Rooted // Generosity & Fasting

Big Idea:

When we trust that God is enough, we are freed from the endless need for more.

Scriptures:

Luke 4:1-3

Matthew 6:16-24

Philippians 4:11-13

Lifegroup Questions:

1. Sunday's sermon began with the “mini vs. small blizzard” confession. Do you have a similar personal example where you tend to believe “a little more” will make you happier or more satisfied?
2. When you’re stressed or feeling low, what do you most naturally reach for—comfort, control, affirmation, productivity, security, something else? What do you think that reveals about what fills you?
3. How would you personally answer the question: “How much is enough?”
4. Read Luke 4:1–3. What stands out to you about the phrase “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit”? How does that connect to His ability to resist temptation? When, in your life, do you feel most full of the Holy Spirit? What fills you? What leaves you feeling empty?
5. In Luke 4, the devil challenges Jesus’ identity (“If you are the Son of God…”). Why is identity so central in resisting temptation? What happens when our identity is rooted in something other than our relationship with God?
6. Read Matthew 6:16–21. What do fasting and storing up treasure in heaven have in common? What is Jesus aiming at beneath the surface behavior? 
7. In Matthew 6:21, Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” How have you seen this principle play out in real life?
8. Jesus says, “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). Why do you think money (or material security) is such a powerful rival master? 
9. The sermon mentions “lifestyle creep.” How does that concept connect to Jesus’ teaching about contentment and Paul’s words in Philippians 4:11–13?
10. Brother Lawrence is quoted: “Seek Him only, and nothing else, not even His gifts.” What’s the difference between enjoying God’s gifts and pursuing them instead of God?
11. If you evaluated your current practices of fasting and generosity, where would you say you are: consistent, occasional, resistant, or unsure where to start? What might be one small next step?
12. The sermon closes with the idea: “When we trust that God is enough, we are freed from the endless need for more.” How can you grow in your trust of God through fasting or generosity, starting this week?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Refinery Church Sermon Podcast. We're so glad you've joined us today. Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in your pursuit to love and follow Jesus for life. If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Visit us online at refineryohio.com. Now let's dive into today's message.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

So I forgot in the first service, but I remember in the second service, if you are a high school graduating senior, we have a gift for you. Emily will be out in the lobby area, and she'll have that for you. So if you want to see her, she'll be looking for you as well. But just a small gift from the church just to celebrate this achievement, this milestone. Super exciting. I've got a little bit of a confession I want to start with today. I didn't tell my wife I was going to be doing this, and so first service she wasn't here. So I thought about not sharing it in this service, but I feel like this is a safe place and you are my witnesses, so that makes it easier. It involves Dairy Queen. Okay, so it's not like too heavy if you're like, oh man, this is gonna no, it's it's it's Dairy Queen. And I've I've found the perfect treat at Dairy Queen. Um I'm gonna tell you what it is in a moment. If you take notes, this is something you're gonna want to write down. Uh though honestly it should be seared in your memory as soon as you hear it, and you'll know like this is wisdom. But when my wife is with me, the the perfect treat is this mini DQ blizzard. Mini. It's the smallest size they make. And I mean it's it satisfies, it's great. But sometimes my wife is not with me. And they have other sizes. And at times I feel more hungry than when I'm with her. In fact, every time I'm not with her, I feel hungrier than when I am with her. And so from time to time, I have maybe ordered the small blizzard instead of the mini. I know, it's shocking. But don't judge too harshly, you have your own failings and faults. No, it's uh one of those things where um I remember as a kid, like in high school, like when I I mean, I would have eaten like the large blizzard. You guys remember that back in the day? They served it in like a five-gallon trash bucket. I mean, it was Matt, and I would just dive into it, eat the whole thing, and then probably go run four miles or something like that. But now, if I eat just the small, I'm like, Lannon, too much sugar. Why'd I do this? Next time, stay the course, stay strong. But then I'm in the DQ drive-thru again. Lord help me. But I test myself regularly. I'll let you know that because I'm trying to grow stronger, and so I go regularly just because I really want to develop that skill in my life. I want to develop willpower, self-control, all those things. Uh, the perfect blizzard, by the way, in case you're wondering, because you might be like, I don't, I don't know what the perfect blizzard