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So I want to welcome all of our Atlanta area churches, those of you who are watching us from all over the state, all over the country, and more and more all over the world, if you weren't with us last time. We are in part two of a series we're calling Deeper, Wider. It's more than a sermon series. It's a new season, as you just heard. It's really part of this movement that many of you have been a part of for so many years. What we're doing is we're exploring what it would look like to maximize our generosity, to maximize our generosity individually and and collectively in order to maximize our impact locally and globally. So this is about taking what you experience and what you've done for many of you many, many years and exporting it. And here's how personal this is. If you've been attending one of our churches for a year or more, especially more, my hunch is you have a story that right now, wherever you are, if you're watching at home or wherever you are in one of our churches, you can stand up right now or turn to somebody next to you and say, let me tell you the story about how this local church has impacted, impacted a family member. Maybe one of your kids was baptized, maybe a grandchild was baptized. Maybe you were baptized. Maybe it's the first time you came to church and understood the Bible. Maybe it's the first time you came back to church. It was the first church your husband or your wife would attend or you brought a friend. We all have a story of how this church has impacted you, your life personally, and because of what you do here and because of what you do there at all of our Atlanta area churches in the south side and Athens, everywhere else. And stories like yours are being created right now in other cities and other states and other countries through primarily our church network, the irresistible church network that we don't talk much about, but we're beginning to talk about it because you're doing extraordinary things and we just haven't told you about it. So we have a network in the United States, about 100 churches. We have a network in South Africa with South America, Australasia, the uk, Ireland. We're about to start a couple of other networks and we're creating networks and we're partnering with churches. We're not creating all these churches that want to be an outward facing church. And so on a weekly basis, you are impacting about a half a million adults, children, adults and children every single week. And we've paid for all of this with kind of the margin money. In other words, I don't want to use the word leftover. You don't talk about leftover money, but it's kind of what happens is you give to your local church because you look around your local church and go, oh, I want to support my local church financially. And the money that we don't use locally. For years, we have been investing and multiplying your influence nationally and globally. But through this deeper, wider initiative, we want to take that to the next level. So as I said last time, we're not asking you to give because your church needs your money. We're asking you to be extraordinarily generous because the world needs your influence. And our nation needs more churches like your churches, specifically churches that are organized around the posture and the tone and the approach of our Savior Jesus. So I'm so excited about this, and I'm so excited that so many of you are so excited about this. So let's do this now. Last week we began our discussion on generosity, because if we're gonna be generous, we need to all be on the same page in terms of what generosity is. And last time we discovered that true generosity is rooted and fueled by the paradigm shifting acknowledgement, this big idea, paradigm shifting acknowledge that ultimately God owns everything, that God owns it all. That if you're a theist of any type, ultimately your belief system leads you back to believe this, that ultimately God created it all, and ultimately God owns it all. And if you're a Christian or if you grew up in a Jewish home, the Jewish text tells us as well that God owns it all. And we have a role to play. We are simply managers. God owns it, we manage it. And this one idea ultimately changes everything. Not just how you give and not just how we give. It ultimately changes how we live. Because if you will embrace. And again, I'm so grateful, Sandra and I are so grateful that we were exposed to this teaching so many years ago, to some extent as children, and then later on, early on in our marriage. I think I've told some of you that story, but I'm telling you, you embrace this one big idea, you will live better and you will give better, and you will never be possessed by your possessions, because you will begin to view everything you own and everything that comes into your hands as a potential tool to further the kingdom of your Savior, the kingdom of your kingdom, the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, building on last week, today, because we're talking about generosity, I want to give you a working Definition of. Of generosity. And specifically a New Testament definition of generosity. The Jesus version of generosity. And the Jesus version of generosity is different than average American generosity. Now, here's the good news, and you should all pat