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Come on, let's read our verse of the year. We read it every single Sunday. If you're new to Social, this is our verse of the year as we're going to stay planted. Come on. Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15. Let's read it with uplifted voices. 1, 2, 3. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Come on, Social, you sound good. Sound good. Remain standing. This is our text for today, found in the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew. This is a story that Jesus is telling. And this is the only gospel that you will find this powerful story. This is red letter Matthew, chapter 20. We'll start at verse number one. And Jesus declares. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning. He went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, you also go and work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right. So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. And he asked them, why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing? Because no one has hired us, they answered. He said to them, you also go and work in my vineyard. This is when the listeners would have been going, what in the world is this landowner doing? 5 o'clock, you sending people to go work in your vineyard? The work day ends at 6:00. These people only go work for an hour, and yet the landowner says, no, y'all still go. Then it says, ooh. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the workers and pay them their wages. Beginning with the last ones, the ones who didn't do nothing, the last ones hired and going then to the first, the ones who got there at 6 in the morning. The workers who were hired about 5 in the afternoon came and each received a denarius, 12 hours of pay for one hour of work. So when those who were hired first, they. You see what I just did? You were expecting me to say expected, and I was expecting you to say expected. Most of the frustration, pain, annoyance, anger, tension in your life is over. Unmet expectations Sometimes unexpressed. Expect to. Interesting. They respected. What? What did they expect to receive? What? To receive more? Huh? They expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. And when they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. These who were hired last worked only one hour, they said, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the Texas heat. He answered one of them, am I? I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Can you say amen, y'all? That's good stuff. You realize that's how Jesus taught. It was like, God bless you. We'll see you next week. Oh, but I want. I want to teach. I want to teach from this story today. And I want to tag a title to this text. Simple title is this right here. It's not fair. It's not fair. Look at your neighbor for the last time, whichever one you like the best, and just say, neighbor. Oh, neighbor, I feel like this sermon's for you. Father, speak to us today in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Somebody say, it's not fair. Some of y'all won't get it. Cause you weren't here last Sunday. But I just want to let you know, I'm prepared today. I am prepared. Fool me once. Oh, it's. It's not fair, y'all. Recently somebody asked me, hey, pr. Did you grow up a pk? Did you grow up a pk? Did you grow up a preacher's kid? To which I responded, no, I did not grow up a pk. I grew up fk. Fk. A firefighter's kid. Okay? Grew up a firefighters kid. However, there was a season in my life where I was a pwk. Pwk. By pwk, I mean I was a preacher without kids, a preacher without kids. And when I was a PWK, a preacher without kids, I would listen to other PWKs, preachers with kids. And I would think to myself, where's the creativity? Like, really, how is that every single sermon, you have to put your kids in the message. Surely you can be more creative than that. There is another way to illuminate and illustrate the biblical text without Bringing your kids into your sermon. That's what I said when I was a PWK preacher without kids. Then I had kids, three of them. And I became a PWK, a preacher with kids with three PKs. And now I understand that if you are a preacher and you are not putting your kids in the sermon, you ain't doing it right. Okay? Because these little humans are walking, breathing illustrations. They are adolescent allegories that will always speak to you. You will get a sermon by just looking at the life of your kids from the moment they are considered. You will be inundated with all kinds of material and moments that will make you pause and go. It's giving. Major life lesson right now. It'll make you pause and go, oh, it's giving. We were really born as sinners. It'll make you pause and go. It's giving. I need to call my parents and apologize to them. Your kids will speak to you. You don't have to be a preacher to know you. Your kids will speak to you. God will use your kids not just to speak to you, but to speak to you about you. And so I have three little humans. They are