Friday, December 26, 2014

“The Everlasting Gospel”

Insights #13 December 27, 2014
Fourth Quarter 2014 Adult Sabbath School Lessons
"The Everlasting Gospel"
For the week of December 27, 2014

What is the Gospel?

John is a garbage truck driver in a large suburban city. During the winter, his garbage truck doubles as a snow plow and after every snow fall, John drives around the city to remove snow from the roads. Since snow removal has been added to John's garbage collection duties, he is paid overtime wages, and naturally, welcomes the extra money. With extra pay in mind, unlike many people who dread the forecast of snow, snow fall to John is good news. Most school children agree with John that snow is good news but for different reasons. After all, it usually means outdoor fun, and the likelihood that school will be cancelled. As expected, parents however, may not be so happy. Thus, it can be said, snow is only good news to some, not all.

The Greek word translated as Gospel means good news or glad tidings. In Luke 2:10, the angels said unto the shepherds, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Unlike snow fall which is good news to some people, the Gospel - here referring to the birth of Christ - is good news to all people. This means that Christ's second return cannot be the gospel, because it is only good news to those who believe - and expect it - not those who do not believe. Why is this so? Why is His birth good news to all, while His second advent is not? Does the Bible shed any light on this? Ellen White says that, "The Bible is its own expositor. Scripture is to be compared with scripture. The student should learn to view the word as a whole, and to see the relation of its parts" (Ed.190).  In that light, let us go to Scripture to see how the Gospel is defined.

First, we should note that the apostle Mark introduces his book as the Gospel of Christ; while (Apostle) Paul declares in the first few verses of Romans chapter one that "… the gospel of Christ: … is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Vs. 16). No less than approximately a dozen times, Apostle Paul identifies the Gospel with God or Christ. Therefore, according to these texts, we can ascertain that the Gospel refers to Christ. Paul is not saying here that salvation is only for believers, but that it is only effective to believers. So, it is the power of God that saves. And, this power of God refers to Jesus and his birth.  In 1 Corinthians 1:17, 18 Paul goes a step further. Let us read,

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

This text associates the preaching of the Gospel with the preaching of the cross, on which Christ died. Furthermore, it equates them by calling them both: the power of God. Therefore, the Gospel, which refers to Jesus and His birth (which is the power of God unto salvation), is also the preaching of the cross.  So, now, we incorporate in this definition of the Gospel the death of Christ on the Cross.  Why is the cross so important?  We read in Philippians 2:8 concerning Christ,

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The death of the cross was considered by the Jews as hanging from a tree, of which Paul says in Gal 3:13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Christ's death was the final death: complete annihilation. But, it is through this death that we were reconciled to God. We read in Romans 5:10,

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Notice in this verse, that Christ's life is now part of the equation, as opposed to only His birth and death.  The Gospel refers to Jesus. It entails His incarnation, birth, life and death. And, in it is the power of God to save every man. Christ did this for the whole world. We read in 1 John 2:2; and 4:14,

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

What about the resurrection? Paul addresses that also in 1 Corinthians 5:12 -14. Let us read,

Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain.

The resurrection of Christ gives the Gospel certainty and makes the Gospel effectual.  It guarantees our freedom from Sin.  And, how exactly are we implicated?  We read in Romans 6:3-5,

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Christ took us - the whole world - unto Himself and lived a life of prefect obedience.  Consequently, His life of perfect obedience is ours. His victory is ours. What our Saviour would like for us to do, is, to receive His gift whole heartedly. This is the good news to all people: salvation for all men 'in Christ'.
-Raul Diaz

Raul Diaz

Thursday, December 18, 2014

“Prayer, Healing, and Restoration”

Insights #12 December 20, 2014

Fourth Quarter 2014 Adult Sabbath School Lessons
"Prayer, Healing, and Restoration"
For the week of December 20, 2014

"Prayer" The Present Truth 9, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

Prayer is the channel of the soul's communion with God. Through it our faith ascends to God, and His blessings descend to us. The prayer of the saints ascend(s) as incense before God. They come actually into His presence. Ps. 141:2; Rev. 5:8; 8:3, 4. Prayer is the index of the soul's spirituality. There is "the prayer of faith," spoken of by James, and there is also the wavering prayer, mentioned by the same writer. There is "the effectual, fervent prayer," which "availeth much," and there is also the cold, formal prayer, which avails nothing. Our prayers show the exact measure of our spirituality.

