Speaker 1: We're going to be in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8 this morning.
Speaker 1: 2 Corinthians, chapter 8.
Speaker 1: And have you ever had something in your life where you thought something and, over a period of time, you changed your mind about what you thought?
Speaker 1: That ever happened to you?
Speaker 1: It's happened to me before, many times, in fact.
Speaker 1: Growing up, I did not like sushi Raw fish, yuck but y'all, can I just say things have changed, I have seen the light.
Speaker 1: Are there any sushi lovers in the house this morning?
Speaker 1: Come on, let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1: You are my people.
Speaker 1: The other day I was reminded that I have been converted to being a sushi lover when I walked in a place in Vacaville, a sushi restaurant called Fuji Sushi.
Speaker 1: Anybody Fuji Sushi?
Speaker 1: Anybody been there?
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, fuji Sushi, I walk in.
Speaker 1: No joke, the bro knows my name.
Speaker 1: He's like Nate, welcome back.
Speaker 1: How you doing, man?
Speaker 1: I was like okay, maybe I frequent this place a little bit too often.
Speaker 1: I think all of us, we change our minds over time.
Speaker 1: Things we used to like, we don't like anymore.
Speaker 1: Things we used to not like, now we like.
Speaker 1: This is kind of part of life, and it also happens in our relationship with God, as God changes our hearts and God changes our minds.
Speaker 1: That's what God does I think about.
Speaker 1: When I was in Bible college, I was fully convinced that if you were a good pastor, when you got up to preach before the people on a Sunday morning, you needed to wear a suit and tie.
Speaker 1: Now you could be a pastor and not wear a suit and tie, but you couldn't be a good pastor and not wear a suit and tie.
Speaker 1: The irony what happened is I studied scripture and this is what I learned that while wearing a suit and tie is not a bad thing, it's not a biblical thing either.
Speaker 1: And my mindset changed as I studied scripture.
Speaker 1: And the reason why I bring these things up is because we're going to talk about a place today in scripture that, for some of us, our mindset needs to change.
Speaker 1: We're actually going to talk about a place that's the difference between some of you staying where you are spiritually and moving forward into maturity, into spiritual maturity.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about a place that's the difference between you trusting yourself and trusting God.
Speaker 1: A place that is the difference between you seeing what you can do versus you seeing what God can do.
Speaker 1: But I have to warn everybody in the room as soon as I say this word, some of us are going to have some emotions creep up in us.
Speaker 1: Have some emotions creep up in us.
Speaker 1: You guys ready for this?
Speaker 1: We are going to look at what does the scripture say about money.
Speaker 1: I told you, I told you, some of y'all are like ah.
Speaker 1: For some of us, the reason being is because we've been in unhealthy church environments where it's like guilt and manipulative maybe the prosperity gospel preacher that we're like ah.
Speaker 1: For others of us, just honestly, because it's just us here, some of us, money just has a really tight stronghold in our life and money has so much of our heart that if anybody even touches that, it's like for some of us, our self-worth is determined by our net worth.
Speaker 1: So if we talk about finances, it's like you're talking about my personal self-worth.
Speaker 1: But I got good news for everybody here.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in a passage of scripture this is going to put everybody at ease when Paul says I'm not commanding you to do this, I'm not commanding you to give.
Speaker 1: So we can all like just breathe a sigh of relief.
Speaker 1: In fact, can we just do this on the count of three?
Speaker 1: Can we just all take a deep breath, a really good deep breath on the count of three One, two, three in out.
Speaker 1: That's a little better.
Speaker 1: Now this therapy session is going to begin.
Speaker 1: No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: So Paul says this.
Speaker 1: Paul says, hey, you don't have, I'm going to be in a place where I'm not telling you.
Speaker 1: You have to do this.
Speaker 1: And I also want to say this if you're new here, you kind of walked into a family Sunday today.
Speaker 1: But I'm actually really glad you walked into a family Sunday today because you're actually going to see how Jesus, when we follow him, he touches every single area of our life.
Speaker 1: There's not like, there's not this disconnect between there's me on Sunday and me the rest of the week.
Speaker 1: That's called religion, that's not Christianity.
Speaker 1: So we're going to see this and we're going to be in a passage called in 2 Corinthians 8,.
Speaker 1: If you're ready for the word, say amen.
Speaker 1: Okay, here's the context.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about this, all right.
Speaker 1: So you got this guy named Paul.
