Replay | Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now (Summer Jams) with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

To get connected or to give online, go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.

If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

So Rudy's not here today so you get me to introduce your band.

Welcome back to week two of Summer Slams!

Oh oh oh!

I mean Summer Jams!

Summer Jams!

And this morning I am proud to introduce, put your hands together, from the shower to

the stage, our very own drummer, turnt singer from HDV Worship, Alan Tolentino!

Woo!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it away!

Give it up!

Wow!

Who knew?

You go Alan!

Woo!

Alright!

Welcome to week two of Summer Jams, if you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your home.

And we continue our series that focuses on music and its connection to our culture.

Again, this series is about discovering God in our everyday life.

The songs that have been chosen for this series are simply as a means to challenge us to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

You know that we are in no way telling you to go out and buy these albums, download the songs or whatever it may be.

I know many of you already have them, so it doesn't matter.

But we're not endorsing them or telling you to do so.

Last week we kicked off our series discussing loneliness through the song Boulevard or Broken Dreams by Green Day.

If you didn't get to see it or hear it, go back and listen to it on our YouTube channel today.

You heard Give It Away by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Now the song gained international fame, actually reaching number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in late 1991.

And it was actually the band's first ever number one single.

Give It Away has gone on to receive numerous accolades, including Grammy Award for the Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocals in 1992.

Steve Huey of All Music noted that the single did become one of the band's most instantly recognizable songs.

It is a hit of funk rock mix where people are gravitating towards the repetitiveness of the music.

It became one of the most recognizable songs of the 90s, again known for its repetition and its challenge to give things away.

Anthony Kiedis, the frontman of the band and author of the song, explains the story behind the song and his autobiography Scar Tissue.

Kiedis writes, At the time I was dating a popular German singer-songwriter named Nina Hagen.

He was sifting through her closet of exotic apparel. He spotted a jacket and immediately struck him and he wanted it.

He told her how much he liked it and Nina simply replied, Take it. You can have it. It's yours.

Kiedis was astonished by the offering. He pleaded with her to keep it, telling her it was a nice jacket she owned.

She explained in her very own words, That's why I give it to you. It's important to give things away. It creates good energy.

If you have a closet full of clothes and you keep them all for yourself, your life gets very, very small.

If you have a full closet and someone sees something they like and you give it to them, the world is a better place.

Wow, such a true statement. The meaning behind Give It Away seems more fit as a folktale rather than a rock and roll song.

Either way, it's a challenge to become a bit more selfless.

Now imagine, all of us just take a second to imagine, gifting your most prized possession, whatever it is to you,

to someone else without hesitation, not even second guessing it.

You know, could you do that? Is that something that you could really do?

Now here's the reality. The theme of generosity is throughout the Bible.

I mean, let's just simply look at a few words that when I mention them, you will gravitate towards them

because they directly connect with our relationship with Jesus.

For example, the word believe. Believe is mentioned 272 times in the Bible.

The word pray, pretty important to a relationship with Jesus, true or false?

371 times in the Bible. The word love, 714 times.

The word give, 2,261 times in the Bible.

One of those words where you think, wow, it's not love, it's give.

And why is that? It's because God, the God of the Bible, is a generous God.

And we know that God so loved the world that he gave.

See, God gives and he's a generous God.

And I personally believe that when a person falls in love with Jesus,

when their life is radically changed and their heart becomes a heart of love and grace and mercy and forgiveness,

that new heart, which is a heart of God, is generous as well.

But see, we just have to tap into that generosity.

Listen to this verse. It kind of sounds like the lead singer's girlfriend, Proverbs 11, 24, from the message.

The world of the generous gets larger and larger.

The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. Isn't that amazing?

See, all these verses in the Bible referencing generosity,

it's a motivation for us to get outside of ourselves.

And it's not about the others receiving it.

You know, so often it's about helping the others.

But see, the Bible motivates us to generosity, not for the other people, but for us,

because it changes our heart. It's not about the other people. It's not about the receivers.

It's about us becoming a better person.

And hear me out, friends. This isn't a money message.

Okay, this is a talk about giving our lives away to others.

Give it away now.

And when we live life, when we go through life thinking about others,

serving others, desiring to see other people become better,

it takes the focus off of ourselves and allows us to point other people to Jesus.

I mean, just listen to some of these powerful quotes.

Winston Churchill, we make a living by what we get.

We make a life by what we give.

One day, all of us are going to look back over our lives and reflect on what we gave away.

