Giftofwords.net

by Kyle LeBoeuf (kyle [at] giftofwords.net)

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I read a book recently that mentioned the impact of church language on the business world. For instance, “evangelism”, a word used by most churches to refer to their outreach, is frequently used by large corporations in reference to getting knowledge of their products out to their consumers. A real world example of this theory is Steve Jobs, Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Inc. Steve Jobs is often considered an Apple “Evangelist”; a few times a year, he gives a keynote address to thousands of drooling Apple fans. If you ever watch a Steve Jobs keynote (often called a “Stevenote” by tech pundits and the media), you can see the resemblance to an excited preacher.

If Steve Jobs can get so worked up over a computer or MP3 player, how cam we have such a hard time getting worked up over God? Why are we more than willing to stand up and debate politics, or has the better car, or computer, or what’s the best job; and not even being be able to stand up for what we believe is the only way to truly fulfill our purpose in life? Why is it so hard for us to be excited about Lord and Savior?

Paul saw this same issue in the early church. He witnessed people caving under pressure from society and keeping their mouth shut, refusing to proclaim the truth of the Gospel because it was not the “hip” thing to do. So what did he do? He challenged us to be proud, and not ashamed, of the rich inheritance that God has promised us:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17 (New King James Version)

So what’s stopping the church from stepping out into the streets and owning it’s own jargon? Anyone up for putting our money where our mouth is? Are we ready to step out into the world and proclaim his truth for the nations?

Are we ready to be just as excited about the gift of eternal life as Steve Jobs is about Macs and iPods?

That decision is entirely up to you.

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Hey everyone,

Your friendly editor here ,giving you some updates on the site. For starters, I’ve got a system going that allows us to easily create PDF formats of our posts, so all devotional posts from authors here will be available in PDF format. In order to read PDFs, you will need applicable software, such as Adobe Reader, which can be obtained for free from Adobe here.

Also, I recently setup our Twitter Feed! Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/giftofwords . Please note that only new post notifcations will be tweeted on the account. For general tweets, you can follow me at http://twitter.com/kyleleboeuf or Brandon at http://twitter.com/brandonedwards

We look forward to hearing from you soon. If you have questions concerned the website or you wish to write for us, please contact me (Kyle) by email: kyle [at] giftofwords.net

We appreciate your support and prayers for us as we try to get this project off the ground!

Kyle LeBoeuf
Editor-in-chief, giftofwords.net
http://www.giftofwords.net

Tags:   General · technical · TwitterNo Comments.

by Brandon Edwards (brandon [at] giftofwords.net)

Download a Print-friendly PDF version of this devotional here

There is no doubt that tithing is a huge topic in the protestant church. Many of us have been brought up to believe that tithing is a command of God Himself. I have been dealing with this issue at my church lately and have wanted to do more research on the topic. I have turned my attention to Deuteronomy 26 for my main reading on the subject. I have also used a commentary from Enduringword.com.

And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.” Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. “(Deuteronomy 26:1-4)

1. God told the Israelites that they will get to the land that He promised them.

2. God tells them to give some of all the first produce from the ground to Him. Numbers 18:12 talks about the first fruits that must be regularly brought to the high priests. The first fruits in Deuteronomy 26 seem to be a special offering to God himself as thanks for the Promise Land.

3. God tells them to set it down before the alter of the LORD. First fruit giving honored the LORD. It shows a since of God- Reliance and unselfishness.

Later on in the chapter God commands the Israelites to set aside a tenth of all their produce. This verse is obviously where we decide to obey or disobey God’s commandment.

I believe the act of tithing itself is beautiful. It goes against our human nature to give money (first fruits). When we give out of our heart as an act of worship and reverence, God tells us that we will be blessed more than we can even imagine. That blessing may look different for some people than other people. When you tithe, you are not only giving God what is rightfully his, you are saying, “God you can do much better things with this money than I ever could.”

-Amen

Love everyone,

Brandon

Tags:   Brandon Edwards · Deuternomy · Money · Numbers · Promised Land · TithingNo Comments.

