You may have a seat. As you do so, good morning.
Officially now. Hope that you're well. Hope that
you weathered the rain better than Pastor Todd
did. I met him this morning and all he was like,
I just need to see the sun. I'm like, bro, it's
been a week. I think you'd be fine. Welcome to
those of you in Paulding today. We're excited
for what God is doing there. Love to hear from
Mike and Sue, who were just the best hosts ever.
Just what you guys are doing and how life is
changing. Also, Baghdad, we're so excited. Randy
and your crew and just how you keep showing up
and keep seeing people and what God's doing.
We're just grateful for all you're doing and
how we get to walk alongside each other. So welcome
this morning. Okay, I need you to do something
for me, okay? This is an invitation, but the
invitation is much bigger than just like something
in here. The ripple effects of this matter. And
so what I would say is this, that yes, there
is a camera in the lobby. Yes, there is a light
in the lobby. Yes, there is a microphone in the
lobby. What we need is for you to use your voice.
We would like to, this Christmas season, get
the good news of Jesus to as many people in our
church family, in our community, and who knows
where God uses it and what he does with it. And
so what we would love to happen is for you to
be willing to go stand in front of a microphone,
which I know is scary. I might do it a few times
in my life, right? Really, nothing. Okay, that's
how it's going to be. All right, game on. but
stand in front of a microphone and here's what
we need. We just need you to give good news.
I know Jesus is good news because I ate three
meals yesterday, right? Like it doesn't have
to be overly complicated. We're not asking you
to preach. You don't need to give the gospel,
right? You just show up and go, I know Jesus
is good news because he healed my mama. I know
Jesus is good news because when I thought my
marriage was going to fall apart, he held it
together. That simple. It doesn't have to be
overly complicated. You don't have to get into
all the details of what was wrong with your marriage.
You just need to show up and go, I know Jesus
is good news, and here's why. Why? Because the
world is starving for good news. And so we're
just going to provide it. But it requires that
you go to a mic and go, hey, I got something
to say. I know Jesus is good news because. And
then we'll see what God does and where that goes
and how he uses it and what that looks like.
But we're going to use that as we lead into the
Christmas season together. Second thing I want
to let you know about that's exciting, that's
an invitation. You might remember in March, we
were talking about our youth spaces were kind
of crowded and needed some help. They needed
some infrastructure put in so that the ministries,
the students that are meeting in there, it could
be done better and essentially reach more, that
whole thing. And so along with that, we asked,
hey, would you be willing to help fund it? To
which over 200 ,000 was raised, which is amazing,
right? Well, what I'm excited to tell you is
not next weekend. The first weekend in December
is open house because the build -out should be
done. What that means is if you're on this location,
you can go to H2, the building straight across
from here, and you can see on that weekend, see
what ended up being put in place and what the
build -out looks like and what the students there
will get to experience. You can also on that
weekend go to Park Collective and go into the
Commons and kind of open house that space as
well and see what was done with what God provided.
And so just a way for you to be connected so
that it be excited for what God's going to do
in the lives of students in those spaces. OK,
you ready? I need you to reach down to the right
and grab the seatbelt that's next to you and
buckle up. It's amazing how many of you just
did that. OK. That's another sermon for another
day. All right, here's the thing. We got 30 minutes.
We got to go, okay? We got to roll. So we've
been in this conversation about the generous
life. If you remember, we talked about birds
last week. Anybody remember birds? Anybody remember
how God feeds the birds? I got bored in between
services last week, so I was like, how many birds
are there on the planet? And God goes, or not
God goes, Chad G. Oh, you can't make that up.
That's great. Oh, so good. Chat GPT told me.
Just need to clarify that. Between 50, 50 billion
and 430 billion birds, kind of a wide range,
exist on the planet. So maybe in our language,
we'll just go, that's a few. Okay. And God fed
them all this week. I just want you to know,
I have a picture because we talked about it last
week. This was Monday morning at my house. And
my wife sending me a Snapchat saying, yep, you
fed the crow this morning. What I want you to
know is how much trash is left in the trash can.
Why? Because when God provides, he's abundant.
