<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

Oh Brother, Another Call for Offering

I came across another parable of sorts where these 2 men were trapped on a deserted island somewhere.

They had been shipwrecked or their plane went down.

And 1 of them is desperate to try and find shelter and food and all of these things and the other is just kind of out sunbathing and enjoying this beautiful spot that they find themselves in.

And the 1 first guy says to the second, how can you do this?

I mean aren't you afraid we're going to die out here?

And he says, no, I make about $100, 000 a week and I return a faithful tithe I know my pastor will find me.

How do we determine what to give, when to give, how much to give, what's appropriate.

In fact somebody told me at the back door, you know, God is faithful and if you give too much He'll return it.

We're gonna look at that a little bit today.

Last time we talked about returning a faithful tithe and at the core of this is really in God we trust.

Do we trust God with our gifts, with our giving?

We talked last time about several things, how God owns everything because he created it, we looked at that.

We also looked how the tithe, the Sabbath, how our bodies are all holy to the Lord.

To give our means, our time, and our life helps us remember that it's all His, right?

We talked last time about how we bring the tithes to the storehouse to support the spread of the gospel.

And when this gospel is preached throughout the world, then the end will come.

And that's exactly what the tithe dollar goes to.

We talked about how tithing goes all the way back to Abraham and Jacob, and was supported by Jesus and Paul and so many others throughout Scripture.

How we're to give our first fruits to God at the first part as soon as we get the paycheck.

And sometimes people ask, well do we pay the net or the gross?

Meaning is this before or after taxes and all these things are taken out.

I would propose and submit to you that the taxes that you pay you're benefiting from.

Have you drove on nice paved roads and on the interstate?

If your fire goes up in smoke is the fire department going to come?

We benefit, don't we, by living in this country.

We talked about how God's darling promised to return a faithful tithe, an honest tithe, and the Lord says He will pour out blessings upon us.

And we had this incredible testimony by Ruth Stewart this last Sabbath, how she was just anxiously hanging on to that last $100.

It was tithe money, but she knew that was her only means for groceries and gas for the upcoming week.

It really wasn't so much with a cheerful heart, but because she knew it was the right thing to do, she put it in the plate, and she was a little bit frustrated, but she claimed the verse, "'If you have faith, as small as a mustard seed.'" And just a few days later, a card came in the mail, and it wasn't just that it had money but it had the verse that the Lord had brought to her earlier, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed nothing will be impossible for you.

And so it truly is in God we trust or maybe not so much And that's what we're continuing to look at today.

And before we move on from tithes to offerings, I wanted to look at a few other things we didn't have time to look at last time.

But you may be aware, some of our country's greatest business leaders have put God's plan of tithing to the test and they all have testimonies if you will William Colgate a builder of the Colgate Palm Olive Company eventually gave 90% of his profit to the Lord.

John D Rockefeller founder of Standard Oil Company first billionaire was a tither.

Henry John Hines the 57 varieties of pickles and ketchup, he was a tither.

James Cash Penny, founder of JC Penny, he returned a faithful tithe.

Henry Crowell, founder of Quaker Oats Company, returned a faithful tithe.

Craft, founder of the Craft Cheese Company, gave 25% of his earnings.

But all these men will tell you, if I wasn't faithful in returning the tithe on the first dollar I made, I wouldn't have been able to return it on the million or above that I made after that.

And so it's a principle that we need to apply to life.

Hershey, Some of you know him quite well, founder of the largest chocolate factory.

Anthony Rossi, I think if I'm saying it right, founder of Tropicana.

McKee, founder of Little Debbie Snack Cakes.

When I worked for 1 of the McKees, I had a...

This past week, it's that time of year, and there was a big pitchfork that had on the handle, it was kind of carved in there and with red letters, O.D.

McKee, and I used to spread mulch with that pitchfork, and I thought, man, I better be careful with this thing.

In fact, he keeps and kept, I should say, and the company keeps the Sabbath.

They don't send trucks out from Friday night to Saturday night.

So another question, Can I give my tithes to just any ministry?

And I want to spend a few moments looking at that.

Malachi 3.10 says, Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.

God referring to his house or his temple or his church.

I think that's different than just any ministry.

Continuing here in Numbers 18 21, I have given the children of Levi all the ties in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meaning.

Deuteronomy 12 5 and 6, but you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses out of your tribes to put his name for his dwelling place and there you shall go.

There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Now the burnt offerings were sin offerings for forgiveness, and the heave offerings were firstfruits, and it speaks of the tithe, and the vow is, I've made a pledge, a promise to something.

But tithe, we have specifically throughout scripture is to come back to the storehouse, God's church.

Continuing in chapter 12, verse 8 of Deuteronomy.

You shall not do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.

Sometimes we see that, well I'm gonna give my tithe over here, I'm gonna give it over there, but God's saying you are not to do that.

You do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses.

And 1 of your tribes, that was the tribe of Levi, the priests, there you shall offer burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

I refer to the council above as the law of the central storehouse.

God did not plan that everyone would do what was right in his own eyes as we just read, but he had a specific and organized plan for funding the gospel ministry and he expected his people to follow it.

Scripture outlines God's means to support the work through his treasury and we see that there in scripture now There are a lot of independent or we can say supporting ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, right?

And we could put a few of them up here on the screen.

We have 3ABN, we have GYC, we have Amazing Facts, Quiet Hour, AFM, Adventist Frontier Missions, It Is Written, Audio Verse, Maranatha Volunteers International, White Horse Media Ministry, Hope Channel, you get the idea, Voice of Prophecy, Amazing Discovery.

All of these are supporting ministries of the church.

And they have their place to support, right?

But never are we to support these ministries with our tithe dollars.

In fact, these ministries themselves will tell you that very thing.

They're doing a good work, they're supporting the work, they're preaching the 3 angels message, but it is different.

In fact, if something were to happen to you and you find yourself in the hospital, if you want to be anointed, if you want to be baptized or married or a funeral needs to take place, if you need encouragement, if you need one-on-one Bible studies, these supporting ministries, it's a one-way form of communication, isn't it?

The church as a whole will not be there for you through these ministries.

Now, I don't want you to hear what I'm not saying.

I've supported many of these ministries, if not most, but I don't support them with my tithe because that is not my money.

Back to Menu

Oh Brother, Another Call for Offering

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

The Cure For Selfishness

53m

Stealing in the Church

42m

The Church

Supporting The Church

51m

Faith and Finance

Session 3: Life in Financial Partnership With God

50m

Who is in Control of Your Life?

43m

Encounters With Jesus

Jesus’ Encounter with the First Disciples

43m

Systematic Benevolence

Systematic Benevolence- Part 2

52m

My Kind of Malachi

46m

Breakout Session 6

The Growers Purpose

46m

Ten Commandments

8. Prince of Theives

35m

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

23 Sharing the Sanctuary Message

53m

Sound Doctrine