ten, nine, seven, girl, boy, girl. Distinctively different. Unique in personality, but unified in their vision and their mission for me and PT as parents. They are unified in their vision for us as parents. Here's their vision for us. Keep it fair. That is their vision. My kids vision for me as a parent is keep it fair. Is it fair? Is it fair? They are looking for what is fair and what is not fair. Come on. Any person in here that has more than one child or has been around multiple kids, you know that kids have a detector on the inside of them for what is fair and what is not fair. Never in the history of giving something to multiple kids has the kid ever taken it and just eaten it. No, no, no. They will take it and then start. They have to. Look, I'm telling you what I know. Kids are always looking for fair. It is hardwired until their eyeballs. Before there was a labor's union, before there was hr, before there was dei, there was a kid at Chuck E. Cheese looking at slices of cake, talkin about, ah, she got more frosting than me. It's. That's not fair. Y'all. This is therapeutic for me, okay? Right now because there is not a week, there's not a week that goes by in the Madu household that I don't hear one of my kids saying that it's not fair. That's not fair. He Got to watch more Netflix than I did. It's not fair he got to go to Lego store. I didn't get to go to Zara. It's not fair. It's not fair he got the flu. You want the flu? Yes. It's not fair he got the flu and got to stay home. It's not fair. Come here, Let me pray for you to get the flu there. You want fair? This is what kids do. They are wired to look for fair. We are born with this instinctive ability and sensitivity to disparity and inequality. And if you don't believe me, y'all, I did my research. I did my research. There was a study in 2016, a study published in Child Developmental magazine investigated the developmental trajectory of infants physically fairness expectations from 6 to 15 months of age. Their findings suggested that between 12 and 15 months old, infants begin to show enhanced attention to unfair versus fair outcomes. Did you hear what I just said? Six to 15 months before you even have words to say it, kids undeveloped brains are already looking. It ain't fair I'm being cheated something. What is wrong? What is that in us? And I want to argue today that I don't think we grow out of this. I don't think we grow out of this. I just think we get more subtle in the way we express it. Ooh. Especially church folks, because how many know it's hard to open up your mouth and articulate the fact that you feel like the person who is being unfair is. Is God. That's a hard Sunday to worship, ain't it? When you're like, God, I don't think this is fair. So I ain't lifting up both hands today. This is what you gon get. Cause this is not fair. I thought you supposed to love everybody. I thought you supposed to be a respecter of no persons. This is not fair. And I know some of y'all sitting up there acting like you ain't never had that thought before. But tell the truth and shame the devil. Don't act like you have never in your favor. Journey going, God, this is not fair at all. God. How is it you can't say it so I'll say it for you, Lord, how is it I'm showing up to church every single Sunday? I'm faithful in the house of the Lord. I'm planted, God, I know the scripture of the year. I'm lifting up my hands, I'm giving in the offering. I'm fasting and praying and I lose my job. They got the nerve to tell me I'M being laid off. Meanwhile my neighbor who ain't ever been to church don't even go on Easter Sunday can't even open up a Bible or the Bible app in the club every weekend popping bottles they gonna come across the street and tell me, yeah, I just got a bonus and got a raise in a brand new biz. God is not fair. Oh, I'm coming right for you today Just sit there, just sit there, Just sit there. Lord, Lord, how is it I'm a woman of God, that single and I'm trying to keep myself holy and I'm trying to keep myself pure I'm not out here in these streets God, I'm trusting you I'm reading the book of Leviticus, Lord, I'm doing everything I know to do I'm being nice to mean people and I can't find a husband, not one suitor. Meanwhile the girl on my job who is a bad person, who is a bad person. What you think I was going to say? Who has slept with Ronnie, Johnny and everybody here, she come in the office talking about, guess what? It's not fair. God, how is it my mama who doesn't do anything but read the word of God and pray for other people is dying of breast cancer? Meanwhile, my ex husband who is verbally and physically abusive to me, is out here walking healthy? God, I'm sorry. It's not fair. And I don't care how long you've been saved. I promise you there will come a season in your walk with the Lord where you will look at him and go, God, this, this is not fair. What do you do when it feels like God is not being fair? Come with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter number 20. This story that Jesus tells is for you. If you have ever felt like God is