Come In, Dig In, Buy In

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

Father, there's few things in this world that explain our lives better than just when thinking of you, than just worthy.

Just to say, God, that you are worthy of everything that we could bring, uh, everything we could ever, any sacrifice that we make, uh, your worth exceeds that.

And so we sit here and we stand here this morning as your people to say that we get, we grasp your infinite worth.

And we want our lives to be a reflection of that and a response to that.

And so, Lord, say something today uh that that will increase our capacity to reflect uh and to respond.

Lord, we're here as the moon.

We have no light of our own.

We're here to reflect the light of the sun and into a culture that is dark and getting darker.

And that doesn't concern us because we believe that the gospel, the light of the gospel shines brightest in dark places.

And so, Holy Spirit, uh, turn up the volume on your voice.

Let us hear so that we can taste and see.

We ask all this in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a see.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up the 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

And I want to, if you're our guest today, let me say welcome.

My name is Neil.

I'm the lead pastor here at Grand Parkway.

And we're preaching through the Gospel of John.

We've taken a break for this month.

We're gonna we're gonna talk about our core values of gospel, community, mission, and blessing starting next Sunday.

But today I just want to preach something that's kind of been in my spirit for about a month now.

Back in early December, I went away on a study break for a couple of days.

Uh, and I just kept hearing every time I would pray, I'd hear this phrase, come in, dig in, buy in.

Come in, dig in, buy in.

And finally I just kind of just I just kind of sat with that and and started thinking and writing around that.

And I think it's uh somebody asked me, they said, Hey, is it is it's the first Sunday of the year?

Is this the state of the church address?

And I'm like, uh no.

Uh this is if I would say anything, this is our message to you, and this is our message to our city.

So if you're visiting today and you're kind of like, hey, what is this church about?

What is this church saying to our city?

Uh, to people that are that are around here, this is what we're saying.

Uh, usually I just preach one passage out of the Bible.

This morning we're gonna read three, and so let me just kind of get to it.

Uh 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

When I say come in, what do I mean and who do I mean that to?

This is what I mean, and this is who I mean it to.

First Corinthians chapter 6, starting verse 9.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

He says, Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you.

Now just stop right there.

Just hear that phrase.

He lists this litany and list of uh different ways sin manifests itself in people's lives.

And then he says, And such were some of you.

Don't you want to be a church that has real sinners in it?

I mean, this is this is what makes the church great, is that people come in one way, and the longer they're here, they're trained, they're changed, they're transformed by the power of God, and they become something they've never been.

Paul goes on, he says, And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

And so when we say come in, we say come in to anybody and everybody.

Church is not a place.

This church does not exist for people who don't need help.

This is not like uh uh this is like a hospital.

Sick people can come here.

We want you to come here because we want you to be healed.

Now, if you look at that list, I mean it's a great list.

He says, Don't be deceived, neither the sexually immoral.

Some translation says fornicators.

Uh somebody asked me recently, hey, what is a fornicator?

Fornication is the Bible word for sex outside the context of marriage.

Because according to the Bible, any sexual activity or behavior outside the context of a monogamous marriage is sin, will always be sin, and is ever going to be sin.

And so the Bible starts off and says, hey, the sexually immoral, the idolaters, the adulterers, uh, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, what is the big deal?

Why do you say in that?

Because the Bible's against sin in all its manifestations.

And I want to begin with a confession this morning.

I really don't get the church's fascination with the sin of homosexuality.

I mean, we act like, oh my gosh, this is a threat.

I've heard people say, this is the greatest threat that we face in the church today.

What's so threatening about saying what the Bible actually says?

It's not a special class of sin and a special class of sinner.

No one has outsided the grace of God.

So when I say, hey, here's what the Bible says, because it's easy to look at that and kind of go, yeah, people practice homosexuality, that's really bad.

Let me just say this.

If your son or daughter is engaged in in sexual activity outside the context of marriage, they are as they are as morally guilty and morally wrong as the homosexual.

And so it's easy to look at the homosexual and kind of go, oh my gosh, that's like a s that's like a really bad sin.

No, no, no, no, not at all.

It's just another way that sin manifests itself and our society celebrates it, and a church singles it out and points at it like we're going to make ourselves feel better because we don't struggle with that.

Let me tell you something.

It's sin just like greed is a sin, pride is a sin, gluttony is a sin, uh uh uh idolatry is a sin.

And so we say to all the sinners who struggle with any of these things, he say, hey, that's the way sin tries to manifest itself in my life.

We say, Come in.

You're welcome here because we believe the gospel.

Now, these behaviors, these are all behaviors by which we manifest the fact that we're unrighteous.

Look at what Paul says.

