Stewarding Finances Well | Making Change
Making Change
Stewarding Finances Well
God’s plan for giving includes:
- Tithes…Offerings…Alms…
“It’s not equal giving, it’s equal sacrifice”…
“If every Christian in America would tithe not give one dollar over…just tithe we would have enough money in the American church to feed and educate every human being on the planet and have between $60 and $70 billion dollars left over to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That represents nearly and additional 25% of what all Americans…Christians or otherwise…currently give in all types of private philanthropy.”
1 Chronicles 29:11 – 12 (NLT) 11Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.
Soul Tattoo: If I want to walk in the freedom that God desires for me to experience in my finances, the foundation is the tithe.
Soul Tattoo: Tithing + Responsible Stewardship = Financial Freedom.
STEWARD: a person who manages another’s property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.
STEWARDSHIP: the position and duties of a steward who acts as the surrogate (proxy) of another or others, especially by managing property, financial affairs, an estate, etc.
- Stewardship requires a sacrifice.
“If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.” Billy Graham
- Am I generous, but not obedient in the tithe?
- If I steward well, I can do more with less.
2 Top objections to tithing:
1.) Tithing is an Old Testament idea.
Genesis 14:18-20 (ESV) 18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Genesis 28:20-22 (ESV) 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.
Matthew 23:23 (NIV) 23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
2.) The church talks too much about money.
Malachi 3:7-12 (NIV) 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. 12“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
4 Common Reasons People Don’t Tithe:
1.) I hear you talking about it, but no one ever told me to tithe.
2.) I’m fearful of what it will do to my budget.
3.) I really am generous, you can check my bank statement.
4.) For me, it’s just a trust issue.
4 Incentives To Inspire Me To Tithe:
1.) I need to trust God as my source.
Malachi 3:10 (NIV) 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
2.) I need to love God more than money.
Proverbs 3:9 (NKJV) 9Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
Proverbs 3:9 (TMSG) Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best.
3.) I need to believe that God has more, not less, for me.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
4.) I need to believe that God’s idea starts with His Church.
Matthew 16:18-19 (ESV) “18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Soul Tattoo: Tithing + Responsible Stewardship = Financial Freedom.