Matters of the Heart | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

All right, all right.

Amen.

While we're in this vein, thank you so much, Ray.

I appreciate it.

Um while we're in this vein, I do want to take a moment just to talk about um the part that we play in global missions here, specifically um here at Celebration Um Orlando.

Maybe you're you're new and you're unfamiliar with the way that we function, but but Celebration Orlando is a local church with the global expression.

That that means we have um locations all across the globe as it were as it were.

It started in Jacksonville over 25 years ago, and then Celebration Orlando came from that and many other locations, Celebration DC, where where Megan and I served for two years most recently, and we have Celebration Zimbabwe and Netherlands.

We have other locations where God is doing incredible work um through the celebration community.

Um and since January, I want to share this with us because I think this is something that's worth celebrating.

Since January, our celebration family, so this is our domestic celebration locations, we have given$390,000 to Global Missions.

That's that's that's a significant um amount of money.

And ultimately, of that$390,000,$45,000 of that came directly out of Celebration Orlando, and I'm so thankful for you guys.

We're proud of you.

I I've shared before that I I truly do have a have a heart for all people.

I have a heart for our local community, I have a heart for other communities outside of Orlando, even here in the US, but I also have a heart for what God is doing abroad.

And one of the things that I think has moved me the most is when Megan and I first got involved in missions work and we started visiting these varying locations, um, just the moments that you have an interaction with a child or someone who's wondering, like, man, like you're coming from America.

And for many people, I just want to give you guys context.

For many people, America is their version of the promised land.

Because of what they see on TV, they see uh what we would often consider to be less than perfect situations, but for them, that's above and beyond anything they could ask or think.

So when they see someone who gets on a plane, who flies over and is now sitting with a kid and on a dirt floor talking with them, they're often wondering, like, why would you do this?

And our simple answer is it's because God loves you.

That becomes a tangible opportunity for them to recognize the love of God in their lives, and that's why I have such a heart for global missions.

So we partner with local organizations in those global um places and ultimately try to show the love of Jesus to people.

And that that action goes a very long way.

So, yes, I want to encourage you guys uh to please consider to pray, uh to go and to give.

It's not as overwhelming as you think.

I think all of us can do a part and helping the gospel go beyond just us.

Can we get a good amen?

Amen and amen.

Well, I'm excited for uh today's series.

We're we're jumping into um our series called All Hands.

As you can see it on my shirt, maybe you've seen some people that are wearing it around us.

All hands is really um it's it's a cultural statement that's a reflection of who we are as a church.

Ultimately, when we say that we're an all hands church, that means that all of us contribute to what God has called us to do.

I firmly believe that when God puts something on our heart, he also puts something in our hands, and we all have a part to play at seeing the gospel advance the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Many of us know what it feels like to be on a group project, and when everybody puts their hands into it.

Megan and I are in school right now, and I had a group project that I was responsible for, and it was me and two other people, and when I saw it was a group project, my initial reaction was, man, I don't want to be tied to someone who's dead weight.

I was I was frustrated, but then I was so lucky that I was paired with people who were as passionate about the subject matter as I was.

We met, we talked, we all worked together, all hands, and we completed an amazing project.

And of course your boy got an A, because why wouldn't I?

Like, all hands.

But we also know what it feels like when we're in a project or we're all working on something and everybody's not contributing.

And the burden that it can feel, and how you feel like you have to contribute extra.

So, what all hands means for us as a church community is understanding that we all have a part to play in what God has called us to do.

That if there's something on your heart that God also wants to activate what's in your hand.

And so, this series, every year, this is our second year doing it.

Every year we're going to do an all-hand series that has a different point of emphasis, but it speaks to the heart of who we are as a church.

It's not just a statement, but it's a literal cultural value that really does reflect who we are as a church.

And it's all centered around the concept of generosity.

And generosity in these three primary areas generous with our time, giving our time is a valuable thing that we can give to people to partner with the kingdom of God, giving with our talent, the gifts that God has given us, and how can we use that to advance the kingdom, and then giving of our treasure, our resources, what God has blessed us with.

He is trusting us to be conduits of those resources so that we can advance the gospel.

That is what a good church community does.

Our theme scripture for this year, for this particular series, is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 9:7

This is the Apostle Paul writing uh to the church of Corinth, and he's encouraging them as they're preparing to raise an offering so that they can help a church that is less resourced.

And so Paul is saying, listen, I don't want to manipulate you, I don't want to, I don't want to force you into anything, but he says these words in verse number seven that each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

One of our cultural values is we demonstrate the love of God.

This is not just a catchphrase for us, but it truly is a mission.

It's a mandate that we as followers of Jesus are called to demonstrate the love of God.

