Made to Worship | Week 4

Amen. Hey. Good morning. Good morning. Everybody awake? Amen. Yes. Awesome. I'll do my best to put you back to sleep. No. Just kidding. Hey. You know, it's Thanksgiving this week, if you hadn't heard, and I've got family in town. So I was out the other day just kinda cleaning up the backyard,

thinking about things I was thankful for, and I I funny, I looked at my slide that's on my pool, the big rock waterfall with a slide,

and I I found my same thing, and you know, I'm thankful for that. And the reason I wasn't, when I bought the house, it was there. I would have never paid to put that thing in, but it was there, and I've become thankful for it. And one of the weird reasons the main one reasons is I like watching these little sociological

experiments, and it's always fun when we have family and friends, or we'll do a party and they have kids, and they come over to watch kids respond to that slide.

Like, what do they decide about it when they come to swim? They're excited to swim, but when they're little, they look at it, and you can tell, like, ones that have been down something like that before, they just go. Others come in and they haven't been down a slide, but they're still willing to just go do it, especially

if they have older siblings that run up and do it. They're like, I'm not going to be bested by them, so they go too. But most kids that are little enough, they know how to swim but they've never done something, they kind of look at it cautiously. And they have this moment, they're like, I don't know about that.

And then all the way to summer, like, they look at it, you can tell that that's gonna be a problem. Do they walk in, they're all excited, and once again, all of sudden they see the slide, they see a kid go down, and they're like And you could tell they're thinking about this might be an issue.

And what is interesting is the psychological experiment is everyone says, go down the slide, go down, and they start to freak out. But then parents decide. That's the fun part to watch. Especially dads.

There is something in us, dads, that when our kid sees this thing and doesn't want to do it, we have this intrinsic feeling like, if I don't get them to do this, I don't know why, but I think I failed as a dad.

Are you with me, dads? I go, what is it? We go, I I I I it's not just I don't want my kid to be looking like a failure and a wimp. It's like, I want them to have courage, but but you really you know it'll be fun. And so you go into that conversation that you're trying to you're trying to get them to do it. Because kids are made to, you know, explore and have fun and build courage, and you know they're made for it. But as you see the conversation, some kids are gonna have none of it. They think I wasn't yeah. I was made to do this, but they mean more like, you're making me do this. And they start to reject it.

And I had one kid in particular that'll stay nameless, but but he was was was looking at this thing. And and you could tell when he walked out, this was gonna be a major problem. He was like and and and I knew his personality. He's like, hey, you wanna go to the place? No.

And then dad's like, you should go. Mom's like, you should go. It'd be fun. You should do it. Like, trying to get him to step outside himself and do something courageous.

And he got so frustrated. He had floaties on. And he looked at that thing, and as they tried to try to encourage him to do something that he would really enjoy,

he got mad and feels like, you're manipulating me. You're forcing me. In kids style, what did he do? He got really scared, and he got really angry, which is like, men, that's what we do even as big kids.

Half the time when we're yelling, just a little link to you that don't understand the guy that you're hanging out with, if he's yelling, he's probably afraid,

Or his feelings are hurt. Because we process everything through anger. So it's like his kid started getting so mad. He's like, I like it. He got so mad that he was so excited to swim. But at this moment, he got so mad about being asked to go down a slide that he ripped his floaties off and went inside. He's like, I'm not I don't want to go down a slide. I'm so mad at you guys, and you guys for even asking me to go down a slide. I don't even want to swim with you anymore. And he went inside. He sat on the couch. And the way our couch faces, he didn't even sit on the part that you can see outside. He sat with his back to the outside, because he didn't even wanna see us in his peripheral.

And you could tell. You ever see someone that's so upset that you're looking at the back of your their head, and you could still still tell they're upset. He said, and they're so mad. He's like, I'm not going out there. I'm not gonna swim with those people. I'm not gonna talk because they're all a bunch of jerks for trying to make me do something fun that I was made to do.

Now the reason I show that is that those spectrum of responses to the slide is describing how every one of us, we're somewhere on that response list when it comes to the topic we're gonna talk about today, when we talk about worship.

We've been unpackaging this idea that worship isn't just a thing we go do. Worship is what we were made to be, and and we were made to worship. But sometimes when we describe some of these things that God says, okay.

Worshiping me means really embracing with your whole life the concept that you were made by me and for me. And it's the for me that we have a hard time with. So God always says, here's what you need to embrace because the and and here's what the actions you need to live out Because I made you for that.

The problem is some of these concepts, some of these topics, you go, we don't hear it as I was made to be that. We hear I was made to be that. Forced. And today's topic is the one that there's going to be some people, you're already doing it, you're excited. Some of you are like a little cautious, but you're willing.

And then there's a few of here that when I say the topic, you're going to start reaching for your floaties. And you're going to be, this is why I don't like swimming,

and I'm not coming back to this pool and swim with these people anymore because they're trying to manipulate me. So with that setup, what do you think we're talking about today? Those of you that probably said money are probably grabbing for your no. Just kidding. It's it's it's it's the idea that

God calls us to worship him through giving, and through giving of our resources.

And that's what I want to talk about. I saved it for the end for two reasons.

