Living in the present, Shaping the future by Judy Abbott
As I get closer to the age of 60, I find myself saying, “I really should do this or that”, but not taking any real steps to make it happen! I do not have much time to spare, and I often find myself getting into bed and saying, “Okay, now, I have to go to sleep really fast so I can get up and do the following tasks before I go to my job and work until night!” Mostly, I feel tired! So, when I attended the New Year’s service at E3 and heard Dan Meyer give the challenge to examine different areas of your life and think about what you want your life to look like on January 1, 2013, I felt quite overwhelmed by the whole thing. During the time when we were to reflect and fill in the blanks, I was asking the Lord what to do.
As I prayed, I decided to write a list of all the things I regularly say to myself that need changing. I came up with a list of 7 things:
- Have devotions first thing in the morning (It is so easy to get caught up in the day’s activities and not make time for my most important relationship)
- NO texting while driving (Yes, I am old, but I do know how to text!)
- Read a book a month
- Exercise for 30 minutes 3-4 times a week
- Follow the rule of 1 when eating (Yes, I can have a cookie, but only one!)
- Be in bed by 11p.m. (instead of staying up until I can’t stay awake 1 more minute and then collapsing into bed)
- Clean and organize the house and garage (remove the avalanche danger in Florida!)
I wrote the list on a 3×5 card and keep it with my Bible, so that I read it every day! It keeps the goals in the front of my mind. I visualize what it will feel like on January 1, 2013 if I make these changes this year. Since I am naturally disorganized and easily distracted, it gives me hope for a more orderly, disciplined life if I work towards small positive changes.
I have done well so far on devotions, not texting while driving, and being in bed by 11p.m. At my age, I realize that 3 out of 7 is not too bad, and I will keep working on the entire list. It is still January, but keeping my goals before me, challenging myself to incorporate the whole list this year, and refusing to use my life circumstances as an excuse for sloppy living, has already been a real encouragement and blessing to me. I am excited about the hope God has given me for this year. As I read my list each day, and ask Him to help me in each area, I feel hope returning to my soul and even some excitement for life and what this year will hold!
Loving Others… by Pastor Dan Meyer
This past week I found myself alone and hungry one evening so I decided to go out for a bite to eat. I ordered up my mountain of food with a side of lard and then my heart sank as I reached in my pocket and found… nothing. No wallet. No cash. It was as empty as my stomach.
The girl read my face before she even heard my words and she said, “Don’t worry about it. It happens to everyone at sometime. I will just comp it to you.” She punched in a few numbers and signed a piece of paper as I fumbled with my words and thought of a plan. I wanted to repay. I didn’t want to rely on grace.
I thought of a plan to repay and told her that I knew someone that worked there and I would give the money to that person to pay my debt. When she heard the name of the person, she said, “That isn’t helping your cause… they don’t work here any more.” Along with those words came some knowing looks between other employees who were watching my awkward reliance on grace and I realized that something had gone terribly wrong with the person I mentioned. I stopped that part of the conversation and thanked them so much for being gracious and let them know that I was truly appreciative… but inside my heart was sinking.
You see, the person I mentioned is a follower of Christ. My sinking heart wasn’t because of judgment or condemnation. I wasn’t angry with this person. I was upset because of reputation… because the door was closed to let them know that person was part of my community of faith and that person was an ambassador for Christ.
King David was a man after God’s own heart but he let himself get into a series of events in 1 Samuel 11 that led to lust, adultery, lies, murder and the death of a child. The man who was sent to speak the truth to him told him that he had given opportunity to the surrounding people to blaspheme God. The story didn’t have anywhere to go but forward from there and David repented and God turned the garbage into gold but this was a time where David experienced his deepest and most painful revelation of himself – he had stabbed God in the back and God still loved him.
This week I experienced grace from a non-Christian and the bad reputation from a follower of Christ. It made me realize again the great grace of God that uses people for good whether they acknowledge Him or not and it made me remember the times in the past when I was not the best employee (stealing from an employer, not working diligently, not bringing the blessings of God to the workplace, punching the clock and just working for my money instead of helping the business grow).
Loving others doesn’t just mean buying them a coffee or mowing their grass or giving them a meal. Loving others also means living life in such a way that you don’t hinder them from being able to see and experience God. Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as you continue to live a life glorifying God as His ambassador.
