Jubilee Rooted

Come on, everybody, give it up for ACU, Austin Christian University. And of course, we want to welcome those that are joining from our campuses here in Austin. Can we say hello to everybody watching and joining us from our locations? Not just in Austin, but in Mozambique and in Italy, they are eating pasta as we speak right now, because pasta is what you eat for every meal in Italy. You know, Boudreaux said it was really hot here in Austin recently. Who knows who Boudreaux is? Boudreaux said, man, it's so hot. He says, I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were walking. Anyway, let me just move on to the next joke. That wasn't funny, was it? It was to Boudreaux. Well, we are honored today to be with you today. And of course, we are in a series for those that are new to our church, maybe new to faith. Maybe you've never been to a church in your life, or you thought this was Ikea and you just stopped in and looking for the meatballs. Well, there's a word that God has, and it starts in Leviticus 25. He talks about this word jubilee. Every year we talk about leaving a legacy, making a difference. Long after we're gone with our gifts, with our talents, with our treasures, and this year's theme is jubilee. Jubilee just simply means it's God's declaration over people, His people, to be free, to be free from bondage, to be free from fear, to be free from chains, to be free from slavery, to be free from debt. It happened, it was supposed to happen every seven Sabbaths or seven generations of Sabbaths, every 49 years on the 50th year. Sadly, it was never experienced by God's people. He gives all of these words for it to happen, but it never happened. And how many are thankful that it happened in Jesus? He is our jubilee, and He came to declare our freedom.

You'll hear about that in a moment. And we talk about this every year, leading up to an opportunity for us to give. October the 26th is when you will not want to miss church. I know some of y'all are thinking, aren't we having surgery on the 26th? Aren't I doing a lobotomy on the 26th? No, you're not. You're going to be in the house of God because we believe that churches, great churches, great organizations go forward through sacrifice. And on that weekend, as we are receiving our offering, it's so we will continue to add more to our locations, add more locations, next generation. And then what God is doing in the world throughout, not just our churches in the world, but across all of Europe, people that are now relating celebration churches and pastors relating to us as a church. So we have an opportunity to be a part of what God is doing. And so today, I wanted one of our closest friends, Lori and I, we have friends, believe it or not. Lori has more friends than I do. Her best friend is the husband of our speaker today, Todd and Julie Mullins, pastor, arguably one of the greatest, if not one of the largest churches in America called Christ Fellowship in West Palm and throughout South Florida. Who's ever heard of West Palm or not West Palm? Who's ever heard of Christ Fellowship? Let me see your hand. Yeah. And so, of course, their relationship to us has made us better. Let me tell you what makes life better or when you start to like life or like work, you like work when you have people that are like minded, like minded, Paul says, find people who are like minded. And guess what? You'll like life.

Well, there's been many days I have not liked ministry. I know Lori has not liked me, but we have found people who have believed that doing life together is better. And Todd and Julie have just been those people to us, and I've asked Todd to come and speak to us today as their church is gathering all over South and Central Florida. We have the privilege of hearing from one of God's best today, and I know you're going to love him. I know you're going to receive him. He is just a truly genuine man of God. I can be a man of God. He's a real man of God. He doesn't play. He's the real deal. And I want us to do something with the Bible does tell us, give honor to whom honor is due. Can we stand to our feet and welcome to our church today, Pastor Todd Mullins from Christ Fellowship Church. Thank you, Brother Judge. Love you. Love you. Celebration, how you doing this morning? It is so good to be with you. Truly honored to be here. Just remain standing for a moment. I want to lead us in a word of prayer as we jump into the word of God, but I want to say a couple things. I'm honored to be here. This is a great privilege. We love your pastors.