Think about it in your own relationships with your spouse or a significant other family member.

It's one thing to say that you love them, but your actions don't show it.

It's another thing to show the behavior that supports those words.

We believe that we're not just supposed to be a church that has great catchy phrases and t-shirts that say it, but we believe that we're called to demonstrate it.

It needs to be seen in our actions, and that's ultimately what Paul is challenging this church to do.

I believe that one of the ways that we demonstrate the love of God is through our generosity.

So today we're going to be digging into the book of Nehemiah.

So if you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn to Nehemiah.

It's okay if you don't know where it's at, it's in the Old Testament.

Just go after Genesis, but before the Gospel of Matthew.

It's somewhere in between there.

It's okay to go ahead and look in your index if you need to.

While you're turning there, I want to give us some context on what's going on here and where we're entering into uh the story.

Ezra is the book that precedes um the book of Nehemiah, and these books are actually happening simultaneously.

They're actually overlapping one another.

They're really closely connected.

In fact, in some early literature, they're viewed as just one book.

But ultimately, what these two books are, these individuals that are in these books are, is that they have been given a kingdom assignment.

The context is that the children of Israel had lived a life of rebellion, distancing themselves from God.

And the consequence was that is that they got put into captivity, Babylonian captivity, to be more specific.

That whenever you live your life outside of God's will, when you live your life outside of God's standard, that when we try to separate ourselves from what God's will is for our life, there's a consequence to it.

It doesn't mean that there's a curse.

Jesus took the curse for us, but I want you to hear me.

It's pouring rain here in Orlando at the time of this message.

So watch this.

There's an umbrella that's available.

And when we have the umbrella, it doesn't stop you from getting wet, but you're under cover.

We can also be people who don't have umbrellas.

We're not saying that you're cursed with rain more than anyone else, but you're choosing to live a life outside of the covering of God, and there's a consequence for it.

That's exactly what's happening with the children of Israel.

They're constantly stepping outside of the umbrella, the covering of God, and the consequence was they ended up in captivity.

They ended up in bondage.

And that captivity from the Babylonians resulted in the temple, the epicenter of their spirituality being burned down.

That their gates of their city, the protection had been burned down, and so the cities was ransacked, the people were carted away into captivity for over 50 years.

Then a new king came when Persian takes over Babylon, and his heart is, hey, let's send the people back to their homes.

But here's the tension when they get sent back to Israel, they're being sent back to chaos.

The temple has been burned down, they have nowhere to worship.

The city's gates are torn down, they don't feel safe or protected.

So even though they have been set free, they had not been given the resources to establish an identity of their own.

So this is where we get introduced to people like Ezra, Nehemiah, and even Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel is the first one that comes back from the captivity, and he's given the assignment of rebuilding the temple.

His assignment is to come and rebuild this physical structure where the people of God could come and to worship.

So he's working on that for about 50 years.

That goes from Nehemiah, um, Ezra, I'm sorry, Ezra chapter 1 through 6.

Ezra 1 · chapter mention

Verse 7 is when Ezra enters into the story.

Ezra is then sent back to Jerusalem, and he is a prophet.

He is a person who is is is great with the word of God, he is an orator of the word of God.

So his responsibility is to come back and to speak to the people and teach them God's ways.

Because you can imagine, after they've been away from God for so long, they've lost sight of what it means to really be a follower of God.

So Ezra's responsibility as a priest was to come back and instruct the people on living their lives God's way.

And then Nehemiah and Ezra overlap, where Nehemiah's responsibility is to come back and to rebuild the city.

These three components are the definition of revival.

I wasn't going to get into this, but I feel the burden to say that.

I know that there's a lot of discussion about revival.

And depending on who you talk to, we all have a different definition in the way that we describe revival.

But let me be clear: revival is not an extended worship service.

Revival is not longer messages, revival isn't any of that.

The true sign of revival is when people who are away from God are beginning to come back to God.

That's what we call revival, a spiritual awakening.

So, yes, God will use worship to ultimately cultivate an environment for it.

But I think that sometimes our desire to see revival, we're completely missing the whole point of it, and that is to see people's hearts that are turned towards God.

This is the revival that we start to see activated in the community, and we all have a part to play in it.

As we now begin to zero in a little bit more closely on Nehemiah's perspective of this story, we pick up the narrative at chapter one, verse number one.

It says this it says, The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Kislev in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the citadel, that Hananiah, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped and had survived exile and concerning Jerusalem.

And they said to me, The remnant, these are the people that survived it, there in the province who has survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates are destroyed by fire.

Look at how Nehemiah responds.