He says in verse 9, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

And then he says this, do not be deceived.

Now you should ask yourself, why does he say that?

Why does he say this?

Hey, no, I mean, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

And then he says, Don't be deceived, neither will, and he lists all the he gets real specific.

Here's why he says this he says, Don't be deceived, because it stop me if this sounds like any culture, you know.

This is 1 Corinthians.

Paul's writing to a church in a city called Corinth.

Uh, and in Corinth, Corinth was a very thriving city.

It was very pagan, it was very immoral.

And so there were people, I know you've never heard of this before, that they identified themselves by their sin.

They just said, Hey, I'm a homosexual.

The reason I do this is because God made me this way.

That's just who I am.

You have to accept that.

People would say, I'm an adulterer.

I cannot, it's not in my DNA to be faithful to one woman, okay?

And so this is what they did.

And so when Paul would say, Hey, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

These people that lived blatantly in sin would be like, What's that got to do with us?

We're righteous.

I mean, you can't blame me for being this way.

This is just who I am.

And then Paul says, Oh, don't be deceived.

And he gets real specific because here's what the Bible teaches us over and over.

Sin is never an identity, it's a behavior.

Sin is never an identity, it's a behavior.

In other words, you cannot define yourself and identify yourself according to your favorite sin.

I have a friend uh that that struggles with same-sex attraction, and often he acts upon that desire for other men.

And so we're having a meal one time and talking, and he just said, This is just who I am.

I don't know why you just don't accept me.

And I said, I can't accept that.

It violates the laws of God and the law of common sense.

And he said, What do you mean it violates the laws of common sense?

I mean, I understand you're a preacher of the Bible and everything.

I said, Here's why I say it violates the laws of common sense.

If you can identify yourself by your sin and then just say, Well, I'm gay, then you should have friends that are named gluttony and greed, idolatry and fornication.

But you don't.

None of your friends identify themselves by that sin.

Why is it that you get to identify your this is the only sin that becomes an identifier of the person?

And he looked at me and he said, You know, that's a really good point.

I said, Score one for the conservative.

And he said, Not so fast.

And he said, What would happen if I came to your church?

Now, my friend, he leans really into the lifestyle.

He dresses a certain way, he has jewelry and everything.

And I said, You would be accepted.

I said, he said, I would stand out.

I said, sure.

I said, but here's the thing: my church is not full of perfect people.

My church is full of people that are robust sinners and have been forgiven and have a relationship with God.

Now he goes, all of them?

I said, not all of them.

Some of them just come because their wife makes them.

And he's like, so you know, oh, absolutely.

And some of the kids come just because their parents make them.

And they sit out there looking at their phone.

It's tough to be 16 and be a loser and have an attention span of a gnat.

I can't help that.

Your life is pathetic.

Don't blame it on me or God or the church.

And my friend is like, how can you stand up and talk to these people when you know all that stuff's going on?

Yeah, I like out there.

Some of the women ain't taking notes.

They're making a grocery list.

Milk, bread.

Go ahead, preacher.

What was that?

Oh, yeah, we need Tabasco sauce.

Yeah, we're out of that.

Yeah.

No, Paul, we say, come in.

Here's why.

Because we believe the gospel.

He he says, Don't you know that unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

And they're like, hey, we're righteous people.

We're just being who we are.

And then he gets down specific and he uses three words to describe what happened to these people.

Here, I brought the technical definition of these words because I want you to see it.

Don't try to write it down.

You can pull your phone out and just take a picture if you want.

Here's the three words he says.

He says, And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The first word, washed, because the sinner is unclean.

Now just hear how politically incorrect that is.

The sinner is unclean, polluted as it were by the filth of his sins.

Whoever obtains remission of sins has his sins put out of God's sight.

It's cleansed from them in the sight of God.

They are washed and they are clean.

Now he says, because the sinner is unclean.

The Bible is not picking, now hear this, okay?

The Bible's not picking on the sinner because we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The Bible's making a statement about God.

What do you mean?

God is so holy, God cannot even look upon our uncleanness, okay?

And people say, Well, my God's a God of love.

Yes, but look at me.

But this fact is not based on how God feels about you, it's based on God's nature.

Let me say that again.

This fact that God cannot look upon uncleanness is not a statement about how God feels about you.

God loves you absolutely.

But this fact that God cannot look upon uncleanness is a statement of not his feelings, but his nature.

God is holy and he takes himself seriously, regardless if you do or not.

And so when the Bible says, hey, they were washed, why is that a big deal?

Because that's what allows God to look upon this person and have a relationship with this person.

Secondly, Paul says they were sanctified.

That means to separate from profane things and dedicate to God, to purify, big word coming here, by expiation, to free from the guilt of sin.

