It is very clear to me that the heart of LFC must continue to be one of serving and generosity. It must be an ongoing connecting of giving to living and loving to serving and all of it to be done - OUT LOUD. While we can pray silently it is tough to love silently. It is nearly impossible to express our love to others in low decibels and without action. True love must be heard from the heart and felt in the soul. It must be lifted up. My heart for each of you, is that you find the joy in serving - living and loving out loud. Below we read the greatest synthesis of God's commands to us:
Matthew 22: 36 - 40
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Obeying these commands makes a loud declaration of who we really are:
1 John 5:2
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. (NIV)
In keeping these commands of loving God and loving others, often God will ask us to give up something valuable in order that He might entrust to us something that is valuable to Him. Giving is connected to life.
When our hearts are pure and strong, God can add influential blessings and blessings of increase and finance and opportunity. Often God desires to add to us but we may not be ready to receive and the blessing could actually ruin us - so by giving and serving, motivated by love, we are obeying the commandments of God and making room for increase to flow to us and through us. If you are going to measure out compassion and generosity with a teaspoon, then that’s the kind of measure that will be delivered to you. So, think about what God would have you give and do and what the generous level of your life needs to be in 2008. If you cannot be trusted with something as small as money or time or gifts or talents how will you ever be able to be entrusted with the most valuable things God has to offer? Are you agreeable to giving up what you consider valuable in order to touch the heart of others and glorify the heart of God? It really is a heart issue.Early on in my life God began to teach me about generosity - I had to learn how to give to others and not worry about every dollar. You see, when I first began to pastor and I got paid 500 dollars a month - and our church was taking in 1,500 dollars a month (that was on a good month too) even though, we committed to giving away 10 % to our denomination, 3 % to missions and 2% to our Bible college. God told me to do that. Man, it really hurt to give when all you had was 1,500 dollars a month. But I recall a few years ago, that on one Sunday, the Sunday before Christmas our church gave our entire offering for the morning away to Ministry in the Sudan. It was 15, 870 dollars. It was amazing. But catch the lesson: God taught me how to be generous when we had 1,500 a month so he could help us lead in generosity when we had more than 15,000 on one Sunday. That is how generous living goes and loving out loud perpetuates His love in great measure. As you study the early church you will find it was very generous. Giving, serving and loving all the time. They even had lots of church gatherings, small home groups, and God was moving in their midst. People were open hearted and open handed. This church, as it should be today was living in dynamic tension: it was both expanding and consolidating - growing and unifying. The Bible tells us that first century believers “shared everything in common” and that “the church was being added to day by day.” We want our church to live in this same tension. Releasing and reaping. It is a great way to live and seems to be a God-given pattern. If we plant, we will reap in due season. A great question to ask is this: What are we planting? What does your life express to others? Do they know your story? Your values? Your priorities? What do you express to others that you love and live for? What does your life shout? What does your church shout? What will be reaped in the coming months and years due to what you are doing and sharing now?
The tension in the local church must be as it was in the early church. It can be illustrated by two biblical images - the body of Christ and the army of God. The body of Christ is centered on community where people are loved and accepted. Within the context of this community people with needs are ministered to and taken care of. The hurting here are often focused upon and those needing encouragement to rise above the rubble in their lives can often find it if that community is driven by love that comes from a deep love and relationship for Jesus Christ, the lover of our souls. The second image of the army is centered on cause. These are the fighters against darkness and those who attack the hill and get the job done with fervor that is also driven by love and here a deep love for the commander and master, Jesus Christ. Here, the people who are aggressively pursuing what needs to be done instead of pursuing having others do for them are rewarded and honored. These Christian soldiers are not spectators, watching from lounge chairs but participators and actively engaged in warfare.
