Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:05 My name is Michael fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church of the joy to open up God's word with you. Um, we are in a series called decisions, um, and we're looking at a handful of laws in Exodus chapter 21 to 24. These are the first laws given after the 10 commandments. And so we're looking at these and, and they're, they're really grouped in four categories. We have number one, justice laws, number two, neighbor laws, number three, stewardship laws. And fourth is separation laws. Today. We're looking at the stewardship laws and the reason we call this decisions is because there are some decisions that if they're not legislated, if they're not made law, we just by nature would not do them. And there are a handful of things in ancient Israel as this new nation is burgeoning that God actually had to mandate because their, their heart, their impulse or inclination was not to do these types of things. Now, before we get into this message, um, I have a favor to ask of you. I'm going to ask you to think about a question and I want you to take the answer and kind of just store it in your brain throughout the duration of this message. And here's the question. Is there a part of your life that, you know, God wants you to submit to his authority,
Speaker 1 00:01:21 But you haven't yet.
Speaker 0 00:01:23 Is there a part of your life that you are kind of just saying mine and God's like, no, give that to me. It might be a relationship. It might be an addiction. Um, it might be a secret that just you have with you in the Lord, but you're holding it back. It might be a next step that the Lord wants you to take, but you're like, no, this is mine. This is gonna let you touch it mine. And we need to just think about that. And I want you to put that in your brain, because as we talk about these stewardship laws, we're going to come back to that thing. And now here's a, here's an assumption. None of you are Jesus Christ in the flesh, in this room. Is that a fair assumption right now? Okay. So here's also my assumption that there's every person in this room, whether you're consciously aware of it or not, you have something in your life, forget, we could call it an idol, something you're holding back from God.
Speaker 0 00:02:16 Something that you do not want to submit under his authority. So you may not know it off the top of your head. So maybe throughout the duration of this message, just ask God, would you show me as Michael opens up, the word is, as it is preached, would you show me what that thing might be? Sound good. I want to tell you about a law. About 15 years ago, it was created in the fueling home. And I need you to hear me. It's a serious law violation of this law will be punished by yeah, the evil eye,
Speaker 1 00:02:52 A stern verbal rebuke. And
Speaker 0 00:02:56 If I'm not quick enough, the, of my hand with a fork, if we're being honest, this law was made only for me, no one else by my wife. So you see here's what happens. She has an interesting, we'll say pattern of behavior, where when she sits down to eat, she looks at this food and she finds the most delectable scrumptious bite. And she cuts off that bite and she puts it on the edge of the plate. And this is apparently her reward. Apparently she gets a reward for eating. So this is her final bite. And so she savors the best for last. I have no idea. Now I know I grew up as the youngest of four brothers and the youngest of four brothers, it was eat or be eaten. It was survival of the quickest. So my mother would buy fruity pebbles and I got home before school before anybody else did.
Speaker 0 00:04:00 And so I would literally every day go look for fruity pebbles. And if they were there, I would eat the whole box. Why I got there first. And that's how it works. So in my home, I eat quick, very quick. And lo and behold, she's she eats at what you would call normal human pace. So when I'm done eating, I don't have the full mechanism because I ate so fast. My brain hasn't been able to process that I'm full. Hence I eat too much. It's a problem working on it. So I look over and I don't even know this happens, but I feel very free with this fork to your food. If I go out with you, it's a problem. If I'm close to you, I'll be like, are you going to eat? That is that you're gonna eat that. Like, if you're going to leave a really delicious, I mean, it's an issue, but if I don't know you, I have goodie cue. Things are fine, but with her, we're fairly close. So
Speaker 2 00:04:51 I don't even know I do it. I just go, boom, boom. And I, and apparently I'm really
Speaker 0 00:04:56 Sneaky because I learned to be sneaky, but I don't even know I'm sneaky. And so she'll notice it after like a minute and she'll look at me and she'll say, did you eat my food? And God honest answer. I have no idea
Speaker 2 00:05:10 Her. I remember. She's like, well, where would it have gone? And I'm like, clearly I ate it. I mean, there's really no other option, but I'm a mindless eater. So I just thought that that looked really
Speaker 0 00:05:21 Good. And so, I mean, so now if it happens, like she's like shy, like she actually now has to, she has to corner herself and turn her food away from me because it's, it's just an instinct. I'd love to tell you that I have control of it when I'm conscious. I'm really good about it. But sometimes it's just, it's gone and there's too late, you know, in Israel, this does have a point. It wasn't the last bite that was most important. It was always the first. And this is an ancient near Eastern principle, by the way, transcends Israel, whatever the first was, was the most valuable is the most important. This is why I don't understand my wife's eating habits. They're not biblical enough. Apparently it wasn't the youngest son that was the most important. It was the first son. It wasn't the final crop.
