Seeds of Love

Blessing to have as a friend and to have as a part of our church family.

My name is Russ.

Dan, and I wish all of you could know.

Hey, good morning.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Church Online.

We are so glad you're here this morning.

Uh man, I got Nathan with me.

I know.

I'm substituting.

I'm definitely the uh lesser replacement for Cody, for sure.

No, oh no.

Um pumped that you're here.

This is gonna be a great morning.

Uh Cody is out, he's got uh little one sick this week, so be praying for him.

But uh man, we got an awesome day planned.

It's gonna be a good one.

I mean, we are just we're in the thick of it right now.

Tons of cool stuff going on.

We've been uh we started our Four Generations series.

So if you've been tracking with us uh the past couple Sundays, you know we're in the middle of that, and we're looking at what does it mean for us as a church to be united all together, pushing forward into this idea of being for the generations.

Yeah, absolutely.

And we're sowing those seeds of faith for those future generations.

And so we've talked about sowing or what's the power of the seed, what's sowing seeds of the gospel, sowing seeds of prayer last week, and then today, this morning, Russ is gonna be sharing with us about sowing seeds of love.

And so it's gonna be just a phenomenal morning, uh, just celebrating what Jesus wants to do in and through us.

Yeah, and it's gonna be so great.

Um, so we'll get into that, but before we get there, there's some other things going on.

Just a little.

Just a few.

Man, this is such a great season.

Uh so we've got United Weekend coming up.

Yep.

Tell us about United Weekend.

And there's not a better weekend than United Weekend.

Um United Weekend is our uh weekend that's dedicated to sixth through twelfth grade students, and it's an opportunity for them to come and to have worship and teaching and small groups and host homes and rec and food and tons of fun.

And uh, it's always been one of my favorite weekends that we've done over the last few years, and it's just where we see the kids' lives changed and transformed by the power of Jesus.

And so we've got a uh huge number of kids that have already registered, probably larger than previous years, even.

And uh man, we're just excited and pumped about what the Lord's gonna do through that.

Yeah, and I'm telling you, we've been hearing stories uh about what God is doing in the next generation across the country.

It's incredible, and we're just believing that He's that that's happening here too, as well.

He is awakening the next generation to the power of this.

Um, and so it's just gonna be an incredible weekend.

And so we're asking you uh first and foremost to be in prayer.

Yeah, um, one, we just can't say enough about how we believe in the power of prayer.

And so when you pray, it matters.

So we're asking you, prayer warriors, to partner with us, be in prayer over that weekend for our students as they get away, encounter God.

And uh and then also uh if you want to give towards that, you can sponsor a kid to go.

Uh it takes it takes you know some dollars to be able to put this on.

Um and so, and there are a lot of kids that maybe they they can't afford it, or it would just be a huge help if they could have a little extra help to be able to go on this weekend.

So if God leads you to do that, that would be awesome.

Uh, and then also, man, if God is starting in your heart to be a part of what he's doing in the next generation, yeah, and to be really put into practice this whole idea of what we're teaching on the four generations.

This is a great weekend to do that.

Absolutely.

Uh, we need host leaders, yeah, we need uh host homes, man, we need volunteers that weekend.

It is takes an army.

It is a weekend that you just do not want to miss.

Like it is just an incredible weekend uh to just be a part of, to be a fly on the wall.

It's an incredible weekend, and so make sure you make plans to be a part of that.

And with the prayer piece, um, we've got a special prayer night that's coming up on February 29th.

And so uh, if you're around and free, we invite you to come and be a part of that.

It's gonna be an opportunity for us to pray over United Weekend uh specifically, and so we'll be from 7 to 9 p.m.

on the 29th uh at our social circle location, and it's gonna be just an opportunity for us to come and just to ask the Lord to intercede and ask the Lord to move mightily among our students at United Weekend.

And so come and be a part of some of that, all of that.

You can drop in and have to leave early, whatever your schedule allows, but we just invite you to be a part of that um as we just kind of pursue the Lord there.

Yeah, and you can do all that on the app, right?

If you download the app, Church of the Grove app, you can uh have all that information there, be able to fill that out and sign up.

And then also uh there's a tons of other things you can do on the app as well.

Yeah, prayer requests, uh, you can take sermon notes there.

Um any next steps really that you feel like God might be calling you to within the context of the life of our church family, yeah, you can do that there.