is. It's this, it's a mini. It is a mini, it is it's the true size. You get the mini butterfinger blizzard. I don't see people taking notes, I'm a little concerned. Okay, mini butterfinger blizzard, but here's here's the key. Here's the key. You ask for a scoop of crunch coat with it. You put that in, game changer. If you don't know what crunch coat is, you've been living your life wrong. I was talking to one of our members earlier, um, and they're like, who would not know what crunch coat is? I said, I don't know. I don't know that they should be at this church, to be frank. But if you are, we're okay. We just gotta work through that, alright? But it's one of those things, if it begs this question. So I don't need a small blizzard to fill me up. A many works, for real. But it is one of those things. Have you ever had eyes that were bigger than your stomach? You go like to the restaurant, like, oh, I, you know, I'll get this or I'll get that. You ever go to the buffet back in the day when buffets were more of a thing? And you're like, oh yeah, I'll just keep piling on. Or if you have kids, you ever order food for your kids? Uh we order food just to take it home, especially for one of our sons in particular, who never eats it all. And it's one of those things, like when we get into this process, it's this recognition of how much do I need to feel satisfied? I mean, how much is enough? It depends on the topic I get. So if it's a cup of coffee, like how much coffee do you need to be enough for you? Some of you are like, I don't drink coffee. I'm a tea drinker, or I have a Mountain Dew in the morning, or I just drink water, whatever. And so you're like, honestly, I don't need any, and that's enough. Others are like, you know, I'll have a cup, I'll have two cups, and that's enough for me. I I knew a guy who regularly kept a pot of coffee by his desk. A pot or two pots of coffee was enough for him. Uh what about when it comes to time with your family? How much is enough? How about the extended family? How about your in-laws? How much time's enough? When people say, hey, we're gonna come over for the holiday, like is it one night, two nights, three nights, no nights? How much is enough? How much is enough for you? How much vacation time do you need? You're trying to get a job and they're like, yeah, we'll give you two weeks, three weeks, six weeks, 42 weeks, whatever it is. How much time do you need? How much money's enough? How much do you need? Like, how much would you be like, okay, yeah, that's yeah, I mean, if I had that, I'd have more than I ever needed, more than I ever wanted. Yeah, that would be enough. How much sleep's enough? Six hours? Eight hours? 14 hours? How much sleep do you need? How much education's enough? Some people they go and they get their high school diploma, they're like, I'm done. Like, that's it, no more. Others go on to college or get an associate's degree or get a bachelor's degree. Then you meet those people that are like, yeah, I'm gonna go get a master's or two, I'll go get a PhD. And then you meet those people that have like more degrees than they have walls in their rooms to houses to hang them on. How much education is enough for you? How much Chick-fil-A is enough? Anybody testify? Six nuggets, eight nuggets, ten nuggets, twelve nuggets, thirty nuggets, twenty nuggets? How much, how much is enough? When we're under pressure in life, what spills out of you? When you're tired, when you're worn down, when you're frustrated, when you're aggravated, like what is it that comes out of you because that's what you've filled up on? Is it one of those things where you've ever had to go back to say, so sorry I said that, so sorry I did that, don't know where it came from. Well, it came from your heart. It's what's in you. When you get pressed, when you get squeezed, when the temperature gets turned up, like what is in you comes out. What are you and I filled up with? Similarly, in that same idea, what is it that you reach for when you're feeling depleted? You ever get in a time where you maybe you're just run down, you're exhausted, you're worn out. And it's like, so what do you reach for? What is it that fills you up? Maybe it's a source of comfort. Maybe you have food or drink, alcoholic or otherwise, like what is it that you need? Maybe it's just media. I just need to veg, I just need to sit. Maybe it's scrolling, I just need to scroll, like that fills me up. Maybe for some it's control. You're under pressure if you're feeling low, and it's so I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonna plan more, I'm gonna get everything sorted, and so I can have it all, so I can just keep it all together. Maybe it's affirmation. I need that dopamine hit, so I'm checking to see if I have a message, I'm checking to see if I have a like, I'm checking to see if there's anybody acknowledging me and what I'm doing. Like, I just need that affirmation from somebody. For some, they reach for achievement. They throw themselves into their work because productivity makes them feel like they're accomplishing something. And I feel empty, I feel low, I feel dry, and so I've got to reach for something to fill me up. What we reach for to fill us up tells us a lot about where we're