-
00:00:00
- 35 seconds and counting.
-
00:00:01
We are still go with Apollo 11.
-
00:00:04
30s and counting.
-
00:00:08
Astronauts report it feels good.
-
00:00:10
T-minus 25 seconds.
-
00:00:19
15 seconds.
Guidance is internal.
-
00:00:22
12, 11,10, 9.
Ignition sequence start.
-
00:00:33
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0,
and [indiscernible]
-
00:00:47
Liftoff. We have a liftoff.
-
00:01:02
Apollo 11, this is Houston.
You are go for staging.
-
00:04:28
- Hey,
and welcome to Crossroads!
-
00:04:29
I'm so excited that
you are joining us today.
-
00:04:32
We're here at our Oakley campus,
-
00:04:34
which is in Cincinnati,
Ohio, and we know
-
00:04:36
we have people joining online
-
00:04:37
from all over the world, though.
-
00:04:39
So from the States to
Brazil to the Philippines.
-
00:04:42
I'm just super glad
that you're joining us.
-
00:04:43
And I'm Hannah. - Hey, I'm Andy.
-
00:04:45
We're back for week
four of the 10X Push.
-
00:04:47
And I can't, like,
I can't believe
-
00:04:49
we're already four
weeks into this thing.
-
00:04:51
This has been a journey
as a church together.
-
00:04:53
And it's just it's
just been so good.
-
00:04:55
Hey, if you're new to
Crossroads, maybe first time.
-
00:04:57
First of all,
I just want to say welcome.
-
00:04:59
But second, this 10X
Push is just an opportunity
-
00:05:02
for us to lean in as
a church and expand
-
00:05:05
just the dream of
what it would look like
-
00:05:07
for God to 10X multiply
the Kingdom of God
-
00:05:10
in our church and
in our own lives,
-
00:05:12
and specifically, like,
we're pushing all of us
-
00:05:14
to ask the question,
do we want to grow spiritually?
-
00:05:17
Like, do we want to
go deeper with God?
-
00:05:19
Do we want to allow
Him to take us to
-
00:05:21
a new place of
impact and of influence
-
00:05:23
and power and just goodness?
-
00:05:25
It's all really,
really exciting.
-
00:05:27
So today, our lead pastor
Kyle is going to be teaching.
-
00:05:30
But before that,
we're going to start off
-
00:05:32
our time by worshiping together,
-
00:05:33
singing some songs
about God and to God.
-
00:05:36
- And during this time,
you're also
-
00:05:37
not just going to see
our singers singing,
-
00:05:39
but you're going to see
people getting baptized,
-
00:05:41
which is a water baptism
of people who just want
-
00:05:44
to express the outward
decision that they've made,
-
00:05:47
to put their personal trust
-
00:05:48
and faith in Jesus Christ,
and to choose Him
-
00:05:51
as their Lord and Savior.
-
00:05:52
And so this declaration
is something that
-
00:05:54
they're doing
outwardly for something
-
00:05:55
that they've expressed inwardly.
-
00:05:57
And it is a big deal.
-
00:05:58
Like, I don't know anyone
getting baptized today,
-
00:06:00
but I remember the last
time I baptized someone,
-
00:06:03
it was actually on a Go Trip.
-
00:06:05
And I know that was
because of faithful believers
-
00:06:07
who invested for us to
have reach out, to have Go.
-
00:06:10
And so it's going to be
exciting to see people
-
00:06:12
who get baptized
during this 10X Push
-
00:06:15
who ten years from now Go
-
00:06:17
because of
someone's faithfulness.
-
00:06:18
You know, it's exciting.
-
00:06:20
- Yeah. And what
we're going to see today
-
00:06:21
is like a reflection of
what God's been doing
-
00:06:24
in people's lives,
maybe for years
-
00:06:26
or decades before this.
-
00:06:27
So it's something huge
-
00:06:29
and totally,
totally worth celebrating.
-
00:06:31
And if you're not near one of
-
00:06:32
our physical locations
to get baptized
-
00:06:33
in person today, hey,
that doesn't exclude you.
-
00:06:36
If you're part of our
Anywhere community
-
00:06:37
meeting from the Philippines
to anywhere across the globe,
-
00:06:40
we will actually remove
every barrier possible
-
00:06:43
to help you get baptized,
including
-
00:06:44
we'll come to you
to make it happen.
-
00:06:46
It's one of our
favorite things to do.
-
00:06:48
We'll actually
travel to you so that
-
00:06:50
you can get baptized
in your own hometown.
-
00:06:53
You've got questions
about baptism,
-
00:06:55
Crossroads.net\baptism.
-
00:06:56
There's tons of info there.
-
00:06:57
Or if you want to
actually connect with us
-
00:06:59
or ask us a question,
you can email us
-
00:07:01
at anywhere@crossroads.net
and we'll help make that happen.
-
00:07:04
- And so if you have
made that decision,
-
00:07:07
it's a good time to not
just sit back and relax,
-
00:07:09
but to join into the celebration
-
00:07:11
as people are getting baptized.
-
00:07:12
Clap and cheer along
as you're watching this,
-
00:07:15
because this is a huge,
huge deal
-
00:07:17
for the decision they're making.
-
00:07:19
So before, as we go into
seeing some baptisms,
-
00:07:22
let's worship together.
-
00:10:54
- Yeah. - Woo!
-
00:19:24
- God, I'm just reminded
through the lyrics
-
00:19:28
of that song that
when I praise You
-
00:19:32
something powerful
happens that when I take
-
00:19:34
a second to not look
at the things around me,
-
00:19:37
but to look up at
Your sovereignty,
-
00:19:41
of Your holiness
and Your goodness.
-
00:19:43
God,
there's something that changes.
-
00:19:46
So would You remind me
and every single person,
-
00:19:48
God, in this room,
that You're a good God,
-
00:19:51
that You're a big God, and
You're so worthy of our praise.
-
00:19:56
We love You and we praise You.
-
00:19:58
In Your name. Amen. Come on.
-
00:20:00
Can we just give it up
for our God in this place?
-
00:20:04
Well, welcome to Crossroads.
-
00:20:06
We're so excited
that you're here.
-
00:20:07
If you're watching online,
we want to say welcome to you.
-
00:20:10
Go ahead and take a
second to turn to somebody
-
00:20:12
around you and say hello
before you take a seat.
-
00:20:22
In The Push,
we've been talking about
-
00:20:24
expanding our territory and
our kingdom impact as a church.
-
00:20:27
Now, that does not mean
that we're getting rid of
-
00:20:30
our current impact,
or dialing back things
-
00:20:32
we've been doing for decades.
-
00:20:33
That includes
Thanksgiving Food Drive,
-
00:20:35
where we hand out
tens of thousands
-
00:20:37
of Thanksgiving meals
to people who need them.
-
00:20:39
- And it's just been such a big
impact in our local communities.
-
00:20:42
Two quick stories for you
just to share what that's like.
-
00:20:45
It says: this Thanksgiving,
this meal helped feed
-
00:20:50
me and my boys after
losing my job and my brother.
-
00:20:53
I can't thank you all enough
-
00:20:54
for the impact that you
have made on my family.
-
00:20:57
The second one says:
This Thanksgiving meal box
-
00:20:59
is going to allow me
and my kids to be able
-
00:21:01
to gather around
our table together
-
00:21:02
for the first time in a while.
-
00:21:04
Due to some hardships,
being a single mom
-
00:21:07
and being back in college,
everything has been
-
00:21:09
so rough and this
box gives me hope.
-
00:21:12
So it's more than just a box,
-
00:21:13
it's giving hope out here.
-
00:21:15
TFD, Thanksgiving Food Drive,
as we call it,
-
00:21:17
is incredible.
-
00:21:18
- Yeah,
and if you're near one of
-
00:21:19
our physical sites,
you can pick up a box there.
-
00:21:21
And if you're part of our
Anywhere community,
-
00:21:23
you can do this too.
-
00:21:24
Go to the link, sign up,
-
00:21:26
and we'll actually ship
you a box and a list
-
00:21:27
and specific directions
so you can make
-
00:21:30
an impact in your
local community.
-
00:21:31
You can do that again
at crossroads.net/TFD.
-
00:21:35
Now, if you've been on
this 10X journey with us,
-
00:21:38
there's your work and your guide
-
00:21:40
that you've been going through.
-
00:21:41
There's specific experiences
that have been created
-
00:21:43
to help you 10X,
to help you create a new vision
-
00:21:46
and experience God's
vision for your life.
-
00:21:48
Those happen in the guidebook.
-
00:21:50
And this week there's
-
00:21:51
a really,
really special experience
-
00:21:52
designed called the
Making Space Experience.
-
00:21:55
It's interactive audio
and video designed
-
00:21:57
to help you take the 10X
Push from something--
-
00:21:58
- Next level.
-
00:21:59
- Yeah,
from something you know about
-
00:22:01
to something you know about,
right?
-
00:22:02
Yeah.
-
00:22:03
- Something that's
like in your head
-
00:22:05
to something that's deeper that
-
00:22:07
I'll just say this
I went through
-
00:22:09
a rough draft of
this just last week.
-
00:22:11
And I think I -- I don't know,
maybe I'm just a crier.
-
00:22:13
I think I cried three times,
like.
-
00:22:15
- It's amazing. It moves you.
-
00:22:17
- Like it spoke.
It moved me. That's right.
-
00:22:19
It's something about my identity
-
00:22:21
and something about
growing my vision for
-
00:22:24
what God believes
is possible for my life
-
00:22:26
that I might not.
-
00:22:27
So if any of that
sounds good to you,
-
00:22:29
head to the Crossroads
Anywhere App
-
00:22:32
and the Making Space
Digital experience
-
00:22:33
is in there for you.
-
00:22:34
- Earlier we've
been talking about
-
00:22:36
these territories that we have.
-
00:22:38
You know, uh,
I just forgot them.
-
00:22:40
Reach out. I got it.
Camps, reach out.
-
00:22:42
I was trying to read through
the order, digital and sites.
-
00:22:45
And today we're
talking all about sites.
-
00:22:46
So go ahead and
watch this video.
-
00:22:50
In the book of Isaiah,
God's call
-
00:22:52
to think bigger and
push for more is clear.
-
00:22:56
Enlarge the place of
your tent is an exhortation
-
00:22:59
to expand the territory
God has already given us,
-
00:23:03
the place where the favor of God
-
00:23:05
has collided again
and again with the gifts
-
00:23:07
He's put in all of us
producing supernatural results.
-
00:23:12
Over the last 28 years,
we have taken
-
00:23:14
a lot of ground for
the Kingdom of God.
-
00:23:16
But there are four
territories that God
-
00:23:18
has clearly given us where
we have seen His favor
-
00:23:21
to go farther than we could
ever have dreamed possible,
-
00:23:24
and where He is now
calling us to not hold back,
-
00:23:27
to say yes to taking
a 10X moonshot,
-
00:23:29
to seeing His Kingdom come
on earth as it is in heaven.
