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Red Rocks Church. How you feel? Is that all you got? How you feel? Come on. Hey, help me say hi to everybody. All the Denver locations, we love you. Austin, Texas. Brussels, Belgium, and men and women at our correctional facilities. We love you so much. So glad you're with us and everybody watching online. We like to say, if you haven't heard it already, we're just a bunch of messed up, imperfect people. But we love to get together like this, get a little rowdy, and pursue a perfect God. So no matter what's going on in your life, if you're just joining us, we want you to know that in this place, we're gonna do everything we can to make you know that you're loved and welcomed and valued. So welcome home. Welcome to Red Rocks Church. High five. Somebody have a se. We are in week two of a teaching series called Kingdom Builders. If this is your church, you know, we do this series at the end of every year. If you're new, we'll catch you up to speed. But we actually started it last week. You may or may not have caught that if you were here. But we started our Kingdom Builders series last week as we celebrated testimonies and baptisms and. And church. May we never take this kind of stuff for granted. Last weekend, we got to see 1,157 people get baptized. That's not normal. Church to God, be all the glory. So we're in week two of this teaching series called Kingdom Builders. And if you knew we were already in the series called Kingdom Builders and you came this weekend, you love Jesus. That's all I'm saying. Hey, if you didn't let me just. I want to be honest from the jump. This is not for the faint of heart, okay? This is not one of those series where everybody gets to hear exactly what they hope to hear and what they want to hear. And this series will get you. This series will make you a little uncomfortable. The series might get a little awkward. And I have prayed for that. This series would challenge every single one of us because I know that God has more in store for us than we have seen yet as individuals, families, and as a church family. And so on December 7th, we're going to do what we do at the end of every year. We're going to take up a Kingdom Builders above and beyond offering, and we're going to go help a whole bunch of hurting people and we're going to go keep shouting the name of Jesus from rooftops and stages and everything else. We're gonna try to reach as many lost people as we possibly can. And in many ways, a lot of what we've gotten to do this year is because those of you who were a part of last year's kingdom builders offering gave so generously, it's allowed us to do a whole lot of this stuff we've done this year. So that's why we do it at the end of every year. And what I always say is, look, we as a church, we're not gonna ask you for anything. We're just asking that you would do the same thing we're gonna do if this is your church family, that we're just going to pray a prayer and we're just going to ask God, right? And so here's the prayer. God, based on all the ways you've blessed me this year, what can I give to build your kingdom and not just mine? And that's the prayer. And if we who call this place home, if we're willing to pray that prayer, God, based on everything you've been doing for us, based on the ways you've blessed us and taken care of us, what could we do this year to make sure we build your kingdom and not just our own? Does that sound good to anybody? If you're visiting, we don't want a thing from you. In fact, you're. And you might even think, oh, man, I wanted to check this place out and I picked the weekend. They're going to talk about money. I'm telling you, you pick the perfect weekend because you're going to find out what we care about. You're going to find out. At the end of the day, as countercultural as this may sound, we're actually a whole bunch of people who have been changed by the presence of God. We've been changed by the power of Jesus through his holy Spirit in such a way that we so want everyone else to experience what we've experienced. We're actually willing to sacrificially give when the rest of the world's trying to hold on to everything they have right now. We so believe that he can change your life, that we're going to sacrificially give to help people just like you keep finding that out. That's who we are as a church. We said from the very beginning, when we started 20 years ago, we said, hey, look, our preaching sucks and our worship is not much better. But here's what we said. We said, you know what? We could be a generous church. And here's what we said from the jump. If we stay a really really generous church. God will have a reason to keep us around. That's all we could figure out. And 20 years later, we're still holding on to that. If we can be a generous church who helps hurting people and reaches lost people, gotta have a reason to keep us around. All right, I know that now that you all were all on the same page and you actually know what we're about to talk about. Emotions have already been happening, right? I know there's some of you that are like, I love this series. I can't wait for the opportunity to give. And then I know that there's a bunch of you that would be on the opposite end of that. And you're like, finally took a risk and invited my neighbor, and now you're going to talk about this? Really, bro. Some of you