Go Change Your World // Week 1

I want to give a special welcome now at this point of our service to the men and women who are watching in a Correctional facility Calvary Church. Can we give our best welcome to the men and women watching from a prison cell? I love you guys on Pando. Hey, you're not a project to us. You are family We are launching a new four-week series. It's called go Change your world everyone say go say change Your worlds. I believe this. We're a church that can impact our world How many believe that our church can change our worlds? Oh, come on. You are not full of faith I'm glad that there's ten people that believe that today. How many believe that our church could change our worlds? That's what I want to hear a church that's full of faith We can impact our world and so today this message that we're in is kind of the primer message for the series Asking you you've been giving gifts and you are called to steward them now for God's glory And if you don't get this message right here You can't do the next three weeks that you're gonna hear about but in the next three weeks We are gonna talk about local mission global mission and future Christian leaders picking up on just this thought that God's called us Not only to tithe but to be world changers and that's our giving initiative that we give above Above our regular ministry here. We give to bless others and here's the vision actually this year last year We had the vision of giving $550,000 away and I'm so happy to tell you we did not give $550,000 away. We gave 638,000 plus away. Come on. Give yourselves a round of applause Calvary Church And this year the vision is to give over $700,000 away through world changers and so God's gonna use all of us in a great way and we're gonna partner with some amazing Missionaries around the world to change our world because our world needs Jesus And so we're gonna lean in and we're gonna have a lot of fun doing it in this series If you're physically able today, would you stand with me for the reading of God's Word and Luke chapter 19 is where we're gonna be The last verse I'm gonna read in this passage of Scripture I'm gonna read a bunch of verses today, but the last verse is kind of strong

It's kind of savage, but when I'm done reading it, I'm gonna say and all of God's people said Amen, and we say amen because we love the Word of God and we respect what the Word of God says And so Luke chapter 19, here's what it says as they heard these things he Jesus proceeded to tell them a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately a Noble man went into the far country to receive a kingdom for himself and then to return now what he's doing here is he's prophetically Foreshadowing what he's going to do someday now calling ten of his servants. He gave them ten minas everyone say Mina Now Amina was about three to four months wages in their day historians think that's about $20,000 today for us But his citizens hated him and they sent him a delegation after him saying we do not want this man to reign over us When he returned having received the kingdom He ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know what he had gains By doing business the first came before him and said Lord your Mina has made ten mean as more And he said well done my good and faithful servant because you've been faithful in very little You'll have authority over ten cities and the second came and said Lord Your Mina has made five minas and he said to him. Hey, you are to be over five cities Then another came to him and said Lord Here's your Mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief for I was afraid everyone say afraid. I Was afraid of you because you're a severe man You take what you did not deposit and you reap what you did not So and he said to him I will condemn you and you will and your own words you wicked servant You knew that I was a severe man Taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I didn't sew Why then did you not put my money into the bank and at my coming? I might have at least collected some interest and he said to those who stand by Take the Mina for him and give it to the one who has ten minas and they said to him Lord He already has ten minas now This is Jesus's point that to everyone who has more will be given But for the one who has not even what he has will be taken away But as for these enemies of mine who do not want me to reign over them

Bring them here and slaughter them before me and all I gots people said Amen. All right, you can have a seat. What's happening in this passage is Jesus is then telling his disciples. That's you and me blood-bought possessions of the Lord Jesus Christ He's telling us what to do with our lives and our resources in between the time of his first coming what Jesus has already came But he's also saying leading up to the second coming. It's very very important that you live this way. It's extremely Important and today I'm just gonna jump in for time purpose and just get right to it If you're Taking notes, three principles for how God wants us to steward. Three principles for how God wants us to steward our lives. If we really want to be a church that changes our world, if we really want to be a church that impacts our community, if we really want to be a church that raises up more Christian leaders and missionaries and pastors to be called, here's what we have to do with our lives. All right, here we go. Principle number one, if you're taking notes, and I sure hope you are, you need to understand this. This is a spiritual law. It's a spiritual principle. Number one, you're a steward, not an owner. You are a steward, not an owner. A disciple of Jesus Christ is a steward, not an owner of all of this stuff. And so go ahead and throw the word steward up on the screen. When I'm talking about steward, I'm not talking about Stuart, like Stuart Little, a man's name. I'm talking about steward, S-T-E-W-A-R. And here's what a steward means in context of this passage of scripture. So here's what happens. This nobleman grabs like his three senior VPs and he's like, hey guys, I'm going to trust you with a little bit.

