Move the Mission Sunday

Well, what a week, huh?

What a week.

And uh first I have to say, uh, you know, I know it's church, but I have to give a round of applause to some of these guys here for the Friday night football game.

I think it's pretty awesome.

Riley, all you guys.

Five touchdowns, man.

Insane.

Um, Jonah, you know, he got banged up pretty good.

But you know, one thing I love about it was not the game, but it was right after the game when they knelt in prayer.

And what I heard Jonah say was, Lord, we knew we couldn't do it without you.

Lord, we knew we couldn't do it without you.

I want to tell you something right now.

As good as football is and games are, that's gonna carry you a lot farther in life than anything else, we'll brother.

So I praise God for that.

Amen.

It's good stuff.

It's good stuff.

It's good stuff, it's good stuff.

Um, there's a lot happening, there's a lot going on, but I want to share with you uh today's Move the Mission Sunday, and I'm gonna preach to you, and I'm gonna share a story that I shared when I first began here as pastor, because there's a lot of new faces, and some of you have not heard this story, but it really ties in well to what we're talking about today.

And if you have or you do remember the story, just pretend like you didn't, be like, oh wow, that's an amazing story.

Never knew that.

Um, and it'll be good because you'll be blessed by it again.

I'm blessed every time that I think about it or it processes.

But there's a lot of good things, and I know some people are asking, you know, why are we giving?

What is the funding for?

What does this really help?

For last week we had 64 young people here in this building uh getting to know Jesus or getting to grow in their faith.

In fact, I have a list right here, which each of them were able to fill out.

And, you know, what we did was after the sermon, they had the opportunity to say that during response time, they accepted Christ for the very first time.

Or B, they wanted to recommit their life to Christ.

Maybe they had committed their life to Christ, but they started going in a different direction.

They don't want to go that direction anymore.

They want to go back toward Jesus, or C, they want to talk to someone about it, or D, they don't care.

All right?

And I want you to know that we had 17 young people who said they wanted to recommit their life to Christ.

And I think that's amazing, isn't it?

Yeah.

But even more than that, we have 16 young people that committed their life to Christ for the very first time right here Sunday night.

And that excites me, amen.

Can we just give God praise for that?

We sing a song, Jackson sang a song, hell lost another one, I am free, you know?

Hell lost another one.

Look, hell's going to keep losing every single week.

And I'm looking at the score, man.

I'm tallying it up because until God does what he wants to do here, we ain't going anywhere.

And that's what's going to happen.

And I plan on retiring here, so don't get rid of me yet, okay?

That'll be good.

Um, but look, it's a mission.

It's a mission.

And today I want to talk to you about that mission, success versus significance, because it's an important mission.

And it's one that we all have to uh really face at some point.

And, you know, when we talk about what these funds go toward, I want to be very specific in this.

You know, we have a whole basement to remodel over here.

We need to get new flooring, rip the carpet out.

We need to scrape the walls, paint the walls.

We got to get new furniture for these kids.

We have to, you know, we have to make sure that what's in there is good.

I'm sorry, but winter's coming and we're not going to be able to play outside and do all the things that we want to do every week outside.

It's a big mission.

But on top of that, between every week, Sunday nights, Miss Kathy and the hospitality team, we're feeding kids good meals.

Tonight's chicken tenders and mac and cheese.

Praise God.

And you know, you begin to look at the cost and it surmounts because some of these kids that come, 64 kids, and it's only going to continue to rise, may not get good food at home on the weekends, right?

It may be one of the best meals they eat all weekend.

And some of these kids may never attend church on a Sunday morning.

And guess what?

I'm okay with this because it's a church inside of a church.

That's what it is.

And this is a safe space where they can come and where they can grow and build relationships and have opportunities that they never would have had.

This December, we're headed to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to go to Strength to Stand.

It's going to be an incredible time to which they're going to be around 5,000 other young people.

They're going to see other young people that are going through exactly what they're going through and dealing with what they're dealing through.

And also being able to hear incredible speakers speak into their lives.

Along that, we get to grow together as a better youth ministry.

And we get to be around them and let them understand that there is life being a Christian.

That it's not boring, that it's exciting, it's the best.

Quarterly, we will be doing events where we may go catch a game somewhere, we may do something at a water park and those type of things.

And it's fun.

