Fervent Prayer: Financial Commitment and Provision
Hopefully throughout your time at Mercy Hill, you’ve sensed and heard that why we give matters more than what we give. We emphasize this every Sunday during worship. And through the example in Luke 21, the Bible gives us many reasons to be generous. Today I’d like to highlight one of those reasons; to care for others.
Matthew 6:33 says to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” “These things” referring to essentials like food, water, clothes. The author, Craig Blomberg in his book Neither Poverty nor Riches states the following:
“As the community of the redeemed seeks first God’s righteousness standards, by definition they will help the need in their midst.”
We see this play out in Acts 4 with the early Christians when it states “ There was not a needy person among them.”
In January, we communicated highlights as to where our finances were for 2016 and the general direction for 2017. What excites me about this year are two things; we will be celebrating 10 years since launching Mercy Hill and our hearts for church planting continues to be a part of who we are. What was written as our mission then still holds true today,
“Mercy Hill is committed to a philosophy of church that values community and focuses on the development of people rather than the expansion of the organization. We are not focused on building a church, but rather, focused on being the church.”
Being the church to our community, sharing and living out the Gospel. This continues to be made possible by God’s gracious provision and your continued submission to gracious giving.
To reiterate what we shared last month; we ask you spend time today in prayer and in discussion with your families to continue to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading you in terms of engagement with the broader church, whether through finances, serving at church, or serving in a community group. Let’s continue to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”
