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Well, it is miracle offering weekend and it's so exciting. And I wanna let anybody know that's visiting with us. This is the only weekend that we do our service like this, where we have the offering at the end and we invite you to participate with us if you're new with us. Some of us have been doing this thing called Plan, Vision, Dream. We've been working our plan, we wrote our vision down. God, could you help us to give more? And then we have a dream goal of God. We'd love to give this amount if we could. And so wherever you're at Plan, Vision, Dream, I pray that you're just leaning into this. And again, if you're new and you're like, I didn't make a plan or a vision or anything, we just invite you to be a part of this miracle offering. On this weekend, we're gonna raise millions of dollars, which is still mind boggling to think about it. This is our 16th year of miracle offering. And I wanna let you know that over the 16 years now this is our 16th year, we are $2 million away from reaching the goal of $100 million through Kingdom Builders. Is that not incredible? 2 million? I mean, it's just amazing to me. Amazing. And so I just wanna let you know that it's exciting. And our goal this year is 15 million. And we are currently right now at about 7.248 million. Just if you want it the exact. I think they got the number and we're right there and we see that about 60% of our and at this time of year. So we're excited where we're at. And I just keep saying, God, let's lean into the miracle. Lean into the miracle. I'll never forget the first time we got to this moment and I was worried because the gap was big. And I looked around the room and I started counting people up and God said, stop that, don't do that. Don't do the math. Just ask everybody to do their part. Don't do the math, do your part. And so I'm leaning in with great faith and just a desire and expecting God to do great things. And we went for 15 million as our goal last year was 12.3. And if you don't know why we went for the goal to do that. I was preaching at Bethany World Prayer center and Pastor Larry Stockstill came up to me and he said, I believe that this is a message for the nations. You're leading the way as a church. I believe God is gonna be sending people into your Church with the desire to be kingdom builders, like, God is gonna bring in great resources. And he said, I really believe you're on your way to $20 million. And so I just felt like I would stretch our faith and say, God, let's do that first step, get to 15, and then let's see where that is. And if you say, I'm new to the church and I have the ability to give in that way, well, we've been praying for you. And we just believe that this church wants to make a difference. Now, our theme. I wanna talk about our theme for this year. Our theme for this year has been and is Forever glory. Forever glory. And I wanna tie our theme into the miracle offering. And we've been talking about that. We are living for the forever glory, not just this world, okay? And in 2 Corinthians 4:18, it says this. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. We are fixing our eyes on things that are eternal. We're not just looking at the things that we could see here on this earth. We're saying, God, we wanna live for the forever glory. For. For the things that matter in eternity, for your glory. And that's why the miracle offering matters. This is not just a financial moment. This is a faith moment. This is a moment that says, God, I'm living for the unseen. I'm living for the things that matter in eternity, for the forever glory. And it gives us an opportunity to step into the storyline of what God is writing right now and to give. Like, I love the video earlier in the church service where I was talking about the next generation and Bibles and food and people being set free and the medical and the 42% of the world that's never heard, and building churches and taking care of people in disasters. We're able to jump into this. So I wanna read a text for you, and I want you to stay with me. Cause it starts out strong, like Paul's talking to Timothy. So stay with me, all right? Paul says this in First Timothy, chapter 6, verses 17 through 19. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and willing to share. And in this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may Take hold of the life that is truly life. Now, when Paul is saying this to Timothy, I want you to know, earlier in the chapter six, he's saying to them, he's addressing people that are chasing wealth. He's like, guys, it's not gonna lead to happiness. Stop doing this. If you chase after it, that's not the purpose of life. So earlier in the chapter, he's telling him, like, those people are chasing after it and think that that's gonna make them happy and that's gonna give them the life that they're looking for. And then all of a sudden, he switches from people that are chasing wealth that he goes, hey, there's a bunch of people, Timothy, that have wealth. Let's talk about them for a minute. I wanna talk to those people. And he shifts to those people that have great wealth. And can I say this? That would include us. Like, Paul wasn't talking about us there, but this applies to us. Like, we are people with great wealth. And so when I look at this, I think, boy, we have great wealth. I should pay attention to whatever Paul is saying. And so we're the type of people that Paul is talking about. You say, I don't feel like