But every week we are here on Sunday nights, investing into them, pouring into them, giving them everything that we can.

And I'm sorry, guys, youth ministry is not cheap.

But if you want a better Astoria, Table Grove, IPava, and beyond, you have to understand that faith must have action.

Faith must have action.

This was no different during Jesus' time in his ministry.

They had to have funds to be able to do what they were doing.

That's it.

And so today we're going to get into it and we're going to talk about the subject of what does it really mean to be significant or successful?

And Jesus asked a question that still cuts through every resume and through every bank account.

It still cuts through every trophy case that you have.

Matthew 16 and 26 says it like this What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul?

Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

See, today in America, we have a problem that most people in the world don't have.

We're constantly trying to follow the Joneses and we're constantly trying to live up to our social media feeds.

We think that to be more, we must have more, and to have more, we must be more.

And we're in this constant fight of believing that when I have more and when I do more, that then I will finally make it, then I will be happy, then I'll be content.

And the reality is that most of the people in the world would die to have what you have.

And they can't even begin to fathom that if they had what you had, they would have this idea that they would need more.

Isn't that crazy?

That we live with this mindset in America because we're so captivated by our own environments that we only see what's next to us, and we don't understand that if you have clean water this morning, that you're better off than 25% of the world's population because they don't?

Close to 50% of our world makes less than$2 a day.

And what we're seeing is that people on other parts of the world that have significantly less than us are seen God move in miraculous ways because he has become their everything, and we have traded comfort for his presence.

We have traded comfort for his significance.

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul?

See, this picture now, if you remember, was one that I shared with you months ago.

Today I'm sharing it again because it tells a chilling story.

In fact, if you've ever heard Tim Tebow share this story, it's phenomenal.

And the thing we have to understand about God is that he is not against excellence, he is against emptiness.

He's not against winning, he's against winning the wrong game.

In 1993, a young photographer named Kevin Carter was in a famine-stricken sedan, and he came up on a child starving, and the child was collapsed on the ground, too weak to crawl the last distance to a feeding center.

So here we see the child crawling.

There's a buzzard that is following it.

And a vulture has landed nearby, waiting, and Carter didn't what photographers are trained to do, he framed the shot.

He he got in position, he he waited and he captured one of the most haunting images of the 20th century.

Then he chased the bird away and walked on.

During those times, they were taught not to touch the children because if they did that, the child could have a disease or they could get sick.

And so he he shot the picture.

He did it and he went on.

The New York Times published the photo, and in 1994, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, one of the highest honors in his field.

And four months later, Kevin Carter took his own life.

He was 33.

He was 33.

Tim Tebow has told this story because it exposed a brutal difference.

The success is not about you, and significance is about others.

Significance is about others.

Carter gained the prize that the world applauds.

He he did what every person would ever want to have happen to them in his career.

He won the award that mattered most in his field to say, he's been successful.

You did it, man.

You took the shot.

But what he could not live with was the fact that he knew he was rewarded for taking a picture of a starving kid that he refused to help.

In a moment he had the opportunity to be more significant.

And instead of significance, he chose success.

And the reality is, and what you and I face every day, is that we see it in our own neighborhoods, in our own communities, and everywhere, everywhere around us.

But so often we have made success about us and cared less about being significant.

See, he gained the prize the world applauds, but he missed the child who needed a hand, a meal, and a moment of dignity.

And the greatest tragedy is not failing to succeed.

The greatest tragedy is succeeding at the things that do not matter and realizing it too late.

An elderly man once told me, he said, Tyler, let me give you some advice about life.

I said, Go ahead.

He said, Don't climb a ladder only to get to the top and realize you've been propped up against the wrong wall.

At some point, you have to look and say, what really matters?

Today is Move the Mission Sunday, and we are not asking you to feel guilty.

We are asking you to choose.

50 people giving$50 a month will not make anyone famous.

It will, however, put food on the table, create discipleship environments, send kids to camps and conferences and trips and the gospel in front of young people whose window is shorter than we think.

This is urgent because we don't have long.

We don't have long.

I don't have long with these young people.

And we're trying to change generations.

Their timeline is not our timeline, and they have days and seasons.

We only have a choice.

We only have a choice.

Significance counts what you release.

This is important for us to understand biblically, to understand what Jesus really talks about here and what our lives are meant to be.

