Encouragement for 2024 from Brother Chip

There was a prophet in the Old Testament by the name of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was known for leading God's people to rebuild the walls and city of Jerusalem. If you take time to read the story, you find opposition and ridicule all through the process by a couple of men, Tobiah and Sanballat. At every turn, they did their best to thwart the rebuilding of the wall. In Chapter 6 of Nehemiah, we find the wall and gates are almost finished, even with all the attempts by Tobiah and Sanballot to keep it from happening. In chapter 6, Tobiah and Sanballat try one last time to keep Nehemiah and the people from finishing the wall. Tobiah and Sanballat sent Nehemiah a message to meet with them and discuss what was taking place. In reality, they were simply going to do away with Nehemiah and keep the wall from being completed. Six times, they sent the invite for Nehemiah to come meet with them, and six times, he refused; here was his reply 6:3, "…I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.."

When he sends this reply, the wall is almost done. It would have been easy for him to take a break, to knock off early, to justify some downtime, and simply let those around him finish the wall while he went to a meeting. He had to be tired and worn from all he had done. No one would have blamed him for easing up just a little for a short period, but that was not Nehemiah! Nope, Nehemiah was committed to God and the vision he was given of the restored wall, city, and people. No way was he leaving the wall at that moment when the vision was about to be fulfilled. When God calls a person or people to a project, it is absolutely imperative that they remain on the wall.

Time and time again throughout scripture, we see people called by God to do a work, and then there comes this proverbial moment to decide to stay on the wall or to take a break and come down. As followers of Christ, I believe Jesus' challenge to take up our cross and follow Him daily is the purpose we are called to do. Each day in our lives, we have to decide whether we are going to follow Jesus or ourselves. Am I going to seek fulfillment in Jesus or in the trappings of the world? Am I going to let Jesus mold me into the woman or man He has created me to be or settle on being less than? Am I going to be a follower of His at home, work, public, and private, or am I going to do what I want to do? Are we going to stay on the wall, or are we going to come down?!

I believe we here at FUMC have been given a gift of calling and opportunity. We have been and are called to follow Jesus and make a difference for the Kingdom in our homes and communities. Last February, we began this journey together as FUMC 280. We separated and basically started again as a new congregation. God has given us this fantastic opportunity to start fresh, rebuild, and fulfill the great commission of making disciples for Jesus and see lives transformed. We no longer have to be a body divided, but we have this marvelous moment to come together to make a huge difference in our community for the Kingdom of God. Now, how do we do this? How do we continue to move forward in ministry together in 2024?

First, we do not allow ourselves to be distracted by any pettiness. Examples would be gossiping about one another, demanding our way, or holding on to the hurts of the past. If you want to know if something is calling you off the wall, ask this simple question, "Does this make disciples for God's Kingdom?" That is our North Star and our guiding mission, and all else should pale in comparison to making disciples. One of the most important things we must remember is that many things fall into the temporal category of life, yet our focus should be on the eternal, Jesus. Being like Him and helping others be like Him as disciples is what MUST drive us!

Think with me about our Five Imperatives we have kept before us the last few months. All five are driven by being and making disciples.

Radical Hospitality - (Romans 12:13) Seek out opportunities to show hospitality. Make people feel welcome in the midst of God's people, helping them feel like they belong and are loved by God. Inviting people to experience the love of God by joining us for worship. When people attend our church, making sure they know they are loved and that there is a place for them. When visitors leave worship, they should leave having experienced the Living Christ in some way. They should see, hear, and experience Him through being around His people. They should experience something and someone they will not find in our secular world.

Extravagant Worship - (Psalm 100) Providing a weekly service where people can encounter the living God and experience the joy of fellowshipping with Him. Take time each week as disciples to gather and tell God we love Him! Faithfully worshipping God each week and inviting others to join us is an essential part of being a disciple! Worshipping God is the center of who we are!

Intentional Discipleship - (Matthew 16: 24 - 26) Pick up your cross and follow. Make a conscious choice to grow deeper roots of faith as a follower of Jesus. Individually spend time with Jesus daily through prayer, journaling, studying the scriptures, and other spiritual disciplines. Corporately, consistently worship God together each week, weekly being a part of a Bible Study or Small Group, and serving together those in need around us in the community.

Mission and Service - (James 2:18 - 26) Faith without works is dead. Simply put, be the hands and feet of Christ. Seeing the needs around us in our world and addressing them with love, kindness, compassion, and God's heart. This is the follow-through of being a disciple of Jesus. 

Extravagant Generosity - God gave extravagantly, and we should do the same. (John 3:16) This is giving God our time, talent, gifts, service, and witness, being generous and looking for ways to bless and not curse, operating with open hearts and open hands, and using the blessings that have come from God to help others around us in His name! Giving and blessing become part of our nature because we have the heart of God, whose nature is to give extravagantly! We love and bless because He did so unto us first!

As we enter a new year, I encourage you to continue to practice our Five Imperatives. God has begun a fantastic work here at FUMC 280, and He wants it to continue. I know there will be moments when we tire of being on the wall, but do not come down! Keep praying, keep loving, keep giving, keep reaching out, keep witnessing, and keep being a part of what God has called us to do! Make disciples! Stay on the wall and we will be amazed at what God will do!