That's called living a legacy.

Mother Teresa, a life not lived for others is not a life.

A life not lived for others is not a life.

So this morning, friends, we're going to discuss the meaning and the purpose

of why God is challenging us to live generously through a rock and roll song

that was written in 1991. Yeah, it may have been the number one hit,

but the words that were spoken through that song relate directly to Jesus' challenge

to just give it away, which leads us to our first song.

See, friends, the generous are happy.

The generous are happy. Generous people, they enjoy being generous.

And it motivates them and allows their hearts to be full of happiness.

You know, I think about the HCV community meal.

For those of you who don't know what that is, on Thursday nights,

Len and Lisa Rona lead a team of people that serve dinner to anyone.

You can be a part of our community of faith. It can be people within the neighborhood.

It can be people that you know, that you invite.

And it's just a free meal.

And week after week after week, I see Len's posts on Facebook about,

hey, the meal's tomorrow.

And every time he makes a post about giving this meal

and serving people by giving them food, it's just happiness.

Like it's a joy in his life to want to serve others in their life,

to want to feed other people, to connect with them,

to allow them to build a bridge into our neighborhoods.

And I want to challenge you, are you doing that?

You know, are you living in a way that's just full of generosity?

And Len and Lisa, they can use your help.

You can help cook. You can help give food.

You can help to show up and talk to people.

The point is, when you're generous, you're happy.

You know, a few weeks ago, my son, I'm not able to be with him today.

He's actually playing in the Little League State Tournament today.

He has a game at 11.30. We sent him with his grandparents.

But anyway, we were down in the square in Williamsport,

and it cost money to go to state tournaments, to travel.

And we were just simply in the square collecting money,

holding up signs, and just saying,

hey, we're going to the state tournament.

Could you give a little to help offset costs?

We ended up collecting over $2,500, almost like $2,600 in a few hours,

which is cool.

But the example that I want to use is,

everybody that they put money into these kids' buckets were smiling.

I mean, they were happy to drop like 20s and fives and tens into these buckets

to help these kids go to a state tournament to just play a sport that they love.

And the point is, they were being generous, and it brought a smile to their face.

But it even goes a step further. It's not just those examples.

Scientists have actually discovered that people who behave generously

are happier afterwards than those who behave more selfishly.

Helping others triggers a release of oxytocin,

which has the effect of boosting your mood and counteracts the effects of cortisol,

which is the stress hormone.

The higher your levels of oxytocin,

the more you want to help others and serve others and give,

because it literally becomes a pleasure within your life and brings joy to your life.

Now, when most people think of giving, they have this narrow focus,

and it's like, oh, well, open your pocketbook, put money in a bucket, whatever.

But it's just all giving works wonders.

It's not just cash that you give, all giving.

And what I mean by that is how you help others, right?

How you can support others, a stranger, a random act of kindness, opening doors,

pulling over and helping someone change their tire, right?

When we fill our day with small random acts of kindness, of giving,

what are you doing for yourself? You're bringing happiness and joy into your life.

Even just smiling at other people has been proven to bring joy into your life.

See, God has designed us from within to be what? To be generous.

He's designed us that way.

But see, unfortunately, our culture causes us to draw in and to want more

and to suck more and to take, take, take.

But God says, no, give it away now.

Give your life away.

Proverbs 11 25, the generous will prosper.

Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

Proverbs 21 26, some people are always greedy for more,

but the godly love to give.

The godly love to give.

And if you're sitting there this morning, you're thinking, well, Chris, I'm just not generous.

Why is it that I'm not generous? Why do I hold on to my stuff?

Why is it that it's about my stuff? And then it's a heart issue.

You have to realize it's just simply a heart issue.

And if you're in a relationship with Jesus this morning and you find yourself not being generous or stingy,

just invite the Holy Spirit to identify any issues or attitudes that's in your heart

that's keeping you from wanting to be generous.

You know, some of you, it could just be worry or fear or resentment.

Some of you, it could be a childhood trauma that you grew up poor

and you feel like you just got to gravitate to hold on to stuff and God is challenging, you know, give it away.

I mean, look at Acts 20 35, Jesus's own words. You should remember the words of Jesus.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

See, friends, the generous are happy, which leads us to our next dog.

The generous are compassionate.

And this generosity is something within us that allows us to connect with people who are in need.

Meaning that when you see a need, you hear about a need, you recognize that need.

What do you do? You respond to it.

You know, kind of like the Good Samaritan.

