CONVERSATIONS | with Pastor Robby Christmas

In Matthew 28, Jesus gave his followers his final instructions: Go and make disciples. What did he mean? Maybe it’s not what some of us have thought. Robby Christmas talks with Pastor Daniel about making disciples as a way of life. “Jesus was saying, ‘Go and do what I’ve been doing with you.’ What was that? He invited them into his life and invited them to follow him.” It starts with sharing the gospel with people who have not heard it and inviting them to follow Jesus alongside you. It takes a commitment of your time. It takes patience as we allow people into our lives. It takes knowing how to share the gospel in a culture where people probably haven’t heard it. Using tools like The 3Circles is a way to start a gospel conversation. “We live in an area that is highly unchurched. We need a movement of multiplying disciples…Take off on the journey. See where God takes you.” - Robby Christmas

God and Money (pt4) | Saving by Travis Sinks

This is Part 4, in a four part series, click HERE to read Part 1, HERE for Part 2 and HERE for Part 3.

What We’ve Covered

If you’ve been following this series, you’ve been with us as we’ve been covering aspects of God’s will for our finances. How He has a good plan and that we should find rest in Him regarding our finances, how He has called us to live generously, and how to steward our finances well through budgeting, as we are told to live wisely.

There is much more we could cover about finances, as so much of the Bible talks about stewardship and finances, but for the purpose of this series, we’ll end on what the Bible says regarding savings.

Why Save

As we covered budgeting last month, we talked about how budgeting is the way you organize your finances for the fixed and variable expenses you face each and every day/week/month.

Savings has its own three specific goals which are to…

• Prepare for the unexpected (natural disaster, unexpected car repairs, unexpected health conditions or accidents, etc)
• Prepare for upcoming situations that will require you to live off of savings (such as retirement, a period of time where you won’t be working because of health, or something similar)
• Prepare for large purchases that require saving in advance (a car, house, or another large purchase)

As you can see, the similar thread in the goals for saving is the word “prepare”. Saving is a proactive action to get ready for a future event.

The Big Picture

As we cover this topic, you’ll see a theme of accumulating money, investing, and trying to make more money. This is because we’re specifically talking about how to save and invest money - but that doesn’t mean money should rule our lives.

Please do not take this post as an excuse to be all about money, and to forget that money is a gift from God and can be used as a tool to glorify God and to bless people. This post is specifically dealing with how to invest and save money so that it may grow and be used as a tool in a greater way in the future.

Don’t forget that we’ve covered other areas of money in this series dealing with specifically keeping a right heart before God and how to use it to bless others and glorify God. This post is merely dealing with the saving and investing aspect of money.

Savings In Scripture

We see throughout Scripture that it is wise to save and we are encouraged to do so.

• Through saving during 7 years of plenty, Joseph rescued all of Egypt and many of the surrounding areas from the next 7 years of famine (Genesis 41:34-57).
• Saving is seen as an act of the wise, while not saving is an act of the foolish (Proverbs 21:20, Proverbs 30:24-25)
• We’re told that we should not only invest, but diversify by investing in multiple areas (Ecclesiastes 11:2)
• We see examples of saving for a specific cause and goal (1 Corinthians 16:2)
• And we see how valuable it is to save, even little by little (Proverbs 13:11)

Saving Is Not A Command

Before we dive deeper into the topic of saving, I want to preface this with a reminder that saving is a wise thing to do, but it is not a command in the Bible.

This means that 99% of people should do it because it is simply wise, but I am not discounting that God may tell you not to.

Jesus certainly did not save money. There have been many godly men in women who have not saved money - and there have been just as many who have saved money.

Just as with many wise things in the Bible, saving should be our default action, but if God tells you to do something different, then you ought to do that.

With that said, most people do not save because of their decisions in life, and not because they truly feel that God has told them not to. If we have not felt that God has specifically told us not to save, then we should be living wisely and saving well.

The Dangers Of Saving

Like all of the good and wise things we are told to do in Scripture, and even the commands we have in Scripture, we can easily turn saving into a bad thing.

Throughout the Bible there are warnings against relying on things instead of God.

Now, just because you save doesn’t mean that you will fall into this trap, but it will increasingly become a danger.

If you remember the second part in this series, we actually talked about how generosity can be one of God’s built in safeguards for us against this danger.

