The Proving Ground of Growth - Saddleback Weekend Service

Hey church, we're so glad that you're with us. If you're able to and you're not already standing to your feet, let's get up and let's get ready to worship the Lord. Amen. Let me see you put your hands together. Come on, here we go. You're worthy, God. A prodigal now redeemed From where I was to where I'm now It's overwhelming The more and more I see you move All around me Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you, Lord Oh, I can't help but believe, God Shouts of joy When I think of how good you've been You're faithful now to the end Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you, Lord For the blood you spilled to save my life The debt I cannot repay For the cross you bore with open arms Salvation, they call my name From where I was to where I'm now It's overwhelming Come on, let's lift it up. The more and more The more and more I see you move

All around me Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you, Lord Oh, I can't help but believe, God Shouts of joy When I think of how good you've been You're faithful now to the end Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you, Lord Oh, I can't help but dance Cause I'm free, got no chains on me I'm healed and redeemed Oh, I can't help but call on the name That buried my shame Who opened my grave Oh, I can't help but dance Cause I'm free, got no chains on me I'm healed and redeemed Oh, I can't help but call on the name That buried my shame Who opened my grave Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you, Lord I can't help but lift up Shouts of joy Cause when I think of how good you've been You're faithful now to the end Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you, Lord Oh, I can't help but praise you

Praise you, Lord Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you, Lord Amen, come on, he's worthy Oh, you're worthy, yeah For all that you've brought us to It's all that you are, yeah Come on, let's sing it again Remember those walls that we called sin and shame They were like prisons that we couldn't escape But he came and he died and he rose Those walls, oh brother Yeah Remember those giants we called death and grave They were like mountains that stood in our way But he came and he died and he rose Those giants are dead now Cause this is our God, this is who he is He loves us This is our God, this is what he does He saves us He bore the cross, he beat the grave Let heaven and earth proclaim This is our God, King Jesus ♪ He said, oh He said ♪ ♪ Remember that fear that took our breath away ♪ ♪ Faith so weak that we could barely breathe ♪ ♪ But He heard every word, every whisper, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Now those altars in the wilderness ♪

♪ Tell the story of His faithfulness ♪ ♪ Never once did He fail and He never will, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is what He does, He saves us ♪ ♪ He wore the cross, beat the grave ♪ ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪ Come on, let's lift this up. ♪ Who pulled me out of that pit, He did, He did ♪ ♪ Who paid for all of our sin, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who pulled me out of that pit, He did, He did ♪ ♪ Who paid for all of our sin, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who rescued me from that grave, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Who gets the glory and praise, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who rescued me from that grave, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Who gets the glory and praise, nobody but Him ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is what He does, He saves us ♪ ♪ He wore the cross, beat the grave ♪ ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪ ♪ He wore the cross, beat the grave ♪ ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪ ♪ He's worthy, yes, He's worthy of all our praise, oh, yeah ♪ Amen, can we give Him praise, church? This is who we worship. King Jesus, He is the name above every other name, and He is worthy of our worship and our attention. And I love this scripture that just states who He is and what He's done for us in His sacrifice. And I'd love for us to read it together. It'll be on the screens.

Let's center our hearts on His word. Philippians 2, eight through 11, says, in Jesus being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. This is the word of the Lord. This is true. And the name of Jesus demands a response because the name of Jesus will be praised because He is the name above every other name, and it is only His name that can save and only His name that heals. And I know that He's done that for me. And if He's done that for you, could we sing this together as we respond to His grace and His love? Thank you, Lord. ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ And there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪

♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, You're worthy ♪ ♪ You have been my friend who never left ♪ ♪ I won't forget it, Your faithfulness, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ It's sweeter, it's better, it's sweeter every time ♪ ♪ And there's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy, Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name than Jesus, You're worthy ♪ We keep singing that name, Jesus. ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy, Lord ♪ ♪ There is no other name but the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no other name that we exalt today ♪ ♪ There is no other name than Jesus, You're worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, You're worthy, Lord, of all of the glory ♪ ♪ All of the honor, all of the praise ♪ We exalt You, King Jesus. We exalt Him, let's sing. ♪ Jesus, Your name is like the morning light ♪ ♪ The one the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Your name can save, Your name can heal ♪ ♪ Your name can make the stormy still ♪ ♪ You never fail, You never will ♪

