The Pattern of Temptation | Adam Weber

What is wisdom? Well, in the Greek, it's the word Sophia, but listen to this. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the application. So important. It's the application of knowledge, the application of truth and understanding in our daily life. That is wisdom. And true wisdom is all of this coming from God himself. Well, what is up, Embrace? It is so good to see you. I hope you're doing well. Hope it's been a great, great weekend so far. My name is Adam. I'm one of the pastors here to all of you at our T Campus, at our Westside Campus, whether you're at 57th Street, at Durfee, at Jameson, to each and every one of you joining us online, just know that we are so honored that you're here. I just had someone between services say that their friend that started joining us online for the very first time. And so if that's you, just know that we are honored that you are here today, friends. I am pumped about today. We are starting up a brand new series going through the book of James. And speaking of James, I think it's so easy to forget that James is not just a book found in the Bible, but James is an actual person. Okay, he's a person. And maybe you know this, maybe you don't, but James is best

known as the brother of Jesus, the brother of Jesus. A few months back, I was meeting with a freshman in high school that I'm mentoring in our church. And he and I, we started talking about the book of James, and I just said to him, I said, what would your older brother have to say or do to convince you that he is God? Like, what would he have to say? Without skipping a beat, this freshman said back to me, I definitely never believe that, like ever. My brother, are you kidding me? He's done a lot of stupid things in life. I was like, well, there it is. There's the truth. So James, he's the brother of Jesus. And yet here this, I think this is powerful. James, he wasn't a believer in who Jesus is until after the resurrection of Jesus. He doesn't believe his brother either. I think that's just awesome. And so James, he becomes a believer after Jesus is resurrected. He becomes a follower of Christ, and he ends up being a leader in the church there in the city of Jerusalem until he ends up being killed for his beliefs. He ends up being killed or martyred for his faith in 62 AD. But before that happens, though, James, he writes a book which is actually a letter. It's a letter. Now, just to acknowledge it so often, the Bible can be so confusing to read. I mean, you open up scripture.

This is still true for me today. I'll open up scripture, and I'm just overwhelmed by what it's trying to say. And yet, thankfully, what I love about this book, which again is actually a letter, is that it's super practical and straightforward. So much so that the book of James is often compared with a book of Proverbs from the Old Testament, a book that is filled with practical wisdom. Another way to view and understand this book is that it's often seen as a combination of the book of Proverbs combined with the words of Jesus, specifically found in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. And so again, this book is so straightforward, and yet just to warn you, and this warning shouldn't be taken lightly, just to warn you, it can also be very challenging as well. Not challenging to understand. No, no, no, no, not to understand. It can be very, very challenging to hear. Very, very challenging to live out. Incredibly challenging to put in to practice. On that note today, across campuses, we're giving out 2,400 copies of this book of James, 2,400 copies of this book. And I just want to encourage you each of the five weeks in this series, I want to encourage you to bring this copy with you, to mark it up, to make notes. If there's things that connect with you, to highlight it, whatever, bring this copy with. But more than that, I want to challenge you to actually read it. Okay, to read it. It is only five chapters long. And so if you want a specific challenge, we have bookmarks with

reading plans on it. But even simpler, if you want to challenge, I'd encourage you to read this book, all five chapters each week for the next five weeks and to see what God has to say and wants to say to you, especially if you're new to the Bible. I just encourage you to open up each of these weeks and read it because our hope is that by the end. of this series, every single one of us will have the courage to start opening up the Bible on our own. And so at this time, if you have your copy of James, I wanna invite you to open it up right now to James chapter one. Seriously, every single person that's hearing my voice right now, open up James. The physical copy, use James on your phone as a Bible app, open it up to James chapter one. It's on page six, if you need some help. But again, starting in verse one, here is what James says. James says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. Greetings, greetings. Okay, so James, he starts this letter by first saying who he is. His name is James, right? So he says, my name is James and I'm a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who I am. And then he explains who he's writing this letter to.

