Motivated By Faith - Difference Maker Part 3

Hey, good morning, real life Church.

Awesome to see you today. Literally, it's awesome to see

you. This is so cool.

Will you go and stand to your feet?

And we're just going to start off with some praise this

morning. We're going to sing to him.

We're so thankful for all he's done.

So let's just sing out, wandering into the night,

wanting a place to hide this weary soul, this Vagabond.

I try with all my mind, but I just can't win the fight.

I'm slowly drifting a Vagabond just when I ran out of the road.

I met a. Man, I didn't know.

He told me that I was not. You pick me up, You turn me

around, You place my feet on solid ground.

I think the Master. I think the Savior, because you

heal my heart. You change my.

Name forever free. I'm not the.

Same. I think the master, I think the

Savior. I thank God.

Yeah. There we go.

Let's go. Let's have some fun.

Oh, I cannot deny what I've seen.

I've got no choice but to believe my doubts are burning.

Yeah, like ashes in the wind. So, so long.

To my old friends. Burning in bitterness.

You can't just keep it moving. You ain't welcome here.

Let's declare this. From now till I walk the street

to go, I'll sing up How you save my soul.

This wayward son is found the way back.

You pick me up, You turn me around, You place my feet on

solid ground. I think the Master.

I I think the Savior. Because you heal my heart.

You change my name forever Free. I'm not the same.

I think the Master. I think the Savior.

I thank God. Yeah.

Keep those hands going. I love this part.

We can declare this confidently. Hell lost another one.

We are free. Come on, let's sing this.

Lost another one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. Yes, I am free.

Hell lost another one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. Yes, I am free.

Come on. Hell.

Lost another one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. Yes, I am free.

Hell lost another one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. Yes, I am free.

Declare I lost the number one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. Yeah, I am free.

I lost the number one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. Yes, I am free.

I lost the number one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. Yeah, I am free.

I lost the number one. I am free.

Oh, I am free. You picked me up.

Turn me around. You place my feet on solid

ground. I think the Master.

I think the savior. Because you heal my heart.

You change my name forever. Free I'm.

Not the same. I think the master, I think the

Savior. I thank God.

I thank God, I thank God. Come on.

Are you thankful this morning? Real life, Give it up for Jesus.

Come on man. I don't know about you, but I'm

so thankful for what God has done for me.

And it doesn't take me very long to look back and see all of the

ways that He's shown up in my life with His goodness, with His

healing, with His faithfulness. I mean, the longer I walk with

Him, the sweeter it gets. So let's continue to lift Him

up. This morning, when I was lost

and all alone, your presence was where I found home.

You were there and you're here right now when we see you in

every heart and every love. You never left me without hope.

You were good and you're good right now.

So how quick is your faithfulness?

I've seen you breathe light with.

And so I pour out my praise again.

You're worthy God, you're worthy of all of it.

Your promise is never there. I've got stories I live to tell.

So I pour out my praise again. Is you're worthy, God, You're

worthy of all of it. I believe he's worthy this

morning. Give him a shout as you left the

throne and chose the cross, laid down your life to rescue us.

The Saviour there and the Saviour now.

But even death was not the end. You conquered him so I could

live. Resurrecting dead.

Resurrecting now, resurrecting then, resurrecting now Is that

witness your faithfulness. I've seen you breathe my breath.

And so I all of my brains, your worthy got your worthy, your

honor, your promise is never fail.

I've got stories I've been to tell.

So I all of my brains taking your merry got your worthy, your

honor, baby. You're good and I went instead.

You're strong and I've witnessed it.

You're constant. I witnessed it and I'm confident

that I'll see it again and again.

You love and I've witnessed it. You healing, I've witnessed it.

You save and I've witnessed it and I'm confident that I'll see

it again and again. You're good and I've.

Witnessed it. You're strong and I've witnessed

it. You're constant.

I'm witnessing and I'm confident and I'll see it again and again.

You love it. I'm.

Witnessing. You heal it.

I'm with. This day you steal it.

I'm with this day and I'll pop the day and I'll see it again.

I'll bring this your faithfulness.

I've seen you revive with that. So I pour out my brains in your

worthy, got your worthy of all of it.

Your promises never fail. I got score means I live to

tell. So I pour out my brains in your

worthy got your worthy of all of it.

I'm broken on Witness death to the harming of Witness death to

the. Lost out the winters.

Death. And I'll tell them this.

I'll tell them when I will go to my sin.

On winners, death. To the nations.

On winners, death. God, in this place, somebody

brought your message to us, your message of healing, your love,

your faithfulness, God, somebody brought it to us.

And God, this is your call to go out into our family, our city,

to the world, God, to share the love we've seen, to share your

faithfulness. God, 'cause I've witnessed your

faithfulness, I've seen you breathe life with.

And so I pour out my grace again, 'cause you're worthy,

God, you're worthy of all loving.

Your promises never fail. I've got stories I live to tell,

so I. Amen.

You know, this season we're just leaning into this idea of being

a difference maker. And one of the ways we can be

bold and confident in that is because we've witnessed all that

he's done. And more than that, we just have

so many instances where he's proven over and over again that

he is more than able to provide. And so we just declare that this

morning. Just invite you just to pour

your heart out as you sing in worship today.

When did I start to forget all the great things that you did?

When did I throw away faith for the impossible?

How did I start? To believe.

You weren't sufficient for me. Why do I talk myself out of

seeking miracles? You want more than able.

You want more than 8? You want more than able.

You. Want more than 8 able?

Who am I to deny what the Lord can do?

It's easy for you. Now I see all that I have and

I've got my comfort is bad, so I put my trust in the one room who

still does miracles. You are born and able.

Who am I to deny what the Lord can do?

Can you imagine with all of the faith in the room, what the Lord

can? Do.

What? The Lord just let the waymaker

through. He's going to move.

He's going to move. Can you see it?

Can you imagine with all of the? Faith in the room what the Lord

can do what the Lord can do if. It's going to happen.

Just let the wave make. It.

Through. It's going to move.

It's going to move. And Can you imagine all the

faith in the room, what the Lord can do, what the Lord can do,

He's going to happen you. Just let the wave make a move.

He's going. To move he's.

Going to move. Anything is possible to deny

what the? Lord can do.

Anything. Is possible?

Anything is possible. Anything is possible, but who am

I to deny what the Lord can do? Who am I to deny what the Lord?

Can do who am? I to deny what the Lord can do.

Come on, let's. See, we want more than any.

You want. You.

Want more than a less you? Want.

Come on, Sing, you want more than a more.

You want more than a more. To deny what the Lord can do.

Who am I to deny what the Lord can do?

Who am I to deny what the Lord? Can do and Amen.

Amen. Who believes that God is able,

man? The God that raised the dead,

the God that heals sickness, man.

He does those things today, man. So let's give it up for God one

more time, can we, man? Thank you guys so much for

choosing to worship with us in real life.

Then we have a lot going on. I don't know if you saw this or

not. Do you guys see all the little

superheroes in the costumes running around?

Man, we are going to blow it out back there.

The kids are getting candy, parents.

You're welcome. You guys excited.

Hey, I, I did get some spiritual advice today that I'm going to

share with you guys. So when my kids were younger,

the tax man showed up, right? And I would take the 10%.

Well, we're going to be a little more spiritual in real life.

You guys know the story of Nehemiah, the cup bearer.

He had to take a sample so the king didn't die from poison.

So you guys tell your kids the story of Nehemiah taking the

poison or the opportunity to take it.

And you guys can do this for the kids you're going to make.

We want to make sure these Reese's Cups aren't bad.

So you guys take that opportunity as parents to do

that. So hey, thank you guys so much

for choosing to join to worship with us today.

I don't know if you guys know this.

Not man. We have a ton of new people

online with us and in person. Can we give those people some

love? Yeah, lift it up.

