So I'm gonna start with reading our scripture for today. And we're gonna be looking uh in the book of Acts. And so if you have a Bible, you can open that up. There's Bibles up here as well, too. If you don't have a Bible, you can take a Bible. We have lots more where those came from, and you can keep it. Uh and also the text will be on the screen as well, too. So we're gonna read from Acts chapter four and then Acts chapter six. So this giving you context. Um, John and Peter had been arrested uh for preaching about Jesus, preaching the gospel, uh, and uh so had been uh arrested for that, and they had seen people healed. It was incredible, beautiful uh things that happened, and then they're arrested. I guess I said beautiful when it's arrested. Uh, but they've been arrested, and then they were released from prison. And after that, after the release from prison, this is where we find out what's happened. They've come and gathered together with other Christians, and then what do they do after they've been arrested and set free? They decide to pray. And at the end of their prayer, they say this Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. Now we go to chapter six. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews, those are Jews that are been formed by Greco-Roman culture and Greek language, among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve, that's the twelve apostles, gathered all the disciples together and said, It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables. That might sound derogatory, it's not. Waiting on tables was a very important element. It was caring for those in need and caring for the poor. So he wasn't saying, We got more important stuff to do. He's saying this is what we're called to. We need other people to care for these needs. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and ministry of the word. This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Procurus, Nikonor, Timon, Parmenus, and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism, which means he was not Jewish originally. They represented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. So that's a lot, and there's a lot of action that's happening in Acts. Maybe that's why it's called Acts. Some people say Acts of the Apostles, Acts of the Holy Spirit, but there is a lot moving and happening. And we've been in a series on the book of Acts. The book of Acts is this historical account of the first Christians. After Jesus died, rose again, ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit was given to all of his followers. The book of Acts captures all of that. Of these earliest Christians looking at how do they live their lives in allegiance to Jesus, who has been crowned king. How do they live their lives in every day? What's their relationship look like now to one another? And what we just saw in that passage is how is their relationship to money and possessions changes well, too. And this was a cultural shift for them. What we just read about, what they began to do with their stuff and their things and relationship was a shift for them, just like it would be for us. And that's because we view money and its purpose sometimes in very different ways than what God views money in its purpose. Maybe ways that we view money are can be a shift. Oftentimes, a deeply held belief in our culture, I know that I can have, and maybe you've had before, is that the purpose of money is to give us access. Access. What do I mean? The more money we have, the more access we have to things that not everybody can have, at least in our country. Experiences, certain relationships, comfort, health, security, and oftentimes we think greater happiness. But here's what's interesting: science and research say this it's not more money and more stuff that give happiness and joy. It's actually when you give it away, is when the joy comes connected to money. Generosity produces joy. Studies across 136 countries, wealthy and impoverished alike, showed that generosity is what made people happier. Not just having more things. Harvard Business School did research, and here's what they did: they had groups of participants split into two groups. One had money to spend on themselves, and the other had to spend on others. And before the experiment, these people were asked, guess how happy you're going to feel after doing this? Essentially, people predicted, so one had to before the experiment, people predicted that they would spend on themselves would make them happier. So they were like, level of happiness after you give will be what? And level of happiness after you spend it on yourself will be what? Two different groups. And here's the reality is that both groups were wrong. They were wrong. The people who spent on others consistently afterward reported feeling happier. And this effect was true whether they gave large amounts or small amounts. So research shows us that what actually brings joy is not having more. It's not how much we have or how much we spend, but it's who you spend it on. That's interesting. I don't know if I always believe that. And even with that, still, in our culture, generosity is declining. In 2000, 66% of Americans gave charitably. In other words, giving to nonprofits of any kind. In 2020, it went drop down to 46%. That's all