May 19, 2025 • 42 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, all right, my name is Lawrence, if you're
new with us.
I just want to give you realquickly some things that are
coming up.
Just quick announcements June1st, which is in just a couple
weeks, we're going to do amembers meeting here, and it
doesn't mean it's just formembers, it's called a church
meeting.
But if you're not a member, wehave some ways that you can
(00:21):
become a member.
Or you're like I don't know ifI'm a member, you should ask
that question.
But if you're not a member, wehave some ways that you can
become a member.
Or you're like I don't know ifI'm a member, you should ask
that question.
On that next steps card you canwrite that down.
We'll get in contact with you.
But 1245, we're going to do ameeting, we're going to
celebrate the things that havehappened just recently, in the
past.
Look forward to some thingsthat are coming up that you can
be praying for the board shares,the budget coming up.
Then, the next day, that Monday, a lot of you guys have been
(00:44):
asking about community andgetting into community and being
a part of a community, and sowe're kicking off a season and
starting a bunch of newcommunity groups.
That starts on June 2nd.
So if you want to be a part ofthat, that's out in the lobby.
Another thing that's out in thelobby is Serve Day.
It's on June 15th, so this ismy first.
Just letting you know so youcan't come at me later.
(01:05):
We will not be meeting in thisbuilding on June 15th.
Write that down now.
Put an alarm to it, because youget mad at me when you forget.
I know we've done this forenough years.
You show up and you're mad atme for some reason because
you're like, and what we'redoing is we're going out and
serving the community.
We actually have a bunch ofreally great projects.
We're a regionally locatedchurch and we're actually doing
(01:27):
a ton of things actually inBenicia specific, all up and
down First Street.
We're going to give you guysall Serve Day shirts so you guys
can look like we just took overand we're just going to unleash
compassion.
We're going to go crazy forthis one day and the church is
going to leave the building andgo out and be all in for the
sake of the community.
So that's June 15th, that'sFather's Day.
Some of you fathers are likesweet, I don't got to go to
(01:49):
church.
It's cool, cool, but you got togo serve somewhere.
Go do it with your family.
It's a great example.
I would love for you to be apart of that.
So those are three things thatare coming up.
I'll let you guys know aboutother stuff coming up in the
future.
We teach Bible here.
We go through the books of theBible.
In fact, we just finished goingthrough three and a half years
the gospel according to Matthew,and it ended just a couple
weeks ago.
With this mission, this veryclear statement purpose that
(02:12):
actually we've been teasing outas our mission, as our purpose,
and it's not only us asindividuals, but the church
collectively and even morespecifically, our church,
northgate, where you're sittingor you're watching, joining us
with us online.
And this specific thing, thislast main thing the point was,
is that Jesus followers aremultipliers and that's literally
(02:35):
how the world changed.
It's how it's expanded and youand I have been impacted because
of that.
And he ends with this laststatement this is the Great
Commission.
He I don't know what's going onhere, sweet, where did that go?
Oh, there it is.
So right here.
Jesus says these thingsspecifically.
He says, therefore, go.
(02:56):
This is really important We'vebeen talking about and make
disciples that we're actuallysupposed to do something.
We're supposed to make somethingand participate, and then we're
baptizing people, and baptizingpeople who, everybody, all
nations, everywhere, all peoplein the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit, andthen teaching them.
And then this really powerfulword right here is obey.
(03:16):
A lot of us don't like itbecause we just like the word
believe, like teaching them tobelieve.
You got to believe this stuff.
It's really important.
Believe it.
And you know, I talked about acouple of weeks ago that, like
even the enemy believes, likeeverybody believed, but it
didn't change anything.
It wasn't an action.
It's that actual surrender toobeying of this verb.
(03:36):
So everything that I havecommanded you and surely I am
with you and it's this promisethat he's with us to the very
end of the age.
If we do that, and that's whatall in for us looks like, and so
it's going, it's making, it'sbaptizing, it's teaching and
obeying, and that's what we'vebeen talking about.
What does that actually looklike?
And it's not just been aone-off message, it's a little
(03:58):
mini series that we've beendoing.
So they build on each other andwe've been asked another way
that Jesus put it is to befishers of men.
Now you have to ask yourselfwhat do fishermen do?
Well, fishermen, they cast netsand then they mend nets, and
then they fix the nets and thenthey cast them again, and then
they mend them and then theycast them again.
(04:19):
This is a constant thing.
And then, for us, this analogyis that we've been asked to be
fishermen, where we need to dosome mending, and then, for us,
this analogy is that we've beenasked to be fishermen where we
need to do some mending and somecasting of our nets and
ultimately, jesus fills the nets.
He's with us to the very end ofthe age as we do that.
So for us, three important wordsreally stand out of what that
looks like, of this mending andcasting situation.
The first is transformation.
(04:40):
We want to be a place wheretransformation takes place.
We want to create excellentenvironments for transformation,
where we're going to see livestransformed, the space that
you're sitting in the campus,that you experience right now.
The other part of those castingnets and making space for
transformation is we have tosometimes mend the nets.
Where transformation takesplace, we've got to clean it up.
(05:00):
We need to make it an excellentenvironment where nothing is in
the way, with someoneencountering the love of Jesus
Christ because of how it looksor how it felt, and so that's
always been something that we'vebeen focused on and, frankly,
what happens is is just like foryou, things get older.
They only have a life so long,and so you have to mend it.
You have to do it, and thattakes resources in which to do
that.
So that's constantly.
(05:21):
Something that we're investinginto is spaces for
transformation.
The next is expansion.
We want to create more spacefor transformation.
We do almost like 50 memorialservices a year.
If you guys didn't know that,it's a huge outreach for us.
Many of you guys haveexperienced Northgate through
one of those things we do largeevents for the community.
(05:41):
There's just so many thingsthat we get to do.
This campus is used literallyseven days a week, all day, not
all night, except when we'redoing these prayer experiences,
but we want to be able to expand.
Some of you guys don't knowthat, as we have grown and will
continue to grow, that we wantto make more space for this.
When this building was built,it was actually built with the
intentions that these two backwalls that are behind you are
(06:03):
actually temporary, with theintentions, that these two back
walls that are behind you areactually temporary.
That's the way it was createdand then it creates some stadium
seating and a mezzanine, so wehave a larger capacity for
larger events, to continue tocreate spaces for transformation
.
Another thing that we feel likeGod's just calling us and asking
us to be prepared for for thoseof you guys who don't live
locally potentially in the nextthree years, we're going to see
something change just in ourneighborhood.
(06:24):
So right now, we're a regionalchurch, we're right here.
This is the freeway, this isLake Herman Road.
That's going this way, and soif you're looking this way, you
have like Cowtown and all ofthat stuff.
Well, in the next three yearsor so, this is supposed to be a
whole new community that'scoming in and directly across
from us is about, I think it'slike 160 apartments and then
(06:45):
commercial, and then there's acouple thousand houses coming
into this space.
So, although we're regional, wewant to continue to be regional
.
What do we need to do and beprepared when it comes to
expansion?
And I think that's innovationthat's your third word,
innovation that we need tocontinue to be innovative in the
way that we care for and invitepeople into these spaces so
they can experience the thingsthat we need to continue to be
(07:05):
innovative in the way that wecare for and invite people into
these spaces so they canexperience the things that we've
experienced and they can hearthe good news, and we want to be
innovative with that.
One of the ways is preparingahead of time and not just
playing defensive like oh,something happened, now we
should do something.
But we can see ahead of timethat something's about to take
place.
And next week you're going tohear a ton of stories about that
, as Pastor Ken, who's thefounding pastor here, is going
(07:26):
to share pictures and stories ofthe last 35 years of his own
journey, of going all in and themiracles God has provided and
done in and through this place.
And so one of those is what'snext is we'll have big dreams
and what that looks like, ofpotentially putting over here on
our property a large gymnasiumtype of thing that's like a YMCA
(07:48):
or a Boys and Girls Club,something that would draw the
community and create a resourceinto the community and the
surrounding communities asessentially a bridge, someone's
first experience to then comeand participate in these
transformative environments.
And here's what I've beensaying and I'm going to keep
saying this because I justbelieve this all the way to the
bottom of my heart Whoever winsthe kids wins the future.
We have an opportunity righthere that we have been invited
(08:12):
into, which is a privilege, butwe're also let's just be honest
we're in a bit of a war rightnow, too, because everyone's
trying to win the kids.
So we have big vision for that,and that, frankly, is messy.
Being a fisherman is messy,it's messy, but it begs us to
ask the question I've said thisthe last couple of weeks and it
just is so profound to me Are wewilling to be messy fishers of
(08:34):
men mending and casting nets, orare we just going to be keepers
of the aquarium?
And that's a big challenge tome, and I hope that is to you
too.
And going all in looks likebeing called to high levels of
sacrifice.
And here's the thing this iswhat I want you to hear.
