Whoever Has a Generous Heart // Exodus 35:4-29

We're going to be in Exodus chapter 35 in our Bibles.

Exodus 35 · chapter mention

If you want to turn there, Exodus chapter 35.

Exodus 35 · chapter mention

This is sermon number 90 through the book of Exodus.

And we've been working through verse by verse, chapter by chapter, if you're just joining us.

And we uh we're working through a series that titled Leaving the Darkness, where we watch Moses lead the people of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land, out of darkness, into light, out of worshiping other gods, into worshiping Yahweh, the true and living God.

And we've it's been a wonderful story.

I mean, just the color of Exodus and the pictures and the stories and the details have been so awesome.

And we've been working, inching through verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and we will do once again today.

Title of the message today, if you're taking notes, is Who Has a Generous Heart?

Whoever has a generous heart.

And it's actually in the scriptures today.

This phrase, this part uh is in the scriptures exactly.

Whoever has a generous heart.

So we'll wrap the title and the sermon around this title.

Heard of a story, maybe you heard of this one.

Sometime after Tim died, his widow Rachel was finally able to talk about what a thoughtful, considerate man her husband had been.

My Tim thought of everything she told her friends just before he died.

He called me to his bedside and handed me three envelopes.

He said, Rachel, I put all my last wishes in these three envelopes after I'm gone.

Open them and do exactly as I've instructed.

Knowing you'll do this, I can rest in peace.

What was in them?

Her friends asked.

Well, the first envelope had$5,000 and a note.

Use this to buy a nice casket.

So I bought a beautiful mahogany cast that lined so comfortably.

I know Tim is resting well.

The second envelope had$10,000.

And I used this for a nice funeral.

I gave Tim a dignified funeral with all of his favorite foods.

And third, they asked.

The third envelope, well, it had$25,000 in it, and a note that said, please use this to buy a nice stone.

At that moment, Rachel held up her hand and said, You like the 10 karat stone, my diamond ring?

Come on, that was pretty good.

Whoever has a generous heart.

A question for you this morning.

Have you ever considered and thought about what does God actually want from me?

What does God actually want from me?

I think most of us, if we're honest, would say He wants our behavior cleaned up.

We think He wants our attendance.

We think He wants our money.

We think He wants our religious behavior.

And if that's our answer, then church ends up becoming a thing that we do, and the Christian life becomes a long series of envelopes, yes, with instructions on them of what to do and not do.

In Exodus 32, a couple chapters ago, we saw Aaron stand in front of the congregation, the people of Israel, and he says, Tear off those gold rings which you're wearing in your ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters and bring them to me.

And they did it immediately, willingly, cheerfully, they handed over the gold, but out came a calf, remember?

They built a golden calf and they worshiped another God.

And now, praise God, in chapter 35, Moses stands in front of that same crowd and he asked them for gold again.

The same people, the same gold, the same earrings, but this time something entirely different comes out of the fire.

And we see this used in the right way.

Again, both given to the people, one used for the worship of other gods, one used for the worship of the true God.

And we see this today with our gifts, talents, and abilities, with the success given to us, with the fame or the power, with the money, the resources, uh, the wealth.

We can either use them to worship other gods, worship ourselves, or we can use them to worship the true and living God.

And that's what we're looking at today.

We're gonna read uh Exodus chapter 35.

Exodus 35 · chapter mention

Uh, can we stand for the reading of God's word?

We always stand for the reading of God's word here at Legacy to pay honor to our God, to remember whose word we're reading, stop for a moment and pause and say thank you for your word.

Thank you for your instruction.

Open my eyes, open my ears, that I would see beyond the ink, beyond the text, and understand what you're trying to say to me today.

That the word of God is powerful, living, sharper than any two-edged sword.

It discerns between the thoughts, it gets into us, and we would ask God to do that in our hearts today.

Exodus chapter 35, take a look at verse 4.

Exodus 35 · chapter mention

It says, And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, saying, Take from among you a contribution to Yahweh.

Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as a contribution to Yahweh: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet material, fine linen, goat's hair, ram skin dyed red, porpoise skins and acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for anointing oil, for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastplate.

Jump down to verse 20.

