Tithers are blessed
NOVEMBER 27, 2007 (TUESDAY) – A long time ago, King Belshazzar received a message from God, written on the wall: “Your days are numbered!” (Daniel 5:26) That’s the message I’m getting, too. Scott Jones has been called as our pastor, and his first Sunday in the pulpit will be on January 13, 2008. We all are looking forward to his moving to Rockport and settling in as our pastor.
If all goes as planned, I will be interim pastor at Rockport six more weeks. We have several special events scheduled for this time period. I will not be preaching at every service. For those of you who may be interested, click here for a list of the worship services for the rest of my tenure.
I’ve been thinking about the changes in our economy since I moved to Rockport in 1964, and how the dollar has been devalued over those 43 years. Let’s suppose that I misplaced a dollar bill when moving to Rockport, and just found it after all these years. The dollar I found today would not have the same value it had when I misplaced it. It would be worth only sixteen cents today. If I put the same amount in the offering plate today that I did in 1964, it’s not really the same amount, is it? Of course, if a person is a tither, his giving automatically increases as his income increases. It was 10% in 1964, and it’s 10% today. If you are interested in knowing what a fixed amount in a given year in the past is worth today, just click here.
The church at Rockport will vote on a budget for 2008 this week. I’m guessing that it will be more than this year’s budget, which totals about $775,000. The government tells us that 2008 prices will be 2.3% higher than 2007, so the budget has to increase nearly $18,000 just to finance the same ministries that are going on this year.
What if all the members of a church tithed? God would be pleased. He says, “Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.” (Malachi 3:10 The Message Translation.) What would be the total annual budget?