Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Isn't it brilliant? Elliot? I was just thinking how we've got noughts to twos today. We've got threes to fives, we've got six to elevens, we've got our 11s to 17s all going out. You know, we are two years in to planting this church and God is just amazing. He's so faithful.
[00:00:26] He is so, so faithful. Will you give me a wave if you just serve? Because this is something to do with the sermon this morning. If you serve in any way in this local church, will you just. I know a load have all gone out. Will you just give me a massive wave this morning? It's just incredible.
[00:00:41] So I want to talk a little bit about this morning, what I'm going to do. Will you turn to Luke 12 for those of you brought your Bibles, well done. Because we can't look on screen this morning.
[00:00:52] And yeah, we love getting people to bring their Bibles. The paper, the good old paper stuff, you know, that one which is brilliant. I'm going to find it a bit difficult to see, but we'll be okay. It is quite dark.
[00:01:08] Let's just pray before we start. Father.
[00:01:11] Lord, we thank you for the living word, Jesus Christ.
[00:01:16] We thank you Lord, for your Word. We thank you, Lord. Because your Word is not a dead letter.
[00:01:21] It is alive, it is active and it has the power to change even our lives here in Newton Abbot this morning.
[00:01:31] So, Lord, we pray today. We're asking, Father, that you would speak to us clearly. Thank you. That you know us all by name. Thank you. That you know all about our situations, you know us as individuals and you know us as a local church. And I'm asking, Lord, by the power of youf Holy Spirit, to reach into every heart and life this morning with the truth of your Word.
[00:01:52] We honour your Word today in this house in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:57] So Luke 12, I'm going to read quite a bit. It's about three minutes long.
[00:02:02] But we love the public reading of scriptures.
[00:02:06] How many of us know we need to get back to the public reading of scriptures in our congregations desperately. Okay, so let's go. Okay. Starting from the first verse.
[00:02:20] Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples.
[00:02:31] I love this. Just really quickly, we're on a discipleship year. Discipleship disciple just means a follower of Jesus. That's what it means. Okay. But Jesus turned first to his disciples to explain some really important things. And this is so important because we will not reach the masses unless we are first discipled ourself until we are first grounded in the word of God. Right. We need to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Okay, so really important to note there. There's so much gold in scripture, isn't there, that, you know, Jesus could have been so good and done the whole crowd thing. We love the crowds, don't we? But he honed in on just the few. Because in just a short time, these 12 and others with them would go and set the world on fire.
[00:03:26] And now it's up to us in Newton Abbott, Disciples of Jesus Christ to set Newton Abbott on fire for Jesus.
[00:03:34] What a calling. It's not up to anybody else. It's up to us.
[00:03:40] If you will take the challenge. Mission Impossible. Do you remember that at the start of the series?
[00:03:45] Yeah. Anyway, okay. So he said to his disciples, first, be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden, that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. And what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body. And after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him, who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
[00:04:24] Are not five sparrows?
[00:04:28] If you're new here this morning, just quickly and you don't know Jesus, don't just listen to that bit.
[00:04:34] Don't just listen to that message and go, oh, God's a God who throws us into hell.
[00:04:41] Have your ears open to what comes next.
[00:04:45] Okay?
[00:04:48] Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies, yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
[00:04:55] Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
[00:05:01] Don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When you are brought before synagogues, rulers, authorities, don't worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. Someone in the Crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied, man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you. Then he said to them, watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy, Eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, you fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you.
[00:06:38] Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?
[00:06:42] This is how it would be with whoever stores up things for themselves, but is not rich towards God. And then finally the last bit. Then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
[00:06:59] For life is more than food, the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap.
[00:07:06] They have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. Then how much more valuable you are than birds who have you by worrying can add a single hour to your life.
[00:07:17] Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
[00:07:22] Consider how the wildflowers grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
[00:07:33] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it, for the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
[00:08:08] Sell your possessions, give to the poor, provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your hearts will be also.
