2011 Spring Trust God Sunday

Words cannot describe how wonderful our service was today, and really for the past 6 to 8 weeks. It is simply amazing how God is moving in Macedonia. We still have our issues, the devil is still roaring and this week was the worst week I have ever experienced as a Pastor. The attacks have been both personal and public but somehow it didn't defeat me but rather it just gave me more fuel to run on a little while longer.

Trust God Sunday for the Macedonia church is the day where we commit to 100% tithing in our church. We ask people to do three things.

1. If you are not already a tither, we ask that you would pray that God would lead you into becoming a giver on this day. Take God's Challenge in Malachi 3:10:

"Test me in this" NIV
"Prove me Now"KJV
"Try me now in this"NKJV
"Put me to the Test"ESV
"I Challenge You to put me to the test"CEV

2. If you are already a tither, we ask on this Sunday for you to bring your tithe, we also ask that you would bring a Sacrificial offering on top of your tithe so that you can feel the same burden as your fellow member who is giving for the first time. We don't ask for an amount because what is a sacrifice in one house may not be in another.

3. We asked every member to pray that God would give us something to give and then that we would be obedient in our giving. We have been praying for 6 weeks for this day. We usually pray the Month of February.

The music ministry under the direction of Minister Javon Lewis had church jumping from the opening praise song. The choir loft is over my office so when I heard them start stomping and jumping, I ran upstairs to get me some of that. They have made preaching so easy for me over these past few weeks, I cannot explain.

The choir was trying to get me to sing with them but I was fighting that off; however after they finished the church went into "Yes Lord" and for some reason(God) Javon went into "I will trust in the Lord" right after that and that's all she wrote. Let me tell you a good hymn will still destroy a church and a preacher. That makes two weeks in a row, I have been singing before I preach. I am going to the doctor as I don't sing unless I am sick or the Spirit is really high.

We preached on Proverbs 3:5-6 and encouraged the members to:

Trust God ENTIRELY vs 5a "with all your heart"
Trust God EXCLUSIVELY vs 5b "Do not lean until thy own understanding"
Trust God EXTENSIVELY vs 6a "In all thy ways acknowledge him"

God blessed the sermon and our 2011 Spring Trust God Sunday. Through people committing to God, we took up today what we normally take up for a month. TO GOD BE THE GLORY.

Owens

Trust God Sunday

I pray that everyone had a wonderful time in the Lord on yesterday as God certainly blessed the Macedonia church family on our first "Trust God Sunday". I learned this concept from my pastor, Dr. A. Glenn Woodberry at Greater Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.

It was an initiative to try and get the church to commit to 100% tithing, not through gimmicks or tricks but a strong emphasis on what the Word of God says.
10I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test(CEV)
Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, (NIV)
Try it! Put me to the test! (NLT)
Test Me in this way, (HCSB)

We asked every member who was not a tither to "put God to the test" on the first Sunday in October and commit to tithing. If God doesn't keep his Word, you lose nothing but if He does what He says He will do, you gain everything.

We also asked everyone who is already a tither to commit in addition to their tithe on the first Sunday in October to bring a sacrificial gift to the Lord. The amount of the gift was to be between them and the Lord, for my retired saints, $5.00 over is a sacrifice so we asked God to lead them in this amount.

The Lord led me to preach on Matthew 14:22-33, "The Boat or the Water". The Lord was gracious and I want to thank our Fine Arts Ministry for their skit before I preached which helped set the atmosphere for the text. I also want to thank the production committee who built me a lake and provided me a boat which I preached from Sunday.

I was worried about preaching from the boat as first its not traditional and maybe I was doing too much. I became further worried when I saw too many cameras, cell phones and other devices flashing and filming as I said Uh oh, they gonna take your baptist card for this. However, in the short 19 months that I have been here as "pastor", I have never felt more free during the preaching moment than I did on Sunday.

In regards to the results, it was overwhelming. The testimonies began to flow almost immediately after church. I wasn't concerned about an amount or total as I am trying through the Word of God to create a lifestyle of giving not just a one day shot in the arm for the treasury. However on Sunday, God tripled our normal offering.

I praise God for all the members of Macedonia who decided to take God up on his offer and "Put him to the test" and God will keep His word. I look forward to even more testimonies to come. Thank you Macedonia for letting me be your Pastor and enduring my crazy attempts to make the Bible real in your lives. Don't give up on me!

Malachi 3:10-12 (English Standard Version)
10(A) Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby(B) put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open(C) the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11I will rebuke(D) the devourer[a] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. 12Then(E) all nations will call you blessed, for you will be(F) a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.