Sowing Seed Brings Original Blessings Not Ones that Are Already Expected!

 

Since the church spends about five to ten minutes talking about my money, I am going to spend about that much time writing about it! Okay, so I sowed some seed as the Lord led me to and that's when I heard this business come up about $500 again this time being explained away by the bishop as if that was going to smooth things over with the congregation the week before.

In case you didn't read my blog from last week about the $500, let me just briefly tell you what happened. There was a guest speaker who was supposed to speak for an hour at a church I visited who ended up going over so that he could ask the congregation (at least 50) people to give $500. Well some people got up and gave this guest speaker, not the shepherd of the church, but a guest speaker that much knowing that there were other projects that the church needed to complete. The next week the bishop used three people to say how God blessed them as a result of their giving. Now the bishop knew what we were thinking and said so, "They was going to get the money anyway..." of course he denounced that argument and said they didn't have to get it. Well these people who had received their blessings were due to get them anyway and their sowing $500 into a guest speaker's ministry had nothing to do with it! One woman was going to college and had received a scholarship that would last the duration of her attendance (she filled out her paperwork before the minister showed up), another received two checks due him (before the minister came to town), and the last woman well she had done some consulting work beforehand and had money due to her (mind you before the minister preached about sowing seed.) All these things were in the works BEFORE the guest speaker showed up asking people to sow seed for $500!

So the situation I just explained brings me to this point, "Do you think that sowing seed for things that God has already worked out in your favor should be attributed to a financial seed whether $500 or $5 after the fact?" Of course these people were unsure at the time of when they were going to get their blessings and probably wondered if they would, but they knew they had already put in for them before anyone asked them to sow any money. I guess the audience got excited because of the timing and assumed well it had to be the seed -- I disagree!

I can tell you from personal experience that the seed you sow is for the return you know nothing about! The surprise, the miracle, the "Oh my..." that is where the blessing is! The Bible will show you plenty of examples of the unexpected. From the manna from heaven to the five loaves of bread and two fish! If I had been sowing seed back then and knew about the blessings that were due to come I wouldn't be thanking a man for asking me to give, I would be thanking God. However, the unexpected blessings...those are the ones that I would have to thank the man for asking me to give, thank God for moving on my spirit to be obedient, and of course thank God himself.

Based on what I witnessed and what I am explaining to you, I can see why people are confused. When it comes to getting money from people, it's okay for ministers to twist the scripture a little, add things to it that have nothing to do with the circumstance, and on and on for the almighty dollar! I think more people should go to church especially those who are unsaved to challenge authority and start holding people accountable to the word that they preach.

I don't just attend church because I like being around believers, but I attend because I want to learn how to be a better person not just amongst church folk but every folk! Taking the word and trying to bend it and twist it when it is convenient for one's pockets or to save face is what I noticed amongst some Christians and we all know that is unacceptable in the eyes of God!

When Strange Things Happen at Church like Shouting, Dancing

When you see something that is happening in a church and you don't understand, rather than gossip with others about it, conduct research and let God bless you with some wisdom.

Although it may be funny to mock church people, it isn't funny to God. I came across an interesting revelation in the Bible about one who observed David dancing. Her name was Michal. According to 2 Samuel 14-23 from the New Living Bible, the scriptures teach us about David dancing before the Lord. "And David danced before the Lord with all his might...(but as the procession came into the city, Michal, Saul's daughter, watched from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she was filled with contempt for him.)

Can I tell you there are people who attend church and don't like others dancing, shouting, or doing much else in the spirit, because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Other onlookers don't want the service held up and still others just don't believe in it.

Now there are church members who aren't sincere and usually are seen dancing often with music in the finest outfits usually seated in a place to be seen by many, but then there are those believers that can't help but move and the music doesn't have to be playing. It is during those times, God will allow his spirit to indwell a human and when it does one's body cannot contain the excitement within! The spirit-filled believer may run in place, jog through aisles, spin, fall out, skip, move their legs in a vigorous motion, rock, or some other movement. All the while there are onlookers, some of which, don't understand. The Bible says, "But Michal came out to meet him (David) and exclaimed in disgust, "How glorious the king of Israel looked today! He exposed himself to the girls along the street like a common pervert!" David retorted, "I was dancing before the Lord who chose me above your father and his family and who appointed me as leader of Israel, the people of the Lord! So I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, but I will be respected by the girls of whom you spoke!" So Michal was childless throughout her life.

Notice God didn't take Michal's criticism lightly. She was Saul's daughter, a man who hated David. Sometimes people are overly critical when they don't like someone. "She think she is something. Look at him with his holy ghost two step. You know she is faking."

