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Hey everyone, this is Charlie from Encounterchurch Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

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podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

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change your life and now get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team.

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Hey, if we haven't had the chance to meet yet, my name's Mike. I'm one of the senior passes of

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Encounterchurch. Hello friends and that means I spend most of my time at Encounter at Prospect

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where Jenny and I lead together and we look after that location but with the blessing of

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overseeing the team here as well and you guys are an amazing church, right? Amazing leaders.

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I could worship in a space like this all day. Like this is beautiful. I get it, the pews but

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they're going to help you stay awake because I've got good news. This one's a belter. You're in for

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a treat. I'm glad you're sitting down. You're going to be sitting down for a while. At some point you

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may need to get up and stretch. That's okay because I do this thing sometimes where I just kind of

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preach indefinitely and then people go, do it again. Okay. I mean, I've got time. I've got time.

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The reason I tend to try and preach indefinitely despite what my wife sometimes thinks is not

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just because I have the microphone. It's very difficult to stop me at that point.

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Jordan, that wasn't a challenge by the way.

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But it's because sometimes when things need to be said, they need to be said well and thoroughly.

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And not every sermon's like that. You can do great sermons in 15, 20 minutes. Absolutely.

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Some topics need heavy unpacking. And as we continue on with your series of make room,

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this beautiful series of how we make room for God in our lives, today we're looking at making

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room for generosity. And so this is going to take a little longer because I will be unpacking a

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theology of tithes and offerings. So if you grew up and you have a few issues with the church and

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money, this is either your day to get it fixed or feel extremely vindicated. And you can tell me

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at the end which one it is. I hope it's the first one. But let's get into the teaching text tonight

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from Genesis chapter four verses one to eight. Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve.

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I just told Emma before that I wouldn't talk about sex in front of her this week.

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And here we are. Some things never change. Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve.

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And she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, with the Lord's help,

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I have produced a man. Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up,

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Abel became a shepherd while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest,

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Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift, the best portions

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of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept

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Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. Why are you so angry? The Lord

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asked Cain. Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you do

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what refuse to do what is right, then watch out. Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.

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But you must subdue it and be its master. And this is how Cain responded to that idea.

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One day Cain suggested to his brother, let's go out into the fields. And while they were in the

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field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. This is God's word. Thanks,

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better God. Now, I'll just let you in on a secret right up front. I hate talking about money at

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church. I hate it. It's probably my least favorite topic, possibly because my income is personally

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tied to the concept of money coming from church in some way. So I feel a little awkward about that.

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Just rest assured, the result of this sermon do not change my income, which is wonderful for me,

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at least. But the problem with me feeling this way is it's totally unbiblical. It is totally

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against the wisdom of God as expressed in scripture. Money is constantly talked about in the Bible.

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Even more when you consider how often we hear about tithes and offerings that we produce things like

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fruit, vegetables, meat, grain, et cetera, it's an agricultural economy. Now, one of our aims

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that encounter we call the mission goals is to be Bible fed and spirit led. That means that we

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want to be nourished by God's word in the Bible and then led in how to live that out in our lives

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through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and God's voice. So if we want to genuinely be a Bible fed

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church, we have to be a church that talks about how we use our finances. Here's my core belief.

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People generally want to be generous, right? Christians especially want to be generous.

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Everybody in the room talk, turn around and look at the dark pink thing on the wall.

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Encounter church especially wants to be generous, like it's there on the wall. Generous. It's one

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of our four core values. I have never met somebody who has said to me at the end of my days, what I

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want to be known for is to being such a cheapskate. That is my aim. At the end of my days, I want

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people to go, well, the thing about Mike is he just loved his money and he wouldn't give it to

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anybody. What a guy. Nobody wants that. Yet somehow when sin creeps at our door, this is what ends

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up happening. So we get scared. We get scared. And so money tends to be one of the three great

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pools of sin in our life, sex, money and power. And so what I want to do tonight is speak that

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theology of tithes and offerings and hopefully explain it in a way that makes sense both historically

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and today. And at the end of the service, you are going to have an opportunity to consider

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and pray about what God is asking you to do with your money, which may not be something you've had

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an opportunity to do before. But what I really want for you at the end of this message is this,

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I want to see you set free from the idol of money. That's my number one aim. My number one aim,

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like the beautiful thing about incomes is they don't go up when people give more like it doesn't

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change anything. So I have an income that part's done. I'm good guys, but it is good for you to

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be set free from the idol of money. That is my aim today. We good so far? Good. Good. Good. Good.

