The Reward of Generosity | The Blessed Life Week 5

MINE! That’s one of the first words a child learns. We’re all born selfish. Today we’re asking ourselves, “Am I generous?” Kyle talks about 3 levels of giving in the Bible. Learn where you are in growing from selfishness to being generous. When we’re truly generous, God rewards us in ways we never thought possible.

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    - Would you like to be rewarded by God
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    and have Him multiply the impact of your life?
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    I know I would.
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    - Yeah, me too. - Same.
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    - Okay, cool.
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    Well it comes down to the answer to the question:
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    Am I generous?
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    Welcome to Crossroads. We're Kyle Ranson.
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    - We're doing a series called The Blessed Life.
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    We did this series several years ago,
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    and it's one of the most powerful series
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    that we've ever done.
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    And you're going to hear some stories from people
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    who went through it before,
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    so powerful that we're going to do it again.
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    Now, I got to tell you, that kind of hurts my pride
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    because we haven't really repeated very much at all
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    at Crossroads the last 26 years.
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    And the first time we're going to repeat something
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    came from somebody else.
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    We borrowed this content from Gateway Church
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    in Dallas, Texas.
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    I had pastor after pastor, person after person saying,
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    "Oh my goodness, this material is,
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    sounds like a really religious cheesy word,
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    but it's true, is anointed."
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    There's something special about it.
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    Now, listen, this is not a campaign.
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    There's no commitment coming at the end
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    where you're going to sign anything.
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    There's no big ask of you to whatever, whatever, whatever.
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    This is not a campaign.
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    We are going to challenge you
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    because Jesus challenges us,
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    but we just want you to listen, consider,
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    and ultimately be blessed.
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    That's the Blessed Life.
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    - Matthew 6:21, Jesus said,
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    Look, I get it, when a church talks about money,
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    it feels terrible and awful and all those things.
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    But you got to hear me.
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    Even if you don't believe me right now, it's okay.
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    This is not about getting something from you.
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    It's about God getting your heart
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    and you experiencing the blessings
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    that only come from your heart being in His hands.
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    You have to know this is a deeply personal message to me,
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    maybe more than any other message I ever give.
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    Because what I've experienced
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    and what I've seen of God through generosity
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    is at the very foundation of my faith.
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    It's why I believe in Him.
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    I'm going to start with a basic assumption about you
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    that if you're watching, you want more of God.
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    If more is available, you'd be like, "Yeah, I'd take it."
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    And if that's true, there's a simple
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    but critical question you and I have to ask ourselves:
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    Am I generous?
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    It's intentionally in the first person
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    so that when I say it, I'm asking about myself.
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    I'm not actually asking you. I'm not talking about you.
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    I'm not looking at you.
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    I'm thinking about me. Am I generous?
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    And when you ask the question
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    you're asking about yourself, not not someone else,
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    not your neighbor or whoever.
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    Are you generous?
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    That's the question you're asking, and about me.
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    And to help get an answer, we're going to examine
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    one story today from the Book of John.
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    I'm convinced I'm actually, like, inside of this story.
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    I know that sounds crazy, but I think you are, too.
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    On the surface, there's five characters.
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    There's Jesus, Judas, two sisters, Mary and Martha,
