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00:00I'm so glad that you're here today. Are you ready for the Word of God?
00:04Did you come expecting? If y'all feel like hearing it like I feel like preaching it,
00:08it's gonna be good today. It's gonna be good today. It's your first time with us.
00:12We as a church gather around a word every single year and that word just
00:17kind of sets the tone for our year and I'm telling you this word has never been
00:22more appropriate. Our word is unshakable. You don't have to be prophetic to look
00:28around and see that a lot of things are being shaken in the world. A lot of
00:32things are being shaken in our city. The Bible is very clear that things get
00:37shaken so that which can't be shaken will remain. And so we're declaring that
00:42a shaky world needs an unshakable church. Amen? So every single Sunday we've
00:48declared this verse. It's Hebrews chapter 12 verses 28-29. We're gonna read it
00:53together as a family because we've been doing this since the first Sunday in
00:57January and let me just see how many you got to memorize? How many got to
01:00memorize? Come on, the devil's afraid of people that got the scripture in their
01:05heart. So come on, let's read it. For those of you that don't got it, you still got
01:08time. You still got time. Let's read it together. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28-29.
01:12You read it? Let's go. Do you see what we've got? An unshakable kingdom. And do
01:19you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful but brimming with worship.
01:25Deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He is
01:32actively cleaning the house, torching all that needs to burn. He won't quit until
01:38it's all cleaned. God is sound. Y'all sound good.
01:46Y'all sound good, socially.
01:51Then our scripture for today is going to be in the Gospel of Mark chapter
01:55number 10. Gonna look at verses 17 through 31. Remain standing for the
02:00reading of God's Word. It's a lot of scripture, I know, but come on, you need
02:03the Word of God and you got to wear comfortable shoes to social, okay? You
02:06got to wear comfortable shoes. We've been in a series called Hidden Figures. How
02:11many been enjoying this series? Have you been enjoying it? Isn't it awesome?
02:16The series just comes out of Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus says, do not store
02:20up treasures for yourself on earth where thieves can steal it. You need treasure
02:25in heaven. We've been defining treasure as if you can't take it with you past the
02:31grave, it is not true treasure. True treasure lasts forever and so you ought
02:37to have some hidden figures, hidden figures. So that's the thought and the
02:41thesis of this series and this is installment number three, Mark chapter
02:45number 10 starting at verse 17 and it says, as Jesus started on his way, a man
02:50ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. Good teacher, he asked, what
02:56must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus answered, no one
03:03is good except God alone. Ooh, rude. He said, you know the commandments, you shall not
03:09murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false
03:12testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother. Teacher, he
03:17declared, all these I have kept since I was a boy. Jesus looked at him and loved
03:25him. One thing you lack, he said, go sell everything you have and give it to the
03:31poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. At this, the
03:38man's face fell and he went away sad because he had great wealth. Jesus looked
03:45around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the
03:50kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed at his words because Jesus said again,
03:55children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel
04:01to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the
04:06kingdom of God. Then the disciples were even more amazed and said to each other,
04:10who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible,
04:17but not with God. All things are possible with God. Somebody could go home with
04:29that word right there. All things are possible with God. Then Peter spoke up as
04:36he often did. We have left everything to follow you. Jesus said, truly I tell you,
04:43no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children
04:47or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this
04:53present age, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields,
04:58along with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. Can you say amen?
05:08Oh, y'all, it's so much. It's so much in that, but I'm really intrigued that after
05:13this rich young ruler gets an invitation to be a disciple of Jesus, if he will just
05:20sell his possessions, an invitation, by the way, that he declines,
05:25Peter speaks up and says, well, we left everything to follow you,
05:30what are we going to get? And it's Peter's outspoken, loudmouthed statement that
05:35really gave me the title for this message today. I want to tag this text with this
05:39title, What's in it for me? What's in it for me? Look at your neighbor,
05:45whichever one you like the best, and just say, neighbor. I want to know,
05:50what's in it for me? Come on, find the other neighbor, the one you ignored.
05:53Come on, say other neighbor. I really got to know. What's in it for me?
06:00You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. What's in it for me?
06:12Social fam, have you ever spent money on something that you really thought you
06:22needed in the moment, only to find out later that it was a complete waste of your
06:29resources? Can I see your hand if you have ever done that? Lord,
06:32that's the whole church. Come on, I will lift up both hands and one foot.
06:38More often than I want to admit, I have made that mistake of buying something
06:43impulsively that I was like, yo, I need this right now, only to look back and go,
06:48why in the world did I buy that? I recently came across one of those items
06:55this past week, and I'm just going to be open and transparent and show you what it
06:59is. This is that item. Anybody know what this is right here?
07:04Anybody know what it is? It's not an Apple Watch. This ain't no Apple Watch.
07:09This is a Whoop. It's a Whoop. To be specific, it's a Whoop 4.0.
07:16It's a Whoop 4.0. And I know exactly who to blame for this purchase right here.
07:21We always look for somebody to blame. I know who to blame for me purchasing this
07:25item. And I would say their name, but I ain't going to do that because a lot of
07:29people watch this message on YouTube after I preach it, and I would never put
07:32somebody's name just out there on blast. I would never do that, okay? Actually, I
07:36would. Alan Orcutt is the person, okay? He's my brother-in-law, Alan Orcutt.
07:41This is the dude that made me get this Whoop 4.0. I remember the moment that I
07:47purchased this in my mind. You know, every purchase starts in your mind before it
07:51ever hits your wallet. You purchase it in your mind. And I remember the moment.
