Podcast Summary: Red Rocks Church Weekend Messages

Episode: A Year in the Wheelbarrow
Date: November 29, 2025
Host: Red Rocks Church

Overview

This episode, titled "A Year in the Wheelbarrow," forms part of the Kingdom Builders series at Red Rocks Church. The message centers on biblical faith, trust, and generosity—specifically, the call to surrender finances to God's purposes and to experience a year of living by faith in "God's wheelbarrow." Through scripture, story, and humor, the speaker (presumably Pastor Doug) encourages listeners to move beyond belief into actionable trust, particularly around financial giving, and challenges them to see how a year of consistent, faith-filled generosity can transform both lives and communities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Church and Kingdom Builders Context

• Red Rocks Church positions itself as “imperfect people pursuing a perfect God” and emphasizes the global impact of the Church.
• The Kingdom Builders series is about much more than finances; it's about legacy, building something greater for future generations (01:01).
• Celebrating over 1,000 baptisms across campuses recently underscores God's movement (01:51).

  "We are imperfect people pursuing a perfect God." (00:41, A)

2. Faith Is More Than Belief—It’s Trust

• Opening with Hebrews 11, the speaker distinguishes between believing God can act and trusting Him enough to act accordingly (02:55–04:12).
• Charles Blondin's story (the tightrope walker who challenged onlookers to get in his wheelbarrow) is used as a metaphor—the gap between cheering faith and actionable trust (04:12–06:56).

  "Faith is both the belief and the trust. So belief is the mindset, trust is the action. Belief says, 'Yeah, you can do that.' ... Trust says, 'I'll get in the wheelbarrow.'" (06:56, A)
  "The more that you get to know God, the more you'll trust him. And the more you start to trust God, the more that you'll start to hop into the wheelbarrow of life with God." (07:27, A)

3. Trusting With Finances—God’s Invitation to Test Him

• Malachi 3:10 is highlighted as the only instance where God says, "Test me," specifically about financial giving (08:54–09:18).

  "Test me in this, that's key, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven." (08:56, B)

• The speaker asks listeners: What if you gave "God a year in the wheelbarrow," trusting Him fully with your finances? (10:10)

  "If you're wanting God to do more in 2026, then I suggest finishing 2025, not just hoping for it, but sowing into it." (10:36, A)

4. Acknowledging the Emotions and Barriers Around Church & Money

• The pastor transparently discusses discomfort around tithing messages—both from his own life and in the broader church culture (11:23–12:26).

• Many people have had bad experiences or skepticism tied to churches and financial matters, perpetuated by digital "church hurt" (12:17–12:44).

• He offers two other churches’ names for listeners mistrustful of Red Rocks, stating his deeper concern is for people to be "planted" and generous somewhere, for their own sakes (15:44–16:44).

  "Don't let your lack of trust in people keep you from finding out that your generosity God will use to completely change your life." (16:44, B)

5. Scriptural Models of Faithful Generosity

• Hebrews 11:4 (Abel’s offering) underscores that real faith is shown by first-and-best giving, not leftover giving (18:03–18:37).

  "Abel's mindset was, it's all yours in the first place. I'm an owner of nothing. I'm a steward of everything. You can have all of me." (18:19, A)

6. Practical Steps: Living a Year in the Wheelbarrow

1. Get in the Wheelbarrow – Start Somewhere

• Begin with giving a small percentage (even 2%) and watch what God does as you build trust (19:51–20:13).
• Quoting 2 Corinthians 9:6 and the parable of the talents, he suggests faith multiplies, not maintains (21:17–22:29).

  "Faith does not maintain. Faith multiplies." (20:28, B – via Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr.)

2. Stay in the Wheelbarrow – Make Giving Consistent & Grow

• Consistency (recurring giving) reduces the recurring battle and builds long-term impact; he suggests increasing the percentage as faith grows (25:20–28:32).
• Tithing is defined as the "first and best 10%", and is seen as budgeting obedience and planning to be generous (28:32–29:25).

3. See It Through – Give Above and Beyond

• Go beyond tithing in response to God's leading and as a marker of trust and abundance thinking (31:58–33:22).
• Generosity is not God's way to get money from us but a way to transform our hearts and lives (33:27–34:06).

  "He needs to trust you. Can God get money through you? Are you a vessel that stewards what you've been given? Or are you a vault that stores the blessing of God?" (33:44, A)

7. Personal Stories and Honest Reflections

• The speaker recounts the early years of marriage, financial struggles, and tithing without understanding, leading eventually to deepening trust and provisions (13:28–14:09, 34:31–36:27).

