All right. That's Paul Street on the street. Apparently, Paul Street back from the future as well. That's pretty interesting.
Well, hey guys, glad you're here today. Grab your Bibles, turn to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. We're going to talk about finances today. You're thinking, man, that's a perfect, perfect illustration back there to tell you exactly how I feel, right? Because it feels like we're operating today.
Well, we're going to get to that in a second. But before we do, everybody just take a deep breath. Ready? It's been a crazy season, huh? A lot dividing us instead of bringing us together. So I thought I'd do a little illustration today. You with me so far?
Okay. Here we go. On the count of three, if you're with me, I want you to shout out your favorite food. Can you do that?
Okay. Here we go. One, two, three. Hot dogs.
All right. On the count of three, I want you to shout out your favorite football team. Can you do that? Here we go. One, two, three.
We needed more Steelers. Steelers. There we go. We got a few in the house. Yeah.
All right. On the count of three, I want you to shout out your favorite child. Wait, don't do that. No, let's see.
On the count of three, I want you to shout out who you voted for. Ready? One. Velazquez. Velazquez.
You know what I actually want you to do? I want you to shout out on the count of three the name of the one who sits on the throne, the one who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Ready? One, two, three. Jesus. Velazquez.
And there's so much more unity in the one who brings us all together. We have so much more in common in the things that bring us together than the things that divide us. Stephen Smith.
And it's been a crazy season, but we want to focus on Jesus. And that's why I'm excited to tell you, I told you I'd give you some hints about 2025, right? 2025 is our 100th anniversary as a church. We're going to turn 100 next year. We're getting old, right?
And so we're thinking about how we can pass this on to the next generation. And one of the things we were thinking about when there's so much dividing us, how Jesus brings us together. He's the one we have in common as Christ followers.
So we just decided we're going to spend the entire next year of 2025 teaching from the gospels on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We're just going to focus on Jesus. And we say it like this, give us a year focused on Jesus, it'll change your life, right?
And so here's how we're going to do it. You can't get these today and don't go on Amazon, you'll waste your money. Because next week, you can get the Quest 52 book. Okay, my friend Mark Moore, a professor at Ozark Bible College, that's where Pastor Roger went to Bible College, wrote this book. He's now a teaching professor. He's a pastor in the valley.
And basically, it says a 52-week journey into the heart of Jesus. We're going to give these books to you next week. You can buy them for a very discounted rate because of our friend Mark, who's got us a bulk discount.
And we're all going to buy these. You're going to be able to spend about 15 minutes a day in the Word, focused on Jesus. And then come on the weekend, and we're going to be preaching on the text that you're reading through the week.
We're going to take these to Life Group, and we're going to study, go a little deeper, study the questions together. And then there's even a study, a student edition of this. So 52 weeks focused on Jesus in 2025. It's going to be amazing.
So next week, come back, ready to get your book, buying a book for your friends so you can invite a friend. And this series is not going to start in 2025. It's actually going to start at Christmas. So in just three weeks, we will be starting 52 weeks focused on the life of Jesus. And I'm excited about that.
So the things that bring us together and the things that hold us together as a church are way more important, way more powerful than the things that divide us. So I hope you'll focus on that with me.
So we are talking finance today. And before I get started with a message, I want to talk about two offerings that are available for you that might be helpful. Because some people might be thinking, great, another reminder of how messed up my finances are. Another reminder of how much debt I'm in and how I can't be generous. I'm so excited. Thanks a lot, Pastor.
Well, I've got something for you. It's called Financial Peace University, FPU. We call it. Dave Ramsey came up with this program. It's a biblically-based program, but it helps people get out of debt. We had 23 people just finish the Financial Peace University program here at Compass recently.
And in that nine weeks that they met together, they eliminated, as a group, $37,000 worth of debt. Okay, so it can happen, right? And so I'm hoping like 300 of you will go through it in January. It starts in January.
But just like Pastor Sam told you, if you can remember 57321, you can actually text FPU, Financial Peace University, to 57321 and get all the information you need. Or even better, go and have a conversation with Tom and Julie out on the lawn afterwards. They're like FPU supporters. I mean, they love it. It changed their lives.
And they would love to give you more information about when it gets started. And that would be a blessing to you. Then I hope you'll sign up for that class.
The other one, though, maybe you're thinking, well, I don't need Financial Peace University. I'm not in debt. I handle my finances well. I got a good budget. I know what I'm doing. Well, maybe this is for you.
We've got something called Kingdom Stewardship, aligning your finances with God's kingdom. My friend Michael Gothier teaches that class. He's the one that, even before I came here as a pastor, he was working with Pastor Roger. They did truth and financial planning. He's written this book. It's great.
