Speaker 1: 0:14

All right, it's good. Thanks, dude. I see some of my Warriors people out here. Thanks for coming to church. We're praying for them today.

Speaker 1: 0:21

Name seven so last week we wrapped up the gospel according to Matthew, and it ends with a mission, a purpose. Actually, our mission, our purpose, not only as individuals, but the church, and specifically our church, that Jesus followers, our multipliers. That is literally what changed the world In Matthew, chapter 28,. As this wrapped up, it's the final words of Jesus. He says in chapter 28, he says in verse 19, therefore, and so if you pause right there, you're like what's the therefore? Therefore? Well, just before this, jesus said all authority on heaven and earth belongs to me. I'm over everything. I'll hold the keys to everything. So, therefore, because of this, I want you to go and I want you to make Like it's the one thing he asked us to do, to make something, to do this. He said make disciples of everyone, everywhere, all color, all size, all places, baptizing them. And then he tells us what to do to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to believe. He didn't say that. What did he say? Teaching them to obey. Do you guys realize there's a difference, like between believing I think a lot of us can kind of get stuck and like I believe in that stuff, I believe that stuff's good, I believe everything, I believe he was who he was, I believe that those are good ideas and stuff. But there's a big difference in obeying. Did you know?

Speaker 1: 1:56

Paul actually talks about this in 1 Corinthians. He said that it's about the. If you don't love the Lord, you would be cursed. Why? Love is a verb? Right, it's actionable. It's not just believing in something because you know who else believes. Did you know Satan believed. You know the demons believed that Jesus was who he said he was. Then he raised from the dead. The difference was they didn't love him, they didn't obey him.

Speaker 1: 2:22

And so he teaches us you can throw it back up there. He says to obey everything, to obey, not believe. Obey everything that I've commanded you. And then he loses with this promise it's so good. If you do that, surely I am with you to the very end of the age.

Speaker 1: 2:40

And so what does this all look like? This is what all in he's saying. You guys want to be all in. You're going to let me be the king, the ruler, the one that carries all authority on heaven and earth. This is what this looks like. This is what it smells like, tastes like what people can see. It smells like, tastes like what people can see. That's what all in going making baptizing, teaching, obeying and friends. That's what we're going to talk about for the next several weeks. What does all in look like? And, frankly, are you ready to be all in? Are you ready just to hear it and believe it and be like, oh, I believe that stuff happened, I think that's nice, or are we actually going to go all in and do the things?

Speaker 1: 3:18

This final statement, this final command, now, real quickly, I just want to tell you that this is not just a one-off. We're going to be going into some stuff. We're going to be teaching Bible. We teach books of the Bible here. We go through them expositorily, verse by verse. We're going to be doing that because this church we teach, we're Bible-based, we teach the Bible, and right now we're going to be talking about this all-in stuff. We're going to do some other cool stuff over the summer, but I want you to know this is not a one-off. If you just came here for just today and then you think you're going to take away what we're trying to get off.

Speaker 1: 3:47

This is just chapter one. They all go together. So it's really important because here is another way that Jesus put it we have been asked to be fishers of okay, a lot of you guys get that fishers of men right. And what do fishermen do? They cast nets and they mend nets, and then they pull the nets in and then they cast bigger nets and then they mend nets and fix it up. They're casting and they're mending and they're casting, and then Jesus fills the nets right, and then they're casting and then they're mending nets. And for us, here's a bit of what our future is gonna look like. It's found in three words I wanna focus on. First is transformation. Transformation this is where we're casting nests and we're amending nests.

Speaker 1: 4:39

Transformation we believe it is so important to have environments around this place and spaces that are these environments where transformation can take place, like quality environments in our family building and for our students and for this space. The environments that you participate in, you walk in, they're all very intentional and with that, that transformative space, it actually needs some mending right, it's part of casting, but then you have to mend the nets, you have to fix it up. And you guys walk around and you see some stuff it takes upkeep, right. So mending is like how many of you guys even knew that this building that you're in is actually nine years old? It feels like it's still a baby. But things just they change and they go away. And like you walked around and you're like, oh, that could use a little fixing up. And like, oh, that's falling apart, right, or all the equipment, it all has a life and a lifespan and so we got to mend the nets. So then we can cast wider nets, so we can create spaces for transformation for people to meet Jesus and to hear the good news and then to love him and to obey him, not just believe on him, not just hear about this. And that leads it into expansion, transformation. And then you expand your nets to cast wider nets.

