THERE ONCE WAS A MAN.....
who had nothing, then God gave him ten apples!
Along with these instructions-----
(1) The first three apples, you eat.
(2) The next three, he was to sell, to provide his shelter, from the weather.
(3) The next three, he was to sell to purchase clothing for himself.
(4) The last apple he was to return to God, to show his thanks and gratitude for the other nine apples.
The man did as God asked, until he was down to the last apple, but the more he looked at it, the more he saw it was bigger, and riper , and more juicer, than all the others, so he ate the apple and gave God the seeds. He rationalized his thinking by the fact that he knew that God owns all the apples and one more or less would not make a difference!
WHAT THEN IS STEWARDSHIP?
This simple parable, calls our attention to the Principles of Stewardship. God is the Creator, and also The Sustainer,of all life and all things, and by that fact HE is the True Owner of all, within the Cosmos! ALL that we "Possess" , we have received from Him by His Grace, and His hand-----
Genesis 1:25-28 "And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
NOTE: Today MOST accept Man's assumption that, "DEAD STUFF CREATED LIFE AND THE MEANS OF REPRODUCTION OF ALL LIFE FORMS", right? A teacher that refuses to teach this is soon without a job! Even in the Land of FREE-Speech! See a wrong here? God did look-------
Hosea 4:6-7 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame."
NOTE: Question: "Evolution theory, who does it glorify, God. Man or Satan, it's author, read 1844 the Year earth changed!" Please know if god is for it, Satan's against it always in opposition to truth and righteousness!
Matthew 24:3-4 "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."
But LOOK: Behind the bread is the whole-wheat flour, and
Behind the flour is the mill,
Behind the mill is the wheat and the rain and the sun,
all due to the Blessings of The Father- Creator- God!
We are to be the guardians of this earth, the Lord's Property! All life is sustained by His powers----
Genesis 2:15 "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."
Acts 17:24-28 "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."
Therefore in exchange for His abundance, we all, who owe our very existence to His sustaining powers, He asks us to care for this marvelous world, that He made for home. Because we are indebted to Him for the gift of life itself, He has the right to expect we should use His resources wisely, an impartially, and that we will dedicate our time, talents and energy to Him
God asks us, that, as an acknowledgement that we fully depend upon Him, that we return one-tenth of our earnings, The TITHE and that we turn it over to Him, in our churches, for the support of the Ministry---
.Matthew 23:23 " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone"
Numbers 18:21 " And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation." [Deuteronomy 14:22. Psalm 24:1 1 Corinthians 9:9-14.]
This tenth, or Tithe, is 10 percent, which God claims for Himself to be given to where each one is fed, Spiritually! We are by this simply paying a debt, and our refusal to pay this debt we called robbers-----
Malachi 3:8-10 "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Note: In times past, before I was converted, money never went far enough, but now paying my Tithes and love offerings, money is seldom a problem, thanks be to God, stuff just seems to last longer, 40,000 mile tires that have 70 ,000 miles on them? Only God is able! There are people, who on a mission trip, ran out of gas, as per gauge, yet with a simple prayer request, car kept on going, many miles until a gas station was reached, God is ABLE!
Thus both the Tithes [one tenth, of income] and our Sabbath worships, [One seventh, of our time] are the ways He asked us to recognize Him and His Place as OWNER, of all life and things!
LOVE OFFERINGS.
Ancient Israel was asked to give a second tithe. in fact, their contributions for religious and charitable purposes amounted to at least 1/4 of their income. The more conscientious gave a 1/3rd of their income. Does the work and efforts today cost less than then, to share the"Good News" with all the world, today? I want Jesus to return ASAP, and receive a new body, that never gets sick, nor dies, and live without lies, murder, jails or cemeteries and hospitals, and no lies ever heard, How about YOU? Are we to be less generous than were the old-time Jews?
The sad fact is fewer and fewer people even go to church, either on the Sabbaths or The Fridays for Islam or Sundays for those obeying Rome, thus there's been a huge and steady decline of funds available to have Christ's love shared to all nations.