-
00:23:33
Our physical sites are
powerhouses for life change,
-
00:23:36
and we want to see more,
10X more.
-
00:23:40
Because when we
begin to take new territory
-
00:23:42
for sites and new cities
and invest more resources
-
00:23:45
in the immersive sites
that God is already using,
-
00:23:47
we're going to see more
people come back to life.
-
00:23:59
- As a young man,
I was aware of the church
-
00:24:01
and we were going to church,
-
00:24:03
but I really had this
relationship with God the judge.
-
00:24:05
I didn't understand grace.
-
00:24:07
I didn't understand
any of those things.
-
00:24:08
So it was really a knowledge
based relationship with God,
-
00:24:12
but not a connection
-
00:24:13
or relational based
experience with God.
-
00:24:15
In college,
they would say, "Well,
-
00:24:17
why did you choose
chemical engineering?"
-
00:24:18
And I said, "Because they
make the most money."
-
00:24:20
I actually came to
work for P&G in 1998,
-
00:24:23
and they were
the highest paying,
-
00:24:24
highest opportunity company
and that's why I came.
-
00:24:27
It was really just motivated
about financial impact.
-
00:24:30
I was trying to do all kinds
of things, side hustles.
-
00:24:33
I did -- I sold nutritional
supplements on the side
-
00:24:35
while I was working
in the day job,
-
00:24:37
because I wanted
to make more money
-
00:24:38
so that my wife could stay home.
-
00:24:40
It was actually with that
direct marketing company.
-
00:24:42
We went to a conference
and it was called
-
00:24:43
Designing Your Future.
-
00:24:44
And they had me
take an assessment
-
00:24:46
and they said where
are you at physically
-
00:24:47
on a scale of 1 to 10?
-
00:24:49
I was, like,
I'm in pretty good shape,
-
00:24:50
looking this good.
It's high up there.
-
00:24:52
Where are you at
career wise or financially?
-
00:24:54
I'm like, oh,
that's doing pretty well.
-
00:24:56
You know,
I'm at a fortune 800 company,
-
00:24:58
report to the CEO.
-
00:25:00
Um, I mean, we're
leading a large organization.
-
00:25:02
And then they said,
where are you at spiritually?
-
00:25:04
And on the scale of 1 to 10,
I put two.
-
00:25:07
And as I went through
that workshop, they said,
-
00:25:10
"Aaron, that is going to be
-
00:25:11
the rate limiter on your life."
-
00:25:13
I really took it seriously.
-
00:25:15
Like, for me,
that was a moment where I said
-
00:25:20
I have to figure this out, like,
-
00:25:22
in a business meeting
where God just came to me
-
00:25:25
and really just felt
God's presence
-
00:25:27
for the first time in my life.
-
00:25:32
And that's really who I met.
-
00:25:33
I met this person who I
have a relationship with.
-
00:25:35
Clearly, He's like with me now.
-
00:25:37
And that's just really,
I just found, like, my guide.
-
00:25:41
We came to Crossroads in 2009.
-
00:25:43
We had just moved
here from Iowa,
-
00:25:45
and we were church shopping.
-
00:25:46
And I was actually training
for an ultramarathon,
-
00:25:49
and I was out running
on the Loveland Bike Trail.
-
00:25:52
And I was listening
to the podcast
-
00:25:53
or basically downloads
of the sermon,
-
00:25:55
and I heard this crack
-
00:25:57
and it was Brian Tome
on stage drinking a beer.
-
00:26:00
And his context of like,
I'm going to be
-
00:26:02
the same guy on stage
as I am in my backyard.
-
00:26:04
Like it just really hit me
-
00:26:05
and that's who I aspire to be,
is like the same.
-
00:26:07
Like, you shouldn't
see me any different
-
00:26:09
in a boardroom or at home,
-
00:26:11
or hanging out with my friends,
-
00:26:13
like, it should be the same.
-
00:26:14
And that was the moment where,
like,
-
00:26:15
Crossroads is
where we need to be.
-
00:26:17
That, coupled with the outreach.
-
00:26:19
Having an impact
in your community
-
00:26:21
is how other people
see God's love.
-
00:26:23
We are part of the Game
Change Campaign in 2010.
-
00:26:26
It's just so happy to see
what we're doing outside,
-
00:26:28
Africa with, you know,
sex slavery.
-
00:26:30
I mean, even back then, like,
-
00:26:31
this conversation with Citylink
Center was part of that.
-
00:26:33
And I just thought, like,
-
00:26:34
this is what we're
meant to be as a church.
-
00:26:37
When I think about that, like,
-
00:26:39
I knew that I needed to be part.
-
00:26:41
And we actually
left Cincinnati during
-
00:26:43
the Game Change
Campaign because I had asked
-
00:26:45
to move to Switzerland.
-
00:26:46
But we finished our
campaign because
-
00:26:48
we wanted to see what
was going to happen,
-
00:26:50
because we knew, like,
that was just something
-
00:26:52
that we couldn't look
back 15 years later and say,
-
00:26:54
"Hey, we missed the movement."
-
00:26:56
And then we came back '16,
so the fall of 2016
-
00:26:59
and we've been part of
Crossroads ever since.
-
00:27:01
During COVID, my wife had found
-
00:27:03
this amazing property
in Germantown, Ohio.
-
00:27:05
Shortly after we made that move,
you know,
-
00:27:07
we got back involved
with the Dayton campus
-
00:27:09
because Mason was
just too far to drive.
-
00:27:11
It's fun to see that grow,
and I'm so excited
-
00:27:14
about what's happening
at Dayton right now.
-
00:27:16
2022 when we,
you know, learned about
-
00:27:18
this Dayton campaign,
and that was one that
-
00:27:19
was just on my
heart where God's like
-
00:27:21
you need to be part
of this in a big way.
-
00:27:23
And as we talked with God,
I'm like,
-
00:27:24
what does that look like?
-
00:27:26
And everything just
felt kind of, like, not right.
-
00:27:29
Until I had this
conversation with my wife
-
00:27:31
where I'm like, "Well, what
if I just work an extra year?"
-
00:27:33
Most of us always
had the conversation of,
-
00:27:36
we get to 55 and
you're going to retire.
-
00:27:39
And so you're worried
about that retirement thing.
-
00:27:42
And I'm like,
if that's one of the things
-
00:27:43
that I hold sacred, like,
I can work another year,
-
00:27:47
like, for this community.
-
00:27:49
So to think of me laboring
that last year for God,
-
00:27:52
like, that's really cool.
-
00:27:53
Like, literally this is
a continuous process.
-
00:27:55
I don't ever want to
be out of the stream.
-
00:27:57
When God brings an open door,
I want to be there.
-
00:28:00
And I've never not seen
that return come back.
-
00:28:03
You know,
I've never not seen it.
-
00:28:05
And I don't do it
as an investment.
-
00:28:07
I do it in faith.
-
00:28:08
But I also know that, like,
-
00:28:09
He's going to open up
doors for us, you know,
-
00:28:11
because we're faithful
with what He's given.
-
00:28:13
I just don't want to go bury it.
-
00:28:15
When I think about this,
The Push, right,
-
00:28:18
or it's a 10X.
-
00:28:19
What I love about it is
that we're not settling.
-
00:28:21
I'm always a person that
wants to see what's next,
-
00:28:24
and I don't ever
want to be a person
-
00:28:26
that's stopping growing,
and with Crossroads,
-
00:28:29
this is exactly what's
happening, right?
-
00:28:31
Like,
we individually need to grow,
-
00:28:32
but so does the organization.
-
00:28:34
We need to continue to
grow and push and evolve
-
00:28:36
and make the changes
required to have
-
00:28:38
the biggest impact.
-
00:28:40
And just, I mean, it's an
exciting time to be part of it.
-
00:28:44
- Yeah,
that's amazing, isn't it?
-
00:28:46
I love that story.
-
00:28:47
So many incredible
things in there.
-
00:28:50
The thing that challenges
me the most about it,
-
00:28:51
and maybe the one
that challenges you,
-
00:28:53
he says he's giving away
an entire year's salary.
-
00:28:57
Crazy, extravagant, isn't it?
-
00:28:59
And by the way, my name is
Kyle if we've never met before.
-
00:29:01
Welcome to week
four of the 10X Push.
-
00:29:04
This is our Journey
that we're on as a church,
-
00:29:07
where we feel like
God's calling us
-
00:29:08
to have a 10X impact
on the Kingdom of God
-
00:29:11
for the Kingdom of God
over these next ten years.
-
00:29:13
That was about
one of the territories
-
00:29:15
that we feel God's
calling us to invest in
-
00:29:19
called immersive sites.
-
00:29:21
Now, in that category,
there's so many things.
-
00:29:22
I'm not going to get
into them with you,
-
00:29:24
but we do feel that
God's calling us
-
00:29:26
to be in ten cities
in the next ten years.
-
00:29:28
If you want to know
more about that project
-
00:29:30
or any of the other ones,
-
00:29:31
absolutely grab the
brochure on your way out
-
00:29:34
or attend and or I should say,
-
00:29:36
attend a mission briefing,
whatever site you are,
-
00:29:38
whatever service right after
-
00:29:40
or tomorrow night
with me online.
-
00:29:42
Let's pray before we
go any further today.
-
00:29:45
God,
thank You so much for this time.
-
00:29:48
I'm asking that you
would use every second
-
00:29:50
to push us closer to You
-
00:29:52
and the life You have for us.
Amen.
-
00:29:55
This is week four of The Push.
-
00:29:57
Last week was week three,
and Brian talked about
-
00:30:00
how part of the call of
God when you follow Him
-
00:30:02
is to put everything
on the table.
-
00:30:04
He said,
God's call is to do hard things,
-
00:30:07
and the hardest thing
you'll ever do is to say,
-
00:30:09
"God, everything I have,
everything I am, is Yours."
-
00:30:13
And so Brian had a box,
and he got some things out
-
00:30:15
that represented
the things that are
-
00:30:16
most important to him and
and surrendering to God.
-
00:30:19
And I don't know if
you noticed this part,
-
00:30:21
but he put me on the table.
Did you catch that?
-
00:30:25
And his representation
was a tiny Harry Potter Lego,
-
00:30:29
not so veiled short joke.
-
00:30:32
And in the time since then,
many of you have asked me.
-
00:30:34
You've said, "Kyle,
what are you going to do
-
00:30:36
to retaliate?" [laughter]
-
00:30:39
Guys, I'm sorry to
disappoint you, but I'm not.
-
00:30:42
I'm not.
-
00:30:43
The Bible says to pray for
those who persecute you
-
00:30:47
and to love your enemies.
-
00:30:49
And also, Brian's my boss,
and I'm not an idiot,
-
00:30:52
so I'm not going to do that.
-
00:30:54
I do want to honor him
in the same way, though.
