The Ohio Independent Baptist, April 1964

TITHING - (Concluded from page 3) mi ionaries are out on their fields continually. Lf you are unable to attend your church a particular week, send )OUr money. You have a responsibility. A vacation from \ 'Our church is not to be a vacation on giving. We are in thi thing together . The bill go on. There will be no lack if all the body of believers are "found faithful. ' The fir t of the week means a new beginning, and the best start for the new week i bringing your treasures to the hou e of the Lord. B. PERSO ALLY - "every one of you ' . Thi mean each member of the family brings hi collection or gifts and the whole body of believers in a local church are to gather with their treasurers for the Lord. The writer's first experience with tithing was back in the days when the depre ion bit the country. It looked like I couldn't continue my Bible education. Then the Lord showed me "Tithing,' but I wondered how I could ever give a tenth when I already didn t have enough. So the Lord said, "Try me " and bless His name I did. He proved His Word of Malachi 3: 10, and nearly 30 years later He is till getting at least a tenth first before any other things are paid. I am a living witness of the shower of blessings. If you say you ' can t afford to tithe" then I must ha ten to ay, ' 'You can' t afford NOT to tithe. ' I told this to a parishoner once, who I knew was desper– ately needy. She tried it and today owns her home. What a story of His blessing! If tithing was a principle under Abraiham, before the law; during the Jaw of Moses and found in ithe gospels dare we under grace do anything les ? It is a guide and principle for us. Let ' per anally" include each member of the family from the children on up. Teach the young early to tithe and you will have an interested child through the years. In fact, this will help lead many of our young people on to Christian College and even the ministry. 0 , the blessing of it. Isn't church the storehouse? ow the word, ' store. ' Isn ' t Paul writing to a LocaJ Church? Then why not make the Church the ' ' torehouse?" D idn •t Malachi u e the word " torehou e?'' ote Paul speak in I or. 3: 16 of this body of believer as "'Ye are the Temple of God." That local Church wa a body of believer and the Lord dwelt there. I or. 9: 13 '·They which mini ter about hoJy things live of .the thing of the T MPL ." Surely Paul mu t have had in mind how the Old Testament aints brought in the gift to the ..., cmpie for the Servant of God and here he i tel ling the orinth1ans the same thing! II or. 6: 16 peak again of the Temple of God to eparate from the heretical. 1 n~t that why we have o often referred to our Bapti t hurches as Independent Baptist~ becau e we broke fron1 tlle conven tion that were heret1cal? he order of OLJr churches is to Bap liLe, to erve the 1 .. ord' able, a 11d then isn ' t it good order for the Hol y pirit, " '110 indwel Is the ern pie, ( I or. 6: 19) to gu1de the Body ( l .. ocal hurch) in the n1atter'i of n1onc} '? o 1et irldi, 1 iduaJs practice the ordina11ce5 woL1ld be d1:,,order arld co11ft1 ion. Y t, whe11 it co111cs to a 111an 's n1oncy, he \\ 1 a111 co do a he plea es. What disorder! I )' LI gi\'e to a 111i ionar)' cl1rough )' Otir cht11 th, ~ ou are liid a,1d tt1at gel )'Ott off )'Ot1r 1Jrot1d a11d selt1~J1 p rcl1. 11 r11i io11ar)' wil] till get tl1c a111 111or1e)' arid the v. 1 liole bod)' of l>e lie\ 1 er ,.. , jlJ get the glor)' a11d th is bring glor}' to tl1e he, d, ~J,ri t . l1e ht1rcl1 \\'il l glo,·v • and flouri h as a testimony in the community for missions. The mis ionary will get the interest of the whole body, even though it is your money and soon the missionary will have many praying for him and giving to his cause. I could illustrate thi over again and again if pace per– mitted. C. PROPORTIONATELY "As God hath pro pered. ' ' A guide will be II Cor. 9: 6 7 which speaks of owing " paringly or bountifully." If God blesse the Tither then what is .ther e to lose? You can' t out-give God; He will never be in debt to you. Again, if pace permitted I could illu trate over and over with the families and churcbe , who have been blessed mightily of God for practicing Tithing and doing more. Since "none of what you po e is your own" had it ever ocoured to you that the Lord might want half of your check thi week on the Church plate? Why should that ,part of the body of Chri t called, "mi ionaries' sleep in hammock while we buy expen ive inner pring ; be eparated for year from home, conveni– ence while we have it all ? They too want to educate their children . Do we forget them while we pend thou and to educate our ? We at home hould u e our material force for the whole cause of Chri t. Faithful people are blessed! In closing I know of an evangeli t who, before a me age a ked, while the church ang a hymn, that each one, who believed the Bible wa the Word of God, hould come forward and place a hand on the Bible. Of cour e all did . Then he preached the e truth on giving. After the me age he a ked all who believed he preached the truth to again come and touch the Bible. They did. Then he a ked all who would practice tithing to the church to come and ign their names! The re ult wa a church that had had to go begging became a church with an overflow of money and they rebuli t. God ble e a people who will be 'faithful. , For Stewards, tithing i only the fir t tep of giving. When we grow in tJhe Lord we will be willing to do much more. If we believe in the local church, we will be glad to pour our pro perity into it. Put thi truth to the te t and practice " torehou. e tithing' for three month and SEE what happen ! Watch the ble ing · of God in your 1 if e. You will ne,,er be the ame. Let a church full of ai nt do it together and ) OLt \\' ill ee a church fixed up to invite the crowd; n1i ion~ \ 111 grow in a marvelou way ; and the Pa tor' alar) Vt ill be rai ed to the glory of the Lord. o chtirch ever rai~ed the preacher' upport but what it didn't pro~pcr . o God be the glory! Sue Eckert from Berea is circulation manager tie cl rt, a ('etiar\1lle ( ' olltgc Jt1nior fro111 Bcit:a Bapti5t ( ' hL1rch, llcrca. Ol11t), l1as bl't'tl 11a111cti tl1c ne,v ' 1rct1lat1011 1 :in~ ge1 fo1 the Ohio I11dcpe11d~11t 13 1ptt"t • n1agaz111e. M I l~ c k c r t , \\' 11 o 1 t~ ~ l LI c '-. .1 t Fa i t 11 Ha11 i 11 c ~.1 ·1 r,' i I1 e , is a J1r1st1ar1 l ... dt1cati 11 JlldJOI ,vitl1 a 111tnl11 in -- ~~rL't lri f1l cic11cc l1c }1as ~tt1di\;;d sl1()rtl1a11d. bt1~111t~s. c)r1 t~sJ1t) 11 1- encc, 111tcr111eLiiatc a11 l acJ, a11 eel l)' (li11g, j11trt) lt1 ti 11 tl l)t1si11ess a11tJ secretarial IJracti\; i s at tl1i.:: ll g . L ast st1r11111cr sl1 cnrolle J i11 a \ 1 ari-l)' ()c "' llL) l in I ,,eJ 1d a11d \vork ti f r a 11ri11ti11g 11\,; er11 . he i the: dat1gl1t r )f lr . u11d tr . I) !e 1 k rt, _so \\' a, llC Drive, 13 ft";H . r