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    and their brother Lazarus.
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    You have to know this happens
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    on the day before Palm Sunday,
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    which is only six days before Jesus was crucified.
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    We'll jump into the story in John 12.
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    Now there are two important questions
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    to ask about the story.
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    First, why would Mary give Jesus such an extravagant gift?
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    And two, why would Judas get so upset?
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    There's also two hearts displayed here:
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    a heart of generosity and a heart of selfishness.
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    I want you to notice what revealed each heart generosity.
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    Again, our question is: am I generous?
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    I think we all want to be generous,
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    but we're actually born selfish.
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    Selfishness is the enemy of generosity.
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    It's how we're born.
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    One of the first words a child learns is "mine."
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    The crazy part, parents, you know this,
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    you don't have to teach it to your kids.
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    I have three small kids right here.
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    This is Ben and Gracie and Eli.
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    I never once had to teach them the word mine,
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    but I hear it all the time in my house.
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    Typically, when this one takes something
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    that belongs to this one, he says, "It's mine, mine, mine."
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    And when I hear that, I react
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    like somebody just poured ice water down my shirt.
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    Nothing makes me more upset.
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    Then I have to go find that sound in my house
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    and end that sound.
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    And the problem for these children is generally,
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    I don't care whose it was, because right now it's mine.
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    It's Dad's, and I'm putting it away.
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    Nobody gets it. That's how we solve it.
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    You're looking for justice.
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    I'm just looking for quiet kids. That's all I want.
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    Because at this moment, I don't care whose it was.
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    Now, God uses mine when He talks about the tithe.
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    He actually says the tithe,
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    the first 10% of all of our income is mine.
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    It's important to note,
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    if Gracie were to give Ben
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    something that already belonged to Ben,
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    return a Lego that she had taken and give it to Ben,
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    that was already his, would that be generous?
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    I'll ask you this.
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    If I handed you something that was yours to begin with,
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    when I return it to you, am I being generous?
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    Well, the answer is no.
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    Why? Simple.
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    I can't give what's not mine.
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    I can return it to you
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    and you could bless me with a thank you.
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    But that's not the same as generosity.
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    See, generosity is what I choose to do with what's truly mine.
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    Do you notice in this story,
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    Judas is holding the offering box,
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    which is odd because who would have given
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    Judas the money box?
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    Who is the leader of the bunch?
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    It was Jesus.
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    Why would Jesus give Judas the money box?
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    After all, He knew Judas was a thief.
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    It's clear if you go back and you read the story
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    two years before this moment,
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    Jesus actually looked at his 12 disciples
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    and he said, "Did I not choose you 12,
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    and one of you is a devil?"
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    He knew about Judas.
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    And yet still, He put the money into his hands.
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    Why? Was it to tempt him?
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    Was it to get him to fail?
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    Was it to-- was it to really put him down?
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    No, I don't think so at all.
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    I think Jesus was testing him
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    in hopes that he would pass.
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    See, God will test you. He will never tempt you.
