Philippians 4:1-9 -- Paul wrote to the church he established in Philippi seeking to help mend the relationship between two of his fellow ministers.  These women are partners in the spreading of the gospel, but they are experiencing division.  Paul calls upon the church to seek good things to allow gratitude and reconciliation to be cultivated in their hearts and in their church.

We could all use a lesson in how to grow deeper in our love and gratitude of God and life itself!

Prayer is key.

We must pray and align ourselves with God and God's desires for our lives.

Through prayer and following after the way of Jesus Christ in partnership with the Holy Spirit and the church, we can cultivate gratitude and be led into a life of beauty and joy.

Ephesians 5:15-21 -- Paul writes to the church in Ephesus about how to engage in proper relationship with one another.  It seems the church in Ephesus was not seeing eye to eye on a number of things that arose from some in the church being Jewish while others were Gentiles.  Like the church today they could not agree on what constituted faithful living.

Paul reminds them that they have become distracted.  In the early days of the Jesus Movement they needed to be reminded that while they lived in the Old Age where evil surely existed, they were children of the Light of the New Age and the New Day of Jesus Christ.

He focuses in on how they need to rethink how they live and cooperate together with each other and with God.

He gives them some guidance on how to PAY ATTENTION and not become distracted.

It all hinges on gratitude.

Paul knows all about the necessity of gratitude at all times--he wrote the letter while he was sitting in prison waiting to be executed.

Are we ready to be thankful in every situation?

Are we ready to develop good habits?

Are we ready to live our faith Monday through Saturday (end not just on Sundays)?

1 Corinthians 9.6-15 -- Paul addresses the church in Corinth to appeal for a collection to give the "saints" (Jesus followers) in Jerusalem.  He's been appealing to them practically, but then switches gears to bring a larger picture into their minds.  He brings in three references to passages in the Hebrew Bible (the only Scripture the early church had) to paint the picture with more clarity.

We need this picture today.

Even though we are not taking up a collection, the message Paul brings helps us see our whole life as a church in the big picture of God's work in all of Creation.  We were created out of love and given faith as a gift.  The only proper response to our life and faith is gratitude.  When we are grateful, we become generous.  Generosity comes from gratitude and generosity inspires more gratitude.  When we consider all we've been given, we give out of our gratitude.  When we give to others, they respond with gratitude in generosity in turn.

The cycle is meant to be repeated.  Through this life of giving and thanksgiving we come to know Life as it was intended to be.

So Paul invites the church (then and now) to remember this grand truth of the bigger picture.

Then we are invited to re-member ourselves into the ongoing work of God.

A life lived in gratitude is far more joyful than any other approach.  We were made for gratitude, you see.

Are you ready to live the Life God offers?

We finish our series talking about the reason we give to God and others.  Our finances, our resources and our decisions are an important part of our lives.  Why should we give?  How does that impact us?  How does that impact God?  How do we give?

All of these questions matter, so let's turn to the Scriptures and reflect upon what we know.

Are we willing to allow God to define our lives and our giving?

Are we ready to be defined by generosity?

We have a tough time keeping ourselves in right relationship with our stuff and God.  Often we are content with our relationship with God and the calling placed upon our lives to become more Christ-like...  Often we are discontent with our stuff to the point where we've gone into debt to accrue more stuff...

This is backwards: we should be content with our stuff and discontent with our relationship with God.

How can we begin the journey towards a better way to joy?

How can we cultivate contentment?

Proverbs 21:5 & 21 -- Wisdom is of God and should be integrated in all we do.  This includes our finances!  God wants us to have life and joy in every aspect of our life.  If we think we can do better than to let God guide us in our resources, we are probably having a tougher time than we realize.

Where are you investing your time, talent, and treasure?

Do you even know?

Do your investments support your life's purpose and mission?  Do you even know your life's purpose and mission?

What might it look/feel/be like to have every aspect of our lives contributing to our life's purpose and mission as defined by God who wants us to have life and joy abundantly?

We begin our stewardship series by examining ourselves.  Are our dreams God's dreams?  Has the "American Dream" become a nightmare?

Let us enter into this time willing to re-evaluate our goals for our resources.

Let us learn to live with ENOUGH.

Exodus 1.8-2.10 -- On our annual Children's Sabbath Service we celebrate the children.  We spend time to acknowledge the injustice around us that particularly threatens the younger generations.  What can we do?

Our passage from Exodus speaks of significant, though often overlooked, action being taken by a set of women to subvert the demands of a power-hungry and paranoid ruler.  Despite his disconnection and fear of a group of foreigners in the land, they women work within their means to save children.

One child went on to change the world--his name was Moses.

Let us hear their story and consider how we can get into the business of God's justice here and now just like Shiphrah and Puah did.

Are we ready to follow the justice of God wherever it takes us?

Luke 12.13-21 -- In our final week of our series, we consider the parable of the rich fool.

We have spent three weeks on witnessing the abundance of blessing that God gives us through wisdom.  So...now we talk about what to do with all that we've been given.  In our culture there is a great focus to become rich by the standards of the culture itself, but Jesus beckons us to be rich towards God.

Are we ready to experience the true joy of this life that comes through giving ourselves away?

Mark 6:30-44 -- The Feeding of the 5,000 is a familiar story with some unfamiliar meaning lying just below the surface.  Today, in our third week of our series, a teaching is offered to help us see the meaning of this story in a new light.

Sticking with our parallel of bread and wisdom, let us consider how Jesus provides for us in abundance when we pull up a seat at the banquet table.

Are you ready to come and seek out life from the God of Abundance?