Sermon Illustrations

In this case they are not only withholding their tithe – they are withholding their INVESTMENT in themselves and God’s people. They are choosing to remain a “fruitless, wild vine” or a “lone-wolf Christian”. Undisciplined and re-writing the Bible to fit their situation – they go from place to place spreading the disease of WITHHOLDING from God and His people through a viable, personal, and REAL relationship with either one! They have learned to “shy away” from intimacy with God and others.

I often think to myself when I meet this person, “I wonder what their family life is like?” This attitude has to be permeating their family as well! Maybe this is how their family operates – everyone lives in a sort of dysfunction moving through the cycle of resentment, hurt feelings, passive behavior or aggressive behavior – obsessive thoughts and compulsive reactions such as anger or the withholding of love and attention.