SPEAKER_00: You can't lie in church.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to ask you a question.
SPEAKER_00: Are you a saver or a spender?
SPEAKER_00: So if you are a saver, I want you to raise your hand in boldness, in bravery, and courage.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a spender, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: I like to actually do something with the money.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's good.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why God does this, but for whatever reason, he almost never matches someone that's your financial twin.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he almost always matches a saver with a spender.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's like spiritual formation through irritation.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and that's the case with my marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Uh my wife and I are very different.
SPEAKER_00: Uh she in general is a spender, and I'm in general a saver.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you might say, obviously, a saver is better than a spender.
SPEAKER_00: And I would say, I don't think that's true.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, coming from a saver, um, the savers in the room who might you know have uh receipts from 2017, right?
SPEAKER_00: You always have the mental math of exactly how you much you need to spend and a weekend budget.
SPEAKER_00: That's me.
SPEAKER_00: Every weekend, I know the exact amount that we can spend.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it gets to a point where we might be out at dinner and might lean over to my wife, Kaylea, and say, hey, what if we share an entree?
SPEAKER_00: How do you think that goes?
SPEAKER_00: Not good.
SPEAKER_00: See, a saver, it's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's it's a it's a personality temperament.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's also spenders before you get too excited, thinking that you're holier than thou.
SPEAKER_00: Spenders also kind of have some things that they're working through, right?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're someone who, if you're feeling really, you know, bad, you buy something on Amazon and it just helps you feel a little bit better.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're someone who uh wants to keep up with the Joneses.
SPEAKER_00: You get the upgrade, the new subscription, uh, to look better, to feel better.
SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, you might not have that money in your bank account, but nonetheless, you have savers and you have spenders.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you are.
SPEAKER_00: I think that the bad side of being a saver or a spender is that oftentimes we have a uh a fear of not having enough.
SPEAKER_00: A fear of not having enough.
SPEAKER_00: For a saver, it looks like control, right?
SPEAKER_00: I need to save as much as I possibly can.
SPEAKER_00: I need to hold on.
SPEAKER_00: For a spender, it looks like I need to release and let go.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that's how I'm gonna finally not be, I'll I'll have enough.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a saver or you're a spender, today I want to answer a question.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is this how much can I give like and still be okay, right?
SPEAKER_00: You want to be generous.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be generous.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of my life, I want to be known for my generosity.
SPEAKER_00: I want my kids to know that I I gave uh all the time to people and my time, my talent, my treasure, and it sounds good until my savor kicks in and says, we don't have money for this.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how much can I actually give and still be okay?
SPEAKER_00: Or a spender saying, I got a lot of things I can spend this on.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how much can I do before I'm I'm not okay?
SPEAKER_00: This question that you probably have asked at some point in your life is a question that I've asked.
SPEAKER_00: This question is not a math question.
SPEAKER_00: This is a fear question.
SPEAKER_00: It's saying, I don't know if I'll have enough left over for me to become generous.
SPEAKER_00: I think God doesn't want us to have this fearful relationship with money.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, what I believe is God wants to completely transform your relationship with money in a way that is healthy.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you this question.
SPEAKER_00: When it comes to your relationship with money, whether you're a saver or spender or somewhere in between, one being absolutely toxic, and ten being super healthy, where would you put your own relationship with money?
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to answer out loud.
SPEAKER_00: It's a personal question.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever that is, I believe God wants to up that number today so you can have a healthy relationship with money.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible would say there's one mechanism, there's only one mechanism that really allows us to be healthy with money, and that is through generosity.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're anything like me, it seems like that's the last thing that I would want to do with my money is to give it away, whether I'm a saver or a spender.
SPEAKER_00: But today, we are continuing our series called Created for This, where we're looking at the five gifts that God has given humanity time and time and time again.
SPEAKER_00: And today, I want to look at the fourth gift.
SPEAKER_00: And the fourth gift that God wants to give you today is supplying good.
SPEAKER_00: It's how we make and how we spend our time, our talent, and our treasure.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if it's your first time, I met a couple of you.