One, so if you decide not to swim anymore, at least you came for the first part of the series. No. For this, is we got Black Friday coming up, and that's where a lot of people just go crazy and stupid with their money. So I thought we should talk about this now before the damage is done this year. But then also,

it it it's this topic that that is one that's that's that can be taken so wrong. Because because here here's the deal. When we worship God financially,

it's actually something that's for us. Just like when I said we innately know why we want our kids to go down the slide. You know why? Are you really trying to take something from them? What are you trying to give them? Courage, which helps them with other stuff, but also just in the moment, it's fun. So here's the deal.

Giving. Here's the big idea for today. Giving is something God wants for us, not from us. Giving is something that God wants for us, not from us. We were made to be givers. That's an act of worship. You're not made to give.

It's something we were made for, and it's something God wants for us, not from us. Just like as a parent, you know the joy of what's going happen if they go down the slide. But you know why the kid doesn't want to? Fear. Losing control. Also, it comes to a water slide,

a lot of kids will sit there and go, you know what? The slide is not so much what I'm afraid of. It's the fact that I'm afraid I'll drown when I get to the water.

And that's why I think a lot of us as believers have been looking at this topic, and you think about it. Even though you've been in church for a long time, money is still an issue for you. And you're like, I've heard it. I've heard it. I've heard it. Here we go again. Here comes another one. And and you're gonna be like, struggle because I get it. I like it. I know giving's good. I like experience of giving. The problem is you don't know my scenario that if I gave, I'm gonna drown.

We're gonna talk about how that's not true. And here's how I wanna go about it. I've had to preach on this topic often, and and the reality is this. I could sit here, and I don't care if you're and if you're brand new, sorry, this just happened to be the week you showed up, but

not really, because this this will change your life if you get it. But the idea is this, is is I could get up here and rapid fire 300 bible verses that talk about why we need to be generous. But you know what I get? I I really believe. I think every person that knows the Lord,

and every person that walked in here that doesn't know anything about God, assumes that the Bible probably tells us to be generous with our money. That's not the problem. The problem is do we really understand the why, and do we get what's good for us when we do it?

What is it that it's for? So I wanna talk about that point today for a few minutes. And I don't know why, but God kept leading me back to a story in the Old Testament, which I thought, God, I've I've actually preached on this several times over the last few years. And and everybody knows this story if they've been in church, But he kept taking me to the story, and I kept looking at it. And I kept understanding that when you take this story,

it's got its literal happenings and what's going on, but every one of these Old Testament stories are really a foreshadowing of what Jesus was gonna come to do. What Jesus was doing through the nation of Israel

was kind of setting the stage for Jesus to come, and a lot of the stories in the Old Testament show these. They're called Christ types, as we were taught in seminary, which sounds incredibly boring. But it's this idea that they're pictures of Jesus who's going to come, but they're imperfect pictures because they're

people. And so several of the stories in this Old Testament are actually describing and foreshadowing something that Jesus was going to come and do. And the one we're looking at today is one of the primary ones of those. And so when we look at the actual story in its context,

but then step back and go, what is the principle that's being landed here about how God works through us, and how he asks us to have courage and trust him, and how this is actually an act of worship when we fight the battle he asked us to fight, when we go after the thing. Because we are embracing that we trust God more than something else, which is the heart of worship, and that brings glory to God. Like we learned last week, worship brings glory to God, but is also good for us.

So God kept taking me back to the story. Back to the story. Back to the story. And I want to talk about why giving is something God wants for us, not from us, by looking at a story of a little shepherd boy that ended up in a battle with a giant awesome warrior. Can anyone tell me the names? David and Goliath.

But I want us to look at it different today as we take it apart, and I'm going to show you how what happens and what David is asked to do is kinda like trusting God, and he's almost acting like a Jesus. In that Jesus came into the world and was considered a nobody, and he beat a giant called sin and death for us.

And it's this foreshadowing, but in there we can see what we're called to do. Make sense? So here we go. It's the story is found in first Samuel 17. It's near the front of your Bibles. And like I said, you had Israel, which were called to be the people of God. They were given a mission of God.

They were a literal theocracy, but their king they had the prophet Samuel who wrote this. He was a spiritual leader. But the king was supposed to be a military, political,

and spiritual leader because they were literally God's people. And he gave them a mission. They would end up in these battles, and it actually some countries would attack them, and they literally fought battles, and it was and it was under the name of God. And so to win the battle, God would protect them, and he created Israel to both show the world that this little country that you think, as long as they trust me, they prevail. And it shows the world that God is real.

He also used Israel to prepare the way for Jesus to come.

But think about it. Jesus came, and now we're called the church. I just did a series called realm, the the spiritual realm. And guess what the church is called to be as the body of Christ? A people that go on the mission for God, to declare the glory of God, to point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus, but we end up in battles too. They had literally physical battles, but the Bible says that we have a battle that's not against flesh and blood, it's against spiritual forces that are trying to deny the name of God, trying to mess with us followers,

and we need to choose to engage in those battles. It's the same thing. We're called to have the similar job description that Israel is as the church.