This is more than a sermonseries.
This is a new season.
It's really part of thismovement For many of you, a part
(08:58):
of this movement that have beenhere for many years, and here's
how personal this is for you Ifyou've been attending this
faith community for a year ormore, especially more.
My hunch is that you have astory that right now, wherever
you are, that if you're watchingonline right now or if you're
in person, that you could standup or you could turn to the
(09:20):
person next to you and say letme tell you a story about how
this local church has impactedme or impacted a family member
or a friend.
Maybe one of your kids wasbaptized here, your grandchild
was baptized here.
Maybe you were baptized here.
Maybe it was the first time youcame to church and understood
the Bible.
Maybe it was the first time youcame back to church.
(09:41):
It was the first church yourhusband or your wife would
attend.
Or maybe you bought a friend.
Maybe you experienced thisthrough a celebration of life
service for a loved one and sawthe way we wanted to treat them
and unleash compassion.
We all have a story we do abouthow this church has impacted our
life personally because of whatyou do here.
(10:03):
It's what the people before usthat have gone all in and said,
and it's stories like yours,friends, that are being created
now and in the future, thatfuture people, hundreds or even
thousands of people, will comeinto this space and have a story
, because this group rose theirhand and says you know what I'm
going?
All in, I'm going to do it.
(10:23):
Rose their hand and says youknow what I'm going?
All in, I'm going to do it.
And, as I said last time, I'mnot asking you to give because
your church needs your money.
This is about the communityneeding you and your influence.
Our county, the Bay Area, needschurches like your church, so
that everybody, every child,every senior, every college
(10:43):
student, every young adult,everybody, every child, every
senior, every college student,every young adult, every single
adult, middle schooler, highschooler, everyone that they
could experience the love ofChrist Jesus in a transformative
space.
And to do that, we're going tohave to be generous.
We need to be generous, we needto be all in on the same page,
all on the same page of whatgenerosity is.
(11:04):
All in on the same page, all onthe same page of what
generosity is.
And the last time we discoveredthat true generosity is
actually rooted and fueled bythe paradigm shifting
acknowledgement, this one bigidea that, ultimately, god, he
owns everything, he owns it all,that if you're a theist of any
type, at the end of the day,your belief system leads you
back to believe this, that Godcreated it all and God owns it
(11:29):
all and that we actually havebeen a role to play.
We are simply managers.
God owns it and we manage it.
And this one idea, I'm tellingyou it, changes everything, not
just how you give, not just howwe give, but literally, even
more so, how it changes how welive and participate as a human.
(11:50):
Because if you will embracethis one big idea, you will live
better and you will give better, and you will never be
possessed by your possessions,because you will begin to view
everything that you own,everything that comes like into
your hands, as a potential toolto further the kingdom of your
(12:11):
Savior.
So, building on the last twoweeks, today, because we're
talking about generosity, I wantto give you a working
definition of generosity and,specifically, new Testament
definition of generosity, theJesus version, if you will, of
generosity.
And the Jesus version ofgenerosity is different than the
average American generosity.
(12:32):
And here's the good news, andyou should all pat yourself on
the back for this.
Probably all of you, probablyall of you, I would guess, are
at least average Americangenerous.
All of you, I would guess, areat least average American
generous, because if you grew upin our culture you consider
generosity and compassion avirtue.
That when you see somebodybeing generous, you're like
(12:55):
that's a good thing, good foryou.
I like that.
When you see somebody beingcompassionate, you think that's
a really good thing Somebodysacrificing what they have for
the sake of someone else.
There's something thatliterally rises up in you and I
and says that's a good thing.
I wish I could be more likethat.
That's really great.
I want to do that.
Now.
(13:15):
The reason that we feel that wayand we think that it's
intuitive that if you're humanyou would feel that way.
And that's not true AncientGreeks, ancient Romans, most
ancient civilizations.
And there are cultures in theworld today that don't consider
generosity and compassion avirtue.
(13:36):
They actually consider it aweakness.
Because the mindset is whyshould I give up something that
belongs to me and give it to youwhen you can't return the favor
?
And the idea is that you onlydo for those who can, in turn,
do for you.
And Jesus he introduced acompletely different kind of
(13:56):
compassion and generosity thatliterally it swept around the
world and literally had thismassive influence specifically
on our Western culture.
So even if you're not aChristian person or not a
religious person or this is newto the year an atheist, or
you're agnostic and you feellike compassion and generosity
are actually good things.
(14:17):
Here's the good news and here'sthe bad news.
You have been indirectly ordirectly influenced by the
teachings of Jesus, but here'swhere we kind of like miss it.
Average American generositydoes not reflect the actual
teachings of Jesus.
(14:38):
It represents or reflects asentiment or a shadow that shed
across Western culture thatJesus cast, but it doesn't
specifically reflect theteachings and the obeying of
Jesus.
And here's what I mean by that.
Average American generosity,which I'm a fan of.
(14:58):
It can actually be described inthese three different words.
Three different wordsspontaneous, sporadic and
sparing.
That's generally how Americansgive no-transcript.
Yeah, spontaneous is it'semotional, like when you see a
need, right, You're like I wantto help.
(15:19):
Like you hear someone that hasthis need or something going on,
you're like I'm in.
Somebody tells you what's goingon in their life or in their
family, and there's something inyou that's like what can I do?
Can I like bring over some food?
Can I pick up the kids?
You need me to like take outyour garbage, you need me to do
the lawn.
There's something in us,emotionally, that responds when
we see a need that we can meet,and that's a good thing.
(15:40):
It's a really good thing, andJesus taught us to do that.
That's the story of the GoodSamaritan.
Somebody saw a need that theycould meet and Jesus said that's
a good thing.
You should all be, we shouldall be like that.
But the problem is, of course,if that's the only kind of
giving we do, it limits usbecause by definition, that
approach is then sporadic.
That's sporadic and that meansthat we only give on the
(16:05):
occasion or when the occasionarises.
Like I see a need, I met it.
But if I don't see a need, thenI'm hanging on to my stuff
until somebody comes along andthey need somebody Like.
So, essentially, there's noplan, it's a wait and see.
And when I've talked to peopleabout being generous in the
(16:25):
local church, I've heard this somany times over my years.
Well, lawrence, we just give asthe Spirit leads.
And I'm like do you do thatwith your mortgage?
Do you do that with your cellphone Bill?
In other words, do you valuemortgage company more than you
(16:47):
value God's doing this workthrough a local church and in
the world?
It's like come on, ask, theSpirit leads and you don't have
to wait for the Spirit to lead.
I know this sounds a littlepreachy for a second, but you
don't have to wait for theSpirit to leave.
Jesus has already spoken.
It's done Like.
You don't have to wait.
You have already been givenpermission to go all in and be
as methodical and thoughtfulwith your giving as you are the
(17:07):
bills you pay, because here'sthe deal the Spirit has already
led.
It's already happened.
The other problem with justlimiting your generosity to the
average American generosity isthat it's sparing.
It's sparing by that we getwhat we feel like we can afford
at the time, like it'saffordable, and so we see a need
.
Somebody asks for money, orwe're at this fundraiser doing
(17:30):
this thing, and we're like, ah,what's my balance?
What can I do?
What can I afford right now?
What's coming up in the future?
What's coming up in the future?
What's going on with mefinancially?
And so it's spontaneous, soit's emotional, and when the
opportunity and that's not a badthing, it's not a bad thing.
And then it's sporadic, it'sjust occasional.
(17:51):
When the opportunity comesalong and it's sparing, what can
I afford?
And the problem is if this isthe only way that you give.
What this amounts to is mefirst living with some leftover
giving, and if there's anyleftover, if there's any margin,
maybe I'll give.
But New Testament generosity,and generosity as taught and
modeled by Jesus, is different.
(18:12):
It's more than just random actsof giving, and don't get this
wrong Random acts of giving arefantastic.
I want to make sure I'm clearyou should continue to do random
acts of giving.
It's just that that's notenough, and Jesus taught us not
only how to give, but he taughtus why it's so important for us
(18:33):
to get this right as Jesusfollowers.
In fact, there's a sense inwhich Jesus actually reversed
the whole system.
You've heard us talking aboutthis a lot, potentially of this
upside-down kingdom that many ofus grew up on in terms of what
it's meant to be as a generousperson, that our tendency, my
tendency, is to put my trust inriches, for you to put your
(18:55):
trust in riches, rather in theone who richly provides, and
that my tendency is to thinkthat my security, that somehow
my self-esteem, my peace of mind, and I could keep going.
I could list like 20 morethings here that we all of us we
(19:16):
tend to trust in wealth and theaccumulation of wealth, stored
resources and income to provideus for the things that, in the
end, only our heavenly fathercan provide.
So it's a trust issue.
And here's how I know thisbecause you know people, you
know people.
You know people who have a lotmore money than you do and they
still worry.
Lot more money than you do andthey still worry.
(19:42):
Right, and you're like, well,if they still worry and they
have all of these resources,then I'm toast, like because I'm
never going to be in placewhere they are.
Like you've met insecure,wealthy people.
You've met again people whojust don't seem to have any
peace.
They just can't get enough.
They're so driven by theirappetites.
And here's the thing about anappetite Appetites for stuff is
(20:03):
never fully and finallysatisfied.
You can never satisfy it.
And the other way you know it'strue is many of you, many of you
, have actually been in othercountries.
There's many of you actuallygetting ready to travel in just
two months, over to Uganda,where we've gotten the
opportunity to drill these deepwater wells, and you've met some
of the poorest people in theworld, like I have, and you see
(20:24):
people with nothing, but you seepeople with a lot more peace, a
lot more joy and a lot morehope.
And then you fly home.
You're like what's going on,like what's so different about
that?
Well, you've just met somepeople who have no hope of ever
having wealth, and you've runinto some people where their
(20:46):
only option is to put theirfaith in God.
And they have what we scramblefor, what we try to leverage,
what we try to purchase, andGod's like watching this and
going like who told you that youcould somehow save enough money
to deal with your insecurityand your issues, your lack of
(21:08):
peace?
Who told you this?
And so this is what Jesus says.
He's so smart, I'm actuallyjust going to let him tell you.
He says no one can serve twomasters.
And immediately the audienceright here.
We have no idea what he'stalking about, because we didn't
live in their world at thistime, in this first century era,
(21:29):
where a person could literallybe so poor that they sell
themselves into slavery in ordernot to starve.
Like that's the world that theylive in right now.
So we can just put ourselves inthat framework.
And so when he talks aboutmasters, this is not theoretical
.
This is a world of slavery andnot slaves that sometimes that
we've been exposed to.
(21:50):
When we think about whathappened in colonial America,
the whole world back then in thefirst century, and following
the whole world economically wasdependent on slavery.
Like there were slaveseverywhere.
This was real.
This was a literal thing.
This was if I'm starving or Ithink one of my kids is going to
(22:12):
starve, then I sell myself intoslavery to keep my child safe.
This was the world that theylived in.
There was no middle class, and,with that in mind, now listen
to the words that he says.
He says you can't have but onemaster, one owner.
No one can serve two masters,and the listeners then are like
(22:35):
well, yeah, no, that's true, weget that.
You either hate one and youlove the other, which is
hyperbole.
It's very extreme.
Then he brings it intosomething that we can relate to,
or let it say a different waywe're going to be devoted to one
, or we're going to despise one,or you're going to ignore the
other, because when you're ownedby a master, what the master
said is then what you did.
(22:57):
And masters of other slaves?
They could talk to you all day,right, and you only, though,
did what your master said, notwhat their master told you or
said to you.
You ignored them or youdespised their instructions.
And here's what he's getting at.
Let me just modernize it.
Here's the takeaway and this istrue actually of all of us,
this isn't just a Christian orreligion thing that who or what
(23:19):
we trust to provide what's mostimportant to us actually becomes
the boss of us.
Let me say that one more timethat who or what we trust to
provide what's most important tous eventually and becomes the
boss of us and becomes the bossof us.
That's what he's getting at,that this is who you take
(23:42):
instructions from, who or whatyou lean into for what you need
the most.
And then look at this.
He says you will be devoted.
You will be devoted Right here,this word You'll be devoted to
a person or a thing that you'reconvinced provides for you.
And then, after this generalobservation that's true he
(24:04):
applies it to men, women,students, whoever wants to be
his followers.
He says the bottom line is thisyou cannot.
There's actually no option.
He says you cannot serve bothGod talking about his heavenly
father, and the other way youcould have said it is this you
(24:25):
cannot put your trust in.
You cannot.
You can go back.
You cannot put your hope in.
You cannot place your trust inboth God and now, if you haven't
been paying attention, ifyou're online, wake up real
quick.
Just look here, just come withme Now he points.
This is the thing he's nowpointing to the number one
(24:47):
competitor it's our devotion toGod.
This is his number onecompetitor.
He says there are just twooptions that you can only be
owned by one master devoted totrusting in God.
The option is we cannot serveboth God and and this is the
Greek term right here, calledmammona or mammon, and we don't
(25:10):
understand that really well.
We're not really familiar withthis word.
This was a catch-all termspecifically for money,
possessions and wealth, saying,hey, you can't do this and
Jesus' audience.
At that moment they're likestunned.
They're like that is not what Iwas expecting.
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I didn't have that on the bingocard, right?
They think you're going to saysomething like you can't serve
God and the devil.
That on the bingo card, right?
They think you're going to saysomething like you can't serve
God and the devil and he's likeno, no, no, no.
Let's just get practical.
No one here is depending on thedevil to take care of them or
provide for them.
It's a matter of who are yougoing to trust your heavenly
father?
Are you going to trust yourheavenly father for what he can
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provide or are you going todeceive yourself and trust in
wealth for the things thatwealth ultimately cannot provide
?
And here's the thing for Jesusfollowers, this is important.
This isn't an issue of are wegiving?
That's not the issue.
This is an issue of, actually,who am I trusting on a daily
basis?
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Who am I leaning on?
Who am I leaning on for thethings that only the heavenly
Father can give?
And if I deceive myself intothinking that there is enough
income and enough money toprovide for what only my
heavenly Father can provide?
Because this is our naturalinclination is to put our trust
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in money even though money tellsus not to.
Did you know that Moneyactually tells us not to?
Look at this?
This 20 right here says hey, Iknow I look good, but you should
not trust in me.
So I had to put it on there andsay you should trust in God.
Here's the you should trust inhim, who actually richly
provides.
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And so here's the point of thatactually richly provides.
And so here's the point of that.
Here's the point of that.
Embracing this, embracing thisNew Testament definition of
generosity, this Jesus versionof generosity, just simply
embracing and applying this oneidea it addresses all of that.
It will empower you, as it hasempowered many of you.
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It will empower you to transferyour trust our trust to his
agenda first and our agendasecond, and in doing something.
In doing so, what we'rebeginning to say is that, even
though I'm giving a portion ofmy wealth, my stored resources,
my income, even though I'mgiving a portion of that to you
first resources, my income eventhough I'm giving a portion of
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that to you first, not knowingactually what the future holds,
I'm trusting that the one Ibelieve in holds the future more
.
And here's the difference.
This is why it's a trust issueand not a money issue.
So take into account the NewTestament authors, what they say
about money, but, moreimportantly here, take into
account what Jesus said aboutmoney.
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So here's New Testamentgenerosity.
This is New Testamentgenerosity, and this is a clunky
definition.
You ready?
It's the premeditated,calculated, designated
emancipation of assets.
So first premeditated,calculated, designated
emancipation of assets.
So first premeditated.
What does that mean?
It means New Testamentgenerosity requires pre-deciding
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.
You've literally alreadydecided that.
I don't know about the bills, Idon't know how much college is
going to be.
I don't know about the future,but I have already decided I am
going to engage financially inthe kingdom of my Savior.
And spontaneous is fine in anemergency and you should be a
spontaneous giver, but it can'tactually end there.
Generous people they plan aheadand planned giving is
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responsible giving.
This is a fun thing to do athome or with your kids, and it's
really a question Do you have agiving plan?
I mean, because I know most allof you you have a spending plan
.
It's called a budget, right, wehate that.
You have some sort of spendingplan, but hopefully and
hopefully you also have asavings plan.
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But why wouldn't you have agiving plan?
If you don't have a giving plan, I'm telling you you're not
having fun with giving.
And when you have a giving plan, if you don't have a giving
plan, I'm telling you you're nothaving fun with giving.
And when you have a giving plan,when you have already
pre-decided, when you've decidedwhere we're going to give and
how much of this we're givingaway, and now it's just a matter
of where are you going to giveit?
That's number one.
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It's premeditated.
You decide ahead of time.
Number two, how much money arewe going to give away?
It's calculated.
It's calculated.
Here's a tip you should justchoose a percentage.
That way you're giving it ebbsand flows with your income, your
tips, your commissions, yourbonuses, hours you work, your
salary, whatever it might be.
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And this is why this is a bigdeal.
Jesus in Luke, chapter 21, isthis cool little story.
Jesus makes it clear that he isfar more impressed with
percentages than amounts.
If you're a Christian, ifyou're a follower of Jesus, you
should give.
You should just decide thatyou're going to give at least
10% off the top.
And here's why I say that, notonly because the Bible says it,
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not only just stop real quick,parenthetically.
There's some that say well,actually we're New Testament
people and it doesn't talk abouttithing.
This word tithing and 10%,you're right, it actually raises
the level.
There was no reason to addressit, just so you know, because
everybody was already doing it.
It was never in question.
It was never like hey, can westop doing that thing now?
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It was always like no, you'realready doing it and I'm not
impressed with what you're doing.
Jesus was like baffled and blownback by the widow's might,
where he was watching everyoneelse do the tithe thing.
He said, yeah, good, good, good, good, we're all doing the
tithe thing, but he's like no,no, no, new Testament generosity
or challenge you to truegenerosity.
So if that's been like athought of yours, like I'm
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telling you right now, you'reusing that as an excuse and
you're using it completely outof context.
And if you're not a tither, ifyou don't give 10% or more, I'm
telling you one of the goodreasons to give 10% and I've
experienced this personally isbecause when you do, you're
gonna feel it Like you feel thatand you may have to say no to
you or you may have to say waitto you.
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And when you say no to you andwait to you on behalf of funding
what God is up to in the world,you have now put his kingdom
first and you have put yourmoney where your mouth is, your
money where your faith is, andyou're saying I'm trusting you
to take care of me.
I'm not going to save up and Icannot save up for every single
eventuality and, by the way, youcan't do that.
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Anyway, this is why super poorpeople are more generous
oftentimes and have more joyoftentimes than people who have
money.
They have no hope of savingenough money for every
eventuality, and so they don'twaste the emotion trying to, and
those of us with extra, we getcaught up on it.
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So when I say 10%, here's alittle exercise at home you can
do with your family or yourself,and I want to challenge you to
do this, literally.
Here it is Go home this weekand get 10 bills or 10 coins, I
don't care.
Get 10 nuts you know beans,whatever it is.
Lay 10 out on the counter, justthe 10 of them, and lay them
all out there and look at themand then take the one on the far
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left and push it forward andsay, look, god, I love you so
much, I am so grateful for youand what you've done for me and
what you're doing in me andthrough me.
I'm going to give you one.
But you know what our problemis and I've been doing this for
a long time and I feeleverything that you feel.
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We get confused by zeros.
If you're doing this with dimes, 10 cents out of $1, we're like
yo, you get that, no problem, Igot you right.
$1 out of $10, I'm in, it's abuck.
$10 out of $100, you know,adding a zero there, we're like,
(33:09):
yeah, I can do 10 bucks, $10out of 100.
$100 out of $1,000,.
We're like, huh, that's $100.
That's harder to push out.
There, right Now, you'refeeling it Now, $1,000 out of
$10,000?
You know what we think, youknow what I could do with $1,000
(33:31):
?
Right, we're confused by zeros.
A thousand dollars right, we'reconfused by zeros.
Your heavenly father is notconfused by zeros.
You lay out 10 bills, anyamount, and say, god, I'm going
to give you just one and you'regoing to let me keep nine.
Thank you, wow, don't getconfused by zeros.
You're serving the God whocreated the universe.
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Number three designated,designated this is that you
decide ahead of time whereyou're going to give.
This is important, especially,please, those of you who are
wealthy, or even marginally, forthose of you who are upper
middle class.
Please, please, please, don'twait to be asked.
(34:16):
Decide.
You get to decide.
Listen, the problem with waitingto be asked is like why would
you give people you don't knowin organizations, you don't know
anything about control overwhere you give, when you're just
waiting to be asked?
You should decide, you shouldpre-decide.
And that doesn't mean that youdon't go to fundraisers and you
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don't listen when people ask.
It just means that if God hasentrusted you with extra, you're
responsible for where it is theextra that you give.
So you don't have to wait to beasked because, as I've
encouraged you before, alwaysgive from a grateful heart and a
broken heart.
Let that lead the way.
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You give from a grateful heartand you give from a broken heart
.
So the first thing is what areyou grateful for?
What are you grateful for?
Find an organization thatsupports what you're grateful
for and that has literallyimpacted you, and this is why
you should give to your localchurch, your local church.
This church is providing foryou and your family, and this is
why you should give to yourlocal church, your local church.
This church is providing foryou and your family.
And so you get to ask am Igrateful for that?
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It should be the number one, andespecially if you're a part of
an outward-facing church likeours that does things
continuously to impact thecommunity.
You're in an outward-facingchurch that is committed
community.
You're in an outward-facingchurch that is committed to
impacting as much of the BayArea and the world as we can for
the sake of the kingdom of God.
And if you're in that type ofchurch or you're joining us some
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other state online.
If you're in that type ofchurch, of course you want to
commit there, because you're agood steward of the money that
you've been given and God hasloaned it to you.
And then you need to givesomething to something that
breaks your heart.
You need to commit to anorganization that addresses
something that actually has apiece of your heart.
(36:04):
Again, this is why Christiansshould support their local
church and then, as well as why,like my wife and I, we love to
give to organizations that'soutside as well that cares for
kids.
That's one of the things thatbreaks our heart, and we're very
interested in caring for thosewho are caring for kids or
fostering kids, because we werefoster parents ourselves and God
(36:27):
just got a hold of our heartsand just broke our hearts over
the plight of some children.
And then the last thing is theemancipation of assets.
This is the best part.
This is how I want you to viewgenerosity, how we should all
view it.
You are freeing your money,which demonstrates that you are
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free from your money.
See, there, money, you're notthe boss of me.
See, you don't control me.
It demonstrates that you're notcontrolled.
By that.
Your money is not your master.
And you know what else itdemonstrates.
It demonstrates that you aren'tcontrolled by worry.
You know, but yeah, but what ifI don't have enough?
(37:10):
I'm not worried about that.
I'm not trusting in money formy future.
I'm trusting in God for myfuture, so I'm investing.
Worried about that, I'm nottrusting in money for my future.
I'm trusting in God for myfuture, so I'm investing in
God's kingdom now and he's goingto take care of me.
You're not controlled by fearand you're not controlled by
greed.
And aside, just as aside, youknow what greed is it's the
consumption assumption that ifit comes my way, it's for my
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consumption assumption, that ifit comes my way, it's for my
consumption.
And Jesus addressed thatdirectly in one of his most
powerful parables in the NewTestament.
And when you free your assets,you know what you're doing.
It's evidence that you'reseeking first God's kingdom, not
yours.
It's evidence that you're nottrusting in your riches, that
you're trusting in him whorichly provides, and it is
(37:57):
already, for most of you, richlyprovided.
So, wrapping this up, I imagineI'm assuming that you are
already good at being averageAmerican, generous.
But, friends, the question isare you ready to be Jesus
follower, generous for the sakeof the kingdom, to go and make,
(38:19):
to teach and to obey so we cansee transformation and expansion
and innovation.
And if you're not a Christian,if you claim to be a follower
and again, this isn't about yourmoney, but this is what
following Jesus looks like, whatfollowing Jesus actually acts
(38:39):
like or reacts like, and youhave nothing to lose because it
wasn't yours to begin with.
You're not giving God anything,and 100% of the people I know
and I've known a lot of peoplethrough the years that have done
this 100% of the people that Iknow who took what Jesus taught
about money and possessionsseriously and let it go from
(39:00):
their head to their heart, 100%of them would tell you it
resulted in greater generosityand ultimately created greater
prosperity.
It resulted in more financialdiscipline, because doing this
giving first coming up with agiving plan it requires
discipline and for many and mostAmericans and I want to be
(39:20):
really careful with this, but Iwant to say this in the most
loving way I can For manyAmericans who are experiencing
financial trouble and financialpressure, it's not the result of
the amount that they have, it'show they manage the amount that
they have.
And when you create.
This is a forced discipline.
When you create a giving plan,you give first.
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It's a keystone habit that theneventually will trickle down to
every other area of yourfinances, especially when you
begin to view everything thatcomes my way as a gift and a
potential tool to further thekingdom of God.
So create a giving plan, allowit to be a keystone habit that
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impacts every other area, andwe're going to pick it up right
there next week.
Next week, pastor Ken, who's afounding pastor, is going to
share just a ton of stories fromhis own life, and many of you
maybe that were in here thatwere part of this going all in
from the beginning.
So you're not going to miss it.
He's going to show photos whenhe has hair.
(40:23):
It's going to be great.
You know the dues that we woreback then.
But this isn't.
You're here because somebodywas here before you.
You're here because somebodywas here before you and raised
their hand and said I'm goingall in.
I'm going all in.
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And that has trickled down overand over and over and over
again.
And then next week starting nextweek, just so you guys know
heads up starting next week andthen the three weeks following
that, I've been asking you topray about this and just being
prepared.
It's been a lot of a thoughtexercise.
Next week, and then the weeksfollowing, we're going to be
giving you an opportunity topick up a commitment card an
all-in commitment card to beable to take it home to pray
about it and then, starting thefollowing week, you can return
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it as you're ready to make anearly commitment.
We're all going to do thistogether and the goal is 100%
participation.
100% participation so we can beprepared and see where God's
leading us and how to cast nets,mid-nets and then cast wider
nets so Jesus can ultimatelyfill the nets.
On that note, I think we shouldworship and be thankful for
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what the Lord has done and whatthe Lord's doing.
So would you stand with me aswe respond in worship?
All right, all right, my name is Lawrence, if you're
new with us.
I just want to give you realquickly some things that are
coming up.
Just quick announcements June1st, which is in just a couple
weeks, we're going to do amembers meeting here, and it
doesn't mean it's just formembers, it's called a church
meeting.
But if you're not a member, wehave some ways that you can
(00:21):
become a member.
Or you're like I don't know ifI'm a member, you should ask
that question.
But if you're not a member, wehave some ways that you can
become a member.
Or you're like I don't know ifI'm a member, you should ask
that question.
On that next steps card you canwrite that down.
We'll get in contact with you.
But 1245, we're going to do ameeting, we're going to
celebrate the things that havehappened just recently, in the
past.
Look forward to some thingsthat are coming up that you can
be praying for the board shares,the budget coming up.
Then, the next day, that Monday, a lot of you guys have been
(00:44):
asking about community andgetting into community and being
a part of a community, and sowe're kicking off a season and
starting a bunch of newcommunity groups.
That starts on June 2nd.
So if you want to be a part ofthat, that's out in the lobby.
Another thing that's out in thelobby is Serve Day.
It's on June 15th, so this ismy first.
Just letting you know so youcan't come at me later.
(01:05):
We will not be meeting in thisbuilding on June 15th.
Write that down now.
Put an alarm to it, because youget mad at me when you forget.
I know we've done this forenough years.
You show up and you're mad atme for some reason because
you're like, and what we'redoing is we're going out and
serving the community.
We actually have a bunch ofreally great projects.
We're a regionally locatedchurch and we're actually doing
(01:27):
a ton of things actually inBenicia specific, all up and
down First Street.
We're going to give you guysall Serve Day shirts so you guys
can look like we just took overand we're just going to unleash
compassion.
We're going to go crazy forthis one day and the church is
going to leave the building andgo out and be all in for the
sake of the community.
So that's June 15th, that'sFather's Day.
Some of you fathers are likesweet, I don't got to go to
(01:49):
church.
It's cool, cool, but you got togo serve somewhere.
Go do it with your family.
It's a great example.
I would love for you to be apart of that.
So those are three things thatare coming up.
I'll let you guys know aboutother stuff coming up in the
future.
We teach Bible here.
We go through the books of theBible.
In fact, we just finished goingthrough three and a half years
the gospel according to Matthew,and it ended just a couple
weeks ago.
With this mission, this veryclear statement purpose that
(02:12):
actually we've been teasing outas our mission, as our purpose,
and it's not only us asindividuals, but the church
collectively and even morespecifically, our church,
northgate, where you're sittingor you're watching, joining us
with us online.
And this specific thing, thislast main thing the point was,
is that Jesus followers aremultipliers and that's literally
(02:35):
how the world changed.
It's how it's expanded and youand I have been impacted because
of that.
And he ends with this laststatement this is the Great
Commission.
He I don't know what's going onhere, sweet, where did that go?
Oh, there it is.
So right here.
Jesus says these thingsspecifically.
He says, therefore, go.
(02:56):
This is really important We'vebeen talking about and make
disciples that we're actuallysupposed to do something.
We're supposed to make somethingand participate, and then we're
baptizing people, and baptizingpeople who, everybody, all
nations, everywhere, all peoplein the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit, andthen teaching them.
And then this really powerfulword right here is obey.
(03:16):
A lot of us don't like itbecause we just like the word
believe, like teaching them tobelieve.
You got to believe this stuff.
It's really important.
Believe it.
And you know, I talked about acouple of weeks ago that, like
even the enemy believes, likeeverybody believed, but it
didn't change anything.
It wasn't an action.
It's that actual surrender toobeying of this verb.
(03:36):
So everything that I havecommanded you and surely I am
with you and it's this promisethat he's with us to the very
end of the age.
If we do that, and that's whatall in for us looks like, and so
it's going, it's making, it'sbaptizing, it's teaching and
obeying, and that's what we'vebeen talking about.
What does that actually looklike?
And it's not just been aone-off message, it's a little
(03:58):
mini series that we've beendoing.
So they build on each other andwe've been asked another way
that Jesus put it is to befishers of men.
Now you have to ask yourselfwhat do fishermen do?
Well, fishermen, they cast netsand then they mend nets, and
then they fix the nets and thenthey cast them again, and then
they mend them and then theycast them again.
(04:19):
This is a constant thing.
And then, for us, this analogyis that we've been asked to be
fishermen, where we need to dosome mending, and then, for us,
this analogy is that we've beenasked to be fishermen where we
need to do some mending and somecasting of our nets and
ultimately, jesus fills the nets.
He's with us to the very end ofthe age as we do that.
So for us, three important wordsreally stand out of what that
looks like, of this mending andcasting situation.
The first is transformation.
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We want to be a place wheretransformation takes place.
We want to create excellentenvironments for transformation,
where we're going to see livestransformed, the space that
you're sitting in the campus,that you experience right now.
The other part of those castingnets and making space for
transformation is we have tosometimes mend the nets.
Where transformation takesplace, we've got to clean it up.
(05:00):
We need to make it an excellentenvironment where nothing is in
the way, with someoneencountering the love of Jesus
Christ because of how it looksor how it felt, and so that's
always been something that we'vebeen focused on and, frankly,
what happens is is just like foryou, things get older.
They only have a life so long,and so you have to mend it.
You have to do it, and thattakes resources in which to do
that.
So that's constantly.
(05:21):
Something that we're investinginto is spaces for
transformation.
The next is expansion.
We want to create more spacefor transformation.
We do almost like 50 memorialservices a year.
If you guys didn't know that,it's a huge outreach for us.
Many of you guys haveexperienced Northgate through
one of those things we do largeevents for the community.
(05:41):
There's just so many thingsthat we get to do.
This campus is used literallyseven days a week, all day, not
all night, except when we'redoing these prayer experiences,
but we want to be able to expand.
Some of you guys don't knowthat, as we have grown and will
continue to grow, that we wantto make more space for this.
When this building was built,it was actually built with the
intentions that these two backwalls that are behind you are
(06:03):
actually temporary, with theintentions, that these two back
walls that are behind you areactually temporary.
That's the way it was createdand then it creates some stadium
seating and a mezzanine, so wehave a larger capacity for
larger events, to continue tocreate spaces for transformation
.
Another thing that we feel likeGod's just calling us and asking
us to be prepared for for thoseof you guys who don't live
locally potentially in the nextthree years, we're going to see
something change just in ourneighborhood.
(06:24):
So right now, we're a regionalchurch, we're right here.
This is the freeway, this isLake Herman Road.
That's going this way, and soif you're looking this way, you
have like Cowtown and all ofthat stuff.
Well, in the next three yearsor so, this is supposed to be a
whole new community that'scoming in and directly across
from us is about, I think it'slike 160 apartments and then
(06:45):
commercial, and then there's acouple thousand houses coming
into this space.
So, although we're regional, wewant to continue to be regional
.
What do we need to do and beprepared when it comes to
expansion?
And I think that's innovationthat's your third word,
innovation that we need tocontinue to be innovative in the
way that we care for and invitepeople into these spaces so
they can experience the thingsthat we need to continue to be
(07:05):
innovative in the way that wecare for and invite people into
these spaces so they canexperience the things that we've
experienced and they can hearthe good news, and we want to be
innovative with that.
One of the ways is preparingahead of time and not just
playing defensive like oh,something happened, now we
should do something.
But we can see ahead of timethat something's about to take
place.
And next week you're going tohear a ton of stories about that
, as Pastor Ken, who's thefounding pastor here, is going
(07:26):
to share pictures and stories ofthe last 35 years of his own
journey, of going all in and themiracles God has provided and
done in and through this place.
And so one of those is what'snext is we'll have big dreams
and what that looks like, ofpotentially putting over here on
our property a large gymnasiumtype of thing that's like a YMCA
(07:48):
or a Boys and Girls Club,something that would draw the
community and create a resourceinto the community and the
surrounding communities asessentially a bridge, someone's
first experience to then comeand participate in these
transformative environments.
And here's what I've beensaying and I'm going to keep
saying this because I justbelieve this all the way to the
bottom of my heart Whoever winsthe kids wins the future.
We have an opportunity righthere that we have been invited
(08:12):
into, which is a privilege, butwe're also let's just be honest
we're in a bit of a war rightnow, too, because everyone's
trying to win the kids.
So we have big vision for that,and that, frankly, is messy.
Being a fisherman is messy,it's messy, but it begs us to
ask the question I've said thisthe last couple of weeks and it
just is so profound to me Are wewilling to be messy fishers of
(08:34):
men mending and casting nets, orare we just going to be keepers
of the aquarium?
And that's a big challenge tome, and I hope that is to you
too.
And going all in looks likebeing called to high levels of
sacrifice.
And here's the thing this iswhat I want you to hear.
This is more than a sermonseries.
This is a new season.
It's really part of thismovement For many of you, a part
(08:58):
of this movement that have beenhere for many years, and here's
how personal this is for you Ifyou've been attending this
faith community for a year ormore, especially more.
My hunch is that you have astory that right now, wherever
you are, that if you're watchingonline right now or if you're
in person, that you could standup or you could turn to the
(09:20):
person next to you and say letme tell you a story about how
this local church has impactedme or impacted a family member
or a friend.
Maybe one of your kids wasbaptized here, your grandchild
was baptized here.
Maybe you were baptized here.
Maybe it was the first time youcame to church and understood
the Bible.
Maybe it was the first time youcame back to church.
(09:41):
It was the first church yourhusband or your wife would
attend.
Or maybe you bought a friend.
Maybe you experienced thisthrough a celebration of life
service for a loved one and sawthe way we wanted to treat them
and unleash compassion.
We all have a story we do abouthow this church has impacted our
life personally because of whatyou do here.
(10:03):
It's what the people before usthat have gone all in and said,
and it's stories like yours,friends, that are being created
now and in the future, thatfuture people, hundreds or even
thousands of people, will comeinto this space and have a story
, because this group rose theirhand and says you know what I'm
going?
All in, I'm going to do it.
(10:23):
Rose their hand and says youknow what I'm going?
All in, I'm going to do it.
And, as I said last time, I'mnot asking you to give because
your church needs your money.
This is about the communityneeding you and your influence.
Our county, the Bay Area, needschurches like your church, so
that everybody, every child,every senior, every college
(10:43):
student, every young adult,everybody, every child, every
senior, every college student,every young adult, every single
adult, middle schooler, highschooler, everyone that they
could experience the love ofChrist Jesus in a transformative
space.
And to do that, we're going tohave to be generous.
We need to be generous, we needto be all in on the same page,
all on the same page of whatgenerosity is.
(11:04):
All in on the same page, all onthe same page of what
generosity is.
And the last time we discoveredthat true generosity is
actually rooted and fueled bythe paradigm shifting
acknowledgement, this one bigidea that, ultimately, god, he
owns everything, he owns it all,that if you're a theist of any
type, at the end of the day,your belief system leads you
back to believe this, that Godcreated it all and God owns it
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all and that we actually havebeen a role to play.
We are simply managers.
God owns it and we manage it.
And this one idea, I'm tellingyou it, changes everything, not
just how you give, not just howwe give, but literally, even
more so, how it changes how welive and participate as a human.
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Because if you will embracethis one big idea, you will live
better and you will give better, and you will never be
possessed by your possessions,because you will begin to view
everything that you own,everything that comes like into
your hands, as a potential toolto further the kingdom of your
(12:11):
Savior.
So, building on the last twoweeks, today, because we're
talking about generosity, I wantto give you a working
definition of generosity and,specifically, new Testament
definition of generosity, theJesus version, if you will, of
generosity.
And the Jesus version ofgenerosity is different than the
average American generosity.
(12:32):
And here's the good news, andyou should all pat yourself on
the back for this.
Probably all of you, probablyall of you, I would guess, are
at least average Americangenerous.
All of you, I would guess, areat least average American
generous, because if you grew upin our culture you consider
generosity and compassion avirtue.
That when you see somebodybeing generous, you're like
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that's a good thing, good foryou.
I like that.
When you see somebody beingcompassionate, you think that's
a really good thing Somebodysacrificing what they have for
the sake of someone else.
There's something thatliterally rises up in you and I
and says that's a good thing.
I wish I could be more likethat.
That's really great.
I want to do that.
Now.
(13:15):
The reason that we feel that wayand we think that it's
intuitive that if you're humanyou would feel that way.
And that's not true AncientGreeks, ancient Romans, most
ancient civilizations.
And there are cultures in theworld today that don't consider
generosity and compassion avirtue.
(13:36):
They actually consider it aweakness.
Because the mindset is whyshould I give up something that
belongs to me and give it to youwhen you can't return the favor
?
And the idea is that you onlydo for those who can, in turn,
do for you.
And Jesus he introduced acompletely different kind of
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compassion and generosity thatliterally it swept around the
world and literally had thismassive influence specifically
on our Western culture.
So even if you're not aChristian person or not a
religious person or this is newto the year an atheist, or
you're agnostic and you feellike compassion and generosity
are actually good things.
(14:17):
Here's the good news and here'sthe bad news.
You have been indirectly ordirectly influenced by the
teachings of Jesus, but here'swhere we kind of like miss it.
Average American generositydoes not reflect the actual
teachings of Jesus.
(14:38):
It represents or reflects asentiment or a shadow that shed
across Western culture thatJesus cast, but it doesn't
specifically reflect theteachings and the obeying of
Jesus.
And here's what I mean by that.
Average American generosity,which I'm a fan of.
(14:58):
It can actually be described inthese three different words.
Three different wordsspontaneous, sporadic and
sparing.
That's generally how Americansgive no-transcript.
Yeah, spontaneous is it'semotional, like when you see a
need, right, You're like I wantto help.
(15:19):
Like you hear someone that hasthis need or something going on,
you're like I'm in.
Somebody tells you what's goingon in their life or in their
family, and there's something inyou that's like what can I do?
Can I like bring over some food?
Can I pick up the kids?
You need me to like take outyour garbage, you need me to do
the lawn.
There's something in us,emotionally, that responds when
we see a need that we can meet,and that's a good thing.
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It's a really good thing, andJesus taught us to do that.
That's the story of the GoodSamaritan.
Somebody saw a need that theycould meet and Jesus said that's
a good thing.
You should all be, we shouldall be like that.
But the problem is, of course,if that's the only kind of
giving we do, it limits usbecause by definition, that
approach is then sporadic.
That's sporadic and that meansthat we only give on the
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occasion or when the occasionarises.
Like I see a need, I met it.
But if I don't see a need, thenI'm hanging on to my stuff
until somebody comes along andthey need somebody Like.
So, essentially, there's noplan, it's a wait and see.
And when I've talked to peopleabout being generous in the
(16:25):
local church, I've heard this somany times over my years.
Well, lawrence, we just give asthe Spirit leads.
And I'm like do you do thatwith your mortgage?
Do you do that with your cellphone Bill?
In other words, do you valuemortgage company more than you
(16:47):
value God's doing this workthrough a local church and in
the world?
It's like come on, ask, theSpirit leads and you don't have
to wait for the Spirit to lead.
I know this sounds a littlepreachy for a second, but you
don't have to wait for theSpirit to leave.
Jesus has already spoken.
It's done Like.
You don't have to wait.
You have already been givenpermission to go all in and be
as methodical and thoughtfulwith your giving as you are the
(17:07):
bills you pay, because here'sthe deal the Spirit has already
led.
It's already happened.
The other problem with justlimiting your generosity to the
average American generosity isthat it's sparing.
It's sparing by that we getwhat we feel like we can afford
at the time, like it'saffordable, and so we see a need
.
Somebody asks for money, orwe're at this fundraiser doing
(17:30):
this thing, and we're like, ah,what's my balance?
What can I do?
What can I afford right now?
What's coming up in the future?
What's coming up in the future?
What's going on with mefinancially?
And so it's spontaneous, soit's emotional, and when the
opportunity and that's not a badthing, it's not a bad thing.
And then it's sporadic, it'sjust occasional.
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When the opportunity comesalong and it's sparing, what can
I afford?
And the problem is if this isthe only way that you give.
What this amounts to is mefirst living with some leftover
giving, and if there's anyleftover, if there's any margin,
maybe I'll give.
But New Testament generosity,and generosity as taught and
modeled by Jesus, is different.
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It's more than just random actsof giving, and don't get this
wrong Random acts of giving arefantastic.
I want to make sure I'm clearyou should continue to do random
acts of giving.
It's just that that's notenough, and Jesus taught us not
only how to give, but he taughtus why it's so important for us
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to get this right as Jesusfollowers.
In fact, there's a sense inwhich Jesus actually reversed
the whole system.
You've heard us talking aboutthis a lot, potentially of this
upside-down kingdom that many ofus grew up on in terms of what
it's meant to be as a generousperson, that our tendency, my
tendency, is to put my trust inriches, for you to put your
(18:55):
trust in riches, rather in theone who richly provides, and
that my tendency is to thinkthat my security, that somehow
my self-esteem, my peace of mind, and I could keep going.
I could list like 20 morethings here that we all of us we
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tend to trust in wealth and theaccumulation of wealth, stored
resources and income to provideus for the things that, in the
end, only our heavenly fathercan provide.
So it's a trust issue.
And here's how I know thisbecause you know people, you
know people.
You know people who have a lotmore money than you do and they
still worry.
Lot more money than you do andthey still worry.
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Right, and you're like, well,if they still worry and they
have all of these resources,then I'm toast, like because I'm
never going to be in placewhere they are.