And uh I think I have to say something about like checking or doing your taxes or something like that.

It's on what Cody does, yeah.

So you can do everything on the Church The Grove Out.

Absolutely.

Um so the other thing we got coming up, man, we're talking about this Four Generations uh initiative that we're in.

We've got commitment Sunday coming.

Absolutely.

What is that, Nathan, and how can we be ready for that?

So we've been on this journey we just talked about, and we're just asking the Lord to use us in a powerful way to influence the future generations that are to come.

And so part of that is our financial giving, it's our sacrificial giving uh to what the Lord wants us to do.

And so we've just been asking our church family, and you've heard this if you've been tuning in online, to be praying and fasting and just asking the Lord, how do you want me to participate?

How do you want me to invest and sow seeds of faith for the next generation?

And uh hopefully you've been doing that.

And if not, start now.

But next Sunday, the 25th, is actually going to be commitment Sunday.

So we're we've given out these commitment cards and people can fill those out and bring them to church with them on Sunday and give those as kind of a dedication, as a sacrificial gift to the Lord of kind of here's what the Lord has told us to give, and we're we're committing to be a part of that and be living in obedience to what he has for us.

And so if you're online and you're just online, um man, we would love for you to come and be a part of that day.

It's gonna be a phenomenal day to come, even if you're not ready to make a commitment, just come and be a part of that day.

Yeah.

Um, but if you maybe don't live around here, um, there's opportunities for you to commit online as well.

And so you can go to our giving page on our website and there'll be information there as well.

Yeah, that's awesome.

So one of the things we've talked about is we throughout this initiative, we're asking for just 100% engagement.

And so if you consider uh Church of the Grove your family, um man, we're asking you to lean in with this, uh lean into the this with us and participate 100% engagement.

It can be a little or a lot, whatever the Lord is leading you, but man, let's all participate together.

Speaking of commitments, so um man, our students and our kids have been on this journey.

Uh it's been so cool to watch and see how like we're all really unified as one big family uh across campuses and students and kids.

Uh, but I'm having conversations with my my little five-year-old about how the Lord is calling her to be generous and what what does that look like in her little reality, in her little world.

Um, and so this has been so cool.

And so we're gonna show you a clip uh of some of those commitments now.

Uh and so we'll check that out.

You guys can see what God has been doing in the lives of our kids and students as they are fully and committing to follow in the way of Jesus and participate in generosity in their own way.

And so we'll see that, and then we'll jump into the message with Russ.

Uh, and we'll be back on the other side with you guys to close it out.

But check this out.

Now to him we're gonna do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.

According to his power, that is a more good thing.

Ephesians 3.20.

You could do extra toys for your mom, like uh do the vacuum, wash the dishes, and stuff.

We should be generous because being generous is nice.

Being generous makes us more like Jesus.

Being generous is just like giving someone something as a gift or just being nice and kind to someone who needs it.

It will make people feel good.

Don't just give stuff that you don't want, give stuff that are really special to you.

Today I'm gonna tell you why I want to be generous.

The first reason is I want to do extra chores around the house and make something for a friend, and the last thing is help someone with a project.

Over the past few weeks I've been committing to giving because I want to plant new seeds to sprout and to give faith into other people.

I committed to giving and serving because I know people before me have done it and it's given me the opportunity to know Christ.

And I want to give other people the same opportunity and resources to do so as well.

I'm committing to serving because my grandparents love to serve, and it has showed me how much I want to leave an impact on kids.

And I'm committed to praying and serving.

I feel like something as little as serving, some people see it as that, but it makes such a big impact.

And I'm committed to prayer because I believe that consistent prayer can do a lot, and I'm also committed to serving and giving.

And I'm committed to prayer, serving, and giving because I feel like those are all ways that I can give myself to the church, and I love church at the grove, so I want to see it grow.

I'm excited about this generosity campaign because it shows how much our church is growing and how many people are wanting to come and join our church family and grow it and make it even bigger than it already is.

We welcome you, we welcome everybody.

We are right here.

We are right.

Believing that God wants us to step out in faith and to create some more space.

And as I have said over and over in this series, we didn't want to make this series and we didn't want to make this season about a building.

It's really about pressing in to the person and the presence of Jesus.

And so I hope you pick that up over the course of the teachings and the songs that we sing and the testimonies that we get to hear from.

It's really about pressing in.

