GIVING
Story Of A Dollar
A man put a
note on a dollar bill and asked all who spent it to write down what it
was spent for. In two weeks it was spent
five times for salary
five times for cigarettes
three times for candy
three times for meals
twice for clothes;
twice for haircuts;
once for groceries;
twice for laundry;
once for car repairs;
once for a magazine;
But not once did it come to church!
Criswell Returns
30-year Salary
W. A.
Criswell, pastor of the 18,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas,
Texas, gave back to the church $600,000, his salary accumulated over the
past 30 years. Dr. Criswell told his congregation that when he entered
the ministry he decided to invest part of his income wisely so that he
could better serve them, and that now he is financially secure, he can
return the money. He said he wants to be able to face God knowing that
he gave all of his work freely. The gift he reported would not
jeopardize his family.
—Pastor’s Manual
They Dared Lose Home
Dr. Truett of
Texas was invited to a church that was raising $6,500 to dedicate a
church building. After $3,500 had been promised, the offerings ceased.
Then a
plainly-dressed woman arose and spoke to her husband who was taking the
names. “Charley, I wonder if you would be willing to give our little
cottage, just out of debt. We were offered $3,500 for it yesterday.
Would you be willing to give our little house for Christ that His house
may be free?” The fine fellow responded in the same high spirit:
“Jennie, dear, I was thinking of the same thing.” Then looking up at
Truett with his face covered with tears, he said, “We will give the
$3,500.”
Then there
followed a scene beggaring all description. Men and women sobbed aloud,
and almost in a moment the $3,500 was provided. Then without invitation
there came down the aisle men and women, saying, “Sir, where is the
Saviour, and how can we find him?”
—Every-Member Evangelism
Hattie’s 57 Pennies
Hattie Wiatt,
a little girl, came to a small Sunday school and asked to be taken in,
but it was explained there was no room for her. In less than two years
she fell ill, and slipped away on her own little last pilgrimage and no
one guessed her strange, little secret until beneath her pillow was
found a torn pocketbook with fifty-seven pennies in it, wrapped in a
scrap of paper on which was written, “To help build the little Temple
bigger, so that more children can go to Sunday school.” For two years
she had saved her pennies for the cause which was nearest her heart.
The
pastor told the incident to his congregation, and the people began
making donations for the enlargement. The papers told it far and wide,
and within five years those fifty-seven pennies had grown to be
$250,000, and today in Philadelphia, can be seen a great church, the
Baptist Temple, seating 3,300, a Temple College with accommodations for
more than 1,400 students, a Temple Hospital, and a Temple Sunday school
so large that all who wish may come and be comfortable.
Thankful For What Did Not Happen
Several years
ago some German immigrants to America brought over this story of a woman
living on a farm in Germany who brought to her minister an amount in
German money equivalent to about $10 in American money.
As she laid
down the money she said: “In former years I have had to pay about this
amount in medicine. This year there has been no sickness in our family.
I want to show my gratitude to the Lord in this way.”
Some time
later this same woman again came to her minister with about $5,
explaining that many of her neighbors had suffered some losses in a
recent windstorm, but that her farm had been spared. “I bring the
church this donation as an offering of thanks.”
—Arthur Tonne
Thankful For The Boy Alive
The parents of
a young man who was killed in the World War gave their church a check
for two hundred dollars as a memorial to their loved one. When the
presentation was made, another war mother whispered to her husband,
“Let us give the same for our boy.” The father said, “Why, what
are you talking about? Our boy didn’t lose his life.” The mother
said, “That’s just the point. Let us give it because he didn’t.”
—Otterbein Teacher
Robbing God
Billy Graham,
in his sermon “Partners with God,” says: “One of the greatest sins
in America today is the fact that we are robbing God of that which
rightfully belongs to Him. When we don’t tithe, we shirk a just debt.
Actually we are not giving when we give God one-tenth, for it belongs to
Him already (Levt. 27:30). This is a debt we owe. Not until we have
given a tenth do we actually begin making an offering to the Lord!”
Tithe In Prison
Richard
Wurmbrand of Tortured for Christ said that when in prison they
tithed! “When we were given one slice of bread a week and dirty soup
every day, we decided we would faithfully “tithe” even that. Every
tenth week we took the slice of bread and gave it to the weaker brethren
as our “tithe” to the Master.”
Tithing Surprises
The Christian
who tithes will be surprised:
(1) At the amount of money he has for the Lord’s
work,
(2) At the deepening of his spiritual life in paying
the tithe,
(3) At the ease in meeting his own obligation with the
nine-tenths,
(4) At the ease in going from one-tenth to a larger
percentage,
(5) At the preparation this gives to be a faithful and
wise steward over the nine-tenths remaining,
(6) At himself for not adopting the plan sooner!
Starting Poor
Someone says
that tithing is only for the rich. But we have never heard of a rich man
or woman commencing tithing, but can name scores who began to tithe when
they were poor and became rich:
Mr. Crowell, founder of Quaker Oats Co.
Mr. Colgate, founder of Colgate Soaps, etc.
Mr. Proctor of Ivory soap fame
Mr. A. A. Hyde of Mentholatum
Mr. Henry Delaney of Resinol Ointment fame
Mr. Matthias Baldwin, founder of Baldwin Locomotive
Industry.
Quaker Oats
Henry P.
Crowell, affectionately called “The autocrat of the Breakfast
Table,” contracted tuberculosis when a boy and couldn’t go to
school. After hearing a sermon by Dwight L. Moody, young Crowell prayed,
“I can’t be a preacher, but I can be a good businessman. God, if You
will let me make money, I will use it in Your service.”
Under the
doctor’s advice Crowell worked outdoors for seven years and regained
his health. He then bought the little run-down Quaker Mill at Ravanna,
Ohio. Within ten years Quaker Oats was a household word to millions.
Crowell also operated the huge Perfection Stove Company.
For
over forty years Henry P. Crowell faithfully gave 60 to 70 percent of
his income to God’s causes, having advanced from an initial 10%.
“Innkeeper” Dependent On God
As a teenager,
Wallace Johnson was fired by a sawmill operator. Today, as founder of
Holiday Inns, he is a multimillionaire and called “the innkeeper of
America.”
Johnson
started his business empire in 1939 with a borrowed $250. Since then he
has helped provide jobs for 110,000 people. He is known nationwide for
his Christian activities and stewardship as a Baptist layman.
“I am
totally dependent on God for help in everything I do,” he declares.
“Otherwise, I honestly believe it would start to fall apart in
months.”
Senior Partner At Kraft
Years ago a
young man began a small cheese business in Chicago. He failed. He was
deeply in debt. “You didn’t take God into your business. You have
not worked with Him,” said a Christian friend to him. Then the young
man thought, “If God wants to run the cheese business, He can do it,
and I’ll work for Him and with Him!” From that moment, God became
the senior partner in his business. The business grew and prospered and
became the largest cheese concern in the world! You ask the name of that
young man? J. L. Kraft who became president of the Kraft Cheese Company!
—Walter B. Knight
Story Of Welch Grape Juice
A young man
accepted for the African missionary field reported at New York for
“passage,” but found on further examination that his wife could not
stand the climate. He was heartbroken, but he prayerfully returned to
his home and determined to make all the money he could to be used in
spreading the Kingdom of God over the world. His father, a dentist, had
started to make, on the side, an unfermented wine for the communion
service. The young man took the business over and developed it until it
assumed vast proportions—his name was “Welch,” whose family still
manufactures “grape juice.” He has given literally hundreds of
thousands of dollars to the work of missions.
—The Presbyterian Advance
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