Open-Handed – Extravagant Generosity

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Let's get to work today, everybody.

If you're new to our church, normally the way I like to start a message or a sermon is with some sort of funny or relatable story.

Not today.

Today, if time permits at the end, I'd like to spend a few minutes telling you the stories of the ways God has been faithful to me as I have lived open-handedly with him.

Today I want to jump right into one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

In fact, the lesson in this message today is one that God used 20 years ago to radically change my life, and I have traveled the country sharing this story with lots of people.

At the end of the story, the story is found in the book of Matthew, Mark, and John.

At the end of the story from Mark's point of view, he ends with this line that Jesus said.

This is Mark chapter 14.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

Jesus said, Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, that's what we're doing here, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

And Jesus nails it because we're here 2,000 years later, and we're remembering the story of an extravagant, sacrificial, intentional gift, an offering presented to Jesus that's literally being talked about 2,000 years later.

And here's what I want to challenge you to do.

I want to challenge you as you listen to this message.

I want you to ask yourself a question.

Here's the question: Am I generous?

I want you to ask, am I generous?

And not just generous like you leave a good tip when you eat out at restaurants.

Like, am I generous the way God invites me to be?

In fact, here's a different way to ask the question it's am I open-handed?

Do I see everything I have as for me?

Or do I realize that all of it came from God?

So of course I'm going to be generous to God.

Here's the story from John's point of view.

John chapter 12, here's the beginning of the story.

John 12 · chapter mention

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to the city of Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor.

So Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, which was an expensive perfume, and she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Then the story takes this weird turn.

It's like all gas, no breaks.

It just takes this weird turn.

And it says, but one of Jesus' disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected.

If you're a note taker, if you have your message note, circle this word, objected, he objected.

Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?

It was worth a year's wages.

And then if this were a movie or a Broadway show, the perspective would shift to a voice off camera.

It says he did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.

Circle that word too.

And he was a thief.

As keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it.

He was stealing what belonged to God.

And Jesus responds, he says, Leave her alone.

Jesus is like, back up off of her.

It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

Jesus said, You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.

So Jesus is at this party, and some of his closest friends are there.

And this woman, Mary, comes in and she's got this jar of perfume that is so expensive, and she pours it on Jesus' feet, and she begins to wipe his feet.

It is this beautiful gift.

And I want you to see that what she did was three things.

It was intentional, it was sacrificial, and it was extravagant.

It was intentional, sacrificial, and it was extravagant.

Now I'll come back to that in a moment, but I want to ask two questions from this story.

This is important.

First question is this Why did Judas get so upset?

Like, why is it that big of a deal?

Who cares?

It wasn't his money, it wasn't his perfume, why would he freak out over it?

The second question is a big one too.

It's why would Mary give a gift that was so extravagant?

What would cause her to want to do something that was that expensive and that rich?

Well, start with the first question.

Why would Judas get all bent out of the frame when it wasn't his, it wasn't his money, it wasn't his perfume, why would he care what someone else does with their money?

Well, I think what happens is Mary's act of extravagant generosity triggers something in Judas's heart, doesn't it?

It's like he sees how generous she is and it reveals, it's like it shines a spotlight on his lack of generosity.

What it shows him is that he is selfish.

If you're a note taker, you need to get this that the enemy of generosity is selfishness.

And you need to hear me say this.

Every single one of us is born selfish.

Come on, anybody in this room have a toddler?

Anybody have a toddler?

Come on, what when a baby's born, what are its first words?

Mama.

And then what's the next word a baby seems to learn?

No, it's not mine.

It's like they scream it so loud that the bugs in the air just fall over dead.

You know what I'm saying?

It's just so piercing and loud.

We're all born selfish.

It is how we are made.

But I want you to hear this.

If you are born selfish and you become a follower of Jesus, you are born again generous.

We are born selfish, we are born again generous.

And I need you to understand this about Judas.

This reveals a heart of selfishness in him.

It reveals that there's something in him that shines a spotlight on it, and he doesn't like what he sees, so he does something funny.

Now, we've all done something like this before.

You ever judge someone for the way they spend their money?

You ever have this?

