A Church That Prays Like Heaven

My family is here because somebody gave early on when celebration was just a thought that got us enough to be at Chisholm Trail with a couple hundred people. There was giving, there was generosity that led to that, and on the backside of that, God's blessed it, and it's multiplied over and over. But all of that was an investment. Somebody's generosity early on that God then used and multiplied. - We always try to challenge ourselves to be even more generous with the perspective of God can do so much more in the lives of so many more people and in the lives of our family when we trust to just give sometimes beyond our comfort zone than what we can do with that amount in our bank account. - And my goal this year is I am going to take everything small and big to God. I'm going to take it to the Lord first, and Tythe was part of that. I want to give my first because I trust him. I'm not going to give my last. - We were broke when dinner was like, "We should start tithing." And I was like, "Sure, why not?" I mean, at that point, you have no other option, right? And then you start to see God do things that are so obviously him. And then the term we've grown to understand is just understanding God's math

and the way God looks at resourcing and it's just different than the world. - Give God a try, especially in the area of giving. Don't miss out on the blessing because it's a sacrifice, but the blessing you received. You cannot imagine what that would be. - Anytime we're going to make a decision on giving, we're going to pray about it and then it's going to bring some fear. The greater the fear, the greater the excitement and what I anticipate that God can do with that. Maybe not just reciprocating back to us, but what's going to happen with that? He's in the business of multiplication, you know? - You're realizing like, this isn't my opportunity, my thing, whether it's your tithing or giving your time, whether it's money, it's your resources, your talents. It's not, this is not mine to hold on to. - When we first met, I told her, I said, "I tithe." If I didn't do anything else, this is something I have to do. But I did not learn until I got to celebration what that really looked like. It was a task. It was something that I had to check the box on, you know, every time. But being at celebration, it turned from, like Nate said, paying to giving a more of a generosity-type thing and then above and beyond that. - God is so much bigger than we are, but we get to partner with Him.

And our partnership looks like faith and obedience. And so when it comes to building this building, we just know it's going to take all of us to be obedient and all of us to activate our faith. 'Cause what we are going to see happen is gonna come to fruition when we all participate. It's gonna take all of us doing this together. What we do, we do together. - When it comes to building the new building and taking the next step for the Land or Liberty Hill campus, the for the future campaign, we have to look at this as a huge opportunity for the next generation, for the future of this campus. And people are down the road when they come to celebration right off of 183A, they're gonna see the fruits of all this giving, all this time and effort and everything that's going into it. So huge opportunity to start at the beginning and something that down the road, we can be proud of, our kids can be proud of this, that we had a small, tiny little piece to do with it. - Yeah, we can thank God for their testimonies and when we moved here 26 years ago, we didn't have any of those people doing any kind of thing because they weren't around and nor had we met them. And of course, this is how church is built. You just wanted a time and God brings people at the right time and helps you to just continue to go forward. And I hope that if you're here for the first time, you've had an opportunity to receive the brochure

that we've prepared for you. And for those that are new to our church every year, we talk about legacy and we talk about the impact that we are leaving after we're gone. In fact, it's not if you're going to be gone one day, you're going to be gone, you're going to go. And people are going to talk about you and they're going to, listen, they're going to really talk about you. Soon as the funeral's over, they're going to be talking about you and the question is, what are they going to be saying about you? Like, thank God he's gone. You can get married again, mom or something like that. And is that a word for somebody? Is that a prophetic word? (laughing) But the reality is for all of us, we have to be asking now, what is it that we want to leave behind, that when we are finished with this physical life on earth, More importantly, how do we want Christ to remember us? You've got a time. You've got a small window of time, the gift of time. And the Bible says, buy it up. Buy it. Redeem it. Don't let it go. Don't take it as a way to just waste it. It's to be redeemed for the glory of God the Bible says. Again, we're so honored and I would love for all of you

