We continued our November mini-series “Generous Living” this week as we continue to explore issues of stewardship and generosity as we do each November. These can be difficult topics to handle well and hard topics for people to hear in the church. But they are biblical topics that are very important for people who want to live a Christ-honoring life in every way. Perhaps we’ve made them hard issues because we’ve handled them poorly in the past. Our approach isn’t so much to beat the drum to just give more, but to live a life of generosity toward others in our day.
This week we looked at the topic “How Much Is Enough?” It’s a significant question without a necessarily clear answer. We jumped into 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 and following to take a look at how generosity was displayed among the early church, and what principles might be significant for us today in the United States. Service Flow:
Welcome/Announcements
Call to Worship (Psalm 145:3)
Because of Your Love (Baloche/Brown)
Blessed Be Your Name (Redman)
Lamentations 3:23-24
Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Chisholm/Runyan)
Prayer (Proverbs 16:6)
Your Grace Is Enough (Maher)
2 Corinthians 2:14
Offering (with a video about the CAMA Moringa Tree Project)
Message
Prayer/Response
Mexico Spotlight and pray for shoeboxes
Dismiss (2 Corinthians 13:14)
We had a number of special elements that needed to be included in this service, so we decided to put all the songs in the same segment, instead of doing only a few at one time and then one at the end. Over these few weeks, we have been really trying to emphasize themes of thankfulness, God’s faithfulness, and His mercy in our song portions of the worship service. We’ve tried to reinforce those themes with well chosen Scripture verses that also relate to the themes of the messages. It’s hard sometimes to select songs when dealing with topics of generosity and giving, so we are trying to paint some broad strokes.
The video we showed during the offering, about the Moringa Tree project, is pretty significant. Each year we do a special Thanksgiving offering that partially goes to support work being done locally and work being done globally. This week was to help people be ready and to know what they will be giving to.
The team did well this week with our songs. One thing that was different was that we didn’t have a male vocalist serving this week. There was a time when that was the norm, but this was the first time in a while that has happened. Our ladies stepped up and did a great job, but I don’t think I accounted for the impact of that as well as I should have. We also ended our singing time with a more upbeat song that we normally would, but it seemed to work well and be a great response to our time of prayer.
If you were there, what was significant or meaningful for you?
Thanks for stopping by. I probably shouldn’t have waited so late in the week to do this, as I don’t have much to say. If you would like to know more about what other churches did this past week, head over to Fred’s Sunday Setlists.
