I pray in the name of Jesus that this sermon will bless all those who hear and read it. Let this message bless and empower all people around the world to be obedient to God's word, amen.
The theme at our local church for this month is Stewardship, in all areas of our lives. Our last sermon was about giving and how God's ways are not the ways of the world.
We know that in South Africa the cost of living is horrendous and people are barely coming out on their income. Our human nature tells us to hold onto everything we have got and to not let go. If everyone does that chaos will reign, that is why as Christians we must take advantage of the blessings God has in store for those who obey His word. I want to cover two areas today where we can obey God and by doing so we can release an anointing on our lives and that of others that will insulate us from the current economic climate. God's way is not the way of the world system. If we are obedient to Him, His promises are available to us.
Deuteronomy 28:11: The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity-in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground-in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you .
The only condition is that you are obedient to His will. Now if we are struggling and might I add as God's children we should not be, then we can't imagine what those less fortunate than us are going through. It must be much tougher, as less people are feeling charitable now than ever before.
Now more than ever before we must Honour God with our tithes and offerings. God's word cannot lie. Malachi 3:10 tells us to test him with our tithes and see if he will not open the window of heaven and pour a blessing out that we cannot contain. This is my favourite tithing scripture and I must be honest I have not always felt that God has opened that particular window to me. On reflection though, He has. He poured out wisdom for me to understand what he was saying to me for a long time. We sometimes offer to the church and feel that you have done your bit. We give what we have and that is okay.
It has been said to me by people that they tithe and that's their bit done. Someone even said that he pays taxes to the government and because of his being in the top earners bracket; he gives a lot to the poor.
A few weeks ago the tithing sermon challenged us to stretch our faith and tithe, to increase in our lives we need to increase our faith and tithe. I liked the idea of the challenge and that does apply to 70% of the church as only 30% of people worldwide tithe; in Africa this figure is only 10%.
No wonder we are not experiencing increase in our lives! We as Christians are not increasing the Kingdom of Heaven. If you want God to invest in you, surely you need to invest in his Kingdom? Our relationships here on earth are based on give and take why would that be any different with God? When an earthly relationship becomes one sided, we tend to terminate it as soon possible, therefore we cannot expect to have such a relationship with God. God requires that we worship him and that we are obedient to Him. Start tithing today with joy!
Secondly on the note of stretching and investing into the Kingdom and this is where the Lord really spoke to me. Since only 10% of the church in this country do tithe, there is not enough to go around to also support the poor.
Here is what I pray that the Lord will move you to do :Tithe 10% of all your income and then take 1% of your income and buy some food for the poor, next time you buy food spend 1% on something for a person in the street and then go and bless that person. This will give you the right to minister the word of God to that person and perhaps lead him or her to the Lord. As God blesses you increase that to 2%, keep repeating this until you hit 5%. Now you will be tithing and God will open a window of heaven and pour out a blessing that you cannot contain and your needs will be met as you are feeding the poor.
Now I am not finished with you yet, once God has blessed you because of this kindness; (Proverbs 28:27 if you give to the poor your needs will be met, but a curse upon those who close their eyes to the poor ) . How many of us have told a beggar you have nothing? I know I have. This scripture really gave me a wake up call. No wonder I am struggling, I have ignored the plight of the poor.
Watch what Proverbs 19:17 tells us: When you give to the poor it is like lending to God and He will repay you with interest. What a wonderful God we serve, He gives us the plan to defeat poverty and lack. Keep blessing people and you will be blessed. I ask and pray that you forward this message to all our Christian brethren, encourage each other to be diligent with this and watch what happens in all of our lives. God bless you.