Like you've met insecure,wealthy people.
You've met again people whojust don't seem to have any
peace.
They just can't get enough.
They're so driven by theirappetites.
And here's the thing about anappetite Appetites for stuff is
(20:03):
never fully and finallysatisfied.
You can never satisfy it.
And the other way you know it'strue is many of you, many of you
, have actually been in othercountries.
There's many of you actuallygetting ready to travel in just
two months, over to Uganda,where we've gotten the
opportunity to drill these deepwater wells, and you've met some
of the poorest people in theworld, like I have, and you see
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people with nothing, but you seepeople with a lot more peace, a
lot more joy and a lot morehope.
And then you fly home.
You're like what's going on,like what's so different about
that?
Well, you've just met somepeople who have no hope of ever
having wealth, and you've runinto some people where their
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only option is to put theirfaith in God.
And they have what we scramblefor, what we try to leverage,
what we try to purchase, andGod's like watching this and
going like who told you that youcould somehow save enough money
to deal with your insecurityand your issues, your lack of
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peace?
Who told you this?
And so this is what Jesus says.
He's so smart, I'm actuallyjust going to let him tell you.
He says no one can serve twomasters.
And immediately the audienceright here.
We have no idea what he'stalking about, because we didn't
live in their world at thistime, in this first century era,
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where a person could literallybe so poor that they sell
themselves into slavery in ordernot to starve.
Like that's the world that theylive in right now.
So we can just put ourselves inthat framework.
And so when he talks aboutmasters, this is not theoretical
.
This is a world of slavery andnot slaves that sometimes that
we've been exposed to.
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When we think about whathappened in colonial America,
the whole world back then in thefirst century, and following
the whole world economically wasdependent on slavery.
Like there were slaveseverywhere.
This was real.
This was a literal thing.
This was if I'm starving or Ithink one of my kids is going to
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starve, then I sell myself intoslavery to keep my child safe.
This was the world that theylived in.
There was no middle class, and,with that in mind, now listen
to the words that he says.
He says you can't have but onemaster, one owner.
No one can serve two masters,and the listeners then are like
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well, yeah, no, that's true, weget that.
You either hate one and youlove the other, which is
hyperbole.
It's very extreme.
Then he brings it intosomething that we can relate to,
or let it say a different waywe're going to be devoted to one
, or we're going to despise one,or you're going to ignore the
other, because when you're ownedby a master, what the master
said is then what you did.
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And masters of other slaves?
They could talk to you all day,right, and you only, though,
did what your master said, notwhat their master told you or
said to you.
You ignored them or youdespised their instructions.
And here's what he's getting at.
Let me just modernize it.
Here's the takeaway and this istrue actually of all of us,
this isn't just a Christian orreligion thing that who or what
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we trust to provide what's mostimportant to us actually becomes
the boss of us.
Let me say that one more timethat who or what we trust to
provide what's most important tous eventually and becomes the
boss of us and becomes the bossof us.
That's what he's getting at,that this is who you take
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instructions from, who or whatyou lean into for what you need
the most.
And then look at this.
He says you will be devoted.
You will be devoted Right here,this word You'll be devoted to
a person or a thing that you'reconvinced provides for you.
And then, after this generalobservation that's true he
(24:04):
applies it to men, women,students, whoever wants to be
his followers.
He says the bottom line is thisyou cannot.
There's actually no option.
He says you cannot serve bothGod talking about his heavenly
father, and the other way youcould have said it is this you
(24:25):
cannot put your trust in.
You cannot.
You can go back.
You cannot put your hope in.
You cannot place your trust inboth God and now, if you haven't
been paying attention, ifyou're online, wake up real
quick.
Just look here, just come withme Now he points.
This is the thing he's nowpointing to the number one
(24:47):
competitor it's our devotion toGod.
This is his number onecompetitor.
He says there are just twooptions that you can only be
owned by one master devoted totrusting in God.
The option is we cannot serveboth God and and this is the
Greek term right here, calledmammona or mammon, and we don't
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understand that really well.
We're not really familiar withthis word.
This was a catch-all termspecifically for money,
possessions and wealth, saying,hey, you can't do this and
Jesus' audience.
At that moment they're likestunned.
They're like that is not what Iwas expecting.
(25:33):
I didn't have that on the bingocard, right?
They think you're going to saysomething like you can't serve
God and the devil.
That on the bingo card, right?
They think you're going to saysomething like you can't serve
God and the devil and he's likeno, no, no, no.
Let's just get practical.
No one here is depending on thedevil to take care of them or
provide for them.
It's a matter of who are yougoing to trust your heavenly
father?
Are you going to trust yourheavenly father for what he can
(25:54):
provide or are you going todeceive yourself and trust in
wealth for the things thatwealth ultimately cannot provide
?
And here's the thing for Jesusfollowers, this is important.
This isn't an issue of are wegiving?
That's not the issue.
This is an issue of, actually,who am I trusting on a daily
basis?
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Who am I leaning on?
Who am I leaning on for thethings that only the heavenly
Father can give?
And if I deceive myself intothinking that there is enough
income and enough money toprovide for what only my
heavenly Father can provide?
Because this is our naturalinclination is to put our trust
(26:34):
in money even though money tellsus not to.
Did you know that Moneyactually tells us not to?
Look at this?
This 20 right here says hey, Iknow I look good, but you should
not trust in me.
So I had to put it on there andsay you should trust in God.
Here's the you should trust inhim, who actually richly
provides.
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And so here's the point of thatactually richly provides.
And so here's the point of that.
Here's the point of that.
Embracing this, embracing thisNew Testament definition of
generosity, this Jesus versionof generosity, just simply
embracing and applying this oneidea it addresses all of that.
It will empower you, as it hasempowered many of you.
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It will empower you to transferyour trust our trust to his
agenda first and our agendasecond, and in doing something.
In doing so, what we'rebeginning to say is that, even
though I'm giving a portion ofmy wealth, my stored resources,
my income, even though I'mgiving a portion of that to you
first resources, my income eventhough I'm giving a portion of
(27:40):
that to you first, not knowingactually what the future holds,
I'm trusting that the one Ibelieve in holds the future more
.
And here's the difference.
This is why it's a trust issueand not a money issue.
So take into account the NewTestament authors, what they say
about money, but, moreimportantly here, take into
account what Jesus said aboutmoney.
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So here's New Testamentgenerosity.
This is New Testamentgenerosity, and this is a clunky
definition.
You ready?
It's the premeditated,calculated, designated
emancipation of assets.
So first premeditated,calculated, designated
emancipation of assets.
So first premeditated.
What does that mean?
It means New Testamentgenerosity requires pre-deciding
(28:26):
.
You've literally alreadydecided that.
I don't know about the bills, Idon't know how much college is
going to be.
I don't know about the future,but I have already decided I am
going to engage financially inthe kingdom of my Savior.
And spontaneous is fine in anemergency and you should be a
spontaneous giver, but it can'tactually end there.
Generous people they plan aheadand planned giving is
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responsible giving.
This is a fun thing to do athome or with your kids, and it's
really a question Do you have agiving plan?
I mean, because I know most allof you you have a spending plan
.
It's called a budget, right, wehate that.
You have some sort of spendingplan, but hopefully and
hopefully you also have asavings plan.
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But why wouldn't you have agiving plan?
If you don't have a giving plan, I'm telling you you're not
having fun with giving.
And when you have a giving plan, if you don't have a giving
plan, I'm telling you you're nothaving fun with giving.
And when you have a giving plan,when you have already
pre-decided, when you've decidedwhere we're going to give and
how much of this we're givingaway, and now it's just a matter
of where are you going to giveit?
That's number one.
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It's premeditated.
You decide ahead of time.
Number two, how much money arewe going to give away?
It's calculated.
It's calculated.
Here's a tip you should justchoose a percentage.
That way you're giving it ebbsand flows with your income, your
tips, your commissions, yourbonuses, hours you work, your
salary, whatever it might be.
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And this is why this is a bigdeal.
Jesus in Luke, chapter 21, isthis cool little story.
Jesus makes it clear that he isfar more impressed with
percentages than amounts.
If you're a Christian, ifyou're a follower of Jesus, you
should give.
You should just decide thatyou're going to give at least
10% off the top.
And here's why I say that, notonly because the Bible says it,
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not only just stop real quick,parenthetically.
There's some that say well,actually we're New Testament
people and it doesn't talk abouttithing.
This word tithing and 10%,you're right, it actually raises
the level.
There was no reason to addressit, just so you know, because
everybody was already doing it.
It was never in question.
It was never like hey, can westop doing that thing now?
(30:37):
It was always like no, you'realready doing it and I'm not
impressed with what you're doing.
Jesus was like baffled and blownback by the widow's might,
where he was watching everyoneelse do the tithe thing.
