WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.188 Listen, you can change the course of the future. 00:00:02.188 --> 00:00:05.224 I'm glad you're with me. 00:00:05.224 --> 00:00:24.355 So, for my Lord of the Rings people out there which, by the way, how many of you Lord of the Rings people are out there? 00:00:24.355 --> 00:00:28.865 How many were like I've never seen Lord of the Rings. 00:00:28.865 --> 00:00:29.809 It's way too long. 00:00:29.809 --> 00:00:30.911 Yes, okay, right. 00:00:30.911 --> 00:00:34.956 So Lord of the Rings people, somebody tell me what is it that they pursued after? 00:00:34.956 --> 00:00:36.462 And they wanted more than anything. 00:00:36.462 --> 00:00:37.344 They wanted the. 00:00:37.344 --> 00:00:38.987 That's right. 00:00:38.987 --> 00:00:40.049 They wanted the ring. 00:00:40.049 --> 00:00:40.771 They wanted the ring. 00:00:40.771 --> 00:00:44.764 And the reason why they wanted the ring is because they valued the ring. 00:00:44.764 --> 00:00:48.529 They wanted that ring so much because they valued it. 00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:50.771 And here's what we know about all of us. 00:00:50.771 --> 00:00:54.256 We all have things that we value, right, we all do. 00:00:54.256 --> 00:01:05.094 In fact, can somebody tell me, just for fun, what kind of things in general do people value? 00:01:05.094 --> 00:01:05.316 Money? 00:01:05.316 --> 00:01:05.837 That's right. 00:01:05.837 --> 00:01:06.480 Value money, that's something. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:07.302 Car I heard car over here. 00:01:07.302 --> 00:01:08.123 Some people have their cars. 00:01:08.123 --> 00:01:08.665 They love their cars. 00:01:08.665 --> 00:01:11.631 Something else Children yes, they're important. 00:01:11.631 --> 00:01:14.141 Yes, children, what'd you say? 00:01:14.141 --> 00:01:15.944 Did you say tennis shoes? 00:01:15.944 --> 00:01:17.066 Did you say? 00:01:17.066 --> 00:01:21.313 Did you say I feel personally attacked? 00:01:21.313 --> 00:01:24.688 Shoes, that's right, something people value. 00:01:24.688 --> 00:01:28.924 Car we value all kinds of stuff. 00:01:28.924 --> 00:01:42.629 Some people value their fishing poles and they value their video games and you know all kinds, and sometimes we think we value certain things, but the reality is we actually value other things. 00:01:42.629 --> 00:01:47.927 In fact, what we can do is if we're honest with ourselves. 00:01:47.927 --> 00:01:48.891 Which can we just be honest? 00:01:48.891 --> 00:02:11.731 It's kind of hard to be honest with yourself, because when we're honest with ourselves, sometimes the honesty reveals some things that are like eh, if we do an honest audit of our lives and we look at where we spend our time, our energy, our thoughts, our dreams, our hopes, our finances, it would show us what we actually value. 00:02:11.731 --> 00:02:16.385 Now, jesus actually said this. 00:02:16.385 --> 00:02:19.326 Because you know he's Jesus, so he kind of like knows things. 00:02:19.326 --> 00:02:22.008 And Jesus said this in Matthew 6. 00:02:22.008 --> 00:02:28.133 He said for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. 00:02:28.133 --> 00:02:33.308 So, in other words, there's this direct connection between our treasure and our heart. 00:02:33.308 --> 00:02:36.455 It's a reality. 00:02:36.455 --> 00:02:41.449 It's why it shows that I really like shoes. 00:02:41.449 --> 00:02:45.449 Yeah, I get them on sale, so give me a break. 00:02:46.820 --> 00:02:54.310 This takes us to a story in John, chapter 12, where somebody does something absolutely ridiculous and this woman is rebuked. 00:02:54.310 --> 00:03:08.681 And this woman is questioned because she did something that seemed crazy to people, and the reason why she did it is because she valued Jesus above everything else and she worshiped him. 00:03:08.681 --> 00:03:14.376 And to the onlooker they're like why would you do that? 00:03:14.376 --> 00:03:15.800 That didn't make any sense. 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:21.272 It was because she valued and worshiped him above everything else. 00:03:21.272 --> 00:03:29.727 This takes us to John, chapter 12, where this woman is ridiculed because she has a heart of worship to Jesus. 00:03:29.727 --> 00:03:32.293 And I can't wait for you guys to hear it this morning. 00:03:32.293 --> 00:03:36.134 If you're ready for it, would you say amen, let's go, amen, amen. 00:03:36.134 --> 00:03:36.455 John. 00:03:36.455 --> 00:03:37.980 Chapter number 12, john 12. 