Fully Devoted… by Pastor Dan Meyer
At Element3 Church, we are called by God to be a community whose purposes are to MAKE, MATURE and MOBILIZE, fully devoted followers of Christ. Following Christ is never about religion and always about relationship. It is about knowing Him and being known by Him. It is about letting that relationship create the way we spend our lives.
No matter where you are on your journey, you can find a “waypoint” to express and grow your faith. So take hope that as you fix your eyes upon Christ you will never be lost! As we follow God’s story of grace and reconciliation, we will be challenged to commit to knowing God more and to continue exploring the never-ending riches of His love. To be fully human, we must engage the spirit and take responsibility for the lives that we have been blessed with and use this life to fulfill our purpose – to know, and bring glory to, God Most High. We must learn to breathe in His presence and exhale His love to a world that draws us into numerous distractions.
At Element3, we desire to invest in your spiritual growth and understanding by offering Sunday gatherings, Service opportunities, Biblical Counsel, Growth Groups and Stage classes that will help you to take ownership of the calling that God has put upon your life. Check out the Pathways Booth this week to find out more.
All in all, the choice is yours and mine. God gives us the choice to respond to His love, to take hold of His hand and walk with Him into abundant life. To leave our faith in the realm of an ideology is to deny God the opportunity to provide abundantly above all we expect or desire. We desire to be fully devoted followers of Christ and, by His grace, we will get there. Thanks for joining us and take time to enjoy each part of the journey because God is with you!
Fully Devoted… by Pastor Dan Meyer
At Element3 Church, we are called by God to be a community whose purposes are to MAKE, MATURE and MOBILIZE, fully devoted followers of Christ. Following Christ is never about religion and always about relationship. It is about knowing Him and being known by Him. It is about letting that relationship create the way we spend our lives.
No matter where you are on your journey, you can find a “waypoint” to express and grow your faith. So take hope that as you fix your eyes upon Christ you will never be lost! As we follow God’s story of grace and reconciliation, we will be challenged to commit to knowing God more and to continue exploring the never-ending riches of His love. To be fully human, we must engage the spirit and take responsibility for the lives that we have been blessed with and use this life to fulfill our purpose – to know, and bring glory to, God Most High. We must learn to breathe in His presence and exhale His love to a world that draws us into numerous distractions.
At Element3, we desire to invest in your spiritual growth and understanding by offering Sunday gatherings, Service opportunities, Biblical Counsel, Growth Groups and Stage classes that will help you to take ownership of the calling that God has put upon your life. Check out the Pathways Booth this week to find out more.
All in all, the choice is yours and mine. God gives us the choice to respond to His love, to take hold of His hand and walk with Him into abundant life. To leave our faith in the realm of an ideology is to deny God the opportunity to provide abundantly above all we expect or desire. We desire to be fully devoted followers of Christ and, by His grace, we will get there. Thanks for joining us and take time to enjoy each part of the journey because God is with you!
What can happen in a year… by Pastor Mark
A year is a measurement of possibilities and an invitation to dream. It is long enough to envision significant transformation, but short enough to comprehend the commitment. A year is a gift comprised of 365 opportunities to shrink the change.
Want to lose 50 pounds this year? Shrink the change to running a daily 479 calorie deficit and you’ve done it.
Want to write a book? Shrink the change to writing 137 words a day and by the end of the year you’ve done it.
Want to have a great relationship with your family? Shrink the change by having dinner and playing a game with them every night you’ve done it.
By shrinking the change you can accomplish what most can only dream of doing. If you have a dream, shrink the change and commit to it.
BTW: The above was 137 words.
A Lot Can Happen in a Year… Dan Durrenberger
At the beginning of 2007, for example, I had almost no idea where my life was headed. I was 21 years old working full-time as a waiter near my parents’ suburban Chicago home. My mom and dad had left their home, though, to move to southern Wisconsin. So I had about a month to figure out my next move.
In February I quit my job and moved in with my newlywed friends. No, it was not as awkward as you’d think. Yes, it was incredibly inconvenient for everyone involved. I started working at a bank, where I had a supervisor whose purpose in life was to torment, belittle, and discourage me and any hope I had of “growing up.”
After a few months of this arrangement, my friends were rather eager to find out what I was planning to do in the fall; this was a very sweet way of asking me when I was going to move out. But there were no hard feelings, and I decided that I needed to go back to college and finish my Bachelor’s degree. A high school friend suggested moving to warmer weather and exercising my academic muscles at Florida State University, a college I had never heard of.
