1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,680 This is City Post Church. We're about three things. 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:08,160 Build equipped and send all under the Lordship of Jesus 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:10,240 Christ. A small church plant in Fort 4 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,400 Worth, TX. Who decided to do things a 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:16,880 little differently? Adoramos Ajesu Cristo I love 6 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,480 City Post because of the people. It's where I belong. 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,160 We truly preach. The word I love City post 8 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:25,000 because of the community we've been able to build. 9 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:28,720 To do ministry like Jesus. For light to push back darkness. 10 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:39,560 This is city post podcast. Oh man, I'll be honest with you. 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,200 I was not ready for today. I thought it was going to be 12 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:43,680 like, all right, we could get a car. 13 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,400 Man, that was awesome. And you know, I do all this as 14 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:52,280 I'm hearing everybody speak, but I, I heard the call of God, very 15 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,160 proud. What we're going to look at 16 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,360 today is how God defines generosity. 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:01,960 We're going to look at a story, just a quick 4 verses and then 18 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:06,360 we'll be out a story about how all these guys, these rich guys 19 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:08,240 are just giving all this money at the temple. 20 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:14,440 And Jesus is watching the scene in Mark 12 and there is a poor 21 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:18,320 old widow that shows up and drops two cents in a bucket. 22 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,040 And Jesus says there it is. That's it. 23 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,720 She gave more than all of these guys here. 24 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,080 Why, why, why didn't Jesus say that? 25 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,120 And that's what I wanted to explore today. 26 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:32,920 So whenever you say man, you know, I do that. 27 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:35,480 It's all good until it hits your finances. 28 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:39,640 But God's definition of generosity is way different than 29 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:40,960 ours. And that's what we're going to 30 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:42,840 look at today. So I'm going to read the four 31 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,880 verses, we'll talk about it, and we'll be out looking at Mark 12, 32 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,680 verse 41. And this is what the word of the 33 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,920 Lord says is Jesus sat down opposite the place where the 34 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,600 offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money 35 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,880 into the temple treasury. Many rich people drew in large 36 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:08,080 amounts, but a poor widow cave and put in two very small copper 37 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,360 cone points worth only a few cents. 38 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,560 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, truly I tell you, 39 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,240 this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the 40 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,560 others. They all gave out of their well, 41 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:28,040 but she, out of her poverty, put in everything all she had to 42 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,400 live on. Let me pray for us and then 43 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,160 we'll walk through these things. So, Jesus, thank you for today. 44 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:35,200 Thank you for all that you're doing in our lives. 45 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,360 So, Father, I pray that you help us to look at your word. 46 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,480 God, I pray that you help us to listen, Lord, and to be faithful 47 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,320 to applying it to our lives. So, Jesus, thank you for all 48 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,480 you're doing. And your name we pray, Amen. 49 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,600 And Lord, help the Cowboys today at least some. 50 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:57,440 Come on, man, we so I know we got got throw that in there. 51 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:03,120 All right, So real quickly want to set the scene here because 52 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,800 when you read Mark chapter 12, Jesus at the temple and he has 53 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,440 all the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the scribes, 54 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,720 they're all coming at him and they're questioning him about 55 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,520 stuff. So if you read chapter 12, they 56 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,040 question him about his, his authority, like are you the 57 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,240 Messiah or are you not? They're questioning about what 58 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,720 the greatest commandment is here to take a question about taxes. 59 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:32,240 So Jesus is just being bombarded at the temple all day long with 60 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:36,560 the religious leaders. And I can see here that just he 61 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,400 goes and he starts to watch people giving money. 62 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,120 Maybe he was taking a breath, maybe he was holding it 63 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,800 together. Maybe he was like looking for 64 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:49,160 something, We don't know. Also, what's an interesting 65 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,040 detail is that it says that Jesus in verse 41, he sat down 66 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:56,320 at the opposite place where the offerings were put. 67 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:57,840 OK, we're going to talk about this. 68 00:03:57,840 --> 00:03:59,840 Where were the offerings put in the temple? 69 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:05,640 So when you have the temple back in those days, you also had, you 70 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:10,880 also had courts outside, so that the most outer court before the 71 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,520 temple was the court of the Gentiles. 