07:55We were at Thanksgiving. I'll never forget it. And we're eating Thanksgiving dinner,
07:59and all of a sudden, I look at his wrist. I said, hey, man, what's that? A Fitbit?
08:04He looked at me and said, no, this ain't no Fitbit. He said, it's a Whoop.
08:07I said, a what? He said, it's a Whoop, a Whoop 4.0. I said, what in the world is a
08:13Whoop? Wrong question. This dude went on for the next 48 minutes explaining to me
08:20what this little band does, this little bitty Whoop. He began to let me know that
08:24this Whoop begins to calculate and collect your key vital signs, that it'll
08:29track your skin temperature and your blood pressure and your heartbeat, and
08:34it'll let you know how much strain you put out and how much sleep that you get
08:39in the middle of the night. He opened up his phone and showed me this graph with
08:43all these charts and said, look at this right here. Yeah, I didn't get into REM
08:46sleep till about 11 p.m. I said, are you for real? I said, this is amazing. He said, it even
08:51lets you know how recovered your body is. I said, hey man, can I see that thing real quick?
08:56Just let me look at it. And I looked at it and I said, Whoop, huh? I said, Whoop, there it is.
09:01I said, I need this thing. I need this thing. So I said, take my $239 for this Whoop.
09:09Got the Whoop in the mail. I was excited. I was like, I got my Whoop. Then I went to
09:13my phone to get my stats, to get my charts. See, when I went into REM, I didn't
09:17have any charts. I didn't have anything on the graph. I didn't call Whoop. I called
09:20him. I said, hey bro, you lied. I said, how come I ain't got no stats? He said, oh, you
09:24got to get a subscription to get the stats. I said, oh, they got me. They got me.
09:29I said, okay, let me go ahead and get the subscription. So I get the subscription
09:33for the Whoop, paying it every month, looking at all my stats and it was real
09:38good for about four months. Then after a while, I said, I don't like this. I don't like it.
09:44It actually depressed me, okay? I didn't want to see how sleep deprived I was,
09:47especially on Saturday night, because I know I got to preach to y'all on Sunday.
09:50I don't get any sleep. And then I started getting stressed about the data that I
09:54wasn't getting any sleep. And then it made me not get even more sleep. So I said,
09:56forget the Whoop, throw it away. And now it's collecting dust. And then I found out,
10:01I still paying for the subscription and I had to cancel it. You laughing at me, but
10:07don't laugh too hard, because you got a Whoop, too. Oh, don't lie. You got a Whoop. The
10:14Whoop is your oops. I thought I needed that, but I didn't realize that was a
10:19complete waste of money. Do you know what your Whoop is? Do I got to get specific?
10:23You got some Whoop. Some of you, ooh, that Peloton is your Whoop. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:28You didn't ride the bike that you had. Now all of a sudden you're like, no, this
10:31one different though. It got a screen on it. I'm going to use it. And now you got an
10:34expensive clothing rack. Whoop, there it is. That's your Whoop. Some of you, your Whoop
10:39is that timeshare. They got you, didn't they? They say, come get a free little
10:44dinner. And here you are going, oh, this is going to be great. Our family will have
10:48amazing memories. We got to get this timeshare. You ain't used that thing but
10:52one time and they got your money. Whoop, there it is. Some of you, it's shoes.
10:58Another pair of J's. Really? I've been there. Another pair of Jordans. Are you
11:03trying to convince people around you? No, these are different. Are you sure? They
11:06look like the other ones. No, these are the Juneteenth J's. Juneteenth J's. Yeah,
11:11man. I got to celebrate freedom. I had to get these right. Yeah, it's funny. All
11:16the things that we get impulsively think we need it in the moment only to look
11:21back and say, why did I get that? As a matter of fact, if you need some data
11:27around this impulsive nature that many of us have, according to Forbes magazine,
11:31Americans spend $18,000 on non-essential spending. Specifically, $3,768 is spent
11:44on impulse spending every single year. And don't you just wish, or is it just
11:50me? Don't you just wish that you could get that money back? Don't you just like,
11:55man, if I could just get that money back. Well, guess what? I got good news for you
11:58today. You can get it back. You can get it back. Ooh, I'm glad you came to church
12:02today. You can get it back. All right. You can get it back right now. Watch. Close
12:05your eyes. Close your eyes. I'll show you how you get it back. You know I can see
12:08you. Close your eyes. I'll show you how you get it back. Okay. Let's just imagine.
12:12Let's just imagine just for a moment that all the money you spent and wasted on
12:16stuff that you didn't even really need and you're not even using. Let's just
12:19imagine. Over the years, for some of you, this is thousands of dollars. Let's
12:23imagine it's in an account right now. You imagine it? Can you see it? Can you see it?
12:31You got a number? Okay, open your eyes. You got it. It's in there. You just got to
12:36imagine it, okay? Now, let's just say hypothetically that money that you spent
12:42that is now in an account. Imagine somebody comes to you and says, yeah, I put
12:48that money in your account of all the money that you spent on impulsive things
12:51that you didn't need and it's in your account, but it's not really yours. I put
12:58it in there, but it's not yours. You can spend it, but here's the caveat. You can
13:04only spend it on somebody else. You can only spend it to bless somebody else.
13:11In fact, let's give that account a name. Let's call it the blessed account. So now
13:15you got a whole account that you can just spend, not on you, but to bless
13:20somebody else. Can you imagine how much joy you would get out of spending that
13:25money? Okay, we got some stingy people in the house. Some of y'all are like, no, I want to
13:30spend it on me. No, think about that. Can you imagine if you had an entire account
13:34and you know this account is only, not for me, it's only to bless somebody else. Can
13:39you imagine the joy? You'd be walking around just trying to do drive-by
13:42blessings. Come on, that coffee that you got for $7 and you get annoyed, they flip
13:46that screen to you and want 25% tip. You'd be like, come on, give me that screen. Here,
13:5125% on that. Oh, you would be tipping your Uber driver even though that car was
13:56stanky. You're like, let me bless this Uber driver. Wouldn't you be so excited to
14:00have an account to be a blessing to somebody else? Can you imagine the joy
14:05that would fill your heart? The joy is a paradox because something is leaving
14:10your life but then something is coming into your life. You're blessing other
14:13people and you're giving it to them but you're also getting something as well
14:17and what you are getting is the joy of generosity. This is my prayer for this
14:22series is that our church would lean into the heartbeat of God and you would
14:27actually experience the joy of generosity. How many know there is a joy
14:32to being a giver? There is a joy to living your life with an open hand.
14:38Generosity has benefits. This is why God loves to bless you. God is not trying to
14:43bless you just to get a blessing to you. The reason you experience blessing is so
14:47that you can be a conduit, so that you can be a vessel of the blessing. Come on
14:52somebody, God don't just bless you to raise your level of living. He blesses
14:56you to raise your level of giving so you can participate in the joy. I'm getting
15:02golf claps today, my Lord. It's cool. We're going to get there. This is the joy of
15:09generosity. Let me just show it to you. Just look at the word generous real quick.
15:13Look at the word generous. Oh, doesn't it look good? I love that word generous.
15:19Generous. It ends in US because that's how I think generosity flows. It flows from
15:26God to you then to somebody else. When I look at generous, I think of another
15:32word, joyous. Doesn't it look awesome? I've never met a generous person that
15:39doesn't have joy. Never. Every generous person I encounter, if you look at their
15:43heart, they have this radiance, this joy about them. Look at that. Generous, joyous.
15:49Let me show you another word. Let's look at it. Stingy. Doesn't it just make you feel
15:57constipated? Look at that word. Stingy. You can't even say it with a smile. You
16:02got to scrunch up your face to say it's stingy. When I look at stingy, I think of
16:06another word too, stanky. Because most stingy people are stanky. Come on, that's
16:15what you smell. It's the smell of nothing that has ever left their life.
16:19It's the smell of living a life to get all you can and can all you get and then
16:25bury the can. It's just stanky. There's nothing more beautiful than a life that
16:30is open, a life that can flow. And here's what I came to tell you. There's a joy to
16:36generosity, but the problem is we were born stingy. I wish I could tell you you
16:43were born with a generous nature, but I would be lying to you. How many of you
16:47know we are not born with generosity in our default settings? What is our default
16:53settings? It's selfishness, stinginess. That is our default settings. That is
16:58what is hardwired in all of us. What's in it for me? If you don't believe it, have
17:02some kids. Have you noticed? Their motor skills haven't even fully formed yet.
17:08Already don't own nothing, ain't paid rent, ain't paid a light bill, and got the
17:12nerve to say mine. Who teaches them this? Stingy. It blows my mind. Every parent can
17:20attest to this. They got a toy that they have not touched, that they have not
17:23seen, that they have not thought about it, and here you're trying to be a good
17:27parent and invite somebody else with their kid to your house to have a great
17:31little play date, and the toy that your child has not touched, the moment enough
17:35the kid waddles over there to grab it, no, uh-uh, mine. And here you are embarrassed.
17:42You better stop. You better share. Who teaches them that it's hardwired in
17:48their DNA? Some of you are like, that's kids, not me. Oh, for real? How come every group
17:53photo with your friends? After you look at the picture, you don't never look to
18:00see how anybody else look. You're just looking for you. That's exactly where
18:06your eyes go. That's why it's an argument over which picture to post, because your
18:11friend's like, no, this one good, because she look good in that. You're like, no, not
18:14that one. This the one right here. We just think about us. That's the challenge as
18:20being a brother with white friends and Caucasian friends. I try to tell y'all,
18:23make sure the lighting is right when y'all post us in the picture. Y'all just
18:28be posting stuff and the lighting ain't right for us, and it's just teeth and
18:32eyes in the picture, and you're talking about, this look good. I'm like, no, it don't.
18:36Look good for you. You got to get the lighting right. All we care about is
18:44ourselves. Hate to tell you you're born stingy, born with mine, but when you get
18:51born again, the Spirit of God comes on the inside of you. The byproduct of being
19:00born again ought to be a spirit of generosity. And watch this, you have to
19:06grow in that generosity. Generosity is a lot like humility. How many of you know,
19:11you don't ever graduate with humility? The day you say, I'm humble, I got it,
19:17you lost it. It's the same with generosity. You don't ever graduate to generosity.
19:23God is perpetually trying to see, what can I get through you? What can I get?
19:29I got a good illustration for y'all today. See this right here? This true story, y'all.
19:36I brought this up here today because something happened this week that my
19:39bride is not even aware of, okay? So this week, true story, this week, I'm outside,
19:44I'm outside, and Pastor Taylor has a green thumb. She got all kinds of stuff
19:48outside, tomatoes, bell peppers, peach trees, all kinds of things, okay?
