An Offertory Devotional video for Sabbath, October 15, 2022, in your @adventistchurch: vimeo.com/741860645. Putting God first can be difficult. What can we learn from this video that will help us put God first in our lives today?
Also available in #Spanish and #Portuguese.
Put #GodFirst
#StewardshipMinistries
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For more information on the Stewardship Ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, you can head over to stewardship.adventist.org/ ______________________________________________
We bring our regular offerings and tithe to church because it is part of true worship. Leviticus 17:5 gives instruction about the appropriate place to offer sacrifice in ancient Israel. There was a central place to give, with no provision for alternatives. One may legitimately ask why the place was so significant. Interestingly, the text focuses not only on the place, the tent of meeting, but also on the One who received their sacrifices, the Lord. For the Israelites, the tent of meeting was the “tabernacle of the LORD,” the place where the Lord resides. Ultimately, the restriction about the place had to do with whom they were worshipping. Relocating the place where they brought their sacrifices was typical of idol worship at the time. God designated one place for sacrifice because He wanted to be the sole object of their worship.
Today, the appropriate destination for tithe and regular offerings remains a frequently asked and debated question. The example of King David provides us with an answer: “I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you” (Ps. 66:13). Ellen G. White applies this principle to God’s people today: “The time has come when the tithes and offerings belonging to the Lord are to be used in accomplishing a decided work. They are to be brought into the treasury to be used in an orderly way to sustain the gospel laborers in their work” (Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, p. 376). She specifies that place as the church treasury with the appropriate agency to support God’s mission. However, this does not remove our social responsibility toward the poor and needy. We should apportion special donations for this purpose (see Ellen G. White, Welfare Ministry, p. 275).
This week we have another opportunity to bring our tithe and regular offerings, also called Promise, to God’s church. While we worship at God’s designated place, let us choose again to make Him the sole object of our worship.