And he's going to teach a class on how to align your finances with God's kingdom. Because maybe you're not in debt. You're not in debt. You're not in debt. Maybe you've never even thought about your giving formula, like how you do what you do with all that God's given you.
And if you're thinking, I don't need Financial Peace University, maybe Kingdom Stewardship is for you. So keep your eyes open. You can also ask Tom and Julie about that class as well out at the table. It's coming up this week, like on Sunday and Wednesday of next week. And if you need that and you'd like to sign up for that, we would love to have you.
Well, we are going to talk about money. I know you're real excited. I can tell by the response I'm getting for sure. And if you're not in debt, you're not in debt. You're not in debt. People think, why do we even come to church? That's all the church talks about. All the church wants is your money.
Well, friends, if you've been here more than two weeks, you know that that's not true. In fact, if you've been here more than two weeks, get surprised that every single week we end up giving away thousands of dollars to people in need through the Dollar Club.
In fact, since the inception of the Dollar Club earlier this year, we passed the $1.8 million mark, giving away funds to people in need every single week. And I promised you I would tease 2025 just a little bit, so I will right now.
Next year, because it's our birthday, instead of taking gifts for ourselves, we're calling it a reverse birthday for our 100-year celebration. And we're going to be doing double Dollar Club every single week.
Okay, so whatever the attendance is on the weekend, we're going to give that amount of money away twice every single week, one to someone who is in need among us, and the other to someone who is in need outside the four walls. So it's going to be pretty amazing, and I'm excited about that.
So why talk about money then? Well, not because God is broke, or the church is in trouble, or God is a little short. Friends, listen, God is interested in much more than your money. He wants your heart.
But yet he knows how close money is to our hearts, or maybe I should say he knows how much our hearts run after money. In fact, Jesus said, in Matthew 6:21, he said, where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
So we're talking about this, listen, because Jesus talked about this. Jesus understood his culture. He understood the idols of his day. And if Jesus were to show up here in the United States of America in the flesh, what would he talk about? I mean, what would the idol in America, besides politics, be?
Well, anybody that's gone on a third world mission trip could tell you in a heartbeat, this is easy. It's money. Money can be a great gift, but it can also capture your heart. It can deceive us.
And friends, this church cares about you. We want you to become everything that you can be for God, not fall for the lies of the world, but to live into the fullness of what it means to be a Christ follower. Jesus knew this, and he talked about it a ton.
In fact, let me prove it to you. Who can tell me how many verses in the Bible there are on prayer? Does anybody know the answer to this? Has anybody been through Rooted? We talked about this in Rooted now. Come on. 500.
So there are 500 verses in the Bible on prayer. Does anybody know how many verses on faith in the Bible? Anybody? Less than 500. Does anybody know? It's less than 500. That's all I know.
Does anybody know how many verses on giving and money in the Bible? Over 2,000. I mean, think about it. Jesus taught more about money than he did about heaven and hell. So, friends, if we don't talk about this, we're not doing our job. We're committing ministry malpractice.
If God says something once, it matters, right? If he says something a few times, you think, uh-oh, this may be something really important that he wants me to pay attention to. If he says it 2,000 times, this is huge. Very important to him.
So it needs to be important to us as well. Now, 2,000 verses, that's a lot of scripture. We're not going to go over all those today. Don't worry. But we are going to look at a few.
So I wanted you to turn. Turn to Matthew chapter 25. And the first concept that we need to understand, if you're taking notes, write this down, this big word, ownership. Ownership.
So Jesus tells a story describing what the kingdom of God is like. And here's the parable that Jesus told to the people that were listening that day. Matthew chapter 25, verse 14. It says, again, the kingdom of God will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants together and entrusted his wealth to them.
To one, he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. And then he went on his journey.
Now, Jesus is telling a parable about a man with great wealth and servants. He's entrusting his wealth. So let's see if we can figure this out. Who is the man in the story? Whose wealth is this? Whose servants are these? God's. Yes.
So first we have to understand ownership, friends. If you don't understand that everything is God's, you'll never become a generous person. In fact, Chip Ingram has written a whole book about this. It's called The Genius of Generosity.
And here's what he said about his own life. He said, to me, generosity was reserved for the few, the proud, the Marines. It might be a great thing to aspire to, but certainly not something within the grasp of a very ordinary Christ follower like myself.
But that all changed the day I met a man named John Seville. I would learn then that generosity has little or no value. It has nothing to do with how much money you have or how far along you perceive yourself to be on your spiritual journey.
In fact, I was shocked to learn that being generous has much more to do with being smart, shrewd, wise, and deliriously happy. In a word, I discovered that generosity is genius.