So we can pull from these principles. So what's happening is Israel's at war with the Philistines. They don't believe in their God. They want to subdue him. They want to take him over. And so they are actually lined up against each other at a place called the Valley Of Elah. I've been there. It's not that big. It's like they weren't very far from each other. And and what's happening is they're lined up, and and this giant named Goliath, we'll see here in a second, he's their champion. He's coming out and taunting them. And so I wanna pick up in chapter 17, starting in verse eight. It says, Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across the Israelites. Now,

he's nine feet tall. His armor weighs a 125 pounds. So this guy's an intimidating specimen of a man. It it's like and so he's taunting them. And he says this, why are you all coming out to fight? He recalled. I am the Philistine champion,

but you are only the servants of Saul. He's ridiculing the people of God. Choose one man to come down here and fight me. If he kills me, then we'll be your slaves. But if I kill him, we will, we will be your slaves.

And then look what he says. I defy the armies of Israel today. Send me a man who will fight me. Now this was a common thing. If you've watched some of those the movies, you'll see that back in the day, sometimes to to spare bloodshed, not destroy two civilizations because you wiped out so many people, They would often say, you pick a champion, we'll pick a champion, and that's going to decide the winner.

And so they sent them out there.

And so that's what's happening. So they said, pick a champion. And what he's saying is, if I win, you're now going be a vassal state of us. You're gonna fall under our authority. If you win, we'll fall under your authority. But I defy your God. I defy who you believe. I defy this. So he's basically denying

the glory of God and all that. So Israel's called to battle that.

So he's doing this, and and look what it says. Right after he said it, when Saul and the Israelites heard this, they put their faith in their God. Saul was the leader he was supposed to be and trusting who God's power was. They went out and defended the glory of God and fought the battle and killed them all.

No. It's not what it says, does it? It's right up on the screen behind me, isn't it? It says, Saul, who's their king, and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.

Now what we're going to see is now we get introduced to David, and he's a shepherd. His older brothers are in the army, but his dad, he takes care of the sheep, and then his dad sends them back and forth. He'll send them to to take some supplies, take some bread and cheese, take some sandwiches to your brother, and find out what's going on. And so that's he's gonna show up when when this is happening. But this giant comes out, and he says this, and many of heard the story before, but you realize this was not a one time thing. If you go down to verse 16, it says, for forty days,

every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army. He realized that this was not he walked out to this one time David showed up. End of story. Forty days straight, he walks out there. And not just once. How many times a day did he say? Twice.

He strutted. I don't know what that looked like. George Jefferson? I I have no idea. Was he like a chicken? But anyways, whatever strutting was for a nine foot giant with 125 pound armor, he was strutting back and forth twice a day. That means when David shows up, it's been at least 80 times. 80 times.

He's challenged them to a fight that they should have trusted God, that they were supposed to win, and they wouldn't do it. So now David shows up right when something interesting happens.

He it's verse 20. It says, so David left his sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts as Jesse had directed from his dad. He arrived at camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries. So this is number 81. So think about it.

They're doing their shouts and battle cries to walk out there, to have this giant strut, and then to run away. But they just need do it one time. This is gonna be their eighty first time. 81 times they rallied and did their urahs. But

here's the thing about the Israelite army. They were God's army. You can read all through scripture. When they did their battle cries, it was almost like a worship set. That their band would lead them out to the fight.

They would actually declare their urahs were declarations of the glory of God, and the power of God, and the majesty of God. That was a rally, a worship rally cry to remember who they are. So think about the absurdity of this. 81 times, twice a day, they would sit there and shout to the glory and power and majesty of God, and how they follow him, and he's the only true God.

And and they would do that, oh, rah, and then walk out there and have one guy say, I defy you. Boo. And they ran away. Can you imagine that? 81 day after day, twice a day. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. That sounds stupid, doesn't it?

We just sang all my wealth is in the cross.

Is it?

How many of us, as believers, you come to church more than 81 times? Because you know what we talked about last week? What a church what a worship service is. Why do we gather? It's our chance to do our battle cries. It's our ooras for Jesus to rally so we can break camp and go fight the fight.

How many times are you singing these songs? The urahs on the glory of God, how we can trust him. He is the king of kings and the lord of lords, lord of all, and it's only through him am I saved and rescued. But if I say we need to give, you're like, can't do that. Oh, no. Hoorah, Jesus is great. We need to give. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Not that slide. I'm not doing that. How many times do we do that? That's the point of this passage is they were supposed to be God's people. When you declare the glory of God and you sing out and trust him, trust him means follow him. Not just sing at him. Follow him. And so many of us will shout the uhuras in here

and say the oh no's when it comes to money. For the same reason the Israelites did and Saul did. You're afraid you'll lose. You're afraid you'll lose. And look what what what what goes on after this. So he says that,

but to give you a little deeper reason of why you might be frustrated right now, some of you are reaching for the floaties. You're like, it's awkward. There's a lot of people in this pool, but as soon as I can get out,

I'm out of here. But if you go down to verse 28, what happens is they come back, they act all scared. David probably goes, this is weird. And he watches, and they're like, did you see the giant? Which I thought was a weird question they asked each other. Because you mean the other 80 times I didn't see him? Of course, we saw that they're just freaking out. And they start talking about how the king says, do you realize Saul's getting desperate? He's offering a reward. He's offering one of his daughters in marriage. Maybe he just wants to get rid of one of his daughters. I don't know. But

he's doing all this stuff to try to get someone to fight. And David goes, really? What's happening? What does the king the king has to offer a reward? What's the reward? He's trying to check out what's going on. And and do any of you have brothers? If you're girl, sisters? You know that brotherly competitiveness?