The effectual prayer takes hold by faith upon the word of God. Faith not only believes that God is, but that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Heb. 6:6. It is offered not formally, but with a sense of need; not doubtingly nor despairingly, but with full confidence that it is heard, and will receive an answer in due time.

The effectual prayer is not argumentative, for it is not the province of man to argue with God. Its statements are not for the purpose of conveying information to God, or of persuading Him to do what He had not intended to do. God cannot be persuaded by man. The arguments and appeals of a finite man cannot change the mind of the Omniscient. The man of faith does not plead with God for any such purpose. He does not want to persuade God to work in man's way, for he believes God's statement that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than man's ways. His prayer is ever, Thy will, not mine, be done.

What then is prayer, and what the purpose for which it is offered? It is the expression of our assent to that which God is willing and waiting to do for us. It is expressing to God our willingness to let Him do for us what He wants to. It is not left for us to instruct the Lord in regard to what we need. "Your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him." He knows what we need much better than we know ourselves. "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered." Rom. 8:26.
God knows every need that we have, and is ready and anxious to give us that which will supply them; but He waits for us to realize our need of Him. He cannot consistently with the infinitely wise principles by which He works, bestow upon men spiritual blessings of which they would have no appreciation. He cannot work for man without man's co-operation. The heart must be in a condition to receive an appropriate gift before it can be bestowed. And when it is in that condition, it will feel an earnest longing which will naturally take the form of prayer. And when this longing is felt, when the soul feels an intense desire for the help that God alone can give, when the language of the soul is, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God,"-the effect is to open the channel between God and the soul and let the flood of blessings which was already waiting to descend. And it is the intensity of the desire that determines how wide the door shall be opened.

We need to realize more the great truth that God sees and knows everything that we need and has every provision made for all our wants, before we have even considered those wants ourselves, and that our work is not to determine what must be done to relieve them, but to place ourselves in a position where God can relieve them by the means which He has provided; to conduct ourselves with Him, to know His mind and thus to move according to His plans, and not set about the fruitless task of trying to make Him work for us according to some plans of our own. {October 5, 1893 EJW, PTUK 422-3}
-Submitted by Bob Hunsaker

Raul Diaz

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Lesson 11: "Getting Ready for the Harvest"

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of James

Lesson 11: "Getting Ready for the Harvest"

The coming of Jesus shone brightly in the heart of James and so should it be for us. The second advent can be either something we dread or love depending upon our perspective. If the old covenant overshadows our minds, then we're petrified with the thought: "Here comes the Judge! What must I do to get ready?" Thus the second coming is bad news.

But the Lord never sends bad news to discourage us. Jesus sends the message of Good News. It's about how He prepares us for His return. Therefore we are not only interested in what James meant when he wrote for his day, but what does "the coming of the Lord" mean for us today in light of our cleansing of the sanctuary idea.

We have been living in the cosmic Day of Atonement since 1844. Unfortunately, in a lesson entitled "Getting Ready for the Harvest" there is absolutely nothing relating this idea of the harvest with our Heavenly Counselor who is the Head of the church. He is the One who prepares the church for the harvest.

As Christians become more and more urbanized and disconnected from the direct link with the land, our source of food, we tend to become oblivious as to how dependent we are upon the sunshine and rain with which God blesses the earth in order to make it productive. Our fast-paced lives make us impatient. We demand instant results.

It is just here that we may learn a lesson from the farmer who tills the ground and plants the seed. But beyond that he can't cause the germination or maturation of the crop. He must patiently wait for the rains, both the early and latter.

No one prepares himself or herself for the harvest. No grain can ever ripen by itself without being watered. Our part is to welcome that blessing, and not to fight it off and resist it. The latter rain of the Holy Spirit's outpouring causes the grain to ripen.

The early rain fell at Pentecost, and has been received ever since through the past two thousand years as untold multitudes of human souls have prepared for death. The figure is drawn from the Palestinian barley crop where the annual early and latter rainy seasons were familiar to farmers. The early rain enables the grain to sprout and to grow, but not to ripen for the harvest. The ripening is a change that can only be produced by the latter rain.