And he goes on to tell the story about meeting a man named John Seville. Chip Ingram was a young pastor in a church trying to do his best to serve the Lord. And John Seville. John Seville was a grand old warrior in that church.
And they had a few conversations. And John eventually said this, I want to start a secret pact with you. He said, here's what I want you to do, pastor. You're going to encounter people that have great needs. And I want to be able to meet the needs of people that are struggling. And I have the resource to do it.
So here's what I'd like to do. Because you're going to meet those people and you're going to see those needs. I want to start an account. And I'm going to give you a checkbook.
Now, if you're under the age of 25, a checkbook. They used to give you those at the bank. You'd keep a record of all your spending in those. Now you just do it on your phone. But anyway, gave him a checkbook.
He said, in this account, I'm going to put $5,000. And anytime you see somebody in need, I want you to use my money to meet that need. And then we'll meet about once a month and we'll talk about it.
So they started this secret pact. And here's what Chip Ingram said. He said, three things happened in my life as a result of this deal. And all of them had a major impact.
He said, first, rarely a day went by that I didn't think about John Seville. Whenever I encountered someone in need, a young girl dealing with an unplanned pregnancy and preparing for a baby, or a family at church whose funds had completely run dry, I had to try to see through John's eyes.
I was constantly asking myself, what would John do in this situation? How would he spend his money here? He said, John and I had known each other for over a year. But because of our roles at church, our paths only crossed once a week.
I had rarely spent time thinking about John until our deal. And then I found myself thinking about him multiple times a day, wondering how he would feel about certain situations, how he would respond to them.
Over the next few months, I felt a lot closer to him than I ever had. He says, the second thing that happened was I quickly learned how to balance a checkbook.
He said, I'd never been particularly careful about my known. In fact, when I first got married, he says, my idea of balancing a checkbook was to have a pretty close estimate of what the bank said I had.
He said, my wife had to explain to me that if you were within 20 or $30 of the bank's estimate or the bank's accurate estimate and your estimate was probably wrong and not good enough. But that was with my money.
He said, now I was handling John's money. I had to be ready for him to ask me how things were going. I would have to give an account. There would be no way I could face him if I'd gotten a couple hundred dollars off track over time.
I learned how to be faithful pretty quickly. He said, third, John and I became great friends. See, he never made me feel like his errand boy. Every few months, he would invite me into Dallas for lunch and not the kind of lunch I was used to.
This was no fast food combo meal or a daily special at the local diner. This was a celebration. He says, do you see what happened? This deal or this partnership, as he put it, caused me to get to know John, to learn his perspective and gain unique insight about how he wanted me to spend his money.
It caused me to become very faithful and accountable in what he had entrusted to me. And it caused this old godly man and young energetic pastor who had little in common to become best friends as we celebrated the fruit of our efforts.
Now, I'm sure you see the spiritual correlation by now, right? This is a pretty powerful picture of our relationship with God and the way we manage his resources. He's the owner.
Chip kind of summarized all this by saying, why did I start thinking about John all the time? Because I had a responsibility to act in his interests just as God invites us to represent him in this world.
Why did I become faithful? Because it was his money. Just as we become faithful stewards of the resources God entrusts to us.
Why did John and I become such good friends? Because we got together to sell our money. We got together to celebrate just as God enjoys celebrating with us over the fruit he bears through us when we partner with him to love those in need.
So giving starts with understanding ownership, that it all belongs to God. So we ought to ask and we ought to consider as we kind of dig deeper. We're kind of laser focused as we kind of move through the message today.
Our first question needs to be this. What does God want us to do with his stuff? Not what I want, but what I want. But what does he want? What does he expect?
Well, let's go back to the story in the Bible, Matthew chapter 25, and write this second big word down. First, ownership. Second thing we need to understand is stewardship.
Chapter 25, verse 19. It says, the man who had received the five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.
So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more, but the man who had received the one bag went off, dug up the other bag, and put his money to work.
So also the one with two bags of gold gained two bags of gold, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received the five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.
His master replied, and this is where this verse comes from. You thought it meant something else. It's in a giving story. What do you know? Here's what he said.
Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.
Now, one of those bags of gold, or talents, as it says in another translation, is worth about 20 years of income. Think about that. But verse 21 says he put him in charge of a few things. Just some small things.
You've been faithful in the little things. And this is tiny compared to the creator of the universe. But God entrusts every one of us with talents, with gifts.
And maybe we wish God would entrust us with one of those bags of gold, like 20 years worth of income. Lord, I'll take care of that. Don't worry. I'll be a good steward.
But does he give the same to everyone? No, he doesn't. We have different gifts, different abilities, different personalities. And we're not just talking about money. We've got different resources, different opportunities.
