Back on October 30^th, we held our annual Charge Conference here at St. Paul’s.  When it came time for me to make my pastor’s report that day, I shared with you a phrase that God had been whispering to me over and over which was “the spirit of this church.”  And I answered the question, “what does this mean in connection to St. Paul’s” with the following statement.  “There is a spirit within the life of this church that I have not felt in a church in a very long time.  It is a spirit of love for God and for one another.  There is a spirit of desire to want to know God better and to live for Him each day.  And there is a spirit of love and caring for one another.  It is a spirit that calls us to be a true family of God.  But what makes this phrase really stand out is the fact that the love that is felt here is a love that reaches out to bring others in.  There is a spirit that calls this church to reach out into this city and be the church not that they want to be, but the church that God calls them to be.”

          This past Sunday we concluded our stewardship campaign with our Consecration Service and Celebration Luncheon.  It was at the conclusion of our Consecration Service that you, the church family of St. Paul’s, stepped forward and began to fulfill the phrase that God had whispered to me concerning St. Paul’s, “the spirit of this church.”  You did this when you came forward together to lay your pledge cards on the altar rail and to make the commitment to serve and honor God not only with your financial gifts, but also with the gifts of your life, witness and love to God, one another, and this community.  Because of your commitment, 67 pledge cards were laid upon the altar rail, reaching the total of $252,344.28.  Because of your commitment, we are well on the way of making sure that “the spirit of this church” will continue on through 2012, carrying forth the Gospel of Christ into the world. 

          But we must remember two things.  First, that our Stewardship and Consecration commitments did not end with the closing of this past Sunday’s service.  Our commitments are just now beginning as we move forward into this new year.  Second, we must remember who it is that you made these commitments to.  You did not make your commitments to the church or to the pastor.  You made them to God, and it is our duty as children of God to work each day in upholding our commitments.  The commitments to uphold God’s church through not just our gifts of money, but most importantly through the gifts of ourselves.  We do this to honor the fact that Jesus did the same thing for all of us when He came to purchase our freedom from sin and death.  And He did this not with money, because as we know, He did not have any money.  He did it by giving His life as the ultimate price for our lives.  Let us go forth and honor His gift as we fulfill “the spirit of this church.”

Soli Deo Gloria,

Bro. Sam