God Is the Owner, We Are the Stewards - Saddleback Weekend Service

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Welcome to Saddleback. If you're not already standing with us, go ahead and stand. And as you do, I want to read Psalm 100, verse 4 and 5. It says, "Enter his gate to the thanksgiving. And his courts with praise give thanks to him and praise his name. The Lord is good and his love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations. In light of that, we cannot help but praise. We cannot help but lift up the Name of Jesus. And that's what we're going to do in this place this evening. Come on. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends.

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Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends.

Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. Praise to the Lord, who I can help my friends. ♪ We're light, we're light ♪ ♪ We just won't speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every part of every month ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know there is peace within your presence ♪ ♪ Let's speak to you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing like your name ♪ ♪ King Jesus ♪

♪ You give love ♪ ♪ You are love ♪ ♪ You bring light to the darkness ♪ ♪ You give love ♪ ♪ You restore every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ The great of you, Lord ♪ ♪ You give life, you are love ♪ ♪ You bring light to the darkness ♪ ♪ You give love ♪ ♪ You restore every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ The great of you, Lord ♪ ♪ Get your breath, it's your breath ♪ ♪ In our hearts ♪ ♪ So we pour out our faith ♪ ♪ We pour out our faith ♪ ♪ It's your breath ♪ ♪ In our hearts ♪ ♪ So we pour out our faith ♪ ♪ You hold me ♪ ♪ Great of you, Lord ♪ ♪ You give love ♪ ♪ You are love ♪ ♪ You bring light to the darkness ♪ ♪ You give love ♪ ♪ You restore every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ The great of you, Lord ♪ ♪ It's your breath, in our hearts ♪ ♪ So we pour out our faith ♪ ♪ We pour out our faith ♪ ♪ It's your breath, in our hearts ♪

♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ You hold me ♪ ♪ It's your breath, in our hearts ♪ ♪ So we pour out our faith ♪ ♪ We pour out our faith ♪ ♪ It's your breath ♪ ♪ In our hearts ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ You hold me ♪ ♪ Oh, we pour it out ♪ ♪ Oh, man ♪ ♪ 'Cause you deserve the highest breath ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ All the earth is so true ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry ♪ ♪ People will say ♪ ♪ Where are you ♪ ♪ Come on, sing it out ♪ ♪ All the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry ♪ ♪ These bones will say ♪ ♪ Where are you ♪ ♪ What am I ♪ ♪ All the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry ♪ ♪ These bones will say ♪ ♪ Oh, man ♪ ♪ Oh, you're a man ♪ ♪ It's your breath ♪ ♪ In our hearts ♪

♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath ♪ Oh, it's your breath, in our lives So be poor and I'm happy Be poor and I'm crazy, so be poor and I'm crazy You come on my soul, oh don't you get shy Oh, it's your song, 'cause you gotta lie inside our hearts But, get up and pray for the Lord Oh, come on, come on, come on my soul Oh, don't you get shy, oh don't you get shy Oh, it's your song, 'cause you gotta lie inside our hearts Get up and pray for the Lord Pray to the Lord Pray to the Lord Pray to the Lord Pray to the Lord Pray to the Lord So I throw my hands Pray to the Lord 'Cause all that I have is a heart Blue, high And I know it's not much, nothing else we can Except for our hearts in our lives Blue, high Blue, high And I know it's not much Hey, Saddleback, welcome to church We are so glad that you're joining us for services today

That's right, thank you guys so much for being with us today My name is Nicholas, if we haven't gotten the chance to meet yet And my name is Carissa, and we get the privilege of serving our online community Right here at Saddleback, but we are so grateful that you are joining us for our online service today Because we are kicking off a brand new series called Timeless Truths And it is with Pastor Andy this first week, and so we're super excited to get to hear the message from him That's right, it's a great message, you don't want to miss it If you want to follow along with the message notes, you can hit the link in the description down below To access our digital program, or you can also download our Saddleback app and find it there as well And while you're at it, if you're new here or if this is your first time, go to the app, hit the new here button And select online community as your campus so that someone from our team can personally welcome you to our church Yes, we cannot wait to connect with you if it's your first time And also another opportunity to engage with the life of our church is by attending activate Activate is a one hour class on Zoom, but it is a great way to learn more about the life of our church And what it looks like to get plugged in We believe that church is more than just watching on the weekends, but it's doing life together It's growing in our faith and it's taking next steps and at activate We believe that you can discover your next step in faith that you can take So you can sign up through the Saddleback app as well, and we would love to see you there That's right, we're both going to be there, we hope to say hi and meet you at activate Well, this last week we had our very own online community of DreamIt Team Rally Yes, we did! And there were a bunch of different Dream Team rallies taking place all across our church So let's go ahead and check out all that God has done in the last couple weeks Hey Saddleback Church, this week across all of our campuses we hosted a Dream Team Rally It's a night where we roll out the red carpet for everybody who serves here at Saddleback Church This night was for you, and we had food and worship, a message from Pastor Andy And games and fun to celebrate all that God is doing through you And from Stacy and I to you, we want you to know how deeply thankful we are For all the ways that you pour out your life, you are an incredible team