You ever have a neighbor that you know they're not really making it, but they buy this really expensive car?

Or you have some friends at work and you don't know how they do it, but they just keep blowing their money on big lavish vacations.

Anybody have this and you see it and you're like, what is wrong with them?

Can I take it a step farther?

Have you ever had someone owe you money and you see them eating at a nice restaurant?

You want to just walk over and be like, okay, you can afford this, but you can't pay your boy back?

Like, what is wrong with you, right?

All of us have seen or we've experienced this, and when this happens, it triggers something in us.

Like, how could you do, how could you do this?

Like, how does this make sense?

I think the same thing is true for a lot of us because when when we have a series on giving and money, I hear from three different audiences.

The first audience I hear from is people who love this.

They love it when we talk about it because somewhere along their spiritual journey, God got a hold of their heart and they became a lavish giver, an extravagant giver.

They they tithe and then they give even more.

And because they've done this for so long, they've walked in the blessing of God.

And when they hear a series like this, it reminds them of God's faithfulness and they love it.

The second group is a group of people that I really like a lot.

And these are people who are newer to faith, people who really are brand new to this whole idea of following Jesus, and they're learning and they're excited to get on the journey of giving with God, and they love that.

I love those people.

But the third audience is the ones that like to email me.

And these are the Christians who are more educated than they are obedient.

These are the Christians who like to go to the Bible to try to twist verses to justify them not being obedient to what God instructs us to do.

And if you find yourself fighting me, if you find yourself being like, Yeah, but you don't know my situation, or yeah, but you don't know my circumstances, I just want to say to you, maybe you and I have more in common with Judas than we even think.

It's a big deal.

Now, a study was done some years ago that asked the question, what is rich?

Like, what is wealthy?

What does it mean to be wealthy and rich?

They interviewed people who made$10,000 a year up to$10 billion a year.

And you know what was funny?

The answer for what is rich is really the same as the answer to the question, what does extravagant mean?

And it's this it's just more than you have.

Extravagance more than you have to the person who makes$10,000 a year, a person who makes$15,000 seems rich or extravagant, to the person who makes$10 billion a year, someone who makes more seems extravagant.

And I need you to understand this because for so many of us, God is going to step into these moments and he's gonna invite us to trust him to be extravagant.

But I need you to understand that this might not be God's definition of it.

First question is why did Judas get so upset?

Second question is, why would Mary do something that is so extravagant?

I want you to see this.

Remember, Mary's gift was three things.

It was intentional, it was sacrificial, and it was extravagant.

Why would she do this?

Leave this on the screen for me for just a moment.

I need you to understand that the reason she was willing to do something so significant for Jesus is the story we read happens in the book of John, chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

Okay, John chapter 12 is where this happens.

John 12 · chapter mention

John chapter 11, literally the chapter before this, is when Jesus shows up to the grave of Mary and Martha's brother Lazarus and raises him from the dead.

John 11 · chapter mention

Of course, they would do something sacrificial and generous for Jesus.

And so here's what happens the story goes on.

Jesus is at this party, and Mary comes in with a jar.

Now, it wasn't this one.

I got this one at Hobby Lobby for$5.49.

But she she walks in to Jesus with this gift, and she pours it on him, and it's intentional, sacrificial, and extravagant.

Let me show you what I mean by this.

The first thing is it was it was intentional.

Uh the story goes on to tell us that this gift cost 300 deniri.

Okay, uh, deniri is a plural form of the word deniri us.

Denirius would be the equivalent of one day's worth of work.

So this jar of perfume was valued at 300 days worth of work, a whole year's worth of work.

So think about your salary for a whole year, whatever it is.

Imagine having a jar of perfume worth that much.

Would you walk around with it?

I wouldn't go to Walmart with it, everybody.

Like, I first of all, I don't even go to Walmart without the Holy Spirit.

Like, you need some help when you go to Walmart.

But of course you wouldn't walk around with it.

And so for her, for this woman to show up with it in her hand, what does it mean?

It means she planned to do it.

It was intentional.

Secondly, it was sacrificial.

The verse says she breaks it and she pours it out on Jesus.

It was sacrificial.

