Christian Foundations

September 20, 2007

The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.

--Exodus 23:19a

I want to ask you a very important series of questions today… questions every follower of Christ should ask themselves from time to time.

·         If every member of your church were just like you, what kind of church would your church be?

·         If every member prayed like you pray, what kind of prayer life would your church know?

·         If every member served as you serve, what kind of ministry would your church have to hurting and broken people?

·         If every member worshipped as you worship, what would the dynamic of your church’s worship look like and feel like?

·         If every member witnessed, invited, and encouraged others to come just like you witness, invite, and encourage others to come, what would the outreach of your church look like?

·         Lastly, if every church member gave as you give, would your church have buildings to worship and serve our God?

Now, I know that asking people about money is a very touchy thing. When you get close to people’s money, people get nervous! But the fact is that every follower of Christ has a duty before God… and accountability to one another to be a part of what He is doing in His Church.

And with this accountability comes a commitment of our finances to God. In Nehemiah 10:35, the people of Israel said, “We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the LORD.”

The Israelites were committing to give God the very best… something we call “sacrifice.”

So I want to ask you today, are you giving God the “firstfruits” of everything you have? Are you giving to His Church like He would have you to? Because it takes your sacrifice and stewardship to help the Church successfully and effectively reach others for Christ!

sacrifice and stewardship are marks of truly following jesus christ