to just be praying about it. We'll talk about it today as to your part because if each of us just do our part, if each of us just do what the Bible says, bringing what God has given us to bring, it just causes growth for the church. It's stress-free growth. And when we moved here 26 years ago, we would never be a church and never have been a church, where we're begging people, pleading with people. It's just being obedient people. And I do believe an obedient church is a growing church. Can I hear an amen? And so with that, you'll hear and learn all about that we're doing. I also just want to welcome those that are watching from one of our campuses, maybe one of the 13 correctional facilities. It's an honor to be with you today. Mozambique, Italy as well, military basis. It's an honor, celebration church. Can we just say hello to everybody that is watching? (audience applauding) On that thought of legacy, and I'll be talking about that today and next week, I have one of my best friends coming to be with us, someone that has changed the world in many ways. He has brought such influence in leadership to the church world. We've known each other for almost 40 years,

and he's one of my closest friends, his family, my family. We do vacations together, but he's also someone that has mentored me in many ways, though he's just a couple of years older. Next week, Chris Hodges will be with us. Chris from the Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. When we first met 40 years ago, we were on staffs of a church, and then we would begin to go into our own direction, and Chris went to Birmingham, we came to Austin, and then we started an association of related churches. We've planted 1,250 churches together, and he's been with us before in the past, but this has been first time in a long time, so he'll be with us in all three services. The third service, just to let you know, will be a tighter service. We're gonna have to order some things so that Chris can get back home. He's gotta be back at an event on Sunday evening, but you will not wanna miss next week. I think he's one of the greatest leaders on the planet and one of the greatest communicators, and it's an honor to call him, my friend. He's gonna be talking about legacy as well. But when it comes to legacy, let me just give you a couple of ideas for even from the scriptures before we break it down. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy, chapter six,

when it comes to you and to me, who has been richly blessed, we are to be instructed to do good. In other words, Paul was writing to Timothy and he said to those who have been blessed, how many have said you've been blessed? Now let me just talk about that for a minute. Let me bring a practical expression. You know who's, well, we're all blessed, but you know who's really not blessed today? The cowboy fans, the long horn fans, the Aggie fans, and the Tiger fans. We are over four losers, we are. But we're the Oklahoma Boomer, sooner people. Yeah, yeah. Don't sit too close to them, they're hungover. And, but it was a tough football weekend for a lot of our church and, but we're still blessed. We were blessed because Christ died for all sinners, and He died for all of us. And to be honest with you, because you're in America, you're rich. Because you're in this country, you are rich. You may say, no, I'm not rich, oh, you, you're rich. Take a trip with me to Mozambique, and I will adjust your attitude really fast.

Come with me around the world, and we will quickly realize we're rich. And He says, because you have been richly blessed, instruct those to do good. Notice, to be rich in what? Good works. To be wealthy in good works. Your biggest bank account should be in what you're doing for other people. To be generous, ready to share. Storing up for themselves, the treasure of a good foundation. In other words, for the future. See, this is legacy. You're supposed to be thinking about your future. You're supposed to be thinking about what is in the times to come. Not only as it relates to you, you, multiplied. He doesn't want what He gave you. He wants what He gave you to be multiplied. When He told those that were given in that parable of the talents, one showed back up with the one talent, God says, "I don't want that back. You should have made it bigger. You should have increased it. You should have expanded it." That is a type and a picture of what Christ gave us to do when it came to the kingdom of God. And the Bible tells us that we as a people who are appreciative of what He's given us, knowing and recognizing that all things have come from Him. We are putting down a foundation, not just for ourselves, but for our families.

You understand something. You're building the future for your children. And I'm not talking about immaterial things. It's not about money. It's not about what they're going to inherit in the form of money, possessions, and things. It's the house of the car, the watch, whatever they want. How many have children already walking around your house going, "I want that? I'm going to get that. Can't wait till you die. I'm going to get that." And I've caught my kids having secret meetings about me. And I've already started selling things and giving it to the poor. But the Bible says you were laying, you're storing, you're building a good foundation in eternal places, in heavenly places. But it's not just in heaven, it's also on earth so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. But your living for what truly is life and the life is not in your money, it's not in your success, it's not in what you've accumulated in the form of the things of this earth. It's what have you done for eternity. Who has been eternally changed? Who has come to Christ when it's all said and done? What will you leave behind that can't lose its eternal value? Will there be anyone on earth who would say you changed their eternal destiny? That's riches. That's what real life is. That's where it all comes down to it. Another scripture the Bible tells is Ephesians chapter 2, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and it's not of yourself, it's the gift of God." You don't save yourself, how many are thankful that God saves us? He's the Savior, He did it, He performed all that was necessary for you to have eternal