There's nobody like them. I think he got it switched up. It's my wife who is the best friend with Lori. Okay, just make sure. We'll clarify that for you. Just make sure. I am from Florida. But we all want to pray as we jump into the word of God today because we don't need another sermon or a song. We need the spirit of God to speak to each of our hearts. Amen. So Father God, we pray right now that as we open up your word, you would teach us, show us things that we need to see and that we need to hear by your spirit, we pray. And everybody together said, amen. Amen, you can be seated. So glad to be here today. As Pastor Joe said, I'm from West Palm Beach, Florida. So think palm trees and sandy beaches, you know, suffering for Jesus. Somebody's got to do it, right? Those people down there, they need Jesus. I actually grew up in South Florida, met my wife when we were seventh graders and fell in love pretty quick right there. And I think I got a picture of our family. It's my wife and our son. We have one son, Jefferson, and his wife, Cassie.

We don't normally dress up that much, but it was a special event. So we kind of look good there in that picture. But we're glad to be here. And one thing I would want you to know is that we love church. We love our church. We love your church. I was out in the lobby between services saying hey to people, looking at everybody. I love the church. There is no place on the planet like the church of the living Jesus Christ, amen? There are things that are supposed to happen here that aren't supposed to happen at Walmart, right? That aren't supposed to happen at Starbucks. There's things that happen when God's people get together here because the church has something on it that isn't on any other organization in the world. There's great companies and organizations out there doing great things, but man, the power of God is on the church. The spirit of God flows through the veins of the church. So people are doing stuff, but man, in here, there's something that God wants to do in and through and with his church that actually changes us. People walk in these doors and we find God. We understand our purpose and why we are created.

It's in this place where the wounded are brought back together again and healed and made whole, where people understand what it means to walk with God and know God in relationship with God. And can I tell you something? Life is all about relationships. And the reason I know this to be true is I've had the privilege and the responsibility as a pastor to be with people in their last few moments of life on this earth, right before they take their last breath. And can I tell you in those moments that I'm with them, they're only thinking about one thing, relationships. They're thinking about the relationship with God. Do I have one? Because I'm getting ready to meet them. And the relationship with the loved ones in their life, the people in their life. That's all they care about. They don't care about the stock market. Nobody was like, oh, could you bring me my investment portfolio one more time? I don't care. Yeah, who's gonna feed the cat? I don't care, a cat ain't gonna eat you. I mean, they're just like, all they care about is their relationship with God and their relationship with the loved ones in their life. And do you know the church

is the only organization on the planet that is committed to those two things. Nobody, no other place you go this week is gonna help you grow in those two things. No other, so you being here today, well done. You're investing in the two most important things on the planet. And the church is here to help you, to help people that haven't even yet walked in the doors of Celebration Church to find the relationship with God and then learn how to make their relationship with their spouses and their kids and the people in their life better, stronger the way God intended it to be. And the church is the only organization on the planet that Jesus is 100% behind. He backed it, he founded it, he started it, right? He said in Matthew, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not, cannot, shall not prevail against it. You know why? Because it's a God idea. This wasn't Joe and Lori's idea 25 years ago, hey, let's God, no. This is God breathed, God ordained, right? And it's at the heart of God. And what's at the heart of it is that God cares about people more than anything. Jesus isn't about a building, he's about this,

the church, a living, breathing family brought together of people that have been broken that God has healed and mended. Now we need buildings so that we can gather, we need all those things. But man, Jesus is all about people. When you study the life of Jesus, wasn't he always about people? He was always going to the people that nobody else wanted to go to, talking to the people that nobody else would talk to, the woman. at the well, everybody else would talk about her. Jesus would go talk to her. Say, I got living water. You could have, and man, that thirst and longing on the inside of you will be met. Zacchaeus, that little man stuck up in a tree, everybody else hated him. Jesus said, come on, let's go to lunch. We're gonna go to your house and we're gonna eat something. The woman caught in the act of adultery. Everybody else wanted to condemn her for what she did. Jesus knelt down in the sand and he wrote something out and everybody left. He said, neither do I condemn you, but he said, go and sin no more. Jesus has always been about people. It's his compassion for people that have made the difference his compassion that we see in him is actually what calls us

