I often hear persons say, "Pastor, my heart is with the church." I appreciate that when I hear it and I am sure that person means well when they say it. But lets look at what the Bible says about such a statement.

We often tell people, "Just go by your heart." "Trust your heart." But the Bible says the heart is very deceitful.

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?"

Proverbs 28:26 "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool."

Matthew 15:19 "Its not things that defile a man, but what comes out of him."

Jesus in Mark 7:6 criticized the Jews for their hearts were far from Him.

Acts 5:4 Ananias and Sapphire lied in their hearts to God.

Galatians 5: 19-21 gives us an indication of what is in all of our hearts: "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like."

We can give our hearts to one of two things: the Lord or mammon.

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart."

Matthew 22:37 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart."

I Peter 3:15 "Sanctify the Lord your God in your hearts."

Set Him apart in your heart.

Or we can give our heart to mammon.

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches)."

I Timothy 6:10 "Love of money is the root of all evil."

This is the only time that the word "Love of money" is in the Bible. It is one word in the Greek. It means to covet.

We are use to dividing the spiritual and the material, but Jesus never permits such a division. In fact, he says they are much the same.

Follow the money line and you will tell where people’s heart is. That line gives away to the lottery, gambling, the abortion issue, sweepstakes, raffles (buying chances for money). Never ask me to buy a chance for a prize. I will gladly make a donation but I will not participate in things that I have to buy chances for.

Proverbs 27:19 "As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man."

So we ask where is the heart of a church member? How do we know? How do we know if a person’s "heart is with the church?" By their attendance? By the position they hold in the church? By the testimony they give?

Jesus gives us a sure and true way. Matthew 6: 19-21. Where our pleasures are is where our treasurers are. If God is our pleasure, our treasure will be there. If our heart is with the church, then our finances will be there.

II Corinthians 9:7 "Let each give as he purposes in his heart, God loves a cheerful giver."

Treasure is always to give – wise men gave in Matthew 2:11. This word treasure is wealth and it is used 18 times in the NT. One-sixth of them are found in Matthew 6: 19-21.

The issue of tithing in not a financial issue. It is a heart issue. If your child needs medical help, would you only give it if you had the financial means? No, because your children is a matter of your heart, not your pocketbook.

So, if your heart is with God and His church, then you are giving at least the tithe. If you are not tithing, then your heart is not with God and if you think it is, you are deceived by your heart.

II Corinthians 4:5 says God will reveal the secrets of the heart. More important than the annual contribution record the financial secretary keeps is the one God keeps.

James 5:8 "Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."