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:52.076 It says six days before the Passover, jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was the one Jesus had raised from the dead. 00:03:52.076 --> 00:04:00.193 Now I love the last part of the verse that John puts in there, the one who Jesus had raised from the dead. 00:04:00.193 --> 00:04:02.022 It's almost like John's like. 00:04:02.022 --> 00:04:06.132 In case y'all forgot, this is who Lazarus was Like. 00:04:06.132 --> 00:04:08.043 This is the Lazarus which I tell John. 00:04:08.043 --> 00:04:11.531 I say, john, I appreciate the reminder, but I did not forget. 00:04:11.531 --> 00:04:13.040 I know who Lazarus was. 00:04:13.421 --> 00:04:15.806 Previous chapter Lazarus was raised from the dead. 00:04:15.806 --> 00:04:23.886 So Jesus is there in Bethany, this is where he's at, and they had a dinner verse 2, for him there. 00:04:23.886 --> 00:04:36.725 Martha verse number 2, was serving them, which, if y'all know anything about Martha, we know Martha, she's always serving, always vacuuming, you know, come to my house, martha. 00:04:36.725 --> 00:04:43.338 Martha was serving them and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him, reclining at the table with him. 00:04:43.338 --> 00:04:50.882 Then Mary took a pound of perfume pure, inexpensive nard. 00:04:50.882 --> 00:04:53.250 In some translations it says spike nard. 00:04:53.250 --> 00:04:57.384 We also know from Matthew that she had this. 00:04:57.384 --> 00:05:13.833 It was in an alabaster box and she anointed Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair, so the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 00:05:15.562 --> 00:05:16.706 Now think about this perfume. 00:05:16.706 --> 00:05:26.887 It was very expensive and the reason being is because it came from a plant in northern India, northern India, to Jerusalem, 2,500 miles. 00:05:26.887 --> 00:05:30.262 So they had to import it to Jerusalem, 2,500 miles. 00:05:30.262 --> 00:05:36.043 No airplanes, no trains, no 18 wheelers, nothing like that, to transport goods. 00:05:36.043 --> 00:05:37.507 They had to get it that far. 00:05:37.507 --> 00:05:44.014 So this is very, very, very expensive and valuable, expensive and valuable. 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:50.208 Also, let's not just smooth past the fact that she is wiping his feet with her hair. 00:05:50.208 --> 00:05:58.675 Feet are a little bit, especially in this context. 00:05:58.675 --> 00:06:06.487 Feet were dirty because they didn't have any shoes and this day they had sandals. 00:06:06.487 --> 00:06:13.406 This was a servant's job. 00:06:13.406 --> 00:06:14.846 This was like a slave's job. 00:06:14.846 --> 00:06:16.485 Why wouldn't Mary do this? 00:06:16.485 --> 00:06:20.129 And Mary's doing this with her hair? 00:06:20.129 --> 00:06:28.374 So she had to let down her hair, which in this Jewish culture is kind of like scandalous, questionable. 00:06:28.374 --> 00:06:30.086 Like you don't let down your hair. 00:06:30.086 --> 00:06:50.932 But Mary, she valued Jesus so much she is willing to put expensive perfume and wash his dirty feet and let her hair down, no matter what other people thought, because she just wanted to worship him, because she valued him, even though it didn't make sense to people. 00:06:50.932 --> 00:06:54.610 In fact it didn't even make sense to one of the one of jesus's followers. 00:06:54.689 --> 00:06:55.880 Verse four, this is what it says. 00:06:55.880 --> 00:07:00.451 Verse four tells us one of his disciples, judas iscariot. 00:07:00.451 --> 00:07:01.473 We know about that guy, don't we? 00:07:01.473 --> 00:07:09.959 We know about that knucklehead, judas iscariot that's a nice way, that's a nice name to call him too who was about to betray him, betray Jesus. 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:18.701 He said why wasn't this perfume sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor Denarii? 00:07:18.701 --> 00:07:19.466 What's a denarii? 00:07:19.466 --> 00:07:26.233 A denarii is the plural word of a coin called a denarius. 00:07:26.233 --> 00:07:30.185 So a denarius is a Roman silver coin. 00:07:30.185 --> 00:07:35.435 That was a standard daily wage for a laborer or a soldier. 00:07:35.435 --> 00:07:41.413 So you worked one day, you got one denarius. 00:07:41.413 --> 00:07:45.485 One day, one denarius, day, one denarius. 00:07:45.485 --> 00:07:57.279 Let's think if you sold this you could get 300 of these for the price of that perfume. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:02.435 That's some expensive perfume y'all. 00:08:02.435 --> 00:08:05.408 That's some expensive perfume, y'all. 00:08:05.408 --> 00:08:06.531 300 days. 00:08:06.531 --> 00:08:16.533 That's a year's worth of wages. 00:08:16.533 --> 00:08:18.637 This, this is a lot here. 00:08:18.637 --> 00:08:20.728 This is a sacrifice I can't even buy. 00:08:20.728 --> 00:08:23.480 I can't even imagine buying some type of perfume or fragrance. 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:25.788 That's an entire day's worth of labor. 00:08:25.788 --> 00:08:28.646 This is 300 days. 