After your sermon on tithing we decided to tithe that very day. To be honest, we didn’t have it but wanted to take God at His word. We wrote a check for our tithes and put it in the offering plate and decided to trust God. That was on Sunday.

By Thursday we were completely out of money – and we started looking back on the tithe.

We thought about doing various things to get some cash – but decided we would just trust God. He had said He would bless us so we decided to wait. We were having that conversation and my husband said something like, “No Honey. We tithed. We trusted. We will wait and see what God does.” Those words were not out of his mouth for 30 seconds when our phone rang! I could tell the conversation was about money. When my husband hung up the phone he was so excited. Someone was giving us a check for 10 times the amount of money we had tithed – as a gift!! God came through. We were in tears.

His promises can be trusted!!

This Sunday we are challenging everyone to take God at His promise on “Prove the Tithe” Sunday. Lets all trust God and know for ourselves that His promises can be trusted!!

She heard that recent sermon of yours, felt convicted to tithe on the gross, shared it with me and a discussion ensued.

We beat the horse to death (pros and cons)…is that right or not?…and so on. Finally, I told her we have to trust the man of God and obey his teachings, but ask the Lord to deal with him and educate him if he is dispensing ungodly counsel to the flock (even if erroneously).

We committed to tithe…and to tithe on our gross…to our hurt this week. Well, you know the rest, sortof. {We received}  a check for each of us in the amount of $ _____ ……… this was almost the exact amount we were tithing to our hurt!

Yep. There’s a lesson for you and us. We learned you were “right on the money” (pun intended) about tithing on the first fruits (the gross…before Cesar–or Obama–gets his), and you will learn that God prompts the heart (and purse strings) in mysterious ways for His purposes, spiritually.

This week is “Prove the Tithe” Sunday. Why don’t you join us in claiming the promise of God and watch as He blesses your life – He promised!!

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

A few weeks ago I spoke about the promise of God from Malachi 3:7-12 regarding tithing. I expounded the Scripture and explained that God would bless you for tithing. The best financial advice you can follow is God’s advice – tithe and He will bless you beyond measure. We are even giving you the opportunity to try it together as a church family on Oct. 17th when we have “Prove the Tithe” Sunday.  We are challenging everyone to test God {He told us to} and tithe!! Some have already tried it and found Him faithful.

The week after I preached on the Promise of the tithe I received this email from a church member. I got their permission to share:

Yesterday you spoke about tithing, something God had already been dealing with me on since He blessed {my husband} with a new job which you and I both know are scarce right now.  I wrote a larger check than I had planned on in order to step out on faith.  Today an unexpected check came in the mail that more than covered the one I wrote yesterday.  I cried tears of joy, and I wanted to share God’s goodness with you.  You are such a blessing every day to our family—thanks for always preaching the messages we need to hear even when they are hard ones to hear.

That’s not “preacher talk” – that’s a real life example. The truth is I could ask any number of people and they would give the same testimony.

Don’t you think it’s time you trusted God? Don’t you think it’s time you tithed?

It’s the best investment advice I can give!

If you lived life claiming every promise that God had about:

• Family
• Finances
• Fear
• Witnessing
• Church
• Life’s Purpose
• Priorities

…what would your life look like?

The #1 factor that is keeping you or me from doing it is FAITH!! We want to trust God but sometimes just don’t seem to have the faith. FEAR wins out!! And, those are really the only two choices we have when it comes to the promises of God – Fear or Faith!

Are you afraid to trust God? Are we afraid of the outcome? Are you afraid you will mess up your life? The answer to all of those is “Yes”! But, there is a solution. 1 John 4:18 says, “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” The key to getting the fear out of our lives and filling it with Faith is the love of God!!

If you want to have faith to claim the promises of God, fall in love with Jesus!

So, why don’t you do it? Why don’t you just pick a promise of God and by faith say to Jesus, “God I’m not sure I understand all of this but I’m going to believe it and act on it!” If you would, you would change your life for the good forever.

Walk with Jesus – Throw out Fear – Take Hold of the promises of God by Faith!!