people. Every time they do these studies, they say religiously engaged people give more than people who are not religiously engaged or active. And you know, here's what's interesting is that religious people also give more to non-religious causes as well, than people are not connected churches. So it's not just like, well, Christians give a lot to Christian churches because it's kind of their thing. No, it's that Christian people actually give more to all causes than others, Jewish people as well, too, other religious groups and groups, folks. But even there, giving to churches and in religious organizations is down also. And I think that's because the cultural tells us that security and happiness come from accumulation. But it's not just culture. We can't just blame the people out there or the society and marketing. Our hearts tell us that too. My heart can tell us that myself that too, is that I'm gonna feel more secure and more happy the more that I have, the more that I can spend on myself. But the research says it wrong, says it that we're wrong. But it doesn't seem like it matters or infects us. But that's the message out there, right? But of course, in the church, the messaging is very different, right? Not always the case. In the Christian church, I think these are two messages that I've had and I've heard uh throughout my life of being a Christian following Jesus. And the first message isn't direct, but it's implied. And it's implied through silence. That money just oftentimes in churches isn't talked about much. Maybe it's out of fear. You're like, oh my gosh, what are people gonna say if I preach about money, if I teach about money, maybe it's out of shame. Maybe like the pastor or the people teaching are like, I don't use money very well, so what who am I to say? Uh maybe it's because we don't want to hear what Jesus might want to say to us about the way that we spend our money or give our money. But in the absence of any direct messaging in the church, usually what happens is then we just learn that a relationship with God doesn't actually affect the way we use money. It doesn't affect the way that we think about our finances, about giving and generosity. So the cultural narrative around money is what shapes us because there's just no other counter-narrative that we're hearing from uh the Bible, from Jesus, from our churches, from our community groups. But here's the second message: guilt. The second message we hear in church is guilt. God wants you to give more, so do better, give more. The church needs to hit a budget. We need you to help us do it. And oftentimes what happens is you leave feeling bad about yourself. Maybe you give more, maybe you don't, but what's usually uh for sure is that you just feel guilty. But oftentimes nothing changes about the way that we view money. Because nothing actually gets to our heart. Nothing changes the narrative or meaning or message behind what we have. I was just talking to somebody this past week, and they were sharing about their experience of being in church. Is that um we're talking about money and talking about our experiences with money, and this person shared, like, yeah, I started going to church and I heard them talk about money, and it was just about give more, give more, give more. So I felt a lot of guilt, but I didn't feel like I had any more to give, so it didn't change how I gave. It didn't really change how I thought about money. All it really did was make me feel guilty every time I heard it in church. And both of these, though, whether it's silence or a guilt trip, is far from the cry of what we see in the early church. Because these disciples we just read about, they knew a king. They had encountered a king. King Jesus. And it changed everything from the inside out. It changed everything, including how they held money. So let's look at what happened to them. Again, we find out the religious rulers had released Peter and John from prison. They're being threatened to not preach in the name of Jesus. And they have this prayer meeting. And in their prayer, they say, Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. I don't know about you, but I'd probably spend a little more time praying to God, saying, Hey, I'm being threatened. Can you rescue me? As opposed to consider their threats. Make note, real quick, God. People are threatening us. But really, what they're interested in, what they're asking for, is would you give me boldness to teach about Jesus? Would you give me boldness to share about what Jesus has done in my life? That Jesus was actually raised from the dead, that he's actually king over all creation. Would you give me boldness to say that? That's how deeply they've been changed. Is that they're not primarily worried about persecution. They're worried about saying, I just have got to tell people about who Jesus is. But this world boldly is boldly is interesting, this boldness. In Greek, that's the language of the New Testament. Uh, this word is used to describe freedom of speech for those who lived in the Roman Empire. Just like we have freedom of speech in the United States, they had freedom of speech. If you were a Roman citizen, you had freedom of speech that you could speak and share whatever you wanted to. However, if you were a slave or a servant, or if you were a