Seeking God

A RENEWED DESIRE FOR GOD

EXODUS 40:33-38

Today we are praying that God would renew our desire for Him. The tabernacle was the first sanctuary built in the Bible, and when it was finished God moved in. His presence was there. A pillar of fire or cloud reminded the people that God was with them. Moses came out of his tent of meeting with his face glowing from a fresh encounter with God. The greatest thing that can happen on our campus is that we meet with God. In this entire process what we want most is for our church to encounter the Lord in meaningful ways. We don’t need buildings for that, but we sure hope that ours host him well. The Bible tells the story of people meeting with God in sacred spaces like the Garden of Eden, the tabernacle, the temple and finally in the assembled church. He is our treasure and prize. Let’s pray that our church has a growing desire for His personal presence.

– Pray that we would have a renewed desire to know, hear and follow God as we consider his long term plans for our church.

– Pray that we would encounter him when we gather together on campus and while we are scattered on mission during the week.

– Pray that this process of seeking His will would bring our church closer to the Lord.

Seeking God

LEADERSHIP, GUIDANCE, DISCERNMENT

Psalm 23

When David wrote the 23rd Psalm, he could speak from experience because he knew what it meant to be a shepherd. He understood the connection of the Lord as the shepherd of His people. Just as the sheep that David cared for were completely dependent on the guidance and direction he gave them; God’s flock should be completely dependent on Him for guidance and direction.

In the Psalm David said, “The Lord is my shepherd; He guides me along the right paths.” God will never lead us astray. He always wants what is best for His church and His children.

Later, in another Psalm, David wrote, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me.” In another Psalm, it tells us that if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will be blessed.

Right now, in the life of our church, we have several committees at work seeking God’s will for Carterville Baptist Church. Whether it be finding God’s person to fill vacancies within our church, or looking for God’s long-range vision for our church, each of these committees need the leadership of our Good Shepherd to help them find HIS perfect plan.

– As a church, we need to pray the words from an old familiar hymn, “Savior like a shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care.”

– We also need to pray for these committees, that they will seek God and allow Him to lead them to His perfect plan for our church.

– Pray that we would seek, know, and follow the leadership of God together.

Seeking God

GOD’S WILL OVER OURS

EPHESIANS 3:20-21

We know God can do more than we can ever imagine and the things he has planned for us are exceedingly better than our own plans and desires. We cannot live as we were created to live without getting to know our Creator. How can we possibly understand this world and our purpose in it if we do not know our God who created it? The more we get to know God, the more we will desire him and his will.

-Pray that we would seek to know God. Not just know about him but to seek an intimate relationship with him.

-Pray that we would seek God’s will for our lives and for His Church and that it would become the desire of our own heart.

SEEKING GOD

GOD’S TIMING AND PLAN

PSALM 27:14 – ISA 55:8-9

Have you ever prayed to God and thought maybe He didn’t hear your prayer because He didn’t answer right away? Was it that He didn’t answer, or was He not ready to answer? What we sometimes forget is that God’s answer isn’t always yes. Sometimes it’s wait. Wait, because we are not ready in our own life or the life of our church to bring His perfect plan into being. Maybe our hearts aren’t prepared, or maybe we aren’t ready to make the necessary sacrifices, or maybe He wants us to work on improving other areas of our church first. An unknown author wrote, “God has perfect timing, never early, never late. It takes a little patience and faith, but it’s worth the wait.” Jer 29:11 tells us that God knows the plans He has for us. Isa 55:8-9 reminds us that God’s ways and plans are always better than ours. For Carterville Baptist Church to be a shining light in this community, we need to allow God to show us His perfect plan in His perfect time. Only He knows what is truly best for our church.

– Pray that God will show each of us our part is in His plan for this church. What do I need to do, what sacrifices and commitments do I need to make to serve God’s plan?

– Pray we will be patient and allow God to show us His perfect plan in His time.

– Pray with the church regularly, that God show’s us His plan for today, as we wait for Him to reveal His plans for tomorrow and the days that lie ahead.

