I think malachai 3 vs 10 should be good enough for messages about tithe and offerings, considering the blessings and curses. if u don't abide by it den dats ur business. I just shake my head for some pastors cos God is going to ask, did I send u this message, the one I sent you, you dint preach.

We are the ones givin, and we are stil the ones complainin. Now, who are we to blamin it on? . .  

Imagine people attendin a crusade of which the gate fee was N1,000. Am I that stu-pid?

Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’”

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

During the drought God sent the prophet Elijah to the brook Cherith. Elijah drank from the brook and the ravens fed him there twice each day.

Our Scripture reading tells us that "Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land" (1Ki 17:7). It was time for Elijah to move on. Then the word of the Lord came to him: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." (1Ki 17:9).

Did you catch what God said? He said, "I have commanded a widow , " (she had the choice to obey afterall it was more reasonable for her to eat and die according to her) Earlier, He told Elijah that He ordered the ravens to feed him. God's Word can make demands in any and every situation and expects to be obeyed – even by ravens and by heathen women. "Go at once to Zarephath , I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."


Did  you notice what Elijah said: But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.

Why calling him your pastor when you are not even sharing his opinion.

ebhohon:

Guys, giving is for your uplift and not for the pastor. most pastor's giving that make them what they are and not your giving. study malachi 3:1-10. cane and abel offered sacrifice to God but He accepted that of Abel. why? because he offered a quality offering.

^^^Are you from Ewu man? With a name like that you're either Benin (Idahosa) or Ishan (Oyakhilome)

You must be very young if not you would have known by now that Malachi was not addressed to you and I (as Gentiles and later Christians)
God is not an investment banker and prefers you to give him your HEART and SOUL (must remain UN-compromised), stop regurgitating the same old lies you hear from the pulpit dude.

The issue of giving is an important topic. Understand that God relates to us by covenant. Every covenant (like marriage or a business partnership) places demands (as well as benefits) on both parties. God's part includes to prosper us, protect us, etc. Our part is to worship him & honour Him with our substance.

I'll try to elaborate more with a few sub-titles:
1. TITHING & OFFERING:
These are only two out of the "7 Mandatory Things to Give to God" recorded in the Scriptures. God himself is angry with defaulters and allows "The Devourer" attack such thieves. See God's tone in Malachi chapters one & chapter three.

2. WHY SHOULD I GIVE:
God commanded not to come empty handed before Him. Exo23:15. God is angry with you and even your pastors when you bring trivial gifts to his presence. See Malachi1 & Malachi3.
Whatever you sow, that shall you reap.
He has commanded us to store our treasures in heaven by giving to advance His Kingdom. Matt6:19-21

3. HOW MUCH SHOULD I GIVE:
The measure you give is the measure you will recieve. Luke6:38

4. MISSIONARY WORK:
The work of ministry is not for pastors only but for everyone. See Eph4:11-13. As long as you are not actively involved in full-time missions, you must involve your money or substance.

Please before you react against supernatural ordinances such as giving, study God's laws & mores in the Bible. Don't add or remove from it else you incure the curses written in it.

You are dealing directing with God when you give your offering in church.Forget about the sugar coated mouthed pastors and how your offerings are being mismanaged and remind God that you have done your own part of his promise so that he too can fulfill his own part of the promise, LET NO MAN COME TO MY HOUSE EMPTY HANDED and BRING YE ALL THE TITHE INTO MY HOUSE SO THAT THERE MAY BE FOOD,DO THIS AND SEE WHETHER I WILL NOT OPEN THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT BLESSINGS FOR YOU are among the verses in the bible that supported offerings.

These single & double digit posters are SUSPECTS to say the least, Mr. Strategy, are you from the tribe of Levi? Show us where MALACHI was addressed to the Gentiles or today's Christian.

Matthew 25:31-46

31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.



Show me where tithes are mentioned in the above



Acts 7:48

48Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

Acts 17:24

24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

As you can see above, God doesn't live in the so called Temples/Tabernacles or what have you, HE LIVES in every believer. Stop allowing these scam artists to take you to the cleaners in the name of tithes and offerings. If your heart/spirit leads you to give to a Church, stranger, needy, beggar, orphan, widow, etc by all means do so but to say a certain percentage is required of a Christian after the price Christ paid for our lives is heresy at best.

I dnt knw y pastoe hammer on this offering and tithe like their lifes depends on it. Like 70% of their congregations cannot even feed properly in thier homes. Tithe is not by force but it is expected of all christains as obedience to God. Y dnt they hammer on helping people in need, morality, holiness, repentance or even pray for the country that is gradually collapsing. Maybe Nigeria will be a much better place if these our religous leaders focus on d right things and not material things.