Then all of the congregation of the sons of Israel went out from Moses' presence, and everyone whose heart was stirred in him, and everyone whose spirit was willing, came and brought the contribution to Yahweh for the work of the tent of meeting and for all its servants and for the holy garments.

Then all whose hearts were willing, both men and women, came and brought bruches and earrings and signet rings and bracelets and all articles of gold, so did every man who waved it as a wave offering of gold to Yahweh.

And every man who had in his possession blue and purple and scarlet material and fine linen and goat's hair and ramskin dyed red and porpoise skins brought them.

Every one who could raise up a contribution of silver and bronze brought to Yahweh, brought to contribution to Yahweh.

And every man who had in his possession acacia wood for any work of the service brought to it.

And the women r uh wise at heart spun their hands and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet and material and fine linen, and all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun the goat's hair.

Yes, it says that.

And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones for the setting of the ephod and for the breast piece, and the spice and the oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.

The sons of Israel, all the men and women whose heart was willing to bring material for all the work which Yahweh had commanded through the hand of Moses to do, brought a free will offering to Yahweh.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word.

And we ask God that it would please minister to us, please speak to us in a deep way by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Would you cause us to understand it in a way that ministers directly to our lives, our situation, what we're working through right now?

Help us to understand what was going on then.

Help us to understand what it means now and how to apply it to our lives.

Lord, we ask that you would move our hearts as you gave the greatest free will offering of all, offering your Son so that the earth can be saved, redeemed, and brought close to you.

We thank you for your gift.

God, we gladly offer our lives back to you.

Speak to us through your word.

We ask it now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You can be seated.

So let me set the table for you.

A little context.

God had already given Moses the blueprints for the tabernacle.

Remember back in chapters 25 to 31, beautiful plans, detailed plans.

Then came the golden calf, and everything came to a stop.

But God forgave their sin.

God renewed the covenant.

And now in chapter 35, the construction project is back on.

And some of you might be reading these chapters and thought this is repetitive, isn't it?

Didn't we already read this?

It is, you're right.

Chapters 25 to 31 are the plans.

Chapters 35 to 39 are the people actually doing the plans.

And that repetition is the point.

When God says a thing two times, we should probably listen.

He's not wasting time.

He wants you to learn and to lean in.

Verily, verily, I say to you, a lot of things are repeated in the New Testament over and over and over again.

And it is so important and so helpful.

We've talked about remembering uh quite extensively in the last few sermons.

But God was showing us here, not necessarily in a construction manual.

We see more of a heart exam.

Seven times in these verses, uh, the Spirit of God is pointing not to a gift, but he's pointing to the giver's heart.

It's not necessarily the gift, he's pointing to the heart of the giver.

He lasers in on the heart.

And it's always been a matter of the heart, hasn't it?

Uh it's not the letter of the law.

Who really cares?

The letter of the law, you're just gonna mess that up and break that.

That's impossible to keep.

That's the whole point.

It's a schoolmaster to teach you you can't do it, and you need somebody who can.

Uh, but the spirit of the law is getting under the skin, getting under the law, the letter of the law, and pointing out the heart.

Um, you can train people in behavior and get them to behave.

But it doesn't necessarily mean you've changed the heart.

And that's ultimately what God is after: a willing heart, the wise heart, a stirred heart.

Point number one, if you're taking notes, a generous heart gives what it has.

A generous heart will simply give what it has.

If you're taking notes, verse 5 says, Take from among you a contribution to Yahweh, whoever is of a willing, generous heart.

Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as a contribution to Yahweh.

A contribution to God.

Notice the qualification: not whoever is wealthy, not whoever owns owes God one uh one after that golden calf incident that went down.

No, whoever is of a willing heart, uh, this was not a tax.

Um a lot of the um a lot of the offerings in the Old Testament are a tax on the people to help pay for the nation and help pay for the religious ceremonies.

Um, this is called a free will offering, verse 29.

This is not an assessment.

Again, it is a free will offering.

And look at the things brought in verse 5 through verse 9: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet material, fine linen, goat's hair, ramskin, porpoise skin, acacia wood, oil, spices, onyx stones, every single item had a purpose, and the gold became the ark of the covenant.

The linen became the curtains for the tabernacle, the oil burned in the lampstand, everything had a specific need and purpose.