Speaker 1: Everybody say Paul, ready Paul.
Speaker 1: Paul had been in Jerusalem and there were some people in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: They were struggling financially because of persecution, because of things they were experiencing.
Speaker 1: So he goes to the city called Corinth.
Speaker 1: Everybody say the word Corinth, ready Corinth.
Speaker 1: This is in modern day.
Speaker 1: Does anybody want to take a guess where this is at in modern day.
Speaker 1: This is in modern day Greece.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 1: Y'all know modern day Greece.
Speaker 1: So you see Corinth right there.
Speaker 1: So he goes to the city of Corinth.
Speaker 1: They're real people, just like me and you.
Speaker 1: They have real struggles, real challenges, real life.
Speaker 1: They got real headaches, real issues.
Speaker 1: He goes to the city of Corinth to these Jesus followers it's a church there and he says hey, in Jerusalem they're going through some hard times.
Speaker 1: So we're receiving an offering.
Speaker 1: I'm writing this letter so you'll receive an offering so we can help out these people.
Speaker 1: And this is what he tells the people in Corinth in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8.
Speaker 1: He says guys, I want you to know that the brothers and sisters, about the brothers and sisters, I want you to know brothers and sisters, about the brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1: I want you to know brothers and sisters about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia.
Speaker 1: So he calls them brothers and sisters because if you are a follower of Jesus, you've trusted in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, then you are a brother and sister.
Speaker 1: He says I want you to know about the grace that was given to Macedonia.
Speaker 1: Macedonia was a region.
Speaker 1: So if you look up north there at the top of the map, that would be Macedonia.
Speaker 1: So think like the Bay Area is a region, macedonia is a region, he says.
Speaker 1: I want you to know about the people there, the churches there, the churches in Macedonia, are some of the churches we read about in scripture Thessalonica 1 and 2, thessalonians, philippi, the book of Philippians, berea we see that church in Acts 17.
Speaker 1: Those were churches that were in the region of Macedonia.
Speaker 1: So he wants them to know about these people.
Speaker 1: What does he want them to know about?
Speaker 1: Paul says God's grace was given to them.
Speaker 1: How?
Speaker 1: Because verse 2 says during a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their let's say those two words and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity.
Speaker 1: These people of Macedonia, they were poor.
Speaker 1: The word extreme here means as deep as the ocean.
Speaker 1: That's some poor folk right there.
Speaker 1: They were in poverty and even though they were poor, they gave generously.
Speaker 1: He says in verse 3, I can testify that according to their ability, even beyond their ability of their own accord, they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry of the saints.
Speaker 1: Sharing in the ministry of the saints, sharing the ministry of the saints.
Speaker 1: The ministry is the way we're going to serve the saints in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: Saints are anybody that's trusted Christ as their Savior, not just the select few.
Speaker 1: They want to be a part of this ministry.
Speaker 1: So they begged Paul.
Speaker 1: They said, paul, we want to give.
Speaker 1: Like, let us give to this, please, please, please.
Speaker 1: Paul's like, y'all are broke.
Speaker 1: Why should you give Verse four?
Speaker 1: They begged Paul, please, please, please, let us give.
Speaker 1: And they gave.
Speaker 1: And what this shows us is a couple of misconceptions I think we have.
Speaker 1: It's when some of us think that only people with the lots can give.
Speaker 1: We think, man, if I just had a little bit more than I could give.
Speaker 1: And I think there's this other misconception that we think is that I'll be happy, I'll be joyful once I get a little bit more.
Speaker 1: These people didn't have anything, any resources, and it said that their joy was abundant.
Speaker 1: And this is why Because generous people are joyful people, generous people are joyful people.
Speaker 1: And the reason why these people were willing to give of their resources, their financial resources, was because something in verse 5 that's a little bit uncomfortable for some of us.
Speaker 1: Verse 5 says this.
Speaker 1: It says not just as we had hoped.
Speaker 1: Instead, the underlying portion says this it says what it says.
Speaker 1: They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, by God's will.
Speaker 1: These people didn't have a compartmentalized version of their faith.
Speaker 1: They said God, we're giving our entire selves to you.
Speaker 1: How many of you know it's easy to give, like some of us, ourselves to God, like I'll give you some of that over here.
Speaker 1: I'll give you a Sunday morning every now and again.
Speaker 1: God, I'll give you maybe this over this, but to give all of ourselves to God, it's not easy.