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:35.052 But the thing that when Judas brought this up the knucklehead Judas, he didn't actually care about the poor. 00:08:35.052 --> 00:08:37.167 In fact, that's what the next verse tells us, verse 6. 00:08:37.167 --> 00:08:39.027 It says he didn't care about them. 00:08:39.027 --> 00:08:42.383 He didn't care about this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. 00:08:42.383 --> 00:08:49.530 He was in charge of the money bag and would steal part of what was put in it. 00:08:49.530 --> 00:08:54.596 He's like, hey, go sell that 300, get 300, put it in the money bag. 00:08:54.596 --> 00:08:58.581 That's the real reason. 00:08:58.581 --> 00:09:00.745 This isn't because he's got good motives here. 00:09:00.745 --> 00:09:05.390 And Jesus answered Judas, leave her alone. 00:09:05.390 --> 00:09:08.794 She has kept it for the day of my burial. 00:09:08.794 --> 00:09:17.443 For you, you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. 00:09:17.464 --> 00:09:20.048 Now, this is a unique scene, you guys, this is almost like. 00:09:20.048 --> 00:09:22.413 It's almost like a living room scene. 00:09:22.413 --> 00:09:27.907 People are on the table, they're hanging out out, some people are reclining. 00:09:27.907 --> 00:09:28.711 You got the person over here. 00:09:28.711 --> 00:09:31.240 They're like doing the dishes and getting everything right. 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:32.404 Whatever you got. 00:09:32.404 --> 00:09:49.023 Uh, you got these things happening and then randomly, you have this lady that's at the feet of jesus and she's like washing his feet with her hair, like imagine this, and she's doing it with some perfume that's a year's worth of wages. 00:09:49.023 --> 00:09:51.307 Why would she do this? 00:09:51.307 --> 00:09:54.001 She could have just been reclining up the chair with everybody else. 00:09:54.001 --> 00:10:00.822 Here's why Because she had this heart of generosity, this heart of worship that produced generosity. 00:10:01.985 --> 00:10:13.422 Now, a lot of times in the American church, when we think of the word worship, the word worship, the word worship, we usually equate it with something that we just experienced a few minutes ago. 00:10:13.422 --> 00:10:18.852 When we hear the word worship, we usually think worship is just music. 00:10:18.852 --> 00:10:24.672 You know, worship, we think the worship portion of the service, the communion portion of the service. 00:10:24.672 --> 00:10:26.447 Okay, now another worship portion. 00:10:26.447 --> 00:10:28.145 Now we have this portion. 00:10:28.145 --> 00:10:32.812 Then Pastor Nick gets up and talks and hopefully he doesn't talk for too long and hopefully he says a funny joke or two. 00:10:32.812 --> 00:10:42.562 But here's the reality Worship, biblical worship, isn't just music, it's a posture of the heart. 00:10:47.649 --> 00:10:52.616 Biblical worship isn't just music, it's a posture of the heart. 00:10:52.616 --> 00:11:00.576 So the word worship actually comes from this old English word that means to ascribe worth or to give weight to something. 00:11:00.576 --> 00:11:06.932 So when I worship something, I'm ascribing worth to this and I'm giving weight to it. 00:11:06.932 --> 00:11:21.893 So I'm saying this has the utmost value in my life, this has the utmost importance in my life, this has the utmost weight in my life, which is why it's possible to worship anything. 00:11:21.893 --> 00:11:24.619 You can worship your hobby. 00:11:24.619 --> 00:11:31.201 You can worship comfort man comfort, that's just so important to me. 00:11:31.201 --> 00:11:36.871 You can worship sports, football season's coming. 00:11:36.871 --> 00:11:40.618 You can worship anything. 00:11:40.618 --> 00:11:41.119 Here's the thing. 00:11:41.119 --> 00:11:44.309 Some of you are like okay, worship is a worship. 00:11:44.309 --> 00:11:46.956 You guys do that thing as followers of Jesus. 00:11:46.956 --> 00:11:48.139 Here's the reality. 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:53.354 Thing, as followers of Jesus. 00:11:53.354 --> 00:11:54.096 Here's the reality. 00:11:54.136 --> 00:11:55.784 All of humans are worshipers of something. 00:11:55.784 --> 00:12:00.828 Worship is not a Christian thing. 00:12:00.828 --> 00:12:06.101 Worship is a human thing, and the question of humanity is not whether we will worship, but what we will worship. 00:12:06.101 --> 00:12:09.028 If we can get that next slide up, I want y'all to see it. 00:12:09.028 --> 00:12:12.210 This is the question is not are you going to worship something? 00:12:12.210 --> 00:12:14.221 No, every person in this room is going to worship. 00:12:14.221 --> 00:12:16.470 You might worship your family, you might worship your hobby. 