As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and I wept and I mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

I believe that this beautifully sets the stage for Nehemiah's pivotal role in rebuilding Jerusalem's walls, its gates, and it was so instrumental to his faith journey.

It displayed his leadership and his commitment to the well-being of God's people.

Today I want to take a few moments to talk to us about the part that we play in accomplishing God's work.

And I've entitled today's message, Matters of the Heart.

Matters of the Heart.

And how we are able to partner with it by being generous with our time, our talent, and treasure that somehow our earthly energy translates into eternal impact.

And we count it as an honor and a privilege that you invite us to participate in such kingdom work.

Lord, I pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you and only you.

Lord, I pray for open ears that we can hear you and only you.

And God, I pray for open hearts and that we can receive everything that you want to deposit into us today.

We pray that it goes on good ground.

It takes root in Jesus' name.

Amen?

Amen and amen.

I want to share what I would consider to be probably like my top, my top three most scary experiences that I can think of that I had ever gone through.

You know, just to give you guys a little bit of context, as I mentioned, we are a we are a local church with global expressions.

Mega and I are from um the Northeast, so you guys know that we're diehard Eagles fans, God's team.

Um so we are still undefeated.

And if you guys remember, last week we talked a little bit about them going against um the Buccaneers and the Eagles had triumphed.

And this is how you know it's God's team.

Their opponent, do you know what his name is?

Captain Fear.

That's demonic.

Anytime that the people I just want to let y'all know.

So so yes, this is where we're from.

This is why we are such diehard Eagles fans.

But we moved uh to Jacksonville, Florida, over 20 years ago, I guess now, and we started attending Celebration Church in Jacksonville.

And while we were there, we were we were attending, we started serving, then we came on staff, and and and God just radically changed our lives.

But while we were there, our our children were very young.

They literally grew up um in the household of faith.

That's just kind of what it meant to be on staff at a church and to also have your family integrated into the life of the church.

Like I firmly believe this statement to be true, that a legacy is not what I leave for my kids, it's what I leave in them.

And one of the things that I left in my kids is that we are going to be a family that orients ourselves around the house of God.

Because let's be honest, I'm in ministry, I'm not gonna leave a lot for them, but I can leave in them what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

So we they were raised in a household of faith.

That was their perspective.

And so what happens when the children are there, they're there for all of the services and they're all around.

So what ends up happening is like the staff children becomes like everybody's children.

All of the staff knows each other's kids, the people that are serving know each other's kids, like it's just kind of a part of this large family.

So even though our church in Jacksonville is significantly larger, it still felt small because everybody knew each other's children.

And so for my youngest Caleb, he he knew what it meant to be um in this family.

He knew what it was, and so he would just come and go as he pleased.

Like all of the other staff kids, they function within the boundaries of what it meant to be a staff kid.

Not my son, he's always looking for the outside.

So he's like, okay, like I know that this is where all the staff kids typically go, but I'm gonna go to the coffee shop and I'm gonna get me something to drink.

So he would just walk in, stand in line, and order his drinks.

True story.

I I had one of our staff members come to me and said, like, hey, I just want to let you know that on some Sundays that Caleb comes in, he walks to the front of the line, he orders himself a white chocolate mocha, and then he'll say to the person that's working there, put it on my dad's tab and walk away.

He said, No one's told him that you don't have a tab.

Like, I mean, it's we don't even but that's just what it means.

You're just in the house of God and it's very familiar, it's very common.

People who are used to seeing you, but but but but here's the other side of it that that when you get there, it becomes too comfortable and and too s and and and people get too um they get too comfortable while they're being there.

Here's what I mean by that.

So on this one particular Sunday, we had an evening service, and um it was about time for us to get our wrap it up and go home.

So I remember saying, okay, I'm gonna pick up Caleb, and then I'll wait for the congregants to leave, and then I'm gonna head home.

So as I go into the room where Caleb is supposed to be at, he's not there.

And so what could often happen is because everybody would take the kids and different things, I'm like, okay, so he's not in this room where the staff kids typically are.

Maybe he's with one of the leaders.

So I begin to kind of just say, hey, has anybody seen Caleb?

Who who was the last person to see him?

And so the first five minutes people were like, Oh, I haven't seen him, I haven't seen him since earlier.

Uh uh we saw him about 15 minutes ago, we saw him about 20 minutes ago.

So it begins to build after five minutes turns to 10 minutes.

And I'm still not freaking out.

Again, this is a massive church, so I'm walking around, I'm thinking, like, okay, it's all good, but when 10 minutes turns to 15 minutes, and I'm looking around, and I haven't seen him in the locations I'm expecting to see him, that fear begins to rise up a little bit.

Now, now I realize, like, hey, like, I need to get more people involved.