Speaker 0 00:06:09 It was always the first crop. It wasn't just any animal. It was the first born animal. And there was a principle that God put into the old Testament law. And it's really, really important. And, and you see God's heart all over this principle and has great application for us today. And it's called the principle of first fruits and very simply first fruits for the church. Now it would be this. It would be giving Jesus your first and your best for his mission. And God knew by nature, Israel wouldn't do this. So he made it law. He, in fact, he legislated when they would do it, how they would do it, how much they would do it, where they would do it. I mean, it was very clear if there was a way for the Israelites to get out of giving God their first and their best for his mission, they would've figured it out. So God had to meticulously legislate first fruits. Now, simple question. Does God have a strong opinion on how you handle your assets? Things that are of high value to you, whether it's children,
Speaker 1 00:07:13 Your body, your stuff, your
Speaker 0 00:07:15 Money, does God have a strong opinion on these things? And the answer is everybody. Yes, very strong. And so we want to know God, what does your word have to say about these things? Now, if you had a child, right, is there any part of their life that you would not teach and train them on? You're going to teach them how to use their body. You're going to teach them how to use their money. You're going to teach them how to manage things. You're going to teach them skills and life skills, and you're going to teach them all of these things. And here's what God has to do with the nation of Israel. And by the way, this is what we have to do with each other. And with the word of God does with us, it teaches us how to be fully human and submit all of this great responsibility we've been given under the authority of God's word. And it starts with this principle of firstfruits. So turn with me, Exodus chapter 23, verse 10. I want to share with you four principles of firstfruits that still apply today. As we look at these laws. So accident's 2310, and here's the first principle. God's greatest concern is not money, but it is maturity. Can we just agree?
Speaker 1 00:08:14 God does not need your money. He doesn't need your skills.
Speaker 0 00:08:19 Doesn't need your talent. Doesn't need your winsome. Awesome personality. Right? We've got one hand over there. It's like, oh, well maybe mine. Good. He doesn't need that. When God asks for something, when God demands something, he is not broke and he's not bored. He is intentional. He's a good father. And he loves you. And he is up to something. Listen to what happens. Exodus 23, verse 10 for six years, you shall sell your land and gather in its yield. This is how they made money. Their money would be in crops and animals. It's an agrarian culture, but then he says the seventh year in verse 11, you shall let it rest in life. Fallow. Why that the poor of your people may eat. Okay. And what they leave the beast of the field they may eat. And you shall do likewise with your vineyard and with your olive orchard.
Speaker 0 00:09:14 I mean, just imagine with me for a moment. You are the nation of Israel. I have a hunch. You might be tempted to say something like this. Okay. So God, let me, let me just say back to you. What I hear you saying to me, you want us to not work for an entire year and then all, all of the assets sitting on the ground you want, do you want us to just let them die? And then to let people who didn't work for them take as much as they want. And then we just give them to the animals.
Speaker 1 00:09:42 Okay. Guys,
Speaker 0 00:09:44 How many of you would question God's wisdom if he said every seventh year work, what'd you do it? Aren't you glad you're on it? Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. But here's the problem. You got to spend six years preparing for that one year. Do your knock. It actually changes the entire way you think about today. If you know, in six years you have to spend an entire year with savings and living off 100% of your savings. So let me just, let me ask a different question. Does God ever, ever give any rule that is arbitrary or has no point never? I can't tell you how many times I'll read something in scripture and I'm like, I don't get it. I don't understand that. So kids, kids, and students, right? I want you to hear this. Sometimes your parents they'll go to you and they'll say clean your bedroom, at least a good parent does.