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    James says that God tempts no one.
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    He's not trying to tempt you
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    with what he's put into your hands.
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    But God will actually test you in your finances
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    to give you an opportunity to pass.
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    In the book of Jeremiah God says, "I test your heart."
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    See, the answer to am I generous
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    is not what you think or feel.
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    It's exclusively about the results God sees
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    when He tests your heart.
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    - Hey, guys. My name is Andy Reider.
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    I'm the community pastor for Crossroads Anywhere,
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    and this is my good friend, Paco.
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    Hey, I love what Kyle has to say about generosity.
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    Right?
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    And how we can experience more of that in our own life.
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    - That's right, man.
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    Being generous is like a level up from tithing.
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    Like, when we're tithing, we're giving God what's His.
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    - Yeah. - And, like, am I generous?
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    Am I giving God what's mine?
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    Like, what a great message so far.
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    It's been really good.
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    This series has been awesome too.
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    This series has been really good
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    and really challenging, helpful for people, hasn't it?
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    - Yeah, it's one of those things that, like, man,
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    I think it's like life, like,
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    you get out of it, what you put into it.
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    And we really have leveled up.
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    We've leaned in throughout the series.
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    So, well done. Stay strong through the end.
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    I just want to, like, put this out there.
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    I say this regularly,
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    but if there's anything that we can do,
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    like, we can do to help you in your spiritual journey,
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    in your adventure with God, we want to do that.
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    Don't hesitate to reach out.
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    Anything we do to help, we want to do that.
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    - You know, we have scripts for these things
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    and we, like, say stuff
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    and we're about to go off script.
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    Do you remember when I had my first kid?
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    - I do.
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    - The first person I saw when we were walking
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    into the hospital, elevator comes down,
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    Andy Reider is standing there.
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    - It's like 4 in the morning. - That's right.
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    - We had -- we both were there to deliver.
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    - Yeah. - It was crazy.
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    - Seeing you in that spot gave me a sense of,
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    like, "Okay, cool, God's got my back."
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    And dude, I think that's a calling on your life
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    to, like, be alongside people
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    as they get closer to Him as they go through life
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    and remind them that God has their back.
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    So, take this guy up on his offer.
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    Take him up on his offer, email him, hit him up.
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    It's good stuff for you. - Paco, thank you for that.
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    - Hey, we don't want to talk about this stuff.
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    We want to show how it plays out in the real world.
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    So, here's a story of someone in our community
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    experiencing the Blessed Life and generosity.
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    - My parents always --
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    I always knew that they tithed and they gave.
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    We didn't have a lot of money,
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    but we always had enough to pay our bills.
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    - I didn't have a lot of money as a college kid
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    or anything like that, but I always wanted
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    to be a part of big things that were going on.
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    - And then when we got married,
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    it was sort of continued that habit of tithing,
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    even when we didn't have very much money.
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    It was, like, years and years and years
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    of God saying no to different jobs,
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    you know, to increasing our finances,
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    to us working harder to get out of debt.
