Growing up at my house meant dinner around the family table. All the kids and both parents ate dinner together on every single day of the week. It was a time for good food (thanks Mom!), conversation, questions and sometimes life lessons. During dinner, my Dad would instigate conversation by asking questions. As his kids, we got used to my Dad’s prying intellect. It seemed normal to have a Dad inquire about your day and thoughts about life. We would zoom from talk on peanut butter sandwiches to the meaning of life and back again. I thought this was the normal family dinner experience. But when friends joined our family’s table and told me how much fun it was to experience this style of table-talk; I realized that my family has its DNA. Thanks to my Dad, asking questions and thinking about life became part of my family’s unique dinner-time DNA.
Last Sunday our church’s “Dad,” Pastor Steve Boyce, joined our New Bedford church family for a morning of amazing revelation and powerful encouragement. He reminded us of the New Life Family’s unique DNA.
God put our DNA together and designed New Life DNA for greatness. Satan, on the other hand, lies to us and tries to tell us we are worthless. He wants us to trade God’s DNA for his counterfeit. But God has other things in mind. God wants us to get out there and be miraculous. For instance, you’re not just called to give generously; you’re called to give sacrificially. That’s DNA for you.
Our new building is going to take more money than we find easy to give. It’s going to push our giving-ness to a very uncomfortable place. This building is a big sacrifice. It’s a huge risk. But God is in it with us.
When he asks New Life to risk financially are we expecting success or failure? It’s easy to set our expectations low. When we do that, any amount raised would be an incredible success. But God has our expectations set sky-high! $320,000! We aren’t called to respect money, to hoard money or to be a slave to money. We’re not here to worship the “god of money” but rather the God of Everything. We’re here to give sacrificially and to give extravagantly. Our God is large and in charge!
It’s wise to note that Satan wants us to back down. Satan doesn’t want the church to talk about finances or take financial risks. He wants the church to play it safe: analyze finances, plan accordingly, make sound, logical decisions. He wants the church to think like a business. If the church thinks like a business, it’ll be poor and broke! And Satan wants the church poor and broke. Good thing Satan isn’t in charge, right? If he were, we would have a mentality that God is broke (which He isn’t). New Life finances are never about economic mathematics but rather New Life finances are always about faith.
David thought the house of God ought to be a majestic thing. Like David, New Life wants our building to be a landmark in New Bedford. This building will open up awesome things and incredible opportunities. New Life New Bedford will be busy day and night. There will be people meetings, prayer meetings, street meetings, praise meetings, young people, old people, lost people, found people…all there 24/7 DOWN AT THE CHURCH.
Yes, this building calls for a big effort and a big sacrifice. And, yes, there’s going to be a fight. God is looking for people that won’t back down from this calling. God is looking for individuals with a particular DNA, with New Life DNA. God is calling New Lifers to be more than a just church people; He wants warriors for God. He wants something big!