A message from Image Church member, Jake:
Shannon and I tithe and give offerings because it is one of the ways we can respond to show God that we trust Him and to acknowledge that everything we have is His already anyway. We also recognize the difference between our tithing, giving back a portion to God, and our offerings, giving above the tithe portion. And while we give in faith, God also faithfully takes our offerings and multiplies them, allowing us to give more the next time.
We encourage those that don't currently give to trust God and try it. We did and here are just a few things that we have experienced:
1. Early in our Christian walk, we decided to give an extra $200 during the offering. The next Monday at work, I received an award for $2000. Our offering was exactly 10% of what we received.
2. I changed positions at work, which could have resulted in a possible pay decrease. We agreed that we would continue to tithe our existing amount, even if the pay decreased, and within a couple of hours we received an email saying there would not be a decrease in pay. Later that year during performance reviews, I received a larger than normal raise!
3. While being in debt and often relying on a small savings to pay bills each month, we felt like we were relying on the savings rather than God. Again, we were in agreement, and emptied our savings, tithing to our Church and giving the rest to several ministries and to those in need. Each month, even without a savings account to fall back on, we continuously saw our bills being paid and our debt getting lower. Within the year, our debt was almost gone! And a few years after that, we were giving more than we ever had before and our savings growing as well.
We don't share these to say that if you give, here is what God will do, but to say that because of who God is, you will not be disappointed if you tithe and give offerings.
You can join Jake and Shannon this Christmas season by giving above and beyond to support our One Gift offering HERE. Please select One Gift in the drop down.