natederenski

Generous

Stumbled upon this blog by one of my favorite Pastors in the US… I love that without hesitation I can say that CFM is an extravagant giving Church, Switch is an extravagant giving youth ministry… 

I believe most Christ followers want to be givers, not just consumers. Most want to be free from the love of money and to be seen as generous with their time, their abilities and their monies. Becoming this type of person takes time and intentionality, plus lots of obedience and some measure of faith. In my experience, I believe there are four phases of giving and generosity.

1. Tippers

These are people who give the leftovers of their money. This level requires hardly any faith and is motivated primarily by guilt or duty. They are typically inconsistent, giving only when prompted by a pastor at a church, or by an appeal on TV. If they have money, they will give a portion, but the amount never stretches them out of their comfort zone and always makes “sense”. Almost 90% of people in most local churches are in this group.

2. Tithers

These are people who set aside the first 10% of their income to give to the local church. This is a huge step up from the first level, because some faith now enters the equation. These people believe that God can do more with the remaining 90% if they are willing give the first. Tithers typically give consistently and seldom have to be prompted or “motivated” to give. They give even when it seems risky or when not giving would ease another temporary financial burden.

3. Givers

These people have discovered the joy of giving and are now on the lookout for opportunities to bless other people. While still tithing, they give even more to ministries, single parents, missionaries, and struggling neighbors. These people are super budget conscious, intentionally living below their means and setting aside money now, to give later. They love to hear about dreams and ideas to build the Kingdom. They’re never offended at being asked to give because they see it as a privilege and as worship.

4. Extravagant Givers

These people are radical about their giving. This is an elite group that is willing to give everything. They carry the same faith as the widow seen by Jesus in the temple giving all she had to live on. They completely believe that God owns it all and they are just stewards. They are prayerful and wise about their giving, but will not hesitate to give large percentages if God speaks. This group prefers anonymity and will ask a lot of really good questions because they need details. They take their time getting to know ministry leaders and only give when they see high levels of accountability and integrity.

A Faithful God

                                     So over the last few months I’ve been reading through the Old Testament and something really profound happened to me… Now don’t get me wrong I’ve read the Old Testament before, and really loved it. But I had never read the entire Old Testament without reading some of the New Testament as well. This was perhaps the first time I’ve read the entire Old Testament non-stop. And during this process I learned something, and perhaps it was profound simply because I didn’t realize I was learning it at the time. 

As I read those pages, I began to see stunning highs with Yahweh God establishing a covenant with Abraham and the people of Israel. David being anointed as King of the people, and the crushing lows of unfaithfulness, rebellion, exile and 400 years of silence. Highs that would rival or surpass any in our life, and lows that would break our hearts. And in the midst of this a faithful God, in spite of continued unfaithfulness on the part of His chosen people. 

Yet so often as a “New Testament” church we are so prone to want to toss out the Old Testament. That somehow it no longer applies to us. That God is somehow no longer the God of the Old Testament. But the only problem with that is that Malachi 3:6 states that I am the Lord and change not. So did God magically change? Or have we thought, learned, or been taught wrongly? If then we have been wrong then how do we approach God’s covenant? Perhaps it would be better to view God as a God of continual faithfulness even though we are not. And if this is the lens we begin to view God through then our view of both the Old and New Testaments would change as well. If we view the entirety of the Bible as the story of One Faithful God to a continually unfaithful people, I think we would be more prone to see the wondrous stories found in the Old Testament. 

Ten- AKA Seniors Don’t Be a Fool

Last Night @theSwitchtweets we had our first Senior Night… I’ve been a Youth Pastor for just over three years- these kids were freshmen when I started…  Nothing makes you feel older than watching students who were just a freshman a few years ago graduate and you still look at them like kids… 

But to honor the students who have been here the last three and a half/ four years we had a Senior Night, everything was geared toward them, so just in case you missed the talk or don’t subscribe to the podcast here’s my notes…

“Seniors you are about to graduate… Some of you have already had your last day of school- Some of you are getting ready to have that day. The cap and gowns are ready to go… pomp and circumstance is playing in your mind, but before you walk across the stage and get that fake piece of paper- that’s really not your diploma I thought it would be nice to step back and give you what I think could be the most important lessons for the next ten years of your life…Because my goal as a Youth Pastor is this- that in ten years from now in one decade from now you will be more passionate, more fervent, more zealous, more in love with Jesus Christ than you are right now.

Let this verse become your lifeblood:

Proverbs 2:1–7 (ESV)

¹ My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, ² making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; ³ yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, ⁴ if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, ⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; ⁷ he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

So that being said let’s jump into our top ten list!