00:12:16.470 --> 00:12:28.269 You are going to worship something, and the easiest way for me to discover what I worship is well, where do I give my time, my energy, my thoughts, my dreams, my attention. 00:12:29.292 --> 00:12:30.475 Dallas Willard says this. 00:12:30.475 --> 00:12:53.424 He says Christian worship is intentionally turning our minds to God and ascribing to Him all the greatness, goodness and glory that are His glory, that are his. 00:12:53.424 --> 00:12:58.965 It's me recognizing that he is great. 00:12:58.965 --> 00:13:05.924 It's me ascribing the worth that he is due because of who he is. 00:13:05.924 --> 00:13:09.360 Now, what happens in our lives when we do that? 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:15.726 What will your life look like if you truly worship God? 00:13:15.726 --> 00:13:17.190 Well, I'm so glad that you asked, because I have an answer. 00:13:17.210 --> 00:13:24.289 This is what the Bible shows us happens when we truly worship God, when we're truly worshipers of him. 00:13:24.289 --> 00:13:28.990 What's going to happen in our lives is we're going to have a reverence and an awe for God. 00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:33.008 So we just sang a song holy forever. 00:13:33.008 --> 00:13:34.890 It's this all of Lord. 00:13:34.890 --> 00:13:38.517 You are holy, you are great. 00:13:38.517 --> 00:13:40.759 It's this all of him. 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:43.769 It's going to produce submission and service to him. 00:13:43.769 --> 00:13:46.034 It's not just like God. 00:13:46.034 --> 00:13:49.373 You're great, you're awesome, but I'm going to live my life how I want to live my life. 00:13:49.373 --> 00:13:49.614 No, no, no, no. 00:13:49.614 --> 00:13:51.383 No're great, you're awesome, but I'm gonna live my life how I wanna live my life. 00:13:51.383 --> 00:13:51.865 No, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:13:51.865 --> 00:13:55.451 If we truly worship him, we're gonna say how can I serve you? 00:13:55.451 --> 00:13:59.332 What does my life look like, to serve you. 00:13:59.332 --> 00:14:00.316 It'll produce this. 00:14:00.316 --> 00:14:03.575 It'll produce love and devotion. 00:14:03.575 --> 00:14:09.677 God, my heart is devoted to you above everything else. 00:14:09.677 --> 00:14:18.245 I love you above everything. 00:14:21.004 --> 00:14:21.586 Worship produces obedience. 00:14:21.586 --> 00:14:23.312 Here's a crazy thing Genesis, chapter 22, verse 5. 00:14:23.312 --> 00:14:26.922 I don't have the time to get into it, but God told Abraham to do something crazy. 00:14:26.922 --> 00:14:29.688 Abraham said, okay, I'll obey you. 00:14:29.688 --> 00:14:34.768 And in Genesis 22, when he went to obey God, it uses the word worship. 00:14:34.768 --> 00:14:36.432 He went up to worship. 00:14:36.432 --> 00:14:37.174 What was he doing? 00:14:37.174 --> 00:14:43.750 He was obeying, and worship results in giving. 00:14:43.750 --> 00:14:53.585 It causes us to give, and this is what worship does when we to give. 00:14:53.585 --> 00:14:56.711 And this is what worship does when we ascribe the weight and worth of Jesus, of who he is. 00:14:56.711 --> 00:14:57.591 It causes us to worship him. 00:14:57.591 --> 00:15:04.388 This is why Jesus said it's written worship the Lord, your God, and serve him. 00:15:04.388 --> 00:15:34.017 Only Luke, chapter four, verse number eight, says Because whatever we ascribe worth and weight to is going to determine every other area of our life, which is why Mary said I worship you, jesus, so because I worship you, well, what I'm willing to do is I'm willing to give you a whole lot of this, as I'm willing to give you a whole lot of this, which, if you think about it in the framework of worship. 00:15:37.945 --> 00:16:00.039 Obviously this is a part of that but in the framework of our American minds, talking about this, especially in a church setting, is a little bit unnerving, makes us feel some type of a way. 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:07.682 Here's why Because for a lot of us, there's a lot of emotions that are connected to this. 00:16:07.682 --> 00:16:09.870 In fact, there's this crazy article I read years ago. 00:16:09.870 --> 00:16:12.155 It's called the Day America Told the Truth. 00:16:12.155 --> 00:16:14.390 This is what they did. 00:16:14.865 --> 00:16:21.774 They anonymously surveyed Americans and they asked them what would you do for $10 million? 00:16:21.774 --> 00:16:26.615 For $10 million, what would you be willing to do? 00:16:26.615 --> 00:16:31.373 And what they found is mind-blowing. 00:16:31.373 --> 00:16:38.658 For $10 million, 25% of people said they would abandon their family. 00:16:38.658 --> 00:16:42.389 See you later, guys. 00:16:42.389 --> 00:16:43.130 Peace out. 00:16:43.130 --> 00:16:46.238 23%. 00:16:46.238 --> 00:16:52.897 23% said they become a prostitute for a week. 00:16:52.897 --> 00:17:01.096 10% said they would withhold their testimony in a murder trial. 