Seeking God

TASK FORCE MEMBERS

DEUT 4:29

Pray that our Long Range Task Force Members would faithfully pray, seek and follow God above all. As you gather with family and friends to celebrate our Independence, take a few minutes to ask God to strengthen the bond that holds us as Christians together. Here are some points to pray for unity:

– While we are each unique with different traits, we find unity in the Spirit of God

– We can learn to appreciate the gifts each of us are given

– We can find the joy in our fellowship

– We can rejoice in accomplishing tasks and seeing God’s hand on our work

– Our strength comes in our weakness as we turn to God for guidance

– We seek out ways to serve others

SEEKING GOD

CONSULTANTS AND CREATIVITY

EXODUS 31 & 35

When Israel built the tabernacle, God referred them to an expert, an Israelite named Bezalel and his helper Oholiab. The Holy Spirit gave these two men the creativity and expertise to oversee the work needed to build the tabernacle. They would have been doing foundation work, carpentry and masonry. They would have been teaching metal work and overlaying sacred items with gold or other valuable metals. They were waterproofing with skins and overseeing decorative embroidery work—even making clothes for the priests. Not only were Bezalel and Oholiab experts in their crafts, they were gifted as teachers. They became the guides for leading Israel to make the vision of the tabernacle a reality for worshippers. These guys were super important to the building process. We don’t have Bezalel and Oholiab in 2024, but out task force does have Dave, Bob, and Ashlynn. They work for Visioneering Studios. We worked for several months to find the right consultants for Carterville, and we want to ask you to pray for them today. Pray that the Spirit will bless them with creativity and skill to help guide us to the facility improvements we need for the next 20 years of ministry. Their role in this process is key, and we want to lift them up to the Lord today.

– Pray for the Spirit to bless Dave, Bob, Ashlynn, and their coworkers.

– Pray for creativity and vision for our consultants.

– Pray that the Lord would be honored by the work of Visioneering Studios.

– Pray that our consultants, Visioneering Studios, would seek and follow God and that He would lead them to develop ideas that best would serve and care for His church.

SEEKING GOD

CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S PLAN

JOSHUA 1:6 – ACTS 14:3

Just as God invites his followers to follow him boldly, we want to have confidence to follow Him as He shows us what we will need to build and renovate on our church campus to match the kingdom growth that we believe he will bring.

God has graciously given us buildings and property to use as tools to make disciples and reach our city. In wisdom, we want to follow him boldly into whatever he calls our church family to do with them so that we can continue to be obedient to His commission to us.

– Pray that the Lord would give us confidence in His plan as He reveals it to His church.

– Pray that we would not be captured by fear or swayed by doubts away from what God leads us to do with the campus that He has given us.

– Pray that God would affirm and reassure our whole church family in what He calls us to; that we would have a clear and unified confidence.

SEEKING UNITY

UNITY AND PEACE

ACTS 4:32, 1 COR 12:12, COL 3:14-15

– Pray that God would protect unity and peace within our congregation as we seek to follow Him and His plan together.

-Pray for an overwhelming peace as we as a church body decide on which part of our building is to be updated or revamped. Please help us listen for God’s voice in all areas, trusting Him to guide us in the direction He chooses.

– Pray for our church staff, church members, and Visioneering Studios through each phase of planning for God’s church.

SEEKING UNITY

HUMILITY

1 PETER 5:1-7

Today we are praying for humility in our hearts, both individually as a believer and collectively as the body of Christ at Carterville. As we do, I think it is important to acknowledge God’s fingerprints on the legacy of the Carterville Family. It is rich and it is blessed because of God’s grace and love. We have enjoyed His favor, blessings, and love for nearly 100 years. In that circumstance, it can be tempting to become proud and presume that we are something special because of who we are rather than because of who God is. Or, maybe we aren’t feeling proud as much as we fall into a trap of taking God’s blessings on us for granted. I know I can be guilty of one or both. We know that were planted in this community to share the love and hope of Christ with it and the world beyond – for God’s glory alone. As we consider what God has in store for our church over the next decades, we want to make decisions in alignment with His will and for His glory and not for our own pride or vanity. At the same time we don’t want to be fearful of big things if that’s what God has planned for us, and want to faithfully follow His leadership in whatever direction He reveals with regard to our facilities and ministry plans.

Please pray that…

– We continue to be blessed by His favor and protection as a church family until He returns.

– We remain faithful as a people to His word and submissive and sensitive to His direction.

– God protects us from the temptation of selfish pride and that we would remain humble and understanding as we seek His will, and give any glory that may be found in the story He continues to write for Carterville to Him alone.

– That God would lead us to the facilities and ministry plans He intends for the Carterville Family, and that we faithfully follow and support the plans He reveals.

– That God would give us humble and understanding hearts and would protect us from pride and arrogance.

