Advent Conspiracy - Spend Less & Give More.

Rainy, cold and icy weather here in Oklahoma City. A small group of us gathered at KAMP's for a time of worship and prayer. Always good to be together. Here are some of the random, not so put together talking points from the talk I would have given. Join us this Christmas Season as we Worship More, Spend Less, Give More and Love All.

Here goes...

We have seen Christmas become something…crazy! We have begun to dread the holidays rolling along. The internal pace of our lives get faster and faster, busier and busier. The lists get longer. Anxiety over things left undone gets higher. We get quicker when we should be getting slower. And what we need to do is STOP! Nobody else is going to do it for you. End the business and just be present to the people God has put before you, the need put before you. How would Christ have us celebrate his birth? It wouldn’t be full of stress and anxiety but peace. And we experience anything but peace.

Part of saying “YES” to Jesus means that we say “NO” to over-spending and over-consumption. We say “NO” to these things so we can create space to say “YES” to Jesus and the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The National Retail Federation is forecasting that Americans will spend around $474.5 Billion this Christmas, an average of $859 per family. And many people will be paying off this Christmas 7 to 8 months from now.

1. Total US consumer debt (does not include mortgages) reached $2.46 Trillion in June 2007(Source: Federal Reserve).
2. Around $1.5 Trillion on credit cards.
3. At least one in 10 consumers have more than 10 credit cards in their wallets. However, the overall average number of credit cards per consumer is four.
4. U.S. consumers racked up an estimated $51 billion worth of fast food on their personal credit and debit cards in 2006, compared to $33.2 billion one-year ago.
5. The size of the total consumer debt grew nearly five times in size from 1980 ($355 billion) to 2001 ($1.7 trillion). Consumer debt in 2007 now stands at $2.5 trillion.
6. The average household in 2007 carried nearly $8,500 in credit card debt.
7. This data tells us that Americans carried approximately 786 billion dollars in credit card debt and that number is expected to grow to a projected 965 billion dollars by the year 2008.

See Matthew 6:19 - For Jesus, it is about what we treasure. And where our treasure is there our heart will be and our heart is the wellspring of life, so we guard our heart in ways. Beyond your needs, it is easy to see what you treasure measure by money. When we are dealing with money, we are not dealing with money, but rather the heart. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom he uses metaphors of passion and desire. Because we can move anything to get to our treasure.

See Matthew 25 - The king, Jesus, identifies himself with anybody anywhere that has a need. He refers to those in need as his brothers and sisters. There are these people that he calls “righteous” that didn’t think they had seen a king in need. Oh No. For Jesus it is about being generous. Jesus speaks of 2 people that actually went to hell in Luke 16 and again with the parable of the man who built bigger barns.

See Luke 21 - Don’t give out of your wealth. For Jesus, it is about proportion. What can you give? Debt is keeping us from even thinking about generosity.

We are saying how much we love people by the amount of the price tag.

A few estimates say that:
1. $20 Billion would provide water, basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world lacking it. Roughly the same amount Americans spend on ice-cream in one year.
2. $18 Billion provides food to everyone in the hungry and lacking food. Roughly the same amount Americans spend on make-up in one year.
3. $10 Billion provides solves the water crisis. While Americans spend $15 Billion on perfume and cologne in you year. One child dies every 15 seconds because of lack of clean water.

How do you think God feels about how we live and the suffering in the world? Are we not all God’s children? We are enjoying the very best of life. Yet at times for many of us we feel like we don’t have that much because we see all these people that have more. And our stuff seems average, outdated and not good enough.

See Genesis 1:26-31 & Genesis 3:1-2

From the beginning in Eden, Adam & Eve, men and women, you and me had everything they and we could ever want, yet they feel they need MORE. The children of Israel, again you and me, were liberated from slavery in Egypt.

See Exodus 16:2-35 & Numbers 11:4-20

God is leading them through the wilderness with a cloud by name and pillar of fire by night. And I’ll the while, bread comes from heaven and water from rocks. And they are not pleased from the menu selection…they complain.

Maybe what we have is enough. Perhaps it is more than enough. You’ve heard it said that, “You cannot have too much of a good thing.” I suspect Jesus might have something different to say on the matter.

See Luke 18

Christmas has become about getting what you “want”. We hear, “what do you want for Christmas?” What if giving people what they want isn’t actually kind to them? Too much of a good thing ceases to be a good thing. You can have good in excess.

In saying “NO” to over-spending and over-consumption we are then invited to say “YES” to giving more and to giving in relational ways. If this stops at spending less money, we have stopped short the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

What if the best question isn’t, “What do you want for Christmas?”, but “What can you give for Christmas?”

Jesus redistributed wealth.

See 2 Cor. 8:1-15

Nothing tells the story better than when the church lives like Jesus.

See 1 Timothy6:7-19 & 2 COR. 9:6-14

This Christmas Season join us as we Worship More, Spend Less, Give More and Love All!

The Story Continues Again...

Just wanted to pass along another piece of our story, journey and life together...

"After reading your last update, it left me thinking how refreshing it is to see a church actually DOING..... That has been my biggest frustration as an adult church-goer. It seemed like most of the churches I attended in college and thereafter were self-serving. They did wonderful work for members----but everything was self-contained. It felt wrong to me not to be out in the community serving others. I think it's great that your church is holding on to the true charge that comes with being a Christian."

Be Encouraged.
Ben.