Speaker 1: 0:15

All right, you can have a seat. Hey, it's good to be with you. Just a couple announcements, just as we kind of get into today. Welcome to June. It's June 1st For those of you who are seniors. See a couple of you guys in the room. You guys are graduating this week. Congratulations on finishing yeah, finishing the easiest part of your life. Cheers, yeah, finishing the easiest part of your life. Cheers, yeah. Today.

Speaker 1: 0:41

If you haven't heard, it looks like a handful of you heard, because you're coming next service, but we have our annual church meeting at 1245. If you want to come be a part of that, it's also members. If you're not a member, you're also welcome here Tomorrow. There's a ton of people who have been interested and just want to get in community, which is so important. We are kicking off our community life tomorrow. It's not too late to hop in the little thing in front of you in the chair. You can scan one of those, or there's a spot out in the lobby, so don't want you to miss out on that. Even if you can't come over the summer. To all of them, I want to encourage you to get into community. And then this is also my gentle, friendly reminder we are only two weeks away and we are not having service. We are going to serve the community. We're doing our annual serve day, so if you want to sign up to be a part of that, we are going to unleash compassion. We're trying to see 500 of us everyone, kids we have stuff for everyone to participate in that you would just donate the time that you typically would donate to a Sunday morning to going and serving collectively as a group. We can do that together and just a really fun way to get to know other people in the room and in this space. So that's June 15th. We're not going to be here. Please don't get mad at me when you show up here and you're like I forgot. So set a reminder on your phone, do whatever you need to do. Technology is great. I will continue to remind you shamelessly so that way I don't get angry emails, sweet.

Speaker 1: 2:07

So we're in the home stretch in this series today and, if you have no idea, if you don't have any idea, if you're just joining us actually for the first time today, I'm glad you're here, but this has been a new season, not just a new series, but a new season of generosity. We've been talking about generosity and talking about this all-in initiative and really what it's all about. And what we've been doing is we've been exploring what it looks like to maximize our generosity, both individually and collectively as a group, so that we can have a wider impact in this area. And we've actually been entrusted with a lot for a long time. Last week you guys got to hear from our founding pastor, pastor Ken, and just what we've been entrusted with over time and the steps that we're taking, how people went all in, and what we want to do is we want to be great stewards of what we've been entrusted with. And, if you haven't been with us, we've been taking a pretty in-depth look at the difference between cultural generosity and New Testament generosity, which they're vast and I don't have time to recap it all in this moment, but here's what I say you all are here, I'm here, we all are here because a group of people different groups of people over the last three decades decided to go all in, just as this opportunity that we have. And we have been asked. We have actually been called to be fishers of men, not just keepers of the aquarium, and I've said this many times before already in the series what do fishermen do? Fishermen are constantly mending nets and fixing those, and then they're casting nets and wider nets and ultimately we get to see that Jesus fills the nets. It's just our job to mend and to cast and to cast wider nets. We've done that over the years and we've been using these three words to kind of exemplify what we're talking about.

Speaker 1: 4:01

This first one is transformation. We have been focused for decades now on creating excellent spaces for transformation, for people to experience a transformative moment. Acts 15, 19 talks about that. We don't want to get anything in the way from people experiencing the love of Christ in an encounter with Jesus, and that includes even just our spaces. We want to have these excellent outward facing spaces in all of this area, and so we get to do mending when it comes to transformation, and there's upkeep and there's fixes and things that we need to do. The other word is expansion that we want to always be thinking about expansion. One of those things for expansion is expanding our transformation spaces. Here's a quick little sneak when we first designed this building back in 2016, it was designed to have. Actually, these walls are temporary, they go down and it's like mezzanine seating up there so we can have greater spaces for greater impact for the community and these spaces of transformation. We want to expand that and push our vision out, cast our nets wider.

