Family Game Night (Photo Essay)

God and Money (pt2) | Generosity by Travis Sinks

This is part 2 in a four part series. Click HERE to read Part 1

As we talked about in Part 1, God created an ideal design for all of our lives - including our finances. And when we go against His design, we find ourselves broken and in need of His healing, forgiveness, and grace. We cover last week how we find this healing and hope, but in these next 3 parts, we’ll be covering 3 aspects of how to correctly handle our finances...

It All Starts With Generosity

We were created to enjoy God’s blessings (including finances), and to worship Him with His blessings - and generosity helps us strike this balance.

Basically, when we are generous we…

• Become more thankful for what we already have
• Keep ourselves from worshiping money over God

God's Design For Giving

Before we get into the blessings of giving and practical action steps, we need to remember that God also simply tells us to give - and we shouldn’t diminish this.

And, let’s not forget that we can trust that God gives us commands not arbitrarily, but because they are good for us and will bring us fruit and joy and growth in the end. Even when we don’t see how that is possible, we should trust and obey him. As it’s been said…

"God’s past faithfulness demands our present trust."

Yes, there are many blessings, but let’s remember that we don’t follow God simply because we know of tangible blessings, but because we are creation and He is Creator. He not only created us, but sustains our life - and He promises that He cares for us and loves us.

When we read verses like Proverbs 3:9, "Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce,” we should remember that even if we don’t know why - we should obey God and trust Him.

Additional verses to consider are…

• Deuteronomy 15:7
• Proverbs 21:26
• Acts 20:35

Even still, God does promise blessings to come with generosity, so let’s encourage ourselves with them.

The Blessings Of Giving

God set up generosity as a way for us to guard our hearts. It was a way to remind ourselves that everything we have is a gift from Him. This helps to keep us from pride, and helps us focus on the Giver (God) rather than the things He gives.

Basically, giving is God’s way of making sure we don’t forget that all of our life is meant to be about a relationship with Him.

Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy how money can become a cancer in our hearts, and ruin our lives...

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world... For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” 1 Timothy 6:6-10

To guard ourselves from these pains and evils, God gives us a way to continually cleanse our hearts of the love of money… by giving it away.

Here’s some more examples of the blessings we find when we give generously…

• Contentment: 1 Tim 6:6-10, Hebrews 13:5
• Humility: Deuteronomy 8:11-19, Proverbs 11:28
• Faith: Hebrews 11:1, 6, Malachi 3:6-10
• Growing Our Affections (towards God): Matthew 6:19-24, Ecclesiastes 5:10, Luke 12:15

How Much Should I Give?

When asking this question, we need to realize that there are two parts to this answer. There was the law, and there is grace. Although we are under grace, there is still much to be learned from the law, as God tells us that He has fulfilled it, but not simply done away with it. It can still be a good guide to see the heart of God in different areas of our lives.

The Law

The baseline we see in scripture is the tithe (10% of your income), which is meant to go to local ministries to help provide for the practical needs of the ministries and their leaders.

God initially setup the tithe (10% of income before taxes and expenses) in the Old Testament to provide for the temple and the priests. Although we’re not under the law, we see that Jesus encourages the tithe throughout his ministry:

• Jesus encourages the tithe: Luke 11:42, Matthew 23:23
• Jesus encourages “above and beyond” the law: Matthew 5:21-28

In scripture, we even see that no one is exempt, even the priests (and today’s pastors) are told to tithe: Numbers 18:26.

In addition to the tithe, there were many other offerings and profit sharing commands for the general people. In total, these instructions for generosity averages to be about 30% of all income. (Genesis 31:43, Exodus 30:13, Leviticus 1:3, 2, 4:1-4, 6:5-7, 19:9, 25:4).

The Church (Under Grace)

But since we are no longer under the law - so what do we do about giving?

For starters, we are still told that we ought to give in these 4 ways…

• Generously/Sacrificially: Proverbs 21:26, 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, Mark 12:41-44
• Strategically: 1 Corinthians 16:1-3
• Secretly: Matthew 6:1-4
• Joyfully: 1 Corinthians 13:3, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

We know from 1st Corinthians 13:3 that all giving is useless if not done in love, but that doesn’t mean we should be slack in giving - all the more, we should strive to give abundantly and sacrificially.