I have great wealth. And I know I've said this over and over again, like, how wealthy we are compared to the world, but I checked it again today. I checked it there. I went to the Global Rich List calculator. You can look for it. Global Rich List calculator. And I thought, all right, where is it? How much money do you have to make to be in the richest 1% on planet Earth? There's 8 billion people. How much do you have to make to be in the top 1%? $50,000 a year. $50,000 a year is what the number is that puts you in the richest 1% of planet Earth. Matter of fact, it said if you make $50,000 a year, US dollars, it says you're the 80 millionth and first richest person in the world. Like, think about that. 80 million. And first, don't make a t shirt like, I'm 80 million. But it's amazing when you think about this. And I know you think like, well, I don't feel rich because I see billionaires and we see them all over social media. I mean, don't let that cloud out the fact that God has put a lot of wealth into our hands, and if you make more than $50,000, you're in the richest 1% on planet Earth. There's just. We're looking at billionaires and Multimillionaires and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. How many remember that? Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Yeah. See, I grew up and I didn't know who was rich because we all had Tenny bumper shoes. How many know what I'm talking about? And we had tough skin jeans, and we didn't have the name. We didn't know who was rich until the Nike Cortez came out. How many know what I'm talking about? Yeah, some of you are like, that's retro. No, that was when I was like, oh, they don't have Kmart Tenny bumpers. They're, like, wearing Nike Quartet. Like, what is going on? And then as soon as I saved up my allowance to buy Nikes, it switched to tigers. I remember that. Yeah. It's like, you're always chasing. All right, but we are rich. And I want to say this. What a privilege to be living where we are when we are. What a privilege that we're living with where we are at the wealthiest expression of the church on planet Earth. Like, we are living in this opportunity right now. We're living in this moment that we could say, what should we do, God? What should we do with all that we've been given? And I wanna make it clear, as Paul is telling Timothy this, about people that have money, he's not saying wealth is sinful. He's not saying having a successful business is sinful. He's not saying that, you know, owning land or things is sinful. What he's saying is, hey, if you have a hope in wealth, if your hope is in wealth, and if you're hoarding wealth, you're in trouble. If you're hoping in it and you're hoarding it, you're sinning. You cannot hope in this wealth. You can't hoard it. There's something we should do with the wealth that we have, and we should make a difference. And we say that one moment in the presence of God changes everything. Matter of fact, if you walk in our hallway as we're coming out into the auditorium here, right where the pastors and the worship team, it says, one moment in the presence of God changes everything. And we believe that. That people that are lost can be found, people that are broken can be put back together. We believe that. But I also believe one moment in the presence of God can change your perspective about what we do with our money. One moment in his presence, and all of a sudden you realize, wow, it changes my perspective on this. And so Paul doesn't shame people that have stuff. He's like, you know, those rich people, those bad people. No. He said, here's what they should do. The people that have the wealth, like, there's people chasing it, trying to get it, but the people that have it, here's what they should do. They should have the right orientation. And he doesn't see it exactly like this, but as you read it, he's like, they should be living for forever glory. They should be living for forever glory. They should have a different perspective, a different thinking. And he says, tell those that are rich in the present age. And he's kind of like poking at them like, guys, do you understand this is temporary? This present age that we're living in right now, it's passing. This is just a fleeting vapor. It's over in a moment. He said, tell those that are rich in this present age not to trust in their wealth like that. It's gonna be over. It's gonna be temporary. It goes up and down, up and down. I think it's funny, our oldest son, Connor, he's been, you know, dabbling in the stock market a little more than just, like, mutual funds. And just think. And I see him one day, and he's like, I'm up. I see him two days later. He's like, I'm down. I see him two days after that. He's like, I'm down, down. I'm not. I'm down. Down. I said, yeah, try like Bitcoin. How many go? Yeah, there you go. But it's so uncertain. And you know what Paul's saying? He's saying, money is a useful tool, but it's a terrible foundation. It's a terrible foundation. It's not something you can build your life on. And the world is chasing after it. And they say, this is my worth, and this is what I have, and this is what I've accumulated. And it becomes a foundation. And Paul said, terrible, terrible foundation. It's shaky. It's shaky. It's here today, it's gone tomorrow. And he's like, don't build your life on something that can't carry the weight of your soul. Don't do that. Don't build your life on something that can't carry the weight of your soul. And so he's like, don't do that. And he says, now, and God gives us everything so that we can richly enjoy it. How many know that God is not opposed to us having joy? And I was talking to a friend, and he was looking to buy a car, and he was like, ah. And he said, how do you do it, Pastor? I said, beck and I just realized that God has blessed us, and we wanna ask him every year, how much do you want us to give? Of we're gonna tithe 10. And of that 90 that's left, God, how much do you want? What should be our goal? How much can we believe that's in your hands that we can go after? And living that way has brought us, like, a joy as we spent something we got to eat. And I don't go, oh, Becca, don't supersize the meal. There's no joy in our home. We don't do that. And so I said, that's how we've done it, been able to do that. And Paul's saying, like, it's there. He's giving us free enjoyment. And then he does an intentional wordplay. He said, tell those that are rich to not trust in riches, but trust in God, who richly provides. It's like rich riches richly provides. And Paul's saying is, you know who the real rich person is? People. God's given you wealth, but the real rich person is God, the one that gave you the wealth, the one that gave. He's the rich one. And he's saying, I want you to do something with this. I want your perspective to be different. I want you to live for the forever glory. And I want you to know as we come into miracle offering this weekend, it's not a pressure thing. It's not a pressure thing. It's a perspective thing. It's like, I want to do this. I get to do this. It's a joy because I'm living for the forever glory. See, if your hope is in wealth, giving feels like a loss. But if your hope is in the forever glory, giving feels like worship. I never realized that until we did our miracle offering the first time. And here at all of our campuses, in just a moment, we'd have people come up and go across and come forward, and it was a worship moment, and it will be, and it's a beautiful thing. Now in this miracle offering, in this moment, we're saying, how am I gonna live different? And Paul has a pathway there. He says, hey, if you're gonna live for God, you're gonna live different and you're gonna use your money differently. And he gives us a list. And I wanna know. I want you to know that when we're giving in the miracle offering, you're doing this list. He says, those that are rich should do good. He challenges us like do good. And kingdom builders will do good all around the world. And he said, I want you to be rich in good deeds. And you know what? It's us being rich in good deeds. And I think they put the slide up, but put it up again. All the ministries that we want to take care of. Yeah, you'll see this list. Being rich in good deeds. The miracle offering is being rich in good deeds. And all those ministries are like, will you do good for us in Africa and Asia and all around. And you're actually doing what the apostle Paul says, to do good and to be rich in good deeds. He said, I want you to be generous. That's what we should do. And what does that mean? To be open handed with it and saying, I trust that God has more. I trust that he's gonna take care of me. And as I'm generous, like, he'll bring more to me. And then he says, willing to share, willing to share. And I love that about our miracle offering. I love that the church that we're part of says, we wanna do those four things. We want to live that way. And we wanna say, God, here's what we have. We recognize who we are and God, we wanna use it for your glory and for your honor. What this means in our miracle offering now is like, this isn't just a moment. This is like a pathway to like really showing that we live and believe the forever glory. And this money that is we're sowing into the miracle offering is like trust building in our hearts. We're saying, God, we trust you. Now the last thing, and we're getting ready for the miracle offering. Just a moment. In verse 19, he talks about the purpose is to take hold of the life that is truly life, that truly is the life. And I'll have people say to me like, well, Pastor Rob, that works great in the church, but in the real world. Pastor Rob, that works great in the church, but in the real world. Paul would say, hey, the real world is what God is doing. The real world is the forever glory world. And he's saying like, this is when you're really doing it and you're grabbing hold of it. And it's interesting. He does another word play. He's like, you've got this uncertain wealth, but this is the real thing. If you give and you are generous and you are doing this, you are. This is the firm foundation. They can't build on money, but you can build on God. And he's like, you can build on generosity. And generosity is laying a foundation. For your life that is rock solid. It's a beautiful thing. The beautiful thing about generosity as we close here is that it blesses others and it builds a foundation in your life that God says you can build on. You can build on. When you live generous for the kingdom, when you say, I want to use what I have for your glory and for your honor, you do two things. You. You bless other people and you build a foundation on your life, and there's stability in your life, there's a strength in your life, and it's in this world and the next, and it's eternal life, and it's really living for the forever glory. So I'm just challenging us as we have forever glory as our theme, as we have miracle offering right in front of us as we get ready to do