might even feel a little anger, a little frustration. I get it. I have sat in your seat. I have dealt with all those emotions. And so, in light of the possible wide variety of emotions that we could feel when someone's talking about our money, I want to do a talk today called I'm As Mad as yous Are. Tell your neighbor, say, I'm as Mad as yous Are. It wasn't a month after I gave my life to God that somebody brought up this idea of tithing to me. And I was like, I'll fight you right here. Like, it just sounded crazy. Like, wait, what? I had moved from LA to Rockford and Illinois to be around some church people, and I had wrecked my car in LA right before I left and didn't have the right kind of insurance. And so I just lost my car. And I was making great money, but I was spending it all on drugs. And so I come to Illinois with nothing. Like, nothing except for credit card debt and student loan debt. And I lived with another family in the church. Like, I had nothing. And this person was like, yeah, you should start tithing. I'm like, you should start shutting up. It sounded crazy to me. So I know that feeling. And if you were to say, well, Sean, how do you feel about it today? And by the way, thank you for asking. No one asks. You know what I mean? No one asks if you put me on a polygraph test. As we enter into our Kingdom Building Builder series, every year, I feel pretty much the same, which is really, really excited. A little nervous, because you might just think of it like, if I'm in your seat, I'm a pessimist at heart in ways I wish I wasn't. And if I'm sitting In your seat, I would be thinking things like, huh, well, that's awfully convenient. The guy who works at the church is going to talk about giving to the church. Well, doesn't that work out nice? And I get it if you're thinking that. But what you might not know is, see, I approach this series in the same way a whole lot of you do. Kind of excited, kind of nervous, because there'll never be a sacrificial year end offering anything at our church that me and Jill don't go first in. We always go first. And so I'm gonna do the same thing you're gonna do. I'm gonna pray that prayer. And then me and my wife are gonna do what we always do and we're gonna go, well, I'll go pray and you go pray and let's come back together and see what we do can come up with. And I'm scared to death of what she's going to come up with. I'm for real. Do I know that because of past experiences that some of you may have had that there's a little PTSD when you hear about money talked about? And do I know that this could make some people upset? Yeah. And do I know that some people might judge my motives even if they don't know me? Yeah. Do I know that some people might not want to come back to the church? Do I know that me and my wife might get in a fight when she comes back with her number? It's possible. We did last year. It's real talk. Because I ruined a whole day of our family vacation because we came back with our numbers and I was like, what? But every year our goal is we're gonna outdo what we did last year and it's gonna be sacrificial. And so I'm like you. I come into this thing excited and nervous, and you may go, well, if you're nervous about all these things and you know it can cause people to feel awkward, then why do you do it? Don't you have any say in what we do around here? I do. I know some people. I get to speak into it. I give you four reasons I've never seen more miracles in my life, in my family's life and in our church's family's life than on the other side of obedient generosity. I've never seen more miracles. I've never felt closer to God. I've never felt more purpose in my life than after God has called us to give something that scared us a little bit. And we did. And then we see how God used it to reach lost people. And number four is because it's really important to God. You go, how do you know? Listen to this. I just read this. This week. Jesus spoke about money and possessions. Listen to this. In 16 of his 38 recorded parables, almost half of every parable Jesus told was about money. In the Gospels, no less than 1 out of 10 verses, 288 in all, directly deal with with money. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions. It's really important to God, apparently. And so even if it challenges our thinking, even if it presses some buttons that might feel triggering in our life, we got to talk about it. There's no better place to talk about it than right here as the church opening up God's word and saying, God, you speak to us because this stuff gets real. Right? Right? Anybody? I want to say this. Giving God's way is about money and has nothing to do with our money. You're like, huh? What's on the screen right there? The creative team actually texted me this morning. They're like, did you. Is there a typo? That doesn't make sense. Giving God's way, it's about money, and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with our money. In fact, Jesus said this for where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Also, see what we think on autopilot, apart from God's word, is, if something grabs my heart, well, then I'll give to it. And Jesus said, that's not how it works. He said, it's the opposite. You give to something if you want it to have your heart. Where you give is where your heart goes. And you go, I don't believe that. Well, I dare you. This week, take your life