In Luke 12 through 21, it says that for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.

Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

Jesus replied, Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?

Then he said to them, Watch out, be on guard against all kinds of greed.

Life does not consist in abundance of possessions.

And he told them this parable the ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.

And he thought to himself, What shall I do?

I have no place to store my crops.

So this man has been given a lot, he has a lot in abundance, he has no place to put the rest.

And then he said, This is what I'll do.

I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my soplus surplus grain.

19.

And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.

Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said to him, You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you.

Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?

Who will get it?

This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves, but is not rich toward God.

This is scripture.

The rich fool in Luke 12 built bigger barns.

And God called him a fool, not because he formed well, not because he formed well, but because he treated his life that of a warehouse instead of a pipeline.

Do you understand this?

Do you understand this?

God is calling you and I to something greater each and every day.

And you and I do not know what tomorrow will hold.

We saw a division two running back yesterday.

Really good athlete out of Missouri, not the University of Missouri, another school in Missouri.

And he takes the ball and he runs a touchdown and he celebrates with his teammates.

And it was awesome.

And he looked great.

And he jogs over the sideline and he collapses and he passed away.

Like that.

Guys, I want to tell you that we are not promised tomorrow.

And this idea in America, where we think that if we just store up and store up and store up and store up, that this is going to protect us and our generations and family and everything else.

I want to tell you that the only things that's going to protect you is the kingdom of God.

Because eternity is all that is forever.

Do you understand that?

Eternity is all that's forever.

Nothing can protect anyone except that of the kingdom of God.

And you need to understand that when you put the kingdom of God first in your life, that everything else from God's economy will trickle down upon your generations.

It is his word and it is his promise and it's his goodness.

I believe that wholeheartedly.

Does that mean that we don't go through tough times?

Absolutely not.

We do, but we are a fool to believe that because we formed well and have a lot, that if we put it in a warehouse that that's doing the will of God, that is foolishness and silliness.

In fact, I believe that if churches have a lot in their bank accounts, we have to ask the question how much money is too much money, and when does it become sinful?

For we must be in action for the kingdom of God and not hoarders.

When we have people that are barely making it and getting by, we have to do what God's called us to do, and we all have to do what is right within our own lives.

Success asks, how much can I keep?

Significance asks, how much can I send?

Paul said it this way in Philippians 4.

He said, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.

I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Here's what I've come to learn about life in some instances.

People ask me all the time, man, do you really like living in Astoria?

Yeah, I do.

I laugh so much because Maddox always reminds me, the closest McDonald's is 22 minutes away, man.

Play, pray for my son.

He is persecuted, my friends.

He is persecuted.

You know?

His his grandma and grandpa and my in-laws, and then they're like, you know, they come and visit.

There's like, there's nothing around here.

I'm like, it's the best of anywhere.

It's the middle of nowhere, but it's the best of anywhere.

By the way, we've got some places.

Calm down.

It's a good community.

It's a good community.

Here's what I've learned that contentment doesn't come from things around you, it comes from within.

So if you're not content, it's not because of the things that are around you, it's not because you don't have something or you lack something on the outside.

Your contentment is from the inside, and that only comes through God alone.

To be content, to say, Lord, thank you, for I have enough.

If you have a house and you have food on the table and and you've got the basic needs, you should be praising God every single day.

If your children are healthy and you feel healthy, you should be praising God every single day.

Amen.

This is something that you and I get the opportunity to do.

And when we read this text, polls saying I've had a lot and I've had little, but in every way I've learned how to be content, which means that when I've got money in the bank account and the bills are paid, it's good.

But it also means that when I have nothing and I'm scraping by and I have to go make that PB and J for another day, he's still good.

I've learned the secret of being content in every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, he says it like this.

There we go.

I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

Now, we all know this is the most common verse taken out of context.

Because what Paul's talking about right here is that regardless of the circumstance and situation, I'm I am able to serve him with everything that I have because he gives me the strength to do it.

Look, whether I have a lot, amen, I'm still gonna serve him.

And whether I have little, I'm still gonna serve him.

Yet it is good of you to share in my troubles.

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

I want you to think about this.

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

And the question I have to ask you as a church, and listen, I'm not talking about our church giving.

Our church giving is great and you're phenomenal, and thank you, because we're building a kingdom for the Lord.

