How to Create Financial Margin and Reduce Stress

Oh, crossing family, it is so good to be with you and welcome

those of you joining from one of our different locations, those

of you who are part of the crossing inside.

And I also want to do a special shout out to those of you who

are watching online, specifically those of you who

are watching online from England.

We didn't work on Thursday because we won the war, and I

just wanted you guys to know that you could have the real

red, white and blue flying over you, but you don't.

Anyhow, don't ever try it again. We're love ya, but you're

watching the service from the people who beat you in a war.

All right. That being said, I also want to

welcome those of you who are gathered for the first time or

the first time in a long time. We are so glad that you are here

and we are in week three of a sermon series called Map Makers,

charting a path to better stewardship, less stress, and

greater impact. Because how we handle our money

impacts our mental health, the health of our marriages, the

length of our marriages, and whether or not kids grow up in a

home with a mom and a dad. And the stakes are that high.

And yet many of us, the sad truth is we are not good at

handling our money. Most of us, we're not taught how

to handle our money at home or in school.

And so today, when people are asked how to describe their

present financial situation, this is how people describe

themselves. 48.6% of Americans consider themselves to be broke.

66.2% of Americans feel like they are living paycheck to

paycheck. This series was born out of a

broken heart that I have for you.

I really do love you. I think about you.

I think about your situations, your families, your marriages.

I think about your friends. I cry over your pain.

I rejoice over your successes. And while I don't know each of

you, I know many of you. And I've heard stories from so

many of you as our staff or our campus pastors or when I read

your emails. I want you to know we pray for

you and we desperately, desperately want what God wants

for you. There are two guiding statements

here at The Crossing. The 1st is that we want everyone

to have an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

You need to know this. This is why this church exists

is because we want everyone, no matter who they are, to find

what we have found in Jesus. And the good news is that no

matter how messed up you've been, you can be saved, rescued,

redeemed, and made new through the love of God, the cross of

Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And what you will come to experience over time as you

begin to walk in this intimate, personal relationship with Jesus

Christ, is that God's way is the best way in every area of your

life. You name it, you cut me, I bleed

it, that God's way is the best way to handle it.

Now let me be clear, it is not the easiest way.

It is not the funnest way, but it is the best way.

In fact, living God's best in your life is so stinking hard

that you actually have to have the power of God, the Holy

Spirit at work in you to accomplish it.

And this is not just my story that God's way is the best way.

This is the story of those who have followed Jesus for a very

long time. And one of the reasons why God's

way is the best way is because God blesses obedience.

God does not reward rebellion, but he blesses obedience.

And in this series, we've been looking at God's plan for our

finances. And you might be going, but

Clayton, you know, my life's kind of falling apart.

There's a whole bunch of this other stuff going on.

I need you to know, we want every single week for people to

hear. And that's why we proclaim the

good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But in addition to that, there are areas of our lives that we

need to bring under the Lordship of Christ so that way we can

experience the blessings of Christ.

Because many of you, if you don't get this area of your life

right, you are going to pass on financial problems and hurdles

and, and shame to your future generations.

Or we can go, you know what, I'm going to turn things around.

I'm going to start following God in this area of my life so I can

start experiencing the blessing of God in my life.

And as we're trying to figure out how to navigate our finances

in a spiritual way, the very first thing we're supposed to do

is recognize that all we have is God's.

Psalm 24. One, the earth is the Lord's,

and everything in it, the world and all who live in it,

everything belongs to God. The other day my kids got

frustrated because they said that I ate all of their Fruity

Pebbles. That is not true because they

have no Fruity Pebbles. I have Fruity Pebbles because I

have a job. They were eating my Fruity

Pebbles because I am a gracious and benevolent father.

Sometimes my kids will say to their brother, get out of my

room, which is interesting because they don't have a room,

because they don't have a house. I have a wife who has a house.

I just pay for it, OK? But even the Fruity pebbles in

my house and even the house do not belong to me.

They belong to the Lord. First thing is to recognize that

everything we have belongs to God.

