You can be generous and not godly;
but you cannot be godly and not generous.
We’re in Part 3 of our latest series - New Year, Less Me - and this week we’re talking about everyone LEAST favorite topic to hear about in church…GIVING!
But even though we’re talking about giving, this message has nothing to do with money; rather it has everything to do with your heart. Because in the end, it’s not about how much you’re giving, but rather how much you’re holding back.
Read MoreIf you ask any priest what his wish for his church would be, he’d probably say SPIRITUAL GROWTH. And I don’t disagree. But what does that look like?
In this week’s message, I talk about 4 things I as a priest wish for all the members of my church in this coming year. It’s more than just read the Bible and say your prayers. These are four things that I believe God wants to use deepen your faith and bring you closer to His perfect plan for your life.
Read More“The secret to HAVING more is _________ more.”
Any guesses what that blank is? Well, in this week’s message, I share my thoughts on what the answer is. I believe that you can HAVE MORE and the secret to getting there is a lot simpler than you think.
What is it? Check out the message above and see for yourself.
Read MoreAt Christmas time, we don't celebrate that Christ gave to the poor, but rather that He BECAME poor. He became poor so that we could become rich.
As we wrapped up our series on IRRATIONAL GENEROSITY this week, we learned about a semi-modern saint who did the same. He not only gave to the poor, but he became poor so that the poor might become rich.
And in doing so, he teaches us the lesson that with every poor or weak or needy person that we meet, we have the chance to be part of a divine transaction - one in which we SERVE Christ IN others and we BECOME Christ TO others.
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It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistle-toeing
And hearts will be glowing
When loved ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year
(lyrics by Andy Williams)
Yeah yeah yeah… we’ve heard it on the radio… we’ve see it in the movies… we even hear about it at church during this time of year. We know that it’s supposed to be a season of joy, a season of laughter and a season of good cheer… the “hap-hap-happiest time of year” right?
But there’s just one problem….IT ISN’T! The holiday season reminds us of everything that ISN'T right in our lives and highlights all the areas that AREN’T going according to plan.
Why doesn’t my life match? Why can’t I have that too? Things were supposed to be different by now; this circumstance wasn’t supposed to still be here. Why God, why?
Read More“The doors of his house were open to all. He was like a father to orphans; to the poor a merciful giver, to the weeping a comforter, to the wronged an advocate, and to all a great benefactor.”
Who's the most famous man that nobody knows is a real person? ST. NICHOLAS! The man who lived such an extraordinarily generous life, that he spawned the legend of Santa Claus across the world!
Who was the man behind Santa Claus and what can we learn from his life? That's our topic in part 2 of Irrational Generosity, we look at the life of the real St. NIcholas.
Read More"Giving" is an act we DO.
"Generous" is a person we BECOME.
Kicked off a brand new series yesterday at The Well called IRRATIONAL GENEROSITY. The series looks at the spiritual gift of generosity - a gift I believe is just as important and impactful as preaching, teaching, praying or serving. In fact, nothing makes you more like God than when you give and give generously.
Read MoreIRRATIONAL GENEROSITY: We genuinely believe it is more blessed to give than to receive and we seek opportunities to express our love to God by sacrificing our time and our money.
It's part 4 in our Family Matters series and this week we're talking about everyone's [least] favorite topic: GIVING. But this wasn't just a message about money; it was a message about WORSHIP and the connection between your heart and your wallet/checkbook.
If you've never been inspired or motivated to give generously, I challenge you to listen to the message above and see if God changes your mind/heart.
Read More"If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (wealth), who will commit to your trust the true riches?" Luke 16:12
We wrapped up the Realizing Rich series by looking at why this issue of money and riches is so important: because God uses riches to test you and He will hold you accountable to what you do with it.
The way to fail? BELIEVING THAT "MORE" IS ALWAYS FOR ME.
The way to pass? BECOMING INTENTIONAL AND ABOVE AVERAGE GIVERS.
Read More"...he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." Matthew 13:22
What did Jesus mean by that? What does "the deceitfulness of riches" mean? There's no way that applies to me. Right???
Part 2 of Realizing Rich and this week we examine that question. What is "the deceitfulness or riches" and could it be possible that I am falling for it without evening realizing it? In the message, I speak about 3 ways to tell whether or not that "deceitfulness" is affecting me.
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Tis the season! It’s the last day of November and that pretty much makes it official: the Christmas season is here!
The music’s on the radio and lights are up everywhere you go. It’s just a matter of time before Christmas Day is upon us and we celebrate the single most important event in the history of all mankind – a day that divides history between BC and AD… the day that Jesus Christ was born.
