Financial Update

Not Ready for Palm Sunday?

Posted on
Is Palm Sunday about beauty and power, or victory in weakness?

 

Maybe you can relate:  Time slips up on us far too easily.   Palm Sunday has been clearly marked on the calendar for months now.  Yet honestly, with all the pedal-to-the-medal rush of family activities and pressing items on the to-do (or gotta-do) list the last several weeks, we feel unprepared.  I feel not quite ready.   I feel and wish my heart were more prepared.   But why?   And what’s the root of those feelings?

Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday riding a donkey.  He approached his followers not in a position of power but of relative weakness.  Scripture rightly describes Him as the mighty Lion, yet Christ also came into Jerusalem as the meek Lamb.

“You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”   2 Corinth. 8:9

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  …For when I am weak, then I am strong.”   2 Corinth. 12:9-10

Weakness is hard to embrace.  Yet it is a core element of the gospel – a central part of receiving Jesus.   Why so?   Because ultimately I want to be my own Savior – I deceive myself into seeing my sin as manageable – conquerable.   I don’t think I need a Savior.   I am strong enough.   I have it together enough.   I can pull myself up enough.   I’ve got this.   I can mentally focus, push back the whirlwind and at least outwardly become prepared for Jesus on Palm Sunday.   I want to prove myself to the Lion that I am worthy to stride into His Den.    ….But I am not.  No, I have zero power to tame my sin and conquer it.

But the wonder of the gospel is that when I am weak, He is strong.  My preparation is insufficient for Palm Sunday (or any day in His courts), but His grace is all sufficient.  Jesus poured Himself out in weakness and humility in order to give me His sufficiency.

Climbing Mt. Fully Funded

Climbing Mt. Fully Funded

climber man still at lower elevations

Our total need is still approximately $1,200 in new monthly commitments by April 30.   In human terms of power and weakness, we are weak to deliver on the great work needed to meet our goal by the 30th.   Our faith and prayer is for God to miraculously supply exceedingly abundantly by then.   But if the Lord doesn’t complete it by month’s end, we want to be OK with that.   If so we, in weakness, will totally lean and trust in a Strong Provider who may have a different timetable – a means of spiritual preparation for the time He chooses to complete it.

So, in terms of prayer requests, please pray that Jesus will provide the goal by April 30.   Also pray that His power will be made perfect in our weakness regardless of when the goal is met.

Enjoy Palm Sunday!   Delight in Your Strong Father cherishing you and meeting you exactly where you are in weakness.   Rest in Him.

 

Ministry

Mission 865

Posted on

Final Frontiers in Showing Jesus

Watch the video above to learn about Mission 865 – one of the most exciting efforts ever attempted to help finish the Great Commission.

An initiative of The Jesus Film Project – a ministry of Cru – Mission 865 seeks to reach the last remaining unreached language groups who do not have their own native language Bible nor Jesus Film.

What would it be like if the only Bible available to you was in a language you did not speak nor understand?   Likewise, if you were watching The Jesus Film for the first time in a foreign language, how would you understand when Jesus says, “I love you!”  That’s the current reality for 865 entire language groups of 50,000 people or more.

How long will it take to translate 865 language tracks of Jesus and begin showing the movie to these unreached peoples?  Possibly faster than you think.  Over 80 of the 865 have been completed in the last year!  If God moves in a mighty way – and we mentioned earlier that there is some evidence that He is doing just that – then we could be reaching the edge of the remaining unreached frontiers of the world within a couple years.

Prayer Update

Do Serious (or Manly) Workers Use Their Hearts?

Posted on

“And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.”  Exodus 36:2

Recently I’ve been looking at what the Bible says about the correlation between my work and my heart.   I found a lot.   In principle, I’ve known for some time that the highest way I can show my love for Jesus is to love Him with my whole heart (and mind, soul and strength Matt 22:37)   Yet this is a commandment that seems to be about loving.    The heart is crucial to love.    But is it crucial to work?

While they may seem relatively insignificant or obscure today, the master craftsmen Bezalel and Oholiab (wow, cool names, huh?) were definitely on the “Who’s Who Top 50 List of Old Testament Characters.”   We see them in Exodus when God gave Moses extremely detailed plans to construct a sanctuary and altar.   Moses put them in charge.   They led the pack when it came to precise construction and metal work.   Obviously these guys could handle heavy work, serious tools and complex assembly projects.

But wait.   The story says the Lord stirred their hearts for the work. All the craftsmen and all the people who brought offerings for the work had their hearts stirred.   So did the Jewish remnant who, hundreds of years later, returned from exile to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.   God’s Word says their hearts were stirred.   And God did the stirring.   Even the pagan King Cyrus got his heart stirred (Ezra 1:1 NLT) in order to get about the work the Lord had ordained.   Their hearts were crucial to the work.   These men were seriously hard (and skilled) workers, but they could not have done anything significant without God moving their hearts – without a heart response to a physical and mental challenge.