So, let’s not discount savings as a dangerous thing, but let’s save with our eyes wide open and our hearts sensitive to keep God as our only true safety and security. In reality, we can make an idol out of our money whether we have $10 or $100,000 and so we need to focus on God rather than trying to keep our savings low.

Here is some scripture for you to ponder and even memorize as you continue to guard your heart against relying on things other than God:

• "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf." Proverbs 11:28
• "Take care... lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them… then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God…” Deuteronomy 8:11-19
• "But godliness with contentment is great gain… 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
• “…Give me neither poverty nor riches… lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?…” Proverbs 30:8-9

Types of Savings

As Dave Ramsey (and many like him) teaches, there are multiple “types” of savings. Each for a different financial stage and for different purposes. The general breakdown is…

• Emergency fund (depends on your income level, but generally $1500-$3000)
• 3 month's worth of expenses
• 3-6 month’s worth of expenses (additional to the initial 3 months)
• Retirement/401K
• “Safe" Investments (mutual funds, etc)
• “Risky” Investments (stocks, etc)
• Saving for specific items or purchases (home, car, vacation, etc)

Now, in general, it’s ideal to move down this list in order, though you can have some overlap of starting your retirement/401K (especially if you have a company that will match your 401K deposits) at the same time that you’re still building your 3 month's and 3-6 month’s worth of savings.

The Purpose Of Each Type Of Savings

The important thing to gain from this post is the mindset of what saving is used for and how it can specifically benefit you as a wise action. Without connecting your savings to a specific purpose, it’s much harder to save because it seems meaningless and unimportant.

Emergency fund: By having an emergency fund, you are able to handle the miscellaneous bumps of life such as a car accident, unexpected medical, etc.

3-9 Month’s worth of expenses: By specifically having this savings, you are able to handle larger potential life problems such as loss of job, and larger unexpected expenses. The benefit of having these separated from your emergency fund is you can put these savings into higher returning investments that can take up to a month to liquidate because you have your emergency fund prepared to last in the meantime.

Retirement/401K: After you have your day-to-day and short-term savings taken care of, it’s good to prepare for the future where you may not be able to work, or at least make as much money as you do now. Especially in today’s world with matching 401K plans, etc - retirement savings has become much easier, more useful and can be done well.

**”Safe” Investments”: Once your retirement is underway, you’re in a good position to start investing money rather than just saving it. It’s good to start with “safe” investments that don’t have as many “downs” where you might loose money, but tend to grow at a steady and smaller rate than “risky” investments. NOTE: I say “safe” and “risky” because technically no investment is “safe”. Just that some investments are naturally safer than others.

”Risky” Investments”: After you’ve started working with “safe” investments, you’re now in a good position to start with “risky” investments. The reason for this is that risky investments can bring much more lucrative, but they can also be a complete loss. The reason we wait until these other pieces are in place is that the money you use for these investments is not the money you need to live. It is unwise to use your “bread money” on risky investments, but to use “extra” money to try to produce more.

Saving for specific items or purchases: This one is the easiest to remember why we’re doing it, because when you save for that car, or house, etc there’s a specific goal in mind that helps you stay focused and on track.

Next Steps

Each of us will have different next steps based on how far we’ve come with savings this far.

For many of us, this journey needs to begin with starting an emergency fund and simply having savings in the bank. For others, you will be able to start further down the road of saving.

Regardless of your next saving step, please do not forget what we’ve already covered. Saving is one piece of a wholistic plan that God has for our finances that are meant to complement generosity and budgeting.

I encourage you to take time to review through the other posts in this series and make a plan.

• Start budgeting (part 3)
• Start giving generously (part 2)
• Start saving

And all along the way, have God be the focus. Do not let money, or any other area of life, take place over Jesus in your life as your Lord and Savior.

I especially encourage you to go back to where we started this series. You can read part one at this link.

God can (and should) be our hope regardless of which financial stage you are in.

So let us seek Him, obey Him, and most of all: trust in Him.

What Every Marriage Needs by Alesha Sinks

Off and on throughout my childhood, my mom would institute various Bible memory challenges. Often she would pick verses specifically for each child to memorize or allow us to pick our own verses, but there were a few standard verses every one of us had to memorize at some point.