So now as I'm walking through the halls and I'm seeing people, like, hey, have have any of you guys seen Caleb?

And and I noticed there was like three, one of three responses I would get from the people I was talking to.

I remember going to a group of people and they saw me and they said, Hey, hey, man, what's going on?

I'm like, hey, listen, I can't stay and talk.

Like, I'm looking for Caleb.

Have anybody seen Caleb?

And and the first response was like, nah, man, I'm sure he'll turn up.

He's around here somewhere.

Cool.

And I'm I moved on to the next group.

As I'm walking around and I'm panicking, now that 15 minutes has turned into 20 minutes, and and now like this sphere is beginning to increase because I'm like, yes, we have security, we have things that are in place, but but it's hard to capture everything.

So now, like, is he really lost?

Like, what's going on?

So I see another group of people.

And and and when I'm walking with them, they see me and they're like, hey man, what's going on?

I'm like, hey, has anyone seen Caleb?

I can't see him, no one has seen him for the past like 30 minutes.

Like, have you seen him?

And they're like, no, man, I'm I'm so sorry that he's missing, man.

I'll I'll let you know if if we find him.

Okay, cool.

I I keep on moving.

And then I get around to another group of people.

And when I get to the third group of people, they see me and they can see the fear and the anxiety, and they're like, hey, what's going on?

I'm like, I haven't seen Caleb.

It's been almost 45 minutes.

I haven't seen him.

And they're like, I'm gonna help you find them.

They stopped what they were doing and they began to walk and spread out.

They're sending text messages, they're calling people, they're doing everything they can because they know that the father's heart is for the son that is lost, and the response from them is I'm willing to drop everything I'm doing to make sure that that lost child is returned to his father.

So I remember those moments.

And then I remember when we finally found Caleb.

He was sitting around the corner playing a video game with his headphones and didn't hear people yelling for him.

I was so, so frustrated, but I was so glad that he was back home.

But here's what I remember.

I still remember to this day, this was almost 15 years ago, the three responses that I experienced.

I remember the response of the people that says, like, hey, I'm sure you're around here somewhere, and they went on about their business.

I remember the people that said, I'm so sorry, I'll let you know if I find him.

And I remember the people that said, I'm willing to stop everything I'm doing to help you look for him.

I'm not gonna say that I love the other people less, but what I will say is that I trust that other person more.

Because they showed me with their heart and with their actions that they are willing to orient their priorities to help me find my missing son.

We fast forward a little bit, and I've been thinking a lot about what does it mean to be in partnership with God's vision and his heart for his people.

I think it's similar to the three responses that I saw.

And what I truly believe is that us as followers of Christ, that when we continue to follow Jesus, there's a moment where he begins to invite us into this journey of helping people come home.

I think we have one of three responses.

The one response is, I'm sure it's gonna be okay, and somebody else will take care of it.

Two, hey, I'll let you know if it comes across my path.

In other words, if I conveniently run into someone that needs Jesus, I'll share it.

Or the third response, which is, I'm willing to reprioritize my life in an effort to support and help those who are lost come back home.

I believe it's one of three responses, and I believe that God's reaction is the same as mine.

He doesn't love those who don't pursue any less, but I have seen in scriptures where he trusts those who do support, he trusts them more.

Jesus shows us in the parable of the talents how this is expressed at a practical level.

He gives the illustration and he says, like, hey, there was a man who went away, and he entrusted people with resources that could impact his kingdom.

To one person he gave one talent, to another person he gave two, and to another person he gave five.

And he says, Hey, I want you to do something with this.

To the one that had one, he didn't do anything with it.

He was afraid.

He stayed where he was, he stayed in that convenience space.

To the one that had two, he did something with it, and he saw multiplication as a result of it.

And to the one that had five, he did something with it and saw multiplication come back.

So when the king came back and he begins to take inventory, the people that did something with what he was placed in our hands, he trusted them with more.

I truly believe that that is an example of what does it mean to be an all-hands person in partnership with the kingdom of God.

I am amazed at the fact that when I think about how God has orchestrated the kingdom of God and how he invites every single one of us to partner and participate, not only in the benefits of the kingdom, but helping other people come home, that he invites us to play a part by giving our time, our talent, and our treasure, that we have a response in this moment.

We can see in scripture the extent that God goes through to redeem those who are lost.

We can look at the story of the prodigal son and see the father's posture for those who are away from his house.

We can see the parable of him leaving the 99 and going after the one.

So we see in scripture, time and time again, God's heart for those who are away from him.

But my question is, can we see that in our actions in support of it?

I believe it's in moments like this that we have an opportunity, an invitation that God invites us to partner and participate with the things that are the most important to him.