Speaker 1: 5:03

The third word is innovation. We have got to be focused on innovation as culture shifts and people shift, as we cast wider nets. I've shown you guys a couple times we're going to get neighbors, most likely in the next couple years. You can see this picture right here. This is where we're going to get neighbors most likely in the next couple of years. You can see this picture right here. This is where we're at. It's like, if you're facing this way, this is like Cowtown. Over here there's thousands of people that are going to be coming into this area and so we want to be innovative and be prepared for that, as Jesus fills those nets. The other thing is is I've talked to you guys about this next generation and here's a really sloppy idea of a drawing of a building on our property over by, like the gate, if we add a facility, that's a bridge literally to help people, because we believe whoever gets the kids wins the future, and we have a huge, huge vision for this next generation, investing into them and creating a space all over the county. That literally would become a pillar where people could begin to take steps of experiencing a transformative God through these opportunities that we have.

Speaker 1: 6:09

So today we're just going to hop right in and I'm going to ask you this. This is a fun little thing. I just want you to notate this in your head which of these words up here describes your current relationship with money? Stressed, jealous, content, fearful, powerless, anxious, proud, peaceful, depressed, vulnerable, optimistic, disciplined, unfocused, insecure, confident, thankful. Now ask yourself, as you're looking at that is something standing out to you. Why did you choose that word? So just notate that.

Speaker 1: 6:48

So today I want to talk to you about what I think is the most relevant question. That's actually related to generosity. It's the most relevant meaning. It's the thing that most of us wrestle with the most when it comes to this idea of our generosity, because as we open up the pages of Scripture and we learn about New Testament generosity, it's clear that it's a better way to live, it's actually the right way to live and, if you're a follower of Jesus, that that's actually how we reflect God the most. But here's the question that I want to wrestle with today, because I think it's the most relevant question. It's this. Do I have enough, right? Do I have enough? Do I have enough so that I can actually be generous? Because the thing that most of us wrestle with all the time some of you have been thinking, some of you guys have been processing and, like, I think I want to be. I actually want to be a more generous person. Maybe some of you have been really considering and I hope all of you have been considering this how you can be generous towards this, all in initiative.

Speaker 1: 7:55

And here's the thing you, at the same time, I get this you are dealing with over the last few years, the amount of economic uncertainty, inflation, cost of living and how it's going up. And I just want to tell you look it, I live in the same world. You do Like I'm here and many of us our current obligations. You have kids, you have kids in college, maybe you're in retirement and you're on a fixed income. You have other people that you're responsible for. You're responsible for many assets that you're paying for regularly on a basis, and a bunch of us we have obligations and many of us actually have debt. We have debt and we've made past decisions, in some cases, that we wish we hadn't made, that we wish we could have made different decisions.

Speaker 1: 8:38

And as you consider these past decisions and you consider your current priorities, your current obligations, as you think about what your hopes and your dreams are for the future, the reality is, the question that you're wondering is do I have enough? Like, do I have enough to actually participate in this? Do I have enough to live and then give more generously? And I think that this is the primary obstacle that most of us have when it comes to being generous. And there's other obstacles. I think many of them sometimes can be excuses or just some sort of laziness, and maybe you've heard this before, maybe you've even said this, and don't be offended because I've said these things too.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Sometimes you think, when it comes to giving to an organization or towards the church, you think is my money even gonna make a difference? Like, do they even need my money? You walk into this place and you look around at all the people here and you're like do they even need my money? They probably don't even need my money, right? And some of us think, or we see organizations and we go like, I bet there's a whole bunch of administration fees right here. I bet that there's people that are working here and they're just making a whole lot of money, or something's going on here, or what's the financial accountability of these places? And here's what I would say to all. Those are excellent questions. These are the questions that people ask. But good organizations, healthy organizations that are doing good work, have answers to all of those. And the truth is, if you don't believe in a certain organization because you think there's questions, then find another one.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Generosity is not about finding a good cause and finding a good organization. There's plenty of those out there, but these are the things current obligations, kids, assets, debt that actually trigger us, this idea of worry around actually having enough, which is going to be traced to these three things beneath this question of enough, which is fear, appetites and ego. Fear, appetites and ego. And as you think about your current financial picture, as you think about your ability to be generous, you think about these three factors, all these factors. Right here, you think of all the objections, all of the questions, the whatabouts, the what-ifs. These can all be categorized in these three different things. Because here's the deal At the heart of fear is actually not having enough.