anchoring our lives, what we're rooting ourselves in. Sometimes it's security. We try and build financial margin, not for wisdom's sake, because there is wisdom in that, but because money feels like safety. Sometimes it's identity, we'll lean on a title, a role, a reputation. Because if I'm just known as this, if I've just accomplished this, if I've just had this, well then I've got something. I want to look this morning at what Jesus filled his life up on. I want to focus in on one phrase in particular that will kind of set the stage for everything else in the book of Luke, chapter six, which we'll get to in just a moment. Or chapter four, which we'll get to in just a moment. We're picking up shortly after the moment where Jesus is baptized. If you're not familiar with the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, it's the third gospel in the New Testament. Jesus has been baptized because that's the step every person who follows after God should take. We're to be baptized, and so if you say, Man, I've never been baptized, been following Jesus for 20 years, we need to get you in the waters of baptism. And so Jesus is baptized, and the Spirit of God literally descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and there's a voice from heaven that says, This is my son whom I love, in him I am well pleased. And it's from this place that we recognize that Jesus' identity is rooted in relationship with the Father and the Son. Like the Father and the Spirit. It's the doctrine of the Trinity, it's it's a core doctrine of the church throughout thousands of years that God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is distinctly one and yet distinctly three. And it's from this relationship, this perfect relationship that God exists in, that God creates all things. And it's from this perfect relationship that God exists in that God invites you and me into relationship with Him. And this is what we read in Luke chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. It says, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit. Filled up on the Holy Spirit, satisfied, everything is ordered right, everything is set right. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, identity established, rooted, anchored. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. We sometimes think that, well, if we follow God, does everything go well and everything goes smoothly? That's not always the case. In fact, if you follow God properly, like he'll lead you into hard places and difficult seasons, the wilderness is often where we grow the most in life. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan, was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. I don't know that I believe in the devil, somebody might say, but do you believe in Jesus? Yeah, then you gotta deal with the devil too, because Jesus did. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. Seems like it doesn't need to be said. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, is led to be tempted by the devil. He's got no food, he's hungry. And the devil comes to him and says, If you are the Son of God, if you are, he calls into question his identity right away. Tell this stone to become bread. Jesus' identity, again, we have to understand, it's established, it's rooted in relationship with the Father and the Spirit. It's from this place that he's tried and that he's tested that the enemy would seek to challenge where he's at. But the reason that the devil fails so miserably in this test is because Jesus is explicitly clear in where his identity is rooted. Jesus knows who he is. And so when the devil tempts Jesus with physical needs, like, hey, you need to reach for comfort. Listen, you're empty, you're dry, like you're you're running out. Reach for comfort. Jesus says, I'm not gonna bite. I'm good. I don't have to have those things. I need the Father. I need the Spirit, I need relationship. The devil tempts Jesus with power and influence, an easier path. Man, because if I could just achieve that title, if I could just win that award, if I could get to this place in life where I get to be the one to call the shots, Jesus says, I'm not gonna take the bait. That's a smokescreen. That's not what I actually need. I need to be in relationship with the Father and with the Spirit. The devil tempts Jesus to show off in a flashy way. Make a name for yourself. Make a show. Big spectacle. Everybody will see it, everybody will know, everybody will understand, and again, Jesus refuses the temptation. I don't need the applause of the crowds. I don't need the likes. I don't need the messages. I don't need the dopamine hits. I need to be with the Father and to be with the Spirit. Jesus knew who he was. He was filled up on a relationship with God. And because of that, he's not vulnerable to the temptations of the devil. It's the same thing for you and for me. You and I are meant to be filled up on a relationship with God. Like we are meant to be satisfied in him. Christ alone is to be enough for us. And when we do that, the temptations of the world, they just they're not near as effective. They're not near as powerful, they're not near as potent. But here's the problem. There are so many things in our world to look to