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world…” 2 Peter 1:4

Below is an article from Lifeway about growing Spiritually.

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A fellow was raised in the back hills of West Virginia—I mean, so far out in the sticks, never in his life had he even seen a big city, to say nothing of modern inventions and neon lights. He married a gal just like himself and they spent all their married years in the backwoods. They had one son, whom they creatively named Junior. Around the time Junior reached his sixteenth birthday, his dad began to realize it wouldn’t be too many years before their son would become a man and would strike out on his own. It troubled him that his boy could reach manhood and wind up getting a job in the city, not prepared to face the real world. He felt responsible and decided to do something about it.

He and his wife started saving for a trip the three of them would take to the city. About three years later the big day arrived. They tossed their belongings in the ol’ pickup and started the long journey over winding, rough roads to the city. Their plan was to spend several days at a swanky hotel and take in all the sights. As they approached the outskirts of the metropolis, Papa began to get a little jumpy: “Mama, when we pull up at the hotel, you stay in the truck while Junior and I go in and look around. We’ll come back and git ya, okay?” She agreed.

Bright lights and uniformed doormen greeted them as they pulled up. Mama stayed put as Papa and Junior walked wide-eyed toward the lobby. Neither could believe his eyes! When they stepped on a mat, the door opened automatically. Inside, they stood like statues, staring at the first chandelier either of them had ever seen. It hung from a ceiling three stories high. Off to the left was an enormous waterfall, rippling over inlaid stones and rocks. “Junior, look!” Down below was an ice skating rink—inside.

While both stood silent, eying one breathtaking sight after another, they kept hearing this clicking sound behind them. Finally, Papa turned around and saw this amazing little room with doors that slid open from the center. “What in the world?” People would walk up, push a button and wait. Lights would flicker above the doors and then, “click,” the doors slid shut. By now, dad and son stood totally transfixed.

At that moment a wrinkled old lady shuffled up to the doors all by herself. She pushed the button and waited only a few seconds. “Click,” the doors opened with a swish and she hobbled into the little room. No one else stepped in with her, so “click,” the doors slid shut. Not more than twenty seconds later the doors opened again—and there stood before them this fabulously attractive young woman in her twenties—high heels, shapely body, beautiful face—a real knockout! As she stepped out, smiled, and turned to walk away, Papa nudged his boy and mumbled, “Hey, Junior . . . go get Mama!”

Seems that everybody these days is looking for a little room like what Papa thought he had found. A place where if they push the right button, wait momentarily for the door of opportunity to slide open, then like magic, in only a matter of seconds they would be instantly transformed. Think of all the money people would save from cosmetic surgery and all the time they would save from exercise and all the guilt they would save from dieting.

I think believers would even like a room like this in their spiritual life. In the twinkling of an eye they could go from spiritual infants to spiritual adults. Physically the maturation process does not occur this way and neither does it spiritually. Spiritual growth like physical fitness requires work, time, and a willingness to grow. No shortcuts exist for spiritual maturity.

Spiritual growth is not an option for believers. God intends for every believer to grow to spiritual maturity. His word commands us: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). That’s our obligation—and our privilege. The primary goal of spiritual life is human transformation.

But, many people have a mistaken idea about what spiritual growth involves.

I. The Misconceptions of Maturity

A. Spiritual maturity comes with age.
Granted age provides us with more experiences and the chances of growth are greater as one increases in years, but age does not guarantee growth. Not everyone who grows old, grows up. There is a vast difference between age and maturity.

B. Spiritual maturity is instantaneous.
This myth stands in direct opposition of the first misconception. Just because one has given his or her life to Christ does not mean instant maturity. As in physical life, spiritually one grows from infancy to adulthood. The thrust of Biblical teaching emphasizes the long-term, patient, undramatic growth of Christian character through unspectacular means. Growth takes time.

C. Spiritual maturity involves activity.
Some folks think that the mature Christians are the busy ones. But busyness doesn’t result in maturity nor can it be substituted for it. It may, in fact, be a hindrance to what really is vital and important to spiritual growth.