The second thing we're supposed to do is we're supposed to bring

10%. We are to tithe.

Tithing is not your time. It's not your talents, it's not

your thoughts. I'm going to give 10% of my head

to God. It's not it.

Tithing is not two percent, 6%. It's 10% of your increase of

your income. So whether you make $100 a week,

$1000 of pay period, $10,000 a month, or $1,000,000 a year, we

are to bring 10% to the church for the advancement of the

Kingdom of God. Then the next thing we're

supposed to do. So first thing is we're supposed

to recognize that everything we have belongs to God.

Second thing is we're supposed to give 10% back to him.

The third thing we're supposed to do is we're supposed to live

below our means to spend less than we make.

Proverbs 2110 says or 2120 in the House of the you guys say

this word wise are stores of choice, food and oil.

But a man devours all he has. So wise person has choices all

over their house because they've lived below their means.

A foolish person consumes everything that they make.

Now here's what happens when we begin to live below our means.

We create this magical word called margin.

And the more margin you create, the better steward we become,

the less stressed we experience, and we are better positioned for

greater impact. How do we do this?

Well, we develop a financial plan, or the way you commonly

hear it is we create a budget. A budget positions you for

financial success. You see, money is active.

It is never stationary. It moves around, it gains value.

It loses value, it appears it disappears.

Therefore, you have to manage it.

You have to steward it. I'm going to take you through a

passage of Scripture and then I'm going to explain it because

at first it's going to sound a little weird, but just walk with

me for a second. Proverbs 27.

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks.

Give careful attention to your herds.

Why? Because the lambs will provide

you with clothing and the goats with the price of a field.

You will have plenty of goat's milk to feed your family.

How you care for your herds will determine how well your herds

take care of you. How you handle your money will

determine how your money will take care of you.

If you would for a second see the money that gets deposited in

your checking account after you work as these itty bitty cute

little sheep and these itty bitty little goats that you are

supposed to take care of and how you take care of those itty

bitty cute little sheeps. Sheeps, sheep and goats you

shouldn't have made. OK, why is sheep plural?

But OK, you guys get it. I didn't mean to say sheeps.

How you take care of your cute little sheep and your goats

determines how your sheep and goats will take care of you.

Because there's going to be a time where you're going to want

to have some milk. And if you took good care of

your little goats, you've got milk and there might be some

time when you want to buy some land and you'll go in there and

you'll be like, hey, come here little lambs, it's time for us

to go buy fields. And how you take care of them

will determine how later on they will take care of you.

So before I entered into 7th grade, I was, I've been in

private school from kindergarten through 6th grade.

And I was entering public school.

And before I went in, my dad sat me down at the kitchen table and

he said, Clayton, you're going to live on a budget and you need

to go and put together the list of all of your expenses for the

upcoming year, write them down on a legal pad and you go, you

need to include everything. You need to include food out.

You need to include school lunches, you need to include

shoes and basketball equipment, and you need to figure out

birthday parties. How many of those are you going

to go to and what kind of gift are you going to do and how are

you going to navigate school clothes and how are you going to

navigate Christmas? And so I went upstairs and I get

the legal pad out and I put all of it, and I came up with a

number and I came downstairs and I slid the legal pad 1300

dollars. And he gave it to me, opened up

a checking account, gave this guy when he was thirteen, $1300.

I rolled into 7th grade. Yeah, ladies, I got a checkbook.

I can buy things. The problem is I had

miscalculated. We are not sure what I had

miscalculated. Either I needed more money than

I realized or I was spending more than I was supposed to.

And next thing I know I am doing a really good job when I get in

a car of finding like the quarters and the spare change

starting to swing by the dryer to see if there's any coins in

there because I had misjudged what was needed.

The good news is I learned that in 7th grade with the safety net

of my home versus learning those things after you're married,

already have a bunch of kids, already have a house and cars

that you're. I learned it early.

When you start looking through your budget, you will find

things that you don't need any more.

You will find areas that are getting way out of hand.

You see, we don't just get hit by our big purchases like our

houses and our cars. We also get hit by our small

purchases that happen over and over and over again.