SPEAKER_00: So glad you are here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are a Bible-believing, Bible preaching church, and today we'll be in Mark 12.
SPEAKER_00: So, where does this story pick up with this person of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus, he sets up a lawn chair right next to the metal box at the back of the room.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: And he's watching people as they leave and how much money they're giving.
SPEAKER_00: It's a little awkward.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine me just at the end of every service, just sitting back there, just looking at how much money you're giving, right?
SPEAKER_00: A little awkward.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is doing, and um, I don't know why he's doing it until we get to this point.
SPEAKER_00: And we what we see is uh all of these pretty well-off people.
SPEAKER_00: And they're giving a lot of money.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, like uh back then it was it was in coins, so imagine the sound of like a lot of coins dropping.
SPEAKER_00: We're like, oh, that person really loves Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: And then this poor widow goes up and she drops two measly coins in the box, and this is where you start being afraid of what Jesus is going to say to her.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the story picks up.
SPEAKER_00: Calling his disciples to him, Jesus says, Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more in the treasury than all the others.
SPEAKER_00: They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything, all she had to live on.
SPEAKER_00: So today, whether you're a saver or you're a spender, God wants to transform your relationship with money from fear to trust.
SPEAKER_00: And the way we do that is through generosity.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the bottom line, if you remember anything out of this talk, it's this true generosity is from surplus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it is.
SPEAKER_00: True generosity flows from trust, not surplus.
SPEAKER_00: True generosity flows from trust and not surplus.
SPEAKER_00: You know, here at Create and most Bible-believing churches, we believe that Jesus is perfect in every way.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe not with the whole math thing.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he obviously failed math class here.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, I'll see all these people giving dozens of coins, and then she gives two, and he's like hyped about this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, uh, we all have weaknesses, and obviously his was math.
SPEAKER_00: You know, mine as well.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a pastor for a reason, not a mathematician.
SPEAKER_00: But obviously, that's not true.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew how to count.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like the accounting system of heaven worked a little bit different than what we would think.
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh a pastor, Jabin out in Las Vegas, he says this idea of equal amount, equal sacrifice is what uh churches often say, and he has his own thoughts on it.
SPEAKER_00: Um equal sacrifice, equal amount.
SPEAKER_00: This idea of if you give five dollars and you give five dollars, it's equal sacrifice across the board.
SPEAKER_00: But obviously, it kind of didn't work this way.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the rich are coming and they're dropping 500, 800, 1,000, all this money, and then this poor woman comes and gives 10 cents, uh, 50 cents, and and all of a sudden Jesus is looking that very completely differently.
SPEAKER_00: Equal amount, equal sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily true.
SPEAKER_00: If someone is well off, uh a bigger amount might not actually be a sacrifice for them, it might be out of their surplus.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus was noticing.
SPEAKER_00: All of these people came and they were giving big amounts, but they weren't big amounts for them.
SPEAKER_00: They were giving God their leftovers.
SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily, hear me when I say this, about the size of your gift.
SPEAKER_00: God cares way more about the source of your gift.
SPEAKER_00: And then we have the poor widow who comes up and she gives very little.
SPEAKER_00: But the source was I don't have a lot, but I'm giving God my first, and I'm giving God my best, and I'm gonna trust God with the rest.
SPEAKER_00: Her gift was at a source of trust, their gift was at a source of surplus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, hear me when I say this.
SPEAKER_00: I, you know, God's not opposed to you making money, to having a lot of money, uh, to having big gifts.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, I'm not opposed to you having like if you come with a uh a new outfit, I'll gas you up.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, let's go, bro.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see that new shirt.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, you're looking good today, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'll gas you up.
SPEAKER_00: Like, God's not opposed to you having nice things, but what he desires for you is from when you do become generous, that it comes from a place of trust in God, not of leftovers.
SPEAKER_00: Because nothing changes in your heart if you're giving God your leftovers oftentimes.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, that idea of fear when it comes to your relationship with money, that won't change if we're just giving from surplus.
