This month is budget projection month and I want to put some more practical things in your hands about giving and what the Bible teaches about it. So throughout this week I will post several biblical principles about giving in the local church. Here's #1...
1. Everything belongs to the Lord in the first place.
1 Chronicles 29:14–16 (ESV)
14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. 16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.
Let's be honest, we know this but we just don't want to fully accept it and operate within it. Why? Because if God owns it, then he determines how it's managed, but if we own it we can determine how it's managed, right? On a fundamental level, we have a real problem with authority and fully submitting to Jesus. We must, by his grace, come to grips with the reality that He created everything, include us, and he has absolute authority and ownership over everything, even the money we worked hard to "earn."
Learning to trust Him with you,
Dave
South Asia Trip
Exciting things happening at North Church!!!
January 3-13, we will be sending a team to S. Asia in partnership with Freshwater Church in Bolivar, MO. The team will consist of 7 individuals (3-NC, 4-FW).
January 3-13, we will be sending a team to S. Asia in partnership with Freshwater Church in Bolivar, MO. The team will consist of 7 individuals (3-NC, 4-FW).
The goals of the trip will be the following:
- A vision trip to see how NC can further partner and support the believers and churches there
- To encourage and train the national church planter and his guys
- To encourage and disciple believers within the 5 church-plants and 2 widow colonies
- To help break new ground through prayer, evangelism and story-telling
How you can get involved:
1. PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!
- Team unity with 2 churches going
- Effective team training meetings as we are planning and preparing
- Reception of visas before we leave
- Our national church planing partner and his family - His uncle passed away Sunday and the funeral is Wednesday.
- Raising funds - $2000 per person
2. EAT AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO EAT!
Helfer's Pastries and Deli Cafe - giving 10% of every bill to our team when you mention North Church. Now until Jan 4.
Helfer’s bakes amazing Christmas cookies, pastries, and cakes that would be perfect for your office or Christmas party. You can also stop into the deli for breakfast, lunch or dinner. M-F 6am-6:30pm, Sat 6am-6pm.
Helfer's is located on the corner of St. Ferdinand/Graham and Washington/Charbonier in Florissant. (380 St. Ferdinand St.).
Frontenac Grill - giving 15% of every bill to our team on DEC 29 only for lunch or dinner.
The Frontenac Grill is a new fine dining restaurant at S Lindbergh and Conway Road (731 South Lindbergh Blvd), owned by the Talayna family. They serve prime steaks, pasta and Talayna’s famous pizza in four different styles. This would be a perfect time for a client lunch or holiday dinner with your family.
Please make a reservation for lunch or dinner by calling 314-569-4115 and mention India. Print out this ticket to present to your server to ensure your bill will count towards our team.
Please make a reservation for lunch or dinner by calling 314-569-4115 and mention India. Print out this ticket to present to your server to ensure your bill will count towards our team.
3. GIVE FINANCIALLY!
Online donations can be made by clicking here. Or you can make a check out to "North Church" and mail it to 49 Meditation Way Ct. Florissant, MO 63031. All gifts are tax-deductible and must be received by Dec 26.
Greed, Baseball and Albert Pujols
I put up a tweet today that simply said "Greed..." I am not sure if greed was a factor in Albert's decision to leave St. Louis to go play for the Angels. I suspect that it was at least some sort of factor, but I do not know him personally. I don't want to make a judgment about Albert, at least I do not intend to.
Ultimately greed is bad and it is in everyone of our hearts. This Pujols situation is a platform to expose the greed that is in our culture. Again, I do not intend to label Albert as greedy, there may have been other circumstances in play that I am not aware of. Even if Albert was completely motivated by greed, the conversation of greed in our culture does not start or end with Albert Pujols. It is present with or without a $260,000,000 contract to play baseball.
Many have said, "If someone offered you more money to move, you would move." But that does not make it right. It just means that I might be influenced by greed or pride or the need to be respected through money. If I am influenced by those things then I am wrong and have sin in my life. We all have sin in our lives.
This is present everywhere. According to Forbe's magazine, in a 12 month period Johnny Depp made $75,000,000. Ben Stiller made $53,000,000. Tom Hanks made $45,000,000. That is just silly.