life. You just simply have to accept it. You just have to simply by faith receive it. It's not the result of your works so that you would brag or boast or talk about how great you are. We are His workmanship. We are His workmanship. He came down and He worked in you by the power of the Holy Spirit. How many are thankful that we are still on the wheel of His workmanship? He's still working. He's not going to let up that which He has started to work in you. He will continue until the day of Christ Jesus. You may say, "Lord, when are you going to leave me alone?" And God goes, "Oh, you want me to leave you alone?" Whack! And He just works. And He'll give you place, He'll give you time, He'll give you faith. And then you begin to go, "Lord, I don't want you to stop working on me. I want your hand on me." And even while He's working, the Bible tells us in Jeremiah, when the potter was working on the vessel, on the wheel, on that piece of clay, that pot that would become a vessel, it says it was marred even in the hands of the maker. Even in the will of God, you're going to find that there are things in our lives that are not right. There are things that you're going to see that God says, even though you're in His hand, you're still marred. But thank God, He continues to make it over and over. But you were made, you are His workmanship. And then notice, He says, "created in Christ Jesus for what?" Good works.

That's the legacy. You were created to do good. You were made to do good. And you were not made to just do good for yourself. Though good works was not for your own personal benefit. There's no gift that God has given you that is only to be used for you, to be given to other people. Which God prepared beforehand so that we, in other words, God has given us a pathway of what it means to be a blessing and to change other people's lives. And He has also given us, and He's put within us by the depons of the Holy Spirit that way that we should walk. We're calling it kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom come. And this was the whole purpose of Christ. His whole reason for coming to the earth was to bring the kingdom of God into reality. The Bible says he appointed 70 in Luke chapter 10. He had 12. You can also say the concentric meanings of Jesus. He had three Peter, James and John, out of that he had, of course he had 12 Peter, James and John were part of that 12. And then he had another group, he had another layer, 70 people. And he sent them out in pairs. Notice he doesn't send them out alone. And he sends them out ahead of himself to the city that he's about to go to. The place that he's about to visit, he would send people ahead. Laurie and I do believe for many of you.

We were sent ahead of you. Half of our church, we were sent here to collect those from California, where he himself was going to come. See, that's what God does. He uses you to prepare people for the coming of the Lord. And then he'd says, I want you to go preach and I want you to deliver this good news, healing, look at verse nine, healing those who are sick. And of course bringing deliverance, bringing sight to those that are blind, bringing hearing to those that are deaf, restoring those that have been destroyed by life and by problems and by hardships. And he says, and I want you to say to them, the kingdom of God has what, has come near. As you go preaching, he says in Matthew 10 and seven, the kingdom of heaven is what, at hand. Take your hand, put it in front of your face, that's how close the kingdom of God is. Now push it into the face of the person next to you. The kingdom of heaven is this close. It's at hand, it's right here. But I also believe it's in your hand. Jesus said, the kingdom is within you. You don't need to go to Jerusalem. You don't need to follow movements to find the kingdom or an expression of the kingdom. Jesus said, it's inside of you. I've often been asked, how are you going to this church?

You're going to that church and I'm not against that. Are you gonna go see this or that? And I'm not against it. I have it. I don't have to go to an empty tomb. I don't have to go to Jerusalem to see the empty tomb to know that I am experiencing the resurrected Christ in my life now. It's an eternal kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. Yeah, we could thank God. (congregation applauding) If you never are able to travel to Israel, you're not at a disadvantage because you haven't been there. The king is living inside of you. He's right here, it's now. And Jesus also, as he gave us this prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What he is saying is bring an expression, build the kingdom, take it, expand it, grow it, plant it. It's exactly what he said to Adam as he put Adam in the garden in that place when Adam was right with God and God says, now you take it and expand the kingdom. Grow it, multiply it, make it bigger. That's what he was giving us even in the book of Genesis. It's a picture, it's a type of why you're on this planet. You're not about growing your own personal bank accounts, not about your own personal career

