I have some pastor friends who hate to preach sermons on stewardship. I know there are many reasons why they feel this way, but don't you think people today need to know the principles of stewardship? They apply to all of life, not just to our money. There are a number of successful financial counselors like Dave Ramsey, Crown Financial and Ron Blue, just to name a very few, who try to help folks understand the money side, and they use biblical references and principles to do so. Are you in a church where you never hear 'stewardship' taught or preached? I dare say most of us are more likely to hear it in the form of a joke, like this one:

"There were 2 men stranded on a deserted island, one is panicked and the other is calm. The frantic one gets mad at the calm one and asks, "Why aren't you worried, don't you know we're going to die out here?" The calm one states, "I told you I made $100,000 per week, didn't I?" The other replied, really stressed out, "Sure, but what good will that do you out here on this island?" The calm one replied, "Well, what I didn't tell you is that I always give a tithe each week at my church. I promise you my Pastor will find me before Sunday!"

OK, I know that's an old one, but still you probably smiled! :) The reality is many times we don't want to talk about the subject because we don't want to give anyone grounds to accuse us of giving sermons to bring more money into the church. You know, most of the Pastors I know are far more concerned with reaching out to folks in need and seeing people come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior!

So here's my BLOG. I'd like to start out with a quick principle from Matthew 25:14-30

1) OWNERSHIP - that is, everything belongs to God!

Q4U: Is there anything I have that I would not gladly give to God should He require it of me?

If so, you don't realize in a practical sense that God owns it and can do with it as He may.

If you are a Pastor, let me ask you straight up: "Do you tithe at your church?" Brothers, how can we expect others to tithe if we're not? You are the leader in your church, if you tithe, they will be more likely to. Why? Because, they are following you! They don't have to know what you give, but that you give! And by the way, you must give cheerfully as the scripture says. (More on that later!)

Enough for this time...see you next week.