And here's what I love about this whole picture here.

You gotta analyze where did the slaves out of Egypt get this gold?

Where did a people who left Egypt in a hurry get onyx stones and find linen?

They dig them up from the ground?

No.

Exodus 12, 35, 36.

On the night of the Exodus, the Israelites asked the Egyptians for silver and gold, and God gave them favor so that the Egyptians handed it all over.

Isn't that amazing?

When they're leaving, Pharaoh's like, get out of Egypt, get out of here.

And the people are like, um, can we get a little gift before we go?

Can you get a little gold, a little silver, maybe one of those black onyx stones?

I think it's cool.

Remember my dad had a black onyx stone on his ring.

I remember he got this thing.

My grandma got it for him, maybe, but this thing was a man, this black stone sitting on gold.

Beautiful.

Arkant Hughes says that night was a free will offering.

The Israelites simply asked for silver and gold, and the Egyptians handed it over by this point.

They were glad to see God's people go, no matter what the cost.

So, like, just get out of here.

And they gave them all this precious material.

Do you see it?

God funded the tabernacle 400 miles earlier in Egypt.

Every earring in that offering pile was already a gift from God before it ever became a gift to God's house.

He gave it to the people so they would have it.

So when the free will offering came forth from Moses, they would be ready to give to build God's house.

Understand, we have never once given God anything that wasn't already his.

Standing before the offering for the temple, he said in 1 Chronicles chapter 29, verse 14, but who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this?

1 Chronicles 29:14

For all things come from you, and from your hand we have given to you.

Not giving a God of my hard-earned money.

I did it.

Really?

You did do it.

But who gave you the ability to do it?

And who gave you the time and the breath and the skills and the drive and the desire?

That's what always blows me away.

Is why does one person have desire and the other person doesn't?

Where do they get that desire?

If I could teach people how to build desire and drive, it's very difficult.

Where does it come from?

Why can one person swing a hammer with precision after ten tries and the other person cannot?

What is that?

Where does that come from?

Why does one person have such a heart for prayer and others don't?

Why one has such a heart for missions and others don't?

Why one for the word and others don't?

They should have gifts like me.

You should have gifts like them.

It's very hard to measure and it's very hard to figure out.

But this solves it.

It's really a beautiful text.

I'm gonna read it again.

1 Chronicles chapter 29, verse 14.

1 Chronicles 29:14

But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give generously is this?

Who am I?

And how has this happened that I could be this generous?

For all things come from you, and from your hand we have given.

God, thank you from your hand, and we give it back to you.

God, from your hand, thank you, and I give it to that person.

They say, Thank you for being so generous.

I know I'm such an amazing person.

I know I'm so.

Or, no, no, the Lord gave this to me, and I gladly give it to you.

That changes everything about how you hold your wallet, huh?

We are not donors, we are stewards, returning the owner's property with joy.

Stewards.

I don't know why I'm so talented in this area.

Thank you, God.

I don't know why I'm so gifted to do this.

You're a gifted mechanic, you've been doing it 30, 40 years, and you walk over to your neighbor's house and you you fix the thing in 10 minutes, which would have taken them 10 hours.

God, thank you so much.

That would have cost me a thousand dollars at the mechanic, and you just did it for me in 10 minutes.

It was easy for you.

Because you're good at it.

We have to realize this.

There are certain things that God has given to you to give to other people, certain things he has given to you to give back to him.

You don't have to worry that more isn't coming.

Notice how the New Testament echoes the willing heart of verse 5.

It's in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each one must do just as he has purpose in his heart, not grudgingly, not under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful, happy, joyful, generous giver.

Remember, God has never once needed your money.

He wants your gladness.

He can find someone else on the earth.

Did you know that?

To do it.

He can gift a man ten billion dollars and move him to give 10% of his 10 billion.

He moves 1 billion dollars and he still has 9 billion left.

And we're over here fighting with God over a thousand bucks.

He's like, all right, then I'll just move somebody else.

You missed it.

Will God accomplish his plan and purpose on the earth?

Absolutely.

You get the opportunity to come in with God or not.

He can pull a coin out of a fish's mouth.

If the humans won't do it, he'll send the animals to do it.