00:17:01.096 --> 00:17:04.335 They would let a known murderer walk free. 00:17:04.335 --> 00:17:09.105 7% said they would kill a stranger. 00:17:09.105 --> 00:17:19.561 7% said they would kill a stranger and 3% said they would put their children up for adoption. 00:17:19.561 --> 00:17:24.692 Some of y'all are like I do that for free, depending on the day. 00:17:24.813 --> 00:17:35.688 These stats are wild, and here's what this shows Is many people have a very unhealthy relationship with money. 00:17:35.688 --> 00:18:01.037 So it shows maybe it's because of our past, maybe it's because of our upbringing, maybe it's just because of just kind of where we are financially right now in our lives, of just kind of where we are financially right now in our lives and what can happen without even realizing it is we can have a worldly view of finances instead of a kingdom, god-centered view of our finances. 00:18:01.037 --> 00:18:10.858 So what the world says when it comes to our finances is it's more blessed to receive than to give. 00:18:10.858 --> 00:18:17.518 God says it's more blessed to give than receive. 00:18:17.518 --> 00:18:23.494 This world says if you give, you're going to run out. 00:18:23.494 --> 00:18:25.289 You won't have enough. 00:18:26.585 --> 00:18:32.117 God says if you give, I'll supply all of your needs. 00:18:32.117 --> 00:18:38.896 This world says what you have is yours. 00:18:38.896 --> 00:18:40.450 It's yours. 00:18:40.450 --> 00:18:47.939 God says, actually, what you have is mine and you're just a steward of what I put in your hand. 00:18:47.939 --> 00:18:57.075 This world says you find your security in how much you have, so trust your resources so you can have security. 00:18:57.075 --> 00:19:05.997 God says no, no, your security is found in me, so you can give because you can trust me and I'm your security. 00:19:05.997 --> 00:19:18.034 Now if we asked ourselves an honest question do we have more of a kingdom-centered mindset or do we have more of a worldly mindset when it comes to our finances. 00:19:18.034 --> 00:19:20.999 What would the answer be? 00:19:21.085 --> 00:19:44.855 You don't have to say it out loud I don't know it's tough because and I'll use this word, we have this word we have been discipled in the ways of this world because, hey guys, we live in it and having a kingdom view of money is really tough. 00:19:44.855 --> 00:19:45.238 Here's the thing. 00:19:45.238 --> 00:19:53.741 I don't know if y'all realize this, but like money is not evil, like there's a verse that's often, it's often mistranslated. 00:19:53.741 --> 00:19:55.487 They say money is the root of all evil. 00:19:55.487 --> 00:19:56.871 Money is not the root of all evil. 00:19:56.871 --> 00:19:57.681 You know what's the root of evil? 00:19:57.681 --> 00:20:02.192 The love of money is the root of all evil, isn't that wrong? 00:20:02.192 --> 00:20:02.452 Money? 00:20:02.452 --> 00:20:04.141 Well, money is a tool. 00:20:04.141 --> 00:20:06.503 Money allows us to bless other people. 00:20:06.503 --> 00:20:08.826 Money allows us to encourage people. 00:20:08.826 --> 00:20:12.049 Money allows us to show our worship and our trust to God. 00:20:12.049 --> 00:20:20.585 Which is why, when I look at Mary's life and her generosity, for me and for all of us, it's an example to us. 00:20:20.585 --> 00:20:25.114 Number two, her life is an example to us In Matthew's account. 00:20:25.114 --> 00:20:28.125 This is what it says about Mary this story. 00:20:28.125 --> 00:20:35.731 Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. 00:20:35.731 --> 00:20:39.182 Hey, this story is going to keep being told about Mary. 00:20:39.182 --> 00:20:42.028 We don't keep telling it and telling it and telling it. 00:20:42.028 --> 00:20:42.691 Why? 00:20:42.691 --> 00:20:44.122 Because it's an example to us. 00:20:44.923 --> 00:20:55.028 Now, sometimes, when I think of like generosity, maybe I'll give somebody five or ten dollars or whatever, I'll be like, oh, I feel good about myself, you know, which is a good thing. 00:20:55.028 --> 00:20:59.045 You know, a kid comes up and they're like, will you buy a candy bar from me? 00:20:59.045 --> 00:21:01.128 I'm like, uh. 00:21:01.128 --> 00:21:05.618 And I'm like, oh, world's finest candy bar. 00:21:05.618 --> 00:21:06.701 Okay, what is it like? 00:21:06.701 --> 00:21:08.425 A dollar or something, that's what I remember. 00:21:08.425 --> 00:21:09.829 They're like five dollars. 00:21:09.829 --> 00:21:10.310 Now y'all. 00:21:10.310 --> 00:21:17.564 I'm like, and what is inflation? 00:21:17.564 --> 00:21:18.788 Inflation has hit the world's finest candy bars. 00:21:18.788 --> 00:21:19.673 What's happened to the world, you know? 00:21:19.673 --> 00:21:20.035 And I don't know. 00:21:20.035 --> 00:21:20.877 Okay, okay, yeah, sure, I'll buy a candy bar. 00:21:20.877 --> 00:21:21.942 And you know I don't have any cash. 00:21:21.942 --> 00:21:24.528 No worries, mister, I take venmo. 