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2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

We have something to be joyful about! We cannot live this life the way that God intended us to without Him guiding our every way. The Bible is clear when it says that God has a plan for our life that is much better than we can even imagine. I don’t know about you, but I have failed way too many times to trust my future in my own hands.

Pray daily for God to renew the joy of your salvation. Psalm 51:12

-God Bless-

Brandon

Tags:   Brandon Edwards · corinthiansNo Comments.

With the semester drawing to a close, we’ll be having plenty of time to write. Myself and the other writers will be coming at you with new thoughts and devotionals soon.

In the meantime, you can always follow my personal blog here: http://kyle.giftofwords.net
Or on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kyleleboeuf

Tags:   announcements · GeneralNo Comments.

Psalms 51 (NIV)

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ^[a] ;
you teach ^[b] me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.

14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 The sacrifices of God are ^[c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

I don’t know about you, but my sin overwhelms me everyday! I have doubted my salvation many times because it feels like sin just overtakes me everyday! I say to myself, “If I was really a Christian (Christ-Follower) would I be struggling with this certain sin.” I have come to the conclusion that yes, I am a Christian. In Romans Paul tells us that once we are true Christ-Followers no one can snatch us from God’s hand. Can I tell you that this is great news! Satan uses our sin to try and trick us. He is the Father of Lies! We have to realize this! He thrives on lying to us!

Lately I feel that I have given him much more of a foothold than he should have. I am a worship leader at a church in Lafayette, LA. Sometimes I feel his lies coming into my head while I’m on stage leading in worship! Many times I give into it. “He tells me stuff like, “What are you doing?” “You’re not worthy to be up here.” He’s right! I’m not worthy! But through the grace of God and his son Jesus Christ he allows me to be in a leadership position at my local church.

Psalms 51 is a comforting passage for me to read. It is a prayer from David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. The Bible talks about how David is a “Man after God’s own Heart.” Wow! How I long for that to be said about me. Psalms 51:4 tells us that we have done what is evil in God’s eyes so God can be proven right when he speaks and justified when he judges! This verse amazes me because it reminds me that God is All-Knowing!

Psalms 51:12-13 talks about remembering what God has done for us. David tells God to Renew the joy of his salvation, so he can teach transgressors God’s ways and so sinner’s will turn back to God. Many times in our lives I believe that we lose the fire that we once had for Christ. I believe that we need to pray and ask God to Renew the joy that is in us! I believe that this should be a daily prayer.

Psalms 51:16-17 talks about our daily sacrifices to God. There is nothing that we can bring to God that will save us. God is strongest when we are at our weakest. When we realize there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves we feel broken. We feel helpless. This is the sacrifice that is pleasing to God. God desires us to know that there is nothing that we can do to earn his love. He can’t love us anymore or any less. Our only sacrifice that we can give to God is full reliance on him throughout our everyday lives.

-Amen

-Brandon

Tags:   Brandon · psalmsNo Comments.

We’ve reached the 1st major update to the website since Gift of Words launched earlier this summer. If you haven’t noticed, there are some major changes to the way the site looks and feels. Feel free to use the new navigation bar at the top.

Gift of Words uses the latest Cutline design from Chris Pearson.

We’ve also made some major changes to our backend (Wordpress) that will allow us to implement new features much easier in the future.

Keep an eye for a new design that’s coming soon. This design was deployed to refresh the look, but I have plans to create a new design from scratch. I’ll keep you all updated.

Kyle LeBoeuf
Editor-in-Chief, Webmaster
kyle at giftofwords.net

Tags:   Kyle · technicalNo Comments.

Over the next few days, we will be doing some work on both the backend and frontend of the site. You will see some major layout changes, and we will be updating several backend components for our website software.

You may not be able to access the site for brief periods of time. We should be in full swing once again by Monday. Thanks for patience.

Kyle LeBoeuf

Editor-in-Chief, Webmaster

Tags:   technicalNo Comments.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NASB)

Love, in one form or another, has been on my mind almost constantly throughout the past couple of months. It plays so large a role in all of our lives that I can’t help but try to understand it, even though I am mostly grasping at straws.