19:53And I was outside in the Texas heat, and something just hit me,
19:56spirit of generosity hit me. I said, I'm going to go water her plants for her.
20:02This Texas heat is real. I said, I'm going to go water her plants for her.
20:05So true story, I'm outside in this Texas heat, and I'm watering her little garden,
20:11okay? But I'm not watering like this. I'm in the backyard. I'm watering it like this.
20:22I kept looking back in the house so she could see me watering her plants.
20:28Oh, yeah, what's in it for me? I ain't dumb. I'm just trying to see.
20:33She sees her husband out here watering her plants. She never came to the window.
20:37She didn't see it. It's cool. But it's interesting. It's interesting.
20:41I think this water hose is a lot like you and I because this water hose was created
20:50to be a conduit. It was created to convey water. And I'm sorry, y'all.
20:56You see, it's all coiled up. This one is messed up. They got me a brand new one.
21:03And the reason why this one is all tight, the reason this one is all stiff,
21:11it's because it's been sitting at Home Depot, and it's brand new.
21:15It's never been stretched. It's never had a demand placed on it to do what it was
21:24created to do. It's never been stretched to be the conduit it was created to be.
21:34And here's what's crazy is I could hook this up to a source, and water could be
21:39flowing. But if I ever stop the flow, the water pressure could be strong.
21:50But if I stop the flow, it will not do what it was created and designed to do.
21:59And I better not be mad at the water pressure because how many of you know,
22:02God has so much he wants to do through you. Your God is endless.
22:07Your God is limitless. There is nothing wrong with the source.
22:11Can I tell you about the source? He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
22:14He created the world with his words. Your God has never needed anything.
22:18He has got unlimited supply of everything. The challenge and the problem is always
22:24with the conduit. Sometimes we stop it up by not honoring the time.
22:32Sometimes it's stopped up by not acting our wage and comparing your life to
22:38somebody else's. Sometimes we stop it up by simply not having a budget.
22:45And the challenge is to live a life that is open so God can flow through you.
22:56He just wants to flow. We've said it throughout this series,
23:02the reason that we're talking about money, I know some of y'all are still
23:04scrunched up, we're stretching you out. We're talking about money, why?
23:08Because Jesus talked about money. In fact, if you look at your Bible,
23:11Jesus talked about money more than he talked about prayer, more than he talked
23:14about faith. Most of his parables were all about money, all about stewardship.
23:20Why? Because he says, where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
23:25And money and your heart is intrinsically connected. So Jesus often talked about
23:31money. Now, you'll hear preachers say this, but you won't hear him say this
23:34right here. Jesus, although he talked about money, he never asked for money.
23:41He never asked for money. And his money came from people who supported the
23:46ministry, just willingly gave. But nowhere in Scripture do I ever see Jesus asking
23:51for money, except for one time. It's in Mark chapter 12.
23:54This is the only instance that I've seen where Jesus actually asked for money.
23:58It's an interesting setup. The Pharisees come up to him and they give
24:00this little false compliment. They're like, Jesus, we know you have great
24:04integrity and you always tell the truth. So we have a little question for you.
24:08Tell us, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Look at Jesus.
24:13He knew it was a trick question and said, why are you playing these games with me?
24:18I love it. He said, bring me a coin and let me look at it.
24:23This is the only scriptural evidence I've seen of Jesus asking for money.
24:26He said, bring me a coin and let me look at it. And they handed him one.
24:31This engraving, who does it look like and whose name is on it? Caesar, they said.
24:40Jesus said, give Caesar what is his and give God what is his.
24:48He says, since there is an engraving and a name on this coin and it's Caesar,
24:55give it to Caesar. But do you know that what is not explicit but is implicit
25:00in this text is there is an image and an engraving and a name on you.
25:09And because you are created in the image of God, how do you know?
25:12You've got to give back to God what is his. You are his. He formed you.
25:20He created you. God don't just want your time.
25:23He wants your life. He wants your mind. He wants your heart.
25:26He wants every aspect of you. Why? Because you were created in his image.
25:33You were shaped by him. You have the indelible imprint of a
25:39generous God on you. And because he's generous, he wants you
25:43and I to be generous. Now, can I not shout you and just talk a
25:47little bit today? Because I want to dispel a couple of myths
25:52about generosity. Here's a couple of myths I want to dispel
25:56about generosity. Number one, generosity is not limited to
26:02money. If you're taking notes, write that down.
26:06If you're not taking notes, write that down. Generosity is not limited to money.
26:14Well, often than not, when we talk about generosity, especially in the church,
26:18immediately our mind goes to money. And so you start rolling your eyes and go,
26:21here we go, another church asking for money. Because you think generosity is
26:25limited to money. And I came to tell you, that is a narrow
26:28and a constricted definition of what generosity is.
26:32Generosity transcends money. It is bigger than money.
26:36Money is just a small fraction, I would say, of a heart that is truly open to be
26:41generous. When you are generous, it'll go beyond money.
26:44I'm telling you, generosity is an attitude. It is a spirit.
26:47It is the way you carry yourself. How many out here are social?
26:51We have core values. Our church has core values.
26:53And if you are on serve team, you know this language, and maybe you never heard
26:57it before, but our church has core values, and they spell out the word social.
27:00Isn't that cool? Spells out the word social.
27:03These are our core values. We believe that we should serve
27:05with passion. We believe we should operate in generosity.