♪ Jesus, Jesus, the bread of life will be for us ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last and still to come, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord will forever reign ♪ ♪ The name above all other names, Jesus ♪ ♪ Sing Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Yes, Jesus be the name, the kiss of the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, the kiss of the glory ♪ Yes it does, let it be Jesus. ♪ Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Yes, Jesus be the name, the kiss of the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus be the name above it all, over every other name ♪ Sing that Jesus. ♪ Jesus be the name, the kiss of the glory, yeah ♪ We sing that name, Jesus. ♪ His death could not hold you, the veil torn before you ♪ You're silent. ♪ The heavens are roaring, the praise of your glory ♪ ♪ For you are raised to life again, He has no rival, you have no rival, hey ♪ ♪ You have no equal, now and forever God you reign ♪ ♪ And yours is a kingdom, and yours is the glory ♪ ♪ And yours is the name above all names, what a powerful name ♪ ♪ It is, what a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus Christ, my King ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ That nothing can stand against ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ ♪ How powerful, how might.

♪ What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus ♪ Welcome to Saddleback. What a great time of worship it has been so far as we lift the name of Jesus on high. As we gather together in worship, what we get to do when we sing these songs of praise is to declare God as worthy because we know that the name of Jesus is powerful. In the name of Jesus, there is hope, there is healing, there is breakthrough for people. And so when we gather together in worship, we get to remember how good God is and we get to celebrate that together. So we're so glad that you're joining us for church today. Welcome to Saddleback. And if it's your first time checking out our church, we're so glad that you're here. We hope that you feel welcomed. And we would also love to get to know you, but it starts with you letting us know it's your first time. So if you're watching on YouTube, there's a link in the description that you can click on to let us know that it's your first time by accessing the digital program, or you can even download our Saddleback Church app, set your campus to online community, and then fill out the new here form there. That's also, that app is also a great way, a great tool and resource to stay connected

with all the things that are going on in the life of our church. There's message notes that you can use to follow along with the message today as well through the app. But we want you to download that so that you can be ready for the message today. But if it is your first time, we truly can't wait to get to know you. And someone from our team would love to personally reach out to you and help you to get plugged in. Well, later in the message, Pastor Andy is gonna be talking about how we can respond to the message and take an action step from what we learned today. And so in order to respond, we want to invite you to get ready for that moment by opening the digital program through that link or even opening the Saddleback app as well. So just be sure to get ready for that as well. And something else that we have coming up this weekend, if you're watching on Sunday, there's still time to join us for Activate. Activate is a one hour experience where you will learn more about the life of our church, what it looks like to grow in our faith and be plugged into community here at Saddleback. Because we believe that church is more than just coming and watching,

but it's growing in our faith and it's being in a life-giving community. And so we wanna invite you to be a part of that. This session is on Zoom, so you can join us for wherever you are in the world. I would love to meet you on the call and so would the rest of our online team. So you can sign up through the Saddleback app and we can't wait to see you there. Well, church family, there's a lot more going on in the life of our church, so let's check it out together. Well, hey Saddleback. Over the past couple of weeks in our Get Growing series, Pastor Andy has been reminding us that spiritual growth doesn't just happen accidentally. One of the biggest ways God wants to grow each and every one of us is through relationships and community with other people. That's why we care so much about small groups here at Saddleback. We really do believe that life is better when we don't do it alone. So I want to encourage you, whether you're looking for people to study the Bible with, to share meals with, or just to do life with, we have a small group for you. Our summer small group semester at Saddleback starts next week, which makes this week the perfect time

to jump into a group. I also want to share a quick snapshot of how your generosity is helping bring the hope of Jesus through local churches. Each year, we support 10 new local church plants through the Strategic Launch Network. And already this year, seven of those churches have launched and through those churches, 174 people have been baptized. In fact, just a few weeks ago, we hosted this year's new planters at the ranch for a time of training, prayer, refreshment, and connection as they prepare to lead the churches that God has called them to plant. Let's hear from one of those pastors, Ben. Hey, what's up everyone? My name is Ben Baber. I'm the lead pastor of the Fields Church in State College, Pennsylvania. We've come to the SLN Retreat because this is an awesome place to be sharpened and to be trained up and to just continue to encourage us in what God has called us to there in Central PA. And one of the big takeaways that I get every time I come to an SLN event is there are so many people here who are doing such incredible things and yet they are so humble and so that that combination of humility and being hungry is something that challenges me every single time I get around these men and women and I'm always so encouraged by it so as we go back to State College I'm filled up and I'm ready to go and I'm ready to do more for our church and for our community. Thank You Saddleback

