Bruce Staley

Biblical Tips for Mastering Money is a brief summary of a sermon given at one2one Church of Christ on Sunday 21 July 2013. 1. Honour God Proverbs 10:22, 30:8-9, 3:9-10 Deutoronomy 8:1-18 2. Seek Wisdom Proverbs 2:1-22, 8:19 & 16:16 3. Work Hard Proverbs 10:4, 20:13, 13:11 & 21:5 Make plans and save Give 10%, save 10% and live off the rest 4. Help Others Proverbs 28:27, 29:7 & 14:31 1 John 3:17 Micah 6:8 God helps those who help others

The number of text messages between me and Vic is now in the seventies. Fortunately my phone plan is very accommodating and I can send substantial messages covering the Seven Commands of Jesus, Seven Stories of Hope and Seven Miracles in John. In reply to the question, "If God could perform a miracle in your life what would it be, what would it look like?" Vic responded, "Peace and someone to love me as I am unconditionally." We have started reading the book of Acts together taking it two chapters at a time. This has allowed me to include some brief commentary and words of encouragement. As always God is transforming us from the inside out, for He can be trusted to bring to completion the work He began in us the day we decided to follow Jesus.

Vic had seemingly turned up unannounced at the church office. He wanted to talk to someone about getting back to God. A person in the office listened to Vic's story and explained how he could return to God. I was invited to give Vic a follow up call. After several attempts I was able contact Vic and arrange a time to catch up. As I listened to Vic's story I waited on the prompting of God's Spirit. Vic's world had come crashing down around him and he wanted to get back to God. I invited Vic to read aloud the story of the lost son, Luke 15:11-32. It didn't take long, tears welled up in Vic's eyes, and I was moved to tears. I explained to Vic that he didn't need to wait, that before he left he could be sure he had returned to God. Vic followed me and prayed aloud to commit himself to God. Since then we have communicated by text message with Vic expressing his appreciation of the Scripture passages I've provided. I've been thrilled to observe the growth ...

The remarkable little book He Leadeth Me , by Walter Ciszek, shows childlike faith exercised in the most demanding of circumstances. (I'm looking forward to reading my copy when I have have finished Steve Addison's, What Jesus Started: Joining the Movement, Changing the World .) Ciszek, raised a devout Catholic in Pennsylvania, joined a Jesuit mission and volunteered for service in Soviet Russia at the height of its militant atheism. To Ciszek's consternation, his superior assigned him instead to a mission in Poland. A few years later, war broke out and Hitler's army invaded Poland. In the horde of Polish refugees fleeing toward Russia, Ciszek saw a providential opportunity. Disguising himself as a worker, he joined the refugees and sneaked into Russia, where he had always wanted to serve. His prayers had been answered so he believed. Not long afterwards, though, the Soviet secret police arrested Ciszek. The next five years, he was kept in Moscow's notorious Lubiank...

If we live to please God alone, we set ourselves free from the cares and worries that press in on us. So many of my own cares trace back to concern over other people:whether I measure up to their expectations, whether they fine me desirable. Living for God alone involves radical reorientation, a stripping away of anything that might lure me from the primary goal of pleasing God, far more than pleasing me. I know a hand surgeon who specialises in reattaching fingers that have been partially or totally severed in accidents...Once my friend got an emergency call at three o'clock in the morning and could hardly face the prospect of beginning such an arduous procedure. In order to add incentive and focus, he decided to dedicate the surgery to his father who had recently died. For the next few hours, he imagined his father standing beside him, his hand on his shoulder offering encouragement. The technique worked so well that he began dedicating his surgeries to people he knew. He wo...

Today I visited a welfare agency store that sells recycled goods to the public. Low and behold I bumped into another ex-student, Martin, who works there. We chatted and Martin explained with a smile that after a long time he now had access to his two children and was appreciating their company. I asked Martin, "If God can do a miracle in your life today, what would it be?" Then I asked, "Can I pray for you?" He looked at me and said, "Not here." We were standing at the front of the store near the service desk. So we moved to the rear of the store and Martin invited me into his "office," a second-hand sofa surrounded by other second-hand furniture. Martin didn't hesitate, he asked that he would express positive and encouraging words toward his children and avoid putting them down. So sitting on the second-hand sofa, and with heads bowed, I prayed for Martin that he would indeed have the right words to say to his children.

Leo Tolstoy, who did not disdain adding a moral lesson to his stories, ended his short story "Three Questions" this way: "Remember then: there is only one time that is important-Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. A record of God's faithfulness in the past combines with hope in a better future for one end: to equip us for the present. As Tolstoy said, we have control over no other time. The past is unchangeable, the future unpredictable. I can only live the the life directly before me. Faithful Christians pray, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," and then proceed to enact God's will-love, justice, peace, mercy, forgiveness-in the present on earth.; Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God Passing through the checkout at a large department store I came face to face with Davy. Davy is a former student of mine from over forty years ago. Every now and then I bump into Danny who loves a cha...