[00:08:25] And I'm going to finish there, because Lawson picks up exciting one next week about being ready and watchful. God bless the reading of His Word today to our lives.
[00:08:37] This morning I'm going to Talk about four warnings that Jesus gives in Scripture. And you've got to remember the context of where we are in the journey of the book of Luke. And it's that Jesus is now not full far to go into the cross. We're in the kind of the last stages of Jesus's kind of training with his disciples those three years. Okay, and the first part, this kind of sermon has come in two parts if you're in Exeter. I was preaching in Exeter a couple of weeks ago. You heard part one. So I'm now going to follow up on part two. If you want to listen to that, you can do. It's on their YouTube. But we're going to look at part two this morning, and we're going to look at the warning of greed. The warning of greed. Just a quick recap. The other warnings. Jesus warned his disciples about hypocrisy. I haven't got time to go over it, but hypocrisy is a Greek word that means to almost play act.
[00:09:33] All right? You know the stage productions that you would have, and often you'd find an actor who would wear a mask to play two different parts. And Jesus was telling his disciples, okay, after warning you, don't play act.
[00:09:48] Don't be all about external appearances.
[00:09:51] Check your heart. What's really going on internally? All right, So I haven't got time to go into it. And then the fear of man.
[00:10:01] Jesus was saying to his disciples, don't have a fear of man. And I love what Jesus says. He says, why are you just bothered about somebody who can only kill your body?
[00:10:11] And I'm like, well, actually, I quite. I need my body to live, Lord. And Jesus is saying, you don't have to worry about that. He said, we need to fear the one that has authority and control over not just our physical bodies, but our soul. Because remember, we have a spirit, the real us. When you look at me this morning, you're looking at a physical shell. God's given me this flower, flesh, but the real me is inside.
[00:10:41] It's inside.
[00:10:42] That's why internally is more important than what's going on externally.
[00:10:49] And we're to fear him. And if you catch up on the podcast or the. Or the YouTube, what I said, this is summing up the fear of God.
[00:10:58] It's not a human fear to be frightened of someone.
[00:11:02] It is this awe and reverence for the majesty of who God is.
[00:11:07] I believe that you can have such a fear of God, a reverence of God, and yet be completely safe and secure in his Hands. The two go hand in hand. This is not oh, I'm scared of God. It's the way I'm living my life is because I realize how awesome, majestic, holy, righteous and good he is that we walk in reverence to him. But then the third one this morning, I'm going to touch on, don't touch on too much of the worry side, although that'll link in is greed this morning.
[00:11:42] And I guess if we had to sum this whole thing up, Jesus was saying, watch your life very carefully.
[00:11:50] This is a wake up call. Watch how you are living your life. Don't get lost in distractions. Don't get consumed with the external appearances of what's happening in the world.
[00:12:03] Sometimes I think we focus too much on what people are doing rather than what God is doing.
[00:12:09] We're so focused on people's opinions, what's happening over there. And actually when scripture tells us to live a quiet life, there's something in that.
[00:12:19] Lord, I don't know what's going on in America.
[00:12:21] I don't know what's going on there.
[00:12:23] But Lord, my focus is on you. I want to hear Holy Spirit, what you are saying right now in the present.
[00:12:33] He has been pleased to give us the kingdom. I love that phrase.
[00:12:38] He's been pleased to give us the kingdom. In other words, all these distractions, all these things in life are nothing compared to the kingdom of heaven.
[00:12:48] And the kingdom of heaven isn't about us waiting to die. And then we experience it. We believe that we can experience the coming of the kingdom here on earth today.
[00:12:58] His kingdom coming in.
[00:13:01] We hear of people getting healed. That's the kingdom of God coming. We hear of people getting saved. I heard a church in London this week.
[00:13:10] This woman, young, young woman in, I think it was hillsong London.
