True Grit | Week 3 | Full Service

And to to launch where we're gonna go this morning, I wanna tell you a story that that someone told me because it sets up Nehemiah chapter three so well. It's a story of something that happened on a college campus in nineteen sixties. There was a room about this size that held over a thousand people in it,

and all these students came and gathered to hear four different branches of the military give a pitch why each of these students should join that branch of the military.

And the way that the story was told to me, that the room is full of about a thousand or so students, and the first person that walks out was with the army. He's got his notebook, he opens it up and he's like, hey, you should consider joining the army because you're gonna learn how to shoot guns and guns are awesome.

They chuckle and he's like, if you join the army, you're gonna get incredible life skills that you can take outside of the army. Join the army, it's gonna be awesome. Walks off stage, the audience claps. Next woman comes up on stage and she's like, Hey, you should join the air force.

Because you know, they've got an air force over there. There we go. Join the air force. You can help build planes. You can work on the engine. It's gonna be awesome. And bonus, you can retire early. You should join the air force. It's gonna be awesome. She walks off stage.

Next person shows up and says, hey, should join the navy. Because if you join the navy, you actually get to fly more planes than those guys over there and we'll pay for your college. Your college will be free. Come join the navy. You're gonna love it. And as this story was told to me,

the next person walked on stage and he was shorter, he had some scars, he had some wrinkles. You could tell that this dude has been through some stuff. And he's with the marines. Do we have any marines in the room? Yeah. Couple of you. Yeah. Can we can we Yeah.

You all are gonna love this story. The guy from the marines, he walks into the auditorium. He sees about a thousand people looking at him, and he opens up his binder.

And before he says a word, he does something awkward that I'm gonna do to you. Before he says a word, he pauses for about sixty seconds and just looks at everyone in their eyes like this.

And after looking everyone in the eyes, here's the speech that this man gave. Ladies and gentlemen, I was asked today to come recruit potential marines, but from the looks of this audience, I'm thinking I'm wasting my time and your time.

I know you expect me to tell you if you join the marines, you will love it too. You expect me to tell you about career advancements and opportunities in early retirement. Lots of job skills that you can practice in the private sector, but I'm not gonna tell you any of that because if you join the marines,

that won't be true. You are gonna hate it. If you join the marines, you will curse the day you were born. You will be mad at God for making your mom.

And you'll be mad at your mom for giving birth to you. You will go to bed hungry, cold and thirsty. You will be shot at. Some of you will be hit by live ammunition and you will be killed in the line of duty because when you join the Marine Corps, you are the first ones in and the last ones out,

but I am wasting your time and I'm wasting my time because I have looked over this crowd

and I have made eye contact with every single one of you, and from the looks of you, I don't see a single person who has what it takes to be in the United States Marine Corps. Forgive me for wasting your time. Good day. Shut his binder, walks off stage.

The guy who's telling me the story, he then has a long pause and says, then the students were released, and in the lobby you can choose who you want to talk to to get more information. And all of the three branches had a couple people, but the line to the Marine Corps was out the door. Why?

Because what you and I, what we truly want with our life is not an easy button and a comfortable life. What you and I truly desire is to be a part of a mission that we wanna give our life to and we're willing to die for. This is something in you and I that we want to be a part of something that is going to be more important than my comfortable life,

and this is what it means to be a follower

of Jesus. Jesus did not lower the bar. Jesus raised the bar and said things like, if you want to follow me, take up your cross. A cross, an instrument of death. That's what it means to follow me. Jesus didn't lower the bar, he raised it. He said, following me is difficult.

I'm not gonna make any promises of a comfortable life. In fact, he said, you will have trouble. This will be difficult and if someone has convinced you that Christianity and following Jesus is easy, let me be the first to tell you that is not the real version of Christianity.