"True" born again believers are used by God, one must be a fool to joke, ridicule, or make false accusations about something he or she doesn't understand. I use to laugh with the comedians about some of God's people when I was on the outside looking in on church folk, but I never thought some of those things they did were ordained by God and punishment could fall on me (even my children) for being critical and/or comical.

I never thought that God would use me to warn others or use me in the church either, but he has done both not once or twice but many times since 1997 in various ways from the gifts of the spirit to having children. None of which I would have ever imagined.

May God fill you with the Holy Spirit and move on you to shake up someone's world!

When You Can't Make it to Church...

Sometimes you may not be able to attend church, but thank God for the Internet you can watch and listen to what you need to feed your self spiritually from the comfort of your own home until you can make it to church. Whatever your issue big or small and you need answers, search on sites like You Tube, article sites, and anywhere else God is leading you. Notice I said, God.

I have prayed, spent quiet time alone, and noticed that God will direct me to a site I need right when I need it. Mind you, not every site is religious, spiritual, or Christian. Sometimes there is wisdom in a secular site too! Unfortunately, those internet surfers who aren't spirit filled, don't read and study the Bible, or have no experience worshiping or serving God or haven't in a long time, will not be able to see what God wants them to and may fall into a trap.

You need a discerning spirit to sift through all the junk on the Internet. When you are unsure especially when it comes to spiritual, relationship and family matters, check the Bible. You can conduct a quick keyword search online using the popular New International Version Bible. You may also want to consult with someone knowledgeable about the Bible and ask them to refer you to a site for your study until you comfortable finding information on your own. You see, not everyone's advice is written according to God's will and not everyone claiming to be Christian on some of these sites are really doing God's word or rightly dividing the word of truth.

I learned over ten years ago the hard way, after spending hours surfing on the net one day about the Holy Spirit, I came across this one site that started talking about the lost books of the Bible. The website had stories about Jesus' childhood. It was obvious someone or a group made these stories up because the Bible doesn't talk in specific detail about Jesus' childhood. There were things on the site that I had never heard of and when compared to scripture didn't make any sense because some of the things the writer had mentioned weren't even invented back then! I hadn't heard of these Jesus' stories from any television talk show, news media outlet, etc. but I had heard about the group that sponsored the site and it turned out that they were a cult! If it hadn't been for my experience researching about cults, listening to Christian radio, and talking with evangelists, I would have been mixed up in something I shouldn't have been while spreading false doctrine.

So if you can't make it to church, utilize the resources online, and if your church is on the Internet even better!

Church Marketing 101 in 5 Steps Or Less

As Twitter (an Internet micro-blogging website) becomes increasingly more of a social phenomenon, there is a lot of emphasis on drawing new followers. Churches have been the precursor for a lot of things, so it is no surprise that they are doing everything in their powers (and budgets) to amass new followers.

Let's be clear, it is a lot easier to get hundreds or even thousands of followers on Twitter than it is to do so at your local church. That being said, if you were going to build a playbook on how to get new followers into your church, I would be looking at these steps to begin to get your church on the road to success.

Step 1. Focus your efforts! There is a reason that advertisers go after the 18-34 year old market. We have been taught that this is the demographic that has disposable income. And that may be true. But the real answer is that this is the time when consumers (and church goers) develop their brand identity. Surveys show that people generally settle on their faith sometime between 24 and 36. Faith based efforts shouldn't be any different!

Step 2. Be prepared by doing your homework and have something of value! A survey found that 62% of 18- to 34-year-olds consider themselves spiritual, and another 43% have prayed in the past two months. If you get that and most of your church messages/programs are for another demographic, you may be missing a great opportunity. If your current audience is other than this for lack of a better term "sweet spot", don't forget them. Just make sure you also have something of value that will interest and then inspire that target market for longer than just a visit.

Step 3. Meet them where they live. Social media is increasingly getting everyone's attention. But it is "the" big attraction for the demographic you are going after. I love what Tony Stewart with LifeChurch says about how his church "meets that at their place of need" So you should be thinking how you can interact with these folks. Tools such as Twitter and Facebook make that more possible. Those same tools put you on a more level playing field with the mega churches. It begins to build the relationship. Maintain the thought that a relationship through the age of 36 will probably result in a lifelong relationship.

Step 4. Be prepared to do more than just social media. You can start a relationship through social media. But you can't rely on Twitter and Facebook (and those are just a few Web 2.0 outlets) to do it all. Just like you success on the internet is rarely done with one website or model, church marketing is no different. You are going to have to have all of your oars rowing in the same direction at the same time. Check out what the United Methodist church is doing with the 10thousanddoors campaign! While your church budget may not currently afford network television and radio ads, print, text, email and outdoor events are totally in your realm. Just scale it down to what you can afford. But keep this in mind. Better to do one in excellence than 3 that comes off as lame or less than excellent.