SPEAKER_00: And the widow gives from trust of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And this is way harder to actually do.
SPEAKER_00: It's easier to say.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we had uh there's a point in a yearly schedule where we have to give a large sum of money to the government.
SPEAKER_00: It's called tax season.
SPEAKER_00: It's never a fun month, the month of April.
SPEAKER_00: And this past one was not fun.
SPEAKER_00: And we gave this large sum of money to the government, and uh, we're fine financially, but I'm a saver, so I'm like stressing, you know, I'm thinking about money and the lack thereof of what I thought we would have.
SPEAKER_00: And and you know, I'm having a little anxiety, right?
SPEAKER_00: My thing, the whole thing is control.
SPEAKER_00: Like I need control, so that's why I save uh in in a negative sense, oftentimes.
SPEAKER_00: Uh save so much.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and then God, in I don't know why he did this, but uh he put someone that I love in front of me who most definitely needed something, and they were they do what they didn't even ask for it, but I I sensed a pull that hey, this is like I want to be I I need to be generous here.
SPEAKER_00: So, like any great Christian, I listened to God and I decided to ignore God.
SPEAKER_00: For two weeks, I didn't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that sounds great, God.
SPEAKER_00: That's for somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: Like, someone else is gonna be generous for this person.
SPEAKER_00: I'll pray for them, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, God bless them, but I'm not gonna like actually beat the answer to the prayer, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like, hopefully, God does something in their lives, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then two weeks later, praying, and then I feel conviction, like, yeah, I probably need to need to give it.
SPEAKER_00: And it was crazy.
SPEAKER_00: So I so I I I was generous towards this person, and then the weirdest thing happened.
SPEAKER_00: I was no longer stressed about the tax bill.
SPEAKER_00: This doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_00: I gave more money away and I'm less stressed.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like when you live out God's design of generosity, it's actually the best thing for us.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Because I had this fear that money needed to provide everything for me.
SPEAKER_00: I had this need to control, and then as soon as I gave something that actually sacrificed something in me, it made me realize that my provision doesn't, it's not found in my paycheck.
SPEAKER_00: My provision is found in God first and foremost.
SPEAKER_00: And it reminded me what I hope I believe in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: But that's oftentimes what happens, right?
SPEAKER_00: You can say you trust God, but if our hands aren't leading the way, oftentimes that trust erodes over time.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to do stuff with our hands even if we don't feel like doing it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what generosity has been for me and my life.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the cool thing: this doesn't have to say theoretical.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that this could actually help you on Monday.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I right now want to give you a trust budget.
SPEAKER_00: Not a fear budget.
SPEAKER_00: You might be living on a fear budget right now, uh, giving more money uh uh to all the things that you do, and or maybe you save all your money and you're just in fear.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you a trust biblical budget.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not your accountant, I'm not your financial advisor, I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: So this is from the Bible, and then you get to take this in your own circumstance, in your own season of life, and discern what God might be asking you to do with the money management.
SPEAKER_00: So, what do we do with our money?
SPEAKER_00: If you want to write this down, the first thing that we do with our money is we make it.
SPEAKER_00: We make not like forge money, you like you make money, earn money.
SPEAKER_00: We make money.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of us might think, wait, can you say this in church?
SPEAKER_00: Like, can you make money?
SPEAKER_00: Like, God's not surprisingly calling everyone to a vow of poverty.
SPEAKER_00: He might be calling some, I believe he's calling some.
SPEAKER_00: I also believe that some people have a gift of making money.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're really good at it.
SPEAKER_00: And I think God wants to bless that gift.
SPEAKER_00: Making money is not the issue.
SPEAKER_00: Money making you is the issue.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say that one.
SPEAKER_00: Making money's not the issue.
SPEAKER_00: Money making you is the issue.
SPEAKER_00: Making money is not bad.
SPEAKER_00: The love of money is bad.
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, John Wesley, a very famous theologian, one of the most famous of all time, he says, make all you can.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: And he prefaces it with, but never break the law of love.