When the Good Samaritan saw the man laying on the side of the road beaten and bloody, what did he do?

He responded. He reacted.

And if you're in a relationship with Jesus, that's what we're called to do.

Jesus had compassion on the people.

Everywhere he went throughout the New, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you read about Jesus's compassion for the people

because they were what? They were lost.

They were like sheep without a shepherd. Sheep without a shepherd.

And see, so again, so often when people think about generosity,

they focus on finances and the poor and the food banks.

And that's all good stuff. I'm not saying that's not good stuff.

But you have to realize when people aren't in a relationship with Jesus, friends are lost.

They're not walking in meaning and purpose and the happiness and the forgiveness and the grace.

And so many of us have experienced, there's so many people outside these walls that haven't experienced that yet.

And that's another means for us to be generous and to give away what God has given to us.

Proverbs 29, 7.

The godly care about the rights of the poor, the wicked don't care at all.

Proverbs 21, 13. Those who shut their eyes to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.

I mean, we read that verse and we have to recognize, you know, last week we discussed loneliness.

For some of us, we're lonely because we're, because we're what?

Because we're hoarders, because we're not generous with what we have.

See, friends, when we are selfish about our own needs and our own stuff,

we become calloused toward those in need.

You know, constantly saying to people, recognizing, having a discussion with your spouse,

man, those people just seem to get a job.

Stop being lazy. Work harder.

You know, now we are, now what are we hearing?

Those people need to get off that unemployment, the government just paying them to sit around.

Now, don't get me wrong.

That's an issue that we could get into that we don't want to discuss on a Sunday morning.

Okay.

But what I'm trying to say is we can't use those reasons and those attitudes as an out

for not to give and not to help because we become self-appointed experts on other people's pain

when in reality we have no idea what people go through.

We don't. I mean, just listen to these statistics.

You know, I know that statistics don't radiate with you, but listen to this.

One out of every eight resident in Washington County, Maryland, this is local, is in poverty.

One out of every eight resident, according to a new report from the Maryland Poor,

Washington County's poverty rate is the eighth highest out of 24 counties in Maryland.

And those families that are living in poverty, their average income is $23,850 a year.

We all know the cost of food is going up, right?

$23,000 don't get you very far is what I'm trying to say.

But immediately our attitude can go, we'll go back to school and get a different job.

No, it can't be that type of attitude.

It's got to be an attitude, well, how do I fit into solving that problem?

First Timothy 6, 7, and 19 teach those who are rich in this world,

and we learned a few weeks ago that we're all rich, true or false?

Not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable.

Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

Tell them to use their money to do good.

They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need,

always being ready to share with others.

By doing this, they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future,

so they may experience true life.

Everyone get out their bulletins, wave them in the air just like you don't care.

Come on, ruffle them around. There you go.

Now inside there's this little piece of paper.

Every year we do this thing called the backpack giveaway,

and every year we have a goal of a thousand backpacks.

What we do is we partner with local elementary and middle schools right around us.

There's about seven of them that we partner with within this vicinity of about a 10-mile radius,

and it's our goal to give away a thousand backpacks to children in their schools.

Do you think we can do that?

Absolutely we can. We've done it every year for like the last eight.

Typically when our goal is a thousand, we end up getting like 12 or 13 hundred, which is great,

but the point is it's simply a means for us to give back to those who are in need,

so the kids can go to school with a backpack,

and this year we get to bring them into our own new building to give away backpacks, which is even cooler.

Right?

So on that little sheet of paper is the backpack supplies that are needed.

Of course we need backpacks, and then we need the different supplies that are listed,

but it's not just about backpacks and supplies. You heard it on the announcements.

We give away clothes, and we give away tons. Everyone say tons.

Tons of free food. Tons.

So when these families come here, all right, they're going to see the welcome home video on our screen.

They're going to be given a free backpack. They're going to go through a giant free clothes assortment

where they can just take whatever they want, and they're going to be given tons of food as they leave here.

Does that leave an impact on a person's life?

You're doing right it does. It's called being generous.

Friends, that's what we're called to be, and I want to challenge all of you seated here this morning and at home,

do something. Right?

Set a goal in your family of how many backpacks you'll give, how many supplies you'll fill it with. Right?

And then challenge yourself, not only am I going to give this, but I'm going to partake in it.

I'm going to partake in it and see the smiles on kids' faces and people's faces.

Heck, we're even thinking about getting out the moon bounces again. Right?

Because, you know, COVID's kind of behind us. I mean, moon bounces are fun. Right?