to go and to love and to do whatever we gotta do to get the message of Jesus out there to the people that don't yet know who he is. In Matthew chapter nine, this is one verse that talks about the compassion of Jesus. It says, when he saw the crowds, he saw people. It says he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless. They were like sheep without a shepherd. And in the original language, that word compassion isn't just a feeling or emotion. It's actually an emotion that comes from that deepest part of you. So it's an emotion that actually leads you to action to do something about it. Later in Matthew chapter 14, it says Jesus landed and he saw the crowd and again, he had compassion on them. So what did he do? He went to go begin to heal them. And then later in that passage, when the disciples wanted to send them all home, he said, no, no, let's give them something to eat. And that was the feeding of the 5,000 right there. It was because his compassion actually moved him to do something, to serve and to give. And that's what the series that we're in. We wanna see Jubilee come all over Austin, Texas. We wanna see Jubilee in people's lives, freedom and hope for the people that don't know God. And so our compassion that we see in Jesus

is our compassion for people that they will know and understand. So this series is all about doing something. We want people all over Central Austin, Leander, Liberty Hill, Legg Travis. We want everybody who is far from God to find God. Last week, Pastor Joe taught us on the scripture, the key verse of scripture for our series that's out of Isaiah 61. But when Jesus picks up the scrolls in the synagogue and opens it up, he reads out of Luke 4. He says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free. Say that last part with me out loud wherever you are. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. God has the spirit on you. Do you know that we are now the body of Christ? The Bible teaches us. So what was on Jesus is now on us. So the spirit of the Lord is on us to set captives free. It's on us. The Holy Spirit's anointing is on his church to help people who are spiritually blind be able to see and to experience, jubilate the year of the Lord's favor. I told you that Julie and I,

we met in seventh grade in church youth group. So that tells me that puppy love is real to the puppy. There we are, there's seventh, eighth grade. Puppy love's real to the puppy. And I also tell people, meet your spouse in the house. So if you're single, look around. They might be here. You might even need to get up and move chairs. That's all right. If you're married, just keep your eyes right here, sir. Don't turn to the left or the right. You might turn into a pillar of salt or something. I don't know. But we met in seventh and eighth grade. We dated on and off, all through middle school and high school. I thought it was more on. Julie says it was more off, but whatever. I got the girl, so it doesn't matter. And then when it was time for college, Julie's a year older than me. She had already been to college one year, and she had stayed faithful. If she was here, she'd tell you I was true to you. But then when I went off to college, I was like, I think we need to see what the Lord, who am I to deny what the Lord can do? So we went into an off season, right? And in that off season, we didn't have phones, cell phones. We had a one-pay phone in the lobby.

We talked to each other maybe once every other month. We weren't connected or anything. We were in a definitely off season. And then I came home for a December break, and I was home actually into January for a whole month. And we just ended up hanging out together, having a great time, play tennis, went to the movies, went out with people. And I realized all over again, I love this girl. I was 18 years old. I'm like, she's the one. But we weren't dating, not holding hands, nothing. Like we weren't even, I decide I'm going back to school. I want to lock this thing down. So I go out and buy a ring without even talking to her. I go out and buy a diamond ring. It was more like a diamond chip. You had to kind of really look to see if there was anything there. But it was there. I was a poor college student. And I called her up and said, hey, you're. I wanna go out to dinner, and she's like, okay. And I pick her up, take her to a nice restaurant. At the end of the night, without talking to her, without even thinking that she might say no, I get down on one knee and I ask her the question, will you marry me? Now, ladies, if a guy ever gets up the courage to buy a diamond chip and get down on a knee