SPEAKER_00: Loving your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, uh, whether you're in business or Navy or uh hospital, wherever you're at, uh, we refuse the saying business is business.
SPEAKER_00: We we don't believe that as Christians, because we love our neighbors as ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: So we it might limit the amount of money that we make, but God's not limiting it.
SPEAKER_00: So we never break the law of love, but we can make all we can.
SPEAKER_00: So let's continue.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the first thing we do with our money is we make it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second thing we give.
SPEAKER_00: We give first, not last.
SPEAKER_00: This is the moment in the sermon where you grab a little bit more tightly to your wallet.
SPEAKER_00: The pastor made it 35 minutes in the service without talking about money and giving to the church.
SPEAKER_00: That was that was great.
SPEAKER_00: And now we're here, right?
SPEAKER_00: This is giving.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an example of what I what what the Bible means when it says to give to the church and what happens.
SPEAKER_00: So um this is your paycheck in a given month.
SPEAKER_00: All the things that God gives you.
SPEAKER_00: Um and and it's great, you know, the paycheck always looks big in the beginning, you know, and then all of a sudden it dwindles and dwindles.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the first thing that needs to go is my rent.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm in Southern California.
SPEAKER_00: Rent's a little high.
SPEAKER_00: That's lame.
SPEAKER_00: My mortgage.
SPEAKER_00: And then uh dude, gas.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Really?
SPEAKER_00: That's like half of my paycheck, I feel like.
SPEAKER_00: I I would give you two slices for that.
SPEAKER_00: Gas is so much.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00: And then uh, you know, I've food, yeah, utilities, that's good, right?
SPEAKER_00: Water and and and yeah, I mean AC, it's getting hot these days, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh Netflix.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then uh Amazon and HBO and Hulu and a lot of streaming services these days.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00: And I gotta have money to go out and and and then and then uh, oh uh God, Lord, here you are.
SPEAKER_00: I love you, God, with everything in me.
SPEAKER_00: We laugh.
SPEAKER_00: We laugh about this idea.
SPEAKER_00: But oftentimes what happens is that we're really trusting our money to provide everything we need, and then we're giving God the leftovers and hoping that we can give him something.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is what the rich did.
SPEAKER_00: They had all the money they were giving out of surplus or whatever is fine.
SPEAKER_00: And then the poor woman comes up and she gives the first, the first fruits of her labor to God, and trusting that God will provide the rest.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a bold thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: You say, I trust God, but really we probably trust money more than we actually trust God.
SPEAKER_00: And this idea of first fruits.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's a very biblical concept.
SPEAKER_00: Farmers thousands of years ago would uh um, you know, have a harvest, and the first thing that they would do with their harvest is they would put 10% of the harvest, the corn, the watermelon, whatever it was.
SPEAKER_00: Do they make watermelon 3,000 years ago?
SPEAKER_00: That just sounds like they don't.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Watermelon, uh, whatever they made back in the day, and then they would put it in the church for the people who are poor and powerless so that they could have food.
SPEAKER_00: The first 10%, not the last.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually how society has worked for thousands of years.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily for the church, it's for you and your own relationship with money.
SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering how many of us are using all of our money and really hoping that this is where we're gonna get our safety.
SPEAKER_00: This is where uh we'll actually have enough for the future when God's saying, I'm enough.
SPEAKER_00: I have your future, I will provide.
SPEAKER_00: And we first give to God.
SPEAKER_00: So we give.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, God doesn't need your money.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it says heaven, uh, the roads are made up with gold.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't need your money.
SPEAKER_00: God's not trying to raise funds here.
SPEAKER_00: God's trying to raise trust.
SPEAKER_00: And money just so happens to be one of the biggest reasons we don't trust God.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the thing that Jesus talked about almost more than anything else was money.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus talked about almost more than anything else was money because he knew it's so hard to trust in money and to trust God at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: So we trust God first, and then everything else comes.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you might be asking why the local church of all things, why would he give you 10%?
