Christmas! Tis the season for eggnog, buying gifts, family… And, oh yeah, the birth of Jesus. Isn’t this our attitude at times? In America, it seems that Christmas has become about everything except Jesus’ birth. Instead of the season of joy over the incarnation, it’s become the season of consumerism.
My prayer for Mercy Church is that this Christmas will be unlike any Christmas we have ever experienced as a church family! Because God was generous and gave us all things through His son Jesus, we should respond by giving all things to him. The more we embrace God’s love for us, the more we start to share God’s heart for others.
In order to respond to the grace we have found through Christ we want to do the same thing we did last year, the Christmas Missions Offering! The Christmas Missions Offering goes toward advancing the mission of God here in Charlotte and all over the world. God has this grand plan of redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Rev. 5) and we get to play a part in that. Think about that for a second… we get to play a part in God’s plan save sinners all around the world. Amazing! Because of this grand mission we wanted to trust God with a number that would be worthy of him. In light of who God is, we have decided to trust God to help us raise $40,000 to help us seek to obey the Great Commission.
Mercy Church, I want to challenge you in two ways:
Give out of a response to the gospel
In Ephesians 2:1-10, we see the testimony of every believer. We were once dead in sin, but God made us alive in Christ. We did not choose him, he chased after us. Apart from the grace of God every believer at Mercy Church would be hopelessly lost. We have been saved from much, so let’s give much so that others might know Christ! 100% of the money given to this offering will go toward gospel proclamation all over the world. Give so that others may hear the gospel.
Give your largest gift to God
I want to challenge to pray about giving a number that makes you feel a little uncomfortable. Church, I don’t know how much God is calling each one of you to give. But I do know that where our treasure is, our heart will be also (Matt. 6:21). Let’s treasure the nations coming to know Jesus. Everything we currently own will one day be the objects of yard sales and second-hand stores. Rather than purchasing more items for future yard sales, invest in the mission of God. In God’s mission, we will one day see all of the people our investments helped reach. This is not me pulling at your heart strings or trying to manipulate you. This is me telling you that your investment to The Christmas Missions Offering makes an eternal impact. Because of this, pray and try and give a number that makes you a little uncomfortable. Yes, this means that our kids might get 5 presents instead of 8. Maybe that’s a good thing.
We will have one big give on December 18th. You can also give online through the end of the year. I’m excited to see what God will do and through our church this Christmas season!