We all want control in life. We want to believe we’re in charge of what’s going on. But the truth is that the world is out of control. But we know the one who’s in control, and we can choose to see life’s situations like he does. In week 4 of our series Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems, Pastor Charles Metcalf teaches us how giving can help us take our view off of ourselves and see the world as God does.
[Applause]
[Music]
transformation church
hello hello hello
now listen don’t cheer for me can you
make some noise for the king of kings
the lord of lords jehovah jireh
the beginning and the end
[Music]
welcome welcome welcome we’re so glad
you’re here today in the room you can
grab a seat man welcome to church today
we’re so glad you’re here
and uh man i am man i just love i love
being a part of a church that um is
actually making a difference in the
world and um sometimes you know we can
get
so familiar with church uh and so
familiar with what god is doing that you
forget that it’s an actual miracle
and uh you know just like the children
of israel there was a time where they
were in the desert and the thing that
god blessed them with actually slowly
became the thing that they complained
about
and what a shame for uh the blessing to
somehow become a burden
and i think a lot of times uh the
enemy’s temptation is to be that the
thing you prayed for the kids you prayed
for the marriage you prayed for the
house you prayed for the car you prayed
for to be sitting in the very thing you
prayed for and to be questioning god
where are you
and uh i just made a decision i was
driving in uh to church this morning and
i just made a decision that i’m just
always gonna be grateful like
and sometimes you know we get in moments
like this and we need like i’m ready for
a word um first thessalonians it talks
about in chapter 5 it says rejoice
rejoice always pray without ceasing and
give god thanks at all times
and then this is the crazy part of the
scripture so many of us we wonder like
what’s the will of god for my life
what’s the will of god you know what
that scripture says this is the will of
god for your life
the will of god is to rejoice pray and
be grateful for what you got
and i just think sometimes we over
complicate this thing there’s a reason
god said if you don’t come to me like a
child
that’s because children need to be
taught just be grateful i was walking in
the parking lot the other day and um we
have three little babies and uh anytime
i see another parent with kids i just
stop i’m like you’re amazing you’re
doing so good god loves you i love like
i do it all the time you could ask i
will people be a moms would be going
through the airport and i’m like you got
this you’re a champ like just because i
need that encouragement sometimes so i
just try to be that for other people but
i saw this mom and literally she’s
walking and she said you know what
kennedy you have an opportunity to be
very grateful today
you got to do things that other people
don’t get to do and i was like oh my
gosh like kennedy will you be grateful
like this is
but i felt like literally i was just
walking to my car and overheard this mom
say that to her and i felt the holy
spirit say the same thing to me
charles you’ve got an opportunity to be
very grateful today
you get to do a lot of things people
don’t get to do yeah
you know one of those things is for some
people that sounds intense but some
people didn’t wake up today
and sometimes we forget the regular
stuff like you weren’t you didn’t say
all right lungs start breathing and wake
up okay boom
you didn’t
but god saw it fit
for you to wake up today
and i just i’m just gonna make a
decision i’m gonna be grateful for the
fact that i’m here is anybody glad that
you’re here come on you didn’t think you
was gonna make it here i didn’t know if
i was gonna but i’m here thank you
thank you god listen i love our church
so much i love our pastors so do you
love our pastors pastors michael and
natalie todd we have some of the best
pastors in the world and i love our
church and me and pastor say something
all the time is that man we want to be a
part of and help lead and build a church
that we would want to come to like not
because we’re pastors here but it’s
because man we love this church and um i
pray that you are a part of a church and
i didn’t say just transformation church
if you are a part of tc i pray that you
love it so much that you would actually
want to invite people like that’s
genuinely my prayer because what is the
point of being a part of something that
you’re not excited for other people to
experience like this is a genuine thing
like this week i kind of went crazy i’m
not gonna lie my wife is like what is
wrong with you literally i was going cra
anybody i saw was like yo you want to
come to church you should come to church
like seriously you should i was writing
on every receipt literally every tuesday
night me and abby we go to this
restaurant for date night every day
every tuesday is date night and uh
listen spouses if you’re not if you
stopped dating when you got married you
played yourself don’t ever stop dating
your spouse that’s one of the first
things pm told me pastor michael told me
when i sat down with him we were
starting a church and uh i had questions
about leadership and he was like when’s
the last time you took abby on a date i
was like when’s the last time you
brushed your teeth i don’t know like i
was saying i didn’t i just i got
offended when i get offended i just cut
that’s all i know how to do um but i but
since then we never missed date night
and literally this tuesday i was like
i’m literally trying i’m trying to get
the whole kitchen staff and there are
two of them are here what’s up hello
yes
i’m trying to get the whole staff
and yet they’re like i’m never i’m
literally never coming back and i’m
going to spend your food because this is
so no
best restaurant in total we go every
tuesday night but i i say that because i
actually love this place so much i want
people to experience it and my prayer is
that if you are a part of this church or
maybe you’re like maybe you’re not
excited enough to invite people to find
a church that you are like and that’s
crazy no pastor will get up and tell you
go find another church but if there is a
church that you will actually invite
people to go to that church watch that
church i’m telling you because god is
not concerned with building a church he
is concerned with building the church so
if it’s this church another church find
somewhere that you’re passionate about
that you love listen i just i love our
church so much and my prayer is that we
would find ourselves in a place where we
realize god has done so much in our life
that’s what i think and i keep getting
stuck on this grateful thing but i can’t
not
uh
invite people to something that has
changed me
like this has actually changed me
literally it’s i’m way out of order in
my sermon but like there was something
old in church that you you just sit
there and tell your testimony like it’d
be testimony time and you just come up
to the front and be like hello first i’d
like to give glory to god who’s the
who’s the head of my life
but i this is crazy but um in 2020
anybody have an incredible 20 20 anybody
because i was gonna say i had a bad one
and i was like oh come on pastor tommy
he’s the only brother i know that was
like he ain’t never had a bad day um
unfortunately that was not me in 2020.