What God has called us to, the mission of the church, is difficult and it's gonna cost us something. And this is what we see in the life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a man of true grit. If you've been with us in this story, we started by looking at this man who was a cup bearer to the king, which was a pretty good gig. He hears

that Jerusalem, God's city, is on fire and when he hears this news it breaks his heart because he understood that God had a calling on his life and it was bigger than himself. So he goes to the king, the most powerful man alive and says, hey king, all due respect, the city that God loves is on fire because of you.

Can you send me to go? And the king says, sure, why not? Live your life. The first week we looked at what it means to have calling. Last weekend we looked at what does it mean to be a man and woman of character. We're gonna pick up right when Nehemiah leaves the king and he heads to Jerusalem.

What we're gonna see in our time together, the next tool of what it means to be a man or a woman of true grit, is that we need to be people of competency. Competency. Meaning, God has gifted you, God has gifted me,

and we need to use that to build something. And that is what we're gonna see in the story of Nehemiah. So if you have a bible, we're gonna be in Nehemiah chapter two.

Nehemiah chapter two. We're gonna start at verse 11. Nehemiah speaking in first person here. He says, so I arrived in Jerusalem three days later. Took him three days to get to Jerusalem and he's finally arrived. He's heard about the walls on fire. Now he's seen it.

I swept out during the night taking only a few others with me. I had not told anyone about the plans that God has put on my heart for Jerusalem. We took no pack animals

with us except the donkey I was riding. After dark, I went out through the valley gate past the Jekyll Well and over the Dung gate to inspect the broken walls and the burned gates.

Then I went to the fountain gate and to the king's pool, but my donkey couldn't get through the rubble, so while it was still dark, I went up to Kindreds Valley instead, inspecting the wall before I turned back and entered again through the valley gate.

The city officials did not know I was out there or what I was doing, for I had not said anything to anyone about my plans. I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration. So Nehemiah, he gets to Jerusalem.

He's heard about it on fire. Now he's seen it. He's smelling it. He's witnessing it. And he inspects the walls and now he gathers all the leaders and the noblemen and the priests together and here's what he says to them in verse 17. Now I say to them, you know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins

and the gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace. Then I told them how the gracious hand of God had been on me and about how my conversation with the king. They replied at once, yes, let's rebuild the wall. So they begin a good work and Nehemiah shows up, he finally

sees the damages that are happening and he goes to the people and say, we need to do something about this. We need to be people who are gonna build up. And what I find so amazing about this story is all the individuals listen and they say, all right, I'm in. I'm gonna pick up a brick and I'm gonna choose to build.

And Nehemiah, he gives them these orders and he gives them instructions on how to build. Here's the big idea I wanna look at with you when it comes to Nehemiah.

God will never assign a calling to you without supplying a gifting. God will never assign a calling without supplying a gifting. If God has put a calling on your life, he's giving you the gift to see it happen and to see it fulfilled.

What we're gonna see in Nehemiah chapter three, it's one of those chapters that you read and you're like, this is kinda painful to read. Because all we're gonna see in Nehemiah chapter three is this, there are names that no one knows how to pronounce and things that they build. That's the entire chapter. Names,

I can't pronounce, and things that they built. But we're gonna pull some principles out of Nehemiah chapter three that will help us understand what it means to be a man or a woman of true grit. Because what we're gonna see is normal individuals picking up bricks and beginning to build, and these bricks represent

an act of obedience. We see ordinary people pick up bricks and start building something extraordinary. This is what Nehemiah chapter three is all about. If you're taking notes, first thing we're gonna see, the first principle we're gonna pull from Nehemiah chapter three is this, saved people serve people. Saved people serve

people. Nehemiah chapter three. Here's where it gets difficult if I'm gonna be honest. Because I'm gonna read these names and you're all gonna sit there and judge me how I say them.