So let's get past all this.

We understand that.

I think if we read the Bible and we have a measure of sensitivity to it, we can see God's heart for those who are broken.

We can see God's heart for those who are disenfranchised.

We can see God's heart for the oppressed.

We can see how God uses resources in order to reach people, we get that.

So why is it so hard to talk about?

Why is that the subject matter that's the most difficult?

To really lean into when it comes to stewarding our resources, when it comes to stewarding our time, when it comes to stewarding our trends, why is that such a burden that we all experience?

It's almost like you have to give a disclaimer whenever we're talking about money, whenever we're talking about resources, and I get it.

It's because we all have our own baggage when it comes to the way that we view money.

We all have our own perspective on how the church should be using money.

We all have our own perspective, so it creates this tension.

But at the root of it all, at the root of it all, that's because we all live in a world where we, our perspective is the apex of our lives.

We live in a world where everything is ran through our own filter, and our default mode is me.

We live in a world of radical customization.

We can customize everything.

We can, we can now, and I mean I know I sound like an old person, but just stick with me for a moment.

Like my daughter and I will often have these discussions and and these debates where I love, I love the idea of playlists.

I love all that stuff.

I loved all that.

But watch this.

I remember when I was coming up that when you wanted to listen to a work of art by an artist, you had to just listen to the whole album.

You didn't skip past songs, you didn't, you didn't get a chance to skip it.

Like you put it in your cassette deck.

For those of all, look it up on um the um on Google.

You could, it's like a little tape that had words recorded with music on it.

You would put it in your car and you would drive, and guess what?

You would just listen to all of it.

You didn't like that song, so what?

You just listened to it.

Like before long, you memorized everything because you just didn't skip past it because we didn't have radical customization.

Technology comes and now I can skip past the parts I don't like.

I was talking with my daughter, I was like, hey, did you listen to that whole album?

She said, Oh no, I only listen to four or five songs.

Did you listen to the old album?

No.

You mean you missed out on the whole body of work?

Well, no, I don't I don't have time for that.

I can conveniently create a playlist that fits my needs.

What if I were to tell you that we do the exact same thing when it comes to God?

We we create a playlist of the things that we like.

We create a playlist of our favorite scriptures, we create a playlist of our favorite disciplines, the things that work well for us, we customize and we create it for ourselves, but those other things, let's get past that part.

Money, let's let's get past that part.

I don't like that.

Let's let's get past that part about serving.

Like I don't like that part, but just give me a message about restoring my relationships.

Give me a message about faith, give me a message about miracles, tell me about the Holy Spirit, tell me about that, but let's just get past these other things because we live in a world of radical individualism, and that is what is celebrated.

But sadly, the Bible is the exact opposite of that.

The I the Bible shows us that the individual isn't the apex of the story, God's will is.

God's will is the overarching thing that everything is surrendered under.

So when we look at these characters in the Bible who did some amazing things, it was never about their ability to do miracles, it was never about their ability to write, it was never about their ability to reach people, it was how God used them to reach people for his kingdom, for his purpose, for his glory.

Everything that we see in the Bible, it is all submitted under God's will because God's will is the apex, not me.

And when I look at that and I and I feel challenged by that, I realize that I am a part of the story, but I'm not the main character.

That I play a part in advancing the kingdom, and I'm hopeful that as people tell the story of this young man who gave his life to Jesus, who laid his life on the line, who served, who preached messages, who lived in different places, that it's not about me exclusively, but it's about me living my life in a way that's submitted under God's will.

That is what is celebrated when we consider what it means to be a follower of Christ.

This is why Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.

It's not about me.

I I love, I think John the Baptist is the perfect example of this.

Because John the Baptist came before Jesus.

And when he comes on a scene and he's preaching this idea of repentance and he begins to follow amass a bunch of followers, and people are looking to John for his influence and his impact, John's perspective of him saying it's like, listen, I am not the light.

It's not about me.

I I know that y'all are all surrounded around me.

I know that y'all are all interested in what I'm saying, but let's be very clear, it's not about me.

That I am me, I am merely a precursor to him who is to come.

In fact, I am not the light.

I am just a moon, and the moon has no light of its own.

It simply is reflecting the light from the sun.

The moment that I make it about me, and I make it about my pride, my pride eclipses my relationship with the sun, and I have no light of my own.

We are simply moons who are working the night shift.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you are not the light.

I am not the light.

It's not about me.

It's about me living my life in such a way that there's no obstruction so that the glory of God can shine through me, so that more people can be drawn to him because we're working the night shift.

There's people that are away from him.

There are people that are lost and that are broken and are sick, but we are not the light.

It's not about us.

