An Offertory Devotional video for Sabbath, November 5, 2022, in your @adventistchurch: vimeo.com/749297437. 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.
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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 worship God with resources because this places us in a condition to claim His promises. The Bible is full of promises. Everett R. Storms spent a year and a half counting Bible promises and came up with 7,487 promises God made to humankind. God’s promises have three characteristics: they are true, everyone can claim them, and they are often conditional. Paul wrote about his confidence in God’s promises: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:20a). When God says, “Yes,” nobody can say, “No!” Several are conditional to faith and obedience (Matt. 21:22; Isa. 59:2). About obedience, Ellen G. White writes: “All who obey Him may with confidence claim the fulfillment of His promises” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 145).
An incident in the life of Fred Stirewalt, a farmer from Hollister, California, shows the value of obedience in claiming God’s promises. One afternoon Fred observed that army beetles had covered his field. Immediately, he realized the disastrous outcome awaiting: these small creatures eat until there is nothing green left. Feeling powerless, he had an insightful conversation with his daughter Helen.
Helen asked, “Daddy, you pay your tithe, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“Then why not ask God to keep His promise and drive the beetles away?”
Convinced by these words, they knelt and prayed, claiming the promise of Malachi 3:10, 11. Right after praying, they saw a cloud of blackbirds descending on their fields. The blackbirds remained for a short time, but there wasn’t a beetle left when they flew away.*
God has a heaven full of blessings for those who will cooperate with Him. This week, as we worship with our tithe and regular offerings, called Promise, we are placing ourselves in a position to claim His promises.
*Story of Fred Stirewalt adapted from guidemagazine.org/pdfs/Guide-5-23-20.pdf, pp. 12-14.