There are at least two application points for me:

 1)   I must engage my heart to fully obey the Lord’s calling for His work.

2)   Great results (for Kingdom work) only come after God stirs the heart.

 In my technology role with Cru, I work to develop skilled leaders who can lead and administrate highly technical, complex systems.   I love working with these talented guys (…well, mostly guys but a few women too).   Their tech skills help build the Kingdom like Bezalel built the altar – and increase capacity for more people to hear about Jesus.   The skills are important.   But it’s the heart that produces an overflow for work of eternal significance.

Many of you are our financial and prayer partners.   You have skills.    And I know first hand that many of you work extremely hard.   But I also see your heart stirring and moving you – it shines through in your generosity and all the many ways you serve us and others.   Jesus spoke of the “treasury of the heart” (Luke 6:45) and we see it in you.  You motivate Shannon and I to press on towards our goal of being fully funded in our ministry…

 CLIMBING MOUNT FULLY FUNDED

We need more oxygen (prayers) to reach the summit

Since last time, Shannon and I have seen the “climber man” (above) scramble up near the 3rd step.   So praise God for progress.

Our prayer request is that the Lord would lead us to at least 12 more individuals or churches who would commit $100/month. Or an equivalent number at a lower monthly amount.  By April 30.

Humanly speaking, our faith goal seems impossible:  $1300 in monthly support raised in 30 days?  But we simply ask God to stir hearts.  Stirred hearts yield impossible things.  Join us in asking Him for this.   By April 30.

 

Financial Update

Then the People Rejoiced

Posted on

Hands smiling - grateful for you

Grateful.   Amazed.   Thankful.   Humbled.   Joyful.

These are just a few of the adjectives that describe our feelings towards everyone on our prayer and financial partnership team.  Yet these words fall short:  Understatements of the year.

“But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?” 1 Chronicles 29:14

Look carefully at the verses before and after this passage.  What motivated the people to give?  The gifts were not just to meet a physical need – the building of Jerusalem’s Temple.  The ultimate goal was not to have a magnificent temple, but to deliver riches directly to God so that He could be made renowned and glorious.

King David never once says, “Wow, look at what WE can do.  We provided all this bounty and all this glimmering stuff.  Man, I can only imagine what people will think of US when they pass by the temple my son is going to build!”    Quite the opposite attitude is voiced through King David.   In fact, David barely mentions the temple; he calls out for the people to “bless the Lord.”   Worship.    Bow your face low.    Focus attention on how amazingly great He is.   Can you imagine what it might have been like to be in the assembly when King David “blessed the Lord?”   You could hear his soul express all the truth about God’s physical and spiritual blessings and His power, majesty and dominion.  “For the temple is not for man but for the Lord God.” (vs 1)

In the New Testament, we see another picture of beings freely pouring out offerings of worship.  The Revelation 5 glimpse of the throne room shows us Christ – the Perfect Lamb – as the only one in the universe who is worthy to receive expensive gifts …and the only One who is worthy to use our gifts (which came from Him and belong to Him anyway) to magnify the absolute glory of His Name.   Jesus is the only one worthy to rule.

So, by giving to Him and serving Him in any means, great or small, we get the extreme honor of participating in making His Name great.   In a nutshell, this is why we’re so humbled and glad to serve with Cru. And, likewise, our gladness increases when we get to serve in partnership with you – through your giving.

 “Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart.” (vs 9)

The amounts given by the people were enormous.  But they rejoiced over the manner in which it was given.  The people loved God and treasured Him so much that they freely gave all their treasures.

As an aside, I find it interesting in the passage that this highly valuable, overflowing collection was handed over to Solomon at this point.  Young and inexperienced, David’s son Solomon is chosen by God to be the chief steward of the gifts for building the temple.  From a human perspective, this seems like an open door for corruption, or at best, a job to be poorly completed.  Yet, as I wrote about last time, God touched Solomon with wisdom to realize that “unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers build in vain.” (See previous post on Vain Building)

Climbing Mount Fully Funded We need more oxygen (prayers) to make it to the top

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1)   We are in a season of full time fund raising – trusting Him for a significant increase in monthly contributions to keep us in ministry.   There are at least 3 reasons why we believe raising support is very good – read our previous post here.   But basically just pray that we seek the Giver before the gifts.   And, like King David, that we would bless the Lord regardless of when or how He provides.

2)   As you can see in the photo of our progress chart above, we are praying specifically for an increase of $1,500 per month committed by April 30.   The Lord has provided in amazing ways already, but it’s a steep climb up the mountain!   Pray that we can find 15 people who will gladly commit to giving $100 per month.