And then out of an overflow, we look to see how God wants to guide us and how God wants to lead us.

More space as we see the community grow, more space as we desperately need for our children to have.

Touchdown, you won, you got the right thing.

You did something that maybe was surprising.

I won big on Valentine's Day, probably one of the best in 28 years of marriage.

And so it totally surprised my wife.

Really, really to think that was he actually did that on Valentine's Day.

All that matters is I won, okay?

I demonstrated my love in an extremely practical way.

And it was a blessing to see my wife's face.

And so and we we demonstrate love in different ways.

As a matter of fact, love is a confusing word.

Love can be a confusing word because here's what we can say.

Here's what we'll say is, man, I love I love pizza.

I love pizza.

I love pizza.

Or we'll say, I man, I you know what I'm excited about?

Because I love baseball, man.

I love the Atlanta Braves.

Anybody ready for baseball season?

I love, I love the Atlanta Braves, or we we might say, I love my dog, or I love my cat.

And if you love cats, you got a problem.

Um just just saying um, I love my kids.

I love I love Josiah, I love Abigail, I love Caleb, and uh, I love my kids, and then I would say in the same kind of breath, I love Jill.

Jill is my wife's name, I love her.

And so isn't that kind of strange that I might say, I love pizza, and then say a couple of sentences later, I love my wife Jill.

Isn't that a bit strange?

And for people who are coming into the English language, that's really confusing for them to see see us use that word for two different things in two different categories.

And so love is subjective.

It can be defined in many different ways depending on the individual or the parties that are using that word.

How do you define love?

How do you define love has to has to consider the family background, faith background, and maybe your maturity.

Two teenagers, 16, 18 years old, can fall in love and they can tell each other they love each other and be completely sincere, but there's something different about a couple who has been married for 50 plus years, to turn to each other and say, I love you.

Two different things, right?

Two different understandings, two different things entirely.

And so love is complex.

It can include traits or uh such as affection, attraction, commitment, trust, sacrifice, and intimacy, depending on uh who you're talking with.

Some people will say you can't help who you fall in love with, but in some cultures they love their spouse through an arranged marriage.

And somehow it works.

Love is a complex thing.

There's been a lot of stuff, a lot of content written on the subject of love.

Some estimate that there's been over a hundred million songs written about the topic of love, all the way from Elvis to the Beatles, all the way up to present-day Taylor Swift.

Our favorite football fan, right?

Um and so books, stories, movies.

Any rom-com fans?

All right, thank you.

One man is honest.

I I'm a secret, I'm a sec, I'm I'm I'm gonna be vulnerable.

That is one of my favorite categories of movies, and I know that's that's that may change what you think about me.

I'm sorry.

In 1992, pastor author Gary Chapman wrote a book called The Five Love Languages.

And originally the book did not sell, but over time it has caught traction, and over 20 million copies of that book have been sold, and it still remains on the New York Times bestseller list, all of these 30 years later.

And so Gary Chapman he tells us that uh that there are five examples of how people express or give or receive love.

And some of you know these, right?

Words of affirmation, where you might tell somebody you love them, you tell them what you love about them, quality time, uh, gifts, giving or receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

And so, according to Gary Thomas, these are the primary ways that we give and we receive love and how we relate to one another.

Some of you would rather, you're you're you're you're like my wife.

She does not want physical gifts, whether it be Valentine's Day or her birthday or Christmas.

She wants time with her family.

And so she wants to go hiking.

So we plan, we plan, our kids, we've learned, we plan time for Mama Jill to have some quality time with her family and to go hiking.

Okay, so we you know we start getting in shape around those holidays so we can hike with her somewhere.

And so so some of you know, you you like words of affirmation, you do like gifts, or you serve uh whatever it might be, but you you understand that we give and receive love in different ways.

And so the question is how how do we see the Lord?

How do we see and observe how the Lord, how God displays his love for us?

How do we see it?

What is the primary means by which we would measure God's love for us?

And it's this Jesus.

It's Jesus, it's Jesus Christ, his son, he displays his love through sending his son.

We read the story of Jesus, you see how Jesus demonstrates and how he how he uh how he displays the love of God through his life, how he meets people, how he speaks to them, how he gives to them, how he touches them, how he gives them time.

1 John 4, 9 and 10 says this God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

He says in verse 10, this is real love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

So God shows his love through his son, Jesus Christ.

Sacrificial love through his sacrificial death.

