plans will come to fruition through him.After his deep anguish he will see light, and he will be satisfied. Through his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will make many righteous, and will bear their guilt.
Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”
Every part of the earth will remember and come back to the LORD; every family among all the nations will worship you.
Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory.
But you, my Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy; you are very patient and full of faithful love.
Don’t let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Bind them on your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.Then you will find favor and approval in the eyes of God and humanity.
The LORD said: At the right time, I answered you; on a day of salvation, I helped you. I have guarded you, and given you as a covenant to the people, to restore the land, and to reassign deserted properties,saying to the prisoners, “Come out,” and to those in darkness, “Show yourselves.” Along the roads animals will graze; their pasture will be on every treeless hilltop.
Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Because the LORD is good, his loyal love lasts forever; his faithfulness lasts generation after generation.
Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up.
I will pour out water upon thirsty ground and streams upon dry land. I will pour out my spirit upon your descendants and my blessing upon your offspring.
His anger lasts for only a second, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay all night, but by morning, joy!
“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened.
I’m not ashamed of the gospel: it is God’s own power for salvation to all who have faith in God, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.God’s righteousness is being revealed in the gospel, from faithfulness for faith, as it is written, “The righteous person will live by faith.”
Your faithfulness extends from one generation to the next! You set the earth firmly in place, and it is still there.
The one who is high and lifted up, who lives forever, whose name is holy, says: I live on high, in holiness, and also with the crushed and the lowly, reviving the spirit of the lowly, reviving the heart of those who have been crushed.
They are more desirable than gold— than tons of pure gold! They are sweeter than honey— even dripping off the honeycomb!The LORD’s Instruction is perfect, reviving one’s very being. The LORD’s laws are faithful, making naive people wise.The LORD’s regulations are right, gladdening the heart. The LORD’s commands are pure, giving light to the eyes.Honoring the LORD is correct, lasting forever. The LORD’s judgments are true. All of these are righteous!
Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
May the God of peace, who brought back the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, from the dead by the blood of the eternal covenant,equip you with every good thing to do his will, by developing in us what pleases him through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory forever and always. Amen.
I will rejoice in your commandments because I love them.I will lift up my hands to your commandments because I love them, and I will contemplate all your statutes.
I bow toward your holy temple and thank your name for your loyal love and faithfulness because you have made your name and word greater than everything else.
Don’t fear, because I am with you; don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand.
As Jesus sat down to eat in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples at the table.As Jesus continued on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. He said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.
I won’t break my covenant. I won’t renege on what crossed my lips.By my own holiness I’ve sworn one thing: I will not lie to David.
But it’s not as though God’s word has failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are part of Israel.
You are my witnesses, says the LORD, my servant, whom I chose, so that you would know and believe me and understand that I am the one. Before me no god was formed; after me there has been no other.
God remembered his covenant for their sake, and because of how much faithful love he has, God changed his mind.
He didn’t hesitate with a lack of faith in God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God.
The LORD will do all this for my sake. Your faithful love lasts forever, LORD! Don’t let go of what your hands have made.
Let my whole being bless the LORD! LORD my God, how fantastic you are! You are clothed in glory and grandeur!You wear light like a robe; you open the skies like a curtain.You build your lofty house on the waters; you make the clouds your chariot, going around on the wings of the wind.You make the winds your messengers; you make fire and flame your ministers.You established the earth on its foundations so that it will never ever fall.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.