Below, for your consideration and reflection, is the sermon from Bethel's February 26, 2006 Sunday worship service.

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“ Give according to your income, in order that God will not turn your income according to your giving” - Peter Marshall

The Apostle Paul challenge the church to give an offering annually, he gave the church a time to do this. When the time was near, the Apostle sent out a representative to the church, in this case Titus was chosen to do this honor, i.e., to go and remind the congregation about what it had promised. At the end of the year, the Apostle Paul would go to collect the offering which was promised by faith from the congregation.

Therefore, Faith offering is one of the ways that the bible teaches us concerning our offering to the Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters, Let me ask this question, in your life as a Christian, did you ever give a Faith Offering? Some folks may think “ What does it have to do with faith to give an offering, all we need to do is to put our hand in our pocket, get any amount and put in the offering plate and that is it. However, in the case of a Faith Offering, it is different!

According to Oswald Smith, he suggests that one needs to pray and ask God- How much do you want me to give, Lord? Then, one must trust in the Lord, ask Him to provide month after month the amount that one has promised. Faith Offering, then, is the promise between the believer and the Lord God Almighty. It is a kind offering that originates from the deep love for God and from deep down the bottom of one’s heart. When, I talk about faith offering , I always remember this particular phrase, “ We give from our heart because we receive from the heart of God”

Once, I read an illustration from sermon- It is an interesting one! A preacher went to visit Palestine. He took the trip from Jerusalem to Jerico, he went to the Jordan river where Jesus was baptized. He continued his trip to the Dead Sea and finally arrived at the Sea of Galilee.

During that trip, he asked himself this question, “ Why do people name the Sea as “Dead Sea”. He asked the local people to explain – Well, the Dead Sea always receives, and receives, and never gives, therefore, the water become stagnate and no life in it. The Sea of Galilee is different. It receives but it also gives, thus, it has lives. Its water is always Fresh.

Well, what does it have to do with Faith Offering and the Church? Friends, it shows us that there are two types of church – one is a missional church and the other is not.

A missional church has a great concern about God’s mission that God has put in her hands. The church receives and also gives for the sake of Christ and His Mission in this world. Through giving to the Master, the church becomes a blessing to those who are in need of the word of God, in need of food or shelter etc. If the church just only receives but does not give by faith, she becomes a church that cares for her-self only, thus, she no longer cares for the needy. This illustration also calls for each Christian to examine deep down into his or her heart. If our heart is a giving heart by faith, then, we are the water of the Sea of Galilee, we help God gives lives by giving our lives to others for the sake of Christ’s kingdom. Therefore, we can give God the glory and Aleluia.

Brothers and sisters, where do we keep our treasure?

We don’t really have any option according to Christ. We are depositing our treasure on this earth or up in heaven. Remember what the scripture teaches us “Whatever we have on earth today, when we depart from this world, we will not be able to take anything with us”. Friends, let us deposit our treasure by our faith in the Bank of Jesus Christ in order that the Lord will multiply and use our offering to advance his kingdom through the mission of our church. John 3:16

God gave His Only Begotten Son! Jesus made himself to be poor in order that we can become rich. The apostles gave their belongings and their lives! What can we give to the Lord. Try “Faith Offering”- You will experience a deep sense of depending on God’s and see the power of God as He leads you each day toward fulfilling what you had promised Him.

Let us reflect on the 4 statements:

1. If I do not give anything to the mission of Christ, I am responsible for the no advancement of the missionary forces in all the fields,
   
2. If I give less than what I gave before, I am responsible to the reduction of missionary forces because of the reduction of my giving,
   
3. If I am continuing to give the same amount that I gave before, I am responsible to keep the missionary forces at the same position and there is no advancement,
   
4. If I increase my giving this year than the year before, I, then, am helping the missionary forces to go out and conquer more places that need to hear the Word of God.

I hope that we all will choose no. 4!

Faith Offering- Try it and you will like it !