Pastor's Corner

28 Jun
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Mid-Week Challenge

Have you ever dreamed of winning the lottery?  Most of us have thought about what we would spend our winnings on.  A bigger house, nice car, gifts for our family.  What about the Lord?  If you were raised in church and taught to tithe the first thing you think about is giving back to the Lord.  Tithing is something most preachers don’t preach on any longer. Negative stereotypes of ministry greed and changing social issues are no excuse for ministers to ignore the mandate that the Bible lays out on tithing.  Giving back to the Lord from your “first fruits” is a trust exercise.  When we give we are displaying our faith in the Lord that He will account for the first portion we have surrendered to Him.  When it becomes a pattern in your lifestyle you can look back and see exactly how God always provided when you were faithful in obedience to give. 

One great example of this truth is found in the testimony of NFL quarterback Derek Carr.  Carr has never been shy about his Christian faith.  After recovering from an injury last year the LA Raiders have signed him to a 5 year, $125 million deal.  When he was asked what he was going to do with the money he joked about eating some Chick-fil-A, but he went on to say:    

“First thing I will do is pay my tithe like I have since I was in college, getting $700 on a scholarship check. That won’t change. I’ll do that. I’ll probably get my wife something nice, even though she begs me not to. She still gets coupons. Ever since I’ve known her, she finds coupons, she gets online trying to find discounts and all those things. None of that is going to change. The exciting thing for me, money wise, honestly, is that this money is going to help a lot of people. I’m very thankful to have it in our hands, because it’s gonna help people not only in this country but in a lot of countries around the world. That’s what’s exciting to me.”  http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/entertainment/2017/june/lsquo-first-thing-i-rsquo-ll-do-is-pay-my-tithe-rsquo-derek-carr-promises-to-remain-frugal-after-signing-largest-nfl-contract-ever 

It’s great to see a person like Derek use his public platform to tell the truth about how God has blessed his faithfulness and how he sees it as a responsibility to help others.  Not everything that God places in our hands is for our consumption.  God often gives us a little more so that we can bless someone else. 

Do you take tithing seriously? Do you pray about what you give, do you make it a priority? Don’t wait until you hit the lottery to give.  God challenges us to trust Him with our money.  He even dares us to try Him out on His giving model.  If you have not done so, take God up on His challenge.  It will change the way you view money and it will improve your trust relationship with the Savior!

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.  Malachi 3:10

Serving the Savior

Bro. Jonathan

By: Pastor Jonathan

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