Speaker 1: To give our attitude to God.
Speaker 1: It's not easy to give our attitude to God, to give thanks to God when people mistreat us, these people, they gave themselves first to God.
Speaker 1: So verse 6, this is what it says, paul writes.
Speaker 1: So we urged Titus.
Speaker 1: Titus was the one that was receiving the offering to give to the people in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: We urged Titus that, just as he had begun, so he should also complete among you this act of grace.
Speaker 1: Verse 7, paul goes on.
Speaker 1: He says now, as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence and in your love for us, also excel in this act of grace.
Speaker 1: So Paul tells the people in this church.
Speaker 1: He's like guys.
Speaker 1: He's like you're filled with faith.
Speaker 1: You have faith.
Speaker 1: You find out somebody has cancer.
Speaker 1: You're like God's gonna heal them.
Speaker 1: You hear Project 33 offering.
Speaker 1: You're like God's gonna provide.
Speaker 1: He's like you got faith.
Speaker 1: You got speech.
Speaker 1: You guys can talk well.
Speaker 1: He said you have knowledge, you guys know about God, you guys understand the gospel.
Speaker 1: You understand this, he said, and you're diligent.
Speaker 1: Like you serve.
Speaker 1: You're intentional.
Speaker 1: He says you're love for us, you care about us.
Speaker 1: Paul's like you're excelling there.
Speaker 1: You're excelling there.
Speaker 1: If you look at your Christian life, you're thinking I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 1: But Paul also loves them enough to tell them the truth.
Speaker 1: Which can I just slide in there?
Speaker 1: A lot of pastors don't love the people enough to tell them the truth.
Speaker 1: But Paul loves the people enough to tell them the truth.
Speaker 1: And he says this I want you to excel also in this grace.
Speaker 1: What's this grace Giving?
Speaker 1: He loves these people enough to say you need to grow in this area.
Speaker 1: Yet God has changed you here and changed you here and changed you here and changed you here.
Speaker 1: But I love you enough to nudge you into this place.
Speaker 1: And this is why he says this.
Speaker 1: He says in verse 8, he says I'm not saying this is a command, paul's like.
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you you have to give.
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you that people at Corinth, but rather by a means of the diligence of others looking at the people in Macedonia, look at their diligence I'm testing the genuineness of your love.
Speaker 1: He says this is showing your love.
Speaker 1: Because of this, you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
Speaker 1: You can give without loving.
Speaker 1: You can do that.
Speaker 1: I can give somebody five bucks doesn't mean I love them, but I cannot love somebody without giving.
Speaker 1: And this is what Paul says.
Speaker 1: Paul says I'm testing the genuineness of the love that you have.
Speaker 1: And he gets to verse number nine.
Speaker 1: And I really think verse number nine is the key that unlocks the door of generosity.
Speaker 1: He says you know this, that the grace of our Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1: Though he was rich for your sake, he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich.
Speaker 1: Here's the gospel, corinthians, people of Corinth.
Speaker 1: Jesus left all of heaven.
Speaker 1: He left the beauty, he left the comfort, he left the splendor.
Speaker 1: He was rich, he had everything he wanted.
Speaker 1: He came down to this jacked up, messed up world that the rest of us live in right now.
Speaker 1: He was denied, he was betrayed, he was beaten, he died a cruel death.
Speaker 1: And he did that for you.
Speaker 1: He did that so you could be spiritually rich, so you can have a relationship with God.
Speaker 1: He did this so you could be lavish with God's love, so you can be fully accepted by God, so you can be a child of God.
Speaker 1: This is who you are.
Speaker 1: You're rich because Jesus became poor for you.
Speaker 1: Do you see it?
Speaker 1: Corinthians, and in the text here we see three important facts about giving.
Speaker 1: That allows us to change our mindset.
Speaker 1: When we see what does the scripture actually say?
Speaker 1: In verse 2, we see this that giving number one isn't dependent on how much you have.
Speaker 1: If you're like me, a lot of times I'm thinking, if I just had more, I would be able to give more, or I would be able to do this.
Speaker 1: This passage really kind of shows me that.
Speaker 1: Ain't the case, nate, you can give no matter how much you have.
Speaker 1: Paul challenges this thinking.
Speaker 1: Paul says these people were destitute.
Speaker 1: I wish he wouldn't have said they were destitute.
Speaker 1: I wish those people had a lot of money and they could be like multi-millionaires.