There must also come a spiritual change before Christ's second coming. A people must be prepared, not for death, but for translation without seeing death, because the Bible differentiates between the multitudes who have died believing in Christ and those who are living when He comes." [1]

The Lord says He is ready to work with each one on earth who is willing. A great outpouring of the Holy Spirit will accomplish a work that makes ready a worldwide community of believers for the coming of the Lord. It also empowers them to complete the great unfinished commission of proclaiming the everlasting gospel to all the world.

This leads to considering the nature of the judgment hour message. James' practical application is: "My friends, do not blame your troubles on one another, or you will fall under judgment; and there at the door stands the judge" (James 5:9, Revised English Bible).

"Groaning" against one another is a reference to complaining about one another, which is in fact a kind of judging. Grumbling is the opposite of patience and is a mark of unbelief; it is contrary to genuine faith. Although grumbling may seem to be a minor offense, James' warning against it is serious. Those who take up the work of judging their fellows are thereby saying that Christ is not coming to His church to prepare them for His coming and therefore, they must do that work for Him. By judging others they put themselves in the place of Christ. [2]

It is just this perspective of the judgment as "grumbling," blaming "your troubles on one another," judgmentalism that has turned people off regarding our Day of Atonement message. The "hour of His judgment" has become bad news. This is old covenant selfishness to the extreme.

Christ said to Nicodemus, "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17). Did Jesus mean what He said? Or as Judge has His personality suddenly changed so that He now presents Himself to the church and the world as its Condemner?

Jesus taught that the source of condemnation is unbelief in Him as the Saviour of the world. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). Condemnation is a do-it-yourself job. In the case cited by James, judgmental complaints about others within the church is a manifestation of unbelief in the True Judge who stands before the door. Thus the one holding the "grudge" condemns himself.

It is telling that in the Judge's message to the Laodiceans, the High Priest positions Himself outside the church wanting to come in. "I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him" (Rev. 3:17). Likewise, in James "the judge standeth before the door."

Jesus actually quotes word for word from Song of Solomon 5:2 when He says, "I stand at the door and knock." Thus He tells us that the Laodicean message is actually a love letter from Christ to His Bride-to-be!

Jesus reveals Himself here as the disappointed Lover who has just come from His journey to His Beloved. It's night; it's cold; it's raining; He is hungry; He is lonely; He wants her. But she doesn't want Him, apparently. He is hurt.

Standing outside in the cold, He says He goes on knocking, knocking "at the door." The object of His love has just gone to bed, is in that twilight zone between waking and sleeping. Then she hears Him. She is annoyed; why does He bother her at this hour? She doesn't want to get her feet soiled on that floor--she's comfy in bed. Finally, however, she stops thinking of her own selfish laziness, and thinks of Him outside. Belatedly she gets up to go to the door to let Him in. And, lo, He is gone. He got tired of waiting, waiting.

After all these many years since 1844 when Jesus said that it was His will that "this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled" (Matt. 24:34), He intended all along that the generation which went through the Great Disappointment should live to see Him come the second time. But through our resisting His call to the wedding of 1888, the time has been greatly prolonged.

James' specific example of steadfastness in suffering may appear a bit odd (James 5:11). For a reader of Job, it may be surprising to hear that Job became a model for patience, since much of the book consists of Job's impatient complaining to God about the injustice of his suffering. However, the kind of patience that James has in mind is not passivity, but perseverance, fortitude in the face of suffering. The story of the farmer waiting patiently points to a yearning for the day of justice, since the farmer waits not with nonchalance, but with longing. Job did not give in to the falsity being suggested by his friends, and he did not give up; he kept clinging tightly and unyieldingly to God as his life, which is the very reason he felt such a conflict of injustice that was happening in his present life.

But remember the deciding factor of this concluding statement, "the Lord is merciful and compassionate." This points to the end of Job's story,where the Lord's mercy to Job is displayed. The Lord blesses Job.

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:

[1] 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.

[2] See E. J. Waggoner, "Majority Rule," The Present Truth, May 18, 1893. This article may be found at: http://1888mpm.org

Note: "Sabbath School Today" and Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson are on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org

Raul Diaz

“Getting Ready for the Harvest”

Insights #11 December 13, 2014

Fourth Quarter 2014 Adult Sabbath School Lessons
"Getting Ready for the Harvest"
For the week of December 13, 2014

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you."