He's not lacking in resource. And so God used
us to feed the crow last Monday morning. And
I just thought it was kind of funny. Like, yep,
you can't make it up. But it captures this idea
of the generous life. The generous life is the
life that God intended for you in Jesus. A life
that is bigger than you, that is given away,
that is lived on mission, on his kingdom mission.
And what happens is the ripples of that go out
that are much larger than your life. You can
live that way. You were intended for that. And
so we started talking week one. Okay, if that's
the case, then what are the principles that we
see that build a generous life? The first one
being that you have to trust God. The first thing
we looked at is your trust has to be in him.
Remember the sending out of the 72, God sends
them out. He doesn't give them anything. He's
like, just trust me. And so they go out and they
trust him. Then the next week we talked about
this idea of greed, right? That you can amass
all these possessions. And what Jesus says is
you can do that with this one life. You can live
your life amassing whatever form of greed suits
you. But don't expect to find life inside of
it because life can't be found there. Then last
week we talked about, okay, if I'm trusting God
and I'm not looking for life inside of greed,
then Jesus gets into this like, okay, so don't
worry then. And a sign that I'm not maybe amassing
greed, but I'm holding on to things is that if
I have anxiety and worry about the simple things
of life, which is where the birds came in last
week. Well, this week I would say to kind of
put a bow on this collection, so to speak, to
kind of take Jesus's thoughts and hopefully...
Put them all together to go, this is the full
perspective. Why? Because when your perspective
changes, when your perspective changes, your
posture changes. When your posture changes, your
actions change. Your perspective leads to your
actions. When I was 24, my wife was pregnant
with our first child, and I was that guy. I wanted
a boy. I told everybody I knew, what do you think
you're having? We're having a boy. Why do you
want a boy? I want to teach him how to play soccer.
The whole male gene dad thing. And then I went
to a marriage conference, and I sat in this one
session, and there was a guy on stage, and he
was just talking to the guys in the room, and
he was talking about the relationship he had
with his daughter. And it was one of the most
beautiful things I'd heard. It sounded amazing.
So much so that my perspective totally shifted.
I left that session, went to lunch with my wife
and our friends, and we're sitting at lunch and
I go, I want a girl. To which God was like, okay,
slugger, I'll change the sex for you. Hang on,
right? But all of a sudden there was this transformation
because my posture, because my perspective had
changed. My posture changed, which led to a change
of action. My action was different. I genuinely
wanted a daughter. And God goes, well, here you
go. Here's four, right? Can I give you a pro
tip from a girl dad? When you see a girl dad
out with his girls, please don't look at them
and go, you're going to keep trying for that
boy? It diminishes what God has given. Please
don't do that. If you get punched in the mouth
by that dad, you deserved it. Okay? Just going
to put that out there. So, moving on. Your perspective
directly impacts your action. And we were chatting
about this in our teaching prep this week. And
in Psalm 94, Pastor Ben was like, you know, the
Psalms always change my perspective. They always
shift my perspective. And he read this, and it's
in verse 9. It says, Does he who fashioned the
ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not
see? Does he who disciplines the nations not
punish? Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?
The Lord knows all human plans. He knows that
they are futile. All right, anybody in the room
just go, okay, I got a little more perspective
on who God is. He hears, he sees, he's the only
one that can bring judgment. In fact, I read
this and my perspective was such that I was like,
why do we spend so much time in planning meetings?
Right, like if it's all futile, like let's just,
why are we doing it? And it's interesting, isn't
it? If we put it in a different context, if I'm
gonna build a house and you have the blueprints.
how weird is it of me to not come to you and
go, hey, can I get the blueprints? I'm gonna
build the house. And yet with God, that's something
we do until our perspective changes and goes,
hey, God, you got the plan, I don't. I think
what Jesus was doing in Luke chapter 12 is he's
unrolling this plan for the generous life. He's
shifting perspective. He's getting you to get
your trust off of yourself and get it onto him.
He's getting you to not live with worry and anxiety.
And in verse 27, I don't know if you, which service
you were in, and two of those, I read this passage
last week. If you're like, he's reading the same
passage again, there's a purpose, just hang with
us. Verse 27, consider how the wildflowers grow.