Speaker 1: And then he could say look at these multi-millionaires.
Speaker 1: They gave and I could sit here and say, okay, well, I'm not even a one millionaire.
Speaker 1: So he says, nope, they were so poor, it was as deep as the ocean.
Speaker 1: Really Reminds me of this guy.
Speaker 1: His name is a guy in American history.
Speaker 1: His name is JD Rockefeller.
Speaker 1: Anybody ever heard of a guy named JD Rockefeller?
Speaker 1: Okay, so this guy was in the oil industry and he did all the oil stuff and he actually a lot of people don't know this, but he actually was a devoted follower of Jesus and he was an incredibly generous person.
Speaker 1: And this is what he said.
Speaker 1: He said I would have never been able to tithe to give 10% off of my first million dollars if I didn't tie it off of my first salary, which was $1.50 a week.
Speaker 1: And I think Rockefeller knew something that I think some of us don't realize, and it's this is that giving isn't about our money, but giving is about our hearts.
Speaker 1: Giving isn't about our money, but giving is about our hearts.
Speaker 1: And what giving does?
Speaker 1: Number two and our finances do?
Speaker 1: Number two is they reveal our hearts.
Speaker 1: Giving reveals our heart.
Speaker 1: They gave themselves first to God.
Speaker 1: He had their hearts first.
Speaker 1: Now, giving yourself first to God begins when we turn from our sin and we trust in Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1: We understand the gospel that he was buried, that he died.
Speaker 1: He was buried, he resurrected the third day and we put our trust in him.
Speaker 1: This is how we begin a relationship with him.
Speaker 1: In fact, if you're new here and somebody dragged you here and we can see your heel marks in the parking lot, this is what you need to know this morning.
Speaker 1: Know one thing Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship.
Speaker 1: Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship.
Speaker 1: And as our relationship with God grows, what happens is God shows us places in our life, as we grow, where he is not first place, where maybe he doesn't have lordship in our lives, and as we learn, as we grow in our relationship with him, sometimes he'll show us some things about our finances and really it kind of reminds me of this, about our finances, and really it kind of reminds me of this.
Speaker 1: One of the things I absolutely despise is when I'm driving and a light comes on right in my dashboard, right in front of me.
Speaker 1: When I see the check engine light come on In fact, anybody like me when you see the check engine light come on, you're just like frustrated, annoyed Anybody like me.
Speaker 1: Some see the check engine light come on.
Speaker 1: You're just like frustrated, annoyed Anybody like me.
Speaker 1: Just have a moment with us, anybody.
Speaker 1: Your check engine light is on right now and I can just give you, okay, empathy.
Speaker 1: I love you, bro, okay, yes, yes, I'm here and when I see that thing come on, I'm just annoyed.
Speaker 1: I'm like what's going on and what I could do and I've actually been tempted to do To go on YouTube and say yes, michelle has Tell me afterwards, okay, the light is the problem.
Speaker 1: I just didn't turn that light off.
Speaker 1: The lights are on.
Speaker 1: Is there a button around here where I can flip the switch and the light goes off?
Speaker 1: Here's what I know and here's what you know and here's what we don't like to think about.
Speaker 1: The light isn't the problem.
Speaker 1: The light's just an indicator of what's happening under the heart, under the hood.
Speaker 1: The light is just an indicator of what's happening somewhere that we don't even see, and you know what our finances are.
Speaker 1: They're just an indicator to show where our hearts are, for good or for bad.
Speaker 1: That is what Jesus said.
Speaker 1: He said where your treasure is in Matthew 6, there will your heart be also, isn't my finances show me, for good or for bad, what does Nate truly value, what actually matters to us?
Speaker 1: Where are our priorities?
Speaker 1: This is why Jesus, in half of the parables, he talked about money and possessions, not because he wanted people's money and possessions, because he wanted people's hearts, and their hearts are shown by money and possessions, and in a world that invites every one of us to take, we have a God of grace that invites us to give, and really the crux of all this is.
Speaker 1: Number three is that giving is a response to what God has given us.
Speaker 1: Is that giving is a response to what God has given us?
Speaker 1: He became poor so we could be rich.
Speaker 1: I kind of want to give a silly illustration.
Speaker 1: Is it okay if I give a silly illustration today, is it okay?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 1: So here's how we're going to illustrate this.
Speaker 1: We're going to illustrate this with a balloon, but I need somebody to help me.