for being part of what God is doing through these churches because of your generosity people are meeting Jesus, lives are being changed, and new churches are reaching communities with the gospel. If you'd like to give your Tither offering today you can open the Saddleback app or use one of the giving envelopes. Now today you picked a great weekend to be at church because we are continuing week four of our series, Get Growing. So let's hear now from Pastor Andy. It's so good to be together church family. I love that we just got to watch that video of what God is doing all over North America that we have the privilege as a church to help other churches get going and as I watch that video just now that same group of people that we get to support are a part of a bigger network called Strategic Launch Network that actually helped Stacey and I start our church in the Bay Area before we came here and so now we get to return. There are thousands of people all over the country that are being reached because God is using people like you to make a difference. So I just want to celebrate one more time what God is doing all over the place, all throughout our church. It's a great weekend as we're moving up, students are moving up. You know this week actually marks for Stacey and I a movement into a new season so our kids our oldest graduated from his freshman year of college, Sammy graduated from his junior year of high school and Karis our daughter officially moved from elementary school to middle school so she went from sixth to seventh grade. I want you to see a picture of her here this is her graduation day. So we officially no longer have elementary kids, school kids which means we're no longer young parents. We are now officially middle-aged parents. So it's so good to be together today as we're wrapping up this message series called Get Growing. I've loved these last few weeks as we've been looking at God's will for you to grow, that God wants us to grow in all areas of our life and over the course of time growth is a part of what happens as we follow Jesus. And today I want to begin our time together with a little bit of an illustration. So if you could turn your attention to the screens with me and you'll see that following Jesus is both a relationship and a journey. He shows up and he knocks

on the door of our hearts and we make a decision to give him the keys and welcome him into our lives. As he enters he begins to work with us and reorder our lives. Some areas he cleans up and other areas he puts things back the way they're supposed to be. Room by room he makes our lives better and in our journey of growth we learn to surrender areas of our life to him like relationships, habits, time, and ambition. And yet one area remains and it's often the last and hardest area to surrender to Jesus and that's the area of our personal finances. And I love that illustration because it shows the picture so often the area that is the last area to be surrendered to Jesus is the area of finances. And I want you to see this first. If you have your notes you can pull them out. Second Corinthians chapter 8 verse 7 says this, but since you excel in everything, can we read this together all of our campuses aloud? But since you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we have kindled in you, see that you also excel in this grace of giving. Now I want you to write that phrase in your notes, the grace of giving. And the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth and he says there's this grace of giving. And so often we excel in many areas of our life, in our relationships, and in our speech, our knowledge, our earnestness to pursue God. But this area, the area of giving, is often the area that so many people struggle with. Now the Apostle Paul had a lot to say about this subject and the New Testament in particular you see from Jesus tremendous amounts of teaching on the subject of money. And today what I want to do for our time together is really zero in on the reality that a growing relationship with Jesus leads us to a generous heart. So if I'm gonna step into the fullness of what God has for my life, if I'm going to grow spiritually over the course of time, it will ultimately result in a generous heart. and maybe another way of saying it is that there's no such thing as a mature faith without a generous heart. So I have to ask the question,

if there's not generosity coming out of my life, have I truly matured in my faith? And so the invitation from God to us today is to step into a life, into a heart of generosity as we look at 2 Corinthians chapter nine. Now let me set the context a little bit of what we're gonna look at today. The apostle Paul writes this letter to the church in Corinth and he spends the first eight chapters or first seven chapters really establishing his apostleship or his leadership. And so he's defending his leadership with this church. He actually had spent tremendous amounts of time with them. And as he writes this letter to them, he has an intent in mind or in heart that he's gonna collect an offering and he's gonna take it to the church in Jerusalem. So there had been a famine and the church in Jerusalem had been struggling. So Paul actually in multiple places he talks about this offering that he'll take to the church in Jerusalem. And we see in chapter eight and nine, the longest treatise or the longest explanation that the apostle Paul gives to us through his teaching on the reason why generosity or giving is so significant to a life of growth. So today we're gonna look at five verses and these five verses have so much power. There's so much truth in this short little text.

