The Way: RLC Values (5- We Live to Give)

We're going to jump into this series because one of the things I have loved about this particular series is it gives us an opportunity to talk about how one of the things I love about Bowling Green the most is when I first moved here, I didn't realize not only was I not from here, but nobody else was from here.

I mean, it was like six months before I found somebody who was born and raised in Bowling Green.

Like we're from all over the place because of so many reasons we move in, and so we started to notice, my wife and I, a lot of different people from different places, who there were so many things that were local to where we were from but made us so very different.

And we've been talking about that Like you can tell where somebody's from based on certain things or just certain things about them, and so I've been doing some of these.

Here's some for you today, and that is this that if you're happy today, that means your team won yesterday, okay, and so I don't wanna talk about it.

Or some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Or I saw a great meme that said it was someone just kind of dancing in the field and it was like this is me not caring about sports.

Okay, so you're happy either if your team won, which mine didn't, or you just don't care about sports.

And officially, today I no longer care about sports.

It's fine, all right.

How about this one?

If you say bless your heart as an insult, you're probably from the South.

Now, those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm letting, I'm letting y'all know some top secret stuff here.

Okay, but where I come from in the South, bless your heart has like 30 different meanings and like one of them is a good thing, okay.

And so listen, I'm just gonna tell you this, and don't you tell them where you got it from.

But if someone from the South says bless your heart, don't automatically think they are blessing your life and all things that pertain to you.

They could be saying something really bad, but saying something really bad.

But if you say bless your heart as really a catch-all phrase, you're from the South.

And here's this one Like literally you can tell what region of the country, maybe even what state, you are from, depending on if you say soda pop or Coke, and I didn't notice this until I moved here, but there are some people I kind of like from the West, or all the way from the East, rather from the West.

You say soda, would you like some soda?

Some people say soda water.

I don't know who you are, but I've heard that before.

I've heard a few people say pop.

How many pops do we have up in it?

Yeah, mostly the Midwesterners.

And then if you go anywhere South of like the Kentucky Tennessee line, you stop at any restaurant and they say what kind of Coke would you like?

They and they say what kind of Coke would you like?

They could be talking about Dr Pepper, sprite, pepsi, it doesn't really matter, it's all really Coke for them.

And you can kind of just understand that.

I remember the first time we had some folks over our house and we said what kind of Coke do you want?

And everyone looked at us as though, well, I mean, I guess I'll take it like iced.

They had no idea because they all said soda or something like that.

And so you can kind of tell a lot about people based on, a lot of times, their characteristics, right, and that's kind of the idea that we've been talking about.

Is the question we've been working with is what are some characteristics or values that make us recognizable as followers of the way.

What is it that?

If somebody saw us, they saw how we were living our life, the things that we were doing, the way we were processing our life they would say, wow, I can tell they must be followers of the way Jesus called himself from the book of John, the way, the truth and the life.

I can tell by the way they are processing life, by the way they're doing things.

They are followers of the way, which is what we're supposed to do Because, like, our mission statement as a church comes from Matthew 28,.

That says Jesus said go and make disciples.

Somebody say make disciples, that's what we do of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and the Holy spirit.

And then he says teach these new disciples to obey all, say all, all the commands that I have given you, and, be sure of this, I'm going with you.

So, in other words, our job is to make disciples.

So what does that look like?

Is that we teach them to act like the way Jesus acts, what he does, characteristics that would fall into the kingdom of God.

And so if we were to take all of that into one big phrase we've been talking about this.

What does it mean to make disciples and that is the way of a disciple is all of Christ in all of life.

Like if you were to sum up that entire verse, jesus said go into all the world and help people orient their life in such a way so that they have all of Christ in all of life, to which we go.

Cool, but how do we do that?

Like?

What does that look like?

If I were to see someone walking down the street, how would I know that they are orienting their life in such a way that it is all of Christ and all of life?

And that's what we've been doing over the course of this series.

We've been talking about kind of the values that we at RLC have so that we can have all of Christ in all of our life, and we've been building one on top of the other, like we love God, and that helps us to see people, then it helps us to want to make everything better, and then we can choose joy that Brandon Gillum talked about so well this past Sunday.

And so now the next one, which is the obvious next step, is what does it look like to be all of Christ and all of life, in every area of life, and to realize this is one.

Now, if some of these were different, this one right here is the one that is the most different than what we will see in our life in other places.

As a matter of fact, there was a place in the gospel of Matthew that Jesus was talking to his disciples and he was saying you got to understand that being in the kingdom of God, being a leader, being someone who makes a difference in the kingdom of God, looks completely different.

The goal is completely different than any other area in our life.

And, as a matter of fact, they were actually talking about who was greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And he said I know that in the kingdoms of this world, they try to lord over each other and try to get ahead in every possible way.

But then he said this.

He said but among you it will be different.

As a matter of fact, it's going to be upside down to what the world says.