-
00:30:56
You know,
Brian is very important to me,
-
00:30:58
and you got to put the
important things on the table.
-
00:31:00
So I was just
trying to think about,
-
00:31:01
you know,
what would honor Brian?
-
00:31:02
Not make fun of him.
You know, no old jokes,
-
00:31:04
nothing like that,
want to stay away from that.
-
00:31:06
What would really honor Brian?
-
00:31:07
I was thinking
about Brian's wisdom.
-
00:31:09
You know what I mean?
He's got such incredible wisdom,
-
00:31:11
and we rely on it so much.
-
00:31:12
And so I thought
maybe just to represent
-
00:31:14
Brian's wisdom, maybe
like a Gandalf Lego figure,
-
00:31:18
you know? Maybe that's
what we should go with.
-
00:31:20
But then, maybe you see
the obvious problem, right?
-
00:31:23
It's like,
he might think it's an old joke
-
00:31:25
because the gray beard
-
00:31:26
and how Gandalf is
thousands of years old.
-
00:31:28
So I thought, that's not --
probably not the way to go.
-
00:31:31
Maybe it's not wisdom.
-
00:31:32
Maybe it's something
that represents
-
00:31:33
Brian's strength and his power.
-
00:31:35
Like a -- like a dinosaur,
right?
-
00:31:39
Yeah, you see it, right?
Again. Problem.
-
00:31:41
He might mistakenly think I
was saying he was ancient,
-
00:31:45
prehistoric even.
So that's not --
-
00:31:46
That's not going to work.
-
00:31:48
So then I thought,
you know what?
-
00:31:51
What would communicate to him
-
00:31:53
how much we all rely on him?
-
00:31:55
How I really depend on
him in my life for advice
-
00:31:57
and for wisdom,
and I know a lot of us do.
-
00:32:00
And so I thought maybe
the thing that really
-
00:32:02
just communicates
the value is Depends.
-
00:32:07
So anyway, it's been a real
honor being your Lead Pastor.
-
00:32:11
You're never going to
see me again after this.
-
00:32:13
So good luck on The Push.
-
00:32:16
Really praying for you.
Really rooting for you
-
00:32:21
In all honesty,
a number of years ago
-
00:32:23
we were in a conversation,
smaller group of us,
-
00:32:25
and we were talking
just about some of
-
00:32:27
the behind the scenes things
-
00:32:28
and stuff going on in our lives.
-
00:32:30
And in this smaller
group of people,
-
00:32:31
our CFO Season, she
turned and she looked at Brian
-
00:32:35
and she said, "You know, you are
-
00:32:36
the most generous
person I know."
-
00:32:38
It caught me off guard.
I was like, wow.
-
00:32:40
Like, I know that about Brian,
I know that.
-
00:32:44
But Season sees and knows
everything and she says that.
-
00:32:49
And I say that not so that
you'll go, "Whoa, wow."
-
00:32:54
But because you need
to know that this Journey
-
00:32:56
that we're going on,
where we're raising our hands
-
00:32:59
and we're saying, "God,
you can push me.
-
00:33:01
I want the 10X life,
-
00:33:02
and if that means You
push me financially,
-
00:33:04
if that means You
push me sacrificially,
-
00:33:06
if that means You
push me on generosity,
-
00:33:08
I'm okay with it."
It's critical that you know
-
00:33:10
this is not a thing
that we're saying,
-
00:33:12
"Hey, all of you should
really consider that."
-
00:33:14
This is the thing that
we're doing personally,
-
00:33:17
me, Brian, the leaders
at Crossroads in our lives.
-
00:33:22
Now, today, I'm going to
take the next step. Right?
-
00:33:25
Because step one is to say,
"God,
-
00:33:27
everything I have is yours.
-
00:33:29
You can have whatever you want."
-
00:33:31
But then there's the
next question, which is,
-
00:33:33
what do you want, God?
-
00:33:34
It starts at that point
to have a conversation.
-
00:33:36
And my goal today
is to help equip you
-
00:33:38
for that conversation.
-
00:33:40
Sometimes I think you
can come into a church
-
00:33:41
and especially a
financial campaign.
-
00:33:43
It's kind of a season like this
where we're asking for money,
-
00:33:46
and you might think there's
a secret, hidden agenda.
-
00:33:49
Well, one,
I hope you haven't felt that
-
00:33:51
at all in this Push.
-
00:33:52
And two,
I'm just going to tell you
-
00:33:54
exactly what my
agenda is for you today.
-
00:33:56
This is it right here.
-
00:33:57
My agenda is to help
you hear what God says
-
00:34:00
resoundingly through Scripture,
to equip you
-
00:34:03
to talk to Him specifically
about your own stuff,
-
00:34:06
in hopes that you give
Him your heart entirely.
-
00:34:11
That's the whole point of today.
-
00:34:12
How do you have that
conversation with Him?
-
00:34:15
Now I have a bet, which is that
-
00:34:16
that conversation is already
going on in your head.
-
00:34:19
If you did the put
your stuff on the --
-
00:34:21
Put all your stuff on
the table exercise,
-
00:34:23
or if you balked at it.
Same thing.
-
00:34:25
It's because you're having
this internal conversation.
-
00:34:28
The conversation
sounds something like,
-
00:34:29
"Man, I can't give away that,
-
00:34:32
or it'd be foolish
to sacrifice this,
-
00:34:36
or God, please,
please don't ask me for that."
-
00:34:40
That's the conversation
that we're having.
-
00:34:41
How do I know that?
-
00:34:42
Because that's the
one I've been having
-
00:34:44
inside of my own heart,
doing some real wrestling
-
00:34:47
over the course of this Push.
-
00:34:50
You know, when I got promoted
to lead pastor last year,
-
00:34:52
Brian gave me a raise.
-
00:34:53
That's probably not a
surprise to any of you.
-
00:34:55
When you get a
promotion at work,
-
00:34:56
you get a raise. I got a raise.
-
00:34:58
And he set me up
with a financial planner
-
00:34:59
and he said, "Hey,
I really want you to go
-
00:35:02
and just listen to this guy.
-
00:35:03
And whatever he says to do,
-
00:35:04
you should probably just do it."
-
00:35:06
And so I did,
and I went and I listened.
-
00:35:07
And the guy basically said,
"Well, you know,
-
00:35:09
you need to up your
retirement savings
-
00:35:12
if you want to be able
to retire at all someday.
-
00:35:14
If you want to send
your kids to college
-
00:35:16
and help with any of that,
you really got
-
00:35:17
to get aggressive
on college savings."
-
00:35:19
And so I did that,
took every cent of my raise,
-
00:35:21
plus some all went there.
-
00:35:24
And, um, you know,
I think about this, right?
-
00:35:26
I go, "God, what do you want?
-
00:35:28
Do you want that
stuff I just invested in?
-
00:35:30
My oldest is 14 years old.
-
00:35:32
God,
wouldn't it be stupid to put
-
00:35:35
the college savings
on the on the table?"
-
00:35:39
I think about some of
our house improvements.
-
00:35:41
You guys have heard me
talk about my house before.
-
00:35:43
We bought this fixer upper 6,
7 years ago.
-
00:35:45
I've been working on it.
-
00:35:46
Inside the first six months,
I thought
-
00:35:48
the first thing I would
do is convert the garage
-
00:35:50
into a master bedroom
for Sarah and I.
-
00:35:52
And 6, 7 years later,
it still hasn't happened.
-
00:35:55
Which means that we
share one upstairs bathroom
-
00:35:58
with all three of our kids,
-
00:35:59
two of which are
middle school boys.
-
00:36:02
If you've ever
been in a bathroom
-
00:36:04
used by two middle school boys,
oh my gosh.
-
00:36:08
It'd be cleaner if I just
drove to Base Camp
-
00:36:10
and just bathed in the cow pond,
right?
-
00:36:12
Like it's disgusting.
Like, God, surely
-
00:36:15
You wouldn't ask me for that,
would You?
-
00:36:17
And then I'm going through
-
00:36:18
the put everything
on the table exercise.
-
00:36:20
And the last thing on the list,
-
00:36:21
I think is supposed
to be a joke.
-
00:36:23
It says my actual table,
except for me,
-
00:36:26
two weekends ago,
I went shopping for wood
-
00:36:28
to build a new table
and I was like, "Really?
-
00:36:31
Put that on the table,
all of it?"
-
00:36:34
This is where I've been.
-
00:36:35
And the question
I keep coming back
-
00:36:37
to the thought in my head is,
-
00:36:38
"God,
isn't what I've already done,
-
00:36:41
isn't what I'm already doing,
isn't it good enough?"
-
00:36:44
And I wanted today to tell you
-
00:36:46
exactly what I have been doing.
-
00:36:47
I want to be very transparent,
very vulnerable with you.
-
00:36:49
That's our goal every
day at Crossroads.
-
00:36:51
But with giving, it's not
something that we're used to.
-
00:36:54
I'm actually going
to share with you
-
00:36:55
what I've been giving over
the course of my adult life.
-
00:36:59
And it's important to
hear this really clearly.
-
00:37:01
The Bible says in Matthew 6,
-
00:37:03
which is what we're
going to examine today.
-
00:37:04
That's going to be
our core Scripture.
-
00:37:06
Jesus says very
clearly in there:
-
00:37:08
don't tell people
what you're giving.
-
00:37:11
Let it be done in secret so that
-
00:37:13
you're not doing it to
get praise from people.
-
00:37:16
It's very clear
instruction in there.
-
00:37:18
I want to be very, very clear,
that's about motivation.
-
00:37:21
And my motivation,
as far as I can see,
-
00:37:23
is not to get your praise.
-
00:37:25
That is not what I'm after.
-
00:37:26
I would rather not tell
you about my giving.
-
00:37:29
Super would rather not do that.
-
00:37:30
That's not my motivation.
-
00:37:31
See, on the other
side of that though,
-
00:37:33
the Bible also gives many,
many, many examples
-
00:37:36
of very specific giving,
usually from leaders.
-
00:37:40
Five times in his writing,
Paul actually says,
-
00:37:42
"Follow me as I follow Christ."
-
00:37:44
There's something for me,
I go, you know,
-
00:37:46
I think it'd be a pretty
crappy lead pastor
-
00:37:48
if I was talking to
you about giving,
-
00:37:49
and I wasn't
willing to talk to you
-
00:37:51
about where I've been,
where I am, and where I'm going.
-
00:37:53
Because it relates to
this feeling that I have
-
00:37:55
that I'm willing to
bet you have too of,
-
00:37:57
God,
isn't what I've already done,
-
00:37:59
isn't what I'm
doing good enough?
-
00:38:03
Sarah and I got married
about 19 years, 18 years ago.
-
00:38:06
And when we got married,
Sarah came with two things:
-
00:38:09
a cat and a campaign commitment.
Crazy campaign.
-
00:38:13
Now,
praise God I got rid of the cat
-
00:38:15
without spending any money.