Speaker 1: 5:48

Not many of you guys know this, but this building itself was actually built to be larger. These walls in the back of the room actually are temporary on purpose. When we originally built this, we built it with the intention that there's actually stadium seating that goes up, so this space gets expanded for more transformation that those walls. If you guys have been up by the coffee shop or across in the bathroom. Maybe you've noticed. On the wall it says temp one, temp two. It's because it's a temporary room. It's not supposed to be there all the time.

Speaker 1: 6:15

That's the vision of hey, we're casting bigger nets and we're mending nets, and so we wanna be able to expand and knock those walls down. We wanna be able to expand and add, like a solar to our parking lot. I don't know if you guys, I don't know what your PG&E bill looks like this is gonna make some of you guys like do a little like puke in your mouth and swallow it. We, we pay about $80,000 a year to PG&E because we use this place, because we want to cast nets right, we want to mend nets, so it's like, okay, so how can we expand and make it so we can use this space even more so and it not be a burden? We want to do expansion. Not only this, but check this out.

Speaker 1: 6:50

I believe that God has, like ordainly, put us in such a strategic place. We are on this piece of property in a regional church for a reason, on purpose, and one of the reasons is within the next three years, you want to see what's coming. It's this. Look at this picture. See our church right there. We're getting neighbors and that's on purpose. Some of you guys are like that's my new neighborhood. Right, we have three years. This is us right here.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Some of you guys when I say, like God ordained us to be in this place, in this position, some of you guys don't know this story. We have 20 acres right here that was actually donated to us for $1. We've been put in this spot to cast nets and to mend nets, and we got to get ready for thousands of people moving into the neighborhood and that are around the region that are going to be coming here to experience great environments, outside-facing environments, to experience transformation and to fall in love with the Lord. So we have transformation. That's important too.

Speaker 1: 7:51

So when we focus on expansion and what that looks like here and in the future, and then we have innovation, we have to be prepared to innovate to reach people, to cast those nets as wide as possible and to create new places and spaces for nets. One of those ways it could be just throwing it out there. If we're gonna throw big vision into there that within the next three years, we're able to actually prepare our nets for Jesus to fill the nets. Well, what do we do with that? One of those things is sometime soon it's actually knocking down the walls, but potentially building right over here and I'll show you guys in the next couple of weeks a large like gymnasium type of space it's like a YMCA or Boys and Girls Club that literally becomes a bridge for community and county people to come up onto our campus, experience something through athletics or food pantry or transitional housing or recovery stuff, all of that stuff that then that's their first experience and then they can say, huh, what's going on over there? And then they get to experience these transformative spaces. We've got to be innovative. Like that.

Speaker 1: 8:54

Our NextGen team is doing fantastic right now. They are dreaming big, as they should be. Nextgen stands for like our kids, our children's area up through our teenagers, and just they're like. They're dreaming about, like Mandy's dreaming about. Like what would it look like if we could focus on intentional parenting so we can take those transformational spaces and environments and start putting those in the homes and we can resource our parents and our families? And then like big dreams of like what does it look like to do a parent conference? What does it look like to be an intentional parent or our student ministries huge, giant vision this next year to see over 500 unchurched or kids that are not involved in church coming through this campus and these spaces and these environments that we've created. And they're being creative already. They're using our vans as like a bus service and they're trying to reach specific groups, and some of you guys participate in a.

Speaker 1: 9:43

We've been doing a chosen Bible study that's wrapping up this week on Tuesday nights and a lot of them come here. It's Tuesday night and it's just wild out there. I mean like skateboards everywhere, bikes, just all of this different stuff because they're trying to reach wide and then go deep with these kids and they're like this is what is happening. I'm like this is happening because we need to be innovative in how we reach this next generation, because here's the deal, friends, and I firmly believe this whoever wins the kids wins the future In this community and all around them. Whoever wins the kids wins the future. And so there's big vision for this, and I'm going to tell you that when you have big vision for this, it's messy Like, because you're inviting messy people in here, right, and we are called to be fishers of men. But here's my question to you Are we really ready to be fishers of men or we do we just want to be keepers of the aquarium? Or we do we just want to be keepers of the aquarium? Ooh, ooh, ooh.