If you’re in the Orthodox church, you know that we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth by a 40-day period of fasting called Advent. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter – a time to prepare ourselves for the enormity and significance of what is about to happen.
When something is important (ie, wedding day, birth of a child, Super Bowl), it takes time to prepare. You can’t just show up on the day of the event without preparation; doing so would lead me to question the value you place on that day/event.
That’s why the church gives us this time of fasting – so we don’t just “show up” on Christmas without being prepared.
So what should our focus be during this time? How should we prepare ourselves? What should we be doing?
We're underway in our attempt to live "questionable" lives and the first habit we're going to practice is: I WILL BLESS THREE PEOPLE THIS WEEK.
What does it mean to "bless"? I gave some examples in this week's message but the main idea is to go out of your way to do something kind solely for the benefit of another person. It could be a nice note. It could be a surprise gift. It could be simply a hug. Whatever you decide to do, the goal is to find (at least) three people to bless week - one of whom must be outside of the church family.
Sounds like fun huh?
What is undeniably the one characteristic where our lives differ the most from that of the early church? Is it prayer? Or fasting? Or witnessing? NOPE! Check out these passages from Acts 2 and Acts 4 and see for yourself:
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” Acts 2:42-45
“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” Acts 4:32-35
The answer is GIVING! But not giving the way we do it - a "tip" we put in the donation box once every few months. No way. The early church was known for its lifestyle of SACRIFICIAL GIVING - where each one "sold their possessions and goods" and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles.
Sounds crazy doesn't it? But maybe it's not. Check out Part 5 in The BodyShop series as we continue to look at what it means to be healthy member of the Body of Christ. I guarantee you won't want to miss this one!
Want to read a boring chapter in the Bible? Go to Ezra 2. It’s everything you DON’T want to find when you open your Bible in the morning.
“Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: the people of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two; the people of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two…" (Ezra 2:2-4)
Want more?
“…; the people of Arah, seven hundred and seventy-five; the people of Pahath-Moab, of the people of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve; the people of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; the people of Zattu, nine hundred and forty-five; the people of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty" (Ezra 2:5-9)
Had enough yet?
Read More"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" (Luke 16:10-11)
Did you know that right now God is testing you? He's testing you to see if you are ready for more blessing. He wants to bless you and bless your life, but He can't/won't unless you pass the test.
What's the test? That's the topic of Part 2 in the BLESSED. In it, we talk about a verse from Luke 16 which explains why we might not be living with as much blessing as we'd like.
Who wants to be blessed? Be honest. Raise your hands/mouses. How often do you pray “please God bless my life” or “bless my career” or “bless my family” or just even plain old “BLESS ME!" We all want to be blessed but the problem is that the path to get there is often a mystery.
That's why we started a new series called BLESSED. The goal is to figure out how to live a life that's full of blessing.
Last summer I sat down with my wife and two fish tacos at Baja Fresh. We prayed and I was just about to dig in after a day of fasting. Suddenly, a young woman walked in with a cardboard sign that said something about starving family members. Despite the many people who were there, for some reason she walked right up to us.
What was I to do? I handed her one of the fish tacos in front of me, and the woman was out the door. I’d like to say I was generous and thankful. But the truth is, I was sulky for having to part with my taco.
That same summer I was leading a Coptic Orphans staff book study with On Social Justice (St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary Press, 2009) where St. Basil the Great preaches on the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-22 who walked away from Jesus sulky, too. In “To the Rich”, Basil says “those who love their neighbor as themselves possess nothing more than their neighbor…” (§1, p. 43)
But what about my Health Savings Plan? Retirement? Surely there are some exceptions, right?
I’m learning that God isn’t out to part us from as much of our substance as He can. He wants to use our money to show just how good He is—to us and to others. So what exactly does He want then?
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“And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” Acts 4:33
Great power. Great grace. I love those two phrases. I want that in my life and I bet you wouldn’t mind them in yours either. The question for today is this: where did that 'great power' and 'great grace' come from?You’ll be surprised by the answer. That verse is found in between some other verses that seem out of place. The verse before it says:
“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” (Acts 4:32)
And the verse after it says:
“Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” (Acts 4:34-35)
Huh? Those verses are about giving. You’d expect a verse about 'great power' and 'great grace' would come from a passage about prayer or love or fasting or humility or something along those lines. But the Bible here connects it with generosity and giving instead. But not just any kind of giving – real giving, sacrificial giving, giving in a way that doesn’t make sense to give. Maybe the early church knew something that we don’t.
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