They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you, not
even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed
like one of these. Consider what? Wildflowers.
Oh, that's a little weird. We're talking about
birds and now we're talking about wildflowers.
What is Jesus getting at with the wildflowers?
Because the hills were covered in them and they
were so beautifully adorned. All colors were
there and they were vibrant. And so much so that
he goes, hey, you know the richest king in your
history? Who was all about the splendor of being
a king and how he dressed and what he, yeah,
he wasn't even dressed as good as these wildflowers
are. Because God has poured out his extravagant
beauty onto them. Why? I need to think about
a wildflower for a second. A wildflower is fragile.
Like it's easily broken. It's not an oak tree,
right? It's just this spindly little flower.
It's fragile in nature. It says here, as he continues,
he says, if that's how God clothes the grass
of the field, which is here today and tomorrow
is thrown into the fire, how much more will he
clothe you of little faith? So he goes, yeah,
they're fragile, but they're also extremely temporary.
So what you have in the picture of the wildflowers
is you have it's fragile, easily broken, and
it is temporary, it is limited. I think it's
fascinating that when you look at what God is
doing, that he takes all of this creativity,
this extravagant beauty, this blessing, if you
like, and he pours it out onto these flowers
that are both fragile and temporary. They're
easily broken and they're limited. And then it
hit me. We are fragile and temporary. We're fragile
and temporary. Oh, you don't believe me about
the fragile part? Monday, I get home and I'm
like, babe, something's up with my eye. Like,
I don't know what's going on. And literally two
hours later, I'm on the couch and can't move,
right? Like, I have this migraine now behind
my eye and I'm like in miserable pain. Just laying
there. Football was on. Couldn't even watch football.
I had to listen to it. You know, that whole thing.
We're pretty fragile. My eye, and I'm out for
the count. Like, I'm down. Like, babe, I can't
do nothing. Some of you, you got this thing called
hanger. All right, you get hungry, and you turn,
nobody, right? You bunch of liars. Lunch is an
hour late and you're like, oh my gosh. And you
start eating the people you love around you,
right? We're so fragile. How do you think about
it? Some of you will go to lunch today and the
wait staff will take a little while and you'll
start mistreating them because you're hungry.
That's how fragile we are. I mean, think about
it. You have one conversation with your wife
in the morning or somebody you care about or
your kids or whatever, right? And all of a sudden,
the whole day is ruined because of that one conversation.
We're just fragile. We're easily broken. And
that's not even the big stuff of life. We're
just fragile. You know what else? You're limited.
You have a shelf life. There is a use -by date
on you. Some of you got a best use -by date.
You know that one? This is really going out to
the interwebs, huh? That's great. I mean, think
about it for a second. Everything around us gears
us to think we are anything but fragile, and
we are definitely not temporary. Everything around
us gears to think the opposite and we need a
perspective change so that we can grasp what
is actually happening with us within the kingdom
of God and grasp how important this fragile and
this temporary life really is. He says in verse
30, for the pagan world runs after all such things.
The pagan world, right? So just slowing down
for a second, you realize there is a world system
that we live inside of and the world system is
geared and put into motion and organized by the
enemy of God, right? Like this is not some conspiracy
theory. This is true, factual, firm scripture
that the enemy has this world and its systems
in place. And what is those systems geared towards?
That you would forget who you really are every
single day. How do I know that? You have this
thing called a phone, right? And we often get
on social media, right? We're often like, oh,
social media. It's just a distraction. Distract
you from what? To be unsettled, to think everything
in your life, you need this, you need that, you
need to chase that, right? You realize that social
media is just getting, essentially they're paying
for your attention. I don't need social media
to distract me. I got a phone in my pocket. And
I got the ESPN app. That's all I need. And I'm
distracted. Some of you, it's news. You got news
updates. And that's just like one itty bitty
thing that is used to distract us, right? But
don't miss it. It's part of a system that goes,
hey, if I can get you to get your eyes off of
God, if I can get you to forget who you are,
if I can get you to center in somewhere else,
then you're going to miss what this fragile and
temporary life is all about. He goes, the world
outside, right? Remember, the context of this
is he's talking to his disciples. He's talking
to those that have said yes to Jesus. He's talking
to those that are followers, would consider themselves
followers of Jesus. And he goes, hey, everybody
outside of the followers of Jesus, they're chasing
after these things that are temporary and fragile.