-
00:38:16
Praise Him. Man it's beautiful.
-
00:38:18
Second thing, though,
we had to pay off
-
00:38:21
thousands of dollars,
that campaign commitment.
-
00:38:24
We also started
tithing together,
-
00:38:25
giving away 10%
of our gross income
-
00:38:27
every single month at the
very beginning of our marriage.
-
00:38:30
About four years
into our marriage,
-
00:38:32
Crossroads did the
Game Change Campaign.
-
00:38:34
At that point,
my salary was $48,000
-
00:38:37
and God called us
to give away $12,000.
-
00:38:40
That felt crazy. Insane.
-
00:38:43
It was like,
how are we going to eat food?
-
00:38:45
How is this going to work?
-
00:38:46
In the midst of paying that off,
-
00:38:47
we actually had
to sell our house,
-
00:38:49
downsize by $100,000
our mortgage to be able
-
00:38:52
to continue to give our tithe
-
00:38:55
and to give above
and beyond our tithe.
-
00:38:58
Just for five years after that,
2015,
-
00:39:00
the I'm In Campaign
came up and we felt
-
00:39:02
God called us to
give $50,000 to that.
-
00:39:05
That was half of our complete
-
00:39:07
total household
income at the time.
-
00:39:10
Since then,
we've continued to give
-
00:39:12
above and beyond the tithe.
-
00:39:13
We've done that for
about the last 15 years
-
00:39:15
as a regular thing.
-
00:39:16
We give more than
10% of our income away.
-
00:39:18
Two years ago,
we gave a chunk of money
-
00:39:20
to the Dayton Building campaign.
-
00:39:22
Last year, we gave five
figures to a campaign
-
00:39:24
at a church that a
friend of mine leads.
-
00:39:27
I just say all this to go, like,
-
00:39:28
this feeling that I have is,
God, isn't that enough?
-
00:39:33
And as you hear that,
I don't know what you think.
-
00:39:35
I don't know what
you think about that.
-
00:39:37
Maybe you give more,
maybe you give less.
-
00:39:39
Maybe you give.
It doesn't matter.
-
00:39:40
The point is,
no matter what you do right now,
-
00:39:43
there is a voice that's
telling you the same thing:
-
00:39:45
Isn't it good enough?
Isn't it good enough?
-
00:39:49
Step back from my life and I go,
you know
-
00:39:51
the reason that I'm
behind on college savings,
-
00:39:52
I gave all that money away.
-
00:39:55
You're sitting on my
kids college savings.
-
00:39:58
Literally.
-
00:39:59
In 2015, the average
price of a seat at a new site
-
00:40:03
was $10,000 per seat.
We bought five of them.
-
00:40:06
You're sitting on it. God,
isn't it? Isn't it good enough?
-
00:40:10
Isn't it good enough?
-
00:40:11
Now we're all hearing that
same voice for a reason.
-
00:40:15
It's because when we
start looking at our money,
-
00:40:18
when we invite God to
have a conversation with us,
-
00:40:21
another voice butts in
and wants to talk too.
-
00:40:24
See, there are two voices
who want to talk to you
-
00:40:27
about your money. Two voices.
-
00:40:30
They're in direct opposition
-
00:40:31
and there can be one winner.
No ties.
-
00:40:35
Well, winner of what?
Not a winner of your money,
-
00:40:38
but of your heart.
-
00:40:41
So which one wins it?
-
00:40:43
Well, according to Jesus,
-
00:40:45
it's the one that
has your treasure.
-
00:40:47
This is what He
says in Matthew 6.
-
00:40:49
Now, I mentioned
this verse very quickly
-
00:40:51
in week one of The Push,
but we're going to
-
00:40:52
dig into it today. Matthew 6.
-
00:40:55
This is where Jesus
does the Lord's Prayer.
-
00:40:56
This is one of the central
verses we're looking at.
-
00:40:58
This idea of of heaven
coming on earth,
-
00:41:01
that there could be 10X
better than what we thought.
-
00:41:03
It's baked inside
of the Lord's Prayer.
-
00:41:05
But if you look
at the context of
-
00:41:07
the Lord's Prayer,
it's actually giving in money.
-
00:41:09
Here's a chart, just a color
coded chart of Matthew 6.
-
00:41:13
It's basically got
three different sections
-
00:41:15
and two subjects.
-
00:41:16
At the top the very first
section is about giving
-
00:41:19
and money right out of the gate,
-
00:41:20
then how to have a
conversation with God,
-
00:41:22
and then more stuff
about giving and money.
-
00:41:25
And today I want to
focus in on the first part
-
00:41:28
of that second section
where Jesus talks about
-
00:41:31
giving and talks about money.
-
00:41:34
He starts this way.
Matthew 6:19, He says:
-
00:41:56
He says, will be,
not might be, not could be,
-
00:41:58
not probably is.
He says will be.
-
00:42:00
And He says there's
only two choices
-
00:42:02
of where to put your treasure:
It's on earth or it's in heaven.
-
00:42:05
Two choices of
where to place it.
-
00:42:07
See where you
place your treasure
-
00:42:09
determines who has your heart.
-
00:42:12
And then,
right after these two choices,
-
00:42:14
He starts talking
about two visions.
-
00:42:15
Very next verse He says:
-
00:42:21
-- what you see,
what your vision is --
-
00:42:28
Talks about two visions. Why?
-
00:42:30
Because whoever has
your heart sets your vision.
-
00:42:34
Those two visions, good and bad,
-
00:42:35
if you go to the
original language,
-
00:42:37
it dials it in a
little more clearly.
-
00:42:38
Good means singularly focused,
as in on His kingdom.
-
00:42:43
He says a little bit later,
-
00:42:44
Seek first the kingdom of God,
-
00:42:46
and everything else
will be added to you.
-
00:42:48
It's that kind of vision.
-
00:42:49
And bad means a bunch of chaos,
full of labors
-
00:42:53
and hardships and annoyances,
-
00:42:55
in other words,
focused on the worries of today.
-
00:42:57
The things that say, you know,
-
00:42:59
I could never give
that away because
-
00:43:00
I've got to deal with
all of these things.
-
00:43:02
That's what bad means.
-
00:43:04
And He concludes it this way:
-
00:43:21
He says whoever
sets your vision,
-
00:43:23
that's your true master.
-
00:43:24
Two choices: God and mammon,
-
00:43:27
which means you can
actually shorten all of this
-
00:43:29
to just one sentence.
-
00:43:31
This one right here,
right here, right here.
-
00:43:37
Wait. No.
Okay, whatever didn't work.
-
00:43:41
There it is. Okay, good.
-
00:43:44
Whoever you listen
to about your treasure
-
00:43:47
is your true God.
-
00:43:48
That's basically
what He's saying.
-
00:43:50
And that might
sound extreme to you.
-
00:43:52
That might sound kind of crazy.
-
00:43:53
You're like, "Really?
I thought --
-
00:43:55
I thought mammon meant money,
-
00:43:57
because a lot of
Bible translations
-
00:43:58
this is how it's translated.
-
00:44:00
It doesn't say mammon,
it says money or wealth,
-
00:44:03
but that's not the word.
Why do I think that?
-
00:44:05
Because Jesus spoke
the common language
-
00:44:08
and the common language
of the day, Aramaic,
-
00:44:10
there was lots of
words for money,
-
00:44:12
just like we have dollars,
bucks, cash, coin, whatever.
-
00:44:15
They have the same exact thing.
-
00:44:16
Jesus could have
chosen any of those words,
-
00:44:18
but He didn't. Instead,
He chose this word mammon.
-
00:44:22
Second reason I think that
is because money is neutral.
-
00:44:25
20 bucks in your pocket,
it doesn't have an agenda.
-
00:44:28
It's just 20 bucks.
-
00:44:29
You can do
something with it or not.
-
00:44:31
But when Jesus
talks about mammon,
-
00:44:33
very clearly He says this
thing wants to be your master.
-
00:44:37
That means it has
an agenda for your life.
-
00:44:39
It wants to direct you
and it wants to steer you.
-
00:44:41
In fact, the word mammon,
it means
-
00:44:44
that in which one trusts.
-
00:44:47
Mammon says, "You can trust me.
I'll take care of you.
-
00:44:50
I'll tell you what to
do with your money.
-
00:44:51
If you trust me,
I'll give you all the things
-
00:44:53
that God says He can give you.
He really can't.
-
00:44:56
He's too dangerous,
but but I can.
-
00:44:58
You can trust me."
-
00:44:59
That's why I say
mammon is a false god.
-
00:45:02
In fact, if you Google mammon,
-
00:45:04
this is the image
search that will come up.
-
00:45:06
This is exactly what you'll see.
-
00:45:08
It's a false god. It's an idol.
-
00:45:12
False gods just
whatever promises things
-
00:45:14
that only God can deliver.
That's what it does.
-
00:45:16
It promises you security.
-
00:45:18
Have you ever heard
this spoken in your mind,
-
00:45:21
"Man, if I just had X dollars
set aside, then I'd be safe.
-
00:45:26
Then I'd be set,
then I'd be secure"?
-
00:45:29
Promises to you, identity.
-
00:45:30
Man, if I just had a house
in that neighborhood,
-
00:45:32
if I could just afford that car.
-
00:45:33
Just make a little
bit more money,
-
00:45:35
just save a little
bit more money,
-
00:45:36
then I'd be something.
I'd be a success.
-
00:45:40
Promises you happiness.
-
00:45:42
Man, our marriage right now,
-
00:45:43
a lot of our fights
are about money.
-
00:45:44
If we just had a
little bit more money,
-
00:45:46
then we would be happy.
-
00:45:48
If that's what you've
heard or believed,
-
00:45:52
I just want to gently
suggest to you
-
00:45:54
maybe you haven't
heard the voice of God,
-
00:45:57
maybe you've heard
the voice of the false god,
-
00:46:00
mammon is after your trust.
-
00:46:02
This, by the way, this is,
like me and Brian
-
00:46:05
will never tell
you what to give.
-
00:46:07
You're not going
to hear us do that.
-
00:46:08
We're not going to
give you a number.
-
00:46:10
That does happen
in some churches.
-
00:46:11
That's not what
we're doing because
-
00:46:13
you're not needing
to hear from us.
-
00:46:14
You're needing to hear from God.
-
00:46:16
We're not your God.
I don't know your heart.
-
00:46:18
I don't know what's in there.
God does.
-
00:46:22
Goal today is to help you
have a conversation with Him,
-
00:46:24
to hear from Him.
-
00:46:26
Now, the number one
way to listen to God
-
00:46:28
is to examine what He
has already resoundingly
-
00:46:31
and clearly said in Scripture.
-
00:46:33
If, when it comes to giving,
you're waiting on God
-
00:46:36
to tell you something
other than what He's said
-
00:46:38
or to tell you you're
the exception,
-
00:46:40
it's not going to happen.
It's not.
-
00:46:43
Read a verse later
on where God says,
-
00:46:45
"I do not change."