There'll be plenty of you to sanitize them.

Backpack giveaway, friends. It's probably the biggest single giveaway that we do every year,

and I want to challenge you to be a part because it changes your life.

And more importantly, it changes the lives of families in our local community.

And now the cool thing is when we're generous, look at our third thought, look at our third thought this morning.

When you're generous, the generous are blessed. Right?

We never give to get, but look what the Bible tells us.

The Bible says you're going to receive a blessing when you give.

Now that can't be our motivation. It can't be like, well, look, God, I'm giving all this stuff.

Give back to me. Right? That can't be our motivation.

Our motivation's got to be God's kingdom forcefully advancing throughout the tri-state area

so that people's lives are being changed by His Spirit. That's got to be our motivation.

But truth is when we're generous, He gives back. Look at Proverbs 22.9.

Blessed are those who are generous because they feed the poor. Blessed.

Proverbs 28.27. Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing,

but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed. Right?

Will lack nothing. Now that doesn't, we have to realize that doesn't necessarily mean material possessions.

It doesn't mean you're going to become a millionaire because you're giving away to people.

Lacking nothing means that, hey, you're not stressed. You're not overwhelmed with life.

You're living a joyful life full of peace where there's no stress or worry. Why?

Because you're giving it away now. Because you're sowing life into other people.

Friends, that's the world of the generous. Look at 2 Corinthians 9.

Very simple, simple parable. Remember this.

A farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop.

But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

You must each decide in your heart how much to give and don't give reluctantly in response to pressure.

For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need.

Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

As the scriptures say, they share freely and give generously to the poor.

Their good deeds will be remembered forever.

Now isn't it interesting that the good deeds that will be remembered forever are those deeds of what?

Giving. Those deeds of generosity. Right?

It's called being blessed with a legacy life.

You're leaving behind a legacy. You're not leaving behind a legacy of gather, want, want, want, take, take, take.

You're leaving behind a legacy of being generous to others.

And when we're generous to others, right, God is going to bless us.

So what I want you to do, I want you to take a second. I want all of us here to take a second.

Reflect on your past week. We all just lived life from Sunday to another Sunday.

Six days of past, seven. Not quite yet because we still have all of today.

How did you give generously to the poor?

How is it that you gave generously to the poor?

Now I don't even want you to necessarily think about financially.

How did you give back spiritually to someone else?

Someone that was struggling.

Right? How are you being generous?

Because that's how we're called to live.

And when we live that way, we'll be blessed. And not only that, I want to take it a step further.

Look at our fourth thought. The generous are rewarded.

Not only are you blessed, but you're rewarded.

And hear me out, friends. This is my motivation.

I live every day in the fear that I am going to be held accountable before God on how I lead this church.

I am going to be held accountable. Not you.

I am going to be held accountable as how I lead this church.

And you want to know what motivates my heart the most?

This is what motivates my heart the most.

I am here this morning to say that this church will always remain relevant.

That this church is called to be a church that's known for making a difference in the community.

That that's what our church will be known for.

That when there's people in need, it could be financial, it could be spiritual, it could be drug addicts, it could be alcoholics.

When there's people in need, I want those people in the hospital to know, well, you can send them the HCV.

Because they're going to be accepted, they're going to be loved on, and they're going to be welcomed into the community of faith.

But more importantly, we believe that God's going to supernaturally change, heal, and set them free, true or false.

And that's why we want people to come here.

Because we want to PC people set free. And friends, that's making a difference for God's kingdom.

And God, we're going to be rewarded for it. Look at Proverbs 19, 17.

If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord, and he will repay you.

He's going to repay you.

What if I was to tell you that how much you give, how much you generously give, is a deposit on what you'll get back.

How much you give and your generosity is essentially you making a deposit on what you're going to be rewarded.

Look at Revelation 22, 12. Look, I'm coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.

Look at Matthew 6, 3 through 4. Jesus said, but when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Give your gifts in private and your Father who sees everything will do what?

He's going to reward you.

And again, friends, that can't be our motivation.

That can't be our motivation. But here's the reality.

We're going to spend a lot longer time in eternity than we hear on earth.

And our focus has got to be that kingdom eternity experience.

And I don't know about you, but I want to be rewarded.

I want to be spending eternity with Jesus worshiping, but I want to receive those rewards from a good, good Father.

And it happens when we're generous.

Like how many of you this morning want to receive a reward?

Like if I was to say that, how many of you want to receive a reward? Are you serious? Some of you?

