An Important Financial Message from Pastor Craig

December 2008

Dear Friend of BranchCreek,

The economy is on the mind of everyone these days. It dominates the headlines on radio, on television and in the newspaper. I have had many questions and prayer requests from those in our church that are reeling from the news of the last few months. And the news isn't good news. Words like recession, depression, downturn and uncertainty dominate the discussion. Dr. Seuss in "The Cat in the Hat" might have been writing about our present day: "And this mess is so big/And so deep and so tall./We can not pick it up./There is no way at all."

Perhaps right now you are feeling financial stress, fear of the future or even the pain of uncertain economic times. Or maybe you are like so many and you simply don't know what to think! You may be asking, "How will this affect me?" "What will this do to my job?" or "How will this impact my parents or friends?"

The truth is, none of us know the future. But I do know that living our lives by the ups and downs of the market is a very stressful (dare if say, hopeless) way to live.

In times of great uncertainty, we have to break away from the 24-hour news cycles that compete for our attention and focus on the unchanging, the eternal and the solid truths of life.

Here are four TRUTHS every Christian can hold onto regardless of the economic news:

GOD IS IN CONTROL. God is still in charge and He is not shaken by the economic uncertainties of life (or any other uncertainties for that matter). He still offers hope to those who trust in Him.

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe."
- Hebrews 12:28

GOD WILL GIVE YOU PEACE IF YOU CALL ON HIM. Turn off the anxiety-producing news reports and open the Good News of God's Word. Spend some time reading your Bible and praying each day. And remember this promise:

"Give all your worries and cares to God,
for He cares about what happens to you."
- I Peter 5:7

GOD WILL GIVE YOU ALL YOU NEED IF YOU PUT HIM FIRST. While it's tempting to "take control" of our finances when the future is uncertain, let me challenge you to do the opposite. Give control of your finances to God and put Him first. If you do, He will give you all you need.

'God will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern."
- Matthew 6:33

GOD WILL USE YOU MORE IN A TIME OF CRISIS THAN IN CALM. While none of us would have wished for this time of difficulty, there is an opportunity for us, as God's people, to model to the world that our faith is not just for good times. Throughout the ages, it has been during times of crisis that Christianity and God's people have had the most impact. Let me challenge you to:

· Being a person of generosity while everyone else is hoarding (John 3:16);
· Being consistent in faith while others are fearing (2 Timothy 1:7);
· Showing great love and concern for your friends and inviting them with you to our BranchCreek holiday services so they too can find hope
(I Peter 2:12).

I trust that these truths will be an encouragement to you and that they will help encourage strong faith and generosity as you end 2008 and move into the New Year.

Be encouraged,


Pastor Craig
For the staff

PS: On a church family note-we have been very blessed so far this year and I believe the future will be no different. God is in control! It is so wonderful to be part of a leadership team that will not be led by the loss or gain of the Dow but by the unchanging and powerful Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever He leads we will follow, trusting Him as we go.

A Note From Pastor Craig

The last time this church focused on 40 Days of Purpose, we were not yet occupying our new building. In our church newsletter of March of 2002, I, by faith, gave my own version of an “I have a dream” speech. I wrote in part:

“May Branch Community Church always be a church built for those who don’t belong to it, a place where the helpless, the hurting, the spiritually lost can once again come “home.” I dream of a church welcoming others with an attitude of hospitality and celebration, full of people who have personally experienced the unconditional, radically inclusive love of God and wanting to ever widen that circle of love.”

In a recent service, I asked how many were new to the church since occupying this new facility and at least half of the people raised their hands. Our dream is being fulfilled. Again, my words from many years ago:

“The only difference between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians know where the feast is, where the party is, and are actively inviting others to the banquet.”

People are here, received Christ, been baptized, are growing and serving, because you have been a bringer and includer. Let’s strengthen our resolve to extend the invitation to join us at church.

All we do is ask and then trust God with the rest. Listen to the voice of one who was invited:

“I am one of those here because you hung a sign on your uncompleted building that said, ‘Making Room For You!’ The next Sunday I remembered that invitation and have been at BranchCreek ever since. I want to express my heart in a way that signifies to others that I, too, am ‘making room for you.’

Guidance & Direction

1. What makes it difficult to read the Bible and pray?

2. How do you or could you deal with those challenges?

My Prayer Warm-Up

I found that I was having a difficult time moving past certain things in my life.  I found that I was focused on certain significant frustrations and not experiencing God’s perspective or peace in those areas (job loss, marriage, etc.).  I developed a document called a “Prayer Warm-Up.”  I desired a  warm up to the truth about God.  I wanted to stimulate an attitude of prayer for the remainder of the day and a reminder to view my frustrations/issues/concerns from His perspective.  

I begin with passages of Scripture that are meaningful for the issues that I face.  After reading them, I pray reactively about the concerns and issues in my life.  I am specific about the things that bother me about myself and my situations and circumstances.  This is very personal and helps me to give those areas to God.  

Then I pray proactively - reminding myself of who God is and asking Him to work in my life.  I ask God to help me as I communicate with people throughout my day.  Before I look at anything on my computer in the morning, I usually read and pray through a document I call a "Prayer Warm-Up."  The verses are changed from time to time.  The exciting thing has been that as I’ve been praying about concerns, I find that over a period of time, I find they aren’t concerns any more.  I can delete them from the document and praise God for His work in my life.  There are other concerns that surface and they are added.  