Hey, take this opportunity. Take about 30 seconds to greet

somebody around you. All right, you guys go ahead and

grab a seat. It's a little different.

Have the lights on in here today, man.

I can see everybody I know. So this week when Pastor Sean's

preaching to you individual, you will know who he's looking at.

You guys always think that we know, but we don't.

Hey, I want you guys to know that you guys are sitting on a

connection card, man. This connection card is the way

that we love to stay connected with you in real life.

If you go real life home, then we love it when you grab it,

fill it out. Let us know what's going on your

life, whether it's a prayer, a praise, whatever it is, man,

we'd love to get these and we read over them and we pray over

them every week. Hey, if you guys are new or

newer with us, we love it when you fill out the top section of

this. And I'm going to make this

promise to you. We're not going to ask any other

things from you today except that one simple thing.

Just introduce us by filling out that connection card.

And we just want to send you out something this week, let you

know a little bit about more who we are in real life and just

stay get you guys connected an opportunity to to maybe be on

mission with us here. We'll let you guys know what to

to do with those cards a little bit later on in the gathering.

And Speaking of mission, we believe that we are a church on

a mission and that mission is to see people far from Jesus

discover the real life of purpose in him.

And So what that simply means is this is that we know just

throughout the week, throughout the months, throughout the years

that the world just destroys people, right?

It takes you, beat you down, throws you away and you walk

away, feel it broken. You don't have any purpose, you

don't have any hope. But we know that the God that is

more than able. That's part of what he does is

is that he brings you back to the full brings you back to a

family. When we give our lives to

Christ, man, it is such a blessing just to see people

commit their lives week in and week out.

And you guys are going to hear a little bit more of that and a

little bit about just the people that give their lives to Christ

just weekend. And so that's just a blessing to

be on mission. And so today we're going to

continue and our series difference maker.

And so for the last eight years, God has blessed this church,

this community by bringing hope and transformation just to be

being able to to bring that conduit and get people connected

back to God. But we believe that we're in the

midst of our most important series that we've ever gone

through. And this is the difference

maker. And this is God's call for us to

make that next step of faith, right?

To believe, for God to be more than able to clear obstacles, to

do the impossible. And what we're leaning into is a

building initiative. But this isn't about a facility,

it's about a movement. And we all as individuals are

gathering together and just honing in, in, in coming in

prayer and fasting just to put our hearts before God to see

what's next in this season. So I want you guys just to be

ready for the next, this next message that's going to bring

hope and transformation and the, the, the prayer and the courage

to change the next generation. So I want you guys to take this

opportunity, put your hands together.

And as Pastor Sean comes up and continues difference maker.

Good morning guys. Do you guys kind of brag what

the Lord's been doing? By the way, that last song, I

don't ever plan these things. This how God works it out.

It's going to be perfect for today.

Step out of faith, but I'm going to celebrate a little bit.

Is that good? You're going to hear some

amazing stories this last Sunday.

This is just amazing. It's got a little revival going

on with eight people commit their life to Jesus last Sunday.

Is that fantastic? And so you back up last Sunday,

the same before 3 weeks, we've had 16 people commit their life

to Jesus and we're talking about have a building initiative and

people come to Christ. I mean, that is the foundation,

that is the why. That's the reason we do this.

And so thank you, Jesus, Amen. And it really comes back to

everyday difference makers. We talked about that last week,

right? Like going out and inviting and

sharing, but not just saying come and see, but to go and

tell, to actually share the gospel, to pray with somebody.

Say I've been, I've been thinking about you and you call

somebody up or you're in line with somebody and you're having

a great conversation. Instead of cutting off like,

Hey, let's just talk some more and just asking great questions

and truly listening and that soul to soul, there is very

little community in the community, right?

We all have friends, but we're not connected.

It's just slowing down and say, how can I pray for you?

Or can I share something to you that's changed, made difference

in my life? Or can I suggest something?

Can I introduce you to someone to, you know, share Jesus and

then invite him, invite him to know Christ.

And it's very, it's not really complicated, but it takes a step

of faith. Amen.

It takes gospel eyes and because you guys have been doing this,

we have just an amazing crew of people that have been coming.

That's why people are coming to meet Jesus because you guys are

out there making a difference. And we have some awesome

everyday difference makers in our house.

They're called life group leaders and do a fantastic job.

So get up for our life, Group leaders.

Come on, let them know you love them.

It's fantastic. I want to highlight just one

story. This season's been really good

for our life groups, and so we'll put this on the screen and

this is Jana's group, Jana Jensen.

I don't know if they always meet at Panera, but they're at

Panera. But what you don't see in the

picture, there's actually, we barely see it.

There's a Bible down there in the bottom right corner of the

picture. And that is very exciting for me

as a pastor, when people are together and open the Word of

God and things just start to change.

Amen. There's some stripping away.

And Jana reached out to me and she reached out to many people

and Holly's been traveling around the groups and she has

said this has been one of the most refreshing, like shaping

just challenging seasons for her own self, but also for the

ladies are in that group. They've been growing.

And she said thank you for the opportunity to bring hope and

confidence to these women and even to myself as a life group

leader. And they've been opening

stories. And one of the stories they read

through is the story of Rahab. If you're reading the Bible,

she's called Rahab the prostitute and she's mentioned

that numerous times and how God even used her, her and her past

didn't define her future, her, her trauma, the stuff she'd been

through didn't find who she was, just had a different identity

for a better identity, a fresh identity of grace and mercy and

love. And he washes away her sin and

makes us new and he's laser seeing this thing and are being

challenged and growing. And so I want to say thank you

for everyday difference makers just bringing the word of God to

people, even through our church. Amen.

And we need more of that. We need to get into the word and

see we have a lot of people coming out lately and we have

something special. If you've been, if you're new or

newer to real life, I want to invite you to something that's

happening next Sunday. You know what I mean by new or

newer is maybe coming last few months or maybe coming for even

a long season and you're not really connected.

And I want to invite you out to something we're calling a

welcome party. It's going to be next Sunday.

It's going to be between the gatherings and it's a place, if

you're wondering like, can I belong here?

Why does this church even exist? Like how did it come about?

Like this portable crazy group of people, right?

Can I grow here? Can I find my people?

What are we all about? I'll invite you out.

We're going to have some refreshments, some swag.

Come on somebody. And just going to hang out for

about 30 minutes from the gathering.

So if you come to the first, just stay after.

You can leave your kids back in kids.

If you come to the second next week, you can come early and

then leave it. Drop your kids off early, come

back there. It's been a great time to hang

out. You don't have to sign up.

You can check it out online, but it's no registration.

Just show up, go for it and it will help you guys get connected

and grow. It's easy to come and sit and

that's not the type of church we were called to be.

We're called to live on mission. Amen.

And so can you guys get for everybody's new or new or let

them know we love them and be a part of the welcome part.

It'd be great. So today we're diving in 3rd

part of our series Difference Maker, and hopefully you guys

have got the booklet over the last three weeks.

There's a booklet we passed out the door.

If you haven't got it, you can get it at the table on the way

out. There's also a mug.

I don't know if you like mugs, but in the mug is a decal which

you can stick on your car only if you drive like Jesus.

Amen. I'm like, I don't know whether

this is going to represent us good or bad, but we put them in

the car. But make sure you grab that as

awesome as candy. All things but take that booklet

and I would encourage you to really read through it.

Don't just like, oh, I'll put on the shelf, read through it and

and understand exactly what this difference maker is all about,

what the goals are, where we're going, What what's a one fund?

Like? How does this play a part?

Like get to know all the details because it's easy.

Like up here. I'm not going to walk through

all the maybe all the questions, but we have an extensive FAQ in

the book and it answers a lot of stuff.

And it took a lot of time, the energy put together because a

lot of different thought processes on this, but read

through it, pray through it. You can take notes.

I think you're on page maybe 19 or 20 today.