I mean, come on. Think, think. All right. Everyone think. Everyone, everyone, let's rewind. Let's go to Christmas.

Right. It's July. It's Christmas in July. Let's all go to Christmas story.

Right. Everyone remember the movie Christmas story, right?

Everyone's seen it. The major award. Right.

Now this major award is not going to be fragile. Okay.

How many of you want to receive a major award? I mean, I want to receive a major award.

And it's coming from your Father in heaven. Wow.

Isn't it amazing when you break the Bible down and the truths that you find in it?

Right. It's amazing that you can simply take a red hot chili pepper song, which people think we're going to hell because that song was sung in here this morning.

Okay. But when you break it down scripturally and you say, well, wait a minute, what they're singing about is truth.

Right. Now they may not have been pointing people to Jesus, but guess what?

HCV is. Okay. We're pointing people to Jesus.

So let's look at four simple ways that we can give it away now. Okay.

Number one, you can be generous with your time. Friends, we need to be generous with our time.

Matthew 10, a give as freely as you have received.

And for most of us, if we're honest, our time is more valuable than our money.

I've heard people say to me, look, Chris, I don't have the time. I'm working too much, but I'll give.

Okay. I receive that. But there's also got to be a point in your life where you give some of your time.

Okay. I'm very, very thankful for all the people that serve in our community of faith.

Right. I am super thankful. I mean, it's amazing to me, but here I am walking to an 830 pre-gathering planning time where we get together and pray and make sure that Alan knows the words to the song and all those kinds of things.

Right. How he did that is amazing to me. But anyway, as I'm walking through the cafe, I look to my left and to my right, and there's guys out in the parking lot with yellow vests on smiling at people, greeting people, helping them park their cars.

And I'm just humbled by the fact that they want to serve. And that means, isn't that amazing? And there's, I know, give my hand. Give everybody a hand.

And a lot of these people, hear me out, a lot of these people, they serve one's gathering. They serve at nine and then they come to 11 and worship.

Right. Which is a cool thing. But what are they doing? They're giving of their time. And friends, we all can do that if we're honest.

Okay. We all can do that. We all have the ability to give of our time. And what are we asking for? We're asking for an hour and a half of your time a week to serve somewhere.

You know, serve on the welcome hub or the kids ministry or on the worship team or whatever it may be.

I mean, get on a camera and zoom in on Chris and make those, you know, ugliness disappear because you are so good at the camera or whatever it may be.

But the point is, we've got to be willing to give of our time. We've got to be willing to do it.

This is like I said about the backpack giveaway. We need people to serve here. There's going to be hundreds,

maybe even a thousand people that come through these doors on that giveaway day. We need your help. Right. So see Tracy sign up.

You know, God, I was on a I was on my run walk with with Phoenix. Phoenix and I take run walks now.

And I was listening to some worship and praying and and I felt God specifically speak to me.

We have an old trailer. That's not old. Well, yeah, it is old. We bought that white trailer that you may have seen.

It's up here in the parking lot. It moves around a lot. People borrow it.

But anyway, it's got really old lettering, HCV lettering, because we didn't have any money back when we started the church and we put this ugly design on it.

And it's it's cool. It's a trailer. But anyway, I felt like God told me that we're going to use that trailer to make a difference in our community,

that that we're to wrap that trailer in the bright tie dye like our van. Right.

That we're to wrap that trailer in the bright tie dye. I haven't told John Erdly this yet.

So he's probably already like, oh, my gosh, not again.

But I felt like God told me on my walk this week to wrap that trailer in bright tie dye, put our logo on the side of it.

And every first Saturday of the month, go into the community and fix people's houses.

And yeah, I mean, now hear me out.

I felt like God told me that we're supposed to start a first Saturday serve and that I'm supposed to reach out to mayors of local little towns and say, hey, do you know anybody that's in need?

Maybe they're going to get evicted soon, whatever. And we can come in and do some minor repairs.

I'm not talking about extreme house makeover here. OK.

Can we come in and do some minor repairs that will help them not get evicted?

Wouldn't that be cool? And we show up with this trailer and we park it out front. Right.

And it may be empty, but who cares? You know, maybe it's full of tools. I have no idea.

But we begin to just serve our community in a simple, practical way.

Now, my question to you is, do you think we could do that? Do you think we should do that?

So you're telling me that that was from God. Luke, was that from God? OK, thank you.

Luke's not a man of very many words, but when he says yes, it's a yes. OK.

