Why I Give Online

May 12, 2012

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Why I Give Online to New Life Fellowship

In addition to being one of the Pastors at New Life Fellowship, I’m also a financially contributing partner. I give at least 15% of my pre-tax income to my church by returning the tithe and giving an offering.  I wanted to share some of the reasons why.

First, I believe in our mission and vision. I’m proud to be a part of a church family that cares about reaching people far from God. I’m proud to be a part of a place where the mission is to see people far from God experience FREEDOM in Christ and build healthy RELATIONSHIPS. Every time I hear a story about a marriage that has overcome personal struggles or a teenager who has decided to surrender their life to Jesus or a man who took the long way back to God, I know that my faithfulness in giving played a small part in that. People’s lives are being changed and this church is a part of that. Jesus said that our treasure would follow our heart, so because my heart is with Jesus Christ and this church, I choose to financially support it.

Secondly, I want to be an example to my children. I’m so tired of hearing people complain about the younger generation…they are just following our example! I don’t want selfish children, caring only about their iPods, clothes, cars, and friends. I want my kids to Love God and Love Others. I want my kids to care about other people. That’s not gonna happen by accident…I have to be intentional about modeling that. I cannot tell them to care about others and then spend 100% of my paycheck only on the needs and wants of our family. I remember growing up and watching my dad give more than just a tithe when he left his home and planted this church with no guarantee of an income.  He gave everything to God.  That was an example that I watched as a boy and his model moved me to become generous as I grew and became responsible for my own income.  Parents, God wants us to be responsible and teach our kids to be generous, but we can’t do that if we are not generous ourselves.

Thirdly, I give because God commands me to give. In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to tithe, and obedience wasn’t an option. In the New Testament, Jesus talks a lot about giving and money. Paul writes about money. He tells Christians this: “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Every month, we automatically give to our church because that honors God. We want to honor God, even when it’s difficult, even when things are tight. There have been times that we’ve gone without something, but we never cancel the contribution to the church. I’d rob the mortgage company before I robbed God.

I do all of this online.  I set up a profile on our website and chose to make my monthly contribution automatic.  It’s convenient, and it keeps me from forgetting to do what’s really important to me.

I want to encourage you to ‘Automate The Important’ by setting up your online giving profile today.  For information about electronic giving at New Life Fellowship, click this link…newlifesa.net/online-giving.  To create your profile click the ‘Give Here’ button below.

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Mother’s Day

May 2, 2012

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When we talk about Samuel, it’s easy to remember him as the man, the prophet to King Saul and Israel.  The one who discovered and anointed King David.  But I think it is important to remember that before he ever fulfilled his purpose and destiny as a man of God and prophet to Israel, Samuel was a son.  The Bible illustrates this beautiful story in 1 Samuel, but it doesn’t appear beautiful at first glance.  It appears to be filled with sorrow, bullying, and an unfulfilled longing for a child.

1Samuel 1:10 Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. 11 And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”

Today, the opposite almost seems true.  In a world where everyone lives for themselves and their own pleasures, motherhood has been replaced by the right to use sex only for our pleasure.  Today, a movement has arisen that has declared a “War on Women” because the federal government has decided to defund reproductive health care and abortions.  I can only imagine what Hannah would think, knowing that we have become a people that detest child bearing and shun the responsibility to care for and dedicate our children’s lives to their Creator.

I for one am thankful for a mom that loved me and still loves me.  I’m thankful for a wife that cherishes our babies, wants the best for them, and serves them with her life.  I’m thankful for women that understand that their children are not a curse but a blessing.  I’m thankful for ladies that don’t believe the lies the enemies sells them about the burden and struggles of motherhood, but instead realize the fulfillment and happiness that being a mother gives them.

On May 13, we are going to celebrate our Moms.  We will honor them for the sacrifices they made and for the love that they poured into us.  We will challenge our new moms to be women of honor that pray for and praise their children. We will challenge them to be moms who live a life of worship and trust God with their children.  The gift of a child is one of God’s greatest ways of saying, “Mom, I trust you with this little one.  You can do it.  I believe in you.”

For all of our moms out there, at New Life Fellowship, we believe in you!

Join us on May 13 as we Honor Moms and Honor God for the gift of children!  Sons and daughters, bring your mom.  Mom, bring your children.  Let’s celebrate what God has given us.  We love you mom!

 

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GIVE.LOVE.OFFERING. 2012

March 17, 2012

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Hi New Life,

As the weather is warming and the trees and fields are budding with new life, we find ourselves growing with new hope and possibilities ourselves. A team of our leaders just returned from a Creative Conference in Tulsa, and we are brimming over with fervor and fresh ideas to reach the lost with the love of Jesus Christ.

For this reason, I am excited to announce that Resurrection Sunday, April 8, we will be taking a special offering for a an outreach event called the GIVE. LOVE. CAMPAIGN. that we will host at the end of the summer. Our vision for this event is to see over 700 new guests come and experience freedom in Christ. Through the Give. Love. Offering, we want to raise more than enough funds to enable us to effectively reach out to our community and invite them to a message series that will meet them in their place of need. We have many creative ideas to get the word out, and we are so pumped to invite our church family to join us in this vision of invading our community with the love and hope that God offers.

