April 5, 2010 Greedy or Eager?

Be Shepherds of God's flock that is under your care.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is a beautiful morning at the Southern Location of the North Pole, and about yesterday, I mean Easter is always perfect for what Christ did for us, and yesterday here in Central Pennsylvania God added His blessings for a perfect day with perfect weather. Gosh, it is Monday again, and I would have loved to top the weekend off by going to our little vacation spot, the Strasburg Railroad today, for it is a day the Amish come and if you want to see beautiful young families, wow....

Today being Monday we pray for our leaders, our president, all others who have authority over us. It is also the day we pray for all those who help keep us safe and healthy as in our Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, also our Police, Firefighters, and those medical workers on the ambulances, in the planes, and in the Emergency Rooms, and also let's today remember our family doctors in prayer. My family doctor, Dr. Lawrence Cox, DO, and my pain doctor, Dr. Jean Santo, MD, always, without fail, pray with us before we leave their office. And in the office of Dr. Cox you always hear worship music being played... ALWAYS.

GREEDY OR EAGER? 1 Peter 5:1 - To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve. (NIV)

Wow, Easter, what a great day of blessings. I was up early and visited a local church just down from our home for a "Sunrise Service". I was invited to stay for breakfast and turned that down as I had to get on to the Bridges to preach. It was indeed a beautiful day. I got a tad excited yesterday in church (The Bridges). It seems that my feet left the ground when the service started and did not touch down much till it was over. Ok, I was more than a tad excited. I mean after all we were celebrating Easter, we were celebrating our RISEN SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST... Today I want to look back at a few things I noticed about Easter and some of the events leading up to it.

Our local paper on Sunday (Sunday Patriot-News) headlined with this... "Passing the plate". It talked about the Evangelical Free Church of Hershey (which by the way does preach and teach the word of God) but the message that came out of the interview with the news by Dave Sheppard, the Church's chief of staff, was about money! He was quoted as saying about money that "we were $140,000 dollars short." The article went on to say about "Houses of worship around the mid-state will likely be filled today for Easter, which, like Christmas, usually brings families who don't attend every Sunday." "Church leaders are undoubtedly hoping the offering plates are filled today as well."

The news story went on to say about how giving was down over the year and as I read deeper and deeper into the story it just would talk about more and more dollars. The West Shore Free Church laid off three pastors and cut hours on most of the staff. God provided, said the Rev. John Nesbitt, the church's executive pastor. "Like everybody else we have a new normal." And so it goes... The only church that was interviewed that said the dollars were still coming in was the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, where it was stable.

As I read the stories of the different churches one thing that I did notice, the interviews were from the big churches, Hershey and West Shore Free Churches, Christian Life Assembly and Christ Community. But what was missing in the story... God was missing. While I know the story was about money, it sure would have been nice to see the story being about what Christmas and Easter is about, which is Jesus, and that is who the churches should be about. Are these big churches being good with God's money? Some of these churches put on wonderful plays, big professional musicals at Christmas and Easter and they charge people to get in. While the cost is not much, I have trouble thinking I must pay for a seat at a church where I was a member. What happened to the cheerful giver that Jesus talked about?

Are some of these big churches in competition with others? Sure they are, they might not tell you that, but they are. The new churches are being built with all the lights and sound equipment of theaters and is that their business or is it getting out the word of God? There is a fine line on this.

What happens when greed hits our churches? Go to the big churches in our cities and see what has happened to most of them, they have been boarded up, fallen down, burnt, EXCEPT FOR A FEW, where small flocks have come back and then invited in the Lord and started to grow again. From out of the fires and ashes some came back. In the city it seems as neighborhoods changed the churches did not, new folks were not invited in. Some churches forgot to preach THE WORD and just went after the dollars, and some churches still do just that. THOSE CHURCHES THAT ARE ABOUT MONEY, IF THEY DON'T PREACH THE WORD THEY ALSO WILL FAIL. Don't get me wrong, it takes dollars to run the church, after all it is a business.

I guess what I am trying to say here, it is time to get back to what Jesus wants us to talk about. He wants us to talk about THE GOOD NEWS. And I think He wants the churches to keep their dollars in line also. After my close I want you to see the Easter announcement from the Glendale Church of God just outside of Marysville where Salvation is ALWAYS on the menu. It does not talk once about the collection plate. Oh yes, they have a budget also, but it is not the headliner of the church, Christ is.

All ministries need dollars to go forth, which one should you support? You need to support God's work. My answer is the ones who you believe in your heart are working best for God.

Dear God, you gave me a hard one this morning, thanks for the message, Lord. I love You. Lord, please look over our prayer requests and act according to Your will for us. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth, sharing your blessings and loving on God and each other... Love ya, Pastor Dan.


Below from Pastor Larry Hale, who I DID NOT contact about using this... It was in my mailbox on Saturday. Again, it is a good way to do it!


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TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY! It's EASTER and we are going to celebrate our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Be in prayer for our Resurrection Day Celebration Service.

This is the best time of the year to invite a person to come to church with you. Christmas and Easter are the two main events when people are open to attending church, so all you need to do is ASK.

Last month's services were all leading up to this awesome event. We pray that tomorrow we will ALL be drawn closer to the Lord, that SOME will return to fellowship with Christ and that SOME will invite the Lord into their lives for the Very First Time.