This year’s conference is titled Called to be Faithful. Click here to register.

Conference info:

Craig Cabaniss will speak on Faithful to Receive. Before we think about worshipping God in any sense, we need to recognize our dependence on and need for God’s grace in the gospel. Worship is God’s idea and initiative, not ours.

Kevin DeYoung will address Faithful to Proclaim. Our primary focus when we gather is not simply to express our emotions and responses, but to hear God’s Word and the gospel proclaimed.

Jon Payne will speak on Faithful to Serve. He’ll explore what it means to serve our congregation, our team, and our pastor.

Bob Kauflin will speak on Faithful to Grow. He’ll seek to inspire and equip you to grow in your relationship with God, your theological understanding, and your skills.

Kevin DeYoung will be addressing the importance of being Faithful to Prepare. That isn’t a reference to worship planning, but rather to preparing our congregations for suffering, death, and heaven.

Bob Kauflin, Devon Kauflin, West Coast Revival, and Josh and Joel Sczebel, will be leading us in song during the conference. We’re  grateful to welcome back John Martin and Enfield, who encouraged WorshipGod11 attendees with their gospel-centeredness, musical excellence, and commitment to God’s Word.

The seminar presenters this year at WorshipGod West include Don Whitney, John Martin, Kevin DeYoung, Patrick Anderson, Sheri Gould, Malcolm DuPlessis, Darius Fong, and more. For more details on the seminars check out the seminar page.

Because Christ loved us, we are able to love others

“We love because he first loved us.”
(1 John 4:19)

We didn’t deserve Christ’s love for us, yet it taught us that we are so loved and cherished that Jesus died for us. This very love held Him to the cross. Because God loves us, the gospel enables us to love Him and people. Knowing the love of God should empower us to give that same love to others. The love that Christians show is a response to that love that God has shown to them. This should move us to worship our Father and live all of life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and to the glory of God alone.

His love empowers us to love

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God”
(1 John 3:1)

The love that God showed to me when he adopted me into his family changed my view on love. God, in His perfection, reaches out to imperfect sinners and adopts them into His family. It cost Him His only son. It wasn’t comfortable nor was it convenient. He who knew no sin knows every rebellious thought, every sin you committed and will commit, and every idol that you’ve had in place of Him. We are only dust yet His love continually overflows for us. His love has changed me from my former self to whom I am now. As the hymn “Loved with Everlasting Love” eloquently states, “I am His and He is mine.”

Because of this, we are no longer enemies of God but co-heirs with Christ. He is righteous and holy, but good and gentle. In all His righteous glory, He is still perfect love. As image bearers of God, what does this mean? We are to love to mirror back God’s image. We must desire to follow after those qualities of God. We are His children and since we abide in Christ, we must walk in love (1 John 2:6).

With His power, we can withstand inconvenience

“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another”
(1 John 3:11)

Too often, being nice comes easy, it comes as convenient. Perhaps we should rethink how we love someone when there is such a great cost and much sacrifice to be made. Perhaps we think a small favor or expected gesture is loving someone. But when there is a cost involved, we tend to hesitate or even stop. When Jesus talks about loving enemies in Luke 6:27-36, it is extremely convicting in showing our love for others. Everyone is able to love people who love them and do well to those who do well to them. It is not,” I will love this person until he or she falls away.” It’s not I will love this person until he or she stops caring about me. It is not,” I will love this person until he or she stops deserving it.” These have a condition- that you will love this person to the extent that it doesn’t hurt yourself.

Jesus makes it clear that there are no exceptions when it comes to love. Through His grace, we can withstand inconvenience. We can make sacrifices. We can love with a life saturated in grace, devoted to turning your other cheek, praying for your enemies, and laying down your lives for others. We can love like He loves. With this, we are mirroring back His image and bringing His kingdom here on earth.

What is the Gospel? Is it really relevant in today’s culture? These are two questions that many Christians today don’t have great answers for. Because we don’t have good answers we tend not to share the hope that the Gospel gives to our hurting world. The Intentional Gospel Conference, IG13, is designed to equip you to purposefully bring the gospel to each part of your world. Our hope is that you will begin to see that Jesus is relevant. Our part as believers is to figure out how He is relevant to those who are around us. We have brought together five amazing speakers who are all doing this in their daily lives. Whether it is in our neighborhood, with our friends, on our campus, with our church, or around the world, we will see how the Gospel is changing lives and how we can intentionally and effectively share the message of Jesus. This is not a weekend you are going to want to miss!

