I knew the first day that I met her that I was going to marry her. I was living with a roommate at the time and I came home after meeting her and I was like I'm going to marry that girl. How long did it take you? Probably like a month and a half. When I met him he was agnostic, like that's not going to work but in our household.

So I prayed- that was probably the most intensely I prayed for anybody ever in my life- but I just hoped that one day he would have some Faith. Yeah, I didn't grow up in church, church at all. Went like a few times with like a neighbor, but just cuz I wanted to hang out with them. You know, I always thought we were here by happen stance. You know, I never, I never had a belief in Happ in stance.

I never had a belief in anything, man. You, it was. It was, you know, somewhat of a stressful period with some other things going on in our life too, and then I started going on runs just to like relieve stress and anxiety and then, like, all of a sudden, like I started like having these conversations with with God. We found orbit just from the billboard and Direct Mail, yeah, and then as soon as we started coming, it just felt like home and had 100%, went in and just fell in love with God. I'd say like one of the like last things people tend to do in their faith, it is starting to tithe.

I was so like I was always like stressed and had anxiety about like money with our business and stuff like what if this goes wrong? What if that happens? Like where are we going to get money from? I don't think it was really as hard as I thought it would be, but I was really glad when you were just open to it at all, like, oh sure, but like it took a while to get up to the 10%, I personally saw transformation in our H man business. I had more peace.

We have so much more. Not just it's not money, it's value, . Long story short, we like lost half of our income. Knowing that before I would have been, you know, freaking out, a little bit stress, very anxious, it didn't phase me really like, and I was super surprised by that. Like I knew God had us, like I knew that he would be taken care of us.

 No matter what happened, God has continued to provide or give us little bits of reassurance financially, like we didn't really miss a heartbeat. Honestly, God provided for us. It's not your money already, so if you can just willingly give it, you'll see just most amazing things happen in your life. I don't know, that's how I see typing. Everyone can find a way to cut different costs and take things, worldly things, out of their lives.

He'll bring Jesus more into your heart. Tithing tends to be like that last step in someone's faith Journey, but as soon as you lean into that, as as soon as possible, you know God's going to do so many beautiful things in your life that you have no idea he's going to be faithful back to you. You know whether that is, you know, providing you more finances on the back end or just making you feel, more at peace internally or have more joy, or being able to bring more kindness or love into the world, like he's going to provide for you. He literally had no faith at all, and it took years, which to me is a testament of God's work. I mean, he was truly at work and somebody who didn't even know he existed.

Amen, man, I love it. I talk to you guys too much as it is. You know they'll turn the lights on in a second so you can see your notes, cuz I you're all going to take notes. It's going to be great. I talk to you guys a lot and so I' I've Loved just walking through stories with different people.

We might call 2025 the year of the story, because I want to hear all of your stories at some point. Because you know it's powerful to read the word of God. But when the word of God, like, steps into your life and becomes a part of your world, man, things radically shift and I love that story. The wind. There is not not that God provided financially.

The win there is that God provided spiritually. Like that, that's the win. The. The win is that someone who didn't know Jesus now knows Jesus. The win, through tithing is that you know Jesus at a deeper level when you trust him with your finances.

That is the win. Like, I want to be so abundantly clear that the win is when you know God at the deeper level, when the peace that comes from God, that surpasses all understanding, guards your heart. That is the wind of trusting God with your finances. At the same time, I don't want to lie to you and say that he does not bless you financially. He does.

Malachi 3:10 and I've done it two weeks in a row. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time there, but it says it. It'll be on the screen. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, says the Lord, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven. He says he's going to throw open the floodgates of Heaven for those who trust him in that area and I wouldn't stand up here and say that he's going to do that if I hadn't seen it in my life and in the lives of many other people.

 Suffice it to say- Maggie brought it up- we are in a giving series now. We're going to do series on serving. We're going to do series on jumping into small group. We're going to do series on tons of different things. This, right here at year end, is us talking about what it looks like to trust God financially.