Speaker 0 00:10:40 And then your internal responses, I don't want to, who cares? I don't want to write anybody. I mean, as a kid, this is like my mother's like thing with me. Why do you clean your bedroom now? But you didn't. When you were a kid right now, what are mom and dad trying to do for you? They're trying to develop a work ethic. They're trying to develop a new stewardship. Let me tell you what happens. Every time my kids clean their room, they find all of these things they lost. And then they find all of these things that are broken because they were under piles and they got stepped on. And now they're no good. And so what you're doing is you're teaching basic one-on-one stewardship and hard work to your children. And if kids look at that and like, I don't get it, who cares?
Speaker 0 00:11:18 Is this a skill that I'm going to need when I'm an adult? And it's not the point because what you are teaching your children are basic principles that they're going to need to thrive and survive in the real world when they grew up. And it starts with all of these little things. But as a kid, you don't always see that. You just see man again, but a good mom and dad was like, no, I'm going to, I'm going to begin to actually train you to think about the future and give you these skills. I want to just pull back from them. God says, I want you to take every seventh year off and I don't want you to work. This makes no sense. But let me show you the genius of what God is up to in this law. You have a group of former slaves who have never had wealth.
Speaker 0 00:11:58 They have never had assets. They have never had freedom. They know nothing. They know nothing about what it is to think about the future they've been living for today and only today. And here's what I can tell you. If God does not teach them how to live wisely, they will walk into this new land full of dangers and they will destroy themselves. It's like giving somebody who's never had any money in their entire life, millions or hundreds of millions of dollars from the lottery. And statistically what happens almost every single time they go into debt and their lot is worse at the end of it than it was at the beginning. Why? Because if you have never been trained to manage wealth by nature, you will squander it. And so God is preparing this nation. Let me show you just this one law, how good God is.
Speaker 0 00:12:44 God is teaching them Israel, how to Rast and not just crew a crew, a crew, all they had ever known was work harder, work more, make more work harder, make more work more. And it crushed their souls. But that is all they'd ever known. And God was like, you know, we're going to do something different. I'm going to teach you how to have an actual work-life balance, where your bodies and your land and your animals and your workers and your employees can actually thrive so that everyone is blessed. Not just the person at the top, making all the money. God is teaching Israel to prioritize people and not profit. I mean, I want you to think about this God institutes, every seventh day, what's called the Sabbath. And on the Sabbath, you had to prioritize two big relationships. One your relationship with God and to your relationship with your family.
Speaker 0 00:13:33 So God mandates by law, that more important than profit is people. And so he's going to do is every seventh day, you got to spend time with your family and you've got to spend time with your God. Well, every seventh year he does the same thing. He says, you got a whole year. This is COVID every seven years. You got a whole year with your family and your kids and your God. And this is different. This is completely different. It, God is saying, what is more important than profits are people, but because of your poverty, you're going to prioritize the wrong thing. So right off the bat, I'm going to teach you these basic values. That if you stick by these things over the long haul, you'll be blessed. God's teaching Israel to love the vulnerable, not just to exploit them in every nation, all over the world.
Speaker 0 00:14:18 At this time, what would happen to you? If you were vulnerable, you would be crushed, killed, exploited, sold, terrible. And God says with my people, not the case, all you've ever known is to be exploited and what you hurt people do. By the way, they hurt people. What do abused? People often do abuse people. This is, this is, this is a human pattern. So what do you think statistically, most of the Israelites are going to do to the workers who work for them, exploit them, abuse them, beat them, take advantage them. Why? Because that's all they've ever known. And when you're in power, that's what you do. And God says not in my nation, by taking this one year off, he shows them that the vulnerable are still to be protected. And in one year they let the poor people, the ones who didn't work for it have free reign to all of their assets.
Speaker 1 00:15:09 That crazy
Speaker 0 00:15:12 Does teaching Israel, how to plan and to save, not just spend in react. What did you do with your first paycheck that you ever got it?
Speaker 1 00:15:20 Did you save it?