these things. You heard people saying, we give so the next generation can hear. We give so that there's Bibles, there's food people can set feed, there's medical that is given with the hospitals that we work with, the 42% of the world that has never heard, the immigrants are welcomed, the pastors are trained, the churches are built. The disasters, we bring hope, we're blessing them and we're laying a firm foundation that you can really build your life on, which is living for the forever glory and saying, God, it's for you. I've had a perspective change, I've had a life change. I understand this. And God, I'm living differently now. And so I'm challenging our church to live for the forever glory. That we realize that generosity is not losing, but generosity is living in the forever glory. It's building it and saying, God, we do this for your glory and for your honor. So will you join me in praying right now for our miracle offering? And I wanna let you know, there's hundreds and hundreds of missionaries that are praying right now for our church, saying, I pray that they will be generous on every occasion and they will do this and they will truly bring the needed resources. And I thank God that we have true forever glory perspective in our lives. So, Lord, I just pray right now here and at all of our campuses, I thank you that we give. We do this so that people can know you as Lord and Savior. We give, we do this because we recognize we live blessed to be a blessing. We are so fortunate to be living at this time and in this place with these resources in our hands. And so, God, may we use them for your glory and for your honor. It's with joy that we say our perspective has changed. It's with joy that we say our purpose has changed. We're living for something different. It's with joy that we say we have a foundation that can't be shaken. We know what we're building our life on. Jesus Christ. And we thank you for your generosity to us. May we now be generous to the world through this miracle offering. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and amen.
Podcast: River Valley Church
Host/Speaker: Pastor Rob Ketterling
Date: November 16, 2025
In this special episode for Miracle Offering Weekend, Pastor Rob Ketterling delivers a passionate message to River Valley Church about the power, purpose, and eternal impact of extravagant generosity. With the theme "Forever Glory," he challenges listeners to shift their perspective from earthly wealth to eternal significance, encouraging participation in the church’s annual miracle offering—a faith-driven initiative with a global missional impact. The episode explores scriptural teachings on wealth, the privilege and responsibility of abundance, and practical pathways to building a legacy rooted not in riches, but in God's glory and the lives transformed through giving.
“On this weekend, we're gonna raise millions of dollars, which is still mind boggling to think about… We are $2 million away from reaching the goal of $100 million through Kingdom Builders. Is that not incredible?”
— Pastor Rob Ketterling, [01:47]
“We are fixing our eyes on things that are eternal. We're not just looking at the things that we could see here on this earth. We're saying, God, we wanna live for the forever glory... This is not just a financial moment. This is a faith moment.”
— Pastor Rob, [05:55]
“Paul wasn't talking about us there, but this applies to us. Like, we are people with great wealth... $50,000 a year is what the number is that puts you in the richest 1% of planet Earth.”
— Pastor Rob, [11:30]
“Money is a useful tool, but it's a terrible foundation. It's not something you can build your life on.”
— Pastor Rob, [27:00]
“If your hope is in wealth, giving feels like a loss. But if your hope is in the forever glory, giving feels like worship.”
— Pastor Rob, [32:30]
“Kingdom Builders will do good all around the world... All those ministries are like, will you do good for us in Africa and Asia and all around. You're actually doing what the apostle Paul says—to do good and to be rich in good deeds.”
— Pastor Rob, [36:00]
“Generosity is laying a foundation for your life that is rock solid... You bless other people and you build a foundation on your life, and there's stability in your life, there's a strength in your life, and it's in this world and the next, and it's eternal life, and it's really living for the forever glory.”
— Pastor Rob, [43:12]
On perspective-shifting generosity:
“One moment in the presence of God can change your perspective about what we do with our money.”
— Pastor Rob, [23:40]
On the purpose of wealth:
“If you're hoping in it and you're hoarding it, you're sinning. You cannot hope in this wealth. You can't hoard it. There's something we should do with the wealth that we have, and we should make a difference.”
— Pastor Rob, [22:30]
On the joy and privilege of giving:
“It's a joy because I'm living for the forever glory. See, if your hope is in wealth, giving feels like a loss. But if your hope is in the forever glory, giving feels like worship.”
— Pastor Rob, [32:30]
“We are so fortunate to be living at this time and in this place with these resources in our hands. And so, God, may we use them for your glory and for your honor. It's with joy that we say our perspective has changed. It's with joy that we say our purpose has changed. We're living for something different.”
— Pastor Rob, [46:05]
For further information and ways to participate in the Kingdom Builders initiative, visit: River Valley Church website