I feel like I was just going through the walkthrough
last night and I was like, man, scripture needs
a bouncing ball sometimes so that we get the,
right? Like he says, the pagan world runs after
all such things and your father knows that you
need them. I just think it's like this. I don't
think it's like, and your father knows that you
need them. I think it's like, and your father
knows you need them. I think it's like just this
like simple, like really solid, happy news. Hey,
you don't got to go chase all the temporary and
fragile stuff. Why? Because your father knows
that you need them. Oh yeah, it's just like he's
got it. Verse 31, but seek, but seek, but seek
his kingdom. Now what's interesting is in verse
29, he says, and do not set your heart on what
you will eat or drink or do not worry about it.
Okay, so two verses earlier, he goes, do not
set your heart. Now, he gets to this one, and
he goes, seek, seek. Now, do not set your heart
is the same word as the seek later. So you could
say, do not seek, do not seek. What you will
eat or drink. Okay, so eat and drink is very
temporary, right? Like very basic needs. Don't
even seek those because your father knows you
need them. And then he goes, but what you should
do is seek his kingdom. Okay. What is his kingdom?
Because I'm told don't seek this fragile, temporary.
life, right? That if I'm going to live a generous
life, bigger than myself, how do I do that, God?
Well, Jesus is saying, well, you take your desire,
to seek is to take my desire, to take my pursuit,
what I'm pursuing in life, to take that, and
there's a word here that's worth underlining,
circling, right? But seek, verse 31, but seek
his, his, his, his. his, his kingdom. Okay, God,
in a conversation about temporary and fragile,
you now tell us to seek your kingdom. What's
the difference in the kingdom? Well, you remember
we were singing that song earlier. We came out
and talked about it. Remember the God who is
infinite, right? Like he, he what? He was and
is and is to come. He's infinite. So what is
his kingdom? Well, you go back through scripture
and you find that with David, he's setting up
a throne that what? Will never be dethroned because
Jesus is on the throne for all of eternity. What
you get in this moment where he says, but seek,
put your desire, your pursuit in his kingdom,
you get a kingdom that is anything but fragile
and anything but temporary. Right? It's eternal.
So what are we to seek? We're to seek what is
eternal and not what is fragile and temporary.
We're to seek what will not wear out, what will
not die, what will not fade, because there is
a God who cannot fade. There's a God that cannot
be defeated. You realize the king in heaven over
the kingdom, he never gets dethroned for all
of eternity. That's the security that you're
banking into. So then, So then he ends that with
seek his kingdom and these things will be given
to you as well. So those things of the temporary
and fragile, guess what? When I seek his kingdom,
the temporary and fragile, I mean, it's kind
of like the bouncing ball again, right? Like
these things will be given to you as well. Verse
32, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. What's
gonna stop you from living for the kingdom of
God? Fear, every time. Why do you think the device
in your pocket is geared towards raising fear
inside of you? Right? Because that will stop
you living the generous life because you will
hunker down. He says, don't be afraid. And I
love it. It's little, little flock. Little flock.
Okay, two things are happening here. He's re
-emphasizing, these are my kids. This is my people.
These are my followers. These are my disciples.
That's who he's talking to. He goes, don't be
afraid. We started out, remember, we started
in chapter 10. And when he sent out the 72, he
sent them out like lambs among wolves. Remember
that? Sent them out specifically like poodles
to bobcats. Do not be afraid, little flock. What
is a little flock? A little flock is fragile
and temporary. Don't be afraid. For your father
has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Your
father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Wait. God sized the kingdom. You mean that kingdom
that's never going to fail? That kingdom doesn't
run out? That kingdom that has a king and has
a specific way of life? That kingdom that is
generous in nature because the king is generous?
That kingdom that will go on for all of eternity?