And we titled the series if you know. You know because what I found is that those who have tested God in this area have seen him do a work, and if you haven't, that doesn't mean anything negative. It just simply means you're not going to experience that same thing like if you don't jump in the water, you don't know how cold it is. You know what I'm saying, I mean, unless you just dip your toe in. But then you don't know, you don't feel it.

You don't feel it. You don't feel it. The refreshing nature of water during a good season. Now it's too cold, my pool's too cold. I don't utilize it any longer.

It's not my pool, it's a neighborhood pool. Anyways, I digress today. I'm going to talk to you about what it looks like to choose that which is better over that which is maybe good enough or fine. But I would encourage you go back. If you got time.

I think you got time to watch two sermons. I'd encourage you to go watch the first two sermons. If you only have time for one, watch the first sermon because it sets up this year-end offering Series in a way that I think will be helpful, for you, if you're open to it. I think it'll also be really, maybe apologetic or helpful for you if you came in resistant to a church talking about finances. Maybe you've been burned in the past.

I think that first sermon will really help you. And I'll repeat one thing from that first sermon: the reason we're talking about it is not so that we can have more pipe and drape and more stage equipment. The reason we're talking about it is not so that I can satiate all the people who are ready for us to buy a plot of land and build a building. The reason we're talking about it is because I believe from the bottom of my heart what the Bible says: that if you test God with your finances, he will bust open floodgates in your life. And yeah, by Nature the church May benefit from everyone in the room being faithful.

But ultimately, man, I, I just know when you take that Faith step, God's going to bless you. And we talk a lot about the tithe, and, and really that's one of the ways that he's called us to trust him is with our finances. But again, this isn't about the church, this is about you and God. If didn't bless you, I wouldn't want to talk about it right now. But because I believe it blesses you abundantly, I'm going to keep talking about it because I don't want to withhold that blessing from you by by not talking about it.

I, I said in the first sermon I said: I feel like if all I have to do is suffer the slings and arrows of someone saying I'm a Prosperity preacher, then I'll do it so that you would be blessed. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about the blessing that comes from trusting God financially, and on December 8th, we're going to come together and we're going to have faith together in two specific ways. We've been talking about this idea of a word that we're believing God for in 2025, and you might be thinking: how do I come up with this word is very simple: talk to God, say God. What are you going to do in this next year?

Open up your Bible, start reading it, talk to your friends and family about what they see God doing in their lives and ask God. It might be a theme that you're already thinking about. It might be something God wants to teach you, but what you're going to do is you're going to talk to God. He's going to reveal something to you. You're going- we're going to boil that Revelation down to a word or a phrase.

We're going to write it down on that little envelope that you have on your seat and we're going to drop it in a kiosk on December 8th for us. That is us taking an intentional step, believing God for something in the next year. Now, in tandem with that, many of us are going to take another Faith step, that Faith step when it comes to our finances, and there are three categories of people that I'm thinking about, because each one is a faith step and there are different layers of Faith steps. The first is those who have never tested God in the area of their finances. God calls us to trust him by giving our first fruits to him, and maybe you've never trusted him and tested him in that category.

I'm believing that God's going to compel some of you to test him just by giving for the first time at your end. I remember the first time we ever did this, and I L it at a church- 36 people, and we're only had 200 people in the room right. 36 people trusted God for the first time and we saw story after story after Story. Now there's another group of people. Maybe you've tested God, but God calls us in Malachi 3 to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.

Now we Scholars and every Church you're probably going to go to believe that the tithe is 10% of the gross income. God calls us to do that- to the local Storehouse, which for us today it's not a big thing to hold grain, it's a it's it's a church, it's a local church, . And then there's a third group of people who have been tithing and trusting God with their finances and they've seen God work. But God didn't call us to stop at 10% and it's going to look differently for some of you. There have been some years where God called me and my wife, who, who we've been tithing, to give above and beyond a lump Summit year end.