Especially if you're the older brother, or you have an older brother. You're going to get this, what happens next, easier than the rest of us. Because his older brother hears that he's asking. Here's him asking, and says in verse 28, but when David's older brother Eliab

heard David talking to the man, he was angry.

What are you doing here anyways? I said that like I knew a brother would. He's he hears him asking, what would the king give if someone goes and fights him? What are you doing here anyway? And then look. And then he belittles him. He demanded. He goes, what about those few sheep you're supposed to be taking care of? Like, why are you here watching this? You should be home taking care of your small little. I'm the soldier. You're just the shepherd boy. Why are you even here? He acts all mad to him. And he, look, I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle. And David says, what have I done now? You know, and walks away.

Does that sound familiar? If you have brothers or sisters, they're being competitive. They're being but he says, I know about your deceit. He belittles what he does with the sheep,

acts like he's better than him, and says, you just want to watch a battle. Which is funny because he says what I do now, I guess I'm a little bit more of a punk than David because I would have said what battle? You're too chicken to go fight. But I think that's the heart of why his older brother was mad.

I think he knew his brother. I think he, in his heart of hearts, he knew his brother was not just aching coming to see a battle. I think he knew why his brother was asking the questions. I think he knew his little brother was willing to do something that he wouldn't do. 81

times, I'm too chicken to go out there. My stupid little brother's gonna walk up here, and he's gonna go down that slide. He's gonna run out there and fight that giant. And that hit up against his fear, his insecurity, and his lack of faith. And you know what he did? He did a principle

that I think is very true in our lives. Not just when it comes to giving, but with with anything. We get mad at the mirror. We get mad at the mirror. The reason so many people say, that church just cares about money, or why is that guy preaching on giving, or why

If I talk about marriage, you don't get as mad about that. If I talk about how you your kids should listen to you like that. But when we talk about giving, sometimes you're mad. We turn it around. Belittle the messenger, the mirror.

He was mad at the mirror, because you know when his brother he knew what his brother was going to do. And what his brother was going to do was showed a reflection, and he looked back in the mirror and saw, that's not me. I have not had that courage.

I've been afraid. I don't really trust God. I haven't, and he's showing that to me. You know what it's like when you get up the window, you put on some of your favorite clothes, you're kinda, you know, getting ready, and and you just think you look good, and then you go stand in front of that full length mirror,

and you're like, this is not what I imagined in in my head at all. And now don't you almost get mad at the mirror?

If you're frustrated, especially if you're new here, you don't know the Lord, don't worry about this yet. You gotta just know that Jesus loves you. But if you know that Jesus loves you,

and he made us for this, and giving is a gift he gave us, not something he wants to take from us, and and I will say by the end some of the stuff he gives us. Why do you get angry with me when I tell you what God clearly says is the way to peace and happiness and joy? Because you're afraid

of drowning when you hit the water, and you're mad at the mirror.

David just doesn't let his brother bother him. King Saul hears about it. He's so desperate. He's like, bring this kid. Someone's willing to maybe fight? Bring them to me. And so he goes to to to see

the king. And look what he says to him, this little shepherd boy that his brother was just telling him, you and your few sheep. He says, don't worry about this Philistine, David told Saul. I'll go fight him.

But, you know, the king looked at him. He's like, don't be ridiculous, Saul replied. There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win. You're only a boy, and he's a man of war since his youth. But David persisted. Look what he used as his reason. What does his brother rip on him about? Being a shepherd.

And look what he says. I've been taking care of my father's sheep and goats, he said. He's using his shepherd experience on his resume. And he says here, he goes, when a lion or bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, a lion or bear? Man, all you need is tigers, and then there's an oh my at the end of that statement.

And you're the first service that most of you got that right away.

Oh, you are I don't even need to take as long on this message. I think you guys are with me. Good job. He he goes he goes he comes to steal love. Look. What he does? He goes, I go after it with a club, and I rescue the lamb from its mouth. Wow. He will chase a a lion or a bear with a club and get it back. But then it gets worse. If the animal turns on me, like, it doesn't just say, okay, you can have it back, I quit, and attacks him. He goes, I catch it by the jaw,

and I club it to death. He grabs its mouth and beats the thing to death. He has killed bears and lions with his bare hands. And he tells the king that, and then look what he does. Is this him just being cocky? No. He's being faithful. He was faithful in the little job. Maybe his older brother never did that.

He never had the courage. And and and so then he does it, and then look what he does. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to this pagan Philistine too. But why? For he has defied the armies of the living God.