But what does he expect of all of us? According to this passage, he expects investment. Multiply his wealth for his sake. These good, faithful servants are giving back.
So we have to understand ownership, and we have to understand stewardship, or else we end up like this last servant. Look at verse 24 and 25.
Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you're a hard man, harvesting where you've not sown, gathering where you've not scattered seed.
So I was afraid and I went out and I hid your gold in the ground. So here is what belongs to you. Verse 30 says, throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
There's a big word in that passage that describes this third servant and the word is afraid. He said, I was afraid. So he does nothing with what he's been given. He does nothing with this bag of gold. He hides it. He buries it in the ground. The master could have done that himself.
See, he was afraid of the risk. Now, don't think about servant number three. Think about the master. Does he sound like a person who's afraid of the risk? He's afraid to invest.
Verse 26, his master replied, you wicked, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed.
And you think about that process. That's high risk, right? But also high yield.
So let me ask you, what about you? Would you describe yourself like the third servant was described? Would you say that you're afraid?
And maybe you've got a good excuse for that. Maybe you're like, man, you don't know my life story. If you knew my life story, it's one of scarcity. I mean, maybe you grew up with nothing and that was painful and that was scary and you don't want to go there again.
I totally get that. I grew up in the Holy Land in East Tennessee. We lived in a trailer park until I was in sixth grade. And I remember how they were trying to hold the checks together each month to make sure we had what we needed.
So I get that. Or maybe you're just afraid that God's going to withhold from you. Like if you're not good enough, that he only dispenses his gifts to people that are good enough.
Or maybe you're just afraid God's going to run out. I mean, the faucet's going to get turned off at some point. Here's what I want to say. God invested in you and he knew the risk, didn't he? But he did anyway.
He has confidence in you. He has trust in you. So trust him. Have confidence in him. Serve him well. Invest what he's given. And just like the good faithful servants, double it.
Use it how God wants you. Can you imagine that if we said over the next five years here at Compass Christian Church, we want to be like the good faithful servant. We want to double what God has given us.
Friends, we would be a church of 5,500 to 6,000. If we just double what God has given us over the next five years. It's pretty amazing.
When you see God as resourceful and entrepreneurial, you gain confidence, not fear in handling his resources. You give and you respond faithfully.
So maybe we ask the next question. Let's dig down a little further. What does God really want from us? I mean, how do we invest his money? How do we handle his resources, his gifts? How do we double it?
Well, again, maybe Mike's class is the one you need to take. Kingdom stewardship, aligning your finances with God's kingdom. Coming up Sunday and Wednesday. I hope you'll ask about it.
But let's go back to the Bible again. How should we view money? How should we invest? Well, 1 Timothy chapter six, Paul wrote this to a young leader of a church. And here's what he said.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we will take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Will we?
Will we really be just content with that? He says, those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and a many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. You know, people misquote that all the time. They say money is the root of all kinds of evil. And they say, money is the root of all kinds of evil. It doesn't say that. It says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. So Paul assesses the situation. Then he tells Timothy this.
Verse 17. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides for them.
And he says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So Paul assesses the situation. Then he tells Timothy this.
Verse 17. Command those who are rich in this present world not to put their hope in wealth, everything, everything we have. And what's part of the reason God gives us that? It says, for our enjoyment.
And that's the kind of God, that's the kind of owner, that's the kind of master he is. And then verse 18, he goes on to say this. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life, listen, that is truly life.
So this is a passage on how the rich should live. It's kind of like the old TV show, like Robin Leach, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, right? Like how should the rich live?
And you know what the world would say, you know what that show would say, right? I mean, man, buy a fancy car, eat the best food, take as many vacations as you can, like that's the priority.
You know what God says in this passage? Be humble, not proud. Trust God, not your money. Do good with your money, not sinful things. Be generous to those in need, not stingy.
And then he says, that's how you experience true life. Life that is true. That is truly life.
So friends, if you want a substandard, pathetic, meaningless life, then by all means, blow everything you have on yourself. I blow it on excessive comfort and luxury, drugs, whatever, you know, but you won't like yourself very much at the end of that road.
True, meaningful life comes from being generous and good with your wealth.
So I guess if that's what the passage says and tells the young preacher to command those who are rich, I mean, I guess we have to figure out the next passage. The next thing is, who is rich?
I mean, it says, command those who are rich. I mean, this is what rich people are supposed to do with the life they live, right? So let's just ask the question, who in here is rich then?
Like 12, 14, 16 of us, okay? Let me ask you a question. This morning when you woke up, did you have a roof over your head?
