Stormy Weather - Where's Your Faith?

We are right this moment enjoying a spring thunderstorm. Of course a beautiful spring shower can bring troubles. A few years back we had a spring storm roll through and had baseball size hail stones. Not real good on roofs and siding, cars, heads or anything else. We've had tornadoes roll through the area from time to time. My brothers house was taken out several years ago by one of those Missouri twisters. His minivan was picked up out of the garage and deposited in their living room. My brother barely had time to get his family into an inside sheltered room and even then there wasn't much left but that closet when it was all over. That house was bulldozed and they built another one. An insurance company cut them a check that helped make that happen. In some cases, people are left with nothing. Other times, a family is compensated by some federal disaster grant. Those funds all come from a collective. In the case of grants, they're available from the federal govt. because your neighbors have chosen to force eachother to give in the form of taxes (forced offerings). In the case of insurance, the burden is spread out over all insured.

In the Kingdom, that kind of thing is accounted for by the congregations of ten families or so who have come together to choose a minister. That minister receives and administers offerings given to The Messiah to pump blood and bring life to His Body. What happens when there are no congregations, or few? What happens when there are no offerings? Regular offerings coming in are the life blood of this body. It's what makes it work. Nobody in the Kingdom govt. of Elders and Ministers is telling anyone else to pay your fair share. No one is sending a KRS (Kingdom Revenue Service) agent to your door to collect your offerings. It's something we as Elders are responsible for. We make that choice to give, so that others may live. What if a storm rolls through and takes your house down, but there haven't been Elders in your congregation who have been regularly giving. Or, worse there haven't been Elders anywhere giving. That's not a living Body. That's a dead body. No blood means no Life.

Now, lets use an example that's been used before on this forum. We'll keep this simple. Let's say we have 500 people on these groups. I think we probably have around that many, maybe more. For fun, let's imagine aach one of those people are in a congregation of Elders who have chosen a minister. That's 50 congregations of 10. Again, for simplicity sake, lets say each one of these families is giving a modest sum of $50 per month. Here's the math: 500 x 50 = $25,000 per month. Can you see how important it is for just a modest offering? We're not even talking real sacrifice here. These are numbers we could have right now. That's per month. In a Living Network, where blood is flowing freely, sacrifices are being made, that amount might be closer to $100,000 a month. At that rate, 10% of the network (who might need regularly monthly help to survive without govt. benefits) would be able to survive nicely and we'd be able to put roofs on the occasional home that loses out to a storm. Or, help to a family that has a health emergency. Or, help rebuilding a house that's taken out by fire or a twister. No need for force, no need for insurance, no need for KRS agents.

I believe most come to these groups seeking something. They find themselves having looked high and low and in all directions for something that makes sense. Something that touches that raw nerve in our Spirit that says, "yeah, that's what I've been trying to put words to". It's something in our gut that nudges us to listen and want to understand more. Somethings wrong in the world. You know it.

I propose that wrong is what we've been trained to approve of. It's enjoying the benefit of our neighbors being forced to carry our load. We've used our neighbors to suffer our responsibilities. Now, most everyone does it so it must be OK, right? Not so fast amigo. That's not what the Messiah said. We can't love our neighbor if we're coveting, stealing, pillaging and murdering. That doesn't work no matter how much we want to stretch His words. What he taught was a network of families who were willing to give freely. They don't need an agent to help pry those offerings from their hands. They give because of Faith, Hope, and honest to goodness Charity. If that isn't so then what were the apostles doing after The Messiah ascended. They weren't just setting up places where people could go and sing songs and listen to a guy talk for 30 minutes, take a collection so the preacher can have a nice place to live and so carpet can be replaced in the "church" building once every few years. No, they were building a Living, Breathing, Blood Pumping Body of Believers who chose to love one another by seeing to eachothers needs freely. They were turning the world upside down.

Faith - The belief in something not seen. Families in congregation who have chosen a minister are giving regular offerings to God, because they believe in what The Messiah was preaching. They have faith that their Messiah is True to His Word.

Hope - Our hope is that others having Faith have been "faithful" prior to any emergency by giving freely so that those in need might have relief. In a Kingdom of loving families, when an emergency arises that threatens to put a family in desperate straits, there is hope. Blood is available to bring life and to make a family whole.

Charity - Free will offerings given by the faithful who have hope in something far bigger than themselves. Charity isn't forced. It's freely given so when an emergency arises or when there are families who have need, that need is met. There shouldn't have to be a fund raising drive to meet the need. Again, if you look at the numbers above, $100,000 a month is a lot of blood bringing a lot of life to a lot of places.

50 congregations of 10 families each are within reason right now. It's not something we need to wait for. What's the hold up? All you need to do is act on what God put on your heart already when you got on this group. All you need to do is recognize that the Almighty has purpose for you. Help set His captives free. That's ultimately how you'll set yourself free. Think about your neighbor. Put your worries and concerns aside and bear your neighbors burdens because you want to, not because you have to. It's right in front of us if we really want it. If you don't know what it takes to be part of a congregation, ASK! Use this forum, or call/email your contact minister. If he doesn't know, don't quit trying to figure it out. Ask someone else. Ask me, ask any one of the Ministers who have been chosen to serve congregations of families. Post your question on this group. I guarantee someone will answer that question.

Peace, Brent J. Lake of the Oaks Northeast Missouri

P.S. Don't even do the math on 100 congregations of 10 families (or 200 congregations of 10 families). It just looks silly how much we COULD accomplish in renewing His Kingdom.