yourself on the back for this. Probably all of you. I would guess all of you are at least average American generous. You all are, and you should be. Because American generosity, what's part of our culture, actually is a reflection of our Christian heritage. We're not a Christian nation, and I know we could get in a debate about that. But the word Christian isn't an adjective. So you have to be careful anytime you tack the word Christian onto something and make it an adjective. But our nation certainly reflects and has a Christian heritage because of the teaching of Jesus and because of the influence of the church that we believe. Generosity. And we've never met. But I assume this about you, because if you grew up in our culture, any culture in the United States or really in the west, that you consider generosity and you consider compassion a virtue, that when you see somebody being generous, it's like, that's a good thing. When you see somebody being compassionate, you think that's a good thing. When you see somebody sacrificing what they have for the sake of somebody else, there's something that rises up in you and says, that's a good thing. I wish I was more that way. I can't imagine being that generous or that compassion. But the reason we feel that way, we think it's intuitive, that if you're human, you would feel that way. It's not true. Ancient Greeks, ancient Romans, many ancient civilizations, most ancient civilizations. And there are cultures in the world today that don't consider generosity and compassion a virtue. They consider it a weakness. Because the mindset is, why would I give up something that belongs to me to give to you when you can't return the favor? The idea, the ancient idea, and again, this is in multiple cultures in our world today. You only do for those who can, in turn, do for you. And Jesus introduced a completely different kind of compassion generosity that literally swept around the world and has had an extraordinary influence on Western culture. So if, even if you're not a Christian person or a religious person, if there's something in you that you feel like, compassion and generosity are good things, good news, bad news. You have been indirectly influenced or directly influenced ultimately by the teaching of Jesus. But here's the. Here's where we kind of break ranks. Average American generosity, average American generosity does not reflect the actual teaching of Jesus. It represents or reflects the sentiment or the sort of the shadow that Jesus. That Jesus shed across, you know, ultimately Western culture. But it doesn't specifically reflect the teaching of Jesus. And here's what I mean by that. That. Average American generosity. Average American generosity, which I'm a fan of. This isn't an either or. Average American generosity can be described with three words. I just made this up. They all start with S. Okay. To make it simple, they're spontaneous, it's sporadic, and it's sparing. That's generally how Americans give. Spontaneous, sporadic and sparing. By spontaneous, I simply mean that. And, you know, it's emotional. Like, you see a need and it's like, oh, I want to do that. You hear about a need, you're like, I'm in. Somebody tells you what's going on in their family, and there's something in you that's like, what can I do? Can I bring a meal? Can I. What can I. Can I pick up the kids? You know, what can I do? There's something in us that just responds when we see a need that we can meet. And that is a good thing. Jesus taught us to do that. That's the story of the Good Samaritan. Somebody saw a need, they could meet the need, they met it. And Jesus said, that is a good thing. You should be like that. But the problem is, of course, that if that's the only kind of giving we do, it limits us. Because by definition, that approach is sporadic. That is, we only give when the occasion arises. I see a need, I meet it. But if I don't see a need, then I'm hanging onto my stuff until, you know, somebody comes along and they need something. There's no plan. It's a wait and see or. And I can't even tell you how many times somebody has said this to me. And you should never say this to a preacher or pastor, but through my. It's amazing. When I've talked to people about being generous to the local church, I've heard this so many times. Well, Andy, we just give. As the spirit leads. I'm like, do you do that with your mortgage? Do you do that with your cell phone bill? It's like, well, I know. In other words. So do you value your mortgage company more than you value what God's doing through the church? The world's like, come on. As the spirit leads, you don't have to wait for the spirit to lead. I know I'm being a little preachy. You don't have to wait for the spirit to lead. Jesus has already spoken. It's done. You don't have to wait. You have permission to be all in and to be as methodical and as thoughtful with your giving as you are with the bill you pay, because the spirit has already led. And the other problem with just limiting your generosity to average American generosity is that it's sparing. By that, I mean, we give what we feel like we can afford in the moment. So there's a need. Somebody asks for money, they're doing a fundraiser, and you're like, what's my balance? You know, what can I afford to do right now? What's coming up in the future? What, you know, what's