Expiation means the act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing.

Another word that the church we talk about sometimes is atonement.

A price was paid.

The wrath of an offended God was satisfied.

Third word Paul uses is justified.

To make a person righteous, such as they were, hear this part, and wish themselves to be considered.

Wouldn't you like to be considered righteous?

I was talking to somebody just this week and they said, Well, you know, preacher, we're all just sinners doing our best.

And I said, Not me.

I've been washed, sanctified, justified, and on a weekend I'm on it chicken fried, okay?

And the person's like, Oh, I wouldn't kid about that.

I'm not kidding.

I'm not kidding.

If you're a Christian, stop saying I'm just a sinner saved by grace, because what you're saying is, all I'm capable of is sinning, and you're capable of so much more.

You just continue to give yourself permission to be mediocre and just struggle with these same things.

What the Bible says, hey, you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.

So we as a church say to all the unrighteous people that you know and that I know, all the people for whom sin manifests itself in these ways in their lives.

You don't we save you?

We don't say, you're going to hell, you wicked sinner.

No, no, it's better than that.

We say, come in.

Come in.

Come on.

You're welcome.

You should ask those people, hey, you're part of a church?

Because I'd love for you to come to mind.

Why?

Here's why we can say that.

Because we believe the gospel.

What I mean, the gospel.

This is Romans chapter 1, verse 16 and 17.

Romans 1:16

The same Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

Have you ever asked yourself lately if you're ashamed of the gospel?

Here's how you know you're ashamed of the gospel.

There's this opportunity that presents itself, and your first thought is, what is this going to mean for me?

And by the way, that goes through my mind sometimes.

I don't like to have awkward conversations with people.

I don't like conversations that end with people telling me where to go.

Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

Why?

But it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, also to the Greek.

For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

And a phrase, we believe that God's righteousness has the power to overwhelm and wash clean your unrighteousness, because the gospel is both rigorous and robust in ways that nothing else in this world is or ever can be.

And so we say to all the people that sin manifests itself in their lives in those ways the sexual immoral, the drunkard, the idolater, the homosexual, all that we say, come in.

You're welcome here.

Secondly, we say, dig in.

Dig in.

It's Psalm 34, the first eight verses of the 34th Psalm.

One of my favorite in the Bible.

You say, What do you mean?

Dig in.

Let me just give you a question and think about.

If God said to you today, dig in, would you have any idea what he had in mind?

Or would you be like, oh, wait, wait, we easy, ooh, what's what you what you're talking about?

My wife is a great cook.

Our oldest is home from college.

And so, therefore, every meal that's been prepared in the past two weeks has been whatever Madison wants.

And frankly, I'm sick of it, okay?

I'm ready for some meat time.

I'm ready for, hey, honey, what would you like me to make?

And so it's chicken Devon, it's this, it's chicken croissant sandwiches, it's oh, she wants tamale pie.

We had tamale pie the other night.

It's great, it's incredible.

We had baked ziti.

I'm just kind of like, oh, this is well and good, but how about a little me?

Well, you know, Madison's only here for a couple weeks, and I want to do whatever she wants.

Great, let's just do more of that.

But here's why I bring that up.

And I'm not complaining, it's all good.

But here, when my wife just sets out the meal, we set at the table, we don't eat in front of the TV.

Cell phone's off.

Don't bring a cell phone to the table, you'll be slapped.

Not by me.

Oh, y'all are, oh, your wife is so sweet.

You have no idea.

My kids, no, don't even bring a cell phone to the table.

And people say, why don't you let you?

Because what happens at our table is more important than anybody that will call or text you during this time.

And so my kids just leave them in their rooms.

And so we sit down, and my wife just looks and says, dig in.

And my kids are like, Oh, your kids are so sweet.

They're like hogs at the trough.

And when they just go berserk, I'm just like, I'm like, it's like we raised a couple of goats.

I'm like, hey, I'm not, I'm not kidding.

My wife made tomale pie the other night, made homemade fresh guacamole.

My youngest took a rubber spatula and scraped the bowl and just licked it at the table.

I was just like, go ahead.

This is my 15-year-old.

She's a goat.

She goes, I don't care, I want all this.

Ate all, I think I got two chips dipped in it, and that was it.

And she goes, Dad, don't take so much.

Oh, so there'll be more for you, okay.

Here's the thing my children can't help themselves because they've been taught when the food is put down, dig in.

And they dig in.

Why do I tell you all that?

Look at me.

Stop thinking about what you're gonna have for lunch right now.

Some of you are thinking we're going to get Mexican food because I want to go a mullock.

Honey, we're going to Gringo's.

Come on, let's go.

No, here's the thing.

What if God is the same way?