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Fear No Evil…

I love to read… I’m a nerd like that… But I’m not a snobby nerd, I will read books, magazines, blogs, websites, anything with substance. I know this is only my opinion but the following blog taken from Brady Boyd (senior pastor New Life Church) is incredible! The face of Christianity would change if we all took his words to heart- for more of his post click here:

First Samuel 17 tells the story of the teenage-version of the psalmist David trying to talk King Saul into letting him charge into battle and take out the infamous giant Goliath, who for more than a month had been taunting the Israelites and mocking their God. The stakes of Saul’s decision were sky-high; whoever won in the fight against Goliath would claim victory for the entire battle. And David thought Saul would be wise to send a mere boy to accomplish this feat? Admittedly, David had a tough sales job in front of him.

In an effort to persuade the king, David began to rattle off his resume. Here is what he said: “Your servant has been keeping watch over his father’s sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it and struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth….”

Allow me to push “pause” on David’s speech for a second. Clearly I am no parks-and-wildlife expert, but this much I know: when a bear has food in its mouth, it is best not to attempt to remove it. This is a helpful piece of advice, don’t you think?

But David never once followed it.

“And when it turned on me,” he continued, as if it was a shocking turn of events for a provoked bear to fight back, “I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.”

It’s important to note here that David wasn’t referring to a mere bear cub. He was talking about a mature bear that he killed with his own two hands. And his slingshot, I suppose.

Every time I read about David’s courageous feats in the wild, I imagine what the other sheep in David’s father’s flock thought when they saw their shepherd take down a wild, angry bear. I happen to believe that they comprised the most trash-talking bunch of sheep around. I envision them sauntering up to lions and tigers and bears all over their neighborhood, saying, “You see what just happened to your buddy, Frank? Mm-hmmm. That’s our shepherd, boys! You want a piece of the action? Huh? You want some of this?”

In far more reverent ways, this is exactly how I feel when I walk through life with God. As I take each step of the journey by his side, I consider what he has done to those throughout history who have tried to mock him, and to Satan and all of his evil demons, I whisper, “Hey, boys. You want some of this?”  (emphasis mine)

My friend, this is the same way you have to envision yourself. The God of all creation is flanking you on the left and on the right. He has gone before you, he promises to stay the course with you, and he has your back like nobody here on earth can. Our Shepherd—the Good Shepherd, our God—is the only one who can help us find the mountaintop when we find ourselves stumbling through the dark. There is a mountaintop, I assure you. But sometimes that long-awaited peak can only be appreciated when it is found as a result of enduring the valley first.

Paul’s letter to the American Church

First I must confess, that this is not my writing…I first found this on Aaron Stern’s blog, he is the college pastor at New Life Church… He is a tremendous teacher and writer… You can follow his blog here:

I, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to you who are in America, Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

For many years I have longed to be able to come to see you. I have heard so much of you and of what you are doing. I have heard of the fascinating and astounding advances that you have made in the scientific realm…I have heard of your great medical advances, which have resulted in the curing of many dread plagues and diseases, and thereby prolonged your lives and made for greater security and physical well-being. All of that is marvelous.

But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances.

Let me rush on to say something about the church. Americans, I must remind you, as I have said to so many others, that the church is the Body of Christ. So when the church is true to its nature it knows neither division nor disunity. But I am disturbed about what you are doing to the Body of Christ. They tell me that in America you have within Protestantism more than two hundred and fifty six denominations. The tragedy is not so much that you have such a multiplicity of denominations, but that most of them are warring against each other with a claim to absolute truth. You must come to see that God is neither a Baptist nor a Methodist; He is neither a Presbyterian nor a Episcopalian. God is bigger than all of our denominations. If you are to be true witnesses for Christ, you must come to see that America.

There is another thing that disturbs me to no end about the American church. You have a white church and you have a Negro church. You have allowed segregation to creep into the doors of the church. How can such a division exist in the true Body of Christ? You must face the tragic fact that when you stand at 11:00 on Sunday morning to sing praises, you stand in the most segregated hour of Christian America. They tell me that there is more integration in the entertaining world and other secular agencies than there is in the Christian church. How appalling that is.

So Americans I must urge you to get rid of every aspect of segregation. The broad universalism standing at the center of the gospel makes both the theory and practice of segregation morally unjustifiable. Segregation is a blatant denial of the unity which we all have in Christ. The underlying philosophy of Christianity is diametrically opposed to the underlying philosophy of segregation.

I must bring my writing to a close now. Timothy is waiting to deliver this letter, and I must take leave for another church. But just before leaving, I must say to you, as I said to the church at Corinth, that I still believe that love is the most durable power in the world.

So American Christians, you may have the gift of prophecy and understanding all mysteries. You may be able to break into the storehouse of nature and bring out many insights that men never dreamed were there. You may ascend to the heights of academic achievement, so that you will have all knowledge. You may give great gifts to charity. You may tower high in philanthropy. But if you have not love, it means nothing.

I must say goodbye now. I hope this letter will find you strong in the faith. It is probable that I will not get to see you in America, but I will meet you in God’s eternity. And now unto him who is able to keep us from falling, and lift us from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy, to him be power and authority, forever and ever. Amen.