Hungry for MORE || Victory Church [Book of John #15]

Hey, I remember when I first became a Christian. I was in high school, I was a teenager, and I don't know what you were like before you came to faith in Jesus, but I mean, I was like, whatever, I was a PK, preacher's kid, my dad was a Presbyterian pastor, but when it came to church, like, dude, I was so uninterested. I'd sit on the back row, I'd pass notes. I came from that generation, because we didn't have phones, so we actually had to, like, use the offering envelope. That was the sole purpose of the offering envelope back then, was to pass notes. And I'd find every excuse in the book to go to the bathroom at least, like, 10 times, every service. And again, I don't know what generation you come from, but if you're, like, elder, millennial, Gen Z, like me, or maybe boomer, are you so glad that social media did not exist when you were a teenager? I never would have gotten a job, because I would have been making the dumbest videos in the bathroom during church services on TikTok, and I just praise God that social media

did not come along until I was a little bit more mature. But when I put my faith in Jesus, man, it changed. It was not just a raise my hand sort of a thing. Like, I was a different person. And so I went from, like, leaning back to leaning in. Like, I got locked in in church service. I'm like, I'm trying to understand the sermons. Now I'm, like, trying to use the offering envelopes to take notes. Like, different purpose. I'm excited about it. I'm trying to talk to people about Jesus, like, that sort of thing. I wanted to live right. I wanted to please God. But it still felt like there was something missing inside my heart. And I was going to church. I was trying to be a good person. But I still felt like I was made for more. Come on, everybody say made for more. All right, so the older I get, and the longer I pastor, I notice that sensation in an incredible amount of people, that it's natural for us to feel this deep discontent in the soul,

even after we put our faith in Jesus. It still feels like we were made for more. Everybody say made for more. All right, and here's what it looks like. When things kind of quiet down at the end of the evening, and all the other noise stops, there's still noise on the inside. There's still this churning. There's still this discontentment. There's still this hunger. And it's not that type of hunger. It's not like pizza hunger. Like, there's food in the fridge, but it's still like you're starving in your soul. It's like, it's just not right. There's this grumbling in a deeper place, maybe even in your soul. And the old quote is this, is that most people live lives of quiet desperation. That we know that there's more, but we don't know what the more is, and we don't know how to find it. But here's the good news. You ready for the good news? You were made for more. Look at your neighbor. Say, you were made for more. Look at the other one. Say, I don't know you, but probably you too.

You know, here's the cool thing. God has a way for you to be able to look forward to every single day, that you can actually wake up, even on your Mondays, and have meaning. Even on your Mondays, can have some excitement to your, how many of y'all would love some excitement on your Mondays? Like, is that even, what's impossible with man, is possible with God, right? And today, I believe by God's grace, some of us may discover that for the very first time, how to actually address the hunger for more. And we're going to get there by looking at a very unsatisfied woman, all right? So in our journey through the book of John, the past few weeks, we've been in John four, sitting with Jesus as he sits with a woman at the well. And we're taking an extended amount of time right here, because this story is so deep, it's so good. Like, there's so many little angles to this story. And what happens is Jesus finds this woman, who's not a Jew, she's a Samaritan. She's kind of like the outcast. She's broken, rejected, searching. She's spiritual, but not religious. She has been married five times. Now she's living with number six. Let me say it this way. She's the person that a nice church person

doesn't want sitting next to them on Sunday mornings. Right? Come on, it's the one, they'd sit there, you'd be like. I know, we would never do that at victory, right? Come on. Come on, she's unsatisfied, she's hungry. But Jesus, here's the cool thing. Jesus doesn't move away from broken people. He moves towards them. And we need to take something from that, especially in today's world. What would happen if we actually drew near to broken people instead of like avoiding them like a plague? And in Jesus, this woman finds, for the first time in her life, a man who shows her dignity and respect and loves her with no strings attached. And right there in that moment, she puts her faith in Christ and her life gets changed. And here's the cool thing, when you actually stop to think about this. This woman came to this well like it was every other day of her life. But in the course of just another day of her life, she met God and he changed her life. And I believe that maybe that same thing could happen for you today. That you just thought it was Sunday and so you're just gonna wander into church, right? And you didn't know that Jesus actually

has today circled on his calendar to have a meeting with you. And the good news is one encounter with Jesus can change your entire life. All right, so we're gonna pick up with a story. It's right. at the end of their conversation, okay? And we're gonna take several segments here. So the first one is in verse 25. It says, the woman said, I know, Jesus, that the Messiah is coming. And when he comes, he will explain everything to us. And then Jesus declared, I, the one speaking to you, I am he. This is the first of the I am statements inside John, the ego amy, like I am the I am. And then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? And they came out of the town and made their way towards him. So in John, remember, John is an author knowing that you're reading what he's writing. So pay attention to the details. So pop test right now. The woman came to the well carrying what? A jar. This is not a trick thing, okay? She came carrying a jar.