I should know this, but a story or a story, a message called

Motivated by Faith. And so they just take some notes

in there, but really dive into what the Lord has.

I'm going to give you an overview again, if you heard a

couple weeks ago, you've seen this video already, but just

remind you of really the goal and the passion and why we're

doing this difference maker initiative so you can share the

video. We're doing the old school with

the light switch, so it's going to be good.

Hey, real. Family, friends, today we stand

in the unique moment in our story.

Eight years ago we stepped out in faith to launch real life

church, and God has shown up in extraordinary ways.

Real life, you already are living proof what God can do

through ordinary people when they surrender to His plan.

We've seen marriages changed, families changed, and eternity

changed, and countless people. And I believe with all my heart

that God is not done yet. There are prodigals in our city

and around the world that God is calling home.

And this is an incredible harvest on the horizon that we

can play a part of. And today, just like 8 years

ago, we once again are in a place.

We get to write the next chapter in our story.

But here's the problem. Prodigals lost people need

somewhere to come home to. It is somewhere to belong,

somewhere to grow, and people to believe in them.

And listen, we've been purple for 8:00 for years and being

portable has been a huge blessing.

But let's be real, it has its limits.

And for instance, in our kids ministry, it's tough to turning

elementary school into a sacred life giving space for children

to encounter God. The distractions are literally

around every corner. We also can't host things like

kids camp or summer BBS because we simply don't have the space.

In addition to our youth group, it's on the verge of outgrowing

our Hope Center. There's a space where teens are

playing Nightscore in the air and there's a worship team

rehearsing at the same time. It's amazing, it's beautiful,

but it is absolutely chaotic. And for adults, we would love to

host marriage conferences. We'd love to have weddings and

dream team celebrations. And the love, love, love to have

a life giving, state-of-the-art worship center to invite your

family and your friends to experience Jesus and share the

gospel around the world. As much as we love being

portable, the truth is every portable situation has a shelf

life. It has a time frame.

And that's why after much prayer, planning, discerning and

leadership, I believe God is calling us to secure our first

permanent home. Our vision is to purchase a

facility somewhere between 15 and 20,000 square feet.

Places like the OfficeMax, the Walgreens will allow us to

double our capacity and give us room to grow.

A place where ministry happens 24/7.

A place where we have long term presence in our city and it

tells our neighbors and tells the world that we are here to

stay. It's a place for inviting

culture. The designated kids space where

the kids eyes light up when they walk in and everything points

them to Jesus. It's a space for youth, for

conferences, for weddings, camps, worship, rehearsal, and

most importantly, disciple making.

And yes, no more set up and tear down.

I heard everybody say Amen. Even our mail could finally be

delivered to our church home. This isn't about building a

monument. It's about building a movement.

It's not about a facility. It's about creating a launchpad

for the gospel, a hospital for the hurting, and a home for

prodigals. Psalm 78 says it best.

It says we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy

deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done.

That's what the space represents.

It's a place where the next generation hears about and

learns to follow Jesus. So here's the vision of the next

two years. Our Difference Maker Initiative

aims to raise $1.9 million, now 900,000 that is simply

continuing to fund our ministry fund already.

It funds everything you already like and love about real life.

It's not going anywhere. But the additional 1,000,000

position us to say yes to an opportunity when God opens the

door for a first permanent space.

But here's the most important part.

Our primary goal is not a financial number.

It's asking for 100% participation.

We want every person, every family who calls real life home

to help write the next chapter as a difference maker.

So what does that mean for you? I'm simply asking you to do

three things. One, let's celebrate the moment

right now. We're on the verge of something

amazing that the lead the way of making a difference in thousands

and thousands of lives, including your own family, your

friends, and your neighbors. 2 Commit to hear from God.

Ask him, what does faith look like in me in this season?

How May God be calling you to grow in generosity and trust?

And three, consider becoming a difference maker with us.

Take time to pray. Ask God what would he have you

to do to help reach this goal? Friends, family, the ability to

say yes to our first permit space.

Be the true difference maker for us, not just for us, but for

you, for your kids, for our city, and for generations and

generations to come. So I'm simply inviting you to

pray, to dream, and to consider how you can be a part of writing

the story because your faith, because your generosity.

We can change people's forever, and that's the bottom line.

That's what it's all about. There's no other place I'd

rather be than with you leading on mission in this season.

Will you join together with me? I invite you to take time to

pray and to see God and join us together as a difference maker

in pursuit of our first permanent home.

God bless guys. Come on.

Is that? Exciting, gonna make Barry work

today. Up and down, up and down.

Oh man, I, I think of this vision and this season we're in

and I think how special it is what God is leading us into.

This is like a holy moment for us as a church.

I mean, eight years, all the different things.

And to step out and say, Lord, we're going to say yes to the

vision that you have that you put in place already to do

something special. And hopefully you at this point,

3 weeks in, you're starting to have a little burning passion to

say yes to the Lord through this, to get behind what God is

leading us into as a church, as a church family, and to step out

on faith. I know this as a pastor that has

had to preach about money and giving and generosity for all

the years. There's one thing I hear from

people quite often, and it's not usually people who go to our

church, but people struggling in the culture.

Maybe some people new to church, they would say something like

this. All the church wants is my oh,

they didn't say Jesus. All the church wants me.

I know Jesus. No, that's right.

All the church wants is my money.

And we we feel this at times. Maybe you like, man, I don't

know about this. Like that'd be hard to give a

large gift. I don't know what part of the

story that's that seems difficult.

And we can almost feel like under compulsion, like I've

really got to do this, but I don't want to or do it

begrudgingly or do it hesitancy, like I'm not so sure.

And I just want to remind you guys today, my prayer is you

leave here knowing that when you give and your generosity, it is

an act of worship. It's not an act of duty.

This isn't a religious organization where you give your

little peace or your thing so you can make yourself right with

the Lord. This is a place where we give,

we lay down what we have our best because we believe what

Jesus is doing. And so it's an act of worship.

And I'm going to walk through today and share a story with you

that those are going to be very powerful.

It's a story of family in our church that moved from that

hesitancy stage and holding on and said yes to to giving.

And it's one of those giving from stories like we talk a lot

about people who receive generosity, but this story is

actually a story of somebody who gave and what God did in their

life. So why don't you lean in and

watch this video and just see all the little pieces of how God

changed their heart and the the the results of their generosity.

So check this out. My name is Mike.

My name is Kristen. And this is our story.

Kind of going into a season of like unknown chose to go down a

different career path. I remember she asked, you know,

hey, we should give this amount of money.

And my first thought was like heck no like.

Hard. Absolutely.

It was a hard no just because we had no idea like what the next

step was going to be and how it was going to play out.

Like me going back to school. How everything went was very

different for me when we first talked about it.

It was hard for me not to get upset when you said no because

because of what that would mean and.

It was during the service last year and Sean had said that your

bank account is directly tied to your heart.

That kind of really stuck out to me.

And after that service, I texted her and I said, hey, let's go

for it. I remember seeing her daughter

just worshipping during band practice and it was just such a

cool feeling, like seeing her do that.

And the Hope Center is not free. It takes a lot of resources to

make that happen. Takes a lot of time and the joy

of giving, knowing that that can go towards that and just helping

shape young kids just strengthen their relationship with God.

It was a lot on my end to have to rely on God for the patients

that I needed to be able to trust him that even though this

is something that I, I think we can do and I think we should do

that, doing something without you and doing something that

your whole heart isn't in, that's not what he wants.

It was so amazing to see God's faithfulness and how He worked

in your life and in your heart to bring us on the same page for

this something that we are not off and on.

I was definitely nervous at first just not knowing like how

this 2025 was going to shape out.

But as the year kind of progressed, it's like everything

has worked out. I feel like even better than

expected, you know, going to school and not knowing how I'm

going to fit in there, how I'm going to handle doing homework

again. And God just kind of guided us

through this year, played a huge part on the success we've had in

2025. Knowing how our generosity

played a part on all these stories.