[00:13:16] But this, this guy was telling this story of this girl and she was completely unchurched, all right? And one night she had a dream and the dream was this, that she had to read Luke's gospel. And I, my ears pricked up because we're spending the whole year in Luke.
[00:13:32] Read Luke's gospel. Because in Luke's gospel you're going to hear about a man called Jesus. And this is in her dream. She's completely unchurched, all right? She doesn't even have a Bible in her home. And this is happening in England, all right? She wakes up the next morning and there is a Bible by her bedside, a physical Bible by her bedside. She's like, have no idea how this Bible got there. She starts finding Luke can you imagine if you're unchurched, how do you get through the Bible?
[00:14:03] Like, where's Luke? I don't even know who Luke is. Like, what is it? And she's going through. And she finds Luke, the book of Luke, and she starts reading through it, and she gives her life to Jesus Christ right there. And then, you see, that's the kingdom of heaven coming in.
[00:14:23] And God is moving, and so he is pleased to give us the kingdom. So don't just think, oh, we can taste the kingdom when we get into eternity. The kingdom is. Is coming. The kingdom is moving. The kingdom is growing, and the kingdom of God is coming. To Newton Abbot. To Teignmouth. If you're from Teignmouth, say amen. If you're from Bobby Tracy, say amen.
[00:14:47] If you're from Sheldon, say amen.
[00:14:50] If you're from King Stainton, if you're from Dawlish, the kingdom of God is coming.
[00:14:58] The church. Don't look as though it is, though.
[00:15:01] Give me a good nod. You're like, with me. Yeah.
[00:15:03] So we're going to talk about the kingdom of God coming. It's an adventure being part of the kingdom.
[00:15:10] Parable of the Rich fool.
[00:15:13] A story about greed.
[00:15:16] Jesus says, be aware of all kinds of greed.
[00:15:20] Greed is this pursuit. I mean, it's dangerous, this pursuit of excessive stuff that we just want more and more and more. And it doesn't necessarily. Greed doesn't necessarily have to be going after material things. It could be a greed that says, I want position.
[00:15:38] I want a name for myself.
[00:15:42] I want attention. I want more and more. I want power.
[00:15:47] All right. But Jesus was saying this very simple message. Life does not conceive in the abundance of possessions.
[00:15:55] We find this guy, and he had got a field. He was a wealthy man. In this parable, I want to remind you that a parable is a story with a meaning. So it didn't actually happen. Jesus spoke in parables and stories to explain a heavenly meaning. Okay. And there is this. He said, there is this rich man. So let's tell a story. Jesus says, we're watching the chosen. It's phenomenal at the moment. And there is one scene, and Jesus has got his disciples acting out a parable. I forget what parable it is, but, like, they're doing the whole dying and it's over. It's so funny.
[00:16:29] Anyway, I was. We might have that in a couple of weeks. Possibly we'll see a little dramatization.
[00:16:35] Is it the vineyard? Yeah. And so Jesus says, there's this rich man he's got a field and he's done really well for himself, like brilliant. All right. But the rich man says, he says, well, my barns can't contain all of what's happened, so I'm going to knock them down and I'm going to build even bigger barns. I'm going to store everything up and then I'm going to take life easy.
[00:16:58] Right? If you noticed in this passage, it was very I, I, I, I'm going to do, I'm going to do this, I'm going to make that decision. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I am going to do this.
[00:17:10] And that's what the pursuit of greed does.
[00:17:13] It's about self centered living.
[00:17:16] He said, I'm going to build bigger bonds. But here was the issue.
[00:17:20] Jesus said, you fool, you're foolish tonight your life will be demanded from you.
[00:17:28] That's a bit of a wake up call, isn't it?
[00:17:32] Like who's going to have your stuff then?
[00:17:34] Like how valuable is it going to be?
[00:17:37] Oh, we've got big barns. Oh, it looks really impressive.
[00:17:41] Great for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:17:43] But you're dead, you've gone, you're nothing now.
