The Talk: How to LIVE GENEROUSLY // Summer Lean In series (part 7) // Pastor Drew

Over

here, please.

Come on. Can we give a hand for the

worship team? Let's go.

What God is doing here, I love and I

don't ever want. It's easy when I shift

my posture to change my heart posture.

And I want us to move away from that

from from when I move from worship with

my hands up or my my head bowed and then

step into a a message. My heart posture

should actually be staying the same.

Even though now I am sitting, now that I

am looking up at the stage instead of

maybe looking at the lyrics or closing

my eyes. Uh, I I want us to keep the

posture of Lord, I'm just looking for

you cuz he's got a message for you

today. I believe it. I know it. I know

that God has an ability to speak to

every single heart. And his ability to

speak to my heart is greater than my

inability to hear and my ability to miss

it. So, if I'm ready, if you're ready,

let's get ready for him to speak. Amen.

Amen. Come on.

So, uh, today the message is titled the

talk.

Who here remembers the talk? Who has

either had to give or receive the talk?

Right? If we know, right? All I got to

do is say the talk. We've had a lot of

conversations in our lives, but as soon

as you say the talk, I know what that

means, right? It's the it's it's the

Now, now here at Collective, our our our

youth just left, we have an amazing kids

ministry. So, I can be honest. I can be

real here. The the talk when we talk

about that, it's about introducing ideas

like puberty and sex and romance and

relationships and and where do babies

come from and the birds and the bees,

whatever you want to call it. It's

the talk

and it's the conversation that you have

to have. It's called the talk because it

is feels so awkward and it feels so hard

and it's like Yeah. Yeah. So, uh yeah,

that's that's uh that's where you came

from. Uh like Yep. Yep. It's happened in

this house. Yep. Yep. Uh right. like the

awkward parts of the conversation, it

feels so weighty. But the other reason

it's called the talk is because you have

to push through the awkwardness

because it's also so vitally important

to talk about. Now, the awkwardness I

believe is actually brought on more by

the way that we hold the conversation

than the conversation naturally is.

Parents, quick tip for having the talk.

Have talks like this that are

introducing concepts at different depths

and different levels throughout the age

uh throughout throughout your children's

life growing up because the way that you

have the talk is totally different at

four when you're just talking about like

gender and you're just talking about

like, oh yeah, we're different and mom

and dad we love each other and like

whatever, right? Like uh when than it is

at 14, right? when everything's really

real and all the friends are talking

about it and I there's not a whole lot

to hide anymore, right? The the

conversation is very different, but have

it periodically throughout as the child.

That way when it gets to the

conversation, they go, "Oh, you know

what? My parents, we've been talking

about this. I know how to do this."

Because any genuinely authentic, real,

vulnerable type of relationship should

be able to have that as a parent to a

child. And here at Collective Church,

did you know

there is a church version of the talk?

And it's not actually about sex and

romance and all that stuff. I'd much

rather preach on that. The talk, we do

that. We do that almost every single

year where we talk about relationships.

you talk about like what does God see on

this and how do we live our lives in

this and it's an amazing powerful

service and and series that we may go

through but but the reality is is the

talk the church version of the talk is

the awkward

but important conversation

that you have to push through if we're

going to have an authentic community. If

we're going to be open, if we're going

to be vulnerable, if we're going to be a

place that's filled with real people

seeking real transformation amongst a

real community and seeing real impact in

our world, then we've got to have some

real conversations, right? And the

church version of the talk is not

disciplinary. It's not you're doing bad.

It's not you're missing it. It's not

It's just about

giving. It's about money, right? Some of

you may be going, "Oh my goodness, why

did I have to come today?" I'll tell you

guys what. I don't know why. I do think

that there's times if this is your first

time visiting and you're like, "Of

course, right? Of course I show up." I

want you to know how unlikely it is.