And I believe God wants to use it to speak to your heart today. Now, wherever you're joining us, whether you're at a campus or you're joining online or you're at an extension, we are so glad that you're with us. And we're grateful that we get to be one church in multiple locations, that the word of God is bigger than any one location. And so I want you to hear these words from the apostle Paul today as he writes. He says this, remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Now, each of you should give what you've decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor. Their righteousness endures forever. Now, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness and you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion

and through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This is the word of the Lord. And I love these verses. The apostle Paul is, he's dealing with many of the concerns that we often have when it comes to generosity. And he's getting to the heart of what does God really care about in our response back to him with this whole subject of money. And Paul is painting a picture of the significance of stewarding the resources that God places into our hands. And he uses this image. We've actually journeyed through this image multiple times in this series of seed and harvest and ultimately a harvest of righteousness. But I want us to notice, I've tucked within this passage two things that he says about God. And the first that he points out is that God ultimately is the giver. God is ultimately the giver in every relationship that God will ever have. Now, as you consider your life and maybe the gifts that you give to other people, sometimes you receive a gift from somebody else in your life and that gift almost indebt you to them.

Like you're so grateful, you love them, you appreciate them. You're so thankful for the gift that they've given. And there are some relationships in our lives that maybe there's kind of this give and take, but some relationships get a little bit skewed. And maybe you have one of those relationships where you're the giver and it feels like you give and you give and you give and they take and they take and they take, you know, anybody like that? Okay, don't look at them. But we have those relationships in our life and a healthy relationship really is give and take. It's like back and forth. You give, they take, they give, you take. But there's something so important about our understanding of the relationship that we have with God. And Paul says this, watch what he says. In verse 10, it says, now he, speaking of God, who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. And this reminds me of a conversation. I just thought of this that I had a long time ago with the church we started in the Bay Area. And there was this guy, he was like, you know, really wealthy. He was kind of in his mid forties

and he had gone to an Ivy League school and he worked at a high-tech company. And he told me one day, he's like, see these two hands? These hands have built everything that I have. And I'm like, well, who gave you those hands, bro? Where'd you get them? Oh yeah, I got them from God. And I love this verse because what the apostle Paul does is he links together the seed and the bread. So if like maybe you got the bread in your hand and you're a little bit haughty or you're a little bit boastful about the bread that you kind of planted the seed on, what Paul is saying is actually go back to the seed and recognize he's the one that gives seed to be planted into the ground. So any harvest in our lives originally started with what God gave to us. And the whole book, the whole book of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, you see God is this giver who just gives over and over and over and over again. And there's no human being who will ever live who can out give the grace, the goodness, the kindness of God. And your understanding of who he is and your vision in your mind when you think of the character and nature of God, the question really is, do you see yourself as the giver

or the receiver in the relationship with God? And I just wanna say loud and clear from the Bible, you're the receiver. He initiated long before you and I ever responded. The Bible says in Romans 5, 8 that God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. In Psalm 23, King David says, surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. So his goodness and his mercy and his kindness and his provision has been following you all the days of your life. So the sooner that we can embrace the reality that he's the giver and we're the recipient, it changes our understanding of a life of generosity. See, there's a question that we ask in our minds. If we're the giver back to God, the question often becomes, well, how much do I give? How much am I supposed to give back to God? And if I'm the recipient, the question actually shifts and the question is not how much do I give? The question is, God, how much of the money that you gave to me do you want me to keep? Because really it's all yours. It all came from you in the first place. And it reminds me of when I go to Chick-fil-A with my kids and I always have this inner dialogue of whether or not I should get fries. And you know, those waffle fries,

like you tell yourself, you're not gonna eat too many of them. You don't really need them. They're 335 calories, you don't need it. And so you say no, but then you get to the table and your kids have fries and you're the parent and you paid for those fries. And so you reach out and take your tithe before they bite a fry. One 10th of every fry, the first 10th of every fry comes back to the giver of all fries. And the point that I'm making is so often in that moment, you know, there's this tendency of like, don't take any of my fries. And it's like, well, did you know, I can buy you a lot more fries. And the truth is that he's the one who gives. He's the one who provides. Psalm 24 verse one says this, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it and the world and all who live in it, it's all his. This is his world. Everything in your life, every good and perfect gift, James says, comes down from the father of heavenly lights. Oh, I just, I wish that we could embrace that wholeheartedly and bask in the reality of the goodness of God, the kindness, the provision of God. In the Old Testament with Hagar, she calls him the God who sees me. Abraham calls him the God who provides, Yahweh Yirah.