or your own personal resume. It's about how can I take God's love to this world and your whole life as a disciple. Now, a convert doesn't think like this. There are people that are converted to Christ. Jesus, you're my Lord, you're my Savior. Come into my heart, amen, ye God. Let's go on. I accept the Christ as my Lord and Savior. I do believe that there are people barely saved. The Bible says there are people who will enter into heaven by the hair of their chinny chinny chin. And what I mean by that is they've confessed Christ. They've asked Jesus to forgive them. They understand that Christ died on the cross to their sins, but they will have nothing in heaven. In fact, the Bible says when they enter into heaven, Peter gives us an glimpse of this. There will be no one waiting on them there, except God. He goes, live your life in such a way that you'll have a grand entrance. In other words, you have sent people as a result of having met you, have met Christ. They've met the kingdom of God and those that have departed from this world, the Bible says there will be an entrance one day. There'll be a people waiting on you because of your influence, your impact. And that's how you're supposed to live. With future in mind.

We talked about the beginning of this whole series. Hearing for the time to come. Who has an ear to hear? Not of the things that are just in front of you today. The earlier you get this, the better your life will be. Because the young man's syndrome says, "I live for today." The young man's syndrome, the young woman's syndrome, says it's all about now. And God goes, it's not just about now. It's living in the light of eternity. It's living in light of that day when you stand before Christ. It's living in the light of that understanding that you're storing up for yourselves treasures, where? In Nordstrom's. No, in heaven. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and God wants us to expand it, wants us to grow it. This is what we're talking about here at Celebration Church. We're talking about expanding the kingdom in this new potential building that we wanna build at the corner of I, well, I, 183, I, 183A, and 2243. Who takes 183 South? Let me see your hand. Maybe up and down Ronald Reagan. That's how we pretty much go now towards the airport. We live almost to Ronald Reagan off of 29. And so most of our time, we are directed down heroes way

in 2243, and then we get on 183 and go to the airport or go anywhere downtown, primarily that way. That is now become another interstate. God has given us another interstate to put a church on. We purchased a couple of years ago these seven acres. Oh no, 15 acres for seven million. The number seven jumps out, and we stepped out in faith. We stepped out and just went, we have to get into this area of Liberty Hill, Leander, and now it's gonna be one of the largest department of transportation sites, building sites that they've ever done in Williamson County. We're sitting at another major thoroughfare. And with that being said, we have it, we have it together. The problem is it's in our bank account. The problem is it's in our wallet. The problem is we've got to say, Lord, what would you have me to do? We'll talk about that. We wanna expand the kingdom, continue to build more campuses. And in fact, right now we're building another campus in Mozambique. North of Maputo, five hours north of Maputo, in a district called Shy Shy, X-A-I, X-A-I. And we have the opportunity to continue to grow the campuses. Thousands call celebration church their home. Number one school in all of Mozambique. The second thing that we are doing through this initiative is not just expanding primarily the building here in Austin. But we wanna begin to just continue to create more and more impact as we have pastors all over the country

asking for help, asking for us to give them guidance, asking for us to give them our playbook, if you will. And that is also including our correctional facilities and bringing church into the 13 correctional facilities and more to come discipleship ministry. We wanna continue to grow that. So many things as far as even in our attack in campus. And what we're seeing in Italy is pretty amazing, but it's also amazing to see what's happening in the military base. And we're just believing that God's gonna continue to open more doors to our military men and women. How many believe we cannot forget those that are serving us overseas right now? And they're looking for a church. Equipping leaders around the world. And then third is kingdom generation. And that is in relationship to tanking and transforming our south auditorium and making that a state of the art facility for more and more wave students who have thousands of kids come. See, here's the difference about celebration church than the normal church. We're a regional church. So when we say, how many high schools are represented in wave student ministry? You're gonna have dozens and dozens of high schools. A neighborhood church, which God does that as well. You might have two or three different high schools, but for the most part, it's just a few.

When we ask how many middle schools are represented, we're gonna have 75 middle schools. See, we've been tasked with the responsibility with not just being a neighborhood and reaching neighborhoods, but we're also called to be a regional church. So we have a collection of a lot of different students, a lot of different middle school. We have a collection of a lot of different kinds of people. And what we wanna do is continue to affect the generations to come. We wanna continue to move forward. But what we're also a part of and what you're seeing right now, being built, is Austin Christian University. We knew when we moved here 26 years ago that God would put us strategically. We didn't know when and how, but that God would put us in the higher education space. How many believe that there's great, It's not if there's a warfare right now in higher education. And it's a warfare whether it's a secular university or a Christian university. And what we know that God has positioned us in particular for times like this to be strategically where, as he said, he sent them where he was going. The great battle that we're all hearing every day in the news is in the battle in relationship to artificial intelligence. What we never thought is that we would be at the tip of the spear. God has brought some of the leading professors beginning with Lars, a PhD from Penn State. Where's my Penn State? I saw you out there.