Meanwhile, take a look at the price of a movie ticket. Take a look at the escalation of baseball ticket prices.
What I object to is calling pride and greed, ambition and business. Pride and greed are sins and they are both present in us all and should not be celebrated. They should be identified and rooted out of us.
The whole process and this whole blog post serve to take us to the gospel. Proving once again, that we are filled with sin and in need of redemption. Forgiveness of sin and complete forgiveness and redemption is offered through Jesus Christ.
Ultimately greed is bad and it is in everyone of our hearts. This Pujols situation is a platform to expose the greed that is in our culture. Again, I do not intend to label Albert as greedy, there may have been other circumstances in play that I am not aware of. Even if Albert was completely motivated by greed, the conversation of greed in our culture does not start or end with Albert Pujols. It is present with or without a $260,000,000 contract to play baseball.
Many have said, "If someone offered you more money to move, you would move." But that does not make it right. It just means that I might be influenced by greed or pride or the need to be respected through money. If I am influenced by those things then I am wrong and have sin in my life. We all have sin in our lives.
This is present everywhere. According to Forbe's magazine, in a 12 month period Johnny Depp made $75,000,000. Ben Stiller made $53,000,000. Tom Hanks made $45,000,000. That is just silly.
Meanwhile, take a look at the price of a movie ticket. Take a look at the escalation of baseball ticket prices.
What I object to is calling pride and greed, ambition and business. Pride and greed are sins and they are both present in us all and should not be celebrated. They should be identified and rooted out of us.
The whole process and this whole blog post serve to take us to the gospel. Proving once again, that we are filled with sin and in need of redemption. Forgiveness of sin and complete forgiveness and redemption is offered through Jesus Christ.
The Incarnation
Join us starting Sunday December 4 as we embark on a study examining the coming of Jesus Christ. We have title this series of worship experiences "The Incarnation" because we want to focus in on a beautifully artful theology that will bring us to place of wonder that God would leave perfectly rhythmic heaven to take on a breakable body and live among people who will abandon, lie and torture. All of this for the sake of becoming our hero.
This is the incarnation...God sending Jesus into the world as an absolute guarantee that he will do everything he has ever promised he would do.
Steadfast Love
One of my favorite phrases in all of scripture is "Steadfast Love". It is found mostly in the Psalms, which are mostly meditations and poetry of men who deeply experienced the love of God.
At first notion, steadfast love speaks of the fact that no matter what we do, God will always love us. I am reminded of this type of steadfast in the way I love my kids.Many times I have told them that I will always love them no matter what. I say this frequently in the early ages so that when the real hard stuff happens as they get older, the idea that I love them not matter what is pressed deep into them and they never doubt that I love them.
But there is a second notion with this phrase that I want to get you to think about. I pray that this notion is pressed deep into your soul so that you will never forget it.
The God of the universe loves you with a steadfast love. That means that not only will his love never change based on your actions; but it also means that it will never HAVE to change to completely satisfy your soul.
This is a very impractical notion. It does not make in sense in the light of life. If God loves me with this sort of love that does not need to change in order for me to be completely satisfied, then why is my heart restless, why do want for things?
The simple answer is that we are so easily distracted. As C.S. Lewis puts it, "a child go on making mud pies in the slums because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea."
A.W. Tozer says, "God wills that we should push on into his presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day."
God has been pressing in on me much lately to pray with passion and fervor for those he has connected my heart to, tonight I pray this for you, "God would you give us a burning heart for you? Show us the steadfastness of your love. Remove distraction of the things that this world offers that will pass away. Capture our imaginations with the wonder and beauty of you. Give us fire to rest in you."
Thank you for reading and know that I love you but God loves you perfectly and completely and with a steadfast love.
At first notion, steadfast love speaks of the fact that no matter what we do, God will always love us. I am reminded of this type of steadfast in the way I love my kids.Many times I have told them that I will always love them no matter what. I say this frequently in the early ages so that when the real hard stuff happens as they get older, the idea that I love them not matter what is pressed deep into them and they never doubt that I love them.
But there is a second notion with this phrase that I want to get you to think about. I pray that this notion is pressed deep into your soul so that you will never forget it.