He's a God of provision. His generosity knows no limit. And the sooner we embrace that, the easier it will be to step into a life of generosity. Now, if we go back to 1 Chronicles 29 verse 14, this moment where the Israelites give this sacrificial offering to build the temple, it's kind of like a dream now offering that we had as a church. And King David, as he is speaking, he makes a statement as the people of God bring their offering back to God. And there's this just huge outpouring of generosity. The temple's gonna be built. And I love this line. He says this, but who am I and who are my people that we would be able to give as generously as this? And this line is so important. Everything comes from you. Everything comes from you. And we have given to you only what comes from your hand. So he's generous. Now, this makes more sense when you actually consider the reality of the gospel message because the gospel message is the greatest message of generosity that any human being can receive. human being could ever possibly fathom that there needed to be a provision to restore the relationship between humanity and God.

And so God actually said, I will become the provision to make a way that your sins can be forgiven and you can live a life of righteousness. And 2 Corinthians 5, 21 speaks of this exchange where Jesus goes to a cross and says, God the Father made him who had no sin to be sinned for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So Jesus takes my sin, he gives me his righteousness. He conquers the grave, gives us the hope of eternal life. If you're in him, he pours out a spirit on you. He puts a spirit inside of you as a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. He gives you righteousness this side of eternity to live a life with him so that you're not disconnected from the living God, but his presence is always with you. His generosity knows no limit. He is the one who gives seed to the sower and bread for food. So he is the giver of life. And Paul makes the statement to impact the way that you see the wallet that's in your pocket. The second point he makes is this, is that God is ultimately the replenisher. And I love how he says this. This verse is worth memorizing, putting on a note card, saying it over and over again. When there is fear in your heart around resources,

this verse, can you read it aloud all of our campuses with me? It says this, God is able. You guys aren't reading with passion or energy. I know in Anaheim and Eastville, you guys, or I should say Corona, you guys can read loud. Come on with me. It says, and God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work. So he's able to replenish whatever it is that you give back to him. There's nothing that you can give to God that God can't replenish. Isn't that good news? Like you can give back to him, but there's no way you can out give him. And there's nothing that you can give to him that he doesn't have the capacity and the ability to replenish. I went for a hike last year with Stacy and a couple of friends. We went to Yosemite and we hiked up through Vernal Falls and then went to Half Dome and we packed our bags and we had our lunches and our waters. And my friend, Sean Morgan, he said, hey, don't worry about bringing too much water. I've got this awesome filter. Like you literally can pee through the filter and drink the water afterwards.

That's how good it was. I'm sorry, that was bad. But he said, he said it to me. I'm just telling you what he said to me, but he said, it's so unbelievable. Don't worry, there is actually a stream that runs along a massive chunk of the hike that we're gonna be doing. So if you drink your water, we'll just go back to the stream, we'll get the filter out, we'll put the water in there, we'll put it back in your water bottle and you'll have some more water. What he didn't know is like, I don't ever stop drinking water. I love drinking water. I have two fears, not having water and not being able to find a restroom. And they actually work opposite each other. But as I was thinking about that moment of him saying that there's this stream that is constantly flowing, that never runs dry, that this is the image that the scripture is giving of God's ability to provide. And it's not just financial provision, it's this life source that comes. He's not a cistern, he's a river. He's a river of life that flows and blesses and strengthens. So when you're weak, he has more strength. When you're empty, he can fill you back up. So every resource that you lack, God has.

There's no limitation that you have that limits God. And so the more that I can embrace, he is a replenisher, the easier it is for me to step into a life of generosity. And there's so much fear that the enemy wants to breathe into our minds around God. He will give you lies, the same lies that he gave to Adam and Eve in Genesis one and two. And there are two things he'll get you to question. One is the goodness of God and two is the greatness and capacity of God. And what you see from the apostle Paul is this goodness of God's generosity, but this greatness of his capacity that he never runs dry in his ability to care for his kids. So he is the giver, he is the replenisher. Maybe today you're down, you're exhausted, you're empty, you feel broke, and God wants you to hear from his word. He is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work. So my question for you is, what's your view of God? Like, is he the giver to you? Is he the replenisher to you? Maybe if you see Him still as the taker, today the very thing God wants to work on for you is to see Him rightfully for His generosity and His goodness. And what I want us to notice is Paul highlights two things that God wants from us

