Say What You Need to Say

Our front porch was big and wide. When the late afternoon sun hit the wooden floor it made for the perfect place to read the sports section on an early summer evening. I’m thirteen years old, lying on my stomach, checking what the Pirates did last night. This is about my only way of knowing. There is no ESPN. No Internet. Just a small paragraph giving me the score and highlights – Stargell hit one out. My dad is sitting in a chair in the corner of the porch next to me, drinking iced tea. He is there, which means he didn’t stop at the bar after work. That’s a good thing. Through the screen door I can smell that my mom has supper on. My brother and sisters are around someplace but right now I am undistracted. I have sun on a porch, a sports section and my dad next to me. I have the whole summer before me. I’m about to be called to supper. What’s better than that?

I was about twelve then, which means that I hadn’t started thinking about girls yet. My big worries were what games were me and my friends going to play that day and did I have enough money to buy baseball cards. In a few years, things would get more complicated. My dad and I would start to have trouble talking to each other. We started getting angry at each other. We forgot how to laugh. There was a lot of silence.

We became tongue-tied. We cared about each other but we couldn’t find the words. And moments passed by that we couldn’t get back.

There’s a scene in the movie, My Best Friend’s Wedding, when Julia Roberts’ character has the opportunity to tell her best friend that she realizes that she loves him. She’s never told him this before. She’s been afraid to express her true feelings. Here best friend is, in two days, about to marry another woman. It’s getting late in the game for Julia. The moment comes. . .and the moment passes by.

Dave Matthews has a song lyric that speaks to the danger of silence:

He wakes up in the morning
Does his teeth, bite to eat, and he’s rolling
Never changes a thing
The week ends the week begins
She thinks, we look at each other
Wondering what the other is thinking
But we never say a thing
These crimes between us grow deeper

It’s important to say what you need to say to the people you care about. Saying the right thing at the right time is what we call a blessing, a benediction - bene = good, diction=words, good words.

Words have the power to shape events and people. Jesus said a word can move a mountain. A word can open the eyes of the blind and make the lame to walk. A word can make enemies become friends. Certainly there are times to hold your tongue and conserve your words. There are times when careless words do much harm.

“A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish anything – or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke, and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.” James 3.4-5 The Message

John Maxwell tells the story of a couple who went to divorce court over words:

“Why do you want a divorce?” the judge asked. “On what grounds?”
“All over. We have an acre and a half,” the woman responded.
“No, no,” said the judge. “Do you have a grudge?”
“Yes, sir. Fits two cars.”
“I need a reason for the divorce,” said the judge impatiently. “Does he beat you up?”
“Oh, no. I’m up at six every day to do my exercises. He gets up later.”
“Please,” said the exasperated judge. “What is the reason you want a divorce?”
“Oh,” she replied. “we can’t seem to communicate with each other.”


We’ve all misspoken and regretted it. We’ve burned and been burned by careless words. Sometimes it seems that we’d all be better off if we just shut it.


But then I read this: “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the word was God.” John 1.1

God created with words. God comes talking. God is a hopeless talker. He talks so much because he has so much hope for us. God even speaks through us and does great things.

God’s word spoken through us is a powerful thing! Ladies and gentlemen, it’s good news!

One of the most telling events in the Gospel is recounted by Mark. Jesus and the disciples are traveling across the Sea of Galilee by boat at night. A violent storm comes up. There’s rain and thunder and lightning. Waves are swelling and crashing. And Jesus, well, he’s sleeping. The disciples, they aren’t sleeping. They are worrying. They are gripping. They’re waiting for Jesus to wake up and do something. They’re afraid someone’s going to lose their life and that someone could be them. So they shake Jesus.

“Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” Do something Jesus!

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Jesus knew the right words to end a storm. The disciples wondered, “Who is this that even the wind and waves obey?”


The Word has power. We don’t even know how much power. And that power can be used for good in us.

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”

I have often quoted this verse with the emphasis on in love. I assume that people tend to hurt others with truth. But that is not necessarily the Apostle’s assumption.

Telling the truth to someone else is a loving thing to do. Sure, you can do damage “in the name of truth.”