So when I look at Nehemiah and I see the inspirational life that he lived, I see a man who has lived in a different environment, who lived in a measure of comfort, but he understood the heart of God in such a way that he made tangible actions and steps in order to draw people closer to God.

I want to share three primary thoughts with us really quickly on what we see in Nehemiah and what I believe God is inviting to activate in us.

Here's the first thing align your heart with God's heart.

We need to align our heart with God's heart.

Alignment means to come into harmony or to come into agreement.

Align your heart with God's heart.

Nehemiah is living in Persia.

He's living in the king's palace.

And as he's living in Persia, living in the king's palace, he is literally the embodiment of privilege.

Why do I say that?

Because he's eating the best food.

He's drinking the best drinks.

He is literally considered to be one of the advisors to the kings.

He is in proximity to the king.

So for all intents and purposes, Nehemiah is living his best life.

Things are going great for him.

He is good.

The brother got his feet up, he got all the streaming platforms, he got not a problem in the world.

Nothing, he he orders food at will.

Like this guy has got to go in all.

So this is the life of Nehemiah.

It's good.

But Nehemiah was also a person that understood that the privilege that he's been blessed with, he needs to use it to be a blessing to other people.

When he hears about what is happening in Jerusalem, he hears that Jerusalem's city has been ransacked.

He's aware of this.

He knows that the city gates have been torn down.

He knows that there's no borders or no barriers.

So I want us to understand the significance of no doors and no borders and barriers meant in that time.

In that time in that region, imagine not having anything to protect you.

That that for them, walls and doors were more important than having an army.

So when you consider for a moment that Nehemiah is sitting in a palace where he has an army, he is surrounded by support and he has everything he needs, but he hears about people who are less fortunate.

He hears about people who are suffering, people who are vulnerable to the elements, people that could be exposed to being attacked from their enemies at any side.

Imagine all of us right now that if we were to go to sleep right now and we didn't have any front doors, our garage door was wide open.

Imagine how uneasy we would feel when we tried to rest at night.

I'm being serious.

Like I know that there have been times where my family and I were all coming in the house and one of us has forgotten to let the garage door down.

That did that ever happen to you?

You wake up the next morning and you're like, oh my gosh, like somebody left the garage door up.

We could have all been murdered last night.

Like in my head, I'm like, this could have all gone south.

I thank God for his covering.

We got the ring, y'all would have sold it, but I'd have been gone.

Like, like I think about that, and that's just one night.

Imagine a life where you have no protection, the anxiety and stress that you will feel.

Nehemiah hears this and he is compelled to act.

He is so heartbroken as saying that even though it's good for me, it's not good for them, which means it's not good for me.

There's something inside of him that he understood the heart of God and what was alignment for God's people.

I often find myself wondering that if all of my prayers would have answered, would the world notice?

If all of my prayers were answered, would the world notice?

Or what my family noticed, or what I noticed, a good metric to let us know whether we have a heart that is kingdom focused, that is eternal perspective, is when you say, if God answered every one of my prayers, would the world even see it?

Nehemiah had a heart for God's people, and because he had a heart for God's people, it composed him and compelled him to do something about it.

But maybe you're saying, Keith, I don't know what God's heart is.

How can I bring myself into alignment if I don't know what God's heart is for his people?

I'm so glad you asked because I'm going to tell you exactly what God's heart is for his people.

We read God's word and we get a glimpse into what God's will is for his people.

God has a heart for those who are marginalized, he has a heart for those who are broken, who are disenfranchised, he has a heart for those who are oppressed, he has a heart for those who are dealing with broken situations, he has a heart for single mothers, he has a heart for those who are dealing with food scarcity, he has a heart for people that are away from him.

So when I consider just the litany of scriptures of seeing how God responded, I believe it comes to an apex in Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

When God comes to Moses and he says, I want you to say this to my people.

I have seen their oppression, I have heard their cries, and I now am going to get involved and I'm inviting you to play a part in that.

That is what God has a heart for.

Anybody that cannot freely walk in the identity that God has given them.

People who are dealing with oppression, where there's injustice, where there's brokenness, where there's fear, where there's scarcity, that is where the heart of God is.

So my question is, are you in alignment with it?

Does my time reflect the things that are important for God?

Does my skills reflect how I'm using them to things that are important to God?

Does my bank account show that I'm in alignment with things that are important to God?

Nehemiah shows us that when he hears about the brokenness of others, even though they are 800 miles away, even though these are people that he has never met, and these are people that he likely would have never met, he had a heart moment where he just sat down and he wept with tears because he had such a compassion and his heart was in alignment with the things of God.

I believe the only way that we can ever be people that are truly all hands is that we gotta have our hearts in alignment with God.