and ask you that question, the first words that come out of your mouth, they are really important words. You need to think about it, what are you gonna say? Well, the first words I heard were no, no way, you've got to be kidding me. And I'm down on one knee going, is that like no, no way? Or OMG, no way, because I gotta know which way this thing's going, girl. I gotta figure out what's up. And then finally, she grabbed me, kissed me, and I'm like, okay, it's going good. We're gonna, it's gonna work out. 30 some years later, we're going good, right? But what she could not have done has ignored that expression of love that I just gave. That was an expression of devotion. What she couldn't have done is change the subject. What she couldn't have done is start talking about college because that expression of love demanded a response. And when you and I think about the way God has loved us, all the mercy, goodness, kindness that were new. When you woke up this morning, the mercies of God were new today. That God loved you so much that he gave his best, his very son, to die on a cross for your sins so that you and I could come to him. That kind of expression of love demands a response. So my question is, what kind of response should I give? There's a story in the Gospel of Mark

that I believe ties to our response. And I actually tried to get away from this text a couple times these last couple weeks as I was praying about this message. But the Holy Spirit kept bringing me back to it. And what's interesting is this story takes place while Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, right before he would walk right in on the back of a donkey and crowds would wave palm branches. Just days before he would go into an upper room where he would have the last supper with his disciples and then go to the Garden of Gethsemane where he would then be betrayed and be crucified. So this is just days before that day. And this is what it says in Mark. Chapter 14, verse three. On his way, he stops in Bethany and he says, while he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the leper. Let me just pause there for a second. That's a heck of a nickname, you know? Simon, Simon. Now I'm sure by now Simon was cured. Because if he was a leper, he couldn't have people around him. So he was cured, but people still called him by his past. Simon the leper. Don't let people label you by your past. Don't let that stay on you. Man, you need to walk in the new thing God is doing in you.

Don't drag that stuff around with you. Your past can be a point of reference, but it's not a place of residence. Learn from it, just don't live there, honey, okay? So they're in the home of Simon the cured and he goes on to say, a woman came in with an alabaster jar, a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar, poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to each other, why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than one year's wages and the money given to the poor. And they rebuked her harshly. Leave her alone, said Jesus. Why are you bothering her? She's done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you and you can help them anytime you want, but you will not always have me. She did what she could. That's important right there. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my barrier. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. So get the picture. These guys are gathered, reclining around the table

with Jesus on his way to Jerusalem and this woman comes in, disrupts the meeting, breaks open this jar of perfume and it wasn't the cheap stuff, honey. I mean, this wasn't something, this was not a gift with purchase at Macy's. You know what I'm saying? Give those little freebies. So this wasn't that. And I don't know a whole lot about perfume. It's not my lane right there. But I do know that there's different levels of intensity, right, because I've gone to buy perfume for Julie and I know there's eau de toilette. And I'm not a French major, but that translates water of toilet. So that's the cheapest level, right? Then there's eau de perfume. So now it's a little more expensive. It's supposed to be a little better. And then there's pure perfume. extract. And that's what this woman brings in and it says here that it was worth one year's salary. I didn't even know perfume could be that expensive, right? I've never heard of that before. What was she doing with perfume that was worth one whole year's salary? Well, scholars believe that that was possibly her dowry that would have been used for her to get married. Others agree that it would have been a family heirloom. So it didn't just have a monetary value, it had sentimental value. Because if it was her dowry, what she was breaking out and pouring over Jesus was her hopes, her dreams, her future. In that passage in verse 6, one translation says when Jesus rebukes them, it says she has done