Because I've I've been in church long enough to know that's how this works. A guy like me stands on stage and they try to say the names and you're like, that's not how you say that name. I know that because when I'm not up here, that's what I do. So we're gonna do something different. Okay? The first two verses

has three names in it. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read the verse and when I get to the names, I ain't gonna say nothing. And you all are gonna pronounce it. And I'm gonna judge you. Okay. The first two verses you'll say the names, the last two I'll say them. Here we go. Nehemiah chapter three verse one. Then,

it's not how you say that. The

best tip, if you don't know how to say it, just say it boldly and everyone will think you crushed it. The high priest and the other priests started to rebuild at the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set up its doors, building the wall as far as the Tower Of Hundred, which they dedicated to the Tower Of Hananel.

People from the town of Jericho worked next to them and beyond them was son of? It's not bad, not bad. I'm gonna give you all a pro tip. Whenever you get to these chapters in the bible, when you're reading the name, just call them by the first letter. It makes it a whole lot easier. Watch, I'll show you.

I'm not gonna attempt to read these, are you kidding me? Verse three, the Fish Gate was built by the sons of H. See how easy that was? They laid the beams, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars. M, the son of U,

Korean son of H, repaired the next section of the wall. Beside him was M, son of B,

I really should have read ahead.

And grandson of m as in z son of banana.

What did we just read? We read ordinary people building things. We read ordinary people choosing to pick up a brick and participate in the project, why? Because saved people serve people. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus, that we don't just consume, we pick up and we begin to build. Here's what's so difficult though,

When you give your life to Jesus, we no longer can build our kingdom. We now have to build his. If you're sitting here saying, well, that's not what I signed up for, then you didn't sign up for Christianity. Jesus was clear, take up your cross, follow me, you will have difficulty, But if I'm honest, I think if you're honest,

I want to be king and I wanna build my kingdom. And I have to wake up every day, look in a mirror and say, you're not king.

It's what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Wake up every day and say, it's not my kingdom I'm building, it's his. Because saved people serve people. Saved people understand God is calling you and I to build something, and it's not about you. It's about him and his kingdom.

This is why God has wired us all very differently, because you have gifts that I don't have. I have gifts that you don't have, and God needs us all to work together. God needs us all to be willing to participate and pick up bricks and begin to build his kingdom.

Because saved people choose to serve. Saved people decide that they're gonna invest their life and not just consume. Who do we serve? If you're taking notes, who are we supposed to serve? First is your family. God has called you to serve your family. The people God wants you to serve have the same last name as you.

God wants you to wake up and choose to use your gifts and abilities to serve your family. For the men in the room, if you go to work and you put all your effort towards that and you go home and you have nothing left in the tank for your family, you're doing something wrong.

God has called you and I to serve our family with our gifts. All the teenagers in the room, when your parents ask you to take out the trash, just take out the trash. Can I get an amen? Amen.

Come on. Do it again.

Teenagers, God is calling you to serve your parents.

Saved people serve people. When your parents ask you to do it, you choose to do it. Why? Because you are serving your parents. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We do things that we don't want to do because it's not about our kingdom, it's about his kingdom. Parents,

we want to raise godly kids and we want to serve them. We wanna look at our kids and say, God, you've given me this. How do I serve them to help them understand this God who loves them and who made them? This is what we do as parents. We look at our kids and we serve them

because God has called you and I to serve our family. They don't get the leftovers. God wants you to build your family. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We serve our family. We also serve our city.

There are broken people in our community that desperately need to understand that there is a God who loves them. Whether it's a coworker, someone in your neighborhood, God wants you to serve the people around you. I want you to think about it like this. If you're a Christian

and you're bumping elbows with someone who's not a Christian, whether that's at home, whether that's in your community, whether that's at work, you might be the closest thing to Jesus that person will ever see.

You might be the closest thing to Jesus that person will ever see. Are you representing him well? And Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and we are to be followers of Jesus and do the things that Jesus did. Save people serve their family, they serve their community, and save people serve the church.