Where's that fish?

Bring me a billion.

Go find me the sunken treasure in the bottom of the ocean and bring it up at the perfect place.

Oh, we just found$500 million worth of buried treasure.

He is inviting us into the business deal.

Do you get it?

I wish I could do that deal with the shark on Shark Tank.

Will you do that deal?

Do you want shares in God's company?

You can get in early.

Get in on the IPO.

Do you want a partner in his business?

You get to be a business partner with God.

I'll never forget the old woman who came to our church years ago.

I've told this story before, I'll tell it again.

She was a caretaker, still working in her later years.

I don't know, she had to be 65 to 75 somewhere in there, and she was still working, taking care of someone older than herself.

She drove an ordinary car.

Nothing about her said major donor.

We were raising funds for mission work in Russia.

And one Sunday morning, um a brother had come in, he was trying to build a youth center uh in uh in Russia, and uh he was a missionary there.

And one Sunday morning she walked in there with a with a brown paper bag, there was$15,000 cash in there.

And she says, I want to help build the youth center, and if you don't raise enough money, um it's okay, you just please use it for missions work anyways.

No strings attached.

This year.

This is my gift.

I I could hardly believe it.

I wanted to give it back to her.

No, you need this, don't do it, please.

Don't don't do it.

She was like, No, here's my brown paper bag.

She gave what she had.

The willing, generous heart.

No one's prying that from her fingers.

There's no convincing, there's no compelling them to give.

There's no prosperity preaching.

She's moved by the spirit of God and she comes willingly, it's unbelievable.

It blows me away.

And no doubt she was generous everywhere she went with the little she had.

So you gotta ask yourself Am I giving planned and projected?

Is it joyful?

Is it proportional to what God has entrusted to me?

Or is it loose change, you know?

Uh left over of what I've mostly spent on my own life.

Oswald Chambers said it's not how much we give, but how much we do not give.

That is the test of our Christianity.

That's wild, huh?

How can we not have a giving, generous heart when God has given us everything so freely?

And it's the American dream, it's the American way.

It's made us sick.

We're so sick we want more.

We have more than the whole world.

And we're so sick we actually want more.

Praise God that the word of God brings us back to the ground and refocuses our mindset.

Is it bad to have wealth?

Of course not.

Enjoy the fruit of your labor.

Have an absolute blast.

God's blessed you with it and you've worked hard for it.

Just don't forget to steward it well.

Do not forget to be generous.

And honestly, is being generous a bummer?

Yeah, it's the worst thing I ever did.

Actually, I hate being generous.

I hate seeing the smile on people's faces after I do it.

And I hate the way that I feel afterwards.

I just feel terrible after I give so freely.

Said no one ever, right?

It's the best thing ever.

You're struggling with God, is that a bit too much?

I've been always trying to lean in the direction of generosity.

It's like when you give someone, like what's a blessing?

Like they'll really like that.

And then what's like that's kind of generous.

Not you don't want to, you don't need to go over the top, but it's like, really want to be like, God, man, I don't know if you should have done that.

I like that.

That feels like God.

That feels like his work in my life.

Point number two, if you're taking notes, use your skills to build God's kingdom, to build God's house.

That's what they're doing here with the tabernacle, verse 10.

And let everyone wise at heart among you come and make all that Yahweh has commanded.

Everyone wise at heart come and make, build it.

You make it.

All that Yahweh commanded.

The Hebrew word here is Kakarm.

Wise is the word.

It's the same word used by Solomon.

And here God applies it to carpenters, weavers, metal workers, people who dye fabric.

In God's economy, skill in the hands is wisdom from the heart.

You'll see him over and over, even in the Psalms, find those who are skilled and have wisdom in these areas.

And I mean, he lists all kinds of different areas of need.

And I always love that, that he's always looking for the skilled worker.

I want to do the gold.

Sorry, dude, you're not doing the gold.

But I like gold.

I don't care.

It's nice you like gold.

I've handled lots of gold.

That's great.

Are you skilled at it?

All right, let him do it.

Let's give him a purple ribbon.

Let's let him try, you know.

And he messes it up and it looks terrible.

And everybody's like, good job.

Good job.

You did a good job.

Moses is like, it looks terrible.