The Lord who rescued me, guess who gets credit, from the claws of the lion and the bear, will rescue me from this Philistine. He goes, I know that I'm called to bring glory to God. We're called to be the people of God. We're supposed to point to the glory of God. And in this moment, we need to defend that glory and act out because we are little. We are nobody. And that's where the power of God will rescue us. And that'll point to the whole world that God is who he says he is. All we have to do is run out there and fight, and none of you will, so I will.

He's not being cocky. He's being faithful. And it says, Saul finally consented. Alright. Go ahead, he said, and may the Lord be with you. I think he probably turned one his eyes. Do you think he really killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands? I'm not even mad. That's impressive. Let's let him do it.

But here's what's weird about it. Here's another point when it comes to maybe our fears to understand that God's given us the gift of giving. In this scenario, if you understand the culture, if you don't have a champion step up, you know who's supposed to be your champion and go fight this enemy? The king.

Which is weird, because when they picked Saul as king, they they didn't look at his heart. They just looked at his resume. He was a head tall. Was probably a good foot taller than everybody else. He was their largest warrior, and he was known for being one of their bravest, most skilled warriors. He's their best fighter,

and he's gonna let a shepherd boy go fight this fight. He's He's had victory on the battlefield, but this guy scares him. And here's what I think. I think sometimes when we hear about, hey, let's let's honor God with our giving. Let's let's be a part of what God's given us the privilege of being a part of

and figure out what the gift is in giving. One of the things that hold us back is you'll think, the guy's up front, you know, you see him on TV. You see him. There's there's leaders that manipulate. They just want your money. Can I just tell you something, guys? We're running ahead of budget right now.

This is not out of desperation, and I am a leader that does exactly what I'm asking you to do. I didn't always. I was Saul early on in my I was a youth pastor and didn't give regularly. My wife wanted me to give, but I didn't. So you know what happened? We'd fight a lot,

and I did nothing but stress about money all the time because I didn't make very much as a youth pastor. So then when all of sudden you'd feel this message, hey, we should give, I got mad at the mirror, and I made up all my excuses. I'm there with you. I don't have the money.

I had more than you did. I'm working for a church that wants me to give to it, and they pay me so little I can't even hardly afford my salary. 65% of it was my apartment rent. I was like, they don't even pay me enough. This is unfair. I like, I had a reason. I don't have enough.

I said, if they wanted me to give, they should give me more. I was working sixty five, seventy hours a week, so I said, I tithe. I give up my time. I had that excuse.

I said, I gotta feed my family. I had all the reasons. But you know what I was really saying is? If God wants me to trust him with the money, I get it. I like giving. I get it. But I'm gonna drown if I go down that slide. And I wouldn't do it till God got ahold of my heart, when my wife got ahold of my neck.

It happens a lot. She won. And I want you know that I and every leader in this church goes above and beyond. They are very generous. Everyone who is called a leader, even volunteer leaders,

is generous financially. Matter of fact, we make people mad because if you start to become a leader and you refuse to honor God with your finance, we ask you to not be a leader, and you get mad at the mirror. But I am not gonna lead and have leaders lead people that won't do what we're saying God says we should do.

And just to give you a little bit of our reasoning, which helps you understand why it's something for us, not from us, that what I'm trying to give you right now is this is a blessing for you because I was on the other side of the equation.

I couldn't see it. I got mad at the mirror, but now I get it. How my wife one way over eventually became our list that we would share on here's the seven reasons why we give. I just want to give you the top four really quick to let you understand why we give. And the first one is simply this.

Because the one we've surrendered our lives to, the one who died for us, asks us to. That's number one. I mean, you go into Luke six, Matthew six, Luke six says, give and it'll be given to you. Meaning giving is something that's for us, not just from us.

And then in Matthew six, he talks about store up treasures in heaven, not just here. There's more to this game than just what I have right now.

Over and over again, we're asked to do that. The second reason sounds odd. It's we like how we feel when we give. Now that sounds really like, oh, it's all experiential. No. What we mean is, when we give,

and especially when we don't think we have anything, but we just honor God with a percentage of our giving. We give first, not after. We don't add up all of our bills and give from the leftovers. We go, what has God asked us to give? And we give first, and then we let everything else work its way out from there. We let our standard of giving determine our standard of living. Why? Does that make us feel good? Because that's when we're acting the most like Jesus.

John three sixteen, the verse that most everybody, at least you've seen on a sign at a football field, says this. For God so loved the world, he what? He gave his son. Do you realize that statement phrase in the way it's written is the second part is contingent on the first part. It's because of this,

he did this. It's telling you because he loves, he gave. There's a principle about the character of God, which he wanted to put in us. We are supposed to carry the image of God. We are the image bearers. He says, because he loved, he gave. Love gives. You can give without loving. You can.

But you cannot love without giving. If you don't give God, if you don't honor him with what he's asked, you don't love him. You just want something from him. Love gives. And when we give, especially when we're scared, especially when it changes our standard of living,

My wife and I said on the backside of that is, wow, you feel closer to Jesus. You know the weird thing is? All those fears, you you might not just he doesn't just make it rain, but he makes it possible. And the fear and the tension and all those struggles and the battles and all those things go away.

