Friday, February 08, 2008

Skittles Sunday




Do you like skittles candies? Well, whether you do or don’t, after this Sunday you will never look the same way at skittles candies ever again. In fact, you will never be able to see skittles candies in a store without a very important Biblical principle racing through your mind.

In our present series here at Grace Church that we are calling McWorship: Authentic Worship in a Fast Food Culture, we are studying through the book of Malachi and we are discovering eight key words that we must understand if we are going to be authentic worshippers of Christ. So far we have seen five of those words including:

LOVE: Authentic worship involves a proper response to the truth of God’s love!

SERVICE: Authentic worship involves serving God with our very best!

DISCIPLINE: Authentic worship involves obeying God without any compromise!

MARRIAGE: Authentic worship involves reflecting God in my marriage and family!

MESSIAH: Authentic worship involves focusing on the person of Jesus Christ!

This Sunday we will hone in on the word MONEY as we see the principle that authentic worship involves proper stewardship of my finances. In presenting this truth from Malachi 3:7-12, I will be using an illustration that I saw used by Ed Young Jr who pastors Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas.

Ed Young tells the story of the time that his little daughter asked him for money to buy some skittles. As she ate them, Ed asked her for one. She refused saying that they were hers. Ed then realized that his daughter didn’t realize some facts. First she didn’t realize where her money came from to begin with to buy the skittles. The money came from him. Second, she didn’t realize that her father was much stronger than her and could forcibly take them all away from her if he wanted. Finally, she didn’t realize that her father also had the ability to pull out his credit card and go back to that store and buy her more skittles than she could possibly eat in a year.

That’s when it hit Ed. That is exactly what happens to us as followers of God. All that we have financially comes from God. He simply asks us to bring a small portion of it to be used for His service. Yet we often refuse saying that our money is just that…ours. We fail to realize that God is powerful enough that he could take all of our stuff away from us if He desired. We also fail to realize that God also has the ability to bless us with more stuff than we ever dreamed. This Sunday you will see what we do with the skittles we will have in the service. It is a dynamic illustration that will help us to understand the Biblical principle of “bringing our whole tithe into the storehouse!” Don’t miss Sunday!

No comments: