When God’s People Give

It is amazing what is done when God’s people give!

2 Chronicles 31:5-10  New Living Translation

⁵ The people of Israel responded immediately and generously by bringing the first of their crops and grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity—a tithe of all they produced. ⁶ The people who had moved to Judah from Israel, and the people of Judah themselves, brought in the tithes of their cattle, sheep, and goats and a tithe of the things that had been dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them up in great heaps. ⁷ They began piling them up in late spring, and the heaps continued to grow until early autumn.^* ⁸ When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw these huge piles, they thanked the Lord and his people Israel!

⁹ “Where did all this come from?” Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites.

¹⁰ And Azariah the high priest, from the family of Zadok, replied, “Since the people began bringing their gifts to the Lord’s Temple, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare. The Lord has blessed his people, and all this is left over.”

Scripture That Got My Attention Today

Joel 2:12-13 New Century Version

The Lord says, “Even now, come back to me with all your heart.

Fast, cry, and be sad.”

¹³ Tearing your clothes is not enough to show you are sad;

let your heart be broken.

Come back to the Lord your God,

because he is kind and shows mercy.

He doesn’t become angry quickly,

and he has great love.

He can change his mind about doing harm.



I Don’t Want The Itch

I am doing a reading plan to go through the  major happenings in the bible in 60 days.  Today I read something that made me laugh.

In Deuteronomy, God is reminding Moses about the Promise Land and all the blessing associated with it.  God also tells him about the blessings associated with obeying His commands and living for Him.  In addition to blessings, God makes it clear that if the people do not keep His commands and live for Him there will be curses.

In chapter 28 God lists  some of the blessings and curses.  This is the funny thing.   In verse 27 God lists a few of the curses.  He says,”The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch…”

It must have been pretty bad to be known simply as “the itch”. Besides, wouldn’t the boils, tumors and festering sores be enough?  Did God have to go and throw “the itch” in as well?  And to top it all off, the last part of verse 27 says, “from which you cannot be cured.”   Maybe it is my weird sense of humor, but I just sat back and laughed as I read .

Funny or not, this is another way for God to remind us that He is serous about us following Him.  Like it or not, there is blessing and “curses” associated with our obedience to God or the lack there of.  I for one do not want “the itch“.

I don’t think I will ever be able to scratch again without thinking of this passage.

Blessing.

Possessed by Possessions?

I took  a short break from the blog while we were on vacation last week in Kentucky.  We had a great time, but now it is time to get back to reality.

This month’s sermon series will be  very good.  I hope you will plan on not missing a Sunday.

Here are some ideas that I jotted down during yesterday’s message about possessions.  I hope they will help you as well:

1) If I can not find a way to be content with what I already have, I will probably never be content regardless of anything I get.

2) Luke 12:29.  What am I setting my heart on?

3) How do I know if I have my heart set on possessions?

Also, check out my blog post from November 5th.  There you will find some other thoughts about possessions.

One last thing.  Click Here if you are looking for a good Bible reading plan.  This site has several options, including a way to send the plan to your phone.

Serving with you,

Donny

Want To Be a Part of a Conspiracy?

I am not asking you to join something that is going to cause trouble.  At least not trouble in a bad way.  Part of what Cliff talked about Sunday was the deceptions that we have bought into concerning Christmas.  One of the things he said really hit home.  It has been something that I have struggled with for a while.  It is the issue of  STUFF!  Especially the idea that more stuff makes a better Christmas.

There is something that I discovered a few years ago and I want to share it with you.  It is probably too late to put it to practice this year, but it gives us a whole year to be thinking about what we could do for 2010.  It is called The Advent Conspiracy.

Watch the video below, and then go to The Advent Conspiracy to get more information.

If this is something that you would like to do something about, or even have more conversation about, please leave a comment or contact me.

Serving with you,

Donny

It’s Easy To Forget

I was reading something from Chip Ingram and he reminded me about being thankful.  One of the ways we can be thankful is to remember things God’s has done for us in the past.  Sounds simple, but what I find is that it is easy to forget what God has done for us, especially if our current circumstances are not the best.

Take a few moments and go through these steps that Ingram suggests for “Remembering”.

1. List 5 things you’re thankful happened in 2009.

2. List 4 people you’re glad that are in your life.

3. List 3 painful or difficult things that have caused you to draw closer to God in 2009.

4. List 2 things you tend to take for granted that were listed in Psalm 103:3-6

5. Memorize 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 this week and practice what it says . . .

¹⁶“Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in ChristJesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Serving with you,

Donny

The Power of God’s Word

Sunday’s worship time was awesome!

The self-directed time of reading and prayer was very powerful.  Every time we do this I am reminded that we have to be careful of thinking that certain things need to happen in a worship service in order for it to be “good”.  My favorite music MUST be played.  People have to be friendly to me.  The message better be entertaining so I won’t fall asleep.(this is when I preach; not Cliff)

I am thankful that we have different elements in a service to help draw us close to God, but it is always refreshing to be reminded that God and His word are really enough.  This made me think again about the amount of time I spend reading God’s word.

Although I do read regularly, I decided I was going to be even a little more intentional about it.  I went to Bible Gateway and chose a reading plan to go through the Bible in 90 days.  I read the scripture right off my computer.  I can’t do it in 15 minutes, but I can say that I have read major portions of scripture in the last three days and it has been great.

Would anyone like to join me?  Let me know what you are already doing, or if you are going to start with a reading plan.

Write it Down

I hope you have been thinking about YOUR STORY.

I want to encourage you to do something if you never have.  When it comes to your story, have you even written it down?  I mean, like Dave Ramsey says about the budget, on paper on purpose.  I challenge you to do it.  It is not as easy as you might think, but it is very rewarding.  Here is a general guideline: 1) Your life before Jesus. 2) How did you give your life to Jesus? (don’t fret if you think it is not dramatic) 3) How has Jesus changed you?  Give it a try.

On another note, watch this short clip from Francis Chan about playing it safe.  If we are going to be a witness where God has placed us, and  if we are going to live like ALL followers of Christ are really missionaries, then there is no playing it safe.

Serving with you,

Donny

It’s your story

As Cliff said Sunday, “the only testimony you need is yours.”  How true.

Moruti James, pastor of  Old Naledi Baptist Fellowship in Botswana, visited our church offices a few weeks ago and shared a few things about his life and testimony.  One of the things that impressed me was the fact that the day after he got saved, he went back to his work site and began to tell others what Jesus had done for him.  He did not worry about what others would think or say.  He had experienced the POWER of God through Jesus Christ, and he could not keep it a secret.

Unfortunately, many of us grew up being led to believe that in order to witness for Jesus we had to take a class or memorize some dialogue.  Those things have their place, but what really qualifies us to be able to witness for Jesus is our personal relationship with Him.  It is our story of what Jesus has done for us by saving us, and no one can argue with that.

Don’t ever forget that the power of any testimony is not what you used to be or even what you will become.  The power of any testimony is what Jesus has done on the cross for us.  That is what we have to tell.  That is what people need to hear.

Moruti James went right back to the work site God had placed him in to be a witness.  Post an encouraging comment.  How are you being a witness where God has placed you?

Lessons on Prayer

Every time I hear a child pray, I am reminded of how I try to make prayer complicated.

Our family had supper out last night, and Jonathan (my 5 year old) wanted to pray for the food.  This was his prayer:

“God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.  God, we know that you are great and that you are over all our community.  And we know that the number to the right of the negatives are positives.  Amen.”

Jonathan has learned that God really is interested in all aspects of his life.  He is always excited to share with God things that he is learning and thoughts he is having without the adult fear of being inappropriate.  I wish I did that more often.

Take time today to talk to God about your life.  Don’t worry if the prayer is not well constructed or “Proper”.  I think we might be surprised how good it feels to just be “real” with God.