Speaker 0 00:15:22 Maybe, maybe 20% of you did. Most people went out and bought something when you were a kid, right? You get this paycheck and you're like, ah, I've always wanted this thing. I've been saving up for this. I've been saving up for that. And God's like, listen, this is what happens. When you get assets for the first time you just go spend them. And he's like, Nope, we're going to do this completely different. We're going to flip this whole system on its head. I'm going to teach you to plan and save because in seven years you're taking a year off and you got to start planning and saving now. So when that seventh year comes, you're able to provide for your entire family for the whole year. And by the way, or were they also prepared for drought? The realities of economic downfalls, they were over-prepared. And so the people of God, this is the basic structure that they were going to be living by. And they had no innate internal impulse to go do these
Speaker 1 00:16:11 Things. They had to be legislated.
Speaker 0 00:16:14 If you don't tell your children to clean their room, will they clean their room? No, it's not an impulse. And so God has to enter in answer to treat them like children and say, your impulse is to, to the opposite of what is going to make for a God glorifying thriving nation. So I'm going to, I'm going to make one law here and I want to show you this. I want you to take a year off and you give me this year and I'm going to bless you. Let's reflect for a moment all around this. All around this room are people with lots of money and very little wisdom. I know this now, cause I know you because they know the stats about what happens with finances in the church. And what happens when in America we're given much wealth with little wisdom, destroys us, not in his grace gets in front of this entire incoming impending economic prosperity that is going to hit the nation of Israel and he teaches them and he trains them how to handle this. And first fruits. Well, you have to understand that whatever God asks of you, his greatest concern is not for your money. It's for your maturity. Here's the second principle is first fruits. First fruits giving follows the rhythm of my income. Let me, let me show you this. If you go to chapter 23, verse
Speaker 1 00:17:35 14,
Speaker 0 00:17:38 The principle of firstfruits, it's not new to Israel. It was, it was existed. I mean, before the law was given, it's an ancient narration principle. If you will, God had to put it into law, give us some clarity it. And so in verse 14, here's what it says. Three times in the year, you should keep a feast to me. And there are three feasts that are, are taught about the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of the harvest and the feast of the in gathering. And so what God did is actually God required their first fruits giving back to him on a trimester daily rhythm, because that was the rhythm by which they were paid. And so here's what God said. Whenever assets or wealth flow into your home or community, we pause and we give God our first and our best for his mission.
Speaker 0 00:18:23 Now, first fruits ensures that every bit of wealth that enters into my home is consecrated for God. Every bit of wealth that enters into my home. Anything that is a value, whether it is a thing, a person, it doesn't matter if there's ever something of value that comes into my home. As a follower of God, it is my responsibility to take this thing and put it under the authority of God to put it under that umbrella. Because what is under that umbrella is ultimately blessed by God and whatever is withheld, whatever we hold back. And we say, mine, mine, mine, mine, you know, the, the seagulls and Nimo right. Every time you watch that, I think of the human hearts tendency to hoard and save its mind and keep things from the Lord. And the Lord is like, no, bring it under the authority of the word of God.
Speaker 0 00:19:12 Bring it under my authority and I can bless it there. I can't bless it. If you withhold this thing from me. And if you think I'm talking about money, that is the tip of the iceberg of what God actually wants in firstfruits. Consecration is this big word, but it basically means intentionally setting something apart for God. What's interesting is that the principle firstfruits says, God gets your first and your best, but guess what? He wants all of it consecrated for God. There is not one thing of value in your home and your life that God does not want you to set aside for kingdom. Use the human heart. This is not natural. God had to legislate this because the human hearts tendency is to save or spend. And in almost every marriage, there's a saver and there's a spender. And the saver is always very irritated by this vendor. Can I get an amen from the savers in the room? No.
Speaker 0 00:20:13 So here's what God would do. God would insure that their first fruits would be consecrated. And then he would ensure that everything in their life would actually be consecrated. Here's the third principle. God doesn't simply require the consecration of my assets, but of my entire life. Look at chapter 23, verse 17, three times a year. You show three times in the year, shall all your mails appear before the Lord. God, why the males? Because they were the representative heads of the household. And here's what God basically says. I want home to be consecrated to me to be set aside for me, this home is under my authority in my jurisdiction and anything under my authority and jurisdiction, I want to bless. And so all the males which show up as representative heads of their entire homes and they would functionally consecrate their lives before the Lord.