And then there are other Seasons where God said: hey, you know what? You don't have a bunch of disposable income right now. How about you trust me in a different way? And there was one year- stress me out, sweetie- there's one year God called us to give 20% of our income to the local church for that year and you know was crazy. I'm glad we did it, because God busted open floodgates and our lives and we weren't even concerned financially.

 That was the year we started this church. It was so cool. It was so cool to see what God did and I want you to see God do something powerful in your life. So the word and the faith. We're going to bring it together on December 8th.

Drop it together. It's going to be a worship moment, and even if you're not going to give- though, I'd encourage everyone to test God in that area- I still want you to be praying about a word, because God's going to bless that faith and conversation with him. Regardless, I digress, today I want to talk to you about a topic that I've been thinking about for a long time. It's in the form of a question. It'll be our sermon title: what do you really want?

What do you really want? I think about that often, like what, what do I really want? I think about it in terms of when I'm working out. Do I really want to sit here and watch this TV show, or do I really want to go for that Four Mile Run that I'm procrastinating on and I don't want to do it do? Do I really want to have a good conversation with my kids, or do I?

Or do I just want to sit here, work on my, my business stuff and let them play on their video game, right, like? What do I really want? And I'm convinced about the people in this room that there are some, you know, innate desires that you have. There's a way that you're living, there are some comfort levels that you've fallen into, but at a deeper layer, there is something you really want and that's what brought you here, like when you were living your life, the way that you felt like living it, and you felt something in your spirit that said I need to go back to church. That was the deeper layer I'm talking about.

For all of us that are sitting in here, I'm believing this about you: that you really want to know God at a deeper level and you really want peace that surpasses all understanding. That's what you really want. Yet many of us fall fall prey to instant gratification and the things that we don't really want. Most of the people in this room you want to retire well, and in order to retire well, you have to save now. But there's so many things that come up, especially this week.

You know what I'm saying. It's Black Friday next week, everything's on sale, and so sometimes, in order to obtain what I really want, I have to make a decision in the present to forego some of the things that I kind of want. Y'all, y'all with me. Just kind of shake your head up and down, if you know what I'm talking about. I think you all know what I'm talking about.

There's something we really want and in order to get there, everything else has to fall below it. I want to read you a text, because Paul gives us very clearly in Philippians, chapter 3, starting in verse 7, he gives us a good image of this mentality. He's sitting in prison. He receives a letter from the Philippian Church who's encouraging him- I think they brought a financial gift to him while he's sitting in prison- and he responds to them with this posture and what he says in verse 7. I love it.

Many of you familiar with this. He says: but whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, rubbage that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is, through faith in Christ, what you really want. I'm convinced that what you really want is more knowledge and intimacy with Jesus, but there's so many things that come in between us and Jesus and that's where we live, that's where we operate, that's where we think.

But the but, but the walk with God, is you choosing that which is better, even if it means you're sacrificing those things that are pretty good? Hebrews- I was thinking about this. In that last song, Hebrews actually says that his blood speaks a better word than that which we've heard. And I want to try to convince you today that pursuing Christ is better, and I don't think you have to be like propositionally convinced, like information. I think you kind of got- I mean, if you're here, you kind of know, maybe the Jesus that we preach is probably better than the stuff that you hear, than the stuff that's going on in the real world.

But I think I, I, I hope I can move you from the place of just knowledge to conviction. It's conviction that moves you in the direction. So that's what I want us to do today. What do you really want? My first point is this statement: it's a value proposition and- and I think this can be helpful for those of you in this room to understand that if you want what's better, it means like if, if you want what's better, it means in order to choose, that there are other things that fall lesser, and those things that fall lesser, even if they're good, that means sometimes you got to sacrifice those things, let me.

Let me give you an example. When I was making that video and praise the Lord, every time I talk about the videos that I've been creating, someone comes up to me and says: hey, I can edit video. And I'm like: thank you, Jesus, thank you so much for sending me people, and if you can edit video, come, let me know, because I want you guys to do it next time. If next year's going to be year of the story, I want to keep prepping sermons and I want you guys to edit the videos. But when I was editing this video, I want: all right, I'd already cut off 10 minutes of this video and this says 1958.