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

So, in other words, he's saying there is another step to this, that if you want to be all of Christ and all of life, that means that you're going to live a life that's going to look completely different from exactly what other people will tell you to do.

Basically, what he was saying through this is he's saying the human nature is to climb higher to only the best matters, to achieve more to take, and really the reason behind it is a place of insecurity.

It's a place where we look at this and we go I don't know if I have enough, so I must constantly get more and more and more, so that my life will matter.

But in the kingdom of God he says that our job is to serve more, to help more, to honor more, to give.

Why?

Because our reasoning is from a place of confidence.

It's because God is already enough that I don't live a life of insecurity and a life of needing from other things in order to make a difference or to matter, but from the confidence of who I am, in Christ, I can step in to be a blessing, not just receive a blessing.

And so what he was telling them and this is the fifth mark of a disciple, as we're getting ready to kind of end our series is that the fifth mark of a disciple is that we live to give At the fifth mark.

One more mark of what it is to live the kingdom life in the world around us is that we live a life of generosity.

And the goal of this value is to live a life full of seeing God's miracles, seeing God do amazing things all around us because of what he's doing in us.

And I just got to go ahead and tell you this message is really for two different types of people.

Number one is it's someone who's already living a life of generosity, and so this is just an encouragement to you to say, man, you're doing so great and proud of you and let's keep going.

And for others, you've never really heard a message about generosity, and so it's a message of really inviting you into a journey, and that is that once we love God, then from a healthy place of our love for God, it compels us to then open our eyes and see people.

And then once we see people, man, we want to make it better, we want to make a difference in our world, and then we have to choose joy, because that gets really hard from time to time, but then, because we choose joy, we're able to look at our world and look and say, god, how can I make a difference?

How can I use what you've given me and how can I live a life that is being generous toward other people?

And there's so many different ways you can do this, but I would say the three top ways I've seen that can really make a difference in living a life of generosity are these, and that is three ways we can live generously is through our time, our talent and our treasure.

The three main ways that we can see God's miracles in our life because we are living generously is through our time, through our talent and through our treasure, and all of these are important.

I want you to look at your neighbor and say all three are important.

That was terrible, okay.

Look at somebody else and say all three are important.

That was better, by the way.

Also, I can't hardly hear you because I got two in-ears in today and so, if it is better, I still can't tell Okay.

So one more time, look at somebody else and say it really is, all three are important.

Okay, I heard that one that time.

Okay, good, yeah, pray for me, all right, but here's the thing All three are important, but can we just be really honest, cause, like we, we go to real life church.

Let's be really real for a moment that If I were to say, man, we need to honor God with our talents, you would say but if I said we need to honor God with our money, you would say exactly yes.

Therefore, therefore, here's the thing is that we love talking to God about time because we need some more.

You know, we have talking to God about our talents because we got some, but when it comes to our treasure, we're like, ah, come on, let's move to another week.

Therefore, I feel like that if we know how to honor God with our treasure, we're automatically going to be better at honoring God with our talent and with our time.

We work on the hardest one and we're going to be able to work on the rest.

And I can tell you if you need to work on honoring God with your money, as soon as I said we're going to talk about honoring God with our finances.

If you went, this message is for you, right, like, literally, who is this message for?

If you thought, yes, finally, this message is for you.

But if you said oh no, I didn't even go to the bathroom.

And then the bathroom you think it's this way instead of that way, right, so you can get out of here?

All right, this message is definitely for you, because my hope is is that this is a life-giving, encouraging message to help us understand that we can live to give.

But it is so much different than the way our culture sees it, and the reason why we struggle so much with this is because nothing fights for our hearts as much as our finances.

There's so many things that will fight for our heart, but our finances are meant to be a tool, but it tries to be our God, because we will spend all of our money trying to get what only God can provide.

We'll try to get our significance, our security and our acceptance all from God, all from our money, when instead only God can provide it and it doesn't stay there, like when we decide we're going to put God first and everything else second and money second.

It like will stay there for like a weekend, but as soon as something happens, it wants to fight constantly for that and therefore we have to talk about it and if you've ever struggled with that and say, well, I mean that's fine and all, but that's not easy, don't worry.

You're not the first person to struggle with that, me neither.

As a matter of fact, there's a story in the old Testament where they were really upset with God because they thought well, god, you should be blessing me in my finances, but it seems like all of my world has fallen apart.

There was a time in the book of Malachi when the nation of Israel they had been, they had been conquered and they'd been deported into another area for 70 years.

After 70 years, they come back to the land of Israel and their homes, their land, everything is just in a wreck Like it is.

It is horrible, like they've got everything's grown over, just the crops are bad, everything.

So they have to start over and rebuild their lives from scratch.

And so they're trying to do that, trying to honor God as best they can.

And then a famine comes, and a famine is not a good day for many of us, but for them it was devastating, because if their crops don't come in, they starve to death.