What do you mean?

Psalm 34, verse 1.

Psalms 34:1

I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

Let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

By the way, if you're a single man, that's how you propose to your wife.

Okay?

You don't, oh baby, I love you and I think you're hot.

Shut up.

Okay.

Just stop talking, okay?

And if you're a single woman, this is what you should look for.

I used to be a student pastor, and I still have some of that in me.

And so one of our students this morning, she's a very cute, attractive, bubbly hip, got a lot of popularity in her school, 16-year-old.

And I said to her, I said, by the way, I said, when boys come at you because of your body, that's just math.

That's not hard.

You should wait for a man who comes after not just your body, but your soul.

And he extends a big invitation to you that sounds like this come glorify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

I want our marriage to be about more than just you and me, two ticks and no dog.

And she's like, I got it, Pastor Neil.

I got it.

I'm like, you got it?

Because I've seen some of your boyfriends, and I don't think you got it.

And her mom and dad are just standing there, like, you listening?

Now, why do I say that to our kid?

Because I love that kid.

I don't want her to get married.

And when he's over there snoring one night at two in the morning looking, just kind of think, what would have happened if I'd have married so and so?

So if you're single, if you're if you're junior in high school and you're thinking, I want to get married one day, wait for somebody that comes and invites you into a big story that says, Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

It's the reason you should marry somebody, is because being with them makes you love God more.

If being with a man makes you hate yourself, you should break up right now.

Uh-oh.

Did you feel that?

We done got off ended up in here.

Yeah, let me say that again.

If being with a man makes you hate, some of you ladies are like, what if you're already with him?

What if you're already married?

You got a sermon on that?

I mean, this rascal right here, I mean, we peeked about four months in.

I saw all his magic tricks, and I'm like, hey, men, men, we have to invite our wives into a big story.

And the big story is not just, hey, this is what I want.

That's math.

So you want your wife's body.

What do you want?

A cookie?

This is music.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

Verse 4, I sought the Lord, he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Now keep in mind, this is about digging in.

We're getting to that part.

Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

Now, when David says this poor man cried, he's not speaking from desire, he's speaking from experience.

When you talk about God, do you speak from desire or do you speak from experience?

He says, Let me tell you something.

This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them.

Then it says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

In other words, dig in.

Get you a mouthful of this God.

And so that's why we say to you and to everybody, if today you're visiting, you're like, hey, we're kind of looking for a church, dig in.

Dig in.

We work hard to provide a thought-provoking, nourishing, enjoyable meal every Sunday.

And so we say, dig in, taste and see that the Lord is good.

We don't read church girls' books, we don't look and see what other churches is doing.

Somebody sent me a picture of a church in New York City, New York City Hill song, whatever.

And they got thousands of people crammed in there.

They got these barriers, like at a concert about 20 feet from the stage.

And all the kids, they're all kids, they're all in their 20s, are just, and one guy's just leaning on the barrier, just looking at the band like, I love you.

And guys said to me, What do you think about this?

Isn't this awesome?

And I wrote back, not awesome.

This is not church, this is idolatry.

And he's oh, you're just an old man, Neil.

That's your problem.

You're like a 90-year-old man in that body.

Okay, well, I'm right, okay?

You can call me whatever you want.

And I just type because here's the deal mess with the bull, you're gonna get the horns.

And so I just wrote back and I said, Hey, if you could just if you could just open your eyes for a minute, look at this crowd of 20-somethings and tell me and count the Bibles in this picture.

There's not a one.

These people have just gotten together, lights and smoke and everything.

It's just a performance.

And and they've gotten together to have an experience, not an understanding.

I'm not, and by the way, I said not church.

By the way, something that's not church produces people that are not Christians.

You've got to be careful.

And I'm not saying, oh, they're not doing anything good.

Not at all.

I'm just saying the church, hear this, beloved.

The church should not be that sensory.

It should be more spiritual.

Not that fleshly.

When people make millions of dollars because they write a song.

And the only right is.

It and it's just and my friend said, Oh, well, Justin Bieber goes here.

Well, that explains everything.

Do I want Justin Bieber to be saved?

Absolutely.

Do I worship Justin Bieber?

Absolutely not.

Dig in.

We believe church is like a restaurant where they serve a good meal that gets popular because of word of mouth.

And so if you like, if you like when you come here, if you're nourished by what you taste and what you see, then look around this week and invite somebody to come and experience what you experience.

It's two words I want to give you: involve and immerse.

Involve yourself in what goes on here and immerse yourself in it, what God is doing here.

It happens in different venues.

It happens like right now in Sunday morning Bible studies.

It happens in D groups.

D groups are discipleship groups.

There's men groups, there's women groups.

I meet with two men in our church.