Interesting side note, because it was a liquid, when she poured it out, she couldn't go back and grab it and reclaim it if she wanted it.

It was a gift that was given freely.

The third thing you need to understand, it was intentional, sacrificial, and it was extravagant.

It cost her so much.

Well, I told you why.

Literally, days before this, Jesus showed up to the grave of her brother.

And he raised him from the dead.

I want you to think about this with me for just a moment.

Say, someone in your life that you love a mom or dad, a son or daughter, a brother or sister.

They were close to you, you love them.

And they died so prematurely.

And imagine if Jesus raised them from the dead after several days of being dead.

Is there any earthly possession you have that you wouldn't be willing to give to show your gratitude?

Is there anything you'd be willing to give?

Of course.

Why?

Because you can't put a price tag on that.

Can I show you what scripture says about you and me?

The book of Ephesians, chapter 2, here's what Paul says.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Paul says, as for you, you and me, you were, say this word, you were you were you were dead.

Now, not physically dead, but you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world.

Like the rest of us, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

I want you to look at that verse for a moment.

Anyone feel inspired by this?

Anyone want to take the hill, go fight?

No.

It's because of our sins, according to Paul here in this book of Ephesians, we were deserving of death.

The penalty of sin was death.

It should have cost us everything.

But he doesn't leave it there.

He hits it with this conjunction.

He says, but I want you to get this.

This is such an important word in the Bible.

All throughout scripture, there are moments when we were so in need of God, but God shows up for his people.

It says this, it says, but because of his great love for us, not your efforts, not your trying, not your giving, not your serving, but because of his love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions.

It is by grace you have been saved.

Quick rabbit trail for just a moment.

This is the reason that we lose our minds during baptisms.

It's because it's a reminder that we were once dead, literally damned to hell without the grace and the mercy of God.

But because of his love, he's made us alive.

It's a huge deal.

Now let's go back to the story for just a moment.

Mary comes to this party and she does these three things for Jesus.

She pours the perfume out, and it's intentional, it's sacrificial, and it's extravagant.

I think these three things tie to what I would call the three levels of giving.

The first level of giving is the intentional level.

This is your tithes.

And I've talked about this the last couple of weeks.

Tithe is not a Bible word.

Tithe is an ancient word that just means tenth.

It means 10%.

One out of ten.

And here's what scripture teaches everything you have belongs to God, and he wants the first 10% back.

Let me show it to you in the book of Proverbs.

Solomon says, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all of your increase.

And here's why.

So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

He uses this word that we don't use very often: firstfruits.

First fruits would have been an agrarian farmer kind of language, which means when a farmer were to pick the produce from his trees, the first, the first ones picked are often the best.

And God says, I want you to bring the first to me.

Why does the order matter?

Why do we need to be intentional?

Because putting God first is a declaration of my trust in him.

I can't be second.

There's nothing else above me.

I must be first.

The way we're intentional about honoring God with our resources is we put God first by bringing to him the tithe.

If you missed last week, I said this.

I want you to hear me.

You can't give a tithe.

You can't.

Why?

Because it's all God's anyways.

All you can do is bring back to him the first 10% which belongs to him.

So let me let me get really practical for just a moment, okay?

Statistically, in most churches in America, between 5 and 11% of attenders tithe.

This is the reason that if you grew up going to church and they had so many offerings all the time, it was like special offering for this and guest speaker offering.

The reason they do it is they people don't people don't tithe.

And I just wonder sometimes, what could a church do if we got a hold of this principle?

If we said, God, it doesn't make mental sense, but you don't make sense.

You are the God who takes care of me.

You are Jehovah Jirah, my provider.

Of course I trust you.

What could happen if a church got a hold of this?

So here's what I want to ask you to do in the area of being intentional with your tithe.

Number one, I want you to pray about this.

I know for some of you the mental math doesn't work, but God does.

He always comes through.

Second thing I want to challenge you to do is I want you to have a plan.

What does it mean?

I love that God created this plan that's equal and fair for everybody.

If you make$10,000 a year or$10 billion a year, the first 10% belongs to God.

And I want to make it practical.

Here's the third thing I challenge you to do automate the importance.

This is what my wife and I do.