um
no there was a moment
and i’m sharing this for someone who
needs to hear this um
there was a moment
as
one of the executive pastors of
transformation church
during the pandemic where i was um
i was curled up under my desk
nobody was in the office we were doing
work from home
i was breaking the rules and going up to
the office
um
and
there was a moment where i was like i
don’t know if i can do this anymore
like i really
i really
i just i don’t know
and some of you
for reasons that maybe i don’t
understand that maybe i have an
experience you find yourself at a place
where you say you know i don’t know if i
could do this anymore
and i’m telling you i’m telling you
god loves you so much
like i can’t even explain it to you like
i could i could sit here and talk for
three hours and never even scratch the
surface of how much god cares about you
but from someone who was ready to take
his own life not because of any other
thing but i just didn’t know i wasn’t
sure and there are moments regardless of
how long you’ve been following jesus
regardless of how much bible you read
how much prayer you have there are times
where you just need a reminder that god
loves you that he sees you and i’m still
here so the fact that i’m still here i
need to tell you that god loves you he
has a plan for your life you will live
and not die come on there is a plan on
the inside of you and when you stand up
and testify that devil you thought you
had me you thought you were gonna take
me out but i’m still
here
you can’t tell me you can’t tell me
god’s not real
and uh i just i made a decision that
every single day that i wake up
i’m going to remind myself
it wasn’t always like this
it wasn’t always like this but god has
been good has god been good to anybody
this morning
well hey listen we’re going to jump uh
into the service today are you guys
ready for the word
ready for the word i got my stool which
means it’s gonna get serious
um it’s gonna get serious listen um i
spent a lot of time on this message
going back and forth on a couple of
different titles uh i did this i went to
go speak at this one thing and i
literally hadn’t landed on the title yet
and so i was like i’m just gonna let
them choose so i was just like title one
two or three and then they chose the one
i liked the least and so uh i was gonna
do that today but you know we got like
we’re an actual church and we can’t just
make stuff up on the spot so um but i’m
gonna read um two big chunks of
scripture today i couldn’t let this is
one thing i couldn’t land on which one i
wanted to read and so i was like hey
this is the church we can just read the
bible all day so i got two big chunks of
scripture we’re going to read proverbs
11. um i’m going to read it out of the
passion translation uh this
y’all sponsored by passion translation
yeah passion translation
okay all right that was so odd that was
just like y’all got more excited for
that than when i said shout for the king
of kings they were like yeah passion
translation um okay anyways
sorry that just she genuinely caught me
off guard i’m so glad you love your
bible though that’s awesome um okay
proverbs 11 starting in verse 23 uh this
is what the bible says true lovers of
god
are filled with longings for what is
pleasing and good
but the wicked can only expect doom
generosity brings prosperity
but withholding from charity brings
poverty
those who live to bless others will have
blessing heaped upon them
and the one who pours out his life to
pour out blessing will be saturated with
favor
people will curse the businessman with
no ethics but the one with social
conscience receives praise from all
live your life seeking what is good for
others brings untold favor
but those who wish evil for others will
find it coming back on them keep
trusting in your riches and you’ll go
down but the lovers of god will rise up
like flowers in the spring
verse 30 it says a life
lived loving god
bears fruit bears lasting fruit for the
one who is truly wise wins
souls listen that’s just too i literally
just had to read it because it was so
good i was like ah we’ll just throw it
in there so now i need you to turn to
luke chapter 10 luke chapter 10 um is
where we’re going to be today let me
find it yeah luke chapter 10 and uh
we’re going to read a common story in
the bible uh it’s the parable of the
good samaritan if you don’t know the
story um it’s it’s very popular in
teachings and in christianity and we’re
going to teach from that as our
foundational scripture today i’m going
to read this give it a little context
jesus is talking to people and he’s like
hey here’s the greatest commandment you
need to love the lord your god with all
your soul your heart soul and your mind
and then love your neighbor as yourself
and then a petty guy walks up and uh
he’s like well technically you know who
technically is my neighbor you know what
i’m saying like because like you know do
i live next to my neighbor is it like
what like he’s just asking a very
low-ended question and so jesus does a
great thing he doesn’t even answer the
dumb question he’s just like you don’t
even understand what you’re talking
about i’m just going to tell you a story
and this is the story jesus says jesus
replied with the story a jewish man was
traveling from jerusalem
back to jericho
he was attacked by bandits they stripped
him of his clothes beat him up and left
him half dead beside the road
by chance a priest came along but when
he saw the man lying there he crossed to
the other side of the road and passed by
him a temple assistant walked over
looked at him lying there but he also
passed by
then a despised samaritan
came along
and when he saw the man he felt
compassion go over going over to him the
samaritan soothed his wounds with olive
oil and wine he bandaged them then he
put the man on his own donkey and took
him to an end where he took care of him
the next day he handed the innkeeper
silver two silver coins telling him take
care of this man
if his bill runs higher than this i’ll
pay you the next time i’m here
now which one of these is jesus talking
he says now which one of these three
would you say was a neighbor to the man
who was attacked by bandits the man
replied
the one who showed him mercy jesus said
now go
and do
the same
i want to take a moment to pray before
we jump into the word would you pray
with me wherever you are lord god we
love you so much
thank you for loving us thank you for
caring about us thank you for being so
intimately involved in the details of
our life um you are such a big god yet
you stoop low to concern yourself with
things honestly that you don’t have to
um but you do it because of how much you
care about us lord i pray in these next
few moments that your word would bring
peace it would bring clarity you bring
insight but i get out of the way so that
you can have your way it’s in jesus name
we pray and everybody said
amen um so i uh in sixth grade i went on
a field trip to disney world anybody’s
been to disney world disney world hello
six people this is gonna work great all
right um i went to disney world in sixth
grade and i gotta give you a little
context in sixth grade i was really
short like and some of you are like
you’re still really short well you know
what be quiet um
i i went to um no that’s one of the
worst things when i meet people they’re
like wow you are and i think they’re
gonna say like a lot better looking in
person or something and they’re like a
lot shorter than i thought you were and
i’m like
well
whatever okay um but i was really short
in sixth grade super insecure about it
so insecure i would um i would literally
stuff i don’t know if you can see this
on the camera maybe a different i’m
about to show my foot you know here’s
holy um but i would stuff my shoe like i
don’t do it anymore you know i went to
counseling but about it but i would
stuff my shoe with like eight to ten
insoles i’m not lying i would buy like a
shoe that was two sizes too big then put
like eight insoles in it and my foot
would sit like you couldn’t really see
it but it was like right on the edge
like you when i had long pants on you
couldn’t tell but if you lifted my shirt
my foot was sitting like this like just
barely on like it was so bad yeah see to
get the camera shot you know here’s holy
uh but the it was so bad i was so
insecure how i legit was like how tall i
was like four
like six four seven like actually like
are you gonna like get any taller type
short or so anyways but i was doing this
at disney world going to all the tall
rides and i was like in my high heel
nike shocks you know and i was like
like just trying to act regular and i
got through like a lot of lines it
worked so well but then i would get and
obviously they have these height things
for a reason because i would get and the
thing wouldn’t click all the way down so
it’d be like
and i’d be like okay here we go and then
literally over every hill i would like
be floating up out of my seat and then
i’m thinking of all the stories my
grandmother told me he’s like do you
hear about that lady that flew out at
six flags and like