There's a few of you out there. You all lost two this weekend, don't say anything. But when I think about what God is bringing, our prayer was Lord like a Joseph like a Daniel who penetrated these dark or potentially dark places. We want to raise up kingdom minded students to go into these spaces. That's the kingdom of heaven. That's on earth as it is in heaven. It's not if artificial intelligence is coming, it's here. The question is who's going to control it. We have companies that are wanting to partner with us. Some of the leading technology companies in the country are saying we want your students. We want your Daniels, your Joseph's. We want these kind of men and women because they're going in with a biblical world view. 30 degree hours of theology will be to every student that comes to Austin Christian University. Whether they're in the ministry or not, but they're all in the ministry. We're all in the ministry. And many of you, and of course this church has been praying so hard for Jack Maloof. I bring a good news to you today. He's getting stronger. He breathed all day long on his own without the trade. And before Jack's accident, Jack had a dream. Jack had a God idea to go into the realm of fostering those or how do we reach those that were a part of foster care who aged out and are now homeless because there has not been a way to get into and continue to get into the worlds of these that have been left. And many of them are special needs. I want to show you something that happened this week as it relates to Austin Christian University and Jack Maloof and the students that were raising up here. This is why we need to build this university. This is what I want you to see. Take a look.

[MUSIC] So, who hackathon? We get together, software engineers. We stay up for basically 48 hours straight and you build software. Jack comes in three weeks into the semester, he's already made these deep connections with lots of friends. He runs our pitch competition around the right and so that's the idea. Then Jack and he had set up all these meetings. He was meeting with foster organizations for the country, and then Jack's going to happen. [MUSIC] We were going to put a pause on Boschley and we were preparing to bring somebody else's idea just because we didn't know what that was going to look like. Dana, his mom, she shows up and we're having a prayer morning at the school, pray for Jack. She shows up and she goes, why are you crying, right? Jesus is a miracle worker. You're going to watch it and everybody, I'm telling you guys, everyone is going to have a front row seat for you and you get to be a part of it. And she said, y'all better not let fosterly die. I think that with an appropriate fire under all of us. When Jack's mom comes to you, this is my son's idea, it's his story, it's the thing he's trying to bring to life, it's that narrative he's trying to put in the world that changes lives. Don't let that die, then that's an operator. 46% of kids who age out of foster care are homeless by 20% of kids. social securing cards, insurance documents, everything lives inside an encrypted vault and the user chooses who has access to view it. Foster kids do not need another list, they need someone to fight for them. Because no one should age out alone. It's such a good idea, just helping foster kids that have aged out. I know I'm carrying kind of like his legacy. None of the work that we've done has been for us. We want so bad for Jack's idea to win and him to wake up and know that like fosterly won something.

We just got to come and represent you. So we love you and we can't wait to take this home. She's here. I'm Jack. Good works. Good works. Top IT competition in America. They were all there, all the universities, massive major companies that you would know. What we did not know are those that are from Microsoft and some of the other larger companies that are sitting there watching our students and then they called our team President Connor and others saying how do we begin to partner with you because we want your students. We saw something in your students and we know what that something is. It's the God factor. Thy kingdom come that will be done on Earth, which means in universities, in the education. That's our goal and one day it's happening. It's not one day, this day it's happening but it's going to be multiplied that we'll have the world coming here to be trained. How do we take all of these realms and all of these places for the glory of God? How do we fill the space? Because that's what Jesus came to do. He came to fill that He may fill Paul's prayers, that He would fill all places, all things, all hearts. That's our job. Now the question is Lord you have given us a big task. You said Lord take your kingdom in this world on Earth as it is in heaven, but here's what's cool. The very next verse after he says your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Guess what? Verse 11 tells us you need bread. Give us this day our what? Daily bread. In other words Jesus knows that if we're going to take His will into the earth, His mind, that's the kingdom. The kingdom is the will of God, it's the mind of God, it's the way God does things. When the kingdom of God is to be expressed in the earth through you and through me and through His church, what we're saying is this is how God has made things to work. Your marriage doesn't work without the kingdom of God or working it according to the kingdom. Your family, God has given us the kingdom, it's the knowledge of the kingdom, but it's not just the knowledge that the kingdom is there, it's the knowledge of how the kingdom works in order, in authority, in submission, in obedience, in unity. And this is what the church is called to do. This is what we as individuals together are doing. We're bringing the kingdom to the world and we're giving an expression of what kingdom life looks like. When it works, not religious life, but kingdom life. Religious life doesn't bring life, but the kingdom brings life. Religious life brings death, brings people who are frankly critical and judgmental and they become protective of their