I hear over and over and over again people that come to our church They experience Saddleback the joy, the hospitality, the love, the sacrifice, the kindness Just the heart of Jesus that gets expressed through you You guys serve so selfless Everything is made possible here at Saddleback because of your service. And we are so excited this next season for everything that God is going to do in and through you guys as you serve across our church. Well, welcome to church everybody. It's so good to be together. There's a lot happening in our church family, and I do want to make sure one thing that we don't miss this weekend right now is we're gathered together. Our devout campus in the Philippines is celebrating their one-year anniversary. So can we show them some love and just a happy birthday? We love you from the rest of your church family. God is doing amazing things at our international campuses. If you've never been, I want to encourage you to get over there and see what God is doing. We're also starting a brand new message series called Timeless Trudes. Can we say that together? Timeless truths. You know, God's word is a secure foundation, and I'm very excited today about the passage we're going to get into in just a moment because when we go back to what God's word says about any area of our lives, it provides for us a foundation regardless of what country we live in, what generation we're from, that wherever we are, we can find foundation to build our lives upon from the Word of God. And in particular, over these next five weeks, we've been working and praying for months on end for this series, focusing in on God's vision for our lives when it comes to stewardship, finances, and generosity. And if I tell you, the team has been working so hard, you would not believe how much they've put in to get ready for this weekend, meeting together, saying, for us as a church, what's the core of what we believe the Bible teaches about finances and stewardship? I'm going to show you at the end this incredible webpage that they've put together to help us, to resource us. Wherever you are in your journey of faith, I believe these next five weeks God's going to use to encourage and strengthen your faith. My goal is to make this the most encouraging and helpful message series you've ever heard on finances in your entire life. I believe God wants to set some people free in this area, that God wants to bring peace into your life, and today we're going to start on the very first principle. But before we go there, I do want to highlight one thing. You might have received an

email from me this week on Wednesday afternoon. It's a survey that we're doing of our church family and then the communities around the campuses asking the question, how do we best serve the communities around us? And many of you have already taken that survey. It takes about five minutes. If you didn't give it, if you didn't get it, you don't have a -- let me start that over. I got that backwards. If you didn't get it, you haven't given us your email address. So you can do that on the app, or it might be in your spam. But also, this is going to go out literally to hundreds of thousands of people around our campuses. And we're genuinely asking the question in this moment, this hour, how do we best serve the community around us with the love of Jesus? And one of the things that's sticking out, one big pressure point that so many people feel, and in fact, almost 80 percent of people that have already taken this survey should say, is that finance is one of the greatest areas of stress in their life. So this series is going to help with that. And I want to begin with this one principle today from God's Word. The first principle, can we say it out loud? It's going to come on the screen. God is the owner, and we are the stewards. Let's do it one more time. I think we can do better than that. God is the owner, and we are the stewards. I want to unpack that today from God's Word. What does it mean to be a faithful steward? What does it mean to be found faithful with what God has entrusted to us? We're going to look today at Matthew 25, starting in verse 14. I love this passage. This is a passage that God used to encourage me when I was young in my faith. I remember in high school reading this passage, asking God to find me faithful. Deep in my heart is this longing that when God looks at my life, if I could choose one word that God would use to describe my life, it would be the word faithful. And this passage is such a beautiful call for us to be faithful with what God has given to us. Now in Matthew 25, Jesus is doing something here that is very important for us to understand. So Matthew 24, disciples come to Jesus, they ask a question, what's it going to be like at the end of the age? Like when time is up and everything comes to an end, what's it going to be like? And so Jesus goes into this long explanation in Matthew 24, very fascinating passage of Scripture, many signs of the end times that we're even seeing now, feeling like the world is crying out, groaning for His return. And then He launches into these three parables that are so rich that we could just meditate on for months, But we're going to focus in on one of them. Jesus gives the parable of the 10 virgins. And he's actually making a point to that parable that we should be ready for his return, that we should be ready for a party when he returns

