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Giving as We Receive, December 6
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.
Malachi 3:10
.
The end is fast approaching and many in our churches are asleep. Let all
now make it their chief business to serve the Lord. The Lord has entrusted to
His people the talent of means, some more and some less than others. With
many the possession of wealth has proved a snare. In their desire to follow
the fashions of the world, they have lost their zeal for the truth, and they are
in peril of losing eternal life. In proportion as God has prospered them, men
should return to Him of the goods He has entrusted to their stewardship....
Let all carefully examine their business relations with their Creator. Those
who will not hesitate to deal treacherously with their Maker will certainly not
hesitate to deal treacherously with their fellow men.
I desire to impress upon all our people that God regards the withholding
of tithes and offerings as robbery. We are merely stewards of God; we do not
own the money which passes into our hands. In its disbursement we are to be
colaborers with Jesus Christ.
We should feel an intense interest in the advancement of the work of God.
This work has already grown to large proportions, but it is to advance still
more rapidly. We need many more laborers, and there must be with all a spirit
of self-denial, in order to provide facilities for the carrying forward of the
message into new fields. In many places the work has been greatly retarded
because of a scarcity of means. The rebuke of God will rest upon those who
do not come up to His help....
In the great work of warning the world, those who have the truth in their
heart and are sanctified through the truth, will act their assigned part. They
will be faithful in the payment of tithes and offerings. Every church member is
bound by covenant relation to God to deny himself of every extravagant outlay
of means. Let not the want of economy in the home life render us unable to
act our part in strengthening the work already established and in entering new
territory.—
Manuscript 103, December 6, 1906
, “Gifts and Offerings.”
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