“Eat at Red Lobster but pay at McDonald’s”

It has been my observation and experience that there are many believers who are members of an organized church or assembly and who have a local shepherd but who are actively feeding on the revelations of another shepherd. They partake freely of the offerings of those outside of their church walls – the ones whom God has gifted to minister to them. However, they restrict their financial support to the one that their church has hired or denomination assigned them. They have mistakenly allowed an organization to determine who their pastor should be instead of allowing God to send them a pastor. They are practicing a sort of “Eat at Apple Bees but pay at McDonald’s” mentality. I don’t think that this is righteous, especially if you are not being nourished in the Truth and cared for in the Spirit by the one you financially support. Do you go to the doctor and receive treatment for a deadly disease then ignore the doctor bill put pay the parking attendant? That is exactly what a lot of church folks are doing. They receive the Saving Word of God from God’s True Pastors and pay the ones who are only housing them in a religious parking garage.

The preacher who you financially support should minister to your needs, visit you in your home and in the hospital, accompany you to surgery if need be, perform weddings and funeral services, counsel you when you are in crisis, provide referral services to you when your circumstances warrant them, pray for you and your family constantly, attend you children’s graduations and or school functions from time to time, watch for your spiritual growth and moral wellbeing and help develop your overall Christian life through the taught and preached Word of God as the Holy Spirit empowers Him. However, it is unfair to expect these services from a person whom you have never supported or given aid to although they faithfully shared the Word of Salvation without price and supplied your spiritual needs.

Parenthetically, according to the Holy Scriptures, financial support for a preacher is not limited to those who serve in your particular denomination or religious affiliation but is an obligation that every believer has to those who watch for their souls on a regular and consistent basis, whether they are your local pastor or someone providing godly guidance and service outside the walls of your church’s organization.

1 Corinthians 9:14
In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. (NLT)

REPENT!

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