-
00:46:47
Whatever is written
is what's still in place.
-
00:46:50
And so what does
God say about giving?
-
00:46:53
Well, I think there's
actually some levels
-
00:46:54
of giving that He outlines,
-
00:46:56
a biblical chart of giving,
so to speak.
-
00:46:58
The first level I'll
call common giving.
-
00:47:00
It's not the word that
the Bible uses exactly,
-
00:47:03
but it's my kind of summation of
-
00:47:05
what the Bible describes
as common giving.
-
00:47:07
Stuff that's normal,
-
00:47:08
stuff that most every
single person does.
-
00:47:10
You know, 20 bucks here,
a percent or two
-
00:47:12
of your income there,
a generous tip or whatever.
-
00:47:15
It's common giving.
-
00:47:17
But what does God say about it?
-
00:47:18
He says this,
Hebrews 13:16, God says:
-
00:47:21
Do not forget to do good
and to share with others,
-
00:47:24
for with such sacrifices
God is pleased.
-
00:47:27
So if you practice
common giving, good news,
-
00:47:31
God says, great, that's awesome.
-
00:47:33
But He also would
say clearly to you,
-
00:47:34
that's awesome. While I like it,
-
00:47:36
I just want you to know
it has nothing to do
-
00:47:38
with God having your heart. Why?
-
00:47:41
Well, because that
kind of giving is giving
-
00:47:43
when you do it,
when you feel like it,
-
00:47:44
it's usually emotionally driven,
-
00:47:46
sometimes by guilt,
sometimes by happiness,
-
00:47:47
whatever it is.
But when you feel like it.
-
00:47:49
It doesn't require any
level of faith because
-
00:47:51
it doesn't actually
impact your bottom line.
-
00:47:53
It's because you're
giving out of your excess
-
00:47:55
or another way of saying,
your last.
-
00:47:58
The beginning of
giving God your heart
-
00:48:00
is when you give Him your first.
-
00:48:02
You know,
God actually says in the Bible
-
00:48:03
that the first of
everything is His.
-
00:48:07
Here's one example in Exodus 13:
-
00:48:16
And mine is emphatic.
-
00:48:18
In the original language it
is absolute soul ownership.
-
00:48:22
In fact,
God says His claim on the first
-
00:48:25
is so strong that you
could accurately say
-
00:48:27
God cannot be second.
-
00:48:29
You might go, "What?
He can't be second?
-
00:48:32
Can't God do anything?"
No, He can't.
-
00:48:36
Another example God
says He is love in the Bible,
-
00:48:40
which means God
cannot be unloving.
-
00:48:42
Same thing,
God says He is first,
-
00:48:44
therefore He cannot be second,
-
00:48:46
and He can't be tied for first
-
00:48:48
because that's
not sole ownership.
-
00:48:51
God and Ricky Bobby agree,
-
00:48:53
if you ain't first, you're last.
Same thing.
-
00:48:56
That's basically
what Jesus is saying
-
00:48:58
when He says you can't
serve God and mammon.
-
00:49:01
God wants your first.
-
00:49:03
Well, how much is your first?
-
00:49:05
This is an answer that becomes
-
00:49:07
resoundingly clear in Scripture.
-
00:49:08
The first time we
see it is Genesis 14,
-
00:49:10
where the father of faith,
Abraham,
-
00:49:12
goes to the priest Melchizedek,
-
00:49:14
and he gives him 10%
off the top of everything.
-
00:49:18
It's a principle that comes
to be known as tithing,
-
00:49:20
returning the first 10%
of all of your income,
-
00:49:24
all of your increase to God.
-
00:49:25
Tithing is giving
Him your first.
-
00:49:27
And I know there are
people who will say,
-
00:49:29
you know, that's part of
the Old Testament law.
-
00:49:31
And so, good news,
no longer applies.
-
00:49:33
We don't have to do
that because Jesus came
-
00:49:34
and He fulfilled the law.
-
00:49:36
It's like eating bacon
or getting tattoos,
-
00:49:39
you know, we can do that
stuff now. It's awesome.
-
00:49:41
You can eat tattooed
bacon if you want to. Great.
-
00:49:45
It's a wonderful sentiment
and I wish it were true,
-
00:49:48
but it's very clearly not. Why?
-
00:49:52
Because tithing is in the law,
-
00:49:54
but it's not only in the law.
-
00:49:56
It supersedes it.
It's before and it's after.
-
00:50:00
It's one of God's ordinances.
-
00:50:02
An ordinance is a principle
of ordinary behavior
-
00:50:06
for people who follow God.
-
00:50:07
Not murdering is another one.
-
00:50:09
Yes, it's in the law,
-
00:50:10
right smack dab in the
Ten Commandments:
-
00:50:12
Do not murder.
-
00:50:13
But way before the law,
principle of ordinary behavior,
-
00:50:16
Cain and Abel,
God says really clearly,
-
00:50:19
"I don't want you
to kill other people."
-
00:50:21
And it's reinforced.
-
00:50:23
This is tithing,
way before the law.
-
00:50:26
That scene where Abraham
gives 10% to Melchizedek,
-
00:50:28
that happens 430
years before the law.
-
00:50:33
And way after Jesus
affirms the tithe.
-
00:50:35
Matthew 23:23 He says:
-
00:50:41
In other words,
you're going like, "Yeah,
-
00:50:43
you give all your money.
-
00:50:44
But even every time
someone gives you
-
00:50:45
a little bit of a spice which
has value in their day,
-
00:50:47
you take 10% of that,
weigh it out and give it to God.
-
00:50:50
You've done that."
-
00:51:01
In other words, he goes,
-
00:51:02
"You should have
been doing all of it."
-
00:51:03
This is where I'd
say if you want to take
-
00:51:05
the attitude and the approach
-
00:51:07
that you're a New
Testament person.
-
00:51:09
Awesome, I am too.
-
00:51:11
You should just read
the words of Jesus
-
00:51:12
in the New Testament,
because again and again
-
00:51:14
and again,
He does what He does here.
-
00:51:16
He doesn't lower the bar,
He raises the bar.
-
00:51:19
He goes, "You've heard it said,
love your neighbor.
-
00:51:22
Well, I say, love your enemy.
-
00:51:23
You've heard it said,
do not murder.
-
00:51:25
Well, I say,
don't even get angry
-
00:51:26
with somebody
inside of your heart."
-
00:51:29
That's what Jesus does.
He raises the bar.
-
00:51:32
Okay, but why would you
give 10% to your church?
-
00:51:35
This is a great question
that we need to examine,
-
00:51:37
need to ask and see
what Scripture says.
-
00:51:39
Why give 10% to your church?
-
00:51:41
Why not give 10% to
whatever select nonprofits
-
00:51:44
that you want to do?
It's a great question.
-
00:51:47
The answer would be, first,
-
00:51:48
God's clear instructions
over and over again
-
00:51:50
in Scripture are to communally,
-
00:51:52
for His people to
communally pool our resources
-
00:51:55
and entrust them
to spiritual leaders
-
00:51:58
who are held to account
again and again and again.
-
00:52:02
Exodus 23 God says:
-
00:52:09
We see this in
the Old Testament.
-
00:52:10
Tithes were brought
in to the temple
-
00:52:12
and given to the Levites,
entrusted to them.
-
00:52:14
In the New
Testament we see this.
-
00:52:16
All the offerings,
all the tithes,
-
00:52:18
are brought to the apostles
and laid at their feet,
-
00:52:20
entrusted to them who
are held to account.
-
00:52:22
And then secondly,
I'll just say this,
-
00:52:23
even if that weren't true.
-
00:52:24
On a really practical level,
-
00:52:26
when you give to
a healthy church,
-
00:52:29
it's like giving to a very
carefully managed mutual fund.
-
00:52:33
See, we take wise stewardship
incredibly seriously,
-
00:52:36
incredibly seriously.
-
00:52:37
And I would just gently
propose to you that
-
00:52:39
you have a really hard
time matching our rigor
-
00:52:42
and therefore our return.
-
00:52:44
And yes, we do pay
attention to our return.
-
00:52:46
Jesus again and
again in the Bible,
-
00:52:48
a lot of His parables
about money
-
00:52:50
are about a return that
He wants from our lives.
-
00:52:53
And so we look at this stuff.
-
00:52:55
One example is baptisms.
-
00:52:56
By the way,
if you got baptized today,
-
00:52:58
congratulations!
-
00:52:59
We had baptisms
at all of our sites.
-
00:53:02
Absolutely amazing.
-
00:53:04
The number I saw was 197 people
-
00:53:07
are going to be baptized
just this weekend.
-
00:53:10
197, crazy!
-
00:53:13
Now what's even more
mind blowing to me
-
00:53:16
is that for the year,
if you add those 197
-
00:53:18
to what have been
baptized since January 1st,
-
00:53:20
we're at 2002 baptisms
for the year, in ten months.
-
00:53:25
That's that's more in ten months
-
00:53:28
than we've ever
had in 12 months.
-
00:53:30
But that's not return.
That's not return.
-
00:53:34
What do we spend on that?
-
00:53:36
Well, let me tell you
before I tell you that,
-
00:53:38
let me say that the
average cost per baptism
-
00:53:39
according to the
Center of Christianity,
-
00:53:42
global study is $1.5 million.
-
00:53:45
That's the average return.
-
00:53:47
In other words,
all the money a church spends
-
00:53:49
divided by the number of
people they see baptized,
-
00:53:51
it's $1.5 million.
Well, what's our return?
-
00:53:55
We've got to start with
what we spent. Right?
-
00:53:57
January 1st to October
30th we've spent
-
00:54:00
$65,383,401.78.
-
00:54:05
If you divide that by 2002,
-
00:54:07
that's $32,659.04 per baptism,
-
00:54:11
which is a 45.9x better
return than the average.
-
00:54:17
See, Jesus said aim for 30,
aim for 60, aim for 100x.
-
00:54:22
Well good news, I hope,
-
00:54:24
your church currently sits
right between 30 and 60
-
00:54:27
and we'd like to take
that number higher.
-
00:54:30
We measure this stuff.
We're transparent.
-
00:54:34
And listen, please,
please hear -- Hear me.
-
00:54:37
Hear my heart on this.
-
00:54:38
If you hear all that
and you're sitting
-
00:54:41
and you're going,
"Man, I just --
-
00:54:43
I just don't trust you.
I just don't believe it."
-
00:54:47
Okay.
That bums me out personally,
-
00:54:50
but can I give you some advice?
-
00:54:51
I want God's best for you.
-
00:54:53
If you don't trust us. Okay.
-
00:54:56
Go find a church you do trust.
-
00:54:58
And wherever it is,
bring your tithe there.
-
00:55:01
I want you to have God's best.
-
00:55:03
If that means leaving,
that's okay.
-
00:55:05
Get His best for you,
and that means
-
00:55:07
giving Him your first.