VISION: The body of Christ united in vertical worship to the God of all glory and grace.

MISSION: Promoting the glory of God and revealing the character of God is the means by which we reach people who are far from God! We believe the most effective form of evangelism is when the body of Christ engages in unapologetic God-ward worship—whether it’s personal or corporate. We don’t see worship and evangelism as two separate modes of the church. Instead, we see them inextricably linked. This is made clear all throughout the book of Acts, chapter 2 when 120 Christians came together and sought the Lord through prayer and corporate worship. The Holy Spirit descended upon the 120 and out of their worship to God, 3,000 people were saved. Worship (corporate or individual) is evangelism and evangelism is worship (Psalm 79:9; Psalm 115:1; Is. 48:11). With this in mind, the Lord placed a burden on our hearts for the students and faculty at Orange Coast College. So we’ve invited local churches from all over Orange County to come together on OCC’s campus to celebrate Christ who is the radiance of God’s glory and the expressed imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3)! We are praying that as a result of this corporate worship gathering on OCC’s campus, the power of the gospel would spark vertical worship among the students and faculty on this campus. That the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ would explode in the hearts of students on this campus and as a result infect this county with the gospel of God for the glory of God.

Book: God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas Is the Foundation for Everything
Author: Douglas Wilson
Publisher: Canon Press (2012)

Jesus is the reason for the season. The statement is as cliched as it is true—Jesus truly is the reason for this Christmas season. Not many Christians would argue with that! But what about the claim that this Jesus-season, this Christmas, is the foundation for everything? This is what Douglas Wilson aims to prove in his latest book God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas Is the Foundation for Everything. And I believe he achieves this well.

Throughout this short, 150-page book, Wilson sets out to “rekindle the Christian’s understanding of Advent on every front, from politics to shopping to uproarious celebration.” The book is broken up into five sections:

First, in Lesson 1: To Gain His Everlasting Hall, Wilson deals with the most foundational doctrines of the Christmas story. “If Jesus Christ is the cornerstone—and He is—the Christmas story tells how the first preparations were made to lay that stone” (9). From the great irony of Christmas to the mystery of the Incarnation to the song of Mary to the star of Bethlehem and the journey of the three kings, Wilson reflects on the most outrageous and foundational Christmas truths and shows how “the birth of Christ in Bethlehem is one of the greatest plot points ever” (11) in the story of our world’s history.

Then, in Lesson 2: The Politics of Christmas, Wilson reminds us that the birth of our Savior had an oft-overlooked political nature to it. After all, the birth of Jesus was an insurrection of sorts, a potent threat to the status quo: “Of the increase of his governement and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it…” (Isaiah 9:7 KJV). Even Herod understood what many Christians do not: “the birth of [Jesus] meant that the old way of ruling mankind was doomed” (65).

In Lesson 3: Celebrating Christmas Like a Puritan, Wilson contests the common caricature of Puritans as “ecclesiastical killjoys.” In the spirit of our Puritan fathers, he argues, we can hate the sins of consumerism, shopping, gluttony, while still loving the stuff. “Sin is not resident in the stuff. Sin is found in the human heart—in the hearts of both true gluttons and true scrooges—both those who drink much wine and those who drink much prune juice” (90). So celebrate the stuff, and give thanks with a glad heart.

Interestingly, in Lesson 4: How Shall We Then Shop? Wilson critiques any full assualts on Christmas consumerism. As a pastor-theologian, Wilson is fully aware of the sins of greed and the marketplace and that such sins are especially present during the the Christmas rush (95). Still, he acknoweldges that “Christmas is a celebration of the time when the infinite God took on a material body” and, thus, there are ramifications for how we think about material things (95). In this section, Wilson lays out a “theology of Christmas gifts” addressing both pitfalls and affirmations for gift-giving at Christmas time.

In this final section, Lesson 5: Daily Meditations for Advent, Wilson provides a series of daily meditations, each accompanied with a prayer—great for family readings or personal devotionals.