As a side note, consider what it means to give “joyfully.” This doesn’t mean that we only give when it’s convent and we can be happy about it.

In regards to our walk of faith, we’re reminded in Hebrews 12:2 that we ought to be…

“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus had “joy set before Him” as He endured the cross. In Jesus’ most sacrificial and painful experience on earth, He found joy in His giving of His life. How? Because He knew the result of His giving.

And it's the same for us.

Giving can be extremely painful. It can be difficult to give to God first and sacrificially.

But when we focus on The Giver, and we remember the importance of seeking Him with all of our lives, and the blessing of being near Him.

We can give joyfully, even when it’s hard.

And this leads us to another question...

Where Should I Give To?

Generally, there’s no hard fast rule for how much, or where we should give (because, we do live under grace). However, here’s some examples we see in scripture.

To Your Local Church

Just as the law said to give to the temple, we see that the early church kept this focus of giving to local ministries, and to help expand God’s Kingdom by supporting ministries in other areas. The funds given to the local ministries was then distributed in three main ways:

• Leadership: Numbers 18:21, 1 Timothy 5:17-18
• Missions/Other Ministries: 1 Corinthians 16:1-3, 2 Corinthians 11:8
• Benevolence: Acts 4:35

Many people decide to have 10% give to their local church, and then to give above and beyond to other ministries and additional benevolence as we’ll see below. Personally, my wife and I feel called to give more than 10% to our local church and then to give even more to other ministries and as we see need around us.

The amount has very little to do with the heart behind it, as we saw Jesus rebuke the Pharisees because they may have given a lot, but it was considered little to them and so it wasn’t sacrificial. The important thing is that our giving is causing us to refocus on God.

As You See Need

In addition to giving to local and distant ministries, we see God has also asked us to simply be generous to those around us as we see need. This doesn’t mean you have to, or even should, give to every person in every situation, but it should definitely be something on your heart and something you do regularly.

Here’s some verses that talk about this calling to be generous to others: Deuteronomy 15:11, Proverbs 14:31, Isaiah 58:6-10, Ezekiel 16:49,Matt 25:31-46, Luke 10:25-37, James 2:15-17, 1 John 3:17

Are You Growing In Giving?

This is the most important question we can ask ourselves.

It’s interesting how we know we ought to grow in patience, mercy, grace, forgiveness, serving, reading our Bibles, prayer… but rarely do we think about growing in our giving.

Above all, the Bible challenges us to continue to grow in our walk with Jesus, to grow in faith.

Maybe that $20 a week you use to give doesn’t seem as much of a stretch anymore. I’d encourage you to give more. To stretch your faith.

We’re told in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to please God without faith, and it is entirely possible for us to give without having faith. People give to nonprofits and others all the time without faith, and so can we.

So consider if your level of giving has become stagnate. My wife and I personally reevaluate our giving yearly to make sure that we are still acting in faith and giving sacrificially. (We do these on a more regular basis in conversations, but we specifically set aside time to pray about it and consider with the start of each year). Sometimes we increase our percentage of giving, other times we don’t - the important thing to remember is that we need to always be acting in faith and growing in our walk with Jesus.

Next Steps

I don’t know where you are in your giving, but I can tell you that God says He gives mercy to the humble, and when we submit our finances to Him, we are acting in humility towards Him.

Maybe you’ve never given sacrificially before, I’d encourage you to start today. Maybe you currently give, but feel like it’s no longer sacrificial, I’d encourage you to pray and ask God what you should do. Maybe you feel like you’re in amazing place in your giving and growing in faith towards God - keep going and don’t give up.

Regardless of your next step let us remember giving’s purpose to draw us nearer to our Creator and to bring our hearts in line with His.

As we’ll cover budgeting and savings next, let us continually ask for grace to steward God’s money well in our generosity, spending, and saving.