Speaker 1: Michelle's going to help me.
Speaker 1: You don't even know what I was going to ask.
Speaker 1: I just need you to blow and tie up this balloon.
Speaker 1: Just blow it up.
Speaker 1: Somebody at the 845 service put their mouth.
Speaker 1: No, I'm just kidding, just kidding, so just kidding.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 1: Did you guys, when you were a kid ever play the keep it up game where you had to keep the balloon up in the air, right, and you had to.
Speaker 1: Okay, you guys played the game, so you had to hit it and it would go up in the air and then it would go back down.
Speaker 1: And you hit it and go back in the air and wonderful, just like that.
Speaker 1: This is good.
Speaker 1: So, to keep the balloon afloat like this, like the game that we played as a kid, you got to kind of hit it and then it goes back down, hit it again, goes back down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hit it again, goes back down.
Speaker 1: Got to kind of hit it again.
Speaker 1: Now there's another way we can keep a balloon afloat is you can put a gas in the balloon that starts with an H.
Speaker 1: That keeps the balloon up.
Speaker 1: What is that gas called?
Speaker 1: It is called.
Speaker 1: In fact, we have a balloon.
Speaker 1: Thanks to my friend, dan Dow brought this.
Speaker 1: We have a balloon that is filled with helium.
Speaker 1: Now, the only reason why this helium-filled balloon isn't going up is because something's tying it down, like this thing would go all the way up this thing.
Speaker 1: It would fall to the ground, it wouldn't stay afloat.
Speaker 1: And what happens in our lives is some of us.
Speaker 1: We have moments of generosity in our life where maybe what happens is we see a GoFundMe from somebody that maybe they're struggling or having a hard time, and like our generosity goes up and then it goes back down.
Speaker 1: Or how about this?
Speaker 1: We see one of those sappy, emotional commercials where the dog is like limping.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: It's like give and save the dog.
Speaker 1: We have this moment of generosity.
Speaker 1: It goes back up, then it goes back down.
Speaker 1: We have Pastor Cody come up here and he's like, because you give these things happen, it's like that's amazing Moment of generosity goes back up and then it goes down.
Speaker 1: But the reality is is this is what the gospel does get this.
Speaker 1: The gospel is the helium that allows us to live a generous life and not just have generous moments.
Speaker 1: So what the gospel does is when I realize all that Jesus has done for me and who he is, my generosity doesn't go up and then down, and up and then down.
Speaker 1: It's not there, it's here and I don't have to do anything.
Speaker 1: And in moments in my life when I have a hard time being generous, it's because I have forgotten the gospel.
Speaker 1: I have forgotten what Jesus has done and what the gospel causes us to do.
Speaker 1: It causes us to let go of the grip that money has on our hearts.
Speaker 1: It causes us to not have a scarcity mentality.
Speaker 1: It causes us to stop being penny pinchers and every little no, and just have this lifestyle of who can I bless others?
Speaker 1: How can I bless other people?
Speaker 1: Now, here's what I want us to do quickly as we kind of wrap this up is we talk about tithing sometimes here and I want to kind of explain it biblically.
Speaker 1: Like what is tithing?
Speaker 1: Why do we tithe here?
Speaker 1: Where does tithing even come from?
Speaker 1: First of all, in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was commanded to give a tithe.
Speaker 1: This was in the Old Testament.
Speaker 1: It actually wasn't 10%, it was 23%.
Speaker 1: That's no joke, y'all.
Speaker 1: In the New Testament, Jesus affirmed the tithe.
Speaker 1: So there were people that were standing there and they tithed.
Speaker 1: But there was also some other places where maybe it wasn't what they should have been.
Speaker 1: Jesus said you tithe, that's good, but you're forgetting about this over here.
Speaker 1: Also, number three, in the New Testament we're called to grace giving, which always calls us to go above the law.
Speaker 1: So what the law causes us to be here?
Speaker 1: The law requires things.
Speaker 1: Grace allows us to go beyond the law.
Speaker 1: Now, I remember when I was in high school and I got my first real job.
Speaker 1: You guys remember when you got your first real job?
Speaker 1: Oh man, when I got my first real job, I was like I'm on top of the world.
Speaker 1: I make minimum wage.
Speaker 1: It's great, I don't need to ask my mom for something, I can go buy it myself, right?
Speaker 1: And I knew what the scripture talked about giving and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: And I got my first paycheck and I kind of did the math on what would it actually look like if I were to give 10%.