I'm going to give you some of my money and I'm going to give you some of my investments and you're to manage these investments. Now notice they're called to manage these investments. They don't own the investments. They're managing on behalf of somebody else who owns them. And what's the word steward mean? What's their role, their responsibility in this message? Here, let me point it to you like this. The difference is found in three words, selfishness, stealing, and stewardship, selfishness, stealing, and stewardship. Okay. So check this out. Some people live their lives with this mentality, what's mine is mine, what's mine is mine, and I'm going to keep it. And the Bible would say that mentality, what's mine is mine, and I'm going to keep it. That's a selfish mentality, selfishness. What's mine is mine, and I'm going to keep it. Now what some people do is they don't do selfishness. What they do is what's yours is mine, and I'm going to take it. And the Bible calls that stealing unless you're the government, and that's called socialism, but that's for another sermon, not for now, okay? Now what disciples do is they have this posture that says what's mine is God's, and what's mine is God's, and that's not selfishness, that's not stealing, that's what the Bible calls stewardship. And stewardship, it's this spiritual law, it's this spiritual principle that a disciple understands that everything that I own is actually just on loan by God, that it all came from God, that as the Bible says, for from him and to him and through him are all things and in all things he gets all the glory and the honor and the praise, so this life is really not mine, and this stuff is really not my stuff, I exist for the glory of God. And that's what a steward understands.

So nothing that I have in this life actually belongs to me, and you have to understand this today. We got to get this deep within our hearts and let it drive our lives, all right? So let me say it to you this way, I got some bad news for you today, all right? I got some bad news for you today, you're going to die. Happy Sunday. I want to look to those in the second auditorium and just tell you I love you, but you're going to die. Somebody say, Pastor Dan, I came to church to be encouraged today, be a little bit more positive. I am a thousand percent positive that you're going to die one day. I'm entirely positive that you're going to die today. I actually did some research this week and I looked into Burlington County and Mercer County and Camden County, and here's the crazy statistic, is I did not find one person that will not die one day. Every single person is going to die. It's an amazing thing. And I tell you all of that because I want you to understand what's going to happen after you die. Here's what's going to happen after you die. When you die, what they're going to do is they're going to take your body and all that you are right now, they're going to dig a hole and they're going to take your body, which is now filled with chemicals, chemically infused to make you look all pretty for that funeral, and they're going to place your body into a hole in the ground and they're going to cover you with a whole bunch of dirt. And then after they do that, they're going to go back to the funeral home or the reception hall or the church and they're going to have some food there and some potato salad that they're going to be eating and they're going to be sharing memories and laughing about you and sharing some favorite stories. And then what's going to happen maybe a couple of days later or a couple of weeks later is

your kids are going to go over your house and they're going to start going through all of your stuff and looking at all of the stuff that you own. And they're going to be looking at your stuff, mom, and they're going to be saying, oh, I can't believe mom wore mom jeans. That's so weird. Can you believe that? And they're going to pull something out of the drawer and they go, I can't believe she had a crop top. Ew, mom, what are you doing? And I'm not just picking on the moms today. Dads, they're going to be going through your stuff as well. And finally, they're going to pull it all up, put it in a truck or a minivan, take it down to goodwill, and they're going to give it to goodwill. And what's going to happen is someone is going to buy that stuff for one one hundredth of what you paid. Mom, someone's going to be wearing your mom jeans and they're going to be looking better than you are right now, okay? Now, I'm not just picking on the moms. Let's talk about the guys. You need to get this in your head and your heart today. Your expensive fishing gear. Your brand new bike. Your tech hobbies and gadgets. Your expensive systems and video games. Your golf clubs. Man, can I just pick on you for a moment? Your golf clubs. Your kids are never going to want your golf clubs someday. What they're going to do is they're going to take those golf clubs that you just spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on that you had to go to this special meeting to get