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    It was a lot of waiting.
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    Unemployment with two house payments
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    and a one part time job between the both of us.
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    You know, there was a lot of brokenness and frustration.
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    I think it was a season
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    when all of our cars were breaking
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    and we lived in a house that was a money pit.
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    And I think our hot water heater broke.
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    And I just -- and then I broke, you know,
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    and I'm like, "When's it going to be our turn?"
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    You know, like --
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    And I remember he was like, "Every day is our turn.
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    You know, every day that we wake up
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    and our biggest debt is paid for because Jesus died for us,
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    like every day is our turn."
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    And that has just stuck with me for so long
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    because it didn't fix, like, that statement
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    and that truth didn't fix a hot water heater.
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    It didn't change our finances, you know,
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    but it really helped me have a different point of view.
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    - As we have gained more money,
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    I think God challenged us on it to go,
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    "Are you for real?
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    If I give you a little bit more money,
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    will you actually do those things
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    like you said, you always wanted to?"
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    And I think we do.
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    One of our favorite things is we have
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    a line item in our budget that's called God's checkbook.
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    It is just a pile of money that builds up
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    waiting for a need.
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    - A coworker whose husband died unexpectedly
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    before Christmas, or a friend who really needed therapy,
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    being able to pay for, like,
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    six months of counseling for them.
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    Adoptions for friends.
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    I think it can be like awkward to talk about money
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    because it sounds like the prosperity gospel
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    or like transactional, like I do this for God
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    and then He does this for me, you know?
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    But I can just tell from our experience
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    and we had so many years, like I said,
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    of just hearing no, and He was still good and faithful.
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    But this is just our experience now.
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    And He keeps giving it
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    and we keep trying to be faithful giving back.
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    - Jesus said that we should count the cost of following Him.
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    I regularly try to think about
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    what could I have done with this money
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    and how does it compare to knowing Jesus?
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    And it's, like, I've not found anything better.
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    I count the cost regularly. He always wins.
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    - Any time you hear stories of generosity,
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    they sound just like that because God comes in
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    and He's so excited to have someone's heart,
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    that He just starts to bless them.
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    It's the Blessed Life and it comes through giving.
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    But did you know there are actually three levels of giving?
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    See, Malachi talks about tithes and offerings, plural.
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    Now, tithes are level one.
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    It's returning to God what's His every single time.
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    Level two is offerings, regular giving above the tithe.
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    And then the other kind of offering
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    is extravagant offering.
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    Now, if you get to the first level,
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    you'll get to the second and the third,
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    because the first level
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    breaks the curse over your finances.
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    This is Sarah and I's story, my wife and I.
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    See, after we got to the first level of tithing,
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    after we made that hard decision
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    to give to God what's His, we kept on going.
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    We got to level two of offerings,
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    which is above tithe giving.
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    And we never felt God to ask us,
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    and we've actually continued to increase
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    the percent of our income we give away above the tithe.