Speaker 0 00:21:06 And they would come bringing their first fruits to God. Now look what happens in verse 17, three times in the year, this follows the trimester Lee rhythms by which they were functionally paid. If you would, in an agrarian culture, all your mail shall appear before the Lord. Your God, I want to draw your attention back to the question I asked you at the beginning. Do you remember the thing that's, you're kind of tempted to hold back from the Lord. You have it in your brain. Now, as the spirit prompted something that you're like, no, this is, this is mine. I don't really want to give this thing to you.
Speaker 0 00:21:41 Anything that you hold back from the authority of God, I need you to hear this it's endanger. It does not have God's protection over whatever, whatever this thing is, that's clearly pretty valuable to you. And I would just contend if you love it, you're leaving it very vulnerable. And if you really love it right, bringing under the authority under the umbrella of God's loving jurisdiction, because this is the place where things actually are blessed. It is in grave danger. As long as you leave it outside of the authority of God, go back with me. One chapter Exodus, chapter 22, verse 29. And here's the fourth principle of first fruits. God doesn't negotiate on the first fruits principle, Exodus 22, 29. You shall not delay to offer anybody else have like a little delay to, I don't know, Ty, or be generous or to give a big gift to somebody might the only one.
Speaker 0 00:22:50 I'm the only evil one in the room. I got one, not another night. There we go. I've got issues. And God's like, listen, I already know the human impulse. I already know that you're gonna be like, but the whole amount, like full amount you telling me to give. He says, you shall not delay to offer. Listen to this, the fullness of your harvest. And I imagine somebody says, but God, what about like the overflow of my presses? And he says also from the outflow of your presses, but definitely not my kids right now, the firstborn of your sons, you shall give to me, but not the animals, right? God, you shall do the same with the oxen and with your sheep, seven days, it should be with its mother on the eighth day, you shall give it to me. So how did all of this work? The grain would be brought to the temple. The animals would also be brought to the temple for sacrifice, but the children, the firstborn children, this is really
Speaker 1 00:23:37 Amazing when they heard
Speaker 0 00:23:40 That the firstborn children would need to be brought. Do you know, went through their brain, the evil Canaanite gods, who would require your first born child to be put on a hot alter of a bronze cow and incinerated alive as an offering to these evil demonic gods and Yahweh is not like them. He does something very different. He says, you bring me your firstborn and we will consecrate this child. And an animal will be sacrificed in its behalf. I will never take the sacrifice of your first born son. So we stand up here and Shaunte dedication. And this is a reminder that our God does not require their blood, but once their heart and their faithfulness. And so we dedicate this child back to God and we say, Lord, this child is yours. It's on loan to me, but it is yours. You love this child more than I could ever possibly imagine. So we dedicate his or her entire life to you. Dedication is a throwback to this principle of the first fruits of your labor. And you guys remember what it was like to have your first born child. If you're
Speaker 1 00:24:43 A mom or dad, what did you want to do with protected? Not let anybody touch it, right? Keep it
Speaker 0 00:24:50 Safe forever and ever, and ever. And the Lord is like, no, you give it to me. You consecrate this child to me, whatever I asked this child to do. I want you to be its greatest champion to follow me consecrate your first born. But unlike the evil gods of the Canaanite religions, he did something very beautiful and different by the first born, by the first French children. Won't first of all, because of their influence as went the first born. So went the rest of the family. And so you prayed hard that this first born would lead well in your behalf after you died.
Speaker 0 00:25:28 Secondly, because of their importance, there's nothing more, more vulnerable than being a first time. Mom and dad, and having to go before the Lord and say, everything in me wants to shelter this child, but it's yours. So whatever you tell me to do, despite my instinct, I will do it. It's one of the most vulnerable places to be as a mom or dad. Here's what God knows guys, God wanting first fruits. He knows that whatever gets your first gets your heart. Whatever gets your first. It gets your heart. If your first kid, you're going to give it your heart until you give that kid back to God, you get your first paycheck. Whenever you give that thing to is going to get your heart. And here's what God knows this God again, does God need your money or your stuff or your animals or your property or your children? Does he need any of this? No, God is after your heart.
Speaker 1 00:26:29 And here's what he knows.