SEEKING UNITY

LOVE THAT BEARS, BELIEVES, HOPES, AND ENDURES

1 COR 13:4-7

Our strongly divided culture has forgotten how to degree with respect. Showing honor to one’s opponents has never been easy, but today many don’t believe that it’s possible. Followers of Jesus must be different. He insists they love their enemies and work through differences with gentleness and respect. Paul tells us that genuine love bears through disagreements, believes even in struggle, hopes where many doubt, and endures when giving up is easy. Let’s pray that Christ would empower us to love this way. We long for Him to teach us to believe the best in one another, to bear with each other in mistakes and disagreements, to hope for good for us all, and to endure in relationships. Love like this makes it possible for us to be honest enough to learn from each other, forgive each other, and grow into the people Christ intends us to be.

– Pray that God would teach us a faithful love that bears, believes, hopes and endures.

SEEKING UNITY

CLEAR COMMUNICATIONS

JAMES 1:19 – PROVERBS 10:19 & 12:15

Too often relationships are rife with conflict from simple misunderstandings. Have you heard people full of pride and vigor yell over one another not listening well enough to realize that they agree on almost everything important. Proverbs teach that wisdom listens well and speaks carefully. James instructs the church to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. We are going to feel strongly about our church family, our church campus, and how to care for them and see them grow; that is good. So we’ll need to listen and share our ideas carefully and prayerfully making sure we understand each other well before we interact with ideas whether embracing or critiquing them. We need to be able to share and learn from one another and most importantly seek the Lord’s heart, but that will require us to understand one another.

– Pray that God would help us all communicate clearly and kindly with one another.

– Pray that God would guard our hearts and humility as we hear and share concerns with one another.

SEEKING UNITY

TASK FORCE MEMBERS

JOHN 13:34-35

Jesus told his disciples to love one another as he loved them that others would know they belonged to Him. We must also follow his teaching by praying for one another, encouraging one another and living in unity. Jesus knows this is hard for us to do and so by following this command He is glorified and is revealed to a lost World.

– Today, pray for our Long Range Task Force Members that they would be faithful in prayer for their task and God’s will.

-Pray they would be understanding of each other.

-Pray they would be humble and communicate clearly and kindly with one another.

-Pray for the Church as we seek God’s will that we would be encouraging of each other and seek unity among ourselves that God would be glorified above all.

SEEKING UNITY

CONSIDER THE NEED OF EVERY PERSON

PHILIPPIANS 2:3-4

Let’s pray the Lord will help us recognize, care about, and meet the needs of every person in our church. Any of us can tell you our personal preferences, but in the family of God we need to care more for others. Imagine new moms, senior adults, and disabled members of our family who need parking spaces near a small group room or sanctuary. How can we make our campus safe to navigate for those with mobility challenges? What does a preschooler or teenager need in order to thrive in Christian community? What does a new person need in order to get connected and feel comfortable in a new church? As we seek the Lord’s direction for the details of our future at Carterville, let’s pray for wisdom to see and hearts to love one another well.

– Pray that God would open our eyes and hearts to the needs of everyone in our church (old, middle aged, and young – men and women – those with gifts of music, teaching, evangelism, hospitality, prayer, service, counseling – large and small groups) and consider the needs of others even before we consider our own.

– Pray that God will grant us vision to see how to best meet the needs of our church members even now in our current buildings.

– Pray that God would increase our love for one another and our ability to see and care for one another.

SEEKING UNITY

A CAMPUS THAT ENCOURAGES FRIENDSHIP

MATT 22:34-40 – ROM 12:9-10

With more and more ways to communicate digitally (like text, email, social media, etc) people are spending less time face-to-face and are struggling to make real connections with people. We know God created us for genuine and loving relationships. Jesus tells us that the foundation of God’s Word to us is that we would know and love Him with all we are and know and love one another. God tells us in Genesis it isn’t good for humans to be alone. Paul encourages the church in Romans 12:9-10 to love genuinely and to be devoted to one another with mutual love and honor. We want to be a church of people who love and honor one another in the way of Jesus. We want comfortable rooms for small groups and warm welcoming areas on campus that encourage people to get to know each other and share with one another.

– Pray that God would show us how we can continue to cultivate spaces on campus that encourage community and fellowship.

– Pray that God would give us hearts that are quick to welcome others and are willing to work at genuine, loving relationships for His glory and our good.