So that means we're going to do it. Is that OK? Can we do that? All right.

So my goal is to have our first Saturday serve by October. OK.

My goal is that we have that thing wrapped, ready to go. And our first Saturday serve,

I'm going to start reaching out to the local mayors in Williamsport and Hagerstown

and just try to get a list of people and maybe some simple needs.

Again, I'm not talking about extreme house makeover.

I'm talking about a first Saturday serve from nine to twelve.

We show up at someone's house, someone that's maybe elderly and they need a ramp built,

and we build a ramp and we're gone by twelve. Does that make a difference in the community?

All right. Now, remember, you were all clapping when that event comes about. OK.

So when that event comes about, I'm going to be like, remember everyone that clapped?

Well, here we go. First Saturday serve. You got to be generous with your time.

Number two, you need to be generous with your talent. Right.

You need to be generous with your talent. Now, I get it.

Many people, when they hear the word talent, they think Simon Cowell.

Immediately they go to, right, they go to American Idol. Why? I can't be on American Idol.

Good. I can't either. Right. I wouldn't attempt to go on American Idol.

I wouldn't attempt to go on America's Got Talent. But I feel I have a talent. Right.

I have a talent and the ability to reach people where they're at and see their lives radically changed.

And you have that same talent. You have that same talent and that same ability to be able to meet people

in your sphere of influence right where they are to meet their needs so that God can use you to supernaturally change people's lives.

How do I know that? Well, the Bible tells me that. Look at 1 Peter 4 10.

God has given each of you. Now you say each of you. Now say me.

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.

Use them well to serve one another. So if you're in a relationship with Jesus, guess what?

You got a talent. God deposited that talent into your heart when you began that relationship.

How are you serving one another? Right. I challenged you last week. Start a group. Right.

As far as I know, one person said, hey, I want to get a group of people together. Right. Which is cool.

There should have been like 12 of you. Right. My point is we've got to continually challenge ourselves to grow.

You've been given a talent, friends. Use it. Teach kids. Teach youth.

Teach people that are struggling in addictions. Show up to the community meal and serve people. Right.

You have a talent and ability, but you got to begin to believe that.

And when you discover it, you got to be generous with it, which leads us to our next step.

We got to be generous with our touch. There's that word touch again. We hit it last week, but I feel it's very, very important.

We all can do this. Everyone take out your cell phone. Everyone take it out. It's okay. I gave you permission.

Take out your cell phone. If you didn't bring it, that's fine. Just pretend you didn't bring it, but many of you did.

Okay. Take out your cell phone. Go to your text messages. Open up your text message.

I don't care if it's Android or Apple. I don't really care what you have. Go to your text messages. Hit plus.

Everyone hit plus. That means you're going to create a new message. Now pick someone. Pick a friend. I don't care who it is.

Pick someone. Pick someone. Doesn't make any difference who it is.

Now just type in there, I am praying for you with an exclamation point.

Now pray for that person. Now don't hit send because it won't go anywhere.

But you can hit send when you leave and you get outside of these steel walls.

Believe me, trust me, you didn't try to hit send. It's not going to go anywhere. I've tried it. Okay. It doesn't go anywhere.

Now look, we just took about two minutes of a Sunday morning gathering, typed up a simple message, I'm praying for you, and it could be,

I'm thinking about you, I love you, you're the best. You could find a scripture on your Bible app and copy it and send it.

There isn't any reason that we're not doing that 10 times a day, true or false. It's just that simple.

And see, that's being generous. There isn't any reason we're not sending a dozen texts every single day to people that are in our sphere of influence,

that are people that are in need, because it encourages people. It brings about hope. It brings about meaning.

Look at Luke 6.38, give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more,

running over and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.

Think about that. I mean, all these people in this room sending out 10, 12, 15 texts a day of encouragement, of love, of happiness,

that's being generous with your touch. You are touching people when you do that.

All right, does it take five minutes of your time? Absolutely, but God wants us to be generous with our time.

Matthew 10, 7 through 8 from the message. Tell them that the kingdom is near.

This is what we're called to do as Jesus followers. Tell the tri-state area, the kingdom is here.

Bring health to the sick, raise the dead, touch the untouchables, kick out the demons.

That's a cool statement, isn't it? Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

I mean, it changes our entire outlook. It changes our entire outlook of how we can make a difference in our local community.

Now, let me give you a bonus. Can I give you a quick bonus? Five simple touches that you can do every single day.