foreigner, you didn't have the freedom of speech. And so what these early disciples are praying, give us boldness, the kind of boldness that we know we answer to a higher authority who has said, You can speak freely. Speak freely without fear, just like the Roman citizens could speak freely without fear of repercussion. They're saying, Would you give us that kind of boldness? That because we answer to you, God, because we believe that Jesus, your son, is king, would you give us that kind of boldness? Because Jesus was king, because he was resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven, that he's the final word and authority. It changed everything for these earliest followers of Jesus and had ramifications for every aspect of their life. Political, their political affiliation. Do you know in the first century when they said Jesus is Lord? That was a way of saying Caesar is not. Oftentimes that would be the phrase, Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not, essentially. That's why they got arrested. They didn't get arrested for saying God loves you. They got arrested because they said there's a higher king. We have a higher authority that we answer to that isn't voted on and isn't nominated and isn't elected and isn't hereditary. It's the creator over all things. For many of us, we think about the gospel, or when they talk about boldly preaching the word of God, we think about, well, that means that we can be forgiven through Jesus, right? And the gospel absolutely includes our sins being forgiven. But again, that's not what got them arrested. Because forgiveness, they taught, flowed through a king. It flowed through a crucified, raised, and reigning king with God the Father. And because they're in a different kingdom and we're in a different kingdom, all of a sudden we're in a different rule. We're in a different authority. We operate by different rules. Forgiveness and belonging and grace and love and purpose and a new identity, all of it flowed to them and to us through a king. Not only a savior, not only one who died on the cross, but who had victory and who rules over all. This message had turned their lives upside down. It's why they're asking for boldness to share it with others. And what happens after they pray this crazy prayer? They have this amazing experience of God's presence. It says the place where they were gathering shook. It shook. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They have this spiritual experience of God's presence. And by the way, in the Old Testament, when things when God would come close, things would shake. So here again, it's this evidence that God has come near, that He's answering their prayers. And it says they're filled again with the Holy Spirit. And God answers their prayer to speak the word of God boldly. For these first followers of Jesus who were gathering in this space and praying these prayers, they already knew Jesus. They had already trusted him. They had already experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit. They already knew that God loved them and forgave them. But now they're experiencing God in a powerful, new and fresh way. And maybe you're asking, why? Why again? Right? That language of being filled with the Holy Spirit. If they were filled two chapters ago, why are they filled again? What's even happening? Well, let me share this story. Uh this is a story from my kids. Maybe I've shared it before. But I love, I don't know, I was talking to somebody recently. I feel like as a dad, your part of your job is just to frustrate you and annoy your kids. I don't know. Uh any dads that feel that way? I know Steve Cannell does. No one else does. Okay, that's fair. Um the rest of you are better fathers than Steve and I. Um but I love to tell my kids all the time, guess how much I love you. And they're like, oh, dad, we know. And then sometimes William will be like, This much? And I'll say, No, it's this much. I tell them all the time. And uh, you know, they know in their head how much I love them. They tell me, if I'd say, if you ask them, does your dad love you? They would say, Of course. Are you sure? It'd be like, Absolutely, absolutely he loves me. But when they run down in the morning, William and Esther, when they come down and I see them and I say, Hooray, you're here! I'm so glad you're awake. And they jump up on my lap and we cuddle on the couch and I hug them and I tell them I love them, they're currently having an experience of my love that is different than if you ask them, Does your dad love you? Now, did they know that I love them before that? Yes. Do they know that I love them after it? Yes. But there is something when you have a whole body experience, when you have an experience of the love that you know to be true with their whole selves. The information hasn't changed, but something has. It's one thing to know something with your mind, it's another to experience it with your whole being. And this is what the Holy Spirit is doing in Acts chapter 4 when he meets them in this house, and this is what the Holy Spirit still does. He takes what you already know about God, that he's powerful, that he loves you, that you have a new identity, that you're forgiven, that you're accepted. And he takes what information is not new, and he makes it real to you. He