going on with me financially? So it's. It's spontaneous. It's kind of emotionally driven. That's not bad. It's sporadic. It's just occasional. You know, when the opportunity comes along and it's sparing, it's like, what can I afford? But the problem is, if this is the only way you give, and if this is the only way a person gives, this is what it amounts to. It amounts to me first living with some leftover giving. Me first living. I'm first. And if there's any leftover, if there's any margin, me first living with a little bit of leftover giving. New Testament generosity. And generosity as taught by and modeled by Jesus is different. It is more than simple random acts of giving. And I want to make sure I'm clear. You should continue to do random acts of giving. It's just that that is not enough. And Jesus taught us not only how to give, but he taught us why it's so important for us to get this right as Jesus followers. In fact, there's a sense in which Jesus reversed the whole system that many of us grew up on in terms of what it means to be generous. He basically launched a version of generosity that ensures that we seek first his kingdom trust. Seek first his kingdom agenda, I should say. And then. And here's the issue, here's the key, here's the tension. Here's where you're gonna wrestle. And then learn to trust His Heavenly Father with everything else. This is a verse that many of you've heard many, many, many times taught. Some of you can quote this from church, but seek first, and this is the word, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness or his justice in the world is what that really means. And all these other things that we worry about, all the other things. You ready? All the other things that we have a tendency to put first. He Says your heavenly Father will provide. So the issue with New Testament generosity and Jesus version of generosity, it's not about money. It really comes down to trust. And here's what Jesus knew about me, the preacher, and here's what Jesus knows about you, whatever it is that you do. He knew that our propensity is to trust wealth to provide and to trust money to provide and to trust stored resources to provide what only our heavenly Father can provide. That our tendency, my tendency is to put my trust in riches rather than in the one who richly provides. To say it in kind of a cute way, right, that my tendency is to think that my security, that somehow my self esteem, somehow my peace of mind and I could list, you know, 20 other things. We have a tendency, all of us have a tendency to trust in wealth, the accumulation of wealth, stored resources and income to provide us with things that ultimately only our heavenly Father can provide. So it's a trust issue. And here's how you know this. Because, you know, people who have a lot more money than you do that still worry somehow having, you know, more money than you can ever imagine having, they still have worries. You're like, well, if you're worried, I'm toast, okay? Because I'll never catch, I'll never be in the place where you are. You've met insecure wealthy people. You've met in, you've met again, people who just don't seem to have any peace. They just either can't get enough. They're so driven by their appetites. And here's the thing about an appetite, you know, this appetite for stuff is never fully and finally satisfied. So the truth is our tendency and our temptation is always going to be, and it's never going to go away until we take our last breath. The temptation is to lean into trusting wealth and riches and income to provide for us what only our Father in heaven can provide. The other way, you know, this is true, is is many of you have been to other countries, some of the poorest parts of the world like I have. And you see people with nothing but a lot more peace and a lot more joy and a lot more hope. And you fly home, you know, and you're thinking, what, what's going on? Well, you've met some people who have no hope of ever having wealth. And you've run into some people who their only option is to put their faith in God. And they have what we scramble for and try to leverage and try to purchase. And God's in heaven going, who told you that? You could somehow save enough money to deal with your insecurity and to deal with your issues and to deal with your lack of peace. And, I mean, who told you this? And so who are what we trust in? Who or what we trust in to provide us with those things? This is what Jesus says. He's so smart, so brilliant. Who or what we trust in to provide us with these kinds of things? I'm gonna let him tell you again another verse you've heard so many times. But this is. I mean, he just goes. It's just right on the nose. Here's what Jesus says. He says, no one can serve two masters. And immediately we have no idea what he's actually talking about. Because we do not live in a world where a person could be so poor that they can sell themselves into slavery in order not to starve. That's the world he lived in. When he talks about masters, he. It's not theoretical. This is a world of slavery and not slavery that sometimes we're exposed to. When we think about what happened in colonial America, the whole world back in the first century and following the whole world was. The whole economy depended on slavery. There were slaves everywhere. So this was. This