this custom fit so you could just continue to play golf at an average score. And what they're going to do is they're going to take those golf clubs down to Goodwill and somebody is going to buy those golf clubs for 50 bucks while you spent thousands of dollars on those golf clubs. And some dude's going to be out at the golf course scoring better and playing better rounds of golf than you ever could with your golf clubs. And all of the rest of the stuff that was not taken down to Goodwill will be laid out to the trash and they're going to get rid of it. Okay, here's the deal, and I'm exaggerating. I'm trying to drive a point a little bit, but here's the deal. Everything that you think that you own in this life, it's really just on loan. It's on loan. Listen, it didn't come from you. It came from him. And it's everything that God has given to you. It's a blessing, but listen, you can't take it with you after this life. Everything that you think you own is really just on loan. Listen to what scripture says. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all who live in it. And so every single thing that you have came from him and through him, and it's going back to him. Now, here's the deal. The Bible says that God is our father and we're his spiritual children. And I'm just like you, right? I get caught up. I need to be reminded of these things over and over and over again, in the same way as a spiritual child, God is our father to his kids sometimes needs to remind us of some things that really are obvious and just some things that we forget from time to time here. I'll illustrate it to you this way. Okay.

So for my parents growing up, raising me as a kid from time to time, I would forget some very basic realities and they'd have to remind me of these basic realities. So every now and then my parents would come to me and say, Danny, Hey, we need you to clean your room. It's a mess. You need to go clean your room. And most of the time I would listen to them, but every now and then, not so very often, but every now and then I'd say something like, Oh, why do I have to clean up that stuff? I don't feel like cleaning my room right now. I want to go hang out with my friends or I got other stuff to do. Why do I have to do that? This is my stuff. And whenever I would say the phrase, this is my stuff, my parents would remind me of some realities. They would look at each other and they would smile at one another and they would say, Oh, bless your heart, little Danny. That's so cute that you think that, but here's what you need to understand. You don't have any stuff. Me and your mom, my dad would say, we have stuff and now we let you use some of our stuff for a little while. You don't have any stuff. And I'd say something back to them if I was in a mood to fight with them a little bit. I say, no, no, but it's my books and toys. I bought it with my money. And they would look at each other and they'd laugh and they'd go, Oh, bless your heart. Let me help you understand something. Any chores that you ever did where we gave you some money for those chores, see, it was really our money because we work really hard and we gave it to you just to bless you. So you really don't own anything actually. And then finally I would say, but it's my room.

It's my room. It's my stuff. It's my toys. It's my room. That's the place where I live. It's my domain. And they'd look at each other and they'd laugh and they'd go, Oh, Oh. So let me remind you of when we bought this house years and years ago. And let me remind you whose mortgage is this house named to? Who was the person that is paying the bills in this house? And we purposely bought a large house because we have six kids and you're going to grow up in one of the rooms that we've given you for this time of season. And when you're 18, we are punting you out of the house and you're going to college and you're never coming back. And all of God's parents said, amen. And here's the deal. You're smiling, you're laughing a little bit, but listen, we're the spiritual children in God's family. Hey, can I just remind us all of something so lovingly today? Hey, listen, you don't have a house. Our father has a house and he's graciously let you use his house for a little while. Let me remind you of this today. You don't have an income. Our heavenly father has all of heaven's resources at his disposal and he's graciously diverted some resources to you for a little while. Let me talk to some guys for a moment and I'm just here to just pick on the guys today. But sometimes I hear them say this phrase, well, I'm a self-made man. Well, I built. this business. Well, I built my brand. Well, I made it all happen. Oh really? You were there from the beginning of time? You were the one that designed you for