so anyways i go up to a line and i like
got my high heel shocks on nike shocks
anybody have nike shots shout out come
on now uh i have my high heel shocks on
and they’re literally like wait a second
sir could you take off your shoes and
i’m like why don’t you take on my shoes
bro what you mean and literally i was
just like actually i got to go to the
bathroom and i just left i didn’t even
like i was like i’m not about to get
embarrassed for all these people so
my teacher uh my teacher and this other
short kid come up to me and they’re like
hey there’s a ride we can go ride like
it’s gonna be awesome the other kid was
like i’ve come here all the time you
know like when you got friends that are
really rich and it’s like well cool you
come here all the time so he’s like i
come here all the time trust me this is
the best ride ever and i’m like all
right whatever like
i just want to make it clear that i’m
not short like you like i was trying to
like distance myself
anyways
we get to the ride we stand there for an
hour because that’s what you do at
disney you pay thousands of dollars to
wait in lines
and um we sit in the line and then we
get there’s like this little boat
and you know when like you’re getting on
a water ride and like the seats wet and
so it’s just like hot water on your butt
so it’s like it’s just like
like is he gonna preach i will just
trust me i’m gonna get there um
jesus told stories come on this is part
of it so i’m sitting in the seat and we
go through these big gates and there’s
like all these little like miniature
like people they’re like no no no no no
no no no and i’m like what is happening
like it’s like i was so like and he’s
like isn’t this awesome man like is it
just so cool and they’re like talking to
all these different languages like in
german and in mandarin
like i don’t know like and i’m like i
don’t know what this ride is but i don’t
um some of you know it was the ride it’s
a small world has anybody heard of this
ride raise your hand it’s a small world
come on it’s it’s a small world after
all is this my word
like okay so
it was i hated it it was the worst i was
like i’m never trusting you again timmy
like you i knew i shouldn’t have trusted
you but this ride is actually i looked
it up this week it’s the most successful
ride disney has ever had
it’s a small world the song came out uh
was written in 1963 the production of
the song was overseen by walt disney
himself like he made sure he wanted a
song that could be easily translated to
a lot of different languages so that
when people would come to their parks
they would feel like if you didn’t
understand anything else you could ride
this ride and you would feel connected
and this ride is at every single disney
world disneyland around the world you
can go to uh disney hong kong and it’s
gonna be
like it’s just that’s the ride and um
i looked it up this song is the most
widely performed and translated song
ever like of any song ever translated or
performed into small and i was like
really not in the club by 50 cent like i
just felt like
that would have been i that would be the
song i want translated to every language
but uh
not really probably really bad um
but i was thinking about it and i was
like really it’s a small world like
that’s the most like famous thing ever
and i realized that the popularity of
this ride and this song
it kind of reveals like a subconscious
principle of humans
and this is we love a small world
[Music]
we
like love
a small world you say pastor charles
what do you mean um well when we we
don’t have a small world what we love is
control
what we love i’m about to preach what we
love
is control
and the only way to control something
that is out of your control
is to make it smaller
therefore
we
love like are so in love with the small
world because we love control
we’re all born with this stuff how many
of you just be honest you love control
put your hands in the air don’t lie we
in church i’m not gonna look at you but
somebody over in this direction you
ain’t raising your head no
we love
control
we love to control people think about us
we love to control somebody trying to
control your spouse look what you gonna
wear that really that’s what you wear
okay yeah go ahead that looks great yeah
go ahead some of you try to control um
how people think about you how they
perceive you try to control your kids
come on with kids don’t let your kids
get out of control goodness we in that
stage where they just get out of control
and i just be like yeah what’d you say
huh you’re who’s that i don’t know who
that kid is i don’t never seen him
before no um but we love control
and because of our need for control the
only option is is to make our world
smaller
now you have to understand control is
always an illusion like you know you’re
not ever in control like
some of you some of you need to say i
cannot
control
everything
some of y’all didn’t say everything some
of y’all stopped you always like i
cannot they’re like wait a second i
think i actually can though but
you can’t you can’t control everything
that’s just we know that like you can
live for two seconds and know the world
is out of control
don’t let anything get and that’s the
big thing don’t let anything ever get
out of control like all of life is
trying to keep everything under control
how you doing oh yeah just keeping
things under control you know holding it
down nothing’s getting too crazy you
know kids under control wife under
control bank account under control money
under control i’m saying just keep it
all in control we even love shows where
it’s about keeping things like in
control have you seen the uh tidying up
show with the lady that i don’t know her
name but like it’s like everything has a
place everything has a spot above if it
doesn’t bring you peace get rid of it
come on like you don’t even need it
but really that’s just a means of
control
it’s just a means of making sure
everything has its box everything fits
and everything works
and so many of us because of our need
for control
the only option is is when you live in a
small world as if it’s out of control
you you have to make adjustments to make
sure it’s in control
so what do you if you if you need
control and something’s out of control
what do you do well um you do what i did
in high school i played basketball in
high school and uh i actually
technically played in middle school
because i got too insecure and quit uh
because i’m so short again real life
trauma up here uh but i played
basketball i know you wouldn’t believe
it now but my wife can vouch i used to
be able to dunk i know i’m short but you
know i had bunnies so i don’t have those
anymore i jumped the other day and hurt
my leg um but
the only problem was is i couldn’t palm
a bass like i couldn’t palm a basketball
because my hand was too and so the only
issue is is before i would just when i
was really in shape i could just jump
higher to get above the rim you grip the
ball like this and that make me dumb so
what i would do is when people weren’t
looking um in pe i would grab um a girls
ball
and people couldn’t pay attention but i
could palm a girl’s ball
and to the naked eye it looked the same
so what many of us do
in a desire for control
is when nobody’s looking you settle for
something smaller
you just make you make your world a
little bit smaller you make your
perspective a little smaller you make
how you think about people a little bit
smaller you make what other categories
people and you just slowly keep and what
many of us do is eventually our world
end up looking like this
i’ve got so much control
but the only problem is
you have had to sacrifice the size of
your world to gain more control
you’ve had to sacrifice your wide view
of the world you’ve had to sacrifice
other people’s perception
you’ve had to sacrifice other people’s
view and here’s what a small world is a
small world is where the view is always
stuck on you
that’s what a small world is a small
world the reason i would go grab this
because i didn’t like how it made me
feel the fact that other people could do
something i didn’t do
so i settled for something smaller and
control will always have you settle for
something smaller this is why some of
you are in the relationships you’re in
because you couldn’t control the last
relationship so you settled for somebody
or some man you could control
so you
um this is a lot of people’s marriage
counseling but the reason you in that
relationship is not because god told you
to it’s because you feel like i could
control them
the reason you go to the church you go
to is because you feel like i can
control this situation if i do or don’t
give tithes they’ll have to change
something if i do or don’t
and many of us
in a means for control
we continue to make our world smaller
now here’s here’s my um
thing it’s honestly it’s not that big of
a deal i’m not mad at you for trying to
get control i’m really not i like
control everybody likes control
enneagram ones a little bit more than
everybody else but it’s not a big deal
hey bri um i’m just i’m joking
