May 6, 2022
Dear CPC Family,
I wanted to share a little story from the Gospel of Luke about a tax collector named Zacchaeus. He was a traitor to his own people, stealing money off the top of the taxes he collected and keeping it for himself. Zacchaeus needed Jesus in his life.
Did you know there are 500 verses in the Bible about prayer and over 2000 dealing with money and possessions? Clearly money is an important topic. Jesus wanted Zacchaeus and us to understand all our financial resources belong to him. Zacchaeus needed an encounter with Jesus in his life to realize this. One day near his home, Zacchaeus sees Jesus walking by and climbs a tree to get a better look. Jesus sees him and asks him to come down and then does a radical thing. He invites himself to Zacchaeus’s house – a sinner – to have dinner with him. As a result of this one encounter, Zacchaeus tells Jesus he will repay those he stole money from by giving back more than was required by the custom of the day. Jesus declares salvation has come into this household. We also can have an encounter with Jesus that will naturally lead us to give back a portion of what God has given us.
We just finished the second quarter of our fiscal year and our giving is a little off pace – $70,000 from where we’d like to be at this time. Many of you have been giving regularly – thank you so much! Some of you may have fallen a little behind in your giving and we encourage you to catch up. If you are newer to our church and haven’t given yet, we want to encourage you to practice regular giving.
Your generous giving has enabled CPC to partner in a Mexico house-build where a family now has a real home with a roof over their heads. Our church has generously responded to the crisis in Ukraine by supporting our mission partners with thousands of dollars above our budgeted giving for relief efforts. Not only has the Lord been blessed by your generosity as he sees his children trust him, but you are blessed as well.
We don’t want you to miss out on that encounter with Jesus. As you meet him more deeply, you will find you want to keep giving and sharing. Email Bob Spencer (bspencer@carmelpres.org) or go to our website (www.carmelpres.org/give) to choose which opportunity the Lord is leading you to.
Let us know how we can pray for you, CPC family. Hope to see you soon.
In Christ,
Pastor Tim