D. Spiritual maturity is knowledge.
A person may have a lot of facts, a lot of information, but that can’t be equated with spiritual maturity. Unless one’s knowledge transforms his life it is doing nothing more than informing his life.

II. The Meaning of Maturity

What do we mean by spiritual growth?

Spiritual maturity is Christlikeness.
The Bible says, “Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, [growing] into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness” (Eph. 4:13). Maturity equals a life that resembles Christ’s life. No other meaning may be allowed to substitute. All other meanings will be lesser, man-made alternatives that disguise the all-demanding standard God sets before us in the Scriptures. Granted, age, knowledge, activity, and zeal would be easier standards by far. But God’s standard, his meaning of maturity is none of these things. The only measurement that counts, according to Ephesians 4:13 is being like Jesus.

Are we growing more and more like him? Do we love God as God loves us? Do we love others as God loves people?

On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a portrait with the following inscription: James Butler Bonham—no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by his family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom.

No portrait of Jesus exists either. But his likeness is to be seen in us, his followers, as we grow to maturity.

III. The Steps to Maturity

If the goal of the Christian life is to resemble Christ, then there must be some steps that we can take in our journey to reach our destination. These steps are not difficult. We cannot be spectators in spiritual growth. By consistently practicing certain mechanics GROWTH will occur.

A. Get accountable.
“Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). Maturity flourishes with accountability. Granted, no one wants to be accountable much less to be held accountable. Yet nothing like accountability will take us to maturity.

B. Read the Bible daily.
“The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). The Bible is food for the believer. It becomes the source of spiritual nourishment and sustaining strength.

C. Offer yourself in worship.
“Not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Heb. 10:25). Every member of the human race was created to worship. Our lives begin to resemble what it worships. Therefore, if we want to resemble Christ we must worship him. And it must be an all the time thing not a sometime thing. Unless we are prepared to worship God with all of our lives, we will find it nearly impossible to worship God for one hour on Sunday.

D. Witness for Christ.
Jesus said, “My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8). If Jesus is alive and growing in us then a natural outgrowth is to share him with others. Witnessing brings all the other disciplines of spiritual growth into practice.

E. Take time to pray.
Again Jesus said, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Prayer is dialogue with God. It is not like beeping God or sending him a fax. Prayer comes out of a relationship with God. It is a personal conversation with God.

F. Honor God by giving financially to a local church.
“’Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,’ says the LORD of Hosts. ‘See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure’” (Mal. 3:10). There can be no significant Christian growth without the money we have at our disposal being placed in the Lord’s hands for his use. Financial giving to God’s work is not a debt I owe but a seed I sow for growth to continue in my life. To take the other steps and leave off tithing is like going to the fitness center, exercising on the equipment, without working up a sweat. We are not giving all of ourselves if we aren’t giving our money to God’s house.

These steps to GROWTH are the non-negotiables of spiritual maturity.

IV. The Examination of Maturity
Based on the following words—Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood—answer two questions.

First, where are you spiritually?
In other words, where would you place your spiritual growth to date? Which word would you circle to best describe your spiritual maturity?

The word you circle is not the most important aspect of this exercise. For example if you have recently said Yes to Jesus then it stands to reason that you would be at the infancy stage. If you have been a Christian for a short time then you might circle Childhood or Adolescence.

The second question is the critical one.

Are you spiritually maturing in your walk with Christ?
If yes, from your circle draw an arrow pointed to the right. If no, draw an arrow pointed to the left.

Remember life results in growth. If we are not growing we are dying. Spiritual growth is not found in a little room where quick changes occur. It is found in a daily obedience to practice the necessary disciplines so we become more like Jesus Christ.
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Rick Ezell is the pastor of First Baptist Greer, South Carolina. He has served churches in Naperville, IL, Scottsburg, IN and Overland Park, KS for the past twenty-three years.

I want to encourage you in a different way this summer. I want to encourage you – “Don’t Leave Home WITH it”! With what? With your tithes and offerings that belong to the Lord.