He said, yeah, good, good, good, good, we're all doing the
tithe thing, but he's like no,no, no, new Testament generosity
or challenge you to truegenerosity.
So if that's been like athought of yours, like I'm
(30:59):
telling you right now, you'reusing that as an excuse and
you're using it completely outof context.
And if you're not a tither, ifyou don't give 10% or more, I'm
telling you one of the goodreasons to give 10% and I've
experienced this personally isbecause when you do, you're
gonna feel it Like you feel thatand you may have to say no to
you or you may have to say waitto you.
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And when you say no to you andwait to you on behalf of funding
what God is up to in the world,you have now put his kingdom
first and you have put yourmoney where your mouth is, your
money where your faith is, andyou're saying I'm trusting you
to take care of me.
I'm not going to save up and Icannot save up for every single
eventuality and, by the way, youcan't do that.
(31:39):
Anyway, this is why super poorpeople are more generous
oftentimes and have more joyoftentimes than people who have
money.
They have no hope of savingenough money for every
eventuality, and so they don'twaste the emotion trying to, and
those of us with extra, we getcaught up on it.
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So when I say 10%, here's alittle exercise at home you can
do with your family or yourself,and I want to challenge you to
do this, literally.
Here it is Go home this weekand get 10 bills or 10 coins, I
don't care.
Get 10 nuts you know beans,whatever it is.
Lay 10 out on the counter, justthe 10 of them, and lay them
all out there and look at themand then take the one on the far
(32:22):
left and push it forward andsay, look, god, I love you so
much, I am so grateful for youand what you've done for me and
what you're doing in me andthrough me.
I'm going to give you one.
But you know what our problemis and I've been doing this for
a long time and I feeleverything that you feel.
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We get confused by zeros.
If you're doing this with dimes, 10 cents out of $1, we're like
yo, you get that, no problem, Igot you right.
$1 out of $10, I'm in, it's abuck.
$10 out of $100, you know,adding a zero there, we're like,
(33:09):
yeah, I can do 10 bucks, $10out of 100.
$100 out of $1,000,.
We're like, huh, that's $100.
That's harder to push out.
There, right Now, you'refeeling it Now, $1,000 out of
$10,000?
You know what we think, youknow what I could do with $1,000
(33:31):
?
Right, we're confused by zeros.
A thousand dollars right, we'reconfused by zeros.
Your heavenly father is notconfused by zeros.
You lay out 10 bills, anyamount, and say, god, I'm going
to give you just one and you'regoing to let me keep nine.
Thank you, wow, don't getconfused by zeros.
You're serving the God whocreated the universe.
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Number three designated,designated this is that you
decide ahead of time whereyou're going to give.
This is important, especially,please, those of you who are
wealthy, or even marginally, forthose of you who are upper
middle class.
Please, please, please, don'twait to be asked.
(34:16):
Decide.
You get to decide.
Listen, the problem with waitingto be asked is like why would
you give people you don't knowin organizations, you don't know
anything about control overwhere you give, when you're just
waiting to be asked?
You should decide, you shouldpre-decide.
And that doesn't mean that youdon't go to fundraisers and you
(34:38):
don't listen when people ask.
It just means that if God hasentrusted you with extra, you're
responsible for where it is theextra that you give.
So you don't have to wait to beasked because, as I've
encouraged you before, alwaysgive from a grateful heart and a
broken heart.
Let that lead the way.
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You give from a grateful heartand you give from a broken heart
.
So the first thing is what areyou grateful for?
What are you grateful for?
Find an organization thatsupports what you're grateful
for and that has literallyimpacted you, and this is why
you should give to your localchurch, your local church.
This church is providing foryou and your family, and this is
why you should give to yourlocal church, your local church.
This church is providing foryou and your family.
And so you get to ask am Igrateful for that?
(35:21):
It should be the number one, andespecially if you're a part of
an outward-facing church likeours that does things
continuously to impact thecommunity.
You're in an outward-facingchurch that is committed
community.
You're in an outward-facingchurch that is committed to
impacting as much of the BayArea and the world as we can for
the sake of the kingdom of God.
And if you're in that type ofchurch or you're joining us some
(35:44):
other state online.
If you're in that type ofchurch, of course you want to
commit there, because you're agood steward of the money that
you've been given and God hasloaned it to you.
And then you need to givesomething to something that
breaks your heart.
You need to commit to anorganization that addresses
something that actually has apiece of your heart.
(36:04):
Again, this is why Christiansshould support their local
church and then, as well as why,like my wife and I, we love to
give to organizations that'soutside as well that cares for
kids.
That's one of the things thatbreaks our heart, and we're very
interested in caring for thosewho are caring for kids or
fostering kids, because we werefoster parents ourselves and God
(36:27):
just got a hold of our heartsand just broke our hearts over
the plight of some children.
And then the last thing is theemancipation of assets.
This is the best part.
This is how I want you to viewgenerosity, how we should all
view it.
You are freeing your money,which demonstrates that you are
(36:48):
free from your money.
See, there, money, you're notthe boss of me.
See, you don't control me.
It demonstrates that you're notcontrolled.
By that.
Your money is not your master.
And you know what else itdemonstrates.
It demonstrates that you aren'tcontrolled by worry.
You know, but yeah, but what ifI don't have enough?
(37:10):
I'm not worried about that.
I'm not trusting in money formy future.
I'm trusting in God for myfuture, so I'm investing.
Worried about that, I'm nottrusting in money for my future.
I'm trusting in God for myfuture, so I'm investing in
God's kingdom now and he's goingto take care of me.
You're not controlled by fearand you're not controlled by
greed.
And aside, just as aside, youknow what greed is it's the
consumption assumption that ifit comes my way, it's for my
(37:34):
consumption assumption, that ifit comes my way, it's for my
consumption.
And Jesus addressed thatdirectly in one of his most
powerful parables in the NewTestament.
And when you free your assets,you know what you're doing.
It's evidence that you'reseeking first God's kingdom, not
yours.
It's evidence that you're nottrusting in your riches, that
you're trusting in him whorichly provides, and it is
(37:57):
already, for most of you, richlyprovided.
So, wrapping this up, I imagineI'm assuming that you are
already good at being averageAmerican, generous.
But, friends, the question isare you ready to be Jesus
follower, generous for the sakeof the kingdom, to go and make,
(38:19):
to teach and to obey so we cansee transformation and expansion
and innovation.
And if you're not a Christian,if you claim to be a follower
and again, this isn't about yourmoney, but this is what
following Jesus looks like, whatfollowing Jesus actually acts
(38:39):
like or reacts like, and youhave nothing to lose because it
wasn't yours to begin with.
You're not giving God anything,and 100% of the people I know
and I've known a lot of peoplethrough the years that have done
this 100% of the people that Iknow who took what Jesus taught
about money and possessionsseriously and let it go from
(39:00):
their head to their heart, 100%of them would tell you it
resulted in greater generosityand ultimately created greater
prosperity.
It resulted in more financialdiscipline, because doing this
giving first coming up with agiving plan it requires
discipline and for many and mostAmericans and I want to be
(39:20):
really careful with this, but Iwant to say this in the most
loving way I can For manyAmericans who are experiencing
financial trouble and financialpressure, it's not the result of
the amount that they have, it'show they manage the amount that
they have.
And when you create.
This is a forced discipline.
When you create a giving plan,you give first.
(39:42):
It's a keystone habit that theneventually will trickle down to
every other area of yourfinances, especially when you
begin to view everything thatcomes my way as a gift and a
potential tool to further thekingdom of God.
So create a giving plan, allowit to be a keystone habit that
(40:03):
impacts every other area, andwe're going to pick it up right
there next week.
Next week, pastor Ken, who's afounding pastor, is going to
share just a ton of stories fromhis own life, and many of you
maybe that were in here thatwere part of this going all in
from the beginning.
So you're not going to miss it.
He's going to show photos whenhe has hair.
(40:23):
It's going to be great.
You know the dues that we woreback then.
But this isn't.
You're here because somebodywas here before you.
You're here because somebodywas here before you and raised
their hand and said I'm goingall in.
I'm going all in.
(40:45):
And that has trickled down overand over and over and over
again.
And then next week starting nextweek, just so you guys know
heads up starting next week andthen the three weeks following
that, I've been asking you topray about this and just being
prepared.
It's been a lot of a thoughtexercise.
Next week, and then the weeksfollowing, we're going to be
giving you an opportunity topick up a commitment card an
all-in commitment card to beable to take it home to pray
about it and then, starting thefollowing week, you can return
(41:06):
it as you're ready to make anearly commitment.
We're all going to do thistogether and the goal is 100%
participation.
100% participation so we can beprepared and see where God's
leading us and how to cast nets,mid-nets and then cast wider
nets so Jesus can ultimatelyfill the nets.
On that note, I think we shouldworship and be thankful for
(41:31):
what the Lord has done and whatthe Lord's doing.
So would you stand with me aswe respond in worship?
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