not being fair, come with your boy to the story that Jesus tells in Matthew, chapter 20. This is not just a story. This is a parable. Let the church say parable. Come on, watch. Party room. Everybody say it again. Say parable. Parables. One third of Jesus teaching was parables. Parables were not new to Jesus, but parables were powerful. Because parable in the Greek is the word parabola. It literally means to lay one thing next to another or to cast one thing beside another. So often in Jesus public communication ministry, he would tell these parables. They were not just stories. He would tell parables and what he was doing is he was telling an earthly story. And casting along this earthly story was a kingdom principle about how his kingdom operates. He would always let People know my kingdom has a culture. I am a king of a kingdom, and this kingdom has a culture. And that culture is antithetical to the culture that you live in. It is completely opposite. And if you're going to know how my kingdom operates, you have to listen to what I'm saying in these powerful parables. So he would throw truth alongside these earthly stories so that you would be able to comprehend heavenly logic. That is what's happening in Matthew chapter number 20. But before I jump into the parable, one of the critical questions you have to ask yourself whenever you are looking at a parable of Jesus is what made Jesus tell the parable in the first place? If you don't know what made him tell the story, you will never get the power of the story, because the power of the story is what made him go. Let me tell you a story. I could do this all day. You know, Luke 15, that's one of my favorite parables of Jesus. One of my favorite stories that's found in Luke 15. We call it the Story of the Prodigal Son. I think a better name would be the Consistent Loving Father, because it was a man who had two sons. One son went to Vegas, went crazy, lost his mind, squandered his father's wealth, and then came back. And the father took him in, threw a party for him, and then the older brother was upset. Jesus tells this powerful story, but what made him tell the story? Well, what made him tell the story is one day he's teaching. And the Pharisees, the self righteous Pharisees, couldn't understand why Jesus, who was holy and righteous, was hanging out with sinners, tax collectors, ratchet people. So you got a righteous Jesus who's being approached by self righteous Pharisees, trying to figure out why this righteous man is hanging out with ratchet people. And Jesus said, oh, okay, you self righteous want to know why me who's righteous is hanging out with ratchet people? Let me tell you a story. And the reason he's telling the story about two sons is because one son was self righteous and one son was ratchet. And the father loved both of them and went out to both of them, the religious and the ratchet. You gotta know why he's telling the story. So before we jump into Matthew chapter 20, what made Jesus tell this story? You gotta back that thing up to Matthew 19. Back it up biblically. And in Matthew 19, here's what happens. Jesus is hanging out one day and a rich young ruler approaches Jesus. I see him in my mind this dude, I mean, he's got a little money in the bank. He's religious, he goes to church. He'd probably be at social, Dallas. I mean, he's an influencer. He's a baller and a shot caller. He got it all together. I see him just interrupting Jesus in the middle of him teaching because he thinks he can just do that. And he walks in, he says, oh, excuse me, good teacher. And Jesus kind of gangster with him. He's like, why you call me good? Ain't nobody good but God. I'm thinking myself. But you are God. But he didn't perceive him to be God. He just perceived him to be a teacher. Often your perception of Jesus will determine what you receive from here. If you just see him as a teacher, all you're gonna get is a good little lesson. But you see him as God, you'll have a different approach. That's another sermon for another day. He said, why you call me good? Ain't nobody good but God. He says, a good teacher. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Notice his language. What must I do to get eternal life? I'm a businessman, so I'm approaching you transactional. What must I do to get eternal life? And Jesus goes, oh, Lord. Well, I mean, keep the commandments. You know the commandments. Keep the commandments. He goes, oh, which ones? Jesus goes, okay. And purposefully tells him the commandments that you can look on the surface to see if somebody's keeping them. He does the last five. Don't murder, honor your mother and father. He lists those, and the guy goes, oh, I've done all that. Oh, so you're perfect. Okay, one more thing. How about go sell everything you got and give it to the poor and then come follow me. And this dude goes, come again? Sell everything you got and give it to the poor and then come and follow me. And this man wept and walked away bitterly. Now, let's parenthetically pause here before you build a theology. Please note that this is