own kingdom. We're here to give the kingdom away. We're here to be a blessing to other people, other churches, and whosoever will come. So he says, you're going to have to pray. In fact, he said, you're going to have to pray, give us this day our daily bread. And when I think about the massive vision, the massive challenge of raising in today's economy to build what is going to be required to build at the corner of 2243 and 183, about $17 million, not counting the property. How many things are expensive? Have you all been outside lately? [BLANK_AUDIO] Put a gallon of gas in this morning just to get the church." It's expensive. But God never said wait until things get cheap. He's never said that. He never says, "I'm going to wait until things get easier on you." God is not connected to the kingdoms of this world. His economy, his way of thinking, is not dependent upon this world's thinking. Your economy, your financial situation, concerning what we might say in the recession or inflation, God goes, "So what?" And I think about the big challenge. I think all of us, we could say, "I pastor Joe, I don't have it. I don't have anything to give." Well, let's go to what the Bible says. In one of these moments, Jesus lifted up his eyes, John, chapter 6, and he sees that there's a large crowd coming to him. Now the only story or the miraculous story that is consistent in all four gospels is the story of the miracle of the loaves and the fish. And the whole beginning of this miracle is the mass of humanity coming towards Jesus. Masses, thousands, 4,000, 5,000, that was just counting men. So you could say 20,000 plus people. And so when you read this story, you understand the people coming, the crowd, the multitudes, that is in relationship to human beings on the planet. And as they're coming to Jesus, as they're coming, of course, and what are they coming

for? They're coming for food. They're coming for bread. They're coming for help. They're coming for relief. They're coming for hope. They're just coming because they have nothing else to go to. All of their teams have lost in one week. This is how I feel. He then turns to Philip and he goes, what are we going to do about all these people coming? What are we going to do about this building? What are we going to do about the problem as it relates to foster care? What are we going to do about all the issues that are in our world today? And where are we to buy the bread so that these people may eat? It's funny how God looks to us and goes, all right, what are you going to do? And Philip, we're like Philip. Philip says, we don't have enough bread. We don't have enough money. In fact, 200 and I are worth of bread is not sufficient for these people to receive a little. Matthew 14, the same story, the disciples, when Jesus said, what are we going to do? They said, let the people go home and feed themselves. Get them out of here. Let them go to their villages to find their own 7/11. That's not our responsibility. And I'm here to tell you souls are our responsibility. Souls are our responsibility. Unless you're a person that just says, send them home, God, you just let them go somewhere else. See, a convert doesn't think about souls.

Not thinks about their own life, selfishness, a disciple thinks about Lord. You're right. But notice what Jesus said. As he says to Philip, you feed them. You give them something to eat. You take care of these problems. Philip, of course, doesn't know and notice those words. But Jesus knew what he was intending to do. As he was saying, verse 6, to test him. You see, the Lord puts in front of you places and people and things to test you. See, the Lord knows what he's going to do. The question is, what are you going to do? And Philip did not understand this. We don't understand. God already has it. How many know what I'm talking about? He already has the answer. He has the money. He has the solution. He has the bread. He has the meat. He has the drink. He's the bread of life. He is the river of living water. But what he wants from us is our participation. You see, the Lord, when he sees the multitude coming and he turns to Philip, and of course, he also in other places tells him, "Guys, why don't you take care of him?" We all are like those disciples that say, "Lord, there's nothing that we have except us." We do have one guy, he's a little boy.

In fact, Simon, Peter's brother, Andrew, verse 8 says, "There is a little boy here that we're big enough to take his lunch from." He has five barley loaves and two fish. Let me just tell you what that really was. This is not poll boy sandwiches from New Orleans Louisiana. I like to think they're flat. It's flat. It's a flat piece of That's all we have, but what, what, what is that for all these people? And Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was grass there, so they sat down in the grass. So the men sat down in number about 5,000, and then Jesus, He took the loaves. He gave thanks, and then He broke it, distributed it to those who were seated. Likewise also the fish as much as they wanted. All you could eat sardines, and they were filled, and they ate as much as they wanted. And He said to the disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost," and they gathered up, filled the 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. And when the people saw the sign, they said, "Surely this man has come from another world." You see, when God wanted a miracle, and when you and I need a miracle, let me tell you how He does not do it. He does not call for the angels to come. God could have said, "Send the angels." God could have had out of the sky an eagle, a condor, and He could have just had this eagle feeding like the little birds in the nest. And He could just start dropping meat and sardines and saltine crackers in the little beaks of all those multitude of people. He doesn't do that. He could have caused the rain to come out of the clouds, and it would rain sardines. He did that in the Old Testament. Every day they'd wake up, and the Bible says there would be manna on the ground. Then you get the Joshua, and when they came into the land, the manna stopped.

The manna stopped him from that moment on. God said, "I need you to walk with me by faith." You see, maybe you're looking at a situation in life wondering where you're going to get the money from, where you're going to get the resources, where you're going to get the provision. God goes, "Get it into my hand." And it doesn't matter how little or how much what is the difference maker, is whose hand it gets into. Maybe you're looking at, even as it relates to the 25th, we're going to receive an offering. And I could give you a number now. It's an encouraging number as to those leaders who have already stepped up, it's an encouraging number. I'm very encouraged by it, but we have a long way to go. We have a long way to go. It's not going to be a building that's going to be built by one person, or just by one or two, three, four people. It's going to be with sultines and sardines, because that's all you have. That's all God wants. All God is wanting is people who would surrender to Him, and people who would just say, "Lord, by faith, I want you to be involved in my sultines and my sardines." And you may say, "Well, what is that to me, your legacy?" So as of now, until Christ gets involved in your life, in every area of your life, what are you going to tell your kids about the reality of God? You see, the end of the story is, guess who has the greatest legacy of them all? A little boy who grew his whole life up saying, "My God can supply." And people who take God at His Word. We are like the disciples. What is this? Not all I have, but it's not much. And God goes, "But that's not the issue."

The issue is put it into my hand. Let me touch it. Let me have it. But more than anything else, what God is just simply saying, it's not what you have. It's who He is. But what He does tell them to do, in preparation for the miracle, is the first thing He says, is sit down. He says, "Sit down." And they sat down in grass. Let me tell you what this is a type of a picture of. Here's what I want you to do the next two weeks. Just get in front of God and wait on the Lord. Just sit. We don't ask you to give. We don't say, "Give this amount if we all," this is a faith walk between you and God. Just get before the Lord. Sit down and just say, "Lord, I'm going to wait on you." - Guys. obedience. What is it that the Lord wants you to do? What is it that He's going to challenge you to give? You see, this is how God works. It's not about us calculating our resources. It's just placing it into His hands. God, again, wants to show Himself. When we moved here 26 years ago, we had nothing but saltines and sardines. We just said, "God, you've got it." And slowly, God's faithfulness, step by step, number one, you pray. That's the first one I want you to do. Just pray, just pray.

And do what number two tells us, and of course, decide. Paul writes this in Corinthians. When he was in need of finances to grow and expand their kingdom, he says, "I want each of you to do as they have decided or purposed in their heart, not grudgingly, not under compulsion, because God wants you to be happy about it. He wants you to respond not to the preacher, but to God's spirit. We've all had times where someone so moved us. We gave, and then he went home going, "I can't believe we did that." Harry and I went to Hawaii one time. We went to Hawaii, and they said, "This is a really nice piece of property. All you have to do is come and listen for two hours." Big Island Hilton. We're not going to buy. We're not going to buy. Not going to buy. We don't have any money. Of course. We don't. We just took the trip because it was free. You just have to listen for two hours. Twenty years later. We have a timeshare that we've never been to. Never. Because we were under compulsion, and we don't have any cheer about Hawaii. You bring up the Big Island. Yes, but your kids will inherit it. We can't get there. They didn't tell you that you've got to pay for the airplane, right? And of course, that's what he does not want us to do. He doesn't want us to be forced.