Speaker 1: 11:08

Not having enough, will I have enough for me? Will I have enough for tomorrow? Will I have enough for my future? I don't know if I'm going to have enough, and so we have a hard time giving because I'm afraid I'm not going to have enough for my future. I don't know if I'm going to have enough, and so we have a hard time giving because I'm afraid I'm not going to have enough. And if I give too much away now, I can't get it back. Or you don't want to. You know, go to the organization and be like hey, remember that money I gave you, can I get that back? Right, that's always kind of an awkward thing to do. So beneath this question of fear is this question of am I going to have enough? And the truth is that you know this. Like, if you have enough, whatever that is, and you got to a place where you felt like you had enough, you'd be way more generous, wouldn't you? But what is enough and how much is that? And how do I get this split to that place? Because here's the deal.

Speaker 1: 11:53

Those are all connected to appetites and we all have appetites and there's things that we want to purchase, that we want to get and that we want to obtain, because our appetite is all about happy, not being happy. I need to feed my appetite because I'm not being happy. See, fear is around not having enough, appetite is around not being happy enough, and so if I get this thing, if I accumulate this certain thing, I'll be happier. I think that maybe this will make me more satisfied. And the truth is that these appetites, they are never fully and finally satisfied. They drive us in our life. And then, lastly, we have ego. This isn't about not having enough. This isn't about being happy enough. This is about I'm not fulfilled enough. Trying to prove something, I'm trying to accumulate so I can feel a certain way about myself, I can feel good enough about myself.

Speaker 1: 12:51

And here's the problem when it comes to these obstacles, when these obstacles, we never really end up getting to this place where I'm like wow, I think I have enough right. And the reason and this is real talk today, none of us want enough. Do we Like? None of us want enough. Because what do we want More? We always want more. We don't want enough. Like, who wants enough? Like you tell your kids whoa, whoa, whoa, you got enough right. And what do they say? They're like no, no, no, I don't want enough, I want more. Right, and that's all of us. We never grow out of wanting more. And the truth is is that there's these obstacles. They actually have a relationship with more. Because fear, we feel like we need more. We need more to feel safe. So I'm prepared for my future, our appetites.

Speaker 1: 13:49

This is an easy one. We just want more, like we want more. And maybe you're here today and I'm not trying to offend you Maybe you deserve more than you have received. But part of the reason that we deal with this is anytime you feed the things that you need or want or that you deserve. Here's the ego. One Like ego is the easy one. Want or that you deserve. Here's the ego. One Like ego is the easy one. This is also hard. It's deserve Like we think we deserve more. Here's the thing you want more. You feel like you deserve more. You actually feed this and it grows and it grows this desire for more. And the more you have, the more you feel you need, and the more you need, the more you feel you want and you feel like you're even more than that, and then it's like I deserve this, and that's why these challenges, these dynamics that we can experience in our lives, this is why it can have so much power over us when it's all about what I need or I want or I deserve.

Speaker 1: 14:49

And this is a climate. This is a climate that it is almost impossible for generosity to exist within, impossible for generosity not just to live, but to even grow in this context. So what's the antidote to this? Well, this is a question I want to deal with today. What is enough? And how do I know when I have enough? Is it even possible to find that? Is it possible to resist this pull? Because most of us deal with this?

