Mind Your Own Business - Investing for the Future.

Mind your own business has been a huge success. We have given away hundreds of dollars worth of resources including books and dvd's of messages.

• During the first week we looked at learning to develop a vision for our spending based on what God would have us do with his resources. We learned that we are not going to let this world drive us but we will be driven by God and his leading.
  
• The second week of our study looked at learning to live under our income levels. We cannot spend more than we make plain and simple. We learned how to eliminate consumer debt and how to begin living on a budget.
• Last week, we learned that part of our being good managers of God's resources is putting him first and giving back (with a cheerful heart) a portion of what he trusts us with. Some people call it a tithe some don't. For us, we want to make sure we are putting him first whatever we call it.

This week we are going to learn what God says about investing his resources so that we can allow our money to work for us and for him. Believe it or not the Bible has quite a bit to say about investing and we want to make sure we are learning to use his resources with the proper guidelines in place. You will not want to miss this week. It is going to be fun!

Sunday Mind Dump

Great to see so many new faces around Real Life over the last month. We are going to be doing more big things over the next year that will help us reach our vision of tripling in size in 2007. We have 150 ads that are going to start running on YESFM over the next month. That equates to a little over 4 runnings per day. A nice little build up to Easter.

• The band has some things that they are going to have to address. They have to get a little tighter. That should start to happen this week. People are going to notice a big difference in the quality of worship this week.
  
• A nice turnout yesterday. I love it that our people feel so good about Real Life they are inviting their friends and family. Think about that. Pretty much everyone knew we were going to talk about giving yesterday and they still felt good about inviting. What does that say about us?
• I love the fellowship that is really starting to develop in the church. It doesn't always happen on it's own. Sometimes you have to put people in the right place at the right time. This weekend we took a pretty big step in that direction. We, like all churches, still have a ways to go but we are a step closer.
• God has blessed us so much. We took the building on faith and he has provided. Our giving has exceeded our budget for the last 2 months. It's not like we have more than we know what to do with but it's just so cool to see God's people step up and God provide for our needs.

Really looking forward to the next series. It's called Miracles........guess what we are going to talk about?

Giving Back to God

As I mentioned in an earlier post this weekends message is going to be on Giving/Tithing. I know that some people really struggle with giving, and for many, it's one of those hot button issues. There are two main reasons that giving is such a delicate subject.

First-Far too often preachers have built church empires that need to be sustained. Whenever giving isn't what they planned on they get nervous and all of a sudden start teaching on giving in hopes that people will give more and the programs that they (and I say they, not God) created will continue as they planned. The result is that far too many preachers feed the stereotype that all we care about is money.

Second-Sometimes we know that we need to be giving but the lifestyle and choices we have made are keeping us from it. In this case what we are feeling is called conviction. We feel guilty about not doing something we should be doing.

When it comes to Giving/Tithing there are a few things to keep in mind. First off, there are good people who believe that we do not have to tithe. They believe that because we no longer live under the law of the Old-Testament. There are also people who believe that we do have to tithe. I personally do not believe we are required to tithe. I do however believe that as Christ followers that our resources actually belong to God and that we are to give regularly and with a cheerful heart as part of our worship to him. We do not live under the law of the Old Testament we live in an age of grace.

So then, the question becomes, how do we know if what we are giving is the right amount? First off, let me say even though I do not think we HAVE to tithe I do believe it is in our best interests to tithe. The Biblical principles of being a good manager of God's resources apply to us and as such we are not being the best of stewards if we are not giving back to God a portion of what he allows us to have.

The biggest issue for us is we all need to learn to place God first. That means first in everything. If we wait until we have enough it will never happen. If we give to God first it will happen. The same principle can be found in almost every other area of our life. If we do not plan for something and make it a priority it's not going to happen.

For many years now I have taught that, for most people, giving back to God usually happens in three stages. If you are struggling with giving. I suggest you think and pray about the following.

1. Learn to give regularly. Simple enough. Sit down with your spouse. Look at your budget and decide up front how much you are going to give. That way you have budgeted for it and it becomes a priority. When you are paying your bills write a check to your church. If you wait until Sunday morning you'll find that you will not give regularly.
   
2. Learn to give proportionally. After you have made a habit of regular giving you'll most likely find that God has blessed you financially. As that happens allow him to stretch you and as he blesses you increase the amount of your giving to account for his blessing. Pray about what he would have you to do and follow his leading.
   
3. Learn to give sacrificially. Once you have gotten to the point of increasing your giving as God blesses you, you'll find there are times that you feel led to give to this cause or that ministry. If you have been a good steward and followed God's leading then go for it!

There are a few other pointers when it comes to giving.

• Never go into debt to give. God doesn't need your cash that badly (trust me, we'll live)
• If you aren't earning a paycheck. Don't worry about giving. Pray about a job. When the job comes make God a priority. Find other way's of serving the God as your offering.
  
• Just as we talk about waiting for a big purchase and praying on it. Do the same before writing a big check to your favorite ministry. If God is in your giving you'll know it.
• Offer everything back to him with a cheerful heart. God isn't extorting your cash for a blessing. Giving is part of your worship.....treat it that way.
  

Finger Foods

Sometimes after playing my guitar for hours at band practice my fingers feel like they are going to fall off....The guys tease me without mercy about it. I must be all wuss.....Sorry, I try......Maybe I should go back to just playing bass :)

Profit Sharing

This weeks message is one of those messages that I already know isn't going to sit well with everyone. Anytime you talk about tithing some people are going to get offended, upset, and uncomfortable. That doesn't mean that it doesn't need to be talked about.

Sometimes in life, and in this case, at church, when things bother or upset us it's because deep down we know that we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing and rather than face that head on and make some difficult changes we lash out.

We are often times comfortable with the word of God being a double edged sword when it is cutting at others for their wrongs or shortcomings. We have a much harder time when the word of God is cutting at our hearts. I say it all the time and it's true in this case as well. We like to judge others by their actions but we like to judge ourselves by our intent. In this case, we mean to give, but stuff (or something like that :)) happens and we never have enough left to.

Don't allow this weeks message to get you down and make you feel bad. Giving is part of our worship and if we could really get a grip on that we'd be much better off. Allow the message this week to motivate you and allow God to stretch you into something that is more like his image.

Snowing

Just drove home from school. Man is it coming down out there! Teachers think snow that happens at any time other than overnight is a waste of perfectly good snow. Too bad it'll all be cleared up by tomorrow and all the kids will be in school on time.

My Jeep is a serious pain to drive in this junk too.

Sunday Night Mind Dump

A pretty solid service today. The message was off the hook good. The band struggled a bit. It was just one of those days were everyone was a little off their game.

• We gave away all but one of the DVD's of today's message. How cool is that.
• Attendance was about half today. We had a few families out sick and when it gets this cold people stay home. It's sad but what are you going to do. On the plus side, extra bagels for me!
• People are digging the series. Can I say again how awesome Lifechurch.tv is for partnering with other churches and allowing us to use their resources. One of these days I want to personally thank Pastor Craig for that.
  
• I love the job our children's leaders do. Jackie and Martha are one of the primary reasons we have grown as fast as we have. I owe you both a cookie!
• Had our business meeting tonight and we talked about some of the messages coming up. We are going to be doing some really cool things.....If we can pull off the stuff.
• A nice small group tonight. I love the lively discussion. Tonight we talked about the significance of the empty tomb.....awesome stuff.
• I also told a story about how some "friends" of mine signed me up for the mailing list for the American Nazi party. The did this while I was in the Basic Training in the Army. It was NOT pretty.....I am ok now though :)