makes it real for us. Something we knew rationally, we now know immediately. Something we knew with our mind, we now know with our hearts. And this changed them. It changed them from the inside out. And so they just go, we just want to share this with everybody. We just want to share this with everybody, right? When you have an incredible experience, don't you want to share it with everybody? Like uh I do. When I go to great restaurants, when I when I meet people, I just want to tell people about it. But what's the first place that we see? The first place that we see that's impacted by this deep experience of God's presence, of the reality of his love for them. It's first thing that we read after those verses is how they relate to money and everything they owned. In chapter 4, verses 32 to 35, again it said, All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of the possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there was no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. So this deep experience of God, it unites them, it brings them together. That phrase, one heart and one mind, it's not just something that Luke, who wrote the Acts like brought made up. It's actually a phrase that was used again in Greco-Roman culture to describe intimate, deep friendship in the Roman Empire, in the Roman culture, is a way of saying that they're united in friendship. But here's the interesting thing is that philosophers and the average person of the day would say the only kind of way you can have that relationship with another person is through someone who's the same socioeconomic class, the same status as you. You can't have it across classes, across status, across ethnicity. It has to be people that are just like you that you can have that kind of bond and friendship. But Luke, who wrote Acts, is flipping that idea completely upside down and saying, no, no, no, no, no. When God's spirit's been poured out when our hearts changed, it allows us to actually be one heart and one mind with people who are different than us, who have different uh different life experiences, different colors of skin, different size houses, different educational levels, different abilities, different interests, that all of a sudden we can be united together. It's actually interesting that it's just a critique of the Christians early on, is that like the emperor and other philosophers of the day actually critiqued Christians for this, saying this is crazy. These people believe that you can like be one, brothers and sisters united between people who are different. This like messes up our social stratus, our cultural elites and everything else. They're like, this can't be true. This actually offends us. Like we're offended by this belief. But for others, they were attracted to it. Other people said, Whoa, this is different. This is different. It brought a reality to it. Because they didn't just say, We've experienced a God in Jesus, who is the King of the universe and yet died for us, who served us, but then they live it out. That the wealthy decide to be with those who don't have as much, and those who don't have as much are elevated. This is crazy. It actually impacts their community. And so in verse 32, it says, This is what happened. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. The reality of God's grace and the gospel, it loosened their grip on what they had. To the level they didn't even consider it their own. They weren't forced. It wasn't a government mandate, it wasn't a church mandate, it wasn't like a rule book. They had just had their hearts so changed that they said, This isn't even mine. I don't know about you, but I like to think about my stuff as my stuff. Like we we like to set aside things. We like to feel like, okay, this is what I'm setting aside for this, this is what I'm set aside for this, this is what I'm doing for this, and that's good, that's wise. But oftentimes we can do that still with a tight grip that this is mine. This is mine. And we can get in a posture where we begin to go, this is what I own, and I'm just kind of like tipping God or tipping, like helping other people. Like, here you go, here's a little bit. This little side thing there. But the Bible talks about what we have and what we own and what we see, the earliest Christians whose hearts have been shaped by God. We see this distinction between managing what we've been given and this idea of owning what we have. Managing versus owning, or maybe you've heard stewarding versus owning. Right? Stewarding or managing is saying, it's not mine, but I've given been given a responsibility to care for it. To care for it based on the one who actually owns it. Owning says, I'm the final word. I'm the final word on what I have. These Christians believe that everything belonged to this new King, Jesus. I think I've said this before, but you know Jesus Christ essentially means King Jesus. Like Christ is not a last name, it means King. Jesus the King. And the King has entrusted them and us to manage or steward what He's given us well. And the earliest Christians, they said this is what's caught captured our hearts. And it can actually be freeing if we let it. I don't know about you, but sometimes it can be like, man, what do I what do I do with my resources? How do I use them? How do I spend