It's it's really cool to be on stage during, especially during

baptisms and seeing all these families come up and just taking

a leap of faith and just showing 1 to proclaim, you know, to the

world that they want to get baptized, you know, for Jesus

And just it's really cool seeing them go underwater and then

coming up. It's like a breath of life, you

know, it's the joy on their face, in their families face as

well. Just seeing that from the stage

is is pretty awesome. I mean, it really feels like an

investment in this home that we're becoming a part of, that

we're helping to build, that we're getting to know all over

again. I mean, even not having had a

church home for a really long time.

Especially a church home that we both liked being a part of.

That we were, yeah, that we both felt comfortable with.

It was something we had really been missing all along.

And then being able to pour ourselves into that is a whole

new level of reward and blessing.

You were talking about this last year.

Like, on paper, it doesn't work. He makes it work.

I mean, looking back, it almost doesn't make sense to invest in

anything else. I feel like if you take that

leap of faith, you won't be disappointed, you're not going

to regret it. Just to see the the direction of

this church is going and to being able to play a very small

part of that is really awesome. For me, I think it was more

humbling than anything else, just to be able to feel like I'm

where I need to be and I'm being obedient.

I mean, the money will come from anywhere.

He doesn't need my money. When we make the sacrifices, he

uses that to transform us. If you're watching this and

you're on the fence of giving, just just go for it.

What's holding you back? God's going to use that money to

change lives. Ask Him to do something bigger

or better with that money. This is what we were made for,

was to worship Him and to serve Him and to use every good thing

that we have to pour back into praise for Him.

This could be your chance to experience the joy of generosity

and make a difference together. If God can use our gift, he can

use yours too. Come on, give it up.

Thank you Mike Christopher sharing that story.

We all walk through that season, don't we?

Like Lord, can I trust you? And there, there is 2 distinct

spots in a Christian's life, those who see giving as worship

and those who don't know why they should give.

And there's something about your life when you can look at

yourself and say, Lord, you can have it all.

Like, I'm trusting on you, I'm counting on you.

But it's a real deal, isn't it? Like he, he talked about that

moment. If you listen to the video where

he's like, Nah, man, I'm good, right?

I'm good. You may look at that chart we're

looking at, right? And go, I'm good.

And then you say, OK, Lord, like what I have is actually what I

worship, what I spend it on. Like where your heart, where

treasure is, your heart is also. And that that's what spoke to

him. He said, well, OK, Lord, let's,

let's test it. Let's let's just see, let's just

step up faith, right? And there is there is a risk to

it. Like it's not called to be easy.

And you're going to find today like a story or a walkthrough

where where things shift. But there's something special

that happens even in their story where like you, you sow seeds,

you plant seeds, you give towards it.

And all of a sudden, everything you look at looks at

differently. He saw he saw his kids

worshipping it. It was really youth group like

when they played through and the kids are worshipping it.

Like I played a part of that. I sowed seeds in that.

Amen. There's something special when

you like, I played a part of the story, like moving from they to

we like, oh, they got it. That's cool.

I'm excited to see how it turns out.

And you know, I played a part of that.

That's significant. And they come up here on the

worship team and they're saying and they see these stories of

people that have been prodigals and addictions or just lost or

little children come into Christ and saying, Lord, thank you.

I get to play a part of the story that that's that's joy.

Amen. And the Bible says that's the

only quote from Jesus that's given past the Gospels and read

letters you'll find in Acts Paul course.

Jesus says better blessed is more blessed.

They give than to receive that there is no better joy or

greater joy than giving in your life.

Matter of fact, you think about this.

I for me personally, I never forget what I give, but I always

forget what I spend. Totally different worlds.

And when I invest in the King of God, I always look back.

I'm so glad I did and I wish I had more to give.

I wish I could do more. I want that spot in my Christian

life. And today I want to encourage

you. What will it look like for you

to step in and see what it's like to give as an act of

worship, No obligation, not out of duty or compulsion or because

it makes sense. And this makes my great plan for

the year or looks like this. But to say, Lord, what would you

have me to do? We don't go to the Lord and say,

here's my plans. We go to the Lord and say, what

are your plans? How can I invest in the things

that matter to your heart and the things that you want me to

give towards? So I'm going to walk through a

story today, and this story is probably lesser known, but it's

going to be very powerful. And we're being First Chronicles

and so we'll be all throughout First Chronicles.

But if you got your Bible, we'll be in First Chronicles 10 when

we start off. I'll give you kept some context.

Saul is the the king of Israel. He has turned his back on God.

He's walked away from God. He's done everything but inquire

of God. He's fighting the Philistines,

which seems to be a theme over and over again.

And he's going to Babble. He's going to lose his three

sons, get killed. It's hard to watch Jonathan get

killed. If you follow Jonathan, the

Bible, it's hard, hard to watch me go down like that.

And then Saul gets killed. He gets shot with some arrows.

He asked the seer like, just kill me because they're going to

take me. And he won't.

So he takes his sword and falls on it.

And that's the end of Saul's reign.

And this is what it says about Saul.

They're going to bring in David, but this is what it says about

him. First Chronicles, 1013, it says

Saul died because he was what? What's it say?

He was what? He was unfaithful to the Lord.

That is significant. He he was taken out of this

human race because he stopped chasing down God and following

him. It says this, he goes further.

He said did not what keep the word of the Lord.

I don't know if it's on there yet.

Maybe it is. Oh, it is on there.

There you go. I didn't hear anybody go with

me. So I was like, is it real?

He did not keep the word of the Lord and look what he said.

It even consulted a medium for guidance.

That's that's called tarot cards, right?

It's called crystals. It's called somebody reading

your palm and telling you what direction to go.

He consulted the prophets of Bao.

He went everywhere but to the Lord.

And he started instead of worshiping the Lord, he actually

started worshiping himself. He actually built a statue of

himself, like Saul thought he was the man and says this, and

this may be the SAS part, he did not inquire of the Lord.

So Lord put him to what to say. Yeah, put him to death.

He's in the highest level leadership in the entire nation

of Israel. He didn't inquire the Lord, and

the Lord took him out and turned the Kingdom over.

To who? David, the son of Jesse.

Now, remember, David was anointed.

He was a shepherd. He was a little boy.

He's a teenager. He's probably 1413, whatever.

And he was just on the backside of a mountain taking care of

sheep, and they killed Goliath. We'll Fast forward about 14

years or so. This actually happens.

And so first Chronicles 13, so Fast forward a few chapters, it

says this let us bring, now Dave is in charge.

He says, let us bring the ark of our God back to us for we did

not inquire of it during the reign of Saul.

That's really crazy. This is a crazy statement.

That would be saying, hey, Sean, he preached the Bible, OK, for

14 years or wherever it's been, and he never inquired.

The Lord never prayed, never saw after God.

He led on the auspice of God, but did not know God.

And so he raises up David. He was anointed, but now he's

installed and one of the first acts of David is to bring the

Ark of the Covenant. Now the Ark of the Covenant.

This is really significant. The Ark of the Covenant is maybe

the greatest, if not the greatest object in the entire

Old Testament. Moses is an Exodus 25.

God gives them rules, and he says, I want you to make this

Ark of the covenant. It's going to be about four feet

long, 2 1/2 feet wide, 2 feet tall.

It's going to be made of Acacia wood, and inside of it you're

going to have the 10 commandments.

This represents God's word. You have Aaron's staff, which

represents God's power, and you're going to have a jar full

of mana, which represents God's provision.

I want you to put that in the ark, and then I want you to seal

it. I want you to cover it with

gold, wrap the entire thing in gold, and on top, I want you to

put these two angels on the edges that face each other made

of solid gold. And this is what?

This is what the Lord said to Moses, Exodus 2522.