savings and invest in American Airlines. Now, for the record, I do not recommend this, but watch your heart. You'll have never read more articles about American Airlines. You'll have never been more interested in the airplane industry. You'll be reading safety standards. You'll be praying for the CEO of American Airlines. Why? Because our heart follows our money. And what we're going to learn through this series, and for a lot of us be reminded of in this series, is God doesn't need our money. He spoke and created the world. He doesn't need our money, but he wants to have our heart. And he knows if he can have our heart, then he could change our whole life. That's what he wants for us. See, giving, it's about our money. And it's not really about money. It's about peace and joy and living with eternal purpose and getting closer to God and obedience and trust and leaving a legacy and how you'll be remembered. We're going to talk about all this stuff, but money plays into all those things. And the dollar amount is not what's at stake. Stake, it's our heart and it's the life that God has in store for us. But here's what I also realized. It can get really confusing. And I was thinking about it this week and I was like, well, no wonder it gets confusing. There's over 2,000 verses that talks about money. And anytime most of us have ever heard anyone in church talk about money, what are they going to do? They're going to read two or three of those. So they're going to hit this one little aspect of giving. And you might hear somebody talk about money. And you'll hear terms like, first fruits. We're going to take a first fruits offering. I've been going to church for a long time, never brought any fruit. Like, I don't even know what you're talking about. First fruits. Or you'll hear people say, we're going to take the tithes and the offerings. Have you ever thought, like, what's the difference? I gave 50 bucks last week, bro. Apply it to whichever one you want. First fruits and tithes and offerings. And this church has the audacity to say we're going to take an above and beyond offering at the end of the year. And I woke up the other day literally going, because of my just also being a person, a little nervous about what me and my family are going to do. I woke up the other morning going, where did this all come from? And I thought, you know what? We need a big, big picture perspective of giving God's way. Like. Like, I don't want to just look at one verse in one part of the Bible and focus on a little aspect. I want us to see the whole thing. So today we're going to read 2,000 verses about giving. No, we're not. I'm kidding. That was worse than when I said we were talking about money. You guys have got something to do, huh? Places to be. I messed up trying to tape a football game the other day. And so I got home late at night and I went on YouTube and I realized that on YouTube, what would take me three hours to watch? Normally they play the. All the highlights and I'd watch The whole game. And I got the gist of the whole game in 15 minutes. That's what I'm trying to do with you today. I want to go through the entirety of scripture. I want to look at giving through the entire Bible. Not just pick out a little verse here and dwell on an aspect and pick out a little. I wanna look. Where did this thing come from? Throughout the whole Bible. Cause I want us to get a big picture perspective. Me and my son Ashton were in New York a little over a year ago for a couple days and we were walking around and I remember we were kind of like. Well, from like right here, all we see is huge buildings. Right? Which way's Times Square? And I'm like, ah. And then we find Times Square and it's like, well, where's Central park from here? Like, I don't know, how about the Brooklyn Bridge? Which direction is that? Where's the Statue of Liberty? No clue, because I'm just in this little pocket of tall buildings. But when we took off and left the city from. From way up here, as we look down, all of a sudden the whole thing made sense to us. It's like, oh, look, Central. Central Park's real close to Times Square. They're right next to each other and there's where the Brooklyn Bridge is and there's the Statue of Liberty. So I wanna give us as a church, kind of a 30,000 foot view this week on the principle of giving throughout the entire Bible. Sound good? All right, let's do it. I'm gonna try to incorporate. Don't put it up yet, guys. I'm gonna try to incorporate a timeline chart. It made a lot of sense in my mind when we came out here before service and sort of went through all the slides. I realized it was smoother in my mind then it might feel in here to you. So we'll try to do this and see how unwonky we can make it feel. All right. All right. If you're taking notes, the title of the talk is I'm as mad as you are. That's right. Giving God's way point number one, first and best. Now for this 30,000 foot view, would you guys put this timeline up? It doesn't look like a timeline yet because we're just starting. All right, give me a minute. Okay, so we're going all the way back to the very first family that God created, Adam and Eve. And then their first two boys were named Cain and Abel. And this is the very first recorded offering that we see in the entire Bible. It's that far back. The very first family. Okay, watch what happens. Genesis 4, verses 2 through 7. Now, Abel kept flocks and Cain worked the soil. So they both got jobs in the course of time. Cain brought some. This is super important. If you got your Bible, like, circle it or underline it if you've got a pen with you. Some. Cain brought some of his fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. Abel also brought an offering, fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Cain brought some. Abel brought the first and the best. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry and his face was downcast. And then the Lord said to Cain, well, why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin's crouching at your door and it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. Okay, so. So picture this first family that God created. We don't have in the Bible. We don't see the conversation where God talked to them about bringing back part of what he gave them back to him in some sort of offering. We don't see that conversation, but we do know that it happened because God says, bro, you knew what was right and you didn't do it. So why are you acting sad? You should have done what was right. So God's holding him accountable, which means God had already told them, this is what I want. I want you to realize what you have is from me, and I want you to bring some back. Cain brings some. Some from the middle, some from the leftovers, some from wherever. God's like, you know, that's not the deal. Abel brings the first and the best, and God looks at that one with favor. We see from the very first family in the very first recorded offering to God. God wants our first and our best. And that's where the term comes from. First fruits. If you've ever heard somebody use that in church. That's what they're talking about. Now. I don't know how God told him. Did God tell Adam and Eve? And then Adam and Eve sat the boys down? Did God set the whole family down and do a raise? Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace University in the house with him. I don't know, but he told them because he's holding the boys accountable. I don't know exactly how he told them. I do know exactly how he told us. Proverbs 3:9 and 10. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing. Why God? Because it sounds crazy. If you don't need my money, why are you asking me to not only now bring something back to you, but bring the first and the best? Because of what Jesus said. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. So we see in the very first family that God created. God says, I want your first and I want your best. Because if. If, if I'm first place in your heart, I'm first place in your life. And if I can be first place in your life, I could change everything in your life. I could change the world through your life. But I gotta be first. So this is not something that somebody doing a building campaign in the last 50 years at a church came up with. I mean, this is og Adam and Eve's kids. And from the beginning of scripture, we see God wants our first and wants our best. Here's my challenge. I have a couple challenges for you today. Just things to think about, things that if you're married, talk to your spouse about. If you have kids, talk to your family about. Here's my first challenge. As you pray the prayer God, based on. Go ahead and put that up. God, based on all the ways you've blessed me this year. What can I give? And then insert this. Even if it's just mentally, God, what can I give that I'll know in my heart? It's not my leftovers, but it's my first and it's my best to build your kingdom and not just mine. Red Rocks Church. I'm telling you, if we can become a group of individuals and families who will pray that prayer and take some steps of faith, the sky's the limit with the kind of people we can reach with the message of Jesus Christ to this world. Number one, first and best giving God's way. Number two, the tithe. Ever heard somebody talk about the tithe and like me, the first time I heard it, think that is absurd? I was mad when I first heard about it because I'm thinking I got nothing. I'm like Chris Farley, like, I'm like the guy who lives down in a van by the river. I got nothing. And students, if you don't know what that is, Google it. You're missing some of the best comedy ever. When you feel really poor, 10% of what you have seems crazy. But you know what I never realized? First month we had started the church and I was talking to A couple that started coming, and he and I were just talking one day, and he brought up the fact that we had taken tithes and offerings at church. And he was just real honest with me. He goes, hey, I'm just letting you know right now, dude, I ain't doing that tithe thing. And he goes, no offense, but I make a lot of money. I'm here, like, living in someone else's house with no health insurance. I'm like, good for you, bro. He goes, no offense. I make a lot of money and 10% of what I make, dude, that's crazy. And I honestly didn't have a comeback. I was like, I agree. It's beautiful how God set it up, because no matter if you feel like you're extremely poor in the moment or you feel like you're extremely wealthy in the moment, 10% is just as hard of a step of faith for everybody. No matter where we're at, God set it up in such a way that it's not about a dollar amount. It's about our heart and what he's entrusted us with. And will we be obedient to what he has said. It's not about the amount. It's