Crowded Out 4 of 6

We are talking about "practices" to keep us from Crowding God Out of our lives. So here we are with #3.

3) Financial Contribution – Of course this is quit a controversial subject for many people… even Christians, yet this is something that God asks from us in the Old Testament and you find scriptural support for it’s practice in the New Testament!

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. 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. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Here Jesus is saying, hey you religious teachers, those of you who love God, you should practice JUSTICE, MERCY and FAITHFULNESS and also don’t neglect the other stuff you are doing i.e. giving a tenth.

People get bent out of shape when you talk about money, or giving to a church, or religious organization… and honestly this is just a reflection of either immaturity or having been jaded in the past. Personally I think it’s sad that people would rob God, and not want to give back to God through the local church … I mean God has giving us so much, it’s the least we can do. Jana and I have been giving 10 – 20% of our income since the day we got married, over 14 years ago now and don’t regret it one bit! It’s been difficult sometimes, especially lately as the gas prices have sky-rocketed, but it’s the right thing to do. And when we don’t give to our local church community we are simply missing out and our church community is missing out because let’s just be real honest here … it takes money to do any kind ministry. You can’t do any outreach like feeding the poor without money, and it takes money to keep lights on too. That’s just the truth … nothing good is happening in the world without money helping to make it happen! Period!

I challenge all of you who actually got this far without deleting … to give to your local church community whatever you can … whether it’s 5% or 10% or more, start this Sunday, and all I can tell you is that you will be blessed in doing it!