Jesus set up this institute of the church. It is Jesus's plan to reach a broken world and saved people decide they're not just gonna come to church and consume, they're gonna pick up bricks and serve at the church.

We're gonna pick up bricks and say, I'm gonna get my hands dirty and be a part of what God is doing here through the local church. And what I love about our church, we have so many people who give and serve consistently.

What you're doing is you're building God's kingdom. You're choosing this life is not about me and my kingdom. It's about him and his kingdom. My family comes on Saturday because it's too packed in here for me and my family. So we come on Saturday

and my kids, if I'm honest, they have a hard time coming to church. They've got some separation issues with me and my wife, so it's difficult. When we check our kid in and we get to the door, they see this volunteer, Manuela, at the door. The moment they see her, everything changes. They get comfortable,

they light up, and they're excited to go in the classroom. What Manuela is doing is she's picking up bricks and building the church, and every one of you who serve here, I just wanna say thank you because you're not just coming to church, you're choosing to participate in what God is doing.

The first principle we see in Nehemiah chapter three is save people, serve people. Save people, pick up bricks and start to build. The second principle we're gonna see in Nehemiah chapter three is this, if you're taking notes. Do what others

won't and experience what others want. This is a principle we see in Nehemiah chapter three. If you do what others won't, you will experience what others want. Do what others won't and experience what others want. Nehemiah chapter three verse eight. Next was Elzuah, son of H. Look at this, the goldsmith by trade

who also worked on the wall. So this person had a full time job. They were a goldsmith, but yet when they got off work, they decided to build. Beyond him was Hanani, a manufacturer of perfumes. What are we seeing? We're seeing people work a full time job and come home and decide to start building

the wall. They'd begin to participate in what God is doing, not simply consume what God is doing. Everyone wanted the wall done, but not everyone decided to participate in building the wall. And when you and I choose to pick up bricks and do what God asked us to do, you and I will experience

things that other people won't. Jesus had an incredible miracle. It's his first miracle that he does. Many of you know it and it's a perfect example of this principle we see. Jesus is invited to a wedding and at the wedding they run out of wine.

So Mary, Jesus' mother, goes to Jesus and says, hey, you need to do something about this. And Jesus is like, all right. And Mary tells the servants, just do whatever Jesus says. You know what Jesus says, you remember? Jesus says, hey, take these empty jars and fill them with water. All right, time out.

This is where we can be so familiar with Christianity we actually become unfamiliar with it. What Jesus just said is dumb, okay? Hang with me. Jesus has never done a miracle. Jesus has never performed anything. For these servants to hear Jesus say, hey there's a wine problem, fill these buckets with water.

They had to be going, what? That seems ridiculous Jesus.

They picked up the buckets and they filled it to the brim. This is one of those things that I hope when we get in heaven, it's like Blockbuster, and we Some of you don't know what Blockbuster is, ask your parents. You put the DVD in and you get to watch it. This would be one of the first ones I watch,

Because at what point did the water turn into wine? Was it while they're pouring it, they saw it start to transform? Was it completely water when they picked up the jar and started taking a step, it slowly became wine? I have no idea, but do you know who does? The servants. Jesus is always the right answer, not for this one.

The servants. Because they participated in the miracle. Everyone else at the wedding consumed it. They were the only ones who participated in it and got to see the real miracle. Those of us who choose to participate in what God is doing, we will see things that other people simply won't.

If you're here last weekend, it an incredible weekend and if you were here, you got your parking spot by a volunteer who helped you find a spot on campus. After you got out of your car, were greeted by people at the door who were all volunteers.

You walked onto an incredible campus that is taken care of by hundreds of volunteers who help make this campus clean and beautiful. You go to our Kids Building to check-in your child, a building that so many of you have given financially to help build. You drop your kid off with a volunteer

who's watching your kid and loving your kid. There's a security guard standing by the door who's a volunteer who's helping keep your kids safe. You go to the coffee shop, and there's a volunteer who's handing you your coffee. You walk into this building that was built because so many of you have given to make this possible.