The second thing is we need to have compassion.

But compassion leads to action.

This is going a step beyond thoughts and prayers.

Let me be very transparent.

Whenever someone sees you and like, hey, thoughts and prayers, that was the prayer.

Like, what God, what God wants are people who are actively doing it.

When Megan and I now hear someone like, hey, can you pray for this?

We stop what we're doing and we pray right there because there is power in prayer.

We have to actually do something about it.

But the next step is we have to make sure that there's action to go with it.

Nehemiah understood the privilege that he had.

So when he hears about the oppression of what's happening with God's people, he is compelled to act.

The Bible tells us that he goes into a time of fasting and prayer, self-denial, so he can bring himself into a place where he's spiritually strong enough to face the king so that he can now bring this matter before the king.

He used his privilege, he used his proximity to gain access and then also to gain resources.

He's talking with the king.

And the king says, Man, like, what are you so upset about?

He's like, bro, like I gotta be honest with you, man.

I'm not sick, but my spirit is.

Why?

What's wrong with you, Nehemiah?

Like, you got the best of everything.

I know I'm good.

But my people back in in Israel, they're struggling right now.

And I just feel like I gotta do something about it.

I I don't I don't want to step on your toes.

I think that we're good, but but I feel like I gotta do something about it.

And the king says, Absolutely.

Not only am I going to release you to go, I'm gonna send you resources, and I'm gonna write letters to make sure that you're protected while you go.

So I'm gonna give you resources and authority to go into these hostile environments, but you are under the king's protection.

But that wouldn't have happened if Nehemiah didn't do something about it.

That wouldn't have happened if Nehemiah wasn't vocal about it.

That wouldn't have happened if Nehemiah didn't take these problems and put it into the presence of the king.

I'm often saying to myself, he understood that his privilege without using it to help others was poor stewardship.

That God has entrusted me to be in this space, to have these resources, so that I can make a difference and help others.

James chapter 2, verses 15 through 17 says this if a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed, but you didn't give them anything, you didn't give them what the body needs, what good is it?

James 2:15–17

In the same way, faith that does not have works is dead by itself.

What the writer is saying, it's good to say that we love Jesus.

It's it's good to have scriptures, and it's good to post these things on our Instagram posts, all of that stuff is great.

But if there's not activity behind it, then our faith is actually dead.

Our faith is not active, our faith is dormant.

What we understand is that true faith is not passive, it compels us to act.

Here's my third and final thought.

We need to cultivate a generous heart.

It's a muscle that has to be flexed.

We have to cultivate it.

When you think about cultivating, cultivating is in essence, whenever a farmer would go out, they would remove rocks, they would get the environment prepared so that they could plant seeds, so there could be a harvest in the future.

It was cultivating it, it's digging up the ground, it's it's removing the barriers, it's making sure that the atmosphere is set so that when a seed is planted, it could produce fruit.

A generous heart has to be cultivated.

It requires us to pray, it requires us to stretch ourselves, it requires us to do something so that a heart of generosity is absolutely expressed.

Nehemiah, he he takes the resources that he gets from the king, he takes his own resources and he goes back to Jerusalem.

He gets to he gets to Jerusalem and he begins to use his talents as a leader.

He's using his leadership to rally the troops, he he uses his gifts, he uses his time, he uses his resources, and altogether, they all together are able to build the work that God has called them to build.

But it all started with Nehemiah having a heart for the things of God.

That was the motivation behind all of it.

See, generosity is a matter of the heart, but it's cultivated in our hands.

When I have a heart for God, and I use what He's placed in my hands, that somehow he uses that as a puzzle piece to advance his kingdom in ways that I believe we will never understand until we are on the other side of eternity.

Generosity is truly a matter of the heart.

Nehemiah had a heart that was aligned with God, he had a compassion that led him to do something with it, and he cultivated by exercising his faith, even when he faced opposition and a resistance.

You may have heard me uh say this at different times, but I feel like God has compelled me and challenged me to share this with you.

I I don't like uh preaching about money.

Just real talk.

I don't.

If you're if you're new here, if you have not been here for a while, like we don't talk about money and resources, we talk about it every Sunday in a concept of worship, but we don't preach on money that often.

Probably like once a year.

Typically around this time of year, we talk uh about money, and that's it.

I just don't, it's not my favorite subject.

And and here's why because I realize that money has baggage attached to it.

We are such a unique community that sitting in our seats, we have people that have been walking with God for 30 plus years.

We also have people that are going through deconstruction and trying to figure out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the first place.

We have people who are stipping, putting their toe back into the church environment.