as we study this passage. And one is our hearts, that God wants your heart. So God is not after our wallets. Like God does not, remember, He's the replenisher. He's the giver. His resources don't run dry. So He doesn't need our money. And when the Apostle Paul speaks of this whole concept of giving back to God of our resources, notice what he says. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Now, recently we were at this sports store with lots of outdoor things. And maybe you've been there before and you get fishing gear and all kinds of stuff. And there was this sales rep who was selling vacations. So I walked by and I looked gullible. And this young girl who's like 25 asked, do you ever take your family on vacations? Well, why yes, I do. And ensues a 20 minute conversation. Lots of questions. I'm backed into a corner. This is the greatest deal of my life ever. I'm never gonna find another deal like the deal in front of me. For $99 plus $150 for every month,

the rest of your life, you can have the best vacations. And in that moment, like I wanted to be so kind, but I felt this being hemmed in, like this manipulation, this compulsion. Have you ever felt like that before? Like maybe you're with a sales agent and they're just getting you, they're locking you in. Their logic is so tight, you can't get out. And what Paul is saying is that that's not what giving is all about. So if you feel hemmed in and locked in with this whole concept of a life of generosity, that's not God's will. That's not what we're preaching as a church family. And notice, come back, it's not reluctantly or under compulsion. So there's no pressure. It's an invitation from God to a life of generosity. And what it says is for God loves a cheerful giver. The word here in the original language is hilarious. There's a laughter about it because as you give God your heart and we trust him with the resources he's placed into our hands, we experience his provision over and over again. But what Paul is saying, this is so important, giving is a decision. Giving is a decision that you make between you and God that is so important that in your relationship with God, out of him being the giver

and out of him being the replenisher, you make a decision, but it's a decision that you make from your heart. And sometimes we get so confused when it comes to giving and generosity. And the reason we don't step into the fullness of God's call and invitation to live a generous life, one is because we struggle with so much fear. Two, we often think of it as a pass fail concept. So if I don't do this all the way, then I'm completely a failure. But three, we often miss the reality of our decision to give. It's not something that we do from a wallet, it's something that we do from a heart. God wants your heart. And so generosity is a decision to give from your heart back to God as an act of worship. It's first and foremost about your adoration and your gratitude for how good God has been to you. So it's a decision that you give from your heart. Now you give through your wallet, but you give from your heart. And what I hope you can hear today so loud and clear is that what God is after is your heart. What God wants is your love. He's a relational God. So when he made us as human beings, God, his full intention was that we would have this living, breathing relationship with him, that we would worship him with our whole being.

And that's the reason why nothing in this world satisfies us the way that God does at the core of our being. God is the only one who is worthy of your heart, your worship that comes from deep within you. And the invitation that God is saying today is will you give me your heart? Now, we live in a culture that is removing our heart from our wallets. It's so intentional. Spent three hours one day a few months ago going through all of my subscriptions and canceling them. And I'm embarrassed to tell you how many subscriptions. I had just 299, 399, anybody else have this struggle? And you look one day and they're like coming through through your phone and it's a transaction that removes the heart. This is also true when you go and you buy something. Now sometimes I'll think my kids are coming in close and they get close with my phone for my face and it's just a transaction. And they want the phone to be open. This is true when you go to buy something and you're just your face, it scans your face and it buys something and that transaction removes any form of relationship. You can buy food, you can go to a restaurant, it's waiting for you, you never have to interact with another human being. And what we've done is we have applied that same mindset to generosity.

So I just, I put my giving on recurring. Now it's great to make recurring giving, but I can put it on recurring giving and I can just every month it comes out of my bank account and I never remember, oh, this was an act of adoration back to the one who died on a cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. And me giving back to him is the pouring out of my heart with gratitude for how good he's been to me. And maybe for some of you, you've been on this journey of generosity for some period now and what God is saying to you is he wants your heart again. He wants the fullness of your worship and your adoration. In Matthew 6, 24 says, no one can serve two masters. You'll either hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. So the invitation is ultimately a heart posture of worship back to God. The second thing Paul highlights is that God wants our trust, that God wants our trust. Now, if you go to 1 Timothy 6, 17, he actually gives it very specifically. He says, teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud, not to put their trust in money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Their trust should be in God

who provides for all that we need. So I wanna ask you today, have you given God your heart? And have you given God your trust? That's the invitation from him. Now, the apostle Paul is so beautifully describing the church in Corinth as he is inviting them in. He's describing what happened in another church in Macedonia. And I want you to hear his words as he speaks about them or writes about them. It says, for I testify in verse three, that they gave as much as they were able to and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people and they exceeded our expectation. Now, this is the line I want you to see. And they gave themselves first of all to the Lord and then by the will of God also to us. Do you notice that? That he was saying, as they gave to this offering that was going to the church in Jerusalem, it started with a posture of worship that they gave themselves fully to the Lord. And as a result of that, out of the overflow of them giving their whole heart to God, there was this result of generosity and giving that flowed through their lives. And I believe for so many people, the reason why we never step fully