Serve Sunday | An Interview with Robin

God has done and continues to do amazing things in the lives of the people at Redemption Church, and it is greatly in thanks to the efforts of so many people who continue to give their time and effort to serve others! We are incredibly thankful for the awesome team of volunteers who serve so faithfully. THANK YOU to all of you who make such a huge impact on the work and ministry that happens not only on Sundays but throughout the week! This is Alesha interviewing  Robin from Sunday morning where he shared about his experiences serving on our Tear Down Team! 

LIVE Q&A On Prayer with Pastor Pilgrim Benham & Pastor Daniel Williams

Pastor Daniel and his friend and fellow pastor Pilgrim Benham take your questions on FB Live about prayer. This is a recording of the live Q & A from July 3. From the meaning of prayer itself to what Jesus was telling us about prayer in Matthew 6, known as The Lord’s Prayer. Pastor Daniel talks about his own simple definition of prayer: “Prayer is talking to and listening to God.  It’s a conversation.” We all have access to the same God. God is our heavenly father. He loves for us to talk with him.  Some of the questions they answered from the FB audience include: Does the amount of time and/or emotion affect the outcome of your prayers? Because of God’s sovereignty, how can our prayers affect his perfect will? Is it important to have a specific place to pray? These and other aspects of their own personal practice of prayer, the value of prayer in community, along with a few recommendations for books to read about prayer, will give you great encouragement in your prayer life.

My Story | Steve Brynildsen

Today was STORY SUNDAY at Redemption Church, and we shared a "My Story" video of how Jesus has been working in Steve's life. In his video, Steve shares how God has been teaching and guiding him through some difficult seasons in his life, and encourages the rest of us not to give up!

God and Money (pt1) | Finding Hope by Travis Sinks

Have you ever struggled with finances?

• Not "making enough?"
• Always seeming to run low at the end of the month?
• Never seeming to do better than “get by”?
• Always stressed about how you’re going to make it?

You’re not alone.

In 2016, Business Wire conducted a study and found that financial stress caused nearly 1 in 4 Americans to suffer from PTSD-like symptoms.

This is a serious problem.

But God says there is hope.

God promises to bring us healing, hope, and new life when we turn to Him - and this includes our finances.

This financial series is going cover many practical aspects of godly financial management such as budgeting and saving, but we can’t miss the foundation of all of our financial decisions…

God’s Perfect Plan

Like every area of our lives, God has an ideal design for our finances. Similar to those other areas, the fundamental basics of this plan is to:

• Enjoy His blessings
• Worship Him with what we’ve been given

Enjoy His Blessings

You realize God is not a kill-joy, right?

He loves us very much and created this world so that we could enjoy His creation. As culture grew and money became a way of trading goods and services, we can use money today to enjoy the world that God has created.

But, this enjoyment isn’t meant to surpass our enjoyment of God Himself.

Worship Him With What We’ve Been Given

We were made to worship, and we are designed so that we are filled by whatever we worship.

We were created to worship God, and Him alone, so that we may be filled with joy, peace, love, and other characteristics of God.

And this includes our money and possessions.

This can play out in many ways such as generosity and wise money management, but it all comes down to if we are using money, or worshiping it.

Our Rebellion

I think the title says it all: we messed up. It’s what the Bible calls “sin."

God created us to enjoy His blessings, yet to still worship Him as God - and we’ve messed it all up.

Some claim the physical to be bad, and choose to not enjoy God’s blessings… While others allow His blessings to take the priority in their lives and remove God as having the first place in their lives.

And it’s this rebellion that leads to our pain...

Our Pain

Whenever we rebel against God, we bring pain upon ourselves.

Sometimes this pain is “small” or delayed to show up in our lives, but God’s Word promises that when we turn away from His design, we are immediately “dead in our sins” and it’s only a matter of time until we feel the pain of it.

And, this may seem like we can simply start over today, and try better and do better, but the reality is that the damage is already done.

We cannot redeem ourselves from our sins any more than you can raise someone from the dead by simply putting clothes on them and pretending they’re alive.

But there is still hope.

God’s Grace And Redemption

As in every area of our lives, God offers redemption for our finances and our heart towards money and things.

I’m not saying that God promises health, wealth, and prosperity to those who surrender to Him and love Him.