Speaker 1: 15:18

And Paul, the Apostle Paul, he actually writes this letter to a guy named Timothy who's dealing with leading this group of young Jesus followers, and he actually addresses this. So if you're with me today, you can hop into 1 Timothy, we're going to sit there for a minute. He addresses this idea of wealth from very different terms, and so here's the context. Paul is writing to Timothy because there's this dynamic that's taking place where these religious leaders they're already there, specifically Jewish religious leaders and these religious leaders were exploiting their position for financial gain. They were saying, hey, we're supposed to trust God for everything, but they were themselves trusting in financial gain and trying to leverage the system and leverage their moral authority for their own financial gain, to gain wealth for themselves. So the Apostle Paul, he speaks to this idea and he says, hey, hey, look, you think these people are godly. So he takes kind of a shot at them right here, without fully insulting them.

Speaker 1: 16:21

He's saying to everybody listen, you're after this great wealth, you're after this great wealth, but true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth, of great worth. Now some of you look at this and we go like true godliness and we're like, well, that's never going to be me, like this isn't for me. But here's the thing this isn't about being like super spiritual, this isn't about people having everything together and if you think about it, godliness is just representing the things of God. So if you really want to represent the things of God, then it isn't about achieving some level of spirituality. This is just simply like your life reflecting God by the way that you live and being content, and that is of great value to you and the world around you.

Speaker 1: 17:13

Now, this word contentment, right here, this is a word I want to focus on for just a second. It's a really interesting one. It only appears twice in the entire New Testament as it's written. It was a common cultural word among the Greeks at the time, but it was not a common biblical word. The definition would be like the perfect condition, or life being a perfect condition, where you have no need for aid or support at all. And so some of you are thinking like, yes, if my life was in perfect condition, I would be more generous. Right, if I was in a place where I didn't need or I didn't want anything, I didn't have to deal and feed my appetite and my fear and my ego. If I didn't have to deal with constant feelings of need more and want more and deserve more, I would be more generous. But that's not the kind of generosity he's talking about. That's not the kind of contentment he's talking about. It's actually a little bit of the opposite of that.

Speaker 1: 18:18

If we keep reading, he says after all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world and we can't take anything with us when we leave. He's basically thinking you think riches, you think money that the religious leaders are trying to amass, that they're actually putting their hope into and their trust and then trying to get this to have some sort of experience of real life. That's not what real life is about. And here's how you know, because when you came into the world and when you leave this world, you leave with the same amount Nothing. You were an image bearer. Nothing, you were an image bearer. You were born to represent the God who created you. And so if wealth, if stuff, is the source of your contentment, your fulfillment, you're mistaken, because he sends you into this world with nothing and you're going to leave with nothing.

Speaker 1: 19:05

And then so he says this so if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. And at this point the air goes out the room Ugh, good talk, thanks, paul. He's basically saying I mean, this is wild for us to grasp, right, we're just not. We're not made this way. He's saying if your basic needs are met, you should be content, meaning it's a choice. Like you think about it. If your whole goal, if your only worries, was about having enough food and enough clothes to clothe you and to clothe your family, I mean, isn't it true? You could be wildly generous, I mean extraordinarily generous. But we associate contentment with a feeling. It's not a decision. And Paul says whoa, whoa, whoa. Let us choose to be content.

Speaker 1: 20:05

But that's not how we think about contentment. We think contentment in terms of how we feel and when we don't feel content, when we don't feel like we have enough In fact, we don't think that we have enough. Here's what we do. We worry, we worry like crazy. And we don't worry just about food and clothes At least most of us don't, you know this. We do worry about, like, really understandable things, and again, I told you, I live in the same world you do. I'm experiencing the same thing. We have understandable reasons to worry. I mean, look, I pumped gas the other day. I don't even want to tell you about it. It was not a good experience, right? Healthcare you know that. The stock market, pick your thing. Mortgage rates, aging vehicles, college tuition we're headed into that realm ourselves. And here's the thing rates, aging vehicles, college tuition we're headed into that realm ourselves.