them? How do I what do I give them? What do I we we can really get stuck feeling, what do I do with all these things? And it doesn't take responsibility out of our hands. That's not the real that's not the case. But we can all of a sudden begin with the question of, God, what do you want me to do with what you've given me? We begin with that question. God, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to use these resources? We begin with that question. How does God want us to bring life and flourishing to others through what He has given me? Who does God want it to impact? How could God how could I maybe invest this in a way that outlasts me? Have you ever thought about that? Maybe you have. Maybe you've made a will or a trust and you think about how your resources outlast you, like giving to children or grandkids or organizations. But we begin with these questions. And practically, this can look where managing instead of owning gets concrete. So, like for example, in our church, we ask our board in our leaders to do something that we call tithing. It's giving 10% out of what uh we've received back to God. It's not as a rule uh to be clear, but to as a practice. As a practice, a starting point, a way of saying out loud what already is true, that God, this is all yours. I trust you more than I trust my saving account. But here's the deal the percentage isn't ideally the point. It's the posture that we have open hands and we say, God, I give you first fruits of what I have. It's a way of actually loosening our grip instead of we just talk about those things. C. S. Lewis, an author that a lot of us love around here, he was a British author and he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia and some other great uh works. Mere Christianity, shout out. Sean back there, Mere Christianity fan. Um, it's a great book. But C. S. Lewis said this the only safe way to give more, the only safe rule in giving is to give more than we can spare. If your giving doesn't pinch at all, he says, it probably isn't forming you yet. It's like, ooh, all right. C. S. Lewis said it, not me. Uh that's like, oh, that's interesting. If it doesn't pinch, if it doesn't, if we don't feel it, are we actually being generous? Is it actually forming us? And this is how they lived, and this is how we're called to live. So how did they do it? How do we do it? Especially when we don't want it to feel like a burden or a guilt or a compulsion. Well, it says in verses 33 to 34, and God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. I want you to look at that word, and God's grace was so powerfully at work among them. What does grace mean? Grace means that God's rescue and forgiveness and welcome into his kingdom is apart from our works. It's apart from anything we can do. It's a free gift because Jesus gave everything. So when grace, his grace was at work among them, there's this resorting and reorganizing. Most religions and world systems say something like if you don't do what's right, if you do what's right, God will bless you. But at the heart of the gospel is that Jesus is king and he's paid the price, so that everything we receive from him is a free gift. And receiving, believing, and experience will empower us and change us to live the way that we should, in a way that brings real life. I've said this before, but in the gospel, what we find is that we don't obey in order to be accepted. Because we're accepted, we obey. We don't obey in order to be loved. It's because that we're loved that we want to obey. And that belief again changed this community and it broke down barriers. For the rich, what it did was they realized that they were spiritually poor. We preached this a couple months ago. That the rich realized I have a lot of wealth and resources, but spiritually I'm in need of God. I'm in need of his grace and his forgiveness and mercy, and I can't earn it. And that's also true for those who are poor. But what they experienced also was that their identity wasn't found in their bank account and what they had, but they were spiritually rich. They could be spiritually rich. And all of a sudden, on both ends, the grip loosens on what they have or don't have. That identity isn't found in what they have or what they don't have. And it wasn't because someone preached stewardship, and it wasn't be but it was because the gospel did something to them. That's what we see in Acts chapter 4. It doesn't happen because they're trying harder, it's about going deeper, deeper in the love of God, making space to experience the love and grace of God, asking the Spirit to make King Jesus more real. That's I know I was thinking about this week. What has changed me in my view and experience of money? Like, I love the vision of our church, I love the mission of our church, churches I've been a part of before, love the Vineyard Columbus, I was a part of, love the vision and mission. But I think what really changed the most for me, and but is also the most challenging point, is this is that when I begin to go, God, you're king, you're Lord, so you get to say what we do with our money. Like you get to say, like it's yours. How can we use this? Like, to further your kingdom. Like that's at least what changes, that's what's changed me. Like, I love the vision stuff, I love the mission stuff, and