Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Tithing....

Tithing is Not Taboo: Generosity is Better Than Greed

OfferingPlateTithing is the spiritual practice of honoring God by giving the first tenth of your entire income to your local church. Tithing is not taboo, meaning it is not banned, prohibited, or forbidden. Your church may not emphasize the importance of tithing from your entire income, but it is a very important part of the Christian life.

Generosity is a lifestyle that gives freely and lives openhandedly. Generosity is the amount beyond the first tenth you give to your church. I can assure you that generosity is better than greed.

Greed is an insatiable desire for more. Greed is about grasping, craving, acquiring, and hoarding, while generosity is about giving, charity, blessing, and handing.

Greed is Not Godly

Christians ignore and mock God’s Word when they do not honor God with giving at least the first tenth of their entire income to their local church. They try to rationalize or even justify it, and some even attempt to explain it away biblically. I have never discovered anyone who practices tithing and generosity try to explain why tithing and generosity are not biblical.

Somehow, we must grow in our faith enough to understand that when we do not give biblically by both tithing and practicing generosity, we are not walking in godliness. Greed is not godly.

No One is Exempt from Tithing and Generosity

Pastors, staff members, elders, deacons, lay leaders, and all Christians are not exempt from tithing and generosity. In fact, when we do not practice giving the first tenth of our income and enter into the sphere of generosity, we are practicing and choosing greed.

Greed is like a rattlesnake that many of us want to snuggle up with in our hearts. While on a run last week, I ran upon a Copperhead snake lying right beside the curb. I did not cuddle with it; in fact, I ran with a chill up my spine for the rest of the week.

Greed is not about how much a person has or does not have. Greed is a matter of the heart. I have seen greed exist in the lives of those who have little and I have seen it exist in the lives of those who are overwhelmed with wealth. Nice things are not wrong until you violate God’s principles of giving in order to attain them.

There is Only One Way to Avoid Greed

There is only one way those with much or those with little avoid greed: Giving the first ten percent of their entire income to their local church and moving into the sphere of practicing generosity. They completely embrace a lifestyle of giving freely and living openhandedly.

Pastor James MacDonald is correct when he says that giving the first tenth of all God has given to you is the on ramp to the highway called generosity. Wherever you are in your life educationally, vocationally, or financially, ALL BLESSINGS flood the person and family that get on this on ramp that leads to the highway called generosity. 

Living on 90% with God involved will go much further than living on 100% without God involved.

When you obey God’s Word about giving and generosity, you are getting God involved in your life supernaturally. You are never more like Jesus than when you give.

Living on 90% with God involved will go further than living on 100% without God involved. I have never met any person who practiced giving the first ten percent of their income through their local church that ever regretted it or did not have their needs met in life.

Three Important Things to Remember

1. Pastors need to preach unashamedly and uncompromisingly what the Bible says about tithing and generosity.

When you speak on tithing and generosity, there will always be some who will complain or crank up the rumor mill. But just remember pastor: Many who do so do not give as they should biblically. Many who cause this stir are carnal and do not want to face the reality of their greed. Pastor, you and your family should model giving at least the first ten percent of all God gives you through your local church and practice generosity beyond that.

2. Laypeople, encourage your pastor to preach on tithing and generosity. 

Lead the way laypeople, encouraging your pastor to preach on tithing and generosity. Encourage and defend him both privately and publicly. Rebuke people who want to criticize him for doing it. People who do not want to hear and be challenged in giving are people who are not practicing giving God’s way.

3. Give freely and live openhandedly.

Be a giver, not a grabber. Live generously, not greedily. Give freely because God gave all He has given to you freely. Live openhandedly, sharing it with your church and other people because none of it is yours anyway. You own nothing; God owns everything. Give it away freely and live your entire life openhandedly. By the way, even when you die, leave at least the first ten percent of all God had given you in your life and legacy to your local church. Additionally, practice generosity by giving to your church even beyond the first ten percent and then to other Christian ministries that are advancing the gospel globally.