about our heart. It's about our faith. And you go, well, yeah, but I heard. And again, I wish I could. I wish I could see your thoughts. I want to see how many people. I'd love to see the little bubbles above your heads right now, because I would love to count how many of you have already in your mind went, it's an Old Testament principle. That's Old Testament law. Honey, don't listen to this don't Old Testament law stuff or New Testament. Or New Testament. You ever heard that? I heard that once. I didn't even know what the Old Testament law was, but I'm like, I'm grabbing onto that because then I feel like I can say I'm putting God first and I don't got to worry about tithing. It's just an Old Testament law thing. That's why I'm so excited about our little chart. Go ahead and put up this. This chart. Let's investigate, shall we? Is tithing an Old Testament law thing, or is it the entire Bible principle of God thing? Sean, I'm so glad you asked. Abraham's who we're going to look at first, 2000 BC. Okay. This is 600 years before there was an Old Testament law. Genesis 14:20. God had just given Abraham a victory. Here's what he says. And praise be to God, most high who delivered your enemies into your hand. Then Abram, he gave him a tenth of everything. 2000 years before Jesus was here. The principle of God in scripture was, look at what you've done for me. God, 10% initially goes to you. 600 years before there was an Old Testament law, Jacob, 1900 BC, 500 years before there was an Old Testament law. And if you're going, what is this Old Testament law? I'll get to it in a second. Genesis 28. Then Jacob made a vow. Even if you haven't been in church, you might have heard of this guy's story. He's the one who had the dream with the Ladder and Jacob's Ladder. And you're like, I don't even know what the story's about, but I've heard of Jacob's Ladder. That's the guy. Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me, if God's going to watch over me on this journey I'm taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear the so that I can return safely to my father's household, then the Lord will be my God. And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house. And of all that you give me, I will give you a tenth. Tithing was a principle in the Bible long before anyone ever even knew there would be such a thing as an old Testament law. 1400 BC, this is where we see the Old Testament law. And I'm trying to give it to you real quick. Moses sees God in a burning, talks to God in a burning bush. Let's see if this jogs any of your memories. He goes to Pharaoh, he gets the nation of Israel out of a 400 year stint of slavery. They God miraculously parts the Red Sea, they go across. Now they're going to wander in the desert for 40 years. And in that period, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament law. Now they're going to wander in the desert for 40 years and then, and then they're going to cross the Jordan river and they're going to go into the Promised land. They're going to fight 31 battles and take possession, excuse me, of the Promised land. And the whole time trying to abide by this law that God gave Moses to give to the nation of Israel. So when you hear people referring to the Old Testament law, that's the period of time they're talking about. So tithing started 5, 600 years before that was even. And if you're trying to like Wrap your mind around that like, you know, we're about to celebrate 250 years as a country. So the tithe was 5, 600 years before there ever even was this Old Testament law. But the tithe was so important to God that he also put it in the Old Testament Law, Leviticus 27:30. A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord. It is holy to the Lord. He said, it's so important to me that you live this way. I'm telling you, this is a holy act when you tithe. Malachi 3:10. Now we're going to put that chart back up, if you would. Now we're up to 430 B.C. with Malachi. Malachi is now referring back to part of the Old Testament law. He's talking to people that are from the nation of Israel that would have understood the Old Testament law because it had been passed down through generations. And he says, let me remind you of how serious God is about this thing called the tithe. Malachi says this. Bring the whole tithe. That word tithe, literally translated, means 10th or 10%. Bring the whole 10% into the storehouse, that's your local place of worship, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this. This is the only time in the entire Bible where God says, here's what I want you to do. And if you don't, if you think it sounds crazy, he says, son, daughter, test me. Bring the whole tithe to the storehouse. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. So that word tithe means tenth. We've seen it 2,000 years before Jesus. Now we see it again in the Bible, 400 years before Jesus. It's all throughout the Bible. And it's the only time where God goes, I know, I know, it sounds crazy, right? Isn't it interesting? Jesus throws out this one liner at one point, and he just goes, hey, guys, you can't serve both God and money. It's almost as if he knew who his major competition was and how easily it would be for us to tie our hearts to money. And I know, I know that game because I grew up really poor. And my whole life I didn't know many things about what I wanted to do when I grew up. But one thing I knew is I just didn't want to be poor. And so I didn't even have money, but my heart was tied to it. And so now that we have some, and we're going to talk about just giving some if God wants us. That's scary because my heart's been attached to it my whole life. God says, I know. That's why I put this in place. And if you'll bring me your first, and if you bring me your tithe, test me. Watch out. He doesn't promise us a jet. He doesn't promise us Rolexes. He doesn't promise us health. He says, you just let me be God and see if I don't blow you away with the things I'll do. I'll open up the floodgates of heaven and I'll take care of you in ways you couldn't take care of yourself with 100% of your income. Tithing is not serving. Tithing is not giving to other great charities. Tithing is not what your wife signed you up on while she was listening to Caleb. You know what I'm talking about, baby. I see the reports and I look at them and I go, wow, I am generous. Tithing is not buying merch in the lobby. You're like, why would you say that? Oh. Cause my son thought it was. I asked him. Yes, Jill, I know you're gonna ask me this. I asked him if I could tell this story this summer. He was working two jobs. He was working at the church, and he was working at a golf course. And he came home with a red rocks church hat because, you know, we make merch. It's what we do. And. And he came home with a new red rock church hat. And Jill's like, oh, I love your hat. And he's like, yeah, I bought it today in the lobby. And she's like, well, did you use your staff discount? She goes, babe, if you work at the church, you get a discount on the merch. Did you use your staff discount? True story. My son goes, nah, I'm behind on my tithe anyways. I figure I'd catch up. I have failed you, son. The tithe is not buying extra merch. In the church lobby, I asked Austin. I said, bud, can I tell this story today? He goes, yeah. He goes, but would you at least tell him I bought a red rocks hat? I said, yeah, I'll tell him. It's important to know exactly what God said and how long he's been saying it. Yeah, but again, I heard from a pretty reputable source that it's just Old Testament law stuff. Listen to what Jesus says in The New Testament, Matthew 23:23. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth, you tithe, you give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. Jesus said, I expect you to show justice and mercy. I expect you to be faithful. Yes, you've been tithing and yes, you should be tithing. But here's what I'm also calling you to be. Jesus himself affirms the entire biblical principle called the tithe that was hundreds of years before the Old Testament law. In the Old Testament law and spoken about by Jesus himself in the New Testament. It's just who we're called to be church. And so let me just tell you this, if you do that here, when you tithe here, and I'm just going to read you what I wrote and we'll go over this in more detail the next couple weeks. When you give above and beyond here, when you tithe here. Excuse me. You are bringing the gospel to inmates, correctional facilities. We love you so much. You are serving widows. You are helping teenage single moms. This week, you are serving underprivileged families. Right now, you are serving underprivileged children. You are clothing, feeding, educating children around the world and in our city, you are rescuing girls from sex trafficking. You are starting churches around the country. You are supporting over 30 nonprofits. In our city, you are reaching the next generation in numbers that we never dreamt possible. Your giving is changing the world now and making heaven more crowded forever. That's why we do what we do. So. Yes. Am I nervous? Yeah, but I'm real excited. Challenge number two, maybe for you this year on December 7th, your year end offering would be, I'm gonna finally be obedient and I'm gonna take God up on this challenge. It scares me to death, but I'm gonna take him up on this challenge and I'm actually gonna tithe from what he's done in Our lives for 20, 25. Be a huge step of faith for some of you and don't take my words, take his. He says, test me and see if I won't open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing, you won't know what to do with it. Number three, above and beyond. And this I wanted to hit because I want you to understand because again, I've just sat in your seat in this stuff. And I think things like, what gives you the right? You have the audacity to challenge us to tithe all year long and then take just an extra offering, just an extra. What gives you the right? Again, I want you to see giving God's way through the whole scripture started with the first family, with the first and the best. We see it all through the Old Testament and now in the New Testament that it's not just the first, it's the first 10%. And then Jesus himself takes it to a whole nother level. Here's what he says. Jesus looked at him and looked at and loved him. He said, hey, bro, one thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. And then come follow me. Jesus said, I know you know the principle of the tithe. I'm calling you to a whole nother life where the tithe, that's class 101. And now I want you to hold the 90%. I want you to hold onto it real loosely. And if I put something on your heart, if you. If I speak to your heart and tell you to get crazy