Speaker 0 00:26:30 If I legislate that you give me your first and your best guess what's going to follow right after it. Your heart. It's amazing. It's just amazing. God is a genius and there is never one rule or law that is arbitrary. All of them have a point. And so when God says to give your first fruits, here's what we do. We give this thing and then our hearts follow. Let me share with you three. So what's here's the first, first fruits is stewardship and action. Stewardship is a really important biblical word. It's also a really important word in terms of vocabulary. It's stewardship very simply means this it's the handling of another's assets in their behalf. So the Bible has a very high view of personal property ownership. This is actually very important in this emerging culture for you to understand that value, but there is another value which has everything you own.
Speaker 0 00:27:23 God has authority and jurisdiction over. So you may own it, but he is the ultimate owner of that property. On this side of heaven, nobody can take your stuff, but God has authority to tell you what to do with it. When to handle it, how to handle it, where to put it. The Lord has authority over everything in your life that has any value. It could be your home. It could be your children. It could be your money. It could be your body. If it is a value to you, God has authority over it. Nobody else can take that from you, but God can tell you exactly where he wants you to put it. And he has clear rules surrounding everything that is of value to you. May you take your first and your best and would you assign it to God's mission? And would you take the rest of it?
Speaker 0 00:28:11 And would you consecrate every asset that you have? Every thing, every person, every place, everything that is a value to you, would you set it apart and say, God, all of this is on loan to me until the day I die. So whatever you tell me to do with this, I will do with it. Whatever you want from me, I will handle your assets that you have given me to steward in the way that you want me to handle it. Here's the second so up. Make sure you have a biblical view of stewardship and apply it. What could is a biblical view of stewardship? If you don't apply it, like do it, right? So let me just give you a brief overview of stewardship principles. Four of them here's number one, God deeply values work, personal ownership and reaping what you sell. Very important to God.
Speaker 0 00:28:59 In fact, in first second, that's the I'm going is three 10. The apostle Paul says this. Apparently there were men who would be unwilling to work. And he says this for even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. God is a deep, deep value of work. Work is not the result of the fall of humanity. Work existed before that work is good and it is right. God has a great value for you to be able to own property and things and assets. As a result of your hard work, the principle of reap what you sow. It's a biblical principle God has for it. And this is why as moms and dads and grandmas and grandparents, and as guardians, we train and teach our children how to work and how to work as unto the Lord and how to get stuff and how to invest it wisely. How to think biblically about these things and how to give our first and our best back to that, to the Lord. Here's the second conviction of biblical stewardship. God has authority over all that I
Speaker 1 00:30:03 Own.
Speaker 0 00:30:05 We just believe this. It doesn't matter how hard I worked for it. If God has an opinion on it, I want to know it. And I want to apply it. Number three, third conviction of biblical stewardship. Everything I own or am responsible for is a kingdom asset. It's not just the first fruits. That is a kingdom asset. It is all of it. So I'm going to go and figure out how to give my first fruits. And I'm going to figure out how to give this to the Lord. So the kingdom of Jesus can be built, but the rest of my life, the rest of my stuff is a kingdom asset. If the Lord says, Michael, I want you to give 10% to your church and 10% to this Christian non-profit and 5% over to this Christian, nonprofit, and then the rest of it. The rest of it's yours.
Speaker 0 00:30:52 Okay, great. All of the rest of it. I can't do the math off the top of my head. So there's a number there. Anybody have the rest 65%. Is it 75% awesome. 75% of it. Thank you. I was like, what number is that? Tantra. Math. All of it is a kingdom asset. It's not just the 25 that the Lord told me to give over here. All of it is a kingdom asset. So just because I gave the first fruits and I obeyed the Lord, does the Lord still have jurisdiction over the rest of it? Yes, absolutely. Here's the fourth conviction of biblical stewardship. God blesses. Those who submit to his authority through first fruits. If the Lord says, give me your first and your best. And we say, but I want your first and your best. I want to use it for me. I want to build my kingdom.
Speaker 0 00:31:30 I want to eat out more, right? Is that going to be blessed by God and bear spiritual fruit? Now let me just tell you. You want to be bused by God. You want to be used by God. You want God to be able to use your assets to bear spiritual fruit notice. I did not say if you give God money, you get more money back. That's health and wealth, gobbly, gook, but everything that we have, we put under the authority of God, because we believe that if we're going to bear kingdom fruit, we need to play by his rules.