This is a big deal to us.

I literally, on the first day of every month, have it set up through our giving online for access, that my tithe comes on the very first day of the month.

I'm so particular about this that I literally moved my mortgage payment and every other bill that's due on the first to the second so that I could automatically honor God through my giving.

I challenge you.

If certain things in your life are automated, like your mortgage payment or a car payment, why wouldn't you honor God and put him first so that you never forget it and accidentally fail to honor him?

Level one of giving is intentional, it's through your tithes.

There is a second level of giving, though, and it's the level of sacrificial giving.

And this is what we'd call offerings.

And God wants us to honor him with our tithes and our offerings.

Now, here's one of the questions I get from Christians all the time.

I'm a giver, I want to live open-handedly, so can I can I give my tithes to like people who are in need, to people who are struggling with homelessness or lack of food?

Can I give to local ministries or to missions?

And I want to hear, I want to be very clear.

According to Scripture, the tithe belongs to God through your local church, but then you're invited to give over and above.

And that can be through your church.

I think that's a great way to do it.

But it can also be as God places needs and opportunities on your heart.

Give offerings, be extravagantly generous.

And here's the thing that I know a lot of people will say: a lot of people will say, Well, I can't even get to the level of tithes.

How will I ever get to giving above my tithes?

Can I teach you the biblical principle?

If you never get to tithes, you'll probably never be able to do this.

But the biblical principle is that when we honor God with our tithes, watch last week's sermon, God blesses the rest.

And I have just experienced in my life that I would rather live on 90% that is blessed by God than 100% in my best efforts.

Here's what I can promise you if you never get to tithes, you'll probably never get to offerings.

But I'll make this promise if you get to becoming a tither, you will because you'll walk in the blessing of God.

Now, when I preach, my goal is to preach, and you know, we have 3,000 people that come every weekend plus church online.

There's no message that applies unilaterally to everybody.

If I preach on being single, that doesn't apply to the married people.

If I preach on marriage, it doesn't apply to the singles.

I get that.

When you preach on giving, it kind of does apply to everybody because all of us have a step we can take.

But I want to say this last point just doesn't really apply to everybody.

This last point is one that it feels like every once in a while God's gonna show up to a select few people and say, I want you to trust me.

I want to invite you to give everything because there's a third level of giving.

It's the extravagant level.

It's extravagant giving.

What is extravagant giving?

It's where God shows up and says, I have so entrusted stuff in your hands that I want to try ask you to give everything back to me.

In scripture, there's a lot of moments like this.

I think back to King David.

King David's nearing the end of his life, and he says to God, God, I want to build a temple that is so magnificent that it screams of your strength and screams of your splendor and screams of your glory.

And God says, Thank you, but no thanks.

Like there's too much blood on your hands from all of your battles.

But how about this?

How about you raise the money?

David sacrificially gives and he raised the money, and his son Solomon goes on to build the temple.

Experts have gone back and they've added up the cost that was given to, and they tried to translate it to modern day money.

They believe that if that same thing were to happen today, it would have been worth$21 billion.

Like imagine a church with a building better than any NFL stadium in the world.

Like imagine a church built for$21 billion, and he does this.

Why?

Because he wants to be extravagant to his God who's been extravagant in his love to him.

And it's funny because you can hear that and think, well, I'm off the hook.

I don't got$21 billion.

And Jesus tells another story, it's found in the book of Matthew, Matthew, and Luke, of Jesus is one day at a temple.

And in those days, like the way giving happened is different than it happens today.

It today, 85 or 90% of the giving that happens in churches happens digitally through giving online or text to give.

But in those days, like they didn't have digital giving, and so they came with their money, and their monies were coins.

Okay?

So in Jesus' day at the temple, there would be this big cylinder, and it was metal, and people would come with their offerings, and they would take the coins and they would throw them into the cylinder.

Because it was coins and it was hitting metal, it would make this loud clanging noise.

So Jesus is just sitting there at the temple one day watching as people come through and give.

And people made the big loud gestures, but in walks this little widow lady.

And she's holding two coins.

And she doesn't have a lot of pomp and circumstance.

She just comes and places the coins in the cylinder and she walks off.