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Okay, I'm going to go as rapid fire as I can without speaking gibberish. I'm just going to be on

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1.25 speed for like the first bit. So let's just keep going. All right. Yeah. First thing to consider

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is the difference between tithes and offerings. First offerings. The word offering in the Bible

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is almost indistinguishable from the word sacrifice as gifts set apart for God. There are broadly

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five kinds of offerings we see, particularly in the Old Testament. Here they are versus burnt

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offerings. They are animal sacrifices that are brought as acts of devotion or atonement. Second

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is grain offerings, which is bread or wheat, which are brought largely as acts of devotion. They're

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also often gifted to priests. So if you've got a nice sour day, you know, don't be, don't be ashamed

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to give it to pastor texts at the end of the service. He'll be all right with it. This peace offerings,

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they are cattle largely sacrificed as a thanksgiving for God's blessing. There are sin offerings.

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They're designed to purify people from their sin through transfer. So the priest would pray over

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an animal and often a goat and the goat would be sent away from the community where it's, which is

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where we get the idea of the scapegoat, the person who the blame is on. That's a sin offering. And

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the fifth one, the guilt offering, cattle sacrifice to cover the debt of sins after the confession

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and repayment of sins. It's really interesting. So that's, that is its own sermon, honestly. There's

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a lot we could go into in that, but these offerings were for a number of set times as required.

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And for occasional festivals, if you think of them as sounding like rules, I guess so,

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but here's the point. Offerings were designed to bring people back into intimate relationship with

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God. That was the point of the offerings that wasn't about the system. It was about what the

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system helped people to switch their minds back to. It's like when you sit in a church like this,

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and we'd say something like, let's turn our eyes back to Jesus. Instinctively, I'm like,

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oh, now Jesus isn't there. Like just in case you're wondering, but that's the sort of thing I do

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instinctively. That's the point of the offerings. The offering helps people instinctively turn

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their eyes back to God. The prophets often corrected Israel's wrong motives around

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sacrificial offerings, but the prophets loved and valued sacrificial offerings. The biblical

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theologian, Trimper Longman, the third, which is a heck of a name, says this, Jeremiah and Ezekiel

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were in fact so positive about sacrificial worship that they looked forward to a time when it would

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be reestablished in its pure form. They looked forward to perfect giving. That was like their

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dream in the future. Now that is a heart for giving and generosity. And importantly, Jesus

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regularly participated in this system. So does that mean that we should do it? No, not really,

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because Jesus fulfilled that system. He was the perfect unblemished lamb,

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offered up as a sacrifice once and for all to cleanse our sin, remove our guilt and bring us

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peace. So we don't need to participate in the sacrificial offering system of the Old Testament.

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Instead, what we need, as Paul reminds us in Romans, is to bring our entire lives before the

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Lord as an act of worship, holy and pleasing to God. The offering is not what we bring to God

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at set times. It is our life. That is the offering on to tithing. The word tithe means 10th. That's

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literally what the word means. And often people come up to me and say, how much should I tithe?

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If you're meaning that literally, it's in the word. It means a 10th. Tithing in the Old Testament is

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seen in a number of places. So for example, Genesis, Genesis 1420, Abraham gives a tithe to the priest,

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King Melchizedek. In Hebrews 7, we read that Melchizedek resembles Jesus because he appears in

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the Old Testament without a clear history. In Abraham, the greatest patriarch serves him by

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offering him a 10th of his takings in war. In Leviticus 27, in much of Leviticus, but especially

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chapter 27, we hear God's vision for tithing. This is what we hear. Every tithe of the land,

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whether it is the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord.

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And every 10th animal from the herd of the flock will be holy to the Lord. That is Israelites,

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whatever you have, a 10th of it is to be given to the temple for God. And in Numbers 18, 21,

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we read to the Levites, that is the priests or pastors in this context. I've given every tithe

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in Israel for an inheritance. In return for their service that they do, their service in the tent

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of meeting. That speaks to the function of tithes. But now let's move on to how it relates to worship

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and the heart. Proverbs 3, verse 9, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all

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your produce. We'll come back to that word first fruits. But the honor is important. In 2 Chronicles

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31, we read about Hezekiah, who is a good king, re-establishing healthy worship of God. And this

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is what we read. Verse 5, when the people of Israel heard these requirements, they responded

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generously by bringing the first share of their grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the

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produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity, a tithe of all they produced. The people

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who had moved to Judah from Israel and the people of Judah themselves brought in the tithes of their

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cattle, sheep and goats and a tithe of the things that had been dedicated to the Lord their God.

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And they piled them up in great heaps. They began piling them up in late spring and the heaps

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continued to grow until early autumn. That's great. What a summer. Like, so they just skipped summer.

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Summer is just giving upon giving upon giving. Summer's coming. I'm just saying.

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Nervous laughter. That's okay. When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw these huge piles,

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they thanked the Lord and his people Israel. Honor went to God. Honor went to the people.