This is the first time, it's been almost

5 years that we've been in existence. I

have not done a talk on giving

exclusively just for giving and tithing

outside of when we've done our faith

offering which is actually primarily for

so that we can raise funds for things

that God's doing outside of the church

and it's for local global and future

initiatives. And we see it is so cool. I

I encourage you guys to begin to prepare

your hearts for November when we step

into that again of what is God going to

have move through us here at Collective

Church. And so if there there might be

something that God wants to speak into

your heart today. In fact, I believe if

this is uh if this is one of your first

Sundays, I want to or if this is your

first Sunday, I want you to free you

from any obligation of immediate

application here. Okay? As we're talking

about giving, we're talking about

financial generosity. I don't want you

to feel like, oh my goodness, I come one

Sunday and they're already asking for

it. Listen, I want you so desperately to

experience the free gift of God, of his

love and his grace, and the body of

Christ that it is. We live under a grace

covenant. And so I want you to come and

I just want you to receive for your

first few times that you come here.

Don't even don't don't don't don't try

to what can I do? What can I do? Just

receive for a second. Okay? Just just

let the Lord bless you through his

church. Okay? And allow for this to be a

little bit of like, hey, what's the

church's theology on this? And the

reality is that God has always

throughout from from Genesis to

Revelation, he has always revealed

himself

to the world through his people.

>> He's always made this like his his hill

that he will die on, right? Like he has

always said, "I want to reach these

people. I want to show my love to them.

So I'm sending you. I'm sending you. I'm

making you. I'm having you guys do it

together, right? It's this sending. It's

how do I reveal my love and my heart to

the world around me? I do it through my

people. And that's what this is. It's a

practice and a learning of surrender in

every capacity. And yeah, we're not a

church that talks about this a ton. We

don't have a ton of uh sermons on this

topic, but and and and that is that's my

fault. I believe as a good shepherd we

need to be able to have if we can have

real conversations we do relevant topics

we talk about real things in real life

all the time and we have not talked

about this nearly enough because of the

talk because often times I'm like man I

I know what people feel and I know the

way that what happens we get funny about

our money as soon as we start talking

about money it's like oh I'm an

exceptional there. Oh, I don't Why does

he got to talk about that? There's

suddenly bad motives in this. Want to

know my target audience when I when I'm

writing this sermon, when I'm praying

over this. Here's my person that I like

to think of the most. The person that is

here at Collective Church, but is moving

away because then I can be totally

honest. I can be totally vulnerable. I

can be totally real and give all the

truth. And there's no assumption that

there's any selfish motives. I promise

you what I want to do is I desperately

want for every single one of us to live

in the blessing of what it looks like to

have every area of our life surrendered

to Christ.

>> So that's what I want us to do. I want

you to hear this. If you have any areas,

I always say if you have any areas that

you're like, "Oh, I'm not so sure about

that." Go to the word. Any message that

you hear, go back to the Bible. What

does God say about that? Not what does

the pastor say about that? Not just what

am I told about that, but let's go back.

I love having if you got question, I

love having conversations about this.

What do you mean by that? What was this?

Does this mean that does this apply like

like how does that apply to my marriage?

How does that apply to my life? How does

apply to my finances? But this is part

of who we are and who we've been since

the very beginning. Since it since we

started with 14 people in our living

room at 168th in Blondo, we had we built

these sets of values. And one of our

values is called generous living. And

it's this value that's titled it is our

joy. Say joy.

>> Joy. It is our joy to give our time,

abilities, and resources to serve people

and to serve God's mission. We meet the

needs around us. That's who we are. So,

this is generosity is more than just

financial. That's a lot of what we're

going to be talking about today. But

it's really just this heart of

willingness to give to other things and

surrender of self. And I know this as

we're going through the summer lean in.

The whole premise of what we're talking

about is how can you set your spiritual

life on fire? And we've talked about how

to set the right rhythms. We've talked

about humility and in humbling oneself.

We've talked about Pastor Morgan gave a

powerful message on going back seeking

your first love and just having a deep

love of Jesus. We've talked about the

importance of community. We talked about

the importance of forgiveness. Russ last

week preached on memorials and having

things that remind us about who God is,

what he's done, so that we can continue

forward going, "Wait,

I know that he's been faithful before,

so I know he'll be faithful again, and I

don't have to keep learning the same

lesson a thousand times." Who loves that

message from Russ last week? Come on,

let them know it, guys. That was great.