One of them was Philippians 2:3-4.

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

I can still say this verse from memory today. As a child, I knew my mother wanted us to memorize this verse as a reminder for how we should view family life, as a reminder for how eight people living together could have a happy, peaceful life.

Now as an adult I see it’s application in every area of life, but most particularly, I still come face to face with my own selfishness most often in my own marriage.

There is a quote that, although perhaps slightly overused, always confronts my sense of entitlement and fairness within my marriage…

"Marriage is not 50-50. Divorce is 50-50. Marriage has to be 100-100. It isn't dividing everything in half, but giving everything you've got!”
Dave Willis

Most of the struggles I experience within my marriage come from me trying to compare myself to my husband. I’ve found that this, without fail, leads to one of two places: feeling superior to my husband and bitter toward him for not helping more, or feeling completely inferior to him and desperately striving to “make it up to him” or “be better for him”.

A closer look, reveals that both of these things are warned against in Philippians 2:3-4. When I feel superior to my husband, I am walking in “conceit”, and when I and striving to make up for my lacking, to impress him, and to be as capable, hardworking, or sacrificial as he is, I find myself working from “selfish ambition”. This is selfishness, because the root of my striving is a desire to measure up. I don’t want to be outdone or humbled.

To be honest, my pride usually blinds me to my husbands work and sacrifice for our family and drops me into the first category. However, neither of these outcomes leaves me, or our marriage, in a healthy, happy place.

So what does Philippians tell me to do instead?

“...in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Rather than measuring myself against my husband or measuring him against me, both selfish in nature, I am to look at him and his needs as more significant that mine. I am called to lay aside my needs and instead focus on the needs of others.

Just writing those words is painful to my sense of self and all sorts of caveats are instantly flying through my mind. While yes, we cannot serve others well if we do not also take care of our own spiritual and physical needs, the fact still remains that God has called us to put others ahead of ourselves.

(Keep in mind that this verse is for all Christians and I’m simply applying it to my role as a wife.)

As if we need further convincing, Paul goes on in the next few verses to play the ultimate trump card.

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:5-11

Paul tells us that we should live humbly, putting others before ourselves, because that is what Jesus did.

Ephesians 5:1-2 emphasizes this point again.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

We are called to imitate God, and one part of imitating Him that we so often overlook is humility. Jesus humbled Himself in so many ways through coming to this earth to rescue us from our sin. He laid aside all the glory of God in order to identify with us, to serve us, and to die for us.

The sense of righteous pride and indignation that I so often harbor in marriage feels completely foolish when compared to all that Jesus has given for me.

These verses from Philippians orient us to a new way of living, to a new way of walking through life with our spouse. This kind of marriage is focused on loving, serving and sacrificing for our spouse without keeping any list or tally for comparison. This kind of marriage serves our spouse from a place of love and humility, not give-and-take expectation. This kind of marriage doesn’t stop to worry about how our spouse feels about us or if they think we are doing enough, giving enough, or being enough. This kind of marriage doesn’t stop to wonder if our spouse is doing, being or giving enough to us either.

This kind of marriage is only found and sustained by repeatedly coming to the foot of the cross and reminding ourselves of all that Jesus first did for us, and letting His Spirit move us to greater humility and service from love.

When a couple walks together in this kind of humility and service toward one another, it is a beautiful thing. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this is some sort of marriage level to be achieved. This way of living, that is so contrary to both our culture and our fallen nature, is something we will have to work toward every day of our lives.

This Philippians 2:3-4 way of living is only possible when we are continually seeking Jesus and humbling ourselves first before Him. It is never a state of being that we will perfectly arrive at, but rather a path to continually walk on and reorient ourselves to. It is a path of continual communion with and surrender to Jesus. A marriage built on this foundation it will be filled with all the blessings, joy, love, and holiness that God intended.

Blessings

God and Money (pt3) | Budgeting by Travis Sinks

This is Part 3, in a four part series, click HERE to read Part 1, and click HERE to read Part 2

Being Wise With Money

Jesus encouraged His disciples to be as “wise as serpents, and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). As Christians, we should strive to live wisely.

And wise living includes how we spend our money.

The Basics of Budgeting

Budgeting is one of those things that is extremely simple, but can be very difficult to walk out. And it all comes down to spending less than you make.