good things? You were the one that set who your parents would be? You were the one that had breath put in your lungs, the ability to wake up, all of your skeletal and muscle system, every organ of your body to be functioning? No, last time I checked, your Heavenly Father was the one that created you and gave you those abilities to do that. It's a grace gift from your Heavenly Father. Let me do one last one. Listen, you don't have a life. You don't have a life. You're a blood-bought possession of the Lord Jesus Christ and he's entrusted and purchased your life and given you one life to live for the purpose and the glory of God forever. So principle number one is this, we are stewards. Everyone say steward. We're stewards, not owners. Okay, principle number two is this, stewards use his stuff to do the Master's will. Stewards use his stuff to do the Master's will. Stewards do the Master's will. Now let me just recap the sermon for you really quickly in case you forgot. So what you got is this one dude who took one mina and turned it into ten minas. And then watch this, the Master said, well done, good and faithful servant. And then you have another guy who turned one mina into five minas and he gets kind of the same vibe. He gets the same encouragement. Well done, good and faithful servant. Then there's this one guy, and I had to even say the word, who was afraid. He was afraid of what the Master would do to him if he took a risk on the investment and it did not turn out the way that it should. He had fear in his life. See I found in my life, how about yours, what we fear the most reveals where we actually trust God the least. And he was so scared of failure, he was so scared of messing up, that he would not step out in faith. And what he did is he buried that one mina in the ground, so when the Master returned, all he had was the one mina. He had not turned a profit. And the Master says back to him in Luke 19 20, listen to these strong words, I will judge you by your own words. He says, you wicked and lazy servants. You wicked and lazy servant. Now everyone listen to me in this moment. One day you're gonna stand before the Lord and there's two questions he's gonna ask one minute after you die. The first is this, what did you do with my son Jesus? Do you know Jesus? And if you do, as Romans 10 says,

if you declare with your mouth, Jesus Lord, you believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved. It's a heaven or hell question in that moment. What did you do with my son Jesus? And if you know Jesus and you live for Jesus, you will get to go to heaven. The second question that comes is, what did you do with your life for Jesus? What did you do with your life? And you want to hear said, well done my good and faithful servant, not you wicked and lazy servants. That's what this text is saying right here, how you spent your life, this parable, how you lived your life. Are you gonna hear said of your life by our Lord one day, well done my good and faithful servant, or you wicked and lazy servant. So the question that becomes, what is the master's will? If we want to do the master's will according to this parable, what is the master's will? What does he want me to do? Now the next three minutes of this message, if you've never leaned into this part of discipleship that I'm going to talk about, please just listen and hang with me. Because I want to just tell you the truth of what the Bible says, but I know anytime we talk about this topic, it can be uncomfortable for people. Because again, we just finished teaching the book of Colossians, where it says that God is before all things, and God gave us his first and best to us in the person of Jesus, and God is a God who freely gives. He gave his best, he gave his first in his son Jesus, and now he asks us as stewards, he not only asks us, he actually commands us to return our first and best to him in what he's entrusted to us. The Bible calls this a tithe, a tithe. So let me just teach you on the tithe quickly, all right? So you understand this. So all over the Bible, I could probably read you 12 to 15 different verses where the word tithe is mentioned. I'm just gonna give you three today, okay? Leviticus 27 verse 30, it says, a tithe of everything. Notice that word, tithe belongs to the Lord. Some places, some translations just say, it's mine, it's mine. It means tenth, a tithe means tenth. So every now and then, some well-meaning person will come up to me, and they actually have a heart to give, they have a heart of generosity, they're trying to be obedient to what Scripture says, and they'll say, Pastor Dan, I tithe 4%, and I'll look at them and I'll say, I'm so proud of

you for stepping into generosity, that's amazing, keep going, keep giving. But I say, actually, actually, that's percentage giving, that's not a tithe, because a tithe means 10%. So you can't tithe 2%, you can't tithe 6%, you can't tithe 8%. A tithe is not tossing a Benjamin, or a honey, or a 20, or a 5, or a 10 in the offering as it goes by, that's not a tithe, that's called tipping, God. There's a difference between tipping and tithing. By all means, you should tip your waiter, and tip your waiter well when you go to a restaurant, but to the God of heaven and earth, the one who formed you and made you, The beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega, because He's first, we do what Scripture says and we give Him a tithe back to Him. Let me give you another. Proverbs 3, 9 and 10. Here's what it says. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits, everyone say firstfruits. With the firstfruits of all of your crops. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine. Okay, why does He say firstfruits in this verse? Well here's the deal. The tithe is not just 10%. It's the first 10%. It's the first 10%. Why? Because whatever is first in our life gets our priority and our attention. He was speaking to this culture that was an agrarian society. They were a farming society and this was a culture that was used to planting seeds and seeing crops come up and they would give a tithe, they would give the first 10% of their crops to the house of the Lord. Listen, it took faith to give the first 10% because they didn't know how the rest of the crops were going to end up. They didn't know if they were going to fall short.