There above the cover between the two cherubim, the 2 angels

there over the ark of the covenant Law.

I will. What's it say?

I will? Yeah.

We'll meet with you. I'm going to meet you in that

spot. I'm going to give you all the

commands for the Israelites. This is the spot, it's called

the mercy seat of God. This is where God's presence was

going to meet with the leader of Israel.

He made it with Moses and then it traveled in the wilderness

for 40 years. And then it moved around in the

thing called a Tabernacle, which is a is a tent that they put

together and built. And as they traveled, they take

it with them. It's the first horrible church.

Come on somebody. You know what I mean?

This thing, it's almost 400 years now.

So it went with Moses, and then it kind of got set aside.

And then Saul was established as the first king that little

judges. And then Saul is the first king,

and he was supposed to meet with the Lord at the mercy seat.

He was supposed to inquire the Lord and hear from him, but he

never did. He never went to the Arctic

covenant. This is significant when David

says that Saul never did this. And so it's sat just idle, out

of sight, out of mind. This thing went to Shiloh, to

Bethel, and finally David's bringing it close to Jerusalem.

It's been 400 years. So you think, what is David

going to do with the Ark of the Covenant?

What do you guys think? Give me with the Lord to inquire

the Lord to hear from him. No he doesn't.

He does nothing. He brings it closer and does

nothing. He does nothing.

He just waits and sits. And here's the temptation when

it comes to following God, that there is a scarecrow that God

puts in front of your bank account.

There's a scarecrow that the devil puts in front of

everything you hold in your hand.

And the scarecrow says this. You'll never have enough.

You need more to be secure. When you get enough, you can

come in here, but don't use it. Don't invest it.

Don't give it. This is yours and you need to

keep it. Hold on to it.

Life is the result of the accumulation of everything you

have. There's a scarecrow, and that

scarecrow sits there and we hold on to it as if everything we

have is ours. And we start holding on to our

own strength and ability. And we don't acquire the Lord.

We don't say, Lord, what would you have me to do?

And we do things in our power. And the temptation is that when

you look at your life, that's what happens to David.

It gets preoccupied with comfort and it gets preoccupied with

your own ability instead of gods.

And so this what happens as the Ark of the Covenant sitting idle

that he's supposed to worship and lead from First Chronicles

14, One says this now King Harem, king of Tyre sends a

message to David along with cedar logs, if you know what

cedar closet smells like, Right. Stone Masons, carpenters.

Hmm. I wonder what's about to happen

here to build a palace For who? Who's it say?

Yeah. For him being David, this is one

of those like friendships, like hey, I'm going to pay you off,

right? This is like, hey, if you want

to keep good, I'll send everybody over there.

We'll build a palace where buddies don't come in, right?

And so David, he is tempted and look what happens.

Another chapter over First Chronicles 15-1 after David had

what constructed buildings for himself in the city of David.

This place is now fortified. It smells good, it's all made of

cedar. He's got everything lined out.

He's in the life of the city. It's fortified, it's beautiful,

it's exactly what he wanted. After David constructed these

buildings, he prepared what to say a place for the Ark of God

and pitched a tent for it. That's interesting.

That's how you know you have bad worship.

After you build yourself a palace, you give God a place.

That's how you know worship's out of whack, isn't it?

Like when you spend way more money in yourself when you're

not generous, when when you don't even have a strategy to be

generous. That's how you know you got bad

worship. This is being real.

Like we don't look at everything as, Lord, this is yours.

How do you want me to leverage it for your Kingdom?

Where's the best places to invest for Kingdom impact?

If you don't think that way, your worship is whacked.

Just being real. And David builds a palace and he

puts the Ark of Covenant in a place.

And what was that place? A rusty rickety 5 year old 500

year old tent. He didn't give a new tent.

He put up the old tent. He just moved it around.

And I don't know why did he do it?

Why would he do it? He's preoccupied, right?

He had life like we do. He had palaces to build and

places to go. And maybe he was just accustomed

to being in a tent. Maybe David was just used to,

just like that's the way it is. It's always been that way.

It never dawned on him that it should be something different.

It it didn't occur to him that that this is a place where the

power and the presence and the provision of God rests.

But of course he hasn't because he's not been meeting with God.

He's not be sitting with God. And so he gives God the

leftovers. Now something happens in First

Chronicles 17, David hearts begin to shift.

Fast forward 17/1 after David was what to say, settled in his

palace after he kicked up his feet, got all the right paint

colors. It's all furnished.

It's looking good man. This is where it's at, he said

to Nathan the prophet, Here I am living in the House of Cedar

while the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is under under a tent.

This is a famous passage. It's also found in the first

Samuel. He says, what am I doing here

living in this a fantastic life with all this amazing

commodities and all the stuff I have and I've accumulated all

the great wealth of the world and the power and the presence

of God sits out in a rickety tent.

What am I thinking? And God does something very

special. I don't have time to walk

through the whole chapter, but does something very special.

In this moment of David's humility, God gives him one of

the everlasting promises of God. There's five everlasting

promises of God in the Bible. He gave one to Noah.

I want to destroy the world, the flood again.

You give one to Abraham where he said to make you your name

famous and your people and your people great.

And name shall be you. Those who bless you, bless those

who curse or curse you. You have you have you have

another covenant with the Palestinian people.

You hear the divinic covenant with God, an everlasting promise

that I'm going to rule and reign from David's throne for all of

eternity. Now David thought that was going

to be his son to be one of his boys, but it's actually going to

be who It's going to be Jesus because Jesus is the line, the

tribe of David. He's an offspring of David.

And then the last covenant is the new covenant which Jesus

issued in So out of this moment where David has humility, God

speaks and says, congratulations, you figured out

this is about worship. You got to do something with my

presence. Go ahead and build it.

I'm so establishing an everlasting covenant with you.

Now, what do you think David did?

I'd like to say he built a temple.

He he upgraded the presence of God.

I would like to say that, but if you go to study this, David does

nothing. He does nothing for 30 years and

this is where the story picks up.

Fast forward now obviously he's not been meeting with the

presence of the mercy seat of God.

He's not inquiring Lord. He has taken no thought of what

to do. Zero thought in the Bible.

You read it, read First Samuel, Second Samuel, First Chronicles,

Second Chronicles, 1st St. Kings.

He does nothing. That single plan put together to

put God's tent and make it a palace or a temple.

First Chronicles 21, Satan rose up against Israel and inside of

David. That's how Satan works, by the

way. He comes after the leader,

right? So if you lead your home, if you

lead somewhere for Christ, he's coming after you inside David.

And now he's vulnerable because now they walk the Lord and he

says inside him to take a census of Israel.

Now just read through this and you're going to picture what

this means. So verse 2 it says so David said

the Joab, the commander of the troops, go and count the

Israelites from Beersheba to Dan.

They report back to me so that I may know like I got to know how

many there are some about soldiers take a census of all my

ability. But Joab replied, may the Lord

multiply troops 100 times over. May the Lord the king or they're

not all Lord's subjects. Why does my Lord want me to do

this? Why should he bring guilt on

Israel? Joab's like, let's not do this.

This is a terrible idea. Like the Lord will take care of

it. He'll multiply troops first

four. The King's word, however,

overruled Joab. And so Joab left and went

throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem and Joab

reported the number of the fighting men to David and all of

Israel. There was, look at this,

1,100,000 men. It's pretty good.

Amen. I mean, I don't have that many

people. I'm not even close.

I dream team is 150 something. Come on, somebody.

You know what I mean? Maybe you should stop counting,

right? There's 1,100,000 men who could

handle a sword, including 470,000 in Judah.

He's probably feeling pretty confident right now.

He's going to whip any enemy around him, and most of those

guys are right by him. He's surrounded, he feels pretty

good. But Joab did not include Levi

and Benjamin the number because the King's command was repulsive

to them. And they said there's no way

we're counting. I'm not being a part of your

evil schemes. This is a good picture going

against the government and even godly people that should be

godly, right? First seven says this command

was also evil on the side of God.