-
00:55:09
He hasn't changed on it.
-
00:55:11
He said this really
specifically, by the way,
-
00:55:13
right before He
talked about tithing.
-
00:55:14
Malachi 3:6h,
one of the classic places
-
00:55:17
where He really zeroes
in on tithing. He says:
-
00:55:40
God's response.
-
00:55:55
And then the
mind blowing part is
-
00:55:57
this is God's next line.
-
00:56:09
This is the part
in the Bible I read,
-
00:56:10
I'm like, "God, you're such
a better parent than me."
-
00:56:13
When I find out my kids
are doing stuff I don't want,
-
00:56:16
I don't walk up to them and go,
"Honey,
-
00:56:19
test me in this.
-
00:56:21
See if I will not throw
open the floodgates
-
00:56:23
of the Ranson bank
accounts and --" No.
-
00:56:26
I'm like,
"Get in line or you've lost
-
00:56:28
TV for the rest of your life."
You know?
-
00:56:31
That's not God.
God's a positive reward parent.
-
00:56:34
I want you to hear that clearly.
-
00:56:36
I'm not after
condemnation for you.
-
00:56:38
Wherever you
are in your journey,
-
00:56:40
I'm not after
condemnation for you.
-
00:56:41
I don't think God is either.
-
00:56:42
It's not condemnation,
it's an invitation.
-
00:56:44
God says, "Would you step in?
-
00:56:45
Because if you will,
if you'll give Me your first,
-
00:56:47
you're going to get My best."
-
00:56:50
It's giving Him your first,
-
00:56:51
putting Him first in your heart.
-
00:56:53
I started tithing 20 years ago.
-
00:56:55
I was 23 years old.
I was living with my parents.
-
00:56:57
Not excited about that,
by the way.
-
00:56:59
And tithing meant
that I had to continue
-
00:57:01
to live with my parents.
-
00:57:02
It was not an easy decision,
but it was very simple.
-
00:57:06
I just decided I wanted
God to be first in my heart.
-
00:57:11
But that tithing stuff,
that first,
-
00:57:12
that's just a starting
spot for biblical giving.
-
00:57:15
There's actually layers
and levels beyond tithes.
-
00:57:18
In Malachi we
got a clue to that.
-
00:57:20
Malachi talked about tithes,
plural.
-
00:57:21
Because every single
time you get paid,
-
00:57:24
you give the first 10%
of that back to God.
-
00:57:27
He said tithes, plural,
-
00:57:28
but he also talked
about offerings, plural.
-
00:57:31
And there's two
levels to offering.
-
00:57:32
The first level is what I
do with what's my own.
-
00:57:36
See, it's actually
most biblically accurate
-
00:57:38
to say that true generosity
starts above the tithe.
-
00:57:43
Why? Well,
because God said the tithe,
-
00:57:45
the 10% is His and you
can't give what's not yours,
-
00:57:49
you can return it.
-
00:57:50
Actually, the Bible never,
ever says give your tithe.
-
00:57:53
Always it says
return the tithe to God.
-
00:57:57
See, generosity starts
with what I do with my 90%,
-
00:58:00
what I do with my own.
-
00:58:02
We see so many examples
of this throughout the Bible.
-
00:58:04
One of the ones that I
think is most powerful
-
00:58:06
has to do with the
ministry of Jesus.
-
00:58:08
I don't know if you
think about this,
-
00:58:09
but He had a cost of business,
-
00:58:12
going around, going to towns.
-
00:58:14
There was lodging,
there was food.
-
00:58:15
I'm sure somebody's
sandals broke.
-
00:58:16
Peter's probably
broke all the time,
-
00:58:18
had to buy him new sandals.
-
00:58:19
There was a cost to it.
-
00:58:21
And so somebody had to fund it.
-
00:58:23
We hear who and how in Luke 8.
It says:
-
00:58:46
These are good Jewish women.
-
00:58:48
Their tithe had been entrusted
-
00:58:50
to the Levites in the temple.
-
00:58:52
That was already gone.
-
00:58:53
Out of their own means,
meaning out of their 90%.
-
00:58:56
Sarah and I have been doing this
-
00:58:58
for about the last
15 years or so,
-
00:58:59
and I'll tell you, to be honest,
-
00:59:01
we've never heard God say,
"You know,
-
00:59:03
I'd like a couple more percent."
Never heard that.
-
00:59:05
It's just out of a heart
of gratitude for God
-
00:59:08
we said, "God,
we want to be generous.
-
00:59:10
You've been so generous to us.
-
00:59:11
And so we don't want
to stop at the tithe.
-
00:59:13
We want to reflect
on a continual,
-
00:59:15
constant day in, day out,
week in, week out,
-
00:59:18
month in, month out basis
-
00:59:19
Your heart of
generosity back to You."
-
00:59:22
That's an offering.
-
00:59:23
But there's actually a
level above offerings
-
00:59:26
called extravagant offerings.
-
00:59:28
This is not just when
you give God your first
-
00:59:31
or give God out of your own.
-
00:59:33
This is when you
give God your all.
-
00:59:35
And I think this is the
point where that voice
-
00:59:37
for many of us starts to speak.
-
00:59:39
Isn't what you've already done,
-
00:59:41
isn't what you're doing,
isn't it good enough?
-
00:59:44
And in response,
I'd say, you know,
-
00:59:45
there are some things in life
-
00:59:47
where good enough
is good enough.
-
00:59:49
One putts inside of five feet.
-
00:59:51
Can we just make
it a rule in golf,
-
00:59:54
"Good enough, man.
Pick up your ball.
-
00:59:56
It's not the Masters.
-
00:59:57
I want you to keep moving,
-
00:59:58
especially if you're
in front of me.
-
00:59:59
Just it's good.
I'll call it from the tee box.
-
01:00:01
Pick it up. You're fine."
-
01:00:03
Putts in five inside of five
feet, that's good enough.
-
01:00:05
Middle names.
If you're a young parent
-
01:00:07
and you're stressing
out over picking
-
01:00:09
a middle name for your kid,
do not.
-
01:00:10
You'll never use it.
-
01:00:11
Just pick one,
you know, randomly
-
01:00:14
and just go move on with
your life, good enough.
-
01:00:17
There's also some spots in life
-
01:00:18
where good enough
is not good enough.
-
01:00:21
Skydiving, for instance.
-
01:00:24
Not really good enough
is good enough place.
-
01:00:27
Vasectomies. Okay, not --
-
01:00:29
Not really looking for a good
enough vasectomy, right?
-
01:00:32
And giving God
all of your heart.
-
01:00:36
There's not a good enough
is good enough here.
-
01:00:37
It's either all or it's not all.
-
01:00:40
That's why the herd
thins at this level.
-
01:00:43
Many people never make it.
-
01:00:45
I'm actually becoming
convinced that
-
01:00:46
the god of mammon,
He has a religion,
-
01:00:48
and it's called the
Cult of Good Enough.
-
01:00:50
And there's a temple
he's built on this line
-
01:00:53
trying to distract you
and pull you away
-
01:00:55
and pull you in and
get you to stop listening
-
01:00:57
to God, go no farther
and to start listening to him.
-
01:01:00
But the question you got
to answer at this line is,
-
01:01:03
do you want to give
God your good enough?
-
01:01:05
Or do you want to give
God all of your heart?
-
01:01:09
Which is to say,
an extravagant offering.
-
01:01:11
Now I find, kind of bizarrely,
-
01:01:13
since we serve a
God of extravagance
-
01:01:15
that many Christians, we have
a problem with extravagance.
-
01:01:17
We don't like extravagance.
-
01:01:18
We hear this all the
time at Crossroads.
-
01:01:20
People complain about stuff.
-
01:01:21
Some of the projects
you might respond to
-
01:01:23
and you go,
"Isn't that extravagant?
-
01:01:25
Isn't what we already have,
-
01:01:27
isn't what we're already
doing good enough?"
-
01:01:30
We don't like extravagance.
-
01:01:31
There was a story
reminds me of this.
-
01:01:33
One of the most
interesting stories,
-
01:01:35
I think, in the entire Bible.
-
01:01:36
It takes place
exactly seven days
-
01:01:38
before Jesus was crucified.
-
01:01:40
A woman comes up to
Jesus with a jar of ointment
-
01:01:44
or perfume worth a year's wages.
-
01:01:46
And she does the weirdest thing.
-
01:01:48
She opens the top and
she dumps it all over his feet.
-
01:01:52
Super odd. Here's a story,
John 12. It says:
-
01:02:07
That's the jar.
-
01:02:17
Right after that happens, Judas.
-
01:02:18
Yes, that Judas,
he just lashes out.
-
01:02:21
He goes, "Oh, what a waste.
What an extravagance!
-
01:02:25
This could have been
sold and given to the poor."
-
01:02:29
Then the writer John, he goes.
-
01:02:30
By the way,
Judas didn't say that because
-
01:02:32
he was like,
really concerned about the poor.
-
01:02:34
He actually held
the offering box,
-
01:02:35
and he used to take
out of the money
-
01:02:37
that was put in there.
-
01:02:38
He used to steal
from the offering box.
-
01:02:40
That's why he wanted
the money in there.
-
01:02:42
But that quote we
hear all the time
-
01:02:43
around Crossroads,
heard that quote so many times.
-
01:02:46
Why the extravagance?
Why the waste?
-
01:02:48
It's the first thing I ever said
when I walked into Crossroads.
-
01:02:50
I walked in and there
was $10,000 plasma TVs.
-
01:02:53
This is back in
the day where TVs
-
01:02:54
were still like nine feet deep.
You know what I mean?
-
01:02:57
It was these massive TVs.
-
01:02:58
And it was flat screens
had just come out
-
01:03:00
and they had these plasma TVs,
$10,000 a pop.
-
01:03:02
There were six of them.
I counted.
-
01:03:03
And I walked in and
I looked and I said,
-
01:03:05
"What a waste."
-
01:03:07
I didn't know I
was quoting Judas.
-
01:03:11
Then I walked in the room
and there was equipment
-
01:03:13
far more expensive than that,
-
01:03:16
but all of it wove together
-
01:03:17
to capture my attention,
to grab my heart
-
01:03:20
and to communicate
the message of Jesus
-
01:03:21
in a language I could finally,
-
01:03:23
for the first time, understand.
-
01:03:25
Yes. It's extravagant.
There's a reason.
-
01:03:29
What was Mary's reason
for the extravagance?
-
01:03:31
Why would Mary give such
an extravagant offering?
-
01:03:34
Well, it's because exactly
two months before this,
-
01:03:37
her brother Lazarus had died.
-
01:03:40
Jesus was away.
He was out of town.
-
01:03:41
They were really
good friends with Jesus.
-
01:03:43
But He was gone. Lazarus dies.
-
01:03:44
And Jesus starts
walking back into town,
-
01:03:47
and Mary sees Him,
and she runs to Jesus,
-
01:03:49
and she falls down at His feet
-
01:03:51
and she just starts to weep.