Okay, so she met Jesus. And then what does she do with her water jar? She leaves it. Okay, and then what does she do instead? I still have it right now. Okay, she goes back to tell the people, all right? So, okay, just track the chain of events. This is so cool, okay? Think about this. I'm gonna add a layer of spiritual meaning to this, okay? So this woman comes to this well, like she's done every other day of her life, to get satisfaction, pleasure, the old way, with her old means. She meets Jesus, who is the water of life, puts down her jar because now she's found the water that will never run dry. She doesn't need her old methods any longer. Instead, she turns and goes back to everybody else and says, hey guys, I found where the real water is. Come and get some. And in so doing, she becomes what my seminary professor, Dr. Burge, would call the first model disciple. I love that, okay? Here's why I really love it. Think about the context of this, right? She's not a man, she's not a Jew, and she's not religious. And she's not holy, for sure. And so Jesus finds this unclean outcast of a non-Jew, divorced, messy Samaritan woman,

and she becomes the first model disciple in the entire Jesus story. How cool is that? All right, and so here's what it is. Here's what a model disciple actually is. Let me give you three characteristics. You can write these down real quick. They follow Christ. That feels like the prerequisite, right? Okay, so here's what it's saying. I now have eyes only for one King, Jesus Christ, right? And what it's saying is my pursuit of Jesus did not end by raising my hand at the church service. No, I actually became a different person. I followed Jesus, I served Jesus, I remain in Jesus, I obey Jesus, I live for Jesus now. That's the first mark of a model disciple. They change allegiance. What does she do? She puts down her water jar. Like, she changes what she's been living for. In other words, I don't live for what I used to live for. I don't live for who I used to live for. Now I pledge my allegiance to Jesus. Come on, guys, you stand up and say, I pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ of the big kingdom of God forever, right? Okay, you can write your own verse. And what it's saying, she changes her life mission. Like, she doesn't live the way she used to.

And what it's saying is this. Jesus doesn't just change my Sundays, he changes my every days, right? Because I've changed allegiance. I don't just owe my Sundays now to Jesus. No, like my whole life now belongs to Jesus. And then lastly, they find others to tell. Guys, we are hardwired as humans to share good news. All right, when, if you had a baby, you didn't keep it secret. Especially if you're a grandparent, you are obnoxious. If you have a new puppy, nobody likes you. You know what I'm saying? Because you're telling everybody about it. If you do CrossFit, everybody already knows. Because we're hardwired to share the things that we like. And what happens is when you find the living water that will never run dry, you find the thing that your soul's been thirsty for your entire life, you just have to tell. And the old saying is this, that we're just beggars telling other beggars where the bread is. Maybe for this story, we're just thirsty people telling the other thirsty people where the water is, right? Where the real bread of life, where the real water of life is. It's our job now to point people to the only one who can ever satisfy their soul, and his name is Jesus. And so think about this. This woman came to get water, she left to give witness.

She came carrying a jar, she left carrying a mission. And what happens is she essentially becomes the first evangelist in the New Testament, because of Christ, and her entire village comes to faith in Jesus. And now church history enters into this. Now if you know anything about church history, some of it gets a little funky, okay? Because we're talking about like outside the Bible stuff, and people like to embellish. But church history would tell us that her name was Fotini, and so her, with a P-H, because she came from that side of the kingdom, you know what I'm saying? And so Saint Fotini is her name. She was baptized by the apostles, she became a bold evangelist, and she was martyred in Rome by Emperor Nero. And I don't know if that's true, okay? Because sometimes Christians back then like to make stuff up. But here's what I do know. Here's what I do know, this one thing. Jesus he changed her life and then she got to work She got to work What'd she get to work doing? Telling people notice she didn't go to seminary Come on, so she didn't have a church service She wasn't like hey, can you lay out the Romans road for me Romans didn't exist yet Just tell people about Jesus

Right, and here's the story continues So she runs back into town and now the disciples start talking to Jesus verse 31 meanwhile His disciples urged him rabbi Jesus eat something, but he said to them I have food to eat that you know nothing about and then his disciples said to each other could somebody have brought him food like they Don't get it. They don't get it. And one of my favorite sayings of Jesus right here My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work My will is to do I mean my food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his Work and that is a phrase of Jesus that has stuck out to me forever And I just pray by God's grace that it would grip and grab and never let us go from this day forward that my food Is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish the task Finish the race finish the work get it across the finish line And and I love this, of course, they misunderstand him because everybody's always misunderstanding Jesus Because we think natural Jesus thinks spiritual right and John 3 Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus and he says Nicodemus you must be born again and Nicodemus is like Okay, is there a flowchart for that because my mom would not be a fan like cuz I'm a grown dude now You know I'm saying like how are we gonna make they say cuz he didn't get it and so Jesus says hey guys, my food is to do the will and they're like Did Jesus sneak in some chicken wings again like how Cuz you know, Jesus loved him some lemon pepper. That's the best one thing. He always sneaking those things around his pocket Jesus and They don't get it man. Like and I like we're we're just as humans like but by God's grace We would never understand the kingdom As Jesus his thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts his ways are so much higher than our ways But here's what Jesus is saying is what satisfies me in the deepest place of who I am is doing God's work What satisfies me in the deepest place what food here's what he's saying what food does for your body purpose does for your soul What food does for your body purpose does for your soul? Come on, what's the best food like for me? It's Frankie's who's up in Gwinnett Frankie's filet Maybe some Houston's ribs. Come on somebody what y'all like what you like? Come on. What's your what's your go-to? You can't think of anything so you can come with me next time we go to Frankie's all right, but you're paying for yourself Is it really expensive?