We're going through the book of Galatians.

We've been meeting for a couple months.

I think we got through chapter two.

We're tearing it up.

Because we'll read, like Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, says, uh, I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but the life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

And so he said, I'm crucified with Christ.

We looked at each other and said, Hey, what's being killed in you?

What needs to be killed in you for you to be more like Jesus?

And it's like, oh, yeah, well.

And it says, hey, the life I live by in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.

Is your faith in the Son of God or is your faith in your bank account?

And I told the guys, I said, Hey, I'm not here as your pastor.

I'm here as a man that wants to become more like Jesus.

And I'm like, absolutely speak into my life, say things to me.

So there's D groups, there's Sunday morning Bible studies, uh, there's community groups that happen on Sunday nights, typically uh the first and third of the month, where we get together and we process what we hear on Sunday morning.

There's children's ministry, there's student ministry, there's worship ministry, there's ESL, there's a lot of places to just dig in because there's a great meal being served.

And not only do we serve a great meal, but we give you space at the end to digest it.

You'll notice at the end of our services that I say, hey, let's think about what we've heard this morning.

And Cod may come, he may play something, he may sing over you or whatever.

Uh, and we purposely do that to give you time to think.

Now, some of you send me emails.

I get your emails.

Um, and by the way, just because you don't sign it, doesn't mean I can't figure out from the email address who you are.

Okay, it's got your last name in it.

I mean, come on.

And and I'm not mad, but one lady got it to me.

She goes, You should give us application.

Tell us what to do every Sunday morning.

You preach a great sermon and you don't tell us what to do with it.

And I write back the same answer every time.

That's not my job.

That's the Holy Spirit's job.

I don't think the Holy Spirit tells 800 people to do the same thing every Sunday.

It just doesn't.

Because the church becomes flat and one-dimensional.

And churches do that.

Churches tell you because they're like, hey, this is our emphasis this month.

Let's all go out and do this.

And so you run errands for the church, but you don't become more intimate with Jesus.

And after a while, you just become cynical and disconnected on the inside, and you're like, eh, I need to find a new church.

No, so at the end of our service, you've got to ask yourself, okay, what does that mean for me?

God, what if because I have a 21-year-old and a 15-year-old.

I don't think like them.

Glory to his name.

And I love my kids.

And I'm just like, whatever.

And my kids lie.

I went to bed on New Year's Eve at like 9 30.

Woke up at 11:59 because my neighbors are just out there setting money on fire and calling it fireworks.

I mean, like we're beating 1159 is like, Happy New Year.

Went back to sleep.

My kids just laugh at that.

They're just like, oh, dad.

My oldest flew to Oklahoma City to be with some of her girlfriends from college.

Wonderful.

Knock yourself out.

Oh, we were out till three in the morning.

Oh, that's wonderful.

My wife said, What do you think they're doing?

Probably sinning?

What do you think kids do?

Ain't your parents ever tell you nothing good happens after midnight?

You have till three in the morning.

That's a lot of sin.

You should probably ground her.

She's 21.

Ground her anyway.

Here's the thing.

We give you space because look at me.

We want you to exercise those intimacy muscles towards God and think and ask God, what does this mean for me?

So we say, come in.

Secondly, we say dig in.

Thirdly and finally, we say buy in.

I want to read from Malachi, last book of the Old Testament.

Malachi chapter 6.

When I say buy-in, what do I mean?

Buy-in, this revolves around one reality expressed in two words: origin and ownership.

Origin, where does it come from?

Where does everything I have come from?

And ownership, who owns it?

The Bible says that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

Okay, the Bible is very clear.

He owns it all.

He is the source of it all.

And so, because of that, God operates towards humanity with that understanding in mind.

A friend of mine this morning stopped me and showed me my wife, and I told him his wife about an antique place on the way to Austin.

And he's like, I spent hours there yesterday on my anniversary.

And look, I had to buy this.

And I said, if you're looking for pity, you're not getting it from me.

Because here's the reality: you were born so unrighteous that you should be in hell right now, but instead you're not.

God forgave you, and God not only did that, but he blessed you and gave you a job where you could make enough money to buy stuff like this that you really don't need.

Your wife just wants.

And his wife's like, That's exactly right.

I said, So no pity for you.

Shut up.

And he's like, You're right.

Yes.

Yes.

Because God owns it all.

He's the He's He He's the origin of it.

It comes from Him.

So what I mean.

So God relates to us with this in mind.

Unless you understand that, this passage bugs you.

But if you understand that, you're like, oh yeah, I get that.

Malachi chapter 3, verse 6.

Malachi 3:6

It says, For the Lord, for I the Lord do not change.

So who's talking here?

God.