You ready for them? Five simple touches that I believe if you and I do them every single day,

you'll make a difference in your family, you'll make a difference in your friends, your classmates,

you'll make a difference in the Walmart lady as you walk in.

Five simple touches that you do every day, you'll make a difference.

One, smile. Just smile. Just get rid of the frown, man. Just smile.

Even when you're pulling out of a parking lot, just smile. Okay? I know it's hard sometimes.

There's a lot of cars here. It's all good. Just smile.

Number two, sympathize. Listen to someone. Share a hug.

Man, didn't it feel good giving hugs last week? Wow, that felt good.

Like, do it on a daily basis. Smile, sympathize, speak up. What does that mean?

It means like send those texts that I was talking about.

Leave a note behind. Leave a post-it note for your spouse. Right?

Leave a little post-it note on her mirror as she's doing it with a big heart and says,

you're beautiful.

I'm telling you, man, you're going to get back later. Okay? It's worth it. It's worth it.

I mean, the Bible is real. The Bible speaks truth.

Y'all like that? Smile, sympathize, speak up.

Number four, serve. Just serve somewhere.

Find a need, someone that's struggling, and meet it.

Right? Just serve someone. Get outside of yourself.

And number five, sacrifice. You say, sacrifice, Chris, what does that mean?

It means do something that actually costs you something.

Right? So often, we only want to give. We don't want to give until it hurts.

Right? But when it starts hurting, then all of a sudden, that's when change happens.

Right? And for some of you, you need to grow into this.

I want to challenge you right now. I told Rudy I would do this.

There's this class that Rudy's doing starting in August. It actually starts August 1st.

It's the last rock anthem. Okay, we're doing Pink Floyd.

Oh, I can't tell you what song. But anyway, we're going to close out summer jams with Pink Floyd.

Well, on that Sunday, Rudy is going to start a four-week class called Now What?

And you say, well, Chris, what's Now What? It's just learning to follow Jesus in a non-religious way.

It's all it means. It means we're going to take the religion, shake it out of you,

and allow you to just follow Jesus in a real way so that you can help others.

And how Rudy's going to do it, he's going to do it right here on Sunday morning.

So at 9 o'clock, when we start our first gathering, he's going to do the Now What? class

from 9 to 10. And then that way you can do your class and then come to the second gathering.

Hang out with people in the middle and then come to the second gathering.

So we're setting that up for you so it's a means where it's not an extra time away.

It's here on a Sunday morning. And I challenge you, man, get in that class

because you will grow in your relationship with Jesus, which is the most important thing.

Okay, August 1st for four weeks in August. Just go to nowwhat.htv.church.

N-O-W-all one word, now what,.htv.church. Isn't that cool how we have all that?

Man, it's just amazing. Technology just blows my mind.

So we have to be generous with our touch.

The fourth and final thing, you need to be generous with your treasure.

Again, it's a biblical statement, Matthew 6, 19, 21.

Don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroy them

and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven.

The kingdom where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal,

wherever your treasure is there, it is as your heart will also be.

Okay, we're called to give of our treasures. We're called to give to God.

I mean, I'll be honest with you, I shared with you a few weeks ago, we're called to tithe.

I believe in it 100%. How do you give above and beyond that?

What is it that the Holy Spirit is calling you to do?

Write a practical example to give above and beyond.

Some of you are going to go out to lunch today and you're going to enjoy lunch with friends or family

and hang out, you know. Leave a 50% tip with one of our cards.

It gets people's attention, right?

How is God calling you to give above and beyond?

What is he calling you to do in the means of generosity?

2 Corinthians 9, 11.

Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous,

meaning God's not going to let us down.

And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

I mean, again, that's not even, I'm not even talking about finances.

Clean out your closets, clean out your basement, get rid of your storage locker, right?

Because it's not a locker, it's a sea container, right?

Get rid of it, clean it out and give it away.

Like just give it away now.

Friends, there's freedom when we declutter, right?

I shared that a few weeks ago. Just give it away, clean it out.

There's freedom when we declutter.

This week I sent an email out about the rich young ruler, right?

We're all rich young rulers. And what did he do?

He asked Jesus, how do I get to the kingdom of God?

You know what Jesus said? Give it away now.

He answered with a quote from a Red Hot Chili Pepper song,

Jesus rocks on!

Or actually, I should say, Anthony Kiedis quoted Jesus.

But isn't it amazing, and I did some studying of it this week,

there's actually theological discussions about the word it.

