NEW SERMON SERIES
You’ve heard it. So have I. Church is boring. Church is for weak people who need a crutch. Church is for do-gooders. Church is a business. Churches just want to grow on your back, and worse, on your buck. If that’s what you’ve heard about church, come and experience our upcoming sermon series—Mythbusters. It’s not easy to separate fact from fiction, but beginning on Sunday, August 19th, we’ll tackle these myths about church head on. We’ll show you what’s real about church, and what’s not. Check out this challenging sermon series. You won’t regret it.
August 19 – Church is for Good People
August 26 – Church is a Crutch
September 2 – Churches—Bigger is Better!
September 9 – Church is Boring
September 16 – Church—Show Me the Money!
I'm really pumped to see all of you tomorrow for the conclusion to our Sermons from Hell series! The message is one everyone will want to hear. I guarantee it!
God bless!
Jeff
Jeff Gunn is pastor of CrossWalk Church. Jeff and his wife Julie have five children, Aaron, Abbie, Andrew, Audrey and Abel. Both Jeff and Julie grew up in Phoenix, but have also lived in South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Zambia. They returned to Arizona in 1996, and Jeff became the first pastor of CrossWalk in 2004.
***
GJ - Would this be a Church Growth congregation of the Wisconsin Synod?
See more from CrossWalk below, which has yet to offer a Holy Communion service in three years.
***
God has a claim on you!
God has valid reasons for making that claim. He not only made us, he made us for himself. You and I have no other purpose of existing on earth than God's purpose. Our lives have no independent value. God refers to us as "the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise." We are called by God "the work of my hands, (created) for the display of my splendor." (Isaiah 43:21 and 60:21, NIV)
But there is something greater about God's claim on us. It's not simply that he created us. He also paid the ultimate price so that we could have life after death. That makes us doubly his, as he reminds us, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19,20, NIV)
God does not need your gift.
But, since who we are and everything we possess leads back to him, God asks us for a portion of our possessions as an expression of thanksgiving. Your gift is a way to thank God, and a way to exercise your faith in God.
In considering our offering of thanks to him, God asks us to apply spiritual yardsticks to our giving, not mathematical ones. Here are some of those yardsticks:
God asks for regular gifts. As often as he blesses us with income, he asks that we set aside a share for him.
God asks for first-fruits gifts; that is, we are to thank him from the first and best of our income and possessions.
God asks for proportionate gifts. That means God doesn't look at the size of the gift, he looks at the size of the income it came from.
God asks for joyful gifts, offerings that flow from a cheerful heart.
And finally, God asks for gifts that are considered prayerfully in dialogue with him.
It is our desire to honor God's trust in us.
As his followers, we want to use his resources wisely and for his purposes. We operate within his provision and recognize our responsibility to manage the resources he provides with joy, integrity and faithfulness.
HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO READ WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT GOD AND OUR MANAGEMENT OF HIS GIFTS.
Christian Stewardship Is Taking God At His Word
We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and Amex