and live an expectation. So it's really about salvation. Now the last parable is the parable of the sheep and goats. And it's Jesus talking about what happens when he fills our lives with his presence that we love and serve those around us. And right in the middle is this parable on faithfulness. And the driving question is what are we doing with the life that God has given to us? Really the goal Jesus is after is not wasting the one life that he's given to us. So we find this in Matthew 25 starting in verse 14. Jesus speaks and he says, "Again it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his property to them." Now I got a question whose property was it? It was his. It was his property that he entrusted to his servants. So Jesus gives this parable. He's describing to his disciples what it's like to be faithful and expect his return. And he says, "A master comes," he's speaking of himself when he gives this illustration. The master gives to his servants a sum of money and he entrusts them. It says then in verse 15 to one he gave five talents. Everybody say five talents. So he gave five talents of money to one, to another say two talents, two talents to another, and then to the other he gave one talent according to his ability. Now I want you to notice it was different amounts to different people. So one guy gets five, one guy gets two, one guy gets one. Somebody said, "That's not fair. That's not fair." And I'll just make sure God was not a socialist. So he gets to decide what to do with his money. He decides he's going to invest different amounts into different people. So God gives, the master gives to the three servants the amount that he chooses of his own resources. It says then he goes on a journey. And then in verse 16 the man who had received five talents would at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So he went with his five. He comes back with 10. So also the one with two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and he settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. "Master," he said. "You entrusted me with five talents. Here's five more." His master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things and now I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness." Now the man with two talents also came. "Master," he said. "You entrusted me with two talents. See I've gained two more." His master replied,

"Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness." Then the man who had received the one talent came. "Master," he said. "I knew that you are a hard man harvesting where you had not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See here is what belongs to you." Now his master replied to him, "You wicked, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I return, I would have received it back with interest. So take that talent from him," the master said, and give it to the one who has ten talents. "For everyone who has will be given more and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what he has will be taken from him and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This is the word of the Lord. And the word of the Lord has so much to say to us today, if we're just to look at this particular passage, so much that Jesus is unpacking about his return. And I want to start by looking at this reality that Jesus comes with this scripture to illustrate that he is entrusted to us resources, that at the end of time the question will be, "Have we been faithful with what he has placed into our hands?" Now in this passage, Jesus uses the word talent, which is where we actually get our English word talent. But it's actually in that scripture or actually in the original context, I should say, for the listener they would have understood a sum of money in the to 6,000 days of pay or 20 years worth of wages. So I want you to think about that for just a moment. So the one guy that gets one talent gets a whole lot of money from the master. And you've got to ask the question, why did Jesus use money in this passage is the illustration to describe faithfulness? Because stewardship is so much more than just money. I think it's good to recognize this. That Jesus when he teaches on how do we be faithful stewards,

there's so much to our lives. There's our relationships, our sexuality. There's what we do with our words. There's what we do with our time. All of these things are a form of stewardship. But the reality is for a lot of people in their journey spiritually, there's a catalyst of growth when it comes to surrendering resources to God. But also money can be the last man standing in a person's journey spiritually. And I've witnessed this many times over in people's lives. And it's important for us to embrace this reality. It's impossible to be a fully surrendered follower of Jesus and not surrender our finances back to him. This is so important. And many times underneath the surface is this area that will say, God, I give it to you. I give my relationships back. I give my job back. I give the car back. I give the house back. But this money that you've called me to hang on to, this is mine. And I'm going to figure out what to do with it for me. And the goal that Jesus has in this moment for the disciples and for us is to shift our perspective to recognize that God calls us the primary word that he gives to describe what we do with the resources he places into our hands is stewardship,

that he wants us to be faithful stewards. Now, I believe that there are mindsets that play in the stewardship. And these mindsets influence whether or not we'll be faithful or will be faithless with what God places in our hands. And the first mindset I want us to see is this, that I am, you are blessed by God. I don't know how you feel today. I don't know if maybe you've got to fight with your spouse on the way to church today. I don't know if maybe if you had a rough week. I don't know, maybe you're doing great. Maybe you've got a promotion this week and you feel blessed. Maybe you like pumpkin spice lattes and you feel really blessed at this time of year. And like everything is awesome. But the reality is no matter where you are in your journey spiritually, no matter how long you've been following Jesus, no matter how much money you have or don't have, you are blessed by God. And the embracing of that reality shifts the way that we see our lives. Here's a very important truth. It all comes from him, belongs to him, and at the end it goes back to him. Now, when you think about what God has placed into your hands, it all comes from him. It means that I have a responsibility with what he's given to me.

And I love this passage of scripture in Psalm chapter 16 verse five and six because King David is speaking and he's giving us a perspective on what he sees in front of him with what God has entrusted him to care for. And I love these verses, I wanna ask you, if you will, to read them aloud at all of our campuses. Psalm 16, five and six says, Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup. You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance. I wonder if there's anybody here today that would say that my boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. And if you won't say it, I'll tell you from God to you, he's been good to you, he's been faithful and kind, and the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. And even in seasons where life is hard and difficult, there's a kind of receiving from God, the recognition of blessing upon blessing that God gives and wants to give into our lives. And when we see God through this filter, it changes the way we see what's in our hands. God wants to bless you. I don't know what you've been told. I don't know what your perspective is on the character and nature of God, but he is an abundant God who has the capacity to bless our lives. And he has already done it over and over again.