SPEAKER_00: Because biblically, the idea of 10% is we first give 10% our generosity towards the local church.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what we believe about the local church that Jesus is the hope of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus the hope of the world.
SPEAKER_00: If people encounter the person of Jesus, everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: Has that been true for you?
SPEAKER_00: Can you think of a moment where an encounter with Jesus has changed you?
SPEAKER_00: And we believe that God will give you exactly what you need.
SPEAKER_00: And we've seen that time and time again.
SPEAKER_00: People who were lonely getting connected here at Create Church, people who were struggling with mental health, who couldn't even operate on a daily basis, has found ways to operate on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00: People who encounter Jesus and get baptized, 60 plus people, we have 100 plus salvations, and we are able to give a lot of money away to the people in this own church who need financial assistance.
SPEAKER_00: The church, Jesus is the hope of the world, and Jesus says the church is the carrier of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is everywhere, but Jesus, the most, the way that people encounter Jesus the most is through the local church.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why the first and foremost thing is we give to the church above every other thing that we give to.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, uh buildings fade and programs go away, but people they last forever.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we believe that people will go to heaven one day.
SPEAKER_00: So the money that you invest is, I think it's the best investment that you could possibly make, a spiritual investment that lasts for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens when we give to the local church.
SPEAKER_00: So first, we make the money.
SPEAKER_00: We give.
SPEAKER_00: And then the third thing is that we save.
SPEAKER_00: If you're writing this down, here's the third thing, we save.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in scripture, wisdom and trust aren't enemies.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, in Proverbs, it says the ants store up for a season that they might need something in the future.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Joseph, who's a man in the Bible, uh, he stored up for a time when they didn't have anything for seven years and years and years of famine.
SPEAKER_00: Saving is not bad.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, oftentimes when we receive our paycheck, saving is good stewardship of that paycheck.
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, we absolutely save for retirement.
SPEAKER_00: We save for the future, we build margin, we prepare for emergencies, we plan for the future.
SPEAKER_00: And I just, you know, want to say this to the savers in the room.
SPEAKER_00: It might not be wise to always be moving the goalposts.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm just saying this as a saver.
SPEAKER_00: I'll save a certain amount and I feel like I need to save more.
SPEAKER_00: And saving is not a bad thing, but I realize in my own heart it was anxiety and control that was leading me to save more than I needed to.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if anyone's there, but that's a word for somebody like me out there.
SPEAKER_00: And then, fourth, there's spending.
SPEAKER_00: The fourth thing we do with our money is we spend it.
SPEAKER_00: God is also not opposed to you spending money.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, God wants us to enjoy creation.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, one of the things that God has asked us to do is to sit have a Sabbath, which is a daily 24-hour period, one time a week, where we actually do nothing but just enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: This is where my wife and I spend a lot of money.
SPEAKER_00: We go out to eat, we go to the movies, we went and got a massage the other day.
SPEAKER_00: It was nice.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we spend our money.
SPEAKER_00: God wants you to have joy in your life, and He wants you to spend money.
SPEAKER_00: Now the danger becomes when the spending is driven by comparison, escape, an appetite that's never quenched.
SPEAKER_00: When every time we get a raise, we want to upgrade our lifestyle, keeping up with the Joneses.
SPEAKER_00: John Mark Homer, who is a great theologian, talks about this idea.
SPEAKER_00: How should people view us when it comes to our money?
SPEAKER_00: When people view you, do they look at you and they should assume that you make less than you actually do?
SPEAKER_00: People should assume that you make less than you actually do.
SPEAKER_00: This is the biblical concept of living below your means.
SPEAKER_00: You have the money, and you could spend it all on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Burger King, have it your way.
SPEAKER_00: That's what everyone wants you to do.
SPEAKER_00: America, consume, consume, consume.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a different budget that the kingdom of God has.
SPEAKER_00: So they look at your life and your salary is actually this, but they think it's this because you live below your means.
SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, if you don't spend at some point, you're gonna go crazy.
