When you Live on Margin, it enables you to Live on Mission. You can have a bigger impact and legacy that carries forward into the future by choosing to be generous with what you have.
The Mission that Jesus gave us can be summed up simply as "Love God, Love Others, Make Disciples." This week, we talked about how this mission is funded, and how this makes a difference in the world.
This week we continued looking at our perspectives on money by tackling the question Do you own your money, or do you manage it?
The simple truth is that money goes in and out of our possession, and we can't take any of it with us when we die. It's better to realize the truth that God owns everything (Psalm 24:1) and we are managers of the money he provides. When we view money as something we actively manage, we set ourselves up to make better financial decisions.
We want everyone to be able to Live with Margin and Live on Mission. One of the hurdles to overcome is the desire everyone has: greed. Whether we realize it or not, all of us have a desire for more, and those desires can lead us to a place where our desire for money becomes a trap that leads to selfishness.
Instead, we can choose to live focused on Gratitude and Contentment. When we choose to be grateful for everything, and learn how to be content in any situation, greed can be defeated.
Are you part of the 47% of Canadians who say money gives them extreme emotional stress? If you are, there is hope, but it's going to take some work to get there.
One of the first steps to take is to recognize our mindset about money, many of us have let worry take over and each day brings a new worry about our finances. But Jesus presents a different picture: We can have a perspective on money that doesn't cause us stress. That's what we're focusing on today. Money can be a constant worry, but it doesn't have to be that way.
When we serve each other in love, we find the fulfillment and purpose that God has designed us for.
Reasons to Serve:
Serving kills our selfish nature.Serving helps us find and live in our passions.
Serving is investing in the spiritual growth of others.
Serving has tangible physical and mental health benefits.
We can study and know about God, but if we want to experience the abundant and life changing love of God in tangible ways, we have to move beyond knowledge and into an intimate relationship with God. It's impossible to have an intimate relationship with God without prayer. Prayer is communicating with God, sharing with Him what is going on in our lives, and learning to listen as God speaks and guides us closer toward Him.
Everyone desires community where they can belong and be known. Belonging meets our need to be part of something bigger than ourselves, and when we are known by others we feel valued and cared for. God gave us these desires for belonging and being known because he designed us to live in relationship with others and with Him.
Our desire is to be a church where everyone can be known. Part of how we achieve this is through serving together (more on that in 2 weeks) and by being in life groups.
Following Jesus and attending a church can feel complicated, but our relationship with God doesn't have to be complex. We're starting this year by focusing on simple things everyone can do to follow Jesus.
In Part 1, we began by talking about how Everyone Can Grow. God desires to lead us on a journey that takes us closer to him. This journey always involves spiritual growth.
When it comes to spiritual growth, speed and progress, matter more than distance and position.
Let's face the truth. Christians have a reputation for being friendly just so we can invite someone to church or talk about faith. Yes, it is part of our faith to share our faith, but we could do this in a way that doesn't cause fear or anxiety. It starts with building a real friendship and being the kind of person that can talk about faith without getting defensive or dismissive.
In our world today, the topic of politics is not going away anytime soon, and the conversations about politics are getting less tolerant and more inflammatory. But the New Testament presents a different perspective on politics, one where people encountering the message of Jesus is vastly more important than creating laws or gaining control of society.
Politics can't save the world, only Jesus can.