In the Hebrew language, there's this word, dianu. And the word literally means if God never did another thing, he's already done enough for you and for me. And I got a word for you. He's already done enough. If you are in Christ Jesus, the Bible says, as far as the East is from the West, that's how far he's removed your sin from you. The Bible says that you have been declared holy and righteous before Almighty God, that you are a son or a daughter of his. He's declared this about you. He's set you free. He's given you the hope of eternity. He's given his spirit on the inside. He's poured out his spirit on you to give you power that you don't have in and of yourself. He's been good to you. And when we can see this through the filter of everything I have comes from God, the Father of heavenly lights, it shifts my perspective. Now Psalm 24 says this, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Anything we can lay our eyes on comes from God. God created it. And there's something that happens in our hearts when we can look at creation and we can look at all the things in our lives. And we can say, "This is yours, God. "It belongs to you.

"It came from you and it will go back to you." And Matthew 25 and this verse in the 18th verse, "The man who had received the one talent "went off and dug a hole in the ground "and he had his master's money. "And in his perspective, "he was missing the blessing that he had received." Now I wanna encourage you to consider the things that God has placed into your hands to begin to receive by faith and recognize the blessing of what he's given to you. Now this stewardship mindset changes things for us. It reminds me of a time a few years ago, this was back in the day when half the people in South Orange County did not have a Tesla. This was like when Teslas were rare. And our Anaheim and our Irvine South Campus, you will know there's a lot of Teslas in Irvine. In fact, if you drive through Irvine, I think every other car is a white Tesla. But back in the day, there were fewer Teslas. And my friend had this brand new Tesla and there was like five people in our whole church of several thousand people that had a Tesla. And he said, "Hey, I wanna let you borrow my Tesla "while I go out of town." So I go over to his house and he gives me this long instruction about how to use it.

It was like 20 minutes of instructions. I think he was a little bit concerned of what kind of driver I might be. But after unleashing me, I got into the car, I pressed the pedal all the way to the ground and ran it straight into the back of somebody's house. Just kidding, that didn't happen, that didn't happen. Actually what happened was I got in the car and I was so nervous. Like I was shaking the whole time I was driving. Actually had been driving it for a couple of days and I'd parked it and there was this lady, when it was charging, she's like backing up straight into the car and I'm like laying on the horn. Like I cannot give Mark this Tesla ruined. I can't take it back to him like that. And then when the kids would get into the car, man, it was like, you know, if they get into my car, I'm fine. It's like, it's already a mess. There's already gum and things are sticky and french fries under, you know? I mean, so that season was like that, but not Mark's car. They want that to happen. So they'd get in and their hands are all sticky and they're touching the screen. And I'm like, don't touch the screen. And then there's like stuff and their pockets falling out. So finally, I'm like, empty the pockets before you get in the car. By the time we gave it back, I was like, don't breathe.

Just don't breathe in the car. And I was so relieved when I gave it back to him. And the difference between stewardship and ownership is that stewardship recognizes that everything I have goes back to somebody. It's not mine. It's on lease to me. And so God gives you the stewardship of your life. It's all his. So if you're married, your marriage is his, your spouse is his, your kids are his, your job is his. All of it is his that he's given to you on loan and at some point will give it back to him. And there's a freedom in this. There's a freedom when I recognize that it's all gods and he takes responsibility to care for me and provide for me. And then he expects for me to take what he's given to me and be faithful and steward it well. So the question then becomes, how do I steward what God has given to me? Now, if you come back to this verse, I want to throw it back up for a moment. The man who had dug the hole in the ground and put his talent into the ground with the master's money, it's important for us to see and understand that in the original culture, when this happened, this was a common practice to take a sum of money, dig a hole and put it into the ground. This was like a safety procedure

that the money wouldn't be lost. There's all this archeological evidence of holes where money has been buried. So Jesus is taking a common practice in their culture and helping illuminate for the disciples' minds and for us to understand the expectation with what he's given to us is not simply that we hold onto it and that we give it back to him upon his return. It's that we would take the care of a steward, but then we would be bold with what he's placed into our hands and be responsible to return to him with what he's given to us, multiply what he's placed into our hands and for the two and the five talents. Jesus says that the master gives the exact same response It's what you do with what you've been handed. I remember in high school, there's this one guy. And he was like, he was like, I'm saying this is what the ladies would say about it. He was really good looking according to the ladies. He had like all these girls that wanted to be his girlfriend. And he was like the best athlete. And he was like a 4.5 student. And I was a little bit behind on all of those. And I remember just thinking, if I was just as good looking as that guy, and this is athletic as him. Now, I don't know on Facebook if he's like 60 pounds, heavier now today, what he's like. But he started with five talents. And I just remember thinking to myself,