And so they're going.

God, you promised us once upon a time in the book of Deuteronomy, way back before we came to this land, you were going to bless us.

But here we are in this land and we're all about to die, and so what exactly is going on here?

So the great thing is is we actually get a recording of the conversation that God is having to the people, and he says this.

He says I am the Lord and do not change.

That is why you have not already been destroyed.

So he starts off with saying don't forget who you're talking to.

Like I'm for you, like I love you.

Ever since the day of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them.

Now, return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of heaven's armies.

But you ask how can we return when we have never gone away?

Should people cheat God?

Yet you have cheated me.

But you ask wait a minute here.

What do you mean?

When have we ever cheated you?

You have cheated me of the tithes and the offerings due to me.

Therefore, you're under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.

So bring all the tithes, say all, bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be enough food in my temple.

If you do, says the Lord of heaven's armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you, and I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in.

Try it.

Put me to the test.

Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.

Your grapes will not fall from.

In Malachi 6 are saying so where is this blessing that?

All the way back in Deuteronomy 28, you said you promised us God, before we ever got here, that you will bless us so that we could be a blessing.

You said that God.

But here we are.

Our land is absolutely devastated and we're about to starve to death, like, financially, we're in ruins.

So where did that come from?

And so God actually says well, actually it says, if you obey me, I will bless you so that you can be a blessing.

So actually, I have got all of this blessing that I want to give you so that you can live to give.

I want you to be able to see my miracles all the time.

However, there is a premise to my blessing and if you want to be in on it, you have a part to play in the process.

And so many times we don't experience the blessing of God in our life because we're not living to give.

We're not living to be generous in all of our life.

And he's saying what you're not doing that's causing the problem is you are not giving God your tithe.

Now, what is a tithe?

A tithe is when we give 10% of what we receive as an act of worship.

That is what a tithe is, and tithing actually begins all the way back in the book of Genesis.

Then it was added into the law, then it was ratified in the New Testament.

It's all throughout the Bible that he said literally I'm going to bless you with everything you have.

You keep 90, but bring back 10 to me as a blessing.

And I think that that's beautiful because it's just enough that you feel it Like.

It's not like just throwing a dollar in the offering plate.

It's just enough money that you have to go.

Okay, yes, god, it is all yours, I'm going to bring it back to you.

Wouldn't it have been terrible if God asked for 90 and told us we'd keep 10?

Like, wait a minute now.

But he said no, no, no, literally, I just want to make sure that I stay number one in your heart.

So just enough that you feel it.

And he says if you do, watch what I can do.

I've got so many adventures I want to do in your life.

I've got so many blessings that I want to give you in your life, but I want you to be part of the process.

I want you to live with your eyes wide open to be a blessing, and when you do that, you realize that you are now part of what I'm trying to do.

And so the question of the day is why is living to give so important in our lives?

And I'm going to tell you one of the main reasons why, and that is this I hear people say I want to see God's miracles, I want to be used by God.

I hear people say that all the time and from a wonderful heart, I want to see God do something amazing.

But then I start asking the question well, are you serving God with your time?

No, are you serving God in your talents?

No, are you serving God with your treasure?

Absolutely not.

I don't know what to tell you.

Like, you may see someone else be used in a miracle and God do something in somebody else's life, but you're going to struggle with seeing God do something in your life, because God has said if you will give to me all of Christ and all of life, and if you will serve me with your time, with your talent, with your treasure, give to me what already belongs to me anyway.

Watch what I can do.

And so that is my hope today is no condemnation on you, none of that, but to invite you to something that is absolutely amazing that if you live to give because of your love for God and because you see people and because you want to make it better, and you choose joy and you decide to live a life of generosity, you get to just walk around with your eyes wide open waiting to see God do something amazing, because you've now given him something to work with.

And I'm telling you that all three are important, but I feel like if we get this hard one right, if we talk about this one, the other two will naturally follow, and so I want to take this scripture and just show with you, really quickly, three promises that God gives us.

That if we will bring to God our tithe, that we will reorient our lives and say God, the first 10% of what I bring is all yours anyway, but the first 10% of what I bring I'm going to give to you as an act of worship.

He says watch what I will do.

I will use you to do amazing things in the lives of others.

Here's three things he promises.

He promises that generosity gives us the opportunity to see God do the impossible through our possible.

Look at somebody and say the impossible.

When is the last time you saw God do something that you couldn't explain?

You're like that has to be a miracle.

Why?

Because I didn't do that.

I have no idea how God did that.

I have no idea how all of that worked out.

There's no way that was a coincidence.

There were too many things that happened.

Well, was it because you actually honored God and then he was able to use you to be a miracle for somebody else?

This is what he promises.

He says bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there'll be enough food in my temple.

And then he says if you do, somebody say if.

If you do, says the Lord of heaven's armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you.

I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in.