And then at our encounter night on

Tuesday, we talked about the importance

of prayer and how to dive deeper in

prayer. I want to encourage you guys to

come to that. Uh but

that's why I believe giving is essential

is an essential part of this. This is

what we see within scripture. This is

why it's one of the most popular topics

that Jesus actually talks about. And uh

and this is my desire for this message

is that we would all carry a God

response to this. That's it. Okay. So

what I want to do before we get into

anything else, I want to just talk about

what does the Bible say about giving?

What does the Bible say about giving?

Giving is first of all primarily giving

is worship. Giving is where it's a

response to God's generosity

to us.

It's an our whole lives are not a

responsibility

to God. If we try to live our lives like

that, we will find ourselves to be utter

complete failures very quickly. Amen.

Anybody can attest to that with me.

Right? I'm very bad at being very good.

Right? I am really in desperate need of

God and the perfection that he gives to

us as this goal be perfect therefore as

your heavenly father is perfect I cannot

attain to that so the whole goal is not

performance

the goal is surrender so giving is a

response to God's generosity to us

giving is not a forced obligation of the

church do not hear that do Do not sense

that. Do not try to read that into this.

Giving is a forced obligation of a cult.

Giving is a forced obligation of owning

a house, of an agreement with the bank,

things like that, right? These are

forced obligations. That is not what's

going on here. It is a natural and

encouraged loving overflow of the heart

to the Lord. And this is the the reality

is is that giving has always worship

has always been accompanied with

sacrifice. Philippians 4 15-18 talks

about this and and this is where the

apostle Paul is writing to them. He says

you Philippians yourselves know that in

the beginning talking about the

beginning of his ministry not the

beginning of time right in the beginning

of the gospel when I left Macedonia no

church entered into partnership with me

in giving and receiving. No church

supported him. He had no missionary

support. He built tents and he sold

them. And that's all that's the only way

that he made money at that time. Except

you only the church in Philippi said,

"We're going to help make sure that the

gospel through the Apostle Paul is

advanced and we're going to give to

that." That's what they said. So even in

Thessalonica, you sent me help for my

needs. Once again, verse 17

says, "Not that I seek the gift. I'm not

seeking the money, but I seek the fruit

that increases to your credit. I have

received full payment and more. I am

well supplied, having received from

Epaphroditis the gifts you sent, a

fragrant offering,

a sacrifice

acceptable and pleasing to God. You want

to know what that calls back to?

Live your lives as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God. Our entire

life is worship

and giving. Worship is actually a

sacrificial thing. It's always supposed

to be. We talk about this in discover.

If you guys came to discover last week,

we have it on the first Sunday of every

month as getting into uh learning who

collective is, joining a team, getting

involved, all that stuff. But we talk

about how how worship used to be I'm

bringing my lamb. I'm bringing my my

grain. I'm bringing my oil. I'm bringing

my gifts and I'm leaving without it.

Worship is sacrifice. Throughout all of

history, that's why he says it is a

pleasing aroma. It is a pleasing gift to

the Lord. Giving is worship. It is my

sacrifice to him. And I'm grateful that

we get to offer money instead of animals

to slaughter. Amen. Anybody else? Come

on. Very grateful for that. Uh this in

uh in 2 Samuel 24:24, one of the most

2 Samuel 24:24

powerful passages I love about this.

King David's about to make a sacrifice

to the Lord. And he says, "I need a

bowl." And someone says, "Don't you

worry. I will provide that. I'll provide

the land for the altar. I'll provide all

of it." And King David says, the king

answered Arona, "No, I insist on buying

it from you for a sol for for the the

the Hebrew word there just means like a

fair price for what it's actually worth.

I will not offer to the Lord my God

burnt offerings that cost me nothing.

I will not give to God something that

cost me nothing." I'm not looking for

for cheap grace and just going, "Oh,

God, give to me all the time." Right? I

say, "Lord, I have received and so

therefore I move." And that is my heart.

I love this passage. I love that I will

not offer to the Lord something that

costs me nothing. So, first of all,

giving is worship. Second of all, giving

is practical.