the only person that Jesus says, sell everything you have to. And Jesus encountered a lot of rich people. He didn't say it to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was rich. He only said it to this dude. Why did he say it to this dude? He perceived something about his heart. God don't mind you having possessions, but he can perceive when your possessions have you. He can perceive when your stuff has you. And he perceived that you've already broken the first commandment, which is to not put any other God before your God. But since you got Your riches before me. And you think you good. Here's all you gotta do. Let your idol come down and then follow me. And he didn't even know it was an idol until God said, give it away. This is what scares me about God, is that sometimes I don't even know what has a hold on my life until God asks me to give it up. Give it up. Oh, let me testify. I have had seasons in my life where God will just whisper, can I have it? But, God, I planned on being on the road my entire life and not planning the church because, you know, church people are crazy. I'd rather just travel and come back home. I know that was your plan, but can I have it? He's done this my entire life. I remember I had a car that I loved. I loved this car. And I remember going, can I have it, y'all? I had a whole bunch of Js. My collection. I need a moment. I'm still triggered. My collection was dope. It was so good. I remember when he just a little whisper, can I have it? You don't know what has a hold on you until he asks you to give it away. This man wept and walked away bitterly because he didn't have his possessions. His possessions had him. But here's what happens. He walks away. And Peter speaks up. I love Peter. You always need a Peter in the group to say what everybody else is thinking but is scared to say it. And Peter watches this dude who couldn't give up everything walk away. And then Peter goes, hold up. Hey, Jesus, we gave up everything to follow you. Remember? I had a fishing business. I was really doing my thing. He couldn't do it, but I did. I gave up everything to follow you. So what do I get? I gave it up. What do I get? And Jesus, like, let me tell you a story. You want to know what you get? You get a story. And he tells this story that we're going to dive into today. It's the story of a man. He says a certain man, a landowner, had a vineyard, said he had a vineyard, and he went out to get workers for his vineyard. Something you need to understand about that culture and about that time period. Whenever you had a vineyard and whenever you had a lot of land, it's not like you kept people on payroll. You did not have people that had had a salary because there were different seasons. You didn't need a lot of people during the planting season. You didn't need a lot of people during the waiting season. But, you know, when you needed a Whole lot of people harvest. When the harvest hit, you needed all the help you could get. As soon as that harvest hit, you would find anybody that you could because you had a certain window to get the harvest in. And if you didn't get the harvest in, within that window, there would be some of your harvest that would spoil. So I'm telling you, anytime there was a landowner that had a harvest and that harvest hit, he would be looking for, can you help? Can you help? Can you help? Oh, no, I just got a ged. That's cool. Come on, can you help? He just. Anybody that can help. Because when the harvest hits, you need all the help that you can get. Oh, let me just stop right here. How many know landowners have never had a problem with getting the harvest. The problem is finding the workers that are willing to say, I'll do whatever it takes to help with the harvest. And I want to pause and thank God for the people that are a part of Social Dallas who realize there's a harvest in this city. See, some of y'all ain't clapping because you don't know the work that went into this thing. There's people that was here at 5am setting up chairs, unloading the kids ministry, showing up every Sunday, Sunday after Sunday, faithful, because they realize there's a harvest and the workers are few, but the harvest is plentiful. And I wish we would get some people who say, God, I see the harvest of what you're doing in this city, so ain't nobody gotta call my name. I ain't gotta get no Instagram shout out for it. But, God, I'm just available for whatever you want to do because I see the harvest. When the harvest hits, you need all the help you can get. Shout out to the hands and the feet of Social Dallas who realize this is a harvest and the harvest is worth me being inconvenienced. It's worth me showing up and serving. I'm not gonna treat church just like it's a buffet. I say, no, that was good. Bless God. I'll come back next week, get some more food. He called the workers. He called them and said, I need it. He goes out at 6am that's the first call. And he gets the workers for his land. By the way, it's interesting to me that this landowner has so much land that he needs so many