was real. This was literal. This was, hey, if I'm starving or I think of one of my children, I'm going to have to sell one of my children. I'll sell myself into slavery to keep my child safe. That's the world he lived in a no middle class. So with that in mind, listen to these words. He says they understood exactly what it meant. You can't have but one master. You can't have but one owner. No one can serve two masters. They're like, well, that's true. Either you'll hate the one and love the other, which is hyperbole, very extreme. Then he kind of brings it into something they can relate to. Or let me say it a different way. You're going to be devoted to one and you're going to despise or you're going to ignore the other. Because when you were owned by a master, what the master said is what you did. And masters of other slaves could talk to you all day long, but you only did what your master did. You ignored. You despised their instructions. And here's what he's getting at. Let me modernize it for us. Here's the takeaway for us. This is true of all of us. This isn't a Christian or religious thing. This is just a thing. Thing. Something to think about. What, or let me put it this way. Who or what we trust to provide what's most important to us. Who or what we trust to provide what's most important to us ultimately becomes the boss of us. That's what he's getting at, that. Who or what you trust to provide what you need most ultimately becomes your master. Who you take instructions from, who or what you lean into for what you need the most. You will be devoted to use this word, you will be devoted to the person or thing that you're convinced provides for you. And then after this sort of general observation, that's just true, he applies it to men and women students who want to be his followers. He says this, bottom line, you cannot, there's no option. He says you cannot serve both God. Talking about his heavenly Father and the other way he could have said this is you cannot trust in, you cannot place your hope in, you cannot place your trust in both God and, and now if you haven't been paying attention, don't miss this part. And now he points out the number one competitor to our devotion to God. He says there's just two options. You can only be owned by one, one master. And you can be owned and devoted to and trusting in God. Or the option is you cannot serve both God. And the Greek term is mamona from the word mammon, a word we're not familiar with. That was a catch all term for money, possessions and wealth. And everybody in Jesus audience is stunned. They think he's gonna say you can't serve God or the devil. He's like, no, no, no, no, let's just get practical. Nobody here is depending on the devil to take care of them or to, you know, provide for them. Let's just get practical. It's a matter of are you gonna trust your heavenly father for what only your heavenly Father can provide or are you gonna deceive yourself and trust in wealth for things that wealth ultimately can't provide? Here's the thing for Jesus followers, again, this is important. The issue isn't are we giving? That's not the issue. The issue is who am I trusting in on a daily basis? Who am I leaning in on? Who am I leaning on for the things that only my heavenly Father can give? And have I deceived myself into thinking that there is enough income and enough money to provide what only my heavenly Father can provide? Because our natural inclination, this is what's really amazing for Americans. You ready for this? Our natural inclination is to put our trust in money even though our money tells us not to. I mean, how much clearer can it get. It's like it's a reminder. I know you got this 20. Don't trust me, don't trust me. Ultimately, the 20 saying, I can't provide for you, what, only God. Don't you put your trust in me. Put your trust in God, who richly provides. So here's the point of all that. Embracing and applying. Embracing and applying. A New Testament definition of generosity, the Jesus version of generosity, just simply embracing and applying this one idea addresses all of that. It will empower you as it has empowered many of you. It will empower us to transfer our trust, to seek first, his agenda, our agenda second. And in doing so, what we're saying is this, that even though I'm giving a portion of my wealth, my stored resources or my income, even though I'm giving a portion of that to you first, not knowing what the future holds, I'm trusting the one who I believe holds my future. That's the difference. That's why it's a trust issue. That's why it's not a money issue. So taking into account what the New Testament authors talked about money, but more importantly, what Jesus talked about money, here's my working definition of generosity. I made this up. It's clunky. I have shared it with you before, but it's what I go back to over and over and over. I do not expect anyone to memorize this, but I'm gonna sort of tease this out. And for those of you who are in small group, you're gonna have an opportunity to talk about this in your small group. And it's gonna be so much fun. So here it is, New Testament generosity. It is the premeditated, calculated, designated emancipation of assets. Let's just say that together. I'm kidding. Let's don't. Okay. The premeditated, calculated, designated emancipation. Premeditated. What does