#WeAreEmmanuel Values / 02. #WeAreEmmanuel 11 Working With God (Spring Gift Day 2018)

02. #WeAreEmmanuel 11 Working With God (Spring Gift Day 2018)

This preach was originally recorded on Sunday 18th March 2018. Visit http://weareemmanuel.com for more content. Speaker: Matt Carvel

This preach is on Gift Day- a time where the congregation of Emmanuel join together to give financially. If we are talking about what Jesus loves doing- giving generously and radically is right at the heart of it. This preach is talking about going on an adventure of working with God. We believe this is something that God wants us to do.

1. Seeing what God is doing. Psalm 127:1 reads ‘Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.’ We are all building something, whether you are a Christian or not. This is not a bad thing, as it’s in the nature of what God has called us to be- we want to see things established. However, this may look different for different people, whether its building a career, relationship, family etc. This Psalm, when we look at it, is saying that unless God is building, what you try to build without him is vanity. It’s not going to account for anything. Anything we try to establish in life has a time limit on it. Eventually it will be gone but even as people that want to build success on worldly things, you can’t take it with you once you die. Things come and go. We have the illusion that things are solid and even things that are successful are going to last but when we really think about it- are they going to last any longer than a lifetime? The contrast in the Bible is something that God is doing that has eternal ramifications, compared to just doing something in the material now that in the grand scheme of life and history even will not last. Things turn against you through no fault of your own sometimes. We can invest yourself in all these things but they will not be as solid as we want them to be. Yet we will wrap up our identity so much with these things we want to build. The question is what are we building and what basis are we building on? Are we working with God and what He is building?

If we don’t do what the Bible says is we will try to build something and make decisions about it and ask God to bless it. But God wants us to step back a little and submit our ways to Him. That’s what it means to follow Jesus- to be someone that doesn’t call the shots anymore but says Jesus what do you want to do with my life? Ultimately, building something God’s way has much more significance even eternally, than when we just do it by ourselves.

2. Seeing what God is doing in our life right now - Jesus wants to build his church through people (Matthew 16:18). Jesus is building his church now and it’s important we make Gods priority, our priority. We want to see the church established.
Our mission to bring people back to God and we each have a part to play. God has chosen to involve us in His plan of what He is doing. Jesus chooses to involve his followers to join in in the family business. ‘No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.’ (John 15:15) If you’re going to use your money for one thing, why not use it to change lives through the church? Our steps of faith in giving is incredibly exciting knowing that it can be involved in people becoming Christians even world wide- through our church plants. What better thing to put your money in then that?
If we suffer with Christ, we also reign with him because we have an inheritance. (2 Timothy 2: 12)

3. Barriers to giving and following God to this adventure - Fear and anxiety is opposite to trust. If we are going to give radically, you can agree with everything said in this preach but miss out because of the fear of taking that step. Solution to fear and anxiety in fear in finances is not having more finances because ultimately that can go in an instant. The answer is ultimately trusting God. Seek first God’s kingdom and everything else will be added onto you (Matthew 6:33). What would your life look like if you fully trusted God with your finances?

The world teaches us to save, spend and whatever is left over you should give. But we are to be adventurous in trusting God. Some of us haven’t seen the miracles of God providing because we are yet to take a step of faith and trust Him. What Jesus has already won for us is secure and giving is a response of our worshipful heart because He has already given us His best so therefore we can trust Him with our lives.

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