And Jesus goes, Whoa! Voice! Did you see that?

And they were like, it didn't even make noise.

What are you talking about?

And he goes, It's because she gave everything.

It's not the amount that matters to God.

It's never been the money that matters to God, it's the heart of the giver that matters to God.

And I want you to see this.

You can't escape the fact that when we put God first, he can't help himself.

God loves to bless his children.

In the book of Hebrews, there's this verse, and I love this little sneaky detail.

If you're a Bible nerd, you'll love Hebrews 11 says, It says that without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Let's pause here for just a moment.

The reason this matters is if God shows up and invites you to give extravagantly, faith is not gonna be the first thing that comes to your mind.

It's not usually there's like a sense of excitement, and then there's some joy.

Oh God, I can't believe you would trust me to do this.

And then very quickly the other side pops in.

And it's like, oh you can't afford that.

How are you gonna make ends made?

How is this gonna work out?

What about your retirement?

What about your future?

And fear pops in, and that's the moment of decision.

It's will I be a person who's led by faith or a person who's driven by fear?

Hebrew says, without faith, it's impossible to please God.

And here's why.

Because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

That God's a rewarder of those who seek him.

Now, this is interesting.

This word reward in Greek, the original language, is found some 29 times in the New Testament.

Every other time that it's written, besides Hebrews 6, verse 11, every other time it's written, it means to pay someone back what you owe them.

Hebrews 6:11

But this one, there's an additional syllable added to it, and I want to explain it to you.

That syllable implies that God's gonna give you back what is due to you with abundance, with more than you could ever begin to imagine.

It's like this.

Imagine you were shopping at the mall and you found a wallet on the ground, and you picked it up, and there was a driver's license and a$100 bill, and you thought, I'm gonna do the right thing and I'm gonna take this to the people that it belongs to.

So you drive to their house, knock on the door, and you say, Hey, is this your wallet?

And they say, Yes, and you give it something and they say, Oh my goodness, thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this for me.

What a gift.

And instead of giving you a reward like the$100 bill that was in it, they say, Hold here, we want to give you an award, a reward.

And they run back inside and they come back with a stack of$100.

$100 bills.

This is the picture, it's to pay back in such abundance.

I think about this moment.

It's chronicled in the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 1 and 1 Kings chapter 3.

2 Chronicles 1 · chapter mention 1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

Solomon is about to be named king, he's about to have this big coronation, and there's this famous moment in his life where God shows up to Solomon and says, Solomon, ask anything you want and I'll give it to you.

Just ask anything and I'll give it to you.

I trust you.

Ask anything.

Solomon asks for wisdom.

You know the story, it's one of the famous stories about Solomon.

And he goes on to be the wisest man to ever live.

Because of his wisdom, he got everything else.

He got all the power, all the authority, all the fame, all the money.

He gets it all.

But why would God show up and invite Solomon to ask for anything he wants?

Why would God be the rewarder in this moment?

Well, the night before his coronation.

It was customary in biblical times for a king to make a sacrificial offering to God.

It was customary for a king to take a bull and have it sacrificed as a burnt offering to God.

Solomon doesn't give a bull, he gives one thousand.

It's like when God knows he can trust you, he becomes the rewarder who gives over and above.

I want you to hear this.

This is a big deal.

A lot of us think about being extravagant means extravagant means more than I have.

But biblically, if you're gonna get to that level of like moving past intentionality and tithing and sacrificial with offerings, if you're gonna move to extravagant giving, you need to understand that extravagance is all that I have.

And I I've done this a few times in my life, and God has always shown up.

For the last two weeks, I've been intentional and I told you I'm not gonna tell you stories because I don't want to manipulate you.

But I feel like it would be an injustice for me to walk you through this series and not tell you how God has shown up in my life.

I think about the earliest days of access.

Next month we'll celebrate 19 years of access, which is amazing.

Liz and I started it when we were six years old, I think.

And uh, okay.

But we started a college Bible study, just some friends, and we had no money, didn't raise money, didn't get very much, and so we emptied everything we have: the speakers, the sound, the invite cards, the lights, all everything we paid for all of it.