It multiplies the mission. The reality

is is that Philippians 4:17, he says, "I

Philippians 4:17

seek the fruit that increases to your

credit." Right? He says it's not just

the money, but what you're doing, it is

multiplying

the mission of what God is doing. It's

incredibly practical. Again and again,

you'll see this within scripture that

they'll be like, "Hey, the temple looks

dilapidated. Your house your houses look

great. We need to make sure to take care

of this thing." This is just a practical

thing. Bring in your offerings for the

sake of what God is doing. Right? It's

just a practical thing. In Acts 4:34, it

Acts 4:34

says, "There were no needy people among

them because whenever there was a need

that rose up, the church showed up to

provide for it."

It's just it's some of it is worship.

Some of it is, "I see a need and I'm

going to practice. I'm going to help be

a part of the solution."

And I I believe I want to see

Collective's heart multiplied in this

city

>> increased in the impact all around the

world as Laura was just talking about

about the the partners that we have all

around the globe that we get to see God

move and we have a little bit of a

fingerprint on that. Oh, I'd love to be

able to see that 10 times. I'd love to

be able to see that. I'd love to see

what God is doing here continue to

multiply itself. I think what God is

doing here is so special and I want to

give this to as many people as possible

and I believe

that there are still people souls,

hearts, stories out there that are ready

for transformation that have not yet

received and our money gets to multiply

that mission.

>> Thirdly, it's practical but it also it's

extremely formative. It shapes our own

heart.

More often than not, if you look at

giving from a New Testament perspective,

it's almost exclusively

about where the gift is coming from than

even what the gift is going to.

This is why Jesus says in Matthew 6:21,

Matthew 6:21

he says, "Where your treasure is, that's

where your heart will be." We think it's

an external thing. He moves it from

externally like this is where you're

investing your money. He's saying no,

that's actually a revelation of what's

going on inside of you.

I interpret this in the 20th century as

show me your bank account. I'll show you

the things that you truly value, right?

The things that you're actually invested

in. This is it's it's very practical the

way and that's why Jesus talks about

money so much because he says this is a

very real very vulnerable oftenimes

uncomfortable revelation of what's going

on within your own heart

that I truly care about.

And the story of Jesus seeing the widow

give two coins when everybody else is

giving tons and tons of money reveals

that it's not even about how much you

give. It's about how well you give. It's

about the heart that I give with. It's

about the this level of surrender that

comes with it when she's giving the very

last that she has. This is why I I've

seen giving often times it's

transformative. It's formitting. It's

forming within my own heart because I've

seen people say, "This is the hardest

season I've ever been in." And they

increase their giving. Why? Because

sometimes I think some of it I've talked

and and it's like, "Well, this is all I

have to offer right now. I don't really

have much else." But it also is this

statement of God, I'm doubling down on

my trust in you and I'm just I'm leaning

all into this and I trust you with what

you are doing. I I know there are

stories in this room that I cannot even

fathom having to walk through what you

may be walking through right now.

And I encourage you, I'm not I'm not not

even talking about giving right now. I

just encourage you, double down. Get get

deeper with the Lord. Dive deeper in

with him. The only place you're going to

find hope is with him. Okay? Please, in

your time of need, don't pull away from

Jesus.

lean into him. Okay, this is and then uh

this is the uh the last thing that we

see. It's worship. It's practical. It's

formative and it's essential. See, God

never makes giving optional. He doesn't.

As I look, as I look to the word, it

makes it really clear. Malachi 3:8 and10

Malachi 3:8

actually highlights this really bluntly

in ways. He says, God says, "Will man

rob God? Will you STEAL FROM ME?" YOU'RE

robbing me. But you say, "How how have

we robbed you in your tithes and

contributions?" He says, "You're not

you're not just not tithing the 10%.

You're not giving that." And therefore,

you are not just not generous, not just

not an obedience, you are robbing me is

how he describes this. Don't get mad at

me. Take this to the word. Right? Verse

10 says, "Bring the full tithe, the

one/tenth, the 10% into the storehouse,

the place where you are fed, and that

there may be food in my house and

thereby put me to the test." Doing that

is a testing of God. The only place he

says, "Test me, says the Lord of hosts,

if I will not open the windows of heaven

for you and pour down for you a blessing

until there is no more need."