But God can free you from the love of money. From the fear of financial struggles. From the cycle of bad decisions that makes your difficult life even harder.

From the PTSD-like symptoms that 1 in 4 people reading this struggle with because of financial difficulty and stress.

Finding Hope

Ultimately, to find hope in any and every area of our lives, we need to turn to the hope of the Gospel.

To believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to bring healing to our brokenness and sin, and to trust Him as our Lord and Savior. When we do this, He promises to work in our hearts and lives and continue to heal our brokenness - and this includes our crippling worries and fears regarding our finances.

And we’re not alone - God says that we not only are given hope through Jesus and the power of His Spirit entering our lives when we believe, but that we’re added to a new spiritual family called the Church. In this group of people who trust in Jesus and desire to follow Him, we find help, accountability, guidance, and general love and support to follow Jesus every day.

Finding Healing

In order to find healing in every area of our lives, we first need to admit our need.

James 4:6 reminds us: "But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’"

And Proverbs 28:13 tells us: "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

And, lastly, 1 John 1:9 also says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Turning to Jesus as our Lord and Savior starts with us acknowledging our brokenness and need, and then asking Him to heal us - and He promises to do just that.

From the many conversations I’ve had with people about their finances and difficulties I’ve found something interesting:

People are more open with sins such as pornography or lack of a prayer life than they are their finances.

I’m not sure why this is, but we all have a tendency to want to hide our financial sin more than other sins and brokenness in our lives.

But we cannot find healing in our lives until we confess our sin, and ask Jesus to heal us.

If this is you, I encourage you to confess your sin regarding finances, and ask Jesus to heal you in that.

• The way you’ve prioritized finances over Jesus...
• The way you’ve overworked in order to have more...
• The way you haven’t been obedient to give your first 10% back to God...
• The way you haven’t even gone above and beyond that 10% to be generous as God tells us to...
• The way you’ve found your identity or pride in how much you make...
• The way you’ve been undisciplined and/or spent more than you make...

And the list goes on…

And when you do, you’ll begin to find healing in God’s forgiveness and empowerment to live as God has made you to live in this area of finances.

In the next few blog posts, we’ll cover the practicalities of following God’s design for our finances, but simply reading about these things are not enough.

I encourage you to find accountability to live in God’s design for your finances, just as you would for any other area of your life.

• Ask someone to disciple, teach, and be an example to you on surrendering your finances to God
• Ask a few people you know to keep you accountable, and let them see and speak into this area of your life

To do this takes extreme courage and humility, but as we’ve already seen…

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." -James 4:6

So, may we find God’s grace in our financial lives today, and may be be humble to seek His ideal for our lives.

For when we obey and follow God, He promises that we will be blessed because of it.

CONVERSATIONS | with Pastor Joe Williams

Pastor Daniel talks in depth with his dad, Pastor Joe Williams, about spiritual warfare, what it is and how it affects the daily lives of every Christian on earth. What does the Bible say about demonic activity? “The devil is real. Whatever you do for the kingdom of God, he is going to try to stop you.” Every person who lives for God is going to face opposition. But Satan is a defeated foe. God has given us the tools to fight to defeat him. Christians are a threat to Satan’s kingdom on earth and he will use everything in his power. But the power of God is greater. As Christians, we need to learn to use the weapons of spiritual warfare that God has given us. Knowing the word of God, spending time in prayer with Him, and gathering together with other believers to stand united against the enemy. “Don’t walk in fear of the devil. Fight spiritual warfare in the power of the Spirit and the word of God.” Pastor Joe gives us a great encouragement to walk in the power of the name of Jesus Christ. You’ll be blessed!

Proclaiming Jesus All Over The World

We want everyone in the world to know the love that Jesus has for them and to accept the Good News of His death, resurrection, and the new life they can have through Him! This is why we put a strong emphasis on reaching the lost in our own community and around the world. Pastor Daniel serves on the board for the Calvary Church Planting Network and is a mentor and resource for various church planters. We believe in the Great Commission from Jesus to "Go and make disciples of all nations," and we are privileged to see God using Redemption Church to make disciples in our community of Delray Beach and around the world!

