Key Thought: While we pray, we are to give our labor and means to fulfill these prayers. If we act out our faith by prayer and plan, we shall not be forgotten.
January 28, 2023

1. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 16:17

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What criterion does God give as a basis for the amount of our offerings?
3. Personal Application: What do your offerings and your attitude about giving them say about your relationship with God? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “I pay my tithe, but I can’t afford offerings for the church or for the associate ministries that call for help in running their radio and TV programs independently from the conference. Everybody wants and needs money for several ministries. I don’t remember the apostles doing it that way.” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read I Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 96:8,9.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How do we apply these principles to our own worship experience?
3. Personal Application: What is your experience with returning tithes and offerings as a part of worship? How does it impact your relationship with God?
   Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “God never said anything about offerings being required, but only as an expression of thanksgiving based on our increase. God doesn’t need my money. He can finish the work without all the expensive programs the church makes up to increase their income and finances.”
   How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Mark 12:41-44. Acts 10:1-4.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage
2. What is the message of this story and how can we apply it to our own worship experience?
3. Personal Application: What action was noted in heaven by the Roman that prompted a visit from heaven? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “So does God want us to give everything we have to feed the poor or to spread the gospel and try to live by faith when we give everything away? I think if people are paying tithes and offerings according to their income or increase after paying their bills, they are doing what God expects and approves.” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Mark 14:3-9.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Who were the main characters at Simon’s feast? What was the value of Mary’s gift? Why did she anoint Jesus at this time?
3. Personal Application: Why is sacrificial giving as important for the givers as for the recipients? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

Amen!(0)

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Read Deuteronomy 16:17. What criterion does God give as the basis for the amount of our offerings?

Our offerings are an acknowledgment and expression of our gratitude to God for His abundant gifts of life, redemption, sustenance, and constant blessings of many kinds. So, as we noted in the passage above, the amount of our offerings is based on what we have been blessed with. “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48, NKJV).

Read Psalm 116:12-14. How are we supposed to answer the question posed in verse 12? How does money fit in with the answer?

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

How could we ever repay God for all His blessings to us? The simple answer is that we never could. It seems that the best we can do is be generous with the cause of God and in helping our fellow human beings. When Jesus sent out His disciples on a missionary trip, He told them, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8, NKJV). Our offerings contribute to the development of a Christlike character. We are thereby changed from selfishness to love; we are to be concerned for others and the cause of God as Christ was.

Let us always remember that “God so loved …, that He gave” (see John 3:16, NKJV). In contrast — as sure as day follows night — the more we hoard for ourselves, the more selfish in our own hearts we will become, and the more miserable we will feel as well.

Bringing an offering to the Lord is a Christian duty with spiritual and moral implications. To neglect this is to do spiritual damage to ourselves, perhaps more than we realize too. In addition to that, it is up to us to determine what amount we give and what entity receives our gifts.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

Amen!(1)

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