And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.

Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:11-19, NKJV.

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. James 5:7, NKJV.

It is the promise of God in the Everlasting Covenant that is the ground of the patient endurance of the remnant of Revelation 14:12. Because God Himself, as the heavenly husbandman, is so patiently waiting for the reception of the latter rain by his people, we can also patiently endure and wait for Him to fulfill His promise.

But we must lose our penchant for making promises and oaths of our own (James 5:12)  in order to fully trust the promise of God. He has sworn with His oath - let all the earth keep silence before Him!

It is God's mind of patient endurance, revealed in and through Christ (God's makrothymeō - patience in bearing the offenses and injuries of others, mild and slow in avenging, longsuffering, slow to anger, slow to punish) that we must let be in us (Phil. 2:5) in order for our mind to exercise the same makrothymeō that He has.

The endurance (hypomonē) of James 5:11 is linked to patience (hypomenō), the root of which is menō, to remain or abide, the same root used in John 14:10 to describe the indwelling of the Father in Christ, doing the works, speaking the words.

Thus, being ready for and experiencing the latter rain means patiently living by this Faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12 - pistis Iēsous).

We must so settle in to the truths of the Everlasting Covenant and the Faith of Jesus firmly experientially established in our hearts and minds (James 5:8 stērizō - to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix, render constant, confirm in one's mind) in order to carry the Loud Cry to the world. 

Perhaps even now, as in 1887, we are again at the threshold of the full outpouring of the Latter Rain. Once again, we have more to fear from within our ranks, and within our own hearts, than from the events and forebodings of the world around us. May God so indwell and abide in us that prophetic word of the Minneapolis message will be given with clarity (James 5:10) so that the preparation to receive the Latter Rain may be complete!

God is waiting for His precious fruit.

A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow his blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it. Our Heavenly Father is more willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. But it is our work, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer, to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us his blessing. A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer. While the people are so destitute of God's Holy Spirit, they cannot appreciate the preaching of the word; but when the Spirit's power touches their hearts, then the discourses given will not be without effect. Guided by the teachings of God's word, with the manifestation of his Spirit, in the exercise of sound discretion, those who attend our meetings will gain a precious experience, and returning home will be prepared to exert a healthful influence....

We have far more to fear from within than from without. The hindrances to strength and success are far greater from the church itself than from the world. Unbelievers have a right to expect that those who profess to be keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, will do more than any other class to promote and honor, by their consistent lives, by their godly example and their active influence, the cause which they represent. But how often have the professed advocates of the truth proved the greatest obstacle to its advancement! The unbelief indulged, the doubts expressed, the darkness cherished, encourage the presence of evil angels, and open the way for the accomplishment of Satan's devices. RH, March 22, 1887.

My brethren and sisters, let us remember here is the evidence that God will work. You are not to trust in any power but that of the Lord God of Israel. But if you have enmity in your hearts, you cannot expect that God will let his blessing rest upon you. No one will enter the city of God with anything that defiles. We must get ready for the latter rain. The earth is to be lighted with the glory of the third angel,--not a little corner only, but the whole earth. You may think that the work you are doing now is lost; but I tell you it is not lost. When the message shall go with a loud cry, those who hear the truth now will spring to the front and work with mighty power. But you must have faith. It is no use to enter cities unless you have faith in God, and believe that a work is to be accomplished there. You must believe that it is Christ who is by our side, and is finding access to souls; and when you have done the best you can, you must believe, and commit it all to Jesus.  RH, May 10, 1887.
-Todd Guthrie

Raul Diaz

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

“Weep and Howl!”


Insights #10 December 6, 2014
Fourth Quarter 2014 Adult Sabbath School Lessons
"Weep and Howl!"
For the week of December 6, 2014

One of the primary purposes of the 1888 message, was to bring a gospel message to the Seventh-day Adventist church that demonstrated the power of faith to produce righteousness.  Not a message that promoted faith alone, or that promoted righteousness alone, but that demonstrated to the world and the on-looking universe that faith actually does work through love.  Righteousness by faith is actually righteousness in the life, not merely righteousness "applied" to the life, or righteousness "covering" the life, but actual righteousness in the life.  Righteousness – the thoughts and feelings and behavior that are motivated by self-sacrificing love – is the goal of the gospel.
   