[00:17:49] You're gone.
[00:17:51] I want to say really quickly, there is nothing wrong with having possessions. Can we just get that out in the open? If you've got possessions here, don't feel guilty. It's okay. Jesus wasn't having a go with people that were wealthy.
[00:18:05] It's not a problem having possession possessions.
[00:18:09] The problem is life cannot be found in possessions.
[00:18:17] Life, life.
[00:18:20] And let me tell you, your life matters.
[00:18:24] You may not think it does today. Your life matters. It matters to him because he loves you. He made you for a purpose and he doesn't want us getting tangled up in stuff.
[00:18:39] It's not about having money, it's not about having possessions. It is our heart, it is our attitude towards those things.
[00:18:52] You know, every day, every day we answer the question with our lives about the decisions we make with what we do with what we have. Did you know that?
[00:19:06] We make decisions around how do we spend our time, what we do with our possessions, what we do with our finances, what we do with our homes, what we do with our cars, what we do with our resources.
[00:19:22] We make decisions every day with what we do with our lot.
[00:19:28] How, how we spend and what we do with our lot is depending on one thing, okay?
[00:19:40] What we value the most, how we spend our resources, our finances, our time, okay, will be based on the value we give something, okay? And I'm going to explain that in a moment. We're at a stunning night of prayer on Friday night and just a wonderful time before the Lord. And I think it was Jill. Jill read out from Psalm 73. And as she was reading it, I just sobbed. I was just on the floor and I just sobbed. And it said this. It said, whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you.
[00:20:26] Whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you? You see, this was not. He was telling his disciples, this was not about possessions. This was all about heart.
[00:20:42] And Jesus knows better than anybody how greed and possessions and things can get in the way of us, all of us, all of us all.
[00:20:57] I love the widow's mite story. It's actually in Luke 21, right? The widow. If you don't know the story of the widow's mite.
[00:21:06] So they're in the church, if you like, or the synagogue. They would have called in those days, the temple. Temple. And all of these people are coming to give their offering to the Lord, okay? It's great thing to do to bring your offering your first fruits to the Lord, not, not the leftovers, your first fruits, okay? And they were coming, bringing their money to the temple and. And people were given such large amounts, okay? But this woman, this widow, all she had was two coins.
[00:21:33] And she comes in and she throws her lot in.
[00:21:36] She gives it all, gives it all.
[00:21:40] Everything she had to live on for that week, she gave it away.
[00:21:45] Can we just.
[00:21:46] Can we just like get our heads around that for a minute, right? Imagine you got paid today. Yeah, got paid today. 500 quid goes into your account today and the offering basket goes around and you give all 500 quid in.
[00:22:05] How am I going to feed my kids?
[00:22:07] How am I going to pay my electricity bill?
[00:22:13] A million questions would be ticking over, right?
[00:22:16] She came at the beginning of the week, opened her purse up and threw it all in, okay?
[00:22:26] She gave all that she had to live on. She gave her absolutely everything away. And let me tell you why. And I want us to get this this morning because I want us to be a generous church.
[00:22:36] Life is not found in possessions.
[00:22:39] Life is not found in possessions. It's found in God. And this widow knew it.
[00:22:47] She knew it.
[00:22:50] Talk about 100% trusting God.
[00:22:56] Talk about absolutely relying on God for everything.
[00:23:03] I have a theory. Can I give you my theory? That's not in scripture, right? This is my theory about the widow's might.
[00:23:10] I think she tested the Lord out on one occasion. Maybe some years ago.
[00:23:17] All right? And I think she'd have come one day.
[00:23:20] Maybe life was so tough. Maybe, you know, she's a widow, so we know she's lost her husband, but life was so tough and she's like, lord, I'm trying to do things in my own way. I'm trying to keep hold of the little that I've got because I've got to survive. And widows in those days, it was really tough for widows in those days. They didn't have the support like you do today. You don't have benefits to help you. Right. I think she'd have been so desperate and thinking, I can't live off two coins.