72 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,959 That means that anybody that was that Jewish, this is where you 73 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:21,000 were allowed to be whenever you're going to the temple. 74 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,760 And just a fun fact, just to show what Jesus came to do was 75 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:30,560 remove these barriers of religion because back then only 76 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:32,800 certain people got to go to the Lord. 77 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,920 At least that's what they, they determined. 78 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,840 So you had the Gentile court, then you had the women, the 79 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:45,160 women's court, then you had the men's court, and then you had 80 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,960 the religious leaders court. And those were the divisions 81 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:50,960 that you were allowed to be in in the temple. 82 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:55,720 Even to the point that if right before you go, right before you 83 00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:00,240 leave the the Gentiles court, there's a sign that gives a 84 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:04,840 warning saying that if you are not Jewish beyond this point, 85 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,360 you can be punished even to the point of death. 86 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:09,880 Like that's how serious this was. 87 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:16,120 So you have the judge and in the women's court of the temple were 88 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,000 what they call the offering buckets. 89 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:21,880 A lot of scholars call them the trumpets. 90 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,800 The reason they call them trumpets is because of the way 91 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,040 they look. They had a they had a wide mouth 92 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,240 and then a small box. It was easy to put in, but 93 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,520 really hard to take out. You couldn't have to change. 94 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,200 So you you go and then you have 13 of them at the temple. 95 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:43,160 So in the women's court, 13 trumpets one through 7 were very 96 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,680 particular needs. So it might be for flour, for 97 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,480 wine, for oil, whatever it took to run the temple. 98 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:55,560 And then the eight through 13 with pretty much anybody who is 99 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,880 Jewish, they weren't allowed to bring an offering to God. 100 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,640 Now Jesus in this story, he is hanging out in the women's court 101 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,480 and after battling other religious leaders and everybody 102 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,720 pressing him, he goes to the women's court. 103 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,320 And the Bible says in verse 41, he goes, he sat down opposite 104 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:15,840 the place of the offering. So he's sitting here and he's 105 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,320 he's watching all this go down. And it says that he watched the 106 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,280 crowd putting money into the temple treasury. 107 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,000 Now they weren't just putting money in the treasury, they were 108 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,520 flexing with it. It says that many rich people 109 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:34,240 threw in large amounts. So what people would do is when 110 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,480 they went to the temple, they would kind of try to show off. 111 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:39,720 Why? Because if you had a lot of 112 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,160 money, it was telling the world that God had his favor on your 113 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:44,800 life. This is what they believed. 114 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,320 Also, remember, Jesus goes after the Pharisees and Sadducees 115 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,960 saying when you pray, you don't pray like you're showing off, 116 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,360 because what they would do is they would pray in public and 117 00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:59,840 they would be all lavish and loud about it. 118 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:02,800 And Jesus says that is not how prayer works. 119 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,920 So it was for them. So even when people were 120 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,840 bringing offerings to the temple, the rich guys which were 121 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,320 really wealthy, they were dropping in a lot of money. 122 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,640 They were probably making it known to it probably sound like 123 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,680 a Coinstar machine. Everybody know what Coinstar is. 124 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,320 I mean, you know what I mean. No, you don't Coinstar. 125 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,160 All right, so y'all never struggle with me is no point 126 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,600 stuff. Alright, so they had all this 127 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,040 and and and they're trying to flex and Jesus is watching all 128 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,600 of this go down. Oh inside them. 129 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:42,040 Jesus is always watching what you give and he's not only 130 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,400 watching what you give, he's watching how you give, but he's 131 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:51,640 also watching what you ignore. Jesus sees it all, God sees it 132 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:53,560 all, and we're going to learn today's sounds. 133 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,080 It's not the value, it's the heart. 134 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:58,880 It's the heart of how you give things. 135 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:00,680 That's what Jesus is looking for. 136 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:05,320 He notices something here and listen, Jesus is not noticing 137 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,760 the long line of rich people, like he's not sitting there 138 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:12,400 calling attention to their gifting or like man, I wonder 139 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:15,040 how they give so much. That's not what he's about 140 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,280 Because look what comes in in verse 42. 