When Jennifer and I got married, we can bind our accounts.

Why? Because we're one flesh.

If you don't trust this person with your money, you should not

trust them with your heart, right?

So we're one flesh. We're in this together.

And so there are not her bills and my bills.

There's just my bills, OK? And there's not her money and my

money. There's just her money.

And so when things arrive at our house, if it arrives in the

mailbox, it belongs to me. And if it arrives in a cardboard

box with a big smile on it and it shows up on the step of the

house, it belongs to her. See, we're in this together.

I pay for it, she enjoys it, and we are in mutual stewardship and

mutual submission to one another because both of us are going to

stand before God and be answerable to how we've operated

with what He has given us. And for many of you, you'll

probably notice this inside of your marriage.

One of you is predisposed towards saving, and one of you

is predisposed towards, what's the right word, fun.

And if you let one rule, you'll have plenty of money, but you'll

live in constant stress and anxiety because it'll never be

enough and you won't have any fun.

And if you let this person win all the time, you'll have tons

of fun for like 3 days, and then you'll spend the rest of your

life paying for it. So you work together to make

sure that your family gets to experience both the good

principles of stewardship and get to enjoy the fruit of your

labor. And Jennifer and I, we would sit

down and we would come up with a plan and we could see a future

reality. Like we could look into the

distance where we're like, hey, we're going to finally be on the

other side of this financial hump.

And eventually we'll be in this place.

And eventually we're going to get a little bit further ahead.

And then sometimes you're going through your budget and you're

like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. How did this happen?

Like all the sheep are getting out of the pen.

You've had that happen before, right?

You know what I mean? We're like, you've got your

little sheep in the pen and you've got your you've got your

food out sheep. And you're like, you know what,

let's not, let's just go out, let's grab a bite to eat.

Let's just go out, babe. Let's just take the kids.

And that's not a big deal. But for me and Jennifer and two

Sasquatches, like a McDonald's trip is like 40 bucks, right?

And that's not a big problem once.

But if all of a sudden you kind of get, you know, kind of crazy

and you food out like three times in one week and then four

times you do that four times over the course of a month.

Now all of a sudden your food out sheep took your car payment

sheep and they ran off together. Like, why get get back in here

And you you're over here. You've got your, you know, you

got your house payment sheep. And then, you know, your Amazon

sheep was supposed to be this itty bitty Amazon cheap.

But the little the little Amazon sheep ate all the oats got real

big. And when he ran out, he took the

house payment sheep with them. Yay, get back over here.

And if you don't watch where stuff's going, all of a sudden

when you go for the things you want, like the savings or the

generosity, and what God actually says is the very first

sheep in the pen belongs to him. The 1st 10% goes to him, and

then you're supposed to be a good steward of the rest.

And sometimes our savings sheep, our generosity sheep, our margin

sheep, makes friends with one of our other things and it goes out

the drive through window or it's in all the things that we've

subscribed to that we don't even pay attention to anymore.

You've probably seen this happen before.

When you put on a budget, you start taking careful or you

start paying attention and tending your financial flock.

Jennifer and I have used envelopes, we've used apps,

we've used Excel spreadsheets. And over time, what happens is

you build a rhythm of stewardship and you learn to say

no in the present for a better yes in the future.

There are things that future you wants to do, but the only way

future you will get to do the things that future you wants to

do is if present day you puts them in a position to do so.

So give a gift to yourself and start putting yourself on a

track record so future you can do what future you wants to do.

Proverbs 25 verse 28 says this like a city whose walls are

Proverbs 25:28

broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

Present you will rob future you unless present you learns

self-control, the ability to say no, the ability to say later,

the ability to say I don't need this.

So, for instance, I really want a pair of golf shoes.

I know exactly what I want. I can't wait to have them.

It's going to be fantastic. I can afford to buy the shoes,

OK, but I'm not allowing myself to buy the shoes until I break

100 golfing. I am intentionally forcing

myself to delay the gratification.

I'm making myself earn it in another way.