There is much to like in God Rest Ye Merry. Wilson sets out to prove that Christmas, the great mystery of “God with us”, is the foundation for all things, and I believe he succeeds at this. He covers a lot of ground and the pages are chock full of Scripture. While reading, I was often stopped by that “hm-I-hadn’t-thought-of-that” feeling you get when you’re being challenged in new ways by a good book. Even the daily meditations, let alone, are far worth the read.

So should you read this book? Absolutely. But isn’t this a book to be read only before Christmas? Certainly not. Wilson isn’t contending that Christmas is the foundation for Christmas; he is contending that Christmas is the foundation for everything. And if Christmas—the story of the God-man breaking into the fabric of human history—is truly the foundation for everything, then a book such as this would not only serve you well in the month of December, but it would minister to you all throughout the year.

Once the presents are unwrapped and the tree starts to go down and the nativity sets retreat back to storage, pick up a copy of God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas Is the Foundation for Everything and get wrapped in the wonderful story of the Incarnation all over again.

“…Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12-13

Many have sought to write off the fear in this passage by calling it “reverence” for God, and by calling reverence for God “respect.” If that’s the case though, why tremble? I have never seen a person tremble out of respect, but I have seen many tremble out of fear.

On the other hand, many have claimed that this passage shows that our continued obedience is on our own shoulders, focusing on the “your own” from “work our your own salvation.” But it doesn’t say, “work for,” it says, “work out.” I believe this view can also be refuted by answering the question: why tremble?

So, why does Paul say we tremble? We are blessed in this passage by one little word that makes a world of difference: “for.” Work out your own salvation. How? With fear and trembling.

And now, for our central question, why? “For it is God who works in you.”

To what end? “Both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

On the one hand, a simple respect makes no sense of the trembling. On the other hand, if we’re trembling because we might not live up to the task of keeping our salvation, verse 13 makes no sense.

What makes a Christian tremble? Is it future punishment? No, there is none for the Christian. Is it the weight of their own goodness? No. Only God is good (Mark 10:18). As my friend Chris has stated in the subtext to his recent book, the Christian trembles before God alone. I like this subtext, and I think it is perfectly in line with Philippians 2:12-13. That little word “for” agrees with me and Chris too. Why tremble? Because this work that I do is not wrought by me. As I work hard to obey God, I recognize that this is the work of Almighty God! This means that I do not tremble because God might damn me. What Paul gives me here speaks only to my salvation. I tremble as I work out my salvation, because I know that anything I do to please God is itself an encounter with a Holy, perfect, awesome, fearsome God. He is acting upon my life to bring about a heart that wants to do His will, and He is acting upon my life to bring about acts that reflect will. The one who created the whole earth with a few words. The one who has thunder and lightning coming from His throne. The one who commands the seas, laughs at the rage of the heathen nations, and conquers death with joy. He is acting upon my life, bringing about the fruit of my salvation. This is why I tremble.

 Ephesians 1:1-14

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Your identity: Who do you think you are?

This is one of the most important questions you can ask. All of us seek to find our identity in something. The quest for identity is in a constant state of chaos, change and influence.

Who we are:

In order to define who we are we must go back to the beginning. In Genesis 1, God spoke and man was created in his image. When we consider who we are in light of who God is, we learn our place.

Humility = to know your place. (cf. Calvin’s first institute)

We were created by God, in the image and likeness of him, and our purpose is to reflect, to be an image-bearer or a shadow of who he is. We were essentially made for worship. Therefore, we are all made as worshipers, pouring ourselves out for the glory of something. The question is: What is the object of your worship? Music? Football? Or the living God?

Genesis 3: The Lie

The first lie ever spoken was in relation to man’s identity. The serpent promised Eve that they could be like God. As Paul said in Romans 1:25, “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever and ever! Amen.” Were they already like God? In a way, yes. God made them in his own image, to reflect him, and it was good. The serpent’s lie was that they could make themselves like God.

Our identity was meant to be received. Not achieved.

The lie: that our identity can be achieved through works. The essence of our identity crisis is an idolatry problem. The lie is that our society teaches us is that our identity can be achieved through works. When asked who we are we often give people a list of our accomplishments or what we do for a living. Rarely do we share what we have received.

Our identity crisis manifests in I.D.O.L.S.

Items

Idolatry can manifest itself in many different ways but one of the major fruits of idolatry is consumerism. Sociologists call this “conspicuous consumption.” We buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t know. This fuels covetousness. Our identity is then found in what we possess rather than who we actually are. Always check your motives: What is this item for? God’s glory? Or to gain identity?