00:21:24.528 --> 00:21:29.548 You're like eight years old, what I'm not gonna eat your candy bar. 00:21:29.548 --> 00:21:31.031 Anyways, here, here's $10. 00:21:31.031 --> 00:21:35.961 You know, and I like, you know, I feel good, okay, helped out the kid, right, which is good, it's a good, it's a good. 00:21:37.247 --> 00:21:48.170 But when it comes to generosity at giving an entire year's salary, I don't know anything about that. 00:21:48.170 --> 00:21:50.532 Y'all a year's salary, are you kidding me? 00:21:50.532 --> 00:21:51.257 I don't know anything about that. 00:21:51.257 --> 00:21:58.508 Y'all A year's salary, are you kidding me? 00:21:58.508 --> 00:21:59.369 Maybe some of y'all do. 00:21:59.369 --> 00:22:01.681 Your pastor? 00:22:01.681 --> 00:22:01.862 He don't. 00:22:01.862 --> 00:22:04.425 Here's what I do know. 00:22:05.166 --> 00:22:09.494 Here's what I've learned as I've grown in this area of my life. 00:22:09.494 --> 00:22:15.386 Not to Mary's level, don't get me wrong, but as I've grown in this area of my life, I've learned that I actually can trust God. 00:22:15.386 --> 00:22:34.426 And I've learned that as I give when sometimes it's hard and y'all I'm in a really expensive season of my life right now, like very expensive when I give, some of y'all know I'm like I trust you and I'm showing my trust to God. 00:22:34.426 --> 00:22:39.130 Now here's the thing it's one thing for like a pastor to talk about this. 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:40.665 You're like, of course, a pastor's gonna talk about this. 00:22:41.539 --> 00:22:44.386 Some of y'all are like man, I wish I was sick this morning so I didn't have to hear this. 00:22:44.386 --> 00:22:46.452 But here's the reality. 00:22:46.452 --> 00:22:50.184 This isn't just something that, like I'm talking about. 00:22:50.184 --> 00:22:54.232 This is real, based on what God's word says, and I want to show you guys a video. 00:22:54.232 --> 00:23:11.949 We shot this video a little while ago of a couple guys in our church that had some challenges when it came to their giving which, if you're not a giver, there's some challenges and they talk about the things that led them to learn to give at a 10% level, and then they talk about how God has provided for them. 00:23:11.949 --> 00:23:13.626 So I don't want y'all to take my word for it. 00:23:13.626 --> 00:23:16.470 You don't have to just take the Bible's word for it, although I wish you would. 00:23:16.470 --> 00:23:18.207 I want you to take these guys' word for it. 00:23:18.207 --> 00:23:21.167 So check it out, so you can hear how generosity changes people's lives. 00:23:24.361 --> 00:23:25.306 Hi, my name is Rob Duggan. 00:23:25.306 --> 00:23:27.166 We've been coming to FCC for 20 years. 00:23:27.166 --> 00:23:37.122 Hi, my name is Mike Dillbeck. 00:23:37.122 --> 00:23:37.984 I have been coming for the last five years. 00:23:37.984 --> 00:23:38.567 What led me to start tithing? 00:23:38.567 --> 00:23:40.693 We had a eBay business that was making more money than we had ever really made before. 00:23:40.693 --> 00:23:46.751 Literally overnight, the market dropped out of that business and all the while that I was making that money, I kind of felt a conviction I should be tithing on this. 00:23:46.751 --> 00:23:53.724 When it went away, I felt like it was more of a disciplinary act of God, Like I put this conviction on your heart. 00:23:53.724 --> 00:23:56.539 You ignored it, so now I have to take that away from you. 00:23:56.881 --> 00:23:58.906 We were in a very bad financial situation. 00:23:58.906 --> 00:24:01.661 I had a stroke and seven months to the day I was back to work. 00:24:01.661 --> 00:24:03.884 I knew that I wasn't going to do it by myself. 00:24:03.884 --> 00:24:12.583 I can remember very clearly the job that I had at the time was we worked in this backcountry shop and I went to the bathroom and I got down on my knees and I told the Lord. 00:24:12.583 --> 00:24:14.765 I said I'm going to do this, you've got to hold up your end. 00:24:14.765 --> 00:24:20.909 And after that, the next check I just moved the decimal point over, gave my money to the church and, to be quite honest, we haven't looked back. 00:24:21.099 --> 00:24:22.901 The harder part was bridging that gap. 00:24:22.901 --> 00:24:25.884 From the start of tithing into full faithfulness. 00:24:25.884 --> 00:24:31.448 I I can feel the financial impact of giving, but I know that we're going to get taken care of by God. 00:24:31.448 --> 00:24:33.409 It started reworking my heart. 00:24:33.449 --> 00:24:42.036 The challenges were putting trust in somebody or something else is pretty difficult, but he's proven time and time again if you just put your faith and trust in him, you'll reap the rewards. 