I receive e-mails every day by the hundreds and frankly it is becoming more and more of a challenge, because I do look at all of them myself and answer as many as I can. I was talking to televangelist James Robison and he does not handle his own e-mail. He has (not one) but two assistants that review all his e-mail and decide what he should see and they handle the rest.
His office complex is huge consisting of four large buildings. One is about the size of the Gathering Hall at Honey Lake and the people who work within it do nothing but open mail sent to his ministry, (which I’m told reaches some 300 million people).
Most of those letters contain donor checks and he has several very nice employees whose sole job is to call donors and thank them for supporting his fine ministry. It is an amazing operation and he helps people all over the world with that money. He not only preaches the Gospel via his television show, but provides food and water to millions who are starving.
The number one reason cited in polls as to why people don’t like to go to church is that they don’t want to be hounded to give money. Most have a low regard for those pastors who preach about that subject and tell us from the pulpit that we are commanded by the Bible to tithe and beyond that give our offerings to the Lord.
I detest asking for money to support our ministry and try to avoid it at Honey Lake Church. Recently the Lord has taken me to task about this and has placed it on my back like a heavy burden. The basic admonition from Him is that the message of giving comes from God, (and not from me or any other minister), and I should boldly go forth and preach it and not just preach the parts that I enjoy talking about like obtaining salvation through the sacrifice of Christ.
If you haven’t discovered it yet you will find that every word in the Bible is written for our gain. God has instructed us how to get through this tough world in the best fashion possible. When we look at the Ten Commandments we can easily see this. Who in their right mind thinks that Lying, stealing, murdering, committing adultery, coveting, and so forth brings any joy to Mudville?
Nope the closer we can come to following God’s word, the more peace, joy, and love we can enjoy. God COMMANDS us to tithe and give 10% of our income to the Lord at the church that we attend and beyond that he instructs us to give offerings as led by his Holy Spirit. By the way as far as I can determine this is the only command in the Bible that is followed by a promise, actually it comes with two promises.
Malachi 3:8 – “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me.” The failure to bring their tithes and offerings is called robbing God and it results in a curse. That is a promise!
The other promise is one of blessings like we cannot imagine. Mal. 3:10 – Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Long time readers know what a rebellious fool I’ve been throughout my life, so it will comes as no surprise to learn that I did not tithe for many years. I felt I could give the money direct to the causes that “I” liked and not to some preacher that might blow “MY” hard earned money. Finally the Lord spoke to my heart and caused some unpleasant things to begin to happen in my life and He told me that the money I had in my possession was not mine, but HIS and to get with the tithing and offering program or face further serious consequences.
I started tithing and God opened the floodgates of blessings and it is one lesson I shall never forget. I had to learn the hard way and I still cringe when I think about all of those wasted years I could have been obedient and living the good life of total obedience to the Lord.
Another mistaken notion I had was that giving was ordained by some Old Testament guy named Malachi and when Christ came that was all washed away.
BOINK – WRONG!
Jesus said He came to fulfill the law; not do away with it. And to be clear He also said in Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you”. This is no doubt a direct reference to that Old Testament guy Malachi. Gulp!
So I’ve asked folks to support the Worldwide Ministry in its efforts to unite Christians and fulfill the Great Commission. I’ve detailed the need for money to wage this war. Some of you have written and told me to write a check for what we need.
Sigh . . . First, what “I” do has nothing to do with “YOU” and your giving command. To ease your mind you can believe that I’ve written more than my fair share of checks and will continue faithfully giving until the Lord calls me home. Second, if I gave all of the money to this cause and there was no need for more, it would rob you of your blessing which will come no matter if you give one penny, $5 or $5 million according to what you have.
So there you have it, I’ve stated the “giving” case for the Lord according to the Bible. Now please Jesus, give me some rest and get off me about it.
Hmmm . . . That is NOT the attitude I should have concerning following God’s commands to preach the ENTIRE Gospel and not to just talk about the parts I want to talk about. I react in the flesh because I don’t like asking folks to give money to the Lord, but what I like is really irrelevant; it is what God wants in life that is important! I shouldn’t do the Lord’s work reluctantly, but cheerfully. As if I needed reinforcement, the verse that God just popped into my mind to end this piece is as follows:
2 Cor. 9:7
You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
May 15, 2014 – Click here to listen