“If I speak in the tongues of men and angels and but do not love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13.1

But a good word has the power to heal the present and change the future. I remember the times my father told me he loved me. I remember both times. The first time he was probably inebriated. But the second time he was very sober, very intentional, very tender. And it hit me like a warm shower washing away years of dust. I believe my dad changed our relationship with those words. They had been waiting for years to come out of him. Though I didn’t know it, I had been waiting for years to hear those words. I have peace today about my father because of those words. I confess, I probably don’t say “I love you” enough to the people I care about. But I when I do, and I get that smile from them that they know, well. . . .

“To make an apt answer is a joy to man, and a word in season, how good it is!” Proverbs 15.23

To say the right thing at the right time – beautiful.

So before you do anything else today, I want you to run, don’t walk, run to the person you need to talk to. It could be an apology you need to give. It could be a thank you. It could be the words, “Hey, I love you.”

Say what you need to say.

No Doubt

There was a cartoon that appeared in a San Francisco newspaper. Two atheists are going door-to-door introducing their religious beliefs. They stand in front of an open door, and the man inside says, “This pamphlet is blank.” They answer, “We’re atheists.”

Many of us have had the experience of being visited by witnesses of the Mormon Church or the Jehovah’s Witnesses. These folks, especially the Mormons, are clean cut, polite and very sure in their faith. Sometimes we look at them as being very different from ourselves. We are different in beliefs. But we have faith in God in common. As Timothy Keller has suggested, the world is increasingly being divided into religious and irreligious people.

Keller is not and I am not suggesting that all atheists are bad people and all religious people are good and right. There are many “spiritualities” out there today that have little in common with the faith that was handed down from the Apostles. Newsweek magazine did a cover story this week on Oprah and the wacky ideas that she sometimes promotes on her show. To watch Oprah the past twenty years is have gone on a meandering journey with the talk show host looking for a personal way to authenticate your own soul. Back in the day it was not unusual to hear Oprah speak the language of orthodox Christian faith, of forgiveness, salvation, and growth in the Spirit. Oprah was not afraid to say the J word on national television. Today, well, let’s say Oprah has gone in a different direction. The Secret is Oprah’s latest attempt at her own salvation through personal fulfillment. The Secret is the latest power of positive thinking without the charm and rationality of Norman Vincent Peale. The Secret is more than, “If I think it I can be it.” The Secret talks about “the Law of Attraction.,” and says that whatever I want I can and should get. If I want a Cadillac I need only think positively enough about it and the Universe will see that get it. Conversely, if I am surrounded by negative people, bad things will happen to me. If I am surrounded by sick people, I will become sick. Sorry if you are a hospital patient or someone who cares for them. It’s like the saying goes, “I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame you.”

GK Chesterton famously said that when people cease to believe in God, they do not believe in nothing, they believe in everything. They fall for everything.

As religious people, we may not always feel completely sure in our faith. Some days we may envy those rock solid Mormons. We waver. We doubt. Doubt always comes. But doubt and uncertainty can be a gift to us. They remind us that we are not God. We don’t have all the answers. We don’t know it all.

“Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith; they keep it awake and moving.”
Fred Buechner

So doubt can be good. But doubt can only take me so far. I need faith. And faith comes from somewhere outside my Self.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by the Word of God.”

Faith comes from God. So we not only have faith in God. We have faith because of God. The Spirit of God gives us life and faith. And that provokes a response – either commitment or rejection – but a response nonetheless.

The Apostle Paul tells the Romans that we are in debt, not to the flesh but to the Spirit. What does he mean by this?

He means that we who believe in what God has done for us in Jesus Christ have an obligation to God. The Spirit of God has given us life. The flesh, or our sinful selves, only brings us decay and death. We have no obligation to the sinful nature. It has no claim upon us. We owe it nothing.


You and I have been on a journey in the flesh for a number of years. We have come to believe, many of us, that our sinful selves are our true selves. We believe that our bad conduct, our malicious thoughts and hurtful words, are who we are and all that we are. This simply is not true. Our true identity is known by God and waiting to be revealed to us and in us. The Spirit wants to make war on the flesh in us and vice versa. The Apostle Paul wrote that the two are opposed to each other. But the choice is clear which one we should give our allegiance to.

