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NASB | 2 Corinthians 8:8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Corinthians 8:8 I am not saying this as a command [to dictate to you], but to prove, by [pointing out] the enthusiasm of others, the sincerity of your love as well. |
Subject: would the church need to tithe to missio |
Bible Note: Ed, I'm in total agreement with you about the local church's allocations of its income to missions and related giving outside its own walls. The church of which I'm a member gave well over half a million dollars to missions and other outreach programs in 2004. This figure represents approximately 20 per cent of its total income. It's a healthy church financially and, more importantly, I'm happy to say, a healthy church doctrinally and spiritually as well, and even though it is an old "downtown" church, it is a (numerically) growing church too. I continually see clear evidence of God's rich blessings of my home church, First Baptist Church of my home town, and I'm nourished and strengthened in the faith by the fellowship and sound Bible teaching and preaching that I have come to cherish and prize so highly. What a joy it is to break the bread of life with so great a number of committed Christian brothers and sisters. .... In sharp contrast, the church of which I am a former member gave essentially nothing to missions or anything else outside their own walls. What they took in they spent on themselves and did not share it with anyone else. They hoarded everything for themselves, storing up the surplus in interest-bearing bank accounts. The time eventually came when their attendance dwindled and with it their income. As the well began to go dry they were forced to tap their savings accounts until they too were exhausted. That church, now crippled financially and essentially bankrupt spiritually, is struggling hard to survive at all. ...... Perhaps all churches should take a lesson from the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea takes in a steady supply of good, sweet water. Having no outlet, it keeps it all for itself. It gives nothing. But it is dead. It will not sustain life. --Hank |