for satisfaction that we can easily drift off course. What is it that we seek to find satisfaction in? You specifically. Where do you seek to find your satisfaction in life? Like, yeah, this is enough. Like this is what I want. This is what satisfies me. What is it that we're rooting our identities and our very lives in? Because what satisfies us is what we're rooted in. It's the one thing we can't get away from. It's where we go to literally get our nutrients, get to supply what we need in life. Like, what is it that you're rooted in? If we root ourselves well, we'll be well established and we can flourish in life. If we root ourselves poorly, then we can't get what we really need, and it's kind of a constant challenge, a difficulty. I want you to look with me to the book of Matthew. I want to look at a little bit of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew is back a couple of books in the New Testament, and we're there at the very start. It's the first gospel. And throughout this series, we've asserted the idea that we're ultimately to root ourselves in the presence of God. More than anything else, we need his presence. And we've talked about some spiritual disciplines that we can anchor ourselves in or spiritual practices that are helpful to this end. Because if the idea is that practice makes perfect, the practices perfect us in who we're called to be. And so we looked at the idea of prayer and the importance of prayer. Communication is essential to any relationship. If you have good communication in a relationship, you're going to typically have a good relationship. If you have poor communication, you're going to have a poor relationship. Some communication's easy to do, some communication's more difficult to do, but we need communication. And just as that's true with a friend, a colleague, a spouse, like how much more so with God? We need to communicate with God, and so prayer is a primary vehicle to that end. Last week we looked at the idea of how important it is to root ourselves in the scripture. When Jesus encounters disciples who are really struggling, he anchors them in the story of the faith. When Paul is mentoring his protege, Timothy, he helps to anchor him in the story of faith. It matters where we root ourselves. And so this week I want to look at two more disciplines or two more practices that we might root ourselves in. Typically, as a church, we talk about five. We left rest out on this one on perfect purpose. We're going to be dealing with it more this fall. And then also, though, if you are in our 21 days of prayer, depending on when you started yesterday, you would have hit this one, or maybe today you're hitting it, where it talks about the importance of rest in particular. But this is where I want to start. Matthew chapter 6, verse 16. Read with me, we'll read on a little bit. Matthew 6, 16. It says, when you fast, not if you fast, not if you feel convicted to fast, not if you accept the challenge to fast, not, you know, fasting is something you might try. Jesus, words in red, says, when you fast. Do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they've received their reward in full. They're trying to spiritually show off and they're going to get what they want from to impress people around them. But when you fast, when you fast, when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face. In other words, present yourself as you normally would, as you're just going through life, as you're doing the things you do, so that it will not be obvious to others. You don't lead with a hash day going, pretty rough, been fasting. Haven't eaten like three hours. Lord's really getting at me. It's like it's it's 8 a.m. Yeah. He's really stirring my heart. It won't be obvious to others that you're fasting, but only to your father who is unseen, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. It goes on. Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and still, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and still. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. And Jesus says specifically, you cannot serve both God and money. Prayer teaches us to talk openly with and listen openly to God. Scripture teaches us the story of God that we might learn God's character and how we're to live in this world. They're formative disciplines. They're not just things we check off the box, like, oh yeah, that was good to do, like that was helpful. Like it's formational. It shapes who we are as people. They're practices that, like, as you do them, like it has an effect on your life. Like it pours out into every area of your life. Fasting and generosity are formative disciplines as well. Fasting and generosity help us reorder our lives. In a world that those things don't necessarily fit. In a world where there's this constant pull of media and advertising and culture in general, just to say you need more and more and more. Fasting and generosity teach us contentment in that same world. When the world says you need more, fasting and generosity say, no, that's not exactly true. So often in our lives, it's like, man, if we could just get a little bit more of, fill in the blank. Well, you need a little bit more of. You just need a little more sleep. Oh, if I