I mean, today before you came to church, did you take a shower? Well, if you didn't, don't tell us, okay? Could you have taken a shower, right? Did you pick out your own outfit? Did you have matching shoes and accessories?
How many of you go to a restaurant and you pay for food that you don't even eat? Like you leave half of it on your plate. You don't even box it up. You just walk out and you leave it there. You're rich.
You got more money than you can even keep in your pockets. You've got to use it. Bank, right? Like your car even has a house. You put it in one, right?
I mean, did you walk here today? Who drove, right? Did you drive with your choice of car? But this passage is just for rich people, right?
I mean, look, I get it. This is Phoenix, Chandler. Some of you compare yourselves to your neighbors and you look around at them and you think, no way I'm rich compared to them.
I remember going on a mission trip years ago and I was listening to this missionary talk. I was listening to this missionary talk about the extreme poverty, not even people being able to afford basic necessities like medicine for their children, right?
And I remember getting back from that mission trip and I got into my, this is many years ago, my 1998 Ford Taurus with the squeaky brakes that I complained about most days.
And I'm not kidding. That car transformed in front of my eyes. I was like, I have a car that I can actually drive. Wherever I want to go, and I can afford the gas for that car most days, right?
And I can drive on a road that doesn't have potholes all over it like they did in Haiti, places where they didn't even have roads. I can afford medicine for my children when they get sick.
I saw things so differently when I came back from that trip. And here's what I discovered, friends. We need to stop comparing ourselves to millionaires and start comparing ourselves to the poor in our world.
As we look across the world, across our nation, even across our own metroplex, most of us are incredibly wealthy by comparison. Do you realize that 53% of the world lives on less than $2 a day? That's true. Go look it up.
Oh, come on, pastor, but I don't feel rich. You don't feel rich, huh? You know, Gallup, the poll people, they tried to figure out just how much you would need in order to feel rich.
And so their poll people, they just asked people. They asked people who made $30,000 a year, how much do you have to have to be rich? And they said, oh, it's those people that make $60,000.
And they asked people that made $60,000, who is rich? And they said, oh, it's those people that make $100,000. I'm not making this up.
And they asked people who made $100,000, who is rich? And they said, oh, it's those people who make $200,000 a year.
And they asked people that made $200,000 a year, who is rich? And they said, oh, it's those people that make $500,000 a year.
And they asked people that made $500,000 a year, who is rich? And they said, oh, it's those people that make a million dollars a year.
And they asked people that make a million, one million dollars a year, who is rich? And you know what they said? We are. No, they said those people that make $5 million a year.
So what does it take to feel rich? Just a little more. And that's the lie, right? Thinking that I'm one raise away, I'm one position away. If I just had a little more, I don't feel rich. But you are. You are.
So be good at it. Be generous. Be humble. Understand who owns it all. Understand that you're just a steward of that. It's not yours. It's his.
So be wise. Be generous with it. Invest it in his kingdom. In fact, think about it like this. Let's imagine we're trying to. I studied the word of God in here.
And all of a sudden, we hear such a racket outside. It is so loud that we all just decide, even me. We get up and we're going to walk out there to see what's going on.
And when we walk out there and we get to the windows of the lobby, we look out and we see this teenager driving up in a convertible Porsche, right? And he's got the music blaring so loud. That's what drew us outside.
He's got his baseball cap turned backwards. Nobody's going to be posted against that window saying, oh, look out there at that hardworking industrious young man.
Nobody's going to say that. We're going to be like, dude, that's your dad's car, right? That's not yours. You didn't work for it. It's not yours.
Friends, let me tell you some truth here. You're driving your dad's car. That house that you live in, that's your dad's house. Those clothes that you wear, that food you eat, everything that you have is a gift from your father.
Don't forget who owns it. And don't forget that he loves you so much he gave that to you partially for your own enjoyment.
You know, arrogance causes us to think, I did this. My talent, my ability, I'm awesome. Instead of thinking, you know what? God is awesome. God is an amazing owner.
My dad, he wants to invest in me. I can't believe that. So how does he want me to invest what he's given me in his kingdom?
Man, that's a different posture, isn't it? That's a story where everything you do is out of gratitude for his kingdom. Not mine. How do I help more instead of more for me? Surrendering it to him.
So maybe today the easiest thing for you to do is just ask him. Ask your father. How do you want me to steward or use what you've given me, dad? Whose kingdom? His kingdom.
Say yes to help others instead of being self-centered. And in this, the Bible says, you will find freedom. You will find hope. You will find the life that is truly life.
You don't find it in scarcity and greed and arrogance. So if you're with me so far, we're going to move in a little further.
Right? If you're not, thanks. God bless you. See you next week. But for the rest of you, we got to ask the question at this point then.