comparing this guy is so much better off and that comparison never helps. So the reality is not what did God give somebody else? It's what did he give us? What did he give you? So you won't stand and give an account for what God gave to Billy Graham. You'll stand and give an account for what God gave to you. And God doesn't need another Billy Graham. God wants another you. God wants another me to be faithful with what he's put into my hands. So the second very important mindset and truth to embrace is that I'm responsible. I'm responsible before God to give a return with what he's placed into my hands. So God expects with the gifts and the resources that he's given to us that there would be a return. God wants what he's given to be returned back to him with multiplication. So God expects, I'm making sure I got it right with the screen. God expects a return on what he's placed into my hands. And it reminds me of a season in life when Stacy and I had first gotten married. We were in seminary. We were going to school in Texas. We were there for five years. I often say we lived in Texas for five years too long.

And while we were there in grad school, shortly after getting married, we were 22 years old. And we already knew at that point that we wanted to start a church after seminary. So there was this guy named John Worcester who used to be on staff at Saddleback a long time ago, started a church in the 1980s, was partnered with through Saddleback. Saddleback actually helped fund that church plant. And so we went to Texas to learn from him and to go to seminary. And so he had started a church. They didn't meet on Sunday mornings because they sent the church out to start other churches. And then they came back to celebrate on Sunday night. So John Worcester, we were involved with this church and we said, "Hey, we just want to roll up our sleeves, learn from you while we go to school." And about a month after being in his church, he came to Stacy and I and he said, "Hey, I wonder if you guys might consider starting a church while going to seminary. I think you could do it part time." That's like the biggest lie I've ever heard in my whole life right there. And so we prayed about it. It's funny now looking back, we prayed about it for two weeks and we came back and we're like, "Yeah, we'll start a church. That'd be awesome, we'd love to."

Now, I think starting the church was a great experience. I wish I'd waited until I'd been married a year. And in that first year of marriage, we're six months in, we're starting this church from scratch, we're raising resources, we're putting together a team and it was on a college campus. Now, if you know anything about college students, they tie empty Starbucks cups, that's what they do. So it's very hard to get the church financially off the ground and so we go out and we start meeting with people and they start giving towards the church from across the country. And we would write these monthly newsletters to them. So Stacey would pound out what was called a word from the woods and every month, this newsletter would go out with stories of life change. One story that stuck out to me is this group of Japanese kids that started coming to the church. And in one year, there were seven kids that came to the church, person after person. They made decisions to follow Jesus, got baptized and they were the first generation believers in their family from Japan. So later on, we went to Japan and we met this missionary and she said, you've seen more students or more people who are Japanese come to faith in one year than I've seen on the ground being a missionary for 30 years. So our eyes were open. Now, in that moment, what we were doing felt like a really big deal to us.

And there was a lot of faith that we were pouring out and heart into the ministry. And these newsletters that we would write every month, it just so happened, one of the families that prayed for us in those early days just recently sent a stack of these newsletters to us in the mail. And so we opened up this envelope and Stacy looks exactly the same. Exactly the same. I look significantly older. My hair is way more gray, a lot fatter, all that. But I remember like looking at this thinking, gosh, we look, I look like a baby in that picture, so young. But on one of these newsletters, there is this one chart and this one chart was us charting out the growth that we'd experienced in the church. And there was like one week where it was 15 students that came and then there was another week that it was like 25 students and then it was 40 and then it was 55. out the sound equipment from our garage and those moments that were so different from what I'm experiencing right now, so different than our years here at Saddleback. And yet in those moments feeling such a sense of wanting to be faithful to God. Like just in my heart saying to God on my knees in a living room before I would load up the green Chevy Malibu saying God with these 25 students God, I want to be found faithful before you. I want to do my very best to honor you with what you've placed into my hands. And I feel like looking back I can see the faithfulness of God again and again. And if when you think where I am today is small might I challenge you to have more faith to believe that the same God that multiplied the talents in this passage that tells this story can multiply what he's placed into your hand when you are found faithful. That the faithfulness God is after is a willingness to say God I will relinquish control and I will be responsible to multiply what you've