It didn't take faith to give the last 10% after they have a good year. It takes faith to give the first 10%. Some of you are getting caught up in the number of 10. You're saying, what's up with the number 10? Why does it have to be 10%? Why couldn't it be 8%? Why couldn't it be 6%? Why couldn't it be 2%? He's the God who owns all of the cattle on a thousand hills. All of heaven's resources are at His disposal. What is so significant about the number 10? I look through the Bible and the number 10, every time it's used in scripture, the number 10 is a test. It's a test. So what you're doing is every time you receive a paycheck, every time that direct deposit hits, it's giving you a test. God is giving you a test to see what really is first in your life. So I'll illustrate it to you this way. We'll have a little fun in church. All right. It's a serious moment. Okay. So let's have a little bit of fun. All right. So I'm going to give you a pop quiz. I need everybody to participate with me. Everybody to shout out the answer. All right. I need you to follow and I need you to just answer with what you think is the answer to these questions.

All right. So everyone participating. Everyone in agreement. How many plagues were there in Egypt? You ready? How many were there? 10. Very good. All right. You're starting to get it. All right. So let's have some fun with it. Everyone participating. How many commandments are there in scripture? 10. With some vigor. Here we go. How many times did God test Israel in the wilderness? Come on. In our second auditorium, you're saying it out loud as well. Here we go. How many times was Jacob's wages changed? How many times? 10. How many days was Daniel tested? Here we go. 10. How many virgins were tested in Matthew 25? 10. Here we go.

How many days of testing are mentioned in Revelation chapter 2? Last one. How many disciples were there? I caught some of y'all. I got some of y'all right there. Now you see in what I'm saying right here, the big principle, all the cross scripture is every time the number 10 is used, 10 is a test. So every time you get that paycheck, every time the direct deposit hits, God is giving you a test. What will be first in your life? Is your money first or is God first? Let me illustrate it to you this way. Here we go. All right. So I grew up in elementary school like many of you, and at our elementary school, we played this ridiculous game that only guys could have made up. It was a game called King of the Hill. Who knows what King of the Hill is? Now when we played King of the Hill, there was usually a short hill that would be there, and there'd be one person that would be at the top of the hill. They were called the King of the Hill. And then you'd have other guys who were at the bottom of the hill, and they would try to make their way up that hill. And your whole goal is to just try to knock that person off the hill, tackle them as hard as you can. And when you knock them off of the hill, you become the King of the Hill. Now always being the King of the Hill is short-lived because you know there's five or six other guys that are going to be running back up that hill in any moment. And they're there to just knock you out, tackle you off of that hill. But once in a while, there was this rare moment that would happen where the school bell would

ring. Ring! Everybody inside, recess is over, back to class. And if you were the person that was still at the top of the King of the Hill, this is what you did in that moment. Go ahead and show that image on the screen. This is what you did. You were like, yes! I am the King of the Hill! Are you not entertained? Okay, go ahead and take that picture down because I don't want to see any picture of me in a dress at any point ever, all right? Why did I share that story with you? Listen, only one thing can occupy the highest position in your heart. There's a throne in your heart, and listen to me, Calvary Church, only one thing can sit on that throne. Matthew 6, 24 says this, no one can serve two masters. You're either going to hate the one or love the other, or you'll be loyal to the one and despise the other. Listen, you cannot serve two masters. The writer didn't say it's hard. He didn't say it takes extra strategy to make it work. He didn't say it's a suggestion, but it's really difficult. This is the best way to go. He said you cannot serve both God and money. You can't do it. Your entire time as a disciple, you're going to be facing the battle inside of your heart. What goes first, God or my money? God or my money? And that's why Jesus said these words where your treasure is there your heart will be also

