I had the priviledge of seeing Voddie Baucham for the first time at North Point Church in Alphretta, Georgia. At first I was a little upset that Andy Stanley was not going to be speaking, however after Voddie got finished I was excited I was introduced to this pastor. My dad and brother showed this video to me over the weekend. Watch the brief clip where Voddie flips the script on the philosophy of “If God is so powerful and so good, why do bad things happen?” Join the Conversation – Thoughts?
Can God Trust You & Your Church?
I must confess, I have an issue with the so-called prosperity preachers and Christians. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to set myself up as a “judge and jury” against anyone, but my view of Christianity is a life of giving away and serving others rather than a life of obtaining and prospering. Jesus himself said, He did not come to be served, rather He came to earth to serve.
I really feel like Christmas came early this year. Nicki and I are not getting each other anything for Christmas. Honestly, we don’t need anything, and if we did there is a good chance we will get it as we need it throughout the year. However, our church did something different last month, I know some other churches that have done a similar project, but there are none in our area that I have heard of. During our “Bling” series we started the “Bless Back Campaign” where our church handed out free money to everyone in the congregation. The church took the equivilant amount to what we receive in a week in tithes and they divvied it up in envelopes, some people got $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and even $500. Now I have heard of churches that did a similar project, but the goal was for people to multiply the money and bring it back to the church for a building campaign or similar, but our goal at TCAG is to redefine church, so we simply gave it to people and asked them to bless someone else. Someone could simply take a single mom for coffee or help buy someone groceries, the ideas were totally left up to the individuals. (You can read the stories HERE under the “Celebrate” section). (Keep Reading its worth it…)
Our Community Group put our money together. It ended up being around $700 total. My mother-in-law knows a lady that fosters kids, and the one’s that she currently has have never had a Christmas. The lady picked up a second job just to try and earn enough to buy them some presents. So yesterday, the ladies in our group took the lady the $700 in cash and in a gift card plus a Wii and controllers that another family wanted to pitch in to help. That made my Christmas. These kids have had horrible lives up until their current Foster Home. A 6 year old girl has cigarette burns down her neck and back (Shane wants to adopt her and is trying to convince Diana to pursue it), a 7 year old boy is considered “un-adoptable” because he has to take 5 insulin shots a day (His name is Tristan and I want to adopt him…I never thought I would say I want to adopt a child so soon after Hailey, but how can you say someone is un-adoptable? Plus he would be a great playmate for Gavin), that’s just 2 of the 12 children in this home. Sure $700 won’t go real far with 12 kids, but at least they will have more of a Christmas than they would have. Just to hear the stories from our wives when they got home got me more excited than opening a gift for myself this Christmas. All day, I felt like I had experienced Christmas…and…Christianity for what it really is…giving away, not obtaining and not prospering because I named something and claimed it. (Keep going just a little more…)
I wish you could see what has happened in our church within the last 2 months. Our students did a 2 weeks of sacrifice and raised enough money (along with matching gifts) to buy right at 6 clean water wells with Blood Water Mission. Our church committed to purchasing 25 of 61 meals for Christmas through a local ministry center, our people bought over 40 of the 61 meals needed, and to cap it off, we adopted 4 families in our county who would not have a Christmas with gifts unless someone were to help them, and our church stepped up to the plate big time providing gifts for each family member plus enough food for a Christmas dinner. Here’s what gets me though, two of the families we helped lived in a city that is growing by the thousands, Grovetown, GA. God is going to be doing some awesome stuff in Grovetown in the coming months, but…One of those families was living right next door to a church. These people live in what was described to me as “filth.” They are just dirt poor, yet a church who claims to follow Christ, has done nothing to assist this family, and probably any of the other families around them. It just leaves me to wonder, what kind of Christianity is this? Am I saying that every church has to do a Bless Back Campaign like our church did? No, but can God even trust us or trust our churches to do what Hes already told us to do? Some churches may look at what we as a church did and say its extreme, but I would say, its really just us doing what we’ve been called to do, but American Christianity has become so shallow it makes genuine obedience look “extreme.”
So, Join the Conversation, Can God really trust us or trust our churches to live life trying to serve and to give rather than to obtain and prosper? What are your thoughts?
Hunting for Treasure
I’ve been hunting for treasure lately. It’s amazing how much I’ve already found, its only been small amounts here or there, but the amazing thing is…the more smaller ‘pots of gold’ that I find the the hungrier I get to find the big treasure chest!
This is where I have been lately…
My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. 2 Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. 3 Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. 4 Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. 5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. 8 He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. 9 Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. 11 Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe. 12 Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those those words are twisted… 16 Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman. Proverbs 2:1-11 (NLT)
I love this scripture, it challenges me everytime I read it…”Search for Wisdom, understanding, and insight like I would for silver or for hidden treasure.” I don’t do that…I have been lately, but I don’t want it to be a lately thing, I need it to be an everyday thing! The older I am getting (and yes it is happening…I found 3 grey hairs Saturday) the more I am realizing I need God’s wisdom, his understanding, and his insight. As a husband, a father, a Christ Follower, an employee, a church member, a citizen…you name it and I need wisdom to accomplish it or to lead in it. So I am on a treasure hunt for what I believe Solomon thought was the most valuable possession, Wisdom!
I love what scripture promises if we search for wisdom, my thought is, what if we searched for it like it was hidden treasure? I mean passionately, whole heartedly, recklessly sought after wisdom? That’s what I need to do!
[Wisdom] “I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me…For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.” Proverbs 8:17, 35 (NLT)
Join the Conversation: If you’ve learned one nugget of wisdom in your life that would benefit someone else, what would it be?
Would You Turn In $10,000?
Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.
Proverbs 22:6 (NLT)
Moses, the bagboy, found $10,000 in the bathroom of the grocery store where he worked. When you watch the video, you will see that he decided to turn the money into his manager so the owner of the money bag could retrieve their property. In this video, Moses attributes his decision to the lessons that he teaches young children in Sunday School, while in another video, Moses goes on to talk about the lessons he was taught to make ‘Wise Choices’ when he was also young in Sunday School.
As a youth leader, this makes me smile 🙂 – It must make this young man’s parents and youth leaders proud to see some of what they have invested in him stick. I hope as my kids get older what we are trying to teach them will stay with them.
h/t CNN
Can God Get A Loan?
If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and he will repay you! Proverbs 19:17
I found this verse interesting. People always talk about being ‘the hands and feet of Jesus’ to help those who are in need, but how about the ‘bank of Jesus?’ I think a lot of us look at giving to the poor in terms of what we have financially, we make comments like, “When God blesses me with extra, then I can give to others.” However, I get the impression that God works like this, “You give from whatever I’ve already given you, and then I’ll repay you based on your kindness.”
To me this puts a new perspective on Matthew 25:40 (MSG) where Jesus says, whatever we do to those overlooked and ignored, we do it to Him. Proverbs is saying that we are not giving our money to the poor…we are giving a loan to God, he’s just predesignated that he wants the money to go, and he wants it to go to those who are overlooked and ignored. This promise from Proverbs is not limited to “Christians.” I see tons of secular businesses that are very successful, and many times if you look behind the scenes they are highly involved in charitable giving. I just think the Church should be leading the way…
This is personally something I have to work on. My family is definitely not rich, but that cannot be an excuse! Join the Conversation…What do you think? Is God’s credit good enough at your bank?