So he what's it say he punished them.

See, when you walk away from the Lord and you're not in God's

presence, not only like worry about your comfort, you also

start counting your ability. You, you start looking at your,

your bank accounts and retirement and assets and, and,

and work and all the things you can accumulate and do.

And you say, well, Lord, listen, I can do this.

I don't really need you. Like I've got it, I've got it.

Who's in my hand? I mean, how does David go from a

sling and a stone against the power of living God, just a

stone to counting up millions of soldiers?

He lost God's presence and he knows this is the exact reason

Saul was killed. He's no different than Saul was

acting. He took matters in his own

hands. Verse 8.

Then David said to God, I've sinned greatly by doing this.

Now I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant.

I've done the very foolish thing.

So Lord said to God, David sear, go and tell David, this is what

the Lord says. I'm giving you three options.

Who knows? This is good parenting.

I'm going to give you 3 choices right now and this is the way it

says choose one of the may carry out against you.

Verse 11. So Gad went to David and said to

him, this was the Lord says take your choice.

Three years of famine, it's your first option. 2-3 months of

being swept away by your enemies with the swords overtaking you

or three, three days of the sword of Lord, days of plague in

the land with the Angel Lord ravaging every part of Israel.

Now then decide how I should answer the one who sent me.

And so David said to Gad, by the way, I don't like any of those

three choices. Those are all bad choices.

But David in his wisdom, he says, I'm in deep distress.

Let me fall into the hands of the Lord.

Listen to this for His mercy is very great, like at least is a.

Chance. Because the Lord may have

compassion, but do not let me fall in the human hands.

So Lord sends a plague on Israel and 70,000 men of Israel fell

dead and God sent what to say? How many?

Yeah, one. God sends 1 Angel.

It's probably Michael. He's the warrior Angel.

He shows up. There's no negotiations.

It's just what it is to destroy Jerusalem.

But as the Angel was doing so, did anybody cry out in humility

and ask God? No, but the Lord saw it himself

and relented concerning the disaster and said the Angel who

was destroying the people enough would draw your hand.

And the Angel Lord was there standing at the threshing floor

of Arona the Jebusite. Verse 16.

David looked up and saw the Angel Lord standing between

heaven and earth with a drawn sword in his hand extending over

Jerusalem. Dude, is that a freaky sight?

I mean, if you imagine looking out at downtown Kansas City and

an Angel standing by the city with a sword drawn over it,

70,000 people already been killed.

The Lord's hold back his hand. This is only probably been 15

minutes. You would be about that tall,

absolutely humbled. And then David and the elders

clothed the sackcloth. They fell face down.

This is this is there's just two choices of God, right?

Be humble or be humbled, Amen. There's like two ways of doing

it. And David, at this moment, he

gets humbled and he recognizes, he starts doing math.

I have 1.1 million soldiers and that means nothing, means

nothing. I am nobody.

Who in the world was I to think that I had any control or any

power that was anybody at all? This one Angel can whip the

entire human race out of existence.

This isn't God himself. Amen.

Imagine Jesus coming back. But he does later on, right?

But imagine that. And so he is humbled.

He is broken. He he here's nothing left.

His arrogance is stripped away. And David said to the God in

verse 17, was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be

counted? I, the shepherd have sinned and

done wrong. These are but sheep.

What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall

on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your

people. He's taking full responsibility.

Amen. I sorry, Lord, for making about

myself. Sorry, Lord, for counting all

these people up. It's totally my, my fault.

It's not their fault. It's my sin.

It's my responsibility. I'm the one who turned my back

on you. I've not inquired of you.

I've made the mistake of counting and being comfortable.

Take it on me, Lord, That's repentance.

Amen. That there's something

significant. If you don't have repentance,

you're not going to have worship.

And so David has a uh oh moment, verse 18, that the Angel Lord

ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar of the

Lord on the threshing floor of Arona the Jebusite.

And so David went up in obedience to the word.

This might be the first time he's done that in 30 years in

obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the

Lord. Verse 20, when Arona was

threshing wheat, that boy was unfazed by that Angel.

Amen. He's in there still doing some

work. Angel's up there with a sword.

That boy didn't care. Amen.

He says he turns. All the Angel and his four sons

who are with him hid themselves. So as kids ran hid, Arona just

stood there. Verse 21.

Then David approached, and when Arona looked at him and saw him,

he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his

face to the ground. This guy understood that this

man was the king and he was honoring him to worship him.

And then David said to him, let me have the side of your

threshing floor so I can build an altar to the Lord that the

plague on the people may be stopped.

Sell it to me at the what? What's it say?

Y'all want the full price? Like don't give me no discount.

I'm not going cheap right now. Verse 23 a Rona said to David,

take it. Let my Lord the king do whatever

pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for

the big offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, the weed,

the grain for the grain offering.

I will give all this for you also to be a blessing to you.

I mean, this guy knew who to worship, Amen.

He recognized the king had a need and the Romans like, just

take it, it's all yours. It's for God, it's for the king.

Use it how you see fit. And David and his humility and

his brokenness, he's about to give the one of the greatest

acts of worship you're going to see in the Bible in verse 24.

But David replied to Arona, no, I insist on paying the full

price. I will not take for the Lord.

What is yours. I'm not going to get I'm not

getting any worship if you give me this piece of property like

I'm going to buy it. I'm not going to sacrifice a

burnt offering that what to say that cost me nothing.

I'm not going to give a gift that didn't cost me anything.

I'm not going to give you a hand me down.

Come on, somebody like I'm going to give you something of

significance. And so he buys that threshing

floor for the Lord. He's going to pay full price and

his humility goes on to verse 25.

It says this. And so David paid Arona 600

shekels of gold for the site. Now, this is amazing because

this must have been in his pocket.

That's about one million U.S. dollars.

When you did math on that, he paid $1,000,000 for a threshing,

for a place where you separate just the, the, the the grain

from the rest of the stock. He paid $1,000,000 for a flat

piece of stone. That sounds like a really bad

investment, doesn't it? What were you doing buying that?

It's also amazing he had $1,000,000 on them, by the way.

That's pretty cool. I've never had that kind of

pocket change. I mean, I carry a couple

hundreds every now and then. Never carried a million.

That sounds cool, right? But I don't know if it would

have cost 100 million, I think you would have paid it.

I think you would have given anything and everything you had

to to pay for that floor. Here's the point.

The greater the sacrifice, the greater the worship.

You guys getting that, the greater the sacrifice, the

greater the worship. So here's the thing.

When you give, you're not giving money, you're giving honor.

When you when you give, you're giving away your control.

Amen. We don't like that, do we?

We like to have it. But see that when you say the

Lord is everything you're you're everything I need.

I desire you. Who am I to think that I could

do this myself and I can have all my abilities and my palaces

and I'm doing it my way. I haven't consulted you,

inquired of you. And all of a sudden he goes,

what was I thinking in that broken repentance, in that

humility? That's the greatest offer you

can ever give you. You've had a moment of life

where you offer yourself to God. We call it surrender.

You're over that moment life where you take a piece of paper,

you sign the bomb and say, Lord, whatever you want.

You read that moment, your life where it's not cheap.

Like David didn't go cheap right here, Amen.

Like you're not called to go cheap on the Lord because the

Lord could do whatever, whenever, however, with whatever

he chooses to. You're like, Lord, use me.

I am a humble servant of yours. And the Bible says when you're

humble, God lifts you up. Amen.

That the first shall be last and last shall be first.

Like our economy doesn't work in God's economy.

Like it requires faith. And David, for the first time in

30 years, he activates his faith and he gives a largest gift.

He's going to give more. He's going to give way more.

By this time, this story is done.

