We as Christian believers must give our tithes and offerings to God. When we give our tithes or offerings to God, we must give it in a cheerful way. In other words, let’s give our offerings from within our heart. (NLT) Matthew 23:23 How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, * but you ignore the important things of the law- justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe! In other words, no one is exempt in the eyes of God.
I am sure many of you know the story of the two sons of Adam and Eve, right? Well the son’s names were Abel and Cain. Cain became a farmer and Abel became a shepherd. At the harvest time, Cain brought to the Lord a gift of his farm produce, while Abel brought several choice lambs from the best of his flock. Now whose gifts did God accept? Was it Cain or Abel? You will find the answer in Genesis 4: 4.
Time after time I have mentioned to all of you that we as human beings living on this planet are sinners, the day our mothers had conceived us, we are borne with sins as stated in Psalm 51: 5. Well, what can we do? First we must ask God for forgiveness and give our offerings or tithes to God. Why? When we give our offering not 50%, 75% but 100% in a cheerful way, then I truly believe, God will bless you much more and the curses will be removed from you. Why? You have shown your OBEDIENCE to God. Now, I truly believe Abel gave his offering to God, the BEST of his flock that he could at that time, so God accepted Abel’s offering.
Sure God doesn’t need our money at all, but God will look into a person’s heart and God will know, if you had given in a cheerful way. Does it make sense to you so far? After the authorized Reverend, Pastor, Elder or even Deacon blesses the offering, God will accept your gifts and bless you much more as stated in Malachi 3:10.
After the Lord accepts the offering, then the church may use the offering to help to defray the church’s expenses. The church will pay to keep God’s home clean and available for everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
I would like to remind all of you to name your seeds, when you make the offering, just think of yourself as a farmer, planting your seeds into the ground. For example, when a farmer wants to have cabbages on his farm, he will plant cabbage seeds. If he wants corn, then he will plant corn seeds. Right? Now if you need a good job? Plant your job seed. If you need a home, plant your home seed and etc. Does it make sense to you so far? If it does, then will all of you say Amen? Amen!
The moral of this message is giving your offering in a cheerful way.
Aloha to all of you.
From Pastor Jimmy Nishimoto and Chris Eliason
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment