A Simple Maintenance Plan For Your Faith [Part 2]

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.

SPEAKER_02 (00:27):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim, and we are in
our final kind of wrap-up weekof our series in the shop.
And um, man, Tim really, reallyenjoyed this series.
I just uh read a text from alady yesterday, and uh she said
this.
She said, Um, meant to catch youon the way out today.

(00:49):
Didn't see a great message.
She said the whole series wasgood.
You and Tim uh are reading mindsevery Sunday.
She said, I don't know if that'sgood or bad, but it was a great
message and we appreciate you.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02):
Well, we're hoping the Holy Spirit tells us what to
say, but we don't really want toknow that and we don't want to
read anybody's mind.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10):
Yeah, that it's funny because people will will
say that on the way out, likeman, it's like you read my mind.
That sermon was for me.
Will you follow me around thisweek?
Right.
You and I we get in here, we tryto prayerfully plan out what
we're gonna preach on.
Like, no, this has been on thecalendar for months.

(01:30):
He knows, he always knows.
Yeah, and man, even I was I wastelling you right before we
jumped on here, one of yoursermons a couple weeks ago.
Um, I was like, man, the Lordput that in my life right at the
right time.
Um, needed to get some stufftaken care of, and that sermon
was the kick I needed to getthat stuff done.
And so um, yeah, he he'sfaithful to do that.

(01:51):
And yeah, I've man, I uh thewhole imagery of this series of
being in the shop, getting ourdiagnostic, our alignment fixed,
uh, a maintenance schedule.
And then last uh Sunday wetalked about full detail, um,
really kind of diving into theheart behind all of this.
I think that everybody kind ofgets it.
You know, the the imagery there,I think really helped people get

(02:14):
what this series is all about.
Um, and is it it was a roughone?
I would say the third sermon,the maintenance schedule, is
probably the the lighter of thefour.
Right.
That's just hey, do these ninethings.
Um the other ones were like, sithere and let us punch you.

SPEAKER_04 (02:31):
Yeah.
But you know what?
It's uh it's something that weneed to get a hold of.
It's like trying to have a goodmarriage, right?
You want you want to have a goodmarriage, but some some things
go wrong.
And when you're not focused uhon your relationship, you're
still married.
Right.
It's just not as good as you'dexpect it to be.
And uh same thing, you know,Jesus said this in uh the first

(02:54):
part of first three chapters ofRevelation, he's talking about
the church at Laodicea.
He said, Guys, you're doingeverything right.
And and I commend you for it.
You're doing everything right.
But here's this one thing I gotI'm no longer number one, I'm
not your first love.
Didn't mean that everybody inthat church wasn't going to

(03:16):
heaven anymore or anything likethat.
It's not about earning yoursalvation, it's about making um
this Christian life work.
It doesn't work without him.

SPEAKER_02 (03:25):
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (03:26):
And so um that first one uh setting your eyes back on
making the choice to make himthe priority.
Starts the fix.
And then um alignment, which wasum great sermon.
I'd like to preach that oneagain because I got so many more
ideas for it.
And uh just uh it's so easy tolet your horizontal

(03:49):
relationships turn you away fromyour vertical relationship.
You know, things are importantand and not just bad things.
I think I just focused on, youknow, you hurt their feelings or
they hurt your feelings.
I think I focused on that in thesermon, but there's also they're
really sick, so I gotta take allI got and turn towards them and

(04:10):
give them the best that I am.
And this is what you told me.
You said, yeah, you give themthe best that you have, and you
and your focus isn't no longeron Jesus, so you can't give them
the best that you are becauseyou've made them more important
than him.
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (04:24):
And the help you're trying to provide is no longer
um as good as I guess it couldhave been, right?
Um because yeah, your focus ismisaligned.
I read a book years ago.
Um I'm trying to remember thename of it.
Name escapes me, but he'stalking about how when you get
on an airplane, you know, theflight attendant comes up, they
give you that whole spiel, andthey say, you know, if the cabin

(04:46):
loses pressure, oxygen mask willfall from the ceiling, and you
need to put yours on before youhelp anybody else.

SPEAKER_04 (04:52):
Absolutely.
That's a great that's that's theway to describe it.

SPEAKER_02 (04:55):
And you got you know, your kids there, you know,
you're flying with your mom orgrandma, and you're like, I
gotta help them get this thingon.
But if pressure's going down andyou're so focused trying to help
them and you miss yours and youblack out and you don't get
theirs on, you don't have yourson, nobody's helped.
Right.
No, we've got to keep our ouralignment in check and make sure

(05:16):
we're focused on Jesus.
So those first two sermonsshould have put that in that
sermon too.
That would have been awesome.
Um, really, yeah, I think setthe set the stage for everything
else that we were we weretalking about.

SPEAKER_04 (05:27):
Yeah, and now we're we're here to this uh
maintenance schedule, and andlet us uh be honest about this.
This is not keeping yoursalvation, this is not earning
your salvation.
Um your marriage to Jesus isdone.
Uh if you confessed him as yoursavior and Lord, you have a
relationship with him.

(05:47):
This is about how good thatrelationship is.
And um, so you wanna you wantGod to use you in the kingdom.
Um I think um first or secondPeter chapter one talks about do
you want to be useless in yourknowledge of the Lord Jesus or
do you want to be um efficientand let him use you for the

(06:09):
kingdom?
And and you get a choice.
It doesn't change your salvationstatus, but you get a choice.
Who do you want to be?
And I man, uh once you get ataste of living for the Lord um
and he he start you starthearing his voice, and that's
one thing the first um thingwe're gonna talk about today is

(06:33):
fasting.
Um when you're focused onlistening, hearing his voice,
he's gonna tell you to dothings, and you're like, Oh
yeah, he's gonna tell me to doall these embarrassing things.
No, he's not.
He's going to uh brighten theworld with your life.
Uh you gotta buy somebody'scoffee.
Not a big deal.
You know, you gotta um letsomeone go in front of you in

(06:56):
line.
You know, their kids arescreaming and she looks like
she's about to lose it, and anduh you're just like, you go
before me.
Well, you don't have much stuff.
It don't matter.
You know, get those kids out ofhere.
Go ahead.
And uh those type of things makethe world a better place.
And uh and that that lightshining is is is when we stand

(07:18):
before the Lord and those peoplein those situations said, No,
he's this and I thank you,Jesus, for him.
And that's that's what Jesussaid, right?
Uh let your good work shine sothat people will glorify the
Lord.

SPEAKER_02 (07:33):
Not us, but him.

SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
Right.
That's so good.

SPEAKER_02 (07:36):
As we talk about these practices, it it's
important.
We're not talking aboutsalvation issues.
Um, as Tim said, this is you'resaved.
Uh we said it in the series overand over, you're saved,
sanctified.
We want you to be ready to go.
Right.
Um, this series is about helpingyou experience the was it your
dad who said, you know, get toknow Jesus as well as a forgiven
sinner can.

(07:57):
Yeah.
That's what we want for you towalk in intimacy with your
heavenly father, um, to know hisvoice and and to be into him, to
make yourself ready andavailable for what he wants you
to do in the world.
And man, there is truly nobetter life.
Jesus said, I came that youwould have a rich, satisfying,
abundant life.
And that's what this series isall about, helping you find and

(08:18):
discover and prepare yourselffor.
Um, and you know, we didn't makeup these nine practices.
Um these are these are thingsthat were found in in the
scriptures, you know, we we seeit modeled by Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 (08:30):
Yeah, we I think we left that out when we started
these.
This is the most importantthing.
These aren't things we're makingup for you, these are practices
that are found in the Bible.
They're not emotional thingslike gardening makes me feel
spiritual or you know, walkhiking or walking in the woods
or going hunting and all thatkind of stuff that makes you
feel spiritual.

(08:51):
We're not talking aboutfeelings, we're talking about
things that you actually have todo.
Right.
They're practices that are foundin the Bible, modeled for us by
not only Jesus, but people wholove Jesus.
So we take those things and dothem.
It's something that you do.
And so I want to make sure thateverybody understands that

(09:13):
because you can't just uh plugand play.
You can't say, Well, I likejogging, so I'm gonna make
jogging my fasting or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 (09:23):
And man, I think that there's been a little bit
of a trend in some Christiancircles.
I've read even read it in somebooks.
Um, you know, how do you connectwith God most?
And people are like, Oh, youknow, I connect with them
through walks or I connect withthem through meditation.
I can all great things, right?
Um these nine things are thingsthat come right out of out of

(09:46):
the scriptures, and we seeChristians in in the Bible model
these things for us, each one ofthese nine things.
And so, yeah, these these needto be a part of your life.
And if you love and connect withGod through, you know, staring
up at the stars, that's one ofmy favorite things to do.
Um that's great.
You still gotta have these ninethings in your life, right?

SPEAKER_04 (10:05):
Exactly.
Exactly.
So we went through prayer, um,and we put that number one
because we think it's numberone.
Um, you gotta pray.
Uh the Lord wants his house tobe a house of prayer.
And then we talked aboutscripture so the Lord can speak
to you through his scripture,and then we talked about
worship.
Um, and the big thing aboutworship is it trend training um

(10:27):
a desire to worship him.
Now, worship is, and we tend todo this in our uh vernaculars
that worship is the singing partof church.
That's not what we're talkingabout.
When we're at church and wesing, we do that on purpose.
Uh so that and we do it beforethe before we speak, we do it so

(10:48):
that we can say, you are thisand I'm not that.
Yeah.
You're the boss, uh, we trustyou, we love you, you're
precious to us.
We say those things um so thatwe can point our heart towards
the next part of worship, whichis saying yes before it even
gets started, right?

(11:09):
We sit down and we open the wordof God and and we we start
preaching.
When we preach, we're preachingfor a decision to be made.
Um if we're teaching, we're justgiving you information.
And uh I love that.
I love to teach.
But preaching is a differentthing, and um you're great at
it, and um kind of makes me alittle jealous, but it comes

(11:33):
down to are you gonna say yes tothis or not?
And if you've already said yesto that, then you can just keep
on praising.
Thank you, Lord, that you yougave me the ability to see where
I was wrong.
And if you haven't said yes tothat, it's a chance to say yes,
you're worth this change in mylife.
And that's why, that's why it'sall worship.

unknown (11:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (11:56):
And then uh I think we we stopped right around
fellowship last week, numberfour, and um talked about the
importance of of community andand why we need that.
Um and you know, we had grouplink this past week trying to
get more people plugged into tolife groups.
We we do best in community.
Um, devil loves when we'reisolated.

(12:16):
Um and when we're alone and inthose dark corners and driving
us back into the shadows, andcommunity pulls us out of those
things.
Um, and so it it makes a hugedifference in our life.
Um and uh then we got we ran outof time.
So I was hoping.

(12:38):
Do we have time right now?
It's coming up against it.
I thought I was gonna get all ofthose done in the sermon that
week.
And then I was like, well, Imaybe I should put it on the
podcast.
Now we're on podcast part two.
So um if you listened to thepodcast last week, you you you
did a good job.
Um, if you didn't, and you'rejust tuning in this week, you
need to make sure you go back tolast week's midweek podcast,

(12:59):
listen to that one, you'll getthe first four.
Um, because today we're gonnapick up with number five.

SPEAKER_04 (13:05):
Don't blame Ryan for this, guys, because this is this
is all me.
I've written a lot about uhspiritual disciplines, and I've
taught them over and over againfor 15, 20 years, and and I'm
I'm just trying to say this iswhere it's at.
This is where um when you stepout of line a little bit, being

(13:26):
a little harsh with your kids,um, if you're into the spiritual
disciplines, you'll hear theLord say, you turn around and go
back and apologize to your kids.
You can't be like that.
And uh if you're not in a in agood position with the Lord, and
you won't learn how to hear hisvoice, and then that that thing
with your kids, they'll alwayshave a little thing.

(13:47):
Is dad gonna blow up like that?
You know?
Um, am I bad?
Am I bad?
You don't want that going on inyour house.
You need the Holy Spirit.
That's right.
And uh so these things keep youlistening, especially fasting.

SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
Yeah, I had a lady uh come up to me after the
sermon two weeks ago asking, youknow, about fasting
specifically.
Is this something we're stillsupposed to be doing?
What what is the purpose of it?
What is it, what does it looklike?
Um, what am I supposed to fastfrom?
How long am I supposed to fast?
And people get a lot ofquestions on it.
And and frankly, there's there'snot a ton of guidance in

(14:23):
scripture on how long you'resupposed to fast and um what
you're supposed to fast from,even though usually in scripture
they fasted from food.
Um you know, if you take Jesusas a model, he fasted 40 days.
It's like I I will die.

SPEAKER_04 (14:38):
No, and and he fasted 40 days to get ready for
his ministry.
And I think we forget that thatum fasting, um I think you you
should have it in your life, butyou got to come up with a reason
for your fasting.
You just don't fast.
Um, hey, here's a good thing.
I'll fast for you, Jesus, tolose a little weight, that'll

(14:58):
work.

SPEAKER_02 (14:59):
And um this is not intermittent fasting, right?

SPEAKER_04 (15:03):
We want we want you guys to understand that this is
about something.
Yeah.
So uh somebody's got uhdiagnosis that's coming down.
I'm gonna take tomorrow andfast.
This will be my fasting for themonth, and um pray that they'll
be healed.

SPEAKER_02 (15:18):
Yeah, you got a a job situation coming up, a
career move or uh, you know, apromotion you've applied for,
you're you're looking to maybemove to a new city to get
pregnant, start a family, to tofind someone to to do life with.
You know, the these are all hugedecisions, and fasting is a way
for you to to devote someserious time to the Lord and

(15:39):
say, God, I don't want to gointo this blind.
I want to see this the way thatyou see these things, and I need
you to speak to me.
Um and and so though even whenwe were looking to hire uh a
children's pastor just uh wasthat last year, um, our team, we
fasted every Wednesday uhtogether as a church council

(16:00):
from you know time we woke up onWednesday morning to went to
bed.
We're like, Lord, today'stoday's for you.
And every time our stomachsgrowl, it's oh man, we're we
need a children's pastor.
Let's pray.
Right.
And it forces you to continue toseek the Lord over and over and
over again.

SPEAKER_04 (16:17):
See, the Lord um knows that you gotta you gotta
feed your family, you got thingsto do.
And um, so what fasting does isit keeps your heart and mind
tilting towards what you wantthe Lord to do while you're
doing the rest of your life.
It's not okay, I'm gonna fast,everybody leave me alone.
It's um, no, you gotta you gottakeep living, and he wants you to

(16:39):
live where nobody knows you'refasting, too.

SPEAKER_02 (16:41):
Yeah, yeah.
He's he explicitly said that.
Don't fast like the you know,Pharisees and those guys, these
religious, they love to lookmiserable and gloomy.
He's like, brush your dang hair,brush your teeth, get on with
your life, right, and fast too.

SPEAKER_04 (16:58):
And it's important.
Here's how it works.
Um every time you have a desire,we're gonna use uh eating, but
it can be coffee.
I tell you what, coffee isprobably one of the biggest um
it's it's right up there justunderneath food.

(17:18):
For me.
Because um you you you tryfasting from coffee and you're
about 10 o'clock, you're mad.
Oh, angry?

SPEAKER_02 (17:27):
You got a migraine kicking in.

SPEAKER_04 (17:30):
So then you're you're focusing, you're really
focusing on how bad I feel allthe time.
Hunger pains, you know, oh man,I'm really hungry.
I'm gonna go mow the lawn.
Well, while you're mowing thelawn, you're not really
concerned about it that much.
As soon as you stop, you'rehungry again.

SPEAKER_02 (17:47):
But man, when it comes to uh giving up that
coffee, oh, it's a headachekicks in, you go get on a lawn
mower, and that noise and thebouncing around just makes it
worse.

SPEAKER_04 (17:58):
It's uh so what what we're talking about is something
that reminds you to pray for thereason that you're fasting.
And it's important that youunderstand that fasting has a
purpose.
It's just not I'm gonna fastbecause God tells me to.
Um, no, this is you the Lorddidn't make it explicit that you
should fast.

(18:18):
We're just saying this is apractice we find that it's
really helped the apostles.
Um Jesus did it, um, and hewanted to focus on things, so he
would fast.
Now, there's a lot of rabbinicaluh literature on fasting, um,
but that's that's a a Jewishthing, and uh I I don't know if

(18:40):
you want to get into all that,but I think the most important
thing uh here is that fastinggives you focus on uh what the
Lord's doing in your life.
And we you should focus onbuying a new car.
You you should fast.
You're talking about payingfifty, sixty thousand dollars,
five, six, seven years ofpayments.

(19:00):
Yeah, of eight, nine hundreddollars.
Um, so those are the things thatyou need to think about.
And it would be good to bringthe Lord into that thought, and
the best way you can do that isfasting.

SPEAKER_02 (19:12):
Yep.
So I think food is stillprobably one of the best ways to
do it.
There's just few things thatgrab our focus um attention,
quite like hunger.
Um but yeah, it could be coffee,uh, maybe social media.
You know, if you're one of thosepeople you're on, find yourself
on Facebook all day, um, orTikTok videos or YouTube videos

(19:32):
or reading, you know.
Mine is the news app.
I love to get on the news app.
Um lately, as you know, it'sbeen watches, looking at watches
all the time.
Um then fast those things.
And now every time you pick upyour phone and you get ready to
click on Facebook, it's thatreminder.
Oh man, I'm supposed to bepraying.
Right.
Um, and so that's that's whatyou want it to be, is this

(19:56):
constant reminder.
And we, you know, I read thisyesterday.
Um James said, if you seek me,um, or draw near to God, he will
draw near to you.
Scripture says, Seek me and youwill find me when you seek me
with all your heart.
This is what fasting is, is it'sputting our hearts in that
position, in that posture.
Say, Lord, I want to hear fromyou.
And I'm gonna keep coming backuntil I get an answer.

SPEAKER_04 (20:16):
And I'm gonna sacrifice this to hear from you.
And uh your word means more.
And the Lord responds.

SPEAKER_02 (20:23):
What did you say?
He says, Man does not live onbread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth ofGod, right?
We need it.
It is sustenance, it's life,yeah, um, it's truth, and and we
need to we need to hear fromGod.
And we're saying, Yeah, Lord,I'm willing to give these things
up if it means I get to hearfrom you.

SPEAKER_04 (20:40):
So let's look at it in a rational way.
How do you apply this to yourlife?
Um I try to do it once a month.
I'll fast from something forsomething once a month.
And I guarantee you somethingwill come up.
You know, this whole attack inIran, um, Iran.
I keep saying that word wrong.
Iran, Iran, Iran.

(21:01):
Um I I had just before ithappened, I had just read um an
email that I get I forget whatyou call them.
They send out their littlebulletin about the church in
Iran.
It was it was going crazy.
People are getting saved likecrazy.

(21:22):
And then we started bombing theheck out of 'em.
So um put me in a quandary.
What what are we doing?
Let's not mess up this.
So I'm you know, I'm askingquestions about God.
Uh you know, Iran's been a thornin the side since the get go,
since nineteen seventy nine orwhatever it was.

(21:43):
And um they're out of control.
But we got a revival going on.
Do we want to mess with how do Iand so that was my thing.
I need to I need to not eattoday and and pray for the
Iranian Christians.
Um that their movement would Notbe stalled by all this.
And uh so yeah, I I'm I'm sickof Iran.

(22:07):
I'm sick of it.
It's just they're just they're amenace to the whole world.
And um their belief system hasdriven driven them into this,
and I I don't mean Islam as awhole, but um their version of
it, um Shiite Islam.
And but there's a revival goingon.

(22:29):
It's like you know, where amwhere am I gonna stand?
Who's doing this?
What's who's behind it?
So I've been praying that uhhard, and you you should too.
There's we want people to besaved.
And um it's it's kind of hard tofor the church to spread while
uh bombs are falling.

(22:50):
So this is and and I don't thismight be the Lord's plan, and
and I I won't say that it's not,but I I will say I'm praying for
the Christians in Iran.
It's uh it's uh I want that tokeep going.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (23:07):
So yeah, as you uh you look to make fasting a part
of your life, um, you got a bigdecision coming up, you got
something um in your life thatyou're facing or someone you
love is facing.
Um you can take a day, you cantake uh two or three days.
Um I would I would start therestarting with a week um is is
pretty hard for a lot of people.

(23:29):
Um it's doable, but uh you know,start with a day, start with two
or three days.
Um you really, you know, lookingfor some answers from the Lord,
give them a week um and say,Lord, I'm gonna drink lots of
water, but give up some food anduh fast for a week.

SPEAKER_04 (23:46):
And sometimes he'll impress on your heart.
No, I want you to give up this.
Yeah.
I want you to give this up, andI want you to pray about this.
So I'm doing two things at oncehere.
I'm breaking you from this atthe same time, I'm getting you
to focus on somebody else.
And uh so uh the Lord does thattoo.
So listen to the Holy Spirit.
He might, he might tell youyou're done um scrolling, or

(24:10):
you're done with the news, oryou're done uh following this
guy, you know, no Joe Rogan fora week, you know, whatever it is
uh that you're you're into andyou can't miss, and the Lord
might say, Why don't you missthat for me?
Because I want you to focus onthis.

SPEAKER_02 (24:26):
Yeah, especially I can't remember.
I think Joe Rogan, he's one ofthose long format guys, right?
He's like two, three hours.
What if if you're devoting twoor three hours, you know, even
once, twice, three all every dayof the week.
You know, what if you gave thosetwo or three hours to the Lord?
Do you think that would make adifference in your relationship
with your with your HeavenlyFather?
Absolutely it would.

(24:47):
Um, so yeah, just be obedientwhen he brings those things up.
And uh, man, fasting is one ofthose ways that you can truly
start to to hear from the Lordand and start seeing things from
his perspective.

SPEAKER_04 (24:58):
Absolutely.
Let's move on to service.
And uh I like this note you putout to the side of it.
Crushing ego.
You know, we are Americans, anduh we think that the um we think
the Lord's here to our or theworld's here to uh serve us.

(25:19):
And uh we need to we need tobreak that.
And I think we all recognizethat it's it's not like we're
gonna get in a fight withanybody who's saying, no, it's
about us.
Um but we have uh Jesus came toserve.

SPEAKER_02 (25:33):
I mean, culture says, you know, curate your
life, build your flat uhplatform, protect your time, and
Jesus says, go wash feet.
Right.
And you're like, where does thatfit into this?
Um but this is this is who we'resupposed to be.
And you know, we had a volunteerworkshop here, um, was that last
weekend?
And I got to, you know, lead alittle devotional for all of our

(25:55):
volunteers that came.
And man, it's so encouraging tosee all the people who showed up
and uh truly make a differencein this church, uh, how well
they serve God's people here.
Um and just to remind them, man,this is this is who we're called
to be.
Service is an optional.
Nope, it's not.
Scripture says that God hasgiven each of us a gift.
So if you've confessed Jesus asyour savior and Lord, he's given

(26:16):
you his spirit, and with that,the spirit gives you a gift to
use for the benefit of hischurch.

SPEAKER_04 (26:21):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
And I told everybody at the workshop, listen, if you
can use that gift and go makemoney in the marketplace, that's
great.
You know, Travis, um, he is agifted architect, and he's been
able to do that as hisprofession, but he's also used
that same skill, and you'rethinking, well, what does an
architect do in the church?
Man, going all the way back toour last building we were in.

(26:43):
We were doing all theserenovations, and I got Travis
involved, and he did all these3D renderings of stuff, so we
knew exactly what it was goingto look like and where things
would go.
And no, you don't want to placestuff over here.
That doesn't make any sense.
You need to do it this way.

SPEAKER_04 (26:55):
And he measured out the flow for after service and
and uh where people would talkin the middle of service.
And I mean, he had it, he did alot.

SPEAKER_02 (27:04):
Yeah, and then we moved over here.
Lord gave us uh, you know, anopportunity to move into this
building, and he's drawing upfloor plans and uh security
maps, so um emergency exit maps,all this for the rooms.
I mean, he he has used his giftto serve the church.
Um, and so I wanted to remindour volunteers you have a gift
and and we want you to use itfor the church, and you won't

(27:26):
truly be satisfied in yourChristian life until you start
to use the gift that God hasgiven you for his church, for
his bride.

SPEAKER_04 (27:34):
And here's the problem with it, we're not gonna
punch this one down on you, butum, you don't know where the
Lord's gonna lead you in servicebecause it doesn't really depend
on your gift.
Because sometimes the Lord willlead you into something where
you have to depend completely onhim and not the gift that he's
given you.
And uh he's just training youthere.
So when you go into a church,where whatever church you go to,

(27:57):
um, and you step in to serve,step into something, okay, I
just need to serve.
Okay, I hate this.
I'm gonna give you, I'm gonnagive you the rest of the year,
but I'm gonna I'm gonna step outof this.
Well, that doesn't mean you'restepping out of service, you're
just moving.
Move, move around, find thething that you like.

(28:18):
And um, you might get intosomething like the worship team
says, oh my gosh, this is somuch work.
I thought we were gonna get upthere and sing on Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 (28:26):
You want me here on Friday tonight?

SPEAKER_04 (28:28):
Yeah.
And uh how early do I got to getup to get there on Sunday and
and all this stuff?
And so, and you say that wasn'twhat I was expecting it to be.
Don't be ashamed.
Just say, you know what, I'mgonna step down from this right
now, and I'm uh my life is notready for this amount of
commitment.
Where can I go?

(28:49):
Send me somewhere else.
And that's what that's the kindof idea we need to have.
Just because the first thingdidn't work out, um, like I I
taught fourth and fifth gradeVBS for years, and last year
they almost killed me.
And I'm like, maybe I should getsomebody younger in here.
And uh so uh those things happenand you you gotta learn to to to

(29:14):
roll with the punches and andfind the thing that you love.

SPEAKER_02 (29:18):
Yeah, if you don't know what your you know gifting
is, there's spiritual gift testsyou can take online.
Those are those are helpful.
I don't know that they're theend-all be-all, but they're
helpful, they'll point you inthe right direction.
But I think the best way is tojust jump in, pick something
that you think you're interestedin and start serving.
And if you don't like it, likePastor Tim said, you can move on

(29:38):
to something else.
And in the process, the Lord'sgonna teach you man, hey, this
is what it looks like to serveeven when you don't feel like
it.

SPEAKER_04 (29:44):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (29:44):
This is how you serve even when the ministry
team leader and you bump headsor whatever, or you don't like
the people on your team or whothey paired you up with next to
the door, whatever it is.
You get to figure out, okay,man, we're all in this together.
This is what it means to be partof the kingdom.
Um and how am I gonna fit in?
Well, how am I gonna be a partof this thing so that we can
help people discover more inChrist?

(30:05):
And God's gonna lead you inthat, and then you're gonna move
around from team to team overthe years or months, whatever it
is, and God's gonna put you in aspot where you start to come
alive.
Right.
Um, and you're gonna you'regonna love it because he
designed you to love it.
You were made for this.
Um, and so yeah, service, one ofthe huge things that that we're

(30:26):
about here, I think, like Isaid, it's one of the best ways
to be a part of what God's doingon the planet.

SPEAKER_04 (30:31):
Um if if you're if you're not serving, um you need
to you need to do something.
Even if it's greeting or pickingup the garbage after church or
just even if you're not told to,straighten up your chair and
clean up around you when you getup.
Just serve the church, even ifyou don't have a designated job.

SPEAKER_02 (30:55):
And help take out the trash, because uh Carol did
just say we need some help withpeople taking out the trash.
So if you're thinking, listen, Idon't have time for all this,
but you can take out the trashon a Sunday.
I uh let me introduce you toCarol.
She'd love to get you on theteam.

SPEAKER_04 (31:08):
Yeah.
And it's uh and that's a simplething.
I run a couple of bags out tothe dumpster and I serve the
Lord and I served his churchlike he wants me to.
Let's go get lunch.
Absolutely.
And so that's that's how theservice in the church is
supposed to be.
Everybody does a little for thewhole.
That's how he described thebody, you know.

(31:29):
Not everybody's a mouth, noteverybody's the head, you know.
We need fingers and toes andeverything else going on.

SPEAKER_02 (31:35):
And kneecaps.
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (31:37):
Right.
So when we talk about service,and you talk to me and Ryan,
we're talking about, okay, thisis where we need some help.
Okay, but there's other servicesin the church like
encouragement, like prayer,praying for the church,
encouraging your brothers andsisters who it's having a hard
time, or encouraging brothersand sisters who are having a

(31:58):
great time.
Let them remind them that it'sfrom God and that they need to
um keep your hands open so whenGod blesses you, you can pass it
on to someone else.
So we have those type of ways toserve in the church, and those
those things are so important,especially encouragement.

unknown (32:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (32:18):
Uh Carol, she runs our cleaning team here, but one
of the things that I absolutelyadore about her, and I didn't
know she was even doing this foryears.
Um, but every person that getsbaptized, she writes it down in
a journal and she prays forthose people every week.
And then every time we have achild dedication, she writes
down all the families and thekids' names who who are
dedicated, and she prays forthem every single week.

(32:39):
What an incredible way to serveyour church and the families
here.
Amen.
Um, but to to bring them beforethe Lord every single week.
So love it.
All right, number seven.
Um, trying to move a little bitquicker.
I don't know if we're doing agood job or not.
No, but we're not.
We're terrible.
No, number seven.
Sorry, this is my thing.

SPEAKER_04 (32:56):
And Ryan said two words, and I've been speaking
the whole time.
So I'll try to bring it up.

SPEAKER_02 (33:00):
Well, this one I think is a one that you're also
pretty big on.
So I'll I'll let you kind oftake over here.
But uh talking about a Sabbathand something that I think um
this is one of those spiritualdisciplines I think in the
church it's been real easy forus to to ignore um and not pay
much attention to.
Um, so so help us define whatthis is.

SPEAKER_04 (33:21):
Well, we see that the Lord rested after he created
was he tired?
No.
But he rested, and he was tryingto, I I think what he's trying
to do is place a rhythm in yourlife.
Now, uh he worked six days, hedidn't get the weekend off.
Okay, he worked six days, and hetook a day, he took a day, um,

(33:45):
that he called the Sabbath.
He didn't go to church on thatday.
I know we we said, well,Sunday's my Sabbath, and I go to
church and you know, hang outwith the family, and that's
good.
But I'm just letting you knowthat it has nothing to do with
church.

unknown (33:58):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (34:00):
But Sabbath is a way that you can reorient your life.
Because when we get in thegrind, and I know some of you
guys, and I feel for you, uh,your job's like if you can't
work twelve hours, seven days aweek, I'll find someone who
will.
And and it's tough.
It's hard to find a Sabbath.

(34:21):
But we need to understand thatum there's some there's some
things that we gotta rest from.
And that's not just the busynessof life, it's um emotional
rancor, you know.
Sometimes when you don't take atime to rest, you can't see

(34:44):
where you're you're angry, youknow.
And how much does that have todo with you?
You know, Paul said, uh as muchas it's got to do with you, live
at peace with everyone.
And uh we don't get a time tothink.
And uh I read a book a long timeago, and I know I I kind of beat
you with it for the last 15years, called uh the

(35:04):
Contemplative Pastor.

SPEAKER_02 (35:06):
I was already thinking of it.

SPEAKER_04 (35:08):
And it's about you need to sit down and take a day
and open your mind and let theLord speak to you.
Especially if you're a leader insome way.
You you lead at your work or youlead at church or and uh you're
in charge of some things, youneed the Lord let the Lord speak
to you.
And um and you need to thinkabout things, not just about

(35:32):
spiritual things, but abouteverything.
You know, uh how am I doingthis?
You know, one time I was on aSabbath and I I was just sitting
there in the backyard and Isaid, Man, I I hate mowing this
lawn.
It takes forever.
Um I had this old lawnmower thatwas really slow and and uh then

(35:55):
I had to weed eat and I had allthese places to weed eat.
And I was just sitting there andI was thinking, why don't I make
this easier?
I'll get a lawnmower that fitsall these places that I won't
weed anymore.
And if that bush is in the way,I'm gonna pull it up.
And suddenly I took a three-hourdeal, and just because I took

(36:18):
some time off and thought aboutthings, I wasn't thinking about
it for years.
And I just had to do the samething over and over again,
giving up three hours.
Now I give up 45 minutes.
I can mow it, weed eat, justbecause I got rid of that tree
and I moved that over there, andnow my mower fits in there, and
I don't, you know, and you'rethinking, Tim, what are you
talking about?

(36:39):
That everybody knows to do that.
Well, I didn't know.
I was so busy doing everythingthat I was doing that I didn't
get a chance for those things tocompute, and I got two hours and
15 minutes out of my week backjust by setting down and
resting.

SPEAKER_02 (36:55):
Yeah, it gives us a chance to hear from the Lord,
man.
Um, we are constantly just goingall the time.
And then I mean the pressurelevel for so many of us is just
100% maxed out, you know.
Um, I was talking to a a dad onSunday in between services, and

(37:18):
he, you know, hadn't been ableto come a lot here and there,
and he goes, Soccer.
He goes, it sucks.
It sucks.
And I started laughing.
He goes, I'm serious.
It sucks.
Um, and I mean he loves playingor watching his kids play
soccer.
Don't get me wrong.
He he they enjoy it, they theirkids do well at soccer, but he's
like, it just takes over.
It takes over.

(37:38):
And you try to balance yourkids' sports and their, you
know, different programs theyhave at school and musicals and
all these things that you got tobe a part of.
And then you got work and yougot all these other obligations.
And it's like, I don't ever havetime.
And I mean, just most of usdon't even realize we're so used
to the pressure, we just call itlife.

SPEAKER_04 (37:58):
Right.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (37:59):
We don't know what it would feel like to take a
break, to take a breath.
Um, and we, you know, whetherit's the pressure of work or
your house or whatever, youknow, like, man, if I'm not
doing it, everything's gonnafall apart.

SPEAKER_04 (38:12):
Yep.

SPEAKER_02 (38:12):
You need to sit down and let God be God and let Him
prove to you, I got this.
You don't have to do it all.
You know, I'm here.
And we think, man, I gotta, Igotta work, I gotta work, I
gotta work.
And and you do.
Six days, he wants you to workhard.
You gotta work hard enough inthose six days that on day

(38:34):
seven, you can rest.
Right.
And problem is a lot of us, weyou know, just putz around until
day seven gets here.

SPEAKER_04 (38:41):
Dave's done studies to say if you take a day of
rest, you get more done than theperson who doesn't.
And I think it's important,especially your kids, to uh see
that modeled in front of them.
Now, let me uh the Sabbath youneed to be focused on yourself.
Oh, that's selfish.
I should be focused on God.

(39:02):
No, God is focused on you, andHe wants you to focus on you
sometimes too.
Uh, so you're resting.
Um and it when you take a dayoff, it helps you sleep better.
Um and it's important uh for youto get your sleep.
I mean, health-wise,mental-wise, and and we run,
run, run, run, run.

(39:23):
Let me help you what this lookslike.
It doesn't have to be on Sundayor Saturday, it can be on
Wednesday.
Uh, it doesn't have to beWednesday morning at 7 o'clock
till Wednesday at 10 o'clock.
It can be after I get out ofwork on Wednesday at 5 o'clock,
I'm gonna take till noon thenext day and rest.

(39:46):
I'm gonna watch what I want.
I'm gonna feed my soul, I'mgonna set out in the backyard
and stare at the clouds, and youknow, I'm not gonna mow the
lawn.
I know, I know that it's a drawin the summertime.
Everybody loves to mow the lawn.
Just let me get away from it.

SPEAKER_02 (40:02):
Only when you get a rider, man.
You get a zero turn, and all ofa sudden you're like, Joy and I
fight over mowing now.
You had to push the lawn.
We weren't fighting over.

SPEAKER_04 (40:10):
And it's a couple hours where you don't get
interrupted, and it's just andit's nice.
I get that.
Um, so that might be involved inthat, but take those that time,
and there's eight hours of sleepin the middle, so you're you're
getting good rest, and um youcan take that day, and it'll
it'll change your life.

(40:30):
The Lord will speak to you andsay, I've been trying to get to
you, uh, especially um Ryan andI, we we hear things from the
Lord on our Sabbath that arelike, okay, we need to start a
new ministry.
And that's where he gets usbecause we're we're just we're
chasing our tails the rest ofthe time.
And uh so when you slow down andyou take that Sabbath, mine's on

(40:53):
Thursday right now, and uh, Ijust get up in the morning and
look at Teresa and say, What arewe gonna do?
And uh and we run around andessentially we do nothing all
day.
And and we need that day, andeverybody needs that day.
So I encourage you to put itinto your life.
Is that gonna, you know, makeall this um connect you to the

(41:19):
Lord and and no, these otherthings are gonna connect you to
the Lord.
This is for you.
This is the you part of servingthe Lord.

SPEAKER_02 (41:29):
This is you know, Pestin a little bit ago said,
you know, feed your soul.
We talked earlier about youknow, you connect with God
through gardening or throughtaking a hike or a walk.
This is a great thing to do onyour Sabbath.
You know, spend some time out inthe garden.
If that's what feeds your souland you helps you feel connected
with God, that's a great thingto do during a Sabbath.
Man, God, I'm just gonna get outhere.

(41:50):
I just wanna, I'm just gonna bewith you.
Um, you can plant and and dothat, or go on a walk, take a
hike, stare at the clouds, youknow, whatever it is.
Um, and it man, it'll it'll makea huge difference in your life.

SPEAKER_04 (42:01):
It'll change your life.
Let's go on.
Witness.
Uh, I think sometimes we we havestarted it here and and uh one
thing we've been pushing is youknow these gospel conversations,
but we we need to understandthat our witness extends further
than that.
We call it evangelism, and we'vegot all these schools where

(42:21):
we're gonna set people down andexplain salvation to them and
all this kind of stuff, butthat's that's how it ends.
That's not how it starts.
You feel that?
How it starts is are you okay?
Can I pray for you?
Or you want to come over forsome dinner?
You've been my neighbor foryears.
How about I I make you a steak?

(42:42):
Um that's how it starts.
And we're always focused on howit ends.
Well, it'll end with the HolySpirit handling all that for
you, but it's how it starts.
It's how it starts.
Every time I'm in a hospital, umthere's someone who's hurting,
and if you open your eyes andyou can take a take a moment and

(43:02):
pray for 'em, even the nurses,you know that's a tough job.
I was up in the ICU and um therewas a nurse, and I told her, I'm
lost, how do I get out of here?
And she had to get herselftogether to tell me you know the
elevators are this way.

(43:23):
And I'm like, she's having arough day.
Everybody dying around her.
And so I just prayed for her.
I I want everybody to be able tobe like that.
That is the beginning of thewitness.

SPEAKER_02 (43:36):
It's why when we, you know, decided on our mission
here to you know, 30,000 gospelconversations.
Um, that we really took gospelconversations and said, we want
this to mean a lot.
I when people come to New Heregathering, I tell them all the
time, we are very liberal inwhat we count as a gospel
conversation.
Absolutely.
But it is.
It is because I don't want it tobe you have to sit down and

(43:58):
share the Romans road and Forcethem to make a decision.
Right.
Eventually, that would be greatif we got the relationship
progressed to that point.
But yeah, I want you to sit downin a break room and see someone
who's having a bad day and say,oh man, they look like they're
having a rough day.
Let me go encourage them andpray for them.
Hey, Aiden, I know you got thatbig project coming up.
Can I pray for you?
Do those things and you start toopen the door.

(44:20):
And we tell people all of thoseare gospel conversations.

SPEAKER_04 (44:23):
Absolutely, because it's leading to the gospel.
A witness is not a momentarytime interaction with another
person.
That's good.
That's just the beginning ofyour witness.
And I so many times this hashappened.
Um going out of a checkout line,got something under the cart
that they didn't get.
It happens all the time.

(44:44):
And it pulled out.
The next person is coming in.
And I said, Did you get that popon the bottom?
And it she's like, Oh no, Ididn't get that.
Now she's she's all nervous.
And I'm like, Okay.
I'll I'll wait here and we'll doit after you're done with them.
And she's like, Thank you, thankyou, thank you.

(45:06):
Well, the person who is gettingdone in time, he's like, I never
seen anybody do that in my life.
Most people charge out of herewhen they they know that they
haven't charged that thing.
Well, there was my witness anduh and I I said give credit to
the Lord.
And and so he's walking aroundthe rest of his life.

(45:27):
I know a guy who got away with afree case of pop and he went
back and paid for it.
And and I know there's a lot ofpeople out there who aren't
Christians who wouldn't let thathappen either.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm just saying I gave credit tothe Lord.

unknown (45:41):
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (45:42):
And uh that's that's gonna be in his soul, and that's
a witness, and somebody else isgonna come along and do
something honorable, and he'sgonna say, Why did you do that?
And they're gonna say, Well,give credit to the Lord.
I wouldn't always done that, butI do it now.
And pretty soon he's gonna say,I gotta figure out what's going
on here.
That's a witness.

SPEAKER_02 (46:03):
Absolutely.
Um, and I I think that there'ssome people that you know have a
more evangelistic sort of bentto them.
You know, I think of Dave Meyer.
You talk to Dave Meyer for fiveminutes.
If he doesn't know that you'refollowing Jesus, he's gonna find
out.
Um, I I think two of my kids, Tyand Ellie, are both that way.

(46:26):
Ty, uh, he was on his way towork the other day, saw this uh
homeless lady um on the side ofthe road by the gas station on
58, and he said, I'm gonna pullin here, I'm gonna go buy her
something in this gas station,I'm gonna walk out here and
share the gospel with her.
And so he did.
Um the dad and me's like,listen, I don't want you going
talking to people on the side of58.

SPEAKER_03 (46:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (46:47):
The other part of me is like, man, I'm so proud of
that kid that he would even havethat thought.

unknown (46:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (46:52):
Um, then he sat down at work and there was some lady,
she was trying to find a phonecharger, whatever.
He's on the clock.
Now he works for Chick-fil-A,and they kind of give you some
flexibility here, I guess.
But he sat down for 30 minutesand had this extended gospel
conversation with this woman,got to talk about the gospel,
invited her to church, all whilehe was, again, on the clock.

(47:14):
And then Ellie, man, she we gotthose door hangers for Easter,
and she rode around our wholenight.
Reese did too, but I think Reesegot over to Chip and Theresa's
house and he just hung out withChip.
Um, Ellie, she she did therounds, man, got them door
hangers on all these doors, andshe'd knock on people's doors
and just ask them, Do youbelieve in Jesus?
And I'm like, man, that boldnessis is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 (47:35):
It is.

SPEAKER_02 (47:36):
Um, but man, this is who we're supposed to be.
Jesus said, go into all theworld and make disciples.
Um, and if you're if we're notbeing intentional about that,
then then we're missing a hugeaspect of what it means to
follow Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 (47:49):
Yeah, and so let me personalize that.
This is what Jesus said to you.
Go into your world and preachthe gospel and make disciples.
That's and we hear that all theworld, okay.
We gotta give to missionaries.
And no, no, no.
Go into your world and do it.
And it's important that in thatwe do.

(48:11):
Look, it it'll be a fire.
It's it's just a little coal,which is your I want you to be
saved.
But man, you start blowing onthat fire, it'll rage.

SPEAKER_02 (48:24):
And then you'll be praying for people at the
hospital and and uh the firsttime someone you you lead them
to the Lord, they say yes, andyou you pray a little prayer
with them, there's no goingback.
Right.
When you s watch someone crossover from death unto life, um it
changes, it messes you upforever.
You're like, man, we I gotta dothis all the time.

(48:47):
Um script says, How beautifulare the feet of those who bring
the good news.
Um so if you want to havebeautiful feet, bring the good
news.
Um, and so I would encourageyou, uh, if you don't have a
list of of people that you'repraying for right now, you need
to make a list and start prayingfor them.
Scripture says no one comesunless God draws them.
And so you need to be praying.

(49:08):
God, draw these people toyourself and then give me an
opportunity, or put people intheir life um that's gonna share
the gospel with them.
And you need to start prayingwith those people.
Um and then look foropportunities to to pray with
people, to encourage people tojust live this life out.

SPEAKER_01 (49:21):
I was it, oh man.
Was it Saint Francis?
Can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 (49:27):
Oh gosh, can't remember who said it, but they
said, you know, preach often andwhen necessary, use words.
Absolutely.
Um let your life be a witness.
But then when it comes time, usewords.
Yeah, use words.
Um, how can they know?
How can they believe unless theyhear, you know?
Um so open your mouth,communicate the goodness of
God's truth and his love forthem.

(49:48):
Um, and I know we're we're soafraid to offend somebody or
whatever.
You have the greatest news onthe planet that God so loved the
world that he sent his one andonly son.
So if this person would believe,they won't perish, but they'll
have eternal life.

SPEAKER_04 (50:05):
What a what a mission.
And and like I said, it doesn'tstart with, let's sit down and
go through the scripture.
It is, it starts with, are youdoing okay?

unknown (50:16):
Yep.

SPEAKER_04 (50:17):
Or running over and where the garbage is uh garbage
can got knocked over in yourneighbor's yard and there's
trash everywhere and you knowhe's at work, and just go pick
it up for him.
Um one of these days he's gonnaknow you did that.

SPEAKER_02 (50:32):
And um, with everybody's ring doorbells and
stuff, he'll probably know whyyou're doing it.

SPEAKER_04 (50:37):
Right.
So it it's uh it's important tolet our witness shine.
Let your good works shine, Jesussaid.
That's good.
And number nine is uh is thatand I think we're in a culture
where we're generous already.
And I I I know everybodypreaches on this like the United

(50:58):
States is they're all aboutthem.
That's not true.
Uh we're the givenest nation uhnation on the planet.
We give to everything.
Um matter of fact, uh in NewYork, uh right now they're given
uh if they get uh housing, it's$120,000 a year to homeless

(51:18):
people.
That's what they're spending oneach one.
I think can I apply?
Yeah.
Well, no wonder you got so manyhomeless people.
Um we are we're a country thatbelieves in in giving and and
helping, but most of us the waywe want to give is I'll just
write a check and give it to thepeople who know how to do it.

(51:39):
And that's that's important.
Um but once we do that, we cutour lives off.
I've already given at theoffice, you know.
So um uh no more.
You know, I got it in my budget,I'm gonna give away this much.
And and I'll tell you this mostof these millionaires that
everybody's pointing at sayingyou're selfish or whatever, they

(52:01):
give more money away than I'vemade in my lifetime.
You know, they just give itaway.
And and that's great, and that'sgenerosity, but it's not the
generosity we're looking athere.
We're looking at God blessed me,so I'm gonna bless others.
It might be financial, it mightbe time, the thing that we don't

(52:22):
have enough of.
Right.
Um, so this trust of God, I'mgonna give up my time, or I'm
gonna give up my money for thiswell.
We just had uh an announcementfor our well on Sunday.
I'm gonna give up my money forthis thing, and I'm expecting
you to give that back to me.

(52:45):
You know?
And uh this is what generosityis, is when you uh you're
breaking scarcity for someoneelse.
And we we need to understandthat and that it's okay to give
that, even when it's outside ofyour budget.
And uh so I got some budgetedthings that I I give to some
charities here in LorraineCounty and I give uh to the

(53:07):
church, and it justautomatically comes out.
But when the other things comeup, it challenges my generosity.
And uh because I've alreadybudgeted that in, I know I can
give this much and I'll be okay.
That's not what we're talkingabout.

SPEAKER_02 (53:22):
Well, I mean, scripture says every every good
and perfect gift comes down fromour Father in Heaven.
Um, God owns it all, and soevery penny we think, well, I
gotta give God, you know, justthis little bit.
This is all I owe him.
It's his.
He owns it all.
He owns every penny in your bankaccount and your 401k, um, the

(53:43):
value of your house.
He he owns it all.
Um, and so when you see it thatway, man, I think Joey actually
um was talking about this onFacebook the other day.
Um, talking like, man, when Isee it all as his, then I just
become a steward and afacilitator of God's money.
Um, and we need to do it well.

(54:04):
You know, God wants you to do itwell.
Um, but man, we we need to begenerous.
And years ago, um, I preached asermon on generosity, and I
called this guy up on stage andI put some money in his hand, I
told him to close his hand, andI tried to add more money on
top, and then you know, moneywould fall off, and I try to add
more money, but it would justfall.
He couldn't get any more.

SPEAKER_04 (54:25):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (54:26):
But I you know, opened his hand and I told him,
All right, let go of that.
And then I put more money in hishand.
I told him to drop that and Iput more money in his hand.
Man, I think that's the way Godviews giving.

unknown (54:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (54:36):
Is if when we try to hold on to it, he's like, even
if I wanted to, I couldn't giveit to you because you won't let
go.
You won't let go.
Um, but if we'll trust him andsay, God, I'm gonna I'm gonna
give this to you, he goes, Okay,well, here's this.
God, I'm gonna give that to you.
All right, well, here's this.
Um, and and we we learn that wecan trust him.
You can't out give God.

(54:56):
It's the one time in scriptureGod says to test me, right?
Is when it comes to to our titheand our offering.
Um, and I know there's a lot ofdebate on tithes, and is it, you
know, is that something we'resupposed to be a part of today?
And is that only the oldtestament?
Um, here's what I'd tell you.
I think 10% is a great spot tostart.
Um, I would also say if you'rebanking on God's grace um to

(55:20):
give less, be careful becauseevery time Jesus talked about
the Old Testament law, he neverlowered the standard.
Right.
He said, You've heard, you know,do not commit adultery.
I say don't lust.
You heard don't murder.
I tell you, don't hate.
So if you're gonna say, Well,Jesus didn't say 10%, it's like,
yeah, because he said 20.
Ah, well, hold on.

(55:41):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (55:41):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (55:42):
He he usually leveled it up.
Um, but if you can't start with10% or whatever, Paul said each
of you need to decide in yourheart what you're gonna give and
give cheerfully.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Um and and as you start to give,I think you're gonna experience,
man, when I trust God with thesethings, he's faithful, he comes
through every time.

SPEAKER_04 (56:02):
And that's why it's important to um put it into your
budget, okay?
That predetermined giving.
I'm gonna give to the church,I'm gonna give to a couple of
these charities, and I'm gonnagive to Uncle Joe because he's
not getting by, whatever.
I'm gonna send him$10,$20 amonth or whatever.
And you get all that in there,but that's just the beginning.

