THE CHEERFUL GIVER : SUPPORTING GOD'S WORK

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Copyright 1994 - 2012 Endtime Prophecy Net

Authored By  : Bill Kochman (aka The WordWeaver)

Published On : July 9, 1998

Last Updated : March 23, 2012

Freely Ye Have Received, Commercializing Christianity, God Will Provide, The Cheerful Giver, Blessed Of The Lord, The Widow's Sincere Plea, Taking It To The Lord, My Decision



For those of you who have been studying my writings for a while, you know that I firmly believe in doing the Lord's Work for absolutely free. This is because, while I do indeed personally invest a lot of time, energy and money into this ministry, the actual lessons that I share with you have been freely given to me by the Lord through the Inspiration of His Holy Spirit. As such, for me to sell or to try to earn a profit in some way from something which has cost me nothing in a financial sense, is simply not right. As some of you know, the verse I have often quoted is the following, and represents the instructions that Jesus gave to His followers before sending them out on the road to preach the Gospel:

". . . freely ye have received, freely give."
Matthew 10:8b, KJV

Aside from this Scriptural gem, as I note in such articles as "Money-Making Bible Hucksters And Mammon", "Where Are the First Century Churches" and "MP3's, Commercialized Christianity And Christian Hypocrisy", I am fully aware of what happens to men of God when they take their eyes off of the Lord and His Word, and instead place them upon worldly gain through their commercialization of the Truth. For a more detailed explanation of my views on this topic, please refer to the aforementioned articles. While I still firmly adhere to all of these beliefs, the Lord has wisely seen fit to use a recent situation to force me to, what is called in American slang, "eat my own words". Before explaining the actual situation, allow me to share a few quotes from the aforementioned articles. In "Money-Making Bible Hucksters and Mammon", I wrote the following:

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Regardless of what method you use to preach the Gospel, I know that if you are in God's Will, He will take care of you somehow in some way. The Lord has promised to provide all of our needs if we truly seek His Kingdom first; even if it means subsisting on donations and charity. Here are a few Scriptures for your consideration:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Matthew 6:33, KJV

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19, KJV

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In addition to the above quote, I also wrote the following in part one of the series "Where Are the First Century Churches":

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"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."
2 Corinthians 9:7, KJV

Those people who only give, donate or share because they feel obligated to do so due to peer pressure, or to save themselves a moment of embarrassment when the collection plate is being passed around, have very little reward in Heaven. Likewise, those who only give of their abundance, when it really doesn't hurt to give, also have very little reward in Heaven. As Jesus said, it is those who give of their own need who receive the greater Heavenly Rewards as we see in the story below concerning the widow's mite:

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
Mark 12:41-44, KJV

It is those people who truly give from their hearts without any thought of reward, recognition or recompense, who will truly be blessed of their Father in Heaven; for in supporting the work of the ministry, they are doing it as unto the Lord. Not only that, but we are told that it is impossible for us to give, more than God is able to give back to us in return. He will outdo us every time. Consider the following verses:

"He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."
Matthew 10:40-42, KJV

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Malachi 3:10, KJV

In other words, if you are faithful to do God's Will and Work, and not selfishly work for yourself at some worldly job, He will provide your every need. He promised to. In fact, according to Jesus' and Paul's own words, the Lord will use those very same people to whom you are ministering. to provide your needs. Here are two more examples from Paul's writings which prove this point:

"It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things."
Romans 15:27, KJV

"If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?"
1 Corinthians 9:11, KJV

At this point, some may be thinking that this means that we are to ask for money for the spiritual services that we provide; however, if we balance Scripture with Scripture, we see that this is definitely not the case.

Those who are truly God's sheep will be more than happy to provide you with a meal, a night's lodging, or whatever your needs might happen to be; and yes, some will even freely offer a monetary gift to help see you on to your next town. I recall that when I lived the Life of Faith in Mexico many years ago, sometimes those sweet humble people would invite us into their homes for days, weeks, or even months at a time while we ministered to them and the people of their town or village. The Lord enjoys blessing people like that because they are cheerful givers.

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As you can see by the previous quotes, I firmly believe that the Lord will indeed provide the needs of His children who are truly seeking first His Kingdom by preaching His Gospel of Salvation to the world at large. In fact, I have written another article entitled "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God" which discusses this very same issue. But you see, the way in which the Lord used my own words against me, is in the fact that I clearly, and quite Scripturally say, that He will often do it by way of those to whom we are ministering directly.

This brings us to the situation that I mentioned earlier. On several occasions now, one of my dear readers has offered to support this ministry with a personal donation. While I truly appreciate her kind offer and could really use the money; and while I have no doubt that she has already been blessed by the Lord simply for making such a heartfelt offer, up until now, I have resisted giving her my mailing address because of all of the reasons that I have already stated. Well, bless her heart! She apparently didn't want to take "no" for an answer, so she recently sent me another message in which she plainly stated that she felt that I was robbing her of the Lord's blessings by my refusal to provide an address. Boy, did that cut me to the heart!

Because of this dear woman's sincere remarks, I have been troubled during this past week, and have put off bringing this issue before the Lord; at least I did until now. I have now prayed about this situation, and have had a good chat with the Lord about it. He knows my heart, as well as my concerns. At the same time, I don't want to be guilty of doing as this woman has said; that is, of robbing her of the blessing which she believes the Lord wants to give her through her supporting this work. So, after pouring out my heart to the Lord and sharing all of my concerns with Him, I basically said, "Okay Lord; it is in your Hands; I will do whatever you show me to do through your written Word." The Lord is faithful to answer when we cry out to Him with our whole hearts. Not only did the Lord clearly confirm His Will to me, but He did it three times by giving me three sets of verses which all carry the same exact theme! As I point out in other articles, this is a positive way to know God's Will. Consider the following verses:

"Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."
Proverbs 11:14, KJV

"Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established."
Proverbs 15:22, KJV

"For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety."
Proverbs 24:6, KJV

"This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."
2 Corinthians 13:1, KJV

Thus, in light of all of my own words preaching right back at me, the plea of this dear woman who truly wants to help out, and the Scriptural confirmations which the Lord has now given me, I have now decided to ease up on my strict stance concerning not accepting donations from those who truly wish to support this ministry. If you are one who has wanted to help, but who has not made your desire known because of my previous refusal to accept donations, I hope that this message will come as a relief to your heart. If the Lord wants to bless you or anyone else in this way, I certainly don't want to stand in His way because of my own pride or overly strict moral convictions. I will now gladly and humbly accept any help which you may wish to send in; and I will use it wisely and judiciously for the Lord's Work.

Simply write to me privately, and I will provide you with the necessary information in order for you to submit your donation. Or, if you happen to have a PayPal account, you can also click on the orange "Donate" button that is found on many pages of the Endtime Prophecy Net website. God bless you and keep you; and thank you for believing in this Work of the Lord. It is truly appreciated, and it humbles me to know how much you trust in me.

Update 03-23-12 : The incident concerning the dear woman who insisted that I was robbing her of God's blessings because I refused to accept her donations actually occurred in 1998. I am very happy to report that she has continued to faithfully support this ministry up to this current time. God bless you dear!

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