That's where that was so. So like I had 20 minutes of footage after I had cut all. You saw all them little cuts. Each line is a cut and they did a good job. But I have a choice, cuz I can't give you 30 minutes worth of material.

I guess, yes, I could, but I wouldn't be able to preach, and I really wanted to preach to you guys today, right so, but you guys know, when I've got content, if I'm going to present it in a way that has some form of narrative thread that communicates something to you guys. I've got to edit. Many of us in our lives we need to go through the edit and when you're, when you're processing through what it looks like to edit, it's easy to cut off. The first 10 minutes that was a piece of cake. That was all the ums and yeah, I knows, and blah, blah.

That was all that transitional stuff. That was me talking to them, me asking them questions, all the easy stuff in your life. You got the Netflix's. Those are easy to cut, but then at some point, when you're looking at obtaining the better, you've got to start cut, cutting not just the bad but the pretty good, and that was what took me so long. It was so frustrating because there were a lot of things that they said that were really, really good, but it didn't fit the thread that I needed to present to you guys.

Now, I'm not saying I manufactured anything- this is their story- but- but you got to cut something in order to get the finished product. You have to cut something in order to cut 20 minutes down to 3 and A2 minutes in order to adjust your life such that it is refined by by Christ Jesus and your living life the way that you should, you have to make adjustments, and some of those adjustments are going to be easy. I'm gonna cut this. I'm gonna cut this, I'm gonna move away from this. But some of it's like: no, I'm used to this and God's like I get it, but what do you really want?

And when it comes to our finances, at least two times a year, my wife and I come to this conversation where where we say: all right, if we want to do what God's called us to do, to give above and beyond, how? How do we do that? If we want to give 12 or 20% for the next year, how do we do that? This is why I don't spend a lot of time telling you to be generous. I spend a lot of time telling you to trust God, because my generosity is not going to get me to the 10%.

I'm just going to be honest with you. I've already told you this: I don't round up. When they ask me to help the dogs, yall laugh quicker than the first service. They were tired. I don't round up.

I like I do it because I know they see whether I tip them or not at Starbucks, but I don't want to. I'm not that generous. But when I believe and see what God does, I come to this point in the conversation: sweetie, what do we have to cut in order to obtain that which is greater? And she's better than me at this, she, she, has more faith than I do. But when we have this conversation, I we have to ask what?

Well? What are we doing that we don't need to be doing? And you might be thinking I'm only talking about giving to the church. No, I'm talking about living a lifestyle that is pursuing Christ Jesus. Because when you live a lifestyle that pursues Christ Jesus, yes, God calls us to tithe, and so we start trusting him in the area of our finances when it comes to the tithe.

But then, when we ask the question, it's like: how do I revolve my life around Jesus financially? Well, tithe means first fruits. If, if it's the first fruits, that means I've got to revolve every aspect of my finances around being faithful and obedient to God. And that requires you to look at your finances. And when you look at your finances, you're like: oh, I've been prioritizing some lesser things so in order to put Jesus at the center.

You also find- and this is what we found- that when we started trusting God financially, not only did he bust open floodgates, but he gave us a vision for that which is lesser in our lives. We just start cutting some of the stuff that wasn't helpful, and guess what we were able to do after that? Save and invest more, because when, when we start trusting God, he gives us more Revelation about how we live after him, and so now we're in a much better financial position, not just because we tithed and he busted open floodgates, but because he gave us a vision for how to choose better over that which is kind of good, and we need to have a vision for that. Paul says: I consider all things lost and you have the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. All things lost what?

What does that mean? It means that to Paul, nothing is better than knowing Jesus, which means that to Paul, he will cut everything he has to in order to prioritize Jesus. Now I want to be an empathetic, nice, relevant Pastor who understands that you've got tons of stuff that you're doing in your life. You got tons of stuff that you're allocating your funds to and your life. I get it.