This is his place, this is his church, you're his people, and we're gonna continue moving the mission of our church.

But how beautiful is it to know that in our community there are young people who need a radical Jesus, who need a radical change, who need a radical environment.

And how good is it for you to see that and say, yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

Paul's saying here, thank you, thank you.

I didn't need it, but thank you.

Here's what he said 15.

Moreover, you as Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except only you.

He's saying, Thank you, thank you.

I'm sorry, guys, the ministry takes needs help, the ministry takes finances, it takes giving, it takes prayer, it takes supplication.

We have to do it.

And 16, he said, For even then, when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.

17, not that I desire your gifts, what I desire is that more be credited to your account.

I have received full payment and have more than enough, and I am amply supplied now that I have received from ever no the gifts you sent.

They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

I want you to think about verse 19.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

No, you know, if I preach this today and I'm like, hey man, you give 50 bucks a month, and Christ will meet all your needs according to riches, you'll be like, oh, he's a prosperity teacher.

That's like some of you would leave this room being like, oh, he's just no, no, no, no.

We need to have a conversation real quick before we go any further.

God has a law, man.

Can God lie?

No.

You can't pour into his economy and not get an ROI.

It just doesn't happen.

I'm sorry, it doesn't.

It doesn't.

This is how it goes.

You can't pour into his economy and not get an ROI.

So when Paul's preaching and teaching here and what he's saying, he's saying that my God will meet all your needs.

And he's not just talking about financial needs.

Listen, why do we only think about money in this situation?

Man, how many things has God kept us away from in the moment of our needs?

Physical, bodily, healing, touching, supplication, when the car could have gone out, but it didn't go out.

At some point, we have to understand that Christ meets us in our moments when sometimes we may not even acknowledge it.

Sometimes we don't even see it.

I just wonder sometimes if we could see all the things that God has kept us from, how in awe we would be.

If we could literally see all the things that He has done for us, because of the faithfulness of those behind us and in front of us and beside us and the prayers that have been prayed.

See, this is what we learn.

Contentment and generosity are not opposites, they travel together.

It is good to be in full contentment, and when you're in full contentment, you're in full generosity.

Because I am content in the Lord, and whether I have a lot or a little, it doesn't matter.

Because of that, I want to give my time, treasure, and talents.

They travel together.

They travel together.

So we're getting here.

And when we talk about giving and moving the mission for the youth ministry, because I'm gonna fight for them, guys.

Every single week, I'm gonna fight for these young people because they're the next generation.

I believe in them.

What God's going to do through them throughout their years is going to be incredible, and they will tell story after story after story of miracles, signs, and wonders that God does in their life.

And I believe that's what's going to change this community.

$50 a month is not a barn, it is a seed.

And 50 seeds become a harvest for youth who will sit in rooms and will never that will never see, will never understand.

The temptations that they face, and we can't fight their temptations.

I'm sorry.

The temptations that young people are facing today are temptations that you and I may never understand.

That's the truth.

But here's what we can do we can help them understand that Jesus is worth everything.

You can keep the$50 and stay comfortable, or you can release it and become a part of someone else's faith story.

The photographer kept the frame, but he lost the child.

And the question is, what are we framing this morning?

My next point is this success runs on your clock, significance runs on their urgency.

I need us to understand this this morning.

Success runs on your clock, significance runs on their urgency.

We're always taught in America to be successful.

Bigger house, nicer car, more money, everything else.

And what we find oftentimes is that is a lie from hell.

Because you can have a nice house, but it will never be a home.

You can have the great cars, but what's the point if you lost your soul?

I'm not against those things.

In fact, I hope you have a nice car and a nice house.

But I hope it's a home.

We're always thinking that we have more time.

The child on the ground did not.

See, I want to I want you to think about the picture you just saw this morning of the child that is on the ground with the buzzard chasing.

That child did not have much time.

The photographer who was doing and taking the picture believed that he would see tomorrow and the next week and the week after that.

But the child was just trying to get to a feeding center to make it for one more minute and one more day and maybe one more week.

And oftentimes we come in here every Sunday and we've already got our whole week plans made.

I mean, I'm being I'm not gonna be a hypocrite.

I know I do.

I got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

I'm already going, guys.

I got it figured out.

And I'm sitting here with this idea that my day and my success is dependent on my clock.

But significance runs on their urgency.