generous, you do that even with the 90, that's a whole new level. That's where I want you to live. Because I know how attached your heart is to money. And if I can get your heart fully, I got your life fully. He says, I'm taking it to a whole nother level. I'm taking it to the above and beyond level. And let's put the chart back up. We see it in the early church, right after Jesus goes back to heaven. We see the church start that we are now holding the baton. We see the church start. You read about this for yourself in Acts 2. You don't read about people talking about the tithe. Like, you don't see any conversations where it's like, well, now it's 10% from the gross or the net, because I want to. No, no, no. This church says, everything I have is God's. I'll give it all away. I'll sell all of it so we can reach more hurting people. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need above and beyond. And then God speaks, speaking to a church, Paul speaking to a church. And then God puts it in his word to speak to every church from this point forward. And he says, I'm not calling you to mediocre generosity. I'm calling you to be extravagantly generous when it comes to building my kingdom. I'll change your life. And I'll change the world through you. And I don't have time. Let's do it real quick. Second Corinthians 8:1:7. We gotta go. And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial. These guys were going through an awful time in life and really even struggling financially. And because of their generosity, they start experiencing overflowing joy. Remember I said earlier, it's about money, but it's not really about money. It's about God saying, let me bring you peace that you haven't had before. Let me bring you joy that you haven't had before. Let me bring you purpose that you haven't had before. Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able. And here it is, even beyond their ability, entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing. Please don't be a part of this year end offering. If you feel like anyone has twisted your arm, God's not looking for, okay, fine, hope you're happy. No, he wants our heart. He wants us to cross some tough bridges in our heart and be able to come to him on the other side of a tough decision and go, I just choose to worship you. I don't feel like this is what I want to do right now because my heart's been attached to money my whole life. But I choose obedience, I choose trust, I choose worship and God I do so close gladly to the best of my ability. And they exceeded our expectations. They gave themselves first of all to the Lord and then by the will of God, also to us. We'll skip down to verse seven if you could, on the thing. But since you excel in everything, in faith and speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we've kindled in you, here it is, church. See that you excel and the grace of giving. Not see if you can meet the minimum requirements. But if you really want to go to a different level, if you want to experience a new life, if you want this different kind of peace, different kind of joy, different kind of eternal purpose. I know people who are doing so good financially and are so bored with life and numb on the inside because they don't have eternal purpose, God's like, I got more for you. It's about money, but it's not about money. So that's where we see this above and beyond mentality and mindset is you See the whole timeline. It starts with the very first family. It says, I want your first and your best. Trust me. Then all through scripture, old and new, he says, bring me that tithe. Don't do the leftover thing. Bring it up top. I know it's scary, but watch what I'll do. Test me. And then he moves into the church that extends to us in 2025. And he says, hold the 90% real loose. Have an openness to what I want to do in your life, because if you can trust me with your money, you could trust me with everything. He knows that about us. So he says, hold the rest real loose and let me be in charge. Because if I can be in charge of that, I can be in charge of your whole life, and we can change the game. I'll never forget the first time that I. That I experienced this for myself. Actually, me and Jill did together as a newly married couple. I had started interning at this church in Rockford, and my salary was 50 bucks a week. And she had just started teaching at the Christian school attached to the church, and her salary was somewhere around 15, 16,000 a year, something like that. So, like, we were just barely making it. We both had huge amounts of student loans. I came into marriage with debt. Our finances were in the sort of shape that if the electricity bill came and it was like 60 bucks more than you thought it would, there's tears because, like, how are we going to do this? We didn't think about eating out. We didn't think about shopping. We're just trying to make it here. And we felt like God put something on our heart. It was an above and beyond our tithe giving opportunity. We both felt it. We're like, I think God wants us to. And I remember we're sitting in our car outside of our little apartment, and Jill's like, do you feel it? And I was like, I do. I feel like we're supposed to. And we both know, like, we got nothing. And then my wife, and this is why we get in fights at times like this. My wife says, well, let's just give it all. I was like, bite your