(56:25):
Because then the Lord's gonnasay, okay, you've trusted me
with this.
Um, I want to give you more, butI can't give you more because
you're you've made this decisionon how much you're gonna give.
So you're gonna, I'm gonna giveyou some situations where you're
gonna give out of your pocket.
That might be your golf money,that might be uh whatever the

(56:46):
money you had set aside for thatnew bow, whatever it is.
Things are gonna pop up andGod's gonna give you an
opportunity to spontaneouslygive.
And uh, and I'm I'm just gonnasay it, the Lord will give you
that money back.
You you don't have to worry.
When you when you feel the HolySpirit um Holy Spirit urging you

(57:07):
to give your time, to give yourmoney, to give your talent to
something, um, He's gonna He'sgonna refill that hand so you
can do it again.
Absolutely.
And uh so you got yourpredetermined giving, and then
you got your spontaneousgenerosity.
Um and then there's gonna betimes when it's when it's risky.

(57:27):
And we struggle with this hereat the church uh all the time.
We had so many people come andand uh uh ask the church for
help and then we see them onFacebook taking picture of their
stake at that steak place youreally like, and and we've been
burned, you know, and we feellike I just don't want to give
to anybody anymore.
Uh and uh but uh sometimes wegotta give not just wisely but

(57:53):
recklessly.
You know, I just feel like theLord wants us to do this this
time.
And um and sometimes you'regonna give uh money and you're
gonna think you're great andthey're gonna laugh at you and
and and use that money forwhatever.
But you gotta remember you'renot given to them.
You're given to him.

SPEAKER_02 (58:14):
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (58:15):
This is what generosity is about.
Not just be generous to thepeople around you, to the uh
organizations that are trying todo great things.
When you give that money, youare giving it to him.

SPEAKER_02 (58:27):
That's good.

SPEAKER_04 (58:27):
That's his money.

SPEAKER_02 (58:30):
When uh I preached a sermon on I think it was the
most recent one on generosity.
Um I told the church that said,Man, if we would give God our
first and best, he'll bless therest.
Um and so continue to bring tobring God your first and your
best.
Because you truly are.
You're giving to him.
Um and especially when you givethrough the church, you're

(58:52):
you're giving to the Lord.
Um and he he multiplies theimpact of that.
And I challenge people to levelup their generosity.
I said, if you've never givenbefore, then today give
spontaneously, and maybe that'sfive bucks.
Um, and for a lot of people,that's where they're at.
You know, I'm a spontaneousgiver.
You know, I come to church andI'll throw whatever I got
sitting in my purse or mywallet.

SPEAKER_04 (59:13):
Um we've seen it.
Uh well cost$12,000, and we gotfour or five of that, and and
the Lord puts it on our heart,whatever the cost is for the
rest of it, I got it.
Yep.
And uh so uh the Lord may callyou to do that.
I'm not I'm not gonna pull thatout of your uh wheelhouse
because he when he sees thingsuh growing in your life that

(59:35):
he's gonna do something thatwill break its growth if it's
something that he don't like.
And it you I just need you toremember that when you give back
to him, you need to let him ownit.
Yep.
And that's that's the thedifficult thing for a lot of
people is I don't get what ifthat guy, matter of fact, there
was one guy he told me I give toeverybody I see on the street,

(59:58):
and I tell him, I said, if youuse this for drugs, I'm gonna
pray God kills you.
And I'm like, I'm not sure thatthat's the way we should be, you
know, handling this spontaneousgiving thing.
So, but I'm telling you,sometimes uh the Lord's gonna uh
ask you to give, and it's gonnabe a wise thing, you're gonna be

(01:00:20):
in agreement, but sometimes he'sgonna ask you to give in risky
situations, and that's more foryou than it is for the person
you're given to.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:27):
Well, I so I kind of laid out three three levels.
We'll wrap up with this.
Um there's the spontaneousgivers, those who just kind of
give based on the need or basedon what they have available in
the moment.
Um, that's level one.
Then I said, if you're a levelone giver, I'm gonna encourage
you to level up to level two,which is to give strategically.
And that's when you what youtalked about, starting to make a

(01:00:50):
plan to give.
Right.
It's in the budget.
I know what I'm giving, and I doit every month.
And I think recurring giving isthe best way to do it.
Um, so just like you, Joy and I,we have our giving to the church
automated.
It comes out as soon as I getpaid, comes right back out.
Um, and and we know that's done,it's in the budget, it's
happening every single month.
Um, and that's man, churchescan't function without people

(01:01:12):
who give strategically that wayand say, man, we're gonna make
this a part of our life.
And then I told the church, ifyou're a level two giver, the
next level is to be um a levelthree, and that's to give
sacrificially.
And this is what you keephitting at, you know, going
above and beyond.
Um, Lord, I've I've given youthe 10% or whatever number you
and the Lord agreed upon.

(01:01:32):
I've given you that.
I'm going above and beyond.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna givesacrifice, I'm gonna have to
change my lifestyle because ofthis.
Um and man, I can we got aminivan that we've been driving
around.
It's I don't even know if it'son its last legs.
It it's crawling sometimes.
And I can go buy a new car ifI'd stop giving to the church.

(01:01:54):
Yeah, it changes my lifestyle.
Um, but I'm like, I'm gonnacontinue to give.
And as I've continued to give,that van keeps running.
I'll tell you that.
Right.
Um, he's he's been faithful.
He shows that he's faithful overand over and over again.
Um, and and I want you to knowyou you can't out give God.
And so I issued uh during thatsermon a three-month generosity

(01:02:18):
challenge.
Uh, you can find it on ourwebsite.
If you just click on the givebutton, uh scroll down, you can
find a three-month generositychallenge.
If you've not done it, I wouldencourage you to do it because
uh I I believe that your faithwill explode as you start to
trust God with those things, um,especially with your money and
your time, but especially withyour money, right?

(01:02:39):
You start to trust him with thatand you let go of it, just watch
himself prove himself faithful.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:45):
And you know it.
Listen, money makes the world goround, but it also is is the
start of all kinds of evil.
That's right.
And that number one evil isselfishness.
God wants to break you fromthat.
That's right.
He wants you to be like him, whois the least selfish.
Yeah.

(01:03:05):
And uh so um don't make himbreak you.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:11):
Just do it.
Just do it.
Just do it.
It's so much easier.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:14):
Tell my kids that all the time.
So all of these things that wetalked about uh today and last
week is about you becoming morelike Jesus.
That's right.
And uh these are the things thatum we you preached uh Sunday
that the Holy Spirit is involvedin making you not only become
like Jesus, to want to becomelike Jesus.

(01:03:37):
He's already working on you.
These things, these nine thingsthat we talked about, are nine
nine ways that you can open upyour life to the Holy Spirit so
he can make you more like Jesus.
And they will.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:50):
They will.
Absolutely.
Let's pray.
Father, I thank you so much foryour word.
I thank you for the series andand the impact that you you made
and continue to make in people'slives through this.
Um, Lord, we we want to put younumber one, we want to fix our
alignment.
Um, Lord, we want to have ourmaintenance scheduled, these
spiritual disciplines in place.
And uh, and Father, we want tohave our heart to be fully

(01:04:12):
detailed so that we're doing theright things for the right
reasons, not to earn your loveor your approval.
We know that um if we'veconfessed to you as Savior, that
you have saved us to theuttermost.
Um, but Father, we want to beavailable to you, to be used by
you, to hear your voice.
And we know that these are thethings that position us to do
that and to live an abundantfull life.

(01:04:33):
And so, Father, I pray for eachperson in AFresh Win, every
person who's gonna listen tothis podcast, I pray that you
would do immeasurably more thanall they could ask or imagine as
they begin to say yes to you ineach of these areas.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:49):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at a
freshwind.org.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number

(01:05:12):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.

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