And so this morning we're continuing in our four generation series, and we're we're we're we're approaching, we are, we're stepping out in faith to see what God has for us as a church family.

What is next in this coming season?

He has been so good to us, he has been so gracious to us, he has been so faithful to us, he has provided for us.

And so we want to press in for this next season, pressed in to a deeper walk, a walk into deeper faith, a walk into deeper relationship, sowing seeds of faith, knowing that what we sow now will reap, will reap the faith and reap what God has for us, reap God's goodness, reap what God has for us, not just for now, but for generations to come.

We have, listen, one of the things we do when we step out in faith is we make decisions now, knowing that it impacts your kids and your grandkids and your great, great grandkids.

Long after we might be gone, some of us, and so we've been challenging our church family to sow seeds of faith, seeds of the gospel, seeds of prayer, and this morning we're talking about seeds of love.

And so we're going to this passage we've been in, Ephesians, this letter that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, in the first couple of chapters, he talks specifically about the gospel and the significance of the gospel, how we were dead in our sins, but God made us live, made us alive, and he has created us, his masterpiece, his workmanship for good works for those who have been created in Christ Jesus.

And then we get to this prayer, this prayer toward the end of chapter 3 of Ephesians, Paul prays over the church at Ephesus, and I believe he's praying all the way, generations down, to the church right now, today.

Here we are, Church at the Grove.

Verse 14, he says, When I think of all this, when I think of all this, and I preached a few weeks back, what is he talking about?

He's talking about what he wrote in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

The gospel.

The gospel for us individually, the gospel for us collectively.

When I think of all this, he says, I fall to my knees.

I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit.

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.

Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.

And may you have the power to understand as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.

Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever.

Amen.

And so Paul is praying for this church.

He loves the church.

He loves the church.

I hope you love the church in all of our quirks and all of our problems and all of our shortcomings.

Man, Paul loves the church.

We want to love the church.

Even if we struggle, even if we've been hurt, even if we've gone through a difficult season.

He prays a number of things for them.

We've talked about it over the last several weeks, and hopefully, if you haven't heard or listened or watched, I would more than any other season, I would want you to hear and listen to the teachings that we've had over the course of the last few weeks.

And he says specifically, and here's what we're going to look at for the next few minutes.

These two verses, 18 and 19.

And he says, and may you have the power to understand as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

How deep his love is.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully, then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

And so Paul is saying, My prayer is that you would understand the love of God.

That you would understand it.

The word that it uses is it literally means to take hold of.

Some translations say to comprehend.

And that literally means to grasp or to take hold of.

And understand the depth of God's love.

And it would sink deep down in your heart.

You would know it at your core.

He talks about how wide God's love is.

God's love is wide in scope, encompassing all people.

Regardless of background, ethnicity, or status, it extends to every corner of the earth and embraces all of humanity.

How long God's love is, God's love is enduring and eternal.

It stretches across time from the beginning of creation to eternity.

Temporal constraints do not bind it but persist through every trial and tribulation and triumph.

Listen, that's how long God's love is, how high God's love is.

God's love is exalted and transcendent.

It's beyond us.

It surpasses earthly limitations and lifts us up to spiritual heights.

It originates from the heavenly realm and offers a higher perspective that transcends our human understanding.

And how deep God's love is.

God's love is profound, unfathomable.

It penetrates to the depths of our hearts and souls, reaching the innermost parts of our being.

It is a love that knows us intimately and fully, even in our weakness and imperfections.

His love is too great for us to understand fully.

One of the most powerful passages, I believe, in all of the Bible, is Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

These few verses where Paul is writing about God's love, about the love of Christ, verses 30, chapter 8, verses 35 to 39.

And Paul says, Can anything separate us from Christ's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death?

As the scriptures say, for your sake, we are killed every day.

We are being slaughtered like sheep.

No.

No.

Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or on the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, I'm telling you, if that doesn't stir your heart, just to think and to read and to press into the love of God.

Christ's love is with us and for us.

Listen to this.

There's nothing you can do or not do that will make God love you any more or less than he does right now.

There is nothing you can do or not do that will make God love you any more or less than he does right now.

Just sit in that for a second.

And so God's love is constant.

Paul's prayer is that the church in Ephesus would comprehend to their ability to experience personally the miraculous love of God.

And so is this just Paul asking the Lord to give us a special feeling?

Warming fuzzies?