Who is he writing it to? To the 12 tribes. Okay, the 12 tribes. What is that? It's the 12 tribes of Israel. He's writing to the Jewish Christians, the Jewish believers, the Jews who've started following Jesus and were told to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. What does that mean? That means scattered outside the city of Jerusalem, okay? And then James just says, greetings. He's basically just saying, hello, all right? He starts this letter and then jumping into verse five, he goes on to say this. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God. If any of you lacks wisdom. What is wisdom? It seems like common knowledge yet. I just wanna help us out. What is wisdom? Wisdom doesn't equal knowledge. Wisdom doesn't equal information. That's not wisdom, okay? Just to prove that, have you ever met a person who was super, super smart, but just kind of was an idiot when it came to life? Ever met that person? Don't say their name out loud, okay?

Like they think they know everything about everything and yet that same person is so smart, yet they over and over again make the stupidest decisions ever. So that's not wisdom. What is wisdom? Well, in the Greek, it's the word Sophia. But listen to this, what is wisdom? Wisdom is the application. So important. It's the application of knowledge, the application of truth and understanding in our daily life. That is wisdom. And true wisdom is all of this coming from God himself. And friends, if we don't know, if we don't know, there are few things more valuable in life than wisdom. Few things more valuable than wisdom, godly wisdom. We mentioned the book of Proverbs earlier. Well, the guy who wrote a majority of the Proverbs found in the book of Proverbs is a guy named King Solomon. And you see at one point, the Lord came to Solomon in a dream. And the Lord said to Solomon, ask me for anything that you want. Think about that. Ask me for anything that you want, anything. And I will give it to you. Well, what did Solomon ask for?

He didn't ask for power. He didn't ask for money. He didn't ask for fame. He asked God for wisdom. Why? Because if you have godly wisdom, you'll be able to handle and manage and steward everything else. And on the flip side, if you don't have wisdom, it doesn't matter how much power, how much money or fame you have, you will always be miserable. And actually, if you have all those things, but you don't have wisdom, it will blow your life up. It'll destroy it. Just to note it with wisdom, with God's wisdom, you have to want his wisdom. You have to want it. So to be clear, if you already have made your mind up about something, you don't want God's wisdom. And if you go to God and you hope that he says exactly what you think and what you want to hear, just as a friend, you don't want wisdom. Before you ask God, you have to want it. God, I want your wisdom. And I plan to follow your wisdom. And I want to hear your wisdom. Even if it's hard to hear, give me your wisdom. Okay, so now that we know all that,

let me read these words from James again. If any of you lacks wisdom, any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously, gives generously more than necessary to all without finding fault. and it will be given to you. Just to note that, to any of you, any of you who lacks wisdom, any of you who wants wisdom, if you want or need wisdom, James, the brother of Jesus, says you should ask God who generously gives to all who ask. Now, just to be honest, I don't know about you, but every single week, this week specifically, I've longed for God's wisdom, long for it. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to parent each of my kids. What do I say? What should I not say? I need your wisdom. How do I love my wife better? I've been with the same woman for 21 years. Don't have it figured out still. I need your wisdom. What do I say to a friend who's walking through the hardest time in his entire life? Asking for my advice, I need wisdom. How do I lead this church, Lord? I feel like a fool. I need your wisdom.

For all of us, what are we supposed to think, say, and do in the chaos of our world? We need wisdom. I'm just curious to ask, right now, does anyone hearing my voice right now need God's wisdom? Follow-up question, have you asked him for it? Have you asked him? Even this week, a couple of times, it's like, well, of course I've asked for his wisdom, but have you? Have you? I maybe thought about it, but I didn't actually ask God for his wisdom. Did I literally stop for 10 seconds and ask God for his wisdom? Instead of just thinking about it, instead of worrying about the situation and stressing about it and reading books and listening to the podcast, have you asked God for his wisdom? Because James, the brother of Jesus, tells us that we can and that we should, and that when we ask for his wisdom, he's not annoyed with us. Instead, God, he loves to generously give it to all who ask. Friends, all we need to do is ask. Lord, I need and I want your wisdom with my future. And Lord, I need and I want your wisdom in my dating life. And Lord, I need and I want your wisdom in this hard conversation that I'm gonna have.