Where's the skilled goldsmith?

Ah, there you are.

You're doing it.

And you guys are not doing it.

Why do people get offended by that?

We live in a generation that doesn't want to be honest about their strengths and weaknesses.

You are weak in this area.

You offended me.

No, I didn't.

Because you're really strong in this area.

You're better than me.

So why don't you do that thing and do it to the best of your ability, please?

Everyone will ooh and awe if you do your strength.

Everyone will run for the hills if you do your weakness.

I don't, this isn't rocket science.

I don't know why we're not okay with that.

Do you know you can't do all things?

No, I'm God.

I can do all things.

I know.

You think you have been built a specific way with specific gifts, talents, and abilities.

Now compound those in the direction of skill and watch you advance in that area above all people.

Why?

Because you're good at it, man.

Don't do the things that you're not good at.

We got to tell kids this.

Tell them straight, you are really good at that.

That thing over there, you are not good at.

Do not spend your time, do not waste your time on that area.

Now, if you want to do it as a hobby and you want to goof off and try to get better in that area, great.

Jordan could have spent all of his time in baseball.

He's really good at it.

But man, it turned on in high school, and before you know it, he takes off in basketball and takes over everything.

And you even see it.

He went back to baseball in the middle of it.

Is he good at golf?

Of course.

But the guy has something supernatural at basketball.

God is pointing this out in the text that everyone in the church, everyone amongst his people, he's actually given the specifics to them and wisdom in their heart according to a specific skill.

Then we see this inventory list show up in verses 11 to 19.

And it's exhaustive.

I mean, the list of items that God wants and they have to build the tent, the class, the boards, the bars, the pillars, the bases, the ark, its poles, the mercy seat, the table, the lampstand, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering, the bronze grating, the laver, its stands, the pegs, the cords, the woven garments, pegs and cords.

Church, listen, somebody in Israel had the ministry of tent pegs.

What's your job, man?

I am a master of tent pegs.

You mean those things you hammer into the ground?

Yeah, that's me.

And uh it actually takes us really?

It doesn't seem like no specific detail on these tent pegs.

If you make them too wide, they're not gonna go into the ground.

Make them too thin, they'll snap and break.

You have to make them just right.

You gotta use the right amount of material, and we soak them in something to make sure they're sturdy and strong and they hold through all the winds, the dust ones that come through.

Specifics to all of the.

Oh, really?

I thought it was a stick in the ground.

And that's what happens.

You you give it to the guy over here who's not a carpenter, and you're like, make the tent pegs, and he's like, Where's a stick?

It's like trying to jam it in the ground.

The windstorm comes and blows the tabernacle.

Blows the tabernacle a thousand feet into the desert, right?

Who made the tent pegs?

Joey said he could do it, you know.

Somebody had the ministry of tent pegs.

I love it.

It wasn't small.

We will meet that guy in heaven.

I want to meet the tent peg guy.

Over here, yeah, yeah.

Look at verse 25 and 26.

All the women, wise at heart, all the women wise at heart spun with their hands and brought what they had spun, and all the women whose hair, I'm sorry, hearts stirred with wisdom, spun the goats' hair.

All the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun the goat's hair.

Goat's hair.

Ladies, you excited about that goat hair?

That's the least glamorous material on the entire list, isn't it?

Couldn't have been silk.

Can't I be the silk spinner?

No, you're gonna spin the goat's hair.

You see, it went on the outside of the tabernacle where no one admired it, and the weather beat on it.

And the goat's hair could take the wind and the sun and the rain, no problem.

Or nobody admired it, the weather beat on it.

But God stopped the narrative to record the women who made it.

It's in the text.

We are reading about the women who had wise hearts who spun the goat's hair.

Amazing.

Every believer in this room has been given something to do.

Did you know that?

You know what you're supposed to be doing?

Where's the goat's hair people?

Goat's hair?

Tempegs.

1 Peter 4:10, as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1 Peter 4:10

What has God gifted you to do?

Take it and use it for God's glory to bless other people.

Romans 12, 6 says it plainly: if it is serving, serve.

It's teaching, teach.

If it's leading, lead with diligence, if it's showing mercy, do it with cheerfulness.

If it's giving, give with generosity.