Relationships, especially friendships, consume most of my time and thoughts. Whether it’s my relationship with God, friends, parents, or colleagues I am usually thinking about someone and how that relationship can be improved throughout the day.

The biggest struggle in my life has been learning to love people unconditionally. Once I have gone through a rough patch with someone or been hurt by them I have an extremely difficult time getting over the situation. But the people God has placed in my life recently have convicted me of this fact constantly.

I have friends that can put the past out of their minds and approach each new encounter with love and faith. They remind me so much of God. One specific encounter of the sort this summer almost brought me to tears.

This small reflection of God’s love is overwhelming to me. If my friends can be that kind, loving, and forgiving, then I can’t imagine how wonderfully beautiful God’s love is. I hope that we, as Christians, can all learn to forgive each other and have faith in the transforming power of God. I pray that I will becoming more like this and less skeptical of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I hope that you will let God’s unconditional love overflow from within your heart for all the world to see despite the pain, joy, or confusion you might be feeling; let His unconditional love unconditionally pour out on others.

Tags:   love · NicoleNo Comments.

By Kyle (kyle@giftofwords.net)
Verses: John 8:1-12
You can get a downloadable/print-friendly copy here (Adobe PDF)

I got caught being extremely judgmental to a friend of mine the other day. When I thought about it after the fact, it made me feel extremely horrible. It got me thinking that night, and I stayed up late into the night pondering on judgment, and how we as God’s people relate to it.

Why are we so darn critical of each other?  How come we are always so quick to judge people on a vast number of  levels? Whether it’s the way someone dresses, the way they speak, the color of their skin, their profession, who they hang out with, how well they do in school, or what music they listen to, we are always so quick to point out their flaws and cast judgment on them. I just want to know why it’s always about how we are better than other people, or about how a particular person’s opinion or  behavior isn’t correct or doesn’t belong.

What if we were more concerned about our own flaws then worrying about someone else’s? Wouldn’t that solve so many of our problems? Judgment is a big problem in today’s church. We are so quick to cast judgment and criticism to those that don’t see our way. For instance, if you drink alcohol (even casually) and you attend a Baptist church, you are almost certainly going to receive heavy criticism from fundamentalist Baptists in the church. If you show up and your shoes don’t match your belt, there are going to be some people who frown down at you and may even be openly hostile towards you.

I say these things to shed some much needed light on this horrible issue. We Christians are so judgmental of those that are among us and those that are not. We tend not to associate with people who don’t behave like we do because we think we are better then they are when in fact, we are all created equally, and equally we all deserve to hear the Gospel preached. We need to be looking beyond the mistakes and problems that people have, and instead of worrying what they’ve done in the past, worry about what they can do in the future. Let’s look beyond the differences and the personality issues that we all have, and instead, do some work for God like we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

The Gospels make one huge point about Jesus’s ministry. The people that Jesus associated with were not the do-gooders, the church leaders, and those that were generally considered the moral example of the day. Instead, Jesus associated with what was considered the scum of the countryside: tax-collectors, roman soldiers, and even Samaritan adulterers.

“Wait…what?”

“You mean, Jesus, the most perfect individual to have ever walked the earth, didn’t associate himself with the “moral pillars” of society?

No. He didn’t.

One of my favorite stories in the Gospels is when Jesus comes to the rescue of a woman caught in the act of adultery. Some judgmental do-gooders in the town sought out this girl and brought her before Jesus, in an attempt to trap Him. When they were about to stone her for her crime (stoning was the punishment for adultery back then), Jesus pointed out that she wasn’t the only one amongst them to have sinned. They dropped their stones and walked away, defeated. (John 8:1-12)

Before we jump the gun and judge someone for who they are or something that they’ve done, let’s all remember that each of us have a sinful nature, and that to each of us, the grace of God was offered equally.

After all the accusers walked away, Jesus spoke to the woman:

“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” (10b-11a)

The end is the best part:

“Neither do I…go and sin no more…I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (11b-12)

Tags:   judgment · KyleNo Comments.