That's how it works. It's a gift. The gut says, you want to fight anxiety? Here you go. Love gives. The third reason is because we really believe in the vision of this church.

That's one of the reasons why I ask people to say, if you're a Christian, sometimes people go, I give. I just give over here and over there and over there. Sometimes I think that's smokescreen.

You tell everybody you give somewhere else. I give at the office. At the office, I give to my church. You say, I give to this missionary. But some of us do just feel like I'm gonna give elsewhere. But man, God called us to be the local church.

We advertise. We give. We're doing a thing with the feed my starving children, which we want to. We're called to go out there and love. But would you take all the money in your food budget to feed your family and give to feed my starving children?

Would you just say, kids, you're not going to eat anymore because we've got to go feed these starving children. But what about your family? You know what? I just feel my heart is more with them. You wouldn't do that. If this is your church, this is called to be your family. This should be the primary place you give.

Because God called us to go on mission. And my wife and I strongly believe that, not just because I started the church. We've done that at every church.

Even if we didn't agree with everything they do. And guess what? You think, well, it's easy. I started the church. We agree with everything. Do you realize I don't like everything we do?

I don't like every song we pick. I don't like every ministry we do. I don't like the way we do. I don't even like every sermon I preach. I'm I'm I'm I'm like sixtyforty on this one right now.

It's not about me. It's about what God called us to be. You know what? I just want to tell you, I'm proud of this church because so many of us get this. It's why we're building this building. We needed a certain goal and a certain and we exceeded it because you guys stepped up. You went down that slide. Because of that,

the victory. Here's one of the reasons why when we do this, we believe in the mission. What we get is we get to be a part of the victory. We get to be a part of what God is doing. He doesn't need our money. He could do this all without us, but He wants us to be included

as our father. He wants us to be included in the victory, and we are. Guess what? In two weeks, in December 8, at 11:00, be ready to be here on Saturday, December 8, 11:00, because we're doing our groundbreaking for the new building. Ain't that awesome? We're gonna break ground.

But here's what you need to do. Here's where the victory is. It's not just I'm gonna be up there with the mayor. You know, I think the mayor is gonna be here. But but what it is is you need to bring your own shovel. Because we're all gonna break ground. You know why? Because you all went down the slide.

And God, we trusted God, and he's letting us do this. We're gonna break ground. We have a special present. We're be able to take some of that dirt home, and and and it's gonna be a really cool thing. And you're gonna be able to show your kids, your grandkids, and years from now, all the life change, all the things that happened. The fact that Queen Creek is a better place, and and there are more people celebrating in heaven. There is more victory in life change, and fewer divorces, and fewer suicides, and saved lives, and all that is because of the power of God, but he did it through us. Yeah. That is why we give. And

if you don't give, you just come sit here. You're not a part of the vision. You didn't get to be part of the victory. You just took up space. If you're new, take up space. But if you're new, eventually you get it. We're gonna hand you a shovel too. That's why we give. And then the last one, because I gotta hurry,

because I still got the rest of the story, is we give to be an example to our children. Now get it. This one is really one of the ones of why God giving

is something that God wants for us, not from us. The gift of giving, us being able to give, is like God handing us Thor's hammer. When Odin gave him the hammer, he explained, he goes, it's hammer for this reason. A hammer is a weapon for battle and a tool for building.

Giving is a weapon for battle and a tool for building for us.

See, they've proven over and over again, and this isn't just some pastor, this is secular studies have proven. When they study people that get in enslaved to debt, and then they crawl their way back out, you realize most people do that and then end up back in debt again. They studied people that got out of debt, stayed out of debt, and didn't worry about money anymore.

There was only one characteristic that was consistent through all of those. They increased their giving. There's something in our nature that God gave to us that the only way you battle selfishness and materialism from overwhelming you is to give. It's a weapon to battle that. It's also a tool to build our families.

Because how do you get your kids to not be so selfish and just always want what they want and want? You know what you do? It's not tell them stop being shellfish. Shellfish. Stop being a shellfish. I'm allergic to them. No. It's sorry. That's why I go along. It's you have to show them.

And the number one way to show them is for you to be generous. And not on your own secret from them. Invite them in. Let them know why you're doing what you're doing. Here's where we get messed up. We use our money to build the thing we should be battling,

and that ends up making us battle the things we should be building. When we think money is about me, it's my money, it's for me, and I want this and this and this. When I get the bigger house, the better job, another car, the better vacation, all that. When I think the things are gonna give me joy,

I end up using all my money, and I build into that part of my life. And guess what it does? My kids end up selfish. I end up fighting with my spouse. I end up with a whole lot of debt. And so now I am now battling the thing I should be building,

and building the thing I should be battling. Why do you think the number one cause of marital distress is said to be finances?

It's not the finances that's really the problem. Bad finances and stress over finances come from a selfish heart of two people who want to take the little money you have and spend it in a way they don't want to, because neither one wants to trust God with it. And you end up fighting.

And when you do that, you don't fight with each other, you build your relationship, and guess what you then do? You invite your kids into this, and that's how you teach them to not be selfish kids that live in your basement till they're 37 and have grandkids down there with them too.