And so we ask for his wisdom and we read scripture. We get into the word and we talk with friends who love Jesus and we just keep listening for God's voice, which is typically very different than our own. And when we do this, often we'll sense and we'll hear God's wisdom. To anyone who asks for wisdom. Continuing on in verse 13, James goes on to say, when tempted, no one should say God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death. Okay, so James, he makes it really clear that God, God is not tempting you. He doesn't tempt anyone. And then James, he goes out to lay out this pattern of temptation. He says, it's not coming from God. He lays out this pattern of temptation. And I just have to say, this pattern is so powerful. This pattern of temptation, it's been true since the time of Adam and Eve. It's just as true today. And if you haven't seen this pattern in your life and in the lives of others around you, I don't wanna be mean, but you're not paying attention. Okay, so friends, here's the pattern that James gives us.

Again, James first says, each person is tempted. Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. And so the first step in this pattern of temptation, it's temptation. First step, temptation. Some examples, you don't need examples, but I'll give them to you. Some examples, you're married and yet you just so happen to notice a good looking gal moves in next door and you can't keep your eyes off her. I mean, you just can't, you can't keep your eyes off her. Or you see an opportunity to lie at work. And right now you're really stressed about finances and there's these bills that are coming up and you just see an opportunity that would be so nice to get some extra money out at work. Again, you see an opportunity and out of nowhere, there's just. Just pull inside that starts to try and drag you away. Now, this is so important just to acknowledge it. The temptation itself is a part of life. The temptation itself is not sin. The temptation itself, you're not bad or unspiritual in any way if you're tempted with something. Seriously, every single day, there's all kinds of different temptations that are all around that are constantly there. And yet, get this, every single time we face temptation, there's two options.

You can either move on. You can either say, I saw that. She's gorgeous. Lord, you make awesome things. But I'm moving on with my life. You can either acknowledge the temptation and walk away, or you can take the next step in the pattern of temptation. What's the next step? James, he goes on to say this. He says, then after desire, then after desire has conceived. Again, the first step, temptation. The second step, giving into the desire, giving into the desire. Just to highlight this, this step is so subtle. This step right here is so sneaky. It's saying in your heart, not with your words or actions, saying with your heart, I want to pursue that. It's making an internal choice. It's the smallest thing. The internal choice, I'm open to that. I want that. I'm going to start thinking about that. I'm going to start looking for an opportunity. And again, this step is so subtle. And it seems so innocent and fun. And it feels totally harmless. You're not doing anything. It just seems so harmless. Some examples of this, maybe with that cute neighbor, you just randomly decide that you enjoy shoveling snow

just out of nowhere. It's the craziest thing. I love shoveling snow. And so I'm going to not just shovel my sidewalks, because God's been moving in my heart, talking about serving and serving. I'm going to start shoveling my neighbor's sidewalk as well, even though it's 50 degrees out and there's no snow at all. It's a new hobby of yours. You just love to shovel snow. Seems so innocent, right? Again, it's so subtle. And to be clear, at this point, you've done nothing blatantly wrong at all. But inside of you, you've taken actually a big step. You've moved from temptation to giving in to the desire. And friend, at this point, you are now playing with fire. You're playing with fire. And I don't want to scare you, but at this point, you are now walking on the edge of a very, very steep cliff. Pastor, don't you think that you're being a little over the top here? OK, I'll just quote scripture then. You're being dragged. You like the Sunday school answer? You're being dragged to the edge of a cliff. Is that cuter for you? Is that nice? Being dragged. It's not neutral.