You sit in the chair. You listen to our incredible worship team, most who are volunteers, and you see these lights, and you see the sound, and you see the song lyrics.

All of that is done by volunteers in the back making it happen, and I opened this word and said, do you know there's a God who loves you? Do you know that Jesus said, not on my watch, I'm gonna come and live a perfect life and die on the cross on your behalf? And last weekend, it's incredible, we had 137

people give their life to Jesus last weekend here. Yeah.

If you serve here, if you give here, you are directly connected to every single one of those people and you get to participate in people's lives being changed.

After one of the services, I saw this lady raise her hand and I could see that she was in tears and I wanted to catch her in the lobby before she left so I get in the back and I saw her in the lobby and I said, hey, I saw you raised her hand, congratulations. And with tears, she didn't say her name, she just said,

today has changed my life forever, thank you, and walked away. If you give here, if you serve here, I wanna repeat what she said back to you. Last weekend has changed that woman's life forever, thank you, because you get to participate in what God is doing because we're choosing to build his kingdom, not our own.

For others of you in the room, the life that you want is hiding behind the work you're avoiding. The life that you want is hiding behind the work you're avoiding. That we want you to participate in what God is doing, but we have to choose to step into it. We have to choose to say, I'm gonna get my hands dirty

and I'm gonna begin to build. And then you'll get to experience things that are so powerful that God has for us. We see in the story of Nehemiah, they wanted security. They wanted the walls rebuilt, but they had to pick up bricks to do it. If you're sitting here and you want financial security, you want a healthy marriage,

you want kids who grow up and love you, you want community that'll last for a lifetime, you have to pick up bricks and start to do it because if you don't put in the work, you won't get the reward. I've learned this many times throughout my own life. I grew up in a very conservative home

where I couldn't wear jeans. I couldn't even own a pair of jeans. I couldn't go to the movie theaters, I couldn't play with cards and I couldn't listen to music in any way shape or form. And I know some of you right now are feeling very sorry for me but my therapist says I'm okay.

So when I got to college, I got to college and my best friend at the time was really into music. So I had a four month stint of my life that I was like all into music. Four months, that's it. Four months of my entire life I've been interested in music. And his favorite band was a band by the name of Metallica.

So I went from like nothing to something.

Four months of my life, that's all I've listened to Metallica. I was so into them, I got a giant Metallica tattoo right here on my side. Someone asked to see it. No.

Giant metallic tattoo. I was so into them. So into them I was like, that's my calling. I'm gonna learn how to play the guitar. I go to a Guitar Center, buy a $800 guitar, take it home, and I'm like, here we go. I'm gonna be like one of them, taking it out of his package, I just go, it did not sound like them.

For one hour, I'm just I don't know what I'm doing. After one hour, I put it back in its box, drove back to Qatar Center, and I got my money back. I figured out very quickly, I am not going to be willing to put in the the work to get the reward.

Christian, we want a life that God looks at and says, well done. But we're not willing to put in the work. We want a life that God looks at and says, You've invested your life. We have to be willing to put in the work. We have to be willing to pick up bricks and say, God, I'm gonna build your kingdom and not mine.

And when you do, you get to experience a life that so many people will never get to see because they're unwilling to put in the work. That's what we're seeing in Nehemiah chapter three, people willing to pick up a brick and build. The first principle is save people,

serve people. Second principle is we do what others want to experience what others want. The third principle we're gonna see in Nehemiah chapter three is this, if

you're going to decide to build something for God, if you're gonna decide to build for God, it can't be controlled by people. If you're gonna decide to build God's kingdom and not your own kingdom, you cannot be controlled by other people

because there are gonna be people in your life who are gonna be critical of what you're building. There are gonna be people in your life who have an opinion about what you're building. There's gonna be people in your life who choose not to participate in what you're building. We see this in Nehemiah

chapter three verse number five. Next were the people of Tesco. Though their leaders, look at this, their leaders refused to work with the construction supervisors. The leaders chose to not participate in what Nehemiah was doing. And next weekend what we're gonna see is Nehemiah faces incredible, incredible opposition. Why?

Because when you and I decide we are gonna build something for God, when you and I decide we're gonna get our hands dirty and build God's kingdom, our enemy notices. And our enemy doesn't want you to build his kingdom. Jesus said our enemy wants to kill, steal,

and destroy and you and I have an enemy that wants to break God's kingdom. If you're sitting here going, wow, never felt opposition, that's because the enemy doesn't go after comfortable Christians, because you're not very effective. Any time you and I are gonna build something for God, we will face opposition. Count on it.

You and I have to decide if we're gonna be controlled by other people. Because every time you and I build something for God, people have opinions. Last weekend, I was in the lobby and this lovely woman comes up to me and says, Rocky, I need to tell you something about your preaching. Like, alright, what do you got?

And she looks at me and says, Rocky, you have gotten a lot better.

And then she looks at me and says this, like a lot.

That thing's been living up here for seven days.

Was it praise? I don't know. Was it criticism? No clue. But it's living up here rent free for seven days. What's the principle? If you and I are gonna build for God, we cannot let praise get to our head and criticism get to our heart.

If you and I are gonna be used by God and build for God, we cannot let praise get to our head and we cannot let criticism get to our heart. Because once you decide to build for God, you will get both. You will get people who build you up and it's easy to think it's all about me now in my kingdom.

And you'll get people who tear you down and you can't let that get to your heart. You have to have a thick skin, but a soft heart. Thick skin, but a soft heart. Because people are gonna want to control you positively and negatively.

But people who build for God say, God, you're the only one who can dictate what I do. And I'm not gonna let other people's opinion build me up or tear me down. This is what it means to be people of God who build his kingdom, not our own.

Last thing, last principle if you're taking notes from Jeremiah chapter three. This short life, it builds a long eternity. This short life builds a long eternity. This life you and I are living is so short and the older I get the more I realize how quick this goes by. But what we choose to build in this life,

it has a long eternity. Because what the Bible teaches is you and I are not bodies that also have a soul. What the bible teaches is you are a soul that for a very short season have a body. And if you're sitting here thinking, Rocky, that's semantics. No, it's not.

You are not a body that also has a soul. You are a soul that for a very, very, very short season also has a body. And every morning I wake up and this is my avatar. And I look in the mirror, I'm like, that tattoo's still there. Guess I'm going with it. This body

is not going to last forever. It is a short season. Our life is so short, but what the Bible teaches is your soul will. And what we choose to build in this life matters for all eternity. Our short life builds a long eternity. Why would we build our kingdom knowing his kingdom lasts forever?

This is what it means to be people who are after God's kingdom. James, the half brother Jesus, I love the way he says this. He says, What is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James is saying, Church, what's your life? It's a vapor. It's a mist. It's here today. It's gone tomorrow.

James is saying, Church, let me show you what your life looks like. This is how long your life lasts. You ready? You went to church, you broke up, you're dead.

Did you miss it? Were you looking down for a second? Try it one more time. You were born, you went to school, you're dead. Gave you this, you smell good. The can on it says big sexy.

You were big sexy.

That day is gone.

That day is gone. I want you to think about this for a second. What is the name and occupation of your great, great, great, great grandfather? Name and occupation. You have no idea. Like how many grades? That's your blood. That's your legacy. You have no idea who he is or what he did.