And then he says try it, put me to the test, I will do it Now.

Remember they're in a horrible famine.

This famine is so bad.

And you can see it in another guy which, by the way, if you're looking for a name for your baby, haggai, that is the name of another prophet in the Old Testament.

Haggai was around about the same time as Malachi, or, by the way, I have to say, some people say the Italian name Malachi.

Okay, that is another possibility there.

All right, but both of these guys were saying there is a horrible famine in the land and it's like threatening to destroy everything and they're kind of going okay, we got to figure out why.

And it's Malachi who says the reason why is because God's blessing isn't on us, because we are not honoring him with our finances.

And God says if you do, I'm going to work a miracle, because I don't know about you, I can't stop a famine, I can't stop all of the things that's going on, but God says I can.

And so if you want to release the miracles of God and the people around you, then you go first and watch what I can do.

And I love how he said literally it's one of the only places in the Bible where God literally says try it, put me to the test, try me To, which every parent knows the way God is saying this Because there's two different ways you can say this as a parent.

One is an invitation and one is a threat.

You ever had like a long day and not any of your kids.

Okay, let me talk about my kids.

I have had a long day and I have already told my children over and over again to do things and they haven't done them.

And then, finally, there's one more thing they're about to do and I just say try me, test me and see if I will not open up the windows of wrath upon you.

Okay, that is what I say.

Okay, and that's not what this is talking about.

On the other side, how many of you have have people in your family who are absolutely certain they don't like things they haven't actually eaten, they've never had it before, but they are certain that it's no good?

And that's when you go up to them and you say try me and see if I will not open up the windows of heaven.

Like, if you will just try this chocolate cake, the Lord will change your life.

But you got to try me.

And that is exactly what God is saying is he is saying, if you will just try me and see what's what I will do.

And he's saying I've been.

What I'm saying is I'm wanting to do what I promised you so long ago.

Because back in Deuteronomy he said you will experience all these blessings.

If somebody say, if, if you will obey the Lord, your God, your towns and fields, your children, your crops, your offspring of your herds and flocks, your fruit baskets, even your breadboards will be blessed.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, I am going to bless you so that you can be a blessing.

And so he's saying that this lifestyle of generosity is so very different than the lifestyle of the world that says consume and get, and the more you get, the more you have.

The lifestyle of the kingdom of heaven says where can I give?

What can I do?

Because the more I give and the more I serve and the more I do for others, the more miracles I see God working in my life.

And we have to constantly course correct, because we live in this world but we're not supposed to be of it.

Where God challenges us to see the miracles of God.

In the kingdom of God, we don't see how much we can grab.

We see how much we can give and watch what God does.

Because the thing is is that God will often put us in impossible situations so that we can see his miracles Like.

One of my favorite examples of this is one of the stories of the ministry of Jesus that's told in all four gospels is a time when there were 5,000 people around him.

Now, 5,000 people back then was like Jesus walking around with a town the size of Nashville.

Okay, I mean it was.

It was a whole lot of people, because that's a town the size of Nashville.

Okay, I mean it was a whole lot of people, because that's just counting like heads of family.

So by the time you're finished counting wives and children, it could have been between 10 to 15,000 people following Jesus.

I got this picture of him just doing this and everybody else just nucleus, everyone's around him.

And so they've been with him now for days and they're way out where there's no McDonald's, not even a Bucky's can reach out there.

You know, I mean they're out there in the middle of nowhere and the disciples are saying this is impossible, like we're not gonna be able to feed these people.

Some of these people have come so far they may not make it back home.

And then look what Jesus says.

He says this isn't necessary for you to send them away.

You feed them and they say this.

They say but we only have five loaves of bread and two fish.

You know what I love about that Is they didn't say there's no way.

No, how they didn't say this is impossible.

They say this is all we have.

So they did their possible, they brought him what they had.

And Jesus didn't say you do see, there's 5,000 plus out here, and you brought me a couple of fish sandwiches.

What exactly am I supposed to do with this?

No, he said, is that what you have?

Yes, then that's enough, because God plus anything equals a majority.

And so the Bible said that he told the people to sit down on the grass and Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and he looked up toward heaven and he blessed them.

Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people and they all ate as much as they wanted.

And listen, after this, the disciples picked up 12 baskets full of leftovers.

Five loaves and two fish would have probably barely covered the bottom of one basket, but they had so much that they actually had 12 left over.

And what was amazing is is.

God didn't ask them to do the impossible, to show them what they couldn't do.

He put them in an impossible situation so they could see what God could do.

And so many times God will put us in hard places where we're having to be faithful.

We don't always want to be faithful.

We have to trust him when it's hard to trust him, not because God's trying to see us suffer.

He doesn't want to see all that kind of stuff.

He wants us to be able to see what he can do, and so our job is not to try to work out the impossible.

Our job is to bring to him what we have and say God, I don't have much, but little as much when God is in it and I'm going to bring to you what I have.