And they sound like anti roof rats. They're basement rats down there. Does that make sense? It's a gift. What are you doing? Are you fighting the wrong thing and building the wrong thing? My kids are like, you know, I did this. I gotta hurry. But

I remember one year, we used to have really simple Christmases, and you think it's because of this principle. No. It was because I had no money. So but one year, we I did a camp or something, and so we we were at a buyer. We go, let's splurge. We got our kids tons of presents,

thinking this would be the greatest thing ever. And and when they got the presents, and all of sudden, they looked it was like blood in the water for sharks. They started tearing in. There was bows and paper carnage everywhere,

and they went so fast. They'd open one looking great. And then they'd go open one looking great. They weren't paying attention to each other. They weren't saying thank you. They had no gratitude. They were just in this feeding frenzy.

And then at the end, they they dropped. They couldn't find anywhere. They actually dove under the paper looking for more. They popped up. And I remember my son goes, is that it? Is that it? Yeah, that's it. We're not doing this ever again.

And that's about the time we started this thing that you're going hear about in the next few weeks. We do these mission boxes where I invite you to not overspend, be honorable, and then maybe figure out a way to sacrificially sacrifice, sacrificially give, and this goes just to our missions for next year.

And there's these little boxes, and there's even ones for little kids that they can draw and color. And I say, I invite you to invite your kids into the process. And we did that with our kids. We said, listen, we're going to keep the budget to what we can afford that's meaningful. Half of it's going to go to us. Half of it's going to God.

And we told them why. I go, and you're a part of this. You get to draw on the box because you're giving up. You're sacrificing too.

And then they would go beyond and want to put their money in and put little quarters in. We started saving all of our chains throughout the year, and the family would bring it. And it's funny. You just throw a change in your pocket. We we brought $600 one year.

Now we don't it's not as much anymore because we never use cash hardly anymore now. But, you know, we just did this thing. We invited them. You know what the weirdest thing happened? They became generous. They started loving one another more. They stopped fighting us on every little chore you asked. They still get but

one of them's out of house. That's her own problem now. Actually, she became clean. It's the curse.

You see, it's a it's a tool. It's a gift. It's a gift. Why do you give? Or why do you not give? So David goes out there, and the first thing is Saul tries to give him his armor, and he says that's not gonna work,

which is an interesting little point quickly. It's like a lot of us say, okay, I want to give, but I got to wait till I get.

I need to be better positioned. Like we'd say, I need the armor. I need a sword. I need a shield. I need no. You know what David chose to go out there and fight? What David asked him to fight with? Just take what you have into battle. Some of you are like, you're going to wait till you have the armor.

If you wait till you have the armor, you're never going to do this fight this battle. So he runs out there with just his sling and some rocks.

And when he comes out there, Goliath laughs and gets mad at him. In verse 44, he says, come over here and I'll give you your flesh to the birds and the wild animals. But look what David said. David replied to the Philistine,

you come to me with a sword, spirit, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you. Who did he say would conquer them? This is important. Today the Lord will conquer. Here's where it's glory of God and good for you when it comes to worship. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. So

he's saying, this is by the Lord, but I get to kill you. I get to bring the death blow to the threat to the glory of God. God could have just sent a lightning bolt right down onto that guy's head and have been done with, but he wanted to use the simple to confound the powerful.

This is a story. That's what Jesus came to do. You realize David is a type. He's a foreshadowing of Jesus.

Because Jesus came and said, this kid from Bethlehem, who's that? Is anything good come from the where he grew up? And it's like, you know, all these things. And he's like, he was simple. Everyone thought he was a nobody, and he faced the Goliath of our sin and our death, and he beat it. That's

what he's saying. This is matter of fact, at the very end of the story, when it's all said and done, it ends with an interesting way. Go read the end. It's like Saul brings David, he goes, tell me about your father. And he goes, his name's Jesse. And we are from where? Bethlehem.

End of story. Why did the Old Testament story just end with Bethlehem? Who else beat a giant that was born in Bethlehem? Jesus. And he wants to do the same in you. He wants you to take what you have and honor him and run into the battle and face the Goliath, and then he'll show up. And it's his power,

but we get to experience the victory. And so it does. So he goes out there and he says, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna kill you. He then says, not only that,

I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know there's a God in Israel. Why? So the whole world will know. That's what we're supposed to We're supposed to out there and trust God in ways and show love in ways that doesn't make any sense to anyone else, and then they go, how did that work? It worked because there is a God, and you should meet him. He loves you too.

But the biggest Goliath in our culture as Christians is giving. Too many of us will not trust God in that. We look just like the world. We have nothing to declare that says, look at the glory of God through my life and how his power showed up.

We wanna come here in Urah and then go live like everyone else. We don't unleash that power.

And he says, and everyone assembled here in verse four forty seven will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with a sword and a spear. This is the Lord's battle, and he will give you to us. And then it says, Goliath moved closer to attack. Look what David did. Now you're in the battle. He actually runs. His giant's running at him.

