Bumper Crop (2 of 3)
Series: Rich Toward God
Jeff Strite
2 Corinthians 9:5-15
OPEN: A preacher told his church this story about an airplane trip he'd recently taken from Chicago to California:
''I was on the plane when they ran into some very severe turbulence. The plane began to shake terribly and the passengers were getting alarmed. Even the flight attendants were looking concerned. Finally, one of the passengers who sat behind him (and who knew he was a preacher) leaned over the seat and said, ''This is really frightening. Do you suppose you could... I don't know... do something religious?'''
The preacher paused, smiled at his audience and said: ''So I took up a collection.''
Money and church... it IS kind of a religious thing. In fact... it's a BIBLICAL thing.
ILLUS: Someone studied Jesus parables and found that 16 of Jesus' 38 parables (nearly half) were concerned with how we to handle money and possessions. In addition he found that - in the Gospels - an amazing 1 out of 10 verses deal directly with subject of money. Further, he noted: the Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2000 verses on money and possessions.
So, when God talks to us about how we use our money... it's just part of the deal. Someone once noted: ''a faith that hasn't reached your wallet, probably hasn't reached your heart.'' (Adrian Rogers)
Last week I said it this way: how we handle our money is kind of a barometer of our faith. AND sometimes the barometer isn't as much a reflection of the people in the audience as it is a reflection of the faith of the preacher.
ILLUS: I heard of one church where the church was struggling financially. It was one of those churches where the preacher knew what everybody was giving and he knew of certain folks who were fairly well of who were not doing their part. So the preacher got up in the pulpit and began naming names! THEN they passed the plate - not once, not twice, but 3 times... ...
Series: Rich Toward God
Jeff Strite
2 Corinthians 9:5-15
OPEN: A preacher told his church this story about an airplane trip he'd recently taken from Chicago to California:
''I was on the plane when they ran into some very severe turbulence. The plane began to shake terribly and the passengers were getting alarmed. Even the flight attendants were looking concerned. Finally, one of the passengers who sat behind him (and who knew he was a preacher) leaned over the seat and said, ''This is really frightening. Do you suppose you could... I don't know... do something religious?'''
The preacher paused, smiled at his audience and said: ''So I took up a collection.''
Money and church... it IS kind of a religious thing. In fact... it's a BIBLICAL thing.
ILLUS: Someone studied Jesus parables and found that 16 of Jesus' 38 parables (nearly half) were concerned with how we to handle money and possessions. In addition he found that - in the Gospels - an amazing 1 out of 10 verses deal directly with subject of money. Further, he noted: the Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2000 verses on money and possessions.
So, when God talks to us about how we use our money... it's just part of the deal. Someone once noted: ''a faith that hasn't reached your wallet, probably hasn't reached your heart.'' (Adrian Rogers)
Last week I said it this way: how we handle our money is kind of a barometer of our faith. AND sometimes the barometer isn't as much a reflection of the people in the audience as it is a reflection of the faith of the preacher.
ILLUS: I heard of one church where the church was struggling financially. It was one of those churches where the preacher knew what everybody was giving and he knew of certain folks who were fairly well of who were not doing their part. So the preacher got up in the pulpit and began naming names! THEN they passed the plate - not once, not twice, but 3 times... ...
There are 16606 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