141 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,960 In verse 42 it says but a poor widow came. 142 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,600 So you have the line applause. Remember there's 8 verses 8 143 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:33,640 through 13, the trumpets lines people just drop and flexing 144 00:08:34,039 --> 00:08:36,559 probably give each other high fives taking selfies with it. 145 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:42,600 Then here comes this poor old widow, probably quiet, probably 146 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:48,320 ashamed, don't know what she went through, but she comes. 147 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,160 And the Bible says that this poor widow came and put in two 148 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,520 very small copper coins only worth a few cents. 149 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,960 What do we know about the slave? We don't know her name. 150 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,200 We know she's a widow. That means that her husband 151 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,000 passed away. So if you were a widow at these 152 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,320 times, you didn't have the support of your husband. 153 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,520 If you didn't have kids, you'd have the support of your family. 154 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:14,280 We, we don't know that about her. 155 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,880 But I want to throw in another element to this, because Jesus 156 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,760 calls out the scribes and the Sadducees because they say he 157 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,120 says that they take advantage of the widows. 158 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,920 So whenever somebody's husband would pass away, the religious 159 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,280 leaders at the temple would go to them and probably try to scam 160 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,280 their land away from them. They would probably try to take 161 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,120 their inheritance. They were, they were schemers 162 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,040 and Jesus calls them out about it. 163 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,480 So we don't know if maybe this is the situation for this widow, 164 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,880 but we do know that she didn't have a husband and that she was 165 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,480 extremely poor because of her circumstances. 166 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,840 So we know her financial status. We also know her marital status. 167 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,280 And then if you look at, I think a better translation would be 168 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,560 two mites. Mites were pretty much small 169 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:06,080 copper coins. They were worth a fraction of a 170 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:11,360 penny, not a lot. So mites were not worth a lot, 171 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:14,240 fraction of a penny. Another word that you would see 172 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,600 in the Greek is limpin. A limpin means a very tiny 173 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:19,720 thing. It means a a crumble or a 174 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,520 morsel. So Jesus is watching this and he 175 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:28,640 sees this poor old widow crawl up to the giving plates and she 176 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:33,240 throws in two mites, 2 little coins and she drops them in 177 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:35,160 there. And look what Jesus does in 178 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:37,360 verse 43. It says that he calls his 179 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,000 disciples Theta. He's like, guys, check this out. 180 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,520 Come here. Look at this, look at this. 181 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:49,520 Look, I, I truly, I tell you, listen to the wording, how Jesus 182 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:51,520 says this. The word truly means that. 183 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,280 He's trying to emphasize this. Truly, I tell you, this poor 184 00:10:55,280 --> 00:11:00,160 widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 185 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:06,120 That's a powerful statement. He doesn't say that she put more 186 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:11,040 than one of them. He says that she put more than 187 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,760 all of those rich guys combined together. 188 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:21,000 Why much? She's gave out her poverty and 189 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:25,280 she put everything all that she had to live on. 190 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:31,120 You know, it's easy to give out of your abundance. 191 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:35,120 It's easy to give when you have a lot. 192 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,480 It's easy to flex, it's easy to pay for things, it's easy to pay 193 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:40,960 for people. It's easy. 194 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:46,400 It's it's it's very simple. But the way that God describes 195 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:51,840 generosity is when you give sacrificially, what does it look 196 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:57,280 like to give a man that loved money more than anything and 197 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,520 wasn't willing to give that piece up to follow Jesus? 198 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:06,240 And look what we look at today. Today we're looking at man. 199 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,680 What does it look like to give sacrificially? 200 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:15,280 What does that look like to us? It's not the size of the gift, 201 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,200 but it's the sacrifice of the gift that honors the Lord. 202 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,520 When we talk about sacrificial giving, because we have to 203 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:25,520 understand, like memory, but what does that look like? 204 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:28,720 Because some of us have the mentality of like, man, I give a 205 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,840 lot. I get a lot of my materials, my 206 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,600 time, all that stuff. But listen, there's a motive 207 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:39,040 that comes with that that Jesus points out like he highlights 208 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,800 it. So I want to just talk a little 209 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:46,400 bit about sacrificial giving, and then we'll be out. 210 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:51,160 So #1 why sacrificial giving? Because sacrificial giving 211 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:56,000 aligns with the heart of God. If you want to know what what 212 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,760 God expects and what God requires of us, if you want to 213 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,640 know how to please the Lord, it's all about giving 214 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:06,640 sacrificially to Him. God is the greatest giver. 