And maybe it's one of those prayer of Jabez that's found the

first Chronicles as well. Lord bless me, extend my

territory and keeping me from pain like he started to get it.

He's starting to click like I need God's power, God's

protection, God's blessing. I don't need what I have.

I need what the Lord is going to give me.

I need him to direct my life. I trust you, Lord, I'm counting

on you for the first time in 30 years or more.

And so he paid $1,000,000. And so David says verse 26 built

an altar. Lord there sacrificed burnt

offerings and a fellowship offering, and he called the

Lord, and the Lord answered him from from fire, from heaven on

the altar of burnt offerings. Then the Lord spoke to the Angel

and he put his sword back in his sheath.

This entire time that angel's been sitting there just ready to

like take out the whole city of Jerusalem and at the level of

worship and humility and sacrifice and repentance.

The Angel, she is the sword. And at that time when David saw

the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of her own of

the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there and humility

and brokenness out of his own need, no longer counting his own

ability. Verse 29 this is story gets

crazy. All right.

This says the Tabernacle Lord which Moses had made in the

wilderness. We talked about the whole time,

the beginning. Remember where it's in that on

that tent, an altar of Brent Offering where at the time the

high priest at the high place of Gibeon, he saw it says, but

David could not go before it to inquire of God.

This is the first time we even talked about inquire of God.

If you read all First Chronicles, this is the first

time that any person in First Chronicles has said, I'm going

to go inquire of God. Now David's had a change of

heart, Amen. Mike had a change of heart.

We talked about that. Now David has a change of heart.

Now he's like, I got to get back to the mercy seat.

I got to get back to God's presence.

I got to inquire of God and he says I can't because the he was

afraid the sword of the Angel Lord.

He was afraid the sword of the Angel Lord.

Why would David be afraid of the sword of the Angel Lord?

This is a significant, very significant moment because David

had repented for the census, but he hadn't repented for

neglecting his house. He had more work to do.

He had more humility to give. He used to hold all the things

he's going. Oh yeah, the 30 years ago we did

have a conversation. I did build all these palaces.

I did spend all my money on myself.

And look what David says in his most broken moment, humility.

Then David said the House of the Lord God is to be where, where

at is to be here is to be here. He finally decided to build

God's temple. Amen.

He finally decided to move. Humility.

I'm done playing games. I'm looking past the scarecrows.

I'm done counting my ability. I'm done building my comfort.

And for the rest of David's life, everything he does is

about planning, securing, funding, organizing for the

building of the temple of God that his son would build.

Because God told him one to give me him.

He is too disobedient. He'd killed too many men.

He'd rage too much war and David spent the rest of his life to

build that temple. That's really cool about the

story you may not know is that that side of the temple, that

temple we built about 1000 BC, that's that same temple that

Jesus actually tear apart because it is the whole, the

whole holiest comes out. But inside that temple, there's

different courts and places. And the closer you get in, the

further you get in the temple, you get closer to the presence

of God because at the middle of the temple, the no man can go

into it for once a year called the high priest.

There was a place called the Holy of Holies, and the holies

of holies contain the presence of God.

I'm going to take guess what's inside the Holy Holies.

What is it? You guys all hear it.

I hear it. The Ark of the Covenant, that

floor where David humbled himself, that threshing floor

where he weeped and bought and cried to God and repented the

God was the very floor that he would build and say that Ark of

the Covenant is going to come here to this very spot of

humility, of brokenness, that God's presence is going to meet

me here and inquire the Lord, I have forgotten this and I'm

going to get my greatest act of worship.

It's pretty amazing, isn't it, that God's presence, his

greatest presence, because the Old Testament, that was the

greatest presence of God, meets us in the places where we give

the greatest worship. Come on, somebody that's good.

Amen. We give the greatest worship and

God gives the greatest presents. And this is exactly what

happened to David. That temple will be built by his

son. Now, here's the rest of the rest

of the story. First Chronicles is not written

by anybody at David's day. It's not written by Samuel.

It's not written by Solomon or one of his sons.

It's written 500 years later by a man named Ezra.

Ezra was a man that came back from the Babylonian captivity in

the second wave, second rim that people come back at the temple

had been destroyed in 500 AD ish.

And he came back, he showed up and they had put some of it

together, but they put all that together.

It's still in disarray. And the priests weren't doing

they should do wasn't ornate like it should be been torn down

by the Babylonian captives or the people that took captive the

Babylonians. And Ezra couldn't stand it.

And the thing that made Ezra stand out, the only thing that

makes him stand out, he was a man of the word of God.

That's the only thing. That's the only thing.

He was a nobody. But he had the word of God and

he followed. Everybody had it.

He followed it. And so God put him in charge as

a priest. And he wrote first Chronicles,

everything we talked about today.

He wrote with a mission that they would get back to

worshipping God. This house shouldn't be in

disarray that they should sacrifice.

And he got their attention because they came back home from

the remnant. He told them all and said, hey,

if we're going to have a meeting, you know all the men

that show up and the way he got the men to get there, it wasn't

Donuts. Come on somebody.

He told me, he said if you want to have a home, a piece of the

property they've come back from, you're not going to keep it

unless you show up. So you want to keep, you want to

have somewhere to live, then come to the meeting.

At the meeting, you started reading the Word of God and he

started sharing all these stories about David and how he

neglected and became about himself.

And he left the temple in disarray.

And he shows David's humility and his brokenness and his

worship. And he encouraged the people in

that time for the second time to rebuild the temple.

Amen. I kind of feel like we may be in

that third time, just the repentance, the worship.

Like when's the last time we stopped counting on ourselves?

We start counting on God. Like when's the last time we

said God by faith, I'm trusting you, God don't want all of you.

God, what am I thinking? Like I get this little breath of

life, this little dash, Is it going to be like I get done?

It's like good job made a sand castle, made your own palace, or

is it going to be Lord, thank you.

I trusted you while doing my good and faithful servant.

Like which one's going to be? The greater the sacrifice, the

greater the worship. It's just how it works.

When I was a pastor here, people say I can't give or that's a

lot, or I can't give X amount of percent.

I'm not talking about percentages.

I'm not talking about a number. I'm talking about worship.

Amen. Worship.

How much do you want to worship the Lord?

That's what it comes down to. And so my prayer for you guys is

open your hands, say Lord, whatever you have me to give,

I'm going to give it because I've made the story about me.

I don't do a very good job of managing God's stuff, doing it

my way, Lord, I want to do it your way.

And we all have a starting point, Amen.

And some of us like, hey, I can, I can give to that.

It's not my life, remember? It's been at 18 years old, I had

very little money. I had started giving when I was

15. I had very little.

I knelt down by this tree outside of a camp and I didn't

give my bank account. I gave my future.

I gave my breath. Lord, whatever you have me to

do, I'm going to give to you. Every moment of my life is

yours. You tell me where to go.

You tell me where to speak. You tell me what to do.

It's no longer about Sean's dreams, it's about your dreams.

That's worship, Amen. You remember those moments and

this could be a moment today, Amen.

When we repent, we turn to God, we surrender and we open our

hands, say Lord, whatever you want, I'm willing to give.

So Father, come before you. God humble us.

God, thank you for the story of David.

We reminded that we can have everything that will, but we

miss you. So they as Jesus followers.

How many would say I didn't inquire the Lord today.

I didn't humble myself today. I want to give great worship to

the Lord. I need to spend some time to the

Lord and find what that looks like.

I need to open my hands. I need to see past the

scarecrow. I need to stop making plans for

myself and building palaces and barns and places to lift up

myself or provide comfort myself.

I need to do something for the Lord.

How do you raise your hand high and say that to you today?

