Lesson 6: Laying Up Treasure in Heaven (Matthew 6, 13 & 19, Genesis 6 & 7)

Do you need to have someone keep an eye on you? I know I do. Each week I teach the lesson that I write. Turns out that this is an invaluable check on my thinking. When Malachi 3 (and the other verses we have studied) tell us that if we give materially to God's work, He will pour out a huge amount of blessings, I teach that this is about money, among other things. My class members respond that it is about other things more than money. Who is right? The prime characters in the Old Testament were rich and the prime characters in the New Testament were not. Consistent with my view I read Matthew 6:19-20 to be talking about money. "Treasure equals money." Ouch! I'm an old guy who has saved for retirement. But if the blessings in Malachi 3 are not primarily about money, should we conclude that the "treasures on earth" are also not about money? Let's dive into our study of the Bible and see what we can learn!

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The Current Quarter’s Bible Studies on Money: Managing for the Master.

Lesson 5
Dealing With Debt
(Deuteronomy 15 & 28, 1 John 2, Matthew 18)
Over half of Americans say that debt negatively impacts their life. I imagine the same is true for any society which allows easy credit. If there was anything in life that created problems for more...
Lesson 4
Offerings for Jesus
(2 Corinthians 9, Mark 12)
Many years ago I was volunteering my time to do some physical labor for the church. I was young and one of the older members discussed family finances with me. When he learned that my wife and I ha...
Lesson 3
The Tithing Contract
(Genesis 14, Hebrews 7, 1 Corinthians 9)
Last week we discussed that salvation is free, but God presents challenges for us to receive special blessings. We began a discussion about the tithing blessing. This week we do a deep dive into th...
Lesson 2
God’s Covenants With Us
(Matthew 6, Malachi 3, 2 Corinthians 9)
Romans chapter 5 repeatedly refers to our righteousness before God as a gift. In case we were confused about what "gift" means, it is repeatedly referred to as a "free gift." See, e.g. Rom...
Lesson 1
Part of God’s Family
(1 Chronicles 17, Matthew 6 & 25, 1 John 5)
Daniel Pink authored a very popular book named Drive. In it he explored what motivates us. You may be surprised to learn that the answer is not money. Money is important up to the point wh...

Emotional Intelligence

Can the Bible help you get promoted at work? Can the Bible increase your pay? Can the Bible help you keep your job? Improve your marriage? The answer is “Yes!” The Bible teaches principles of “emotional intelligence” that can actually help you to be smarter and get along better. Bruce Cameron, the writer of these Bible studies and a law professor, has published a paper written for lawyers which presents 17 Bible-based rules of emotional intelligence which God gave us to improve our lives. Best of all, Professor Cameron’s paper is free and you do not have to be a lawyer to understand it. To get your free copy, first click on this link. Second, when you see the title of the paper (EI, EI, Oh What an Employee), click on the “One-Click Download” and the paper will download to your computer as a PDF. If you have friends who want to read the paper, have them go to the website and download it as well.