And when you start developing a rhythm of restraint, you put

yourself on a track record to greater freedom and flexibility.

I remember, like, here are some of my financial targets.

Some of you guys might be able to relate.

I remember when I didn't have to worry about how much money I had

in the account when I was filling up my car with gas.

Like, I remember when I could fill it all the way up.

Yeah. You're dating girls.

Yeah, I'm just going to fill the whole thing up.

Sometimes I'll put premium in it.

Boo. I'm not even worried.

Oh, yeah. It's 23 gallons.

I can handle it. Oh, yeah, I've got margin.

Then I remember getting to a spot where I had enough money

set aside where I could go anywhere in the country if

somebody needed me. If any of my friends were

anywhere in the country, I knew I finally had enough margin that

I could be there because my heart would want to go.

But my, they don't scan hearts at the airport.

I'm. I'm here.

Yeah. I have a good heart.

Can you? Yeah.

We don't take good hearts here. We take credit cards.

So you have to put yourself in a position to be able to go and be

where you want to be able to be. I remember when I finally got to

a spot where I didn't have to worry about my house payment,

where I didn't have to worry about where we were at in the

month and what things were coming out when that I finally

had built up enough margin. Now the crazy thing is you're

going, yeah, this is going to be great.

I must start doing it. But I want you to know, when you

start living on a budget or living with a plan in mind,

nothing changes radically overnight.

It is something that is built up over time.

July bodies are built in January, February and March.

And we get in financial shape the same way we get into

physical shape. We watch our intake and our

output. Recently I met a guy who started

coming to our church. He moved in from out of town.

We kind of became friends and he's a chef and he is a Dang it.

I did this the previous service. He is a meal prepper.

I always want to say a food prepper, but then I start

thinking the people who build the dungeons in their in their

backyard in case there's an apocalypse.

And if you are one of those people, God bless you, but you

think that's going to work. He's a he's a meal prepper and

so on. I asked him.

I said, hey, would you be willing to help me?

I'm trying to get a little bit more dialed in and how he goes.

Yeah. And I said, so he brings over on

Sundays 10 crates, not crates. That's your problem, stupid.

Yeah. You're eating crates of food,

fatty. He brings over.

It's not a container. That's what it is.

He brings over a container and it's purpose built with the

Saint with the right amount of calories and protein grams that

I'm supposed to have if I want to hit my track record.

Like if you want to try and lose a a pound a week, this is the

food you eat. And he comes all over all ten of

them and we just shove them in the fridge.

You know what I'm putting in my fridge?

I'm putting in a budget and if I stick to the budget, I'll lose

weight. Now that works as long as I

don't eat the Fruity Pebbles or late at night.

Go do we want to go to TCBY and thank God for cows and chickens

and just dairy in general? Yeah, let's do that.

But if I, if I stay out of there and I stay on budget, I start to

experience success. Proverbs 1311 says this

dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little

by little makes it grow. Some of you are gone, man.

When I make, when I win the lottery and I have like $100

million, I'm going to do all kinds of the right stuff.

And I just want you to know, statistics show that if you have

not been faithful with little, you will not be faithful with

much. You'll be broke again.

In fact, I'm just on this out there.

If you want to feel like you win the lottery, take the money that

you would be spending on the lottery, open up an account and

start buying like stock with it. And then I'm just throwing this

out there, in like 30 years, go back to that account and you'll

feel like you actually won the lottery and you'll be able to

manage the money that's in there.

But when you gather money little bit at a time, over time it

makes it grow. While the changes are not

massive at first, over time you will build margin.

Margin is savings, and when it's gathered, little by little it

grows. The sad truth is today very few

Americans have margin. Very few Americans have savings.

Bank rate says that one in four people have no emergency

savings. More than one in three Americans

have more credit card debt than emergency savings.

Go Banking did a study and they found out that 57% of Americans

don't have enough money to cover a $500 unexpected expense.