You're on the edge of a cliff, not just standing there innocently, you're being pulled to the edge. It's not too late. At this point, it's not too late to take action. One of the boldest steps you can take, it's not too late to tell a friend, I can't stop thinking about my neighbor. That brother, that sister in your life, I can't stop thinking about my neighbor, and I don't trust myself. It's not too late to make a change. It's not too late to add boundaries. It's not too late to remove yourself from the situation. You do not need to continue on with the pattern of temptation, but if you don't take action, like if you decide to do nothing, at some point, you will move on to step three in the pattern. It is going to happen, and how do I know this? Because it's the story of humanity. It's the story of humanity. The third step in this pattern of temptation, what is it? It's sin. It's sin. Listen again to what James says. Then after desire has conceived, after we've given in to the desire, it gives birth to sin. James is saying, when you're tempted, that's not a bad thing. That doesn't mean you're unspiritual. If you give into the temptation, at some point, it will give birth to sin.

James is saying, at some point, you'll move from a decision in your heart to physically doing whatever it is. Friends, you'll no longer just be shoveling snow next door. You'll be in your neighbor's house, in their bedroom. At work, you'll no longer just be thinking about how nice it would be to have that extra money and you deserve a raise and the boss doesn't even know that you deserve a raise. You'll no longer just be thinking about it. You'll start just kind of randomly using your work credit card for yourself, convincing yourself that it's no big deal. Friends, if you give in to the desire, it is only a matter of time before you will start saying things and doing things that otherwise you never, ever, ever thought you would do. And hear this, even at this step, it might seem fun and it might feel like a thrill. And you might even pat yourself on the back because you're getting away with it. But friend, it is only a matter of time before step four in the pattern of temptation takes place, which is death. This pattern is as old as time. Listen to what James says, then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death, to death. Now, what does death look like? Death, it's the moment that your spouse finds out about the neighbor. More than that, it's the moment that your kids find out about the neighbor. And now you are trying to explain and tell your kids why they're going to have to move to a different house. But dad, I love our house. Why are we having to move out of our house? What's death look like? Death is getting fired from your job. And more than that, it's standing in front of a judge for stealing. It's seeing your name in the news.

What does death look like? It looks like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of strangers sharing this new story about you all over Facebook. And I can't believe that what this person did. They don't even deserve to be alive. Can you believe what they did? I think I used to room with him in college. I used to be friends with her, and I knew it. Can you believe? Whoa. What does death look like? Maybe even worse, it's not getting caught. And all of a sudden, your conscience, I mean, it just won't shut up. And it just won't shut up. And it just won't shut up. And it starts to eat away at your soul. Maybe even worse, it's not getting caught. And you feel so distant from God. And because you feel distant from God, all of a sudden, you have no joy. You have no peace. You have no gentleness. You can't feel love. No matter how much you're with the neighbor, I just feel like there's nothing that will fill this love. You can't sleep at night. You can't stand yourself. And inside, you feel dead. I just got to ask, have you seen this pattern before? Temptation, desire, sin, death. As a friend, I just want to ask, are you walking through this pattern

right now? Are you walking through this pattern right now? And again, just as a brother in Christ, if you're at step 1 or step 2, just know it's not too late. It's not too late to take action. It's not too late to hit the reset button. It's not too late to take extreme measures. And also know that if you're at step 3 or 4, just know that there is grace and there is redemption, that we have a God who specializes in bringing dead things back to life. But friend, you'll never find that in hiding. And the longer you hide, the worse it will get. Also, I just want to acknowledge that I use some bigger examples in affair and stealing money. But the truth is, it's just as deadly with gossip. It's just as deadly with jealousy. It's just as deadly with being divisive over politics or any other sin. Once again, James, he shows us this pattern of temptation. And he warns us. Continuing on, James goes on to talk about being quick to listen. and slow to speak, which I think is so critically important. It's maybe never been more needed than in our day and age right now. And I just want to highlight, we're going to look at that when James talks about it again in chapter 3. And so I just want to mention that. But jumping ahead today to verse 22, James goes on to say this. He says, do not merely listen to the word of God