215 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:12,000 John 316 For God so loved the world that he what gave his only 216 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,080 begotten Son. God gave his Son sacrificially 217 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,040 to us. Jesus gave his life as a 218 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:22,320 sacrifice to us. So whenever we do sacrificially, 219 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,440 it aligns with His heart. Getting sacrificially is not 220 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,240 easy. It it, it requires us to trust 221 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:32,840 the Lord in ways that we've never trusted him. 222 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,160 There's been times I know in my life, just as an example, 223 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,440 especially when it's time for our mission trip, where we feel 224 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,120 like I know Rach and I discuss this all the time, but we feel 225 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,400 like, man, we don't know how it's going to how we're going to 226 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,920 be able to fly this year. We don't know both and and and 227 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,360 listen, those conversations started going out the door 228 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,640 because then we started asking the a different type of 229 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,880 question, which is what type of sacrifice in order to do what 230 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:02,520 God has asked me to. And a lot of us question guys 231 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,360 ask because our comfort is being attacked. 232 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,440 So if God is telling us to do something, we got to be obedient 233 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:13,600 to us. So the question is not how can 234 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,520 I? The question is, let's do it. 235 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,960 What do I have to adjust in my life so that way I can be 236 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:21,720 obedient to what God's called me to? 237 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,600 That means that I had to sacrifice some things. 238 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:29,720 So sacrifice is more than just money. 239 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:31,800 Sacrifice is time for some of us. 240 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,480 Sacrifice is is time with friends, family, whatever that 241 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,600 looks like. God honors it, and God honors it 242 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:40,600 because it aligns with His heartbeat. 243 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:43,920 We need to align with God's heart. 244 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:48,640 It's about giving what we have to the Lord with the right 245 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:54,480 intention. You see, The thing is, if Jeff 246 00:14:54,480 --> 00:15:00,200 Bezos gave $10 million, that's not going to hurt him. 247 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,960 That's a lot of money though. But listen, that's a drop in the 248 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,080 bucket for Jeff Bezos. That's not a sacrifice for him. 249 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,600 That's a tax write off. Now, Jeffrey, you're watching 250 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,240 this man. Go to our website. 251 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:16,240 Just drop this text. We'll help. 252 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:19,680 But it's not a sacrifice for him. 253 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,920 It's easy. That's nothing for him but a 254 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:28,360 single mom, a single dad who's working a job or two that 255 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,280 decides to give to the Lord and decides to help somebody buy 256 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,440 some clothes. Lord, I don't know if I should 257 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:37,320 be doing this, but God, I'm going to trust you. 258 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,360 And I'm doing this because you've asked me to. 259 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:46,200 That's sacrificial giving. And it's hard, but it's what the 260 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,600 Lord requires. So he aligns with his heartbeat. 261 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:54,760 For #2 Generosity is not measured by the amount, but 262 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,840 it's, but it's measured by the sacrifice. 263 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,960 The way that God views generosity is not by how much or 264 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,120 the tide that you did, it's by the sacrifice. 265 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:09,800 It's what cost you. That's the generosity that God 266 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,960 mentioned as Jesus is in the temple courts. 267 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,120 He says nothing about the fellas dropping tons of money into the 268 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,680 temple. He doesn't even notice them. 269 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:24,560 He notices her to the point where he calls the disciples and 270 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:28,040 says, listen, this lady gave more than all of these cats in 271 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:33,520 this one room combined because she gave out of her poverty. 272 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:38,640 You know that text in verse 44 where it says that she gave all 273 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:42,360 she had with that signifies in the Greek language in the 274 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:47,000 terminology is that she gave everything and she's not going 275 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,160 to be able to eat until she gets more. 276 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,280 So her coming to the temple and her heart for God was to the 277 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,600 point of Lord, I don't know when my next meal is coming, but I 278 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:02,640 trust you and I want to give to you guys that that's generosity 279 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,760 in God's eyes. It's not about how much it's, 280 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:08,800 it's about the sacrifice. What is it costing us? 281 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,720 And the Lord sees that many of us got this thing twisted 282 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,119 because many of us are so, so focused on the amount and what 283 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,280 it looks like to everybody else. And God says, I don't care about 284 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:21,480 that. What does it cost you? 285 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:26,880 Where's your heart about it? That's what the Lord loves to 286 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:31,240 see. And #3 #3 this is a little bit 287 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,200 of a long one, but I want to understand this here, right? 