They don't have any margin. I once met with a guy who was

making over $300,000 a year and his whole family had super sweet

vehicles. They went on incredibly epic

vacations. They had it all and he was

confiding in me that he was stressed out because his

basement had flooded and he didn't have the $5000 in the

bank to take care of his his his deductible on his insurance when

his basement flooded. There's a guy who was making

over 10 times what I made and had less in savings than I did

because he had no margin. And when you don't have margin,

you don't have freedom and you don't have flexibility.

Almost all financial experts agree that you should have at

least $1000 in an emergency fund when you're starting out.

Then you should get your on your budget and stay diligent in it

and get out of all consumer debt as fast as you can.

Then focus on like your car loans and your student loans.

And then you should start building a larger cushion in

your savings. You may have heard the story of

Joseph who was sold into slavery by his his brothers, the coat of

many colors, all that stuff. There's an interesting story

about Joseph. He's in a prison in Egypt and he

was been told that he interprets dreams.

And so Pharaoh has him come in and interpret a dream.

And as Joseph stands before Pharaoh, he begins to interpret

the dream. Here's the dream.

There were seven beautiful fat cows, followed by 7 ugly skinny

cows. This is my favorite part of the

Bible because the fat and happy ones are the good years, and the

skinny cows are just so ugly and hideous.

And then there was 7 fat heads of grain and then seven skinny.

And the seven fat cows and the seven fat were years of

abundance and prosperity. That's what I am.

I'm a picture of abundance and prosperity.

And then there were seven skinny cows, 7 skinny heads of grain,

and they represented 7 years of famine and destruction.

And so here's what Joseph told him to do.

And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put

him in charge of the land of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to

take a fifth of the harvest, 20% of Egypt during the seven years

of abundance. They should collect all the food

of these good years that are coming and store up the grain

under the authority of Pharaoh to be kept in the cities for

food. This food should be held in

reserve for the country to be used during the seven years of

famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may

not be ruined by the famine. Joseph rose to power because he

had this solution in the years of abundance.

Live on less than you make, put 20% into savings.

So that way when the years of famine come, you have a nest

egg, you have margin to navigate it.

Very few of us are going to have to navigate a national crisis at

on the financial or food side of things, but we are going to have

to navigate financial storms. You're going to have a

refrigerator go out, a car breakdown, an HVAC unit quit

working, a roof that needs fixed.

And having a plan to build margin helps us navigate the

storms because if you don't have margin when the storm hits,

you're going to get wet. But if you plan in advance for

the storm when it comes, it doesn't affect you.

I was invited one time not too long ago up way up north to go

on a fishing trip. And I'm not a big fishing guy,

but I was like, OK, I'll go. And they go, hey, make sure you

bring some rain gear and stuff like that.

And I was like, I'm a man. I don't need rain gear.

I can get wet. You know what I mean?

I like, I always write it out. I was like, how bad can it be?

Well, it was incredibly bad. I'll be honest with you.

We, we, we got out there and it started raining and I had

nothing that would make me not wet.

And we're the first half hour in and I am like, I don't want to

be alive anymore. Like my teeth were chattering so

bad I was cussing in Morse code. It was just.

And the good news is we only had 8 1/2 more hours before we got

back. It was horrible.

As soon as we hit dry land I immediately drove to the nearest

place that sold rain gear and I bought it all.

I bought the pants, I bought the shoes, I bought the the the

jacket that goes over the top of it.

I bought the big hat that basically says I don't ever want

a woman to look at me and lust ever again.

You know, like I, I haven't even showed Jennifer the hat because

I, I want her to keep loving me. But I put it all on the next day

to go fishing and it rained and I didn't care because I wasn't

getting wet because I was pre prepared for the storm.

And when storms hit, it is too late to prepare.

So you have to prepare in advance, which gives you the

margin, which helps you navigate the storms that will come.

Rick Warren says this. Most people fail to realize that

money is both a test and a trust from God.

God uses finances to teach us to trust him.

And for many people, money is the greatest test of all.

God watches how we use our money to test how trustworthy we are.