Speaker 1: 10:48

Those of you who are parents or grandparents, you know, I know this, I'm a parent. You pray for your kids. Like you pray for them, like you want a place in a space like this. I mean, you're literally like please make your youth group so cool, because my kid does not think Jesus is cool right now, but they can at least come to a good environment where they can find some identity. You know, same thing with your grandkids. You pray for your own kids. Many of you are praying for your kids who are far. You're praying for your grandkids and I just want to tell you this If we're going to reach the next generation, it's going to be messy and we just got to do some things different and some things where you're like I don't like that or like, wow, that's a lot of sacrifice, that's what it takes, that's what you're being invited to and you want it. That's what you're already praying for.

Speaker 1: 11:37

Going all in looks like being called to high levels of sacrifice, and so we're launching an initiative the short-term initiative to go all in and make that those things become a reality. This isn't a campaign. I want to be really clear and what I'm doing is I'm asking all of you all of you who are in here in person, all of you who watch online to engage in this initiative, to go all in and ask what does all in actually look like? To leverage our collective resources in order to maximize our kingdom impact and, by the way, if you didn't know this, you already are. You're already making, on a regular basis, a kingdom impact, locally and nationally and globally, whether you knew that or not. But I want us to maximize We've got to maximize our kingdom impact. I want us right now we should be putting our foot on the gas to maximize our potential. But to do that, it's gonna require all of us all of us to maximize our personal generosity and our resources to this initiative.

Speaker 1: 12:42

And here's the thing, and I want you to hear this For some of you especially, we're not doing this. This isn't a money talk. We're not doing this because your church needs money. This isn't about your church needs your money. This is about the world needing you and your influence. Like to actually go and make and do and teach and obey. This is about the world needing your influence. Our nation, our world need more churches like your church. Everyone does it so that everybody, every child, every college student, every single adult, every middle schooler, every high schooler, could experience the kinds of environments that you experience, because we want to set the anchor deep in their hearts and so that when they tend to stray which we know you do and they know they will, because they will not stray far, because they have been anchored we have anchored into them the actual first century version of what it means to follow Jesus. Now, if this talk about money or sacrifice makes you nervous, I understand that, but here's what I want you to hear.

Speaker 1: 13:46

34 years ago, it was a much, much smaller group of people that were asked to give generously with everything and really give everything. They had, their time, their talents, their effort, everything they had to an experiment, everything they had, their time, their talents, their effort, everything they had to an experiment, to high levels of sacrifice. We had no members, we had no money, we had no property, we just had an idea and that experience, because of the sacrifice and the generosity again, high levels of sacrifice, became the church that you are currently seated in right now, and I know I know many of those people because they're still involved in this church here today. In fact, pastor Ken, our founding pastor, he's here every week. He's one of those people, or you've seen her up here on stage Pastor Megan, our pastor of care. She was one of the first 12 that moved from where she lived and moved out to this community that said, yes, I'm going to lean in. And they said yes and gave sacrificially. And if you talk to them, they don't miss the stuff, they don't miss the money, they don't miss the sacrifice. If you ask them, they would not go back and undo any of it if their life depended on it, because of what they have seen God do in and through them and around them. We're all here because of that, because someone else went all in and said yes, here because of that, because someone else went all in and said yes.

Speaker 1: 15:00

In fact, if you have only been a part of this faith community the last two years, would you raise your hand really high? Okay, so everybody can look around the room. Just the last two years, okay. How about this? How many of you guys have only experienced since we've had this building on campus. You've never been up here when there wasn't this building up here. So you can raise your hand up here. That's a ton of us, yeah, okay, what about before this building? This building didn't exist and you were a part of it. Okay, so you can look around, okay. So these are different groups of people, those of you who are only been here for two years, and I could do less. Your hand is raised because someone else ahead of you raised their hands, and then someone else ahead of them raised their hands before this place was here, and then it was someone else's turn to raise their hand.

Speaker 1: 15:39

And here's the thing. Here's the thing. Five years from now, two years from now, but five years from now and I believe this with all of me, thousands of men, women, students, children, thousands will be grateful because of what you're about to do, what you are raising your hand and saying it's our turn. We are going all in because we actually believe this thing, this our hand, and saying it's our turn. We are going all in because we actually believe this thing. This is actually what we want to do. We actually want to obey this stuff. We believe in casting nets, we believe in mending nets and then throwing wider nets out there. We are not going to just take care of an aquarium, we're going to be fishers of men.