could just get more sleep, I'd be good. But what if you got that sleep? What typically? Well, if I could just get a little more money. I mean, if I if I could, if I just had a little bit more money, if I could just get to this number, but but what happens if you get to that number? Will you be content? Will everything be fine? You'd be like, yeah, I'm good, like the rest of life. Man, if I could just get a vacation, if I could just get a trip, if I could just get a little more vacation time, if I could just get some acknowledgment, if I could just get, and see, there's this endless chase if I can just get, if I can just get more and more and more, but that's not what we need. More can be a blessing, there's no doubt about it, but more can also be an obstacle. Remember your first place? Out of school, out of college, wherever? It kind of looked like this. As the bathroom, as the kitchen, family room. I'm in the bedroom, that's the living room. Remember how easy that was to clean up? Hey, we should clean the place. Ten minutes later, all right, looks good. Then you get more. It takes longer to clean more. Oh, I gotta clean this whole house. Yeah, aren't you glad you got it? Right? It's the one you wanted. They said everything would be great if you just had that. Sometimes more isn't always better. More can be a trap. Remember that job you wanted, had more responsibility, paid more. Oh, but man, all the responsibility, everything else. More can be a blessing, it can also be an obstacle. You see, we can find contentment whether we have much or little. The Apostle Paul talks about this in Philippians 4, 11 through 13, if you want to check it out. And contentment can be a challenge for anybody. Have you heard of the phrase lifestyle creep? Have you heard of this? Just show a hands out of curiosity. You ever heard of lifestyle creep? Yeah, maybe 15% of the room. It can be defined this way: when your standard of living rises alongside your discretionary income, and soon enough former luxuries become new necessities. Do you ever have that? Remember your first car? I'm not talking about the people that like with nice first cars. I don't I don't understand or relate to you people. I'm talking about the car that you were embarrassed by, but you were so proud of, right? You got in and it was like an adventure. Like, will it start? Like it's exciting to find out. Um, one of my first cars, I had several first cars because they kept breaking. And so one of my first cars uh was is a Buickle Saber. Try not to be too impressed. I mean, it was it had the spray top white, spray white top. You know what I'm talking about? I mean, it's pretty luxury. You saw a lot of people in their 70s drive it back 30 years ago. And uh one time I'm driving and I'm heading to Ishigan uh for uh an evangelistic job. And as I'm up there, this the tops are sprayed on. I want you to understand because I'm pretty good with cars, I can put gas in them and I know where the battery is. And what happened was there was this little pocket in this spray top that got opened up. So as I'm driving along at whatever the posted speed limit was in Ichigan, wind starts to blow in this little bubble. You don't have What happens if you blow wind at 70 miles an hour into a little bubble? There's only so much space for it to go. You ever blown up a balloon? What happens if you just keep blowing? Eventually it pops. And so this really fun thing, and one of those first cars, I'm driving along, like all of a sudden, wham! And I hear like the top, like the balloon on my car burst and like start slapping. So I pull over, and what do you do when you have a nice first car? You rip off the top, throw it in the trunk, keep driving. But I was so happy to have that car. But lifestyle creep gets up, and then you're looking for your next car, and it's like, man, my first car was like 15 years old. Maybe this one I can get 10 years old. Then maybe I can get five years old, and oh, this thing, I mean, it doesn't even have heated seats. Like, what kind of life am I living? Some people, like like I have to go out and start my car if I want to. Some people sit in their cars and push buttons and like magical fairies make it start. It's incredible. But you understand, there's this lifestyle creep. You remember when it used to be fancy to go out to eat at Applebee's? Whoo, come on. Somebody. You remember when you f first could afford the appetizer? They're like, hey, you want a meal? Sure. Get an appetizer too. Hey, let's get drinks, let's splurge. But the lifestyle creeps, and it's like, well, I need more, and I need more. Why? Because you were never meant to be satisfied in those things, neither was I. But lifestyle creep is this dangerous thing, it creeps up on you. It's in life we feel we need more, and we need more, and little by little we become dissatisfied with what we have. It's common enough human predicament. For some, they they just need more time. I just need more, I need more time. If I had more time. For some, they need more recognition. If I just, if if somebody could just see what I do. For some, they need more money. If I just if I made another 10%, if I made another 20%, man, if I could, 30%, like I would never ask for another thing again, but I guarantee