See, the heart of generosity is

foundational

in your financial stewardship. If you

want to see, there's not a single area

of your life

that I will be like, God, transform this

thing that I have, but I'm going to keep

it like this. Lord, change this thing. I

wish I wish this was different, and I'm

going to hold it tight. No, no, no. I

got to offer it to the Lord. Say, here

you go. There's not a single thing that

God God's not going to force himself

upon you. If I want to see

transformation in my life, in my

finances, in my practice, in my

generosity, I've got to start

surrendering it to him. Amen.

>> But the tithe, as we bring up the tithe,

and that brings up a whole different

conversation. So, I want to real quick

move through this because people have a

lot of different theologies on the

tithe. The tithe means the 10% is

referred to as the first fruits in uh

the gospel. And it is it comes from it's

introduced in the Old Testament. And

there's a lot of different uh there's a

lot of different theology out there.

I'll give you a quick like as I've done

my own study on this and I encourage you

do your own study, but this is what I've

seen is arguments against the tithe. We

are not required to tithe anymore. This

argument and it comes with it's like

well that's an old testament that's an

old covenant law that comes from the old

covenant. Jesus sacrifice uh shuts that

down starts a new agreement in

relationship with the Lord. And yes, it

is the most transformative thing that

has ever happened in the history of man.

The sacrifice and the resurrection of

Jesus Christ. It has changed our

relationship with God. But as I look at

scripture, I see that the tithe actually

preceded the covenant.

The tithe actually came before the law

when Abraham tithed to Mechisedc. And we

see that this is this is this picture of

like actually before Moses the Mosaic

law this was actually something that we

practice and Jesus

sacrifice

rem there's there's nothing about that I

see in this as I'm looking at how do I

practice this okay this is just my own

study for my own self that I've done as

I'm looking at how do we why why we

practice a tithe because I look at that

and I go I don't see that there's

anything about Jesus sacrifice that

removes the tithe from from us.

The book of Romans and the book of

Hebrews do powerful gives such powerful

revelation as to what the sacrifice of

Jesus does to absolutely transform our

lives. That's why we don't have to

sacrifice animals anymore. That's why we

don't have to uh show up at a temple at

a certain number of times and do all

these different ceremonies. That's why

uh you get to pray instead of going to a

priest and a pastor and a person who

will be the person that will actually I

can hear from God for you and let me

tell you what he says. No, THAT'S HOW IT

USED TO BE. NOW YOU GOT TO GO STRAIGHT

TO HIM.

>> ISN'T THAT AMAZING? LIKE THIS IS THESE

ARE ALL THINGS. NEVER ONCE DOES it say

and then he paid the TITHE FOR US. SO

therefore we are relieved and absolved

of any responsibility there. I don't see

that. But that doesn't mean that it's

not. So I want to continue to study in

that. Another reason for the tithe or

arguments against the tithe is it was

used for the temple and for the Levites,

the temple workers. Neither of which

exists today.

I agree.

There was no like governmental church

system. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. It

messed up every single time that it was

attempted, right? Every single time we

try to make a nation governmentally only

strictly run according to the Bible and

we punish you according to the law of

the like and the the law of the land the

government then reflects all things

according it's actually it sounds great

at the surface but we got to realize

none of us are a perfect priest

and I'd love to see that happen that

that that is going to happen someday in

the kingdom that Jesus instates that no

man is going to be in charge of. We're

not going to have a king. We're not

going to have a president. We're not

going to have anyone else. That it is

going to be Jesus that is in charge of

that. Right? And so, as I look to that,

that is true. But the reality is we do

still have church buildings. We do still

have church workers, the the the people

that are serving the church. And so, I I

don't see that. For me personally, I was

like, I don't feel absolved of the

necessity of of that practice. And then

another the the other argument is the

New Testament nowhere designates a

percentage of income a person should

give.