Speaker 1: 16:12

Now, the other reason that you don't have to get weird or feel weird about the preacher up here talking about money or asking you for high levels of sacrifice in your life is this People who have embraced this and many of you, many of you are here, you get what I'm about to say People who have embraced what Jesus taught about money and people who embraced as a lifestyle what Jesus said about possessions, would tell you that they're never going back. As one of those, I will tell you I am never, ever going back. And Michelle and I, my wife, we are so fortunate to have learned, you know, the practicing of tithing and understood, first and best, giving, and understood the value of investing us and our time and our family and our resources into doing what God's, into God's community, and then changing through that, really the world. And we just want those of you who have never experienced this before to be a part of that. We want you to experience that and some of you haven't experienced it because of fear. Some of you haven't experienced it because of debt or whatever the reason, because you don't trust the church and you hear stories.

Speaker 1: 17:11

But here's what I want you to engage because I'm telling you. I'm telling you you will never meet a follower of Jesus who allowed their money to follow Jesus and his kingdom that regrets it. You'll never meet that person. So you don't have to be nervous about this. We don't want you to be. I don't want to be weird about this. This is just one more opportunity to follow Jesus, to cast nets, to mend nets, to go fishing.

Speaker 1: 17:38

We're going fishing and it all comes back to one simple idea and today, just for a few minutes, I want to introduce this simple idea and for some of you, this might totally be a review, for some of you who've heard this before, but maybe you sort of drifted, and I get that. For some of you, this may be a novel idea and the first time you've heard about it. And in the end, what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask you today to spend a week thinking about it, but not doing anything about it, just thinking about it. There's actually no real application for today's message other than a thought exercise, so you're not just waiting for some pitch. This isn't a pitch, this is vision. This is what's going on, and it all goes back to acknowledging and applying this one simple truth.

Speaker 1: 18:22

It starts, actually, with King David. King David said it first in the Old Testament, and then King Jesus came along and reiterated it later. And King David he made this statement or sort of exported this and teased out this truth during a prayer that he prayed that we're going to look at as part of his prayer in just a minute. But there's one statement from King David's prayer all those years ago that says it all, and here's what he said in this prayer to God. He said everything, everything in heaven and earth. He said God is yours. In other words, god, you own it all. We are just temporary managers, we are just simply temporary stewards of it. So here's the context of this prayer. It's kind of interesting.

Speaker 1: 19:09

So King David he's probably in his mid to late 50s and he's settled all the border disputes around the ancient kingdom of Israel, and so there was peace in the land and he decided that it was actually time for God Yahweh to have his own temple. As other pagan religions, they all had temples for their gods, and God, israel's God Yahweh, lived in a tent. It was called the tabernacle, and this had been since the time of Moses. And so David decides I'm going to build God a temple, a permanent structure. And so he goes to work.

Speaker 1: 19:41

But before he does this, a prophet came to see him. His name was actually Nathan. He said a couple of things. He said hey, king David, first of all, I think this is great, this is great. But here's the deal God's not asking for a building, like, because he's mobile, and God doesn't need a building because he's not tied to a piece of geography. But he appreciates the sentiment. But then he said but if you're going to do the temple thing, you actually can't build the temple because you're the warrior king Like. You have too much blood on your hands. Now you have a son named Solomon. He can build the temple, but you can't build it. And so then David took no as an answer.

Speaker 1: 20:20

But then he decided to go to work and collect all of the raw materials for this extraordinary structure that later his son, solomon, would build. That's why the first temple was actually called in Jerusalem was called Solomon's Temple. And so he begins to pull all of these materials together and he personally funds out of his own wealth the first round of materials. And then he funds out of his own wealth the first round of materials. And then he announces to all the influencers of the city of Jerusalem, all the influencers in the region, the military leaders, the city council, the wealthy families, the people who have pull government officials, all of these people, and he says to all of them hey, I want us to build this temple, god a temple, and it needs to be extraordinary, it needs to be magnificent.

Speaker 1: 21:05

And then the text tells us that when he made this announcement, get this. This is what it says. They gave willingly Because, as you read the story, they saw this opportunity to participate in something grand and glorious for their God and they didn't want to miss out. And then the influencers of the community began to give towards this project. And then what happened is then the common folk came along and they're like, well, we don't want to miss out on this, like we want to be able to participate. And these were the people who had very, very little extra.