• He dismisses prosperity gospel tropes ("we got a check for $75,000"—joking, it didn’t happen!), instead emphasizing slow, steady blessing and peace, not always financial windfalls (36:27–36:55).

  "Up until this point in my life, this is my testimony...God takes care of his generous kids." (36:53, B)

• He notes a consistent pattern: those who tithe and trust are "always blessed," living with more peace and freedom, regardless of circumstances, versus those who don’t, who are often worried and stressed (29:45–30:39).

8. The Heart of Generosity—God's Model

• Creation itself is an outflow of God's abundance, not lack (32:21–33:22).
• We were created in God's image as stewards with an abundance mindset; sin turned this to scarcity and self-preservation (32:17–33:22).

  "The lie since the very beginning of time from the devil is, take what's yours, because God is holding out on you. So don't build his kingdom, build your castle, which in light of eternity, might as well be sandcastles on the beach as the tide is coming in." (33:11, A)

9. The Corporate Challenge—Impact and Legacy

• Kingdom Builders isn’t about buildings, but transformed lives; buildings are channels for this purpose (44:05).
• The Church is in a unique moment: spiritual hunger is rising globally, and this is a window ("harvest") that must be seized now (42:51–43:41).
• Over 12,000 salvations and 2,610 baptisms at Red Rocks in 2025—tangible bottom line results of faithful giving (44:22).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Faith is both the belief and the trust. Belief says, 'Yeah, you can do that.' ... Trust says, 'I'll get in the wheelbarrow.'" (06:56, A)
• "If Jasmine can trust this 120-pound kid with parachute pants and a flying rug with her life, then I can probably trust the creator of the universe with my money." (08:29, A)
• "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse ... Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven." (08:56, B)
• "If you're having financial weight and burdens and troubles now, then to me it sounds like you need financial breakthrough in your life. Like now. ... Now sounds like the perfect time to try him." (09:34, A)
• "Don't let your lack of trust in people keep you from finding out that your generosity God will use to completely change your life." (16:44, B)
• "Abel's mindset was, it's all yours in the first place. I'm an owner of nothing. I'm a steward of everything. You can have all of me." (18:19, A)
• "Faith does not maintain. Faith multiplies." (20:28, B)
• "Tithing is just trusting. And that's what I love about it...it actually forces you to budget your obedience." (29:18, B)
• "Money will never give you the security that your soul is searching for. And tithing is trusting." (30:48, A)
• "Generosity is how we fight to become those stewards with a mindset of abundance again." (33:27, B)
• "God knows how to bless his kids who trust him with their treasure." (37:26, A)
• "He’s a father before he’s anything else. And he’s a good dad." (37:48, A)
• "The presence of God is not on the other side of the tightrope. The presence of God is in here. The presence of God. The promised land is not there. Your promised land is wherever God's presence is in your life." (46:58, A)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------| | 00:41 | Red Rocks values and Kingdom Builders intro | | 04:12 | Charles Blondin wheelbarrow story | | 06:56 | Faith: belief vs. trust | | 08:54 | Malachi 3:10—God’s challenge to test Him | | 10:10 | The "Year in the Wheelbarrow" challenge | | 12:26 | Transparency about church hurt & finances | | 16:44 | Trust and generosity beyond this church | | 18:03 | Abel’s example: first and best offering | | 19:51 | Get in the wheelbarrow: start somewhere | | 25:20 | Stay in the wheelbarrow: consistency & growth| | 28:32 | Tithing defined: first and best 10% | | 33:27 | Generosity as God’s character | | 36:53 | God’s faithfulness to generous children | | 42:51 | Current spiritual climate and opportunity | | 44:22 | Results: salvations and baptisms in 2025 | | 46:58 | The presence of God is the true promised land|

Flow, Language, and Tone

The tone of the message is warm, authentic, humorous, and motivating. The pastor draws from biblical stories, modern analogies (Disney, poker, Aladdin), and personal experiences to make scriptural principles accessible. He is candid about struggles, never promises "prosperity gospel" quick fixes, and underscores that generosity is about freedom, trust, and transformation more than about numbers or institutional benefit.

Conclusion: The Challenge

Listeners are called to trust God by living generously for a year—"giving God a year in the wheelbarrow"—and to watch Him work. This is presented as a pathway to both personal freedom and to advancing the mission of Jesus through the Church: “Start somewhere, make it consistent, grow over time, see it through to the end and go above and beyond. Trust him, try him, test him, and see that he isn’t a very good father who knows everything that you need.” (45:14, B)

Key Invitation:
Get in the wheelbarrow. Build the kingdom with your trust—because, as the episode closes, the foundation of God’s kingdom is the most secure place you could ever stand.