you it's not true. Because if you look at your life 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, so many times those things have actually come to pass, and then we just keep zooming right by them. When our satisfaction is rooted in God, we are free to rightly enjoy the good things of his creation. But when we pursue the gifts of God instead of God Himself, we're left in a relentless pursuit of more. The disciplines of fasting and generosity intentionally work against that. They intentionally train us differently, they form us differently than just being formed by the world. We will be formed by something. Either we choose it intentionally, or it just happens as a result of the world we live in. Throughout the series, the practice of the presence of God by Brother Lawrence has been a helpful dialogue partner, and he writes this. He says, Seek Him only and nothing else, not even His gifts. God, I just want you. I don't need something from you. I don't need some experience. I don't need some encounter. I just need you. This past week, my youngest son, Beckett, told me he needed to tell me something. However, he didn't want me to be upset. Which that right not a great start. He goes, Dad, you can't be mad. I'm like, okay, well, what is it? And um he said, I'm gonna write it down and I'm gonna put it on a piece of paper, and then you can look at it. But you have to wait till I leave the room. Which I'm like, like, this just seems to be getting worse. Like, what did you do? You know, I'm looking for his brother's mom, make sure they're all okay, the dog's there, all right. We're we should be good. So he writes down his stuff. This is how he's communicated with his mom and I a lot through the years. He loves to write stuff down and he'll leave us little notes and stuff like that. And so he he writes this down and he throws it down, he runs out of the room. And I quickly, having not agreed to his terms, turn it over and start to read it. And he he wrote, Um, I've had four popsicles today. Don't be mad. Which some of you are judging me as a dad right now. You're like, where were you that your son's just recklessly eating popsicles? There are three kids, we cannot keep track of them at all times, okay? Later that evening, Beckett is telling me about how his stomach is kind of hurting, which is a good dad. I'm like, yeah, it serves you right. And he says, it's probably because of the four popsicles. I'm definitely not having more. Of course, I said that earlier after three. I love his honesty. That childlike just this is what it was. But here's the reality: more seemed like it would satisfy him, but it ended up creating a problem instead. And in your life and my life, we're not that different. If I could just get more, then I'd be happy. If I could just get more, then I'd have enough. If I could just get more, then I'd be content. If there's just more, and the disciplines of generosity and fasting explicitly teach against this. We're tempted to think more is always better. But sometimes it'll just leave us with an upset stomach. In God's presence, we get to learn that it's not the way it works. A little bit with God proves to be enough. Psalm 8410 phrases it this way better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. And it's meant to be taken literally. God, I'd rather just be with you for the day than give me a thousand on my own. The economy of the kingdom of God works differently, it would seem. The spiritual practice of fasting, of intentionally setting aside all food for a duration or setting aside certain foods for a time, because there's different fasts if we read about in the Bible. The spiritual discipline of doing this helps train ourselves to think, man, even setting aside something good for a season is actually good for me. It's helpful. We don't always need what we think we need. And Jesus said, when you fast, so it wasn't a matter of if I'd fast or if I'd feel convicted to fast or if I should fast. When you fast, Jesus says. And so man, it was one of those things, it's this recognition of like, oh, so I don't actually live just by keeping my belly full. And Jesus said we're to be wise in how we invest our resources. Building up our own little kingdoms as the primary focus of my entire life is a bad strategy. And so Jesus says, listen, where your money is, that's where your heart is. I want you to lead with generosity. And so in the church, we talk about this idea of a tithe. We're to set aside 10% of our increase to the work of God. Oh, as a child, I was raised with 10, 10, 80, 10% to God, 10% to savings, 80% to manage my um whatever I had to do. And for some people, like that can be really tricky. If you if you don't give anything right now, 10%, like you got zero shot, just so you know. But it's really not about the percentage. Here's what I'd say. If you say, well, man, giving's never been a discipline of mine that I've done well, start with one percent. And if God is not faithful, stop. You have my approval. And if somebody says, Well, how can you do that? Well, because God says in Malachi, test me in this. The only place in all of Scripture that God says to test him. He says, test me, see if generosity doesn't work. If it doesn't work, you don't have to. Because