Vickie has counted and re-counted, checked and re-checked all the numbers from Sunday’s missions offering here at Central (we could tell because of all the smoke coming out of her calculators downstairs). The official Missions Sunday total stands at $477,094, far surpassing the rather ambitious goal of $300,000.
Wow.
What to make of that? I promised yesterday I would stop analyzing it and just praise God for this lavish outpouring of his power and grace. But, I can’t help myself.
One, I believe God is telling us we’re not thinking big enough. We’re not planning on a large enough scale. We’re not dreaming or imagining as widely and extravagantly as our God desires. We think we’re doing a lot, but our Father keeps providing resources for doing even more. We can’t out-think, out-plan, or out-give our God; I think he’s making that clear.
Two, I believe our church family is telling us they have a heart for God’s mission. Like our Lord, our congregation is all about evangelism and ministry, seeking and saving the lost and serving instead of being served. This is a very mature congregation filled with folks who are being transformed by God’s Spirit into the image of Christ. That’s obvious.
Third, I’m reminded of the privilege it is to be the preacher here. This is a very mission minded, very generous, over-the-top giving church. They give. They give graciously and radically out of their genuine love and concern for all of God’s people all over the world. And I’m so honored to belong to them.
Peace,
Allan
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