-
01:03:52
Scripture says she
just sheds tears of joy,
-
01:03:54
like, all over His feet.
-
01:03:57
And then Jesus does
the craziest thing.
-
01:03:59
He walks to the tomb
where Lazarus is,
-
01:04:01
and He says,
"Lazarus, come out."
-
01:04:04
And Lazarus comes back to life.
-
01:04:07
He raised her
brother from the dead.
-
01:04:09
And so two months later,
I think she does
-
01:04:11
the most natural,
understandable thing.
-
01:04:13
Next time she sees Jesus,
-
01:04:14
she takes that jar of oil,
which I think,
-
01:04:17
by the way, she bought
to embalm her brother with.
-
01:04:20
It would have been an
embalming type of fluid.
-
01:04:22
She cracks the lid off,
and she's in
-
01:04:24
the same posture that she
shed the tears on His feet.
-
01:04:26
She pours it all over and
she wipes it with her hair.
-
01:04:28
She says, "God,
I want you to know
-
01:04:31
you have all of my heart."
-
01:04:33
And I'm telling you,
in that moment
-
01:04:34
Jesus knew with
absolute certainty
-
01:04:37
that's exactly what He had,
her all.
-
01:04:41
See is it extravagant? Yes.
-
01:04:44
But it's not difficult
to understand.
-
01:04:47
What would you
do if someone raised
-
01:04:50
one of your loved
ones from the dead?
-
01:04:52
What would you give a God
who raised you from the dead?
-
01:04:58
Let me just remind you,
Ephesians 2:1 says:
-
01:05:06
He made you alive. How?
-
01:05:08
By giving His first
His own and His all.
-
01:05:12
He gave His firstborn
son over all creation.
-
01:05:15
That's the Scripture
says about Jesus.
-
01:05:17
He's the first.
-
01:05:18
His own son,
not somebody else's son,
-
01:05:20
and His only son,
that means all.
-
01:05:22
He gave you His first,
His own and His all.
-
01:05:26
What do you do to a
God who does that?
-
01:05:28
How do you respond?
-
01:05:30
I've just been in the last week
-
01:05:31
I've been just stepping back
-
01:05:32
and just coming back
to the spot and going,
-
01:05:34
"Oh God, man, I'm sorry.
-
01:05:38
I haven't been
thinking straight.
-
01:05:40
I haven't been remembering
the life You've given me.
-
01:05:43
You saved me. You rescued me.
-
01:05:46
My wife, my kids,
the blessings that
-
01:05:49
You've given me again
and again in my life."
-
01:05:51
And it's not that I've
had a problem free life.
-
01:05:53
I haven't. We've
experienced tragedy in our life.
-
01:05:55
But it's that again and again
-
01:05:56
in the difficulty of
life I see and receive
-
01:05:59
the unmerited,
generous, extravagant,
-
01:06:01
crazy blessings of God.
It's crazy.
-
01:06:07
Last, probably two weeks ago,
maybe three weeks ago,
-
01:06:11
I was up in Columbus
at our Columbus site
-
01:06:13
doing a Mission Briefing,
just talking
-
01:06:15
to some leaders up
there about the projects
-
01:06:17
and what we hope to fund
and why, and all that stuff.
-
01:06:19
And at the end of the night,
a guy came up to me
-
01:06:22
and he said, "Hey,
I don't like to share this
-
01:06:24
with people,
but I'm actually a doctor
-
01:06:27
and I'm a stroke specialist.
-
01:06:29
And I know, Kyle,
you talked about your dad
-
01:06:31
having a stroke
this past summer.
-
01:06:32
And I just keep
thinking about him.
-
01:06:34
And I just want you to know
-
01:06:35
if there's ever anything
I could do to help,
-
01:06:38
I'd love to do it."
-
01:06:39
I was like, "Man,
that's -- That would be --
-
01:06:41
That'd be awesome."
-
01:06:42
That's been the
hardest part of my year,
-
01:06:44
is that that thing and dealing
with the aftermath of it.
-
01:06:47
And I said, "You know,
there's one thing.
-
01:06:50
My parents, they just moved
-
01:06:51
to Charlottesville, Virginia,
-
01:06:53
and my dad's actually
having a really hard time
-
01:06:55
even just getting in to
seeing any stroke specialist.
-
01:06:58
The earliest
appointment he could get
-
01:06:59
with anybody
isn't until February.
-
01:07:01
And I just -- I don't like
him waiting that long.
-
01:07:03
They moved there in August."
-
01:07:05
And this guy looks
at me and I said,
-
01:07:07
"So you don't know anybody
in Charlottesville, do you?
-
01:07:10
Any stroke doctors?"
-
01:07:11
And he goes, "Yeah,
I actually know
-
01:07:14
every single stroke
doc there because
-
01:07:15
that's where I did my residency.
-
01:07:17
In fact, I'm going to
text my buddy right now.
-
01:07:19
He's the best guy and
get your dad set up."
-
01:07:22
[cheers and applause]
-
01:07:26
Better than that,
my dad had that appointment
-
01:07:28
just a few days ago, he went
and had that appointment.
-
01:07:31
I talked to him the
other day on the phone.
-
01:07:32
And, at the appointment
-
01:07:42
the doctor said, um,
-
01:07:45
"You know,
your your indicators for stroke
-
01:07:47
are extremely low.
I don't know why you had this,
-
01:07:52
but, while we can't
predict the future,
-
01:07:54
I can say pretty confidently,
-
01:07:56
it's not going to happen
again in your life."
-
01:07:58
[applause]
-
01:08:03
And then he said,
another six months
-
01:08:05
and you're going to be
recovered to the point
-
01:08:07
where no one will ever
know you ever had a stroke,
-
01:08:09
fully recovered.
-
01:08:10
And you know,
I stepped back from that
-
01:08:16
and my life and I go,
"God, would I really want
-
01:08:20
to give somebody else my heart?
-
01:08:22
Would I really want to
put my trust in my stuff?
-
01:08:26
What can my staff do for me?
-
01:08:28
What can money in
an account do for me?
-
01:08:30
Nothing. Nothing."
-
01:08:34
In your life,
what has God done for you?
-
01:08:37
Has he saved you?
-
01:08:40
If that was it,
wouldn't it be good enough
-
01:08:43
to give Him your all?
-
01:08:45
Has He blessed you?
-
01:08:47
Has He saved your marriage?
-
01:08:49
Has He given you a shot at a
second chance at marriage?
-
01:08:51
If He has,
wouldn't that be good enough?
-
01:08:54
Has He saved your kids?
Has He rescued them?
-
01:08:57
Wouldn't that be good enough?
-
01:08:59
That's the God we serve.
-
01:09:02
Let's not give Him
our good enough.
-
01:09:03
Let's give Him our all.
-
01:09:05
In this Push I've
changed my question.
-
01:09:08
I've stopped asking that.
-
01:09:09
God, I'm not interested in
asking what's good enough.
-
01:09:11
I'm interested in saying,
-
01:09:12
in this season of my life,
what's all of my heart?
-
01:09:19
I don't know what you're
still holding back in your life.
-
01:09:22
Maybe you're holding it back
because of your own concern.
-
01:09:24
Or maybe you're
holding it back out of
-
01:09:26
wanting to bless and help
somebody else besides you.
-
01:09:30
There's another story
of generosity in the Bible,
-
01:09:33
extravagant generosity
that touches on that.
-
01:09:35
It's a story of David.
David, King David.
-
01:09:37
Like David and Goliath,
-
01:09:38
he gave $20 billion to
build the temple of God.
-
01:09:44
He gave that out of
the national treasury
-
01:09:46
and his own personal finances.
-
01:09:49
Now, the craziest
part about this is that,
-
01:09:51
yes, those are the
accounts that came out of.
-
01:09:52
But I don't think
David was actually
-
01:09:54
giving away his
resources in his mind,
-
01:09:56
that's not what was happening.
-
01:09:58
Why do I think that?
-
01:09:59
Well,
because David very clearly knew
-
01:10:01
this was the end of his life,
-
01:10:02
knew it with absolute certainty.
-
01:10:04
In fact,
he was to die within a few weeks
-
01:10:06
or months after he made
this extravagant offering.
-
01:10:09
And so, in David's mind,
he wasn't
-
01:10:11
giving away his own resources.
-
01:10:13
He was giving away his son's,
-
01:10:16
Solomon's inheritance
on two sides, nationally
-
01:10:20
because Solomon was
going to be the next leader,
-
01:10:22
and as the family leader,
a giving away
-
01:10:25
all the personal
wealth and resources.
-
01:10:27
And so logically,
logically, I would say
-
01:10:31
the voice of mammon
would coach you.
-
01:10:32
Logically, he should
have bankrupted his son
-
01:10:36
on two sides, nationally,
there's no money
-
01:10:39
to fund wars,
no money to build walls,
-
01:10:41
no money to plant crops,
-
01:10:43
no money to do infrastructure.
-
01:10:44
Should have bankrupted
him and doomed him.
-
01:10:46
Personally, same thing.
-
01:10:48
There's no money to invest
in anything for the family.
-
01:10:50
It's all gone.
-
01:10:52
But you know the craziest part?
-
01:10:55
Do you know that
Solomon personally became
-
01:10:58
the wisest and richest
man on the planet?
-
01:11:00
And do you know that nationally,
-
01:11:02
Israel experienced
the absolute height
-
01:11:04
of its prosperity
under his rule?
-
01:11:06
The exact opposite happened.
-
01:11:08
You might be in a place
where you're thinking
-
01:11:10
about inheritance,
you're thinking about
-
01:11:12
the next generation,
and that's challenging to you.
-
01:11:14
And maybe there's
a verse in your mind.
-
01:11:15
The Bible does say
this in Proverbs 13:22,
-
01:11:17
I think it says, A righteous man
-
01:11:19
leaves an inheritance
to his children's children.
-
01:11:22
Absolutely, that's in there.
Absolutely that's true.
-
01:11:25
But let me just
push you a little bit.
-
01:11:26
Inheritance doesn't
just mean money.
-
01:11:29
And in fact,
if you were to think about
-
01:11:30
what makes it a
righteous inheritance,
-
01:11:32
I would say it's the
non-monetary part.
-
01:11:35
See,
if you're leaving your kids,
-
01:11:37
if the value of
what you're leaving
-
01:11:39
is the amount of
dollars you're leaving,
-
01:11:41
I'm just going to push you,
-
01:11:42
that's an unrighteous
man's inheritance.
-
01:11:44
Because an unrighteous
man can leave the same thing.
-
01:11:47
When God says,
leave a righteous inheritance,
-
01:11:50
He means leave
a legacy of giving
-
01:11:53
all of your heart to God.
-
01:11:54
That's the most valuable thing
-
01:11:56
you could possibly do for
people who come after you.
-
01:12:00
Model giving all of your heart.
-
01:12:03
Now those are some big examples,
right?