Obviously, there’s more to it (as we’ll get into), but we need to remember that the bottom line is that we need to live within our means.

I’m not trying to tell you how much you should spend where, but that you need to be aware of how much you spend in each area of life, and ask yourself if that lines up with what you value.

Fixed And Variable Expenses

The main concept that helps stay within your budget is realizing that some of your expenses are considered “fixed” while others are “variable”. Fixed meaning that there’s very little you can do to change the amount you spend, while you have a lot more control over your variable expenses.

Before getting into how to handle both of these categories, we need to make sure that we don’t allow these terms to enable us to have a “victim mentality” with our finances. Even our “fixed” expenses can be changed. In the “fixed” list I include things such as internet, car insurance, tv, etc. I consider these “fixed” because normally we sign contracts or have some type of commitment for these expenses. However, we can all try to find a cheaper deal for our car insurance, we can all choose to not have tv, we can all choose to have slower internet, or no internet at all, etc.

We use terms “fixed” and “variable” as they represent how we can make decisions on a day-to-day basis, but let us not forget that no one is forcing us to spend any money at all - these are all our choices, and we need to remember that we are responsible for the decisions we make.

Fixed Expenses

I like to start with “fixed” expenses because these are the ones that will have the biggest impact on your financial stability.

Personally, I like to keep my fixed expenses at a minimum. This allows me more freedom to choose what I do in day-to-day life. Because of this mentality, my wife and I have made decisions such as not to have TV (even with a two year old kid).

Some example of fixed expenses to consider are...

• Tithing/Giving
• Saving
• Rent/Mortgage
• Home insurance
• Medical insurance
• Life insurance
• Car insurance
• Car payment
• Car maintenance
• Internet
• Cable/TV
• Phone
• Utilities
• Credit Cards/Debt

Variable Expenses

The second category of expenses in our lives is “variable” expenses.

These are the ones you have more control over in your day-to-day decision making. In each of the example categories below, we can choose to buy cheaper, more expensively, or even not at all in some cases.

Variable expenses can be things such as…

• Groceries
• Restaurants
• Gas
• Entertainment
• Home supplies
• Personal care
• Clothing
• Gifts

I’ve personally seen my wife spend exceeding less than the average family on things such as groceries and clothing by simply buying less pre-prepared food, and finding which stores have the best deals. It’s methods like those that allow these categories to be more flexible in their total expenses. We have also personally chosen not to drive some places in order to save on gas for some months, or to not eat out as frequently. All of the categories above, and many more, can be adjusted as needed.

Tracking Your Expenses

When it comes down to it, the most important thing in your budget is to track your expenses. Regardless of whether you categorize based on fixed and variable, or other methods, tracking is what allows you to see how much money you are spending in each area of your life.

When you properly track your expenses, you are able to see where your money is going, and then take corrective action. Without tracking your expenses, you will never be able to see if your money is actually going towards the areas of life you want to spend money on. It gives you the clarity to make smaller decisions throughout your day that can have a huge impact on your longterm financial future. I can’t tell you how many problem are solved by simply realizing exactly where your money goes each month.

Here’s a few links to help you get started with tracking your expenses:

• Mint.com - This is the one I personally use, and love. It is specifically good at online transactions because it connects to your bank and brings all your transactions over to their system so you don’t accidentally miss a purchase. It’s not great though if you use a lot of cash (still works, just more work).
• Dave Ramsey Budgeting Tools - This site is a great resource, especially if you are just getting started. It has both digital and pencil and paper budgeting methods available. Even better, it walks you through exactly how to use them and set up your budget.
• Or, if you’d prefer a spreadsheet with the categories we listed above, you can click HERE to download the Excel file or HERE to download the PDF.

Finding Help

Like with most things in life, good stewardship of our finances is 10% knowledge, and 90% action. You can know all of these things, and have it still be difficult to apply. If you’ve struggled with this (as most of us have) please seek counsel and accountability. We are available to help, so please contact us if you would like help in this area. Otherwise, there are many other great resources and groups to help you in this area as well.

“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22

Don’t give up. Continue to learn and grow in wisdom regarding your finances and budgeting, and glorify God by stewarding your finances well.

CONVERSATIONS | with Pastor Lewis Williams

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!