You're right. Jesus said I did not come

to abolish the law

but actually to fulfill it. So he

doesn't say

let's forget everything in the Old

Testament and now let's move on and

start from scratch. Because Jesus,

according to what I see, never taught

about the Ten Commandments. So, theft

didn't talk about. Now, we're good with

that. Honoring your parents, he didn't

talk about that. So, now we're like, we

can't we we can't go, let's start from

scratch. We have to take this revelation

and interpret the New Testament

according to how God is re-revealing all

of this. Okay? This is just like fun

Bible study stuff. It'll help you to

when you if you aren't reading your

Bible, read through the New Testament,

then go back and read through the Old

Testament and read right through the New

Testament again. It'll just the whole

thing will come alive to you guys. I

promise you, it is so cool when you're

like, "Holy smokes, this is a totally

different agreement. This is a totally

different." And the more you continue to

do that, the more the scriptures will

come alive in your heart and in your

mind. But uh this is the the reality is

that

we do not have

a require the New Testament doesn't say

you have to give this percentage except

for when Jesus is talking about the

tithe and he says give to Caesar what is

Caesar. He's talking about tax and give

to God what is God's and he's referring

to the image on us every single thing.

And if we want to talk about New

Testament tithe, it's actually 100%.

Now, we can't give 100% of our income

and everything that we receive to the

church. The idea is every cent that I

spend needs to be to the glory of God.

And that is one of the big reasons why

Morgan and I, we we practice the tithe.

we we make sure that this is something

that we're doing because I want to honor

what I see within the word and I just

want to continue in faith in what he's

doing. That's why collective church

practices the tithe. We can get nerdy

about in in Deuteronomy how the how the

church when the tithe is brought in,

there should be a tithe within that

tithe that goes outside as well. That's

why we do this because we want to make

sure that 10% of what comes in goes to

these supports, these partners all

around the world. and what God is doing

outside of collective church. That's why

we do this. The and the general scope of

New Testament challenge is the bar. You

thought the bar was here. The bar is way

up there.

>> In fact, it's so high you'll never be

able to reach it.

Jesus says, "You thought it was don't

murder. Actually, it's don't even let

hate enter into your heart."

Well, who's guilty of that, right? You

thought it was don't commit adultery.

No, it's actually don't even let your

eyes lust. Well, who's messed up there,

right? Like, I got to The whole idea of

New Testament covenant is that the bar

has been raised infinitely.

And my goal now is to have every single

coffee that I buy be to the glory of

God. And if I'm honest, it's not. I just

want a treat,

right,

man? I want it. I want I want to GET TO

THAT PLACE WHERE EVERY DOLLAR I spend is

like, how can this glorify God? How can

this be to his glory? How can this be

for other people? How can this be for

him? And this is this is where I I see

that principle of 100% and God's

challenged me in that in the way that we

it changed the way that we bought our

that we went house shopping and the

house that we bought having no clue that

that was going to be the house that

collective church got launched in. But

some of the convictions that he gave us

in terms of it's not it's not just 10%.

It's not make your house payment as tiny

as possible and have the smallest house

that you can function in so that so so

that I can uh you can give more money

away. But he was like that's your

biggest payment every single month. I

want you to make sure that that thing

can be a thing that is a blessing to

other people. I want to make sure and

then right after we had the house a a

young lady moved in that needed help.

After that Morgan's sister moved in.

After that, the collective church

launched in our house. Still to this

day, the primary offices of collective

church are at our house, 168th in

Blondo. I had no clue that that's what

God was doing when he said, "I want 100%

and I want your biggest payment of every

single month to be to my glory, not just

to supply to your family." Like, this is

it. It changes the way that we have to

operate in in how we handle all of our

finances.

And what this does, this principle of

100%, it refutes this idea that I've

heard uh I've I've heard multiple times

throughout here, so don't feel like

called out or anything. Some of you have

I've even had conversations with, but

the idea that uh time is money, so

therefore I give my time instead of my

money. And that's like I tried to do a

Bible study on this guys. It's just

nowhere one way or the other. It's a

very very new concept. Time is money is

not a Bible verse. It's uh it's it's a

capitalism quote, right? Like that's

it's it's this whole idea. It's not and

and that's why the 100% rule just kind

of waves this out. It's not I either

give this or this. It's I'm giving 100%

of who I am. In fact, the time is money.

I either give my time or I tithe. is a

surefire way to kill a ministry really

really fast because what it does is it

says the people that are most involved

that are most connected to the mission

and that love the most actually give the

least. Jesus wouldn't tithe. The

disciples wouldn't tithe. None of the

pastors would tithe. No one else would

tithe. And the people who are least

connected who have least who who have no

real like buy into this thing are the

people who are also supposed to give the

most. If we wanted to test this out, I

promise you we wouldn't be here next

year to tell you how the results went.