workers. There's plenty of space in his vineyard. See, this is what confused me in the story, because I'm thinking that if I own a vineyard and I'm going out to get workers, there would be a marketplace and there would be people there waiting to be hired, waiting, just hoping that somebody would hire them. Because, hear me, their livelihood was predicated upon somebody hiring them. They didn't get no yearly salary. If nobody hired them that day, they couldn't eat that day. People would just be in the marketplace saying, please let somebody come. I don't care what the work is. I need somebody to hire me. I need a job. I am desperate. And what intrigues me about this landowner who I love is he comes out that day and it comes at 6am and he comes personally to find his workers. Later in the story, we will find out that he has a manager who pays the workers. So I'm thinking, if you got a manager that can pay the workers, you got a manager that can go out and pick them out. But not this landowner. I like this landowner. He says, no, I personally am going to come and pick out the ones that I want. I want you. I want you, you, you. And he comes at 6:00, and I'm thinking, if you know your land, why do you have to continue to come out? If it's me, I know my land, I know how many workers I need. Gonna take about 20 people to do this job. I'm gonna come out once at 6:00 and I'm gonna be done for the day. This landowner is different, y'all. He comes out at 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 3:00 and 5:00, 6:00, 9:00,. 12:00, 3:00, five times this landowner comes out and that 5:00 group is the one that messes me up. I told you, they only gonna work one hour. So what is it with this landowner that keeps going out? Five times he goes out, and the fifth time he goes for the 5:00 group, he goes out how many times, how many? And the fifth time he goes out for which group, he goes out how many times? Five. And the fifth time he goes out for which group? I don't think this is by accident. I think he's trying to show us something about who he is. You do know that five in the Bible is the number of grace? And that got me thinking. That's the power of grace. You know what grace will do? Grace will keep going out for other people. Grace will keep searching, saying, there's somebody else that I can bring on the team. There's somebody else that I can bring into my vineyard and some of y'all giving a little cute golf clap. But you ought to thank God that His grace keeps going out for you, that his grace will keep reaching out for you, that sometimes, when you're not even looking for God, thank God for his grace that is looking for you. This is what grace does. That's what makes it amazing that grace will keep going out. Not just the first time, but the second time and the third time and the fourth time and down to the last hour saying, there's gotta be one more opportunity for somebody to come into my vineyard. Come on, don't act brand new. Some of y'all used to be in gillies, and it wasn't for no church service. But thank God for the landowner who keeps going out and will reach for you. I need a praise break for God's grace right there. Thank you, Jesus, for your grace that keeps searching, keeps searching, keeps going out five times. And the fifth time, he goes out for the people who are only gonna work one hour. So went out five times, right? So that means we got five groups of people, right? He went out five times. So we got five groups of people, right? Not right. Nah. Because there's something distinctly different between the 6:00am workers and then the workers that were hired at 9:12, 3 and 5. The 6:00am Workers, who, by the way, were picked first. Isn't it nice to be picked first? Can you see the 6am Workers? I can see them. You know, they got there at 5:45. You know, I love 6:00 people. They're like, yeah, I'm gonna get there early because to be on time is to be late. To be early is to be on time. To be late is unacceptable. So I'm gonna get there at 5:45, and I have my resume in PDF and paper form because the landowner is gonna see my incredible resume. And, you know, 6am people. There's some 6am people in here today. Those are people when you struggling in class and you trying to look at their paper, they got the nerve to, oh, you. At 6:00am okay, okay, okay. 6:00am People, they get there. They didn't even have to wait that long. They get there and the landowner says, hey, I'm hiring. He said, oh, you are? Well, we're available. We're here early. He says, great, come to work. Get in the truck. And they're about to get into the F150. And then the 6am People say, Hold on, hold on. I want to work, but I want to negotiate my contract. I need to know what I'm Going to get paid. And the landowner's like, oh, man, come on. Whatever's right. I'll pay you whatever's right. Yeah, right. I need to know exactly what I'm going to get. It's in the text. Look at it. Verse 2. It says, he agreed, that's the landowner, to pay them a denarius for the day and then sent them into the vineyard. That agreed. The Greek word agreed speaks to