I know some people have child support in the room. I know some people have tons of issues that they're they're going through. They've got some issues of the past that they're still trying to deal with and they're trying to work their stuff out. I want to be sympathetic, but when I look at what Paul says here- he says I consider all things of lesser value than knowing Christ Jesus. That means nothing should come in between me in my relationship with Jesus.

If you don't like Paul, let's do the author of Hebrews. We don't really know who he is, but he's a good writer, so we like him. We put him in the Scriptures. This is awesome. He says: shake off the encumbrances that so easily entangle you and press on, press on toward Christ Jesus, fixing your eyes on him.

He's the author, he's the perfector. There's nothing better. And so this is where I'll go. I'll call it Hanah, I call it Francis Chan mode, but I'll go somewhere. I mean, whoever your, your preacher is that that calls you out on things, and you're not mad at him about it.

Pict pict of me as him, but I'm going to call you out on something. If there's anything in between you and Jesus, that's a problem. It's a huge problem and I get where you are, but we need to rigorously cut, just like I had to do on that thing. If IID brought you a 20-minute video, y'all have fallen asleep. I had to bring you a three and a half minute video and even then we needed to make some adjustments in order to make that narrative threat come together properly to where it actually made sense to you, because you don't have the full context.

I had to cut in order to get the finished product. If you want the product that Jesus is trying to shape you into, you have to make adjustments, you have to cut. And when it comes to your finances, if you want to be blessed not just financially but spiritually, you've got to trust him in this. And people come to me all the time and I'm not mad at them when they say it, but, what they'll say is say, man, I can't afford to tithe. And I'm like looking in my life, I'm like knowing how that specific activity has drawn me closer to Jesus than many of the other activities I've performed.

Be because it cost me. I mean, it didn't cost me my whole life, it was just 10% of my income. But, man, that stressed me out, that was a lot when I started doing it and because it felt like a lot and it went to the Lord, it, it. It knit me together at a deeper level with him and when I look back on giving, I can't help. But I can't.

I can't afford not to give, I can't afford not to trust him at that level, because that specific activity brought me so much closer and into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Yes, serving was crazy helpful. Yes, attendance was crazy helpful. Opening this was phenomenal. But in addition, trusting God financially was crucial in my walk with God.

Paul gets it, the Philippian Church gets it. In fact, the whole reason we even have this letter is because the Philippian Church trusted God with their finances to the point where they sent a apodus. He got sick and almost died, but he made it all the way to Paul and he brought an offering to Paul that was their tithe. In some ways, Paul was not only blessed by it, but he's communicating to them a greater message about what it looks like to follow Jesus even when life is difficult. Our Revelation is blessed.

We have Revelation right now through Philippians, because the Philippian Church decided to trust God financially. Y'all don't even realize it. This letter is a letter that accompanied a tithe from the Philippian church. When you are faithful, you are blessed. When you are faithful, this church WIll, yes, grow.

And when you are faithful, people will hear about Jesus simply because of your faithfulness. But we, we got to make some Cuts. It's a value proposition. What do you value? And I believe it at at the deepest level, I believe you value Christ Jesus more than you value this stuff, more than you value some of the things that you might be putting your energy, your time and your money toward.

And so I want to encourage you- and this is my second point. I want to encourage you: make the choice, make the choice to choose that which is better over that which is it's fine. Make the choice. I'll illustrate it for you, because we got to make these choices all the time, don't we? You're making value propositions, Val.

It's a value proposition. Then you make a choice: what's better, what's better? I'll give you an example. Here we go. You'll either love or hate this.

I don't know, we'll see. All right, anyone like Doritos, any of y'all specifically like these purple Doritos. I don't know why, but I like them. They're like lightly spicy. You mix them with candy, it's perfect: sweet, spicy chili.

I got these at Five Below when I was going to go see a movie the other day and I'm I don't want to eat them. Anyone want to guess how many calories are in this bag? 430, four. Do you eat these? It's 400.

 But add 30 for the crumbs. You know what I'm saying? 400 calories, ain't that crazy. Like you can live on 1500 or less. This is 400, all right.