Speaker 1: 20:59

And here's the thing they cause us to do one of two things. You'd say like yeah, well, because of that, I need to save up. Or you'd say no, no, no, no, because of that, I need to spend. I need to spend now, before prices go up. I need to get it while it's good, right.

Speaker 1: 21:14

And so the worry leads us in one of two different directions. That either leads us to save or to spend. But here's the problem Neither one of them actually resolves the obstacles, the fear, the appetite, the ego that ultimately leads us towards worry. And here's why Because no matter how much you save, ultimately what happens is you have this big egg nest and you have a bunch of savings. And then what happens is you have this big egg nest and you have a bunch of savings, and then what happens is you hit a crisis, right, and then we're all going to have this happen, and then the truth is is that no amount of money can fix it. So what does that lead us to? More worry? Right, it's just this cycle over and over, and our worries increase.

Speaker 1: 21:54

And the reason that you trust it in your savings, you trusted in this money, you trusted in trying to get this piece of security, and when you ran into that crisis that you ran into, it wasn't enough to solve the problem in the crisis or the situation that you were in. In fact, it actually did little to nothing to resolve the worry that you were experiencing and, if anything, you realized that you were powerless and it increased your worry and when you went, looking somewhere else, to be dependent on something else to deal with your crisis, to deal with that issue in your life, and then it just went back into worry. And if you spend, here's what you do. When you spend what happens is we get into more debt, right, and then, when we experience more debt, what this does is it creates a space where, like I have no margin I'm not experiencing any margin and we get into this debt because we just don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. Like I don't know what tomorrow is going to be like, and so it's going to be cheaper. And so then we get ourselves in a place where now I don't have any margin in our lives. Then we get ourselves in place where now I don't have any margin in our lives, and that increases the stress and the worries in our lives and that makes our worry even greater. And here's why, because beneath our fear, our appetites, our ego, is this very real need. Like I don't want you to just think about money, like I don't really care. I'm just gonna be honest with you, like it's between you and the Lord, about how generous you are.

Speaker 1: 23:19

But my heart today, my heart today, is that you deal with the thing that's at the root of the real worries in the life that you have, and some of you are seeing it up here on the screen right now, because it's stealing joy from your life. And the truth is, it's stealing joy from your life, and the truth is, the truth is, is that beneath fear is actually this issue of security. It's this issue of security, and beneath appetites is this quest for satisfaction, and beneath our ego is this quest for significance, for significance, and all of us, significance for significance, and all of us, all of us today, are in a boat where we're either on a quest to gain greater security in our lives, we're on a quest to gain greater satisfaction in some area of our life, we're trying to find, at some level, this deeper level, a significance to our life, and maybe for some of you, it's a combination of all three or two. But my bet is. My bet is right now, if you thought about it long enough, one of these three things you could probably rank them in order. One of these things are at the heart. They lie beneath the thing that you're actually worried about, like factors like us, keep us from like this, keep us from being content, and then they lead us on this quest for more stuff, for more, more savings, more spending, more accumulation. And this is why people in that day and people in this day do whatever they can, just like the religious leaders. They were not immune to this in this time. This is why they do whatever they can to just like there were religious leaders. They were not immune to this in this time. This is why they do whatever they can to generate more wealth, and it's because they've embraced this fundamental idea that more money equals less worry. Come on, you wouldn't actually say this, like you wouldn't tell your friends this.

Speaker 1: 25:14

This is how some of us live. We think if we could just get more, like if I just had more money, more wealth, I'd have less worry in my life. And some of you have lived long enough. Some of you have earned money, enough wealth, to know that more money does not equal less worry. In fact, more money oftentimes comes with more worry, less worry. In fact, more money oftentimes comes with more worry, like more stuff to deal with, more things that can break, more things to deal with, be responsible for. More and more wealth comes with wondering who my friends really are. Do they just want something from you or they really want to be friends with you and here's the thing, this is the rat race. Really want to be friends with you? And here's the thing, this is the rat race right here. This is the rat race.