something right in the middle there. Something wonderfully, what's that word? Significant for me. She's done something wonderfully. I believe it was significant to Jesus because it was significant to the woman. It wasn't a cheap sacrifice. This was something that wasn't casual. And notice, she didn't just pour a little bit out. She was like, here you go. Just a little dab will do you. It's all you need right there. No. What did she do? She broke that thing open. She poured it all out all over Jesus until the whole room was overwhelmed by the scent of her sacrifice. They all noticed it. It permeated the place. I bet people outside of that home smell what was going on in that home. And don't forget, this was just days before Jesus was on his way to be buried, to be crucified. And if you know the story, he was buried on the Sabbath, crucified on the Sabbath, so they didn't have time to properly prepare his body for burial. So, look what she's doing. Her sacrifice was more timely than she knew. The hour was later than she realized. And I would say to you that the hour is later than we know because Jesus is coming back. And when I look at what's happening around in the world, I believe it's sooner than later. We're already in the last days, well into the last days. And as I was studying this, what the Lord said to me is that, Todd, it's too late to be holding on to alabaster jars. It's too late to be storing up things over here for someday down the road. They need to be used now. But look what happened when she does it, when she breaks it out, it says all the people get critical and opinionated. It's amazing how opinionated God's people can be. Isn't it crazy? Like everybody got opinion about everything that's going on. They're like, why is she doing that? Who does she think that she is? That could have been used to feed the poor. That doesn't make any sense. Can I tell you, most of the time, sacrifice won't make sense. It's hard to make sense of sacrifice. In fact, a lot of things we do as followers of Jesus, it's hard to make sense of it, right? We're told to forgive people without holding grudges against them. Even if they don't even ask, 70 times 7, that's how many times? That doesn't make sense. We're told to pray for our enemies. I'll pray for my enemy, all right? I'll pray that God will strike him down.

No, that's not what Jesus is talking about. We're to pray blessing on him, right? Where do you go the second mile? It doesn't make sense. You, being here today, on your day off, doesn't make sense to somebody who doesn't get it. Why would you do that? You come to serve. You don't just come to sit, but you also...why would you serve? Why would you, on your day off, why would you watch kids back in the kid zone? Why would you...you got your own kids. You just tell them, I'm not watching kids. I'm invested in the next generation of world changers, going to turn Texas upside down. That's what I'm doing, right? You give. Why would you give to that church? Why would you give money? Do they got enough? Look at that building. Why would you...no, you're like, I'm not giving to the church. I'm giving through the church. And God is actually breathing and putting some purpose on my possessions to carry light into dark places. It won't make sense. Whatever I can encourage you in is that don't let their lack of faith keep you from breaking open the alabaster jar. Don't let their lack of vision, just because they don't see what you see. They don't know who you know yet. And so we sacrifice for a reason. It's the compassion of God that compels us to give so that one more can hear Jesus. When you hear this story, and as I was studying it again, most of the time, I identify with that woman in the story. Like, I'm like, God, I want to give. I want to sacrifice it all. Here I am. And when I was younger, we didn't have anything to sacrifice. Julia and I were poor. or I made about $150 a week. She was a school teacher in the public school system. So she was my sugar mama, actually, yeah. Yeah, I was a Kef man. And we lived off Campbell's soup and a whole lot of love. But there were times when God asked us to sacrifice things and we had to figure out how are we gonna do this because we don't have anything. And I remember one time, the very first time

that we were in a school and we had to build this building. I didn't even tell this at the earlier services. And we had nothing to give. And people were selling extra cars and motorcycles and anything they could find, just vacation homes. They were going crazy. And Julie and I, we don't have, we're eating off crates in our living room with a borrowed table so nobody wants it. And then we realized, oh, you know what we can do? We could not eat out for a year, this whole year of this building thing. And so Julie and I decided, which was a huge sacrifice for me because Julie didn't know how to cook, y'all. So we lived off like peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheese sandwiches for a year. Didn't go out to pizza, nothing. And then Julie, I'm not saying she's not a natural blonde, but she would color her hair. And so she said, Todd, one way you can help us is if you color my hair. I'm like, well, I've never done that, but I can do whatever you want me to do. So she had this cap and I pulled hair through and put stuff on it. And it was supposed to be on for like 30 minutes. And I'd look at it, let's go longer because I wanted it to last. No, it's not quite ready yet.