a negotiation between the landowner and the workers. That means that they had to go back and forth. That means that they were willing to work, but they had a perspective as to what their value was. They had an opinion as to what they think they deserved. And so he goes, all right, all right, cool. Is the denarius good? Oh, no, that'll work. Now we can get in the truck. And they go, that's the 6am crew. The 9, the 12, the 3 and the 5. The landowner says, hey, get in the truck and work and I'll pay you whatever's right. And they go, okay, whatever you think is right is cool. I'm just happy to get to work and grateful that you're hiring. Now watch this. They get to the job and they start working. Look at the five o'clock people. Y'all come on. Can we play with this text a little bit? If you got hired at 5 and you get off at 6, I don't know how far this vineyard is from the marketplace. Let's say it's 15 minutes away. You got to the vineyard at 5, 15, you got orientation. Now you at 5, 30, you gotta get your badge. Now you at May, what, 5, 45. These fools work probably about 15 minutes. How many grapes did you pick up in 15 minutes? Meanwhile, the 6am people been in the Texas heat all day working. Smell like outside. And the day ends 6:00. Here come the 6:00am people. They got blood all on them. They've been cut by thorns and thistles. Shirt dirty. Here come the 5pm people still smelling like Le Labo. And the landowner does something crazy. He calls the manager over and says, hey, hey, hey, come here. He's like, what's up? He said, hey, we gonna pay him. We gonna do a little different. I can see the manager going, oh, God, you always doing stuff different. He's like, yeah. He said, we gonna pay the 5:00 people first, and then we're gonna pay the 6:00am people last. And the manager's like, are you smoking? Do you realize what these fools are gonna do? He's like, yeah, just trust me. And pay him. Watch this all the same. Okay, I'm all right, all right. I'm just a messenger. So can you see them lined up? Here comes the 5pm people standing there not thinking they're gonna get much, and all of a sudden they get a denarius. 12 hours of pay for one hour, less than one hour of work. I can probably see him going, are you serious? No, no, I can't take this. What are you. I didn't do anything. No, no, I can't take. No, this is too much. Let me see day. And just to make sure. No, no, no, no. This is the will of the landowner. Receive it. Can you see them going, oh, I can't believe it. I'm so grateful. Thank you so much. I can. Thank you so much. Meanwhile, 6am is watching the whole thing. Oh, come on, somebody. I don't understand why God does this. Why would he make you watch people get blessed that you don't think should get blessed with what they got blessed with? Why would he make them see it? Oh, I'm the type of person, I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it at all. But there's something about the landowner that says it is healthy, I dare say necessary for you to see somebody getting a blessing that you don't think they deserve. And look at him. Watch him going, oh, I didn't know the landowner had it like that. Bonus time. Hold up. Can you see them doing the math? Let's assume a denarius is like, it's full days work. Let's assume it's like $200. So they got a full day's work. 200 for less than an hour work. So you can see, and you know how you do, you start doing the math. Well, shoot, if they got two, honey. One, two, three, four, carry the. Oh, I'm about to get $2,400. I'm about to get 2,500. Okay, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, Daenerys. 2400. Oh, I told. I told my girl we were going to Bahamas. I told her, 24. I already got stuff in that cart in Amazon. 2400. Here comes the manager. 200 denarius and all hell breaks loose. What? It's not fair. Do you know how mad you are to have a $2,400 expectation and looking at a $200 experience? And yet there's so many people in this room watching online who are so upset with God because you had a $2,400 expectation and now you're looking at the 200 going, it's not fair. If the landowner had given it to them first and they didn't see it and walked away, they would have been good. But it's something about looking at what somebody else got that made them so angry. The Bible says that they grumbled against the landowner. Now, I went through the whole story to get you to this point right here. Please don't miss this, because anytime Jesus is telling the story, one question you gotta ask, why is he telling the story? What made him tell the story? But the other question you got to ask that is critical to every parable is this. Who are you in the story? Who are you now, by the way, you should just know the landowner is already taken. Trying to help some of y'all. I'm the landowner. I'm sorry, that's God. That's the land. I got some properties and some stuff I'm trying to. God is the landowner. And notice the language of the landowner. Can't I do what I want with my money? Only the landowner can say that. Only the landowner can say, this is mine, because