Come on like filet right? Here's what it's a the way that when I go to Houston's and devour those ribs and my body's like That when I do God's work my soul's like Here's our problem Here's our problem We put our faith in Jesus. We drink of the living water. Our soul comes alive We go back and we feast on Jesus again and again and again But then we never do anything with what he's given us So instead of being a river we become a reservoir Instead of allowing what comes to us to go through us We damn it up and keep it all for ourselves and something toxic happens even in nature When the water doesn't run through and in fact, you know The most toxic body of water in the entire world is the Dead Sea in Israel Why because water flows to it, but none of it goes out of it And so if all the thing is just the goodness goodness of all the arrows on the flow chart are pointing towards you and nothing's Going up you will become a Pharisee You will get toxic. Can I say it like this? You will become a faith potato Come on all my old victory people Harsha Harsha you just eating the goodness of God day after day. Come on Sunday morning You're just driving in look at all the people in the parking lot serving and you're like Harsha I'll take that in right you come in through the doors the greeters like hey, good morning You're like Harsha I'll take that in give the children's ministry your people your kid You're like you watch them for a minute Harsha. I'll take some of that sit down your seat The worship starts playing you're like Harsha Harsha sermon right now. Mm-hmm. That's good, right? We're gonna go home listen to 17 podcasts this week Harsha Harsha Harsha go open up read our Bible But we never do anything with what we have so we get fat in our faith because we never exercise our faith Because we just consume but we never contribute and The most angry toxic people you'll ever find in your life are the people like Jesus Jesus. I just want my theology to be perfect, but they never do anything with it because you were not made just to be a consumer, you were made to be a contributor. And then we have the

audacity to sit back and be like, it just feels like I was made for more. Because you were! Because you were made for more! You were made to do something with what you've been given in this life! Come on, it's like the old Snickers commercial, you're not you when you're hungry. You're not you when you're hungry. You got a little like spiritual blood sugar issues going on. You're just consuming, consuming, consuming. You're never exercising it. Your body's all out of whack. You're a little angry, a little hangry. The soul is acting and aching and there's this quiet desperation for more and more. Not because Jesus is not good and we are not receiving eternal life from him, but because we are not exercising and doing anything with the goodness that he's given us. We're not participating in the work that God has called us to do. And my soul's food is to do the will of the one who sent me. And to finish his work. And guys, let me say it like this. I am convinced that most people's sin issues are really just boredom issues. Because we're just sitting around. All this time on our hands. We have no meaning in our life. We have no purpose that we're actually living for. And so we're just, our idle hands are the devil's workshop. We just get ourselves in trouble, right? We were made to have eternal purpose, but we're not engaging in that. And so our hands will find something to do. Here's one of my favorite scriptures with this, Ephesians 4.28. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer. That's good advice. But must work doing something useful with their own hands. That they may have something to share with those in need. In other words, guys, here's how I'd say it. When we became Christians, a lot of us were told to stop doing the bad stuff, but nobody ever told you to start doing the good stuff. They told you to stop stealing, but never told you to do something useful with your hands instead. Because listen, if you used to steal and now you don't do anything, you'll just

start smoking. You'll do something with your hands, right? So here's the idea. We're not just supposed to stop doing bad works. We're supposed to start doing good works. Don't just stop doing bad. Start doing good works. And just to cut it off at the past, this is not about earning God's love. This is about expressing God's love, okay? You're not earning your salvation. You're doing these things because you're already saved. God doesn't love you anymore because you serve. You serve because God already loves you. So I'd sum it all up to say this. If you want to live full, do God's work. If you want to live full, do God's work. And then Jesus tells us what that good God work is in the last part of today. Verse 35. He says, don't you have a saying? It's still four months into a harvest. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for the harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying, one sows and another reaps, is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of their labor. And so Jesus begins that with kind of this, what we assume is a cultural saying of the time, is that it's still four months until harvest. And here was the idea of what we think. The farmer would plant his seed right in the ground. He'd go out and till it and plant the seed. And then there was just this thing of like, well I have four months now. Like I've done my part. I have four months until it's gonna grow up and I can go harvest that thing. So the next four months are just, sit back dude. It's still four months until the harvest. Just relax. Take your foot off the gas. Like just kind of lean back. And what Jesus is trying to say guys is like, that doesn't work. This whole idea of like, why are you in such a hurry?

Like, you know, just it's still four months of the harvest. Like again, think about that. Like today you're driving 90 down the interstate. They would have said like, hey dude, why are you in such a hurry? It's still four months to the harvest. It's just this cultural saying. Like dude, just chill out. Chill out. You know, just sit back. Stop running so fast. And Jesus steps right into the middle of that thing and blows it up. And he says, guys, it's not four more months until the harvest. The harvest is now. He said, guys, people are ready now. Souls are ready now. Lift up your eyes now and see what's happening now in your generation. It's not time to lean back. It's time to lean in. It's not time to press the brake pedal. It's actually time to press the gas pedal. Because I don't know if you guys know this. I have my ear to this. I don't know how much you guys are in on this. There is a sovereign move of God around the world that's happening right now, including in Atlanta. Okay, more than anything that's happened in my generation, the closest thing I can equate it to is probably what happened in the 60s, 70s. The Jesus revolution movement where people by the masses who were the people farthest away from God were actually the ones who were coming to God. Right now, the greatest move of God is probably happening in the underground church in Iran. I was just with somebody a few weeks ago who said they were planting churches like crazy underground in Saudi Arabia. Things are happening in North Korea. Things are happening where they should not. happening. Young people here in America are coming to faith. That's some of you guys. Recently you've come to faith because you said, hey the lie that I'm being sold in this world, it doesn't work. I'm hungry for more. There has to be more. And you found the one who is the well who will never run dry in Jesus Christ. There's a sovereign move of God happening right now in our life. It's not four more months to the harvest. The harvest is today. The harvest is now.

