Friday, February 29, 2008

Giving Part 1: Where to Start?

In light of our Gift Days coming up March 2 (this Sunday) and March 9, I felt stirred to do a "blogging series" on giving.

On the surface, giving away your money sounds ridiculous and absurd, especially a substantial amount like 10%. But what if it wasn't your money in the first place? What if instead of you giving away 10%, it was more about you holding on to 90% of what was given to you? Exodus 19:5 says that "The whole earth is mine (God's)." Job 41:11 says, "...Everything under heaven belongs to Me (God)." Even the ability to produce wealth comes from God (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

This biggest reason why people struggle to give is because they think the money in their possession is theirs. They earned it, they deserve it. They think God is a taker. But the reality is God isn't a taker, but a giver. Without Him, we would have nothing. No money, no air to breath, no salvation, no joy...nothing. God is generous and wants us to be generous as well.

So where do you start? You start by understanding that you are a steward of God's possessions and not the owner of them. When you understand that, you will want to steward His resources according to His will. What's His will? That you would give regularly and generously and not under compulsion (feelings of guilt). See 2 Corinthians 9:6-8. How much? Pray about an amount that seems generous to you and continually pray that God would give you faith for more. You'll notice that as you do, joy in giving will increase and so will your faith to expand your giving.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Helping the Poor

I was talking to my good friend Matt Sweetman (also a Church Planting Intern at Jubilee) about ways to help the poor. He wrote the following article that I thought was a really clever idea and wanted to pass along. Here's the link.

You can listen to my message on Remembering the Poor through our website. To download that message, follow this link.

Evite to Easter

Jubilee is a good place to be on Easter Sunday and is an excellent event to invite others to. You can now invite people to easter from the city location's website. To do so follow these instructions:

1. Click here.
2. You should see the easter invite page. Click the "invite a friend" icon and follow the instructions.

You can also access this page from the city location's main page by clicking on the Easter Banner

Monday, February 25, 2008

Church Planting and the Poor

If I had more time to speak yesterday, I would have spoke about the importance of church planting and advancing the gospel as it relates to helping the poor. In some of these poorer countries, there are some wicked practices. So dropping off a bunch of food isn't the answer. It's planting churches there (setting up outposts for the gospel) and then funneling money, food and medicine through churches is what's going to get it done.

I thank God for the people God has connected us with in Newfrontiers who have planted and established gospel outposts in the needy places of Africa. Guys like Edward Buria in Kenya, John Kpikpi in Ghana, Scott Marques in Zimbabwe, and many others. These are trusted men that given up so much to for the peoples of their countries.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

A Step Closer

We've been talking about being one church with multiple locations for years. We took a huge step toward that last September when we announced definite plans to launch our second in Wentzville (first preview service on Easter).

On Saturday, we took another step closer with an updated website. Now when you log onto www.jubileestl.org, you'll go to a landing page that gives you the choice to check out the City site or the Wentzville site.

We are one church, one name, one website, but our prayer is to have multiple outlets throughout the metro area for the gospel to be proclaimed and demonstrated.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Video Posted

Wanted to let you know that the video we showed this past Sunday is posted on our website under our audio and video section or by following this link.

Takes a second to load depending on your internet speed.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Is Everyone Sick?

Sickness is spreading through St. Louis like a....well, like a disease. Just about everyone I know is sick or has been sick in the past few weeks. It's such a big deal, I heard the announcers talk about it on the Blues broadcast the other night. My wife told me the doctor's office was as crowded as she has ever seen it.

There are a lot of practical things we should all be doing like washing our hands, getting plenty of rest, and drinking plenty of water. But I also want to remind us to pray for one another. A bright spot in my family's sickness was when I put to bed my feverish, ear-infected daughter (she's so lovely) and she asked me "will Jesus make me feel better?" Not only was I able to pray for my sick daughter, but it gave me an opportunity to share the gospel with her. I was so thrilled!

Pray for your kids. Pray for your co-workers, relatives and neighbors. And when you do, share the gospel. God just may do an inside-out healing!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Podcasting Available

For those interested in keeping up with the teaching at Jubilee Church, St. Louis, podcasting is now available.

To receive Jubilee's podcast, you can click "audio and resources" on the menu bar of our main page and follow the podcasting link or click here.

Friday, February 8, 2008

The Leaders You Didn't Know You Had

Every other month, the elders drive down to the Lake of the Ozarks to spend 5 or 6 hours praying for the needs of the churches in Newfrontiers USA as well as abroad. Yesterday was one of those days. These are powerful times of experiencing the presence of God and getting caught up in the wider scene of what God is doing.

Well, what ends up happening, is you get prayed for by leaders that are not your local leaders. And they are not empty prayers full of false hope and empty wishes, but are powerful prayers and prophetic words rooted in a deep faith in who God is and what He says He wants to do in and through us. So I thought you might to be encouraged to know that there are leaders beyond your local leaders who care deeply about you and your growth and you reaching your full potential in Christ.