i’m joking that was not a punch that was
my best friend and it’s an enneagram
fact i’m just saying um
but
here’s the thing with control
um
control is not wrong maybe when you try
to do it in your world like i’m not even
mad at that the one thing though that
you have to realize
is um specifically christians
do you know god
is out of your control
now i just i have to say that because
everybody’s like yeah absolutely god is
out of my control no no no like you
cannot
control
god
god god is infinite god is like he is so
beyond your control and many of us don’t
realize it but not only do we try to
control our world but we try to control
god
now this stuff the reason you’re so
quiet because like i would never do that
i would never know but in in trying to
gain control and trying to make sense of
your world you not only make your world
smaller but you end up making your god
smaller
how do i know you’ve made god smaller
because you compare him to stuff that is
not even in the same category
[Applause]
here’s how we make god small we think
god is just a really good human being
that’s like how you think about it you
think god is just like the best kindest
person god’s nothing like humans
god is nothing not anything like isaiah
55 says it so as the heavens are above
the earth so my thoughts are above your
thoughts
and many of us don’t realize it but in a
desire for control you compare god to
stuff and then compartmentalize him so
you can make sense of how big he is
i just said a whole lot right there many
of us because of your desire for control
you compare god to things that allows
you to compartmentalize him so it makes
more sense in your world
what you don’t realize is you’re
settling for a small god
how do you make god small because many
of us we can’t comprehend that god is
justice and mercy
so you just pick one
because a god who’s both dead it makes
sense a god how does that fit in my box
you mean god loves people who murder and
people who are kind
yeah he does
see that just messed with some of you
you had you had trouble comprehending
that that god loves people in jail not
anymore or any less than he loves me
right now
but christians are famous for having a
small world and a small god because a
small god makes sense a god who’s just
angry at bad people makes sense a god
who only likes certain people like me
makes sense but i came to tell you god
is not here to make sense to you he is
here because he’s god he’s here because
he’s sovereign he’s here because one
word he spoke put the stars into
existence
the bible says in isaiah 66 that heaven
is his throne and the earth is his
footstool
he doesn’t think like you he doesn’t
think like me
and many of us we don’t realize it but
we’re living in such a small world in
such a small view of god
the only way
to maintain control is to keep making
your world and therefore your god
smaller yeah
so you think god is just
he god because i don’t associate with
that certain race god probably doesn’t
like
those type of people
really
that’s that’s not how god god says my
thoughts are not your thoughts
well god doesn’t like homosexuals as
much as he likes me
is that bible or is that just your
because that’s not what the bible says
well god i go here’s how here’s how we
make god smile you think god rolls his
eyes at people
god doesn’t get tired of people
you think god gives up on people god
doesn’t give up on people
you think god changes just like you
change but god is not subject to fickle
emotions god doesn’t change
you think god likes certain people more
than he does other people and let me
tell you baby god doesn’t love you more
than anybody else
[Applause]
he is god
and i came to challenge something um
that maybe isn’t talked about a lot in
church but i came to challenge your view
of the world
because i think a lot of people don’t
realize it but you’re living in a small
world
living in a world where the view is
always
on you it’s always about what you want
and what you want to do and how how you
want to go and it’s really this natural
desire to maintain control but what you
don’t realize is to keep that control
you have to eliminate other people’s
perspective
let me see give me the world real quick
i need i need the globe this is the
globe thank you so much
okay this is the world
and the world is out of our control i
can’t
you know hold on just
okay we got it all right so here’s the
world
and the right now the beautiful thing is
is i can see the world i can see all the
different perspectives i can see
everybody’s different view but many
times because well i can’t really
this isn’t convenient when you’re trying
to go to work
a view of the world that god loves me
just as much as he loves you isn’t
really convenient to what i’m supposed
to do so you know what hold on let me
just if i could just get let me just
just one second hold on i’m just making
my world a little hold up
yes see now
i have a little bit more control hold on
let me just
okay just hold on
hold on yeah god doesn’t like those type
of people
no no no god’s not proud of you no
you’ve done bad things so god doesn’t
love you no god rewards people who read
their bible in the morning more than
people that just say like a certain
prayer no if you don’t pray alive you
don’t speak in tongues you’re not going
to heaven no that’s that’s not that’s
not how and you don’t realize it but
what you’re doing um
is slowly
making your world so small
because in this world
i can control
it’s awkward for everybody when you make
your world small
and in this size of a world
it’s a lot easier to control
but now it’s just your perspective
there are whole parts of people you
can’t see anymore
there are whole groups of people that
god loves that you don’t see anymore
there are family members that are crying
out for your help that you don’t see
anymore
there’s certain people on social media
that you don’t even care about there’s
certain celebrities you can make fun of
because you don’t see them anymore
there’s certain people you’re so
disconnected from it doesn’t even matter
to you because you’ve made your world i
can control it
but what did it cost you
what people did it
what what and i just i i have and i read
this story in luke and this is a story
of people with small worlds
this is what happens it says there’s a
there’s a jewish person who’s traveling
on a road that from jerusalem to jericho
the moment he would have said this
everybody would have known the road that
jesus was talking about this was a very
dangerous road it has a lot of hills you
can look it up look up the travel from
jericho to jerusalem it was a infamous
road where people knew you got to be
safe there you got to watch out there
because you could get hurt he said a man
was traveling and he gets beat up and
left for dead on the side of the road
and then thank the lord a pastor comes
along
thank god a past imagine oh my goodness
imagine being the jewish man wow
laid on the side of the road
thinking god you’ve you heard my prayers
thank you so much god i prayed that
someone would save me and here’s a
pastor
but the pastor’s world was so small
wow
and
god he had so many things that god had
asked him to do that he didn’t have time
i don’t have time to stop
and talk to you
i don’t have time to help you i know you
got stuff you’re going through but i got
stuff i got i’m going to a church
service i don’t have time for this
homeless person asking me for money
let’s talk about real stuff let’s talk
about the people who you think what they
do to get like that i don’t know what
they gonna do with that money
they probably did something that’s why
they’re homeless
they probably and you don’t realize it
but your language reveals every single
time that your world is so small and you
do not see people as god’s infinite
possession but you just see them as
something that you can just talk about
as something that you can just say
anything about and the pastor comes
along
and the jewish man says man thank god
but he his world was so small
he couldn’t even see the man who was
hurting
then thank god okay maybe the pastor
really had he had a speaking engagement
he really had to get to so maybe he
couldn’t pray for the man but then a
worship leader comes by thank goodness
for the worship the worship will make a
way for people who are hurting but
it says he walked over and looked at him
wow
no no no yeah wait you’re you identify
as what
oh no i can’t you can’t come to my
church i can’t
you said what you’re
oh you’re married to somebody who’s
hispanic or a different race than my fam
oh no no i can’t i can’t
you didn’t you don’t speak in tongues
you do speak in tongues show me
show me you
okay all right never mind yeah i know
because i’ve got something important i
got to do i can’t i don’t have time to
and this is
and these are jesus followers
this is the church the church is famous
for being just like these two people
people who are hurting and dying
but the church is too busy
and the world they live in is so small
that we cannot see and here’s the
connection point
your need for control
always kills compassion for others
