Money is my Master! - Mammon & Ministry

                    

     Money is my Master!   

Ha! Ha! – Just kidding. I do have a sense of humor! :)

Dear family in Christ, before I extol my  thoughts around the leash mammon has held on ministry, let me begin with the words of Jesus.   

* Note: Scripture is quoted from the Aramaic Translation of The Word. 

Matthew – Chapter 6 – verses 24 to 34

No man can serve two masters; for either you will hate the one and like the other; or he will honor one and despise the other. 

You cannot serve God and money. 

For this reason I say to you, do not worry for your life, what you will eat and what you will drink, nor for your body what you will wear. 

Behold, is not life much more important than food, and the body more than clothing?

Observe the birds of the sky, for they do not sow, neither do they harvest nor gather into barns, and yet your Father in heaven feeds them. 
Are you not much more important than they?

Who is among you who by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Why do you worry about clothing? Observe the wild flowers, how they grow; they do not get tired out, nor do they spin. But I say to you that not even Solomon with all of his glory was arrayed like one of them.

Now if God clothes in such the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow falls into the fireplace, is he not much more mindful of you, O you of little faith?

Therefore, do not worry or say, What will we eat, or what will we drink, or with what will we be clothed?

For worldly people seek after all these things. Your Father in heaven knows that all of these are also necessary for you. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will look after itself. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.

Please bear with me.

Now let’s go to  

Matthew ~ Chapter 6 - Verses 1 thru 4

Be careful concerning your alms (gifts), not to do them in the presence of men, merely that they may see them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Therefore when you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, just as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the market places, so that they may be glorified by men. 
Truly I say to you that they have already received their reward.

But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 
So that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret, shall himself reward you openly.

Now let’s go to  

Matthew ~ Chapter 19 – Verses 21 thru 26

Jesus said to him, 
If you wish to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven; then follow me.

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had great possessions.

Jesus then said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, It is difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. 
Again I say to you, It is easier for a rope to go thru the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.

When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly astonished, saying, Who then can be saved?

Jesus looked at them and said; For men this is impossible, but for God everything is possible. 

Today’s message is twofold – 

1) The first is pertinent to those who are young in the Body of Christ.

2) The second is for those who have ministries in the Body of Christ.

Part One – Tithing as a member of the Body of Christ.

Over the years we have been taught that we should allocate 10% of what we earn and then give that figure to the church. 

Under the Old covenant, the Lord made with the Israelites, this was indeed a true teaching. 

However, we are no longer under the old covenant, we are under the new covenant. 
And nowhere in the New Testament does it state that we should give 10%. 
This is a false teaching. 

Jesus clearly taught that we should give what we can. 

It’s what comes from the heart that counts. 

Remember the widow who gave her last two cents?

Mark ~ Chapter 12 – Verses 41 thru 44

Years ago I had a sister in Christ come to me with a dilemma. 
The Church that she was attending strongly emphasized about tithing and the giving of 10%. 
She explained to me how she didn’t have 10%. 
The money she earned that week was only enough to pay her bills and feed her children. I explained to her about the old covenant and the new covenant. 

I told her to go back to her pastor and tell him what I said, which she did. 
The following week she came to see me again to explain what had happened. 

She told the pastors wife first. The pastor’s wife told her to give them the 10% as required and then they would write her a check from the church fund to help fill her needs.
( Ok, that’s a step in the right direction I thought to myself.) 

Then she proceeded to tell me that the pastor told the congregation that he had a dream and in that dream it was revealed to him that a wolf in sheep’s skin was amongst them. 
He told them I was the wolf!! He told them I was a devil!!
(I met this pastor once when I was looking for a local body to fellowship with.) 

Needless to say, I have not seen this pastor since or the sister. 
I never did find out if she gave the 10% or not.

So the ultimate question here is - Which teaching is correct?

I, for one, will abide by the understanding that I have received as I have read His Word.

Give what you can when you can. 

There is no need to worry about anything. 

Our Father in Heaven has everything under control. 

The evil of the day is sometimes more than one can bear. 

Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow the Lord. 

That is sound doctrine.

Part Two – Ministers of the Body of Christ

As a member of the body of Christ, each one of us has a special gift. 

Of course we have all the gifts, but, we each have one special gift that stands out above all others. 

It is your duty as member of the Body to find out what that gift is and excel in it. 
(I will go into this later in another teaching.)

Today I want to address those members who have gifts that have led them into full time service for the Body of Christ. 