So you can say all day long. Listen, you can say all day long. I love Jesus You can post it on your social media. You can show up at church every once in a while You can say that God's first in your heart. Listen to me. I'm gonna say this so lovingly I'm not mad at anyone today if he's not first in your finances. He's really not first Now I know there's some tension in the room as I just said that Some of you you did not want to hear what I just said Some of you you're angry at me for saying that Some of you you're actually interested. You're actually intrigued You actually want to take a step of faith and you want to put God first But this ringing question is resounding in your mind as I'm talking today, but pastor Dan, I can't afford to tithe Pastor Dan we live in the state of New Jersey, New Jersey is expensive It's expensive I Can't afford to tithe if I gave 10% of my income I would not be able to pay my bills and That's the question that I want to finish then the rest of this message with and this is again This is a life message for me But this last principle here is something that you need to understand and if you can grasp this and you can step into this if You can lean into obedience in this it will change your life. Okay, so let me just point something out to you That's a little on PC in this moment I'm not trying to make a political statement at all in this message. That's not what I'm doing I'm just trying to give you an example so you can understand what's happening in this parable of what Jesus is doing Okay, so it's low on PC, but I'm not making a political statement. All right, so Jesus is the opposite in this story He's like the reverse Bernie Sanders All right. So what he does is he takes the guy who had the most and he gives that guy more So the guy who's the best steward the guy who has the most amount of money he says I'm entrusting you with more because you were the most trustworthy and you were the best steward and The guy that's the medium one the five he entrusts with five more because he says you were you were a middle steward So I'm giving you a middle more and then the guy who had the least the guy who does nothing What what Jesus gave to him the guy who says I'm just gonna bury it. I'm not gonna give I'm not gonna serve I'm not gonna share my faith. I'm not gonna attend. I'm not gonna do anything with my life

God goes I'm going to take what I gave you and I'm Redistributing it to the people who are actually better stewards. Listen to me He did not give more to the people who had less he gave to each according to their ability to steward And that's how it was in the kingdom of God and listen to me That's how it is in our life today. And that's the third principle God gives more to the people who know what the more is for God gives more to the people who know what the more is for and this is really important for you to understand It's a spiritual law God gives more to the people who know what the more is for and listen if you're selfish or if you're a fearful Steward that keeps what God has asked you to give over time He's going to take what he's given to you and he'll give it to someone else Now listen to me There are some of you in this room that as soon as I'm saying this there's like some alarm bells going off in your head And you're like, no, no, this this can't be true This can't be true. And so I just want to bring clarity to this today What I'm not talking about in this teaching of the tithe. I am NOT teaching a prosperity gospel There's a teaching out there. You see it on TV all the time And basically it says Christians give in order to get so you give ten and God gives back a hundred You give a hundred and God gives you back a thousand you give a thousand God gives you back ten thousand Listen very carefully. This is not a prosperity gospel church and that is not the gospel The prosperity gospel is actually a form of reverse discipleship It actually disciples you out of the image of Jesus because it promises health wealth and happiness while ignoring Stewardship sacrifice and suffering it creates Christians who say that they love God But what they really love underneath all the surface is money and they use God to get money Instead of using money to honor God. Listen to me. That is not who we are as a church That is not what we teach. That is not what we're all about. Here's the big idea. I'm trying to say to you today Jesus died for you But your life's not all about you Let me say it again Jesus died for you But your life doesn't exist for your own glory. We don't follow Jesus because he makes life better

We follow Jesus because he's better than life and our primary motivation in giving our primary motivation and being obedient in the tithe And listen, I just want to say this today if some of you are giving to world changers That's our above the tithe giving please stop giving to world changers. Please stop doing that Because you're not being obedient to the order of Scripture it's actually that you start with the tithe to the local house that you are planted in and as you grow above the tithe and Percentage giving above the tithe then you give to world changers Listen if everybody in our church just tithe if we were just obedient to Scripture, we wouldn't need a world changers fund newsflash We would have so much we would just be giving it to missionaries all around. So we have to be obedient to what God has called us to do. Luke 6, 38, give and it'll be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall be poured in your lap. Malachi 3.10, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. The only place in scripture where he says these words, test me in this and see that I won't throw open the floodgates of heaven. Here's what you gotta understand for those that are wrestling with us today. I know this is a big decision. It's a big moment. God and 90% of your income can do more than 100% on your own. 90%, listen, 90% with the blessing of God will go further than 100% without it. He's a good father and he loves to provide for his kids. This is so personal for me. This is a life message for me. I believe this, I've practiced this for most of my life because I saw my parents model this.