because you have to be so in control of
every little detail and so in control of
how people perceive you and so in
control of what people say or don’t say
about you because you don’t realize it
but you’re folding up your world in a
means for control just to say you know
what i have control but you’ve realized
and you’ve missed there are compe people
on the other side of your world that
need your compassion
this is
so many of us we have condensed our
world down to something
that can fit in our hand
we have condensed our kids down to
something that we can hold on to we have
condensed the church down to something
that makes sense to us and we have
condensed god
down to something
that just fits in my hand
you don’t realize it
but god was not made to fit in your box
god is not in addition to your life
he is not something to be figured out in
a textbook this is not the god that we
serve
the goal
is for him to be outside of your control
because if he was in your control that
would mean he was on your level and if
he was on your level he couldn’t do
anything to save you to get you out of
what you’re in so so the whole point is
not for god to be figured out
the goal is to serve a god who is so big
and so large that i can come to him with
something that seems so ridiculous and
to him it’s so small
it says the earth is his footstool
and so many christians we get stuck
comparing things and putting things in
boxes so it will fit within our control
and we don’t realize the comparison
comparison is insulting to god
it’s like if god uses this perspective
he says as far as the heavens are above
the earth so are my thoughts above your
thoughts
i was talking to somebody one time and
they told this illustration they said
you know um and i can say it right now
so lebron james can probably jump a lot
higher than i can like not probably he
definitely definitely would be very
clear let’s no i
he can definitely he gets paid to jump a
lot higher than i do so um but if we’re
both trying to dunk on a goal it would
be very obvious how much higher he could
jump to me
but if the goal is to touch the moon
he can’t really jump that much higher
than me
because the goal and the comparison
gives perspective to where we are
and many of us are measuring our sins
and measuring who’s good people and bad
people and god says i’m i’m in the stars
like you’re not neither one of you so
whether you read your bible or you’re on
drugs it’s really not that much of a
difference because the goal is so grand
and i am so much bigger
it’s not even worth being compared to
now i know some of you are thinking
charles you’re not talking anything
about money
you’ve this is a great thing but you
haven’t said anything
about money well um i actually read a
scripture and you might have missed it
it was in proverbs
proverbs 11
it says the world of the generous
gets larger and larger
and the world of the selfish
the ones who keep the view on them it
gets smaller and smaller
so your small world is actually biblical
your small world is a principle of the
earth when you keep the view on you you
will always live in a small world
and this is why our giving is so
important
the samaritan comes along
and he has compassion
and you will only give to someone if you
first have compassion
and we cannot talk about money and we
cannot talk about ties and we cannot
talk about offerings and all the things
we’re going to give as people we can’t
talk about not giving money but getting
things that are more important time
giving our wisdom some of you in a means
to control and make sure that you’re
successful you won’t give your ideas
away
some of it some sometimes there are
people you literally in a means to
control and to be perceived as wise you
hold back your wisdom so only people can
come to you to get the answer
and people have to suffer because you’re
insecure about your ideas but when you
are generous
your world gets larger
what would it look like if christians
had the biggest worldview
oh you know that’s not the case right
christians are not famous for having a
wide world view we are infamous for
having the most
narrow small-minded perspective how is
that possible when we serve the god who
spoke stars into existence
it’s because
control
we want to control what people think
want to control how life goes and i get
it like i don’t like being
out of control i don’t like it
i don’t like being controlled
this screen right here it has a message
that says please keep your hands out of
your pockets it’s telling me to not do
this i’m going to stick my hands in my
pocket steven i’m nervous a little bit
steven’s amazing this sign actually says
please keep your hands out of your
pockets
listen last time i preached i was
butting my jacket the whole time and
then this time i put my hand in my
pocket this is for working on it
but don’t control me stephen okay i’m up
here i got the mic
[Applause]
oh jesus
control we don’t like control
i gotta put my hands in my pockets while
they give me pockets stephen what am i
supposed to do with this okay
control
here’s the thing um you ever heard
anybody say um
i’m living large
there’s somebody say that like when it
comes around money stuff how you doing
you know just living large
living large
big things baby doing big things
here’s uh
here’s the perspective i want to bring
today and then i’m going to get three
little points that will be done
to live large
you have to give large
that is the biblical perspective on
living a large life
titled my sermon today is i’m living
large
and not in a financial way not that you
ball in now that you got more money than
everybody else but you’re living in a
world that is broader
and the view is not always stuck on you
this is the goal of following jesus is
for our life to be built on serving
other people
for us to get outside of our small
perspectives to get outside of our small
ideas and to say god i’m going i’m going
to live in a place because here’s the
thing when you give it takes the view
off of you
the only way to take the view off of
yourself is to give to somebody else
and many of us don’t realize it but in
your fear and withholding you’re
actually continuing to make your world
smaller in trying to control your
finances this is what happened in the
principle of the talents
he was afraid and in order to control
because when you put it in a stock you
can’t control when you try to invest it
you can’t control he says i knew you
were a harsh man so i dug it and i
buried it
i put it in the ground
and what happened when the master came
back his world got a whole lot smaller
because he took everything that had been
given to him because he was living in
such fear and trying to control that he
couldn’t give it away
my challenge today is to step into a
large world where you can give away
guess what because god is your provider
your job’s not your provider where you
can give away because you know that you
serve the god who has a endless supply
this is how we are supposed to live in a
world that sees people not as objects
not as things to just talk about but as
god’s most important and prized
possession
this is what people are
and if we’re gonna talk how we love
people we gotta talk about how we give
to people
because you can say you love something
but if you don’t give to it i don’t
believe you
no i love people really when’s the last
time you gave to somebody
not somebody that you could get back
something from
now was the last time you loaned
somebody some money to be like hey just
can you hear me with that cash at back
like i just want to make sure no no no
when’s the last time you gave
when’s the last time you gave love
someone who didn’t deserve it
i mean these are real things we can talk
sometimes it’s almost easier to give
money away
some of you
god doesn’t ask you to give five dollars
to the homeless person he’d ask you to
get out of your car and pray for him
what happens when generosity isn’t just
throwing money at stuff but it’s
actually being present with people
what happens when you don’t just talk to
your family and be like yeah i’ll send
you a thousand dollars for your birthday
but no i’m gonna let’s sit down and talk
and go to lunch and talk about why we
haven’t talked in 10 years how about we
talk about like
i just i would rather serve a god that’s
big enough to change the dark parts of
my heart rather than me stay in control
and stay the same
we’re gonna we’re gonna live in a larger
world we gotta take the view off of
ourselves i’m gonna give you three ways
to take the view off you
write these down i’m gonna give them all
to you and then i’ll teach you a little
bit about each one tithes number one
tithe number two is offerings
number three is sacrificial offerings
tithe offerings and sacrificial
offerings three ways to take the view
off of you tithe
offering and sacrificial offering the
first one is tithe tithe is a biblical
word it means ten percent tithe pastor
robert morris if you haven’t seen this
message he taught about it last
week and he did an amazing amazing job
really like one of the greatest uh
teachers on the principle of tithing and