There's your Dorito. That's 400 calories. See I, I have some other stuff. Let me show you. Anyone like red vines in this place?

500 calories. 240 calories- not as bad as some of y'all thought, I know. This one is, 360 calories. There's your 1500 calories, right there. Isn't that okay?

So, so that's what we. There's your 1500 calories. You could live on a deck with 1, 1500 calories. Not those calories. Those aren't better calories.

I wouldn't even say those are just fine. I'd say those are lesser, those are bad. You should not eat that on a regular basis. This right here. I've got a full cucumber, I got six long carrots that have not clean, so don't come eat them.

And then I got five little apples. I calculated the calories on these. You want to guess 500, 500 calories. You get five apples, six carrots and a long cucumber. Anyways, need to ask you question.

I know which is better, but one of them tends to look more appetizing. And what I've learned because I lost 20 pounds last year. You remember that I started looking at pictures. I didn't even realize at the time. Then I looked at pictures.

I was 20 pounds heavier and is cuz this instant gratification. Man, I ain't got to prep for this, I ain't got to cook it, I don't even ranch dressing with it to make itat edible. You know, I this is, I can eat this stuff. But when I was trying to lose weight, when I was trying to live a better lifestyle, I found that in order to get 1500 calories, which was my limit at the time, in order to lose two pounds a week or one pound a week or whatever it was, I could. I could do 1500 calories with this, but I would not be satisfied.

So in order to do 1500 calories properly, I actually had to eat healthier and I was say apprciated, I was full. The results were much more pleasing. It is the same way in your spiritual walk. If you want to go for that which is better. Some.

It's somewhat intangible. It might be in the future. It might require something of you. It might not immediately taste as good as you think it will. It might need to be something that you acquire over time, but it's better.

Amen, somebody, come on. Cucumbers are better. This is like 55 calories right here. Christ is better. I had to alliterate that it's.

It's better, and you know what? That's only 500 calories. So if you wanted a full cup of ranch dressing, you could do that and still not be up to this point like, genuinely, this is better, this is lesser. But it's our tendency to choose that which is lesser because it is either easier or it seems better, or maybe even it tastes better up front. But you know you can acquire this taste.

Here's what I want to encourage you to do: if you want to taste this and see that the Lord is good. You got to. You got to step into obedience and kind of force yourself to acquire that new taste. You got to acquire the taste I mean having heaven doesn't look, didn't look to me like it does now. Back in the day I was like, oh, a bunch of people playing Harps in heaven.

That's interesting, whatever. But as I've read the Bible, forgive me, guys- as I've read the Bible, as I've interacted with my savior, I've started to recognize that, even if- and I think it's way more than this- even if Revelation- the scene where we're for all of eternity sitting around God's Throne saying holy, holy, holy, is the Lord, God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, if that's all it is, my interaction with Jesus up to this point has made it all worth it. This is beneficial. It is more appetizing, it's attractive. My taste buds will be fully satiated when I come into contact with Christ Jesus for all of eternity.

I am Amplified and excited about it. It took a second, though, and when it comes to giving, just like Corey said, this is kind of the last step that we take. It is kind of an acquired taste. But once you take it, man, like I've said, I've never met anybody who started the tithe and trust God financially and subsequently regretted it. Never, never met anyone who has regretted it.

This is why Paul says: I consider all things lost for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. He said it is rubbish Greek word there, scua-, it's actually. My Greek Professor would tell me it's a cuss word. He says: I consider it all dirty, pile of garbage, trash, disgusting poop, but curse word version of it: it's all trash in light of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. So if you really want to know Jesus, listen to what he says to do with your life, life and I.

I gave you that food illustration because it's like I know. I mean, y'all know, y'all know it's better to eat six carrots than it is to eat Doritos and Red Vines and drinking a Coke. Y'all know, if you don't, we should talk. We could talk about what it looks like to have. You know healthy habits, but you know what's better.