As a church, we give monthly financial support to several different missionaries and church planters across the United States and around the world. We work hard to not only help meet their financial need but to also maintain relationships with them through prayers, missions trips, and friendship. Please take the time to read about some of these wonderful people and the ministries the Lord has called them to do. We are excited about how God is at work in each one, and we are honored to be partnering with them.

CURRENTLY SUPPORTING:

JASON AND JACKIE SANCHEZ (DIRECTORS OF THE HOUSE OF BLESSING ORPHANAGE)

LOCATION: BACHINIVA, MEXICO

WEBSITE: HTTPS://WWW.THEHOUSEOFBLESSING.ORG

The Sanchez family started Casa de Bendicion (“House of Blessing”) in Bachiniva, Mexico in 2013. Jason and Jackie and their daughter Ayantu moved from Puyallup, Washington when God called them to start an orphanage in east/central Mexico as a way of caring for orphans and showing them the love of Jesus. Please be praying as we are supporting and praying with them for God to continue use them in a mighty way!

NIEVES AND KAREN VARGAS (CHURCH PLANTERS) 

LOCATION: SAN JUANITO, MEXICO

WEBSITE: HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ICCCSANJUANITO

Nieves and his wife and 2 children began traveling to San Juanito, Mexico to take over a church there in November, 2016. The small church in this mountain town was in great need of a pastor, and the Lord put it on Nieves and Karen’s heart to move there and serve the people and community of San Juanito. Nieves and Karen are originally from Bachiniva, Mexico (where the House of Blessing Orphanage is located) and is cousin to Jason Sanchez. We are praying that the Lord greatly blesses their step of faith in leaving their home in Bachiniva to go and serve Him in this way!

ESTEBAN AND TIFINY VALENZUELA (CHURCH PLANTERS)

LOCATION: MADRID, SPAIN

WEBSITE: HTTP://VTRIBE4JESUS.COM

Esteban and Tifiny Valenzuela are originally from Southern California where they met Pastor Daniel and Laura at a church planting course in 2011. The Lord has been calling them to Spain to share the love of Jesus there, and in 2016, they moved to Madrid to plant a church. We could not be happier to be supporting them as a church in our prayers, encouragement, and our finances. We hope you will take the time to read a little bit of their story on their blog and begin to pray with us for them as they are following Jesus in Spain.

BRYAN AND TARA HENDERSON (CHURCH PLANTERS WITH ANCHOR CHURCH)

LOCATION: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

WEBSITE: HTTP://ANCHORCHURCH.COM.AU.

The Henderson family left Southern California in 2014 to serve Jesus in Sydney, Australia and are a part of the Anchor Church ministry team. Bryan, Tara and their 3 children are currently living in Sydney serving in the ministry there as missionaries and have help launched Anchor Church. Please be praying as they are serving and loving on their local community and for God to use them to bring many people to Jesus!

JULIE RUSE (REDEMPTION CHURCH MISSIONARY TO THE HOUSE OF BLESSINGS ORPHANAGE)

LOCATION: BACHINIVA, MEXICO

Julie has been a part of Redemption Church since Summer of 2016, and she has had a desire to serve at an orphanage for some time. The Lord has been directing and leading Julie to commit to a short-term mission to serve the staff and children at the House of Blessing. She will serve as one of the female staff at the orphanage helping to care for the girls, help them with getting ready for school, homework, cleaning and laundry ,and wherever else the Lord allows.

She would love to have your prayers for safety, health, spiritual protection and encouragement, and for the Lord to use her in wonderful ways while she is there! To read more about how you can personally support Julie, go to: https://redemptiondb.com/blog-archive/a-great-partnership-the-house-of-blessing/2017

Serve Sunday | An Interview with Allen

We are so grateful for all of you who serve at Redemption Church and the way God is using you to be a part of the Body and use your gifts for His glory! Last month, we interviewed Allen about his experience serving as a volunteer at Redemption Church and how God has used that in his walk with Jesus.  Thank you so much, Allen, for all you do to serve Jesus here at Redemption Church!

Gina's Baptism (5-9-17)