Speaker 1: 21:40

The text says that when the common people, the poor people, saw their leaders giving and the people who had this stuff to give generously to this project. The text says that this the people rejoiced over the offerings, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord, and then King David was filled with joy. So there's this outpouring of generosity towards this project, in a way to honor God. And so, as this is happening, david is so overwhelmed by the generosity of the people and the generosity of the nation that he gathers all the leaders, he gathers as many people as he could to launch this project, to bring together all the resources necessary and the money to buy those resources, and then he prays this prayer. He prays this prayer and the chronicler records this prayer, and I want to read you part of this prayer. Why? Because it's so right on the nose in terms of the posture of anyone who trusts God and, especially in our generation, who follows Jesus. It just explains so clearly how we are to view our wealth, our income, our potential, our potential collectively as it relates to furthering God's kingdom in the world. And embedded in this prayer really is a posture, is the posture that I hope all of us will adopt during this season of our church.

Speaker 1: 23:04

Here's what David prays. I'm just gonna read it to you and then make a few comments. Are you with me. Okay, he says this yours, lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the majesty and the splendor. And the reason he says this? The reason he says this is because it all belongs to you. It all belongs to you. Anytime you see splendor and glory and greatness in a person, in nature, anywhere, it's all a manifestation of the greatness and the glory, of the splendor of God.

Speaker 1: 23:42

And then he says this yours Lord, and this just remember this this is coming from a king, this is coming from a king. This is so unusual for a king to say something like this even now Yours, lord, is the kingdom, yours is the kingdom. In other words, it's not even my kingdom. I mean, I'm the king, but I'm actually smart enough to know it's not my kingdom, because everything belongs to you. Yours, lord, is the kingdom and you are exalted as head over all. I might wear the crown, but we are not confused. We know who is the head of this nation. It's your kingdom, not mine.

Speaker 1: 24:20

And then listen to this. This is so powerful. He says wealth and honor. You know position and recognition. We know that they come from you. You are the ruler of all things.

Speaker 1: 24:35

In other words, david says look, I'm not confused. I have what I have because you gave it to me for a time. All of this is true of me. I'm going to tell you. All of this is true of me and it's true of you as well. All of us who have a little bit of extra is because God allowed us to actually manage the extra, whether it's position, influence stuff, money.

Speaker 1: 25:01

If we don't live hand to mouth, it came from God and, yes, I'll tell you, I'm not ignoring the facts. This is so important. I'm not ignoring the fact that you worked really hard. You worked really hard and you took advantage of those opportunities that came your way, and your instinct was to say thank you, god for that opportunity that came my way. But then you're so smart, you're so smart, you leveraged it, you took advantage of it, you worked really hard, god honored your work and so, yes, you had a role to play.

Speaker 1: 25:29

But ultimately, we're actually smart enough to not be confused either, to know that we don't actually control the future and don't control all of the variables. Right, we took advantage of the opportunities and David saw what, unfortunately, many people in this culture miss that there is just too many variables to ever be arrogant about that that there are just too many things that are out of control for us to ever actually take credit, even for our hard work and taking advantage of the opportunities that come our way and the successes and our prosperity. Yes, they are the results of some things we did, but we're smart enough to know things like we didn't determine our health, we didn't determine where we were born, we didn't determine where we were born into, we didn't determine what was in us that gave us the drive to work our way out of that environment we were born into. There's just too many variables that there's never any need. There's never any room for arrogance.

Speaker 1: 26:26

But, to put it bluntly, arrogance is a reflection of ignorance. Arrogance says I'm too ignorant to understand that I don't control all these variables that have allowed me to be as successful as I am. And David, david is declaring this before a whole nation. I'm not confused. I know why I'm the king. I know why I have the position that I have. I know why I have the margin I do is to build this temple for God. And then he says this in your hands, in your hands are strength and power to exalt and to give strength to all. In other words again, he's acknowledging this publicly. I'm the king only because you chose me to be the king. I did not choose to be the king myself. Create this opportunity for myself.