Or is he wanting us to understand his love so that we know how to respond to his love with our lives?

As a matter of fact, God's love language is this obedience.

God's love language is obedience.

He says in John 14, 15, the gospel of John, he says, if you love me, obey my commandments.

That's pretty clear.

Isn't that pretty clear?

If you love me, obey my commandments.

1 John 5, 3, loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

And so God's love stretches beyond our comprehension.

His love is best experienced in and through our obedience.

To clarify, we're not speaking of how to earn God's love.

You don't obey to earn God's love.

We obey out of God's love, as a response to God's love.

We surrender our life.

When we walk in the obedience to the Lord's word, his voice in our lives, we're made complete to walk in the fullness of his spirit.

Just kind of meditating on this passage, I thought back just to my journey, my journey, my personal journey as a Christ follower, and how my habits and my lifestyle and how I live, my attitudes, my behaviors, my relationships, how they have changed as a result of my response to God's love.

And I think it's good for all of us sometimes to journey back.

Journey back.

You say, well, I really didn't go through a, you know, a lot of us didn't go through a big time rebellious period or whatever, but.

But all of us probably understand, even as we look at our own kids, we understand the significant difference of a life that is surrendered to the love of God, to the gospel, to the good news.

And so when we understand the love of God and the grace that's been shown to us, it's only appropriate to see life change, to see behaviors and attitudes, our relationships, how we treat one another.

And so I love this story in Luke 7, where this sinful woman shows her great love for Jesus because he has already shown her great love.

Luke 7, verse 36, it says one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him.

Luke 7:36

So Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.

When a certain immoral woman, when a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.

And so Luke is very, he emphasizes greatly a certain immoral, sinful woman.

This woman is an outcast.

She's probably been labeled according to her sinful life.

But she comes in, she probably burst in into this dinner, into this meal, despite her reputation.

Some believe she might have been a prostitute.

We don't know for sure, but in verse 38 it says, Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping.

Weeping.

Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair.

Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

It's a picture of extravagant, extravagant response, extravagant worship.

She's coming into a home, into a home where probably she would have been despised, not allowed to come in.

She risks more ridicule by coming into this setting.

She doesn't care who's in the room.

All she knows is Jesus is there.

Jesus is the one who has demonstrated great love.

He is the one who is who has the potential or has already provided healing, and she breaks the alabaster jar on Jesus' feet and she begins to wash his feet.

The most humiliating task, probably in that culture, would be one who is washing the feet of another.

And she takes the most precious item in her possession and she pours it out on her Savior.

It is a beautiful act of worship.

Verse 39.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him.

She's a sinner.

Then Jesus answered his thoughts.

He had said this to himself.

He thought it in his mind.

He hadn't said it out loud.

But Jesus answered his thoughts.

Simon, he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you.

Go ahead, teacher, Simon replied.

Then Jesus told him a story.

He says, A man loaned money to two people, 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.

But neither of them could repay him.

So he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts.

Why do you suppose, who do you suppose, listen, listen, who do you suppose loved him more after that?

Now look, let me let me ask you, just I I would I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hands, but I want you to think, have you ever had a debt canceled?

You ever had a debt canceled?

So I I I was thinking about this.

I I know my parents, my father even, there were times where where he loaned me money.

And and there came time, and I was so nervous, I was anxious, because I've got to return this.

My dad was not, he was not one to be trifled with.

He was serious about you know what you make sure you pay back what you owe, and and I would come to pay him back maybe weeks, months, years later, it's still hanging over my head.

And he says, I've already forgotten about that.

Don't worry about that.

I'm like, Dad, why didn't you tell me several months ago I've been carrying this around?

And so, so who do you suppose?

So he he loans 500, 500 to one and 50 pieces of silver to the other.

Neither one can repay him.

He cancels both debts.

Who do you suppose loved him more after that?

Simon answered, I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.

That's right, Jesus says.

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Look at this woman kneeling here.

When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.

You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

And he says this, he says, I tell you, her sins, and they are many, have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love.

But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.

Then Jesus said to the woman, Your sins are forgiven.

Your sins are forgiven.

Hallelujah.

Praise God.

Amen.

And I hope you can look at this story to understand that we're all in great need of forgiveness, equally, regardless of how bad or good, we have lived our life up to the point that Jesus forgives us.