handed to me. I want to be a faithful steward with the expectation that you are returning. Now look back at this passage. So beautifully you see this truth that after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. And Jesus makes this point the master is coming back. Like there's a moment of accountability that all of us will stand before the living God and give an account for what we did with what he placed into our hands in this life. And sometimes we can get confused about all of this because God is not against us working hard and being diligent. God is against us trying to earn his favor. So these talents that we have in our hands and we're faithful with we're not being faithful with them to try to earn something from God. We're being faithful based upon the faithfulness of God that he's already shown to us. And the expectation is that when we stand before him we would receive that commendation out of faithfulness well done good and faithful servant. And the last mindset the last truth I want us to see is that I am accountable before God with what he's placed into my hands. There will be a moment where we stand before God and the deep desire of our heart should be God. I want to be found faithful that you would say well done good and faithful servant. I will stand before him. You will stand before him and give an account. Now this is good news actually. I don't know what you feel when you hear that like you're going to stand before God. Maybe for some people it causes a little bit of trembling. But this is actually inspiring to consider that moment that reality where you have labored in love out of what Jesus has done for you your whole life and we have thousands of people in our church family that have been faithful for generations many whom who have stood before the Lord God Almighty and heard these words of commendation that this should give joy to your heart. You know accountability has become a negative word in our culture. I don't know if you've known that. Notice that like people oftentimes use accountability like it's a bad thing. You know the reality is that the only employee that doesn't want to be accountable to their boss is the one that doesn't do their job. Right. We know that. But the one who is faithful if your boss goes out of town and you work hard all week long and they come back you're excited. You're looking forward to showing them your faithfulness while they were gone. So this is a vision of you standing before God hearing his voice saying well done good and faithful servant. And I wonder today if there's anybody in here that has a burning in your heart and a longing to hear those words

from your Savior well done good and faithful servant and the joy enter into your master's happiness for all eternity. Now friends Jesus the Son of God comes from heaven to earth lives a perfect sinless life dies the death that we should have died pays the price that we should have paid dies on the cross in our place and makes a way that we can be forgiven that his faithfulness all the way to the cross through the cross and his resurrection from the dead makes a way that our story can be found in his faithfulness. And the good news is today that if you've never received that faithfulness that gift from him you can receive that you can open your heart to receive the gift of his salvation. And today I believe that there are many of you that God wants to-- But I think for the rest of us, God wants us to ask the question, if you are in him and you've received the gift of salvation already, are you being faithful? Are you responding to what he's placed into your hands with this kind of response that the good servant, the good and faithful servant that went at once with what the Master had given to him? Notice that again, that passage that says he went at once with what he had received, there was an urgency upon the return. There was an expectation that it might come faster than he expected, and Jesus is returning. He's coming. We don't know the day or the hour, but he's coming, and he wants us to be found faithful. Now, our church has many people throughout the years that have been so faithful. This is a generous church. This is a church that, for 46-plus years, has honored God, countless people that have been wise stewards and incredibly generous with what God has placed into their hands. And I love hearing some of these stories.

And I want you just to hear this short story of Chris and Christina. Now, before we go there, I'll tell you a couple of things. Chris and Christina are a part of our church family, our dream team. You're actually going to hear them talk about something called Dream Now, which, if you're new, is an initiative that we did about a year and a half ago, which was all about expanding the reach of our church and God's fresh dream for this generation. And I want you to hear their heart and the joy that they experience on this journey of trusting God, being faithful stewards with what He's placed into their hands. Let's watch this together. Hi, I'm Christina Whitaker. And I'm Chris. And we've been attending Saddleback Together since 2010. We had the good fortune of meeting each other at our first job after law school and dated long distance for a year. During that time, we really tried to figure out what did it look like for us to start a future together. We knew that we wanted church to be a part of that, and Chris had already been attending Saddleback. And shortly after we started, a giving campaign came up called Decative Destiny, and that was when we started really taking the first steps toward being faithful with our giving and doing it on a regular basis. Yeah, having a bunch of student debt and then trying to figure out how we were going to both get rid of that student debt and start our journey of faithfulness was a little bit tricky. So a couple of years into our marriage, we discovered financial peace, and that really helped us to really put a plan in place. Through financial peace, you really learned that the money you're making is not your money.