Speaker 1: 27:14

There are just too many variables in life to take credit for a success. Our wealth, our extra margin, our extra opportunity and everything on heaven, including opportunity, wealth and strength and honor, come from you, god, and you alone. And so the correct posture is gratitude and humility, and you know how I know that's true. You know how you know that this is true, because when you meet a successful person, when you meet a successful person who is humble and quick to give credit to the people around them for their success and quick to get credit to God, you are moved by that, you're actually impressed by that, like you're actually inspired by that, because you know that with all their success, they're actually not confused.

Speaker 1: 28:10

And then this he tips his hat to yet another posture for us to live by. And, friends, I just want to promise to you that if you assume this posture, if I assume this posture, you will always be glad you did. And if you don't assume this posture, I'm telling you you will look back and you will wish you had. Okay, are you with me? Okay, so here's what he says but who am I? He says but who am I? And then he extends it to the whole nation and who are my people? But who am I? But who am I and who are my people? That we should be able to actually give this generously, to give generously as this. He asked this generously, to give generously as this.

Speaker 1: 29:03

He asked the question that every wealthy, honest person asks along the way why me and not them? Why is their life like that and not mine? And because we live in a world where we know what's happening globally and economically. We've all had that thought and you've asked that question in your own way. You look at what's happening in the world, or maybe you've gone on a global trip, or you've gone into another space, or maybe even just around your community or people you've met with. And you've met people who just don't have the opportunities we have or the wealth that we have. And again, in many cases they are hand to mouth. But have you noticed, they have so much joy. But at the same time, you can't help but wonder and this is an honest question why me? Who am I? Who are we?

Speaker 1: 29:51

And again, this was a culture where most people literally had to live hand to mouth, like when Jesus said say this daily prayer. And he says give us this day our daily bread. And he says give us this day our daily bread. That was a literal prayer, because food didn't keep. You had, like wine and grain right. Everything else spoiled and so daily bread meant daily bread, and if you ran out of grain or if there was a famine, or if the harvest didn't come in, entire villages would starve in, or if the harvest didn't come in, entire villages would starve.

Speaker 1: 30:19

And David is saying like we actually have extra, we have some margin. But why us? Why me? Who am I, who are my people that could do this? Because he's saying what you all are doing, what you're doing to support this initiative, many people couldn't. Many people couldn't because they don't have the extra. And you've, man, god, you have honored us, you've honored us to be those people to do this. You've equipped us and empowered us and given this to us to be able to do this.

Speaker 1: 30:57

He says who are we, who am I, that God would choose us? Why this opportunity? Because everything belongs to you and everything comes from you. Friends, this is the posture to live with. This is the posture you will never regret. You know what else this does? This posture actually creates this opportunity to keep our hands open for God to give and to take. It's just a transaction. We're just stewards and managers of this. Wow, you gave me this. I'm going to keep my hands open because this is where you want this to go. This is what you want us to do.

Speaker 1: 31:31

And then David continues. He says all this abundance, all this extra, all this margin, all this beyond our daily bread and beyond our daily needs, all this abundance that we have provided for this building you a temple for your holy name comes from your hand and all of it belongs to you. Again, he's saying we're not confused, we're actually not giving you anything. We're simply just giving back to you ultimately, because it came from you. He's recognizing this, and when this idea actually goes from your head to your heart, it's a game changer. I am telling you it's a game changer not just in terms of your money and your possessions. This is a game changer in terms of your entire life and I can attest to that. I have seen it play out in my own life. I have seen it play out in many other people's lives.

Speaker 1: 32:23

Now, to be clear, we are not building a temple. That's the good news. This is not a capital campaign. That's also the good news. This is actually way, way broader than that. We are positioning ourselves to maximize our ability to be conduits through which Jesus continues to build his church, because he promised he's going to do it anyway, whether you're on board or not. But here's the deal Get this. Are you with me? We have actually been invited. We've actually been invited to participate, to raise our hands, so other people get to raise their hands Like. We're the builders, we're the net casters, we're the menders right To enlarge his kingdom, to expand his reign, his rule in the hearts of men and women and students and teenagers and seniors, every kind of person. This is what we've been doing for the last 34 years.