That's speaking to you, Father. Teach us that we can trust You

with everything. It's not our life, it's not our

money, it's not our stuff, it's not our time, it's not even our

breath. God, teach us to give our breath

back to you, to worship you. God, that you could give glory

through our gifts. The devil knows what we don't

give cannot be multiplied to see souls and so God, I pray you'd

cause a revival in our hearts God and we give we see souls

changed. The Gospel going out, your

presence coming down that you'd shape something in us that you

can be trusted. And we have a journey of living

by faith that will not just change others, but change

ourselves and every time we see a move of God, say I play the

part of that. My life was not about making my

name famous. It was about making his name

famous. God help us.

That's become true for us. I pray for one more group of

people. That's those you in the house to

say, man, I need this Jesus. I need the one that's worthy of

my entire life. I've been writing my own story,

doing it my way. And just like David chose God

because he knew he'd be merciful, when you choose God,

he is merciful to you. The Bible says those who call

the name of Lord will be forgiven from all their sin.

As far as he says from the West being given a name, you'd be in

a purpose he'd be given gifting from God, the presence of God,

the Holy Spirit of God and they'll change you in an instant

because of your humility. He'll change you and make your

right with him and give you his righteousness and you're forever

forgiven and made free as a hand or as a as a instrument in the

hand of Redeemer. They can use your story to

continue to propagate the gospel as a humble servant of the Lord.

The Bible says there's no other name.

Do I mention where which men are saved the name of Jesus and

today something you call on Jesus same name that David cried

out to the same presence and power and provision of God in

that holy of holies. That mercy seat in the ark of

the covenant lives in us that know Jesus and you can have that

today in your life. And so if you can humble

yourself and call on Jesus for the very first time.

If God's speaking to you and you say yes to him.

We let him be looking around you just raise your hand highest

place. I need Jesus today.

I need to humble myself and get right with God.

So your guys's hands, yes, I need Jesus today.

So your hand, I'm going to lead you to a prayer.

And the prayer does not save you.

But it's that same humility that David had, the same brokenness,

that same repentance. It's not just a thought, it's an

action. I'm doing it differently.

I'm done with the old man. Lord, I need you.

We just pray this prayer and just cry out to God and say

Father God thank you so much. I've got to recognize my need

for you. I'm a Sinner and need of a

savior. I'm a broken man just like

David. I've counted my own self.

I've built my life on my own ways.

I've followed my own direction. I've consulted other mediums.

I've found other wisdom. I've done my own thing.

But today I need you to lead my life.

I surrender my life to you God, I trust you.

Thank you for Jesus for dying across my sins.

I praise in Jesus name, the church said, Amen.

Come on, give some glory to God today.

Come on, let's give some worship.

Such a reminder that his presence is worth any sacrifice.

And some of you recognize today all that Jesus did to sacrifice

himself for you. And you raised your hand and you

committed your life to Jesus today.

And if that is you, if you raised your hand, if you prayed

that prayer today and we are so excited for you, we're here for

you. We would love to help you and

support you and resource you as you're taking this journey with

Jesus. So if you would grab that

connection card, fill out that information at the top there,

but make sure and check that box that says I committed my life to

Jesus. And you could drop that in the

buckets as they pass here in just a few minutes.

But just by doing that allows us to get you a few things.

We'd love to get you a free book in the mail.

It's called Begin. It's a short read, but it really

gives some really good practical steps as you're starting your

journey with Jesus. And also, if you pray that

prayer and you're here with us at Kentucky Trail, as you exit

the worship center, there is a table with some red bags.

Please feel free to grab one of those red bags.

It has a Bible in it for you. There's a list of some resources

as well from Pastor Sean, but we would love to get those to you

just to be able to help you as you are taking those first steps

with Jesus. And if you are newer in this

space today, this is your first time at real Life Church.

Thank you so much for coming and spending the morning right here

with us. We don't really want anything

from you this good morning except for this and that's just

to introduce yourself to us. We would love to know that you

were here. And so if you could grab that

same connection card, fill out your information there, but hold

on to that and take it to the new here booth.

As you leave, it says you exit those doors just to your right.

There's a new here booth. Somebody's there.

Would love to just talk with you, get you a free gift.

Just our way of saying thank you so much for being here with us

today and we'd love to see you back next week.

And then we have an opportunity coming up in just a couple of

weeks. I want to share with you, if you

have a kiddo and you're in this space, if you have a family,

maybe we have an opportunity for you as parents to dedicate your

kiddos right back to God. Children are such a blessing

from the Lord. And so we have an opportunity on

November 9th to be able to say, hey, I'm choosing to raise my

kids to know Jesus, to love him and to follow him.

And so if that's you, if you haven't dedicated your kids,

even if you just have questions about that, feel free to scan

that QR code or you can head to our website and register there.

Just by doing that, somebody from our team will reach out to

you love just to answer your questions and help you every

step of the way. And I want to highlight a few

things through our difference Maker initiative.

And man, just watching Mike and Kristen's video was just so

inspiring and moving just to hear even the impact it's had

just personally on them being able to see.

He had mentioned watching his daughter worship and seeing

things from the stage. Everybody here, people raising

their hands and, and committing their lives to Jesus.

And that's what it's all about. I mean, having a permanent space

allows us to minister to so many more kids, to so many more

youth, to families, to see more prodigals come home to know

Jesus. And that's what it's all about.

We truly believe that we're just getting started.

We're believing to see 10s of thousands of lives changed

through the gospel. And this, this commitment card,

you should have gotten one of these.

If not, we'd love to get you one there.

It's at a table in the back. But this is our act of worship.

This, this is all of us. It takes all of us, not just

some of us, but it truly is about 100% participation.

All of us trusting God through faith, all of us trusting God

with our generosity. And so take this card and pray

and fast over this and ask God, man, what, what part do I play

in moving us out of this temporary space, out of this

Tabernacle and into our first permanent home?

And we're not going to collect these today.

So no worries about that. I don't need to fill that out or

worry about that. But take this card and think

about the question that Sean asked too.

What does it look like to give? Not out of my own ability, not

out of what's in my wallet, what's in my pocketbook, but to

give God's ability and how He will provide with us through

that. Not just to give gold or silver,

but to give him bold faith through this.

And I want to celebrate too. Man, we had three first time

givers last week. Thank you so much for

worshipping God through giving. Can you give them a hand?

That is so awesome and it's not too.

It's not too early. It's not too late to give you if

you call real life church home, there are many ways you can take

part in that. You can check out the screen

there. You can scan that QR you can

text to give. You can head on over to our

website. You can also just drop cash or

check in the giving buckets as they pass.

There's also a giving box in the back as well, if that is more

convenient for you. And as always, if you or your

family find yourself in any kind of immediate need today, food or

clothing, shelter or whatever that looks like for you as those

buckets pass here in just a moment, please, please to them

grab any loose cash that you see.

We really do want to help you and resource you this week.

Man, what awesome day can we get it for God and just the ability

to just create and model a difference makers here.

And I love that story, David. Hey, lot of last couple things

before it gets you guys out of here.

So this Wednesday, real life youth, 6th through 12th grade,

man, they're going to kill it. Going to have a real life youth

event, Halloween event. They're going to have games,

candy. I think there's a talent show.

So check out the QR going to come online and find out some

more information. Love to have your kids there.

Last thing is this, I want to remind you of what Pastor Sean

was talking about earlier. Next week we're going to have

our first welcome party. So for those of you that are

newer and newer, and if you wonder if that's you, that's

you. So come hang out with us next

week between the gatherings. This is for for anybody that is

looking to get connected, people that are looking just for

answers about what real life's really about just the time you

guys can hang out. We would love to come for you

guys to meet some more leadership, ask the questions

you've got. So we'll spend about 30 minutes

and have an awesome welcome party next week.

So put that on your calendar. If you guys do prayer for any

reason, we would love to pray with you up here, whether it's

as individuals or as families. If we see you guys next week,

9:00 or 10:45. And as always, remember, whoever

finds Jesus discovers real life and purpose.

See you next week. This is the end of this podcast.

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