It's God's money that you are stewarding for him and for his purposes. We have always been equally yoked in having this heart for generosity, but we also tend to push each other. Sometimes in certain seasons, there have been things that he felt like we were called to do as a family that I was like, "Ooh!" And ultimately, it was scary for me. Like, is that too much? And ultimately, we have always gone with being on the more generous side, and that's never failed us. Dream now has been about seeing just how much God wants to do through us. And we just decided, you know what, what if we just gave 35% of her stock-based compensation of whatever that ends up being, and we've already satisfied what we thought was that kind of projected floor, we've already blown past that, and we've gotten here and a half more to give. It's fun to be in this season of our life having built that foundation of generosity and giving when it was really scary, to now give from a place of joy and excitement and just thinking about God could do whatever he wants to do with us. One of the things, too, that we enjoy sharing with our kids is this spirit of generosity, right? We're trying to lay the foundation for them, so it's not as scary when they become adults and they have real money that they can now commit to God or commit to other endeavors. And so they also made Dream Now commitments, and we asked them to come up with a number that they thought was something they wanted to give to the church. And now they're also coming up with ways to do that, so our daughter had a lemonade stand last weekend, and she had a big poster about how this was in support of Dream Now and her commitment, and you could just see the joy that comes with the giving. If you do take that one step, you'll be interested to see what God does with that one step and just keeps drawing you further along the path. And every sermon or campaign or pre-marital counseling, it was all a bunch of conversations that just led to one more step of faithfulness, one more step of learning a little bit more what it meant to be generous, and we're going to need a little bit more about why we're

called to be generous and what God wants for us, for our family, for our community. And so I think that would be my encouragement, is take that next step, whatever you feel, like be sensitive to what God wants you to do, and then just take one step and listen to God and see what He wants you to do next. I love hearing those stories. God's blessing, like if you're like Chris and Kristina, I want to thank you one for your faithfulness, but I also want to give you a small challenge this week in your small group to share your stories of God's faithfulness because there's something about hearing these stories that they strengthen our faith. Now, some of you might be thinking to yourself, "If I had stock options, I would give." And maybe when you hear their story, you're like, "Well, it must be nice to have stock options." And the reality is, I will remind you of the three people in the story that sounds most like the one talent person. And many times that mindset, if I had more, if I had a little bit more, I would trust God. Really the truth is if I am going to trust God with more, it starts with what I have now. And if we're not trusting God with what we have now, we're not going to trust Him if He gives us more. The invitation is to start with what's in our hands right now in this moment. And so might I, in these few moments that we have together, invite you into this journey at a deeper level of trusting God with what He's already entrusted to you. This week, it might be a simple walking through your life and saying to God, "I surrender it back to you. I'm so grateful for your goodness. You've been good and kind to me, and I want to open my hands to you. You might even right now in a journal somewhere in a fresh way, everything that you're surrendering back to God that He's given to you." And I love these words from King David in the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles, chapter 29. He's such a beautiful picture here of what it means from a heart of joy to look at all

that God has done for us and to thank Him as we serve Him with our generosity and stewardship. He says this, "But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this?" King David is speaking as they're building the temple and he says, "Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in your sight as we're all, as we're all of our ancestors, our days on earth are like a shadow without hope. But our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your holy name comes from your hand and all of these things belong to you. I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity and all of these things I have given willingly and with honest intent and now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given back to you." Isn't that a beautiful passage of Scripture? And these words that God gives to us, this invitation, what God is after is our heart and God is wanting to bless us, that God is wanting out of His abundance for us to experience the joy that comes from knowing Him. And I believe today that God is inviting us into this journey, wherever you are in your journey spiritually, the invitation is to take a small step. Today I'm going to give you one small step and first I want to show you this incredible sight that the team has put together. As it comes up on the screen, one of the things that you're going to see here, this is our new giving sight, you go to saddleback.com/giving, you're going to see it's a page full of passages of Scripture. As it comes through, you're going to see these five truths that we're going to be in this whole series and each week we're unpacking another one of these truths. We talk today about God being the owner. Last week we're going to, we reap what we sow. We put first things first, we're generous like Jesus and we invest for eternal impact. And I love this because it's shaping our theology and what we believe about money and about God's generosity towards us.

Now also on that page you're going to see there's a bunch of resources. And you'll see here there's a place where we have financial peace university. It's the short course that you can go through. Stacy and I went through it when we were 24, 25 years old, changed our lives and many people in our church have taken this. All of our campuses, every campus as you're listening has financial peace university. There's other resources here. Our whole goal, I want you to hear this from my heart to you is to help you to come alongside wherever you are in your journey of generosity to resource you so that you might experience the joy of this life of giving with God and stewardship before Him. There's a blessing, a joy, a freedom, a peace that God wants to give to our lives. And I believe today there are going to be some of you that this is the first time that you enter into that journey. And I want to speak between now and the end of our service. There's a simple step that I want to call you to. Some of you today have never taken that step to enter into a journey of generosity with your church family. I want to invite you today to just take a simple step. you can pull your phone out. And today, the simple step that I wanna encourage you to take is just to start, just to begin this journey. See, what happens is when we start somewhere and we give at some level, and then over time we begin to build a habit that grows into a lifestyle, but it starts with one simple step where we are today. And as you see this QR code on the screen, I wanna encourage you just to begin that journey of generosity, just to give something today. Don't try to calculate it.

