Isn’t tithing an Old Testament thing? Does God actually expect me to give 10% of my income to the local church, or can I tithe to other things that I’m personally passionate about? What does the Bible actually say about tithing and giving?
Generosity
The Joy of Generosity
Giving is not supposed to be a chore or an obligation; it’s supposed to be a joy. And yet so many of us give out a sense of duty and obligation, and not out of a place of joy. So how can we discover (or rediscover) the joy of giving? How can we become people who give cheerfully, and not out a sense of obligation?
How the Gospel Makes Us Generous
Jesus once said that “it’s better to give than to receive” while our culture seems to teach that “it’s better to receive than to give.” Two very different approaches to generosity and giving, and two very different beliefs about how we are to use our resources and material possessions. So how can we become people who live by the words of Jesus, as opposed to the teaching of our culture? How does the Gospel make us generous?
First Things First
Jesus once promised that God would provide everything we need if we would seek the Kingdom of God first. And yet so many of us seek other things first, adding stress, anxiety and worry to our lives. So what does it actually look like to seek first the Kingdom of God? And what might 2017 look like if we could live with a “first things first” mentality?
Deeply Rooted Generosity
Money. We talk about it all the time. We think about all the time. Some of us fight about it with our spouses all the time. And yet it rarely gets talked about in Church. Why is it that we so often separate our finances from our spiritual lives and spiritual journeys? How should people who are “Deeply Rooted” in Christ think about and handle our money?
Enough
The opposite of poverty is not wealth – it’s enough. Enough food to live, enough shelter to remain safe and dry, enough opportunity to become a self-sustaining member of society, enough dignity to become the person God created you to be. What can we do to work towards a world where every person has enough?
Watch Jeff's message on learning to live on enough.