Don't lean back. Lean in. Open up your eyes. Get off your phones. Get out of the nine-to-five and see what God is doing in your world. The fields are ripe for the harvest. In fact, Jesus says it's so ripe that it's like you're gonna be sowing a seed and then the reaper is gonna be coming right behind you. And you're like, dude, back up. What are you talking about? Like back up. He's like, no. As the seeds going into the ground, boom. It's immediate. Boom. Boom. It's immediately growing up to a harvest. It's not four months. It's like immediate supernatural salvation is breaking out. The reaper is overtaking the sower. Like it's happening so fast. In other words, it's not time to relax. It's time to get to work. And what is the work? Jesus says it right there. It's saving souls. The reason you and I exist now. Why did God save us and leave us here? It's to tell everybody else where the bread is. To tell everybody else where the water is. Listen, the reason why I struggled after becoming a Christian with this sense of, I feel like I was made for more, even though I was a good person, I was trying to go to church, I was trying to do the right thing, is because I was made for more. I was made for more than being a professional churchgoer. Come on, Sunday morning. I was made for more. I wasn't only made to love God with my heart. I was made to live for God with my hands. You and I were made for more than going to church and trying to be a good person. You and I were made to do the will of the one who sent us and to finish his work. And your soul will never truly be satisfied until you about that life. The solution for a bored, unsatisfied soul is to get into the soul-saving business. And listen, it's not nearly as complicated as you think it is. And Jesus says what satisfied him like the richest of food, okay, was being about the Father's business and finishing the work. So if we're gonna live a fulfilled life, we have to eat. We have to E-A-T. We have to eat. Here's the first thing. We got to elevate. I'm gonna give you some fresh language around this, okay? We have to elevate. Here's what I'm saying. If you're gonna live a fulfilled life, you have to elevate your game. Wherever you're stuck today, you need to get unstuck. Wherever you're stagnant, you need to break out of that. Whenever I think about the seasons in my life,

wherever I was stagnant, okay, is I was sitting and I was consuming. I was a consumer. All right, whenever I think about the times in my life where I was alive and man, I could not wait for every single day, it's because I was moving, yes, towards an opportunity of a door that was opening. If you know Summer and I, like our motto in life has become, God, we're not gonna kick the door down, but if you open up the door, you already have our yes to walk through it. Okay, we're not gonna self-promote, but if you promote us, we'll do it. And so here's what our life looked like. When Summer and I were dating, she wanted to serve in two-year-old ministry, so I was a really smart boyfriend. Guys, I'm trying to give you all notes. Okay, so I served in two-year-olds with her. I figured it out. I didn't know what I was doing. And we got married. We started attending a young adult small group, married small group, and about six months in, they asked us to help to lead that group. And I remember us looking at ourselves like, we've been married like 16 seconds. Like, it feels like we should, no, no, no, no. We say that the four most important letters in the alphabet are I, C, and U. Somebody had an I, C, and U conversation with I, C, and U, the ability to do something more than you're doing right now. And so we're like, okay. And we just took a step. And then about six months after that, we're leading our own small group. A year after that, we're coaching all the young adult married small groups. Victory had a ministry school at that time. We went through that ministry school. I started preaching at outreach. I started preaching in fusion services, young adult services at that time. 2005, came on staff as the young adult pastor. 2010, we launched Victory Hamilton Mill. 2019, I felt stuck, so I started my master's degree. 2020, we took over the church. Here's what I'm telling you guys. Stop settling. Wherever you're stuck, get unstuck. I don't know where you're stuck in the process, but wherever you're stuck in the process, get unstuck. Take a step. Elevate your game. Start moving somewhere. And here's the truth. Can I say it like this? Some of you don't need another sermon. You just need an assignment. And we're trying to scratch this itch with 40 more podcasts, and you go to six churches every single Sunday. That will never satisfy you, because most

of us are way over-educated beyond our level of obedience. You don't need more sermons. You need to start doing something with the sermons you've already heard. You need an assignment, you need to get in the game, elevate your game, do something with your hands, activate, incarnate the gospel that God has already given you. And too many of us have been on the sidelines for too long watching everybody else play the game. Now I know some of you are right now, well how do I, you're asking how do I do that? I am so glad you asked. Here's the first thing you can do, you can start serving in the church. Start serving in the church, okay? Can you believe that there are people who have been coming here for a long time and still don't serve? That's crazy, look at the person next to you and be like, that ain't you, is it? That's not you, is it? That's crazy! I'm just giving you a hard time, but not really. So, no, I got this number this week. Every weekend, just here in Norcross, 675 people serve. 675 people, that's what happens here across this weekend. And let me say this, as pastor of this church, I am not okay with some of you dying because you're serving in five areas, because other people aren't stepping up

and they're letting you die on their behalf. And listen, if you're not serving, you shouldn't be okay that 675 people are serving instead of you. And the truth is this, guys, I'm gonna say something you probably didn't think I was gonna say. Listen, if you're one of those people who's just in it and you're in like 17 different areas, you need to pull back, you need to throttle back, and you need to take a seat for a little bit. Okay, listen, you wanna know how this whole story starts? Jesus was tired, so he sits down at the well. Sometimes it's okay to take a seat for a minute. And what's gonna facilitate the people being able to take a seat who've been killing themselves for some of us is that everybody steps up and does their part too. So some of you actually need to do a little less. Others of us need to start doing a lot more. Okay, here's what it looks like. Find the area you're gifted in. Okay, don't just do things you hate. No, find an area that you're gifted in. That's the really cool thing about this, okay? And the cool thing is every area of serving, if you don't know how it connects, I can help you. I can draw the lines, I can connect the dots for you. Every single area of serving actually plays a role in people coming to faith in Jesus.