Yet we choose what's lesser. And at some point, as you're reading God's word, as you're hearing from from me and from other people and their stories, one of these days, if you want to experience the way that Christ interacts with those who trust him in that specific area, you just need to take a step and you'll find it's not as bad as you think it is. That's what they said, isn't it? I didn't tell them to say anything. I didn't.

Someone was there, brein, you were there, right. Did I tell them to say anything? They said it on their own. In fact, they said some stuff that I didn't put in because I thought y'all might be too offended by it and they were super nice about it. But they were super clear.

They were super clear about how beneficial trusting God financially has been for them, and it was almost immediate- is what they were saying. Like I didn't know it was going to happen, but what happened is they trusted God almost immediately. They started to see some blessing come into their life that they had not anticipated, and then God took some of the income out of their life and the Miracle wasn't that they got Financial blessing before. The miracle was that they weren't stressed after some of it was gone. How does that even work when you decide on your own to take 10% of your income, toss it to God through the local Storehouse and then more money comes out and you're not stressed and you're still provided for.

There's your miracle. And if you want to see that miracle, if you want to know about the love of God and what he does, for his people, you've got just test him. Test him in this. I'll continue. Verse 12: we're going to jump ahead to verse 12 before I lose my voice.

Everybody- not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus Took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. And so I was thinking about this idea of reaching toward God's calling, grasping at the goal, the upper prize of God in Christ Jesus, like it was pressing. He's reaching, he's straining forward, trying to grasp something that God has for him. What clicked to me is that many of us are trying to grasp what God has for us.

Yet in this specific area of finances, but in every other area too, our hands are full. You know what I'm saying? Like like God wants us to reach forward to grasp what he has for us, and we're sitting here frustrated at God because he's not providing it for us. And if God were looking at you or me, he would say: yo, you're reaching, but you're holding on to a bunch of stuff that you're unwilling to cut. You're holding on to a bunch of stuff that you're unwilling to make the choice to forego in order to obtain that which is greater in your life.

When Jesus called his disciples, he says: take up your cross and follow me. If you're going to take up a cross, there's not a whole lot of other stuff you're going to be able to carry with you. In fact, it's pain and suffering that Jesus calls us into. I don't even know how churches get big with that message. You know like it's.

It's interesting, but I remember end of 2021. God had given me a word. It was in our first video. You should definitely go watch the first sermon in video. The Bible.

The Bible says in Ephesians, chapter 3, three. He says: he'll do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine, and my word for that year was to ask him for more. Like, if he'll do immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine, I should ask for more, and so that was my word. It was very clear and, as we were getting closer to year end, my wife and I started having this conversation about what it looks like to give and you gave me a number. I don't remember what it was, because that's not what we gave, but I remember hearing that and she was super confident in it.

She had like pushed it apart- savings, all that other stuff- like she had broken it out and we were going to be good, it was going to be comfortable and we were going to be faithful at the same time, above and beyond our tithe, . Well, that summer we had gone on a mission trip to Mexico to visit our friend Ben, and, we're actually going there next year. If you want to sign up for a mission trip, it's going to be good. And he goes to different Villages throughout HZ, zaka State and just goes to different Villages, leads in Bible studies and all these other things just doing Ministry. And I remember noticing that year 21 that he didn't have like he needed the guitar and he can play and all but his guitar was jacked up.

And I remember thinking I brought my $699 breed Love guitar that I got in 2011 down there and I said: you know the Lord, I felt like told me to give it to them, mainly because I wanted a tailor guitar later that I was going to buy when I got back right like that's how you give stuff right when you're not generous is. I've gotten many of grills over the years because somebody wanted to buy a new grill. And they were like, hey, you want this Grill, I'm like you, this is a good girl. He's like, well, I want another one. So I left my guitar.

I felt like God had told me to leave that guitar and I had intended on getting a Taylor Guitar at the end of that year. And so my wife, she started saving up for that and I think you saved up 1500, 2,000, some sort of amount. Whatever it was, it was double the number you had given me at year end. And I woke up the morning that we were going to give a year end offering and, I was taking a shower, which is where I get all my Revelation from God, that and opening God's word and Y laughing at nothing to today, I'm going to work on this. And, I got out of the shower and I went to Hannah and I said, hey, I feel like he's calling us to double that amount.