Speaker 1: 26:01

We get in because we put our trust and our hope in money and our hope and trust in wealth, and then we either save or we spend and we deal with our worries and at the bedrock, at the heart of our fear and our appetite and our ego that we have in our life, it always brings this cycle back to worry. And actually the Apostle Paul he says that. But people who are rich, people who are rich, here's what happens. They fall into temptation and they're trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. And some of you are thinking right now well, like, make me rich and see if I can plunge into destruction. I would like to try to. I would like to deal, see if I can deal with ruin and destruction in my life. We get in a mindset right that more money decreases my worry and makes me feel more secure and satisfied and significant. All the while, all we really want is more and more is never enough and at the end, it's actually harmful to us. And now this all what Paul's writing here is all the context for a verse that many of you have actually heard before.

Speaker 1: 27:16

He continues on and says for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and some people craving money have wondered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. See, money is not the problem. We miss this word right here the love of it. Why? Why is it not the problem? It's how you utilize the money and wealth to try to get things. That money and wealth were never intended to add in your life. It was never meant to be your security, it was never meant to be the thing that actually satisfied you or made you feel significant. So Paul says here's what I want you to. So Paul says here's what I want you to do. He says here's what I want you to do. I want you to teach those who are rich in this world and some of us are relieved in this moment as we're reading, right, you're thinking okay, great, this isn't for me, I am not rich, right? I just want you to know.

Speaker 1: 28:12

Nobody actually thinks they're rich. As a matter of fact, several years ago you can go look this up, jpmorgan Chase they surveyed rich people and they started with people with a net worth of $5 million and they asked them if they were rich. And they said no. And so they said, okay, well, how much do you need to be rich? And they said $10 million. So they went to the people with $10 million and they said, hey, are you rich? And they said no. They said, okay, really Well, how much do you need to be rich? And they said $25 million.

Speaker 1: 28:43

So then they went to the people with $25 million net worth and they said, like, are you rich? And they said, no, we're not rich. Well, how much do you need to be rich? $50 million. You see where this is going $50 million. No, we're not rich. And they said $100 million. And so they went to the people with $100 million net worth and they said are you rich? And they said, yeah, we're rich, we're like really rich, like we're real rich. So, until you get to $100 million, this is not going away, like this feeling that you have.

Speaker 1: 29:16

And here's the thing all of us we don't realize it, but you're actually rich. Come on, let's just talk about it, right? You don't realize this, do you know and you've probably heard this before do you know that if you make $65,000 a year, you're in the top 1% of income earners in the world? And you're like, well, there's a lot of writing, there's like a small print, right? No, if you make $32,000 a year, you're in the top 5% of income earners in the world. What percentage of income earners in the world do you have to be in order to feel rich? The truth is, you're never going to feel rich, but you are rich.

Speaker 1: 29:50

And he says because you're rich. This is what I want you to teach them. Teach those who are rich in this world to not be proud and to not trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives all that we need and I love this for our enjoyment. Like to enjoy it, not to be proud. What does that mean? Not to feel like you can do this on your own. Make sure they don't know that they can just do this on their own. To be independent, not to act like you don't have to trust anything or anyone else. That's what pride actually does to us. Pride says I don't need anything and I don't need anyone.

Speaker 1: 30:28

The apostles, paul says, their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all that we need for our enjoyment. So let me ask you a question. This is a question of the day who or what are you ultimately trusting in for what you need, for your security, to feel satisfied, to feel significant? See, here's the problem. Problem Wealth becomes a substitute and it actually begins to take the place of God in our lives. And I want you to see this. See how we handle our money. It's not just a financial decision. It's actually rooted as a faith decision, as a faith exercise. And the decision is, the choice is will you put your trust in the riches, will you put your trust in the wealth, or will you put your trust in the one who richly provides? So then Paul actually gives us an antidote. He says look, tell Northgate, tell the rich people, tell the rich people, tell them to use their money to do good, that they should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others, and by doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future, so that they may experience true life. Come on, friends, you were made for this. Actually, you were designed for this, for this. Are we going to go all in? That's really the question.

