Huge Investment Opportunity for Regular Folks

One of my favorite podcasts is called Startup. The first season is all about the startup of a new media/podcast company by the producer of Startup. Interesting idea, right? They produced a podcast about the launch of their podcast company. 

One of the interesting things is the exposure to a world I knew next to nothing about. Huge amounts of money are invested each year by outside investors (venture capitalists) in startups, most of which will fail. They all seem to be going for the big win, the billion dollar company.

On March 11, from 9am - Noon, Five Oaks is sponsoring a workshop on a special kind of startup venture, one that requires money and sweat equity, one that regular folks can invest in with unbelievable (eternal) returns on investment. 

It's a workshop on church planting. It's being led by Mike Brown and he really knows his stuff. He's working with Dan Lukas' church plant. 

He will help us understand why church planting is an important kingdom priority and how it can be done with a success rate of 87%.  

We're holding this workshop at a special nearby location with some symbolic meaning for Five Oaks. Email me and I'll tell you where it is.

The Five Oaks board and executive staff team will be there. But it's open to all. 

Please consider joining us. 

"I did it. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway. Now what?"

Let's say someone does something against you that's really hurtful. 

We project our unwillingness to forgive willful sins committed against us onto God. Our sins weigh heavily on our consciences. 

And let's also say they knew it was wrong thing to do when they did it. They really had no justification for it, not even revenge for something you did to them (or they imagined you did to them).

They did something against you, hurtful to you, because it served their purposes, advanced their self-interests, or they wanted something you had.

It would be really hard to forgive them, especially if the hurt was deep enough or what they took was irretrievable.

And because it would be so hard for us to forgive that being done to us, it's hard for us to imagine God forgiving us when we willfully, intentionally, and habitually sin against him. A lot of our sins weigh heavily on our consciences.

So, does God forgive that kind of sin? And if he does, and expects us to as well, how do we do it? 

We're in our second week of looking at the different atoning sacrifices in the early chapters of Leviticus.

But there's something that's very interesting about them. Almost all of the sacrifices are for unintentional sins. In fact, I can't find a passage that tells an Israelite to go offer a sacrifice for an intentional sin. And if there is no sacrifice for intentional sins, is there forgiveness? 

Yes, there is. But it's more complicated than you might imagine. But answering this question reveals a lot about sin, forgiveness, and sacrifice. 

For one thing we learn that behind every act of forgiveness by God or by us, there is a sacrifice. And that's not all.

Come this weekend and get ready to dig in to Leviticus 5:1-19 with us.

And invite someone who needs to know the God who forgives us even when we sin deliberately against each other and against him.