288 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:39,800 So God gets more glory from a person that gives little but 289 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:44,400 sacrifices much than a person that gives much but sacrifices 290 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,920 little. So Jesus is pointing this woman 291 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:50,640 out. He's like, man, she's giving 292 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:52,520 away more. Why? 293 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,000 Not? Just because of our heart 294 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,880 posture, not because of her intention, but because the Lord 295 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:04,240 is glorified in her act. And listen, when God gets the 296 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:09,920 glory, get ready for a shift. God is going to get it, getting 297 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:14,200 the glory here in all of this. And many of us kind of have it 298 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,960 backwards. And listen, God is more pleased 299 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,600 when God gets that generosity. God says, man, I'm more pleased 300 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,480 by someone that has sacrificed a lot but yet has given a little 301 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:28,040 than someone who has given a ton but sacrificed nothing. 302 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,920 Man, God is looking at that. He's like man, I, I find glory 303 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:36,040 in this, like this is aligning with my heart. 304 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,440 This, I, I see your heart as well. 305 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,440 This is what it looks like. Jesus, the number 4, the spirit 306 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,000 of giving determines the value of the gift more than the 307 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,400 amount. So what does that mean for us? 308 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:52,680 So God's getting the glory. So that means that our mentality 309 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:57,320 in giving needs to shift because when you give sacrificially, you 310 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,120 don't come to God all mad about it. 311 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,760 Second Corinthians talks about how God loves a cheerful giver. 312 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,840 Listen, this poor widow came to give her two mites and she 313 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,080 wasn't upset about it. She wasn't sad about it. 314 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,280 The Bible says that when Jesus observed her, she went straight 315 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,000 to the boxes and dropped them in there like it was no like 316 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,160 nothing, like another day. She knew exactly what she came 317 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,480 to do. And listen for us, our spirit, 318 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,880 the way that we need to see giving, the way that that we 319 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,560 need to align our hearts is that Lord, this gift that I'm about 320 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:38,720 to give you, the value of it is not who cares about the amount? 321 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,600 It's the value that God wants to look at. 322 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,760 So our spirit needs to be the spirit of, yes, I'm giving 323 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,520 sacrificially. Yes, Lord, I'm trusting you. 324 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,160 But because it's you, I am more than happy to do it. 325 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,360 This is for my God. This is the God that always 326 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:02,760 provided for me that's going to take care of me and the God 327 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:08,480 that's going to guide my steps. Listen, God doesn't want you to 328 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,000 grab like grudgingly give money to him. 329 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,440 He doesn't want your guilt money. 330 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:16,760 He doesn't want your like little attitude when it comes to money. 331 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:21,400 God does not care for that. God loves a cheerful and listen 332 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:27,560 if your attitude is 1 of. Anger and hate or one of of self 333 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,920 motivation. Listen, just keep your money in 334 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,760 your pocket. You got to understand something. 335 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,760 God doesn't need anything. He's the creator of all things, 336 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:39,800 but he allows us to join an alignment his work. 337 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,280 And what God is saying is that giving is not for me, it's for 338 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,600 you. It's showing that you trust me 339 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,000 and you're being obedient to me. Come into our brother. 340 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,800 Juan talked about how obedience is key. 341 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,920 So when we give, we do it with a joyful heart. 342 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:58,480 We do it with a heart of gratitude. 343 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,760 We do it even though it scares us, knowing that we can trust 344 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:12,120 God and that's what it shows us. You know, Second Samuel 2424 345 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,240 surpasses. As I was studying this, I ran 346 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:20,520 across, I love this passage as we're talking about David 347 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,880 refused to give God something that does not cost him. 348 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,320 It's like this, this, this probably like gave David 349 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,040 something and David actually like said no to it. 350 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,440 He says, no, I insist on paying for it. 351 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,320 I will not sacrifice to the Lord my burnt offerings. 