Healthy community flows out of a unified cause - not the other way around. Jesus called his disciples and said, “Follow me. I’ll make you fishers of men.” This was not an offer of community. “Follow me and I will give you something worthy of giving your life to” is a statement of cause. It is in the following and pulling to plow together we grow deepest. When we unite over the cause, we find community like never before. That’s the power of the church. Years ago, as we built a new sanctuary, we needed to build a wall to follow city requirements. Rather than having the contractors handle this, we realized we had two men in our church that had masonry experience. So, with their help and guidance, myself and several guys gathered at the church on Thursdays and Saturdays to build this wall. We worked on Thursdays as soon as everyone could get there and as late as we could stand it with our lights and all and again on Saturday and usually all day. This process was slow and took a few months to pull off. The cost savings to the church was substantial but the dividends of the relationships that were built were amazing. When I see those brothers at church, or connect with the ones who moved away, we reminisce like old men on a porch about the 'good ol' days' of building the wall. Causes do that to your heart. One danger of the American church is that we often try to offer people community without cause. Without cause, you’re just another well meaning organization. Without cause you will not see unification and transformation.At the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, Carly Fiorina, one of the world's most admired business leaders who from 1999-2005 she served as president and CEO of Hewlet-Packard, addressed the crowd of pastors and leaders and said:
"Give people a more compelling vision that what they fear. But let them know the reality of how difficult the vision will be."
Jesus gave us His compelling vision and it must be greater than what you fear. Listen to it, pray about it and get a sense of His heart as He calls you to an incredible cause - a cause that will bring unity and transformation in the context of community.
Jesus said, “I have come to the world to seek and to save that which is lost.” The cause of Christ is accomplished by loving others from our heart and loving them, Out Loud.
Communicating the gospel in a postmodern context can make us feel forced to compete with the entertainment industry. The sound, the lights, the technology, the marketing. You might be able to compete if you have tens of millions of dollars and that level of expertise. Most of us don’t. We have only one advantage that neither Hollywood nor VH1 or Sony possess. We have the presence and power of the living God! We have the power of the most compelling vision guiding us as a compass. Touch hearts and change lives and do it for the good of the gospel.
Why in the world would we eliminate God’s power from our war room strategy? Why would we not allow our cause to be fueled by the one who can love us and love through us? What are you giving yourself to this year? How will LFC be different because of God working in and through you? What relationships can you see built because you are willing to move toward the cause?
It is time for all of us to connect giving to living and live and love, OUT LOUD.
I love being your pastor - out loud,
Pastor Bernie
Matthew 22: 36 - 40
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Obeying these commands makes a loud declaration of who we really are:
1 John 5:2
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. (NIV)
In keeping these commands of loving God and loving others, often God will ask us to give up something valuable in order that He might entrust to us something that is valuable to Him. Giving is connected to life.
When our hearts are pure and strong, God can add influential blessings and blessings of increase and finance and opportunity. Often God desires to add to us but we may not be ready to receive and the blessing could actually ruin us - so by giving and serving, motivated by love, we are obeying the commandments of God and making room for increase to flow to us and through us. If you are going to measure out compassion and generosity with a teaspoon, then that’s the kind of measure that will be delivered to you. So, think about what God would have you give and do and what the generous level of your life needs to be in 2008. If you cannot be trusted with something as small as money or time or gifts or talents how will you ever be able to be entrusted with the most valuable things God has to offer? Are you agreeable to giving up what you consider valuable in order to touch the heart of others and glorify the heart of God? It really is a heart issue.Early on in my life God began to teach me about generosity - I had to learn how to give to others and not worry about every dollar. You see, when I first began to pastor and I got paid 500 dollars a month - and our church was taking in 1,500 dollars a month (that was on a good month too) even though, we committed to giving away 10 % to our denomination, 3 % to missions and 2% to our Bible college. God told me to do that. Man, it really hurt to give when all you had was 1,500 dollars a month. But I recall a few years ago, that on one Sunday, the Sunday before Christmas our church gave our entire offering for the morning away to Ministry in the Sudan. It was 15, 870 dollars. It was amazing. But catch the lesson: God taught me how to be generous when we had 1,500 a month so he could help us lead in generosity when we had more than 15,000 on one Sunday. That is how generous living goes and loving out loud perpetuates His love in great measure. As you study the early church you will find it was very generous. Giving, serving and loving all the time. They even had lots of church gatherings, small home groups, and God was moving in their midst. People were open hearted and open handed. This church, as it should be today was living in dynamic tension: it was both expanding and consolidating - growing and unifying. The Bible tells us that first century believers “shared everything in common” and that “the church was being added to day by day.” We want our church to live in this same tension. Releasing and reaping. It is a great way to live and seems to be a God-given pattern. If we plant, we will reap in due season. A great question to ask is this: What are we planting? What does your life express to others? Do they know your story? Your values? Your priorities? What do you express to others that you love and live for? What does your life shout? What does your church shout? What will be reaped in the coming months and years due to what you are doing and sharing now?