“If you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” Verse 12-13

That is, there is a kind of life which leads to death, and there is a kind of death which leads to life.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

And that really is the rub. Do we believe that by the grace of Jesus Christ we are forgiven and are becoming our truer selves? Or do we continue to believe that our sin, and only our sin, defines us? I know that I am a sinner. I know the thoughts and attitudes, the words and behaviors, that have shown the sin in me. You know the same about yourself. And so, knowing our own histories far better than anyone else knows about us, we struggle to believe the Gospel, that we are sinners saved by grace; that we are children of God.

Have you ever struggled with this?

I have good news for you. God wants you to know for sure that you belong to Him. He doesn’t want you to be afraid. The Holy Spirit gives us the assurance we crave.

This past week I ate breakfast with a couple who adopted a baby from Korea about a year ago. Ethan Willis is a beautiful toddler now. He is growing in the obvious love and care his parents give him. Ethan’s mother has blonde hair. Ethan’s dad has no hair. But he used to have dark brown hair. Both of Ethan’s parents are of very fair complexion. Ethan’s skin is brown and his hair is black. At first glance, it’s very obvious that he is adopted. But in the half hour I sat with this family at breakfast I saw beyond superficialities to the reality – this was a family. When Ethan looked at his mom his faced shined for her, and hers for him. Dad was caring and proud. They have an assurance that they belong to each other now.

“You have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry “Abba, Father!” it is the very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Verses 15-16


Here’s a fact that we sometimes overlook – Jesus believed. He believed beyond a doubt that the Father was always with Him. They talked all the time. This doesn’t mean life wasn’t hard sometimes. It doesn’t mean that Jesus faced the disappointment stoically.

He never concealed his tears; he showed them plainly on his open
face at the sight of his native city. Ye he concealed something.
Solemn supermen and imperial diplomats are proud of restraining
Their anger. He never restrained his anger. He flung furniture
Down the front steps of the temple and asked men how they expected
To escape the damnation of hell. Yet he restrained something.
I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread
That must be called shyness. There was something that he hid from all
Men when he went up a mountain to pray. There was something that he
Covered up constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was
Some one thing that was too great for God to show us when he walked
Upon our earth. . .


Jesus had a Secret too. His secret was Joy. It was the joy of knowing what he knew about God and heaven. His secret was not the Law of Attraction, it was the Law of Love. Jesus was about fit to burst that God loves us so much and will do just about anything to be with us for the rest of eternity.

We may have trouble believing in ourselves or in God, but God never has trouble believing in us. That’s the secret. There’s no doubt about it, really.

Together In One Place



Johnny Carson was late night television for so many years. And there will never be another like him. So says Chuck Klosterman. Klosterman writes on music, television, and culture for New York Times magazine. The reason Johnny Carson was important was not because he was funny or clever or cool, though he was all of those things. The reason he was important was because he was the last universally shared icon of modern popular culture. Everybody watched Carson. Even if you didn’t own a tv you watched Carson or knew about him. It was a piece of information that all Americans had in common. To care about Johnny Carson, all you had to do was be alive.

That could never happen today. There will never again be “cultural knowledge” that everybody knows, mostly because there is simply too much culture to know about. If you ask somebody, “Did you watch that show the other night.?” Most likely they will say no. Because they were watching something else. I get four thousand channels now on my satellite. Everybody is watching something else. It’s like I used to ask my friend Jim, “Did you ever read such and such. . .” I asked him that question different times until he finally said to me one day, “If the question begins, did you ever read. . .then answer is no.”

Culture no longer unites us the way it once may have. And that may be a sad thing. But there is a bright lining – culture couldn’t really change us much for the good anyway. There is something more powerful that can bind people together into community.

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. . .and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2.1-4


The Holy Spirit brings unity. And unity is the better of half of community. The Apostle Paul compares to the church a the human body. When the body is working correctly, it is a beautiful thing to behold. All the parts are in place, functioning the right way. When the body is not united, it is not a pretty picture. When one thing breaks down, other parts suffer. The whole body suffers. The church begins to look like Mr. Potato Head as put together by a two year old.