He goes on to say if you are trustworthy about worldly

wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

Citing Luke chapter 1611 and 12, God says that there is a direct

relationship between how I use my money and the quality of my

spiritual life. How I manage money, which is

worldly wealth, determines how much God can trust me with

spiritual blessings, true riches.

Life is a test and a trust, and the more God gives you, the more

responsible He expects you to be.

End Quote. Now I want to be clear, we are

talking about money as a church because it is a place where

Satan is taking ground in many of our lives.

We're talking about money because how we handle it or

mishandle it impacts our mental health, our marital health, and

our spiritual health. But I don't want you to think

for a second that as you put these principles in practice and

your financial position begins to strengthen, that you should

ever put your trust in riches. Because how we use our money,

spend our money, and save our money is just simply part of how

we love God and join Him in His mission.

And I just want you to be in a position to say yes to whatever

He calls you to do. We don't want to have financial

anchors that are keeping us from being able to lean into the

areas that God is calling us to lean into.

Our trust is never supposed to be in our bank account.

Our trust is always supposed to be solely placed on Jesus.

He's our hope. He's our firm foundation.

He's our guiding light. He's our true North star.

He's our refuge. He's our strength.

He can be trusted in absolutely every single area of our lives

and every area where we trust him, we can readily and easily

see the fruit, but we want to be the kind of people that can use

our money to bless him and bless others.

So the way I kind of set up my finances is I have a bunch of

different accounts and one of my accounts is my car account.

It's actually called my car savings account.

And I pre limit what I'm allowed to spend on vehicles.

So my cars, gas, maintenance, tires, everything that goes

that's a car thing happens there.

Because when you need a car, when your car breaks down is not

the time to start saving to get your car fixed, right.

It's a little late for that. So you pre save.

So that way when problems come, they're not a problem.

And well, one, one of our vehicles needed new tires.

And so I called up a guy and I said, Hey, I need to get new

tires on the vehicle because my tires are balding like they're

turning 40. And we got to, we got to, we got

to fix it. And he's like, not a problem.

He goes, here's the tires I would get and like, that sounds

perfect. You know, So he gets the tires,

puts them on my vehicle and it's great.

So I call him up to go, all right, how much do I owe you?

And he said, it's already taken care of.

And I said, that was not the deal.

And he said it was the deal. And I said, I didn't agree to

the deal. And he said, well, that's the

deal. And I said, well, if I'd have

known that there's the deal, I wouldn't have done the deal.

And he says, well, the deal's already done.

And so now I have a pile of money in my car savings account

that was supposed to go to tires that didn't get to go to tires.

It's sitting there. And that same week, I get a text

message from a guy who is in contact with pastors in India.

And there's a pastor in India who had his church burned down

by extremists. And so he lost his church.

And So what he was going to start doing is he was going to

start walking four days into the jungle to tell people about

Jesus in distant villages. And I was like, I've never

walked four days. That seems like a long way.

And I would think if he had to walk less, he could talk about

Jesus more. And so I just asked this

question, how much for this guy to have a really nice motorcycle

to be able to go travel through the jungle?

And he came back with a number and I looked at the number that

I had leftover that I had pre budgeted for my tires.

And then I looked in another account, which I'm going to talk

about next week, which is my generosity account.

So you've have you ever been there where like you wanted to

do something for somebody and you're like, and yet you've been

doing that for a really long time.

The way you get around the oh man, I wish I could is you pre

plan to be generous. And so I put money in a

generosity account. So here's what I was able to do.

I was going to take money that a guy blessed me with out of my

car savings account by not having to pay for tires and

money from my generosity account.

And I was able to buy the guy a motorcycle in India.

And then I told the guy that gave me the tires.

I said, you own the front of the the first tire of the motorcycle

and I own the back part. You're the direction, I'm the

power. So here's why this mattered to

me is because when he's sleeping, I'm awake and I'm

telling people about Jesus. And when I'm sleeping, he's

awake and he's telling people about Jesus.