A CARING CAMPUS

WELCOMING

1 COR 12:12-27 – HEB 13:1-2

God has created a spirit of family and community at Carterville that is woven deeply into its DNA which is a tremendous blessing. We want our facilities and campus to reflect this attribute, and be a place that is welcoming, secure, and easy to navigate for visitors. For those who have had the opportunity of sharing fellowship here for years or even decades, it may not seem confusing; we know where things are, but for the visitor or newer members, our campus can be a maze of unknown entrances and hallways. I recently had my eyes opened to this when entering our campus on a Wednesday night. I happened upon a mother with two children approaching campus for the first time. They were darting around the exterior, surveying entry points, clearly trying to figure out “where to go?” Thankfully I was close by and could direct them, but had I not been there, they would have wandered for some time trying to find “the Kids’ Ministry” buried deep within the walls of our campus a building away. Once we found their room, their mom needed a place to go. I directed her to a women’s class led by Tammy in one of our Quad Rooms in the Fellowship Hall. There was no way to clearly describe to her how to get there, so I led her there. This account is a small picture of how a visitor might experience our campus. We want to be mindful of ways we can increase a more intuitive flow across our campus that sends the message to any who attend that they are welcome here and can find their “place.”

Please pray that..

– The Holy Spirit would continue to grow and nurture a welcoming and loving spirit within our church family.

– We are mindful of how our church campus is a reflection and extension of that welcoming spirit.

– That our future facilities plans would adequately and uniquely reflect that spirit of welcome to visitors and members in visual and practical ways.

A CARING CAMPUS

SAFETY IN MOVEMENT

PSALM 121:7-8 – PROV 18:15

The Carterville Baptist Church campus has seen many expansions, and revisions. With these building expansions and congregational growth, we have seen significant increases in pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Our current situation is not ideal as vehicles and pedestrians travel the same areas at the same time. To enter and exit the church, our congregation transits busy parking lots and a public street, e.g. Watts Drive. This pedestrian traffic pattern occurs during a time in which our vehicle traffic flow is most robust. Additionally, a large portion of our congregation exits the morning worship service immediately adjacent to the covered drop-off and pick-up area. This places vehicle and pedestrian flow in potential conflict. No, our current situation is not optimal, and we seek to develop a plan which significantly improves the safety of our congregation as we enter and exit the building while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of both pedestrian and traffic flow.

– Pray that God will show us solutions to improve the safety of our congregation as we enter and exit our buildings and parking areas.

A CARING CAMPUS

WAYFINDING

We know that Carterville is not a building but a people. Still, our campus is crucial in housing them. Hours upon hours of preaching and discipleship occur in these walls and have for nearly a century. We want our campus to continue to facilitate kingdom work for years to come. Wayfinding may seem mundane, but ease or difficulty in accessing meeting spaces can help or hinder people from joining God and his people.

– Pray God shows us how to improve our campus signs and design to give everyone on our property a clear way to find classes, services, meals, and bathrooms.

– Pray that signs, walkways, paths, and doors would be used as unseen tools to foster gospel ministry and the building up of the body of Christ.

-That signs would invite and direct strangers into our community.

-That walkways and paths would be the ground where new friendships are made and old relationships made deeper.

-That doors would be gateways to meaningful small groups, joyous celebrations, and valuable teaching.

A CARING CAMPUS

CARE FOR MOBILITY

2 SAM 9 – MATT 25:40 – 2 COR 1:3-4

God calls us to be a compassionate people, and as a church family that means considering the needs of everyone who may enter our doors. Today we pray for wisdom and insight that makes us mindful of those who face challenges with mobility or special needs, whether part of our church now or joining us in the future. In fact, it could be one of us, presently without such challenges, who may find ourselves in circumstances that alter our abilities. We know that God has a purpose and plan for all of His people – young and old, in whatever state – to worship and serve Him.

Our church campus has developed over a century as a beautiful place of worship and fellowship, but it can be difficult for someone who may have physical challenges to navigate and access. Yet, that person is just as much a member of the body of Christ as someone who doesn’t have those challenges. We want to be sensitive to those needs and consider all the areas of our church campus where barriers to access exist.

– Pray we’ll create an atmosphere where anyone on campus, regardless of physical ability, can participate and will feel loved and valued as part of our church body.

– Pray we find the best solutions to address the issues and challenges our campus currently poses as far as accessibility and safety are concerned.

– Pray that God, knowing every soul who will walk this campus now and in the future, will lead us to plans that will meet needs that we aren’t even aware of currently.

A CARING CAMPUS

REFUGE AND REST

PSALM 46:1-3

– Pray that God would help our church be a place of refuge and rest where His people could worship Him; submitting to Him our struggles and celebrating His faithfulness.

– Pray we would remember that the Bible is clear that God is our refuge, even in the face of total destruction. He is not merely a temporary retreat.

