Dave Gibbons at Bayside

Dave Gibbons from Newsong and author of The Monkey and the Fish spoke at Bayside today. He preached on Isaiah 58:1-8 and really challenged me a lot with what he said. He challenged me to look at my relationships to see if I was truly showing the love of God through them. By relationships he didn't just mean my family and friends; the true test was how we treat strangers. Here are some more points from his message:

• Our relationships are the true test of our faith.
• The Contrarian way is when you align your preferences with God's preferences.
• The greatest vision comes with a relationship with God.
• The Purple Cow of the Church is loving somebody that is different from you.
• The difference between compassion and justice as a holistic approach to looking at people and society.

To Do All The Work

Exodus 36:6, 7 “And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.”

One of the biggest complaints about the Church today, from both Christians and non Christians, is that they are always asking for money. In the book of Exodus, Moses tells the Israelites that God has commanded those who are willing to bring offerings to help build the sanctuary. The people respond so overwhelmingly, that they are told to stop, because there is enough to do all the work.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if today’s Church responded like this? The reason churches must always ask for money is because there is so much work to be done: feeding the homeless, caring for the sick, caring for orphans, etc. Yet, so few respond to these needs with either their time or money.

Before anyone thinks I’m preaching down to them, I want to make it clear that I’m guilty of this myself. I have never tithed regularly and only helped out at Bayside a few times. I want to change this. I am making a commitment to tithe regularly to the church and I want to find a ministry that I can volunteer my time to on a regular basis.

I don’t think we could ever get to a point were the church is told to stop giving. But if everyone who considers themselves to be a follower of Christ donated their time and money, perhaps churches wouldn’t have to ask for help so much.