And when we do that, we watch God do amazing things, and so the journey I invite you to about living a life of generosity is that we're able to literally live with our eyes wide open and to say God, I don't know what you're going to do, I don't know where you're going to do it.

I just know that if I will live generously, I can see you do impossible things through my possible.

My question for you is do you have impossible things in your life?

The question would be then are you living your life in such a way by honoring God with your time, your talent and your treasure, all of God in all of life, so that you are positioning yourself for God to do miracles?

If you are, wait and see, watch what God will do.

My hope for us at Real Life Church is that we would walk around with our eyes wide open, going I can't wait to see a miracle today, because I know that God is moving and he's doing impossible things through my possible.

Look at your neighbor and say that's just good, preaching right there.

Go ahead and tell them Of course it is.

That's good, because God not only does impossible things through our possible.

Here's a second one, and that is that he guards our hearts from future fear.

Praise the Lord, don't we need that?

That he guards our heart because he realizes that he can do the impossible with our possible.

But on the inside, sometimes the hardest thing for us to deal with is the monster of what, if I mean God's with us right now, but what about tomorrow?

What about next Tuesday?

What about a little further down the road?

We struggle with that so many times because we struggle to figure out how we're going to fix it.

But look what God says.

He says if you will bring all of the tithes into the storehouse try it, put me to the test your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease, and your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe.

Now, for those of us who don't live on a farm, we don't understand what's going on here.

But one of the things that you had to be careful with is that, when a famine would be over, when all the rain would come, to be careful with is that, when a famine would be over, when all the rain would come, so would the insects, and then so would the locusts, and so would the diseases, because now, all of a sudden, they're kind of getting a little bit of life again.

And then, when the rain would come if it came continually, once the grapes started to grow, the rain could actually knock it off, not knock the grape clusters off and then ruin it.

So a good thing could then become a bad thing.

And so what God is saying is is not only am I going to bring that back into your life, but also, what I'm going to do is I'm going to guard the future so that, no matter what happens, no matter where things go, what I'm going to be able to do is I'm going to be able to continue to watch over you, even after I start doing blessings in your life, and one of the things that God wants to tell us is that he wants to continue to bless us even after some of those negative times.

That's what Deuteronomy says.

He says the Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you.

They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven, and there's two promises here.

We like the second promise, but there's two promises, and that is number one is that bad times will come.

Somebody say amen.

Unfortunately, he's promising that I'm going to conquer enemies, which means enemies be a coming right, like they're going to come, but they're not going to win.

That's the amazing thing is that enemies will come, but I can have a confidence that, no matter what they come with, no matter where they come from, no matter what happens, they're not going to win.

And so the reality is is that live to give.

Attitude is not the absence of problems, it's the presence of confidence in God.

That is what a live to give attitude does.

That's how it guards our hearts is.

Number one is we realize that when we honor God, we now become part of what he does, when he is working out all of his will in this world.

And so I realized that he takes my possible and he does the impossible.

But then also he gives me this confidence that when I'm trusting God and I'm doing what God has called me to do, it doesn't mean that problems aren't going to come.

It just means, when they come, god doesn't go, that he's there the whole time.

And honestly, that was one of the big things that Jesus was trying to share with the people.

Back in Matthew, chapter five, six and seven, he is in front of these people that they are heavily under Roman rule.

They have to pay absorbent taxes that are really just destroying their livelihoods, and then on top of that there are all these other taxes that they have to pay for that is just destroying them.

And then, on top of that, they live in a hand-to-mouth kind of culture.

And I don't know about you guys, but most people I talk to like if you had to, you could live a week or two out of what's probably in your house right now.

Now it might be Jello and toothpicks, you know, by the end of the end of week two, but you would live, you know.

But these people don't do that.

The only food they have is what they're able to go gather for most of them, and so they're literally in the moment where, if God doesn't do something every day, they're in trouble.

That's why the Lord's prayer was give us today our daily bread.

But when he's talking to these people who could so easily be filled, talking to these people who could so easily be filled not with the future of my 10 year plan, but the future of next week's meal, jesus tells them this.

He says this is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink or clothes to wear.

Isn't life more than food and your body more than clothing?

Look at the birds.

They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them, and aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

These things dominate the thoughts of those who don't trust God, unbelievers.

But your heavenly father already knows all your needs.

So seek the kingdom of God above all else.

Seek to love God, to see people, to make it better, to choose joy, to live, to give.

Seek God and all those things and live after him and he will give you everything you need.

It's the idea of what would you do if you knew that the king of all the universe was watching over you and he was watching over you, that no matter what you got into, no matter what happened, no matter what enemies came, he was there with you and therefore that doesn't mean the enemies are not going to come.

It just means they're not going to win.

They're going to have their moment.

It's going to look difficult sometimes.

They're going to have a time where you go hey, that was a good move by you, but at the end of the day, the Lord always wins.