Duties

When we think of who we are we almost always think about what it is that we do. Much of our identity is wrapped up in this. Things in themselves are rarely evil. It is usually a good thing put in a wrong place. People make them evil, make them idols.

Others

When we idolize people we invariably demonize somethings else. People idolize gender, thereby demonizing the other. People idolize political affiliation, and therefore demonize any other. People idolize their culture and demonize others.

When we essential tell someone, “Never leave me, never fail me” – you’ve handed them Jesus’ resumé. When we idolize other people we will be disappointed because people inevitably let us down. As soon as a person who is an idol fails you, you demonize them.

Proverbs tells us, “the fear of man is a trap, a snare…”

Longings

For some people identity is always something that is pursued. They never enjoy it. They waste away thinking about what could be, about something other than what they are doing. This is when we falsely believe that once we achieve something, only then will we feel that we have a new identity, rather than living in the reality that we have a new identity already.

Suffering

People allow their hurts to shape the person they claim to be. However, you’re not identified by your pain.

People respond violently, emotionally when their idols are taken or threatened.

Our identity is not found in what has happened to us but, rather, what has been done for us.

New Identity

Follow your emotions. What gets you most excited? What are you most fearful of? What gets you angry? Most of the time, the answers to these questions will quickly reveal our idols.

My desire: I don’t just want you to be fruitful in ministry. I want you to be holy. 

We are not defined by what we do but rather what we do is a result of who we are.

Ephesians 1:1-14- look at all the “in Him/in Christ/in Jesus” statements. There are so many.

There are 2 kinds of people: Those in Adam and those in Christ.

The first Adam substituted himself for God, the last Adam was God substituting himself for man. If you are in Christ, your identity is unshakable because you are found in Christ! It does not mean that life is crisis- and hardship-free; it means that life is crisis- and hardship-proof.

Dear Calvinist friends, I agree with you, except for where you’re wrong.

Dear Calvinist friends, how would you explain to your people who they are?

Pastors, how would you explain to your people who they are?

Calvinism (my tribe) begins with the doctrine of total depravity. I get that. I believe in that. But Calvinists, the best way to do theology is to go back to the scriptures, not react to someone else’s theology (cf, Canon of Dort). And in the scriptures—God’s living, breathing Word—there’s a lot going on before the Fall in Genesis 3. God creates man in his image, to reflect his nature. Under the new covenant, Jesus returns us to this and we are being conformed into his likeness. Young Calvinists, remember: new heart, new creation.

It’s a disservice to the glory of God to establish peoples identity (who are in Christ) in their depravity. The Bible does not do this.

Do you know that God’s people are called “saints”? There is no place more reformed than Ephesians 1. It was John Calvin’s happy place. Notice he begins Ephesians 1 by addressing them with the name “saints”…Over 300 times in the New Testament God’s people are referred to as “holy” and “righteous.” Do you think there were sinners in this church? Yes, absolutely. Of course! However, for those who are in Christ, sin may be their activity, but it is not their identity. The Bible says that we are a new creation. The way God establishes the identity of his people is in Christ.

It is a bit of paganism when we beat ourselves over our sin to prove how convicted we are of our sin. God does not want to beat us up by reminding us of who we are in Adam. He wants us to repent of our work in Adam and rejoice and be transformed by our new identity in Christ—he took the beating for us as rose from the grave. 

I was raised in the Catholic Church. Their idea of “saint” is one of special veneration. This is not the biblical definition  A saint is someone who has a new identity in Christ. Your hope is in Christ. Your grace in in Christ. If you are in Christ, God sees you as a saint. You are not totally new, but you are genuinely new. You are new, and becoming new. This means that you are not free from sin but rather that sin no longer can rule over you. You get to walk in the freedom Christ knowing that your sin is not what defines you but Christ is what defines you.

It breaks my hear that some of you don’t know who you are. I want you to know who you are in Christ and live out of that identity, preach out of your identity, serve out of your identity.

We don’t work for our identity. We work from our identity, in Christ. You are not your performance. Jesus is your perfection. You are not identified by what you do but by what Jesus has done for you. You don’t have to beat yourself up because Jesus took the beating for you.