Speaker 1: 33:17

But to maximize our collective impact, we have to maximize our personal generosity. We can't think like owners who donate to a church, and if that's been your mindset, I want to challenge you, at least in the next few weeks, as we talk about expanding this vision. I want to challenge you to begin to think differently. You are not an owner who just has some money, who has some wealth, occasionally or systematically. You know you're going to donate to the church. That's not an all in mentality. That's not all in mentality. We have got to embrace the mindset that was actually introduced in the Old Testament and then Jesus reiterated it in the New Testament that we are simply managers and stewards of everything and everything belongs to God and, for whatever reason, he's allowed us to have a little bit of extra for the benefit of his kingdom, and that we are to adopt the posture of manager. And when you do that, when I do that, two things are gonna happen. And I'll wrap it up with this.

Speaker 1: 34:18

Here's two promises when this becomes the framework or the mindset that you have. Number one, you will view everything, everything that you own and who you are not just cash and percentage, but you will view everything you own as a potential tool to further the agenda of your king. And I mean everything like your kitchen, your kitchen table, your dining room, your extra bedroom, your backyard, your extra car, a vacation home, whatever it is, you'll begin to see wait a minute, this isn't about giving money to the church. This is about everything that I own. Everything I am as a human, as a person, is a potential tool to maximize God's influence in the world and expand the kingdom of God.

Speaker 1: 35:09

I know, even in my own house, and many of you have experienced I know this because hundreds of you have opened up your homes to small groups or you've leveraged your house. You've leveraged your yard, your extra bedroom, your car for someone in need. I mean, the point is, many of us understand this. This isn't just about cash. It's about it isn't just about money. It's everything actually belongs to God. I know in my own family, michelle and I are having all kinds of these discussions because as we begin to send kids out in life and they kind of age into that space, we got extra rooms coming up in the future and so we're already saying, like that's a tool. What does that mean, god? What are you going to be inviting us into? Like, how do we get to leverage that space and that tool, maybe potentially for other kids to come in that don't have a place to come in? You know it means different things for all of us, but we begin to see it all as a tool to expand his kingdom and that becomes a game changer.

Speaker 1: 35:59

You know what else happens and I'm not being crucial of anyone in particular. You gotta figure this out for yourselves but you're gonna collect fewer collectibles. That's just what happens. You're gonna collect fewer. You're gonna begin to liquidate things that aren't doing anybody any good. Not because it's a sin or a bad to have stuff 100%. I'm just telling you that when this begins to change you and you start to adopt this mindset, you'll see all of that differently and you'll never go back and you'll never regret it. Number two number two you'll give first and adjust your lifestyle accordingly and this isn't new, you know you give first, you save second, you live on the rest. Or, like you know, you get.

Speaker 1: 36:40

Some of you guys did this with kids. You know you had little jars and this is what you did, or you've done it yourself. You give first, you fund God's kingdom, you save second, you fund your own kingdom and then you live on the rest. And when you think in terms, when you adopt this mindset, like I'm not an owner, I'm a manager, you will adopt first and best mindset rather than a leftover and last and you know this and you know this most Americans, we are leftover and last. Don't be most Americans.

Speaker 1: 37:11

Leftover and last means I financed my kingdom. I've got everything I want. They need some money. So what can I afford to give? Or, like I financed my kingdom, I got all the food I need. Oh wait, there's food that's expired in my pantry. Let me give that away because I don't want to eat it.

Speaker 1: 37:28

Leftover and last. And so what can I afford to give? This isn't just about what you can afford to give. You need to just erase that mindset. That's not what we're talking about. This is actually how most people think, but that's not how stewards think. That's how managers of God's wealth and margin of money think. They think differently than that. And here I know this. I get this because I'm living in it too.

Speaker 1: 37:52

Friends, here's why this is so hard for this, and it's been so ingrained, as we are inclined to equate wealth and income and stuff with our own personal value. Look at how you arrived Like am I valuable enough? This is what's showing value to us. Or we tend to conflate or get mixed up about the fact that what we have or what we drive, or where we live, or how much money we have in the bank or when we can retire. We have a tendency to actually equate that with our identity. Are you with me?

Speaker 1: 38:29

So here's the challenge when you decide to give first, what happens is it actually begins to feel like you're losing control of your money and control of anything. Whatever you equate life with, savings or things or grades where you go to school, professional success, whatever it is, whatever you equate life with, you will cling to it as if your life depends on it. And this, friends, is why we cling to our stuff. This is why the whole idea of pre-deciding to actually give feels like I'm out of control because I'm losing my life. It's why we worry, it's why we're confused, and Jesus would like to un-confuse us.