That kingdom where I get to be around the king
and be in the presence of the king and never
separate it again? That kingdom? Yes. And guess
what? He has given it to you. There's nothing
left to gain. The kingdom has been given. You
are already given everything, which is why in
Ephesians it talks about, right, that you've
been blessed with every spiritual blessing. So
you're like, John, hang on a second though, right,
because I'm still temporary. The kingdom is already
here, but not yet. So right here and now, right,
eternity is real. I'm living for eternity. However,
I will have to face physical death, right? It's
this already and not yet. He goes, the kingdom
is yours. Why is he telling them this? Because
the next thing he's going to tell them is sell
your possessions and give to the poor. You know
what's interesting? He's just laid out. Life
is fragile and temporary. But God's going to
give you everything you need. Right? And he's
like, even the kingdom. The kingdom has been
given to you. You have everything you could ever
want. You've been given everything by God. It
is all yours already. So what can I do here?
I can open my hands. I can sell my possessions.
I'm not attached to them. They don't matter to
me. What matters to me is this kingdom. What
matters to me is that I'm viewing this from an
eternal perspective. So what happens is when
he says sell your possessions and give to the
poor, what he's saying is because all of this
is secure, right? All of this is eternally secure.
You can in turn now open your hands and give
it away. You can live the generous life. Sell
your possessions. It's a command, by the way.
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Second
command is this. Provide purses for yourselves.
that will not wear out. Provide purses for yourself.
Okay, let's be clear with a command, right? A
command is something you are told to what? To
do. And sometimes I think we read this and we
read it like in our own version and tone. We
read it like Jesus come along going, hey church.
Hey, you know those ones that are following me
because I died on that cross and you like said
yes and you haven't been doing anything with
it? Well, it'd be really nice if you guys would
like provide purses for yourself. That's not
the tone. The tone is because all of that is
true. Because your future is secure. Guess what?
You can now live in such a way in this fragile
and temporary life that I provide purses for
myself in the kingdom of God. What does that
mean? The idea is that I can invest, I can put
into. What is the second word there? It's purses.
That word purses is kind of like a bag. Culturally,
you grab the bag. This is you creating the bag
that you're going to grab in eternity. So the
idea is that what Jesus is getting at is that
when you live this fragile and temporary life
and you invest it into eternal things, you are
putting away into a bag in eternity that he says
can never fail, where no thief comes near and
no moth destroys. He goes, you're banking in
a place that it can never be touched. No one
can ever take it. It's not possible. Okay, so
what does that look like? Because sometimes I
think we confuse how easy this really is. Park
Collective last week, PV Youth, had a Friendsgiving.
And part of Friendsgiving was, hey, would you
be willing to make a meal? So guess what? Some
people made a lasagna. I don't know if they actually
had lasagna. That's just what comes to mind,
right? They showed up with their lasagna. All
they were doing was what? Making a lasagna. But
guess what? According to Jesus, you showed up
as part of the generous life and you gave your
lasagna. You took your effort, your time. Hopefully
you had skill and the lasagna was good, right?
Like you took your effort, your time. You created
this lasagna. And guess what? People were fed.
And Jesus goes, you banked in eternity. Because
you took this temporary and fragile and you gave
it away on behalf of someone else. It's that
easy. It's like you walking out, because all
of you will walk out to where the light is out
there and stand in front of a microphone and
give good news. You're like, I'm just telling
my story. I'm just telling what God has done.
You don't know how God is going to use that,
but your obedience to stand and go, this is my
story and I'm sharing it. I'm giving it. however
it wants to be used in the kingdom. Guess what?
You are banking in your eternal purse forever.
You chose to not invest it here. Right? I think
this is specifically talking to of your finances.
Right? How do I know that? The very next line.
For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also. Where your treasure is. I got an
email this week. I had a quote from Billy Graham.
Billy Graham's one of the heroes of the faith.
You can read about him later. Billy Graham said
this, give me five minutes with your checkbook.
Give me five minutes with your debit card, with
your printout statement. Give me five minutes
with your checkbook and I'll tell you where your
heart is. I'll tell you what you care about.