um tithing it’s it’s a biblical word it
means we return the first 10 of our
income back to god now here’s the thing
about tithing that i have to clarify the
only t because pastor robert does such
an amazing job on teaching on tithing
i’m not going to do a whole teaching on
tiny but i do have a small illustration
uh josh can you come here for a second
just everybody give it up for josh this
is my friend josh he’s an amazing
amazing pastor in colorado come up no
all the way up on the stage baby come on
just jump up here hello how are you you
good this is so you can see who is tall
and who is not i’m gonna stand further
away just you know do you have like a
wallet or anything actually do you have
a wallet or anything on you okay yes you
got can i have your wallet thank you i
appreciate that
okay
you know what josh
god just laid it on my heart to give you
something
i want to give this to you
god bless you brother
be blessed
no that’s ridiculous
because it already belonged to josh
so was i being generous
when i gave josh what belonged to him
back
i i did give to you and it was good that
i gave but i want to be very clear
returning what was already his was not
generosity
it was returning thank you josh give it
up for josh everybody
the tithe
it is important that you give it
but i want to be very very clear there
is a difference between giving and
generosity
and i want to say this because some
believers you’ve been tithing your whole
life but you’ve never been a generous
person
ah see the enemy will make you think
because you tithe you’re generous but if
tithing is returning is it generosity
i’m just okay let’s read the scripture
because she’s just looking at me all
funny leviticus 27 a tithe of everything
from the land whether grain or fruit or
soil or fruit from the trees
belongs to the lord
it is holy or set apart to the lord the
only context that tithing is ever
referred to in the scripture is
returning and belonging already to god
this is why the scripture talks about
would you rob me of what belongs to me
you can’t rob somebody if it don’t
belong to them and many of us and this
is again this is not for everybody if
you’ve never given or you’re not even a
follower of jesus i’m not even talking
to you right now i’m talking to people
who’ve been tithing your whole life but
you’re not a generous person
i’m general i get my tithe well
technically it belonged to god already
so you just you returned what was
already it’s good you should do it but i
want to be very very clear there’s a
difference
between giving
being a generous person
and it’s so interesting that you could
be tithing and not be generous
you could be tithing and not open with
your life and not be loving to people
and not be kind to people and not be
generous with your time and this is a
moment i’m challenging everybody if
you’re not tithing you should 100 start
tithing not because the church needs
your money let me be very clear this is
one of those things that people start
feeling some type of way even some
people you like feel like well why are
you telling me to give my money the
church doesn’t need your money i promise
you tithing was not invented because god
was like ah man i’ve ran out of ideas i
got to figure out a way to get money
into the church i didn’t think about
this i spoke galaxies that y’all haven’t
discovered yet but i forgot about this
one no that’s not god did not invent
tithing because he needed a church to
have money he invented tithing as a way
to give you an opportunity to trust him
tithing is an opportunity to say you
know what i trust god more than i trust
my job
i trust god more than i trust how buying
these shoes will make me look to
somebody i trust god more than i trust
this part i trust god
and tithing is a moment where you can
make a decision to say you know i’m
going to put god first in my life it’s
the first 10 we return back to god and
here’s the thing about the tithe the
tithe releases god’s unseen protection
here’s why the tithe is so important
because it releases god’s unseen
protection here’s the idea when you were
born into the world you were born into a
world where it was raining
just go with me it’s raining it’s
raining
hard things in life it’s raining pain
it’s raining feeling insecure because of
adam and eve in the garden when the
world was broken the system was broken
and it started raining
and many of us we come into this world
and we realize obviously the world is
hard obviously there are things that are
going through obviously it’s raining
when you tithe to god it releases his
unseen protection it gives god an
opportunity to stand over you and cover
you
so this is the reason we tithe not
because it’s oh i give god something now
get more back no we release god this
because we need god’s protection in a
fallen and broken world
the first way to take the view off you
is to tithe the second way is to give
offerings somebody say offerings
i’m gonna read this to you this is not
uh this is a working definition that i
wrote down just to try to simplify what
is an offering sometimes you’ll hear
that word in church we’re going to give
our tithe and our offerings here’s a a
working definition you can use offerings
is anything given to god or someone in
need above your tie
past past your 10 of honoring god above
that once you start giving offerings
offerings to the church or you maybe
step out and be generous to somebody you
know or god lays it on your heart maybe
there’s a single mother you know and she
needs some help and god lays it on your
heart to help them when you step into
offerings when you give offerings to god
this is above your tithe this is where
we step into generosity
this is where you step into a moment
where you can be generous as a person
where you can give when god tells you to
give where you can meet needs in a
moment and here’s the thing about
offerings offerings release god’s
unlimited provision
there is only provision when you first
offer to god
the story in luke five
jesus feeds the five thousand there’s
five thousand men sitting there many
theologians believe there would have
been 20 to 25 000 people sitting there
there’s jesus his 12 disciples they
don’t have food and peter’s like what
are we going to do these people don’t
have food we need to give it we need to
send them away let them go get some
chick-fil-a uh it’s sunday jesus been
preaching for five hours chick-fil-a’s
clothes on sunday so we gotta send them
to uh i don’t know joe’s crab shack
wherever it was around i don’t know
jesus says no we’re going to feed them
let’s say all we have is these two
fishes and five loaves
and here’s the picture they offer it to
god
they offer it to him first they don’t
try to do the miracle by themselves they
don’t just start going and saying okay
what do we got to do how are we going to
strategize this does anybody have some
yeast maybe we can uh propagate this
bread and spread it out into the can you
proper great bread i don’t think i think
you do that with plants abby’s shaking
her head at me because she’s just so
smart with plants um
i love you um
but they offer it to god first
and this is the crazy part there’s even
a picture of a tithe in this story he
only gives them a portion of it back
and then guess what he asked them to
give it to other people
and if you read the story as they give
it away as they offer it what was not
enough continues to multiply
this is a picture of giving offerings
when you don’t have enough
and you’ve honored god first so you’ve
brought your tithes to him first then
many times out of what is not enough
he’ll say give to somebody else
and this is testing your heart
this is an opportunity to become more
like jesus this is an opportunity where
he says will you keep the view on you
and your world small or will you see
that as you give it away i will do more
with what you give away than with what
you could keep
it’s a beautiful picture when you give
offerings when god lays it on your and
here’s the thing i want to say about
giving offerings even above your tithe
um
i want to separate something you do not
have to be rich to be generous
[Applause]
because some people feel like
i’ll be really generous when i get a lot
of money
let me tell you if you’re not generous
with five dollars you will not be
generous when you get five million
that’s not how it works you can be
generous where you are
i want to share this um testimony with
you because it’s it’s something not out
of like oh look at us genuinely please
hear my heart that is not it but i want
to say this specifically even for young
people young couples young single people
that you can be generous right where you
are me and abby have been married for
six years and um in these six years
we’ve had the opportunity to give away
four cars
now here’s the thing this is not because
we’ve had tons of money
this is not because we had another car
just sitting around we could just give
away a car that’s because we had to make
a decision to be generous and as we have
every time we’ve given something away
god has always provided another car
i want to say that to you because