27:09We believe we should create with excellence. We should influence with hope.
27:13We should have an attitude of joy and lead with love.
27:16Those are the core values of our church. However, the second one is operate
27:22in generosity. And all these core values have a definition,
27:25and here's the definition of operating in generosity.
27:29We are generous with our time, talents, and treasure.
27:33We are constantly looking for opportunities to go first in our giving.
27:38God has abundantly given to us. It is our honor to give back to him.
27:44That is a core value, and within that core value, we understand the dimensions
27:49of generosity that is not just limited to treasure.
27:52You can be generous with your kindness. You can be generous with your words,
27:56generous with your time, generous with the gift God has given you.
27:59That's what I preached last week. There's a gift on the inside
28:02of your dirt. How much of that does God give?
28:06Not only in that definition, look at what it says.
28:08God has abundantly given to us, so it's our honor to give back to him.
28:15In other words, generosity can't flow through my hands until I first have the
28:18right conception of who God is. One of the most important questions you
28:22can ask yourself is, do you have a generous God or do you have a stingy God?
28:28Because if you think you have a stingy God, guess what you're going to be?
28:31Stingy. And you're going to hold on to everything like this.
28:35That's actually where we get the word scarcity. Scarcity comes from the word
28:39scare. It's like when y'all lost your mind during the pandemic when they thought we
28:43was all out of toilet tissue. So you got people in the aisle kicking
28:48and fighting, oh, don't disperse, over toilet tissue. Why?
28:52Because the supply was down, and so it created a fear that I'm going
28:56to be stanky and stingy. But if they told you, oh, we good,
29:02we got plenty of supply, you ain't fighting over no toilet tissue
29:05because you know there's unlimited supply. When you know that God is generous and he
29:09has so much for you, you're not jealous of other people.
29:12Come on, somebody. You're not fighting anybody.
29:15You don't have spite against anybody because you know that you serve generous
29:19God. He's abundantly given to us.
29:21It's our honor to give back to him. Generosity is not limited to money.
29:26It is a heart. It is a posture.
29:28Number two, generosity is not emotional. It's not emotional.
29:34The church has jacked this up too because we think we got to show you a video that
29:37elicits all these tears and emotions to where your bottom lip will quiver and say,
29:41oh, my goodness, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me my phone.
29:45I got to give, I got to give. Generosity has nothing to do with emotions.
29:50If you only give when somebody shows you a tear-jerking video and a move
29:55by your emotions, that is not generosity. That's just you being emotional.
29:59And let's keep 100, you got emotional at the Taylor Swift concert too.
30:03And gave her your money before. Anyway, your emotions aren't steady.
30:09They fluctuate. They go up and down.
30:12So you're not generous when you are moved by your emotions to give.
30:15Generosity is rational. It has an understanding of who God is and my
30:21responsibility to be an open channel. Is this helping anybody in here today?
30:27Number three, generosity is not an amount. Generosity is not an amount.
30:34That's why here at Social Dialogues, you will never hear anybody on this stage
30:37telling you what amount to give because generosity is not about an amount.
30:42I've seen people write big checks to churches and it wasn't nothing
30:46about generosity. It was actually about manipulation.
30:51I've seen people run churches for years and pastors who are held hostage to somebody
30:57who's writing a big check. And so now every decision they want to make,
30:59they check in with them because they're writing a big check.
31:02I'm not the one. I don't care what check you write.
31:05I'm checking in with God. You can't use money to manipulate me.
31:12That's just facts. But I've seen people write big amounts
31:18and think it's generosity and actually wasn't generosity, it was manipulation.
31:22Sometimes it's like Ananias and Sapphira. And so somebody could go,
31:25oh my goodness, you are so generous. And they're like, oh, it was nothing.
31:30They did it for the hand clap. They did it for the applause.
31:34So generosity has nothing to do with an amount. You want some biblical evidence?
31:38Mark chapter 12 too, this scenario trips me out because it says,
31:42Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd
31:48putting their money into the temple treasury. Pause. Do what I do.
31:53Jump in the page of the Bible. Can you imagine being in church and it's
31:56offering time and you're about to give, and all of a sudden Jesus shows up
32:02and then starts looking at you while you're about to give. You're like,
32:06oh my goodness, is that? It sure is. I know that hair.
32:10Hey, Jesus. You just going to stare at me while I give? Okay. I give.
32:17You're still looking. All right. $1,000? $0.25? Can you imagine Jesus staring
32:29at you while you're giving? And he had no problem doing it, just, mm-hmm.
32:36Okay. And the Bible says, watch this, people are putting in big checks,
32:39big amounts, and you could go, wow, those are the generous ones. No, no, no.
32:44But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents.
32:50Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, truly I tell you, this poor widow has put
32:54more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth,
33:00but she, out of her poverty, put in everything, all she had to live on.
33:10Generosity has nothing to do with an amount. Yes, they were given big checks,
33:16but it was out of their abundance. This woman was just being obedient,
33:19and something in her, I don't know what Jesus did for her, but there was something
33:24in her that said, I got to give all that I have and be obedient.
33:28It is not about an amount. It is about you obeying what God has said to you.
33:33Now, here's what trips me out. I know you all clap, but you might want
33:36to take your clap back. Because what trips me out is,
33:40Jesus told his disciples she gave the most. He didn't tell her.