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So in order for Hezekiah to have healthy worship, it required Israel to be generous

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with their tithes. Is that good worship and creative pastor, Jared? Very good.

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Nehemiah 13, verses 10 to 12 says this. Again, this is about re-establishing the temple and worship

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within the temple. Nehemiah says this. I also found out because the portions for the Levites had not

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been given. Each of the Levites and the singers performing the service had gone back to his own

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field. Therefore, this is like the worship team. They've gone. We've stopped worshiping because,

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you know, we haven't been fed basically. Therefore, I rebuke to the official saying,

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why has the house of God been neglected? I gathered the Levites and singers together and

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stationed them at their posts. Then all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine and fresh

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oil into the storehouses. So Nehemiah makes provision for the worship pastors, which is why

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we brought him today. So you can look at him being all impoverished and recognize his need.

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Actually, I'll tell you what was quite funny. I was at the gym just before I came. So I just

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came to sit out there, came straight here, chucked on a t-shirt and realized one of my favorite

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t-shirts has holes in it. I was like, ah, can I? What's the closest? Big W. I thought, you know what?

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It's probably not bad in talking about the needs for money for the priests and Levites

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to turn up with a shirt with holes in it. So, you know, we're rolling. I'm just living out a

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testimony. Tim's dying. Tim's dying. He's like, how am I going to clean this up next way?

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Perhaps the most famous Old Testament passage about tithing comes from Malachi.

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Right at the end of the Old Testament, chapter three, verses eight to ten,

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God speaks to his people. Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. How do we rob you? You ask.

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By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions. You're suffering under a curse.

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Yet you, the whole nation, are still robbing me. Bring the full tenth, the full tithe, into the

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storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way, says the Lord of armies.

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See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

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Now, the tithe in Malachi was specifically directed to two places, the Levites, again,

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that's the priests in the temple and the poor. It's the same here in Encounter Church. I'm not

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sure if you know this, but most of the tithes go to staffing and 10% goes out on mission. So we tithe

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back out to needy people and that goes into a number of places and we can talk about that

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another time. You heard me preach not long ago about the Java project, our mission to Indonesia

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and to bless the people there. That's one of the places that that goes. But we want to live out

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the same thing we are asking of individuals. We want to live that out as an organization

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to give it back out. We often bring in guest speakers to talk about this. Do you know how

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often we ask you for money for those guest speakers? We don't. We budget it in. We budget that as part

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of our generosity towards the people that are going to come in. It is very, very rare that we

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ask for an extra thing, maybe like at Christmas. Christmas is coming up. Often there's something

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at Christmas that's a particular like Christmas appeal, but generally speaking, we budget this in.

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We want to be wise and thoughtful stewards about how we care for our money, but we're also generous

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about that. So it is very clear, very, very clear. I've just made it painfully clear that in ancient

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Israel tithing to the temple was both a legal obligation and an act of worship. You had to do

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it. So do we need to tithe the way the Israelites did in the Old Testament? No, we don't. We're not

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under an old covenant. We don't have to do it that way. And can I tell you something? People

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either love this or hate it. They love it if they want to be cheap. And they hate it if they're like,

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well, it would be simpler if you could just give us the rule to follow. It's like, yeah,

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yeah, Jesus rarely works that way. Very, very rarely. So what does the New Testament say about

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giving? Well, this has got to be the most divisive part, because like I just mentioned, I feel like

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I always hear that either tithes are an Old Testament idea, or that money is Jesus most

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talked about topic. Neither of those are quite true. Money is mentioned more than just about

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anything by Jesus, but it's sometimes used as like a figure of speech. He'll talk about money

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because he knows it will grab people's attention. So he knows it captures people's hearts. So what

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does he actually say about money, tithes and offerings? In Matthew 23, 23, we read this,

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the woes to the Pharisees. He says, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe

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mint and dill and cumin and neglected the weightier matters of the law. Let's just pause here. Have you

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ever seen someone tithe cumin? Could you imagine? Like the smell would be incredible, but like

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trying to work out an exact 10% and then storing it in a way that you're not short changing people,

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that would be astounding. I'm not against it personally. But you've neglected the weightier

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matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without

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neglecting the others. Jesus makes it clear here, tithing is right to do, but it's the heart behind

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tithing. That's what really matters. He's like, oh great, well you've done the tithing, that's great,

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but meanwhile you've neglected the poor. It's like you've done by obeying the rules, you're

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somehow neglected the most important thing, which is to care for other human beings. In Mark 10,

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we hear a rich young man asking Jesus, Jesus, what must I do till we earn eternal life? I imagine this

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guy is so earnest. It's a dangerous question. Jesus points him to the commandments and he can