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    Why? I mean, we didn't have to.
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    There's nothing explicitly that says in the Bible,
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    "You must do this."
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    But, you know, if you read that story,
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    God never told Mary to give the gift either.
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    There's no record of Jesus ever asking her
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    for what she gave,
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    but He sure seemed to appreciate it anyway.
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    And for Sarah and I, we just recognize
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    God's been so faithful to us and we're so grateful.
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    And so we choose to give to God.
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    We choose to offer
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    some of what He says is truly ours to Him.
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    And there's level three, the extravagant offerings.
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    Sometimes we get this extra prompt,
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    we feel like God's asking for an extravagant offering.
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    Just kind of a moment where it feels like,
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    "Hey, would you? Would you give that for me?"
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    And you know, it's extravagant
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    because it'll feel painful at first every single time.
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    And the amount is important.
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    To us each time it's felt extravagant.
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    And that's the point.
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    I'm telling you this,
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    it's the very foundation of my faith.
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    This one, more than anything else, is why
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    if someone said, "Do you believe in God?
  • 00:14:17
    Explain to me why."
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    I would point to stories of when I gave extravagantly
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    and how God showed up in my life in a way
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    that I could have never managed on my own.
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    The first extravagant offering we ever gave
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    was a small prompt in hindsight to give $500
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    to friends who were getting married,
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    but they just couldn't afford to print invitations.
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    They were paying for everything on their own.
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    So Sarah and I stepped in and we said,
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    "Hey, we'd like to cover the invitations for you."
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    We didn't even know them that well.
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    Didn't even go to the wedding ourselves. Okay?
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    But can I tell you, 15 years later,
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    these same people are now some of our closest friends,
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    to the point that our kids call them uncle and aunt.
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    See, what's crazy is God got rewarded
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    $500 of extravagant giving
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    with 15 years and counting a friendship.
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    A few years ago, God prompted us to give
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    the most extravagant gift yet, which at that point
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    was the larger portion of a year's salary.
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    And we're a single income family.
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    Sarah stays at home with our kids.
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    And so for us, it's a pretty big deal.
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    God just said, "Would you give this to Me?"
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    That was the impression that we have.
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    He was just gently saying,
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    "Hey, this is what I'd like you to do."
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    And I'd love to say that our immediate response
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    was like, "Yes, God, of course, of course we will.
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    We'd love -- whatever you ask for, absolutely."
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    But honestly, we sweated it at first, it was painful.
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    It was only over the course of a couple of weeks
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    that we opened up and we said, "Okay, yes, God, yes.
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    You've been so faithful to us in the past.
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    We've seen Yu show up in the past.
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    Whatever you ask for, if we sense You're asking for it,
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    it's Yours.
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    We'd love to be generous.
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    We would, because You've been so generous to us."
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    Listen, if you're watching this,
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    I'm not telling you a dollar amount.
  • 00:16:00
    I'm just telling you and encouraging you to say yes
  • 00:16:02
    to whatever prompting God gives you,
  • 00:16:04
    whatever He asks you for.
  • 00:16:05
    I promise you'll look back years from now
  • 00:16:08
    and the rest of your life,
  • 00:16:10
    and you'll be so grateful that you just said yes
  • 00:16:13
    when you give an extravagant gift.
  • 00:16:15
    Now, let's talk about
  • 00:16:17
    why Mary gave her extravagant gift.
  • 00:16:19
    Why would she do that?
  • 00:16:20
    Why would she give a year's wages to Jesus?
  • 00:16:24
    We actually don't have to wonder.