It's our attitude and understanding and our perspective that has to shift away from thinking, well, I've lived pretty moral, so I don't really need as much forgiveness, versus it doesn't matter.

God, I have transgressed, I have sinned, I am in great need of a savior.

And because of his great love, he has forgiven me, and as a result of his great love and his forgiveness, I in response want to come and worship extravagantly, worship him with all that I have, with every song that I sing, with every financial gift that I bring, with hat with the way that I treat people, the way that I love other people.

And so the question is: have you been forgiven a little?

Or have you been forgiven a lot?

So God's love language is obedience.

But here's what what else we see.

You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.

You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.

So when we talk about this generosity initiative, it's not about a building, it's about us pressing into the person and the presence and a deeper walk with Jesus.

This has to be our starting ground.

Because if it's not, there's always going to be limits.

And so the woman loved Jesus, and a result of her love, she pours out the most precious thing that she possesses to the Lord.

Because God has loved her, and God's love is constant.

She's not earning his love by giving him this offering, but she's experienced his love firsthand, and as a result, she sacrificially comes to give her most precious item as an act of worship.

David was a man after God's own heart.

2 Samuel 24.

He refused to give God something that cost him nothing.

And all throughout Scripture we see this picture of sacrificial giving.

It's a part of our worship.

We could see story after story where people in their worship they bring offerings.

They bring sacrificial offerings to the Lord that cost them something.

David says, I can't give God something that costs me nothing.

And so when we give sacrificially, we are acknowledging that everything comes from God.

Secondly, we show our gratitude for who he is and what he's done for us.

And then thirdly, we give evidence that we trust in his provision.

And when we step out in sacrificial giving, there's always going to be resistance.

There's always going to be criticism.

There's always going to be something inwardly, or it's going to come to you from a source outside of you that says, that ask the question, are you crazy?

What in the world?

Why would you do that?

Why would you give that?

And the truth is that the enemy wants you to question your sacrificial giving.

He knows that when we give sacrificially, that we break the chains of the enemy.

We break the chains of greed.

He wants you to remain in bondage to selfishness.

He doesn't want you to experience the blessing of extravagant worship that we receive.

People will say, well, aren't you overdoing it a little bit?

Oh, that we would have the power to understand how wide and long and deep and high God's love is.

And may his love for us drive us to surrender everything to him.

So, what does that mean for us today?

Where you are in your life, it hopefully it means that the Holy Spirit will work in your heart, aside from the generosity campaign, aside from thinking about our church and what God has for it, that you personally would experience the love of God in such a way that you would respond with extravagant worship.

And through extravagant worship, you would experience Jesus at a deeper level.

You would be blessed with his presence in a new, refreshing way.

And yes, practically speaking, it takes into consideration what God wants for us as a church family, what God has for us as a church family moving forward.

Next Sunday is what we call commitment Sunday.

Next Sunday is commitment Sunday.

So we planned it, made sure it was after the winter break.

See, you tell some people out of town.

So no excuses next week.

We're back in school.

You can't get sick.

So I and I'm just I'm just I'm challenging you.

It's commitment Sunday.

We'll explain the card in a second.

And then we'll have United Weekend.

That next week, the first weekend, I believe, in that going into March, is United Weekend, which is a weekend where our middle school and high school students experience their weekend disciple in-home retreat.

It's always a huge weekend where we see God move in the lives of students in a huge way.

Some of you are probably opening your home and graciously serving that weekend.

Sometimes we have 250 to 300 students between our two campuses, students from the CLC.

And then that next weekend, I believe it's March 10th.

March 10th is the big give.

Now, what do I mean by the big give?

That is our first fruit offering.

First fruit.

It's the practical, bring your first fruit gift.

What is that, Russ?

Well, that's between you and God, but let me just tell you this.

I believe for that Sunday, we will have the biggest offering, that one Sunday, than we've ever had in the history of our church.

Are you with me?

We gladly bring that first fruit, biggest offering in the history of the church, launches us forward.

Lots of decisions can be made based upon commitments and the big give about how we move forward.

And how do we get there?

How do we get there?

It's not, it's not what you can muster up.

It's a response, it's an extravagant response to Jesus who has forgiven much.

He has forgiven us, he has provided for us, he has given new life to us.

And so don't give out of mustering up something.

Think about the goodness of the Lord and how he has forgiven you, how he has provided for you, what he has already done in 17 plus years in our church, how many people have gone through the baptismal waters, what he's done in your life, in your family's life, what he is promised to do moving forward.

