|
Home
|
About Us
|
Welcome |
Pastor's Page |
Ministry Teams
|
Discipleship |
Missions
|
Photo Gallery
|
Serving Opportunities |
XYZ (Xciting Youth Zone) |
Kidz4Christ (Children's Ministry)
HHHHEEEEYYYYY…Thanks for being my role model! You really help me see, hear and know Jesus! It was really great to see you in the UPPER ROOM (The UPPER ROOM is a daily devotion guide that we use to bring our church family together every day in prayer, Bible Study, reflection and application!)
Today FRIDAY (11/14) when we heard God remind us that “The testing of our faith produces endurance!” (James 1:3) These have been very testing times the last few weeks! With all the daily ups and downs of the financial markets and the dramatic change in our national leadership which will bring many more changes in the months to come and anything else that’s going on in our lives, our faith is being challenged on a daily basis! We are being stressed and stretched in every direction! These are certainly days in which we find out what kind of faith we really have! I don’t know about you but there are moments that all I really want from God is for him to make it all stop! The good news is that He will! He will…when He has accomplished all He intends to accomplish! His ultimate goal for these times in our lives is that we end up being made “perfect and completely lacking in nothing!” (James 1:4) God is using this time in our lives to produce a faith that will not fail us in really difficult times!
Peter encourages us, “Try even harder to make God’s call and his choice of you a permanent experience…if you do so you will have a faith that will never fail!” (2 Peter 1:10) He wants to develop Christ-like faith and character in both you & me! He wants us to have a faith and life that will stand when everything else falls around us! He wants us to have a faith that will trust him in the hardest times and act the way Jesus would act if he were here! I think that is what Paul means when he says that “Living means Jesus has an opportunity to live His life through my life!” (Philippines 1:21) That means that we are giving the way that Jesus gives! That means that we are serving the way that Jesus serves! That means that we are going for all the same reasons that Jesus came! That means that we are living our lives everyday to serve God’s purpose in our world!
SSSSSSSOOOOOO…how do we get to that place? How does our faith get to be like the faith that enabled Jesus to fulfill his purpose in his lifetime? By working with God when testing times come! What does that look like?
WWWWEEELLLLL…when difficult financial times come, we respond with the faith that we have, giving generously to God’s purpose, from the resources he has given us! We adjust our calendars so that there is time to give to serving God’s purpose in our church and community! We investigate where the church needs just the gifts, talents and skills that I possess and invest them in what God is doing! That is a faithful response and not fearful reaction! These are times when we really discover the health of our faith! It’s awful easy to talk about giving, serving and going when everything is hunky dory in our lives! It’s a different story when things are different! James tells us that “We should count it as pure joy when times of testing come!” (James 1:2) We sure can’t do that all by ourselves! So how do we feed our faith so that it is strong and healthy? Jesus says “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me and from finishing the things He gives me to do!” (John 4:34) What does that mean to you and me? It means we must be doing what we know God wants us to do the way that we know God wants us to do it! It means we must give our time, talent and treasures to serve God’s purpose @ St. John’s and beyond! It’s just like when we want to get physically healthy – we have to move! We have to move away from the table, we have to move out the door and walk down the street…we have to move! If we want a faith that will never fail us…we have to move!
We are all receiving an illustrated letter inviting
us to invest our financial resources in God’s Work @ St. John’s! I
invite you to prayerfully consider what your faithful response will be.
I am doing the same thing and in the weeks to come I will share with you
what God is asking me to do! These are not just fund raising times…these
are faith building times! We all want a faith that endures!
Let’s take the steps we can take to partner with God in producing that
kind of faith…
Let’s A.C.T. (All Commit Together) to give all we are and have to all
God is doing!
I can’t wait to see you Sunday!
Talk to you later!
Bill