He did something that I would probably wanna do the opposite. Alright. Committed to this. I'm out here. All of sudden, this giant's running at me. I probably wanna procrastinate a little bit. You know, like, around a little. That's

from Star Trek, by the way. And and then you're you're you're doing all that. But you know what does it say he does? He quickly ran at the giant. No more messing around. I'm fighting. I just wanna encourage you. I'm closing here in a sec, so don't worry. You'll get to lunch. But

the number one response I get from people that come to church when you talk about giving, I gotta go think about it. I gotta work some things out. I gotta go I'm gonna challenge you to start giving and start giving today. Run quickly at this giant.

Because you know what we're tempted to do? We're tempted to say, I gotta go pray about it. If you're new to the to to knowing Christians and being in church, I'm gonna let you know a little secret. If you ask a Christian to do something, they say you gotta go pray about it?

That means they wanna say no, but sound spiritual about it. It's a delay tactic. Uh-oh. You want me to do something that God said to do? I gotta pray about that. I gotta get figure out a way out of this.

And that's what we do. You'll run out of here and figure out a way to not listen to God. Here's here's a golden rule. I will stick my flag on this hill and die believing this. You do not need to pray about whether you should do something that God already clearly said you should do. You

don't need to pray about doing something that God has already clearly said you should do. It doesn't matter if you write a check and you don't know how to pay your bills. That's when the power of God shows up. You

know what it makes you do? It makes you think about how you spend the rest of the money. That's how it helps you. The reason why I raised is that this is gonna make me be more responsible. Isn't that what you want your kids to do? Guess where they learned how to be irresponsible. Not the culture out there.

The culture in there, in your own home. It's a tool. It's a gift. He ran quickly. And you know the result? He killed him. Cut his head off like he said. And and then the whole army rallied. And the whole army ran in terror, they wiped out the army. Here's here's the final thing.

I think for many of us, the biggest Goliath you have in your life to worshiping God, to embrace with all your life that you're made by and for, is your money. It's your money. But what's interesting is what happened in this story will happen in your story. When you kill the big giant,

the rest of the little army starts falling too. Watch what happens with your marriage. Watch what happens with your kids. Watch what happens with your stress levels. Watch what happens with your focus on life and what makes you mad. Watch what happens. What else? What other issue will fall when you take out Goliath?

That's why God says giving is something I want for you, not from you. And I will never apologize for challenging you to do it

because I have learned in my own life giving is one of the best gifts God has ever given me and my family.

So back to this slide thing.

I remember when my kids were little, this slide was already too small. They would jump and do backflips. Scare me for a whole different reason. Instead of getting to do something, go, can you stop doing a backflip for my son? You're so big. You're too big for this pool.

You're like, you're too big. You're like the guy wearing a jacket that's too small for him. Know, if you jump back, I'm afraid you're going to take out the side of the house. You know?

But when they were little, I had to get them to go down a water slide. I had that same instinct. I just think they need to learn to conquer this fear. It'll build confidence for them, and it's fun. There'll be joy. That's what I wanted for them, not from them.

And you know how got them to it? They get up on the slide. They freak out. You know what? It's waterslide especially. They were always afraid of the water at the bottom. And I think that's where many of you are. You're like, I get it. I like giving. I like to be generous. I like what God does with it. I like all those things. But, man, the water at the bottom of this slide, if I did what you said and said give today,

I'm going to drown. My desires, my needs are gonna drown out. I'm not gonna be able to do this. I'm not gonna be able that. Whatever it is, something is gonna drown. But the same thing that I did with my kids is what God promises you and me here today. He goes, I'll be at the bottom and catch you.

All you gotta do is let go. The way you win is surrender. And isn't it funny how a slide brings so much joy? And you you had to just choose to go, but did you make it go? All you had to choose is let go. Gravity does the rest. That's what God is saying. When it comes to worshiping him, worshiping is just let go.

Just get on that battlefield. Just run quickly at the giant, and then God will take care of it. And he will catch you at the bottom. So what looks like an impossible situation that you will drown in, you will not. You'll actually get closer to the God who loves you.

And all I know is every time I did that, kids slide down, they would look

just look on their face, they jump in the water, hit them, and they and you know, they always act like even though you kinda like they're so afraid of going into the water. And and and and and and ladies, you get it because you don't want your hair to get wet. You do the same thing. But I digress.

But you sit there and they do that. And they kept and they always look and they're like, a little bit of terror and excitement all at once. And then it hits. And they look and a smile comes in their face. And what do they say? Let's do it again.

More, daddy. More. Do it more, daddy. I want more. And then they start to go, this is too small. And that's why my kids like, I wanna jump off this. I wanna back flip off this. I wanna go on the roof. No. Wait. Wait. Maybe not there. That's what giving will do. You just gotta let go and trust God.

And you know why? What he really wants to give you and I is great things. When I let go and worship him the way I was made to, I will get to be a part of great things.

We believe that our God is the God who does great things. And we put our trust in him, and we surrender our worship to him everywhere. So let's lift this up as we sing Come Let Us Worship. Come Let Us Worship our King, and come let us bow at his feet. He has done great things.

And see what our savior has done

Amen, church.

We believe that. So as we go into this week, may we worship him with all that we are, not holding back but trusting in him, knowing that he is faithful, he is good. And when we trust in him, he will do great things. Amen? Amen.