Posts Tagged ‘spirit’

EXPELLED: No Grace Allowed

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Grace Giving is expelled

How many of you have been out to see the documentary on intelligent design by Ben Stein? I went to see it last week. It was very practical and i enjoyed it. Anyways, that’s not the point of the post here. The point i want to bring here is how the Church amid their tithing rants, and obligatory giving has expelled grace giving. They allow no opportunity for the children of God to use any discernment or spiritual intelligence when it’s time to give. Instead, many pastors preach on Sunday morning, that 10% of your overall income belongs to this organization. No discernment allowed. No Spirit guidance. No and’s, if’s, or but’s about it.

The children of God who are reborn in his Spirit are not allowed to exercise the gift of giving. Churches say that we are allowed to practice Spirit-led giving with offerings, but first we must meet the tithing obligation. Is there any spiritual gift like the gift of giving where we have a minimum requirement before the Spiritual gift takes effect?

Many pastors think that if we were left up to grace giving without a standard to uphold, then everyone would would stop giving. This is not just a judgment on human kind, it is also a judgment on the Spirit of God. Isn’t the Spirit capable of calling and equipping people to perform ministry? There is no command to feed a certain amount of poor people. Also there is no command to witness to a certain amount of unsaved. Neither of these endeavors have ceased just because there is no minimum requirement that we had to meet.

From a science and evolution/creation standpoint it takes an insurmountable amount of faith for scientists to take their reasoning and allow an intelligent being to initiate creation. In the same light it takes faith on behalf of churches and pastors to allow the Holy Spirit to direct people in giving rather than rely on a law that enables a predictable amount of income each week. With grace giving, the amount is unpredictable, and it shows how tithing has been the security blanket for church budgets and pastoral salaries for ages.

Grace giving has been expelled because it makes pastoral salaries, and church budgets nervous. Pastors, if you truly want your congregation to be led by the Spirit, then let’s begin with your pocket book. Church accountant, . . . same thing.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in tithing | 2 Comments »

New Testament Giving – We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

blind person with walking stick

Many people misunderstand my anti-tithe position many times. I would like to clarify my position a little more. I believe sacrificial, spirit-led giving is still commanded to continue to support God’s work. After all, the Spirit is the one that ordains each ministry, so why can’t others listen to the Spirit’s calling to support those ministries? For those that beckon to the Spirit’s call to serve in ministry, there are the same amount that beckon to the Spirit’s call to give financially to that ministry. I don’t know the exact amount that the Spirit of God tells each person to give, but don’t be quick to criticize the unknown. This is why it is called walking by faith when you are controlled by the Spirit.

There is no difference between the Spirit calling pastor Bob into the unknown to start a church, and then calling us into the same unknown to support it. The spiritual calling of pastor Bob is no more of a vague command then the spiritual calling is for us to give.As each day goes along, the Spirit is constantly revealing our next steps. Each step of faith we take, the Spirit begins to illuminate the next one. If we decide to go off path, well, that is our decision. That’s why It is called freewill giving. Whether you obey the Old Testament law of tithing or you obey in the giving commands of the Spirit, we each have a freewill to obey or disobey. Pastor Bob cannot neglect his ministry without disobeying the Spirit, just as much as i can’t neglect my financial support without disobeying the Spirit. I do not like to use the term “freewill giving” to describe how i give, because whether or not you believe in the tithing mandate, you have a freewill to obey or disobey. As our pastors are called by the Spirit to lead the ministry in each direction, we are also called in the same way to financially support it.

Spirit-led giving provides an invaluable system for checks and balances. Have you ever heard the phrase, “if God ordains it, He’ll sustain it”? What it means is If the Spirit of God provides the gifts to ordain a ministry then doesn’t He have the capability to provide the gifts to sustain it? Let’s think back to the nation of Israel, and how their system of checks and balances worked. The Mosaic law guided the Levites and priests during the operation of religious faculties, so in turn God also included within the law a means to support the ministry. The Levites operated under the law, and the people gave a tenth under the law. Both Israel and the Levites were under the restrictions of the same guide.

What we’ve done today is guide our Church by the Spirit but support it by the law. We now have created 2 guides that contradict one another. The Spirit of God no longer has the sole authority to confirm Godly ministry through financial support. Why should the law have the right to come in and demand that others give to a ministry that the law never ordained? If a pastor knew that financial support came from the Spirit of God instead of a required law, he would think twice before initiating a building project. What is the incentive for a pastor to seek the counsel of the Spirit if the finances are dependant on the tithing law? All he has to do is make sure the numbers work out in the accounting books.