How does the Holy Spirit bring us together in community?

We all come to the same place for the same purpose. How often can you say that about anything? We live in different places. We work all over the place. We eat, play, and shop at different places on a twenty-four cycle. But on Sabbath day, we all come together in one place to love God. It is so unique and compelling an idea that God shows up just to see for himself.

The Spirit gives us a new identity. I am no longer just a member of my biological family with the last name Morris. I am no longer just a resident of a certain town. I am no longer just the sum total of my bad deeds and good deeds. The Spirit calls me out of darkness into Light. I am a new person. I am baptized. That’s my name. When I get depressed over my failures, the Spirit lifts me up. The story is told of how when Martin Luther was despondent, he would touch his forehead and say, “I have been baptized,” by which he meant, I belong, by God’s grace, to Jesus Christ, and nothing can undo this truth.

The Spirit of Jesus Christ makes us like God who is three in One. God wants us to be one like He is one. If we are one, we will be a great witness to the world. If we are divided, our witness will suffer.

Jesus prayed, “May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe you sent Me.” John 17.21


One of the most compelling stories in sports in the last fifty years is the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. They were a bunch of college amateurs who went up against the mighty Soviets and beat them. Nobody had given them a chance. The Soviets had just beaten an NHL all star team. The U.S. Olympic team was a bunch of no names. It was such a huge upset that it is now referred to as the Miracle on Ice. That name came in part from the now famous call from broadcaster Al Michael’s who screamed, “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?”

How did they do it? The movie Miracle tells how coach Herb Brooks coached them into a team. They were guys from all over the country but he wanted them to forget about where they had come from and focus on what they were hoping to achieve. After one lackluster exhibition game, he made the players to a skate around. This is the equivalent of making a football team run laps after already playing a game. It was a defining moment for the team. During the brutal workout, one of the players yelled out, “I play for the United States of America.” With that, Brooks dismissed the players. It was a turning point. The group of individuals became one.

There is no higher allegiance for us than our allegiance to Christ and His Kingdom. So, who do you play for?

The Holy Spirit gives us one vision, one mission.

The Apostle Paul encouraged the church to be “thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal.” Philippians 2.2

This kind of focus brings incredible unity and community.

Our vision is to make disciples and create community. Again, this really goes back to our baptism. We are not our own. We belong to God. It’s not about me. It’s about what God wants, about what God is doing.

“How can I help?” is a question we should ask. How can I be part of this community where the Spirit is at work?

Are you loving God in worship? Have you joined a small group to grow closer to God and closer to each other? Are you serving in ministry?

Two Masters, One Servant

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matt. 6.24


The question is which one are you devoted to, God or money?


The boys had some friends sleep over the other night. One of the guests, who had been to our house before but had never slept over, said to me as I ate my breakfast, “You guys have a lot of stuff.” The only answer to that is, of course, “Yes, we do.”

It may be that you don’t have as much stuff as I do. But I bet you still have a lot. I bet you are fairly well off, by most standards. Houses today are twice as big as in 1950, while family size is 25 percent smaller. It has already been noted, crammed attics and garages have spawned a growth industry that didn’t exist in 1960 – self-storage units. A couple weeks ago I said that this accumulation of stuff and wealth is bound to have a profound effect on our lives. There is power in this and we need to be aware of that power. If you are not consciously aware and proactive in having power over your wealth and stuff, your wealth will have power over you.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “We do not ride upon the train, the train rides upon us.”


If we are not wise, instead of managing our wealth, our wealth will manage us.


How do I know if I am in control or the other way around? How do I know if I am truly in love with God or I am truly in love with my money? Andy Stanley poses this question to help, “Would you be more upset to find out there was no God, or that you had no money in any of your accounts?”


Here is another way to examine ourselves:


I see myself as an owner I see myself as a trustee

Place an x somewhere on that line.


A trustee is someone who has been given responsibility for something that doesn’t belong to them. A trustee does not own or even control something, but cares for it, holds it in trust.

