Worship In The Rain

Yesterday, I mentioned worshiping in the rain. I was inspired to write that becuse of an article I am reading about Cornerstone Community Church under the leadership of Francis Chan.

This church has been at capacity for some years and needs a new worship center. When planning their next move, they found that it would cost about $20+ million. This really bothered them, why? They are very involved with giving as much as they can towards the poor and those who need a hand (in their community and around the world. $20 million was not something they wanted to be handcuffed to paying.

They decided to do something radical. They decided to spend only a million dollars on an outdoor amphitheater. They are willing to risk worship in the rain in order to continue giving!

So again I ask, how much is enough and how much would you give up just to worship God? I am not saying you have to build an outside church (it's a little easier to do this in Southern California than some parts of our nation). I am challenging our use of God's resources.

Personal sacrificial giving has to be a God given call. By this, I believe that God will tug our hearts in how to give. So what does God have to say about it:

"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. 7 What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. 8 Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

9 Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, 10 If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. 11 I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. 12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. 13 "If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there— 14 Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all. I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!Isaiah 58:6-14 (MSG)

Learn to worship in the rain. Learn to worship regardless. Learn to give sacrificially.

Enjoy your week. Leave a comment.