It is pretty common practice for churches to experience summer slumps in giving. Why? Some Christians take their tithe money that belongs in the work of God and spend it on vacation. Instead of giving it to the Lord, they give it to “Mickey”. It is too tempting to take that little “extra” with you on vacation just in case you need it. And, many probably do it with the good intentions of making it up when you get back – but that gets harder and harder with each passing week or month.

So, this summer season when most churches experience a financial decrease – at Liberty let’s do the opposite! Let’s increase in our giving so that we can do even more Real Life Ministry this year.

Here are a few tips to make that happen:

• Don’t take your tithe/offering on vacation. Leave it at home so you won’t spend it.
• Mail your tithe/offering in to the church the day you leave.
• Give online before you leave. We now have online giving through our website to make it even more convenient for you to give to the work of the Lord.
• Give extra during the summer months. We incur so many expenses in the summer months with VBS, camps, etc. It’s a great time to give a little extra to the Lord in the form of an offering to help with summertime costs.

It would be awesome to get to the end of the summer and have given so that we have more to do ministry with than we ever have. More money to put into our building campaign ~ more to invest in missions ~ more to help us reach our community.

You are a great church and I know we can do it! This summer – “Don’t Leave Home With it”!!

2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.

1. My marriage is fine I don’t need a workshop.

2. My marriage is a mess but it is too late.

3. My marriage is a mess but I’m not going to admit it. My head is in the sand.

All three are the result of faulty thinking.

First if your marriage is fine you can use the workshop to make it great. Marriage is not one of those things you “conquer” and then move on to something else. It is one of those things that has to be continually managed. Problems can develop overnight that set us back. You can use the Real Life Marriage workshop as preventative maintenance.

For the second group, know that is never too late. I have seen marriages come back together from the worst of circumstances. Your marriage is worth giving it every effort you can. Your marriage is well worth a six hour and $97 chance.

For the third group – get your head out of the sand!! Don’t play games with your marriage. It is too important.

The Real Life Marriage workshop is just a few days away. I urge you to sign up.

Your Marriage is worth it!!

Why don’t church’s have more money? Because the average church member gives less than 3% to the Lord’s work. Too many Christians waste too much money…..

Randy Alcorn speaks to that issue in the video below. Watch it and ask God what He can do through you in 2010.

As a matter of fact, this time of year many people make resolutions that revolve around molding them into the person they want to BECOME. Sadly, most people drop their resolutions within weeks.

According to A Marist University Poll,

Keeping Their Word?

33% of Americans recall making a New Year’s resolution last year, but how successful were they?  Of those residents, 65% said they kept their promise for at least part of the year while 35% did not.  Men were more steadfast than were women.  70% of men kept their resolution for at least part of 2009.  This compares with 59% of women.

Dedication has grown among Americans who have previously made a resolution.  While 65% of residents kept their resolution for 2009, 60% did so in 2008.

Why do we fail in our New Years Resolutions? Because we don’t know how to change. The Bible gives us clear instructions on how to BECOME the person we would like to be.

Starting this Sunday, I will share with you how you can BECOME all God intended for you to be. I will examine change in general, and then over the next few weeks we will look at some of the New Years Resolutions everyone makes and what the Bible says about them.

If you want to improve your family, finances, organizational skills, and many other things – don’t miss a service.

Check us out at www.libertybaptistchurch.ws

See you Sunday – prepare to leave changed!!

There was just one problem – they took it all away! Come to find out, she had actually won about $2 – but the machine had malfunctioned and awarded her nearly $42 million.  It went all the way to the Alabama Supreme Court and they ruled she did NOT win the $42 million. Imagine, she thought she had found the “golden goose” only to discover she was empty handed.

Really, everything in the world is like that. Any “gold” you think you earn in this world will only turn up fools gold in the next. Heed the advice of Jesus and accumulate more in heaven than you do on earth. Lay up treasures in heaven. Treasures like good works, souls of men, tithes and offerings, and a holy lifestyle. You’ll be glad you did.

And, one thing for sure, no one – not even the government- can take it away from you!

Matthew 6:20

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.