Monday, March 10

Sunday Nite Speak!

* Great service tonight... my "l'il bro" Jumaine Jones did an incredible job filling in for me tonight! WOW! He spoke on The Art of Forgiveness... and it just hit home. Funny thing, I spoke on that same passage back during our Christmas messages on The Gift of Forgiveness... it's amazing to see how the Lord uses one text in different ways with different speakers! I'm so proud of Ju... it seems just like yesterday that we were bidding him farewell as he left to go to Dallas Seminary. Now, he's married... a pastor... mighty man of God... I love that dude, man! :-)

* I can't wait to preach next week! All these super-duper messages flying around... I've gotta get mine in! Haha... but seriously, it'll be good to be back up next week. In fact, I'll be filling in for Jumaine at The Bridge in the morning, then finally I'll be back up at Mosaic in the evening. Busy day, but I'll be up for it!

* Ju and I are traveling to Richmond in the a.m. for an SBCV Evangelism Conference... and, since I "can't see", I get to be "chaffeured"... SWEET! :-)

* Question: do you tithe off your income tax check(s)? We (Keda and I) do... not trying to pat ourselves on the back, but I was talking to someone today and they seemed surprised by it. But... to me... income is income. I figure you can't beat God giving... and it's not like He is sitting up there saying, "Look at that dunce!!!! Can you believe he just gave back a portion of his tax refund?? WHAT A MAROON!!!" No, I believe when the Scriptures say "give and it'll be given back to you," that it means just what it says. Income isn't just "salary"... it's whatever comes in. Tax refunds come in. Looking forward to the feeback on this one, boy... :-)

* We had an "unplugged" worship sound tonight... pretty decent! I still prefer having drums, but I like the creativity of changing things up sometimes.

* Marquita is so pretty... plus, she's getting her "high school skinny" body back, and is quite the rave right now! :-) She's soooo siced (DC word). Haha! Seriously, great going, babydoll... you're lookin' good! I'll post some pics soon... ;-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

D, what's a tithe? Suppose your company pays you $100. They also had to pay the gov't $7.65 behind the scenes. Plus they paid for mandatory workers comp, unemployment insurance, your health insurance, disability, and a few other things. Imagine that they actually spent $120 toward your wages. Your check says you grossed only $100 but then they took out FICA and Medicare ($7.65), federal taxes ($17) and state and local taxes ($7.50). Finally, you saved $5 for your 401(k). You grossed $62.85. What's your tithe? $6.28? $6.78? $10? $12? There's no good answer to my question. It's easy to get caught up in legalism and find fault with others who apply a different formula than us. Let's be aware of everything we receive (paycheck, benefits, tax refund, good health, sound mind, time on earth) and give accordingly.

DARREN PLUMMER: said...

Jeff,

Good point... I guess. You confused me pretty early on. :-) But our bottom lines seem to be the same: just be mindful of everything that God gives us and give back to Him accordingly. I'm not a stickler for the "tithe" per se... I use the term because most Christ-followers understand it as basic giving. So, I'm not legalistic with it... legalistic would be demanding people to give the FULL tithe (almost 24%) the OT law commanded. Also, the Bible doesn't speak of "tithing" on time or health or sound-mindedness... ;-)

Thanks for the comment, tho... good stuff!