into a life of generosity is because we haven't fully given ourselves to the Lord. And maybe for you, there are these areas of your life that God is graciously cleaning up. And there's this one room that you've said to God, God, you cannot have this room. You cannot get into my personal finances. Early in church history, many of the warriors would be baptized with their sword above the water because they didn't wanna surrender their sword to God. And a lot of people in the 21st century get baptized figuratively with their wallet above the water because they say, God, you can't have that area of my life. Now, I will say to you from my heart, the bottom of my heart, this message is not about you and Saddleback Church, this message is about you and God. And what I so deeply desire for you, I was saying to Stacey, I could just tear up when I think about, my eyes start sweating when I think about the faithfulness of God and the journey of generosity that he started taking us on 22, 23, 24 years old. And just a decision, God, we're gonna put you first in this area of our life. And now what God has done over these 23 plus years of marriage is we have seen the faithfulness of God over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And the joy, some of the greatest joys in our life

are watching the hand of God as we trust Him and we pour out and we give what we don't even think we have the capacity to and God refills it and replenishes it over and over and over and over again. And this message is about what I deeply long for every follower of Jesus who's a part of our church, that you would experience the cheerful joy of a life of generosity. This is the good life. This is the joy-filled life. It's when the replenisher keeps filling your bucket as you pour out. It's the giver of life giving to you. It's your heart of gratitude receiving from a Savior that paid the ultimate price. It's the hope of eternity that you have with Him and a life that just responds. I give to you because you've given to me and my heart is just so grateful, God, for who you are and what you've done. So I wanna invite you to give yourself fully to the Lord. That's the invitation, to say, God, you have my whole heart today. Now, I know that in our church, we have a lot of people in a lot of different places and I wanna invite you, if you will, just to pull this little card out. That is a Get Growing card and I wanna walk through some responses

that God, I believe, has for us today for your journey of generosity. And as you locate it, one of the things that you'll notice there is this invitation to give ourselves fully to the Lord. It's an invitation to say, God, you have my whole heart today and there's some of you that you've been holding out on God. Maybe you believe in your mind. Maybe you believe that Jesus rose again from the dead, but you've never said, I wanna follow you as the Lord of my life. Now, he is Lord, whether or not we follow him, but there's a step that we take to say, God, I'm following you. There's no other master in my life that has first place. It's you, Jesus. And I want you to notice Romans 14, verse eight and nine. It says, if we live, we live for the Lord and if we die, we die for the Lord. That word means master. So whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord. And for this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. God does not want second place in your life. And he is worthy of your whole heart, your whole life. And sometimes we get this disconnect. There's no such thing as a relationship with God as savior. And then you decide to say,

God, I'm gonna follow you as Lord. They're one in the same. And the moment that you surrender your life to Jesus, you give the keys of your life to him. And you say, I receive your righteousness. I receive your forgiveness and I give it to you. Come into the house. The deed on the house is yours now. It's yours. It all belongs to you. And some of you today, maybe you've never made that decision and today is your day to say, God, I'm giving myself fully to you. Some of you who are followers of Jesus, you might even say today, I've been walking but not giving myself fully to him. I wanna invite you, if that's you, just to mark, today I wanna give myself fully to the Lord. I wanna surrender my whole heart to him. And in just a moment, we're gonna have an opportunity to respond with these cards. The second thing you'll see there is to give something. Now, what I would say to this is the invitation to a journey of generosity starts somewhere. It has to start with one decision to say, God, I'm gonna give something. And if you've never taken that step, what I would say to you is that the thrill, the joy of a first step with him to say,

God, I wanna actually give back to you is an act of worship to say, God, I'm grateful for how good you've been to me. Today can be that day that you just make a commitment that I'm gonna start somewhere. And I've been praying all week because I know that there are a lot of people in our church that have never taken that step as a part of our church family or any church to say, I'm gonna go on a journey of generosity in my relationship with God. And today can be that day that you just say, I'm gonna give something, I'm gonna start my journey. I'm praying that there are 500 people today that say yes to that. And I believe God's gonna use it to change your life powerfully in the years to come. Third thing is to give consistently. So it's moving out of just this casual kind of I give to God, but I'm anchoring this area of my life like I would any other habit to say, I'm gonna trust in God consistently over the course of time with my giving. And then finally is to grow in my giving that I want over the course of my life to experience growth in the area of generosity. And that's God's will for you is that you would grow if you're a follower of Jesus into a life.

