Text Box: Show me a believer who chooses not to tithe, and I will show you someone confused about who is in charge of the Kingdom. To fail to be obedient means that God is not in charge of the kingdom of your life. Instead, you have put yourself in that place. When we take control, we are either saying that we are better qualified than God to lead our life, or we are saying we just do not trust Him so we will not give him absolute control. If you are motivated, I mean really motivated, to live a life of loving, life-changing, world-changing devotion to God you must embrace tithing. One of the keys to successful Kingdom building is tithing. It has the power to change the world around us, but also to change us from the inside. Spiritually speaking, tithing has nothing to do with money. Tithing has everything to do with devotion and love for God. In the weeks ahead, we will be looking more in-depth into tithing. We will look into the biblical history of tithing, both in the Old and New Testaments, and into the myths that surround it. I am sure you will find it very affirming.

Text Box: One of the most underrated of spiritual activities is tithing. Recently I heard a pastor say from the pulpit that when you do not tithe you are actually sinning. This statement really got my attention. Not because I felt it was inappropriate or untrue. What struck me about the statement linking the failure to tithe and sin, was the pure and simple truth of it. Let me give you my punch line at the beginning. Tithing is not all about money. Tithing has little to do with money. Money is only one instrument for tithing. Satan wants you to think that tithing is all about money. Tithing is truly all about love and obedience. People who tithe are obedient and loving to God. People who tithe know, or will soon know, that God lavishes His love on those who love Him. If they haven’t already, they will soon learn this very dynamic truth concerning the tithe.

Text Box: The simple fact is that you are not someone who loves God if you do not tithe. Show me a ‘believer’ who does not tithe and I will show you someone falling short of Kingdom living. In fact, their focus and aim is to build their own kingdom. Yes, they may be the most devoted Christian (in appearance), yet they have not chosen to be a true servant to God. Instead, they are a servant to their own imaginations and leanings, still taking charge in this area of their life. To experience true Kingdom living is to be immersed in God Himself and absolutely, totally in love with Him. A Kingdom steward appears odd or abnormal to the world in how they manage and prioritize their life and their possessions. Unlike the spasmodic emotional and behavioral ripples of human love that the world is used to seeing, a Kingdom steward is consumed by a constant wildfire of devotion to Him.

Stewardship Of Your Tithe

Introduction

by Pastor Dave Bassett

I have been reading a book lately that was written by Charles Sheldon—”In His Steps”. The premise of the book is What would Jesus do if He were “in my shoes”, if He were alive today, in my body, with the resources I have, and in the same situation that I am in?

This is a very interesting thought and the more I think about it, the more I have to ask myself in each situation, “What would Jesus do?” Here is a quote from the book:

When I was a child, I used to imitate my parents. They were the people I loved most, and I wanted to act just like them. You are the Person I love most now, Jesus, and I want to act like You.

My parents are still very dear people to me—I love them very much. They both lead Godly lives that are worth imitating. I love Dave very much. He too is a Godly man, and worth imitating. But at this point in my life, there is no one that I feel I would rather imitate than Christ Jesus, himself.

If I were to die tomorrow, would it make any difference that I imitated someone, anyone, here on earth? There are good people, but everyone is human. Everyone has some imperfection. We were all born into a sinful world. We are all sinners.

I praise God that by His grace, I was saved from a life of sin. He is the only “Person” who is really worth imitating! There have been many times in my life that imitating Christ was not in the forefront of my mind. Those were not good times. They were not times when I grew spiritually.

When Jesus was on earth, living as a man, He honored his early father and mother, but He was in communication with His heavenly father, God, every day. Shouldn’t we imitate that?

When Jesus was on earth, after He started his ministry, He told people of God’s grace. He told anyone who would listen about how to have eternal life in heaven. Shouldn’t we imitate that?

Who do you imitate? There are rock stars that have their “groupies”. There are TV actors that people try to imitate. Why? Who do you value so much that you want your life to be like theirs?

One of these days, the Bible tells us that the anti-Christ will be trying to get people to follow and imitate him. How will you know that his actions are against Christ (anti-Christ), if you are not imitating Christ with everything that you do and say—with everything that you are?

Just something to think about—

What Would Jesus Do?