he owns everything. So we really only have two groups left. Are you a 5pm person? Are you a 6am person? That's all I want to ask in this sermon today. Are you a 5pm person that's so grateful and can't believe that the master would give you anything? Or are you a 6am person that has your hand out and you're grumbling and can't believe you didn't get what you expected to get? Who are you in the story? Now, before you get super spiritual and say, oh, I'm a 5pm person, can we be honest? I think there's some 6am in all of us. In all of us. And there's some blues clues that you're a 6am person? I won't preach it. I'll just talk it. You want some blues clues? You want to know if you got some 6am in your system? Number one, you always grumble. Your complaints outweigh your thanks. See, the average human complains 15 to 20 times a day. Some of y'all like, pshh, those are rookie numbers. You gotta grumble. That's a sign you're a 6am person. It's always, always something to grumble. Here's what's interesting about this grumble. I wish I had time to really break it down. That word grumble in the Greek is not a yelling. It's not a like, I can't believe this man. You know what it is? It denotes to complain under your breath. It's not a fist of rebellion, it's bitterness under your breath. I can't believe they hired him when I'm way more qualified. I can't believe they always celebrating them and I've done way more. I can't believe they didn't give me any opportunity. It's a grumble under your breath. You always have a grumble. You have a sense of entitlement. Here's another sign. You expect what was never promised. You expect what was that? That's a sign. You're a 6am person. Here's what I love about the landowner. He kept his promise. You don't want to negotiate it. You said you wanted denarius, he gave you that he kept his word, but you had an expectation of something that was never promised to you. You know how many people are mad at God because they have an expectation of something that that was never promised to you? He didn't promise you you'd be married by 35. Boo. Boo. That was your expectation. He didn't promise you that you was going to speak to 20,000 people. That was your expectation. And here you are mad at God because he's not fulfilling a promise that he never gave you. You know, you a 6am person. Listen, watch this. When you can't celebrate the blessing of other people when you're constantly looking, going, they don't deserve that I gave more. That's a sign you got some 6am in your system. Here's the last one, the most detrimental. You think God owes you? You think God owes you. This is the danger actually of faithfulness in the house of God. Because if you're not careful and you are coming to the house of God and you are reading your word and you are worshiping, suddenly it will creep into your spirit that God owes you something. That because I came to church, you're supposed to answer every prayer that I pray. And because I did this God, you're supposed to fulfill your end of the deal. But can I tell you, God doesn't owe you anything because Jesus gave you absolutely everything. The moment you think God owes you something, you know you are on your way down. He already gave you everything. If he never did another thing for you, just the fact that he died on the cross for your sins. You better be careful about saying it's not fair. It's not fair that Jesus took on the hell that I deserve. It's not fair that he carried the cross. It's not fair that his blood was shed when he was innocent. Thank God. It's not fair. If it was fair, it would have been me on that cross. God, you don't owe me anything. I'm thankful. I wish somebody would give God some praise if, you know, he doesn't owe you anything. He's giving you out. Oh, I gotta hurry. Everybody stand that cam, please. Nobody leaving. You want to know if you're a 5pm person? 5pm people's lives can be summed up in one word. Here it is. Gratitude. Gratitude. Thank you. Thank you, God, for saving me. Thank you, God, that you had a place for me in the vineyard. God, you don't owe me anything, but you've given me everything. I'm so thankful. Can I ask you, do your complaints outweigh your gratitude? God does not inhabit the complaints of his people. He inhabits the praise, the Thanksgiving. Some of you wonder how come I just remain where I am. Maybe it's because you complain all the time. The 5pm People are just grateful. I can't believe it. Guess who's more willing to give in an offering? The people who are like, are you? Of course. Are you kidding me? I can't believe I have anything. Guess who ain't giving nothing. They better be glad I showed up today. You seen that parking lot? It's ridiculous. They need golf cars. That's what they need. More golf carts. This is why I can't talk to you about generosity until I talk to you about. Because gratitude is the engine of generosity. Oh, y'all gonna miss the whole message. Generosity does not start with wealth. It starts with gratitude. Grateful people are always generous. Is it's not about how much money you have. It is about the posture of your heart. It says, God, I'm so thankful. You want another way to check? Check your hands. Everybody, look at your hands. Look at them. You know, I can see you watch Party Room. Look at your hands. That's another way to tell whether you're in the 5pm crowd or the 6am crowd. Because watch this. 5pm people, whenever God blesses them, their hands. 