Mitchell Landress

We have been going through the book of Ephesians on Sunday morning and for the past few weeks the Apostle Paul has been writing to the church in Ephesus telling them how to “walk” in the Christian life. That is, how do we, as Christians live; how do we talk, how do we act, how do we treat our family and our fellow believers in the faith? But almost every person I speak to these days has one pressing question on their minds and that is the place of money in their day to day life. If we ask ourselves how we are to live the Christian life we would be wrong to skip over the place of money and possessions, because it is such a central part of our everyday lives. The Lie About Tithing One burning question needs to be dealt with right off the bat, because I was taught a lie and there is a chance that maybe you were taught that same lie. In the Old Testament the tithe (a giving of the first tenth of your income) is taught abundantly and in the New Testament the word tithe only appears 7 times ...

While visiting family this summer my wife, son and I was invited to lunch by some old friends. The food was great and the conversation was pleasant. Then, out of the blue, came the Bible question. Normally I love these questions - after all, one of the reasons that I enjoy ministry so much is seeing people grow in their knowledge of God's word. The question struck me as odd right off the bat. She was questioning Moses' decision to marry Zipporah, a woman of Midian. At first I thought that she had picked up on the danger of marrying someone from a different religious background, but that was not it. Her next comment was this; "But Mitchell, she may have been black!" In an instant I saw the problem. She assumed that Moses was a white person like her. I truthfully, but gently directed her mind back to the truth that Moses was a Hebrew, a middle eastern man, and most likely had skin almost as dark as Zipporah's. Then, I reminded her that their problems would not be re...