Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes."

   "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings."

   Do not save riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, save riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.

   Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones. If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth?

   All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another. They would sell their property and possessions and distribute the money among all, according to each one's need.

   And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God gave the churches in Macedonia. They have been tested by great troubles. And they are very poor. But they gave much because of their great joy. I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able. They gave even more than they could afford. No one told them to do it. But they asked us again and again - they begged us to let them share in their service for God's people. And they gave in a way that we did not expect: they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants . . . You are rich in everything - in faith, in speaking, in knowledge, in truly wanting to help, and in the love you learned from us. And so we want you to be rich also in this gift of giving.

Taken from Lk. 12, Hag. 1, Mal. 3, Mt. 6, Lk. 16, Acts 2, II Cor. 8,
The New International, The New King James, Today's English Version and The Everyday Bible.
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