[votivesoul]

(...continued)

I personally believe Paul ministered to generous and hospitable people who treated him like royalty...

One such example was the people of Thessalonica:

1 Thessalonians 1:9 (ESV),

9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you...

And why do you suppose Paul and his team's reception at Thessalonica was so well earned?

1 Thessalonians 2:5 and 9 (ESV),

5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

...and I believe there where other times when Paul didn’t know where he was going to get his next meal. Bottom line is that God provided. Also, it is certain that Paul was not working a 40+ hour weekly public job and raising a family on his missionary journey.

Paul wrote, as I shared above, that he and his team worked night and day, and yet, you think it is certain he didn't work 40+ hours per week? Don't you know he was a leatherworker who found opportunity to labor with his own hands while travelling abroad?

Acts 18:1-3 (ESV),

1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

1 Corinthians 4:11 (ESV),

11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands.

Rightly diving the word of God doesn’t mean that we are legalist, and that we must have precise and exact applications of a 1st century culture in a 21st century culture. It means that we are able to use principles and adapt applications to situations that are relevant to us today.

Attempting to correctly understand and interpret and apply the Word of God according to its 1st century context is legalism?

So you are saying it is unbiblical to receive monetary offerings in the NT church? Have you got any examples on how we can apply that today? I would like to know what do you think is the biblical way to implement your views, because I am confused about the way it would go over for the saints as well as ministers.

I never said it is "unbiblical to receive monetary offerings". Where did you get that?

Several of the churches Paul founded raised a large sum of money for the saints in Judea and in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26). And Paul received money from the Philippians, as I explained above.

The question isn't whether or not money can be given and shared. The question is whether or not local prophets and teachers in residence are allowed by the Scriptures to receive an income in order to forbear working in any secular capacity, and whether or not that income should be raised by the local church through tithes. To both questions, the answer is no.

For the itinerant apostle or evangelist, Scripturally, the NT shows only the following: food, clothing, shelter/place to sleep/lodge, and funds for travelling along the way. And yet, Paul left us with an even better example: vocational craft while ministering.

We live in a post modern world.

And God cares about that???

Paul didn’t have Christian temples, public utilities, sound and media, etc….

You're correct. Paul didn't have any of those things, and yet, who, with those things, has done more than he?

The principle doctrines never change, but applications have changed with every passing generation.

So why make any effort to replicate 1st NT century doctrine, practice, and experience? Or do we just pick and choose and make it up as we go along? Thousands of denominations all in contention and disunity with each other. How do you suppose it got to be like this? By attempting to apply the Scriptures some other way every passing generation.

I haven’t tried to put anything into the text at all, but I only seek how to apply it in my life today.

You apply it no more and no less than how the 1st century church applied the text. Adding to and taking away from the Word, isn't just inserting or removing lines of text from the Bible, it's about adding new applications, or taking away the applications that already exist in the Word.

I guess we should close and sell all of the church buildings and give money to charity. Everyone in ministry needs to go get a job and just gather at a saints’ house, because there is not a biblical model for a church building in the Bible?

Correct, if you want to go by the Book, Chapter, and Verse. If you want to do things your own way???

You have categorized practically everyone in modern church ministry as a hireling.

And what do you suppose that says about "practically everyone in modern church ministry"? All I did, is give the definition of the term.

Being a hireling is determined by intents.

No, being a hireling is determined by the definition of the word. It doesn't matter what anyone's intent is. If they are paid clergy, they are a hireling. That's the meaning of the term Jesus used in the Gospels.

Sure there are probably some in it for the money, but in my circles it is sacrificial. If it was a pay based occupation then I would have quit a long time ago because I have never been so abused on a job for so little before lol. (The reward is Heaven)

You ever think at least part of the reason you and/or your circles are so abused is because you bring it upon yourself?

It isn’t like this only in the U.S. I have supported many ministries in South Africa, Philippines, etc… some of them may be a poor country, but every instance I am aware of, they feel like the preacher of the gospel needs to be honored with whatever resources they are able to give.

I wrote what I wrote because I know Mike Blume is Canadian and ministers there.