352 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:42,720 That does not cost me anything. Even David, he, he's like, no, 353 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,720 no, if it doesn't cost me anything, he's not going to 354 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,960 honor the Lord. And listen, what's going to cost 355 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:55,240 you following Jesus? Everything, it's going to cost 356 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:57,720 you. And listen, if following Jesus 357 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,760 has not cost you anything, then you're not following Christ. 358 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,160 You've got to follow him. It's going to cost you. 359 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,560 David is like, Nah, it has to cost me because it's going to 360 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,840 honor the Lord this way. And the tragedy is that some of 361 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:17,600 us will will never truly surrender areas of our life to 362 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,720 give to God. You see the thing with this 363 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,960 story, the reason Jesus is pointing this lady out, it's not 364 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,600 about the two mites. It's not about giving 365 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,400 financially. He's seeing like this is the 366 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,280 heart of God. This is what glorifies God. 367 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,040 This is what pleases God is when you give everything. 368 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:42,680 And what God requires of us is that we give everything who we 369 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,120 are to him. We surrender our lives to him. 370 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,800 We say, Lord, take all of it, take everything God, do whatever 371 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:51,960 you want with. And the tragic part is that 372 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,600 there's going to be many of us in this room that are going to 373 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,920 hold on to certain things. And there's going to be many of 374 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,520 us that let go of certain things. 375 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,600 But you're truly not going to understand the like the, the 376 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,920 magnitude of truly stepping into obedience with God, with God 377 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:13,200 until you let it all go. So this widow made this awesome 378 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:17,560 contribution. Maybe the scribes took her 379 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,200 property, maybe they took her house, never know. 380 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,240 But what we do know is that Jesus points around and says, 381 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:29,760 I'm pleased with this, which gives me to love #5 whatever we 382 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,920 give sacrificially to God, he sees it and he's pleased. 383 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:41,960 This is really important, so important because many of us, if 384 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,040 we're honest with ourselves, we want to do stuff in Jesus name, 385 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:50,840 but not for his family. So we'll pull the name of Jesus 386 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,400 out and we'll try to get stuff for us. 387 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,360 And what Jesus says is I'm seeing this and it looks like 388 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:01,480 you're sacrificing a lot. It looks like it, but the truth 389 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,760 is it's not for you. I mean, it's not for me, it's 390 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,720 for you. And honestly, guys, we we see 391 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,400 this in our culture, we see it in the political realm, we see 392 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,240 the entertainment, we see business, we see media. 393 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,440 And sometimes the name of Jesus is good for business. 394 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:20,160 Sometimes the name of Jesus is good for politics. 395 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,440 Sometimes the name of Jesus is good for a careers. 396 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:28,000 And God is looking at that and, and Gods like that is not 397 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,040 sacrificially giving. Your motives are off, your heart 398 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,920 is off. I'm not pleased. 399 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,080 But when we approach the throne of God, when we give 400 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,240 sacrificially in our hearts aligned with his heart, he's 401 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,520 going to look at that and he says, yes, that's what I'm 402 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,520 pleased with, which begs me to ask the question. 403 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,440 And this kind of got me into a little. 404 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:54,600 Can we go a little bit deeper? So my question is then like, how 405 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:59,440 do we know that God is pleased with our sacrificial giving? 406 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,640 Because many of us might sit in this room and be like, oh 407 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:04,560 really? I feel like I've sacrificed a 408 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,240 lot. I feel like I've given my time 409 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:10,640 to this. I feel like I did this for 410 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,880 Jesus, but I don't sense anything. 411 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,520 I think the answer is in verse 41. 412 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:23,280 How do I know that God is pleased with my sacrificial 413 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:28,240 giving? Look at Jesus response when he 414 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,600 looks at the lady giving sacrificially the first thing he 415 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:37,600 does in verse 41 they're doing that's that's a hard clip of 416 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,240 swaddle for some of us because some of us we're trying to do 417 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,960 things for Christ and nothing is happening and maybe, maybe, just 418 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:45,920 maybe your heart is off. We're honest with each other 419 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,800 because the Bible also says that this when the Son of Man is 420 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,280 lifted up, he draws people toward himself. 