and so deceive yourselves. What a strong word. Do what it says. Let me read those last four words again because we struggle with that. Do what it says. Do what the word of God says. Friends, I just can't amen this enough. I'm like, go James. Go James. The first 10 or so years of embrace, honestly, I don't really hear it that often. Maybe I'll get some emails after this. But early on, I would regularly have someone who would start coming to embrace. And at some point, they'd come up to me. And they'd say, Pastor, we just love this church so much. Our kids are excited about it. I just wish the message was deeper. Pastor, we love this place. My husband's excited about church. My wife, they're excited. But I just wish the message was deeper. I just wish that I was being fed more. I just wish that there was more theology. Now, I'm not trying to be mean here at all. I promise I'm not trying to be snarky. But typically, when I got to know more of the person's story, what I found out is that they attended another church in town for a year or so.

And then after getting to know more of their story, they went from that church. And then they went to a different church for a year or so. And now they had started coming to embrace. And so they'd say they wanted to go deeper. Well, about five, six years into hearing this, again, I was a new pastor. I just started kind of gently asking questions back. And I would say, well, a couple of weeks ago, we talked about forgiveness. Have you forgiven everyone in your life that's hurt you? Well, no, pastor, but I really want to go deeper. It's like, OK, OK. Well, the other week, we talked about serving, both inside the church and outside the church. I'm not being rude. Can I ask if you're serving? Well, no, no, pastor. My kids are in a lot of sports. And we're just really, really busy. And our time is really, really valuable. But I just want to be fed more on Sundays. That's why we come to church. OK, well, last month, we talked about trusting God with our finances. Are you tithing? The other week, we talked about loving our neighbor, including those who are different from us and those who vote differently than us.

Can I just ask, how's that going? Seriously, we can go on and on and on and on. And so often, as Christians, we say we want to go deeper. But what we really want is more information, more information. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with more information. I love more information. But James, the brother of Jesus, says, you need to do what it says. He seems like a trustworthy source. James is like, that's great. The information is awesome. But you need to actively live it out, even more than James. Listen to what his brother says. Jesus, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. Friends, for some of us, we've been going to Bible studies for years, longer than I've literally been alive. And we just keep going deeper and deeper and deeper. And yet, if we're not putting it into practice, Jesus doesn't call us deep. He calls us foolish. I love you enough to say this. And I know this is stepping on the feet of some longtime Jesus people who are like, I just want more and more and more and more. If you're not living it out, it's not deep. It's foolish. I'm not trying to flex here when I say this. I promise, this is not an area I would even attempt to flex in. I have a Master's of Divinity from Asbury Theological

Seminary. OK, gold star, Pastor. Right now, for fun, the two books I'm reading. If you know theology, you'll know both of these names. Right now, I'm currently reading N.T. Wright and Henry Nowen. I'm a person that is constantly learning and learning and learning and learning. And I want to hear this time and time again, what truly transforms a person's life, what truly makes a person more and more like Jesus is consistently putting into practice and action the basics of the faith. And so if you're like, I want to go deeper, get the basics of the faith and start living them out every single day, and you will go deeper. James, he goes on to say this. He says, anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says, is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James is saying that when we hear God's word and we don't do it, it's like looking. Looking at yourself in a mirror, looking at yourself in a mirror, and then forgetting what you saw. OK, so I grew up hearing that verse in scripture. I'm like, OK, what does that mean? I was always kind of struggling with what it meant. So this is a little confusing, so let me help us out here. Friends, it'd be like going to Crispin Green. Any Crispin Green fans?