Step 5. Keep in mind marketing can only do so much.. Your marketing and promotional efforts make a commitment that when someone attends your church, that the church experience they have is going to be better than going somewhere else. If marketing got them to the door, there job is done. They then hand it off and the rest of the church has to live up to the promise. Failure to do so will have wasted the time, energy and monies that marketing spent to get them there.
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God Told Me to Tell You to Give...

This past Sunday’s church visit would have been complete (perfect in God's will) if only the guest speaker hadn't utilized his last few minutes asking 50 people to give $500 dollars! That’s right $500 a head! In order to get a blessing from God, at least the extraordinary kind, he was urging the church to pay $500! If God was anything like man, then to get a blessing from him is expensive! Most of us would start bargain shopping – looking for churches that don’t ask for that kind of money.

Now I am not one of those stingy, cheap Christians who don't believe in giving to the Lord, because I do, but I am not one of those blind, ignorant Christians who think that every time they spend money for the Lord that God will give them twice as much back. Can I tell you that God doesn't always give his blessings back in the form of money? So when you get down and out and don't have any money for your rent because you gave it to the church, don't get mad at God or people around you because they won’t help you!

You see, I have received fabulous gifts over the years because I gave to God, but I didn’t always give money. I gave kind words, tips, clothes, food, service, etc. And in return God gave me “blessings running over…running over…pressed down shaken together running over!” That was the song the choir sang before the guest speaker came on stage. There was no music playing when he was asking for money. It's funny how churches play some good music during offering time. I always felt they do this to make you feel good about what you just done especially for those who didn't have it to give in the first place!

Listen, I can't give God what I don't have, but what I can do is say, "If I had, I would." Then when the opportunity comes to give and I have it to give, I pray then I am obedient to the spirit and I’ll give. There have been times when God spoke to me and told me to hold on to my money and I was glad I did because it was very much needed. Sometimes I will make a pledge to give and when I have the money I will pay to the church, a charity, or some other organization. But keep in mind that is just like another bill you have to manage and if you haven't balanced your checkbook in awhile and lately you have been getting frequent overdrafts, I wouldn't recommend pledging. To pledge is like a promise and God expects you to keep your promises!

But back to the man who was speaking at the church, don't get me wrong, the spirit was moving so much in fact I lost control over my feet and let a lot of my personal issues go. What I mean by that is I was one of those people you may have seen in the church, standing in place running or dancing in the spirit while others were looking like, "What? Why?" I have never understood completely why every now and then God moves on me like that especially since there was no music at that time to make me dance. As far as I remember it was quiet. What I do know is that sometimes God is sending a message to some people in the church when he uses people around them to do something strange, supernatural, etc. maybe it's to shake their spirits up!

Now when I was back and centered in my mind, the preacher who had been in the spirit, became a man in the flesh. He was simply a man and he had a need like those in the audience, money. So he caught many people on an emotional high and said what some ministers do, "The Lord told me that 50 of you can give $500. I know there are 50 of you out there, come on up here! God is going to shift your life...God is going to..." God was going to do a lot of stuff for $500! He needed this money for a conference in his homeland I guess. The truth of the matter is he didn't provide any specific details, nor did he have a flier to give to anyone, and no one put his information or the conference up on the teleprompter.

I noticed the Bishop's face as his guest speaker was beckoning the crowd to give, he didn't look too happy as far as I could see. His head was down for awhile almost in shame. I would think so since the Bishop had so many projects, almost too many, that needed money. There is a building that hasn't been touched in years on his property and he hasn’t had enough money to get it completed, but this guest speaker from another continent shows up and shows out! Not only that, he was taking money back to his homeland that should have stayed in the church!

This is a prime example of why as pastors, ministers, bishops (whatever the title) you don't often leave your church up to guest speakers, assistants, and other people especially if they ask for 15 more minutes! The shepherd of this church is frequently gone and the wolves tend to swarm the church while he is out. But this time, because he let this man run over a little more than he should have, his flesh got in the way of the spirit and he took some much needed money with him.

So how does this story apply to your life? You may be the leader of the household finances in your own home, but you have left your money to be managed by your wife, children, relatives, and anyone else who has their hand out telling you to, "Give..." The problem is we are in an economic crisis and if you aren't smart with your blessings, someone or something is going to come by and say, "God said...God told me..." or even worse they just may rob you of your finances when you aren't looking!

Open up your eyes and be more proactive in what is going and coming out of your bank accounts. Know whether your partner is being honest about what they are spending on themselves, you, and the children. Take the time to remove anything in your budget that isn't necessary! And above all else, pray and be sure that God is really in the plan and you are not just on some emotional high writing checks to everyone just to make yourself feel and look good!

God bless you!

Written by Nicholl McGuire