I dnt knw y pastors hammer on this offering and tithe like their lifes depends on it.  Like 70% of their congregations cannot even feed properly in thier homes. Tithe is not by force but it is expected of all christains as obedience to God. Y dnt they hammer on helping people in need, morality, holiness, repentance or even pray for the country that is gradually collapsing. Maybe Nigeria will be a much better place if these our religous leaders focus on d right things and not material things.

Fhemmmy:

Why calling him your pastor when you are not even sharing his opinion.

how do you mean sharing his opinion??
remember not all pastors are really men of God.
have a mind of your own.

justwonder:

i know of a man called BRO GBILE,does not give himself titles, does not call out for offerings,people donate to his ministry quietly and freely.That i like very much   

I know him too. He still drives his 504 saloon car.
His ministry has touched many lives and quietly too.

His interpretation of the Bible does not deviate midway to wealth creation.

I used to think that catholic priest are immune to this money thing but I was stunned on the 2nd of January, 2011 when a catholic mass lasted 6 hours. Out of the 6 hours, preaching and consecration (for those who know what it means) lasted less than an hour. the remaining time was spent inducing people to give with repeated quoting of the same verses of the bible.

Pathetic!

The Bible makes us to understand that "because the punishment for and evil work is not executed immdiately, therefore the heart of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil"

My say on this is that, if it pleases God to just sit down now and watch our 'so-call mn of God to use the Bible to exploit their fellow church goers, then so be it. I believ so much that God will not keep silent forever,

Me too oh they threaten and threaten and manipulate bible scriptures na so i dey siddon look them. Na wetin i wan give i dey give. They will tell you how you are a thief, how you will die poor. See wahalla oh, na by force. Me i always challenge them with the sharing formular God gave for tithes, its fr widows, starngers and the levites, so why levites in this case go siddon chop alone? If i decide to give my own to the stranger, ftaherless and widows nkor? But they no go gree they go say bring am for here make food de for the house of God for man of God to wack, same man of God go dey carry Jaguar pose for me. Abeg, no be me jor.

. . ,.thru prosperity my kingdom is established.
Christians know how to hoard their resouces

I think the church should highlight the importance of giving without barraging the congregation unnecessarily, its not by force- you have to give with your heart. The rewards and consequences are down to you and not the pastor.
But people should remember that its the offerings that keep the church going, like using any voluntary service if nobody is contributing it cant go on. People should look at the works that thier church is doing so they can be assured its not simply hopping into a pastors pocket.

agabaI23:

I used to think that catholic priest are immune to this money thing but I was stunned on the 2nd of January, 2011 when a catholic mass lasted 6 hours. Out of the 6 hours, preaching and consecration (for those who know what it means) lasted less than an hour. the remaining time was spent inducing people to give with repeated quoting of the same verses of the bible.
Pathetic!

Wow even catholic churches too? the virus is spreading to every denomination.

One rev said, ' if you want to be alive till 2011, you must kill cow(donate money)'. Sho, na him get my life?

@Aisha
Just to support what you said about giving what comes from your mind, I do worse when the barrage of inducement gets out of hand.
For that 6 hours mass, I started reducing the amount I was to give as the number of hours increased.
At a point, I said I will donate the smallest amount of money possible in this church and the do my own duty elsewhere.
I was pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!

@ Aishat   buhahahahahahahaha i no fit laff abeg

Inasmuch as it seems its every church that operates like this, I want to encourage Christians that there are still some houses of God that have not sold themselves for money. Here's a cut-out from the website of a church about giving to them online . . . how many pastors can say this on their pulpit?

@ agaba, u mean u actually reduced what u were supposed to pay to the church ?  

hehehehehehehehehe una no go kill person here o

agabaI23:

I do worse when the barrage of inducement gets out of hand.
For that 6 hours mass, [b]I started reducing the amount I was to give as the number of hours increased.[/b]At a point, I said I will donate the smallest amount of money possible in this church and the do my own duty elsewhere.
I was pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lol.  correct guy. You shouldn't have even given them anything self.

I witnessed one useless man of a so-called pastor call for offerings, and he had the unreserved audacity and shamelessness to place himself in God's position by declaring he did not want any offerings that were less than $100  can you imagine? I was furious. And if not I was a visitor I would've gone up with $1 just to see what he would say. These men are so disgusting. What about the widow and her tiny mite? her 2 little coins? she was good enough for God but not this useless 'pastor'. They're all theives, wolves in choir robes.

