Here’s a bit of vulnerability for you: Not all weekends are equally comfortable for me. Sometimes you aren’t sure how things are going to go. Frankly sometimes you are nervous about a subject matter. I get this way when it’s time to talk about MONEY. I know, I know, I KNOW! We need to do it! Jesus did it. The Bible isn’t shy about it. I don’t like that this is so hard for me but for now at least, it is.
All that being said, this weekend was that weekend. This was a HUGE deal for Jesus! I just read yesterday that the average Christian gives under 3% of their income. So it’s obviously a huge deal for us.
If there’s ever a weekend where you need to really worship it’s one in which you are going to try and dethrone a false God – MAMMON!
We talked about 3 reasons we at Journey need to make this SHIFT
• ME reason – bottom line we need to give for the sake of our own soul
• US reason – we won’t be able to do the stuff that God is inviting and calling us to do if we don’t make this shift.
• GOD reason – it honors Him when we give sacrificially, when we demonstrate that He indeed really is our God
JOURNEY’S FINANCIAL SITUATION – I mentioned in the message that we are off budget. When talking about the “US” reason it seemed to fit and I had a number of people encouraging me that “people want to know what’s going on, they would want to know this.” Here are the basic facts:
Budget – it’s very conservative and is based on last year’s actual receipts. Year to Date the budget is $470,996.
Actual – So far we’ve given $419,021.
We’ve cut some spending and there are some really important projects (our website for example) that we are holding off on. So it’s not like we are not paying our bills. But we need those of us that are a part of Journey to MAKE THE SHIFTS that we talked about
N to 1st – Begin regular consistent giving to God and His work
1st to 2nd – TITHE – many of us need to make this life changing shift
2nd to 3rd – Passionate SEEKING 1ST THE KINGDOM – this is where it begins to get fun
3rd to High Gear – SURRENDER – Yes, this is worship. Candidly, God will not stop till we get here.
So if you haven’t made a shift… SHIFT!