I’ve had stops and starts with this document over the years, it gets easier with time in one sense.  In another sense, I can drift and think that I don’t need it.  I’ve learned that’s a sign that I really need God’s presence.  I have not “arrived!”  Just ask my wife!  But, I am so thankful that God is at work and I pray that I will be more and more open to His leading and perspective.  

This is only an idea.  It’s not for everyone.  I pray, at the very least, that this will stimulate you to figure out how you can open your concerns in your life up to God and allow Him to direct you and transform you through the Bible and through prayer.  If you feel like God can use this in your life, I encourage you to pray through a few verses and a few reactive and proactive requests...  Starting small was key for me and determining a consistent time/place to do it really helped.       

May God direct you as you seek to His guidance, strength and peace.  May our relationships with Him deepen this year!


Blessings,

Jeb
 

Prayer Warm-Up
Hebrews 12:1-3
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
John 15:9-17
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in His love.  I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.  This is my command: Love each other.”
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Psalm 19:13,14
13Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.  Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
14May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 139:23,24
23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  24See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 86:11
Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

I need to daily give these areas to Jesus so that they will not inhibit my relationship with Him.
Ephesians 4:22
22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires
Here are some less personal examples:
- affirmation and approval of others
- trying to do everything humanly possible in my job
- lack of appropriate assertiveness with my wife
- not embracing God’s love or forgetting that God’s forgiveness or thinking it’s not enough

Now that I’ve given the above things to God, I pray that God will help me to put on these things…
Ephesians 4:23-24
23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Here are some less personal examples:
1.    God is holy and no one can fathom His greatness.
2.    God the Father loves me as much as He loves His Son Jesus.  John 17:23
3.    God has forgiven me and my sin.
4.    God will do great things in and through me because He is a great God.
5.    God is my ultimate audience.
6.    Please help me plan with Your ideas in mind.  Help me to say “yes” and “no” and obey You

I need spiritual direction!

A man in his 30's worked for a respected orange producer in Florida. When asked what was the most difficult part of his job, he explained how he watched oranges pass in front of him all day and was responsible for removing any orange that did not meet the standards set by the producer. With fatigue and concern all over his face, he said, "I don't know how long I can keep at it. All day long, decisions, decisions, decisions!"

Does life at times seem to you to be an endless string of decisions? Do you ever wonder how God connects with your daily decision making? When was the last time you faced a decision that frankly seemed like more of a game of chance then a rational Spirit-led decision making process?

Spiritual GPS: Getting Guidance is designed for you - getting practical answers to the often times ambiguous task of "Discerning the Will of God".

Let us know how this 4 week teaching series helps provide you with guidance and direction

Craig Bishop's books now on Amazon!

If you haven't stopped by Amazon lately, check it out. Craig's series of books are available there.
Faithspace in the Workplace: Fifty Days of Rediscovering Your Soul At Work
Emerging Faith
Discovering Your Divine Design

What are your top 5?

A good friend of mine emailed me yesterday to ask what my top 5 books are that are "able to change one's way of living and thinking" (he is perhaps looking for some Christmas gift ideas). Here's how I responded, considering those books I tend to return to again and again:

1. “A Severe Mercy” by Sheldon Vanauken (an autobiography of a love story, and of how a young couple comes to Christ through the influence of C. S. Lewis; a beautiful book that I have read many times).

2. “The Cross of Christ” by John R. W. Stott (the very best book on the most important of subjects; a treasure).

3. “The Contemporary Christian” by John R. W. Stott (no other book has impacted me so greatly in terms of my philosophy of ministry).

4. “Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography” by Iain Murray (my favorite biography of one of my heroes; ever wonder where my son got his name?).

5. “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C. S. Lewis (I’ve read them many times, most recently to my kids – love these stories!)

What are your top 5?

- Dave Detwiler

Life While You Wait

Your choice is simple.  You can Trust God, or you can Worry!  But you can't do both.

 

Find out more this Sunday… 

 

-chuck faber

Saint Nicholas - The Man, the Myth, the Legend

Saint Nicholas is the primary inspiration for the lovable and grandfatherly giver of Christmas gifts. He was a fourth-century Christian bishop in the city of Myra in Lycia, a province in modern-day Turkey. Although involved in the normal affairs of the Church, Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor in his area. In one instance he is said to have presented three daughters of a dear Christian man with dowries to keep his daughters out of prostitution. He is the patron saint of several towns around the world, including both Amsterdam and Moscow....read more of this article on our December Rising.

Read it, for the love of God!

I'm always on the lookout for helpful resources to encourage us in our reading and study of the Bible, and this is a really good one: The Books of the Bible, published by the International Bible Society.
This is a printing of the Bible that encourages our reading and understanding of God's story by removing chapter and verse numbers (did you know those weren't added until well over 1000 years later?), presenting the text according to the internal divisions that the authors likely intended, and placing the individual books or letters in an order that will help us understand them better.
I think it's a great idea, and I'm enjoying reading through this version a little bit each morning, as I arrive at my office. You can learn more about it by clicking here.

- Dave Detwiler