6am people either have their arms folded or they have their hands out going. That's it. Always check your hand. I don't know about you. I refuse to live my life with my arms folded, hating on what God's done in somebody else's life or my arms out, thinking God owes me more. I want to forever live my life with my hands. God, thank you for saving me. God, thank you for Putting breath in my body. Thank you for waking me up today. Thank you Jesus, for your mercies that are new every single month. Somebody ought to open up their mouth and start practicing like, you know you are. 5pm person. I'm just great grateful my hands are lifted because I'm grateful. Jesus gave me everything. He doesn't owe me anything. Father, thank you today for the power of your word. God. I'm not praying today for a revival of generosity. I'm praying for a revival of gratitude that we would enter into your courts with thanksgiving. That's where it starts. God, I pray for my brother and my sister who feel so distant. And the reason is because they've had more complaints and grumbling than they've had gratitude. God, would you birth in us a heart of gratitude so that you can flow through us as people that are generous, not just with our resources, but with our time, with our encouragement, with our kindness, with our love. Father, thank you for being the God that keeps going out. Thank you that you keep looking for people to bring to your vineyard and that there's plenty of space and plenty of room. I'm going to ask in this moment, heads be bowed and eyes be closed. If you're here today and you've never responded to this call of grace, hear me. We have a Savior that goes out. It's consistent throughout the Gospel. He's the Father that runs to the Son when he sees him afar off. He's the Father that runs to the elder brother who's so angry that his younger brother got a party and he goes out to them. He's the shepherd that leaves the 99 to find the he's going out and all he asks is that you respond to his grace. So with heads bowed and eyes closed today, if you're here today, you say, you know what? I I've not responded to this. To the Savior. I need to give him my life today. I want to give you that opportunity. Hear me. You don't have to clean yourself up to come to this Savior. You come to him as you are. Heads are bound, eyes are closed. If you hear you say pr would you include me in this closing prayer? I need to give Jesus my life. Lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it. I see that hand. Thank you. Thank. Thank you. Yes, in this room and in the watch party room. Thank you. This is all God wants is you to respond. Respond. He'll wait till the last hour for you still going out, waiting for you to respond. Anybody else? Thank You, Jesus, lift it up and put it right back down, Head still bowed, I'm still close. If you're here today and you say, you know what? If I look at my life, there's a whole lot more 6, 8 in my system than there is 5pm you complaining more than you have gratitude? Do you have this constant resentment of other people who God has blessed or God is using? Are you living a life with your arms crossed and your hand out, saying, God is not enough, instead of saying, God, thank you if that's you. And you'd be so wild to say God, I'm noticing there's a whole lot more sixes am in me than 5pm and today I need to begin a life of gratitude. Hear me, some of you need a system for gratitude. If you need a gratitude journal, start you a journal. If you need to make a decision that every day I get up, I'm gonna write down 10 things I'm grateful for, do that. Whatever you gotta do to purpose your heart towards a posture of gratitude, do it. Because you can't be generous until you're grateful. If that's you, would you just lift up your hands saying, I'm responding to this message saying, God, I want to be a 5pm worker. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. I want to lead you in this prayer. I'm going to give you the words. Would you say it from your heart? Would you say this? Say, jesus, thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for not being fair because grace is not there. Lord, I thank you for living the life that I was supposed to live and dying the death that I was supposed to die. You took my blood, and so my response is to give you everything. Lord, I want to be a 5pm worker. Just grateful that you brought me into your vineyard. You don't owe me anything, but you gave me everything. Thank you, Jesus. Come on. If you meant what you prayed, give God some praise today. Oh, come on. That was good. If you a 6am person, all the 5pm people, give God some praise in this place today, 5pm I'm just grateful. Thank you for hiring me.