and I can hear like a call, like, hey, give give to this need this week, and go, oh yeah, move for that. I remember hearing about a well being uh dug um in a water pump, I think it was in Tanzania, and I was like, yeah, we can do that. But what's really shaped my heart long term is saying, God, you're king, so this is all yours. Like, not just the 10% or the 12%, but like the 100%. That's what's changed me personally. But here's what's interesting: what happens? Do you remember when it said there was no needy among them, right? They said there's no needy among them. They were so generous, it was incredible. That's the end of chapter four. And then we go to chapter six, and all of a sudden it says this. In those days, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So it wasn't long before there was no needy among them turned into there are needy among them now. Why? Why? Well, here's let me give a little background here is that Hebraic Jews were culturally, linguistically, meaning the language they spoke, and religiously Jewish through and through. They were shaped by uh living in Israel, shaped by um uh observance to the temple and the rituals and the Torah, the law. Hellenistic Jews, they were fully Jewish ethnically and by faith, but they had been formed by living outside of Israel. And they spoke Greek, and they were been shaped more by Greco-Roman culture. And that left a mark on how they how they were. So it would have been clear when you saw uh Hellenistic and Hebraic Jews in a room, you could see differently. They would have dressed differently, maybe spoken differently as well, too. So the apostles and the first group of disciples were all Hebraic Jews, okay? Jesus was as well, too. But in Acts chapter 6, we find out that these two groups had both decided to follow Jesus. And yet the group that had been shaped by Greco-Roman culture are being overlooked. Their widows were being overlooked when they were handing out food to widows. Why? It doesn't say exactly why. We don't know if it was intentional or not. It probably wasn't, based on the response. Maybe it was, it's not clear, but it's happening. And I think it actually speaks to what's pretty common in the human heart is that we noticed people who are like us. We notice needs that connect to our hearts. When there's someone that's not like us, we don't always notice their needs. We don't always notice them. When there are things that don't like emotionally connect to us, we don't always pay attention. Maybe you grew up and you know what hunger feels like. So it's not hard for you to write a check or to volunteer at a food pantry or to give to the food bank. You're like, I'm all in. Or maybe education. Maybe you felt like I didn't have people encouraging me as I went to school. And so now you love to volunteer a work or to give to mentoring programs and educational programs. Maybe you love music. So you're like, man, if the church ever needs money for like new speakers or instruments, I'm all in. I love that stuff. It makes sense, right? It makes sense when people look like us too or live in our neighborhood, right? We want to give towards those things, but we overlook people who are not like us and needs that don't connect to us. And that doesn't make us bad people. It's normal and natural. However, it's not okay. It's not okay for people to be overlooked, right? It's not okay for people to be missed. And so, what did the early apostles, what did they decide to do? They didn't say, oh man, we just gotta buckle down. We gotta like, all right, we gotta care for, we gotta have a heart and a passion for everybody and everything. That's not what they decided to do. What they decided to do was this. They said, brother and sisters, in verses three to five, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them, and we'll give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Philip, Procurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmonus, and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. So all of a sudden, they choose seven more people to help bring leadership. Here's what you need to notice: all those names are Greek names. That means they weren't Hebraic Jews. They chose Hellenistic Jews. They chose people who had a heart for a different group of people, who noticed people who were different than what the Hebraic Jews noticed. In the last person, he wasn't, he wasn't, he was actually a Gentile. So he wouldn't have been Jewish anyway, of any way. He would have been a Gentile, a Roman or a Greek. And so they all of a sudden get a diversity of people. So now they have the apostles who are Hebraic Jews, who feel passionate to share the word and disciple and to and to preach and to teach and to pray. And then they have these other men who feel called to care for the poor and the needy, who see a broader spectrum of people and the needs of people. And don't you think that these men, and I'm sure women who are in that category saw different people and saw the needs of others as well, too. And so when it talks about when people sold and gave generously and laid it at the apostles' feet, all of a sudden we find out is that these resources are being distributed across people and across needs and across passions and interests. And that's the same thing that we try to do as a local