that mean? It means New Testament generosity requires pre deciding. You've already decided. I don't know about all the bills. I don't know how much college is going to cost. I don't know. How about my husband or wife's job? I don't know the future. I don't know the future. But I have already decided how I'm going to engage financially in the kingdom of my Savior. Spontaneous is fine. In an emergency, you should be a spontaneous giver. But it can't end there. Generous people, actual generous people, they plan ahead. Planned giving is responsible giving. So here's the question. This is going to be fun. This is a fun thing to think about at home. Or with your kids is do you have a giving plan? I know you have a spending plan. You don't stick with it, but you have a theoretical spending plan you call A. Starts with a B. We all hate the word budget. Yeah, it's a budget. You know, it's theoretical. It's on a piece of paper, a document somewhere. Remember when you did that? Then you kind of went like, where's that thing anyway? Yeah. So you have some sort of spending plan, and hopefully you have a savings plan. Why wouldn't you have a giving plan if you don't have a giving plan? I'm telling you, you are not having fun with giving. This is so corny. This is really what puts the fun in funding. When you have a giving plan when you have already decided, we're giving this much away. Now it's just a matter of where do we want to give it? That's number one. It's premeditated, calculated, that is. You decide ahead of time, you premeditate how much money you're gonna give away. Here's the key. Before you know the future, before the future arrives, because you're not worried about the future, because you're putting your trust in God, the One who richly provides, rather than your riches, you're not going to wait and see what happens. You're saying, God, I'm trusting you with my future. So I'm not afraid to invest in what you're doing in the world first. Because I'm not trusting in the wealth you have loaned to me for a minute. I am ultimately trusting in you. So as part of your plan, you pre decide how much to give. And here's a tip, okay? You should choose a percentage. All right? Now, you can, obviously, when it comes down to it, or when it comes down to filling out your commitment card for deeper, wider, you need to put a number in there. That's fine, but that should be based on a percentage. That way, you're giving ebbs and flows with your income, your tips, your commission, your bonuses, your hours, you work, your salary, whatever it might be. And this is why this is a big deal. Jesus in Luke chapter 21. I'm not gonna tell you what it says. You just look it up later. Luke chapter 21. It's a cool little story. Jesus makes it clear that he is far more impressed with percentages than amount. He's far more moved by percentages than amounts. Luke chapter 21. Now, real quick, because I could get lost in this. This is so important to me because I want it to be Important to you. If you're a Christian, you should give. You should just decide you're going to give at least 10% off the top. And here's why I say that. Not because The Bible says 10%, because 10%, you're going to. If you're not a tither, if you don't give 10% or more 10%, you're gonna feel that. You're gonna feel it. You may have to say no to you or you may have to say wait to you. And when you say no to you and wait to you, and on behalf of funding what God is up to in the world, you have put his kingdom first. And you have said, you've put your money where your mouth is. You put your money where your faith is. You're saying, I'm trusting you to take care of me. I'm not going to save up for every possible eventuality. By the way, you can't do that anyway. This is why super poor people are more generous and oftentimes have more joy. They have no hope of saving enough money for every eventuality so they don't waste the emotion trying. And those of us with extra, we get caught all. We get caught up in it. So when I think, think when you. When I say 10%, here's an exercise to do at home, with your family or by yourself. I challenge you to do this, okay? I want you to go home this week and get 10 bills. It can be $1 bills, $5 bills, $10 bills, $100 bills, whatever you want to do, and lay them out on the table, 10 of them on your kitchen counter, and look at them, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10. Then I want you to take the one on the left and push it forward. And then look at it and say, God, I love you so much. I am so grateful. I'm gonna give you one. Do you know what our problem is? Okay, I've been doing this a long time, so this is. I feel everything you feel. We get confused by zeros. Given $1 out of 10 in $10 out of a hundred. I'm in. Hundred dollars out of a thousand. Now you're feeling like. Anybody see that? You see that? Thousand dollars out of $10,000. You know what we think? What could I do with $1,000? We're confused by zeros. Your heavenly Father is not confused by zeros. I'm telling you, you lay out 10 bills of any amount and say, God, I'm going to give you one. And wait, I'm going to Just give you one. And you're going to let me keep nine. Thank you. Don't be confused by zeros. You're serving the God who created the universe. He is not impressed. He does not care. He's not. And at the end of the day, here's what I