And when we realize that if I'm in the hands of God, then there's peace in my soul.

Then I can realize that when things go wrong, we don't wonder if God is faithful.

We cannot wait to see how he will be faithful and work through us in the process.

Almost a spiritual swagger that we have to go.

It's not because of who I am.

It's because of who Christ is in me, and I know that I'm able to do all things because of Christ, and so, therefore, I live to give.

I'm part of something bigger than myself, and I get to see God's miracles happen today because I'm part of what God is doing.

And I get to see God's miracles happen today because I'm part of what God is doing, so I'm gonna be able to see, no matter what happens.

When I honor God with my time, with my talent, with my treasure, I'm gonna see how he is gonna take impossible things and he's gonna do impossible things with them, because I'm gonna give him what I can, and then I'm gonna watch him as he takes those things, and then he encourages my heart and he keeps me from being afraid.

And then here's the third one, and this is the main one, and that is he is then showing himself through us that we can live with our eyes wide open and go, god, how can I be your hands and feet today and to realize this is completely opposite from what the world teaches us all the time.

As a matter of fact, just this morning, I got on YouTube because I was an idiot, you know, because you know you're on YouTube and all of a sudden you know, you see, oh, I forgot we lost the game yesterday because everybody's talking about it right now.

That was my problem.

But I got on there and the first video I saw was if you want to get ahead, think about yourself.

If you want to get ahead, you put yourself first.

And I was like, yeah, that's what the world teaches you.

But if you want to get ahead in the kingdom of God, think about Jesus, think about how to honor him and watch what God will do with our time, with our talent and with our treasure.

And the whole point of this is because we then get to be the example of Christ to everyone around us.

He said this.

He said bring all your tithes into the storehouse.

I will pour out a blessing, I'm gonna end the famine.

Watch what I can do.

And then he says this then all the nations will call you blessed, for your land will be a delight.

And he's saying all the people will see what I do and it will turn their attention toward me.

It's what he said in Deuteronomy a long time ago.

It says if you obey my commands that the Lord of your God has given you, and walk in his ways, then the Lord will establish you as his own holy people, as he swore that he would do, and then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord and they will stand in awe.

The amazing thing is that God gives us the opportunity to do is.

All the way back in the book of Genesis, god was talking to Abraham and he said I want to show the world who I am through you.

Therefore, I'm going to bless you and that through you, all the world will be blessed, so that when people went and saw Abraham and saw how blessed he was, they would say how did you get like that Perfect?

Let me tell you about Yahweh and what God wants to do in our lives is that when we live to give and people see us giving of our time, giving of our talent, giving of our treasure, and they go, man, why is it that it seems like every time you're around, god's doing something, that God's making a difference, that all these things are happening?

Then go'll tell you about my Jesus and what a wonderful opportunity that we have, that we get to be the catalyst that God uses to be a miracle in somebody else's life, but we don't get to do that just by living a a gimme kind of lifestyle, but it's when we live a give through me, jesus lifestyle.

And one of the ways you get to see this the most and it's it's one of my favorite stories in the book of Mark is what we're actually going to be reading tomorrow, and that is that if you are with us, you've been reading God's word with us.

We're reading God's word one chapter at a time, and we started the book of Mark today, and I love the book of Mark so much.

So there's four gospels and Matthew and Luke start with like the birth narrative of Jesus.

You know, john starts with in the beginning, mark starts with well, you know, the other day he just jumps right into it, which and you know the reason why is because, according to church history, you know, peter was the one that all of these stories came from.

So, according to church history, what happened is around about the middle of the book of Acts, when you start hearing it talk about Paul.

You know Peter didn't die.

He went to Rome, and he goes to Rome, but he's a fisherman from Galilee and so he would have known how to speak Greek, but he wouldn't have been great at it, most likely.

And so he took a young guy named Mark who was fluent in Greek, and Mark was his interpreter.

And so can you imagine seeing, you know, peter, up there in front of all these people and he says let me tell you about Jesus, let all these people.

And he says let me tell you about Jesus, let's just get started.

And Mark is interpreting and then later, inspired of the Holy Spirit, he's writing so much of it down, and so these stories are coming from Peter, and Peter just gets down to business.

That's what he does.

And what I love is in chapter two we're going to read this tomorrow there's a moment that I think talks about living to give more than any other, and that is this that the Bible says that Jesus had went into a house.

Now, we don't know how many people were following Jesus at this point.

Let's say it was half of 5,000.

So there's at least 2,500 people trying to get in this house.

So they're everywhere, they're all over the place, and at some point there was this group of guys who heard Jesus.

We don't know exactly what happened, but you imagine them kind of slowly.

You ever been in a crowd and you're slowly trying to find your way through everything and you're kind of oh, excuse me, you know, and you finally get into where you're supposed to be.