Okay, every single area that you can serve in actually plays a role in that. So if you wanna actually get in the game and start doing the will of the Father and beginning to finish the task, man, maybe your first step is actually getting involved in serving. To do that, you need to go through Discover Victory, join the church, we're gonna help you out with some next steps in just a few minutes, okay? But if you have already done that or you're maybe an older member of Victory and you're not serving, what are you waiting for? Let me just tell you this. If you're waiting for your kids to get a certain age, you'll have another excuse when they get to that age. I just wait until I'm not single anymore and I'm in. No, take a step, take a step. I just wait until I graduate. Take a step, get unstuck, okay? It's not four more months to the harvest, it's right now. Okay, if you've been serving for a while, it's time to step up into leading. I say this all the time, guys, because this is my story, okay, some of you have been saved for way too long to not be leading other people and you're just kind of taking the easy path, just kind of stagnant, stagnant, stagnant, stagnant, just cut right in right here and you're like, oh, I just feel, maybe I need to get another degree,

it's that raise, I need another promotion. No, you need to be about the Father's business, okay? You need to actually take a step and get unstagnated, you need to get unstuck, okay? So here's the deal, it's time to elevate, we actually have a leadership interest meeting coming up, you can lead if you've already been serving somewhere or already been active in a group, okay, take that next step, we'll give you next steps in just a few minutes. All this is so important because some of you actually have the call of God on your life to work in full-time ministry, okay, which is why we're starting our Victory School of Ministry in the fall, okay, it is happening, it's gonna launch in August, okay? Now here's the cool thing, that school is for the explicit purpose of raising up people to full-time ministry, to vocational full-time work, you know, ministry, so I need to talk about it just for a second, okay, now here's the cool thing, the first year's class of 50, we capped it at 50, the first year's class of 50 is already full, okay? Now two things, one, praise God, that means in about a year and a half, we're gonna have about 50 people who are trained for the work of the ministry. Second thing is that some of you are like, why didn't you let me know, right? I'm helping myself with 1,000 conversations at the door,

okay, at the risk of offending everybody, okay, here's what happened, is this first year's school is we exclusively had it through internal staff, pastoral nominations of people on their team who had articulated a perceived call to life and ministry who had already been leading for at least one year, okay, who had already been leading for at least one year, all right, because if you've been leading for at least one year, it tells me there's already something activating inside of your life, you're already getting about the Father's business, you're already elevating your game, you're already interested in seeing souls get saved, you're already pursuing God, right? And now here's what, if you wanna connect the dots, if you're interested. If you're interested in the second year of the ministry school, which will be August of 2027, that means you need to start leading now, now. Now, Summer and I, I was thinking about this last week, Summer and I, very vivid memory in my mind, around 2004, Victor used to have a different type of ministry school here, and so Summer and I were just volunteers, like we were just leading in the church, still preaching a little bit, but it was just all volunteer, and Victor had the ministry school, and the young adult pastors at that time grabbed us, put us in their kitchen, said, hey, are you guys gonna go to the ministry school?

And we're like, nah, nah, nah. And they're like, why? And we're like, we're just young and irresponsible. You know, it's like, I had no reason, you know? In my mind, I would have said like, still four months until the harvest, right? And then they're like, if you don't have a reason not to go, just go, just go, just do something. And so we're like, pfft, fine, we'll go. And so we went, and it was a nine-month school at that time, and you wanna know how I know it was nine months? Because Summer missed the finals because she had Jeremiah. That's how much of a nine-month school it was. She basically got pregnant on the first day of school. You know what I'm saying? And like, finished, she, and literally, I think the first time we actually took Jeremiah out of the house was for the graduation. Had like a little cap and gown, and Jeremiah's like this big, you know, with the head like this big. Boo, he's got big head. You know, just holding it there. And here's what I'm saying, guys. I was thinking about this last week. If we had waited for the next year, then we would have had an excuse not to go. And if we don't go through that school, I have a hard time connecting the dots

for how I'm standing on this platform today. It's time to get to work. It's time to elevate. Wherever you're stuck, get unstuck, okay? So we gotta eat. The first thing is we gotta elevate. The second thing is we gotta activate. All right, if you are going to live a fulfilled life, you've gotta activate what's in your hands. So let me go ahead and talk about the thing that people don't like talking about in church. Money. Money. Money, okay? I love this quote. Bob Buford said this. He says, money is ministry waiting to happen. All right, I need you to get this understanding. I need you to, I need every single person in Victory to get our arms, to get our mind around this. This is what money is for. Money is ministry waiting to happen. Let me contrast. When money is in our hands, okay, we turn money into Starbucks. We turn money into ice cream. We turn money into gas for a car. We turn money into rent. We turn money into credit card bills and all those things, whatever.

They have a place, okay? Here's the problem with that. Those things have no eternal value. All right, they're necessary to a degree, except for the Starbucks, you know what I'm saying? For some of you, maybe, okay. But like, it ends as soon as it leaves our hands. Like, it burns. You ever like get paid and you're like, where'd all my money go? Because we're spending it on things that don't matter at the end of the day, all right? But here's what I know. As soon as the money touches God's hands, it turns into souls. It turns into souls. In fact, John Wesley famously, years ago, said this, whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. It's immediately touched. So in other words, that's everything, but including our money, as soon as the money touches God's hands, it will live forever. And I speak from 27 years of experience. Listen, I was a Christian long before I was a pastor, okay? If you want to feel your soul come alive, get the money out of your hands and activate it for kingdom work and saving souls, okay? So that begins with this thing called tithing, all right?