they're formative. If I'll learn to fast, I learn that, man, all the things I think I need, I don't actually need. I need him. And I get to enjoy so many other things along the way. The discipline of generosity, man, if I'll invest in his kingdom first, I realize that, man, when when I pour out for him, like I can be generous in every area of my life. Generous people are never stingy in anything. They're generous with their time, they're generous with their compliments, they're generous with themselves. And we're being formed in this way. And and I need to clarify this just so nobody confuses it. If you fast, you actually eat less food. Some people are like, oh yeah, I mean, I haven't eaten for three days, and I just feel as I feel as full as I've ever been. That is not true. And if if so, there's something medically probably wrong with you. There was a friend that was recently sharing about fasting breakfast and lunch on a certain day. And if you do that, like you'll actually man, you'll feel that ache because you recognize there's less, but for some reason, in this situation, less actually works out to more. If if you choose to test God in giving, you won't have more. All of a sudden you won't get a raise, you won't win the lottery, your investments won't, stock options won't come in, you advance to go, collect $200. Not that that'll get you much right now anyway. You'll have less, but you'll find that with God, I'd I'd rather just one day than a thousand. It's forming you. These disciplines they spill over into our lives. They're formative, they shape us to be a more generous and contented people. It's who we're meant to be. This morning I want to close with communion. And as you came in, you you should have grabbed one of these off the table. If you missed it, that's okay. If you just raise your hand, we've got somebody in the back who can carry some. I've got two up here, Jay. Um, and then I've got several back there, and I've got one up here, uh, one up here. So just keep your hand up, or you can stand up and say, hey, me, you know. But I'd love you to take that little piece of bread out, just kind of hold it in your hand for a second. It's a really little piece of bread. Uh if you came and you're like, oh man, good, I haven't had lunch yet, I'm hungry, this won't do much for you. And you can peel off that top and go ahead and get to that. It's juice, so if alcohol's been a struggle for you in your life, you don't have to worry about that here. It's just juice. We're gonna close out with a little bit of bread and a little bit of juice, and you'll find in my life, this is what I've found, a little bit with God proves more to be, proves to be more than enough than with a full meal. Jesus instituted this supper the night he's betrayed. He's getting ready to follow the will of God fully, and the will of God is going to lead him to a difficult, hard place where it's cost and sacrifice. And later he'll pray, God, man, if you'd even take this away, but listen, I'll be honest, I want you more than anything else. And in communion, we're kind of reminded of this idea that God, we want you more than anything else. This here's what I'm dealing with, here's here's what I'm struggling with, God, here's what I'm chasing after, here's what I think I need, here's what I feel I need. But God, I need you more than anything else. Would you give me what you want me to have? If there's anything I'm holding on to, will you just let it go? A little bit of bread, a little bit of juice, reminds us that with God, sometimes less really is more. And it's all made possible. Because God moves to us in love first. God makes it possible for us to be in his presence. We can root ourselves in his presence, we can establish ourselves in him because he moved to us first. And so, what I'd like you to do, if if you say, Hey, I wanna I want to follow after Jesus, I've been following him for some time, or I want to just begin following him. And if you say, I'm not a member of the church, it doesn't matter as long as you're seeking to follow Jesus, you're welcome to receive. Maybe if you have kiddos with you today, they're like, hey, are they okay to receive? If you're teaching them to follow after Jesus, that's the aim. It is a little of him enough for you. Are you satisfied in him or are you trying to satisfy yourself and everything else? And just honestly just test it. Has it worked? Did you get enough money? Did you get enough faculty to the house big enough? Jesus says, Hey, this is my body broken for you. And it's in his brokenness that we're made of. So if your desire is to root yourself in the presence of God, I'd invite you with me to take the bread and eat. And to take the cup, just a little bit of juice, to serve as a reminder of the blood of Jesus shed for you and me. I've asked Aaron to play a psalm to kind of be just a psalm of reflection and prayer. I'd invite you to just bow your head, close your eyes. Listen to the words of the song. And just ask God to reveal, God, am I rooted in you? Aaron, we delete it.

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Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website, refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com. We hope you have a blessed day.