-
01:12:05
I mean,
we've heard some numbers today
-
01:12:07
and there's some
big numbers in there.
-
01:12:08
A year's salary, half a
year's salary, $20 billion.
-
01:12:12
But an extravagant offering,
-
01:12:14
I want to be very, very clear,
-
01:12:15
it is not about the amount.
It's not.
-
01:12:19
In fact,
the most extravagant offering
-
01:12:21
in the entire Bible
is when a widow
-
01:12:24
gives away her last two pennies.
-
01:12:27
It says this in Luke 21:
-
01:12:29
That's Jesus.
-
01:12:50
It's not about the amount.
It's not.
-
01:12:54
In a number of days
there's going to be
-
01:12:55
a lot of us making commitments
above and beyond, right?
-
01:12:58
And some of them will
be $1,000 and that'll be all.
-
01:13:01
Some of them will be $10,000,
-
01:13:02
some will be half
a year's salary,
-
01:13:03
some will be three
times a year salary,
-
01:13:05
some will be $1 million.
-
01:13:06
I'm hoping and praying some
will be millions of dollars,
-
01:13:09
but the amount doesn't matter.
-
01:13:10
What matters is the
hearts behind the amount.
-
01:13:14
Does it represent some
or does it represent all?
-
01:13:19
This 10X and ten year vision,
by the way,
-
01:13:21
it takes all of us.
-
01:13:22
I know it's easy to look
around at Crossroads,
-
01:13:24
such a big church and be like,
-
01:13:26
"Man,
it's so big it doesn't need me."
-
01:13:28
No, the opposite is true.
-
01:13:30
The call of God is so massive
-
01:13:32
it requires everyone
giving our all.
-
01:13:37
We want to see an awakening.
-
01:13:39
It requires everything.
-
01:13:41
This whole message, like I said,
-
01:13:43
it's about you hearing
God's voice on giving.
-
01:13:47
What is He asking for you to do?
-
01:13:50
I'll give you a push.
-
01:13:52
Do you know that none of
those extravagant offerings,
-
01:13:55
Mary's oil,
David and the 20 billion,
-
01:13:59
the widow and her mite,
in none of those stories
-
01:14:02
do we see a scene
where God speaks to them
-
01:14:05
and says, "I'd like 20 billion.
-
01:14:09
I'd like your last $0.02.
-
01:14:11
Mary that jar of oil,
I want you to give Me."
-
01:14:15
We don't see that.
-
01:14:16
Instead, it appears
that all of these people
-
01:14:19
in this conversation with God.
-
01:14:21
Yes, they've been listening.
-
01:14:23
Yes, they've been hearing.
-
01:14:24
But there's a point at which
-
01:14:25
they want to say something
out of their own heart.
-
01:14:28
"God, you can have all."
-
01:14:31
That's the choice.
-
01:14:33
Which master will you serve?
-
01:14:35
You can't serve God and mammon.
-
01:14:37
They say completely
different things.
-
01:14:39
Voice of Mammon, last verse
-
01:14:41
I'm going to give
you for the day.
-
01:14:42
The voice of mammon says,
put your trust in me
-
01:14:45
and do that by holding on.
-
01:14:47
It's actually a story
that Jesus tells
-
01:14:49
about bigger barns,
and a man who decided
-
01:14:51
this was the path to
safety and security.
-
01:14:54
He listened to the
voice of mammon.
-
01:14:55
It goes like this in Luke 12:
-
01:15:23
And then Jesus closes
the story this way.
-
01:15:24
He says, this is how it will be.
-
01:15:27
There's the phrase again.
-
01:15:33
See, the the safest place
for you to put your trust
-
01:15:36
is not in mammon, it's in God.
Why?
-
01:15:41
Because He's something
mammon can never be.
-
01:15:44
He's generous and He's rich.
-
01:15:49
He said in that verse,
Malachi says,
-
01:15:50
"See if I don't throw open
the floodgates of heaven."
-
01:15:53
Have you ever wondered
what that means?
-
01:15:55
You know, like,
how wealthy is God?
-
01:15:59
I was thinking about that,
did a little bit of research.
-
01:16:01
Just ask the question,
-
01:16:02
how much gold is
there in the universe?
-
01:16:06
Well, if you look at the Earth,
-
01:16:08
there's some gold in the earth,
-
01:16:10
244,000 tons in the crust,
1.6 quadrillion,
-
01:16:14
like, more than trillion,
quadrillion tons in the core.
-
01:16:17
Just in the Earth.
-
01:16:19
By the way, gold, one ton
of gold is worth $49 million.
-
01:16:22
Not going to do
that math for you,
-
01:16:24
but it's a lot by itself.
-
01:16:26
But, you know,
there are more planets
-
01:16:28
than just Earth in the universe.
-
01:16:31
How many more planets?
-
01:16:32
Well, for every single
grain of sand on the Earth,
-
01:16:36
from your backyard playbox
-
01:16:39
to the eroded top of a mountain,
-
01:16:41
to the beaches that you go to,
-
01:16:42
to the bottom of
the ocean floor.
-
01:16:44
For every single grain
of sand on the earth,
-
01:16:47
there are 1 billion
planets in the universe.
-
01:16:51
That's just the golden planets,
by the way.
-
01:16:53
There's also golden stars.
-
01:16:54
The sun contains
2.5 trillion tons,
-
01:16:56
and there's 200 billion
trillion stars in the universe.
-
01:16:59
God is rich.
-
01:17:00
Do you know that it rains
diamonds on Jupiter?
-
01:17:04
It does. You can look that up,
-
01:17:05
maybe in a couple
of other planets, too.
-
01:17:06
God is rich and He's generous.
-
01:17:11
He says, "You can trust Me.
Will you give me your all?"
-
01:17:18
Before we get up,
we're going to take a moment.
-
01:17:20
Wherever you are in your seat,
-
01:17:21
I want you to just
close your eyes
-
01:17:23
and start a
conversation with God.
-
01:17:25
Justin's going to
play a song for us
-
01:17:27
as we have this conversation.
-
01:17:28
It's a song that I
heard a few days ago
-
01:17:30
in a staff worship setting,
and it just --
-
01:17:33
It just broke me. It just
got me in a different gear.
-
01:17:35
Song called Take Me Deeper.
-
01:17:38
And it has lyrics
about sacrifice
-
01:17:40
and leaning into God and saying,
-
01:17:42
"God, you can take me farther
-
01:17:43
than You've ever
taken me before."
-
01:17:45
And it just hit me different
that it's easy to sing.
-
01:17:47
But when I think about my money,
-
01:17:49
the thing that God says
represents my heart, Oh man.
-
01:17:53
So I want you to start
a conversation with God
-
01:17:55
before you get out of this room.
-
01:17:56
Maybe it's about
something that pushed you
-
01:17:58
in this message
today or in this service.
-
01:18:02
Maybe it's something
that you're having
-
01:18:03
a hard time letting go.
-
01:18:05
Whatever it is,
talk to Him about it.
-
01:18:07
Maybe you're at the
point where you want
-
01:18:08
to just say to God, "God,
you can have all of me."
-
01:18:11
Whatever it is,
start that conversation now
-
01:18:13
as Justin plays a
bit of the song for us.
-
01:20:17
- Father, that's our prayer.
-
01:20:20
Would You take us further
than we think is possible?
-
01:20:24
Would You take us beyond
the boundaries that we put up?
-
01:20:26
Would You take
us beyond the norm
-
01:20:27
of listening to the
voice of mammon?
-
01:20:29
Would You take us to a place
-
01:20:30
where we give
You all of our heart?
-
01:20:35
Give us that courage. Amen.
-
01:20:46
- I just really enjoyed
that message with Kyle.
-
01:20:49
It was so real.
He had a lot to pack in there.
-
01:20:52
And I want to say I
both learned something,
-
01:20:54
I was moved spiritually.
-
01:20:55
I enjoyed that story
about his father.
-
01:20:58
God just does
everything so great.
-
01:21:00
And Kyle's right,
we want to respond to a God
-
01:21:03
who's not random, who's
not doing coincidental things,
-
01:21:06
but who loves us so
much that He would
-
01:21:09
go out of his way to
place the right people
-
01:21:11
in our path at the right time,
-
01:21:13
to give us the exact
thing that we need.
-
01:21:15
So, so good.
Great job encouraging us
-
01:21:17
and challenging us as well.
-
01:21:19
- Love it! Yeah,
the 10X Push has been so good
-
01:21:22
and it's full of stories.
-
01:21:23
Stories of ways God is
moving in our churches
-
01:21:25
at large, and like Kyle's,
like stories of ways
-
01:21:28
God is moving in
our lives individually.
-
01:21:31
So the 10X Push
has been so good,
-
01:21:32
and we're already over halfway
-
01:21:34
through the six week
journey together.
-
01:21:35
I just want to remind you
guys do three things with me.
-
01:21:37
Keep watching every weekend,
-
01:21:39
two, keep doing the
work in your guide.
-
01:21:42
And third, if you want
to press in even further,
-
01:21:45
we actually have an
online mission briefing
-
01:21:46
that's going to be led
by Kyle on November 4th,
-
01:21:49
7:30 p.m. eastern.
-
01:21:51
If you're watching this
in real time on Sunday,
-
01:21:53
that's tomorrow night.
-
01:21:54
This is a chance
to dive in deeper
-
01:21:56
to the specific territories
and the work within them
-
01:21:59
that we believe
God is calling us to:
-
01:22:01
camps, reach out,
digital and sites.
-
01:22:03
There's so much incredible work,
-
01:22:04
so much potential
impact just within those
-
01:22:06
you actually have to
have a chance to ask Kyle
-
01:22:09
and myself questions.
-
01:22:10
You can head to
crossroads.net/10X to RSVP.
-
01:22:13
We'll send you the
zoom link so you can join.
-
01:22:15
- And if you can't
make that tomorrow,
-
01:22:17
if you're watching
this in real time,
-
01:22:19
we do have a space
where you can see all about
-
01:22:21
what we are talking
about with these territories.
-
01:22:23
You can receive that
digitally through a PDF,
-
01:22:26
and so you can scan the QR code
-
01:22:28
that is here on your screen
-
01:22:29
or you can go to
Crossroads.net/territories
-
01:22:32
to learn a lot more.
-
01:22:33
- That's right.
Hey, one last thing.
-
01:22:35
If all of this has
been exciting to you
-
01:22:37
and you're ready to be a part of
-
01:22:38
what God wants to
do next in you, for you,
-
01:22:40
through you,
and through our church
-
01:22:42
specifically with Crossroads,
-
01:22:43
mark your calendars for Sunday,
November 17th.
-
01:22:47
It's going to be one of
the biggest weekends
-
01:22:49
in the history of Crossroads.
-
01:22:50
You can join us in person
or online that Sunday.
-
01:22:54
Until then, we'll see you
right back here next week.
-
01:22:56
- Have a good one.