This year, we have set goals as a church family to see New Life grow and reach more and more lost and hurting people for Jesus. But the truth is, we’ve got to put legs to our vision and “stretch our tent curtains wide.” We learned at the Conference that if we are going to ask God to make it rain, then we’ve got to do our part to prepare—to “dig ditches” that will hold the rain when it comes. We realize that it is one thing to sit around hoping people in our community happen to drive by and visit our church, but it is quite another thing to get out in our community and grab them (kindly) and invite them to New Life! The Give. Love. Offering is the first step that we are taking as a church body to band together to reach out to our community and offer the light of Jesus.

Be looking for a letter from Pastor Lowe in your mail soon, along with a special envelope just for the Give. Love. Offering. This offering is above our usual tithes and offerings, so we ask that you use the specified envelope we will be giving you. We will receive the Give. Love. Offering on Resurrection Sunday, April 8th, but if you’ll be out of town that day you can give now by clicking here.

We are excited about the outreach possibilities that this special offering will enable us to do, as well as the potential to go the second mile when we actually host hundreds of new people right here at New Life. This Resurrection Sunday, as we consider the God who gave us His Son so that we might have life, let us consider how we, too, might give of ourselves so that people far from God can experience new life as well.

If you have any questions about the Give. Love. Offering, you can ask them by simply emailing me at devin.lowe@newlifesa.net

Have a great week and we will see you April 8th. Our Resurrection service times are 9:00 and 11:00, as usual. Bring your family and friends and let’s celebrate together!

Blessings,

Pastor Devin Lowe

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IDENTITY – Interactive Discussion

March 13, 2012

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New Life Family,

Please be aware that our Tuesday evening prayer and Identity Class will be held on an ongoing basis. I’m prompted to encourage everyone to make an extra effort to be a part of this particular class so that the we are aware of how God sees us. Our identity from heaven’s point of view is very valid and necessary for our spiritual, emotional and physical fulfillment as children in the Kingdom of God and this present world. This class is primarily for the sole purpose to encourage unity among our church family. It will consist of interactive discussion primarily so that we are saying and doing with one heart, one mind and in unity of Spirit the Will of God.

There will be refreshments served during our family time. I look forward to being with you during this very special family time. I know we will witnessing the evidence of the Spirit developing our family fellowship and passion for the vision He has given to us in our wonderful community. Come early for prayer and worship at 6:30 pm. Class promptly starts at 7pm. Child care is available from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Your friend and servant in His service,

Duane E. Lowe

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New Year. New Me?

January 4, 2012

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New Year Resolutions.  Love em’ or hate em’, come the first of January, you are probably going to be making or talking about them.  The problem with most New Years Resolutions is that they are always centered around me and my world.  The reality is that it’s all vanity (Eccl 1:4).  I am a vain person, who idolizes myself and lives in the kingdom of Devin.  So naturally all of my resolutions are about me.

Seriously, even the good resolutions that we make (ie. Reading through the Bible, stopping bad habits, or spending more time with the family) can become vanities that make us feel better or appear more spiritual.  However, these “good resolutions” do not really provide us with the Kingdom Life of righteousness, peace, and joy (Rom. 14:17) that we’ve been promised by God.  Go ahead, continue making ‘good resolutions’, just be sure that they are putting Jesus in the limelight and not our own vanity (even the spiritual kind).  God is a jealous God…and that is a good thing.

How can I be sure I’m not making dead-end resolutions that worship me?
DON’T RESOLVE WITH YOUR SOUL NATURE. You see, too many times we make resolutions (good or bad) with our mind, will, and emotions.  Go back and think on the resolutions that you’ve made in the past years, were those resolutions made because of how you felt when you walked up a flight of stairs or when you looked in the mirror? Or maybe they were based on an article or picture some magazine made you think you should look like or do to be happy?  This is the part of us (our soul nature) that must die each day, in order for God’s Spirit to become alive within us and empower us to live life to the fullest.  The only way for us to truly become ‘new’, is when we completely stop loving ourselves and begin to completely love God.  Or, in other words, the resolution we all need to make is to stop letting our soul nature (mind, will, and emotions) lead us and begin to allow God to lead us through our spirit nature (communion, wisdom, and conscience).

The Resurgence has a great post that you can read more about this here…Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work.

If you didn’t click on the link above, the part of this post that I think everyone should read is this.

The Reformation theologian Thomas Cranmer held this view of human nature (as summarized by Anglican historian Ashley Null):

What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. The mind doesn’t direct the will. The mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself, in turn, is captive to what the heart wants.

Confront the reality that your resolution is likely needed because you are not loving God with your entire being and not loving your neighbor as yourself.

Happy God.  Happy Me? God created us in His image, but sin (idolizing ourselves Gen. 3:4-6) separated us from that image.  We still have the full potential to live our life in God’s image or likeness.  The image that we seek to make new every year is usually a sinful image, but the image that God wants us to have within is His image. God wants to make you happy.  God’s heart is all about blessing you.  God wants give you peace.  God wants you to be right with Him and the people around you.  God even wants you to be healthy, fit, and attractive (in a godly way).  The only way this can happen is when I truly worship God with all of my heart, soul and mind, then I become the best me that I can imagine.  The true pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of the One that saved me, healed me, and set me free.

So may we STOP being a self seeking generation, who believes that we can find fulfillment in our own vain pursuit of happiness.  May we START being a generation that seeks more of Christ in us everyday and discovering that our fulfillment and happiness comes from Him. And may our hearts be filled with a passion and love for God and others as Christ is formed in us each day (not the beginning of each year).  Be blessed, stay blessed and continue the CELEBRATION!  It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us FREE! (Gal 5:1)

 

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