This is a safe place to confess that you spend a lot of money on lettuce. It's OK. Everybody's welcome in the house of God. OK, we got some Crispin Green fans. It's like going to Crispin Green and eating one of their delicious, gigantic salads, which tastes so good. Should we just take a moment of silence? I didn't know lettuce could taste so good. OK, but when you get to your car, if you're a logical human, what's the very first thing that you do? Move your mirror, right? Crispin Green, of course. You get to your car, you check the mirror to make sure that you don't have a gigantic salad wedged between your teeth, OK? So get this. This is what James is saying. If you hear the word of God and you don't do it, it's like going to Crispin Green, getting to your car, looking at yourself in the mirror, and seeing a whole bunch of nasty lettuce shoved between your teeth. And then you turn away from the mirror and you pretend like you didn't see anything at all. Question for you, who would ever do such a thing? Walking around with all kinds of crap in your teeth and you know about it and you don't do it, you and I can't be friends. Why?

Because you're a psychopath. You're a psychopath. That's what the word is, OK? And yet again, James is saying, this is what we do all the time with the word of God. We read it and we see what we should do and what we shouldn't do, only to walk away from it and pretend like we didn't hear anything at all. Once again, James tells us, you need to do what it says. You need to do, again, brother of Jesus talking here. You need to do what it says. OK, so today, as we get to the end of this chapter, for all of us, I'm just curious to ask right now, what has God already told you to do that you're not doing? Think about that. What has God already told you to do that you're not doing? What has God already made clear to you through his word, through a brother or sister who loves Jesus, that you haven't activated yet? You're not putting it into practice. What have you already learned from Jesus? Not new things. What have you already learned from Jesus that you still haven't obeyed? This is so important. Let me read the rest of what James shares. This is verse 25. He goes on to say, but whoever looks into the perfect law, whoever hears God's word, that gives freedom, by the way, and continues in it, not forgetting,

not forgetting what they had heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. How powerful is that? This word blessed here, it can also translate to the word happy. They will be truly happy in what they do. That's awesome. You wanna be truly blessed. You wanna be truly happy. James says, don't just hear the word and listen to the word. Do what it says. Do it. And so today, that's the book of James chapter one. Just to highlight what we've covered, wisdom doesn't equal knowledge. It doesn't. And temptation, it leads to death. Temptation, you got two options. Give in to the desire or walk away. It leads to death. And when it comes to the word of God, you and I, myself included, we need to do what it says. Next week, we're gonna jump into chapter two. I just wanna say this week, just to say it again, this week, I cannot encourage you enough to read these five chapters this week, to open up the book of James, read all five chapters this week, just do it. Spoiler alert, it just gets better and better and more honest and more challenging and more direct.

But truly, if you want God's wisdom in your life, if you wanna know how to apply the truth and ways of God, if you wanna be blessed, if you wanna be happy, read these words and do what it says. Live them out. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we come before you so thankful for who you are. Lord, I feel like I can confidently say we are a people who are longing for your wisdom. We're longing, maybe we didn't realize it until today. We long for your wisdom and we want your wisdom. And specifically, we want it in this one specific area, which is, just tell them, I want your wisdom, I need your wisdom in this specific area. You just tell them what it is. Lord, we're so thankful that you speak in a way that we can understand. And we pray that as we live out this new week, that you would remind us of these words, that you would remind us of your truth, that each day we'd jump into the book of James, and you would speak to us, and you would encourage us, and you'd convict us, and you would change us, Lord. Lord, we love you, we thank you. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, all God's people said, amen, amen. We'll embrace really, really quickly. I just want to take a moment or two to share with those of us who call Embrace Home.