By the end of April, 2007, I applied to transfer what college credit I did have to that previously unknown institution. I got accepted, found random roommates on Facebook, and packed up my minivan with everything I owned to make the 1000-mile drive to Tallahassee.
The second weekend in town, I visited E3 with one of my roommates. Two months later in November, I started getting involved with student ministry. And by the end of 2007 I was leading the middle school group every Sunday.
God transformed my entire life in 12 short months. And he didn’t stop there. In every year since 2007, God has enacted huge changes in my life. At every turn in my life, God is working to make me more and more into who He created me to be. Sometimes the changes are huge, 1000-mile upheavals; other times the change is much smaller and often unseen by others. But wherever I make space for God to move, He usually does.
I am very excited to see what God is going to do to turn my world upside-down again in 2012. How are you preparing and making space for God to change things in your life?
What Can Happen in a Year… Eric Case
The beginning of a new year is a great time for me. I think at our core, we are “rhythmic” and seasonal creatures: it’s the way God designed the world, and we do well when we embrace this approach to living. Here are a few ways that I lean into this:
- Each year, I buy a new journal, whether or not the old one is filled. This helps me commit to the idea of, “no matter what has gone before, good or bad, this is a new year, a new season, and anything can happen.” It’s also helpful over the long run to be able to have particular years associated with particular journals.
- I write the goals I have for that particular year on the first page of that journal. Vaguely, I come up with these ideas based on a particular question: God, what do you want to be true of me at the end of this next year? Some of these answers are tangible things while others are quite spiritual. I’ll also glance through the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 and think of any of those particular characteristics that are lacking in my life and add that in. I try to keep the list long enough to trigger some “healthy ambition”, but short enough for it to remain achievable, usually about 10-12 major items.
Throughout the year, I track my progress against these goals, and at the end of the year I evaluate. Usually on New Years’ Day, I flip back through the old journal and think about the goals I had set. The fact is, usually I don’t achieve all of them, but the bottom line is that they focus my life throughout the year. In the past couple of years I have drastically changed my prayer life, as well as developed some tangible ministry ideas through this year-end focus and goal-setting.
God has given us a time as a gift—both to work out our salvation through growth and to work on His mission of redeeming the entire Creation. Marking the passage of time and using it to focus and target our growth is one of the most helpful things that we can do has human beings and as God’s family.
Giving on Christmas (SERVE TALLAHASSE3 update)… by Pastor Mark
Throughout the year our church, through our ministry SERVE TALLAHASSE3, comes along side 77 families in the Frenchtown area as well as several families in our church to ensure they have food and support. Each Christmas we rally to bring an extra blessing to these families by bringing them the ingredients for a Christmas dinner and gifts for their children.
Our community has bought gifts for over a hundred children so far. One family in our community decided last year they were going to save their Christmas gift money all year and buy gifts for the under-resourced children in our community. It is this kind of intentionality which allows our church to continue being the tangible hand of Christ.
The good news is, it is not too late for you and your family to be involved. We still have 8 children to be sponsored. We also have 27 more turkeys and 46 chickens to buy. You can make a donation by clicking on the “DONATE” button on our website. Please designate the gift to “Christmas SERVE TALLAHASSE3.”
Pastoral Note: This added blessing of generosity is reserved for those who have been faithful in giving their first fruits throughout the year. It is fun and rewarding to give an offering, but we must be faithful with what God has entrusted to us first. We are still about $35,000 behind anticipated giving for the year, so please pray about giving a faithful and/or sacrificial gift toward our general budget.
“As a Result…” (Year-End Giving Opportunities)… by Mark McNees
“As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ.” -Paul (2 Corinthians 9:13)
I love the picture Paul paints in this scripture, “As a result….” As a result of what? As a result of generosity three things happen; worship, encouragement, and validation. Generosity is the catalyst for the expansion of the Kingdom of God and we are the conduits which God uses to accomplish His purpose.
Each year we present some opportunities to make an “As a result…” gift. Please pray about giving a generous gift that will result in more worship, encouragement, and validation.
AREAS OF GENEROSITY:
GENERAL BUDGET SHORTFALL
We are currently about $36,000 behind anticipated giving. Please pray about giving a generous gift toward bridging the gap.