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honestly say, I live those out. I actually do that. So Jesus looks at him and loves him, but he knows

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his heart. So he offers one final challenge. You lack one thing, go sell all you have and give to

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the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. But he was dismayed by this

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demand and he went away grieving because he had many possessions. Now friends, I want to tell you,

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do you know how many people Jesus tells this to? One. One. So you can relax a little bit. If Jesus

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is telling you to give all your possessions to the poor, it's possible. Some people have had

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that calling in their life. That's effectively the Mother Teresa calling. Mother Teresa was

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actually, honestly, she was pretty legalistic about it. People would bring her shoes to wear

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and she would look for the worst ones. It's like, honestly, just wear the ones that fit your feet.

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They don't feel amazing, but that would probably do better for your long-term service to the poor.

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But obviously, Mother Teresa had this conviction on her heart that she had to give all her money

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to the poor. And was her impact incredible? Yes, it was. Yes, it was. But most of you, Jesus will

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not give you that call. One person gets it. Even, there's a key as the tax collector who does give

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half his possessions away. Jesus never tells him to. In fact, all Jesus says was cook me dinner.

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Like, he's like, I'm coming to your house, mate. Put it on for me. And so Jesus is like, all right.

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And then Jesus comes over for dinner, just kind of hangs out with him. And he's like,

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I'm giving half my things away. And Jesus is like, great. It's just the Jesus effect. I'm just around

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you. Generosity comes out of it. So what do we take from this? That Jesus knows our hearts better

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than we do. And he knows what prevents us from being generous. And he's trying to offer us ways

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to do that. And the biggest way, really, just about then anything else is money. It has a hold

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over us. And finally, two Corinthians nine seven says this, God's desire is for us to give with

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cheerful hearts, not under obligation. Pastor Tim keeps coming to me. He's like, can I put square

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readers like just like pocket level, but hidden in the door frames of the people coming in. I'm

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like, you really can't like we're gonna have lawsuits. It's like, I'll paint them brown like

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yet mate, you can't. I said cheerful hearts. He's like, yeah, yeah. So the New Testament doesn't

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ask for 10% like the Old Testament did. The New Testament asked for your heart and your life and

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everything, everything. So let's talk about your heart. If that's what God really wants,

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throughout all the Bible, God's message is consistent. You can't follow Jesus mostly. He

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wants your whole heart. So I want to draw your attention to two important passages to explain

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this. The first is the story of Cain and Abel, the world's first murder. As we heard in the teaching

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text, Abel gave the best of the best. That's what the first fruits were. Now and Cain simply gave

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some of what we had, God disregarded Cain's offering because he gave it out of obligation,

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but accepted Abel's offering because it was given out of the heart of worship. Now,

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before you get outraged about the idea that God disregarded Cain's offering, let me ask you,

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do you enjoy being given gifts where somebody clearly doesn't want to give you the gift?

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Like when somebody turns up to a party and they're like, hey, hey, Jazz, hey, congratulations on your

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wedding. Here's a gift card. I got it. I got it at Kohl's on the way here. It says it's for teenage

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boys, but you can like use rebel sport. I just felt I had to give you a gift. So cool. Cool.

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It expires next month, by the way. Like nobody wants that. Like, and don't get me wrong,

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I've done that plenty of times, but is that out of like a cheerful heart of desiring to bless

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somebody and act of worship? No, it's out of obligation. Did Cain learn from this from God

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speaking to him personally and inviting him to give a fresh start? No, he did not. He went and

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killed Abel. He, the greed in his heart ate him up inside. This is the stuff that happens to us

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when we cannot lay ourselves down and embrace the principle that God is trying to say to us,

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that you cannot serve both God and money. You cannot serve both God and money. It's one of

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Jesus' clearest sayings. The second passage is Jesus' teaching from the Sermon on the Mount,

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and you're going to hear this saying, Matthew chapter six. Don't store up for yourselves treasures on

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earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in the steel, but store up for yourselves

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treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy. See moths and thieves do not break in

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the steel. Wherever your treasure is there the desires of your heart will also be. Verse 24,

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No one can serve two masters. If you hate one and love the other, you'll be devoted to one and

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despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. Friends, make no mistake.

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When we are following Jesus, the purpose is that he is our master. So when we embrace becoming a

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Christian, if this is something that's new or newish to you, it's not a religion that you

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participate in on Sundays. It's an entire new way of being where we lay down our lives and we say,

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all the ideas and values I had, some of them are good, some of them are bad, they've come from a

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variety of places. Now what I want them to do is come from Jesus. My purpose is to become someone

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in the image of Jesus, the best and perfect human, the Son of God who has modeled in every way what

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it means to be human while also ruling and reigning in heaven on our behalf. That's the vision for us

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which means we cannot afford to have another master pulling us away from that into brokenness. If Jesus

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is into wholeness and he is, that's a life of wholeness. Following money will lead you to brokenness.

