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when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

When you care for the sick in your church or visit Christians in prison you are ministering to Jesus! We have a mandate to care for Christians. You may recall the “cup of cool water” quote from Matthew 10:42

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

Did you catch that again? If you give a cup of cold water to even the least of those in the church because they follow Jesus, you are doing what Jesus commanded you to do. Care for those who follow Jesus and proclaim the gospel to the lost!

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.

Far too often, we base our beliefs on what we FEEL the Bible (should) say, rather that what Jesus actually taught. The doctrine of Last-Things is a good example of this. Do you FEEL like the events you see today are fulfilling prophecy? If so, go find the verse, look at the context, think (learn) about what the original people who heard these words would have understood it to mean, think about who is saying (writing) it and what background they come from so as to inform what they meant. I dare say, most of the time, we allow others to lead us astray into reading the Bible in parallel with the newspaper and we miss the point of prophecy… Jesus is the One!

And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down… Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Jesus told His disciples the temple would be destroyed within a generation… 40 years later it was destroyed. Jesus said He would come back for His people, you can trust that He will. Be sure that includes you!

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

God is not impressed with our money, He’s impressed with our heart. He doesn’t care how many dollars you give, He wants you to acknowledge that He is the owner of everything. We give him a 10% off the top to demonstrate that everything we have comes from Him and that we don’t rely on money to survive, we rely on Jesus. When you give, do so from a position of generosity, not obligation. Give with a cheerful heart, not begrudgingly. You’ll be blessed if you do!