Yeah, by the time we pulled that off, it was white, it was glowing, a little greenish tint. We only did it once. But what I'm trying to say is sacrifice looks different at every level where you are. But it's something that's significant to you so that it can be used for the purposes of God. And when I hear this story, I think about that woman. Let me go back to that. But a lot of times when I, if I'm honest, I'm actually more like the disciples or the other guys in the room going, really? Really, that seems like a lot. Do I really have to do that? One time when we were, as a church, we were getting ready to build a new building like you're getting ready to do in Leander Liberty Hills. And Julie and I would never be at this building, but we were praying, God, what do you want us to give to this building? And one time I was praying that the two weeks before the offering, I was praying and the Lord gave me a number. And the number was, we'd never given an offering that big. And I was like, oh, we don't have that kind of money, God. You shouldn't know that. And he actually reminded me of this account that we've been saving up for years to remodel our house, kitchen, new floors. We've lived in this home for a couple decades

and it was time to bust out the kitchen and do everything we need to do because a friend of mine made my kitchen, so it wasn't quite great. And he said, you've got it right there. And I was like, oh, yeah, you would know that we actually have it. So I went to Julie to go, hey, I feel like God says we're gonna take this money that we've been saving up for years to help build this building. And she was like, okay. She's cool, she'd give everything away. I'm the one that has the struggle over giving. Julie's like, she'll give you everything. I'm like, oh, are you sure? Because maybe I heard wrong. She's like, no, let's do it. Do you know when I look today, years later, so many people have come, thousands of people have come to faith in that building. They have benefited so much. We finally got our kitchen redone a few years later, but man, they got the spiritual nourishment they needed from that place that was never gonna happen out of my home kitchen, right? But it took a spirit of going, I don't wanna hold back just because sacrifice doesn't make sense. See, here's what I learned in my journey is that every time my heart tries to have faith,

my mind tries to make sense. Every time my heart tries to have faith, my mind tries to make sense. Well, what if I need it? Well, what if my kids need it? Well, what if the car breaks down? And what if, what if, what if? As if, Todd, you can take better care of your family and your future than God. Just obey God, just do what God has called you to do. Sometimes sacrifice doesn't make sense, but what I have learned in my study is that sacrifice is exactly what God wants from us. Romans chapter 12, the Apostle Paul says, "'Therefore, I urge you, I compel you, brothers and sisters, "'in view of God's mercy, in view of everything "'God has done for you, offer your," what's that word? Bodies, you have that there? "'Offer your," say it with me, bodies. That word bodies in the original language means the totality of everything you are. Hopes, dreams, future, everything, just offer all of you. All you got, offer it to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing, this is your spiritual act of worship. That's what this woman did. Now, I begin asking myself a question, who was this woman? Because in Mark's gospel, she's completely unnamed. What would make her do this? But over in the gospel of John, chapter 12,

the same story is told, and we learn a little bit more. And I wanna read this to you so you see the significance. It says this. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary, therefore, took the pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped her feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. So I read this, and I went, oh, well, it makes sense now. Now that we know it's Mary, because Lazarus, her brother, had died, and everything around them seemed hopeless. Life was over, especially in this patriarchal society, but then Jesus showed up, and just one word from Jesus changed everything, and Lazarus was raised up from the dead, and so her brother was back, her life was back, her future was back, so her sacrifice makes more sense. See, you don't mind being extravagant when you've personally experienced something. Like somebody you love, ah, Julie, I'll be extravagant. When you've experienced something, you don't mind being extravagant, because you've experienced it, and I don't know about you, but I have experienced the goodness of God, the kindness of God, the mercy of God, over and over and over again,