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We've got to stop putting our trust in earthly treasures and we know that, we know we shouldn't

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impulse by, but do we know that trusting God with our finances is more important than insurance?

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Do we know that owning a home is not God's ultimate vision for us in life? Do we know that God's intent

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is not for us to live in debt all the time? Do we know that private schooling and international

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holidays, two things by the way which I participate in, are not a requirement from God for us?

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They're not. Our treasure is found in God and in people not in our possessions. Once again,

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you cannot serve God and money. One of them will be your master. So who is it going to be

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when you be mastered by God or by money? We've looked at theology, let's get practical. How do

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we do this? People often ask me what the best way to give is. I don't really think there's a single

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best way, but I'll give you a few tips persistently. So use your direct debit if possible and use an

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alarm. Now the reason I say use an alarm is that it's intentional. You know, Sam was talking about

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really wisely that when you have different income amounts coming in every month,

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that you've automatically got to think about it differently. But many of you won't. You have a set

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job, you know exactly how much is coming in. You can do a direct debit, you don't have to think

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about it. That's fine. That's still generous. Let me be clear, but I would encourage you to pray over

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it, to bless the money, to thank God for what He has given you. It's an opportunity for worship.

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Do it privately. I love direct debit in part because it is private. There's no showy donations

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into the bucket. Prayerfully, we've talked about that already, inviting God's blessings on your

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finances and on the church. And my last tip would be to give 10%. Why 10% after all this

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statement about how you don't have to? Because it still seems to be the best wisdom on how much

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we should give. Here's why. It's enough to disrupt our greed, but not enough to undermine our safety.

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God's vision of the tithe meets our daily bread and our needs. I have yet to meet somebody who

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intentionally ignores the 10% idea of tithing and then tithes more by accident. I know some people

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who intentionally tithe more. I don't know anyone who unintentionally tithes more. I've never seen

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it happen. Just staying practical. How does my family do this? Just giving you one vision. This

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is not the right way. This is just a way to help people who are trying to work out how to tithe.

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We do 10% before tax. My theory is God gets my money before the government does. Does that really

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happen? No, the government takes out tax before I get it. But the principle I'm giving is that I

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am working out my money based on gross, not net. I give it to God before I give it to the taxman.

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You win me so far? Do you know what that means about my tax return? I keep it all. I keep all

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of it. If I get a tax return, I keep it all because I've already tithed it before tax. Otherwise,

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I'd be giving an extra one. Jen and I have three separate income streams for different bits and

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pieces. We tithe them all. We've been doing this since we had Next to Nothing. We teach our kids to

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tithe. We don't tithe income streams from the government. If you're on parental tax benefit

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A or B, we do not tithe those. We feel they are slightly separate. Those are not income that

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we've earned. Those are incomes that are gifts to bless us. That's how we do it. You may listen

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to that and go, I think we should. Great. Go for it. This is not the right way. This is just a way.

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In the offering space, have a few compassion kids and some other fairly regular giving and then

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just occasional giving as prompted by the Holy Spirit. Again, that's not the right way to do it.

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It's just a way to do it if you're trying to work it out. What we do try and do as a family is make

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sure we aren't short changing God. The vision of generosity gives us so abundant that we cannot

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outgive Him. We can only respond. How do we do it? Practically add encounter church. We've talked

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about a couple of things here. We budget for guest speakers. We have a 10% missions budget,

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which is budgeted into the budget. We don't ask for more all the time. We're talking about mission.

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Our finances, we budget really carefully, stewarded by our treasurer overlord, Josh Brooks. He's a

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wonderful treasurer. As of right now, we have a couple of hundred grand in the bank that we could

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use now as we need it. We could use that to spend big. Anytime you get, say, Jared or Tim in the

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room, they have vision. They have ideas. They have pockets. There have been times where I've

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threatened to take away their credit cards or at least limit them. But what if we need that to buy

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a building? What if we need that to buy a manse in the Grange area? That's one of my dreams.

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There are a lot of things we could do. So we steward that money carefully just because we

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have it doesn't mean we use it straight away. It also doesn't mean we hold on to it and refuse to

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spend. When we set up Henley, guess what? It costs us some money. So you release that funding because

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it needs to happen. What about coffee? We give it away for free? Modeling generosity is a regular

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wrestle for our budgeting team every year. We look at it and go, that is a lot of money that we

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spend on coffee, especially across two sides. Every year, I and other people consider about

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whether we need to put a nominal cost on our coffee, but we want to be generous. We want to model

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that. We want to give it away. And if you're a regular part of this church and you drink the

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free coffee and you don't give, you're welcome to do that as long as you want to. However,

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you may want to ask why. You may want to ask why you feel comfortable taking the coffee,

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but not giving to God. That's all. That's the only thing I'm going to say about that.