  • 00:16:26
    It's because two months before that exact scene
  • 00:16:29
    of her giving that extravagant offering,
  • 00:16:31
    two months before that, her brother Lazarus
  • 00:16:34
    had been raised from the dead.
  • 00:16:37
    The story actually says that Mary fell at Jesus's feet
  • 00:16:40
    weeping as she ran out as he was coming into town,
  • 00:16:43
    she fell at his feet weeping,
  • 00:16:44
    and she covered his feet in tears of grief
  • 00:16:47
    because her brother had died.
  • 00:16:49
    And she was just so sure if Jesus had only been there,
  • 00:16:52
    if He'd only shown up for her, he wouldn't have died.
  • 00:16:54
    And she falls down, covers His feet in tears.
  • 00:16:58
    Jesus comes in, raises her brother from the dead.
  • 00:17:03
    And here we are two months later,
  • 00:17:05
    and she does the most natural thing.
  • 00:17:07
    She assumes the same posture.
  • 00:17:09
    She falls at His feet and she gladly pours out
  • 00:17:12
    an extravagant offering of gratitude,
  • 00:17:15
    covers those same feet
  • 00:17:16
    that her shed her tears on in perfume.
  • 00:17:20
    It's extravagant.
  • 00:17:22
    See, generous people are grateful people.
  • 00:17:25
    And I just want you to think for a minute.
  • 00:17:27
    If one of your family members was raised from the dead,
  • 00:17:31
    would you be grateful?
  • 00:17:32
    Do you think that might change how you give to God?
  • 00:17:35
    Let me just remind you
  • 00:17:37
    that all of us who believe in Jesus
  • 00:17:39
    have been raised from the dead.
  • 00:17:41
    Ephesians 2:1 says:
  • 00:17:46
    She was going to pour out a year's wages on something,
  • 00:17:48
    you know, she was going to spend it on something.
  • 00:17:50
    I think there had to be this moment where she went,
  • 00:17:53
    "I could either spend it on somebody that's decaying
  • 00:17:55
    or the only thing on this earth
  • 00:17:57
    that will outlive death: Jesus."
  • 00:17:59
    And when that happened, Jesus knew He had her heart
  • 00:18:02
    and He rewarded her.
  • 00:18:04
    Why? Because God always rewards generosity.
  • 00:18:09
    The same story is in Matthew and Mark.
  • 00:18:11
    Mark 14:9 says:
  • 00:18:22
    Jesus literally says, "This thing is so amazing,
  • 00:18:26
    I promise for the rest of human history
  • 00:18:28
    this story will be told to honor her."
  • 00:18:32
    That's a reward.
  • 00:18:33
    Mary was entirely rewarded.
  • 00:18:35
    She didn't come to get a reward.
  • 00:18:36
    That wasn't her motivation.
  • 00:18:37
    She didn't come to Jesus going,
  • 00:18:39
    "I really hope this pays off for me in the long run
  • 00:18:41
    while I dump this perfume on?"
  • 00:18:42
    No, she just gave out of gratitude.
  • 00:18:45
    But when you give out of gratitude,
  • 00:18:47
    God always rewards that generosity.
  • 00:18:51
    See, selfishness is when you give
  • 00:18:52
    and you think God owes you something.
  • 00:18:54
    Generosity is when you give to get nothing back.
  • 00:18:57
    And amazingly, God always rewards it.
  • 00:18:59
    See, God will reward you, sometimes financially,
  • 00:19:02
    but He'll give you things
  • 00:19:04
    that are far more valuable than money or boats
  • 00:19:07
    or whatever nice things
  • 00:19:08
    that you could possibly buy in your own.
  • 00:19:11
    He'll reward you with true riches, non-financial things,
  • 00:19:15
    the kind of stuff that
  • 00:19:16
    no matter how much money you have,
  • 00:19:18
    you just can't buy,
  • 00:19:20
    things that only God can make happen.
  • 00:19:22
    It's called the principle of multiplication.
  • 00:19:24
    See, no one can multiply the impact of your giving
  • 00:19:28
    like God, no one can.
  • 00:19:31
    Now, I told you that Sarah and I
  • 00:19:34
    gave that last very large amount,
  • 00:19:37
    the one that was hard to give it first.
  • 00:19:38
    And eventually we got around to,
  • 00:19:40
    we said, okay, okay, okay.
  • 00:19:41
    And I have to be honest, we've gotten rewarded
  • 00:19:44
    and we did see some financial return
  • 00:19:47
    at the start of giving that money.
  • 00:19:48
    We had no college savings.
  • 00:19:50
    By the end of paying it off,
  • 00:19:52
    we had a year's tuition in the bank.
  • 00:19:54
    We got a beautiful house on land
  • 00:19:55
    that we shouldn't have been able to afford.
  • 00:19:57
    We even got a free trip to Hawaii in there.
  • 00:19:59
    Crazy things, they did happen.
  • 00:20:00
    And I wouldn't be honest if I held those back
  • 00:20:02
    just so you wouldn't think I was strange.
  • 00:20:04
    You hear this all the time when people give.
  • 00:20:07
    But I want you to know,
  • 00:20:08
    none of those are what I consider the true reward.
  • 00:20:12
    The true reward was something
  • 00:20:13
    I could have never made happen on my own.
  • 00:20:16
    During that time, both of my sons, Ben and Eli,
  • 00:20:22
    on their own, separately, came to me
  • 00:20:23
    and asked if they could get baptized.
  • 00:20:25
    I didn't convince them to, I didn't sell them.
  • 00:20:27
    I know I'm a pastor.
  • 00:20:28
    You probably think, like, every night, you know,
  • 00:20:30
    I sit down before bedtime and I just grill them on,
  • 00:20:32
    like, "Do you want to get baptized? You should."
  • 00:20:34
    No, none of that at all. I never talked to them about it.
  • 00:20:37
    They just came to me. They asked.
  • 00:20:39
    And when they asked, I didn't just make it easy.
  • 00:20:41
    I raised the bar.
  • 00:20:42
    I said, "Hey, do you know this means
  • 00:20:43
    you're saying to God
  • 00:20:44
    that you'll follow Him no matter what?"
  • 00:20:47
    "Yeah, Dad, we understand that."
  • 00:20:49
    "Okay? Do you know this means
  • 00:20:50
    that you have to give Him some of your money?"
  • 00:20:52
    "Yeah, we understand that."
  • 00:20:53
    "Well, do you know this means really,
  • 00:20:56
    no matter the craziest thing He ever tells you to do,
  • 00:20:58
    you say yes?
  • 00:20:59
    If Jesus says give all your toys away,
  • 00:21:02
    you would do that?'
  • 00:21:03
    They were like, "Yeah, yeah, Dad, we will.
  • 00:21:05
    We want to follow Jesus with our whole lives
  • 00:21:08
    no matter what."
  • 00:21:09
    Then on November 19th, 2017, both of my sons
  • 00:21:13
    gave their lives to Jesus through baptism.
  • 00:21:16
    That's a reward. That's a reward.
  • 00:21:19
    And I'm telling you, no matter who you are,
  • 00:21:21
    God has something waiting for you
  • 00:21:23
    if you're willing to step in,
  • 00:21:26
    if you're willing to be courageous,
  • 00:21:28
    if you're willing to walk the road
  • 00:21:30
    that most people, frankly, aren't.
  • 00:21:32
    But if you do, I'm telling you, there'll be a reward
  • 00:21:34
    and you'll never, ever regret it.
  • 00:21:40
    - Man, look, I can't tell you how, like,
  • 00:21:43
    encouraging it is to know that when I step out
  • 00:21:45
    and give God what's mine, when I'm generous,
  • 00:21:48
    that then He steps in and multiplies it
