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We take a second stab a financial margin this week in part 4 of our series Making Room for Life (based on Andy Stanley’s Take it to the Limit). Jesus talked about money more than anything other than the Kingdom of God itself. Why was Jesus so concerned about money? Because it may just be the best indicator there is for the true condition of our hearts. He clearly stated in his Sermon on the Mount, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In this message, we explore practical steps to create a path to gaining breathing room in our finances. It’s actually quite simple to do even if it’s not easy to live out. In the end, we see that money is always a deeply spiritual issue.

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This month we explore the biblical virtue of discipline - doing what you need to do now so you can grow stronger. Jesus’ own life displays the value of discipline. He didn’t just arrive on the scene one day fully prepared for his ministry. Like all of us, he had to grow in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52). When we read about the 12-year old Jesus in the Temple, we discover that Jesus was already well on his way to living a life of discipline - doing what you need to do now so you can grow stronger. It’s never too early (or too late) to build a firm, biblical foundation for life and the work that God has for us.

This week’s message on discipline focuses on the importance of reading God’s Word. If you want to know God better, read his book. If you want to know God’s plans for your life, read his book.

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Here’s part 3 in our series Making Room for Life (based on Andy Stanley’s Take if to the Limit). In this message, we begin focusing on how God calls us to live with margin in our finances. Everyone lives on a certain percentage of their income, even if they do not know what the percentage is. The closer we get to living on 100%, the less financial margin and the more stress we have.

God wants us to live with more margin not only make life more livable but because he blesses us for a greater purpose than our own comfort; he wants us to use a portion of what we have to continue his work and bless others. In God’s seemingly upside-down world of values, we discover that financial margin for ourselves is only possible once we start to give away our money because it is only the act of giving that breaks the hold of money on our hearts.

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In part 2 of Making Room for Life, we begin to look at how God would lead us to a life of margin in our schedules. We all have limited time but we often fail to live as if that were true. We add, add, add to our schedules without realizing that every yes is a no to something else. Something has to give and it’s usually the most important things that give way to the merely urgent. God’s solution to the tyranny of the urgent is to give our time to him and he will show us daily how to make room for the most important things in life.

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We are beginning a new six-week series called Making Room for Life, based on a series by Andy Stanley from Northpoint Community Church. Below you’ll find the first message titled To the Limit. While TV programs that show people taking it to the limit can be quite entertaining, there is nothing entertaining about watching a friend push their own lives to the edge. God calls us to lives with enough margin for thriving relationship with him and with one another.

This entry is a re-release of last weeks message (corrected for minor errors).

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In this chapter, Jesus addresses the issues of Marriage, Money and Power. Because of the great confusion over marriage and the issue of divorce, we are focusing on that one issue for today. Jesus’ instruction has often been interpreted as a blanket prohibition against divorce except for adultery. Understood within the context of his day, it seems clear that Jesus was addressing a specific kind of divorce, what was known as the “any cause” divorce. While we should hold a high vision for marriage, we must also be careful that we do not demand that people remain in dangerous or destructive relationships because of a misplaced desire to follow Jesus’ command.

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Jesus not only calls us to live as a community, he instructs us how to live as one. The Bible is filled with such instructions that we at Beacon have called the “one anothers.” Eveyone who becomes a member at Beacon signs a covenant to live out these “one anothers.” In Matthew 18, Jesus instructs us to not only forgive one another, but to lovingly confront one another as well. Do we have the heart to confront in love? Do we have the courage to accept such confrontation? What Jesus asks is not easy but it is absolutely essential if we are to be the kind of life-giving community that he desires.

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Jesus finally gives his disciples a glimpse of who he truly is. They can see his divine nature with their own eyes. But seeing is not believing; believing is to listen and obey. God tells those who witness Jesus’ transfiguration that they should “Listen to him!” Are we willing to listen to him? Are we willing to offer Jesus what we have, all that we have, and see what he can do with it?

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When people encounter Jesus, they often don’t get it and they react with fear. But some do get it and they receive him in faith. Peter definitely “got it” when he made the ultimate confession of faith, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” You are the one! The first thing Peter did after this was to tell Jesus “No” and “Never.” If we are not careful, conviction can turn to overconfidence and we can begin to dictate to God what he should and shouldn’t do. Even when we do “get it,” even when we do receive him in faith, we must always be ready to admit that there is much that we still do not understand.

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Sometimes there is no way to avoid controversy. No matter what you do or say, someone is going to be offended or take it the wrong way. While Jesus often did not avoid controversy, he sometimes found a way through it by offering an option no one had considered. We too can often find such creative solutions. Usually, those win-win scenarios arise when we are willing to put others first. Jesus, controversy, Matthew 14, Matthew 15

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