In this Partnership Week message, international missionary and Bible teacher Cherri Campbell lays out a clear biblical case for Kingdom of God partnership. She explains what partnership really means in the Kingdom—giving through finances, service, and prayer—and why God established it as the method to provide resources for ministry.
Using examples from Nehemiah 13, Acts 4, and Malachi 3, Cherri shows what happens when God’s people neglect giving, and how powerful the results can be when believers unite to support the work of the Gospel. She also explores the idea of the “storehouse,” explaining why giving shouldn’t be limited to
Welcome to Victorious Faith. We believe you will be blessed, encouraged, and receive fresh faith to begin your day as you listen to today’s message with international missionary and Bible teacher, Cherri Campbell.
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Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherri Campbell. This is Partnership Week, and today I’m going to begin sharing with you a message called Kingdom of God Partnership. So join me now for this lesson called Kingdom of God Partnership. The message God gave me today is called Kingdom of God Partnership. Kingdom of God Partnership. And so I want us to look at what is partnership? Why did God establish it? Who should be involved? We’re going to look at these questions and look at the answers. First of all. What is partnership in the kingdom of God? It is people contributing financially and in service and in prayer to the various works of God in the earth. People are partnering together to do the work of the ministry. Rarely do sinners give to the works of God. So, of course, it is primarily God’s people who are contributing financially and in service and in prayer to the various works of God in the earth. That leads us to understand then why did God establish partnership? Partnership is God’s method of providing the financial and physical resources for his kingdom work to be done. And when people bring their resources, which is their finances, their service, their time, their prayer, which God expects them to do into the kingdom of God, the work of the kingdom of God can be done. When there is a shortage of funding, God’s kingdom works are hindered, as well as when there is a shortage of help and volunteers and workers. The works of God are then hindered. We can see examples of this throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. We see where the people of God funded God’s work with their tithes and offerings. But let me show you an example of a place in time where God’s people did not fund the temple. In Nehemiah chapter 13, Nehemiah had come back to help with the building of the temple. And in Nehemiah chapter 13, verses 10 to 13, Nehemiah says, I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service, that’s the service in the temple, had gone back to their own fields. So I rebuked the officials and asked them, why is the house of God neglected? Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts. That is, he called the Levites together and stationed them at their posts. All of Judah brought the tithes of the grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms. And I put Shalamiah, the priest, Zadok, the scribe and Levite. So what happened here? The Levites and singers had specific roles in the temple. including assisting the priests, maintaining the temple, that means they kept the oil filled, etc., and the leading of worship through music. Their service was vital for the spiritual life of the community. Nehemiah discovered that the Levites were not receiving their due portions that were supposed to be brought to the temple and to be given to them, which were essential for their sustenance. Therefore, the Levites who were set apart for temple service and relied on the tithes and offerings of the people due to the lack of provision, the Levites and singers returned to their fields to sustain themselves. In other words, they had to quit the work of the ministry in order to sustain themselves, abandoning their temple duties and, This has happened so many times throughout history and in modern times. There are many ministers and ministries that have had to close down simply because of lack of funding and finances. The people of God did not bring in their tithes and offerings, and so the work had to cease. And we see also that the neglect of the support of the Levites, and you could also say the support of the temple, also reflects upon a breakdown in the community’s spiritual priorities. The community had put their own things first and neglected the temple of God. This is something that we see happening all the time. Many, many Christians put their own things first. I want to show you, though, an example of provision that was enough and more than enough. In Acts chapter four, verses 34 and 35, it says there were no needy persons, none, no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet. And it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Now, of course, we don’t expect people to sell their lands and properties to give to the work of God unless the Lord were to speak to you to do that specifically. But there should be a giving from the people of their own resources, their own income to the support of the temple or the work of God and the work of the kingdom of God. And these two examples I gave you in Nehemiah and in Acts are examples of the people giving to the needs of people, the servants or the people of the church or the temple. But the same principle is true for giving to the work and the projects. that are being done in the kingdom of God. If God’s people would give generously and liberally to God’s works, every project and need would be fully supplied. Let me say that again. If God’s people would give generously and liberally to God’s works, every project and every need would be fully supplied. Every church and ministry would be able to accomplish their vision. You see, there is enough resources in the body of Christ that if people gave their tithes and offerings that every church, every ministry called by God to do works for God in spreading the gospel, preaching the word, ministering to people in various ways, physically, spiritually, emotionally, et cetera, missions, Bible school training, the printing of materials, all the various kinds of works that are being done in the kingdom of God. If all of God’s people give, gave liberally and generously of their own resources in tithes and offerings. God has enough resources in his people to more than supply every single need in every single church and ministry to accomplish every single work project and vision. Praise the Lord. That’s the resources that are available. However, the problem is many anyway of God’s people put their own things first before God’s things rather than putting God’s things first. And in Malachi 3.10, it says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Why? That there may be food in my house. Why? Food that is supply provision for the operation of the house and supply in the house to be distributed. And God said, test me in this as the Lord almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. that there may be food in my house. That is so that there would be supply and provision to upkeep the house, to do the works of the house and for the distribution of the food and the supplies and the ministry that that house will accomplish. And God said, test me in this as the Lord almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. If God’s people would all give, there would be more than enough. Now I want to ask this question. He said, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Well, tradition has taught that the storehouse is simply and only the local church. However, I want to bring some light on that. The storehouse is actually by the text that there may be food in my house. The storehouse is the place where the food is kept and distributed from. So yes, that includes your local church, but it is not limited to the local church. God wants all of his works to be funded, not just the local church, all of them and ministries, particularly ministries that are preaching the word. I think of tithe as going to churches and ministries. That preach the word. The food is the word primarily. And that’s where the tithes would go. Offerings would go to alms and to giving to the poor and and those kinds of things. Those would be offerings rather than tithes. ties going to where the food, the spiritual food is being preached. But I do see that not only churches, which has been the tradition, but it’s all ministries that are preaching the word are storehouses. They are distributing the food of God’s word to God’s people. And the very fact that they have not been included in the idea of being a storehouse is one reason why they have lacked funding more than churches have. Not that all churches have received everything they needed either. They obviously have needs as well. But ministries are often on the short end because they have not been considered a storehouse. And I just want to bring out the light that they are a storehouse. Therefore, they do qualify in receiving tithes as well as in receiving offerings. Praise the Lord. Now, I want us to look at the scriptural foundation for partnership, the scriptural foundation for partnership. Let’s look at the book of Philippians. Paul’s letter to the Philippian church was a partner letter. In Philippians chapter 1, verses 3 through 7, it says, I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy. Look at this, verse 5, because of your partnership. Partnership in the gospel. That’s in the preaching of the gospel, the teaching and the preaching of the word of God. And Paul himself called himself an apostle and a teacher so that he himself was a teacher of the word. And so that includes teaching and preaching the word of God because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Verse six, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Verse seven. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, preaching the gospel, the word of God, all of you. Share in God’s grace with me. That’s a key phrase. What you just heard was the beginning of a lesson called Kingdom of God Partnership. And we will continue this message again tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow. And remember, God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
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