33:46You would think he would pull sister girl to the side and say, hey, hey, hey,
33:49come here, come here, come here, come here. I know you was intimidated by all them
33:52giving so much, but guess what? You gave the most. That would have helped her out.
33:56He doesn't do it. He doesn't even tell her, a blessing's on the way.
34:02Oh, he told the disciples and let her walk away, which means she had to walk
34:08away trusting that she was being obedient and God would fill in the blanks for the
34:15rest. Wouldn't know what's in it for me. It was an obedient heart giving.
34:24Another principle, another myth I want to dispel is generosity is not
34:29for rich people. Generosity is not for rich people. Because I hear some of you
34:34all saying, hey, hey, PR, for real, if I had it, I'd give it. No, for real.
34:41No, I know they're giving big, but they got it. Shoot, if I had what they had,
34:44I'd give like that too. No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't. Whatever you're doing with
34:49what you have right now is what you would do with more. Money is a revealer of what
34:55you already are. If you're not faithful with what he's put in your hand now,
34:59you will not be faithful with more. And can I tell you, I am shocked at a
35:03generation that is always asking God to entrust them with more, but actually wants
35:08to do it the small that you have right now. You want God to bless you with a
35:12house and you can't clean your apartment? You want God to bless you with a child and
35:18you can't serve maybe just one Sunday in the kids' ministry? You want God to make
35:23you the CEO and you be the boss and you can't come to work on time as an employee?
35:30This is reflective of your heart. If you can steward a small thing,
35:35God says, oh, I can trust you with a big thing. And some people have this false
35:39notion that if I give ball and, oh, I promise I'm going to give. No, you won't.
35:46Giving has nothing to do about being rich, which brings me to this text.
35:53Isn't it interesting that here we have Jesus in Mark chapter 10,
35:58encountering a rich dude? The Bible calls him a rich, young ruler.
36:06Whoo, isn't that an amazing combination? To be rich, to be young,
36:15no Botox needed yet, and then to have position and influence?
36:20Sounds to me like the idols of this culture today. Wealth, youth, and position,
36:30influence. He has it all. You would think somebody that had all that would be
36:36chilling on a yacht, but yet this man found himself at the feet of Jesus saying,
36:45there's something I lack. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing to me because I found
36:51that most people come to God out of desperation. Most people really come to God
36:57when they've hit the bottom. I mean, after they lose the job,
37:01the spouse walks out, the kids have turned their back on him,
37:04your AC went off in this Texas heat, then you go, ooh, I need to go to church,
37:08I need the Lord. Usually it's out of desperation. Most of us don't come
37:13on the mountaintop. Most of us don't come when we got it all together,
37:17when we got the raise. But yet this man is proof positive.
37:21You can have it all and still be broke. It's actually what I call the poverty
37:27of wealth. Sometimes the poverty of wealth is worse than poverty because in poverty,
37:34at least there is tangible, concrete evidence around you for why you're
37:39not happy. But what do you do when you have the house, when you have the car,
37:43when you have the money and you are still hollow and empty on the inside and everything
37:48around you says, I should be happy, but I'm not? So this man finds himself
37:54at the feet of Jesus and he gets up and he says, good teacher,
38:00what must I do to inherit eternal life? I love Jesus because he immediately changes
38:08his definition of good. He goes, why are you calling me good?
38:13I ain't nobody good but God. I'm thinking, rude? You are God.
38:18He knew that, but the man didn't know that. See, when you have wealth and often
38:23when you have money, you only look at the appearance of things and you never dig
38:28deeper. Sometimes there's a tendency to look at what looks good and what
38:32isn't actually good. And this man thought that Jesus was just a good teacher.
38:36How many know he was not just a good teacher, although he could teach,
38:39he was God in flesh. He wasn't just a good man, he was a God man.
38:45And this man was trying to reduce the savior of the world to just a good teacher.
38:50And Jesus said, you don't even know what good is. It's like people today,
38:55we don't know what good is. We actually inherently think that humanity is good.
39:01And we prove it in our arrogance when we go through suffering because we say things
39:04like, why am I going through this? I'm a good person. Why do bad things happen
39:10to good people? I always ask the question, what are you using as the litmus test for
39:15what's good? Because the last thing I heard is that all of us were shaped and born
39:20into sin and iniquity. There is only one who is good. There is only one who is righteous.
39:26There is only one who is holy. There is only one who is perfect.
39:29And his name is Jesus, and it ain't us. Don't ever get it twisted and think
39:36because you did a few good deeds that you are good. We are all sinners in need
39:41of a savior and his grace. Don't ever turn up your nose and say,
39:45I would never do that. You don't know what you would do if something happened to you
39:49and you were put in a certain scenario. This man doesn't know what good is.
39:54He goes, why are you calling me good? Only God is good. He says,
39:58what must I do to inherit eternal life? In other words, I've been so used to my money
40:07opening doors for me. I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to get eternal life.
40:15His mind thinks transactionally. What do I need to do to get eternal life?
40:20What do I need to do? This is actually at the heart of religion. Religion is always saying,
40:27do more, do more, do more. If you do this, then God should do this.
40:31If you do this, then God should give you this. This is why some of you are even frustrated
40:35and mad at God because you did something. You said, God, I've been worshiping.
40:40God, I've been faithful. And now I need you to come to pass on the promise.
40:44He hasn't come to pass. And the reason is because you think it is what you do that earns the goodness
40:50and the grace of God. But how many know you cannot buy grace? It is a free gift.
