Freely you have received, sell it to support your ministry
In Matthew 10 Jesus is instructing His disciples in the matter of service and tells them to preach, heal, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons following it with the command freely you have received, freely give. I have always tried to live by this principle when it comes to ministry, not that I don't think preachers or pastors should be paid, most of us know and agree on the scriptures that speak on this, what I am talking about is those who believe God called them to a particular ministry but no longer believe he will support it so they think they have to charge exuberant amounts of money for their ministry items.
Case in point is a well known evangelical preacher whom my wife and I enjoy listening too and trust to be a man of God but feels he needs to charge $80 - $100 for CD sets of his teachings that came from God and were meant to teach and edify the Body of Christ. Now I don't have a problem with covering costs but you and I both know it doesn't cost that much to produce a CD and a set of 6 with case should be no more than $10 - $15 max. I know I may be nit picking or not seeing the whole picture but I just don't think that what I have to offer that is a gift of God in the first place, be it music or teaching, can ever be sold for more than what God will so richly supply if I am in his will in what I do.
What happened to the love offering or freewill offering to receive these items? Do they not trust God any longer to meet their needs that they now have to help him out. If I think I'm involved with something God has called me to do and I have to find ways to support it myself then I need to rethink my calling and see if I'm really in the will of God or not. Chuck Smith had a saying he always lived by that went, "Where God guides, God provides", I believe that and I'm learning to trust him more as he guides me into his service.
Case in point is a well known evangelical preacher whom my wife and I enjoy listening too and trust to be a man of God but feels he needs to charge $80 - $100 for CD sets of his teachings that came from God and were meant to teach and edify the Body of Christ. Now I don't have a problem with covering costs but you and I both know it doesn't cost that much to produce a CD and a set of 6 with case should be no more than $10 - $15 max. I know I may be nit picking or not seeing the whole picture but I just don't think that what I have to offer that is a gift of God in the first place, be it music or teaching, can ever be sold for more than what God will so richly supply if I am in his will in what I do.
What happened to the love offering or freewill offering to receive these items? Do they not trust God any longer to meet their needs that they now have to help him out. If I think I'm involved with something God has called me to do and I have to find ways to support it myself then I need to rethink my calling and see if I'm really in the will of God or not. Chuck Smith had a saying he always lived by that went, "Where God guides, God provides", I believe that and I'm learning to trust him more as he guides me into his service.
posted by D.R. Miller | 4:02 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, Pastor Denny, I have to tell you, when I first saw the title of this post alongside the picture of your beautiful car, I thought, "Oh, no, he's selling his car to give to ministry"
Glad to hear this isn't how God is leading you right now! :-) LOL!
Hey, love the new look of your blog - you've done a lot of work.
I grew up Baptist and when my folks visit, we often find a nice Baptist church so we can worship more comfortably together :-)
How can you be an outsider of a movement, when you so obviously share all the heart and desires dear to that movement? If I were an Alliance pastor, or had the slightest shred of authority around here, I would say, Hey, welcome to the Alliance! Be an outsider and wannbe no longer - you're IN!
Living the Call Together,
Beth
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