– Pray that during any updates or revisions on His church campus we will remember He is our eternal place of safety, and He can provide strength in every circumstance.

A CARING CAMPUS

SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS

JAMES 1:5

We would like to believe that churches are exempt from threat; however, we live in a world of dangers that seem to steadily increase and grow in complexity. Today, we hear of many crimes committed on church campuses including assaults, abductions, shootings. As we take a long range look at our campus, we need to envision building features which improve the ability to protect our congregation. Security and aesthetics can often be in conflict, but our church needs to be both a secure and safe area while still being a welcoming place of fellowship. This is our challenge and why we need God’s insight to guide our steps.

– Pray for God’s wisdom as we work to improve campus security while promoting an open place of worship and fellowship.

– Pray that we continue to improve campus security for all age groups

– Pray for our security team as they work diligently to keep our congregation safe.

A CARING CAMPUS

DISCIPLESHIP SPACE

MATT 21:42 – ACTS 4:11 – 1 PETER 2:7

– Pray that we continue to improve our discipleship space so members of every age have rooms that encourage honest loving relationships with God and one another.

– Pray that our consultant, Visioneering Studios, will help us see the best ways to improve our current spaces or create new ones for all areas of discipleship space within God’s church.

– Pray God would help us as a church to discover, enjoy and embrace His vision for “new“ space, and see God’s positive works for the future.

growing as faithful disciples of jesus

REVIVAL

LK 19:1-10, JONAH 3, NEH 8, JUDGES

Our opportunities, travel, dining, games, music, movies, technology, recreation and information are so vast and change so quickly that we can always find something new to enjoy or distract us or obsess over. It really is scary how quickly and easily we can be distracted from what we exist for: to know and love God, to know and love each other and to take care of his creation in his way. This struggle isn’t new though. Paul reminds us in Romans that people have always traded away love for the creator to obsessively love little parts of the creation. What can save us from this wasted way of living? We find hope in stories from scripture and history: Zacchaeus, Nineveh and Jonah, Protestant Reformation, the Great Awakenings in America, and today in Africa and Asia Christianity is growing exponentially. There are beautiful moments when God reachs out and his people embrace his stirring and a passionate love is kindled by his Spirit that brings revival, a new vibrant life-giving relationship to his people. This revelation of God stole their hearts away from silly obsessions and opened them to see God and all he has made with righteous joy and wonder and humble obedience.

– Pray that God would bring a vibrant love and desire to our relationship with Him, our relationships with His people, and His commission to our church.

GROWING AS FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF JESUS

HEART MATTERS

PSALM 26:2

As you pray today, ask God to examine our hearts and lead us into pure motives and desires. Here are some questions that you can ask God:

-How can our church serve the community?

-What are the needs of the people that come to Carterville?

-Do people leave our church refreshed and renewed?

-Am I critical of others?

-Do I look for fault in everything?

-Do I allow pride to keep me from serving?

-Is there any darkness or sin that I need to confess?

-Have I thanked God for His blessings today?

Pray God would see our hearts and lead us into pure motives and desires.

GROWING AS FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF JESUS

FAITH AND GIVING

MALACHI 3:10

God commanded his people to tithe as he had instructed. He told the people to test him and see that he would provide for them. It can be scary to tithe as God has commanded. But all we have is from God and all we have belongs to God. He knows our needs and he wants us to learn to trust him and to have faith that he will provide for our needs. We show God that we love him by being obedient to him.

– Pray God would help us to trust Him when giving financially is challenging.

GROWING AS FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF JESUS

JOY IN GIVING

Giving our tithes and offerings is an act of worship. We are called to give freely and joyfully. As you pray about your giving to the work of the Lord, think about our church. Not the buildings, but the people that are coming to our campus:

– Imagine a family, even your own. A mother and father with teenagers, a new baby, and maybe a parent in a wheelchair. How will they experience our campus?

– Imagine where they will park. Is it easy to find? Are there enough spaces? How far is it from the building? What if it is raining?

– Have they been before? Do they know where to go? Are classes easy to access?

– Is there a place they can all meet after Sunday School before church?

– Did they have a pleasant experience?

– Will they come back?

– Pray God would stir up joy in us as we give financially to His church and mission.