We are never more like Jesus than when we give. Allow God to be part of your life in a supernatural way by giving biblically. 

Now is the Time to Lead, 

Ronnie W. Floyd


Monday, July 27, 2015

I Am A Grateful Pastor

I Am a Grateful Pastor (repost from Thom Rainer

I am a grateful pastor.
I admit I get discouraged at times. And I admit that I can get frustrated and weary as well.
But I have so much for which to be grateful. There are so many church members who bring me joy and encouragement.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for the church member with a great attitude, the one who encourages me, who prays for me, and has a ready smile for me.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for that church member in worship services almost every week. He has his Bible open and his heart open to hear God’s Word proclaimed.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for the lady who is in a Bible study group every week. She loves to study the Word of God in fellowship with others.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for the young mom who serves in the church with joy and commitment. She is busy, and her family does come first, but she makes time for her church as well.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for that dear man living his retirement years sharing the gospel wherever he can. He is a witness in both word and deed.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for that single mom who gives abundantly. I know she has to stretch her dollars, but she trusts God and is generous without hesitation.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for that business executive who was tempted to drop out of the church but didn’t. He was hurt by other church members, but he chose to forgive and to stay.
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for the young man who recognized he was playing church games. He committed in God’s power, to become a truly functioning part of the body of Christ. His change is evident
I am a grateful pastor.
I am grateful for that 40-something lady who dropped by my office to tell me she had recommitted her life to making a difference for God through her church. In just a short while, she has touched countless lives.
Indeed, I am a grateful pastor.
I could focus on the tough times and the critics, and sometimes I do. But I have so much for which to be grateful, so many church members who bless me week after week.
I am a grateful pastor.
And I thank you, God, for letting me serve at this great church.
 

Friday, February 13, 2015

23 Things Love Is


  1. LOVE IS... being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.
  2. LOVE IS... actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward another while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
  3. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.
  4. LOVE IS... being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding.
  5. LOVE IS... being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.
  6. LOVE IS... a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
  7. LOVE IS... being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.
  8. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
  9. LOVE IS... being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
  10. LOVE IS... being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it, or encourage them along the way.
  11. LOVE IS... being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.
  12. LOVE IS... being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.
  13. LOVE IS... recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.
  14. LOVE IS... speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.
  15. LOVE IS... being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way.
  16. LOVE IS... being unwilling to ask another person to be the source of your identity, meaning, and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of theirs.
  17. LOVE IS... the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.
  18. LOVE IS... a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your relationships.
  19. LOVE IS... staying faithful to your commitment to treat another with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when the other person doesn’t seem deserving or is unwilling to reciprocate.
  20. LOVE IS... the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of a relationship without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.
  21. LOVE IS... being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt the other person, or weaken the bond of trust between you.
  22. LOVE IS... refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
  23. LOVE IS... daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace. Copied from Paul Tripp

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

When Things Are Bad--Does My Faith Hold?

“If you obey Jesus you will have a life of joy and delight.” Well, it is not true. Jesus said to the disciples, “Let us go to the other side of the lake,” and they were plunged into the biggest storm they had ever known. You say, “If I had not obeyed Jesus I should not have got into this complication.” Exactly. The temptation is to say, “God could never have told me to go there, if He had done so this would not have happened.” We discover then whether we are going to trust God’s integrity or listen to our own expressed skepticism. 

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” (Psalm 51:17)—that of a spirit God has made glad by a great forgiveness. The sign of this kind of broken heart is that the saint is untroubled by storms, and undismayed by bereavement because he is confident in God. 

Reflection Questions: When things go badly, do I see it as an indication that I have been mistaken about God’s leading or about God’s love? Am I prepared to accept that perhaps neither is true? What better explanation is there? 

Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, "Where is your faith?" They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?" (Luke 8:22-25 NASB)