Holiness is not something we have to do. It is something we get to do.

There is nothing that we can do apart from Christ. In him, we are made new and called and empowered on his mission by grace.

Do you believe that you are a saint?

Dear friend, God cannot love you any more and he will not love you any less. You’re so love, so filled, so embraced by God in Christ. Jesus has changed you. Be thankful and live in him.

The Church Before and the Church Today

Throughout history the church was the epicenter of creativity. Go back a few hundred years, and the church was leading in the arts, in music, in science. Culture was shaped through the church. Today, people are utterly shocked when the church does anything creative or innovative. Sadly, we have delegated creativity to the secular institutions when we are the ones that should be excelling in these areas. What happened?

Whenever the word Christian is in front of something it’s perceived to be second rate. Christian movies. Christian clothes. Christian music.

The church should be the leaders in creativity and innovation.

As God’s creative image bearers, how do we reclaim that? How do we make the church the most innovative institution in the earth?

Mark 2:1-5
“And when he returned to Capurnam after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to the. And they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him becasue of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made no opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.”

We are not innovative for the sake of being creative. We are innovative in order to bring people to Jesus Christ, just like the four men in Jesus’ day.

Innovation isn’t as much about what we do, but how we think. When we learn to think differently, we become what God intended us to be. Then, we can innovate. It’s about stewardship. It’s about faith in a God who is in control.

How to Think About Innovation:

LIMITED RESOURCES +
A WILLINGNESS TO FAIL +
INCREASING PASSION =
EXPONENTIAL INNOVATION

Limited Resources

“We can’t ____ because we don’t ____.” = wrong mentality to have.

• We can’t add a new service because we don’t have enough volunteers.
• We can’t do real church because we don’t have a real building.
• We can’t do that because we’ve always done it this way.

However, limited resources are not a hindrance to innovation, they are actually a catalyst to innovation. God is sovereign. If God gives you what you think you need, then you won’t see what he wants you to see. Sometimes, God will withhold what we want to show us what we actually need. You might already have everything that you need to reach every person that God wants you to reach.

Peter to the lame man: “silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

Therefore, embrace your limitations! Limitations are the breeding ground for innovation. After all, if you weren’t in need then you wouldn’t need to innovate.

A Willingness to Fail

Mindset people often have: “Failure is not an option, so we won’t even try.” This is the wrong mentality.

Failure is in fact not an option, it is a necessity. You must be willing to fail. You must be willing to risk it. Failure is often the first step in God’s process of success. Peter is a great example of this. He had failed to love God multiple times yet he was called to speak on the day of Pentecost. Because he had failed much, he was most equipped to preach with passion for God’s grace.

YouVersion bible app was supposed to be a website where people share socially and engage with the word. It failed as a website. They started an app, and the rest is history.

Try, fail, learn, adjust. Repeat.

Increasing Passion

The mindset we often have: “We want to reach people for Christ.” Not bad, but let’s change it with increasing passion.

How about:

Rather than saying we “want” to reach people for Christ, we “have to” to reach people for Christ. Paul didn’t say he wanted to preach the gospel. He HAD to preach the gospel. It is important to make this distinction—we don’t just want to do things, we are compelled to do them.

If you believe that people are headed to a very real fate in a place called Hell unless they come to Jesus, then you have to reach them.

Forget the term “church growth.” I don’t care about “church growth.” What we’re talking about is populating the kingdom of God.

If you want to reach people you have to be willing to break the rules of man. You have to care about reaching lost people more than you care about pleasing church people.

• In the 1500s, Martin Luther had to get the word of God out to the common people. So he went bangig on the Wittenberg door with a hammer in nail. He broke the rules.
• John Wesley had to get people who would never enter a church to hear the gospel. So we went outside. He preached open-air, sometimes on his father’s grave, for over 50 years.
• Rick Warren saw that churches and denominations were drawing lines and no longer working together. He had to change this, so he started sermon campaigns so that multiple churches could go through God’s Word together.
• Mark Driscoll wanted lost people to get saved, so he planted a church in the single most liberal city in America. He has been planting churches all across the city and  training future church leaders.

Sometimes the closest thing to the heart of God is the most offensive thing to the Pharisee. We need to care more about God’s people than we do about the approval from church people. Innovation happens when you care more about reaching people than you do about the approval of men.