We just felt like God told us to do it, and if I'm guilty of anything, it's just saying yes whenever God asks me to do something.

So we give everything.

We get a few months into it, and it's going okay, but like I love college students.

In fact, if you're a college student, I'm so glad you're here.

College students are the best, they add energy and life to your church, they're so wonderful.

Yeah, that's awesome.

It's cool.

But the truth is, like, if we're gonna play that, they also don't bring a whole lot of money because they're on the front end of their careers.

No claps for that.

Okay, cool.

And um, so we just didn't have any money.

And we had literally given everything we had to start it and keep it going, and we ran out of money, and I said, God, I don't know what we're gonna do.

We had one service left that we had already prepaid for, and we were like over twelve hundred dollars short of what we needed.

And I said, God, if the money doesn't come in, I don't know how we're gonna go on, I don't know how this is gonna keep going, but you're our provider.

So we have our service.

I think it was on a Sunday or a Monday night, and at that time, um, whatever the offering was, I remember to this day we were$1,186 short.

I didn't have it, we'd given everything we had already, and I'll I'll never forget.

I I went to bed so sad that night and I thought, God, we tried.

I guess I'll go get a real job now.

Like I we tried, I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do.

Kid you not.

The next day I had planned to send an email out to our church saying, Hey, it's been a good run, thanks for everything.

Here's the list of good churches you can try out.

And before I sent it, I went to my mail the next morning, and in the mail was a letter from my mom and dad.

And they are here and they are heroes.

If God has touched you or changed your life through our church, find them, hug them, thank them.

Here's why.

In the mail was a letter from my dad, a handwritten letter.

I still have three paragraphs.

Paragraph one, son, we're so proud of you.

Paragraph two, you're gonna have critics and cynics and haters tune them out.

Paragraph three.

We were praying, and God told us to send this offering to access us.

Here's the funny thing God always provided for my family, but we we never had like lots of extra.

There was never money to do something like this.

And God had given my dad some sort of a speaking opportunity that paid him a certain amount of money, and he sent a check for twelve hundred dollars.

$14 more than we needed to keep this thing going.

And God's always provided.

Why?

Because he's our rewarder who takes care of us.

So I've I've just chosen to live open-handedly.

Some of you know I started a company many years ago, and in the early days of our company, I'll never forget this moment.

I was up super, super late working really late into the night, and I got a wild email.

It said, Jason, um, we placed a large order with you just a few months ago.

We're starting a church in just a few weeks, and all the stuff that we bought from you was housed in a trailer, and the trailer was stolen yesterday.

We lost everything, and we don't know what to do.

And I'll be honest, my first reaction was ch-ching, I'm double dipping on these fools.

That's what I thought, okay?

I thought, I'll be kind and I'll send them a discount.

I'll send them 10% off or something to help them.

And I typed the email, and before I sent it, I felt the voice of God say to me, No, no, give it to them.

Behind me, Satan, what are you talking about?

Give it, give it to them.

So I gathered my courage and I typed the email.

So sorry to hear that, man.

I said, We stand with you.

I want you to know you're not alone.

And I just felt like God told me to give this to you.

I'm not kidding.

You know how when you're on an email app, you hit send on an email and you see the little status bar, it sends.

At the same time, I hit send at the same time, and a sending email status bar happens, and a receiving email status bar happens at the same moment.

Literally, I hit send saying, I'm gonna give everything to you.

And literally, in comes the largest order I had ever received to that history, to that point in my company.

I was like, God, you're crazy.

You are crazy.

I figured out how much it cost me to replace all of his stuff, and I figured out the profit on the biggest order I had ever gotten.

And I want you to hear this.

The amount that was given to me was five times to the exact penny the amount that I had just given.

Why?

Because God's a rewarder.

For the sake of time, one one time I felt like God told us to give a book to our church, and the church just didn't have the extra money.

I didn't want to manipulate people, so Liz and I bought it, and it was like a thousand copies times like twelve dollars a book.

You do the math.

And the the total wasn't like an even number, it was like twelve thousand three hundred and thirteen dollars and thirteen cents or something.

And I felt like God told us to do it, so we we did it.

