Kingdom Assignments!

This past Sunday we heard the stories of 30 people who were given a $100 Kingdom Assignment. Our theme came from Amos 5:24 - But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

It will be one of my favorite Sundays ever! Watch for the article about it in the RB Journal, Poway Chieftain, and CMR Corridor. Here's some highlights.

In 6 short weeks, $3000 became over $12,000 invested in Kingdom causes. 2 hours one Sunday (explaining the assignment) became over 600 hours invested in service (And this is only so far - many volunteer hours continue).

And God used the people of GVC to reach places like:

• Tanzania
  
• Slovakia
  
• Russia
  
• Mali
  
• Building wells for fresh water in Africa
  
• A San Diego inner city Fellowship of Christian Athletes Club
  
• Families in need within our church
  
• Couples' Conference Scholarship
  
• Rancho Penasquitos Food Bank
  
• Moms in Touch
  
• Operation Christmas Child
  
• Christian College Tuition
  
• San Diego Youth Crisis Center
  
• American Cancer Society
  
• World Vision Famine Relief
  
• Iraqi Children's Clinic
  
• St. Jude's
  
• Life Choices
  
• World Hunger
  
• Famine Relief
  
• Creation Care
  
• A 9 yr. old girl with cancer
  
• etc.

Well done...

hope...

So radical, so profound, so revolutionary were these words that Jewish scholars said they must be a prediction of the Messiah to come. Theses scholars, who lived before Christ, were referring to God’s promised through Amos, "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent." Amos 9:11.

If you’ve ever been camping, you're probably familiar with the classic prank of pulling up the poles while your friends are sleeping in their tent (of course, I wouldn’t know I’ve just heard it’s comical to watch as these lumps of people try to find the tent door zipper in the dark).

God says David’s kingly dynasty had collapse and the people were groping in the dark. Nevertheless, God would restore it. One day, God would place a Forever King on the throne (see 2 Sam 7:16).

As we approach Palm Sunday, and Easter, remember God is in the business of restoration. The hope of David’s restored tent, much more Jesus’ Risen Life, is the hope that Jesus is our Forever King. He restores our fallen, lumpy lives. That's hope.

The blank page in your Bible

Have you ever noticed that page in your Bible between the Old and the New Testament? The blank one? The page without words?

What would you do if you opened your Bible one day and all the pages were blank? How would you feel if you couldn’t get a Bible? If you had no access to God’s Word?

In the Book of Amos, God gave this sobering prediction:

AM 8:11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD,
"when I will send a famine through the land--
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

God predicted that His people would experience a famine of His Word. And it happened. For 400 years, Israel experienced the awful silence of God. (It has come to be known as “The Silent Years,” and I picture it in my mind with that blank page at the end of the Old Testament in my Bible.)

For four centuries there was this huge gap in revelatory expression. But thankfully all of that would change with the birth of Jesus. After years of waiting, God was no longer mute. Ultimately, God turned the volume all the way up with Jesus, the Word made flesh!

Now, because of Jesus, there is no longer a famine of God’s Word. Which means that, these days, if we find ourselves spiritually famished, the problem is not on God's side; it is on ours. The problem is not on the sending end, but the receiving end.

The pages of our Bible are filled with life-giving words. Let’s not take them for granted.