Ellen White brought out this reality in her summative statement about the Minneapolis message:

The Lord in his great mercy sent a most precious message to his people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to his divine person, his merits, and his changeless love for the human family. All power is given into his hands, that he may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of his own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of his Spirit in a large measure.  {TM 91.2}

Did you see it?  It presented "justification by faith," that reveals itself in righteousness.  Faith isn't merely a fiduciary exchange whereby we purchase salvation with faith.  Faith isn't to accomplish a book-keeping hurdle that God has in the books of heaven.  Faith is a productive reality.  Faith is a causative agent.  Faith causes, it produces, righteousness – heavenly thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Our lesson this week talks about righteousness as it applies to financial matters.  How we acquire money, and how we use money.  Acquiring and using money in "right" ways are practical aspects of "doing" righteousness.  How we acquire and use our dollars and cents, reveal righteousness or selfishness.  It reveals love or evil.  It reveals compassion and wisdom, or ego and delusion. 

And as we've already seen, the path that produces right use of money (righteousness) is the path of faith.  The path that produces Godly spending and giving of money (righteousness) is the path of a heart appreciation of the love of God as manifested in the life and death of Christ (faith).  The 1888 message has the power within it to cause us to use money righteously.
   
Notice in the following passage how E.J. Waggoner speaks about the right view of value – and money is merely one measure of value:

'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' Mark viii. 36, 37.

Many a man has exchanged his soul for something far less than a world. No man this side of Adam ever owned a continent. Very few have more than a few square miles of the earth's surface, or hold even this much by more than a precarious tenure. The vast majority have never possessed more than a few hundreds or thousands of pounds; yet even this is sufficient to blind the eyes of men to the value of their souls. Men have bartered away their souls for a little worldly honour or a moment's pleasure. They are making just such bargains to-day. They do not do this understandingly of course; but they do it because their eyes are blinded by the god of this world, and they have no realisation of what the soul is worth.

Yet these same persons have a vivid sense of their own individual importance. They think that no position on earth is too high for them, and no honour too good for them. They are ready and anxious to be exalted above their fellow-men. They live as if it were their aim to make themselves the centre around which everything else ought rightfully to revolve.

But the prophet David, with mind enlightened by a higher wisdom, exclaimed, "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained,-what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" Ps. viii. 3, 4. Man, considered by himself, becomes very small when the eye looks over creation; so small that, as an individual, he sinks into absolute nothingness. What is the globe itself, upon which man dwells? Astronomy reveals it to be nothing but a tiny speck among the myriads of lights that fill the heavens,-in which it is lost like a grain of sand upon the seashore! And what is the nation itself to which an individual belongs? It is only one among hundreds of other nations that have existed upon the earth since time began. And what is he himself? Only one among the countless myriads that have been born and lived and moved upon the earth since it became the home of the human family,-an indistinguishable speck upon an indistinguishable speck, compared with a great creation which exists and moves and lives and fills the immensity of space, upheld by the life of God!

But only God Himself can estimate the soul at its true value; and He has revealed His estimate to the sight of man. The cross of Calvary tells what the soul is worth to God; and its worth to Him is also its worth to us. For we belong to Him, and were created for His pleasure and His glory. But apart from God the worth of the soul is lost. Without Him life would not be worth living. The sinner apart from God would eventually long for death. Connected with God, the soul is of infinite value; but severed from Him it is lost both to the individual and to Himself.

The cross of Calvary is the link that connects the soul with God. Life has its value to us by virtue of that alone. Let us say therefore with the apostle, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. vi. 14. {October 12, 1893 EJW, PTUK}

As we experience the love of God that energizes our faith and leads to true righteousness, that manifests itself in our use of finances, may we appreciate Waggoner's true statement that our lives have value only as they are connected to Calvary.  Money, in and of itself, produces no value, but is a measure of how we value things.  If we value others, and if we value the sacrifice of Jesus, it will be manifested in the use we make of our money (righteousness) for His cause and His kingdom.  May He be first and last and all in our finances, as well as every other corner of our lives.
-Bob Hunsaker

Raul Diaz