This weekend, we talked about tithing (listen here). Always a touchy subject because money is among the most personal subjects we can talk about. You might balk at that statement, but think about it, who knows how much you make? Who knows how much you have in savings? Who knows how much debt you have? This is all information that we keep very close to the vest because we know it speaks volumes of us and our priorities.

As we looked into this discipline of tithing we heard loud and clear from God.

Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Challenge God on this? He said so. This is cool because God gives us permission, in fact, He commands us to test Him. What an opportunity to grow in faith. There is no way to lose here. God wouldn’t tell us to test Him if He wasn’t planning on passing. In fact, God is incapable of failure.

So, we took Him at His word. Individually, and corporately, we are testing Him. I asked the congregation if they were up to this tithing challenge. I said that if you are not in the habit of “Bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse (church),” we want to give you the opportunity to grow. Commit today to tithing for the next three months. If at any time you are not glad you are tithing, we will give you a full refund, no questions asked. If you don’t feel blessed by God, you can get out. Understand, that we don’t define blessing, God does, but we are leaving that to you. God says you will be blessed, and I don’t doubt you will recognize that blessing.

I asked anyone who was interested in this challenge to write the word “challenge” on their connect card and put it in the offering box. We had twelve families step up. I am so excited to see what God does in our lives. I can’t wait to hear the celebrations of God “pouring out so much blessing that you will not have room .”