It's not some preacher.

For I the Lord do not change.

Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

He's saying, in other words, hey, if I wasn't patient and long-suffering, I'd have consumed you guys a long time ago.

He says, from the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.

Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

But you say, How shall we return?

Will a man rob God?

Yet how shall we to return?

Will a man rob God?

Yet you are robbing me.

But you say, How have we robbed you and your tithes and your contributions?

You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need.

I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.

Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you'll be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Now, when he talks about, he says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, the word tithe literally means a tent.

And so it's called the law of the first fruits.

And that's why God set it up in the Bible.

He says, Hey, the first fruits belong to me, okay?

And so people would say on the first day of the week, they would bring their first fruits.

And so when the church talks about tithing, that's what it's talking about.

Now, let me speak to the obvious feeling in the room right now.

Because I have friends that ask me, say, hey, do you work at the church?

Do you have to give?

I said, I don't have to do anything.

The Bible says that let each man give as he's purposed in his heart to give.

I said, but I practice tithing because I think it's biblical.

So a tenth of my income I give to my church.

And they're like, dude, that doesn't make any sense.

No, no.

It's not God's way of raising money, it's God's way of raising children.

Because it informs your posture.

Again, it goes back to origin and ownership.

And it means two things.

When I say buy in, it means two things.

We'll get to that in a minute.

But God says this, He says, bring the full tithe, the whole tithe into the storehouse.

And then He says this put me to the test.

It's one of the few times in the Bible that God says, I dare you to test me in this.

And unless you've experienced that right now, you're like, could you just be quiet?

Because here the preacher is talking about money all the time.

If you've been at this church any length of time, you could probably count on one hand the times I preached about money.

Now, that doesn't mean we don't talk about it.

We say what the Bible says.

But God issues this invitation.

He says, Bring the full tithe, verse 10, into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts.

For I will uh if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need.

And then God goes on and says, Here's the other things that I will do.

Now, what are you saying about that?

When I say buy in, that means two things.

It means involvement and investment.

Involvement means you volunteer, you help, you get some skin in the game.

A lady came to me a while back and she said, You know, I just want to bring my kids and get a break for my kids, but every time I come, they tell me I've got to serve a rotation over in children's ministry.

I mean, I have to serve.

I said, How often do you have to serve?

She goes, about three or four times a year.

I got no pity for that.

And so I'm standing there and I said, So you come every Sunday and your kid doesn't just get babysit, your kid gets taught the gospel, model the gospel with a snack thrown in, with loving volunteers, and you just want to take and not give.

She goes, My last church didn't do that.

I said, Why don't you go back?

Yes.

And I say to all of you, if you're that way, you should go back too.

We ain't gonna need a new building.

We'll just have one service in here.

Because here's what here's what kills a church in America: selfish people who show up and think, it's all about me.

You better sing my songs, you better watch my kid.

We have people that come bring their kids on Wednesday night and go to the grocery store.

And I'm just like, what?

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

It's like, hey, babysit my kid.

And I just think, uh, so when I say buy in, what does it mean?

It means involvement.

It means you just, you, you volunteer, you help.

Because here's the thing: if we're all riding the bike, we got an 800-person bike here, and some of us are up front and we're pedaling and we're getting bugs in our teeth, and we look back and you're back there, hey.

You ain't got your feet on the pedals.

We resent you.

We love you, but we resent you.

Why?

Because you're not bought in.

You're just taken.

Secondly, it's involvement, it's investment.

Investment means you begin to support the ministries of this church through a biblical habit of giving.

Uh, for me, I set it up on the uh on the website, my credit card.

Uh, I'm like, God, is it bad if I get points from tithing?

I don't know.

Okay, I'll take it.

Uh, and so I set it up.

Uh, and and and and this happened, this out of my life.

Just this last week, this happened.

So a tenth of my income every month goes right back to my church.

I don't begrudge that.

I'm like, glory to God, this all came from you.

Thank you, Lord.

And so I noticed, because my wife's like, hey, I kind of, I don't know how you women are, but my wife has to balance it out.

She has to spend the same amount on each child for Christmas.

And I'm like, Babe, don't worry about it.

And she's like, well, our credit card's gonna be kind of big.

And I was like, what do you mean kind of big?

I don't know, but there's there's a lot here.

I mean, they won certain things, and and I'm like, great, wonderful.

I didn't get anything.

That'll offset it, okay.

No, I didn't offset it at all.

That credit card came, I was like, Shazam.

What?

But you ever have a nagging feeling in you that something might be true, but you don't want it to be true because of what it may mean for you?

Anyone with me?

I had this nagging feeling because I was like, hey, we got more money in our checking account than I think we probably should have, because my every month the tithe goes through, and I get an email from Blue Pay, Blue Pay receipts, the software we use for online giving.