I’m sure some will be offended.

Do you know how much it turns off people when you ask for money to support your ministry? 

Whenever I watch a You tube video or read something on Facebook where the brother or sister starts asking for donations, I tend to find that very offensive. 

I begin to question if you are being led by the Spirit of God. 

I begin to think that you created this ministry and were not led by the Holy Spirit to do so. 
If your ministry is truly Spirit led, then why are you asking for money? 

You speak to me through fear tactics. 
You have used attempts to make me feel guilty and obliged to bless your ministry. 
I am offended by this!
It makes me want to run away!!!!    

 Luke ~ Chapter – 9 – Verses 1 thru 3

Then Jesus called his twelve, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to cure every disease. 

And he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 

And he said to them, Do not take anything for the journey, neither a staff nor a bag nor money, nor have two shirts.

Am I missing something? 

The word proclaims clearly that our Father will supply all our needs. 

Where is your Faith?

Let's be clear, I have no problem with your having a donation button on your page. 
How else would I know where to send the money if so led by the Holy Spirit?

However, this asking for money is not good for young believers in Christ to witness. 

Solicitation presents a false impression of our walk in Christ.
This is not correct doctrine. 

You have been taught by the Lord to put all your faith and trust in him. 
I challenge you to step up to the plate. 
Believe the Word of the Lord, and trust in His supernatural provision.

Cease asking man for money.
Have the courage to discover if your ministry is truly from the Lord. 
The Lord will supply all your needs if you are truly following his direction. 
If it's not, you will discover this truth very quickly.

One last thought, and this is for those who have the gift of pastoring a flock. 

Every week you pass around the collection plate. 

Is this not in direct contrast with the giving of my alms? 

Jesus said we should give our alms in secret. 

So much so that he said not to even let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. 
How can I accomplish this when your putting that plate in front of me? 
Sometimes I have nothing to put in that plate, it brings shame upon me when that happens. 

Surely there must be a better way? 
A way that befits the Word that we have been fed.

I want the truth to be spoken. 

I want us all to come into perfect harmony. 
In these last days the enemy is trying his hardest to deceive us. 
We have to keep up our guard. 
We are in a spiritual warfare.

We need correct doctrine to be taught to all the members of the Body.  

If even one atom of the truth is compromised it weakens the Body and obstructs it from functioning as it should. 

Love,

Brother Greg

My friend Tom Fischer shared his testimony with me about this subject of money and trusting the Lord for provision.   

Here is his testimony:

" Greg, I’ve been living by faith for close to 5 years.   

When I say living by faith, it may mean something different than what others call living by faith.   

A little over 6 years ago in the early fall of 2008 the Lord started using me in healing.  Before that time, I was a regular, church going, tithe paying believer with his own lawn maintenance business.   

About a year and a half into this new life of supernatural healing power flowing through me, I decided to sell the small business I operated and step out by faith into full time ministering.  

I decided this because I felt it was important to spend more time ministering in the power of the Lord, than in cutting grass.   

The business was about 35 lawns that I cut either weekly or every other week.  It was just me doing the work.  I had no employees.  The price I received wasn’t a huge amount of money, so it ran out in less than 6 months, if I recall correctly.  

At that point, I was essentially living by faith.  

I decided that I wouldn’t ask anyone to support me, but rather, trust in the Lord to move hearts to want to sow into the ministry.   

I had already begun my Youtube channel where I posted live street healing situations and I put a Paypal donate button on the channel for those who wanted to partner with me.  This gave people who wanted to sow into the ministry the opportunity to do so without having to directly ask anyone for money.   
It’s important to not prevent people from sowing into good soil because giving is good and the word says, “He gives seed to the sower”.    

It was around that time that I learned more about tithing and the Law of Moses.  Although the Law of Moses is good and leads us to Christ, we’re not to live as if justified by the keeping of the Law of Moses.   
I received a revelation that I was tithing with the wrong attitude.  

I was following a rule rather than listening to the Spirit in order to know how much to give and when.   
I decided to quit tithing and wait on the Spirit to lead me into situations where I could give.  

It was at that time, that people started giving into the ministry.  
In fact, the week I stopped tithing was the week that the first person sowed into the ministry.   

Up to the present moment, I have never asked anyone to give into this ministry.   
The Lord has always moved hearts to support what I am doing.   

This is a Spirit led life and every decision you make should come from the direction of the Holy Spirit and that includes giving to those in need." ~ Tom Fischer