“….Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for one month in the year.”
(2 Kings 4:1-7)

1. We all face times of desperate need (v.1)

“Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.’” (2 Kings 4:1)

The Bible reveals to us that we need to care about having a biblical perspective on financial matters. Hosea 14:9 says, “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” In verse 1, the lady is expressing that what has happened isn’t right. The debtors were coming to collect a debt that she could not afford. We must be careful when we are in desperate need that we are not begging of God. We don’t have to have anything that we ask for.

Psalm 106:15 says, “He gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.” We must find our satisfaction in him alone first. The worst thing that could happen at times is if God actually gave us the thing that we thought we wanted. Also it is important to be reminded that God’s provision often begins with a season of desperate need.

Money Extremes:

1. Prosperity Theology: Money is something God promises and if you have it it’s proof of God’s blessing. Claim that God promises prosperity to every one of his children.
2. Poverty Theology: Money is something God warns about. This theological viewpoint takes certain scriptures and isolates them, not viewing them in the context of scripture as a whole.

Biblical View: Gain money honestly. Give it generously. Multiply it faithfully. Enjoy it carefully.

2. God needs only what we have (v.2)

“And Elisha said to her, ‘What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?’ And she said, ‘Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” (2 Kings 4:2)

God almost always provides for us through what we already have. Even the person who has the least must scour what he has to see if there is any way that God could provide through that.

5 things I learned the hard way:

1. Pastors, keep your hands off the money.
2. Generosity. Proverbs 11:24-25
3. Money follows ministry.
4. It is good for people to be asked to give. Privilege.
5. Measure and grow your giving.

3. God does only what we can’t (v.3)

“Then he said, ‘Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few.” (2 Kings 4:3)

The widow is called to do whatever she can to help herself by finding empty vessels. God miraculously provides for us in the things that we could not possibly bring about by ourselves.

4. God fills only what we offer (v. 6-7)

“When the vessels were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another vessel.’ And he said to her, ‘There is not another.’ Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, ‘God, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:6-7)

When we stop bringing, God stops pouring. It hurts to hold up empty places to God, waiting for him to fill them. It is a difficult place to live in but that is exactly where he desires us to live. When we do, he is faithful.

What do I have that I can bring? What can I do that I have not done?

Every city is in critical condition.

A common theme found throughout scripture: God’s people sin, cry out to God, and he answers them by giving them a judge.

Exodus 3:7-9
“Then the LORD said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.”

God sends deliverers in the response to people’s cries.

There are people crying out for help all around us. We need to become a “do something church.”

How can we help people: Imitate Jesus
1.Count
2. Walk
3. Ask
4. Love

Count

All throughout the Bible you see God counting things or describing their number. God’s inspired Word includes many numbers—hairs, sand, days, years, people, etc. If you think God does not care about numbers, you’re wrong.

How many lepers are in your community? How many prostitutes are in your community? Homeless? People in convalescent homes? Do you know these numbers?

Symptom Centers. These are the places where people medicate their sin problems. Abortion centers. Homeless centers. Strip clubs. Adult stores. Liquor stores. Convalescent homes.

How many symptom centers are in your community? Do you know what they are? Where they are?
We should know the what the needs are in our culture.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Walk

Jesus could have sat in a temple and commanded people to come to him but instead, what did he do? He walked. He walked all over the place.

“Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.” Deuteronomy 11:24

We must go to those places where the lost are and minister to them there. Go and walk and reclaim your property. Don’t let the Devil hold on to what is God’s.

Ask

“And Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.’ And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ And the blind man said to him, ‘Rabbi, let me recover my sight.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.”
(Mark 10:49-52)

So you want to serve your community… Have you ever asked how you can serve? Our church volunteers have volunteered several thousands of hours of community service to our city. We have the support of our mayor.

Ask places in your community how you can help. Businesses that you visit regularly–ask how you can pray for them.

Once you have identified these places you must ask how you can help.

One of the mistakes Christians make is that they only tell people things rather than asking how they can help them.

Love

God is not complicated on how we can love him.

1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

When you ask how you can help, it must be in love. If you ask an alcoholic how you can help him and he says to buy him a 40oz., don’t buy him 80oz. – that would not be loving. You buy him a meal.

The commandments of God are a joy for the Christian.

How will your church die? If you aren’t keeping his command to love then your church will surely die.