Is This The End?

One of my all time favourite movies is Bruce Almighty. One of my favourite characters in the movie is the homeless guy with the various signs he flashes throughout the movie which contain great messages. Of course "The End Is Near" is one of those signs.

Now I'm not a doomsday guy, and never really been into the whole "end times" thing. But lately the events have really gotten me thinking. Is the end near?

Countries lining up against Israel.

Wars and disease everywhere you look.

World economies in terrible shape.

An Earthquake and 2 Tornados in our local area in less than 1 month.

I don't know the answers, but a lot of this sounds quite Biblically familiar doesn't it?

Makes you wonder...

Hand Up or Hand Out

There has been slogan used for many years now on a popular commentary on our local Christian radio station. The commentary is from a local Detroit inner city mission ministry and their slogan is "A Hand Up Not A Hand Out"

My question is, how do you know?

We had some very good and lengthy discussion at church last night about this very topic. We want to be "the church", we want to help and serve and give to those in need, and to really help others the way that Jesus would do. But the question kept coming back around, are we helping those in need or just empowering them to stay stuck?

Obviously the best way is to be able to build relationship and model good morals, good life choices etc. while helping and handing out, in hopes that your input into the life of the person you are working with will rub off and open doors and help open their heart to change.

But what about those who need help, or appear to need help, that you may never see again, and never know if you are being scammed or really helping?

The answer we came up with is use a bit of discernment, try to give something other than money if you can, but certainly try to give and try to help if the situation seems right and you have the means to help.

What do you think? We'd love some feedback...

Jus Throw It In The Bag

Last Saturday was the annual Strawberry Fest Parade here in LaSalle. For the past 3 years now since we've been in town we've entered a float in the parade and had our band play live while people handed out candy and info about the church.

This year the band played again, and sounded fantastic I might add, but instead of paper about the church that will end up in the trash or on the ground, we had some reusable bags made up with our Lifeline name and logo and contact info. The people were going crazy trying to get bags, and of course the kids still enjoyed the candy.

Did we get a huge crowd at church last night after being in the parade? No. In fact it was one of our smallest crowds in a long time and their were no visitors. But we didn't do it for that reason. Yes we want people to come to church and see our church grow, but we want them to come because they are searching for God, or something that is missing in their lives. Hopefully when they get to that point in life tomorrow or 3 years down the road they will look at that bag they are carrying groceries in and remember who loved them enough to give them that bag.Wasn't it Jesus who said giving a cup of water, or helping those in need is worshipping Him. That's all we were trying to do, and be environmentally friendly at the same time doesn't hurt.

Living @ 90%

I preached at Lifeline this week about tithing. I hate preaching about money. Money and the church have become this taboo thing and most preachers my age really hate to touch the topic because we feel like that's all people think about when they hear church; money.

A couple months ago I was at a meeting and talking with a fellow church planter and I asked him how he approached the tithing and giving topic with his young congregation. He said I just laid it all out for them and hide nothing. He went on to say that tithing and supporting the work of God is just as big of a lifestyle issue as anything else we talk about week and if we don;t talk about it then we as the pastor are in the wrong.

I realized the truth behind what my friend was saying and decided to do it. Truth is I talk every week about living a life more like how God wants us to live and being His example. Giving 10% is another thing He asked us to do so I really needed to talk about it.

I think it went well. Check it out if you want, here is the Audio File Link.