tongue, woman. I go, well, how much do we have? She looked it up. She said, we have $50 left. That was it. That's savings, that's checking. That's all of it. She said, you want to give it all? I was like, okay, let's do it. And we sat there in our car and just prayed like, God, do something. Reach somebody with this, because we don't have anything else to give you, but. And you can't make this up. Guys. I'm walking through the church the next day, and a dude comes up to me in a suit, and he just hands me an envelope. I'm like, excuse me. And he goes, God woke me up last night and told me to give this to you today. I don't know what it's about. And he gave me a check for $5,000. Now, you know the deal. Like, when you're underwater, that goes quick. He's like, pay that, pay that, pay that, get caught up on that, make that. I knew that that would go quick, but I went and sat in my car and just bawled. And it wasn't over the 5,000. Although at the time, it felt like 5 million. What? What I was discovering. See, I hadn't even told my wife this. I was considering quitting the internship and just getting a job because I was sick of us being so poor. And I'm thinking, who are we kidding? Like, I'm not necessarily pastor material. And I'm doing an internship for two years. Making nothing. Like, this is stupid and God's not paying attention anyways, or else he'd help us out a little bit. That's how I felt. And I sat in my car that day just weeping. Wait a sec. He is paying attention. He does have a plan for me. He is with me. I'd never felt closer. I'd never more understood that verse. If I give him my stuff, he gets my heart. I'd never felt closer to him. I didn't quit the internship. Interned to be a pastor. Moved here 20 years ago with some friends. Get to tell you that I still think God's the best thing that you could ever choose in your lifetime. Today, my whole life was changed with financial obedience that we just thought God wanted us to be generous. That's what I want for you guys. I promise you, no matter how much you make, this church doesn't need your money. Oh, we got big plans and dreams, and it will take dollars. But this is God's church. He'll take care of it. We don't want anything from you. I can promise you. Put me on a polygraph test. This is what I want for you. And I read this verse that I have read so many times, and it just hit me different this week. First Timothy 2. 4. God who wants all people to be saved and. And to come to knowledge of the truth. And I've read that so many times and just kind of flew right by it, like, of course he does. He's God. He wants everybody to get saved. I know. And it hit me different this week. It's like, wait a sec. See, I'm a dad and I love being a dad. I thought, what must it feel like for the Father when he. When he had somebody write down that verse for us to read? Who's looking, going, I see some of my children and they don't know what my son Jesus has done yet. And if things don't change, I'll be forever separated with them for eternity. He says, I don't want that. I want him to find Jesus. I want him to get saved. I want him to be in heaven with me as their father forever. And there's this weird thing in the last week of Jesus, life before the resurrection, where he almost seems to act a little bit sort of out of character. Like what I read about and we talked about it before Easter this year. It doesn't match up with the picture my grandma had in her house of Jesus because that guy's really peaceful and had amazing hair and wouldn't hurt a soul. And yet Jesus weeps as he goes into Jerusalem over people that won't get saved. And then he goes into the temple and starts flipping over tables, wreck and shock. And you find out that he was angry because people were making it too hard to get to God. He's got this righteous anger of Satan who wants to steal, kill and destroy the destiny off of our lives. So for me, this verse hit me different because for the first time in my life I went, I know me and Jill are going to pray, pray. And I know I'm going to be scared of the amount. And there might be a little bit of an argument, but when I bring the check on December 7 this year, this is my way of saying, hey, Dad, I don't have a whole lot to offer you, but I'm as mad as you are. And let's go get this world. Let's go tell people about Jesus. Let's go change the world. Take these resources that you blessed me with and let's hire more youth staff. Let's reach more kids, let's do more youth retreats, let's do more outreach. Let's serve our cities better. We'll take these dollars and we'll go reach the world as best we can with it. So, God, here's my check because I'm as mad as you are. That's what I want for us church. I've talked for too long. Play you a two minute video and I'm gonna pray for you. I just never, never, never want us to forget why we do what we do and why we take so much time out of our regular routine to talk about something that can be so challenging. Because we saw it last week, just last week, 1,157 people went public with their faith. That doesn't happen without our combined generosity. And if you've ever given here, this is what you're a part of. Watch this. And Red Rocks Church. It's going to be a good year. I believe it. I'm telling you. God's about to build our church this year in a way where truly only he can get the credit for it. Truly, it only makes sense with him in the story.