So tithing is this. Tithing is giving the first 10%, not how much you want to, don't give God a tip, is giving God the first 10% of what comes into your life, usually through a paycheck, back to God through the local church. I have tithed since I was 19. I was waiting tables at Outback in Athens, going to UGA. I had just heard a victory sermon that weekend. Pastor Dennis preached on tithing, and Summer and I had just hung up the phone. I'd just gotten this little cell phone. She gave it to me because I had no money. And she was my sugar mama back then. And I remember I had like 40 bucks or whatever from working like a short shift there at Outback. And I was like, all right, so that's four bucks this weekend. And I started tithing when I was 19, and I've never stopped, okay? What I'm saying is something happens inside your soul when you actually realize my food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work. And if I can get this money out of my hand, something changes inside of me, and it actually gets activated for the kingdom. Why? Because wherever your treasure is there, your heart will be also. And you want to know what I want to care about? I want to care about building families

and transforming communities and reconciling cultures and impacting nations. And so I want to give to make those things happen. I want to give so that some of you can come to faith in Jesus Christ. I want to give so we can have small groups. I want to give so you guys can become disciples. I want to give so missions can go out all over the world. That's why I want to give. And that has been my story for the last 27 years. I don't know what your story is, but I know that if you are participating in this work, activating your resources for the cause of the kingdom, there's a level of fulfillment inside your soul. Because you know that your life is echoing on beyond just paying for the air conditioning, putting a little bit more gas inside of your car. And if you can tithe, then you can step beyond tithe to go to offerings. Offerings are sending money to your family back home or helping the person on the street or helping a neighbor or anything like that. But the offering comes after the tithe. If you can do the tithe, then you start stepping into the offering. All right, and so Summer and I, she's way more generous than I am, but she'll give to people just in need. Somehow she finds these people. And we give to our vision projects.

This year we're stepping in to give into our vision projects here. And if you're doing that, listen, you know that it is more blessed to give than to receive. And I know there's a lot of fear in the economy today, but something happens in your soul when you press past the fear to just be about the father's business. And trust that he's gonna take care of you in the midst of it, right? And you know that if you're putting your hand into God's hands, then it turns into souls. And, okay, I was even debating this morning. Okay, I'm gonna tell you a story real quick. I hesitate to tell this story because I don't want you to misinterpret why I'm telling you this story. I know the principle of giving in secret. I've preached it before. I know, but I do know this. Sometimes as leaders, we need to share what we did when the lights were off so you can be motivated in your own way. God can speak to you about it now that the lights are on. So last fall, Summer and I went to Zambia, Africa, and we were doing some missionary training there. One of the nights, there was probably, I don't know, 300, 400 people in the room, and about 50 of them were like young adults, like 19, 20, 21, 22, who were evaluating,

should I give my life to missions? And so I preached a sermon on giving God your yes, like the power of giving God your yes. Can I say something? It was good, it was a good sermon. And good points, people were laughing, like they're locked in, they're all leaning in, and then we have this altar moment, and all these people, 100 people come forward, it's awesome, we're laying hands on people, people are like, I gave God my yes, like it's awesome, it's awesome. All these guys, I'm sitting back, and right at the end of it, I'm kind of like sitting back and I'm watching, I'm like, Jesus, thank you that I get to do this, like all these people are saying yes to like giving their life for the cause of Christ, for the sake of the gospel, like that's so good. And then right there, God had the audacity to talk to me. And he asked this question. He said, well, Johnson, what about your yes? And I was like, Jesus, I already preached the sermon, you know what I'm saying? Like that was my yes, what are you talking about? Like I already did my part, you know, like no, this was for them, you know, it's like a preacher, he's like, no, no, what about your yes? And right there, God began talking to me

about giving a large, what I would just call from scripture, a painful offering to the church to literally empty my retirement account that I've been contributing to for 20 years here at Victory. So in March, this is just a few months ago, in March, I withdrew as much as they would let you. I don't know if you've ever tried to do that, but they won't let you have all of it. I'm like, it's kind of my money, and they're like, not really. I don't know how that works, but they wouldn't let me have all of it, most of it. And so in March, Summer and I gave $212,000 to the Victory School of Ministry. And a little bit of it went to the project fund itself. Most of it actually went so that we could do scholarships for students who wouldn't have been able to afford it. I didn't want anybody to not be able to go who we had selected because of money. And in the midst of that, here's what the Lord told me. He said, Johnson, that school is your retirement. That school is the future. That school is the future of Victory, future of the kingdom here in Atlanta. And here's what he said. He said, if you give to that, I will take care of you. I was like, all right, well, you get my yes then. In today's language, I will activate it in that way. And so I wrote the largest check I'd ever written. I'm like, zero, zero, do, all right, ooh.

But here's what I'll tell you. When I gave that check and I left that office, bro, Frankie's got nothing on that. Houston Rib got nothing on that. My soul was like, yes, because my food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work, to finish the work. Here's what I'm, here's why I say this, guys. Too many of us are trying to have the fulfillment of the kingdom and the fulfillment of the world. We're trying to please our flesh and still be about kingdom business. And it doesn't work that way. Sometimes, many times, most times, you have to make a choice. And what we see in Jesus is that the mission took precedent over his comfort. He did not go back into town to get the food because his mission, what was actually gonna satisfy his soul, was seeing this woman come to faith. To see this woman actually get eternal life. And so he says, I'm gonna sacrifice some things in my life for a greater cause. I'm gonna lay myself down for something that's greater. And listen, this is why I hesitate to say that because I don't even want one person to come out there and be like, oh, that was a lot of money. No, listen, at the end of the day, it's like what Jesus said, I'm only doing what I was supposed to do.