40:55You cannot earn the grace of God. It is not what you do. It is what has been done
41:01for you by the finished work of Jesus Christ. Is there anybody that's thankful that we don't
41:06have a God that looked at you about what you do? But we have a God that says, if you just
41:10freely accept what has already been done, you'll get a clean record. Oh, it's not me
41:15that God looks at. It is the perfect record of Jesus. Once I put my faith in him that he looks at.
41:23You can't buy grace. He's telling this man, I know you're used to buying stuff,
41:29but you can't buy grace. This is a free gift that has to be received.
41:35But since he approached him with the law, Jesus responded with the law. He said, oh,
41:40you want eternal life? Well, you know the commandments. Don't murder. Honor your mother
41:46and father. He approached Jesus with the law. So Jesus gives him back the law to show him
41:52that you need grace. And this dude arrogantly says, yeah, I've kept all that.
41:58Really? No, I've done all that. If that was me, oh, I would have been like you arrogant,
42:05pretentious, pompous, wealthy dude. No, you haven't. But Jesus doesn't do that. He looked at
42:11him. The Bible says that he loved him. He loved him. And he says, OK, you've done it all. That's
42:20cute. He looked at him like you look at your kid when they're like taking their first few steps
42:26and like, look, I'm walking and they're walking like that. You're like, oh, that's cute.
42:32He said, one thing you lack, sell everything you have and give it to the poor and then come follow
42:41me. What is Jesus doing? He's cutting down to the core of who this man is
42:49and showing him where he has put his trust and where he has put his faith.
42:55This man didn't even know that he had put his trust in his possessions,
43:02that he thought his value was connected to his valuables. He thought he owned what he had. He
43:07didn't know the things that he had owned him until Jesus said, give it away. Some people have used
43:13this text to say, see, nobody can have anything nice. You should sell it all and give it to the
43:18poor. How come Jesus only said this to this guy? There's nobody else he said it to. You know what
43:24because Jesus knows what is really sitting on the throne of your heart. And what was sitting
43:30on the throne of this man's heart was his possessions. And God said, I want you. I want
43:35all of you. So I'm giving you an opportunity to be an open vessel, to let go of the thing
43:41that is holding on to you. And the Bible says that this man walked away and his face fell and he was
43:50sad. We read that and we see the word sad, but in the Greek, it is stronger than that.
44:01And the Greek, it means that he felt deep grief to be separated from his possessions.
44:10The only other time we see that word sad and that grief coincidentally is in the garden of
44:15Gethsemane. When Jesus is about to go to the cross and the Bible says that he was sorrowful
44:22to death. That is the same sorrow that this man felt. Jesus felt it in the garden as he's about
44:28to go to the cross. What is this sorrow that Jesus was feeling? Was it sorrow because they
44:33were going to whip him with the cat of nine tails? No. Was it sorrow that they were going to put a
44:37crown of thorns on his head? Was it sorrow that they were going to pierce his hands and pierce
44:42his feet? No, no, no. Don't forget what he said on the cross. He didn't say my head, my head,
44:47or my side, my side. When we hear him cry out, he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
44:55Because the father was turning his back on the son for the first time. He had always been connected
45:02with his father and he was feeling it in the garden of Gethsemane. And he said, I'm sorrowful
45:08because I can't stand to think to be separated from my father. This is the same feeling this man
45:14felt over his stuff, over his possessions. He couldn't stand to be separated from it
45:24because he didn't own his stuff. His stuff owned him and he missed out on the greatest internship
45:32in the world. Do you realize this dude got an invitation that not everybody got? He didn't just
45:37say, get rid of your possessions so you can have treasure in heaven. He said, then come and follow
45:42me. Everybody didn't get that invitation. Come on, remember there was a dude that was possessed by a
45:47demon that said, hey, you set me free. Can I go with you now? And Jesus was like, no fam, go back home to
45:52your family. This dude got an invitation and turned it down because he was connected to his stuff.
46:00So after he walks away, Peter speaks up. He says, oh Jesus, we let go of stuff. I left my fishing business.
46:14What's in it for me? Y'all, I'm thinking Jesus is about to come down with the jugular and say, oh
46:22how dare you ask me what's in it for you. I can't believe you're supposed to take up your cross
46:27and follow me. But that is not what Jesus says. Jesus says, guess what Peter? I know you gave up
46:33a lot, but watch this. You are going to reap a hundred times in this present age. You will have
46:40persecution, but watch this. You're also going to get eternal life. You're going to get something in
46:45the age to come. Look at what Jesus says. He said, I'm going to take care of what you need here on earth.
46:51You're going to go through persecution, but guess what? Even after the persecution in eternity,
46:57you're still going to have a reward because that's where the true treasure is. No wonder this same
47:02loud mouth Peter, who didn't die with a Mercedes. He didn't die with a big bank account. As a matter
47:08of fact, like all the disciples, they died in suffering. They died in pain. In fact, Peter said,
47:14crucify me upside down because I'm not worthy to be crucified the way my same Savior was. But you
47:20know why he did it? Because he knew that these present sufferings are not worthy to be compared
47:25to the glory of God that's going to be revealed on the inside of you. Come on somebody. How do you
47:31know the true treasure that you're going to get from God is not in this life. It's in eternity.
47:37When I see his face, when he splits the sky, I will meet him and I will receive my reward.
47:45I wish somebody would get up on your feet if you knew you had some hidden figures.