If you're a guest with us today, we're honored that you're here. Feel free to listen in. But for those who call Embrace Home, God just continues to move in so many incredible ways. And to try to share a glimpse of what God did and what all took place in 2025, today at all campuses, you can grab one of these impact reports when you leave. If you're joining us with us right now online, you can go to imembrace.com slash impact to download this yourselves. I just want to say, I got emotional the first time I went through this. Like, looking at all that God has done and that God did in 2025, it just puts me in awe of God. And today, I just want to highlight two specific numbers that are inside this. The first number, there's so many numbers. The first number is 1,222 people last year raised their hand and made a first time decision to follow Christ. Can we just put it up and thank God for that? That's awesome. Thank you, God. Last week alone, over 100 more people. First time decisions for Christ. It's awesome. The other number I want to highlight is this number, 495. 495, which is the number of adults who in 2025 took a gigantic step of faith and got baptized,

declaring that they had moved from death to life. Yeah, just thank you, God, for each of those people. I honestly can't believe I get to be in two other numbers I want to share with you that are not in this impact report. The first number is this next one, 5,406 people, which is the number of people who joined us a few Sundays ago just in person that weekend. Another number from that same weekend is this number, 38%. That's our growth that same Sunday year over year. Again, this isn't numbers. We don't gather for numbers. All I can think about is the sons, the daughters, the lost husbands, mom, best friends, marriages, families. That represents, honestly, I can't believe I get to be a tiny part of what God's doing right now. It's amazing. But I also just want to share that all this growth makes things a little interesting as well. The simplest way I can explain it, it's like if you had a party at your house and then 38% more people ended up coming to your party. Just for the record, that would be the raddest party ever. Maybe don't tell the neighbors about it. Maybe tell them about it in advance that all these people are coming. But God, He's doing so many amazing things right now. But with all this growth, we're continuing to see growing expenses as well. I just have to say, I cannot say this strongly enough.

Even with the growing expenses, I am so grateful at the risk of sounding like I'm 98 years old. I'm also so proud of all of your giving. Our family's a part of that as well. All of your generosity, it's amazing. And I know we say this weekly. But as a church, we genuinely would not be able to do what we do as a church. We genuinely wouldn't be able to reach all these people for Christ without it. And so today, I want to share that. But I want to leave us with one simple challenge for all of us. If you're a Jesus follower and embraces your home, if you're not already doing so, the simple challenge for you is just to consider giving something and give it consistently. Give something. Give it consistently. The most basic way to do this is you can go to imembrace.com slash give and start giving. If you're here and you're not giving anything, but you're a Jesus follower and embraces your home, no shame, zero judgment, I just challenge you to start. Start with $10 or $100. Sign up for automatic giving and give it weekly. Or if you give here and there, whenever you're in church, you give the same amount. Awesome. But use automatic giving and give it every single week, even on the weeks that you're not in worship that week.

And so that's the first part of the challenge. The second part of the challenge is for those of us who are already given consistently. If that's you, well done. The simple challenge for you, just figure out what you're currently giving. given, and grow percentage-wise. Grow by 1% or 3%. Today, for some of you, you know that it's time to go to 10%. You're just like, I know it's time for me to tithe. I know it's time to trust God in this area. Something that was so powerful to hear. I just want to read this. One of our pastors met with a gentleman in our church this week. And afterwards, this person texted our pastor. And I got permission to share this. But here's what he texted. He said this. Our family stopped tithing a while ago. And then we started again. And this time, we'll never stop. When we tithe, our life just goes better. So we're going to keep doing that. This year, when we got our giving statement and we saw what our family was able to give back to God in 2025, it surprised us. It's the best thing we could have ever done with that money. How cool is that? Friends, from firsthand experience,

I'm speaking from personal experience, I can't begin to express the great joy it is when we trust Aria in this area. And we just see him work in and through our generosity. And so today, I just want to lay out those simple challenges. I can't wait to see what God is going to do next. Amen? To all of you, we're so glad that you joined us today. At all campuses, you're free to head out. Have a great rest of your day and an awesome week ahead. I love you, Embrace. Hey, friends. It's Adam from Embrace. If today's message encouraged you, be sure to hit the Subscribe button to our YouTube channel to see all new messages as they drop. Also, feel free to click here and check out more of our videos. Thanks so much for watching.