Amen.

Let me pray.

Let's pray together.

Let's just pray.

Father, we thank you for your great love.

May we consider how wide, how long, how high and how deep your love is for us.

And may we desire to know your love more and more, deeper and deeper.

May we press in to your goodness, to your grace.

May we seek to bring extravagant praise, extravagant response to your great love.

That let that be the motivator in our hearts, Father.

For those of us that for any of you that might be here today and you don't, you don't, you may have a question mark when we talk about whether or not you've experienced the love of Christ and the forgiveness of Christ, and there's a big question mark.

Well, you can erase that question mark and you can put an exclamation point if you simply turn and repent of your sin and believe and trust in what Christ has provided in his life, his death, and his resurrection.

If that's you, you simply have you just pray in your own words and say yes to Jesus.

I accept, I receive.

And he'll change your life.

Many of us in this room have experienced that.

And some of us say, God, I need you.

I need you.

I God, I'm struggling.

I'm struggling.

I've got something in my life.

You've got something in your life, and you're struggling, and God is simply saying, Well, listen, I'm waiting for you to understand my love language.

And that's obedience.

And so sometimes I believe that God waits for us to obey with one step of obedience to open up, to open up to us an entirely new realm of his person and his presence in our life.

So, Father, help us to take simple steps of obedience to how you lead us and guide us.

That we would know your love at another level.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for your grace, your love, your mercy.

God give us power and strength to follow.

To follow you as our rabbi, as our leader, as our Lord.

Your name is power, your name is healing, your name is liquid hope, shine through the shadows, burn life.

I just want to speak the name of Jesus over fear and all anxiety.

I speak Jesus.

Your name is Power.

Your name is Healing.

Your name is Break every store.

Shiner in the shadow.

Your name is power.

Your name is Real.

Your name is Bring every shoulder, shine through the shadows, but I shall Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streets, Jesus in the darkness over every enemy, and Jesus for my family.

I speak the holy name.

Jesus Shout Jesus from the mountains, and Jesus in the street, Jesus in the darkness over every enemy.

Jesus for my family.

Your name is Bray every strong, shine the shadow through the I just want to speak the name of Jesus.

Come on, church.

Over every heart and every mind.

I speak Jesus.

Speaking of speaking.

So for every enemy.

Jesus for my family.

I speak the holy name.

She just did the dream.

She just did the dog.

She doesn't take the tree.

Well, just that idea of acting in love, that just that worship and the generosity that is a sign of our worship and who we belong to.

And so, man, incredible, incredible warning.

And we just want to say that as you are watching that, if you feel like the Lord was just kind of moving or stirring something in your life and in your heart, and you were just looking to say, okay, what's next for me?

Like I don't know what to do now.

Um, man, we would love to help you walk through what the Lord is speaking over your life.

And so you can text start to follow, um, all one word uh to 9700, and uh that will send us a prompt and we'll be able to reach out to you and give you some resources and kind of help you on your spiritual journey as you get that started.

Yeah, and that's good, good because we we say it every week, we believe that's what it is.

It's a journey, and uh, and we were talking about this earlier today.

Uh that God always reveals himself on the other side of obedience.

And so whatever God is calling you to do, man, take that step, and we're here to help in however we can.

Absolutely.

Uh and just to reiterate, we're in this uh generosity kind of initiative, and so if God is turning in your heart to participate in that, please go to our website on the app, check out the giving page, and you can find out more information of how you can sow seeds really a faith for this next generation.

Um, don't forget about commitment Sunday and then United Weekend.

Uh man, be praying and uh seeing the Lord on how you can participate in that.

It's gonna be phenomenal.

It is, it is.

Lots of great things that are coming down the line, and we just want you to be a part of that.

And so again, I just want to reiterate if you do not have a church home and you've just been tuning in online, that's fantastic.

We're so thankful.

Um but we would love to see you in person at one of our campuses, at one of our services.

Um we still got the five o'clock that just started at Walnut Grow.

That's a great service to plug into uh right here at the very beginning.

But any of our services, man, we would love and be honored if you and your family would come and be a part of that.

So that invitation is always out there.

Yeah, yeah.

We love you guys.

If there's anything we can do for you this week, please reach out and let us know.

Uh and uh if not, we'll see you next Sunday.

Sounds good.

So you guys.