And so I haven't seen that in a couple months.

And I said to my wife, I said, because I have to out myself, because if I don't out myself in the moment, I'll justify it later on.

I know you're not that way.

I said to my wife, I need you to check our credit card and see if my tithe's been on there because for some reason I hadn't gotten that email.

Maybe it just got deleted, maybe it went to trash, I don't know.

Uh and and and but there's a part of me that was thinking, the Lord moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

This actually went through my mind.

Oh, the Lord's just helping you pay down this Christmas credit card bill.

You know, that's not good.

Let's pay this thing off.

And so my wife came back out of the office in her house and she goes, Yeah.

And the last time it did it was October.

So you haven't tithed for November and December.

And I was like, hmm.

You know, Lord, is that your way of no, I didn't.

What did I do?

I sent an email to Leanne, our financial secretary.

And I said, Hey, by the way, I haven't tithed for the past two months.

I want to get caught up on that.

Can you check something wrong?

And she said, email me back and she said, Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry when I set it up for you.

I put an expiration debt in there.

I don't know why I did that, but it kicked you out of the system uh at the end of October.

That's the last time you gave.

You know, one of my kids got a camera, Lord.

Did you know that?

The other one, the other one's got some boots.

What's this kind of rain boots that are real popular, where they call ladies?

Hunter, oh yeah.

But they make her shins hot, so she needs some short ones.

Matt Black.

And I was like, uh, no, I just chuckled at myself.

Matter of fact, I called a friend of mine, he said, Well, what are you doing?

And he asked me a question, he said, Hey, what's God teaching these days, Neil?

I said, That's a great question.

God's teaching me that when people make a mistake, he doesn't.

What do you mean?

I said, our system kicked out my tithe.

I said, I didn't tithe the patent in November or December.

Uh and he goes, Oh man, I just pick it up in January.

I said, There's a word for that.

And he goes, What is it?

I said, It's called robbery.

What do you mean?

I said, the Bible says, Well, a man robbed God.

There's a good Greek answer to that.

Heck yeah.

And he said, So you mean to tell me you're gonna go back and catch all that up?

Yeah, that doesn't belong to me.

Now here's what it comes down to.

Stay with me.

There's not a high pressure uh sales pitch coming.

I don't believe in that, okay?

It basically here's what it comes down to with you and your resources.

The Bible is unapologetic when it talks about stewardship.

And there's two ways to look at this, okay?

And every one of us falls into one of these two camps.

Either it's look at how good I'm doing, or look at how good God's been to me.

That's what it comes down to.

Look at how good I'm doing.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, kids, mama got a job.

We're killing it up in here.

Hey, man, dad met all his quota.

I got a bonus in everything.

Or, which is exalting.

That exalts us.

What's humbling is to say, oh, look at how good God's been to me.

Oh my gosh.

I am so rich.

I don't know if you knew this, but I'm rich.

I've got a refrigerator in my house, and I've got a refrigerator in the garage.

I am living large, my man.

I went to the refrigerator this morning, I opened it up, and it was full of cold stuff.

Now you say, What's the big deal?

Of course.

Everybody's got that.

That was the period when I was in high school we didn't have a refrigerator.

You never appreciate a refrigerator until you don't have one.

He said, Why didn't you have one?

We couldn't afford it.

I just stood there with the doors open this morning and said, the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.

The milk is cold.

It was awesome.

Why?

Because I don't get it confused.

I don't think, look how good I'm doing.

I didn't like, oh God, here you go, here let me pay you back.

No, no, no, no, God.

You are so good.

You are the origin, you're the source of all of this, and you've been so good to me.

I'm not going to steal from you by keeping this.

This belongs to you.

And so you fall into one of those two camps, beloved.

Ask yourself today, which camp do you fall into?

Let's pray together.

This is the time that I told you about.

We'll just give you some time to think about what you've heard this morning, what God said to you, and what you do with it.

If you're visiting today, we are not a church that believes in manipulation or emotional, all that kind of stuff.

We just believe to preach the gospel and give people space to think about it.

And so just take a minute just to think about your life.

Think about the new year.

Don't make resolutions.

Ask God for revelation and understanding.

Because what we're saying to you and to everybody in our city is come in.

Come in.

You're all welcome.

Dig in, taste and see how good God is.

And buy him.

Let's think about these things.

It's our desire, we believe it's your desire that everybody feels invited and included.

That everybody gets to experience what David wrote about in the 34th Psalm.

Where God rescued him.

Where this man cried out and God heard him and did something about it.

And so when he says, So taste and see that the Lord is good, he's saying, I wish you guys could experience God the way I have.