literally we we gave our first one i
think we were 22 and 20 years old when
we first did it it wasn’t like we got
money and we just throwing out cars
that’s not it was a decision
to be generous and i want to say this
because some people maybe you’re young
in your age maybe you’re just young
young in your stage of life maybe your
company is small maybe you’re in a place
where you feel like it would make sense
that as i get older i’m able to do that
and as i get more money i’m able to you
can make a decision with what you have
right now to be generous and as you
offer it i promise you god’s unlimited
provision his unlimited supply when you
offer it to him first he always provides
i want to say that literally we were
having a conversation with somebody and
they were like hey where’s your car blah
blah blah and we were like oh you know
like we and we were trying to just and
they’re like man i wish i could do
something like that
and i thought well you could
if you have a car you are uh everything
qualified on the list to give away a car
that’s actually all it takes is to have
one and then you just give it away it’s
not even like we didn’t have to apply
for nothing we just like
and i’m saying we’ve given away cars
that we gave it away and we paid the
loan off and then we’ve given away cars
that was a little busted car but it was
the only car we have and somebody didn’t
have a car so it’s not and i want to say
these things to you because it’s not
about many people you can see things you
can look at transformation church and oh
they gave away all these millions of
dollars or oh you’ve given away four
cars or all of you but right where you
are
whatever you have
you can be generous with what you have
some of you there are kids watching this
you can go to school and give your
friend your favorite pair of shoes
you can go to school and give your
friend the backpack that they always
looking to say man that backpack is so
cool you could start being generous
now
and i’m telling you parents even with
your children work india we are a
generous family we all we don’t we don’t
ever question anything we literally when
we were giving away this last car we
literally had arlo take the keys and go
give it to the person and he was like
what are we doing and then we pulled up
to church and he saw that he’s like hey
there’s our car let’s go get our car and
i was like well that’s not our car
anymore buddy like that’s now their car
like where’s our car it’s like well
that’s the thing man we don’t but
it was a moment it’s not ours anymore we
gave it to them
but it was a moment to say hey buddy
so god has blessed our family so much
and anytime he ever asked us to give
something away we always do it so what
we’re going to do is i’m going to give
you these keys i need to go take it to
them and say here you go here’s your car
why because i’m trying to teach him
that whether it’s your car whether it’s
your hot wheels car and god tells you to
give it away
we have made a decision to always be a
generous family
and i’m telling you your world would
start to get a lot larger when you start
giving
the last way that we can take the view
off you we talked about tithe offering
the last one is sacrificial offering
sacrificial offerings are the ones that
hurt
don’t be real with you it’s not even
cool it’s not even like whoo yeah that
was so dope like it was like ah jesus oh
my god
like that’s what it feels like to give
away sacrifice off you you start you
know when you used to get the wind
knocked out of you as a kid
that’s what it feels like to give away a
sacrificial offering
but sacrificial offerings release god’s
unexpected promises
unexpected promises
there’s a picture of this in genesis 22
abraham if you don’t know the story of
abraham abraham is a character in the
bible he’s many times referred to as the
father of our faith
and abraham
he’s old his wife is old and god says
you’re going to have a kid
and his wife actually busted out
laughing she’s like
she actually started laughing
and god comes through like he always
does now listen he had to wait he had to
wait 24 years
now this messes with our microwave
miracles that we like to preach about
but
what happened if god did it but it took
longer
than you expected is god’s still good
yes he’s still a man of his wife and
here’s the thing this is why we have to
get a large word because god stands
outside of time
so this is another way we try to control
god we say god wasn’t faithful because
he didn’t do what he said he was going
to do in the timing he said he was going
to do it well the scripture says that
one day in heaven is like a thousand
years on earth and you know god isn’t
bound by time
there’s another stuff i’m just i’m like
trying to like just blow your mind a
little bit just to get you to stop
putting these like unreasonable caps on
god god is not even subject to linear
space and time so like he sits and sees
all of history all the future and the
present all at the same time so when he
says i’m coming through for you he’s not
saying it from the same perspective you
say it from but time is even a way that
we try to make god smaller we literally
say well god’s not good he didn’t do
what he said he’s gonna do really
because he promised you you would be a
blessing and if he said that maybe years
later there’s somebody that stands up
and says you know what because of this
son and their granddad and their
great-granddad they blessed my life
because they raised their kid you don’t
even know what was happening but you can
find god
to be a little bit smaller
based on something you can time like
that’s a way that we
and so abraham
he has to be faithful even though he’s
waiting he has his son he waited 24
years from yeah
and then god says hey uh i need you to
sacrifice your son
now this is the thing i want to first
acknowledge this is another thing about
inviting people to church now that i
have friends here i’m like let me
explain all the weird stuff about church
sometimes because we we would say that
like yeah he just asked him to sacrifice
his son it’s a total normal thing it’s
like no that’s really weird
um so he asked him to it’s it’s very
crazy it would have just just as crazy
as it is now he asked him saying i need
you to make a sacrifice abraham because
he realizes that this promise was not
his but it was god’s in the first place
he literally starts speaking in crazy
faith he literally goes up he has a son
he’s carrying the firewood i imagine his
son is walking with him and he’s looking
around and literally it says they’re
walking towards the mountain and he’s
like hey dad
so uh
i see
you’ve got the knife okay the knife
i’m holding a bunch of firewood
and you’ve got a lot of rope we don’t
usually need this much rope for a little
lamb i don’t know why you got all this
rope dad what’s up with the rope
and abraham says something crazy he says
son
the lord shall provide
the story is they walk up this mountain
and here’s the thing about sacrificial
offerings they always happen in your
heart
before they show up in your hand
here’s the thing about a sacrifice it
always is a decision here before you do
it here abraham as he’s walking up the
mountain he has decided it literally
says in hebrews it talks about this it
says we look at the faith of abraham who
decided even if he killed his son that
god was powerful enough to bring him
back from the dead he had decided in his
heart that he was going to give a
sacrificial offering right as he’s about
to do it genesis 22 chapter 10
he hears a ram in the bush
an unexpected promise
because he had already decided in his
heart
you know what god gave me this in the
first place
and some of you the sacrifice that god
is asking for
is something he gave you in the first
place
you know god gave you the time you have
so when he asks you to give it to
somebody else
he’s really just asking something that
he already gave you
god’s one who gave you the job you have
so when he asks you to sacrifice and
leave that job
well god what if i leave this job is
that are you no no he said i’m the one
that gave you that you weren’t even
qualified to get that job in the first
place so if i provided that one trust me
i’ve got another one on the way
when you give sacrificially
i promise you i promise you it always
releases
god’s unexpected promises
listen i’m going to close
caleb you can start playing beautiful
music that you play so amazing
here’s the thing um these are really
just three different opportunities to
take the view off of ourselves the last
point i have for you
your world gets larger at every level
the reason it’s important to give
the reasons it’s important to be a
generous person
is because you realize that your world
gets larger
your world gets your view of people
your view of god your your love your
compassion
and i said it earlier but control is one
of those things that it always
kills our compassion
our need to make sure that god fits in a
box our need to make sure that certain
people fit in a box and i just think
literally this this this person they’re
on the side of the road in luke 10.