And she looks at me and she's like, yeah, but the only place we're going to get that is from the savings we have for your guitar. And, I remember thinking explicitly- I don't know why- there's a phone on this, but it's mine now. I remember thinking that as I'm pressing on toward the upper calling of God in Christ Jesus, I'm reaching, I'm straining, my hands are full, but I want what's greater in my life. I want that which is better for me, which is Christ Jesus. And so, as I was prepping this message, I was thinking back to that moment where I wanted this $2,000 guitar and also that year I had spent a lot of money on little things.

I don't know if you know this, but a pumpkin spice latte- this is not mine, this is to somebody else's who's wasting their money-, but a pumpkin spice latte, a grande. I was going to buy one for this illustration this morning, but it was $6.25 without any extra pumps, and I was like I'm not going to do that and then tell people that trust God with their finances. So I borrowed this one from somebody else, who should save money, and so I'm just kidding whoever it is. I looked at that and this can kind of represent all the little purchases we make without ever thinking about it, because we don't have the ability to delay our self-gratification, and then I thought about things that we actually save up for that we really want, like these might be the Lesser things that are super unimportant in our lives, but take up a huge portion of our income. This might represent the things that are pretty good in your life, that would add a lot of value, but they're not the greatest thing in your life.

And I remember in those moments thinking I really want this guitar. But in order to receive from the Lord, it requires me to trust him. Trust that he has a better plan, increase my faith. And here's my third Point- free myself up to receive from God. And I'm not saying, I'm not saying to go home and just take an X-Acto Knife to your entire life.

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying: go home, process with the people that are relevant to it and say: how do we trust God in everything and with our finances? How do we trust God with what we cut? How do we trust God with what we save for? How do we trust God here at year end?

Believe him for a word and believe him in the area of our finances. Some of you are going to test him for the first time. Some are going to increase to the tide and some are going to go above and beyond because you're trusting God. And here's what I've noticed- and this is what's crazy: y'all notice: I have this guitar this next year. That next year, 2022, is the year God called us to plant this church.

 I'd given up the guitar, trusted God. Gave extra at year end, and then we started raising funds and I was like I'm glad I didn't get that guitar. And then, at the year end the next year, I don't know what happened, but Hannah asked me again, said: do you still want the guitar? I said, of course I still want the guitar. God had blessed us in such a way that, financially, we didn't even have to save up for it, and so we just bought it.

And it was on a crazy discount and so it was even cheaper than it would have been and we got it. And then we end up getting another guitar that my is in my son's closet. My son's got a tailor guitar at 7 years old. What in the world am I thinking? I just I don't know.

It's interesting. I hadn't thought about the fact that he gave me two guitars and I sacrificed the one that year. But here's what I'll tell you: when you trust him, even if it means giving up something that you value for what you value most. He's going to bless it. He will bless it.

I'm not trying to convince you to be irresponsible. I'm trying to convince you to be faithful to God, which means you have a conversation, ation with God. It's going to look different for you than it does for me, but what matters is the conversation that we have. Have a conversation and remember what Paul says: that greater value of knowing Christ Jesus far surpasses all of the other things. And I believe you came here because you found in the other things that they're not as beneficial as someone told you they were.

But I believe, as you seek and pursue Christ, you're going to find all the value you ever needed. And there's some in here who hear this whole message and are like, well, that's cool, but I've never. I, I don't know this Jesus person. I want to give you an opportunity right now. I just believe there's some people in here who need to hear the message of Jesus and to trust in him for the first time.

So if everybody would bow their heads and close their eyes, we're going to pray a prayer out loud together for the benefit of those who are trusting God for the first time. So y'all repeat after me: say God, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I believe he died on the cross and Rose from the grave. Forgive me of my sin, make me a new creation, help me trust you, and I will follow you for the rest of my life. In Jesus name, we pray amen.