There's actually all these different camps about, well, what did Jesus mean by the word it?

Give it away now.

Some people feel that it's okay to have stuff and that God blesses you with things

and give away your leftovers.

Some people believe that.

There's some people that believe that they're really to do nothing with it.

That when Jesus said give it away now, it just means that you just give away things.

But not necessarily your own things.

I don't know what that means, but...

There's some people that just ignore the whole passage altogether

because it hurts too much.

But then there's those in the camp that says, well, when Jesus says give it away,

he means everything.

He means you give everything away.

So you're saying, Chris, does that mean that I give someone the keys to my house and my car?

I hope you hear from God if he tells you to do that.

I'm certainly not going to tell you to do that.

But if God tells you if you have excess and you have six cars

and he tells you to give a car to someone, it's happened to me before.

God's given my family a car before, which is really cool.

So it does happen, but it's all about that excess.

Does that make sense? Like we live in excess.

What I feel Jesus is calling us to do when he says give it away,

it means that we're commanded to give away from our privilege.

We're commanded to give away of our excess.

We're commanded not to focus on our 700 plus credit rating

because it's affecting our ability to give.

We're commanded to give away our perfect image of a family and a lifestyle

so that we can serve others.

We're commanded to give where it causes us pain.

Because what that rich young ruler learned, he said,

well, I follow all the commandments of God, but when Jesus said give it all away,

he turned and walked away because he had so much stuff, because the stuff had him.

So this morning my question to you is, does your stuff have you?

And if it does, we're called to be generous and to give it away.

See, friends, the value of life isn't determined by how much I achieve or accumulate,

but it's of how much of my life I give away.

That is living the life of legacy, and that is what people remember about you.

They'll remember whether you were a taker or a giver.

Can we stand together this morning?

You know, it's truly amazing to me that every single year,

and again, this is the first time we've done this series in four years,

and I've missed it so much, that every single year God can redeem.

God can redeem, I mean, again, a band that doesn't really have much positive to say.

I'll just be honest with you, their lyrics aren't full of a lot of positivity,

but yet we can take one of their songs and redeem it

and challenge ourselves to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

So I just want to, is it okay if I pray a prayer over you this morning?

All I want to do is pray a simple prayer of generosity over you.

That's it. I want our church to be a generous church and generous people.

Remember, the church isn't this building, it's you and me.

So I just want to pray a prayer of generosity over all of us,

that literally God wells up within us a spirit of generosity

that we give and give and give and give so much

that we just see what a multitude of people saved in coming into his kingdom.

And friends, that's the meaning of life, pointing people to the kingdom.

So Holy Spirit come.

God, I just pray for each and every person in this place this morning.

I pray for each and every person that's watching at home online.

And I just pray right now, God, that you would release a spirit of generosity in Jesus' name.

That the spirit of generosity would well up within us, God.

That God, through our generosity, as we give and give and give,

your scripture says that we're going to get back and it's going to be poured into our lap

and it's going to runneth over, God.

I just pray for more and more and more of that generosity

to well up within each and every person.

That God, we truly would be known as a church that is willing to give,

that is willing to serve, that is willing to make a difference.

That this is a place where people can come home in Jesus' name and together we all said, Amen.

All right, before we go, before we go,

if you could all go to that place, no one looking around, if you could go to that place of prayer.

I've been sharing about how, you know,

here Anthony Kittes' girlfriend is speaking biblical truths to him and she didn't even know it.

Well, those biblical truths can come alive in your heart this morning

if you're distant from God, if you've walked away or if you haven't started that relationship yet.

So if you're here this morning, no one looking around,

this is a private matter between you and God and we're not going to have you come forward,

we're not going to make you stand up, we're not going to make you say anything,

we're just going to pray a simple prayer together.

Is there anybody here that needs to recommit their life or start a life with Jesus this morning?

Just slip your hand up right now. Is there anybody here?

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.

Hey, we all pray this prayer together. We're a family this morning, you know that.

Jesus, I'm a broken person, full of sin, doubt, shame and negativity.

I need you. I believe you're God's son. I believe you died for me.

I make you Lord of my life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

Make me new. Allow me to change others.

In Jesus' name, we all said together, Amen, Amen. God bless you guys.

Now listen, you know the drill, right? If you prayed that prayer, there it is.

Text change me all one word as Dara said to 970000.

And before we go, before we go, as a lasting memory of our song this morning,

can we all stay together, give it away now, can we all do it on three?

Ready? One, two, three.

Amen.