Okay. I get it. So what is good stewardship? What does that even look like? Well, some would say a tithe. Okay. And a tithe simply means 10% of your income.
It doesn't mean like, hey, the worship. It was really good today. Here's 20 bucks. That's a tip. Okay. We're talking about a tithe. That's 10% of your income.
And some people would say, well, that's the benchmark. That's what the Bible teaches. And then I've got two issues with that. Two problems that people always run into.
And the first one is when you say 10% for some people, that feels like a marathon. You can't just go run a marathon tomorrow. Right?
I mean, you have to train for it. You have to do one mile and then you build up and you do another mile and you have to train for a long time. In order to run a marathon, you just can't go out with no training and run it.
And so you see tithing like that. Let's, oh, come on, man. It's a marathon. I could never get there. So what do you do? Nothing. You never even start.
So here's what I'd say to you if that's your posture today. Start where you are. Just start where you are without any guilt. Start where you are.
In fact, a great opportunity for that is coming soon. We always have our Christmas causes, right? Where we do something for people here in our community and around the world that makes a difference in their lives.
Last year, we built a church in the Philippines. And friends, we're going to have the ability to do some of those things again at Christmas. That's coming soon.
So maybe that's your opportunity to just get started. It's like kind of a muscle that gets exercised. You'll give more. You'll experience the gift of giving.
But here's the second way people look at tithing. They look at it like a finish line, like, I came through the tape. I'm done. I'm done. 10%. I'm here.
The problem with that is that Jesus calls us to a radical display of generosity. Jesus once told a rich man in Luke chapter 18, verse 22, here's what he said, sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.
Jesus said that like it's in the Bible. That's more than 10%, right? So don't be surprised if he tells you to give something radical too.
Jesus said, give generously, give heroically, share everything. And he was after people's hearts, not their wallets.
Jesus wanted to create a value system that changes our community and changes the world. So let's take it a little further. How do we give then? Let me give you a few values to think about. Write these down.
Here's the first one. Give consistently. Give consistently. The Bible teaches this. You know, give once. Oh man, those people are going through a tough time with the flood. Let's give something, right?
And then you kind of forget until the next big thing comes along. But if you give consistently, it becomes as regular as your heartbeat.
Here's the second thing. Give sacrificially. And again, this is like Mike's class that I'm talking about. What really is your giving for me?
Well, I give on my income, pastor. Yeah, but how about all those other things you're making money on? Like, have you even thought about your total giving formula?
You know what this means when it says give sacrificially? It means you got to say no to some good things in order to do the best things. It's got to hurt a little bit.
In fact, King David experienced this. He taught us a good lesson. King David wanted to give a sacrifice to God. He wanted to do a burnt offering and he was going to buy the sacrifices, the animals, and then he was also going to buy the fields.
And he was sold. So he went to this guy and he's like, hey, I want to do this burnt offering to the Lord. I want to buy your animals. I want to buy this field.
And the guy in the story in the Bible, when he saw that it was King David, he's like, hey, you're the king. You're welcome to just have it. You can take it. You don't have to pay for it at all.
And here's what King David said. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord, my God, which cost me nothing. Right? We give sacrificially.
And here's the last way. Give gladly. Like you're excited. You're glad because you're giving us something important.
You know, when we started our Casa Grande campus down in Casa Grande, we have another campus, you know, we're one church, multiple locations.
We started this thing where when we decided we're going to do an offering talk and talk about giving, people were so excited about what we were giving to. They started clapping and it turned into kind of a tradition.
Like every time you start talking about giving, they just start clapping. The whole congregation at Casa Grande, they're like, yeah, this is awesome. Look at what we get to do.
And it is beautiful. Making a difference in people's lives and eternities. Let me close by giving you a picture of what that can look like.
I told you many times I went to Haiti. I also went to Ghana in West Africa. We landed after 16 hours on a plane. And then we had to drive like another six hours on a bus.
And we got to this place where we had to get out and kind of get transferred over. There was this huge river and it was so big, they called it overseas.
Like if you lived on the other side, you lived overseas, right? That's what they called it. And so we went overseas, to this remote village. They didn't have a doctor or a nurse. They didn't have a school. They didn't have basic medicine.
And these people have nothing. They're out there living in poverty. And yet, you know what I saw? You know what the most common thing I saw in those people? Joy and contentment.
And you know why? It's not because they were complaining all the time about what they didn't have. It was because they were so grateful for what they did have. And they had Jesus.
And they had a church there caring for them. And when I left that place, even though they were in extreme poverty, I actually had hope.
I actually thought that they would be okay, even though they lived in that kind of poverty. Why? Because the church was there. The church was the one that made sure these families were fed.