>> Like that. It's just it's just a broken

it's a it's these are things that every

single time when I talk to people about

the tithe, there's usually a subtle

selfishness.

And I'm not meaning that as as

condemnation. I go back to the message

that uh I I preached on last month about

humility. We all got this nasty pride

inside of us that just sneaks in in

every nook and cranny of our heart and

lives. It's there's usually a little bit

of that. Usually a little bit of greed.

Usually a little bit of I don't I don't

want to be told about what I'm supposed

to do with my money. Okay. I want to do

I want to do my I want to do my thing

with my money. Okay. So, and then this

is the last reason. I think it's one of

the most important reasons that Morgan

and I tithe.

And it's because

Jesus told us to. Jesus said it really

clearly

when he's talking to the Pharisees about

their their all that they're doing. He's

like, "You're tithing mint, dill,

you're tithing all their a lot of their

uh finances were actually things, right?

Like how wealthy are you?" It's not how

much gold do you have in your house. It

wasn't how they didn't have bank massive

bank accounts, right? Like this whole

idea is like how many sheep do you have?

How many cattle do you have? How much

grain do you have? What's your what's

your agricultural land like? How much

Cuban do you have? And he's talking

about you you tithe these tiny little

things and you're neglecting the weight

of your matters of the law. And then he

says you should tithe.

You need to tithe, but you can't do it

in neglect of the main things. So

because Jesus says you should tithe, I

interpret that as I should tithe.

And so this is it's a new it's an Old

Testament. It's a New Testament. It's

before the Mosaic covenant. And so those

are reasons why Morgan and I, we've been

practicing this. We make sure that what

we do, we give at least 10% of

everything that we receive. And I guys,

the blessing that comes from this, this

is where I I I I

just want you to know like there's not a

selfish we don't get our salary doesn't

change if we get a big offering. There's

nothing like that, guys. That doesn't

none of like this is not a selfish

motive thing. I desperately want to see

the advancing of the mission of

collective church and what God is doing

here. So that's a little bit selfish in

that. But the reality is is I I I want

every single person in here to

understand the blessing of having every

aspect of your life surrendered to him

and see God move in not just your your

heart in a s Sunday service but in your

relationships outside in the habits that

you form in the way that you spend your

money in the way that you give of your

heart in the things that you allow for

your eyes to look at and your ears to

receive. like I want I want you TO KNOW

THE ABUNDANT LIFE THAT IS accessible and

radical whole obedience to him.

And so this is this is where I want to I

I I got a challenge but uh I truly

believe that God has got a a powerful

mission for this church

and money is it's practically speaking

money multiplies the mission. There's

one of the things when we talk about

we've been talking about vision as a

team and we've been talking about that

as leaders. We've been talking last

Friday who came to team night. Come on,

let me hear it. Let's go.

And what do we talk about? The main

problem that everybody has is the vision

is everybody's got the same vision. What

is it team?

>> Building.

>> Building. We all know it. We all know

it. The setup tear down team really

knows it, right? But the reality is I

promise you if everybody was tithing, we

would be in a building for a long time

already. like the that that's just the

reality of looking at average income

within our scope of area like but the

the I promise you the mission is so much

bigger than that

>> guys more than us getting to meet in a

building I want to see that board with

impact partners all around the globe 10

times I WANT TO I KNOW THERE'S PEOPLE

WITHIN THIS CITY THAT ARE IN DESPERATE

HOPE for him and money multiplies the

mission. And so this is all I'm asking.

I'm not saying I need you to give this

much. Show me your bank account. Show me

your payubs. I'm not going to do that.

Remember this is we're under the

covenant of grace. So the whole idea of

you have to is now no longer a thing.

>> Now it's I get to

>> and it is you are welcomed into

obedience. And he's not going to force

it over you at all. So this is this is

my prayer. My my goal is that every

single one of us would take one step

closer to the g to the generosity that

Jesus has showed us today to take one

step closer.