Well, in my imagination they finally kind of squirmed their way into the house to hear Jesus.

And they hear him talking like something they never heard before, the amazing words of life, amazing that this must be God.

There's something special about this Jesus.

And then at some point they thought of their friend.

We don't know his name, we're going to name him Joe.

They thought about Joe.

Yeah, I sure wish Joe was here.

Well, the problem is Joe's paralyzed.

What else thinks to be Joe?

Let's keep listening.

Right, got my notes, but at some point they go wait a minute, this isn't just for us.

If Joe could get here and he could hear the words of Jesus, we could change his life the way it changes ours.

Yeah, but Joe's paralyzed.

Yeah, I wish he could get here.

Wait a minute, we're not paralyzed.

We can't heal Joe to get him here.

But what can we do?

Well, there's four of us.

One of us grabbed each side of his bed.

We can get Joe here.

What if Joe don't want to get here?

Remember, he's paralyzed.

We can get him here.

Okay.

And so the Bible says is that they are wanting to bring our friend Joe to Jesus.

Just instead of staying where they were, they decided to live out, live generosity out loud, gave up what they wanted so they could go find him.

But now here's the problem you can't get back in again.

Well, we're going to call these guys roofers for Jesus.

You know, roofers with faith.

Because they realized wait a minute, this house is made out of wood and like mud, so we could kick it in if we wanted to.

And that's exactly what they do.

They go and they make a hole for poor Joe, who I hope he wanted to be there okay, because he's there, whether he wants to be or not.

And they are lowering him down.

And can you imagine that moment when Joe's halfway in the air I hope Jesus is like cool with this or this is going to be real awkward for all of us, you know.

And they're lowering him down and at some point there it's just the point of no return.

And you'd imagine these guys' hearts.

If I can just get Joe to Jesus, if I can just put him in that place, and I love this.

Look at what happens.

The Bible says seeing their faith, not just Joe's faith, but seeing the faith of these guys.

Jesus said to the paralyzed man, said to Joe, my child, your sins are forgiven.

And then, about three verses later, he also heals his body.

And you know what I love about that.

We have no idea who these guys are, but their generosity continues to speak for generations, because they were willing to say I'm not going to stop, I'm going to take what I have, I'm going to do the possible and I'm going to trust God to do the impossible.

I don't know what's going to happen once we get Joe there, but I trust God, so I'm going to let him.

I'm going to let him take care of the future.

I'm going to take care of just getting Joe to the place.

And then God used their simple faith, the generosity that they had to get Joe to Jesus, and Jesus did the rest.

That, to me, is the most wonderful miracle that we get to be part of is that when we love God and because of that he helps us to see people, and then when we see people, we want to make a difference, we choose joy, and then we have our eyes open, living to give everywhere around us, we get to be part of the people that get to carry Joe to Jesus, like there's nothing greater in life.

There's only one thing better than receiving, and that's giving, being the part of somebody else's miracle.

And so that's my hope for you today is that you would take the challenge, you would join the journey of giving, living to give with your time, with your talent and with your treasure.

And if you can do it with your treasure, you can do it with the rest.

And so let me give you three action steps and we're going to pray and that is this if you've never really taken the step to give to God with your time, your talent, your treasure, let me give you three things, because what the enemy will do is the enemy will tell you you can't do anything or he'll make you feel guilty for not doing everything.

So here's the, here's the step one I would tell you.

That is number one start slow and grow.

When it comes to your time, start slow when it comes to your talent, start slow when it comes to your treasure, start slow If you've never given to God before.

And the Bible says to bring all your tithe, 10% of what you have, to the Lord every week, and you go, pastor.

I ain't never done that at all.

Well then, grow into it, make a plan, but you know.

What's going to happen, though, is, if you schedule it, watch what God will do.

It's amazing how many miracles God works when we schedule him into our lives and we do it on purpose.

And so you say you know what I'm going to start with.

I'm going to give to God 5%.

Next month, I'm going to do six.

Next month I'm going to do seven, and you just slowly work your way into honoring God and watch what God will do.

It's one of the only places in the Bible where he says try me, try it, you'll love it, because you'll see me do amazing things in your life.

Same thing with time, same thing with talent.

Number two is to see generosity as an act of worship.

Got to tell you, I tell the people who, the wonderful people who do announcements for us which, by the way, as an honor to our team who does announcements, when they get up to give announcements, that does not mean you're dismissed.

Some of y'all know exactly what I'm talking about.

I know we have a line in our Kids Life area and you think, well, if I get there, I'll get my kids 30 seconds quicker.

I know that and that is true.

But when they get up here they're nervous enough without seeing you walk away, right.

And so they're up here and they're just kind of talking about different things.

Like we have serve day coming up, a serve week coming, which is gonna be amazing.

You need to be part of serve week.

It's gonna be just so much fun to serve others with our time, talent and our treasure.

It's gonna be great.