He's good and he's right.

And so, Lord, we understand from your word that we're invited.

You want to include us in what you're doing to change the world.

And that starts by you changing us.

So I pray for any unchanged person in this room today that you'd put in them, Lord, a desire to know you.

Not just to feel better about their life, but to and have forgiveness for their sins, but to know you.

And so, Lord, this is what we're created for.

And it's what we desire.

Increase that desire in us.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

Again, if you're a guest, let me say thanks for looking into a new church.

On your road there, there's a on the seat back pocket, there's a guest card.

Hopefully, you've had a chance to take that and fill it out.

If not, would you do that before you leave and drop it in the wooden box by the door on your way out?

And if this is what you consider your church, and today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you take care of that as well.

New semester is kicking off.

There's a lot of new things that are starting.

Uh, we have a few announcements by way of reminder, so uh give your attention to the screens.

Let's be reminded today.

Here's the look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Men's breakfast takes place this Tuesday at 6 a.m.

in the warehouse.

We'll have free breakfast, fresh coffee, and have a meaningful time adulthood together.

DNA weekend is happening February 1st to 3rd with Tuesday, February, 7 through 12th.

This is a weekend of fun, worship, and of gathering together to hear God's word from the O'Hamedo.

Registration is$50, and the price goes up January 8th.

Today is a community group Sunday.

Here's a look at what some of our people have to say about community group.

I would say the benefits of being a community group is that it allows you to connect with people you normally wouldn't connect with in the church.

I think one of the things that it's clear throughout the Bible is that we're not meant to do life alone.

I think we even see it with Jesus.

I mean, he had his own little community group with disciples.

Um and he he really modeled that for us.

I think the thing that I enjoy the most is the relationships that I've formed with people in my community group.

The conversations that we have, they're just they're not frivolous.

They're meaningful, they're pointed.

The questions that they ask get you thinking.

And it's something that you take away, you walk through your week, and those those conversations replay.

I think my favorite thing has just been some of the stories we will tell of hey, Sunday, Neil set a really great point, and then by Sunday afternoon, what in the world did that mean?

And in and trying to figure out, oh, that's actually how it applies.

It sounded great, but this is how it applies to us on that day to day basis.

When we come together and talk about the message, it allows us to kind of relate our regular life, what we're going through right now.

Now and what the message is talking about.

So it allows me to grow in that fashion because it allows me to put something that I may have not connected with in the Bible before and kind of connected with something that I'm going through currently and it allows me to grow in my um in becoming closer to Jesus and also growing in my Christianity.

I think you should be an active part of the community group because it allows you to kind of get out of your comfort zone and just be a little more vulnerable and share people with what you've been through and share your story and uh just let others see how God's working in your life.

I think if you're not part of an active community group or something like that, I I think you sort of fall by the wayside in in a lot of things in church.

You you tend to be less active, you're less likely to serve, you're less likely to have relationships with people that not that keep you coming back to church, but that make that church experience, that relational experience much more rich.

If you don't have those close relationships, are you how much time are you spending investing in churches in general and and in people specifically?

People that you go to church with, people that you would serve in the community, all those things.

I think that community groups really feed that aspect of our walk with Christ.

Hi, my name is Travis Dunham.

I'm the Connections Pastor here at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

If you're looking for a community group, I'd like to help you find one.

I'll be right up here at the end of the service at the front of the stage.

We're talking about community groups.

That's groups of people that meet in homes.

Uh they start, they meet tonight, usually meet on the first and third Sunday of the month, and they're sermon-based.

People we write questions for the people.

One of the questions for this week is of this list of behaviors of sins in 1 Corinthians 6.

Which one of these uh sins are you are you least comfortable around?

Uh like I have a friend that's an alcoholic and he's sober, uh, but he falls off the wagon every once in a while.

And he says, I know better, and I just do it.

I just lean into it.

Uh he'll call me uh hammer drunk.

Uh and it is the biggest compliment I get every year.

When he'll call me and just say, I know you're not gonna judge me, I know you love me, but I made a bad decision.

And I my first thing is, where are you?

I want to come get you, I want to buy you breakfast, I want to be with you.

Uh, community group is where you get that kind of a relationship, is where you get to know people, people get to know you, uh, and you you grow in being known and in knowing.

And so when we talk about community group, that's what we're talking about.

Travis will be down here at the front.

He has cards that have information about where the community groups are.

If you've never been to one, you have a question, you can come see him, he'd be glad to help you, okay?

Fair enough?

Stand to your feet, let me speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

Your God is so sufficient and so satisfying, and he came not just to be heard or seen, but to be tasted.

Depart now and live like you've tasted and seen the goodness of God.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.