And there's an urgency in our community right now, and it's to take the young people out from the pit of hell.

It's urgent.

We got other people giving their time and significance to these young people.

It's time that we do.

That's what we're trying to do.

But when we talk about it, what exactly does it mean?

Well, here's what John 4 tells 9 and 4 tells us.

As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.

Night is coming when no one can work.

You know what I get tired of?

I get tired of hearing about complaining.

And I get it, because the complaining is valid.

I get it.

But it's like, if you think that things have gone south with a generation now, can you imagine how much more south it's going to go if you don't do anything?

Just a thought.

Like, you have to fight.

You have to fight.

Because the enemy's not just gonna sit here and be like, oh man, that's nice, man.

They actually got it together over at Grace Bible Church.

They're really reaching the youth now.

Let's just go home.

Are you kidding me?

That's never how it's been, and it's never how it's going to be.

This is an all-out war.

This is a dog fight.

This is a spiritual battle.

And hell is not going to give up on a territory that it thinks that it's owned with young people because the young people are the future, and not only the future, but they're the right now generation.

This is it.

And we have to fight because as long as it stays, we must do the work of Him who sent us.

Night is coming when no one can work.

And I don't want to be here in 15 years and look back and say, Man, I really wish we would have done this.

I really wish this wouldn't have been different.

If you want young people to be successful at 30, you better start investing in them at 13.

That's it.

That's it.

And I'm passionate about it because I believe in it.

Because Jesus told us we must work.

We must work.

We must go.

Now, this is what we find in Mark 10, 13.

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them.

But the disciples rebuked them.

That's not very nice.

14.

When Jesus saw this, he he was indignant and he said to them, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.

For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Okay.

15.

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

Okay.

And he took the children in his arms and he placed his hands on them and he blessed them.

Now, this is a big portion because this is how we see Jesus when he views the next generation.

See, Jesus treated the next generation as the mission, not the afterthought.

See, everybody's so busy.

The disciples are like children are disturbance.

We we can't think about this.

We got bigger things to do.

We got more important things to do.

We don't need to be focused about children.

And Jesus said, listen, unless you become like a little child, you don't enter into the kingdom of God.

For these children are the kingdom of God.

Do you not get it?

Do you not understand it?

This life was not meant about what makes you successful in the moment, but it matters about what you give so the next generation can have him.

That's why the Bible tells us, and I quote it to you every single week for the man that wants to save his life will lose it, but the one that loses it will find it.

This isn't about you.

This isn't about me.

This is about him.

And at some point, we have to be about the next generation as the mission and not the afterthought.

We got to quit trying to store up everything in our barns for ourselves and say, what does it take to reach the next child out of the home that doesn't have the provision, the guidance, the spirituality, and place them in soil to which they can grow, and generations later their children come back and say, Thank God for that church.

That's what it's about.

See, youth ministry is not a side program.

It is the church deciding that kids in the hallways, the ones who look bored, the ones carrying more anxiety than we did at our age, that they matter now.

Camps get booked, mentors get trained, mission trips get planned, a teenager hears the gospel and a language they actually speak, and life turns.

And Tebow's line is one of the ones that should sit in this room with us.

That it's not about our timeline, it is about theirs.

And here's what I've learned.

Here's what I've learned.

That we get the choice to walk by them and take the picture in our community.

That's what's happening.

You're walking by them every time you choose to walk by them and take the picture.

Every time you complain, you're walking by them and taking the picture.

And you're choosing your success over their significance.

Because we all do a good job at taking snapshots when we see people in need.

We all do a good job seeing someone broke down on the side of the road and saying, Well, I got places to be.

We all do a good job of looking at the problem and like, yep, that's the problem.

They should do this.

But being too successful to actually care to help.

And I know that's not you guys.

Because we're perfect, aren't we?

No.

That's me.

That's you.

That's all of us in some capacity.

Because I've been just as guilty as you have.

But at some point we have to start seeing our own community and young people.

That's significant.

Success ends.

Success ends at the tombstone.

Significance echoes into eternity.

You know?

I don't want you to come to my funeral and say he was a successful preacher.

Don't do that.

In fact, just don't even talk about me being a preacher at all.

Don't my successfulness doesn't matter at all.

I actually wouldn't even consider myself on an American standard very successful.

I want to be significant in the kingdom of God.