The church cared for them. They visited them. They prayed for them. And even though the church didn't even have much money, they were still finding ways to generously support these struggling families, even in the midst of radical poverty.
And friends, that's what every church should look like everywhere. Each and every church, every church should be known for its overwhelming, extreme generosity.
Every church should be known for its supernatural ability to meet the needs of those that are struggling, providing hope in the face of hopelessness. That's actually the expectation given to us by the apostles.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. Let me give you one more scripture. And here's what he said. 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 6 through 15.
He says, remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Each of you should give what you've decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
You know what that word cheerful is in the Greek? It's the word hilarion. Does that sound like any words you know? God loves a hilarious giver, right? That's what he's talking about.
That's what it actually means. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work.
As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever.
Now listen to this next part. Now he who supplies seed to the sower, who is the he that supplied the seed to all of us? God, right?
Who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your supply. So if we're not holding on to it so tight, and we've got open hands, he says he can actually put more in our hands, and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
This service you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
Paul says, you don't have to be a sower. You don't have to be a sower. You don't give to receive. You receive in order to give.
Why does God give to you in the first place? Why does he provide for you? It's right there. So that, so that we might be generous.
Friends, imagine if each of us moving into our 100th year as a church, prayerfully decided to seek the owner and responded courageously to him.
Together, collectively, we could do way, way more than we can do on our own. Building his kingdom, not our own. Storing up treasure in heaven, where it lasts forever.
And I want the world to see that, don't you? I want the world to stop and pay attention to the church. This is one way for that to happen.
And when the world sees so much beautiful ministry going on, and when the world sees us working with the city, and working with missions all around the valley, and making a difference in people's lives, they're gonna ask, how in the world does all that great work get done?
How in the world does all that ministry, I'll be able to say to a watching world, these people here at Compass are serious about God as an owner.
And these people here at Compass are serious about investing what God has given them in a way that makes them a good, faithful steward, a good and faithful servant.
And they're serious about generosity because they know it makes a difference in the lives of people. We can do that together as a church.
And so I thought before we moved into a time of invitation, I would actually invite you to come and join me in a church.
I would invite you to come and join me in a church to make a commitment. One of these cards is in the seat in front of you, unless you're in the front row.
And you're gonna have to turn around to your neighbor behind you and get one. But I'm gonna wait on you. So go ahead and grab one of these.
If you're a guest, don't do this at all. We're just glad you're here seeking Jesus. We're excited that you're with us today.
But for the rest of us, we're gonna make a commitment today. And guess what? Let me tell you a couple things before we even read through it.
I don't ever wanna see this. Nobody on our staff wants to ever see this. It's not something you're gonna turn in. It's not something you're gonna turn in.
It's not something we're gonna pile up in some drawer somewhere or type into a computer. This is for you, and it's between you and God alone, okay?
But sometimes it's better instead of hearing something going, oh, that was good. I'll think about that later, to make a commitment now.
So I'm gonna invite every single person that feels the tug of the spirit to grab this and make a commitment. Here's what it says, my giving commitment.
I commit to trusting God's financial provision in my life. And here are some boxes you could check. Here's the first one. I will trust God and begin tithing.
And maybe you checked that box today. You know, there's only one verse in the Bible that says you can test God. It says don't test God everywhere.
You know what it says in the one verse? He says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Test me in this and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing on you, you can't even contain it. That's in Malachi.
So maybe you just check that box. I will trust God. I'll begin tithing. And you write your name on there, and you write the date on there, and you write the date on there, and that's between you and God.
Or maybe you're going to check the second box, which says, I will continue to give a tithe of my income to the Lord. You're just affirming what you've already been doing, and you're acknowledging you're going to continue doing that going forward.
Or maybe you check box number three. It says, I will increase my generosity by going beyond the tithe. I had one of our friends on our security team this morning. He grabbed one of his cards because he saw us putting them in the seat backs, and he's like, hey man, I want to check number three.
I want to check number three. I want to check number three. I want to check number three. I want to increase where do I need to turn this in?
I said you don't need to turn that in. I don't need to ever see it. That's not for us. That's between you and the Lord, but I think that's awesome what you're doing, right?
Or maybe you just check box number four which says this, I will commit to taking a class here at Compass to better understand how God wants me to steward what he has given me.
And both the information for Financial Peace University and for Kingdom Stewardship is on the back of the card. That's where you can find that information.
So I just want to encourage you not just to hear something and walk out and wait for the next thing you hear but to actually act on what you've heard today and make a commitment between you and the Lord.
And maybe you end up putting this in your Bible, right? So that when you get your Bible out tomorrow morning because you do this every morning, right? You're having your quiet time spending time with Jesus, you're going to see that commitment you made to him and ask him to help you in it.