The God of the universe loves you with a steadfast love. That means that not only will his love never change based on your actions; but it also means that it will never HAVE to change to completely satisfy your soul.
This is a very impractical notion. It does not make in sense in the light of life. If God loves me with this sort of love that does not need to change in order for me to be completely satisfied, then why is my heart restless, why do want for things?
The simple answer is that we are so easily distracted. As C.S. Lewis puts it, "a child go on making mud pies in the slums because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea."
A.W. Tozer says, "God wills that we should push on into his presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day."
God has been pressing in on me much lately to pray with passion and fervor for those he has connected my heart to, tonight I pray this for you, "God would you give us a burning heart for you? Show us the steadfastness of your love. Remove distraction of the things that this world offers that will pass away. Capture our imaginations with the wonder and beauty of you. Give us fire to rest in you."
Thank you for reading and know that I love you but God loves you perfectly and completely and with a steadfast love.
I am thinking a lot lately about suffering. I am thinking about it even more as 9-11 approaches. I remember being asked about God's role in it. I am not sure of God's role in it. I have ideas but they are flawed and my ability to communicate those ideas is even more flawed.
Romans 11:33-34 puts us in our place in this regard. What I do know is that God loves us. He loves us more than we can ever know. He loves us with a redeeming love that never changes and does not need to change to bring us to complete fulfillment.
I want you to click on this link. The voice you hear of the preacher here is a man who is a pastor in Dallas who has brain cancer and doctors say the average life expectancy of man his age with stage of cancer is 2-3 years. The song you here mixed in in was written by a man whose best friend died in an accident.
I pray that God gets your attention. I pray that you know the beauty of a God who is so magnificent and satisfying that his glory eclipses even the greatest of tragedies.
Thanks for reading.
Rik
Romans 11:33-34 puts us in our place in this regard. What I do know is that God loves us. He loves us more than we can ever know. He loves us with a redeeming love that never changes and does not need to change to bring us to complete fulfillment.
I want you to click on this link. The voice you hear of the preacher here is a man who is a pastor in Dallas who has brain cancer and doctors say the average life expectancy of man his age with stage of cancer is 2-3 years. The song you here mixed in in was written by a man whose best friend died in an accident.
I pray that God gets your attention. I pray that you know the beauty of a God who is so magnificent and satisfying that his glory eclipses even the greatest of tragedies.
Thanks for reading.
Rik
A Lesson From Job
Take a minute to read Job 38:1-13
Know that God is in charge. Know that God knows what is best. Know that God is moving in your life to make you aware that he is in charge and can do what he wants. Know that God is in charge and loves you more than you can ever understand.
Know that God is faithful and does not forget or lead his people. Know that God is bringing you to a place where every longing that you have ever had will be fulfilled in a deeper way than you could ever imagine.
Know that God is not trying to take from you, he is trying to give to you. Know that God is smarter than you and knows how to give gifts to you. Know that any joy that you might experience on this planet is a mere shadow to what is to come for those who love him.
Know that the time you spend here in the body you currently occupy is less than the smallest amount of time you can think of. Know that pain is temporary for the one who places hope in Christ. Know that pain is a tool in the hand of God.
Know that I love you, but God loves you more and sent his son to be brutally abused and abandoned so that full and complete redemption could be yours.
Thanks for reading. I love you and I long to pray for you.
Rik
Know that God is in charge. Know that God knows what is best. Know that God is moving in your life to make you aware that he is in charge and can do what he wants. Know that God is in charge and loves you more than you can ever understand.
Know that God is faithful and does not forget or lead his people. Know that God is bringing you to a place where every longing that you have ever had will be fulfilled in a deeper way than you could ever imagine.
Know that God is not trying to take from you, he is trying to give to you. Know that God is smarter than you and knows how to give gifts to you. Know that any joy that you might experience on this planet is a mere shadow to what is to come for those who love him.
Know that the time you spend here in the body you currently occupy is less than the smallest amount of time you can think of. Know that pain is temporary for the one who places hope in Christ. Know that pain is a tool in the hand of God.
Know that I love you, but God loves you more and sent his son to be brutally abused and abandoned so that full and complete redemption could be yours.
Thanks for reading. I love you and I long to pray for you.
Rik