The tension in the local church must be as it was in the early church. It can be illustrated by two biblical images - the body of Christ and the army of God. The body of Christ is centered on community where people are loved and accepted. Within the context of this community people with needs are ministered to and taken care of. The hurting here are often focused upon and those needing encouragement to rise above the rubble in their lives can often find it if that community is driven by love that comes from a deep love and relationship for Jesus Christ, the lover of our souls. The second image of the army is centered on cause. These are the fighters against darkness and those who attack the hill and get the job done with fervor that is also driven by love and here a deep love for the commander and master, Jesus Christ. Here, the people who are aggressively pursuing what needs to be done instead of pursuing having others do for them are rewarded and honored. These Christian soldiers are not spectators, watching from lounge chairs but participators and actively engaged in warfare.
Healthy community flows out of a unified cause - not the other way around. Jesus called his disciples and said, “Follow me. I’ll make you fishers of men.” This was not an offer of community. “Follow me and I will give you something worthy of giving your life to” is a statement of cause. It is in the following and pulling to plow together we grow deepest. When we unite over the cause, we find community like never before. That’s the power of the church. Years ago, as we built a new sanctuary, we needed to build a wall to follow city requirements. Rather than having the contractors handle this, we realized we had two men in our church that had masonry experience. So, with their help and guidance, myself and several guys gathered at the church on Thursdays and Saturdays to build this wall. We worked on Thursdays as soon as everyone could get there and as late as we could stand it with our lights and all and again on Saturday and usually all day. This process was slow and took a few months to pull off. The cost savings to the church was substantial but the dividends of the relationships that were built were amazing. When I see those brothers at church, or connect with the ones who moved away, we reminisce like old men on a porch about the 'good ol' days' of building the wall. Causes do that to your heart. One danger of the American church is that we often try to offer people community without cause. Without cause, you’re just another well meaning organization. Without cause you will not see unification and transformation.At the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, Carly Fiorina, one of the world's most admired business leaders who from 1999-2005 she served as president and CEO of Hewlet-Packard, addressed the crowd of pastors and leaders and said:
"Give people a more compelling vision that what they fear. But let them know the reality of how difficult the vision will be."
Jesus gave us His compelling vision and it must be greater than what you fear. Listen to it, pray about it and get a sense of His heart as He calls you to an incredible cause - a cause that will bring unity and transformation in the context of community.
Jesus said, “I have come to the world to seek and to save that which is lost.” The cause of Christ is accomplished by loving others from our heart and loving them, Out Loud.
Communicating the gospel in a postmodern context can make us feel forced to compete with the entertainment industry. The sound, the lights, the technology, the marketing. You might be able to compete if you have tens of millions of dollars and that level of expertise. Most of us don’t. We have only one advantage that neither Hollywood nor VH1 or Sony possess. We have the presence and power of the living God! We have the power of the most compelling vision guiding us as a compass. Touch hearts and change lives and do it for the good of the gospel.
Why in the world would we eliminate God’s power from our war room strategy? Why would we not allow our cause to be fueled by the one who can love us and love through us? What are you giving yourself to this year? How will LFC be different because of God working in and through you? What relationships can you see built because you are willing to move toward the cause?
It is time for all of us to connect giving to living and live and love, OUT LOUD.
I love being your pastor - out loud,
Pastor Bernie
No comments:
Post a Comment