This week we are circling in prayer our BIGGEST dreams and our greatest fears. The above picture represents one of our members who has tied a know in their circle to represent the individual people they are praying for. God is a God of visuals and props. We are a people who tend to forget and that is whay we need visuals like this rope or “circle.”
My prayer for our church First Hillsville UMC and Out Of The Box Worship Center as I shared on Sunday is that we will be a tithing church. What is a tithe, it is the FIRST 10% of your increase. If you make $100 your tithe is $10 and if you make $10 your tithe is $1. It is pretty simple and it is amazing, the giving level is the same for everyone. God doesn’t say the rich are to give a larger percent and the poor give a lesser percent, it is level for everyone. Tithing is an amazing topic and has been taught for more than 6ooo years in some form and even in more instances than Christianity.
It is a trust issue, do you trust that if you give back to God what He has blessed you with in the first place that he will bless you and the 90% will go farther than the 10% will while ignoring the tithe?
It is a worship issue. It is another way that we show worth “worship” to the One we serve, the one who gave us life.
It is a matter of following God in giving. God gave His BEST, God gave His Son Jesus, the spotless Lamb. God gave of His First, His best.
God even says try me in this and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and bless you. Is that not worth the test that God invites us into? It is better than the lottery and many people including Christians buy lottery tickets in hopes of being blessed with financial gain. Why not get in on the PROMISE that God has made.
God spoke to me this week and said, “If you want your church to be a tithing church, you are going to have to teach them and then they will be a tithing church.” SO this is the first of many posts that I will do over the next days, weeks, months, and years to teach people. Take God at His word, test Him in this, and then when the blessing comes, share your story and I will celebrate with you, the church will celebrate with you.
I tell you this because I love you. As your pastor, I want you to be BLESSED!
Pastor Ronnie
Malachi 3:6-12 NIV
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouringyour crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LordAlmighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says theLord Almighty.
One Last Thought: I DARE YOU!