that I don't want to be reclining at the table, and I want to take something, I want to say, God, what do you need? What do I have that you want to use? Have you experienced his goodness, his kindness, his love, his compassion, over and over again? Well, that kind of love demands a response. Let me just say this. Anything that we pour out for God isn't gone, it actually grows. Now, what I pour out to American Express is gone, right? What I pour out to Visa, gone, but what I pour out to God, it actually grows. I heard this one said that a farmer doesn't have a funeral for seed that he puts in the ground. He's actually expecting a harvest in return. Now, this seed right here, this apple seed is so small, you can barely see it, but inside this apple seed is all the power and potential for a life-giving, fruit-bearing, oxygen-generating life source that will produce food for other people, but it will never become that as long as I keep it in my hand. It'll never become that as long as it stays in that bowl or in a bag at Home Depot. It's got to get planted in the ground so that it can reach the potential that has actually been created for it, and if it gets planted, it can actually become this right here, a life-giving tree that produces life,

that has life, that gives life to all those around it, but it's got to get planted to reach its potential. There's actually a verse of Scripture that talks about this. In Psalm 92, verse 13, it says those who are planted in the house of the Lord, not planted anywhere else, planted in the house of the Lord, will flourish in the courts of their God. That's a promise for our lives, that when I plant myself into the things of God that are eternal and matter, right, then it's gonna bring a blessing. My whole life is gonna thrive. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians aren't planted. They're potted. There's some growth happening, but they're potted, just enough connected to the things of God to get in on some of it, but just disconnected enough to be able to do what they want when they want, and so they show up at this church over here. I like the worship over here, so we're gonna go over here, and then when something upsets them over there, what do they do? I'm gonna go over here, because I like Pastor Joe's prayer show. I like this better than that. Well, the problem is when you are potted, you are dependent on other people for your nourishment. Your roots can't go down anywhere. They're stuck in this plastic bucket,

so potted Christians show up on Sunday. They're not planted in the house of the Lord. They're potted in the house of the Lord, and they show up and they say, hey, Pastor Joe, it's time for my weekly little spritz, just a little bit here, not too much. Give me a little, just a little. Don't overdo it. Don't get crazy, but limit it. You'll never reach your potential as long as you're potted, and oftentimes when you're potted, you get bound up. Have you ever pulled a plant out of a bucket like this and all the roots are just all bound up? There's hardly any dirt left in there. Don't be a bound up Christian, man. Get those roots going down deep into the word of God, into the soil of God's community of faith. What He asked for you so you can flourish. Reminds me of a verse of Scripture in Jeremiah 17, verses seven and eight. Says this, blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by living waters that sends out its roots by the stream. Doesn't fear when the heat comes in Austin, Texas. Its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought, and say that last part with me out loud, and never fails to bear fruit.

Man, when your roots are going down deep into the things of God, the word of God, the life of God, you will never fail to bear fruit. Doesn't matter what the economy's doing. Doesn't matter what happens with tariffs. Doesn't matter what's drying up around you. You will be green, always bearing fruit. But let me remind you that fruit isn't for the tree. Have you ever seen a tree trying to eat its own fruit? Never. I've never walked by a tree where it's going, no, no, it's not even for the tree. In fact, everything that the tree produces is for the people around the tree. The oxygen it generates, the fruit it generates, here you go, it's for you. Yeah, everything is for the people around the tree. See, when you plant your life in the things of God, in the ways of God, and you invest into the things of God, there's gonna be a spiritual harvest that comes out of your life, and the people around you are gonna be fed off of that. You know the first people to get in on it? Your family, your spouse, your kids, your grandkids. They will eat of the spiritual fruit of your life or starve from the lack of it. The people, there'll be people that will eat from the fruit of your life that you will never even know. There will be people that eat of that

