Calvary Pentecostal Tabernacle (Clarenville, NL)

Purpose of this Series
The purpose of this series is to remind us that living for God includes giving to God. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ it is very important that you honour God in every aspect of your life; including your finances. And to illustrate how important this truth is, the Bible teaches that if we mismanage God’s blessings in our life, we are “robbing God.” (Malachi 3:8-9)

Review of Last Sunday
On the first Sunday of this series we were challenged with the truth that God owns it all. From the very first page of our Bibles to the very last page, we see that “the earth belongs to God and everything in it.” (Psalm 24:1)

Last Sunday, we were challenged with the truth that God has blessed us with the responsibility of being stewards/managers. We must strive to be good and faithful in how we manage God's resources. We left with the thought that we are responsible to manage our resources like Jesus would.

This Sunday
Today we are focusing on one of the principles that God has commanded us to follow, which helps us honour the Lord with our wealth, but also helps us practice good & faithful stewardship: Tithing.

God owns it all, but specifically, God owns the tithe. And God directs us in His Word to give the tithe back to Him, through the local church.

We are not called to burn our tithe, we are not called to bury our tithe, we are not called to bestow our tithe to some fly-by-night organization. We are called to bring our tithe into the local assembly to support the work of God.

Tithing is more than just giving the Church _______ amount of money, it is an action of:

WORSHIP: Honouring the LORD with our wealth

TRUST: Resting in His promise that He will stretch the remaining 90% further than the 100% would have gone

SURRENDER: Acknowledging that God own 100% of everything, yet only asks for 10% back.

Tithing, an Old Testament Law obligation?
As you read your Bible, you will discover that giving God the tithe through the local work actually predates the Old Testament Law. The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews highlights that Abraham gave one-tenth of everything he owned to the Priest Melchizedek, well over 400 years before God would command it in the Law of Moses. (Hebrews 7:1-3)

" Tithing is the regular habit by which a Christian, who seeks to be faithful to his trust, sets aside at least ten-percent of his income as a recognition of God’s creative gifts, to acknowledge God’s ownership of all the resources of the earth." G. Ernest Thomas, “Spiritual Life Through Tithing,” page 9

LIFE TRUTH: The best habit of biblical giving is the practice of tithing; and the practice of tithing comes with the promise of blessing.

It takes consistent finances to operate a church like we have. And the only way that we can improve and go forward is if each and everyone of us commits to giving 10% of our income back to the LORD through this local church.

Living for God includes giving to God.

Final Thoughts
1. I am convinced that if we as a church committed to the biblical practice of honouring the LORD with our tithes, we would be able to resource the work of God in our community & world so much better.

2. As your pastor, I desire nothing more than to have you (& your family) living daily in the power of the Holy Spirit and living according to the standards set forth in His Word; that includes the biblical standards of giving.

Next week we will see that there is a right way and a wrong way to tithe.