#3 GIVE IN THE ROOM ON SUNDAYS!

One thing I am asking all of us to consider here at Dream City is to STEP IT UP when it comes to giving and generosity—specifically in the area of Tithes and Offerings.

A good way to see if there is any room to STEP IT UP in this area is by answering the question: Is God FIRST in your finances?

If this is an area that you haven't surrendered yet, I want you to know that I am not asking you this to shame you…BECAUSE…I struggled with this too in the early stages of my walk with Jesus.

I had every excuse in the book as to why I didn’t need to tithe or give offerings. This is an area I struggled with for my first few years while I was IN THE MINISTRY.

But the Lord did TWO THINGS that rocked my world and set me free…

#1 - My Pastor…My Pastor called me out. Yep, he asked me to come by his office and confronted me. At first, I was ANGRY, but then he said something that completely changed my perspective.

He said, "Zac, I'm not trying to get anything from you, but I do want to see something FOR you. To prove this, I want you to, for the next three months, FAITHFULLY pay your tithes to ANOTHER church here in town, and if you are not MORE blessed in three months from now, I will refund you everything that you paid from my own pocket."

My Pastor disarmed my excuses.

First, he helped me see that he was actually loving me by telling me the truth, and second, he challenged me to put God to the test without the fear of losing anything. So, I decided to take him up on the challenge.

Note: I am incredibly grateful for a Pastor who had the courage to speak the truth in love. Looking back, I realize that if I had allowed my anger or embarrassment to drive me away or leave the church, I would have missed out on tremendous personal growth. In fact, I 100% believe that I would not be serving in ministry today had I not embraced that challenging experience. This taught me a valuable lesson: being angry or offended doesn't automatically make us right. Sometimes, a good pastor, guided by God, may confront us even if it risks upsetting us. It is in these moments of discomfort and confrontation that we have the opportunity to learn, grow, and ultimately fulfill our calling more effectively.)

Every week for three months, I would show him my tithe check that I was giving to the other church (I actually never heard anything from that church, by the way! lol).

And at the end of three months, I was blown away by how FAITHFUL God had been to me.

Honestly, what made it so easy to faithfully pay my tithes was that I knew that  my Pastor was a man of his word, and that if I actually asked for my money back, he really would have done it--I realized that that just as I could trust my Pastor to keep his word, I could TRUST God at His word!

Over those following weeks, the Lord began to show me through God's Word the truth regarding money.

This brings me to the SECOND thing that changed my life concerning giving and generosity…

#2 - God’s Word…Here are the verses that transformed my understanding of giving:

• Malachi 3:6-12 – Here, God revealed that my finances were under a curse because He was not first. He showed me that if I took a step of faith, He would bless me in ways beyond my imagination.

• Matthew 6:21 – Here, He showed me that IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to call Jesus “Lord” without my checkbook reflecting that declaration.

• Matthew 6:24 – I had to finally face the fact that being obsessed with money meant that I was not obsessed with God!

• I Corinthians 16:1-2 revealed that if I just did my part and gave, the church would not need to take up “special offerings” because the tithes would more than support God’s work.

• II Corinthians 9:6-15 hit me between the eyes! It showed me that I wasn’t giving because I didn’t trust God, and it was hypocritical of me to claim that I trusted Jesus with my eternity but would not trust Him with my checkbook.

• II Corinthians 9:15 was the NAIL in the coffin—God is a giver, a gracious giver, a generous giver. I deserved hell, but when I cried out to Him, Jesus saved me! That is a gift!!!

I finally came to the point where I confessed to God that I had been robbing Him (Malachi 3:8-9) and repented of this.

It was NOT easy, as every time I wrote my tithe check, I would think of other areas where I could spend that money.

BUT the Holy Spirit frequently reminded me, “Giving is one of the ONLY tangible ways that you can demonstrate your love for me!”

God demonstrated HIS love by giving! (John 3:16)

That’s my story...and I hope it will encourage you!

I am one of those people who can say it was a struggle for me to get to this point, but now that I’m here, I can’t afford NOT to tithe!!!

PLUS...It is all God’s anyway! anything we have is borrowed! We are merely a steward of His gifts.

If He says to put HIM FIRST (Proverbs 3:9-10), then I will do that.

He hasn’t led me astray—EVER! Besides, I spent many years without Him involved in my finances and got into nothing but trouble!

One more thing…tithing is the first step in putting God first, but it is NOT the only step.

Eventually, I discovered that I needed to learn how to live on a budget, get out of debt, make wise financial decisions, STOP buying on impulse, and invest…

NO ONE was teaching this in school, and most preachers are to afraid to preach about money and budgeting because it might offend someone!

OR Because it's hard to teach on something you aren't actually doing...

As I pastor I have a responsibility to talk about it when the Holy Spirit Leads, because money is a HEART issue, and how can I say I care about you, but not care about where your heart is and teaching about what God say's when it comes to this topic of money and giving!

To be honest, when I combined a budget, with the fact that I began tithing, I REALLY began to see some daylight.

This is why I’m asking everyone at Dream City to join the mission of reaching lost people every single week!

Because we want you to be BLESSED!

It's not because we want something from you, but we do want something FOR you!

If you don't attend Dream City but have been following along on this journey with us, I challenge you to STEP UP too!

Dream City Church, from the beginning, has been a grassroots effort, and people from all over the USA have bought into the vision of Dream City Church! This is an investment that will our live all of us!  We could not have done it without the faithful giving of God's people!

This is my story and journey to how I became a tither, set free to generosity!

God has been SO good to us, and I truly believe if all of us STEP UP in this area and start putting God FIRST in our finances, we will see God do INCREDIBLE things in our lives and Dream City!

If you're ready to take that step, you can give at by clicking HERE and follow the instructions!--PZ

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