I'll tell you what you're building in. I'll tell
you where you're storing in, whether you're storing
in the fragile and temporary or you're storing
in the eternal. It's interesting. We do a moment
of generosity in here every week. And you realize
that moment of generosity is just an opportunity
for you to go, God, I want to live what Jesus
called me to live. He gave me two commands, sell
my possessions, give to the poor. He told me
to provide purses, to build into eternity. One
of the ways you build into eternity is in this
room, in this room, through screens and online,
you can go, I'm going to take what God has put
in my hand and I'm gonna use it for the kingdom.
Right? And so one of the ways it's really simple
to do that is you go, God, I'm going to take
what you have put in my hand. You have put my
paycheck in my hand. You have put however that
money ends up in my hand. God, I'm going to be
faithful to what? Use it for the kingdom of God,
to steward it towards the kingdom of God. One
of the ways we do that is as a church. We compile
all of our building purses. Why? So that we can
make a mark for the kingdom of God where? In
our community and in the people around us that
we love. But it requires that you wrestle with,
do I do this or don't I? Do I invest in the fragile
and temporary? Or do I invest into eternity?
What is the posture? Be dressed and ready for
service. And keep your lamps burning. like servants
waiting for their master to return from a wedding
banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they
can immediately open the door for him. What that
tells me is your posture as you get a perspective
that we are living for eternity, not the temporary
and the fragile. That I'm not trying to build
it here because whatever you have here disappears.
I love that in teaching prep this week, Pastor
Todd goes, hey, I was in Israel and you know
what? Where these words were spoken, where the
words of Jesus, they're just ruins now. The buildings
don't even exist. How amazing, right? What a
picture. That if we're banking on the things
here, they're just fragile and temporary. And
so what's our posture? That it says immediately.
Why? Because what's going to happen? Either you're
going to go meet Jesus or Jesus is coming to
meet you. That's the future. You want to know
what your future is? Either you, Lord willing,
this doesn't happen to you, but you don't know
if you're going to make it home today. You don't
know if you get in an accident on the way home
or someone you love. We have no idea. That's
why the immediate matters. That's why we live
expectant. That's why we live ready. We're servants
of the master. So we live in a posture that's
ready. Why? Why? Because we don't know if this
is all we got in this fragile and this temporary.
But I tell you what, I wanna be building for
eternity, not here. Because here's fragile and
temporary. His kingdom's not. And it says we're
to be ready. Why? So we can immediately open
the door. Verse 37, it will be good. It will
be good. Listen to this. It will be good for
those servants whose master finds them watching
when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will dress
himself. So the master dresses himself to serve.
We'll have them recline at the table and we'll
come and wait on them. I mean, if you didn't
have enough motivation, here's a little more.
You ready? That when Jesus returns, it says that
he, he is gonna throw one outrageous barbecue.
And you're invited to sit at the table with him.
You're invited to be a friend, a family at the
banquet. And get this, he is going. To serve.
Oh, man. How can I hold on to this life like
this is all there is? How can I care more about
my streaming services than my neighbor? How can
I miss that today, today, You have the chance
to make an investment into a bank that will never,
never go bankrupt. That you can invest today.
How? You get one generous life. That when Jesus
saved you, you now have the ability to live the
life you were created for in Jesus. Where you
go, I'm giving it away for the kingdom. How will
you use your generous life? Because only you
can decide. God, we come before you this morning
and we're just grateful. We're so thankful that
we have a God who is faithful for so long. We're
so thankful for the breath in our lungs today.
We're thankful that God. Not only do we have
the ability to breathe and have life, but we
have the ability to give back to you. That we
can build into eternity. We can build into your
kingdom. God, would you help us gain perspective
even as we sing about how great you are? Would
you help us gain perspective? That the very breath
in our lungs is on loan from you. Would you help
us gain perspective that this generous life is
to be given away? And so God, as we respond in
song, would you let us gain perspective from
you in worship that carries us through our week,
that carries us to our neighbor, that carries
us to serving those around us, that carries us
to give this life away. And so we thank you.
We are grateful, and everybody said, amen.