· Today I was walking through our neighborhood just thanking God for all He’s done through Impact Church in less than a year. Truth is, more people got saved when Impact was just a launch team than most churches see in a 20 year run! And that’s just because we cast the net in obedience to the great commission. God does the rest! And He’s been so good to Impact! These are the most giving and real people I’ve known throughout my ministry experience.
· We continued our series through the gospel of Luke today. Earlier this week I cringed upon seeing yet another parable about stewardship as we came to Luke chapter 16. Stewardship tends to be the one subject that just wears people out. You can almost hear audible ‘sighs’ when you read the text aloud and it begins to dawn on people that it’s all about our “stuff” again. But then the Lord reminded me (and I reminded the body at Impact Church) that there is a very good reason why the Bible talks so much about money—it’s the single greatest threat to a vibrant Christian walk! It’s not the money itself that presents a danger, but our attitude toward it that trips us up. The throne of our hearts was made for God alone, but somehow most of us attempt to make it more of a loveseat than a one person throne and we constantly throw Jesus and money together to see if they might be compatible as co-gods of our lives. That’s just crazy! So today we studied the parable of the Dishonest Stewart found in Luke 16 and learned yet again that man cannot serve two masters. Luke 16:13 says as much, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Which one are you serving?
· Some of the benefits to a generous lifestyle are, It rewards, releases and replenishes. It rewards us in heaven at the very least—and most likely, here on earth as well. It releases us to more and more powerful kingdom building ministry for Jesus. And it actually replenishes our finances as people love to rally around others who have spent their lives being generous. There are infinitely more reasons to live a life of generosity verses a self absorbed life, but those three ought to get you started!