I give a few dollars, Jesus gave blood. And may I, may we, may the church always be willing to crack open our jar of perfume and pour out our inheritance on the feet of Jesus. There is no greater place to waste our lives than at the feet of Jesus Christ, on the cause of the kingdom, to save souls. And I'm telling you, if you are about that, then even right now, you are like, yes, and amen. Others are like, I don't even know what that feels like. Then get to it. Yes, I can't buy some stuff that other people can buy, but here's the good news. When their stuff is all rusted and faded, mine will still be living on forever. Because as soon as it touches his hands, it touches immortality. And this is a message we have to keep hearing. I grew up with this, Pastor Dennis said it, now I see it. I know how this works, that money is the last thing we give to Jesus, and it's the first thing we take back. This is why, listen, guys, it's not about the dollar, it's not about the money, what it is, it's about your heart. If I wanna get a good test of where your heart is, show me your bank account statement. Because whatever you're spending it on, that's wherever your treasure is there, your heart will be also. And God loves you enough to say,

may your heart be about kingdom business. Get it out of your hands. Get the love of money out of your heart. It's not about the dollars and cents. I'm not telling you to empty your retirement. I'm not telling you. What I'm saying is activate your money for the kingdom and watch what happens in your life. And listen, if you're in a place and you stop tithing, I already know what's happening in your heart. You're fearful, you're clenched down, you're worried about everything right now. You're starting to actually, when you get a raise, you start diverting your money and you're starting to build up your own kingdom and something toxic starts happening because God gave it to you, but it can't go through you. You're like the Dead Sea in your bank account. And something needs to change today. And I urge you in the name of Jesus, not only to elevate your life, but to activate your resources. And the third thing is this, we gotta translate. Elevate, activate, translate. Elevate, activate, translate. Give you some fresh language. This woman at the well, with Jesus, she meets Jesus, she immediately goes to tell. Why? Because the river can't stop with her.

It has to go through her. So as soon as she gets some good news, she's just gonna go and run and share it. She doesn't go to seminary, she doesn't take evangelism classes. No, she just goes to tell. Some of us are so worried we're gonna say the wrong thing that we don't say anything. I would rather you mess it up than just sit and become a professional churchgoer and wait for a class that we're gonna offer in six years or something like that. Dude, just go, just go. Just tell people about Jesus. Just go get the word out. And if you're going to live a fulfilled life, here's what it looks like. You have to translate Jesus into everything you do. Wherever God places you, that's your mission field. 99.9% of Christians will never work on a church staff and you shouldn't. It's not what you think it is, okay? Just translate Jesus into everything that you do. Wherever you go, take them into your workplace. Well, they don't let us talk about you. Trust me, you'll find a way. Take them into the school system. Well, they don't let us talk. You'll find a way. You'll find a way.

Take them into social media. Take them into your conversations. Take them into the cul-de-sac where you live. Take them in your apartment complex. Take them wherever you are, wherever you are. It doesn't have to be big, it might be small. God never promises you'll have a microphone and talk to thousands of people, but you may talk to one around a coffee table. And that's enough. And here's what I know. I've been doing this long enough. We're about to enter into summertime right now. And some of you are going to come up to me in the lobby and you're going to apologize. And it's going to sound like this. Hey, pastor, just want to let you know, like we're not going to see you for a few months because little Billy's in travel ball, right? Samantha's playing volleyball and we got to take her around. She's been playing in Vancouver this summer, right? You can tell I feel a certain way about it, but that's fine. No, here's what I'm going to say, okay? Because in your mind, you're like, oh, I'm checking out. No, no, no. What if you put your arms around that team and became the pastor of that team? What if you talked to him? What if you prayed with him? What if you brought Jesus to him, right?

You may never be called to pastor a church, but you could pastor a ball field. What if you were the pastor of a volleyball court? What if you were the pastor of a swim meet? What if you were the pastor of a dugout? And if you're going to do that, you don't have to apologize to me because you're translating to Jesus into everything you do. But if you're just going to go to the field and doom scroll, social media, I will accept your apology at the door. Today. And really, honestly, the person who you should apologize to is your kid. Because you're showing them what real priorities actually look like. If you're just gonna ignore Jesus for the next few months, you should apologize to your own child. So guys, pastor your dorm, pastor your office. I loved it, I was having a small group yesterday morning, and one of the guys said, man, people see me at my work like I'm the pastor of the office. And I'm like, I love it. I love it, if you're the one that people come to when their marriage breaks, praise God. But may you never have the conversation where like somebody finds out you're a Christian, they're like, wait a second, wait, you're a Christian? You're like, ah, God, yes.

Was it not apparent? I'm sorry, like, I don't know. You ever had that conversation? It was the worst conversation, okay. We just let it out. Why? Because the fields are white today. And this woman, what does she do? She runs back to town, and I love this phrase. Oh, I started grabbing hold of this phrase. She ran back to the town, and she says, come see a man, come see a man. Could that be the cry of our lives from this day forward? Come see a man. Come see the man who changed my life. Come see the man who told me everything I ever did. Come see the well that will never run dry. I don't have all the answers, but he does. Just grab this hand, I'm gonna grab his hand, and then I'm gonna connect the two of you guys. Come and see, come and see, come and see. And I promise you, when you lead somebody to eternal life in Jesus Christ, you've never felt so full in your entire life. That's what we were made to do. What were we made to do? We were made to eat. Here it is, if you didn't already connect the dots. We're made to eat. Elevate, activate, translate.