Speaker 0 00:32:02 Here's the third. So what, and if you haven't noticed, all of them are saying the same thing in different ways, restructure your life. So the Jesus gets your first and your best for his mission. Let me, let me just make this really practical. Again. Most of you think I'm talking about money, actually, for most people in this room, money is not the primary application of this. Okay? Do you generously and faithfully build the kingdom of God. The new Testament. Doesn't tell us how much to give. There's a lot of freedom. You go home, you pray about it. And whatever the Lord says to do, you do that. And if you think we want your money, we don't want your money. We want you to give your entire heart to God. So if you're like, they just want my money, give it to another church, give it to a nonprofit. I don't care. What I want to see is that your first and your best are assigned for God's mission because where you're first goes there, your heart goes also, we want to see passionate followers of Jesus who hold nothing back from him. And if you have issues here, then figure out where to assign it. Let's get let's get even more personal your stuff.
Speaker 1 00:33:05 How do I use
Speaker 0 00:33:06 My stuff to build Jesus's kingdom? Does anybody have more stuff than you could ever possibly imagine what
Speaker 1 00:33:12 To do with right?
Speaker 0 00:33:15 I have a hunch. We could really creatively figure out how to use our stuff. To encourage people, help people come alongside of people. Here's one, your property, hospitality is a biblical command. It is a good thing. It is a right thing. And how do I use my home? How do I use the space that God has given me to steward, to invite people in and to build the kingdom of God in my home. So many people look at their home as a place to only ever get away from. But in the Bible, your home is not just a safe Haven, but it's a place to bring people into that. The kingdom of God might be built. Let's talk about your singleness singles. One of your greatest assets is your time.
Speaker 1 00:33:57 And
Speaker 0 00:33:57 If you say I need eight hours a day alone to personally recharge, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1 00:34:04 You don't.
Speaker 0 00:34:06 How do I use my time to bring God glory? If you are young, you've heard me preach on this. Probably multiple times. I read a study at the age of 24 years old. We all start dying. So if you are under 24 years old, one of your greatest assets is your boundless energy. You mix that with singleness, whoa, what could you not do for the kingdom of God and too many young single people look at giving and serving in ministry is what their parents do is if you somehow inherit your parents' faithfulness. Now God made you and has a calling on your life and is wired. You uniquely to participate in the kingdom of God and to build up brothers and sisters in Christ and to do good in our community and to bring the gospel. Like you have unbelievable energy in time. Don't squander it. You have to steward this. And some of you are like, but it's my time. And it's my money. And it's my friends. And the Lord wants to have total jurisdiction over every part of your life,
Speaker 1 00:35:09 Your marriage.
Speaker 0 00:35:13 If you build into your marriage and go on a date with your husband or wife, is that a great kingdom investment with the money God's given you to steward everybody say, yes, you take your kids out. Is that a great kingdom investment? Absolutely. You pay your taxes. Okay. Right? He'll go. Yes. He says to do it. Therefore I do it. He has jurisdiction over my money. If they want that much can have that much fine. Your marriage invest. Like some people have this idea that everything can only be used for. Like, if I give 25% away, then you know, 75% is that the number Eric, if 75% is, it all has to be used for the church. And I'm like building your marriage as that kingdom investment building into your children as a kingdom investment. If God gave you a home to steward it, you steward that home. That is a kingdom investment. If God gave you relationships, you invest in those relationships. That is a kingdom investment. You have one body use it wisely, take care of it. That as a kingdom investment, like you are free to live, but you understand that everything I'm doing is about Jesus and under his authority. And if he tells me to shift one thing and say, yes, master you're in control, I'll go and do whatever you tell me, do your children.
Speaker 0 00:36:25 I think for many, for many, especially moms, this is the hardest one to, to release my mother. And father-in-law did a really, really wonderful thing. They allowed my wife in high school to go on a three-plus week mission trip to Ecuador, to go with a tribe that had killed. I think it was four or five missionaries in cold blood. And God did some amazing work in this tribe. But when my wife was in high school, she was young and this was one of the most transformational experiences of her entire life. I can imagine everything inside of them wanted to hold on and say, but it's dangerous, but it's with a tribe that killed a bunch of Christians, but it's this. And, but it's that. And, and, and at the end of the day, they released and said, this is your child. You love bringing in more than we ever could in these really meaningful decisions to release your children and to say, you know what?
