Is God and His Kingdom worth more than a cell phone?
Asking people to give above and beyond their tithe (10% of their income) is not an easy conversation during this challenging economy. It almost seems I can talk about anything else no matter how invasive the subject with no blush as long as I don’t broach the subject of money. This topic has the potential to stir people up to anger.
Giving a gift to God should be a joyous action. For He gave us breath to enter this world, and then He gave us life in Jesus through salvation. Why would we not want to give back to Him? Why would we not want to invest in His kingdom so that the Word and the church can reach more people with the Gospel. It seems like that would be a no brainer for believers yet it stirs up stress everytime.
Let’s pull the conversation out of spiritual mode, and let’s place it in value mode. What do you value? If we were to look at what you spend your money on we could determine part of the story.
Last year 1,600 people gave a financial gift to Mount Ararat. This could be some people giving regular tithes because of their commitment to God and the church. This could also be a person or even a child that gave a one time gift. I started thinking about a possible “What if?”
What if 1,000 people of the 1,600 decided to give $200 a month for the next three years (36 months) to our Be Generous movement. Remember Be Generous is committed to giving 10% to missions (local & global projects), 10% to multisite strategy, 80% to debt to enable us to build again. For some $200 per month would be too much to give, while for others it would a small commitment to the Kingdom. If 1,000 people gave $200 per month it would equal $200,000 per month and $7,200,000 after three years!
I hate to admit this but at the Gaston home, we have four cell phones on a family plan where we pay $200 per month. For me the question is more humbling. Is God not worth more than a cell phone?
As the great Pastor Lon Solomon would say, “Not a sermon, just a thought!”
Definitely a worthwhile goal: give more to God than the phone compan! It reminds me of the question in 11th grasses Bible class (yeah, I had Bible class in high school, cool huh?) the question was: what’s God’s phone number? The answer was 3-3-3, after Jeremiah 33:3, and 15 years later I added the rest of HIS contact information to the Address book on my phone, thanks for reminding me to share it on a late “Tuesday night w/Todd”
Add God to your contacts part 1: Jer. 33:3. His phone # is 333, had it long before area codes and prefix’s. And He’s the triune God, so what could be Morris appropriate than 3, 3’s?
Add God to your contacts part 2:
God’s e-mail: Mark 6:31 (NIV/NASB) Meet.wMe.alone@quietplace.hvn
You can spend time on-line with God having a Mark 6:31 morning — 0631 is a good time to shoot a message down range, but we’ll get to “God’s best time to contact” later…
Add God to your contacts part 3:
God’s physical address: Acts 7:49 (7×7) and Psalm 139:7 (9-3+1)…
7 Nowhere-to-distant Dr.
Everywhere, Heaven & Earth 77777 -
yeah it’s a mystery… (and it’s a mystery how my mind works too)
Add God to your contacts part 4: Now that you’ve saved His info you should also know when to contact Him… So the best time to reach Him is right now. Eph 6:18
The Father, Son, & Holy Spirit