And I often think about man, that first-time guest, that person who's been away from God, that person who doesn't know Jesus, and they come to church, their friend invites them, and the preacher gets up and says, Hey, today we're talking about money.

We can laugh at that.

Nobody wants that assignment.

I'm always thinking about that.

So for me, I'm always trying to be mindful of how we talk about resources because we have you can do a quick Google search on how people's views are on money, particularly when it comes to the church.

So I have been very reluctant to preach on it.

So as I was preparing for for this series, I found myself just processing a little bit, just thinking and and praying, and like, okay, God, like, and honestly, like, okay, I gotta talk about money, but then after that, I'll get to.

But I gotta talk about money, like, and it was really just kind of like this let me do it so I can move on from it.

And and I genuinely felt the Holy Spirit begin to rebuke me.

Because God began to ask me, Do you have a heart for my people?

Yes, absolutely.

My life has demonstrated it.

Yes, you have a heart for people, but but you don't have an issue with preaching on matters of faith.

You don't have an issue with preaching on restoration, resurrection, the Holy Spirit, the power, you don't have an issue with preaching on any of that stuff.

And then he literally said to me, Do I talk about money in the scriptures?

Yeah, God, we talk about money a whole lot.

So, how can you say you're a man after my own heart when you're silent on things I was vocal about?

We need to reclaim what does it mean to steward the resources that God has given us God's way, and and we can't function in fear because I was fearful of how people would see it, I was fearful of how people would perceive it.

So I would tiptoe around it because I didn't want to offend and let's keep it all about kingdom, and God's people's gonna, he's gonna move on people's hearts, they're gonna give.

And God said, That is not the case.

Jesus literally says, He's talking about money.

You cannot worship God and money.

Jesus goes on to say, it is easier for a rich man to pass through an eye of a needle than it is for them to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus doesn't make that stipulation about any other thing except money.

So if I am really going to be a pastor of God's people, I need to talk about what God defines as one of the biggest barriers that keeps them from truly being free in the kingdom of God, and that is our resources.

So I stand before you, repenting, saying, I'm sorry for not talking about it the way that God talks about it more frequently.

We're gonna step out and we're gonna have the mind of God on everything, and nothing is off the table.

So let me tell you exactly what the next two weeks are gonna look like.

Next week, I am preaching on tithing.

I'm preaching on tithing.

And watch this.

This room is full right now.

I hope y'all show up next week.

You're watching online right now.

I hope you show up next week.

You know what they do in the church world is you don't tell people when you're talking about money because you know they're not gonna show up.

Not here.

We're talking about money, and I'm hopeful that as we talk about this through God's perspective, that we can ultimately be people that are walking in freedom.

We're talking about tithing next week.

The week after that, we're gonna be talking about offering where we're gonna talk about the part that we all play, and we're gonna be launching our all hands building campaign.

We're gonna talk about the building, we're gonna talk about the size of the building, the location of the building, the cost of the building, and the part that we all play.

We're not gonna shy back on these things because I know that God is telling us to have a kingdom perspective.

So for the next two weeks, I hope y'all show up, but I know that the Holy Spirit's gonna be here.

The week after that, it gets even better.

We're gonna be preaching on idolatry, where we're gonna be talking about the things that we have exalted above God.

You ever think about when the Bible says, magnify the Lord with me?

How is that even possible?

God can't get any bigger than He is.

What that means is there's some things that we've made bigger than God, and what idolatry is, is making sure that we remove those barriers and that God is big in every area of our lives.

So for the next three weeks, after that, we're gonna be talking about how we've idolized sex, how we've idolized money, how we've idolized influence, and that we're gonna be a church of people that's gonna start to live our lives God's way because that is our kingdom assignment.

We are not gonna be conformed to the image of the world, but we're gonna be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and the only way we can do that is by getting the mind and heart of God on all of these subjects.

So for the next five weeks, we're going after it.

I hope I don't see y'all just at Christmas.

Real talk.

I hope that y'all show up because this is what it means to be a kingdom community that's dialed in, that is committed to saying, I'm gonna live my life God's way for his glory, and it'll be our story.

Let me pray for us.

Lord, I thank you so much for the resources that you've entrusted us with.

I thank you for the opportunity to step out on these platforms and to step into those uncomfortable spaces.

But Lord, these are areas where you weren't silent on, so we're not going to be silent on it.

I pray that we can be a culture that has a heart that is aligned with you.

Father, I pray that we can understand the part that are giving place in the local church.

And God, I pray that we can understand how our offering can build an environment that can be a beacon of hope for people that are away from God.

So as we're in this all-hand series, God, I pray that we all can show up.

I pray that our hearts are sensitive and that our minds and our hands are open to what it is that you want to do in and through us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening.

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