GROWING AS FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF JESUS

INDIVIDUAL STEWARDSHIP

1 CHRONICLES 29:11-12

Christian Stewardship is the understanding that everything belongs to God and that we have a responsibility to wisely manage and use the gifts, possessions, and money which God has entrusted to us. Christ’s Lordship and the concept of Stewardship fit “hand-in-glove”. Giving up our will for our Lord’s Will requires constant effort as it is our nature to do what we want to do. It is also in our nature to claim as ours every gift and possession God has allowed us to manage. This can be a struggle and is one Satan continually uses as a weapon against us. Perhaps, this is why the Bible has more verses related to possessions than faith and love combined.

“When we surrender every area of our lives, including our finances to God,

then we are free to trust him to meet our needs. But if we would rather

hold tightly to those things that we possess, then we find ourselves in bondage

to those very things.” Larry Burkett

– Pray that each of us would allow the Holy Spirit to examine, convict, grow us.

– Pray that we will allow Christ to be Lord of everything in our life.

– Pray that the Holy Spirit will grow us in the stewardship of the gifts, possessions, and

money which God has entrusted to us.

GROWING AS FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF JESUS

CORPORATE STEWARDSHIP

LUKE 19:11-27

Just as God expects each of His people to be faithful with what He has given us, He also expects each local church to be faithful spiritual investors which every dollar he entrusts to them to use to bring his kingdom. We are accountable to Him for the people, ministries, programs and mission efforts that our church chooses to invest in.

Our desire is that our church budget will be a statement to the world and ourselves of how valuable Christ’s kingdom is to us and of the unique ministry that God has equipped our church family to do. Just as He is faithful to us, we strive to be faithful to what He has called us to. We want Him to be happy with the ways we invested our church family’s obedient and generous giving through our church budget.

– Pray the Holy Spirit would convict us and grow us as stewards of the church budget.

– Pray we would be shrewd investors turning earthly riches into kingdom investments.

– Pray that God would keep our hearts soft and our minds sharp as we think and pray through how He would have us use the funds we are given.

GROWING AS FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF JESUS

POSITIVE STEWARDSHIP GROWTH

PROVERBS 3:5-9

If we want to see God show us just how much He loves us and is faithful to His promises, we have to be obedient and trust Him. In Prov 3:5-6 it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…..in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” The definition of “all” is “the whole quantity or extent of a particular group or thing.” Submission to God means we turn every area of our life over to Him. One area we are sometimes reluctant to relinquish to God is our finances. We do the math and cannot see how we could possibly include a tithe in our budget. The mistake we are making is that we are controlling that budget and not turning it over to God for His guidance and direction in how to balance it.

In Prov 3:9, it says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” We talk about how much we trust God, but talk is cheap. How do we show God that we trust Him? We will never see the full extent of God’s promises or grow in our trust of Him, if we are not willing to give back to Him, the 10% of our first fruits that He asks of us. 10%, right off the top, not after tax, the “first fruits”. God does not need our money. He is all-powerful. What He wants is to see our love for Him as we willingly giving back to Him; and once we do, the real excitement begins as we see how He blesses our obedience. You want to be wowed, put God to the test. Let Him prove that He will do what He says. Matt 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Take time to do a self-assessment. Grab paper and a pencil. Make two columns. Title one “God” and the other “Me”. Look at your spending and list the money you gave to God and the money you spent on you. Total both columns. Now…. Where is your treasure? Where is your heart?

– Pray God will teach us to be good stewards of the blessings He bestows upon us.

– Pray that we will faithfully and obediently give back to Him.

– Pray we will take note of Him at work in our lives, proving His promises to provide for us as we are faithful to Him, and that He will fill us with a new excitement, and a new joy.

GROWING AS FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF JESUS

GENERATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP

LUKE 2:25-38

Today we are praying that we can make disciples of all the generations that gather in our church from our elders to our infants. In Luke 2 we read about a day when God the Father honored the infant Jesus inside the Temple in Jerusalem. Imagine the scene. An eternal God overseeing a day of worship as an aged Simeon and elderly Anna meet two young parents committed to raising their first born son. I love the scene. Three generations meeting in the temple courts for worship. Mary and Joseph are there to redeem their child who will grow up to redeem all God’s people of all ages. We want our future to be marked by inter-generational disciplemaking with every age group singing, praying, growing, and following Jesus together. We want to pass the faith down faithfully from one generation to the next. Today, let’s take time to pray for this and to imagine the ways the Lord will lead us.

– One at a time pray for each generation in our church to develop an improved sense of discipleship, commitment, and stewardship: senior adults, empty nesters and retirees, young and median adults, college students and teenagers, children and preschoolers. As you pray, imagine each group—their joys and struggles, their fears, and hopes and needs.