Called to eat. Elevate, activate, translate. I'm gonna close with this. Samuel Shoemaker was a pastor a number of years ago, and he's the one who provided what became kind of like the spiritual foundation for what became Alcoholics Anonymous. Now it's drifted since then, but the spiritual foundation of AA came from this man, who burned for souls. And I pray today that his posture would be our own. He wrote this. I love this. I stand by the door. I neither go too far in nor stay too far out. The door is the most important door in the world. It is the door through which men walk when they find God. The most important thing that any man can do is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands and put it on the latch. Men die outside the door as starving beggars die on cold nights in cruel cities and the dead of winter die for want of what is within their grasp. They live on the other side of it, live because they have not found it. Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it and open it and walk in it and find it. So I stand by the door. I admire the people who go way in, but I wish they would not forget

how it was before they got in. Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even found the door. You can go in too deeply and stay in too long and forget the people who are outside the door. But as for me, I shall take my old accustomed place near enough to God to hear him and know he is there, but not so far from men as not to hear them and remember that they are there too. Where? Outside the door. Thousands of them, millions of them, but more importantly for me, one of them, two of them, 10 of them, whose hands I am intended to put on the latch. So I shall stand by the door and wait for those who seek it. I had rather be a doorkeeper. So I stand by the door. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you are somebody whose life is about standing by that door, you are so full right now. But if you're not, let's change it today because you know you were made for more.

Let's bow our heads. God, I thank you that you did not save us so we could sit. You did not save us just so we could attend. John Stodd in The Last Generation, he said that the purpose of the church is for worship and for witness, both, both, both. Come and see, go and tell. And so right now, God, I ask for forgiveness upon us for our stagnation, for our apathy, for sitting and feeding and eating and eating and eating, but never going and doing anything with what we have. And I thank you that your grace, even right now is meeting us in that place and saying, child, you are forgiven, but it's time to get to work. Because there's nothing more important than leading men, women, children to eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ. And listen, there's some of us today who need to cross that line. The cool thing is this, coming to faith in Jesus is a finish line, but it's also a starting line. It's a finish line, meaning like you're about to be born again. Eternal life is yours, your sins are forgiven. You have a place in the family, God is your father. But the lie too many of us have been sold is now your job is just to go to church. No, no, no, no, that's part, that's this little part. Is your job is actually now to go and tell.

Activate the gifts that are inside of you for the rest of your life. There's no life more fulfilling than being about the Father's business. It is our soul's food. And so if today is the day, I don't know how you got here, I don't know how you're listening, if you're here in the room or if you're online. If today's the day, you say, hey, I need to put my faith in Jesus. I need to become a new person. I need to be born again today, receive that forgiveness and begin living for Him. If that's you, I just want you to ask, I ask you to raise your hand. How many of that's you? Did I see her? I see your hand. I see your hand, I see your hand. See your hand, yeah. I see you guys. You can put your hands down. We're gonna pray right now and I'm gonna ask the family of God around you to pray with you and then we're gonna do something really cool. Let's pray like this. Say, Jesus, right now, I confess, I've gone my own way. I've messed it up. I need life.

And so I turn from my sin and I put my faith in Jesus. You loved me so much, you went to the cross to take my sin upon yourself. I received that and since you rose again, I can live too. So right now, I receive forgiveness, I receive eternal life through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And right now, because of Jesus, I am a child of God and I will live for God the rest of my life. May my life be about the kingdom from this day forward. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Let's celebrate that just right now, right here in this place, okay? That's awesome. That's awesome. And we're gonna take one more step right here, okay? Here's what I wanna say. There's probably, I'm just gonna guess, about 15, 20 people who just raised their hand, okay? Here's what I'm gonna say. If you serve in this church, you lead in this church, are you given this church? You had a part to play in about 15 to 20 people stepping out of death and into eternal life. Thank you, thank you. And some of us need to elevate, activate, or translate. So we're gonna give you one more step right here, okay? So we have this slide, literally two minutes. I'm gonna give you two minutes. There's a danger in being a hearer and not being a doer. So we're actually gonna give you two minutes right now

to take a step, all right? Don't be like, I'll do it when I get home. No, you won't. I know how this works. Devil loves to talk us out of stuff, all right? So go to connecttovictory.com. If you're in the room, do you know that tab, that little button on the seat back pocket? You can tap your phone to that, however technology works. It's gonna take you to this. If you don't know how to do all that, just go to connecttovictory.com. You're gonna see this thing right here. It's actually gonna be the five top buttons, okay? First one is Vision 2026. This is our vision projects around here. Maybe you got it over the last few minutes. It's just been saying, hey, you need to stop operating in fear. You need to get in the game, activate your resources. Some of you need to start serving, all right? Or you need to start leading. If you're looking for a place to serve, two places I would just highlight here. Men, we need you in the parking lot. Come on, somebody. Everybody, we need you in children's ministry, all right? Who in here serves in children's ministry? Thank you. Come on, parents.

Can you say thank you? Thank you for that. You're also gonna see community outreach on here. That's just a few of the things that we have happening in the city. I also want you to pay attention. Next month, we're gonna have some World Cup outreaches that are happening. Just pay attention to social media. But that fifth button you'll see right underneath there is Discover Victory. So some of you, this may just be your first step to starting getting in the game. There's a lot of other buttons on that page. But here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give you 90 seconds, all right? 90 seconds to take this step as I stare at you. And I can see whether or not you're doing it, okay? 90 seconds. Just take a step, take a step. Elevate, activate, translate. 90 seconds, start the process. I wanna say, Jesus, what's my one step today? I don't wanna just hear a word. I need to get to business. I know I was made for more. I'm gonna stop making excuses, saying why I can't do that, why I can't do this. Take a step. Take a step.

Thank you for watching!