A Jesus Manifesto

http://ajesusmanifesto.wordpress.com/

Thoughts?

Why I Go Overseas?

I am often asked, “Why do you go overseas to train people? Don’t you have enough to do at your own church?” There is certainly a lot of work to be done everywhere. It was Jesus who said that “The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.” But I believe that in that question lies a fair amount of assumptions.

First, I think it assumes that those that train overseas take away from their work at home, but this isn’t always the case. In my situation, I believe there is a synchronism that occurs as I do both. I benefit in each of these spheres from the other. My work overseas is a blessing, and ought to be a blessing to my congregation at home as I gain a wider, global understanding of the world and the gospel in the world.

Secondly, it assumes that the gospel is an either/or situation, but verses like Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8 assume that the church (All of Us) have a responsibility to bring the gospel to the whole world. As of this writing, there is still a billion people who have not heard of Jesus Christ, and there is no established witness or church in their area. Our task is not to split ministry into a here and there, it simply is missional, and we do what we are called to do and have been blessed to do. The fact is, we are blessed here in America with the money and the training, and hoarding that for our own purposes would be a bad stewarding of the blessings that God has blessed us with.

Thirdly, it assumes that the pastor traveling is solely responsible for the work of the ministry in a given church. We are all called to do the work of the ministry, and we are all called to make sure that we are gospelling one another and loving one another. There is not one person that is gifted for every role in the church, and we all need to heed the call by which we are called. While there are some of us who make our living by preaching the word, we are all called to ministry and the using of our gifts to edify (Build Up) the church.

Fourthly, and somewhat related to #3, is the fact that these type of statements assume that the given local church is the focus of the ministry and can be construed as self-centered. It is not wrong to desire a church that preaches the word for the sake of personal spiritual growth, but we must also rejoice when our people can be used to bless as many other bodies as possible.

We have men who travel to train pastors, translate scripture, teach believers to reach out to their Muslim neighbors, mentor other pastors all to extend God’s kingdom in the world. “Harambee exists to know and worship God by enjoying Him and joining Him in His mission to take His whole story, to the whole person, in the whole world, equipping those that respond to do God’s will and enjoy Him forever.” We are about Jesus and His mission in the world, not just to grow our own particular local expression individually, but we exist to train our people to reach their communities in order to start new expressions of the gospel in the world. This includes working with our brothers and sisters overseas, who have nothing, but they minister so faithfully.

My goal is always to train them to be self feeders, so that they can in turn train others for the sake of the purposes of God in the world.

God bless!

Pastor Mike Gunn

Holy Kiss

ESV Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

I wanted to encourage us at Harambee to greet one another, not with a holy kiss but to understand the importance of genuinely welcoming one another and loving one another as a family in the scriptures. This encouragement is repeated 5 times to the body of Christ in the NT. We are part of something, a fellowship of those who believe in Christ. While in college I used to walk by the office on my way to some of my classes and the receptionist would always greet me like I was Norm walking into Cheers, remember the TV show? At first I would just give her a strange look and a nod because I thought the only way you know me is from my records or something, but I noticed that she greeted everyone in the same warm and welcoming manner. She genuinely greeted people. I began to see that you don’t have to “know” someone or even be super friends to be able to greet them. Greeting one another with a holy kiss is only an encouragement to use the culturally appropriate form of greeting in a sanctified manner. The people of Paul’s day already greeted each other with a kiss, it is roughly equivalent of a handshake in our culture. Could we say greet one another with a holy handshake? I think that is fair, but what does a holy handshake look like, what is a holy greeting?
Ok, step one: make holy eye contact. Step two: walk in a holy fashion toward the person you are going to greet. Step three: … Just kidding. Many people get hung up on how to do a holy kiss, what are the mechanics of it. Do we kiss the cheek? Both or just one, do we shake hands at the same time? While I living in Ecuador the common greeting for women was to shake hands and then kiss on the cheek. It took me a while to get the hang of the kissing on the cheek thing, you basically just touch cheeks and make a kissing sound. I remember practically head-butting one poor lady because I stumbled as we leaned in to greet. (Side note: If you are going to greet someone with a kiss make certain of your footing.) Initially, I didn’t do much for the reputation of Gringos, sorry. Eventually, I became comfortable with it and no more head-butts. It was just the way we greeted, as a good missionary I tried to fit into the culture. Of course there where some sisters at Church who also tried to be culturally sensitive to us gringos. They were the greeters at the Sunday services and would stand at the door warmly greeting everyone as they entered. When the got to us gringos they would stand up straight and stick out their hand to shake ours, with a knowing look of compassion for us who didn’t understand how to greet someone. The external mechanics of the cultural greeting are not the ultimate issue here. Once again it is the heart. The Pharisees accussed Jesus of not being ceremonially clean when he and his disciples ate. Jesus replied
5”And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘ This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” Mark 7:5-9
The point here that bears constant reminder is that external practices do not make one holy. Even circumcision the sign of the Abrahamic covenant did not make one holy. God says circumcision is of the heart. The encouragement to greet each other in a holy way is speaking to our heart. Encouraging a heartfelt greeting, a sincere greeting that recognizes the individual and welcomes them with a genuine love and care. One might say, but I don’t genuinely love and care for everyone who comes to church I don’t have time, or…
“But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” -1 Corinthians 12:24-27

Remember Jesus taught the Apostles and us that our love for one another would be a distinguishing mark by which we would be recognized as His followers. What is our motivation in greeting each other in the Church? We are exhorted to let our love be genuine and not to show partiality in the Church. Ultimately we are greeting Christ, when Jesus said “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42) and, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40) In the body of Christ we are to think more highly of others than ourselves and take into account that we should treat the disciples of Christ in the way we would treat Christ. How would you greet Christ if he walked in the front door on Sunday morning?

Missional living – The basics

As mentioned in several excellent previous posts on the Pastor Rant site, Harambee has joined with Soma Communities and adopted the Missional model of living out church every day. For many of us, this is a dramatic shift from traditional church structure, where we as consumers go on Sunday to get charged up, and continue to think of church as a place where we gather to worship, study, learn, receive, etc. We (the Elders) keep hitting on this topic because we know that some people are really struggling to make this change.

Missional living is about living constantly for Jesus, doing everything we do (work, school, eating, swimming, whatever) with God in mind and along side of us. Sounds simple, and it really is, but it’s hard to understand in the context of everyday life for many people (me included). We naturally compartmentalize our lives and often think or act differently depending on what situation we are in at the time. The truth is that we are believers or non-believers at all times in our lives so why should we change gears depending on our circumstances?

The leadership of Soma Communities has come up with some very useful tools to try and bridge this gap from traditional thinking to missional thinking. These tools are not some new “5 steps to salvation” or anything like that, they are simply a way of communicating this idea – which by the way is not anything new necessarily, just different from the “western modern” structure we’ve become used to.

The first of these tools is the Identities. If we trust and believe in God, then we are in the process of becoming new through increasing faith and discovery of God and His will, and the circumstances he brings us through in our lives. Reading through and meditating on the Identities and associated scriptures is a great reminder of who we are in Christ. It relieves much of the pressure and fear of change by helping us realize that God is in charge of making ministry happen, not us. We just need to be willing to be used. Whew!

The extension of the Identities is the Rhythms (same page, further down). These are examples and reminders of how our identity in Christ is lived out. We were created to serve God and others, and it comes natural to us. The Rhythms then are ways to express this life for which we were created, and to be examples to others of the new life we have in Jesus.

We don’t need to wait until we’re perfect to live the Christian life. Growth comes from making mistakes, learning from them, and getting stronger from them. It’s time for the body of Christ to begin to live like we believe and love one another, not to depend on the Church to do everything for us because the leadership has more training or seems more gifted than we are. We need to shine His light all the time, not just with our church friends. We need to serve each other as Jesus was a servant. And we need to look to the Lord to teach us about himself and his will every day, not just on Sunday or at a bible study or conference, etc. Once Jesus comes into our lives and begins to heal us, we need to “Get up, take up our beds and walk”.

Having said all of that, please remember that our job as Elders of Harambee is to gently lead you, the body, and each other through this transition. We need to help you bridge the gap, and discover for yourselves what this means to you in your individual life. Please do not hesitate to ask questions or express your frustration (or anything else) with us. It’s all about growing together as a family!

Also, we believe that the Sunday gathering has great value for fellowship and corporate worship, as well as biblical preaching and teaching. What we’re learning is that the Sunday gathering is only a small part of the overall life of a Christian, and both we as God’s people and the world we live in benefit greatly if we take it beyond Sunday into daily life.

In Christ’s Love,

Doug

A message to Mr. Obama from John Piper

Islam’s growing demographics

This is a little over the top and more on the fear side, but you get the gist. What do you all think?

The Neighborhood MC group — What does it look like?

When we think about what it means to be missional (sent by God to carry out his mission where we live and work as daily practice) what does the place where we do that look like these days? Leslie Newbiggin wrote some good stuff on understanding western (now postmodern) culture and how that culture views the gospel of Jesus (ridiculous nonsense, according to philosophy and science). So that’s generally the mind set of people in our area. You can count on it. But modernism is a house of cards quickly collapsing under the weight of its own ridiculous claims, and so people are developing their own forms of spirituality, sort of like a Ben & Gerry’s ice cream flavors. They have to, because humans are spiritual beings, created in God’s own image (spiritual, eternal, creative, industrious, etc). But it’s a mess. Now we hear about people forming an MC group to help single Moms, to serve the poor, to reach their Muslim neighbors, to make a 3rd place for inner-city high school kids. It’s like Jesus leaving the temple court yards and going back out into the hills to talk with the prostitute, or the lowly educated guy, or the sick people, or the demon posed. No matter what the local culture looks like, an MC group is simply Jesus in society, modeling the real church and its mission for all his disciples to see. Is the concept of an MC group all that complicated?

Gilles Gravelle

8 Easy Ways to be Missional

Here’s some thoughts from an Acts 29 church in Austin, Texas (Austin City Life) on how mission is an extension of our lives. Hope you find it helpful.
Pastor Bryan Nelson
Harambee

“Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live, not something we add onto life: “As you go, make disciples….”; “Walk wisely towards outsiders”; “Let your speech always be seasoned with salt”; “be prepared to give a defense for your hope”. We can be missional in everyday ways without even overloading our schedules. Here are a few suggestions:

Eat with Non-Christians. We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? Go to lunch with a co-worker, not by yourself. Invite the neighbors over for family dinner. If it’s too much work to cook a big dinner, just order pizza and put the focus on conversation. When you go out for a meal, invite a non-Christian friend. Or take your family to family-style restaraunts where you can sit at the table with strangers and strike up conversations (Mighty Fine Burgers, Buca di Peppo, The Blue Dahlia, etc.). Have cookouts and invite Christians and non-Christians. Flee the Xn subculture.

Walk, Don’t Drive. If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking your neighborhood, apartment complex, campus. Instead of driving to check the mail, go to the convenience store, or visit a neighbor, get out and walk. Say hi to people you don’t know. Walk the dog. Take a 6-pack. Bring the kids. Make friends. Get out of the house when your neighbors are out (weekends, after work, holidays, afternoons). Take interest in your neighbor’s hobbies. Ask questions. Engage. Pray as you go. Save some gas and the planet.

Be a Regular. Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, haircuts, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places. Get to know the staff. Go around the same times. Smile. Ask questions. Be a regular. I have friends at coffeeshops all over the city. I pray for them. They give me free drinks and food. I give them the free gospel of grace. I know a professor that used to wait by his trash can each week for the garbage collector and gave him a drink. Be a Regular.
Hobby with Non-Christians. Pick a hobby that you can share with your city, community, town. Get out and rub shoulders doing something you enjoy with others. City League basketball, football, soccer. Local rowing and cycling teams. Teach sewing lessons, piano lessons, violin, guitar, knitting lessons. Be prayerful. Be intentional. Be winsome. Be gracious. Have fun. Be yourself.

Talk to Your Co-workers. How hard is that? Take your breaks with intentionality. Get a drink with your team after work. Show interest in your co-workers. Pick four and pray for them. Form mom’s groups in your neighborhood, just don’t make them exclusively non-Christian. Schedule play dates with the neighbors’ kids. Be sociable.

Volunteer for a Local Non-Profit. Find a non-profit in your part of the city and take Saturday a month to serve your city. Bring your neighbors, your friends, or your small group with you. The options are endless here. Just do it.

Participate in City-wide Events. Instead of playing X-Box, watching TV, or talking to your mom on the phone every weekend, go to the city garage sale, fundraisers, the festivals, the clean-ups, the summer shows, SXSW, ACL, Pecan Street Festival, etc. Go and meet people. Study the culture. Reflect on what you
see and hear. Pray for the city. Love the city. Participate with the city.

Look for opportunities to Serve your Neighbors. Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, fixing a car. Stop by the neighborhood association or apartment office and ask if there is anything you can do to help improve things. Stop by your local Police and Fire Stations and ask if there is anything you can do to help them. Get creative.

Don’t make the mistake of making “missional” another thing to add to your schedule. Instead, make your existing schedule missional. Check out this related article on integrating Gospel, Community and Mission into everyday life.”

What is a Missional Community?

Over the past several months, Harambee has been making a transition to the Missional Community model/structure and joining forces with Soma Communities. I will post a section soon that outlines why the Elders believe God is leading us in this direction, but we’ll begin with trying to answer the question of “what is a missional community?” first:

The mission of God is to restore all things to himself in and through the work and person of Jesus Christ. His chosen vehicle through which he is accomplishing that mission is the church. The church is the family of God called to together to himself and sent out on his mission. Missional Communities are the primary means through which Harambee/Soma mobilizes people together on mission and connects people to a caring community.

WHAT IS A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY?
A Missional Community consists of a committed core of believers (FAMILY) who live out the mission of God together (MISSIONARIES) in a specific area or to a particular people group by demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms (SERVANTS) and declaring the gospel to others—both those who believe it and those who are being exposed to it (LEARNERS). To clarify, a Missional Community is NOT primarily a small group, Bible study, support group, social activist group, or weekly meeting.

Our hope is that every person who is committed to the Harambee/Soma family and mission will be fully involved in a missional community and eventually the missional communities in a region will multiply and together form a new expression of Soma Communities.

Consider this… The life of the church as recorded in Acts 2:42-47 came as a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the lives of a people collectively committed to the mission of God. The description we read about in Acts was not the means of becoming a great church, but the results of God working through a people committed to him and his mission.

We believe God is still more committed to his mission being accomplished then us having our preferred church experience. Missional Communities exist to partner with God to further his mission in every part of our region.

EACH MISSIONAL COMMUNITY WILL:
1. Be led by a team committed to leading, shepherding, equipping and organizing a community on mission
2. Grow together in understanding and application of the Gospel to who we are (Identities) because of God’s work in and through Jesus
3. Live out the weekly Rhythms of a family on mission together (Story-formed, Listen, Celebrate, Eat, Bless and
ReCreate) – BE the church together throughout the week
4. Identify, equip and release new leadership to begin new Missional Communities

PATHWAYS INTO A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY:
1. Check out the list of MC’s on the Harambee website to find one near you or you want to support the mission of
2. Talk to the MC leader about checking it out
3. Consider starting one in your area and start attending MC leader training sessions when available.

John Piper on the Economic Downturn

Below is a piece of John Piper’s February 1st sermon entitled “What Is the Recession For?”

Trusting God in the area of our finances is one of the hardest areas to trust in Him, and is often reflective in our lack of giving, and the anxiety we display when we have economic problems. Hope you enjoy!

“(Some of) God’s Purposes in This Recession

Now what are some of God’s purposes in this recession? I will mention five:

He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

1. To Expose Sin and Bring Repentance

The book of Job in the Old Testament begins, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). But in the last chapter of the book, Job says, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). He was “blameless,” but later he repented. What does that mean?

It means that the most godly people in the world are like a clear glass of water with a sediment of sin hidden at the bottom of the glass. And when the glass is struck—with Job’s suffering, or with our recession—the sediment of sin is stirred up and exposed, and the water becomes cloudy. That’s one of the things that recessions are for.

And it works both individually and socially.

Individually Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

God brought his own faithful servant Paul to the brink of death so that he might learn more deeply to rely not on himself but on God. If that happened to Paul, we may be sure that God is doing that for us as well in this recession. That we may rely on him and not ourselves.

At the bottom of every Christian heart—no matter how advanced in faith and godliness—there is the sediment of self-reliance. Then God shakes our lives, sometimes to the foundations, to show us our self-reliance and clean it out with a new, deeper reliance on him.

Socially, the recession reveals a host of sins that hurt people. The recent Ponzi schemes are one of the clearest examples. Promise people huge returns on their investment when there is nothing to invest in, then pay those returns with some of the next investments in nothing. And keep doing it for years, while you skim millions for yourself. Until a recession makes people want their investments back—and they don’t exist. Recessions have a wonderful power to expose that kind of deceit. What will it expose about you?

And, of course, the recession is especially good at exposing the sin of wasting other people’s money (or our own), and the sin of selfishness and greed in the mortgage business, and the sin of fear when everything starts coming down, and the sin of grumbling and impatience. And on and on. What a gift the recession is in the exposure of sin. May the Lord give us all the grace to repent and receive the forgiveness that God offers in Jesus Christ.

2. To Awaken Us to World Poverty

It’s astonishing how blind prosperity makes us to the miseries of the world. God has some remedies for that kind of indifference. For example, it says in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

How does that work? He says that there are people that we should care about who are imprison and mistreated. We tend to forget them. So he says, “Remember!” And he says: “As though with them” and “since you have a body.” So how does it work? It works like this: You have a body and sometimes it hurts. When it hurts, remember that there are people right now who are being mistreated—who are hurting much more than you. Imagine yourself in their shoes, and treat them the way you would want to be treated.

Recession hurts us. It imprisons us. What is God’s aim? That we would wake up. Does this recession bother us? If it bothers us, we should be bothered by the fact that millions always live in recession. Only live in recession.

One billion people do not have safe water to drink. Sixteen thousand children die every day from hunger related illnesses. Almost eighteen million children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our family prays through the Global Prayer Digest each morning. For January 29, 2009, we prayed for the Afar people of Ethiopia:

It’s 3:00 a.m., and the Afar father is still awake. The desert night is cold. He snuggles up to his wife and newborn baby to keep them warm. Their stomachs rumble with hunger. Should he slaughter his scrawny goat to feed his wife, hoping she will produce enough milk for their baby? Or should he beseech the clan elders to move again, in search of weeds for the goat, or maybe even some fresh water?

They are fortunate; both his wife and their baby survived the birth. The Afar people have the highest maternal fatality rate in the world. Women give birth without benefit of sterile conditions, or even clean water. Of the babies born alive one-third die before age five. Afar people roam throughout one of the most desolate places on earth: the Ethiopian desert.

Drought and malnutrition make them vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, conjunctivitis, and other water-borne illnesses. Of 13 million Afar people, three million are infected with HIV/AIDS.

It is good to know these things. And to pray about these things. And to cultivate a radical culture at Bethlehem in which hundreds of people dream of ways that their lives can count creatively and long-term for the relief of suffering. Recession has a way of making us wake up to the endless recession of millions. It has a way of changing our priorities and releasing effort and money for others.

Part of our overall vision at Bethlehem called Treasuring Christ Together (TCT) is the Global Diaconate. The giving to TCT is over and above the $9.2 million budget for church and missions this year. Ten percent of everything you give to the vision of TCT goes to our efforts to help the poorest of the poor. Since 2005 when TCT started, you have given over $700,000 to this fund, and $593,000 of it has been disbursed. God’s purpose for this recession is to say: That’s good work; and now more than ever, don’t let up.

3. To Relocate the Roots of Our Joy in His Grace, Rather Than in Our Goods

God sends recessions to his people to pull up the roots of our joy from the pleasures of the world and sink those roots into the pleasures of the glory of his grace. Here’s he clearest recessionary text about this in the Bible—2 Corinthians 8:1-2. It describes the roots of the joy of the Macedonian believers in their “recession.”

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

This is my dream for Bethlehem. Verse 2 ends with a “wealth of generosity.” We want to be a generous people. Generous in every way. Where does it come from? From prosperity? No. Extreme poverty. “Their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of liberality.” This is why I call this a recessionary text. Here are people overflowing in generosity when the economic times are very bad.

Where then did the generosity come from if not from prosperity? From a supportive and sympathetic culture surrounding them? No. Verse 2 says they were in a “severe test of affliction.” That means they were being harassed. You can see what that looks like in Acts 17:5-9.

Where then did this wealth of generosity come form? Paul says it came from joy, abundance of joy. Verse 2: “Their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity.”

Their joy was not rooted in prosperity or popularity. But it was very great. Paul calls it “abundance of joy” in the middle of verse 2. Where did that joy come from?

It came from the grace of God. Verse 1: “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.” What makes people grumble and be stingy is a sense of entitlement. But if we have tasted the measure of our sin and the magnitude of God’s grace, we will have abundance of joy in recessionary hardships. God’s grace overflowing in Jesus for sinners like us is the most glorious thing in the universe.

This is where our joy is rooted. This is why the Fighter Verse for this past week says that Christians can be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Our joy is not rooted in circumstances. God has relocated our joy in his grace, not our goods—in his mercy, not our money, in his worth, not our wealth.

If the recession can assist that relocation, it will have done the most important thing possible. Because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

4. To Guard His Glory by Advancing His Saving Mission in the World Precisely When Human Resources Are Low

We see this all over the Bible. God does his great advancing work again and again when it looks least possible for us.

He promises the heir when Abraham and Sarah are too old to have children.
He splits the Red Sea when Israel is hopelessly trapped by Pharaoh’s army.
He gives manna when there is no food in the wilderness.
He stops the Jordan River when it’s time to take the land.
When a city stands in the way, he makes the walls fall down.
When the Midianites were as many as the sand of the sea, God whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 so God would get the glory for the victory.
When Goliath defies the armies of the Lord, God sends a boy with a sling and five stones.
When the Son of God is to come into the world, God calls a virgin to conceive.
And when the mighty devil himself is to be defeated, a Lamb goes to the slaughter.
And here in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2, when God wants to raise money for the poor in Jerusalem, he uses afflicted, poverty-stricken Macedonians and fills them with joy because of his grace.

So that’s the context for Finish the Million by March. In only four weeks, in the hardest financial times in decades, on top of a 9.2 million-dollar church budget, with thousands of givers who never attend the North Campus, all of Bethlehem (on every campus) will give $235,000 to meet the million-dollar goal to pull the trigger on finishing the North Campus.

But vastly more important than that is where your treasure is—where your heart is. Are you like the Macedonians whose joy—in times of “recession”—was invincible because it was rooted in the grace of God? May God open our eyes to glory of his grace. When he does, the last purpose for the recession that I will mention will come true.

5. To Bring His Church to Care for Her Hurting Members and Grow in Love

Buildings exist for people, not the other way around. May no effort to build ever keep us from caring for Christ’s followers. Acts 4:34 describes the early church: “There was not a needy person among them.” This is what the church does. Every member will have his needs met. God will test us to see if we are a church or a club.

May the Lord grant us “Macedonian grace” to “finish the million” and care for each other.”

Here is the Desiring God Link; http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/3566_What_Is_the_Recession_For/