Which also means you are not called to do everything.

God did not ask the metal workers to spin goat's hair.

They were welders.

Some of the most exhausted Christians I know are exhausted not from obedience, but from trying to carry a calling that God never gave to them.

And they're sad it's not working.

Yeah, the honest truth is I did not have to try to collect people to listen to the Bible.

I remember we were just talking in the back room about it.

I think I started when I was 16 years old, my first sermon.

So it'll be 30 years and two years.

And I don't remember ever having to coerce people into gathering.

It was like I just sat down, started talking about the Bible, and then kids wanted to come around and listen.

And it just kept happening and happening.

And I just like seeing young people walk with God, and I like seeing young people have better lives for God's glory.

But I didn't grow up thinking dreaming of being a pastor.

I didn't want to do that.

Uh, I got sucked into it.

Uh God tricked me.

See, what happens is he lures you in through certain, like, I don't know, I'll teach a verse.

You know, you teach a verse, and people like it, and then, oh, okay, I'll teach every week.

We'll start a little Bible study, see what happens.

All these kids show up to the house.

That thing grew to a hundred kids.

We had all these people, then we opened up in a coffee shop, and I started teaching a coffee shop.

People show up to the coffee shop.

We're in the public forum now, people are getting coffee, and we're teaching Bible study in the middle of this coffee shop.

It was incredible.

And before you know it, one thing leads to another.

The church asks you to come on staff, stop working in the word and making money and start, you know, working in the church, making eight bucks an hour.

And uh, but you love the kids and you love God, and so you're like, okay, I'll try it.

I guess I can always go back to building houses.

And so uh I that was what I was gonna do.

I was gonna develop, develop land and build houses.

I was working with a developer.

And uh so I step in the ministry, and one thing leads to another.

You start feeling burden, and then you're like, oh no, like this might be required of me.

Like, I don't know if I can just put the microphone down and walk away if I want to.

And now I feel like I might have to do this, and then before you know it, like, oh, we want to make you a pastor, and you're like, oh no, like I don't think I'm a pastor, I don't feel like a pastor, I don't even feel comfortable with them calling me a pastor, and like I said, you just get sucked into the whole thing.

And then you got to do this every week.

Trust me, if it weren't for the calling, I would have ran away from this thing a long time ago.

I would have just ran away.

Forget that, it's too much.

I don't want to deal with it.

It's like, well, I don't want to deal with it.

But it if you feel like it might be required of you at the end of time, then you feel obligated and called, and I think I have to do this thing.

And so that's what keeps me.

It's not the people, uh, it's not any of the stuff.

Um, it's the Lord that keeps me.

Again, we have to realize our calling, my calling is to preach and teach the word of God.

Doesn't mean I can't do other things in the church.

I can and will do.

And I love doing lots of things, but it is better for me to do the thing that God has made me to do.

And if God has made you to swing a slingshot, do not grab Saul's sword.

Don't try to put on his armor, it's not gonna work.

Remember David?

They're like, here, here's Saul's armor, and he puts it on, he grabs the sword.

I kind of don't do the armor thing, you know.

Can I just take this, you know, the leather slingshot?

Is that okay?

You're crazy.

And that's what great makes one of the greatest stories of all time.

It's not that he put on Saul's armor and charged him with a sword, hand-to-hand combat.

It's that he struck him from a distance with a single stone and dropped the biggest man to ever walk the earth.

Remember your calling and what God has made you to do.

Get in your lane, stay in your lane, and excel in your lane.

Put all bet, risk, everything in that lane, and you will win.

You're good at it.

Each one of you have been skilled to do something very well.

Don't run from it, do it with excellence for God's glory, but don't try to do the things that you are not built to do.

You can try them, you can test them, but be okay with your strengths and weaknesses, and be willing to ask others what they are.

Be okay with it.

Be okay with their answer.

Tell me the truth, man.

Am I good at this or not?

Or should I try something?

What do you actually see?

Oh, you're really good at this.

I'll never forget when Pastor Greg said to me, we were in Israel on a trip.

Uh he let me lead one of the buses there in Israel.

And uh I was also leading worship on the trip.

So I had my guitar and I would go with the group and we would I would help lead the worship.