421 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,320 And what Jesus does is when he sees this lady giving her 422 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,480 sacrifices, the first thing he does is he calls his disciples 423 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:07,480 to, to show them what it looks like to align yourself with the 424 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,160 heart of God. He calls them to him, not so 425 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,440 they can learn, but he's going to draw. 426 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,680 So how do I know that what I'm doing is pleasing to the Lord? 427 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,240 Jesus is going to draw people toward it. 428 00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:24,520 It's going to come, but on the flip side, how do I know that 429 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,440 maybe what I'm doing is not pleasing crickets. 430 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:31,640 It's going to be difficult. It's not going to work. 431 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:36,640 It's going to be vacant. God knows the the motive and the 432 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,720 heart behind everything that we do. 433 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:45,920 And we could approach something with the name of Jesus, but 434 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:50,120 underneath all that is that we want our fame and our name and 435 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,120 our renown to be risen up and not his. 436 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:56,560 And so I'm saying that really, that's not fair because I need, 437 00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:00,160 no, it is because you're not the one that created the world and 438 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,080 you're not the one that died on the cross. 439 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,320 He's the only one that's worthy of praise and worship, not you. 440 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:09,760 So you don't get to be in that picture. 441 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:16,280 But when God gets the glory in something, you get splashed with 442 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,240 it. So how do we know that it's 443 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:23,440 pleasing to God? God draws people to it, which 444 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:24,800 these go to. How do we know it's pleasing to 445 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,160 God? He points it out. 446 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:28,320 You see what he do with that Lady? 447 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,320 He didn't just cause the cycle storm, but he said look, look, 448 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,640 look at this. He's pointing it out. 449 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,160 He doesn't talk about the rich guys dumping the money and the 450 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,400 buckets and their trumpets. He doesn't talk much about them. 451 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,400 His focus is on her. So he pulls people in and then 452 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,760 he points it out and says, look at what she's doing, what we 453 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:53,400 call that his favor. God puts his favor on it and 454 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:58,440 favor does not mean financial favor means that it thrives and 455 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,560 it grows. So God is like, man, come here, 456 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,040 everybody check this out. Or do you say like, come here, 457 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,120 check this out, look, look at what they're doing. 458 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:07,880 Look at what this person is doing. 459 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,560 He's putting his favor. Jesus is saying, I approve of 460 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,440 this. I love this, this is great. 461 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,120 And then the last thing, how do we know continual impact? 462 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,560 We don't know what came of the woman. 463 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:25,680 The Bible doesn't talk about that. 464 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,680 What about memories does it look like to give sacrificially? 465 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,400 How do we know that Jesus is pleased with it? 466 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,520 And we saw what that looks like, But also, what does that mean 467 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,160 for us? Is it really about money? 468 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,720 Is it really about money? Let's go to Romans chapter 12. 469 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:53,200 Let's take it one more step. Romans 12 one with this versus 470 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:59,120 1, one and two. So what does that mean for us? 471 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:03,000 How do I give sacrificially? What does the Lord require of 472 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,600 me? First one. 473 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,960 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's 474 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:17,560 mercy, to offer your bodies as what living sacrifice, holy and 475 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,760 pleasing to God. This is your true and proper 476 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,680 worship. Do not conform to the pattern of 477 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:27,320 this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 478 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,800 Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, 479 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,800 His good, pleasing and perfect will. 480 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,760 What does God require of us? How do we give sacrificially, 481 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,840 not just material wise? Listen, the way you give 482 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,280 sacrificially is you give your whole entire life to Him. 483 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,840 That's the sacrifice. And when you give, he says, men 484 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:56,320 make your bodies an offering as a living sacrifice that is 485 00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:00,720 pleasing and holy to the Lord. So then how do I know? 486 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,280 How do I know? Look what it says. 487 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,000 It says don't be conformed to the pattern of this world, but 488 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,280 be transformed. How do I know that I've given 489 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,520 sacrificially? How do I know that I've given my 490 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,560 whole entire life to Christ? It says it in verse 2. 