SPEAKER_00: So for all the spenders in the room, you know this is true.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta spend money at some point.
SPEAKER_00: So here we are.
SPEAKER_00: The widow.
SPEAKER_00: She gives not out of margin or leftovers, but she gives the first fruits to God.
SPEAKER_00: She's living this biblical concept of making and then giving and then spending and saving.
SPEAKER_00: So, what I want to do right now is as we end, I want to give you a practical way.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to release fear when it comes to your relationship with money, I want to I want to give you a practical way to continue to release fear from your life when it comes to uh your money.
SPEAKER_00: And uh by the way, relationship with money is hard.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe some of you grew up on food stamps, maybe because of some mismanagement of money at some point in your own family.
SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe for you've seen the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you had tons of money, but you had no connection at home.
SPEAKER_00: Money is a complicated topic.
SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of divorces, it's one of the top two leading causes of divorce is money.
SPEAKER_00: The things that keep you up at night.
SPEAKER_00: Money.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't want you to live in fear.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want you to do that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't deserve to live in fear the rest of your life when it comes to your thoughts of money.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to give you the generosity ladder, and this is given my wife and I freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Over the past seven years, since we've been married, we've slowly climbed this generosity ladder, and it's been a really fun journey for us.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to have the freedom of this as well.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what we call the generosity ladder.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the first rung on this ladder is this priority is to give first, right?
SPEAKER_00: Get your paycheck, give the first fruits.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is what we call priority.
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite stories in uh create churches history is a uh young lady who worked at Crumble Cookie.
SPEAKER_00: I love crumble cookie, and I cannot eat it very often, or else I look very different here on stage.
SPEAKER_00: And uh she worked about 15 hours a week.
SPEAKER_00: Uh she's a full-time student, and uh she decided to give her first fruits to God.
SPEAKER_00: Like, if this is her paycheck, her paycheck's probably like this, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like, not a lot.
SPEAKER_00: She gave five dollars.
SPEAKER_00: That's what she started with.
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of a woman in the Bible who gave two coins.
SPEAKER_00: God is not impressed with the size, he's impressed with the source, and he desires for the source.
SPEAKER_00: So, would you start with something?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe right now you've never given anything.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be generous, you want to release fear from your life.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe God's inviting you to go from nothing to something right now, to go from nothing to giving first.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, a little pro tip for uh for you, my wife and I in the beginning of Create Church, uh, we wanted to feel like our own generosity, so we decided to not plan it.
SPEAKER_00: We decided to just do it when we like felt like it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we we gave uh every month, but we'd always forget.
SPEAKER_00: It would be at the end of the month, and we're like stressed.
SPEAKER_00: We're like, oh, we gotta get so we decided to automate our giving.
SPEAKER_00: Dude, it changed the game for us.
SPEAKER_00: It helped us act on our good intentions.
SPEAKER_00: So now every time it automates right out of our paycheck, first fruits, and we don't even think about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you, if you're anything like my wife and I.
SPEAKER_00: So you start with planned uh or priority, giving first.
SPEAKER_00: And then here's the second one.
SPEAKER_00: You give a percentage, you give planned, a planned amount.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just an amount.
SPEAKER_00: Now you're thinking, okay, it's 2%.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's 3%.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, this has been such, weirdly enough, it's been a fun journey for my wife and I.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we kept upping our percent month by month, and it was hard.
SPEAKER_00: We had to budget, we had to make sure what we're saving and we're spending maybe a little bit less here, and we're trying to redo our budget, but at the same time, uh, all of a sudden, over the month, we're seeing God release this fear and anxiety that we have.
SPEAKER_00: And we kept upping until we got to this percentage of 10%, which is that biblical idea of the tithe.
SPEAKER_00: You might always hear us talk about, oh, we tithe.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means is to give a significant, some people would say, a sacrificial amount, uh, amount that requires trust to God.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the last one.
SPEAKER_00: This is where my wife and I are at now.
SPEAKER_00: This is called progressive, where you give more.
SPEAKER_00: My wife and I, once we got to that 10%, we're like, is that it?