And someone said, Wow, you're a great worship leader in front of Pastor Greg, and Greg said, uh, you think he's a great worship leader, you should hear him preach.

And I heard him say, your better gift is preaching, focus on that.

I know you love music, I know you love playing and singing and doing all that, but focus on this.

And I had to receive it as a hard lesson, I didn't want to receive that.

Do you know that you are building a house in heaven right now?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 that with our works, what we do according to our calling, that we are building something.

We build on Christ's foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones.

1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 10 through 15.

1 Corinthians 3:10–15

You can also build it with wood, hay, and stubble or straw.

Every day you live, materials are going up.

Work done for God with a pure heart and a servant's focus is being built with materials that ultimately last forever.

Any of our works done for applause will burn to the ground.

The children's ministry volunteer, the setup teardown crew here early in the morning and afternoon, the people who pray over this room before you get here every single Sunday.

Did you know that?

How many do you think are praying for us every single week in the prayer room?

A church of four or five hundred people.

How many of you think are praying for us?

That's right.

On average, there's like five.

Faithfully asking that God would speak to you.

God would speak somehow through this broken guy.

We have so many volunteers serving every single week, hundreds of volunteers, and those are precious stones.

So, church, here's your homework.

Name one thing God has gifted you to do and go offer it to Him this week.

Don't wait for a platform.

Take your goat's hair, spin it, take your tent peg, build it, and take it to the tabernacle.

The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on shoes, but by making good shoes.

Because God is interested in good craftsmanship.

Don't make a junk t-shirt and put a cross on it.

That's called junk.

Make the most amazing t-shirt ever and just sell it.

And they say, you make the best t-shirts on the whole planet.

Why are you so fascinated with the details and threads of a t-shirt?

My God has crafted the universe and he's interested in all the details of it.

And so, how can I not be interested to do it with excellence?

Taking my craft and using it for God's glory, then when they ask you, you point to Him.

Elizabeth Elliot, this job has been given to me to do.

Therefore, it is a gift, therefore it is a privilege, therefore it is an offering I make to God.

Point number three, and finally, a generous heart is one stirred by God.

A generous heart is one stirred by God.

So we see here in the text.

Verse 21.

Everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit was willing came and brought the contribution to Yahweh.

Stirred.

The Hebrew word carries the idea of being lifted up, carried along, moved from the inside.

They didn't manufacture this, something moved them.

And maybe you felt that before in your inner being.

Moved by the Spirit of God to do something that comes very natural to you.

It swept through every category of person in the camp.

Verse 22 says, Men, women bringing brooches and earrings and signet rings and bracelets, jewelry, the personal stuff, the wedding gift stuff.

All these things they brought.

Verse 24, those who had silver and bronze and acacia wood, verse 25, 26, the women who could spin, that's what they brought.

Verse 27, even the rulers brought the onyx stones and the spices.

The most expensive items on the list came from the people with the most to give, and they gave it.

Verse 29 sums up the whole thing.

I love it.

The sons of Israel, all the men and women whose heart was willing to bring material for all the work, brought a free will offering to Yahweh.

All of them.

Nobody sat this one out.

Everyone had something to give.

Don't worry, this is not prosperity gospel.

I'm not gonna pass the bucket now in the middle of the sermon.

Nope, not here.

You'll never hear me do that.

But a lot of churches will.

It's a great point to do it.

So got them.

So I'll pass the bucket.

No, forget that.

We're doing it two times.

We're not gonna do that.

Where did the stirring come from?

Notice God stirred them to do it.

I preach the word, let God stir the people, they figure it out.

Paul answers it.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 13.

Philippians 2:13

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The willingness itself was a gift, desire is a gift.

Why don't you pray for the desire?

Let God put the desire on your heart, and then you give it back to him.

Help me, God.

Open my eyes, open my ears, let me see.

Now, God, stir desire in me.

Show me what you want me to do, and I will do it.

Look at the Macedonians, 2 Corinthians 8, in deep poverty, they begged for the privilege of giving.

And Paul says the secret was this they first gave themselves to the Lord.

And that's the order, always the order.

God doesn't want your gold as a substitute for you.

He stirs your heart, you give him yourself, and the gold follows without any fight within us.