a life of generosity that keeps growing over the course of time. Now, as you look at that card, there may be one, there may be two, there may be three things that you check. But I just wanna invite you today, there's a step for every person. Whether you've been following Jesus for decades or you're new to this whole thing, the invitation from God is into a life of generosity that Paul says, not by guilt or compulsion, but from a cheerful heart that's decided, God, I wanna worship you with the fullness of my heart. So I wanna invite you, I'm gonna just give you a few more seconds to finish that card, and then I'm gonna lead us in a moment of encounter and response to God. So if you wanna take about 15 to 20 seconds, and then I'm gonna lead us in a time of response to the Holy Spirit. Amen. In just a moment at all of our campuses, we're gonna sing another song and respond in worship. And during that time, the ushers are gonna pass these baskets and you can join with us and place that card in as the baskets go by. You can participate through your app as well. You can take all these steps as well through the app and join with us in this journey of generosity.

I believe God's gonna use it in a powerful way. But before we move there, I just wanna invite you, we've just been stepping into moments of encounter with the living God in our church. So if you wanna just put that card down somewhere and just free your hands, and let's just make a little bit of space for the Holy Spirit before we sing this last song for the spirit of the living God to move in our hearts, to seal what we've heard. I invite you, if you will, just to put your hands in front of you as an act of surrender. Might close your eyes. And perhaps today there's something that you need to say to God that you've never said to him before. The spirit of God is in the room at all of our campuses. He's here, he's present. He's wanting you today to know his love. He's wanting you to know the fullness of his willingness to help you. The Bible says, whoever believes in him, as the scripture says, streams of living water will flow from within them. The Bible calls the spirit of God the helper that comes alongside. So a life of response to God cannot be lived in human power. A life of obedience is not lived with human strength. And so I just wanna ask you between you and God,

if you might today, just tell him, I need you. I need you. May even say a simple prayer, come Holy Spirit, fill me today afresh. If you're a follower of Jesus, you've already been given his spirit, but there's something that happens. There's a fullness of life that he wants to give to you in this moment. You might just say to him, fill me afresh today, that I might be filled with your power, that I might be filled up with your joy. Maybe you just need to say sorry to him. Maybe there's an area of your life where you've seen him only as the taker and not the giver. Let's just for another moment, just let the Holy Spirit, Father, we thank you for your spirit. We thank you for your presence. Lord, we thank you today that you are the great giver of life, that every good and perfect gift comes from you. Come Holy Spirit, come fill our hearts afresh today. Fill us with renewed vision. Fill us with hope. Fill us with a willingness to step forward in obedience to what you've asked of us today. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you're with us. In your name we pray, amen. Amen.

I invite you to stand with me. The answers are gonna come forward. They're gonna pass the buckets. You can drop that card in. I wanna worship and just thank God, just tell him we trust him as we finish our time together today. Oh, I trust in God. He's my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Oh, I trust in God. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. I trust in God. He's my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. He's my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I sought the Lord. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him. I sought the Lord. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust in God. He's my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. He's my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Well, what a wonderful time of worship it was today and such a great message as we were reminded of God's great love and God's great goodness, His generosity towards us, and also that God is inviting us to give Him our whole hearts and our whole trust in all areas of our life. And during the message, Pastor Andy invited us to respond to what the Holy Spirit might have been putting on your heart today. And so we want to invite you to fill out one of these cards that he was talking about. You can do so by clicking the link in the description if you're watching on YouTube or open that Saddleback app and find this card and you can fill it out there as well. And if there's another way that you might want to take a next step in your faith today, whether there's something weighing heavy on your heart that you need prayer for, or maybe you want to get plugged into community through small groups, or maybe you're just looking to take a very first step or a next step in your faith or in joining the church, we want to invite you to join us for Activate. You can do all of this through the digital program and through the app as well.

So we hope that you'll join us for any of these next steps. But church family, we're so glad that you're with us today and we hope that you'll join us again next weekend as we continue through the Book of Mark as a church. We are continuing in part two of Jesus on the move. So we hope to see you there. We'll see you next weekend. .