If you're not an offerer, don't think you can teach somebody else to offer. You can talk about it but it's not in you.

When the Chief Apostle was here we promoted that service. We promoted it and I must say to all of you brothers, thank you for your support. The attendance had come up by about 1%, but the offerings were up 58% from the previous Chief Apostle service. 58%! He said to me, "If I would say that in other districts," he said "they would become envious of you." "But," I said, "Chief Apostle, that was always in this district. We learned that from our District Apostle Kraus. And all we did was stir that up. It's not as if we had to teach anybody something new! It was always there. All we had to do was set it into motion." He said, "That's not the case everywhere. Not the case everywhere."

Why isn't it the case everywhere? Because the responsible brothers are not offerers themselves! Maybe they were never taught the real meaning of offering. Maybe they were never shown what real offering is. It was never brought to them. And sometimes, brothers, we say, well, we don't want to upset the congregation. Listen brothers, even the doctor will tell you if your blood pressure goes up from time to time it's good for you. It stimulates circulation. Otherwise, the whole blood pressure gets lazy and slushy like a (edited from tape) it's good to get worked up once in awhile. It's necessary. And you know brothers, we deprive our members of the blessing.

But you can't preach money. Uh uh! You have to teach willingness, thankfulness, to sacrifice. You cannot preach money. We're not talking about donations. We're not talking about pledges. That does not belong in the New Apostolic Church. That's not a donation. That is an offering. And in the Old Testament that is already called an offeratory. And where that is missing there the blessing the joy of it, the conversation about it is missing. And then we say to ourselves, well now that's the way it is. But did you ever stop to say, hey it's really that way 'cause I never taught them.

In this district when I became an evangelist long time ago, good 30 years ago. Had a rector in this district, gone into eternity. And we talked about offering. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh," he said, "I'll talk to the congregation." I said, "No you won't!" I said, "Because it's not in you!" I said, "I will. It lives in me." And he said, "Well you know the congregation is poor." I said, "But the congregation IS poor. It's not their fault and it's not your fault, but that the congregation STAYS poor IS your fault." They stayed that way. They were not brought out of it. They were not taught that. They were not shown that. Everything is explained away. Soooo, everyone's quite content. Good old buck passed off. No sowing. No harvesting. No thankfulness, no blessing. It's as simple as that. They were not shown. And the brother was maybe a little hesitant and didn't want to say it. Didn't have the courage. PRAY for it if you haven't got the courage! Pray for it. Don't be lame. Pray for yourself. We'll get into that later on. Here and there in our ranks this is missing.

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