Today begins a month of commitment to the Giving Beyond Ourselves 3 campaign. Once again, you have or will receive a commitment card. We want each church member to pray about their part of this campaign. Some, frankly, may not be able to do as much. Some can do much more than others.
My desire is to hear SOMETHING from every individual and family. Maybe it’s a relatively minor commitment financially. For others, your commitment may be to pray for the ongoing effort to eliminate our debt. As we give to Giving Beyond Ourselves 3 we are giving to help move toward lowering our debt to free us for the next level that God is calling us to participate in. Your gift may be a one time gift. It may be a weekly or monthly commitment.
I hope, as you have been a part of this, that you may choose to move to the next level of giving on a weekly or monthly basis. So many have been deeply committed to helping us get beyond by giving beyond ourselves. We are blessing Kingdom work and Kingdom purposes as we do this.
Please pray about your part. As we Give Beyond Ourselves in this campaign, we can give more of ourselves to God’s Kingdom and the harvest to which He has called us. Thank you for your genuine consideration and your generosity that will result in thanksgiving to the Father. I pray God’s richest grace to abound to you as you obey Him in this important campaign!
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray my Cuisinart to keep.
I pray my stocks are on the rise. And that my analyst is wise.
That racquetball won’t get too tough, That all my sushi’s fresh enough.
I pray my iPhone 6 still works, That my career won’t lose its perks;
My microwave won’t radiate; My condo won’t depreciate.
I pray my health club doesn’t close. And that my money market grows
If I go broke before I wake I pray my Volvo they won’t take.
This little poem offered by Steve Farrar outlines a problem for each of us today. It begs the question, “What is really most important to you in life?” What are you priorities…what’s in first place?
We can find over and again in the Scriptures references to getting first things first, of not getting our priorities out of order, of “seeking first” the Kingdom of God, of following first the Commission of Jesus, and loving God first and best.
Priorities are important. The little poem above captures just about every misplaced priority we could imagine, but I’m sure there are a few that may challenge you that didn’t get mentioned.
The process of correcting priorities BEGINS with an awareness of what we are REALLY seeking with our lives. And we use two ways to communicate what we are REALLY about: Our TIME, and our MONEY. Where does your time go…where does your money go? I’ll answer for us all:
to that which is most important to us.
Where is the challenge for you today? Things? Work? Bills? Family? House? Cars? Boats? Or can you honestly say, “I am seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?” That is where priorities begin to get rightly ordered. And then, “all these other things” can find their proper place in your life.
The parable we call the good Samaritan which Jesus told addresses the issue of the genuineness of our profession….the truth of our religious practice. (James 2:15-17) In fact I believe there are three kinds of people talked about in this parable:
1) The thief. What’s yours is mine, and I’m going to take it.
2) The selfish. What’s mine is mine, and I’m going to keep it.
3) The giver. What’s mine is God’s, and I’m going to give it.
Your life orientation is found in one of those scenarios. You are either taking from others what doesn’t belong to you, or you are keeping from others what could be a blessing out of self-preservation, or you are giving to others because God has put someone in your path for which you can make a difference.
Our church is voluntarily affiliated with three mission organizations….one called the Jacksonville Baptist Association, another called the Florida Baptist Convention, and the third is called the Southern Baptist Convention. The Jacksonville Association helps us stayed focused on local ministry needs. The SBC helps us see the nations and send people and go ourselves to the uttermost parts of the earth as Jesus commanded. The Florida Baptist Convention helps us mobilize to meet the needs of our State. Why do we partner with them?
In addition to reaching out to churches through giving low interest loans to rebuild after disaster, the convention also mobilizes Disaster Relief units to areas hit by natural disasters. We reach out to neighboring nations like Cuba and Haiti Brazil and the Cayman Islands to help plant churches and meet needs there. We are engaged in partnerships with unreached states like West Virginia and Nevada and Indiana. The convention’s ministry helps us reach out to migrant families who work the farms and fruit crops here in the State, and provides camps and ministries for their children…including Haitian, Korean, and Hispanic camps.
In recent years, Florida Baptist churches have been called to reach out to the prison population around our state not only by going behind the walls of the prisons but by developing ministries once the inmates are released back into society. The Florida Baptist missions strategy also includes ministries of church-based health care and a mobile dental clinic that targets urban centers and low-income areas.
These are ministries that are driven by one reality: God has put them in your path….and mine. We have to help them. We have the second largest lost population in America …largely centered in Miami and other urban centers across our State. Just a little commercial but a big ASK to request that you to be generous in what you place in the envelope entitled McGuire State Mission offering. It will go to help those bleeding alongside our highways and byways in Florida.
Today begins a month of commitment to the Giving Beyond Ourselves 3 campaign. Once again, you have or will receive a commitment card. We want each church member to pray about their part of this campaign. Some, frankly, may not be able to do as much. Some can do much more than others.