Experience Truth:

Bold Faith Project - I shared my faith with one of my DJs that work for my company after a
gig we did together. I prayed for healing for one of our core team members mother who is
experiencing a health difficulty. I confronted spiritual warfare in my 11 year old daughter
who did not want to be a part of our family anymore and spoke truth to her about Jesus
and prayed for her and our family to confront the voices in her head. Lastly, we invested
$4,500.00 of our finances into a trailer for our church plant that will store our gear for our
services.

Worship Project - Jesus enters Jerusalem: A King of a different Kingdom. Luke 19:28-40.
One of the ways I enjoy worshiping is through an idea I call “Biblical Reality Visualizations.”
These are writings or verbal stories take us through what it might have been like to be at
this moment. We take turns in our group visualizing and sharing what the scene could have
been like for those witnessing this piece of Scripture. For this particular instance we used
Jesus entering into Jerusalem on the donkey, not to become the king of Israel but to
become the king of all of His people in all times.

Consider the Poor - A core team family has been struggling financially and their vehicle
broke down and took $1,400.00 to fix. We decided to give them the money since we just
experienced a fruitful season with our business to help them through their time of need and
told them they did not have to repay this, it was a gift.

Prayer Project - Luke 12:22-34 Trust in God.

I decided to spend time meditating and praying through the Trust in God section of Luke
12:22-34. This section means a lot to me because I often find myself in unbelief. Not in
unbelief in the sense of not believing Jesus is the Messiah, but in unbelief that what Jesus
has accomplished on the cross is sufficient for my every day life and most importantly, the
life of the church plant that I am currently working towards launching with our core team.

I spent time praying for faith and trust that the God who created the universe, put the stars
in place, told the seas how far they should go, also cares about me. That I can trust in God
who has the power to do all and be all. That I do not need to be the one trying to support
everything myself. Moving to an obvious, yet huge understanding, I am not the Christ. I
was never meant to be or to even try to be. I am a child of God and need to rest in this the
way my children rest in the knowledge that I am their father.

My focus should be to the kingdom of God. My prayers, my direction, my speech, and my

actions, should be focused on God’s kingdom and the story that I have been invited into in
order to participate in God’s redemption of His people. Instead of being worried, and
stressed, about all different aspects of life, I should be focused on God’s kingdom.

The time spent in prayer over this reminded me of George Muller and the story that I have
been reading on his biography. The trust and faith that he had and the inspiration of his
faithfulness and the incredible faithfulness of our Creator. I was reminded of how important
prayer is and that I often do not trust in the time spent on prayer as being as fruitful as it
really is. This was an incredible experience and one that I hope to continue implementing in
my life.

Mental Digestion:

Theme Project - Wealth as a means of ministry to others.

I’ve decided on the theme of wealth as a means of ministry to others that is seen in certain
areas of Luke. This is important in the Gospel because we have been redeemed and thus
have the opportunity to enter into God’s story of redemption to others through, in this case,
the use of our wealth. Our wealth is a gift of God, and is God’s, and thus we are invited to
use it as a means of advancing God’s kingdom.

First, we have the parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:13-21. While this parable does not
specifically share the result of wealth as a means of ministry to others, it can certainly be
applied. Augustine actually does this very thing when he shared his thoughts on the
passage as follows. “He did not realize that the bellies of the poor are much safer
storerooms than his barns.” This person’s focus was bringing his wealth to greater levels
for his personal consumption instead of using them for God’s glory.

The next parable is of the Dishonest Manager in Luke 16:1-13. The climax of this parable is
that we can not serve God and money. If we serve God we can use money for the further
of His kingdom and His glory. If we serve money, then we are using money in ways it was
never intended. One of my commentaries by J.B. Green share this, “Dishonest wealth” is
contrasted with “true riches” in a way that is reminiscent of 12:33, with its reference to
securing “unfailing treasure in heaven” by selling possessions and giving alms (see also
16:9). We again see the positive aspect of not forgetting the very important concept of
storing up treasures in heaven.

Lastly, we can look at the story of The Rich Ruler in Luke 18:18-30. Here we see a rich ruler
who had it all and also followed the law as he was supposed to. However, he was still
holding on to the idol of money and found his status on earth in not only following the law
but also his money. He was willing to follow God as it pertained the to the law as long as it
didn’t require his other idol. Money. We get one last look at where our heart should be.
That we should store up treasures in heaven, not on earth. Jesus specifically said to
spread his wealth to the poor.

Throughout the book of Luke we see this call to give to the poor and to store up treasures
not on earth but in heaven. I’m reminded of one of my favorite albums right now, Worthy by
Beautiful Eulogy. In one of their songs it reminds us that we came into this world with
nothing and when we die it will be the same. We need to be reminded as the church, as the
body of believers, that we each have a responsibility to give up of ourselves and that also
means our wealth in order to further the kingdom. Sure, we are not to let money become
an idol, and that is certainly part of the teachings here. Yet, the by product of not allowing
money to become an idol is to give it freely for the furthering of God’s kingdom. We are
called as ambassadors of Christ, invited into the redemptive story of God, to give up of
ourselves and pour ourselves out, even in our finances, as a reminder of what Jesus did for
us. Jesus poured himself out, leaving nothing behind, for not only our earthly freedom, but
our eternal freedom from death and destruction.