Speaker 0 00:37:11 I'm not going to be foolish and dumb, but dog gone. I want to make sure that my children have the ability to experience growth and awesome relationships. And to see God move cross-culturally we live in one of the most amazing times in the entire world. And our children now can see things that generations before them never had access to. And we want to make sure that our children are protected and the way we view education and the way we view all this stuff. But we also want to see them thrive and to be able to do great things for the Lord. God has a calling on your junior highers life right now. Sometimes we're so busy protecting. We miss that. God is actually up to something in a fifth grade girl's brain and heart and relationships. And we need to pray about that and say, okay, God, you love this child. And I want, I want to give them back to you. I dedicated them when they were little. And now I want to look at you and say, whatever you ask me to do with them, help me foster a kingdom mindset and to steward. Well, lastly, most importantly, your soul. There are some of they're watching her in this room. And over here, what you're holding onto is your soul. Nothing that I said this morning matters until you give God literally your first and your best, which is your soul.
Speaker 0 00:38:30 If you look down, um, there are, there's a little cup
Speaker 1 00:38:35 And we know this is communion,
Speaker 0 00:38:39 But I want to talk to those of you for a moment. Just pull this up. You don't have to do anything other than look at it for a minute. When we partake of communion, we're doing something very beautiful and meaningful and significant. This is juice in a stale wafer. Let's be honest. The, this, like you don't drink it. And then you're magically transformed. Symbols mean something. So what we do is is we remember what these symbols represent, which is the shed blood of Christ in his body, which was killed for us for our sin. This was the punishment we deserve, but I want to talk to those of you who have held your soul back from Jesus. He wants your soul. He wants to bless you. He wants to redeem you. He wants to give you life. He wants to train you. He wants to bring you into his family. He loves you. He died for you.
Speaker 1 00:39:50 And when you
Speaker 0 00:39:51 Partake of these elements, nothing magical happens. But there is. There's two big things we do. First. We remember what did God do for us? This is unbelievable. I will never have to go to hell because Jesus went to hell for me by taking the father's wrath and his body, soul and emotions.
Speaker 1 00:40:08 But number two, God wants
Speaker 0 00:40:14 All of me. And by partaking of this, here's what I declare. Everything of mine is yours.
Speaker 1 00:40:23 I soul
Speaker 0 00:40:23 Is yours. My body is yours. My money is yours. My children are yours. My friends are yours. My assets are yours. My property is yours. My 401k is yours. My cryptocurrency assets are yours. Clearly. It's all yours. So if you've never given your soul to Jesus, I want to ask you to do something. If today, you feel you are ready to give your life to Christ. I want to invite you to partake of this. This is nothing. What it symbolizes is everything. So when you partake of this, let me be very clear. What you're declaring. You were declaring that you are a sinner, but you're also declared that God loves you. You're declaring that Jesus paid the price for your sins and your behalf on the cross. You're declaring that God, the father raised Jesus from the dead, not as a metaphor, but as history you're declaring that no amount of good works is ever going to make me right with God only Jesus Christ and faith in him can make me right with God. This is a big declaration, by the way. And if today you are to make that declaration. I want to invite you to partake of communion. We make a really loud noise when we peel the cellophane off the top. Thank you. Amen. Every time if you're online, you're like, oh, that noise.
Speaker 0 00:41:50 And it's a wafer and it's juice, but what it symbolizes is everything. And so here's what we're going to do in a moment. We're going to partake together. And if you're ready to trust in Christ, I want to invite you to partake and make this nonverbal declaration. Then if you'd be so willing, would you come talk to us? If you're maybe here from a different church or you're a kid we're just happy you're here. Would you partake? If you have personally trusted in Christ, we are one in Jesus Christ, despite where we go to church. So we're going to have a moment of silence. It's an opportunity to reflect, to confess, to thank God because it's been so amazing. I'm going to read some scripture and then we are going to partake of these elements together as a symbol of our unity in Christ. Let's have a moment of silence together.