E3 THOMASVILLE
Last spring we launched a new campus in Thomasville, GA. We have been faithful in our calling to make, mature, and mobilize fully devoted followers of Christ. Now it is time for the next step. Please pray about tangibly being part of E3TV by giving toward E3 getting a facility more conducive to worship and a staffed musical worship leader. Estimated annual investment $75,000.
CD PROJECT
It has been a few years since our last E3 musical worship CD, but Pastor Eric believes it is time for another one. Please pray about being part of this exciting project by giving toward its $5,000 production.
MOBILE RE3EYE
We want to take E3 and RE3EYE to the streets by going mobile. We have a dream of being present at the parades, events, and happenings around Tallahassee and we believe we have the vehicle to do it. Well, actually we don’t have the vehicle to do it, but we would like to have the vehicle to go mobile. Please pray about giving the gift taking our coffee ministry mobile. Approximate investment $30,000.
Don’t feel like you need to fully fund any of these year-end giving opportunities, any gift big or small can move us closer to making them a reality.
Right or Right?… by Pastor Dan Meyer
Years ago, my wife, Rene’, and I were battling out our finances and came to the topic of tithing. We always believed that in a marriage everything belonged to us as a couple – we do not possess things individually any more. But we both saw the topic very clearly and very differently. We were both convinced that our personal view was absolutely right, but our views were completely opposite. We stood at an impasse for almost three months.
Tithing only means one thing – giving ten percent of your gross income/resources to God as a baseline means of providing for God’s work in the world through the expression of a local body of His followers. It was originally part of the law that provided for the priests living. The law was fulfilled by Christ and He set us free to live in the law of sacrificial love – grace, mercy and radical generosity. These things can flow freely when we have the proper understanding that everything we have comes from God and we are stewards of His resources.
Now, this was very early on in our marriage and, honestly, the conversations didn’t go well for us. The topic caused more strife for us than anything else and in our desire to be God-honoring, we didn’t even honor each other. We could not see eye to eye and I finally shut up so as not to cause more strife – I wanted to lead my wife in godliness but I was doing it in my own way, not God’s.
She wanted to use our “extra” money to pay off debt (we had about $18000 in debt at the time) and that would mean that we wouldn’t tithe for about four years at the rate we were going. Her desire was to honor God by not being in debt – a truly Biblical and God-honoring desire. My view was that our previous irresponsible behavior in the financial realm of our lives should not determine our present obedience to God – if God calls us to do something then we need to be obedient out of love for Him and trust in Him, now, not when it is convenient.
Well, we stopped talking and prayed. We prayed for a month and a half, individually, before we came to a resolution. Long story short… our relationship grew during those six weeks and peace was restored as we focused on listening to God instead of trying to convince each other what was “right.”
The resolution happened when Rene’ came to me one day and said, “Dan, I believe God wants us to tithe.” I was overjoyed and we began immediately. But it was a struggle… a refining struggle.
Finances get out of balance so easily and as we began tithing we realized that there were still areas of our finances that needed to change. We got rid of the car payment and drove beaters. We lived in a single-wide mobile home. We didn’t eat out. We began to really be faithful with the finances God entrusted to us and He blessed us.
We still got out of debt in four years as we followed God’s leading and we were able to start down the road to radical generosity. The door was now opened for us to be able to give out of our abundance – offerings. Offerings are spontaneous gifts that we give as worship to God to further His work in the world. They come in all shapes and sizes and if our eyes are open, we can see the opportunities around us at every turn – sponsoring children in foreign countries, paying a friend’s utility bill, feeding a homeless person, giving generously to the Church as an organization for the furtherance of the Gospel.
So many times our hearts beat for these things but we cannot be truly generous until we are faithful. Generosity flows from faithfulness and when we follow God’s design for giving then the Body of Christ is provided for and the overflow blesses everyone that it contacts. Our community has so many opportunities to bless others but unless we take care of our own house then we will never be able to truly be generous to the world around us.
What is your next step of faithfulness? What is your next step of generosity? Will you: start tithing? give to the general budget so that we can be funded for our ministry year? sponsor a child in Frenchtown by buying them some Christmas gifts? give to the Acts2 fund to help meet the needs of those in our community who are financially suffering?
As followers of Christ, our lives are not our own – we have been bought with a price and now everything we have is His. Wherever you are in your journey, celebrate and enjoy the gift that God has given His people to give of our finances and participate in building His kingdom. When you give, give responsibly as a good steward and give cheerfully to the LORD!