I saw my parents live this. I saw my parents tell us every single time we received $10 for our birthday, we had to go break that $10 bill because they said, you got a dollar that you need to put in the kid's offering this week. And they raised that within us. And now I can just say by faith and confidence, I have seen the goodness and the hand of God in my life as I've always just trusted him with the tithe. Heart touched by God is obedient in the tithe. I remember hearing the story of my parents when they used to live in Tilson, New York, and they had this kerosene leak that happened in their house damage all over the whole house. The whole house smelled like kerosene, stunk, all of their furniture was completely ruined. They had to go live at my grandma's house for a season while the house got repaired and it was a major insurance claim. And they were worried, they were going back and forth with the insurance company about buying new furniture. And they thought at one point, the claim was not going to provide for all the furniture that they needed. And they said, you know what, God, we trust you. God, we trust you. God, we trust you. And the insurance person said, you know what?

Just start making a list and just start purchasing things and then you'll just get reimbursed. And they said, but how can we purchase if we don't know the amount that we're fully getting? But you know what? They took a step of faith and said, God, we trust you. God, we trust you. God, we trust you. We trust you. And you know what actually happened? It was such an amazing thing that not only were they able to buy all of the furniture that they needed and everything was completely restored in that house. You know what? The check came and it was $2,000 more than all that they had spent on their furniture. They said it was just the amount that would have been a tithe. They brought that tithe down to the local church and invested there. And that started something in their life for our family that we're a family that tithes and is obedient to God. And I've seen it. I've seen it in my life time and time and time again as he's provided for me and provided for my family. As you have to be faithful to what God's word says and you trust him. Now you have to steward. You gotta steward.

You gotta live on a budget. Can't be wasteful with your resources. But as you steward what God has given you, he always takes care of us. Let me pray for you together. Father, I just thank you that you're a great God, that you're a good God, that you're an awesome God. God, you've not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of sonship by which we cry, Abba Father. And so Lord, I'm just praying for these precious people, Lord, today. God, who wanna be men and women. They wanna be disciples who follow you. God, that are deciding to walk by faith, even in this moment. And God, we've just decided that before you, you hold all things together. It's all from you. And so God, would you just plant in our hearts for us, not just for us in this room, Lord, that generations will be set in motion today. The children, Lord, and grandchildren, Lord, would see the example of their parents that they're gonna model, the decision that they're gonna make in this moment. To see them, that they're gonna be people who walk by faith, and that inheritance is passed down to this next generation. Lord, we love you, we praise you, we honor you. We thank you for what you're doing in your name.

Every head's bowed, every eye's closed in this moment. Greatest decision you could make today, regardless of income, finances, resources, what you're doing is the greatest decision is, do you know Jesus? Have you made him Lord of your life? Have you made him Lord? The Bible says that God sent us his best. He also sent us his first, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And there was a way, a wedge that was divided because of our sin. The Bible says that all of us have sinned. We've all missed the mark. And Jesus was the answer to that divide. He went to the cross for you and me. He was nailed to that cross. He suffered, beaten beyond recognition. And the Bible says, it's just real simple. If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Simple invitation today, simple response. Do you know Jesus? Is that you today? We count to three, I want you to lift your hand in this moment. Nobody's looking around. Every head is bowed, every eye is closed, but it's just between you and God.

Or maybe you made that decision years and years ago, but you know you're really not right with him. And you know there needs to be some recommitment, some rededication all across this room today in our second auditorium as well. If that's you, just lift your hand. Ready, one, two, three. I need to make Jesus Lord of my life. Fantastic. His hands just responded to Jesus. He's a God who saves even in this moment. I love that Second auditorium you can place your hands down. Come on repeat after me everyone say Jesus Say here's my life Say here's all I am. I Commit myself to you Say forgive me of my sin. I Know I've missed the mark Say change me Make me new My life exists for you And I want to follow you from this day forward in Jesus name