church. Christians in a local church, we want to be a people who will, when resources come in, when you give generously, when I give, it doesn't just go to the things that I care about. It doesn't just because I have small children that it just goes to kids' ministry but doesn't go to student ministry, or because I love outreach that it doesn't also go to discipleship and it goes to like community groups. It's not that's not how it works. When we give to the local church, and you give to Lakewood Vineyard, resources go into ministries that you may have no interest in, other than I'm glad it's there. And that's okay. It might go to people you've never met, it might go to areas that you may not have a passion for, it might go to areas that you do. But resources go to countries that you might not visit and people you might not meet. And we love that. So with Vineyard Kids, Liz Cannell does an incredible job. And so she manages those resources for vineyard kids to invest well in kids because that's her heart. If you haven't met Liz, talk to her a little bit about kids' ministry. Man, she likes she leads kindergartners in the all like all kindergartner teachers in North Royalton. And then what she wants to do as her ministry as well is to serve kids. That's a woman who loves kids. You want that kind of person investing and managing a budget for finances. You have Tom Wadsworth, who has a heart for international ministry as well as internationals here. You want someone like Tom thinking about how we can invest in this community. When we invest, when you invest in a local church, we want to give it away broadly. You know, me, I love seeing new churches planted. So we get to invest in new churches being planted. You might be like, man, that's great. I'm glad they do that, but I love this local church. Awesome. It's going to all those places. And it's because we get to be part of something bigger than just us. And this is what the early church decided, too. They said, we want people in leadership that have different hearts, different passions, different people leading, different perspectives, different experiences, so we can do the whole gospel and care for all people. That's how generosity was multiplied then and now. Because giving, it's not primarily about meeting a church budget. It's not primarily about meeting a financial goal. Giving is God's way of shaping and forming us. Of us saying, God, this is yours, not mine. Of breaking the power that money can have over us. Of making us look more like Jesus who gave 100%. He gave everything. You know, guys, we can be Christians and never really give out of what we have. But if we want to be a mature follower of Jesus and we're saying, God, I want to live like you, Jesus, I want to be like you, then we have to live generously. Because Jesus says where our money goes, that's where our heart is. Right? The reality is that I have parts of my heart that I haven't fully let Jesus have. I don't want that to be the case, but I know it is. And I know you have parts of your heart probably like that too. And then when we say Jesus, you're king, we say, even more, God, come into the places of my heart that I haven't fully let you in. Would you be king and lord in the places that I haven't, like joyfully said yes, with deep trust, say yes. And oftentimes one of those areas is our finances. This is what this text is about. That parts of these men and women's hearts have been so shaped by Jesus that the grip of control had loosened. And it begins when we give, begins to start feeling like more like we're giving what he's entrusted to us than what I've earned and need to protect. You know, we don't have to do any of it, but we get to. We get to be a part of what God is doing in the world and here. We get to loosen our grip on what culture tells us is the most important. We get to say with our money, we get to say with our money what our mouth often says and sings, that Jesus your king and everything flows from you. So here's the invitation this morning. Could we this morning, as we worship and pray, to ask the Holy Spirit into every part of our heart, specifically where the part where our finances live, the part where maybe the gospel of grace hasn't fully reached. And ask the Holy Spirit to make Jesus even more real in those places. Now I'll invite the bands up to join us. Because here's what we see at the end of this passage. At the end of this passage, it says this. It says, and multiplied, multiplied people coming to meet Jesus. So the disciples were multiplied, and many priests, even religious leaders, gave their life to Jesus. Would it be so in our church that as we live with open hearts surrendered to Jesus, say my whole life, you, yours, we give generously, that we would see people come to faith. We would see multiplied people come to faith. And so if we could just take a moment where we're at, just in silence. And if you feel comfortable, just to pray and just pray a simple prayer. Holy Spirit, would you make Jesus real in every part of my heart? Make those words your own. Jesus, would you make Holy Spirit, would you make Jesus real in every part of my heart? As we just sit in some quiet and let the Holy Spirit speak to you. The reality of God's goodness and grace become real. An experience of His love that changes our hearts.