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And of course, our needs, you guys are a church plant and your staffing is covered by grant funding,

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Tim and Tex, of three days total between them. They're doing a great job and we've been blessed

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with grants and future fund giving that has paid for them, but without an increase in tithing over

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the next three years, we can't afford to keep them employed. No chance. Now, this is not why

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you should tithe. No offence, Tim. You should tithe because it's good for you. You should tithe

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because God blesses you. You should tithe because it defeats the idol of money, but it's

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to help you understand what happens when you don't. So let me get to brass tacks, right? This is not

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simply an abstract idea. Stats, nerds, this one is for you. Oh, Ash has left the room. I was going

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to look right at her for that. All right. Okay. Here's some data for adults who have been to an

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encounter Sunday worship service more than three times in the last six months at either prospect

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or Henley. We have about 154 adults that you could call encounter home. Loose metric, but yeah,

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they don't call another church home. They're in the database and they've attended Sundays

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more than twice in the last six months. The median salary in SA is $67,600. Our budgeted tithing is

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$204,000, which is great. If just 51 adults tithed, so we were expecting 204,000, we get 154 adults

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who call encounter home and call themselves followers of Jesus. If one in three of them tithed,

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we would get $344,760. Now, the median number is a good number because a lot of people will get a

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lot more and a lot of people get a lot less, but that is a good average. Whereas anyway,

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we can talk the math stuff another time, but 344,760, let's say we got that up to 130.

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That's a great number. If 130 adults tithed, $878,800. Pretty astonishing. Imagine what we could do

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with that. Imagine the kind of staffing you could get with that. Imagine the kind of buildings

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you could have. That's great. Let's think a bit bigger. Imagine the people you could reach with

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that. What if we use that to staff, not here, but primary school chaplains and high school

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chaplains along the coast, putting a Christian presence in every school. What if we use that

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to get entrepreneurs who have kingdom vision started up with some seed funding and it becomes

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sort of a pay it forward loan. There are a million things you could do with money like that. There

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is vision for money like that, but it requires generosity in our hearts. It starts with me.

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It starts with you. Now, that would be transformational. I call that encounters generosity

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gap towards the house of God. For some of you, you will find this very challenging, but for some,

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maybe even offensive. I can understand that. It's not the intent. Let me move to a new point.

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This is about blessing and not shame. I really loved the honesty of Sam's giving talk earlier.

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It was really, really helpful. Just hear someone express what most of us have felt at some point

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in our lives. That tension between I want to be generous and I don't think I can. God, I don't think

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I can give this much money. If you're a student or a pensioner, it can be really hard to listen to

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this. It can be really hard, especially if you genuinely want to tie the ready and you feel like

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every week is a nightmare trying to let go. This is what Jesus wants you to hear. It has never been

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about the amount you can give. In Mark chapter 12, verses 41 to 44, this is what we hear.

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Sitting across from the Temple Treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the

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Treasury. That word, how, is a specific action. It's not one of those words that changes from

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translation to translation. It means Jesus was watching the methodology of how people chose

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to give. He was interested in human nature. Many rich people were putting in large sums.

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Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning his disciples,

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he said to them, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the Treasury than all the

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others, for they all gave out of their surplus. But she out of her poverty has put in everything

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she had, all she had to live on. Jesus praises the generosity of this widow. He actually praises her

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over the generosity of the wealthy. Why? Because 10% from the very rich is not the same as 10%

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from the very poor. Now, 10% from the very rich goes further practically, let's be honest,

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but 10% from the very poor is much braver spiritually, much braver. It is a much deeper step

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of faith. And the thing is globally, when you look at a whole range of statistics, the global

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poor are more generous than the global rich. Can I tell you, we started giving and giving 10%

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when we had a family of three, well, we gave before that, but we had a family of three on $40,000

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a year trying to send one to school, having a second kid. It was a nightmare. And every single week,

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we tithed faithfully. And every single week, God turned up with incredible generosity. Sometimes

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with anonymous acts of grace from people we had never spoken to and never asked for anything from.