Don't worry about percentages. Just take one small step and enter into that journey. This last service, we had like four times the number of people that normally take this step in the service. So there's this hunger and longing to begin this journey of generosity with God. And today, I wanna encourage you to take that step and watch God bless. Now, all throughout the series, we're gonna continue this journey. Your step might be next week to begin to take step forward to be, to make this a habit in your life. But today, that one simple step, I believe, is the beginning of a lifelong journey of trusting God with this area of our lives. What God is after is our trust. And there are some of you today. That's not your step. Your step is to open your heart to Jesus for the very first time, to begin a relationship with Him that goes from this point through all eternity. And if you've never received that gift right now, in this moment, I wanna invite you to believe in the Lord Jesus, to believe that He came to die for your sin upon a cross. He died the death you should have died, the death I should have died. He rose again from the dead.

He's ruling and reigning now as the High King of Heaven. And He's coming back. For those of us who put our trust in Him, we can have the confidence that we'll spend eternity with Him. And today, you can walk out of your campus. You can shut the computer today in your heart of hearts knowing that you have a relationship with the living God by putting your faith in Jesus. And in this moment, I wanna give you that opportunity by praying a very simple prayer back to Him to say, Lord, I believe from my heart and I confess with my lips that you are Lord. And the Bible says that when we do this, we know that we are saved. And if that's you, you can do that right now. So I wanna invite you to close your eyes and bow your heads with me for a moment. And this simple step, this important prayer is the most important decision you will ever make with your life. And if you've never opened your heart to Jesus right now, the Spirit of God is stirring. There are people right now, you know who you are. God is wooing you to Himself with His love. He sees you, He knows you, He loves you. He's inviting you to begin a relationship with Him. And right now, in this moment, you can pray a very simple prayer to say, Dear Jesus, I believe you died on a cross for my sin. Just tell him, I believe you died on a cross for my sin.

I believe you rose again from the dead. Just let him know from your heart that you believe that he rose again from the dead. And in this moment, just say the best I know how Lord, I'm surrendering my life to you. I acknowledge that I'm a sinner in need of grace. Just acknowledge it before Him. And I confess you as the Lord of my life right now, I'm putting my life into your hands right now. I'm putting my future into your hands. Just surrender it over to Him. And if you're praying that prayer right now, you're making a decision that impacts eternity. You're surrendering your life to the Lord Jesus. And now you have the confidence of eternity with Him. So Father, we thank you right now for this gospel message that never grows old. We thank you, King Jesus, that you've come from heaven to earth to make a way that we might receive abundant life from you. We thank you that sin no longer has the final word, that death no longer has the final word, that we have boldness and confidence before you today, that you are a good and gracious God. And we thank you for every person today that put their trust in you and the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen, amen, amen. I wanna celebrate. If you just prayed that prayer, I wanna celebrate, tell you, we're here for you.

We wanna help you. Also, before you leave today, I wanna make sure that you tell somebody that you made that decision. And in just a moment, we're gonna close our service. We'll tell you how to do that. But before we do, I wanna invite you to stand. We're gonna sing one more song. I know sometimes the tendency in this moment is to drift off into what's next, but how many of you know that God is worthy of our trust, that he is worthy of our surrender today? So right now, if you've got a prayer card, you can drop it in, but I want you right now, just to acknowledge your trust in God, that you might from your heart say, "God, I give it to you." And imagine yourself before him laying down your marriage, [Music] My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. And I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. No, He won't be the same. I trust, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Oh, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. 'Cause I saw the Lord, any hurt, any answer. I saw the Lord, any hurt, any answer. I saw the Lord, any hurt, any answer. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I saw the Lord, any hurt, any answer. I saw the Lord, any hurt, any answer. I saw the Lord, any hurt, any answer. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust in God. We'll sing your one who will never fail. He will never fail. And I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. We are so glad that you joined us for church today. And we just want to know, too, if you accepted that invitation from Pastor Andy, to say yes to Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior, and to start a

relationship with Him for the first time today, we as a church would love to know about it so we can come alongside you and be walking with you as you start this journey with Jesus. But it starts with you letting us know that you made that decision. And so you can do that if you're watching on YouTube, there's a link that you can click in the description, or you can open our Saddleback app and fill out a new year form. And that's going to let us know that you made that decision to follow Jesus for the first time today. That's right. And if you want prayer for anything, you have a prayer request, our team would love to pray for you so you can also let us know about that on the next step's form in the Saddleback app as well. Well, church family, we're so grateful that you joined us for church today. And I hope that we see you again next week as we continue our timeless truth series. We'll see you then. Have a great week. [Music]