I want people there to say that he was significant in my life of knowing Jesus.

Not just on Sundays, but every day.

And you get to choose.

Now I would like to say we're both.

We're successful and significant.

That's great.

I love that.

But successful on whose standard?

I want to see a community change.

And Jesus said it in Matthew 6, 19 through 20.

Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and still.

But store up for yourself treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and still.

You know?

This is the point where you and I get to decide.

How do we actually want to live out as Christians?

You know?

Like how do we actually actually want to live it out?

You know, I love my father-in-law to death, but I remember he he sat with me in a car, uh, his truck actually on the farm.

And he looked at me and, you know, they they hate that we live seven hours away.

They they're happier with it now because it was 12.

But, you know, he gave me this speech about, Tyler, at some point you have to make, you know, you gotta figure out what you want to build for yourself.

He said, We need to build you a house.

You need to, you know, you want to own some land, you're gonna you're gonna grow up and you're gonna look back and say, you have nothing.

And um I said, that's okay.

That's okay.

Because what I want in this world is nothing the world can give me.

And why would I settle for second best when I know where first best is?

And it's not here.

It's with him.

And I get it.

I get it.

You know, we want to provide for our family, life insurance, and all these good things.

Great.

But you know what?

You know what?

None of that matters in the end if my kids don't know Jesus.

None of that matters in the end.

If I don't do what God's called me to do, I have nothing of value, I have no good net worth.

All that I know is that I'm trying to store up everything I have for the kingdom of God because I've put my eggs all in one basket.

And I'm not trying to make myself look lofty, guys.

That is not the plan here today.

But I've put everything in one basket, man.

It's all I have.

And everything I do, I want to do to glorify God.

And I know that's your heart too.

You want to do everything you can to glorify God because we have so many children that need it.

This is it.

But then I started asking God, then what is the point of all of this?

Like, what is religion?

What is the church?

What what what is heaven?

What do you want, God?

Like, how can I be better?

What should I do?

What is this life about then?

And this is what James says.

He says it like this religion that our God our Father accepts as pure and faultless as this.

You ready?

Religion that our God our Father accepts, as pure as faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

To keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I'm trying to keep myself from being polluted by the world, guys.

I'm trying to, I'm trying to be the best father, husband, pastor I can be and quit being polluted by the world.

But he says to look after orphans.

And orphans biblically is a child who lacks a father, protection, provision, or social standing of a family.

And listen, when I look in our community, I see this as a part of that description.

We have so many young people that lack the provision that they need, that lack the hope that they need, that lack the home that they need, man.

Broken homes.

The Bible tells us that this is what our father accepts as pure and faultless when it comes to the church to look after the orphans.

I'm sorry.

I don't know how to tell you this, guys.

But if you're not willing to invest into the youth ministry, into young people in your community, you're really not that much about the kingdom as you say you are.

I'm just gonna be real honest with you.

Because this is it.

Why would he say that?

Because we've got one starting out in life, and we have one that's been in life as a widow and is scared and doesn't have the support system that they need.

Listen, we are the church, we are the salt of the earth, we are who the world should depend on, because the world doesn't have anything.

Greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world.

I have to tell you today that this is the message.

This is it.

When you give toward youth ministry, you are not buying a kid, you're not buying a program, you are buying time with a volunteer who will remember a name.

You are buying a week at camp where kids will meet Jesus.

You are buying the chance that 20 years from now someone will say that church didn't just talk about the next generation, they moved the mission toward us, and that's it.

Success looks impressive in the program.

Significant looks like a name written in the Lamb's Book of Life that might not have been there if the church had stayed in the bigger barn business.

That's it.

You choose.

You choose.

Because listen, I don't need a bigger salary, I don't want more money.

I want more lives written in the book of life.

I want more families healed because their young person came and went back home on fire for Jesus and the marriage was healed and the home was healed.

Listen, I don't care.

I don't care about a bigger building if we're not willing to do the work for the future of the church.

This is his kingdom.

He'll take care of that.

But until you and I understand that we want to be significant more than successful, we will never get the picture of it.

We'll never get the picture of it.

We'll never get the picture of it.

See?

The choice is in front of us.

Worship team, you can come forward.

Kevin Carter, he won the prize.

The child needed a person, though.

One chose the lens, one needed a hand.

This is it, guys.