47:49I've got some things that are being stored up that the enemy can't steal,
47:54that can't nobody take, that won't ever have dust on it. I've got true treasure.
48:04My true reward, my true reward is not here on earth. Hear me, people get so jacked up in their
48:13theology. They go too far on the prosperity and think that the sign of God's blessing is that
48:19you're going to be rich. That is not true. If you can't preach it all over the world, it's not the
48:25gospel. People go to the other extreme as if God is getting the glory out of you walking around
48:33looking pitiful. No, the reality is, is anything you let go of for him and for the gospel,
48:42he will make sure that he will meet all of your needs. You will have everything that you need.
48:49That is a promise. I know some of y'all can't clap because you've confused a want with a need.
48:59God says, you'll trust me. I'll make sure you have what you need. But even more than that,
49:06there is treasure in heaven being stored up for you. One day heaven is going to make earth make
49:14sense. Heaven is going to be the revealer of who the real influencers were.
49:22Who the real wealthy people were will be revealed in glory. This life is but a vapor.
49:32Why waste your time? Why waste your energy collecting stuff that will not go with you
49:40past the grave? I am determined in my own life to allow God to speak to me and whatever I need
49:46to let go of it, whatever I need to give up so that my life can be an open channel of his goodness,
49:56not just for me, but for somebody else. I'm going to ask every head be bowed and eyes be closed
50:02today. Father, I'm praying for a miracle to happen in all of our hearts.
50:12God, I thank you that you so beautifully, just like with this rich young ruler,
50:18you're able to cut to the core of who we are,
50:22Lord, and reveal what is really sitting on the throne of our hearts.
50:26For some people, it is money. For some people, it is their stuff.
50:32For some of us, it's our kids. For some of us, it's a relationship.
50:40For some of us, it's a career. Lord, I pray today
50:47that we would feel you look at us like you looked at that rich young ruler.
50:55We would feel your love. Lord, let us grow in our generosity to trust you
51:02with the things that you say. Let go of it.
51:08Lord, let us not have the story of this unnamed rich young ruler
51:13who walked away sorrowful because he didn't own his stuff. His stuff owned him.
51:19He missed out on the greatest internship with the greatest man who ever walked the face of this
51:28earth. God, let us have the testimony of Peter who was with you. And even after we mess up like
51:37Peter did, you still come after us and you call us to the shore. God, show us that this life is not
51:48the end. There is an eternity. Help us live for true treasure and have hidden figures.
51:58Heads are bowed, eyes are closed today. I want to give somebody an opportunity to respond,
52:03first of all, to Jesus. Maybe you've been living your life kind of like this rich young ruler.
52:11He knew the law. He knew religion. He kept saying, what do I need to do?
52:16The gospel is not about what you do. It's understanding what has been done for you and
52:20receiving that. There's not an amount of good works you can do to earn the grace of God. You
52:28must receive it as a gift for it is by grace through faith that we are saved. So heads bowed
52:35and eyes closed. If you're here today to say, I need to surrender my life to this generous savior
52:42who gave his life for us. That's you. Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough
52:48to where I could see it today to say, today's the day I'm giving him my life. Yeah. We say it all
52:53the time in social. You can always come home. You don't got to fix yourself or get yourself together
52:57to come to him. You cannot get yourself together. That's why you need a savior. Anybody else? I see
53:02those hands. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. You can put it right back down. Thank you, Lord.
53:10Head still bowed, eyes still closed. I want to be very specific because I know in my own life,
53:16because God is always stretching me in generosity. There have been seasons where he says, I want that.
53:24I want that. I've experienced the pain of holding on. I've also experienced the blessing of trusting
53:35him. Even when my hands and knees were shaking and letting it go.
53:42And I don't know who this is for, but I know that God is speaking to hearts today. And maybe
53:46there's something just like the rich young ruler that has been sitting on the throne of your heart.
53:50You thought you owned it, but you're realizing it owns you. It's an idol. And today God is saying,
53:57would you let go of that so you can receive true treasure? I am your reward.
54:06And so with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you know what that thing is, I don't know
54:09what it is. I just believe God is speaking to hearts and he's saying, I need that. I need that.
54:14Somebody needs to realign some priorities in your life.
54:18That's you. Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it to
54:22say, Lord, I know what that is. And you're lifting up your hand to say, God, I'm giving it to you.
54:27For some of you, maybe it is to start to trust him in the area of your finances. And so
54:35I remember vividly tithing and doing the 10% and it became a religious
54:40duty to me. And God said, that's just the minimum. Can you do more? I remember the fear,
54:48but also the trust because anything that he asked for, anything you let go of,
54:54it might leave your hand, but it will never leave your life. God is faithful to return it back.
55:02Doesn't always come back financially. It comes back sometimes in peace. It comes back
55:06sometimes in a blessing of a relationship, but whatever it is, if he's asking for it,
55:13he's saying, okay, let's see those hands. Come on. Let's pray. This prayer is one big family.
55:18I'm going to give you the words. You say it from your heart. Would you say this? Say, Jesus,
55:21I need you. Lord, thank you so much for showing me generosity.
55:32Thank you for loving me so much. You sent your only son to live the life that I was supposed to live
55:43and to die the death that I was supposed to die. Lord, you took my place.
55:51So my response to your generosity is to surrender. I give you my heart.
56:00Give you my mind. I give you my soul because you're worthy of it all from this moment forward.
56:11I'm walking with you and whatever you ask of me, it is yours. Father, help me
56:21to store up true treasure in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.