He wants you to be obedient because he wants this thing to be a happy testimony. Look what God does. When people sit down and pray, as he said, "Just sit down." He then says, "Just side." And then the third thing is the word "so," which means at some point there has to be a release. There has to be a letting go. You've got to put it in God's hand. It's a surrender. There is no life with God unless you surrender. And no farmer can go out and expect a harvest who hasn't surrendered the seed to the soil. It's the law of sowing and reaping. And some of us are wondering, "God, where are you?" And God goes, "Where's your seed?" Some of you are mad at God, and God goes, "You haven't sown anything into the lives of other people. You don't sow. You've been tied. Tied is simply the statement that I want to be faithful to God. Tied speaks to faithfulness, offering speak of love. Tied speaks of your faith. God, I want to be faithful because you're good. You're faithful. Everything. That tie, there's just simply setting apart the first, the 10 percent. It just goes to God's not even a debate, not even a debate. We don't even live it. Tint, Laurie and I, we've always said, "We're going to be above that because we're in the New Testament. It's a whole new life."

But that's the baseline. That's the ceiling, offering speak of your love and affection to God. I want to live by righteousness. I want to live by the laws of righteousness, but I also live by the laws of love that have no bound. See, the moment you start living like this, you'll start seeing God. But you got to sow. And I want to be praying about that. I want you to be praying about that as you just trust Him. And then lastly, you can expect, and the Bible says what they saw was the feeding of the multitudes to the point where God had left over. And they carried 12 baskets full of sardines and saltines. And I think that was a sign and a picture of what you can expect God to do when you put your life into His hands. You will not be disappointed. He is the God who will be no man's debtor. And I want you to just pray, and maybe God won't say anything to you. Maybe you're not supposed to participate. Maybe this is not your church. It's beautiful. I think that we as an army, we as a pit, we begin to realize this is God's doing, this is how God works, and he knows what he's gonna do. And how many know God saves by little or by many? It's gone. I want at the end of my life a legacy, like the little boy had, who says, I have seen God to be faithful to his work, but he's gotta have it in his hands. Would you just bow your heads, please, even today?

Mostly, I want you to hear this as we close. Is your life in God's hands? Because if it's in your hands, it's not in his hands. Well, Pastor Joe, I give about 50% of my life to God. It's all or nothing with God. You can't have part of your life and have his heaven. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. And they prepare by saying this, Lord, my life is in your hands, all of it. It's all yours. I have nothing but worship to give. I think most people are gonna be shocked on the day that they stand before God, and the Lord says, I didn't have it all, you didn't surrender. And I know that is an ongoing process. I know that that is a step-by-step journey. And I know that we fall, the Bible says the righteous man falls, and he falls at surrendering, and he falls at submitting. I get that, but the Bible says, but the righteous man, gets up, and he doesn't stay selfish. He wants to stand in complete surrender to God. If you're here today and you're wanting the Lord to be your Christ, your Savior, your Master, your Lord, the Lamb that took away the sin of the world, he wants to take away your sin today. If you're here today and you wanna surrender your life to Christ, put it in his hands today. Can I just see how to pray? Would you just slip up your hand and say,

that's me, Pastor Joe, I gotta surrender my life to Christ. I'm trying to do it my way. Your marriage doesn't have to end in divorce. Stop doing it your way. Do it God's way. Your kids don't have to hate you. You don't have to have a divided home. Start doing it God's way. Surrender, surrender to all those children. Surrender it all to him, your future, your past, your present. Can we just say this out loud? Lord Jesus, when it's in your hands, life works. Your life comes, eternal life. I pray today that eternal God who came to this world in Christ, I ask you now to take it all. Lord, I want a legacy. For those that come behind me, for those that know me, that my life is all about you, and about others, meeting the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord. I am in this city for such a time as this. Your company didn't bring you here, God brought you. Your paycheck is not why you're in this city. There's a purpose. And together, we have all been brought for such a time as this, to make it hard in Austin, Texas, to not go to heaven in Jesus' name. Nearby said, amen, Jackson, we can go.

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