And there's going to be people in heaven that I'm going to meet

that are going to know Jesus. Because I had margin in my life

to be able to say yes to buying a motorbike for a passer that

I've never met in a part of the country I could never pick out

on a map. And all that happens because I

just had margin. You know this to be true deep

down inside. We want to use our money for

more than just lowering our stress levels, more than just to

be greater stewards. We want to do it because we want

to have greater impact because we know that deep down inside,

every person needs to know about Jesus and we want to put

ourselves in a position to do something about it.

We're moving to a time, a decision.

If you're listening to me right now, I want to level with you.

If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, just if you tune to

everything out in that sermon, I just want you to hear this.

There is a biblical principle that you know.

Here it is. You reap what you sow.

If you want to have a bunch of corn grow in your field, you

don't plant strawberry seeds. That would make you stupid.

If you want to grow a bunch of soybeans, you have to put in

beans. When you plant the field, you

reap what you sow universal principle.

If you don't have friends, it's 'cause you're not a nice person,

you reap what you sow universal principle.

It's in the Bible, and we know this instinctively to be true.

And there are some of you who are desperate for a spiritual

harvest, but you cannot experience a spiritual harvest

unless you have sown spiritual seed.

Some of you, you want hope, you want forgiveness, you want

redemption, you want peace. But you cannot experience a

spiritual harvest unless you have spiritual seed.

But the good news is you can have spiritual seed.

How do you get it? When you start an intimate,

personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you can't try harder to

have peace. You can't work harder to get

forgiveness. This is a spiritual harvest that

only comes through a spiritual act.

And the spiritual seed that you sow is you turn your life over

to Jesus. And then the Holy Spirit comes

in and he doesn't improve you. He doesn't change you.

He comes in to make you new. Some of you are going.

I would love to have Jesus come into my life and repaint the

walls. He doesn't repaint walls.

I'd like him to come in and rearrange furniture.

He doesn't rearrange furniture. He comes in and he makes you

new. Jesus comes in and he kicks down

some walls and said we're expanding this.

He comes into other areas of the house and he tears down walls

and he goes, we're shrinking this.

He starts building and moving and placing and making new

because this new house is not for you.

The new house is for him to dwell inside of you.

He's the one who makes you new, and He's the one who gives you

the spiritual seed to have the spiritual harvest.

You want peace, you get it from Him.

You want to have the ability to forgive, you get it from Him.

You want mercy and grace in your life, you get it from Him.

There is no way to have those on your own.

You get it in Him. And if you are here today and

you've never started an intimate personal relationship with Jesus

Christ, hear me, you need a spiritual harvest and you can

have it in him and you might be gone.

But Clayton, I couldn't get it because I'm too messed up.

You're right, you are too messed up.

But God, who is rich in mercy, sent his Son Jesus to die on the

cross to purchase and advance the thing that you simply take

hold of by faith. And if you're here today and

you're going, I want it. The good news of the gospel is

you can have it and in just a few moments there are going to

be people who are going to stand around you and sing and worship

and some are going to come to the steps and pray.

And I want to encourage you to take a faith filled walk from

wherever you are sitting right over there underneath that

screen next to the baptistry and say I have questions about how

to start this intimate personal relationship your church loves.

And we would love to tell you to the rest of you in the room, to

those of you who don't have or who already have a relationship

with Jesus, I just want to level with you.

What is this step that you know God wants you to take?

More than likely it's the exact same step that Satan has been

trying to keep you from taking. It's the same step that fear has

been preventing you from taking. Tough question, are you using

what God has given you to build your Kingdom or His Kingdom?

When it comes to your finances? Is this an area where you are

trusting God? When you hear me talk about

people starting and finding an intimate personal relationship

with Jesus Christ, are you a person who cheers about it or

you're a person who wants to support it happening?

Would you stand with me? God, I'm relying on you because

you know this exact situation of every single person within the

sound of my voice. And God, I'm asking that you

would help each and every single one of us have the courage to

take the step that we desperately need to take to

experience exactly what we need to experience to live the life

that we were destined and called to live.

And God, I know there's fear and there's challenges and there's

worry and there's stress. But God, we want to trust you.

So give us the strength we need to do so.

And you name our pray. Amen.