And I see this in 2 Corinthians 9:6

2 Corinthians 9:6–7

through7 I think hits on this so well.

Says the point is this. Whoever sws

sparingly, whoever gives only a little

bit just will also reap sparingly.

And whoever sws bountifully, whoever is

generous in their giving will also reap

bountifully. Each one must give as he

has decided in his own heart, not

reluctantly or under compulsion. For God

loves a cheerful giver. Okay. So, this

is the heart posture. I just want all of

us to get in. I don't know what your

attitude has been. If you're like, I'm

so motivated. I if I could write a

million dollar check right now, I'd do

it. I don't know if you're there. I

don't know if you're like, "Man, I

really wish I would have slept in today.

I don't know where you're at in this,

but I just want for us to capture this

heart posture."

Lord, may I c may I just capture your

heart for this and allow for whatever

your conviction you're bringing onto me?

And then my challenge is for us all to

take one step closer to the generosity

that Jesus has showed us because he

already showed us what 100% looks like.

He didn't hold anything back

and I do

in every in every area. I limit my my

myself and I'm trying I just every day I

want to become more and more like him

and I want I want my generosity to be

expressed in that same way.

So I believe I'd love to challenge 100%

of collective giving something being

part of the mission financially in some

capacity because out of the abundance of

the heart right this is where your

treasure is there your heart will be

also and I I want collective church is

not just supposed to be a church of

people getting together but if church of

hearts united in the mission of God okay

so there's four stages of giving I don't

know where you're at but I want to

highlight these different stages of

giving You can be an I'm giving nothing

and I want you to take a step to I'm

giving something. Right? Remember this

is your first time. Smile and nod.

Receive. Right? Let this just let this

just be something that you can you can

capture kind of the heart and the

theology and the practice of this. And I

want you to learn surrender in some

capacity. Right? Learning to surrender

your whole self in every capacity. Uh

I'm giving nothing. I'm giving

something. Okay? Maybe you're already

given something. Two, I'm giving

consistently.

I give I've got it set up. I've got

automatic giving whatever I'm I'm giving

consistently. Then two, I'm giving 10%.

This is where scripture says I've now at

step four, I'm in the area of obedience,

actually full obedience, right? And then

number five is I'm giving generously.

This is what we see in the New

Testament. This is where we see that

people would go, "What? You have a need.

I don't have any more money, but I do

have some land. How about I sell my

property

and I'll bring it into the church and

I'll give that 100% of it. I give that

here and I say you do with what you want

with that. You want to know who that

was? That was Barnabas. You want to know

what God did with that level of

generosity? sent him around the world

and assisted the greatest missionary

we've ever seen that brought the gospel

to all non-Jews.

I stand on the back of that level of

generosity, right?

>> Isn't that crazy? So, this is like now

I'm giving generously above and beyond

and it's just out of this overflow of

love. I want to ask you to take one step

closer to the generosity that Jesus has

showed you. And that's the practice. If

we can have our ushers come up. We got

our buckets. And remember, can we throw

2 Corinthians up one more time? Let's

get 2 Corinthians up before we before we

get that. 2 Corinthians uh 6 9 through

or 9 6-7. Thank you. Uh it says the

point is this. Whoever sws sparingly

will reap sparingly. Each one must give

as he's decided in their own heart, not

reluctantly, not out of compulsion, but

out of joy.

Heavenly Father, I pray right here.

May we capture ourselves in an attitude

of surrender

in every capacity.

Lord, I want to be more like you in

every area of my life,

every area. And so I surrender this as

well. I pray every single one of us here

would surrender

every aspect. Lord, for some in this

room, it may not even be finances that

you are talking about

that you're speaking to their heart, but

there's different areas of surrender.

Lord, I pray right now that you would

challenge them to take a practical step

in the area of surrender right there.

But Lord, I pray every single one of us

would take a step in the direction of

generosity

towards you, just like you have shown

us.

We pray a blessing over every gift. We

pray a blessing over every giver. Would

you multiply the gift? Would you provide

from the sacrificial obedience that each

person is expressing in here? Lord,

would you provide

in the gap that is created? Would it be

filled with your spirit, filled with

your life, filled with your fire? In the

mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

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is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.