that you won't even have any idea, but God's gonna use you in planting yourself in the things that are eternal, and it's gonna impact people around the world, in Italy, in Mozambique, in places you'll never go, because see, in this seed, there isn't just the potential for one tree. No, there's potential for a tree that has hundreds of apples, that when those seeds get planted, can produce a whole orchard of trees, far as the eye can see, and can I tell you, the people that planted those orchards of trees right there, they have no idea who's eating their apples. They have no idea, they planted the seed. They planted the seed, and the world was blessed because of it. Same with you and me. You have no idea when you plant your life and invest in the things of God, it's not only, it'll bless you. See, the church, this house will bless your house. God created it that way. God created his family to make up for the things that are missing in our own families. He created his body to heal us when our bodies and our spirits are not quite the way they need to be. There's things that he does for us here, and so, yes, there are things that will happen

when you, that are for you when you plant here, but it's not just about you or me. We are the church and we exist for the world, and there are people that when we plant our lives in the things of God, it will go far across the world, blessing and helping. Do you know that building that we're gonna build on Leander Liberty Hill? Long after you and I are gone, dead and gone, Jesus doesn't come back, that place will still be lifting up the name of Jesus. Think about that. Echoing, declaring the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God. One last scripture, and then we're gonna pray from this story. At the very end of the story, I wanna pull you back to verse nine. Jesus says this, I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel's preached, throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed. We're in Austin, Texas today, talking about something that happened 2,000 years ago, and what this woman did. Her sacrifice is still speaking to us today. Think about how people sacrificed before us. 25 years ago, when Pastors Joe and Lori started the church, people sacrificed, and their sacrifice, we're sitting in their sacrifice today.

Your families have been healed because of that sacrifice. Your whole heart has been mended back together again with God because of that sacrifice. And just think about the generations to come that are yet to walk in it because you and I, we're gonna say, here's the alabaster jar. Here's our sacrifice, whatever that looks like. God, we give it to you for you to use for your glory and for your purposes. Amen, so I have one challenge for us. I wanna just challenge you over the next couple weeks just to pray like I prayed before and asked God, God, what is it that I have? Take something I have to help people find the someone they need. And just ask that question. And you know what's beautiful? There's no pressure except for us to all obey God. And when I obey God and Pastor Joe obeys God and you obey God, then we're gonna be able to do everything God is calling us to do, to reach Austin, Mozambique. in Italy and wherever else God's gonna take us in the next 25 years to find Jesus, to help people find Jesus. So I'm gonna ask our campus teams to come and lead us in prayer, and we're gonna pray two prayers today as we close. The first prayer is that the Holy Spirit would just speak to us over these next two weeks,

that you would clearly hear what the Lord is saying to you. And then the second prayer we're gonna pray are, for those of you here today, you don't need to give anything. You need to receive God's grace today. You need to understand that when you receive His mercy and His kindness, Jesus steps into your life and He takes away all your sin and He makes you a new person on the inside. And all you need to do is just open your life up to Him today, and that's gonna be our second prayer. Love you so much, let's pray together. Would you bow with me? Father God, I thank you for your word that teaches us what is right and helps us correct our thinking when we're wrong. And I pray around this area of giving. Lord, I know the world has so much to say about this kind of stuff, but we turn to your word to be instructed. And I just pray that over the next couple of weeks, you would speak to every member, every person that's in this church. God, help us to hear your voice, what you want us to do that will invest in the next generation and help people that are far from you find you. As we continue to pray with every head bowed, if you're here today and you need to get your relationship with God right.

I'm not talking about religion, I'm talking about a relationship that you can have with the living God. And it's not where it needs to be, it's gonna start with this prayer. If you would say, Todd, would you include me in this prayer? Then right where you are, just slip a hand up into the air. And I'm gonna challenge you to hold it up high because you're not ashamed, you want everything that God has for you today. And as we pray this prayer out loud, we're all gonna pray it, but those of you with your hands up, you pray just a little bit louder than the person sitting next to you. Pray this after me, say, dear Lord Jesus, forgive me of all my sin, come into my life and make me a new person from the inside out. Fill me with your spirit so that I am empowered to follow you the best I know how every day of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Come on, let's thank God today for all those that made that decision. Amen.