Speaker 1: This is when this is a little bit, a little bit right around.
Speaker 1: When cell phones first started coming, there wasn't any smartphones.
Speaker 1: I had to pull out an old school calculator.
Speaker 1: You guys remember the calculators, right?
Speaker 1: Some of you also have those.
Speaker 1: There's something called a smartphone now.
Speaker 1: So I pulled out my calculator, I did the math on it and I was like whoa, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 1: I was like I don't want to give this.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I talk to my parents about it.
Speaker 1: It's like Nate, this is an opportunity for you to trust God.
Speaker 1: I don't want to trust God this way.
Speaker 1: This is an opportunity for you to trust God, and no different good followers of Jesus disagree on this.
Speaker 1: It's like no, no, literally.
Speaker 1: We see this principle, this example in scripture you to trust God, and no different good followers of Jesus disagree on this.
Speaker 1: It's like no, no, like, literally.
Speaker 1: We see this principle, this example in scripture and when we put God first, this is what's happening.
Speaker 1: Man, god's going to abundantly bless us.
Speaker 1: Now I want to wrap this up and, guys, we're not going to do the next slide, we're going to do the last slide, just for sake of time.
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you to respond to this message this morning in one of three ways.
Speaker 1: See, when we tithe, what it does is it really allows us to say, god, you're first place in my life.
Speaker 1: It really allows us to say, god, I trust you.
Speaker 1: It really allows us to say, god, you're the owner of everything.
Speaker 1: Already, I'm just going to give to you.
Speaker 1: Here's what I'm going to invite you to do this morning.
Speaker 1: I'm going to invite you this morning to begin to maybe give something to God's church.
Speaker 1: I fully believe that whatever local church you're a part of, that God wants you to give to that local church.
Speaker 1: That's God's plan.
Speaker 1: This is way before I became a pastor.
Speaker 1: This is just a biblical thing and maybe some of you are like man.
Speaker 1: I know I've never done this, no judgment, you're just the normal person.
Speaker 1: Yes, ma'am, oh, that's super gracious of you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: That's super gracious of you.
Speaker 1: I'll go to Project 33, if that's your heart, if that's what your heart is for that, I love that.
Speaker 1: Wow, some of you.
Speaker 1: For your step is to begin tithing 10% of your income.
Speaker 1: Guys, I know it's hard.
Speaker 1: I live in the same stinking world you live in.
Speaker 1: I get it and say I'm just gonna start giving, I'm gonna start tithing.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, and if you were to come and show me your finances, I'd probably be like man, that's really hard, but somebody, that's your step you need to take.
Speaker 1: I was talking to somebody this past week, actually yesterday.
Speaker 1: This dude's 60 something.
Speaker 1: He's 61, 61.
Speaker 1: And he said hey, nate.
Speaker 1: He said can I tell you something?
Speaker 1: He said you can never out give God.
Speaker 1: He's talking to a younger dude in the faith.
Speaker 1: I'm 35.
Speaker 1: He's like bro, give and see what God can do.
Speaker 1: He said I just give.
Speaker 1: He said I've been giving for decades now and I just can't explain it and I'm like, bro, that's good stuff.
Speaker 1: Can I just say some of you are missing on what God can do in your life.
Speaker 1: Some of you, god wants to bless.
Speaker 1: But you gotta give guys Like you gotta give.
Speaker 1: I'm not here.
Speaker 1: Like God doesn't need your money.
Speaker 1: Frankly, the church doesn't need your money.
Speaker 1: God's not up on the throne saying, man, if you don't give, I'm going under.
Speaker 1: Nah, it's not like that.
Speaker 1: It really what we are doing is what they did in second corinthians, chapter 8.
Speaker 1: Part of project 33 is giving to people in need, people that want to be a part of our church, people that want to do this stuff, and they come to us like we just can't and we want to be a church.
Speaker 1: That's just generous and we have a posture that says we're going to give.
Speaker 1: That's what project 33 is going to do.
Speaker 1: It's going to help that.
Speaker 1: So maybe god's put on your heart to give to project 33 and wherever you are in your life.
Speaker 1: This is what we would just ask you to do to respond to the goodness and graciousness of God.
Speaker 1: Because remember what 2 Corinthians 9, verse 9, says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake, for my sake.
Speaker 1: He became poor that by his poverty you might become rich.