Or maybe you put it on your mirror in your bathroom where you're brushing your teeth, right? So you see it first thing in the morning.
Or maybe you put it in your nice car and you remind yourself as you get in that car and you see that car that God is the owner, that you're driving your dad's car and that attitude of gratitude prompts you to begin asking God how you can be more committed to him.
It doesn't really matter what you do with it as long as you do something with it. So I hope you'll take this card and take it seriously.
We don't do this very often here, but we thought, hey, good opportunity to think about it during this season. If we're gonna be 100 and we're gonna give away more than we've ever given away to people all around the world, then man, we're gonna have to raise our level of generosity to do that.
So I hope you'll make a commitment. Now, you're thinking, well, how are you gonna transition this into an invitation, Pastor? I mean, it's kind of hard to do that out of a giving message, isn't it?
Nope. Some of the easiest messages to transition into invitation are giving messages. You know why? Because God, first of all, is the greatest giver.
In fact, the Bible says, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. God is the greatest giver.
And the second thing I would say is this. Over the years, I've seen that more decisions happen during a giving series than just about any other series. Isn't that crazy?
And you know why? Because for us here in America, for many of us, it's the last thing we're holding on to that we don't want to let go of.
It's the last thing that we need to surrender to God. And once we get that, and once we surrender that, we're ready to step across the line of faith and give our lives to the owner who's given us everything.
So we want to give you an opportunity to do that. You know, we sang a song earlier that basically already said what we're making a commitment to do. Right?
We're talking about giving our lives and our hearts to Jesus. We're trusting him because he's the one that's put the breath in our lungs in the first place.
We want to use this breath to show his love. We've already sung that. But we're going to sing one more song.
And if you've never made that first commitment, the first thing God would ever want you to give doesn't have anything to do with money. Has to do with your heart. Has to do with your life.
If you're ready to step across the line of faith, we're going to have prayer partners up here in a moment. And after I pray, we're going to sing this song.
And if you just walk across the room, meet us right here. We'll help you every step of the way. And man, I tell you, we're talking about focusing on Jesus for a full year, every single message.
I can't wait to do that because Jesus is already changing lives here at Compass. I don't know if you've seen the light bulb wall lately.
You know, we did a light bulb wall last year. And we said, man, we baptized 456 people the year before. Could God do more? Could he give us 500?
Could we see 500 people's lives changed here at Compass? So we built this wall that said Jesus. It had 500 light bulb places, light sockets in it to put a light bulb.
And we didn't do 500. We actually had to add more lights, Christmas lights at Christmastime, green and red lights at the top.
And it became an exclamation point at the end of Jesus because we baptized 546 people. Well, friends, we, yeah, praise the Lord.
We got to the end of last year and some people got baptized right at the beginning of January and they're like, hey, don't I get to put a bulb in the light bulb wall?
And we're like, oh, well, yeah, next week. So we built the share wall, share Jesus. And share, same number of letters, different configuration, was 586 sockets for light bulbs.
And we're like, Lord, you can do even more. We believe it. So this morning when I walked in, I was just thanking the Lord.
I was like, oh, my God. I was looking at the light bulb wall and I thought I'd go over and count the ones that were left. There were only 20 sockets left.
566 people had already said yes to Jesus before we even walked in here this morning, this year. Yeah, praise the Lord, yeah.
And last service, another two went in the wall. There were only 18 left. God is already changing lives and maybe for you, today is the day.
So I'm gonna pray. We're gonna invite our prayer partners up here and we're gonna sing this song and if you're ready to make a decision, meet us right here. We'll help you every step of the way.
Father, thank you. Thank you that you love us so much that you are the greatest giver, that you gave your one and only son, that whoever believes in him won't perish but have everlasting life.
Lord, thank you for that gift and thank you that you've trusted us. Lord, sometimes we get called out and we get caught up in the things you've given us and we think they're ours and we get so arrogant about it and we hold on too tight to it.
But thanks for the reminder again today, Lord, that it all comes from you, that you're a good father who loves us and you've given us a house and a car and you've given us clothes to wear and food to eat and we are blessed.
Among all people in the world, we sit here blessed. So Lord, help us to be generous and humble and good and we're blessed. Good and faithful servants with what you've given us.
And Lord, in this very moment right now, I pray for those who have never started giving, that Lord, that they haven't given their heart to you yet.
I pray you give them the courage today, just like you did with Alexis, first service, just like you did with Dina, to step across the line of faith and say yes to you.
So do your good work right now, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, friends, let's stand together and sing. We're right here to help you every step of the way.
on Nov 10, 2024