SPEAKER_00: Like, are we kind of done here?
SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, this is this is great.
SPEAKER_00: But we kind of looked at our own lives and we asked the question, what what story do we want our grandchildren to tell of us?
SPEAKER_00: What story do we want our grandchildren to tell of us?
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you about my grandmother, who they give a lot of money away.
SPEAKER_00: And when I think of my grandparents, I think of their generosity.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing I think of is their generosity.
SPEAKER_00: Um I kind of I kind of want that for my for my grandkids to think of us.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they're a little bit like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: John 3.16, it says, most famous verse of all time.
SPEAKER_00: God so loved the world that he he gave.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be a little bit more like Jesus every single month.
SPEAKER_00: So we got to the point where we got to 10%, and then we're like, but what if like what if we keep going?
SPEAKER_00: Here's our vision for our life.
SPEAKER_00: We're not there yet, but our vision for our life is that we would give more away in a calendar year than we spend on ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: It would give more away in a calendar year than we spend on ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be every year a net positive to the world.
SPEAKER_00: Like every single year, we are giving more away than we're spending on ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, we're years away from that, but we are working towards that because we want to be known for our generosity.
SPEAKER_00: And we refuse to have our relationship with money dictated by fear and not having enough.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why we decided we're at that third rung, progressive, and give more.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, there's something that happens when you climb that ladder month by month, year by year, seeing fear, release, greed, release, and all of a sudden you're living in freedom.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you, a couple months ago, fell back in.
SPEAKER_00: So it's a regular journey, it's a spiritual habit.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna invite the band to come back up.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the question that we ask: How much can I give and still be okay?
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if God is trying to replace that.
SPEAKER_00: Question is what am I trusting?
SPEAKER_00: My money or my God?
SPEAKER_00: What am I trusting?
SPEAKER_00: My money or my God?
SPEAKER_00: God has promises all throughout the Bible that He will provide.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Israelites, people in the desert, starving, God gives them manna every day to live on.
SPEAKER_00: God will give you what you need, and we trust that he will.
SPEAKER_00: Going all the way back.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, being toxic.
SPEAKER_00: Ten, being very healthy.
SPEAKER_00: Where is your relationship with money?
SPEAKER_00: And what is God inviting you to do about it today?
SPEAKER_00: My invitation for you is an invitation that my wife and I look at monthly for the last seven years, and it's this what would it look like to take your next step on the generosity ladder?
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like to take the next step on the generosity ladder?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think would happen to your soul if you took the next step of the generosity ladder?
SPEAKER_00: Can you think of the last time that you financially gave to someone?
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the feeling?
SPEAKER_00: I'm guessing it was probably a good feeling.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like we were designed for generosity.
SPEAKER_00: So, my question, my challenge for you today, and it might be a challenge more than an invitation, is what would it look like for you to take your next step on the generosity ladder?
SPEAKER_00: So, would you just put your hands out in a posture of receiving as we pray, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for all the wisdom that you gave us all those years ago about money.
SPEAKER_00: Um Lord, I'm sorry for all the ways that I get confused, looking for money for my provision rather than you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you that you called me out two months ago.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that you would continue to reveal in me uh the greed, the reveal in me, my need for control as a saver.
SPEAKER_00: God, I want to continue putting you first at the center of everything, especially my money, the thing that I want to control more.
SPEAKER_00: Uh God, and you know me, God, you know how much I think about money, God.
SPEAKER_00: So I just pray that you continue to release the things that you need to release, God, transform my relationship with money so I can trust you first with the first fruits, God.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Lord, I pray, God, 50 years from now, Lord, that you'd allow us to be the most generous people that our grandkids know.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray for that, God.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, thank you that you've led the way, God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful to have you as my example of what generosity looks like.
SPEAKER_00: You gave your life, thank you, God.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for you gave your reputation, everything.
SPEAKER_00: God, so allow me to follow in your footsteps.
SPEAKER_00: God, I want to put you at the center of a complicated thing called money.