00:24:42.036 --> 00:24:43.957 It's paid dividends twice over. 00:24:44.417 --> 00:24:49.449 So what I've seen happen in my life since we started tithing was like a heart change. 00:24:49.449 --> 00:24:53.928 God was showing me like, one way or the other, your family's going to be fine, as long as you put your faith in me. 00:24:54.249 --> 00:24:55.401 It started that day in the bathroom. 00:24:55.401 --> 00:25:00.702 We haven't had a financial issue since, and the verse that I would connect to that is Malachi 3.10. 00:25:00.702 --> 00:25:04.492 Bring the full tent into the storehouse so there may be food in my house. 00:25:04.492 --> 00:25:11.208 Test me in this way, says the Lord of armies See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. 00:25:11.208 --> 00:25:15.614 That's what he did for me. 00:25:15.614 --> 00:25:16.976 He kept his promise. 00:25:17.901 --> 00:25:24.768 I think it's important for Christ followers to give financially because it is a step in getting your heart right between you and God. 00:25:24.768 --> 00:25:28.643 God will make sure that you have whatever it is that your family will need. 00:25:28.643 --> 00:25:29.505 God will provide. 00:25:29.865 --> 00:25:36.440 Our church values are to know Jesus and to make Jesus known, and how we do that is through the donations of everyone. 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:40.932 If we don't tithe, we don't have the money to do what Jesus asked us to do. 00:25:41.299 --> 00:25:54.832 What I would say to somebody that doesn't give financially is, whatever relationship it is that you have with God, I would say it's most likely not fully trusting, and that's something that you can only experience by starting to tithe. 00:25:54.832 --> 00:26:03.157 God's math is not our math, so I just encourage anybody who hasn't tithed 10% to give it a shot and reevaluate two months down the road. 00:26:03.157 --> 00:26:07.451 I would be willing to bet that you're going to be in just as good, if not a better, position. 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:12.468 When you do give, after you pray, you will have that peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding. 00:26:12.468 --> 00:26:15.834 What he did for me, I could have never done on my own. 00:26:21.881 --> 00:26:23.468 We give because God has given everything to us. 00:26:23.468 --> 00:26:25.435 You're in a that's right, we can clap. 00:26:25.435 --> 00:26:32.132 You're in a church where people have learned this and, if you're new, this is a mature growth principle in the Christian life. 00:26:32.132 --> 00:26:34.845 This is maturing in the Christian life. 00:26:34.845 --> 00:26:39.003 But you're in a room where people have learned this and some of you are like feeling some type of way. 00:26:39.003 --> 00:26:43.964 You're like maybe this is the Holy Spirit and here's what I would encourage you to do. 00:26:43.964 --> 00:26:46.523 I would encourage everybody in this room to take a step in this area with the heart of Lord. 00:26:46.523 --> 00:26:47.165 I want to worship you. 00:26:47.165 --> 00:26:47.788 I want to trust you. 00:26:47.788 --> 00:26:48.369 What's a step in this area? 00:26:48.369 --> 00:26:49.894 With the heart of Lord, I want to worship you. 00:26:49.894 --> 00:26:50.576 I want to trust you. 00:26:50.576 --> 00:26:51.539 What's a step? 00:26:51.700 --> 00:26:53.508 For some of us, it's giving for the first time. 00:26:53.508 --> 00:26:55.306 It's giving for the first time. 00:26:55.306 --> 00:26:58.807 It's not I'm going to give an entire year's worth of wages. 00:26:58.807 --> 00:26:59.931 It's not I'm going to give it. 00:26:59.931 --> 00:27:10.213 No, it's just learning to give, and a journey of generosity begins with giving for the first time and stepping out. 00:27:10.213 --> 00:27:14.407 For some of us, a step that we need to take is to round up our percentage. 00:27:14.407 --> 00:27:16.153 Maybe you do give something. 00:27:16.153 --> 00:27:17.619 Maybe you give 1% or 2%. 00:27:17.619 --> 00:27:18.382 If you did the math. 00:27:18.382 --> 00:27:25.523 Maybe it's to round up and go to 4% or 5% and learning just to take a step in giving, to take a step in trusting God. 00:27:25.523 --> 00:27:31.452 Number three for some of us, a step is radical. 00:27:31.452 --> 00:27:38.332 Giving giving 10% Now, scripturally giving 10% is not radical. 00:27:38.332 --> 00:27:41.710 But let's be honest, in our culture giving 10% is radical. 00:27:41.710 --> 00:27:45.367 It's been called a threshold giving. 00:27:45.367 --> 00:27:53.185 And here's why Because when we give at this level, I really believe things change in our heart, because there's no way you can give 10% without trusting. 00:27:53.185 --> 00:27:57.662 It takes trust to give it that number, at that percent. 