BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION REGARDING FINANCES AND THE CHURCH

“Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.” Psalm 112:5

God has given us specific instructions regarding money and finance, and teaches us that "the love of money is the root of all evil".  Note that money is not the root, the LOVE of money is.

We are taught to trust God for our sustenance in life, but we are rarely taught HOW to do so in our churches.   The HOW part involves faith, and most of us are hard headed about faith.  FAITH is a spiritual force, and able to move mountains.  Yet, rarely do we see mountains moved.  Why?  It is a problem with God?  I think not.  It is a problem with man.

The biggest problem is a problem of greed.  When we are young, we see many things we want, such as nice cars and plasma TV's.  Yet none of this is affordable, especially to the young people.  So they start into credit.  Credit is not sin, but it is also not God's best!  God's plan is for you to trust Him for all your needs and wants.  Once people get caught up in the credit cycle, it becomes very difficult to do anything more than make ends meet, and often they rob God by withholding their tithes and offerings.

If all of God's people would tithe, churches would have more than enough to carry out ministry and the mission God has given them.  Pastors would be well compensated, and buildings could be built.  There would be no need for yard sales and bake sales, and looking for government handouts.  In fact, if all God's people would tithe, the church would be in a position to give to the community, taking care of the hungry, the widows and orphans, the downtrodden, etc.  This was, I believe, God's plan originally, but our greed messed it up.  Since the church has failed to meet the needs of people, the government has had to step in with welfare programs to do so.  The only problem is that the government never tells folks about the love of Jesus when it gives out food coupons.  By the way, the government raises your taxes to do this, so in a round about way we are still "paying our tithe" but it goes to the government instead of God directly.  We have also failed to teach the people in our pews about faith, and how can will bless those who trust him for their needs. 

Hebrews 11

 ¹Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

GOD's SYSTEM -  "Ask, and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find".

GOD's WAY -      Give, and it shall be given you, good measure, running over!

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