Notice I am not saying you must be in poverty. Poverty is not a good thing for anyone. In fact, Jesus says that we should learn a little in how to use “unrighteous money” to serve the righteous ways of God.In Luke’s gospel Jesus tells the story of how a money manager had been accused of mismanaging his master’s funds. To get back in his master’s good graces, the steward quickly settles accounts with some of the master’s debtors on terms that they won’t refuse. So the steward releases people from the debts and gets the master a bunch of money in the process. Everyone likes the steward.

“I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous money, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.” Luke 16.9

This has been a notoriously difficult passage for the Christian church to get a handle on through the ages. But a few things are clear:

Notice in reference to money, not “if” it fails, but “when it fails. . .” Use it for better things than itself. Use it to accomplish good. Use it to make an eternal impact.

John Wesley interpreted this teaching and distilled it into three simple rules:

Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.

The earning part draws us out and keeps us out of poverty. The saving and giving draw us away from selfishness and turn our concern beyond our immediate wants to the needs of others both now and later. We can make impact far beyond what we thought possible. The effect this teaching had upon the largely lower class people of England in Wesley’s day was phenomenal. These people were largely factory workers and farmers. Yet, the people called Methodist began to face a problem that many of them had not faced before, a rising standard of living and how to faithfully follow Jesus with newfound wealth.

Greater faithfulness to the poor and those in need was the answer. They considered themselves stewards and trustees of this bounty rather than private owners.

When the subject of “our money” comes up, we want to know how much is enough to save, how much is enough to give? It’s like other areas of our lives when we are challenged by the word of Jesus, we want to know what is the least common denominator of a faithful response. We want know how much sin we can get away with, how much weakness will a forgiving Savior tolerate?

The question isn’t, “How much sin am I allowed? The question is “Am I moving toward the darkness or toward the light? Am I growing toward God, or away from him? Am I becoming more sensitive and responsive to Jesus?

“He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.” Luke 16.10


God meets us where we are. Frank Laubach preached the gospel to a tribe that had a long history of violence. The chief was so moved by Laubach’s preaching that he accepted Christ on the spot. He then turned to Laubach in gratitude and said, “This is wonderful. Who do you want me to kill for you?”

That was his starting point. What is your starting point when it comes to being faithful with your wealth and income? Are you ready to move with Jesus?


The Lord is not looking for a dramatic gesture of sacrifice, as in, “Here Lord, here is a big check for you!” No, the Lord is looking for obedience and faithful steps.

“To obey is better than sacrifice.”


Jesus makes it clear that he is the one doing most of the work. “Consider the lilies. . .” I take care of them, won’t I, don’t you think I, will take care of you? You gotta love the sincerity of the question!


Bill Hybels preached a series at his church called, “Enough.” After one of the sermons, he challenged members of the congregation to raise their hands if they were willing to surrender their possessions and lifestyles fully to God and actually decide to use their resources to serve the poor and honor God. There was a time for public declaration of intent. Then Bill said he wanted to have a word with all the folks who did not raise their hands. And this is what he said:

“I hope you have a terrible afternoon. And then I hope you have a terrible evening. I hope the Holy Spirit keeps after you, and you have to keep thinking this one through, until you’re able to raise your hand as well.”

Friends, when I am less than faithful to God, God gives me a troubled conscience. That’s the gift of the Holy Spirit at work in me. The Spirit creates a holy discontent until I do the right thing. Friends, my wish for you is faithfulness and a clear conscience, but in the absence of faithfulness, I wish you a troubled conscience. I wish you the gift of holy discontent. I wish us all a terrible day and week, until we obey the Lord.

Giving



Do you see yourself in one of these people? Are you the girl who finds reasons not to give based on how well the church seems to be doing? Are you the guy who congratulates himself over and over on how much he gives and what a humble tool he is?
Are you the girl who is motivated by guilt to give based on past failures? Are you the guy who wants to give out of gratefulness to God?

Our cultural gives us definite messages on giving:

Give if it benefits you
Give if there is anything left over
Give out of a sense of duty

The Scriptures give us a decidedly different picture of giving. But before we get to that, I want to mention some results from our survey last week.