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God came through because that's what God does. Every time we take a wise leap of faith for God,

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He catches us. Every time we're following His calling in that way. And I also need you to hear

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this, I'm not on $44,000 a year anymore, praise God, I have three kids, two of them in private

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school, help me. And I find it harder to tithe now. Maybe not tithe, but be generous, because I can

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think of all sorts of things I can suddenly afford. When I only had $44,000 a year, it didn't even cross

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my mind. Because I just couldn't, it was never going to happen. But now it's like, well, we probably

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could afford that second holiday. Why don't we? It's like, well, there's a lot of other good things

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you could be giving to instead of doing that. The reason I say this is you are better off

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learning to give when you feel like you have little than when you have a lot. It's not only

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something that will grow you deeper spiritually. It is something that will really, really bless

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the heart of God. It's beautiful. In an area like this, high-hop surprises, high mortgages,

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this is what we read in Proverbs 30, verses seven to nine. The writer says this,

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So God, I beg two favors from you, let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie.

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Second, give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me just enough to satisfy my needs,

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or as Jesus called it, our daily bread. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say,

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Who is the Lord? And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name. It is the

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wisdom of recognizing we can have too much and we can have too little. And if you do, if you are in

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that place where you have truly too little, I would encourage you to consider carefully if 10%

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is wise right now. And I know that sounds counterintuitive after everything I've said,

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but you may need to consider that carefully and continually bring it before God. What you do want

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to do is always bring it before God. I would also encourage you to have a conversation with Tim or

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Tex about that and just ask for their prayerfulness and wisdom in that too. That'd be a great thing

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to involve them is. So I'm sort of coming towards a close. Nobody wants to live as an

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ungenerous person. How do we get there? Well, Andy Stanley has some wise advice to how to get to a

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place of generosity towards the church. Number one, priority giving. And they're all peas because

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Andy Stanley. Priority giving. Make giving the first thing you do before anything else. It's

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an act of worship first. It's like serving your guests first before you eat, right, at your own

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home. Serve your guests first. If you don't do that, do that, right. That's a different sermon,

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but serve your guests first. Make a conscious choice that God is number one in your life.

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Number two, percentage giving. Imagine God gives you $100 bills. He's the owner of all of them.

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You ask him what he wants you to do with all 10. They are all his and he says, you can keep nine of

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them. That's God's vision for your generosity. When we remember they're like, oh, these are all yours

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anyway, God. Okay. He says, give me one back. You can do whatever you want with the rest.

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Don't give in volume. Give in percentage. Give 10%. Give an amount that changes with your income,

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not a flat amount. People who give in flat amounts tend to not be as generous as they

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believe they are or as they actually want to be. People who've given flat amounts often are like,

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$100 is generous. It's like, what depends who you're talking to? Like $100 is super generous for a

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student if you're Elon Musk, not so much, right? So it really depends. That's why a percentage

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giving is much more helpful. Progressive giving. Andy Sandley challenges us to increase in our

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giving over time so it remains a spiritual experience. Now, if you're just starting out,

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that might mean, if you've never given before and it's something you've always sort of had cold feet

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about, which is fair enough, you may want to start actually just like 2% or something. You may need

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to start very low, but you offer that to God and go, my ideal with this is to move up Lord.

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If you are very, very wealthy and statistically that means if you earn $200 grand or more as a

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family or $131 grand as an individual, those are just some rules of thumb. I can tell you where I

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got them from later. You can ask yourself, I think is 10% enough. You should ask yourself that question.

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It may be that God says, yes, give that other stuff away outside the church, but it may be

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that God says to you what he has said to some other incredible faithful saints over the year,

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like actually it's time for you to double tie for a bit. It's time for you to do 15% for a stretch.

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I know some incredible people who have built churches because of their faithful giving and I

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don't mean pastors. The pastors are fine, but it's the people whose hearts are set on God

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who said, actually God has convicted me about a 20% tithe or a higher amount. For most of you,

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don't worry about it. The point is not the amount, right? The point is coming before God and giving

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it all to him. And finally, prompted giving. Sometimes you will simply have the Holy Spirit

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prompt you and just listen to that and trust him. Give it away. Give it away. But ask God. Ask God.

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You've probably worked very, very hard for whatever money you have. And so it feels hard sometimes

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to give it away. But you can trust this church. You have great leadership. We have good financial

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stewardship, transparency, big hearts for mission and we invest in people. So you can trust this

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church. So here is my ask. Would you go away and pray with your spouse, especially if they're not

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yet a Christian and make sure you talk to them about it and come back with your best estimate

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of what you will give financially in 2025. This is not like a pledge where you go,

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I'm going to give above and beyond. This is just asking you to forecast what you imagine

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your giving is. The reason is simple. We want to help us budget and we want to help you think

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strategically and prayerfully about your money. That's it. That's really why we're going to give

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out these first fruit. In fact, Emma, would you be able to grab those? Just pass them around.

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Just grab one. There's a digital version as well that we can send to the link to. I think

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you'll find it in your link tree on Encounter Henley or if not, we can get it up pretty soon.