If we don't have a desire to give what we have for the Lord, the question begs Have we truly ever given ourselves to the Lord?

The church is ultimately a miracle legacy here.

Katie and I driving down here week after week for months, praying, asking the Lord where and what building.

We got a lot of no's and a lot of weights, but as we needed, simply one building in all of Los Angeles after eight months said yes.

Everyone else said no.

And I don't know, it was on Ventura Boulevard in Laurel Canyon.

You had a great location.

How'd you get the strategy locked in?

There was none.

Zero.

All we needed was one yes, and when it came, the doors opened, God moved, the people showed up.

Something none of us could have built alone.

And I've seen people believe beyond what I can believe.

And give beyond what I could ever give.

And it it is inspiring.

It's unbelievable.

When you look into the eyes of people, it's like they believe it more than you do.

And they give sacrificially and their ability to what they are called to far beyond what you can ever do.

You're looking at it.

Are you sure?

Do you think this is that?

You think it's good?

It's amazing to watch the people of God worship in their own gift, talent, and ability to the glory of God.

It blows me away over and over again.

I took the first step, and then all these other people showed up and took the second, third, fourth, and fifth, and thousandth step.

And I'm just here.

You're like, wow, Josh, what a great church you built.

Not really.

I'm just here.

You guys have built it.

It's people who've stepped in in areas that I don't have gifts, talents, and abilities and done all of my weaknesses.

I'm not good at that.

I try.

But you're way better than I am.

It's not by might, it's not by power, it's by my spirit, says the Lord.

That's what stirred a stirred church look like.

Not one person, but thousands of willing hearts building over the years, each one working together for God's glory and God's kingdom.

And so I want to ask you: has the giving in your life become a little dull?

Is it something you no longer feel inside?

You can't squeeze generosity out of a completely dried-out heart.

Instead, you gotta go to the well of living water.

And you gotta drink from the well that never runs dry.

Let your heart be filled up, draw near to him, get close to him, let your heart start to burn for him again.

And trust me, the giving will then come from that place.

It must come from a nearness to God.

We don't want mechanical.

You gotta pry this from my dead cold fingers.

Don't do that.

We don't need that.

God doesn't want that.

Just get before the Lord.

Read the gospels, go on a prayer walk, talk to the Lord about this.

Remember the cross, confess sin, get near to the Lord, return to Him, and let your heart be warmed by the grace of God.

Yes, a heart warmed by the grace of God has never needed to be charged to give.

It's natural.

Robert Rondenmeyer said, There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving, and thanksgiving.

Grudge giving says I have to.

Duty giving says I ought to.

Thanksgiving says I want to.

Sam Storms, our giving is but a reflex of God's giving, and that is it.

We are generous because we have a generous God.

He has given the greatest free will offering anyone has ever seen.

He has given his own son.

That's right, Jesus went to the cross, and he was given as the sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world so God could forgive and wipe away sin off the earth, so people can come back into relationship with him.

That's what the whole thing is about.

He didn't have to do it, but he did.

And he has given the greatest gift of all.

And so we as his church gladly say, Lord, whatever you want, whatever you need, I give back to you.

I want to pray that for us today.

I want to ask that God would ignite that in our hearts once again.

Let's go before him now.

Lord, we love you, and we want to say thank you for all that you have given to us.

You, Lord, have gone above and beyond for us.

All the blessings and promises are not going away.

The commitment, the covenant is not going away.

We are with you forever.

I will never leave you and never forsake you.

The doors of heaven are open forever.

And we are in awe that you would welcome us in.

And Lord, we don't want to be a grudgingly giver, Lord, somebody who is just, I know I should do this.

God, I pray that you would draw us near to you and that we would sense your heart of generosity and giving.

You've given your skills.

Father, you have given your wealth.

You have given your own son to the earth.

We thank you for that example.

And now, God, we ask that we would draw near to you, that we would confess our sin, that you would forgive us of our sin, and that we would turn to you with all of our hearts, making you Lord and Savior once again, and that we would be moved by love to walk with you and bring you glory with all of our lives.

We give ourselves to you again.

We ask you would use us for your glory in this city, in this church.

Let us be a people who love you and love one another, take care of one another.

I pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.