Peace and Grace,

Brother Chip

The Lord Loves a Cheerful Giver

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:16-17 ES)

This upcoming month, you will hear much about stewardship. Part of this is practical: the church has bills that we’ve got to pay, and we have to come together to be faithful in meeting our obligations with the power company, lawn care folks, maintenance workers, and the like. Yet another part is necessarily spiritual, as James reminds us here. We have been given much by God. And as we have been given much, we ought to give with worshipful expectation that God will be glorified through the work of His church. The Lord loves a cheerful giver, and while this does speak to the giving of our finances and material goods, there are other gifts we ought to consider when we ponder what it means to be good stewards.

Have you sat down and thought through how you spend your time each day? There are few greater gifts we have been given by the Living God than the gift of life. With each day that we are blessed with we ought to consider our time, steward it wisely, and ask ourselves if we are honoring God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In the frantic “rat race” pace of our current age, we often forget that God has commanded us to rest, and that part of being good stewards of our time and being faithful to God is to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy (that is, set apart). Part of being a good steward is to examine how you are using this gift of life to honor God. Am I wasting my time with endeavors that don’t bear the fruit of the Spirit? Am I failing to honor God’s call to worship Him by resting from my labors? How am I worshipping God in my life, and am I being a good steward of this gift of life?

You may say, “Preacher, you do not know what I am going through. I can’t give even a penny without going bankrupt.” “Pastor, you don’t understand. I’m slammed at work, there’s a project looming overhead, and we’re in crunch time to get it done. How do you expect me to rest this week?” To you, I wish to encourage and remind you that your Father who is in heaven knows your needs in this life and the next. Part of our giving is to give worshipfully, trusting that God has given us out of His wondrous providence, and placing our faith in Him that He will continue to meet our needs now and forever. As it comes to stewarding our time, I ask you, did God, in His foreknowledge, giving the command, say, “Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy...except for Mary Sue. I know you have a lot on your plate. You can make up for it next week”? Did God command “love your enemies, but only when it’s convenient for you”? If He has, then show me chapter and verse and I will happily repent of my error. But in my Bible, the word is clear. We’ve been given time. And as we are to steward it well in our work, we are also to worship Him by our rest.

This month as we talk about stewardship, much of that conversation will naturally shine a light on our financial giving, and the effectiveness of our church’s stewardship in using those offerings to the glory of God through various forms of ministry. Yet let us also ponder how to be good stewards of all that God has blessed us with. That He may receive all glory, honor, and praise, now and forevermore.

Amen.
Brother Matthew

Generosity, It's More Than That - Tammy Wendling

After working in the non-profit world for a few years, talking about generosity is about as uncomfortable as “hearing” someone speak on the subject. Our minds immediately refer to dollar figures. For today, I’d like to wander down the road to suggest we view the spiritual discipline of generosity as a beautiful and transformative gift that enriches our lives well beyond those receiving our generosity. Putting aside the obvious and much-needed financial offerings to charities, groups, or individuals, let’s consider how we become more generous in new ways in our everyday lives.

     -With each day, we have the opportunity to share and show love to everyone we meet. A kind word, a smile, a head nod are undoubtedly lovely, but how do we elevate our offering of love to a generous offering?

Think about it; generously offer love.

     -Perhaps we consider how to be generous in how we judge others. Ouch! While we typically value our thoughts, decisions, understandings greatly, what happens when we broaden our judgment of others’ thoughts and decisions more generously? Instead of snap judgments confined to our own points of reference and context of understanding, we pause to consider something larger than ourselves.

   “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

Think about it; consider generosity before quickly judging others.

     -This thought is challenging and difficult to consider. What if we commit to generous forgiveness? Forgiveness is a challenge with the best of intentions. How our relationships, spiritual health, and our world would benefit if we committed to abundant forgiveness.

Think about it; generous forgiveness.

     -What about our time and how we spend it? Do we have the ability to give more generously of our time to the Lord and in service to others? We are indeed an incredibly “busy” society, but are we “busy” with things that matter eternally?

Think about it; generously offering our time to the Lord.

     -And our talents, each of us has a spiritual gift God wants us to share to glorify His kingdom. The difference we would make in this world if we confidently identified our spiritual gifts and chose to share them with others is hard to imagine. Do we view this gift from God as an opportunity or burden?

Think about it; sharing our spiritual gifts to glorify God’s Kingdom.

     The list could go on. Overall, in considering the spiritual discipline of generosity, it’s my goal to view it in a larger frame than mere financial means. There’s so much more to giving generously. It’s essential to commit to becoming generous in all aspects of our lives. 

Dear Lord, help me commit to becoming a more all-around generous believer.

Tammy

A Follower's Thoughts on Generosity

A Followers Thought - Correll Pritchard

Almsgiving and Generosity

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says, "The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work." Doesn't it make you feel good to help someone in need? It does me good. And guess what? It makes God feel good too. After all, didn't he say so himself in 2 Corinthians 9:7? Almsgiving and generosity are about giving of ourselves to help others. Whether it's giving our money to the church, charities, or the homeless person down the street, or whether it's giving our time and talents on missions trips, community projects, or as simple as saying a kind word to a stranger.

The point is it's about giving. You see, it's not about us. It's about others, thinking of others before ourselves. Jesus was the greatest example of giving. He gave his life for us on a cross so that we may have eternal life! Now that's the ultimate definition of almsgiving and generosity! As we go through these 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, may we reflect on what Christ did for us and give our money, time, and talents to others in need. And remember, do it with a cheerful heart because God loves a cheerful giver. God Bless.

Correll

David shares his thoughts on generosity.

Brother Barry begins our week with a word on Generosity.