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And if you want to fill in the digital, frankly, that's much more convenient for everybody.

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But if you are a bit old school and you'd like to fill this out because there's a bit you can tear

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off and a bit you can keep to pray over, do that. That'd be great too. This is not a promise. It's

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not a pledge. We will not be ringing you up and going, actually, we've just reconciled the accounts.

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It's nothing like that. This is just for you to come before God so that you can budget wisely.

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We can steward well and it can all be covered in prayer. If you are married to somebody who is

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not yet a Christian, please make sure you talk to them before writing anything down on this.

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It's very, very important. Similarly, if you're under 18, I don't think there is anyone in the room,

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but just in case, please talk to your parents. Don't just make a pledge for what might be their money.

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Talk to them. Now, in both of those cases, guess what? This is an opportunity for you to have a

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conversation about the importance of worshiping Jesus. How wonderful. Going back to Jesus in

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the widow, this is not about the amount of money. Now, as we come to a literal close,

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and I think you actually had a quicker job of this than prospect, you're welcome.

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Before we need challenging in our pockets, we need challenging in our hearts.

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To be a faithful, resilient disciple, and our number one goal for you is to be developed as

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a resilient disciple of Jesus, you don't need to be able to tithe. You need to be able to lay down

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all of yourself before God. It's not about 10%. God does not ask for 10% of your life.

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God does not ask for 10% of your heart. If you do that, you cannot follow Jesus. You can only go

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to church at best. Following Jesus requires so much more. It requires all of ourselves. You cannot

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take money to the grave with you. You're going to end up following either treasures on earth

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or treasures in heaven. The only thing you can take to heaven with you is a life well lived for

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Christ and people well invested in for Christ, which is why when it comes to the issue with

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your money, you need to let God challenge with you on all of that. You're not going to be able to

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live a life that is meaningful and joyful if you're grasping. And for some of you, if you come from a

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very poor or a very wealthy background, that's going to be quite difficult. You are going to have

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to unlearn some things that you grew up knowing. But the promise of God is freedom. Money will

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enslave you. One of the other words that used to be used for money was, Mammon. Mammon was linked

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to an ancient Canaanite God who demanded blood sacrifice. Yet without God, he has given blood

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sacrifice. Jesus gave himself as the sacrifice. You can't outgive God. He who has given his only

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son for us, how much more does he love you? How much more will he bless you? This is what he does.

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You cannot outgive God. We began this theological and practical journey in Genesis.

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And in Genesis, God generously gives the Garden of Eden, heaven on earth, to Adam and Eve, to care

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for and what do they do? They ruin it. Sin enters it. Their own greed enters it. The first thing is

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this one thing you can't have and Eve says, I want it. And Adam says, I want it. Greed enters

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their life. And God's respond to sin is to take his animals that he is carefully and lovingly made,

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sacrifice them, make clothing out of their skin and bless and protect Adam and Eve with them,

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and send them out with a mission and an opportunity. They can no longer be in heaven on earth,

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but they are still under the hand of blessing of God. And as generation after generation rejects

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God and turns to sin, he gives himself. That was Jesus, friends. Jesus is God's ultimate act of

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generosity because not only does he live the life we should have lived in holiness and goodness,

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he dies the death that you and I deserved, our grasping, our greediness, our selfishness.

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Yet in his resurrection, I love this, in his resurrection, Jesus not only defeats death himself,

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he raises us up with him, not to call us servants but friends, children of God, heirs of God,

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and heirs inherit every good thing he possesses. So here's the thing, Romans 8.32 puts it this way,

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he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with

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him graciously give us all things, all things. Can you see how ridiculous it is when we're stingy

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with our money? I just sometimes when people are like, oh, so we don't have to give 10% like in the

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Old Testament, like why is your reaction to try and be stingy towards Jesus? That's not the right

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reaction. Something's off in our hearts because the farmer who sows doesn't lose seed.

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She gains a crop and that is what we do when we invest in the Lord. We love because God first

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loved us and we give because God first gave to us. So I'm going to pray now and I really want to

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just invite you into a time of prayer for response. On this beautiful spring afternoon,

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just say, God, would you speak to me about my money? If you've had fears with your money,

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now is a great time to bring them before God and lay them down. He loves you, he's listening to you.

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If you're uncertain about it, bring it to God. If you don't trust him, tell him, he loves you.

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He wants to hear it from you.

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Thanks so much for tuning into this week's message. If you felt challenged or need prayer,

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we would love to hear from you on Instagram, at Encounter Henley. Or if you're interested

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in how you can support this ministry, please go to our website, EncounterAdelaide.com.au.

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Thanks again for listening. God bless you.