Well, we give it away sacrificially, open-handedly, and I promise you, the day after, Monday, I go to my mailbox, and in the mail there's a letter from one of the vendors my company uses, and it's crazy.

It says, Dear Jason, you're one of our top 10 customers.

Thank you.

We're piloting a new rebate program, and we want to give our top customers back 4% of what you've purchased from us this quarter.

The check that was in the mail, I saw it and I was like, God, you're crazy.

I go inside, I pulled up the receipt from the email, from the order, from all the books we just purchased.

It was four times to the exact penny what we had given away because God's the rewarder.

And I've got, listen to me, I've got story after story like that.

A few months ago, I was at Disney with some of our staff, and um our youth pastor Barry was with us, and he, I don't know if he remembers this.

We're in line, and there's all these people, and to go through a snack bar is gonna take an hour.

And I'm like, guys, forget it.

I I got this.

Like, I'm just anybody get whatever you want, it's on me.

So we buy a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff, I don't know what it was, and we pay for it, and I'm not kidding.

Barry goes, bro, why'd you do that?

I'm like, because I love to give.

Like, I'm a giver, I love to, I love to give.

And I said, God always seems to show up in weird ways, and I refreshed my email and I had the receipt in my hand.

And at the exact minute, the exact same time that I did this, I go to my email and there's an order in the email at the exact same minute, and the profit was ten times to the penny what I just used to bless people.

And it just happens over and over and over and over and over again.

Let me let me let me give you one more quickly.

We're running out of time.

If you're a part of our church a few years ago, you may remember this.

My wife Liz got selected to be on a national game show called Don't Forget the Lyrics.

And this was cool.

Like, she was amazing, she is amazing, greatest gift in my life.

I love her.

And she won a hundred and fifty thousand dollars on the game show.

It was awesome, right?

And you might be like, Well, there it is, there's the blessing of God.

And don't get me wrong, there ain't nothing wrong with$150,000, okay?

But can I tell you what was better than that?

It's true.

The next night, I'm sitting on my couch late working.

Liz was out of the country filming the show.

She had told me how much she won.

The next night, I'm sitting in my living room working on my sermon.

My son Joey was 15 at the time, and he got a first job ever at Publix.

I called him PubSub and I called him Bogo Joe.

That's what I called him.

And he comes in with his phone, with his debit card, and with his first pay stub.

And he said, Dad, can you help me?

I want to set up online giving because I want to tithe.

And I'm not kidding when I say this.

That is so much better to me than$150,000.

Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So I knew that if God could get his heart at 15 years old, he'd have it for the rest of his life.

I need you to hear me.

God is our rewarder.

And this is the big litmus test for you.

You need to understand this when it comes to giving, we do not give to get.

We give because he is given.

We give because we choose to honor him, we bring back to him because he is our good and faithful God.

But God can't help himself.

He is our rewarder.

Come on, somebody say amen, amen, amen.

Would you stand up with me?

Come on, all of our locations, stand on your feet.

I'm gonna pray for us now.

So, God, would you give us a supernatural dose of courage to trust you?

God, for those of us who have never really started the giving journey, may we have the courage to put you first and to be intentional by tithing.

God, I thank you that when we do, you bless your children, so we trust you.

We thank you in advance for it.

God, we don't give to get, we give to honor you, but you can't help yourself.

You reward your children.

So we love you and we thank you for it.

With your head still bowed and eyes still closed at all of our locations.

Maybe you came to church today and you just don't know if you're right with God.

Maybe you never started following Jesus or you just need to hit reset and start over.

But in either case, no matter where you're joining us, if you want to start or restart following Jesus, would you raise your hand right now?

I want to pray with you.

Thank you, thank you.

Wow, thank you.

This is cool.

If this is you, I want you to pray this out loud with me.

And praying it changes everything when you mean it with your heart.

Say it out loud, and we're not gonna let you stay it alone.

Our church won't let anyone stand alone.

Let's all say this out loud together.

Say Jesus, I give you my life, save me, change my heart, make my life new.

Jesus, from this day forward, I choose to follow you.

I give you my life for the rest of my life.

Be my Lord and Savior in Jesus' name.

Amen, amen.

Church fam, let's celebrate together.