Pastor Greg wants to know what you think…
Read Philippians 4:10-20
If God meets all of our needs according to His Riches in Glory:
What is our part in His ability to supply? What does giving have to do with it?
What is the definition of a need as opposed to a want? How do we distinguish between the two?
Are riches in glory only spiritual or is there a tangible component?
I hope you will wrestle some with me as we prayerfully yield our congregation into Christ’s hands.
Pastor Greg
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It was hard to hear that HUMC has a shortfall in giving. But I was happy that the situation was shared with the congregation. We are the Body & we all have to pull together. I hope the church leadership will continue to share the burden with everyone so we can shoulder the burden together.
Now that the Body is aware of the situation we need to step up & cover the shortfall. Don mentioned the impact of cutting back one cup of coffee a day. But many of us spend more than we should on other things as well. “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Where is our treasure? Too often we wait to see if someone else is going to take up the slack. Its time to take our worldy treasure and invest in the Kingdom, where it came from.
I hope we can keep the awareness of the situation & how we are progressing to resolve it. I’m afraid if we don’t keep addressing the situation it will be too easy for the Body to forget about it.
Thank you for sharing the financial status of HUMC with us. It is alarming, but nothing we can’t overcome together.
I think back on all of the special projects the congregation has successfully raised money for and am confident we can get the finances back in the black by year end.
This one is interesting…been staring at this posting since it went up two weeks ago… Reading and re-reading Philippians 4:10-12. Do we have the ability to see Paul in Philippians for what he is really experiencing? He is a man totally sold-out to a living Christ and the God of the Universe. His view clear although probably not what he would have voted for had he had a vote that counted.
At no point are any of us, including Paul, called to “success” but only to obedience. And so Paul sits in Rome awaiting his fate, which he clearly had a grasp on, a finish to his personal life story that could easily be seen in his day as falling far short of a successful life story, or life ending. And as he sits there he is able to remember times of plenty and times of need and is blessed by the care of others…”content” with the gifts given by friends.
As a church HUMC has had the opportunity to experience many things over the course of more than 170 years, and my guess is that a little wonder and worry over the extent of the finances is a reoccurring theme. Not exactly the island of Patmos or a Roman prison, but an opportunity to be obedient in the face of so many obstacles. And yet God’s continual call to follow him is the only call that has sustained both the Church and the church.
What an incredible note of peace and encouragement in the middle of chapter 4…who among us, who call ourselves Followers of Christ haven’t claimed this verse as ours in the midst of challenges, 4:13: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” It is not the promise of wants met that gives us strength, but the hope and promise of needs met that God will be in the midst of it all that gives us strength.
Are riches in glory only spiritual or is there a tangible component? Yes to both, but we are only promised the first…the everlasting riches we find in a walk with Christ. And when we are at once given the tangible, earthly, temporal riches of this world we are asked to pour them out like a love offering like the rich man of Arimathea, or Mary with a pint of nard we are faced with the issues of obedience. Obedience for us as a body may not entail the giving of greater gifts (it may) but could be a call to something altogether different…whatever that is. I am confident, that either way He will supply and “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Peace
Park