know about you. We've never met. Something's gonna happen in your life. In fact, it's already happened two or three times where you had to throw yourself on the mercy of God and all the zeros in the world couldn't fix it. So why wouldn't we at least be wise enough to live that way instead of having to be reminded of the tragedy? All right, keep moving. Designated, that is, you decide ahead of time where you're going to give it. Look up here. This is important, please. Especially those of you who are super wealthy or even marginally. Of course you don't know you're super wealthy because you know the super super. I know this. It's the comparison trap. For those of you who are upper middle class, please don't wait to be asked. Don't wait to be asked. Decide. Listen. This is the problem with waiting to be asked. Why would you give people you don't even know, organizations you don't even know anything about. Control over where you give. You should decide. You should pre decide. And that doesn't mean you don't go to fundraisers and you don't listen to when people want to ask. It just means if God has entrusted you with extra, you are responsible for where you give the extra. So you don't have to wait to be asked. As I've encouraged you before, always, always give from a grateful heart and a broken heart. You give from a grateful heart and you give from a broken heart. What are you grateful for? Find an organization that supports what you're grateful for that has impacted you. This is why you should always give to your local church. Your local church is providing for you and your family. Aren't you grateful? It should be number one. And especially if you're in an outward facing church like ours that does things like be rich, impacts the community, takes the margin. And instead of, you know, I have to be careful. Churches do the silliest things with money. Sometimes they just build, you know, because they have extra, because they're not outward facing. It's like our four and no more. We don't do that. You're in an outward facing church that is committed to impacting as much of the world as we can with for the sake of the kingdom of God, if you're in that kind of church, of course you would want to commit there because they're good. They're good stewards of your money or the money that God has loaned to you. And then you need to give something that breaks your heart. You need to. You need to commit to an organization that addresses something that has a piece of your heart. Again, this is why Christians should support their local church. And it's why Sandra and I love to give to organizations that support foster care and support foster kids, because we were foster parents, active foster parents, for 10 years, and that God just got ahold of our hearts and just broke our hearts over the plight of some children. So of course we're going to give there. And you can imagine. I mean, you can try to imagine how often we get invited to fundraisers. And can you give? And I'm. You know, you gotta do that sometimes. But I'm telling you, the majority goes to the things that have our heart, that break our heart and that have contributed to the kingdom of God. And this is what you need to do. Last thing. Emancipation. The emancipation of assets. This is the best part. This is how I want you to view generosity. You are freeing your money, which demonstrates that you are free of your money. You are not the boss of me. See there? You're not the boss of me. See there? You don't control me. You see, it demonstrates that you are not controlled by that. Your money's not your master. You know what else it demonstrates? It demonstrates that you aren't controlled by worry. Yeah, but what if you don't have enough? I'm not worried about that. I'm not trusting in money for my future. I'm trusting in God for my future. So I'm investing in God's kingdom. Now he's going to take care of me. You're not controlled by fear, and you're not controlled by greed. You know what greed is? It's the consumption assumption, that if it comes my way, it's for my consumption. Jesus addressed that directly in one of the most powerful parables in the whole New Testament. He said, to assume that it's yours to consume is to be very confused. And at some point in your life, you will realize you were confused. But you can't come back to today. Get it right. When you free your assets, you know what you're doing. It's evidence that you're seeking first, God's kingdom, not yours. And it's evidence that you're not trusting in riches. You're trusting in him who Richly. And has already, for most of us, richly provided. So wrapping up, I imagine I'm assuming that you're already, all of you, all of our churches. Anybody listening? You're good at being an average American generous. But are you Jesus follower generous, and if not. And you're a Christian, you claim to be a Christian, you should be, because again, it's not money. This is what following Jesus looks like. This is what following Jesus acts like. This is what following Jesus reacts like. And here's the guarantee, okay? I'm give you a guarantee. You have nothing. You ready? Not been paying attention? Here's the guarantee. You have nothing to lose because it wasn't yours to begin with. That's why what we said last weekend is so important. You're not giving God anything. I got ten hundred dollar bills, I'm