00:27:57.662 --> 00:27:59.586 And here's what I would do. 00:27:59.586 --> 00:28:04.670 If maybe you're like man, I want to step up to that level, I don't really know here's what I would do. 00:28:04.670 --> 00:28:24.828 I would give you and we've had many people take this before a 90-day tithe challenge where if you will say I will trust God for 90 days and I will tithe 10% for the next 90 days, if you feel that God has not met your needs, we will give you 100% back, no questions asked. 00:28:24.828 --> 00:28:29.305 That's how much we believe that you can trust God. 00:28:29.305 --> 00:28:35.089 And we've had people take it and not one person has said, hey, god didn't come through, it ain't true. 00:28:35.089 --> 00:28:37.385 Because you can trust God. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:39.989 And then number four is relational giving. 00:28:39.989 --> 00:28:42.928 This is Mary's giving. 00:28:42.928 --> 00:28:48.528 This is saying Lord, you've given everything to me, so I want to give in response to this. 00:28:48.528 --> 00:28:58.641 And when you learn to give relationally and you learn to take steps in this area, here's what you're going to discover you can never out give God. 00:28:58.641 --> 00:29:03.128 You can never out give God. 00:29:03.128 --> 00:29:05.292 You think, man, I've given this to God. 00:29:05.292 --> 00:29:07.564 Hey, god's got a whole lot more to give you. 00:29:07.564 --> 00:29:10.811 You can never out give God. 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:15.171 It reminds me of a story by a guy named David Green. 00:29:15.171 --> 00:29:20.112 David Green wrote a book called Leadership, not by the Book. 00:29:20.112 --> 00:29:28.106 He's a CEO of a place that many of you have been to, especially you, ladies, have been to. 00:29:28.106 --> 00:29:35.093 He's the CEO of Hobby Lob, hobby lobby, and he wrote this book. 00:29:35.093 --> 00:29:43.068 And it's unusual because it's a leadership book but it has an entire chapter about financial generosity, which I'm kind of a leadership nerd. 00:29:43.068 --> 00:29:47.541 So I read all these books and stuff and leadership books don't have a chapter about financial generosity. 00:29:47.541 --> 00:29:49.023 It's like, what does it have to do with leadership? 00:29:49.023 --> 00:29:49.704 Like giving. 00:29:51.207 --> 00:29:52.888 And in the chapter this is what he says. 00:29:52.888 --> 00:30:03.549 He says that when they first started the company, they made the decision they were going to tithe, they were going to give 10% of their profits to Christian organizations, churches and different things. 00:30:03.549 --> 00:30:18.045 They had this commitment to grow in this area and to date now, they give 50% of their profits away 50% as a CEO. 00:30:18.045 --> 00:30:21.452 He has not taken a raise in almost 20 years. 00:30:21.452 --> 00:30:23.703 He said in the book. 00:30:23.703 --> 00:30:24.446 He said what am I going to do? 00:30:24.446 --> 00:30:26.365 Buy a bigger house, another house? 00:30:26.365 --> 00:30:27.368 He's like my house is fine. 00:30:28.701 --> 00:30:31.230 And in the book he says this about giving. 00:30:31.230 --> 00:30:37.013 He says sometimes we avoid giving out of fear that we won't have enough. 00:30:37.013 --> 00:30:42.083 But God often leads in ways that don't make sense. 00:30:42.083 --> 00:30:52.096 He leads us to give up our resources so that we don't depend on them more than we depend on him. 00:30:52.096 --> 00:31:05.030 Now here's the irony of this whole conversation about his crazy generosity is, the more they've given, the more their profits have grown. 00:31:05.030 --> 00:31:11.449 As they've learned to be generous, god has blessed them even more. 00:31:11.449 --> 00:31:12.230 Why? 00:31:12.230 --> 00:31:17.766 Because God's math is not our math and we can trust God. 00:31:18.446 --> 00:31:26.165 So here's my question today Will you trust God at his word and say I'm going to take a step in this area? 00:31:26.165 --> 00:31:27.768 I know it's tough. 00:31:27.768 --> 00:31:31.954 I live in the same world you guys live in, but we have a choice. 00:31:31.954 --> 00:31:40.394 Are we going to trust and are we going to worship or are we going to say, ah, just can't do it? 00:31:40.394 --> 00:31:43.968 Hey, take a step, trust God and watch what God can do? 00:31:43.968 --> 00:31:49.849 Let's all bow our heads and close our eyes and I, just I want you to have a moment where you can just talk to the Lord about this. 00:31:49.849 --> 00:32:07.069 I know this can be a sensitive emotional subject and our minds can be all over the place, but would you talk to God about this and, as the Spirit is leading you to take steps, would you follow? 00:32:07.069 --> 00:32:10.202 Let's take some time right here at our seat and just pray and talk to Him.