But one of the things I tell them to do is never say it's time for us to take up the offering.

And they still do, because it takes time to get it in your mind, it in your mind, but we don't take anything from you.

We receive your offering as you worship because we see generosity and, however you are generous as an act of worship, and so we aren't taking anything from you.

Instead, we receive as we worship together.

And then here's the third one.

This is a secret, and that is write down what God does A gratitude journal.

So many times we get so focused on the next mountain that we forget about the one God just brought us over, and so we start thinking about the next one and the next one, and we think and sometimes that's why, when we look back behind us, we go God, why haven't you done anything in my life?

But if we write it down, we start to notice.

Wait a minute, I got a chance to be part of that miracle and a part of that miracle and I got to watch do that in that person's life, and I got to do that over there.

And all of a sudden you start to realize God, you're everywhere, I just didn't notice.

And you start doing these things.

And it's amazing what God will do, as we have all of Christ and all of our life.

And we do that by starting off with loving God and then, from our love for God, we see people.

Then, as we see people, man, we live to make it better and make a difference in people's life, and then, along the way, we choose joy.

And then we live a life with our eyes wide open, living to give, to watch God do miracles.

And here's the promise that God has for us and we're going to pray.

He says remember this a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop.

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 or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully, and God will generously provide all you need, and then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others, and I love this.

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

You know, what I love about that is that requires of us some faith.

It requires of us to go first.

It requires of us to trust God and then we get to see what God does.

I don't know about you, but I love to live the life, to say God you show me everything you're going to do and then I'll trust you.

God says no, no, I'm in charge, and you have to trust me and watch what I will do.

But when we do, when we live our life like that, it's amazing what we can see God do, and there's so many different ways.

It's got nothing to do with finances.

That's why I want to say that when we serve God through our time, through our talent and our treasure, we can see God do amazing things.

And this is my hope for you.

I want you and I want me and I want all of us at RLC to live with our eyes wide open so we can see the miracles of God happening.

This is what I believe.

I believe that God is doing amazing things all over the place, all the time.

I believe none of the gifts of the Spirit have left us, but God is doing amazing things continually in the kingdom of God.

It's just so many times we get so wrapped up in our world and our things and our problems that we don't see what's happening everywhere else.

But we lift our eyes and we stop living according to you know, to consume, to grab, to get, to climb over all that stuff, because that comes from a position of insecurity, but instead we live to give, we live to help, we live to serve, we live to say how can I double someone's joy, cut their sorrow in half, how can I live to be generous?

Then we open our eyes to see that God's doing amazing things everywhere and that we get the opportunity to be part of it.

That's my hope for you.

And so what is it that holds you back?

I don't know what it is, but maybe, as we've been talking about this and you've been thinking, yeah, I would love to be more generous with my time, my talent, my treasure, whatever which one of those that really God's speaking to you the most.

I would love to.

But whatever that is, in just a moment the band's going to give us an opportunity to worship with a final song and have an opportunity to bring that to God.

I don't know.

Maybe it's a conversation you need to have.

Maybe it's a reorienting of your life a little bit to make space to give of your time.

I don't know what that would be, but God never intended for you to do any of it alone, but actually he wants to have an amazing journey with you, and so in just a moment you're going to have an opportunity to pray and say God, I'm bringing this to you, help me to take that next step.

Maybe you're in here and that's not it at all for you.

What is that for you is?

When you hear about living a life so that other people can see Christ in you, you realize you don't have Christ in you.

You don't know what it is to trust God with all of your life and all of your heart.

And we talk about all of Christ and all of life.

If you're honest, that's not your life, can I tell you.

I'm so glad you're here today because it is my honor to tell you that God has not given up on you.

God's not mad at you, he's in love with you, and I think maybe the whole reason you're here today is for somebody to tell you God's never going to give up, he's never going to give in, but he will pursue you all the days of your life.

You've been running long enough.

You've been trying everything your own way enough.

I think it's time to come home.

It's time to come home to Jesus.

Today, in just a moment, as the band leads us through, that song of worship on the back of your connect card is the prayer of salvation, and maybe you're in here, and the next best step of worship is to worship God by giving him your life.

Before he wants any of those things, he wants you, he wants all of you, and that's what salvation is.

Salvation is saying, god, I am repenting of my sin, I'm bringing all of you, and that's what salvation is.

Salvation is saying, god, I am repenting of my sin, I'm bringing all of me for all of you.

And in just a moment, when we stand to worship the Lord, your next step is going to be is to stand up and to step out of your seat and go back to the back where the prayer team is, and we would love to take that next step with you.

We wanna be there with you.

Jesus said himself it it's like being born again.

We want to help you take that step, help you with any prayer needs that you have and taking that next step in your relationship with God.

I can't wait for moments like this, because these are the moments when it gets personal and we say, god, this is how I need to have an encounter with you.

Can we pray together and prepare our hearts for that right now?