Sermon Tone Analysis

Tithe and Talent and Time.

(Our Mission)

How would you respond if someone accidentally took something that belonged to you?

How would fell if someone stole from you one Time?

How then would you respond if someone came to your house every friday night and stol;e something from your home?

Outraged, Discusted, maybe even become violent

There is a reason we bring our tithes and offeringings into the storehouse?

In all areas of Ministry we saw over 692 people who God rescued from an eternity separated from Him to an eternity with Him.

Foreign mission, USA missions, Local Missions, Revivals, Food Programs and much more.

A. Giving your tithe is a Biblical principle.

Its very clear that the Old Testament declares the teaching of Tithing

But what about the New Testament (Did Christ revise this OT mandate)

It is a true that some laws and statutes were clarified but did He clarify this one?

.... Well Yes and Yes

But not in the way most people insist.

Before I tell you how he clarified lets look at the current problem.

Many have developed the minimal giving mandate (The leftover principle) as opposed to the firstfruits.

1.

The “God is pleased if I give anything principle”.

Here’s the reasons most of these people give that way.

They believe.

In all areas of Ministry we saw over 692 people who God rescued from an eternity separated from Him to an eternity with Him.

1. Giving doesn’t help me have a better standing before God

Nothing gets you a good standing (righteousness) before God except His free gift of Salvation.

2. Giving is a personal matter!

Giving may be personal but it has congregational problems.

It hurts the Church if failed.

3. Giving is conditional.

I’ll give according to the success or failure I see in my congregation.

What a selfish self centered way of manipulating the Church to fit your opinion.

4. I’d give but I don’t have

So does God clarify laws.

The answer of course is YES

To give the true or complete meaning!

contains an expression, "But I say unto you”.

contains an expression, "But I say unto you" that is seen as Jesus clarifying the OT law.

But I say unto you is a clarification statement.

Look at the passage in Matthew 5

But also he did this clarification in His teaching.

Remember the women who was caught in adultery… OT says stone… if you haven't sinned throw the first stone.

So we see that Jesus clarifies but does he clarify concerning tithing.

He sure does but it may be news to you how He does that.

First it clarifies that it is still to be practiced.

Second it clarifies to the amount!

But you noticed I said he did clarify, so what clarification did he give?

Go above any minimal of 10% that is expected.

The Women who gave two mites.

Anthony was raised a Catholic but after selling his New York City grocery business, began reading the Bible and attending the First Methodist Church.

He then began to daily commune with Jesus Christ, subsequently taking everything to the Lord in prayer.

He began to give God the glory for the solutions to difficult problems and the development of new ideas.

In turn, God took Anthony Rossi’s willing heart and developed him into a servant-leader who employed God given talents to benefit others and to be useful for God’s work in the world.

His efforts to advance the Gospel through his Aurora Foundation were extraordinary; funding Christian Educational institutions and Christian missions, including the funding of a church in Anthony’s native Sicily and the creation of the Bradenton Missionary Village, a one hundred acre, $10M Florida community for retired missionaries.

In a Town and Country Magazine in 1983, he was named one of the top ten most generous living Americans.

To please God became the primary objective of Anthony Rossi.

TROPICANA ORANGE JUICE: A young Bible College student noticed that, a tractor trailer load of Tropicana Orange Juice was dropped off at the cafeteria every week.

I wondered how a low-cost Bible College could afford so much expensive O.J.

One morning in chapel, I found out how an older Italian man named Anthony Rossi, in broken English, gave his testimony.

He said he had come to the US from Italy in the 20’s as a young teenager, with nothing but the clothes on his back.

A Christian couple befriended him and through their love he came to know Christ as his Savior and Lord.

One Sunday in church, he prayed: "Lord, if you give me an idea for a business, I will be faithful to give a portion of everything I make back to Your work."

That very morning, the idea of "Fresh squeezed orange juice" popped into his head - and the rest is history: Anthony Rossi founded the "Tropicana Co" and has been faithful to give God - not 10% of his income, as many faithful believers do, but 50% of his income, for the past 60 years!

He also gave truckloads of FREE O.J. to Christian colleges throughout the country!

We will suffer as a Church, our denomination will suffer as an organization and Christianity will suffer in its ability to reach the lost if those members who have robbed God continue to do so!

Sad Facts.

If Christians followed the Old Testament standard of giving across the board, then $139 billion would become available this year for additional ministry work.

37% of people who attend church every week and identify themselves as Evangelical Christians don’t give any money to their church.

If you take all Tithes and divide those among those that attend its about 1.7%.

How do we make it then????

Because

77% of those who do tithe give 11%–20% or more of their income, far more than the baseline of 10%.

97% of Christians who tithe make it a top financial priority to give to their local church.

Let me end this section with some truths.

Tithes are for the General use of the Church and the Budget it sets up.

Giving to the American Cross is not a Tithe.

Giving to hungry children organizations is not a Tithe.

Giving your pastor money is not a Tithe.

Helping extra at the Church is not a Tithe

Offerings are any funds given for the good of Christianity and benevolence.

The average tithe is about 1.5 to 2 %.

The average tithe is about 1.5 to 2 %.

If the stats are correct and looking at comparisons from other Churches our size, if we as a congregation began to tithe it would generate an additional 75,000 to 150.000 per year.

B. Giving your Talent is a Biblical Principle.

FAN THE FLAME

2 Timothy

Both in and again in , Paul makes reference to some spiritual gift that was bestowed upon Timothy for the work of ministry, during what was apparently his ordination service, where Paul and the elders of the church laid hands on him and prayed.

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We have not all received some specific spiritual gift during a ceremony where hands were laid on us and prayers made to usher us into active and full-time ministry.

But we all have gifts, and we should all be seeking for the Lord to bestow us with ever-greater power for ministry and boldness in using the gifts we have, and as Paul admonished Timothy, we should always be striving to ‘stir up’, ‘fan the flames’, rekindle the gifts we have, by frequent use in service.

Is your gift prayer?

All Christians should pray and work to develop their prayer ‘muscles’, but some have a special gift of prayer.

They are the prayer warriors.

They are the ones who really talk to God and hear God’s voice.

They are the ones whose first reaction to news is to praise the Lord or pray about it.

They are the ones whose first reaction to news is to praise the Lord or pray about it.Is your gift a deep caring for others?

Is it a gift of mercy?

Or perhaps teaching, or organizing?

Stir it up.

Fan the flame.Just like anything that goes unused, it will atrophy; it will diminish; it will fade if not used.I heard someone give an illustration once about a wooden well bucket he came upon.

He thought it was useless at first, because it had been sitting next to a barn in the sun, unused for a long time.

He could see daylight between the wooden slats of the bucket.