This is it.

I know it's not a popular sermon.

I know it's probably not what everybody wanted to hear on a Sunday, but listen, you needed to hear it.

Because I needed to hear it.

I needed to hear it this week.

Because there's so many times in the craziness of life where I'm sitting here with four kids and I'm trying to be a good husband and father and provider and everything else.

And I'm sitting here and I can say, you know what, 50 bucks is too much.

But then I go out and eat at Los Charles and we spend like 84 bucks, dude.

84 bucks.

They paid me to say that, by the way.

No, I'm just playing.

Like, 84 bucks! And I'm sitting here like I can't do that.

50 bucks, man, to see a community completely change.

Sorry, man.

I'm telling you right now, we're doing this backpack program to help kids that need food on weekends, and I'm in over my head.

I am trying, I'm doing the best we can, but you know what?

If it ain't gonna be me, who's gonna do it?

If it ain't gonna be our ministerial, who's gonna do it?

If it ain't gonna be you, who's gonna do it?

Quit waiting! You're the help, you're the church, you're the kingdom.

If I don't do it, if you don't do it, if we don't do it, and guess what?

I don't want any praise from it, I don't want any recognition from it.

I just want to know that there was some way that they encountered Jesus through it.

That's all I want to know.

Success versus significance.

Success is about you, significance is about others.

Significance is about others.

Significance is about others.

You know, we are choosing to raise up a generation that chooses significance over worldly success.

We will walk, we will not walk past the next generation while we frame a better life for ourselves.

You know, I believe that's what Kevin Carter struggled with.

In the moment when he knew that there was a need, he chose to frame a better life for himself.

And he couldn't live, he couldn't live with it.

He couldn't live with everybody shaking his hand and giving a round of applause and saying, Great job, man! Do you did it?

You know it, you won the pull listener, you won the prize.

He couldn't deal with that knowing he went to bed wondering if that child lived.

And I cannot continue to pastor here and not give to something, wondering what could have been if I would have given.

Legitimately.

My wife and I, we're committed.

We're gonna give because we believe in the mission.

I want you to know that when we hit our 50, we'll tell you.

But I hope that that doesn't keep you from giving.

And by the way, maybe you're here today and you say, Look, Pastor, I can only give$10 a month.

Bless you! We do$50 because we have goals, because we want to challenge you.

But more than that, we believe that we need it to be able to sustain this youth ministry.

But it's not about the money, it's about the heart.

It's about getting a generation to understand that they're significant, and they're significant because we're willing to give up our time, treasures, and talents.

And a lot of you do that anyways, and praise God, thank God for you.

This is move the mission.

In your seat, you have a card.

And I told you last week to process and pray about it, to think about it.

I hope you did.

I know we've already had some begin online giving.

I know we had, I think, eight is what Jessica had mentioned to me.

Today I want you to take time to fill out that card.

Whether you can give a monthly, let us know.

If you say, you know what, I can't give everything right now, but I pledge to give this month, this much this year, do it.

Listen.

No, man.

Nah.

I'm only talking about his kingdom.

We have to see the change, and we have to do it now.

If we don't and we wait, we're gonna miss their window.

And I'm not missing their window.

I'm not doing it.

You have all the time in the world.

You've grown up, you work, you go to your nine to five, you do your thing every single day.

They ain't there yet.

And we only have a little time, guys.

We only have a window.

We only got a couple of years.

Soon they'll be graduating, soon they'll be moving on, soon they'll believe what the enemy's been telling them from the very beginning.

Soon they'll be looking at life the same way that other people look at life around here and not believe that anything good is possible.

We have a mission to move.

And I'm gonna pray.

And as they begin to sing, I want you to think about it, but not just think about it, act on it.

You've got a card, there's a QR code, you can get online, you can give that way, you can write it in, you can hand a check, however, you want to do it.

I don't know.

Do we have a basket back there?

We have a white basket in front of the for you if you want to leave it there after service, whatever you want to do.

I know I've challenged you today, but this is what it's about.

This is what it's about.

Would you stand with me?

Last thing I want to say is this.

If you don't believe me, show up at five o'clock tonight.

If you don't believe me, show up at five o'clock tonight.

Show up at five o'clock tonight.

Because every one of them is worth it.

Every one of them is worth it.

Every one of them is worth it.

And you know what?