Our life, it's a vapor. It's here today. It's gone tomorrow. It's so fast. What are you going to build? Jesus was walking and someone asked him, what's heaven gonna be like? What a great question. Jesus said, oh, I'll tell you what heaven's gonna be like. It's gonna be like a king who tells his servants, I'm gonna leave

and I'm gonna come back. And then he gives his servants his money, his treasure. To one servant he gets five bags of gold. To another he gets two. To another he gives one. And the king says, I'm gonna leave. Invest what I have given you. The king leaves. The king returns

and he goes to the person with five bags and says, what have you done with what I've given you? And the servant says, I've turned it into 10 bags. And the king says, well done, good and faithful servant. For you, I'm gonna give so much more. Goes to the person with two bags. What have you done with what I've given you?

Servant says, I've turned it into four. And the king says, well done. To you, I'm gonna give many more. He goes to the servant with one bag and the story says, the servant looked at the king and said, I knew you were coming back. So I dug a hole and I buried it on earth. I buried it in the ground

and the king looks at him and says, you foolish man. You took what I gave you and you buried it on earth. How foolish. Church, how foolish to take what God has given us and invest in our kingdom and bury it on earth. The king takes his bag and gives it to the one with 10 bags and Jesus says, this

is what the kingdom of heaven is all about.

Don't waste your life, the gifts, the ability, the influence God has given you and bury it on earth.

Use what God has given you to build his kingdom. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Bill, our lead pastor, is currently in Zambia with one of our partners that we have out here on time to time and we have a good relationship with him and I wanna show you this video of what Bill is experiencing right now. Check this out. Well hello there Rock Point. I'm standing here under this tree in Cobway,

a couple hours from Lusaka. And I remember standing under this tree on a hot day, not a rainy day, praying for this piece of land that we're on for the church in Cobway that was just getting started meeting in a school. They had this land. They were praying for a building. And here we are two years later,

and there's the building we just came and dedicated for their first service. And I want you to know a bunch of people accepted Christ today here. And you know what? Thank you for those who give generously and faithfully at Rock Point. Because the truth is, your giving helped pay for half of that building. So

people just got saved because you just faithfully gave your church and we sent it out like God called us to. So I'm a little teary eyed here because this was pretty powerful and really cool, but thank you.

You will never know the names of those people. You will never know their stories. You will never know anything about their life. But those of you who give here, you helped make that happen. You are a part of what God has done in that life. And you decided you are gonna build God's kingdom.

This is what I want for you, to not take what God has given us and bury it on earth, but use it to invest in his kingdom.

If you call Rock Point home and you're just a consumer here, I think God is calling you for more. I think he's calling you to participate in what God is doing, not just consume.

Here's the question I want to leave you with. How has God blessed you? Is it financially? Is it influence? Is it with gifts? Is it with abilities? Is it with connections? All of us in this room have been blessed by God. Here's the real question I want you to ponder on and to sit on over this week is why?

Why? It is not to build your kingdom. It's not to build my kingdom. It's to pick up bricks and build his kingdom. The question is, are you willing to do that? Are you willing to pick up a brick and say, God, it's not about me. It's about you. And it's gonna cost you. It's gonna be difficult. Jesus did not promise an easy life.

That was not the deal. He promised, If you pick up your cross, I'll be with you. If you pick up your cross, you will experience things that no one else will.

So let's be a church that picks up bricks and builds. Father, thank you for so many people who call Rock Point home, who give and serve and use their time, their talent, their testimonies, their treasures to build your kingdom. All of us are in this room because other people chose to build.

And Father, now we're in a season that you're asking us to build.

Father, I pray for those in the room who are currently doing this, that they're sacrificing to build your kingdom. I pray that this will be a weekend that inspires them. That this is a weekend that helps them understand what you're doing is not in vain. You're building something for eternity.

And Father, those who are in this room who have been more on the consuming side, I pray this will be a weekend that they decide I'm gonna participate in what God is doing. I'm not gonna bury my life here on earth. I'm gonna build something that lasts for all of eternity.

So, Father, give us wisdom to know what you want us to do and give us the courage to step into it and do it.

Pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, thanks for joining us this weekend. Make sure to check us out on social media.