Note: But for those "Pastors" who head the Mega-Churches, they all seem to do extremely well for themselves! Remember years ago the Air -Conditioned dog house?
How many churches in your area, sustain themselves with bake sales, raffles, and bingo sessions? In Europe, there's more churches made into bars, pool room and dance floors than there those that remain churches! But for one exception Mosques! This man-made faith is the only one growing, along with the Seventh day Adventists church, can you guess to the why? Islam is ruled by fear, we are ruled by love and fellowship of truth, and are the fastest growing church in memberships on earth! WHY?
Is it due to the simple fact we use all the Bible, and hold it up as God OWN truth?
Is there a sound Biblical principle behind all this giving? Well you be the JUDGE--------
Luke 12:30-34 "For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"
Please make note, that of all God's requirements, come with blessings promised to those who obey Him! Proverbs 28:20 "A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent."
Malachi 2:2 " If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart."
Note: As is plainly seen here, there's but two roads to travel in this flesh body, The road made by God, and the road made by Satan and men!.IE: Sunday worships, evolution in place of Creation, situation ethics, abortions now stand at 3,000 per day in the US alone! Yet the Nazis are bad, and we are good with 56 million abortions to-date? Please think!
Malachi 3:1 " Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts."
MANY SAY "GOD'S NO LONGER IN THE MIRACLE BUSINESS" , IS THIS SO?
In the fertile Provence of Mendosa, Argentina a strong freeze was predicted during a summer that would normally be very hot. The Soriano Brothers, members of the local Adventist Church, had been faithful in returning [NOTE RETURNING] tithes and offerings. They were naturally worried, fearing that their tomatoes, almost ready for harvest, would be lost to the frost, and destroy their income, they held a a prayer session at their church.
Can you imagine their relief and joy, as they went to their fields that even though the neighbors lost their crop all around their fields, they had not suffered any frost damage at all!
A short time after a family in Missouri began returning their tithes, they received a gift of $100.00. Although they had a great need for the entire amount they set aside $10.00 for their Tithe. Soon after wards the received another gift exactly in the amount of $10.00!. They set aside $1.00 for that and would you know it? They received another gift for $1.00 and they returned 10 cents of that, and then they found a dime!
There's little doubt that God was showing them, that they just can't loose by giving Him His due! The next segment really spoke to me personally as this was and is my personal experience....(John B)
THE SURPRISE OF TITHE.
It has been said, many times, that he who begins tithing his income receives SIX (6) surprises:
(1). the amount of money he has to give to the Lord;
(2). the growth of his/her spiritual life;
(3). the ease with which he/she is able to meet all of their personal need with the 90% left over:
(4). the ease with which they are able to increase their giving in much larger amounts;
(5). how this prepares them to be wise and faithful stewards for the balance
(6) their regrets, that they had not begun His plan much sooner;
I will add number 7!
(7). All that He has given me, seem to last much longer, than normal, thereby lowering our costs! Not to mention living a healthier life-style by adhering to Bible's diet plan cost less in medical costs. Beyond simple check-ups I've not used a MD's services since 1976, and I am now 74, granted I use glasses to read, and have "Star Teeth" on top, {they come out at night}
Therefore, all who truly love Him through Christ Jesus, we gladly give Him the largest and most tasteful apple, of every ten we have! True love works this way, right? For love is outwards, but inwards is selfishness!
Further Study: Genesis 28: 20-22. Leviticus 27:30. Numbers 18:21. Deuteronomy 8:18, Proverbs 3:9; Matthew 23:23.
Thanking Y O U for your time,
Questions? Comments? John at www.servant@frontier.com
More info? Visit your Seventh day Adventist church any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 AM. Hope to see you there! I want all to receive eternal life from Christ our Savior!
Other sites> www.itiswritten.com www.servantsite@wordpress.com www.bonesinstone.com
John B. [Jaybee]
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