Stewardship Quotes For Preaching
Copyright 2006 Rod Rogers
Good illustrations are vital for maximum impact in preaching on
stewardship. The following quotesshould prove helpful to you as you
preach your church into faithful giving.
Tithing
"I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars
I ever made if I had not tithed my firstsalary, which was $1.50 per
week." - John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (1839-1937), American
industrialist andphilanthropist
"I've learned that when I pay my tithe first there is always
enough left to pay my bills, but when I paymy bills first there is
never enough left to pay my tithe." - Anonymous
Money Can't Buy Happiness
"I was happier when I was doing a mechanic's job." - Henry Ford
(1863-1947), American industrialist
"I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts:
financial worries." - Jules Renard(1864-1910), French writer
Money Can Be Dangerous
"Watch lest prosperity destroy generosity." - Henry Ward Beecher
(1813-87), American abolitionistand clergyman
"To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid
enough to want it." - G.K. Chesterton(1874-1936), English
journalist, poet and novelist
Benefits of Giving
"If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will
help straighten out almost every otherarea in his life." - Billy
Graham (1918- ), American evangelist
"I was once young and now I am old, but not once have I been
witness to God's failure to supply myneed when first I had given
for the furtherance of His work. He has never failed in His
promise, so Icannot fail in my service to Him." - William Carey
1761-1834), Baptist missionary to India
Poor Stewardship
"A lot of people are willing to give God the credit, but not too
many are willing to give Him the cash."- Anonymous
Eternal Rewards for Giving
"You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead."
-anonymous
The Unbaptized Arm
There is a story told about Ivan the Great who ruled Russia as
Czar in the 15th century. He was awarrior, a fighter, and a
conqueror of kingdoms. The Soviet Union as we knew it a few years
ago wasbasically put into place by Ivan the Great. Ivan was so busy
doing battle that some of his comradesbecame concerned because he
hadn't taken time to get married and have a family. They came to
himand said "You've got to get married because you've got to have
an heir to the throne." But Ivan said"I want to do battle and to
conquer more territory, you go find a wife for me." So they did.
Ivan'smen found a wife for him from the daughter of the king of
Greece , a beautiful girl. They said to Ivan,"We found a wife for
you, but there's one problem." "What's that?" he asked.
"If you're going to marry her, you have to be Greek Orthodox,"
they said.
Ivan the Great said, "Well, if you think she'd make a good wife
for me, that's no problem, I could beGreek Orthodox." The king of
Greece was thrilled with this because it meant that Ivan wasn't
goingto invade his territory. So the Greeks sent tutors to Russia
to tutor Ivan and 500 of his elite soldiers,everyone a great
warrior. The soldiers required tutoring because Ivan said, "If I'm
going to be GreekOrthodox, they're going to be Greek Orthodox."
They tutored all these men in the Greek Orthodox faith and
finally Ivan and the soldiers went downto Greece for the wedding.
But before the marriage they had to be baptized into the Greek
Orthodoxchurch. It was an incredible sight as thousands of people
came to watch Ivan the Great and his 500soldiers all wade into the
water at one time to be baptized by immersion into their new
church. 500soldiers with full armor and 500 Greek Orthodox priests
were standing in the blue water of theMediterranean Sea for the
baptism, when all of a sudden the king of Greece said, "We've got
aproblem." The problem was that in the Greek Orthodox church you
could not be a warrior and amember of the church at the same time.
So they held a hastily-called diplomatic meeting in thewater to
ask, "How are we going to work this out?" They came up with a
simple answer. Just beforethe priests immersed the soldiers, each
man took out his sword, held it high above the water, andallowed
the priest to baptize everything but his sword arm.
This came to be known as "the unbaptized arm."
There are many Christians today who have unbaptized checkbooks.
They have dedicated every partof their life to God except their
money. As someone has said, "The last thing to be converted is
ourpocketbook."
