Sunday, June 8, 2008

Day 7 Setting up a plan to give faithfully to God

Day 7 - You need to set up a plan to faithfully give 10% OR MORE of your financial resources to the Lord’s work.

1 Cor 16:2 On every Lord's Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn.

Luke 11:42 (Jesus said) “Though you are careful to tithe even the smallest part of your income, you completely forget about justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave these other things undone.”

Deut 14:22,23 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce…The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.

Ex 22:29 "You must be prompt in giving Me the tithe…”

Gen 14:20 Abram gave…a tenth of everything.

Mal 3:8-11 "Will a man rob God? Surely not! And yet you have robbed me. "'What do you mean? When did we ever rob you?' "You have robbed me of the tithes and offerings due to me. And so the awesome curse of God is cursing you…Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be food enough in my Temple; if you do, I will open up the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so great you won't have room enough to take it in! "Try it! Let me prove it to you! Your crops will be large, for I will guard them from insects and plagues. Your grapes won't shrivel away before they ripen," says the Lord Almighty.

The Faithful Giver’s 7 Great Surprises…

When you begin to actively and faithfully return 10% or more of all your income(s) to the Lord’s work, you will be surprised at…

1) The generous amount of money you will be able to give to the Lord’s work.

2) The deepening of your spiritual life through the godly discipline of honoring and trusting the Lord by tithing.

3) The increased ease in which you meet your other financial obligations on the 9/10th’s of the income you have left.

4) The way that tithing leads to more generous giving than you ever dreamed possible.

5) The effect tithing has in making you a wiser manager over all the rest of the money and possessions you have.

6) The unexpected provisions and advancements that come into your life.

7) And the surprise you have when you wish you had started tithing much sooner.

Giving 10% isn't the ceiling of giving; it's the floor. It's not the finish line of giving; it's just the starting blocks. Tithing is God’s training wheels to launch you into the mindset, skills, and habits of grace giving.


2 Chron 31:5,12 The people responded immediately and generously with the first of their crops and grain, new wine, olive oil, money, and everything else -- a tithe of all they owned. They faithfully brought in the contributions, tithes and dedicated gifts.

WEEK #1

MAKING $ENSE:

Possible questions to think

about or discuss…

1. As a child, what was one of your earliest or most vivid recollections about giving money to God OR what do you recall about your parent’s practices and attitudes about giving to God?

2. When you filled out the worksheet for the first week’s project, “Focusing on Your Income”, what surprised you or caught your attention in doing this exercise?

3. What truth or Bible verse from the past 7 days of reading stood out to you the most?

4. Who is the most financially generous person you are aware of in your life?

5. How old were you when the idea of tithing (giving 10% of your income) came into your conscious thoughts?

6. If you do not faithfully give 10% or more of your income to the Lord’s work, what do you think are the real reasons you’re holding back from doing this?

7. If you faithfully give 10% or more of your income to God’s work, how old were you and what were the financial circumstances in your life when you first started tithing?

8. If you do faithfully give 10% or more of your income to God’s work, what are the values and benefits you’ve seen by faithfully giving to God’s work?

9. What do you feel is the difference between giving tithes and giving offerings?

10. How do you make giving to your local church an important priority in your Christian giving?

No comments: