Today find sometime to be alone. Take a piece of paper and pen. Sit down somewhere you can think and talk to God. Write out ways you have been hurt/offended/bothered by other people in your life. Just write out the ones that come to mind. Ask God for clarity. Write down the person’s name, what they did and how you felt. Ask God to reveal to you how this has affected you. Ask Him why you feel/felt the way you do/did. Spend some time working through these emotions. Here are a few questions from the sermon for you to discuss with God.

1. Do I really believe that Jesus died for all sin? Maybe you know He died for your sin. Maybe you realize He died for the sins of the world. Do you believe He died for the sins committed against you? (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2)
2. Is it disobedient to God if I don’t forgive? (Matthew 6:15; Matthew 6:9-12; Matthew 18:21-35; Luke 23:34; Acts 7:59-60; Eph 4:32)
3. What do I gain if I hold onto this? What do I gain if I let it go?

Tear up the paper! Be free. Take whatever next steps God directs you to.

Consumed Christmas from Southbridge Fellowship on Vimeo.

GREAT WORK, SOUTHBRIDGE!  Your consistent contributions to The Bridge Initiative are adding up!  We’ve passed the $975,000 mark and are going strong!  Our consultant said if we didn’t have a project identified within a year of starting this campaign, we would probably have trouble keeping momentum.  It’s been 20 months and we’re a little below the level we hoped, but awfully close and it certainly doesn’t look like there’s a loss of momentum.  To God be the glory!

I served in Bridgekids a few weeks ago (you should try it, it’s great!) and thought, ‘it’ll be awesome when we get a building and won’t have to do all the setup and tear-down and wondering where the extra paper towels are or what class has the glue sticks this week.’

Then I thought, maybe God doesn’t want us in a building yet.  Maybe we’re more apt to embrace the ‘life change’ idea and focus more on others right where we are right now.  Maybe this is what we need to make us stronger.  Maybe when we move into a building there will be a release of pressure to BE the church since we will look around and see a building.  Maybe it’s just really hard to even find a starting point for a church building with $975k in Brier Creek.  We don’t simply want a building. The Bridge Initiative is about seeing more lives changed. God has us at this point for a reason.

Thanks for continuing to meet your pledges.  Thanks to the search committee for continuing to seek.  Thanks to those of you who are serving.  Thanks for connecting people to Jesus for life change!  May the name of our Lord Jesus be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (II Thessalonians 1:12)

Nate Oltmans

TBI Finance/Follow-up Team

For information on the Bridge Initiative visit the TBI website.

Be sure to join us for our special Christmas Eve service on December 24th, at 2304 Page Road Durham, NC 27703.

The up-side potential for good in U.S. Christian giving is immense, almost unimaginable. If American Christians were to give from their income generously–not lavishly, mind you, only generously–they could transform the world, starting right away. Ordinary American Christians have within their power the capacity to foster massive and unprecedented spiritual, social, cultural, and economic change that closely reflects their values and interests. In order to achieve such dramatic, world-transforming change, ordinary American Christians simply need to do one thing: start giving reasonably generously from their incomes, let us say 10 percent of post-tax income. Fostering such changes could begin immediately. It would not require getting Congress or the United Nations to act. It would not require a military mobilization or waiting for a majority turn over in the Supreme Court. It would only require ordinary Christians from one country to start doing something that seems entirely within their power and that most of them, according to the teachings of their own faith traditions, ought to already be doing anyway: give generously from the financial resources with which they have been blessed.

What they say here is powerful. We could change the world if we would give generously. The only thing I would say is that they are NOT even talking about generosity. They are simply talking about what Dave Ramsey refers to as training wheel level giving. If we would just tithe, and the tithe they are discussing is the lowest tithe (after tax income). Later in this same chapter they demonstrate what could be done if Christians actually tithed. In fact they narrow who they are referring to as committed Christians.

Let us begin, then, with a conservative estimation, imagining that only those American Christians would begin to give 10 percent of their after-tax income who either attend church regularly (a few times a month or more frequently) or profess to be “strong” or “very strong” Christians. Let us call these “committed” Christians…We estimate that if committed Christians in the United States gave 10 percent of their after-tax income–fully but no more than 10 percent–that would provide an extra $46 billion per year of resources with which to fund needs and priorities…By our reckoning, with $46 billion they could–in addition to sustaining all currently funded churches, organizations, ministries, and programs–achieve the following.

The below stats are long but overwhelming. Take your time and contemplate the difference you could make:

Research for this blog by the Docent Research Group.

Orphan Sunday_SOUTHBRIDGE Video from Southbridge Fellowship on Vimeo.