they’re sitting there and they’ve been
hurt they’ve been broken they’ve had
things happen to them that they did not
realize were to happen
and my prayer is that
the person laying on the side of the
road wouldn’t have to watch
believers pass by
you know that’s a lot of social media
right now
the world watching
as believers pass by
as people who love god make comments on
their post yeah that should have
happened to you anyways
i gotta say this this is very random but
um
sometimes
the distance between people maybe that
we don’t know
it kind of creates this
false confidence and almost like this
disconnectedness that causes us to be so
rude to people sometimes
sometimes i’ll be in conversations and
people just start talking about
celebrities just any type of way
yeah you know they’re going crazy
people say that i’ve been in
conversations you like kanye well you
know he’s kind of going crazy right now
i don’t know what that dude’s doing
you know god made him right
you know god doesn’t love you more than
him right
oh you heard about so and so you know
they’re just like it was well but
they’re
god died for that person
so i know you just feel like you could
talk about them any type of way
because you don’t know them or you feel
like you’ll never see them or you’ll
never like
that’s a real person
and that’s the thing we forget sometimes
whether it’s a celebrity or your cousin
that’s a real person that god died for
and i’m just i’m i get so convicted
sometimes while i’m thinking and for me
it’s and for many people it’s always
easier to love people that are like
further away but then there are people
in my family that just begin on my
nerves sometimes it’s like whoa i would
hit you if i could and god says i died
for them
i i know you don’t like them but i die
for them i know they’re frustrating but
i die for them i know they may be
getting on your nerves but i don’t love
them or love you more or any less you
have to love them this is the greatest
commandment love god and love your
neighbor as yourself
[Music]
may we be a church that doesn’t question
who is my neighbor
that doesn’t come to god with
small-minded questions that’s a
small-minded question love your neighbor
well who is it technically because i
don’t want to have to love anybody that
doesn’t look like me no okay god if you
say love my neighbor i will love my
neighbor if you say give to the homeless
man i’ll give to the homeless man if you
say give to the person that’s driving a
nicer car than me i’ll do it because the
goal is not to control the situation the
goal is not to fit god in a box the goal
is to live a life that worships god as
the grand masterful mystery that he is
he is god
and it is not your job to figure him out
it is your job to have faith in him
god i
god i’m coming to you right now
and i’m just praying i am personally
praying would you
help me take the view off of myself
[Music]
god i don’t want to live in a small
world we don’t want to live in a world
where it’s always about our problems
where it’s always about our people where
it’s always about what we’re going
through and the issues we have god we
want to live in a world where you are
grand we want to live in a world where
we see people as the most prized
possession lord my heart’s desire is to
be a loving generous kind person that
walks the earth as you did having grace
on every single person
god i pray today
that lord you would open our hearts
towards giving and generosity
i pray lord jesus that there will be a
deep work lord god that we would release
control or god that we would release our
need for things to work in a certain way
and may we just give freely lord god i’m
praying in my own life in my own family
lord god and for everyone watching and
under the sound of my voice that we
would genuinely get to a place where we
trust you so much that giving things
away would not be the hardest decision
we have to make lord god that we
wouldn’t fight on you with generosity
that will fight with you with our
kindness and with our love and with our
words lord we want to be generous people
just as you were
god you did not judge us as we should be
judged
but you were generous beyond belief you
gave your own son for us and lord god
for that we are grateful
and our prayer lord god is that will you
would use our lives
to be people who
can actually live large
people who can live in a world that is
generous that is giving that is justice
and mercy that is grace lord god and and
peace lord god may we live in a space
lord god and may we live in a world that
does not try to confine you or make you
small so we can understand but that just
like psalms 131 lord god that we are not
too proud and we haven’t lifted our eyes
too high as david said but i have
decided that there is an area of god he
says literally that i have decided to
not try to seek to understand that are
there things that are far too great for
me to understand god may we be okay with
having a box that says you know what i
don’t i have some questions i don’t
understand it all it may not all make
sense to me but i am not going to
confine god to try to make sense i’m
going to allow and allow myself for him
to be great for him to be massive for
him to be infinite for him to be greater
than anything i could ask think or
imagine lord god
would you enlarge our world
every head’s still bound every eye still
close
the story of the good samaritan
sometimes gets
uh misconstrued as a story of
us thinking that we are the good
samaritan
sometimes we read that story and there
are definitely principles from that man
that we desire to live out
but something you need to know is the
tension between a samaritan and a jewish
person would have been so high at the
time
even for jesus to mention that there was
a samaritan in the story the jewish
crowd would have gasped at the time
because they knew you don’t associate
with samaritans samaritans are bad
people they’re not god’s people
but the samaritan who was so despised
had grace on someone who was hurting
had so much grace that they stopped
everything that way they were doing and
they literally put the other person in
the place of of priority
i want to tell you no matter what you’ve
done
no matter what you’re going through
you need to know there’s only one person
that that’s that’s that good
and it’s jesus
jesus is the one who sees you in your
broken state
he she sees you in your pain he sees you
in your hurt he sees you in your
confusion and jesus is not the one who
walks by christians may have told you he
just walks by people may have told you
that he’s angry at you that he doesn’t
like you that you got to clean your life
up before you come to him my friend that
is not how it works he will stop
everything and get off of his journey
matter of fact he stopped eternity and
he said you know what i’m stepping down
off of my place of authority and i’m
putting on skin and bone and jesus came
to this world and he lived a perfect and
sinless life for 33 years and he died on
a cross not because you are perfect not
because you haven’t done bad things but
he did it because he loves you
god is so in love with you the bible is
not a list of rules it’s not a list of
regulations it is a love letter of a god
who is obsessed with his children and he
was so obsessed that he made provision
in the way of his son his only son he
sent him to this earth and said if you
ever want a relationship with me
the bible’s very clear all you got to do
is believe in your heart and confess
with your mouth that jesus is lord and
you shall be saved
in this moment
i want to give you that opportunity
if you’re in this room if you’re
watching online you say you know what i
don’t accept jesus
you need to know it is not um it is not
something that takes all your pain away
it makes life perfect what it does is it
gives you someone to walk through it
with
it gives you peace that surpasses
understanding he gives you purpose that
no one can steal from you he gives you a
sense of who you really are and in this
moment if you want to accept jesus into
your life i’m gonna count to three
no matter where you’re watching from if
you’re in the room or online i’m gonna
count the three and on the count of
three i want you to raise your hand i
believe when you raise your hand it’s
gonna signify what god is doing on the
inside of your life and listen here’s
the thing you don’t have to be perfect
you don’t have to stop doing bad things
if you give god your life the holy
spirit will empower you to change the
things that you want to change but you
cannot do it by yourself if you could do
it by yourself you would have done it
already you need someone who stands
outside of time someone who is not
subject to emotions someone who does not
need willpower to do things you need the
god of the universe and the bible says
that when you accept him into your life
the same power that got christ out of
the grave lives on the inside of you you
can have access to that power in just a
moment of decision i’m going to ask you
to raise your hand on the count of three
one he loves you so much two he is proud
of you three lift your hand right now if
you want to accept jesus into your life
if you want to accept him this is the
greatest decision you could ever make
listen in the room and around the world
there are so many people making this
decision i’m going to ask everybody in
this room everybody watching online to
repeat this prayer after me as a family
nobody prays alone everybody say dear
god
thank you for loving me dear jesus
thank you
for laying down your life
to save mine
i admit
i’ve made mistakes
save me
change me
transform me
holy spirit
empower me
in jesus name i pray
amen transformation church can you make
some noise
can you celebrate people who just came
into relationship with jesus
hey listen if you just made that choice
we’re so proud of you god is so proud of
you and we would love to support you as
a church family hey listen there are a
couple things i might ask you to do i’m
going to ask you to text the word save
to the number that’s on your screen if
you do that our team is going to send
you a text message we’re not going to
harass you or hound you um and send you
bogo 30 off coupons that’s not how it
works we’re just going to send you some
resources on how to follow jesus
following jesus is simply a journey it’s
a process it’s not about being perfect
but it’s about progression and as a
church we would love to support you and
send you some resources so make sure you
do that hey listen i want to encourage
you to continue watching and coming back
we are in a time right now where we’re
doing all of our services online we’re
working on getting back together soon is
anybody ready to be back together
hey listen as we’re doing that i want to
continue to encourage you to get
involved in community we have belong
groups that are around the world you can
meet you can get in community there may
be people in your city that you can meet
up with talk about the sermon i’m
telling you if you’re only experiencing
transformation on sunday you are missing
out on so much
it starts on a sunday but real
transformation is only experienced as
you live it out in the context of
community i want to challenge you to get
in community and uh listen we’re so
grateful for you so glad that you took
your time to spend it with us and on
behalf of our lead pastors pastors
michael and natalie todd i want to say
thank you for joining us this weekend
and as we always say i need y’all to
help me say it go out and live
[Music]
[Applause]
we’ll see you guys have a great week
[Applause]
you