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Introduction
I want to take just a few minutes to explain how the finances of a local church work, primarily how they work at our church.
God established early that His People FINANCE His Work, and He began this in the Old Testament with the nation of Israel, and He continues today with believers and local churches.
I have several slides that I want to share with you this morning that gives a picture of our church and our finances.
I do this each year so that you, as members and attenders of our church, understand how we operate financially.
In the first slide, you will note that we are supported financially in two different ways.
The first way is through tithes and offerings.
I will say more about that in just a moment.
As you can see on the slide, Tithes and Offerings make up 83.1% of our overall giving.
We are also supported financially through Mission Giving (aka Grace Giving or Faith Promise Giving).
Our Mission Giving is 16.9% of our overall giving.
Tithes and Offerings support the local ministries of our church.
Everything from staff salaries to paying the electrical bill to the purchase of toilet paper is accomplished through the believer being obedient in giving the tithe and, at times, through special offerings.
Our entire financial support comes directly from you as members and attendees of this church.
We do not receive or accept any outside financial support from a denominational group or board.
Our mission giving goes to support missionaries on foreign fields, and every single dime designated to missions goes to missionaries.
So far, as of this past weekend, we have taken in $163,248.36 in tithes and offerings.
We can only offer the Lord the praise!
He promised that if we remain faithful to Him and His Word that He would provide.
He has proven Himself once again to the ministry of this church.
Also as of this past weekend, we have received a total of $33,297.20.
As we move to the next slide, I want to encourage you to be faithful in giving your Tithes and Offerings.
Giving the Tithe is Obedience to the Lord.
God established tithing long before His dealing with the nation of Israel.
You can go back to Abraham to see tithing in Genesis 14. Tithing is something that God directed His people to do for a long time.
Israel especially was commanded to give the tithe setting the example for us today.
Many would argue that tithing is not for today, and I contend that they are wrong.
God established tithing in the Old Testament and has not changed for today.
There are two verses on the screen behind me.
The first is in the book of Malachi (the last book of the Old Testament).
If you read the context of this verse, God is challenging Israel to be faithful in their tithes and offerings.
They were being disobedient to His command and were withholding their tithes to them.
God called them thieves, noting they had robbed Him of what belonged to Him.
Then He gives them this challenge in verse 10 saying...
There are two essential elements of this verse.
First, there is the command - “Bring ye ALL THE TITHES into the storehouse.”
No matter how you cut it , God demands the tithe.
Either you are going to obey or disobey.
This thought bring us back to the principles of stewardship that we have been learning.
Remember God Owns It All.
We learned that from Psalm 24.
Last week, we learned that God Has ENTRUSTED to Us His Property.
Believers, your money is God’s money.
Your house, your car, your boat, etc. is God’s.
It all belongs to Him.
He simply has entrusted you with it.
All God asks in return is that you give back to Him a tithe (a tenth) of what He has assigned to you.
What is tithe?
Well, essentially, a tithe is 10%.
It is at least a good starting point.
That means that God directs you to give back to Him 10% of all that you earn.
For what reason?
Note verse 10 again.
The way God finances His Work is through His People.
As you tithe and give back to the Lord by giving to this local church, God uses you to keep the work and ministry of this church functioning.
When God’s people stop being obedient to God’s program of tithing, His Work suffers.
Now note one other essential element in this verse.
Not only does God expect you to give your tithe, but...
He challenges you to do it so that you can prove Him.
Look again at the verse.
God is saying to you to try Him.
Be obedient and tithe, putting Him to the test.
What is His promise here?
If you are obedient, He will “open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
When you are obedient to the small things, God blesses you with more responsibility for bigger things.
Thus, He says, “Prove me.”
God is saying, “I double-dog dare you to tithe and see what I will do.”
Now, again, some would argue that tithing is not for today.
What about that argument?
I say that argument is bologna.
The basis for their argument is the New Testament does not command tithing.
Those who make such an argument like to separate the Old Testament from the New.
The last time I checked, all of God’s Word applies to today and every believer.
Remember 2 Timothy 3:16.
I am pretty sure that “all” means “all.”
Therefore, the Old Testament is just as pertinent to us as believers today as is the New Testament, and tithing is one of the things that is still expected of us today.
As for tithing in the New Testament, many often overlook the context of Christ’s ministry.
Christ came first to the nation of Israel to offer Himself as the Messiah, the Savior.
Israel, as a nation, rejected Christ’s offer.
Christ extended His offer to all countries and all men as He died upon the cross of Calvary.
Context is everything.
Christ started the New Testament local church.
He said...
The early believers were Jews.
Even though the nation as a whole rejected Christ, some individually believed and accepted Him as Messiah.
From those early believers and followers, Christ started the first local church, later known as the local church at Jerusalem.
This church which became the model for all other churches, was mainly comprised of Jewish believers.
Jewish believers already knew to tithe and understood it as a command from God. Christ never taught that tithing should cease.
Instead, on occasion, He encouraged tithing.
I will give one example, which is the second verse on the slide.
Note that Christ is addressing an issue with scribes and Pharisees.
He called them hypocrites.
Why?
These religious and very proud men would grow the most miniature plants like mint, anise, and cummin.
Then, they would give 10% of their spice, boasting how faithful they were in paying the tithe.
Yet, they did nothing in the weightier matters of the law concerning judgment, mercy, and faith.
You will note that Christ says in this verse, “…these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
In other words, they did right in tithing.
It was the right and proper thing to do in obedience to God’s command to tithe.
However, there were other things they should have been just attentive to do as well.
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