We Need You! (by Karlie Harper)

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This past Sunday,  Karlie Harper shared our Stewardship Moment during worship by speaking about the giving of our time and talents to the church.  We hope you will continue to be inspired by her words and consider how you will support Ocala First with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness. 

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My name is Karlie Harper, and I am here to talk to you today about giving your time to the church. I’m going to talk about gifts and public speaking is definitely not one of my gifts, so bear with me.

I was asked to speak to you today because I tend to be here, giving my time or my gifts in some way. And I want to take this time and encourage you to do this same. We love this church, but this church is not a building, this church is the community of people who worship and serve here, and we need you.  

I know that you, right where you are sitting, whether with a large family, or by yourself, whether you are wearing an outfit that you meticulously picked out, or the same outfit you wore yesterday - you are made in the image of God, and you have gifts. And my brothers and sisters, we need your gift.

There are many ways and areas that we need your special gifts. 
  • We need you to shape the next generation of disciples in the children and youth programs
  • We need you to love on and serve the friends who walk in our doors during our homeless outreach program
  • We need you to help deliver meals and cookies to new moms and dads and shut-ins
  • We need you to make new families feel welcome as they come to our church for the first time.
And this is just a small bit of the ministries this church offers.

I’m telling you – we need you, this church needs you. Being a Christian means much more than coming and sitting in a pew on Sunday – it is a radical way to live your life. It is a sacrificial offering of one of your most precious assets – you and your time.

Being a Christian means we realize the awesome gift of grace and mercy offered to us by our Creator, and in a love response we offer up our actual life.  In John 15 – Jesus is speaking with his disciples and says “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” I am used to hearing this in the context of death, laying down your life makes me think of dying. But what if Jesus here is not asking us to die, but lay down OUR opinion of what our life should be. What if He means lay down our other priorities and put Him first. 

I can make you this promise, as you give and give more freely of your special gifts and your time, you will be blessed. You will move into closer relationship with your Savior. You will more easily recognize Christ in those around you, and Christ who is in you. Giving of your time to your church is a two-fold blessing. You will bless those around you, and you will be blessed yourself.
  • When I see 2nd graders learn in Sunday School that Jesus loves them it is holy and sacred
  • When middle-schoolers raise up their voices worshipping on Weds nights it is holy and sacred
  • When I give a homeless person the warmth of a sleeping bag and they look at me it is holy and it is sacred, and my heart swells up so much that sometimes I don’t think I can hold it all in.  
I want this for you – church. I’m trying to speak plainly, not as someone who thinks highly of myself but as one who is so assured of my savior’s love for me that I would do anything. God comes first, I am second, and I because of that I am free. And I want this for you, church.

You have a gift – each one of you has something to offer that the rest of us are in need of. So again my brothers and sisters I encourage you to find somewhere to plug in, find the holiness and the sacred in the everyday operations of this body of Christ. And help support the church that you love.


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