  • 00:21:50
    and does the thing that I could never do on my own
  • 00:21:52
    and help people, man.
  • 00:21:53
    Talk about being blessed, dude.
  • 00:21:55
    That's what it's all about right there.
  • 00:21:56
    Good job, Kyle. - Well done.
  • 00:21:58
    Yeah, there's something cool that happens.
  • 00:22:00
    Like, when we're generous,
  • 00:22:03
    we're just following God's example,
  • 00:22:04
    like, we're doing for other people what He did for us.
  • 00:22:07
    And there's actually an example of that coming up
  • 00:22:10
    where, man, I hope you would experience
  • 00:22:12
    some generosity from God, some blessing from God.
  • 00:22:15
    It's a thing we do every month.
  • 00:22:16
    It's called Monthly Night of Prayer.
  • 00:22:18
    It happens online so you can join
  • 00:22:20
    from wherever you are, whatever time zone.
  • 00:22:22
    You don't even have to get dressed.
  • 00:22:24
    You can just join from the comfort of your own home.
  • 00:22:26
    And there's worship.
  • 00:22:27
    There's music that actually I'll be leading
  • 00:22:30
    with some friends
  • 00:22:31
    and there's a time for you to receive prayer.
  • 00:22:33
    And we've seen God show up in amazing ways.
  • 00:22:35
    We've seen, like, legit miracles.
  • 00:22:37
    I know that sounds crazy. I know you might be skeptical.
  • 00:22:39
    We've seen God show up.
  • 00:22:41
    We've seen people healed of stuff.
  • 00:22:42
    We've seen people hear from God
  • 00:22:44
    and get direction for their career,
  • 00:22:46
    for their family, or for their life.
  • 00:22:48
    It's a powerful time.
  • 00:22:49
    7:30 December 1st, would love to have you join us.
  • 00:22:52
    - That's real.
  • 00:22:53
    Some people are like, "Oh, another zoom."
  • 00:22:55
    Oh, stop it.
  • 00:22:56
    There's not many places that you can get prayer
  • 00:22:58
    and receive prophetic words
  • 00:23:00
    and encounter God in a real way
  • 00:23:01
    while having fuzzy slippers on.
  • 00:23:03
    So, this team has done a great job
  • 00:23:05
    of putting that together.
  • 00:23:06
    And God wants to be generous.
  • 00:23:07
    He wants to like throw blessings your way.
  • 00:23:09
    Take advantage of that, man.
  • 00:23:11
    - That's right.
  • 00:23:12
    - Speaking of fuzzy slippers, it's Christmas season.
  • 00:23:15
    - It's coming up, man.
  • 00:23:16
    - What's your favorite Christmas movie?
  • 00:23:17
    - Favorite Christmas movie. That's tough.
  • 00:23:19
    I make sure I see Elf every year. Every year.
  • 00:23:23
    - It's like Elf is on repeat the whole month?
  • 00:23:26
    - It makes it easy, right?
  • 00:23:27
    - So, the Christmas movie with the little kid
  • 00:23:29
    and the leg lamp, what's that one called?
  • 00:23:31
    - Christmas Story, right? Yes.
  • 00:23:32
    - I like it. - So good.
  • 00:23:33
    - Next week, Brian's kicking off our Christmas series
  • 00:23:36
    where we're going to unpack
  • 00:23:37
    some nostalgic Christmas movies
  • 00:23:40
    and tie those into the story of Christmas
  • 00:23:42
    as we see it in the Bible.
  • 00:23:43
    You are not going to want to miss it.
  • 00:23:45
    See you then.
  • 00:23:50
    - Well, hey, Andy Reider here,
  • 00:23:51
    community pastor of Crossroads Anywhere.
  • 00:23:53
    And I've actually been on staff at Crossroads
  • 00:23:55
    now for like 12 or 13 years.
  • 00:23:57
    So, I want to tell you something I've learned.
  • 00:23:59
    It's that around this place, the only constant is change.
  • 00:24:02
    We're always experimenting.
  • 00:24:04
    We're always changing things up
  • 00:24:06
    to figure out what will serve people better.
  • 00:24:09
    And I want to give you a heads up
  • 00:24:11
    about one of those changes that's coming up
  • 00:24:13
    actually starting next week.
  • 00:24:15
    For the last two years or so,
  • 00:24:17
    we've actually created two versions
  • 00:24:19
    of our weekly message that you can experience,
  • 00:24:21
    one that's filmed here in front of a live audience,
  • 00:24:24
    and another that's kind of, like, prerecorded,
  • 00:24:27
    shot on location or in a studio some place.
  • 00:24:29
    And the change that we're making
  • 00:24:31
    is we're actually consolidating those
  • 00:24:33
    into one common experience.
  • 00:24:35
    One common experience is going to be filmed
  • 00:24:38
    right here on stage in front of a live audience.
  • 00:24:41
    We think that's going to be the best thing
  • 00:24:43
    that we can offer, and this is really important,
  • 00:24:47
    the thing that gets me really excited, like,
  • 00:24:49
    and it frees up resources to continue to experiment,
  • 00:24:52
    to continue to take ground,
  • 00:24:54
    to continue to try new things and create new things
  • 00:24:57
    that we think will help people understand God
  • 00:25:00
    and His care and His love for them
  • 00:25:02
    in new and profound ways.
  • 00:25:04
    We actually shot our first pilot this past Thursday,
  • 00:25:06
    and man, I got to see some clips.
  • 00:25:08
    It's amazing stuff. It's amazing stuff.
  • 00:25:10
    So, while this is going to be
  • 00:25:12
    just a little bit different for some of us,
  • 00:25:13
    I think it's going to reiterate and just remind us
  • 00:25:17
    of the fact that we are one church
  • 00:25:19
    and get us all more aligned and more on the same page.
  • 00:25:23
    And we're grateful for you being with us
  • 00:25:25
    on this journey to experiment and to, as we say,
  • 00:25:28
    build a new kind of church,
  • 00:25:29
    a new kind of church for the future.
  • 00:25:32
    Thanks for being with us.
  • 00:25:33
    We're grateful. Have a great one.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend-Follow Up This is the group part of the Bible Challenge, so your questions are based on specific Bible passages from the weekend message. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. Share about a time you gave or received a gift that felt extravagant.

  2. What stood out to you most from this week’s message?

  3. What does living generously mean to you?

  4. What challenges or barriers do you experience in living generously?

  5. Where might God be prompting you to give an offering (a gift beyond the tithe)?

  6. What is one step you can take this week to move from a need of having more to an act of giving more?

  7. Let’s end with prayer. You can say something like, “Jesus, thank you for inviting us to experience the blessed life. Please align our hearts with yours when it comes to living generously. Give us grateful hearts ready to accept your gift. Amen.”

More from the Weekend

Bonus Questions! Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper.

  • What’s a gift you could give God that you think would impress Him?
  • The key to generosity is gratitude. What would it look like to have a posture of gratitude each day this week?

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(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

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Nov 25, 2022 25 mins 37 sec

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