Churches are supposed to be charity oriented organisations. Show me any church in Nigeria that is fulfilling that obligations. They con you with their sweet talks and coerce you into giving what you don't have by quoting the relevant verses albeit wrongly in most cases. They then go about buying designer suits, crocodile shoes and top of the range SUVs; some even buying helicopters and private jets; They build state of the art private universities and charge students from their own congregation excessive and exhorbitant tuition fees. Could anybody tell why I should obey this kleptomaniac's call for offerings and tithes. I would rather give my money to the poor and the needy who are in their millions roaming our streets. I will then wait for the judgement day for God to send me to wherever He wishes - hell or heaven. At least I would be glad that I have not been duped.
'An army of sheep led by a lion will always defeat an army of lions led by a sheep' Shine your eyes.

Well, they have been busy thinking up new "moves" and may likely no longer worry you much about offerings.

"Gate Fees" are now here and you can't avoid that if you'll enter "church", can you?

nuclearboy:

Well, they have been busy thinking up new "moves" and may likely no longer worry you much about offerings.

"Gate Fees" are now here and you can't avoid that if you'll enter "church", can you?

I learnt it starts from N1000 flat
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-580005.0.html

[b]NIGERIAN PASTORS SHOULD LEARN FROM SCOAN( SYNAGOGUE OF ALL NATIONS) HOW PROPHET T.B.JOSHUA IS USING MONEY TO GIVE SCHOLARSHIPS TO THE FATHERLESS, MONEY TO THE WIDOW AND WIDOWERS, LESS PRIVILEGED, HANDICAPPED AND SO ON. HE SAID THAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW HOW TO GIVE TO THE POOR. HE GIVES TO MUSLIMS CHRISTAINS AND PAGANS MONEY AND DELIVERS THE SICK AND ALSO ASK THEM TO GO BACK TO THEIR CHURCHES AND WORSHIP GOD. THAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW PASTORS SHOULD FOCUS TO THE LIVES OF PEOPLE RATHER THAN TO EXTORT MONEY IN THE NAME OF TITHING AND OFFERINGS. ONE SHOULD PAY TITHE AND ALSO OFFERING BUT A CURSE SHOULD NOT BE PLACED ON ANYONE FOR NOT GIVING. CHRIST CAME FOR THE POOR, THE SICK  AND THE LESS PRIVILEDGED. WATCH EMMANUEL TV AND SEE HOW GOD IS USING THE MAN OF GOD TO BLESS PEOPLE. I AM NOT A MEMBER OF "SCOAN", BUT THE ACTIONS AND THE PREACHING OF THE MAN OF GOD, SENIOR PROHET T.B. JOSHUA WILL SHOW YOU THAT HE IS FROM GOD. NO OTHER PASTOR IN NIGERIA HAS EVER DONE WHAT HE IS DOING. SOME OF THESE PASTORS SHOULD LEARN AND EVEN GO AHEAD AND WATCH EMMANUEL TV AND IF THEY ARE IN SPIRIT, THEY WILL KNOW THAT HE= SENIOR PROPHET T.B. JOSHUA IS A MAN OF GOD AND NOW PRACTICE THEIR PROFESSION AS TRUE MEN OF GOD AND NOT FOR WEALTH. ANY PASTOR THAT EXTRACTS MONEY FROM WORSHIPERS FOR SELFISH REASONS WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD. ALSO POSTERS AND CONTRIBUTORS HERE ON NAIRALAND SHOULD BE CAREFUL ON HOW WE RESPOND TO SENSITIVE ISSUES LIKE THIS.[/b]

Its crazy wat dis so called men of God do for money. U pay for deliverance, prayers. My friend got a text message to come for deliverance N1000 per demon. N5000 for strong demons.Nothin person no go see.

@JaSoul, Vick for MVP

iv4real:

Its crazy wat dis so called men of God do for money. U pay for deliverance, prayers. My friend got a text message to come for deliverance N1000 per demon. N5000 for strong demons.Nothin person no go see.

Nigerian Churches na wa for una, Government need to start taxing them since they're the only "Business" growing in Nigeria these days. A company folds up for lack of power, infrastructure, security, etc and the next month, it is a "Church"

Na God go help man ooooo

ogajim:

@JaSoul, Vick for MVP

    If not for say I am one of Vick's biggest fan I for hussle you big time. But common, Brady is playing like an "extra-terrestial", you no fit deny that one. Come self, you def watch NFL? why u no visit us here now?  https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-170354.2336.html#msg7474820

If MALACHI is not addressed to you because you think it is OLD FASHIONED and also because you felt some pastors are abusing it,then,you do not have the right to be a partaker of all the blessings and promises of GOD in both the OLD and NEW testament since they were not also addressed to you NIGERIAN,

skyangel:

@ agaba, u mean u actually reduced what u were supposed to pay to the church ?  

hehehehehehehehehe una no go kill person here o

Yes I did oo and I will do it again.

JeSoul:

Lol.  correct guy. You shouldn't have even given them anything self.

Well I am not stingy!!!!!!!!!!!