491 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:18,320 If I'm conforming to the things of this world that I am not 492 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:22,680 truly 100% given my life over to Christ, but if I'm being 493 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:26,080 transformed by the renewing of my mind, that means that God is 494 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:31,920 doing a work in me. So if I'm being fooled more to 495 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:36,080 the things of this world, if my life is being guided more to the 496 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,440 things of this world, there might be some things that I have 497 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:44,240 not given to God yet. My sacrifice has not been 498 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,120 percent. There's still some things 499 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:48,680 holding on. Why? 500 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,360 Because of my lean, I'm leaning I'm being conformed to this 501 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,440 world. But once I began becoming 502 00:30:55,440 --> 00:31:00,720 transformed by the renewing of my mind, then I'm able to say 503 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:03,880 that I gave my life sacrificially to hood. 504 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,640 But Jesus, it's not one thing or another. 505 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,600 It's not both. You have to pick and then it 506 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,960 says this, this is crazy. Then you will be able to test 507 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:20,680 and approve what God's will is. Many of us that are meandering 508 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:22,680 through this world trying to figure out how, how, how to 509 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:27,520 manage light. What are you being conformed to 510 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,560 things of this world? If you're being conformed to 511 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:33,920 things of this world, you're not going to be able to test God's 512 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,000 perfect will for your life. So you're just going to be 513 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,160 walking in circles. Hello Israelites. 514 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,320 But if you're being transformed by the renewing of your mind, if 515 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,080 you said, Lord, I want you to take my life, use it how you 516 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,560 wanted that I surrender it all and God begins to work on your 517 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,400 heart, your mind. If he gets to transform man, 518 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,320 things are going to be able to be seen more clearly in your 519 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,880 life. Your identity is going to start 520 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:00,880 coming up to the top. Like I know exactly what I 521 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,120 belong to. I don't have to be a slave of my 522 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,200 sin anymore. I know exactly like, like man, I 523 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:11,080 want to follow God and God's going to show me where to go, 524 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,320 what to do. He's going to open doors for me. 525 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,040 He's going to show me like money to like things in your life. 526 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,280 You're going to be able to test and you're going to want to see 527 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,800 his perfect will in your life. But you got to choose. 528 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,840 Are you going to be continually conformed to the think patterns 529 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:29,480 of this world, or are you transformed by the reason of 530 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,720 your mind, which only comes through true surrender? 531 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,920 It's sacrificial giving of yourself to him. 532 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,960 And in verse 3, and we're done for by grace giving me. 533 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:45,160 I say to everyone of you, do not think yourself more highly than 534 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:48,920 you are, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in 535 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:53,040 accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 536 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,720 Don't think that you're all that in a bag of chips because you're 537 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:03,840 not. God's grace on your life says 538 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:08,600 that I'm able to transform you by the renewing of your mind 539 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,240 because you gave yourself. It's just because you have 540 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,240 Christ in you does not make you any better than anybody else. 541 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:19,920 It just makes you sane. And what you want to do is not 542 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:25,000 boast or not be not bragging, that what you want to do now is 543 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,360 look at somebody who doesn't have it and say, man, let me 544 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,480 share this with you. It changed my life and it's 545 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:37,040 going to change yours as well. Come on, man. 546 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:41,520 So my hope for you to hear today is that you have the heart to 547 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:45,160 give of yourself, Not just give sacrificially to the Lord, but 548 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,040 align your heart, align your motives. 549 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,000 Say, Lord, I don't know what you're calling me to, but I'm 550 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,640 willing to sacrifice for it because it's going to bring you 551 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,000 glory and you're going to be pleased with it. 552 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,680 But I also know what it looks like now to give sacrificially 553 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:06,240 because of what Jesus did, but also I give my life to you so 554 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,800 that way my life could be transformed by the removal of my 555 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,719 mind and my heart. You're going to cover me with 556 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,600 your grace, so I don't go around thinking I'm all that. 557 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,400 That way I'm able to bring people to the same place that I 558 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,199 am, which is a relationship with Christ. 559 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:23,080 Don't pray for us.