Our survey revealed some interesting insights. Most of you understood tithing to mean “a planned and consistent commitment.” That’s good. Although a few of you also added “depending on my finances” or “depending on the need of the church”, which is contradictory. But maybe you were just being honest there.

Many of you have heard good and consistent teaching on tithing and giving. But many of you indicated that you had not heard much teaching on this. So it’s important for all of us that we know what the Word of God has to say on this matter.


The word and practice of “tithing” comes from the Old Testament, involving two persons of legendary status, Abraham, father of nations, and the mysterious priest named Melchizedek. Melchizedek is called priest of the Most High God.

“See how great he is! Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of the spoils.” Hebrews 7.4

Abraham, we are told, was a wealthy man. He regarded as a noble and prince among different nations. A tenth of his wealth was quite a gift. Tithing starts with Abraham and Melchizedek but is seen in connection with the fact that God has made us stewards of the Creation. Everything we have belongs to God.

David reflected this belief and also the practice of a tithe when he seeks to honor God by buying a threshing floor to build an altar to God. The man from whom he is buying offers to give it to King David for free. But listen to David’s response:

“No, I will buy it of you for a price; I will not offer to God that which has cost me nothing.” 2 Samuel 24.24


Tithing becomes a consistent practice among God’s people. In a largely agricultural society it was understood that people of faith tithed what the land produced. You tithed all the resources God gave you. Tithing practices became so detailed among the Pharisees that Jesus criticized their practices because they used them to ignore justice and love for God.

Sometimes people want to claim that tithing was only an Old Testament thing. But Jesus tells the Pharisees you ought to tithe and do these other things.

One the comments on our surveys was, “God doesn’t want more money.” Well, that’s true in a fashion. God doesn’t need our money. But when I hear that comment I think sometimes it’s used as an excuse to let us off the hook for lack of faithfulness. I’m not saying that’s what this person is doing. But I am saying that God clearly instructs his people to give and give with purpose, sacrifice, and consistency.

In the New Testament Church tithing was clearly practiced, but it was seen as a minimal step of faithfulness to God. How can I say that?

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need.” Acts 2.44-45

The followers of Jesus were bringing it all to God. Did God need it? No, but the church did. Because the church was ministering and making disciples.


It was understood that not everybody would give the same amounts, but everyone would give faithfully. And faithfulness is understood as planned and consistent offering to God.

St. Paul writes to the church at Corinth, “For if the readiness (to give) is there, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he has not.” Chapter 8.12

He continues, ‘Arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as an exaction but as a willing gift. . . Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.” 9.5-8

Did you catch that last part? God is able to provide us, so that we may provide an abundance for every good work.”

We are doing some great work at Hicks. We are living into a vision of

Making Disciples, Creating Community

When we see new babies and new adults baptized in Christ, we know that vision is moving here. When we see new people step into worship, fellowship, and service, we know that community is being created.

We offer help in thousands of dollars to families in our own fellowship who are in need. We help many more people in need in our community. We fund multiple ministries locally and globally. We tithe our budget every year so that we are always giving at least ten percent to needy ministries. We have a budget of over $260,000.

We are doing a lot. But we are lagging in faithfulness in our giving. Over sixty percent of us gave less than $1,000 last year to the church. Now, less than a thousand may still represent a faithful tithe for some; but not for many of us. We can look at the numbers any way you want and it tells the same story. Most of us are not approaching a tithe.

Many of you requested more awareness and information about our church needs and finances. We’re going to do that for you. But I want remind you that our first and best step is always to look at our giving from the biblical tithe perspective and only secondarily according to the budget and needs and so on.

There was a minority view expressed in the survey that we talk about money too much. Those who expressed that also tended to underestimate the amount of weekly giving we needed to fulfill the ministry of the church. (It’s at least $5,000 per week) If we talk about money too much, then apparently the right information is not getting through. Jesus talked about money a lot more than we do. That should tell us something about faithfulness.

“There is no such thing as being right with God and being wrong with money.” Ben Patterson

God wants us to know that giving will free us. Giving will make our lives a blessing. I’ve never talked to a person who tithes without hearing how God seems to always provide for their needs, even when its scary to give.


God shows up when we are scared, if we want him to. Let’s pray.