gonna give you 100. And God's like, you didn't give me 100, you just kept 900 that I gave you. Oh, that's right. That's right. You see how it changes everything? And Andy, the table that it's sitting on, I gave you that too. Oh, that's right. Right. And the chair you're sitting in. Oh, yeah, I gave you that. Oh, my goodness. You got. Oh, what? Here, I'm just giving you 10 out of a hundred. And what? Whoa, what am I thinking? I'm telling you, when this gets ahold of your heart, it doesn't just change your giving, it changes your living. It changes your spending. It ultimately changes everything. Here's the other thing. I know why I'm so passionate about this. 100% of the people I know, and I've known a lot of people through the years have done this. 100% of the people I know who took what Jesus taught about money and possession seriously, let it go from their head to their heart. 100% would tell you it resulted in greater generosity and it ultimately created greater prosperity. It created greater prosperity. Not because I gave God a dollar and he gave me 10. You live in the United States of America. You got 10, you already got your 10. You won the jackpot. You hit the lottery, right? It's not that you give to God. God gives to you. God has already given to you. And when people understand that, they would tell you they have experienced greater prosperity. And here's the other reason. Because it shifted their definition of prosperity and it shifted their priorities. It resulted in more financial discipline. Because doing this giving first, coming up with a giving plan, it requires a discipline. And for many, maybe most Americans, I want to be careful Here. For many Americans who are experiencing financial trouble and financial pressure, it's not the result of the amount they have, it's how they have managed that amount. And when you create a giving plan and you give first, it is a keystone habit that will trickle down into every other area of your finances, especially when you begin to view everything that comes your way as a gift and a potential tool to further the kingdom of God. So create a giving plan and allow it to be a keystone habit that impacts every other area because you're spending and your saving. They also require discipline. And the giving habit is a discipline, again, that will trickle down to all again. 100% of the people I know that have embraced this, this is what they would tell you. And I would tell you, I'm never going back. I'm never going back. And I'm so grateful I started early and I would never, ever, ever go back and do it any other way. So I want you to consider this this week. If you're a Christian, this is the preacher part, but I'm serious. I want you to pray about this. And then even if you don't hear from God, I want you to try it because your Savior has already spoken. And then, real quick as we close, look up here, I want us to imagine. Imagine we have 40,000 active adults in our Atlanta area churches. 40,000. Imagine if 40,000 adults around the city of Atlanta engaged with our local church at this level. Imagine what we could do and accomplish together. Imagine. Let me tell you a quick story. If all of us adults took our cue from an 8th grade girl who goes to Brownsbridge Church. Her name is Andy with an ie, which I just love the fact that that's her name. I just found that out yesterday. We're talking about generosity and transit with our middle schoolers. So last weekend she got in the car with her mom to go home from church. She's in the front seat, her friend's in the back. And they're talking about the sermon the Deeper, Wider. And her daughter Andy says, mom, I want to give $200 to Deeper, Wider. And her mom's like, honey, that's a lot of money. Why so much? He was shocked. And she said, because I want the middle schoolers at East Cobb to have the same cool environment and the same experience we have because they don't have a building. So I'm giving $200. Her friend in the backseat said, wow, I just committed 20. And Andy said, well, you better. I hope we will all step up to this incredible, incredible, incredible opportunity. To do something unprecedented locally, nationally and globally. And we'll pick it up right there. Next part in time, in part three. Don't miss it. Part three of Deeper, Wider. Let's pray together. Father, all of our prayers should begin with thank you. Because we are so grateful. We're grateful that you showed up when we were in the valleys. We were grateful that you get the credit when we're on the mountaintop. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And Father, would you please stir our hearts and bother us to the point that we're willing to get this right and to never ever, ever, ever trust in riches to do what only our heavenly Father can do. We know that's true. We've lived long enough to know that. I pray that we wouldn't be confused by zeros, that we wouldn't be intimidated by zeros. That we would just flip the script and say I'm giving first and trust in you with my future. I'm giving first and trust in you with my future. I'm giving first and I'm trusting you with my kids future, whatever it is. So just have your way. Give us the courage to do what we know in our hearts we need to do. And we pray all of this, Father, in the matchless name of Jesus, our King, who gave us everything in his name we pray. Amen.