For every young person that's not here yet, every one of them is worth it.

I heard a story this week about a little boy.

I won't mention names because we ain't doing that.

But it's a little boy that goes to our school hearing a story.

He didn't have a heater, so the school bought him a heater, but the dude doesn't have a door.

So it's just it's still hard for him in the winter.

A lot of times he wears the same clothes.

I'm gonna make that my personal mission this year with me and him.

I'm gonna I'm gonna get to the bottom of it.

Let me tell you a story.

When I was 13 years old, I joined my first gang.

Because my cousin always smelled good and he always looked good.

And I said, his family was just as poor as mine.

So maybe if I just do what he does, maybe I can look better and maybe smell better.

And I remember.

The first time Rick showed up to the house, a man that was in his late 30s, early 40s, had no idea who he really was.

Showed up to my house with two garbage sacks.

And one sack he had lucky brand jeans.

On the other, he had really nice Air Apostle shirts and everything else.

He knocked on the door.

My grandma went to the door.

He said, Are you Miss Rose?

She said, Yeah.

He says, Tyler here.

She said, Yeah, but who are you?

It's like, just a friend.

I ain't met this man in my life.

And he I walk out and he said, Dakota told me that you were interested.

I said, Yeah.

He said, Well, we brought you some stuff.

They brought me jeans, shirts, and brought me bod spray.

And man, I got fitted into it.

I look good.

I went to school and people stopped making fun of me.

On weekdays, things seemed good, but on weekends things took a turn.

Because I was willing to trade my soul for some jeans and a shirt and some bod spray.

You wanna know something?

In that moment, I thought Rick loved me better than the church ever did.

I did.

I did.

You wanna know why?

Because the church I went to, my pastor bought me a new suit.

And when I walked in the room, they looked at me and said, Wow, they finally taught trailer trash how to dress.

First person I encountered, that's what they said to me.

Listen to me.

We cannot let the world love our kids with a fake love more than we love them with an authenticity.

Do you understand me?

Because I thought he was loving me with jeans and a shirt and pot spray.

But he was just tricking me.

He was gonna use me and he did.

And what I'm telling you and I is that we have to be willing to put up or shut up.

Because if you don't want a bad community, you better start loving them better than the world does.

You better start loving them better than the world does.

Pray with me.

Father, we love you.

God, I know it's heavy.

I know it's not a normal Sunday morning sermon.

But Lord Father, we have to be about your kingdom, God.

God, let us love these kids.

The ones that don't know you, the ones that have broken homes, God, the 16 that chose you for the very first time in their life this past week.

God, give us the ability to disciple them and walk with them and love them.

God, but also all those that haven't even encountered you yet, those that are coming tonight because they they just heard.

Oh Father, every life in here, God, let us move the mission, God, for your kingdom.

God, I may live only another day, Lord, but let it be said that we glorified your name and made much of you.

Oh Father, I pray, I pray that it would be your significance and your kingdom success and not our own.

God, I pray for every life in here and every person in this room.

God, I pray that we could move the mission toward your kingdom.

Lord, that your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God, I think about all 64 that we saw last week and all the more we're gonna see over the weeks and years to come.

But God, I just want to praise you in advance.

I want to thank you in advance for meeting us at every need.

And God, not just money, but our time and talents.

God, I Lord, forgive me when people have needed my time and I was too busy because I cared more about my success than being significant.

God, help me.

Help me be a better man.

God, help me be a better man when people needed something that I had extra of and I didn't give it.

God, help me be a big better man, a bigger man, a better man.

Lord, help me, God.

Lord, when a neighbor's in need, God, let me be able to reach out and help.

God, Lord, Father, help me to be a better giver financially.

God, let me give until it does hurt, Lord.

God, convict me in my spirit of that.

To do more for your kingdom.

To quit worrying about what we have or don't have, God.

You're the provider.

You're the king.

You're either sovereign or you're not.

Lord, let me believe with everything in my heart that what your word says is true.

God, help our church family here today.

Lord, every person that serves in the schools and in our community, and Lord, I just pray for them that they would continue to have a positive impact on the souls of these lives.

God, I just pray today that you would have your way, that you would have your will.

Lord, I pray that everything we do be for the glory of your kingdom.

God, I love you.

I praise you.

I thank you.

Bless every heart and bless every soul.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Worsome with