Our Blog

Spare Change - November

Pride Comes Before a Fall

How many times have you heard “pride comes before a fall”?  The verse is Proverbs 16:18 and it actually says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”  I guess it’s close enough.  Even in the common saying the point is not lost.  When there is pride in someone’s life it causes downfall.  Sometimes that is the natural consequence of being puffed up and sometimes it is caused by the Lord.  Yes, that is correct, God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6).  That should tell us that pride is a big deal!  But why? Why is pride such a struggle for many Christians?

I will admit I struggle with pride.  One of the hardest things about being a Christian is wrestling with pride.  There is so much temptation to display pride daily.  It can sneak into conversations and creep into our thoughts.  It is a constant battle; however, God is good and helps us to remain humble.  Remember that humility is always a better path.  The Bible has example after example of this.  One of my favorites is Philippians 2:1-11,

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among
yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by  becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This passage starts and ends with Christ.  The expectation is humility comes out of a relationship with the Lord and desire to please Him.  We are to join in His way of thinking, which is humility.  Paul shares an example from the life of Jesus Christ for us to look to for our own encouragement.  So, Christ started us on the journey of spirit-filled humility, He sustains us and ultimately will be glorified in our humble life.  This verse really centers on Jesus, which should help us greatly in the fight against pride.  If we keep our focus on Him, let Him be our example and what we are glorifying, then pride will be demolished in our lives.

How does this play out practically in my life?  Paul gives us some helpful examples.  We are to do nothing out of selfishness.  We are to think of others as more significant than ourselves.  We are to care about others' interests, not just our own.  This is one of those “easier said than done” kind of things.  It is hard to do this on a daily basis especially when everyone else around us is not following this principle.  It is easy to not sin when others are not sinning as well, but what about when someone is rude to you or offends you.  Do you get puffed up with pride?  You might even feel justified in your pride, but it is still sin.

The bottom line is humility is always a better path, although not the easier one.  What does this look like in MY life?  It is giving a friend the benefit of the doubt and some extra grace.  It is not commenting on some FB posts.  It is never thinking I am more important than someone else.  It is giving myself a humility check every now and again by looking at Philippians 2:1-11 and seeing if I am truly living this passage out.  If not, I pray and ask God to help me live in humility.

My encouragement to you today is to seek humility.  You will never be ashamed of what you have said, you will never have to apologize, and you will never be filled with regret when being humble.  With pride you will deal with all of those feelings and more.  Pride can feel good in the moment; however, it never accomplished God’s will.  Seek to be a person of Christlike humility!

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.  Proverbs 11:2

Spare Change - October

What Makes Our Kids’ Ministry Special?

Currently we are right in the middle of VBS.  We changed the format from a weeklong VBS to four Sunday evenings because of the pandemic.  So far it has been a great success.  We are also in the middle of preparing for the Upward season.  Teams will not start practicing until after Thanksgiving; however, there is a lot of work to do up front.  It takes a few months to get prepared for it.  We also have launched our AWANA program successfully and we have our Kids’ Life Groups on Sunday morning that are going well.

Why do I mention all of these programs and activities?  Certainly not because I want any praise or accolades. Truly, these events would not happen without the dedication of our amazing volunteers.  We have over 70 VBS volunteers, 25 AWANA volunteers, about 30 volunteers that make Sunday morning happen (this does not include the 30 more volunteers that serve on the nursery rotation).  Upward will see around 50 volunteers once the season is in full swing.  Can you see why our volunteers are so important?  These programs could not be done effectively without all these servants of the Lord making it happen.  It is one of the great joys of my life to be able to lead these people in ministry.  We are truly a blessed church!

Why do these people do it?  Why do they tirelessly spend time week in and week out serving?  They are not getting paid.  So why do they do it?  Because they love Jesus…plain and simple.  The only reason someone would spend time teaching, playing, helping, mentoring, etc. is because they are doing it in the name of, and for the glory of, God.  Our volunteers understand the importance of pouring the Word of God into the children at a young age.   We know that kids need to learn and be discipled.  We desire to see them come to know and love the Lord.  This will only happen with dedicated, Christlike volunteers, which we have.  Again, I say we are truly a blessed church!

Of course, this is only possible because of parents that choose to partner with our ministry.  We always want to make it clear that parents have the primary responsibility of discipling their children.  We are here to partner with families in that endeavor.  We pray that we are a blessing to your family!  We always want to be encouraging and challenging families to have a deeper walk with Jesus.  We do not see this just as a children’s ministry, rather we look at it as family ministry.  Our greatest desire is to see the Lord honored in your family.  If we join together in that goal, then our children will be raised to know and love the Lord.

So, you can see that even though our kids’ ministry is busy and requires a lot of volunteers, we do not see that as a burden, but a blessing.  We love the kids and the families so much!  We are passionate about doing kids’ ministry to the best of our ability and in that we bring glory to God.  I wanted to take just a little bit of time to explain that to everyone because sometimes the
vision and mission behind the ministry can get lost. 

We know parents are stressed, we know kids are busy, and there are a lot of pressures on families today.  That is why a kids’ ministry focused on the gospel is needed, now more than ever.  While the world wants to focus on performance, we want to
focus on grace.  The world wants to hold you up to the standard of super parent, then chastise you when you fall short.  This same standard applies to our kids as well, but that is not what the Bible teaches.  Sure, we need to strive for excellence, but we also do not need to live and die by our successes and failures.  We know that we are all people in need of Jesus and the grace that comes with the gospel; that is what this ministry is about, and I just wanted to remind everyone, including myself, about this truth.

If you read this and think, “I want to be involved in a ministry like this,” then come talk to me.  We always need people that are passionate about loving kids to serve in the kids’ ministry.  We need Life Group leaders, nursery workers, coaches, and the like.  You can make a difference in a family’s life!

Finally, I know there are many supporters in our church that do not directly serve but have a huge impact.  First, they give to help support the ministry.  These ministries do not happen without people giving.  Second, there are many people that are praying for this ministry, the families, and the children.  Thank you for your support.  I feel your prayers and know you are behind us!  I will say it again and again, we truly are a blessed church!!!