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today we are going to see a Christmas story, a great story about giving.
then we’ll see what is giving as per the NT.
later i’ll share 2 of our testimonies that is really close to my heart, and then i’ll tell you a question that you should ask your selves, which i think you’ll not want to ask yourselves.
ill also give you a glimpse of what we as ALF is doing, in addition to the various activities in Kuwait.
two weeks back we did a sermon on the journey of these wise men in the sermon title - Keep going - its not about you its about the king.
please listen to it to feel the time and the journey that they took not knowing who the kind was or who the baby was.
the sermon recording is in the wattsapp groups.
or on our website
the best part of their faith was that they gave the gifts to a baby not in the palace, but in a house, knowing the risks that they had.
but today we will see about their giving aspect.
this Christmas the Holy Spirit wants to remind you that in the first story in the NT is about giving.
these men travelled all the way thousands of mile to worship & offer
worship and giving are two sides of the same coin.
you can never worship without giving.
giving or offering is part of worship.
Offer
προσφέρω (prospherō).
“to bring” or “to bring near” and thus, to offer or present a sacrifice or offering in the temple or to God
so the wise men worshiped the boy as a king and then open up their treasures and gave the gifts.
gold frankincense and myrrh.
so here are 2 very important questions.
Who decided that gifts ?
the wise men.
this was not dictated that this much amount has to be given.
i’m sure that this gift depended on the status of the king that it was intended for.
so when we get gifts for a person we do think about who the gift is for inst it?
when did they decide on the gifts ?
over a year ago, before they set out on their journey.
it was not a spontaneous decision.
i’m sure there was a special way to give the gifts also.
there must have been a salutation.
an announcement of the giver, some words of exaltation etc.
imagine if you are Mary the mother of Jesus.
you only had one incident that the Holy spirit came to you and impregnated you with the seed of God. this story nobody believed you.
then you have Joseph the husband who had a dream that you are going with.
imagine guys the decision that Joseph took.
you are married but you decided not to have a relationship with her because of a dream from an angel.
and now here we have the pomp and fare about some foreign dignitaries who come and give you all these gifts.
so far it was faith based on a dream.
but now after the wise men’s visit.
you got a confirmation that this kid was indeed the son of God.
not at all a normal child.
Wise men worship was completed by them bringing / offering their gifts to the king.
this act of worship and offering was the confirmation for Joseph & Mary.
not just worship.
not that they just came and said a lot of good words and left.
no.
their offering really showed that these guys were really serious.
there is no worship without an offering or sacrifice.
every time we see in the scriptures that when the people went to the temple they always went with a gift of an offering.
the new testament starts with a story of a kingly authority authorizing the baby jesus as king.
Mathew used the same words for offering as follows about what jesus said.
so let us look into the scriptures to see what are we supposed to give to our Lord
is or how much of our offering is acceptable to our God.
or should we actually give anything?
when we study about bringing to God anything we come across the following two words
Offer / Bring
Tithe
Offering
First record of Tithing is before the Law and that is found in
so Abraham blessed God most high by giving a tenth of everything to Melchizedek
so if you were to follow Abraham that father of faith, we bless God by bring / offer/ give a 1oth of everything.
it was purely an act of Abraham faith.
it was not mandatory.
there was no instruction.
Chapters 12, 14, and 26 of Deuteronomy provide extensive regulations for tithing.
The people are instructed to
tithe the following resources: seed, grain, wine, oil, and firstlings of herds and flocks (Deut 14:22–23).
On every third year the tithe is to be kept within the town and given to the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow, because they do not possess land (Deut 14:28–29; 26:12)
so the way to tithe was detailed in the above scriptures
but the people forgot to do that and
so the tithe was done once a year
do how do we apply that principle today in our lives.
because we are not living in the agro environment, as since we get our salary every month, we adopt that principle to bring our tithe to the church here once a month.
if your salary is once every 2 weeks, bring your tithe every two weeks.
however in the NT tithe as 10% was not emphasized by Jesus or his disciples.
jesus never said to give 10 or 15 or 20% of your salary.
but he said not to neglect the tithe
for jesus virtue is more important than the tithe of the pharisees.
so is tithing important to the NT
the people in the mission field should get paid from the missions.
in order to get that done, we have to give, our tithe and offering.
HOW & HOW MUCH TO GIVE: 2 Corinthians 9:6–9
1. you decide the amount from the heart
2. without grudge / reluctance
3. not out of compulsion
4. cheerfully
so is there a benefit in giving?
so when you give, you store
this is a crazy concept
give physically and you store heavenly.
the more you give, the more you store
so jesus is saying that your heart should be in heaven not on the earth.
your body might be here.
but your heart should already be there.
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations (1844 Tithe in Prison)
1844 Tithe In PrisonRichard Wurmbrand of Tortured for Christ said that when in prison they tithed!
“When we were given one slice of bread a week and dirty soup every day, we decided we would faithfully “tithe” even that.
Every tenth week we took the slice of bread and gave it to the weaker brethren as our “tithe” to the Master.”
Our giving to the Benny Hynn ministries 2005
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