Speaker 1: 32:23

Pastor Ken kind of mentioned this real briefly last week. I'm going to just kind of tease it out a little bit more. I'm the lobby. We didn't even hand them to you. You can go to the next one Out in the lobby. I'm going to ask you to participate, to take. We're not giving it to you because you don't want to. I want you to be able to physically go and take one of these as you leave today. You can fill it out today or you can sit. I've asked you to pray about this actually the last five weeks, and many of you have done this in your small groups, in your community groups.

Speaker 1: 32:52

This isn't just a financial exercise, this is a faith exercise. And here's how this works. This all-in generosity initiative will last these two years and during this time, every donation to our organization that's Northgate will directly support our transformation, expansion and innovation efforts. So this is a spot where you put your name and all your information and no one else is going to get this. It gets folded up. You're going to put it in the boxes, but then here's what you get to do, and here's part of your exercise, and maybe for some of you guys, this is going to be a great exercise and here's the thing I want you to go through this faith exercise, and even if you never turn in the card, I promise that this exercise will benefit you. So what you're going to do is you're going to write what I, or we, would normally give in a year.

Speaker 1: 33:38

So, like a lot of you guys, just got your giving statements. You know what you're doing, you know how you're participating. Plus this is the ask my, our expanded annual generosity is part of this all-in initiative. So what am I ready to like? Actually lean in and figure out this plan and what it looks like, this New Testament generosity, and so what that equals is a number. And then what you're going to do is you're going to times it by two so you can see you're writing this down. You can see hey, for the next two years, this is what all in looks like for me.

Speaker 1: 34:09

And then there's a spot where we're asking you because we really feel like we need to do a one-time gift gifts from our stored resources, savings, stocks, property possessions, things that you can participate in as just a one-off, and we got a giving page that explains all of this stuff. It has opportunities to participate in all these different kinds of ways. And then, lastly, it's hey, I want to serve that Northgate, I want to go all in in that space. Or I'd like to be in a community group, in a small group of people that we walk through and do life with. Again, this is not a financial exercise, this is a faith exercise and I really want you to go through this faith exercise, even if even if you never turn the card in, but you should turn it in the card, but you should turn it in the garden, and I promise you this will benefit you one way or another. Some of you have already taken yours. You're more than welcome today, at some point in the boxes in the room, to turn that in. Some of you may be ready to turn it in today and then next week we're gonna have our commitment Sunday and then weeks after that you can participate. If you're with us online, you guys can participate. We wanna encourage you because you're participating with us. So may we go all in all in.

Speaker 1: 35:29

We're thankful for Courtney leading us in worship today. Courtney's a pastor. He leads a church in San Antonio, texas that he started, and it's been a blessing to have him here today. I'm actually. He loves this faith community and this church. He's here over the summer. He's going to be communicating in a couple of weeks when we're talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, and I know, would you just pray for this faith community, absolutely, as we walk into this next space.

Speaker 1: 35:59

I love it, thank you.

Speaker 2: 36:01

I'll be honored, father. Right now, we connect our hearts, declaring that everything that you have for us to pursue, everything that you have for us to build, father, as we're making a way in the middle of a place where people are just like, what in the world are you guys doing? We're standing on faith, we're standing on your word, god, that you will do more than enough inside of every home, inside of every family. So you have us, you got us, we're leaning on you, we're saying yes because we're all in, because your presence and your promise is here, and we lean on that fact. In Jesus' name, we pray. Somebody say amen, give God some praise in here. If you believe that, come on. Yes, lord, do me a favor, stand on your feet. Let's sing this song right here.