Speaker 1: 39:18

You will find it easier, you'll find it easier to surrender your entire life to your King when you acknowledge and begin to live as if you are a manager, not an owner, when you take off the owner hat, like King David did, and say I'm not confused, I am the king. I didn't make myself king, I got all this extra opportunity and that all came from you. I am just managing it for a time, but understand. Just managing it for a time, but understand. We cannot surrender to our actual king until we dethrone the imposter king, and Jesus knew that. Our attitude and our approach to wealth and wealth management and wealth accumulation was going to be actually he knew this the number one he talked about this so much the number one competitor with who rules and who reigns in our life. And I'm just telling you, I'm telling you this show me a man who has dealt with this and actually surrendered all of this to King Jesus, and I will show you a man who will never go back to living the other way, who has more peace and prosperity, and probably more prosperity indeed, because he's redefined what prosperity really is.

Speaker 1: 40:25

Now, when I was sharing this with my team earlier, they said I don't think you should say man, like, say people, because everyone deals with it. It's men and women, right. And I said well, it's actually really intentional. And here's the deal Ladies, you struggle with this too. But let me just talk to the guys, because I am one and I don't get women as much. I get this about women. You are naturally more of a nurturer than we are. You're probably more naturally generous than we are. This is so tough for us guys. So, men, yes, I'm saying it to you Show me a man who has dealt with this and surrendered all of this to King Jesus. And I'm telling you, men. I will show you a man who will never go back to living the other way, who has found more peace and more prosperity.

Speaker 1: 41:11

So this week, here's your assignment. Here's it. I just want you to practice being managers. I want you to actually not just practice thinking, just thinking about being a manager. What would I do in this situation if I really thought about myself as a manager versus an owner? Just thinking about that. What would I do in this situation if I really thought about myself as a manager versus an owner? Just thinking about that. What would I do in this situation as you face different conflicts and tensions as it relates to your things, your resources as a human, your resources, you know, financially planning, whatever it might be. What's in your house already? What do you have? What's not in your house yet? What would it look like if you really believed and embraced the idea that everything in heaven and earth is his? What would it look like? What would that change? What kind of attention does it actually create in you? And I want you to pay attention to the tension, and we're going to pick it right back up there next week.

Speaker 1: 42:02

Now I want to tell you all this, just to be straight for this. I'm going to unpack big vision over these next couple weeks. Pastor Ken's going to come in a couple weeks and he's going to give you all kinds of miracle stories about groups that went all in and the story behind this faith community. And at the end of this convo in a couple weeks there's going to be a commitment card the next three to five weeks. You're going to have the next three to five weeks or so to think about and to pray about. What does it look like for me to participate, to go in and mending and casting and fishing, to mend the nets, to cast bigger nets and watch Jesus fill the nets and to be ready to fill the nets.

Speaker 1: 42:40

And when I say pray, it means I don't want you to just go have a conversation and be like what can we afford to do? What is he asking us to do? That's the wrong question. I want you to ask the question and I want you to begin to pray individually and if you're a married couple or if you're engaged or you have a significant other, I want you to pray, be praying together, and I know it's a scary prayer and I've prayed it many, many times and I've never regretted it. Pray Father, how do you want me, how do you want us, how do you want our family and our kids to participate in this initiative and then, in about three to five weeks, we're gonna turn it into a commitment.

Speaker 1: 43:19

You're like well, like some of you are like well, like what about? Like the people who are brand new to this place right now? Like, welcome to church today, I guess, whoa, like what about the unchurched people who aren't a follower of Jesus yet or don't have the love of the Lord yet? They believe in some of this stuff. They're checking out maybe even your, you know, atheist, agnostic, your Buddhist, whatever? Yeah, here's the deal. You're why we exist, that's why we create these spaces, that's why we do what we do, and we're going to continue to keep that in mind as we have this conversation. But that's why we're doing this.

Speaker 1: 43:52

In fact, if you're not a follower of Jesus, if you're not a Christian, you're probably sitting here going like, oh there they go again. The church is raising money, right, and so, as you stick around, I'm telling you, you will understand. We are not raising money for us, and I know this may sound condescending. We're raising money because we care about you, and you may think we're crazy, but we really believe this. We believe that following Jesus will make you better at life and it will make your life better. And I'm telling you, friends, I'm telling you I cannot wait to go fishing with all of you. Would you stand as we respond in worship?