God’s system of checks and balances is still the same today. Of course the Church is no longer led by the Mosaic law, instead the Church is guided by the Spirit with our serving and in turn we are guided by the Spirit with our giving. For we walk by faith and not by sight.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in tithing | No Comments »

My Comments on Other Blogs

Thursday, November 15th, 2007

I just went through and wrote on a bunch of other blogs, so i figured i’d write a blog on some of the good tidbits that i had come up with when i wrote comments.

-there’s something that just bugs me from aiming for 10%. I mean really? it’s like this. God wants me to be totally surrendered to him like a complete sacrifice. What if i said, Well, i’ll give you 10% of me God. I understand what you are trying to say, and i know you agree that ultimately it’s 100% that belongs to God. But what i wanna know is why 10%? Is it 10% because that’s what Abraham and Israel did? Or is it 10% because that’s what the Holy Spirit is asking us to give?

-If God gave us his Spirit and its gifts to run the church, feed the church, teach the church, grow the church, then Spirit-led giving is good enough to support the church.

-Why should the spirit led church be supported by anything other than Spirit led giving? isn’t that why God gave us the spiritual gifts for? or was it just pseudo power that just gave us more boldness but actually did nothing for us?

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in tithing | 4 Comments »

Starving the Needy to Feed the Vision

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

If i were to say to my kids, “tonight, we’re going to skip dinner so that mommy and daddy can save up for a house”, do you think that i could be reported to child affairs? I guess the same goes with how our churches operate. They neglect the immediate needs of their fellowship so they can fulfill the future goals. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with these visions and goals per se, but why have we neglected the immediate needs of our fellowship? You can’t nutritionalize and keep your family healthy by living on a vision. Visions and goals are good and all but let’s face it, i’m not skipping my dinners to fulfill them.

One of the bad doctrines that stem out of “The pursuit of Goals” is the enforcement of tithing. Many leaders call their church to follow in their footsteps as they are being led by the Spirit to build. This raises much suspicion because the people must give by a mandated law to a cause that claims to be inspired by the Spirit. But how can the Spirit give a commission on building expensive structures, without the ability to commission potential givers? Can you see how using the law to fund the call of the Spirit obstructs the spirit of discernment? This is how cults are formed and people are deceived. All someone has to do is say, i had a vision from God, and now you should support this vision, no questions asked.

Let’s have some accountability with our visions and our giving. If the Spirit is prompting the pastor to purchase a nicer complex, then i believe the Spirit should be the entity that prompts the support as well. If a pastor knows that our giving is open to discernment, he’ll probably think twice before he neglects the needy to feed the vision.

Tags: , ,
Posted in church | 1 Comment »

Tithe -Children of Men or the Spirit?

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

At the beginning of the Old Covenant, Abraham set a pattern of giving that his children could follow throughout the remainder of the Covenant. So in response to the beginning of a New Covenant, our forefathers, just as Abraham did, established a pattern of giving as well. But we’ve been acting as children under the Old Covenant. We have chosen to follow the letter as opposed to the Spirit.

Many people suggest that the book of Acts is called “Acts” because it records the acts of the apostles, but in actuality it is the acts of the Holy Spirit that is recorded. Because Acts is a record of the works of God’s Spirit, our trust should remain in the living, breathing God, and not the traditions and records set by men. The early apostles acted in response to the Spirit of God living and breathing inside of them, but instead we want to take the dead works of Abraham and place them on everyone’s shoulders to bear.

The tithe is nothing short of our effort to put our living God into a box that fits our needs. Why are we wasting our energy trying to produce Christians guided by the law or by Abraham? If Abraham should be our guide, then God would have used him to guide the Israelites in the wilderness. But instead he used a pillar of fire and a cloud representing the Holy Spirit. Israel wasn’t guided through the desert by the staff of Moses, nor should we be guided by the works of Abraham.

The children of men are born from man’s own works but the children of the Spirit are born into a spiritual calling. Are you a child of man or are you a child of God and his Spirit? Then give accordingly.

 

Go back to Tithe and Offerings home page

Tags: ,
Posted in stewardship | No Comments »

Page 1 of 11