[00:23:52] I just. It's not. I'm not making ends meet on two coins. And I think one day she made a radical decision to go over to you then, Lord.
[00:24:01] And I believe she got those coins one day and just threw them all in.
[00:24:06] Yeah, she threw in her lot and go, there's no safety net here. I am, Lord, if you really are provider, right.
[00:24:15] Not that we put God to the test, because we don't. But I imagine she was at her wits end and said, lord, have the lot.
[00:24:23] And this is my theory. I think Monday came around and I believe little Martha came along with a loaf of bread and went, hey, I don't know what her name was, but hey, I've bought you some bread.
[00:24:38] Oh, thank you.
[00:24:41] Well, this is amazing. Thank you so much. Tuesday comes around.
[00:24:46] Hey, it's just me. It's Mary this time. I've got some grapes and I've got some pomegranates and do you want them? Well, yeah, that'll be great. Thank you.
[00:24:56] Wednesday comes around.
[00:25:00] Another biblical name, Ruth.
[00:25:03] Ruth comes around and she goes, I've knitted this lovely jumper.
[00:25:07] Do you want it? And she's like, well, yeah, I've been feeling a bit cold.
[00:25:12] Well, there you go. Thursday. Do you get it?
[00:25:15] And so it came round to the Sunday, the week after.
[00:25:19] And she's like, I'm doing this again, it's so good.
[00:25:26] And I imagine another week and she's throwing it in again. That's my theory. It's not in Scripture. It's my theory.
[00:25:32] And you theologians amongst you and you scholars will probably come and hit me over the head later. But anyway, it's a theory. It's not in Scripture. All right, But I believe she understood, okay? She understood, See, giving her full possessions away, right? Was saying, my life is not in possessions. My life and value is in the God who provides it was sacrificial it showed her absolute affection and devotion for the Lord and her desire and her confidence for God.
[00:26:06] It showed her generosity.
[00:26:09] If we summed it all up, wouldn't it be worship?
[00:26:13] Is that not worship?
[00:26:15] She's putting everything in. She's not holding back. She's demonstrating the value of who God is. She's placing God at the highest value in her life.
[00:26:27] You know, when we serve, I want to speak to you people who serve. And it's going to get cold out there.
[00:26:33] If you put up flags every week to welcome people, if you are there with banners, okay, if you pour coffees, you serve our children's ministry. Do you know what you are doing? You are putting value in God's house.
[00:26:53] You're not ticking a list and going, you're putting value in the house of God. You're putting value in God's people. That is what you're doing when you welcome people.
[00:27:06] See, when we serve, we are becoming like Jesus.
[00:27:12] When we are generous in our resources, generous in our time generation, generous with our love, generous in all things.
[00:27:21] We are representing the kingdom of heaven. We're representing Christ on the earth. Don't you want to be a church like that?
[00:27:31] We're showing who God is.
[00:27:34] We're demonstrating love. When you, when you work on the tech team or at DEO Gloria, whatever you're doing, you're putting value on the kingdom of God. You know, God was so generous. We broke bread this morning together. He was so generous in sending Jesus, he did not need to send Jesus. You know, if God did not send his beloved special possession, Jesus, we would all be living our lives now and going to a lost eternity, we'd be lost forever.
[00:28:04] But somehow the God of the universe looked upon each of us and said, I place value in you.
[00:28:13] Well, some days I don't really feel like I'm worthy of it. No, we're not.
[00:28:19] We never will be.
[00:28:24] But because of his generosity, because of his great love towards us, you know, the Bible says we are his special possession.
[00:28:34] If you hear nothing else this morning, go away and go, I'm a special possession.
[00:28:40] It's not about our money. It's not about our things. It's not about our house.
[00:28:46] It's about God's generosity towards us.
[00:28:52] You know, the Bible talks. I don't really want to go into this because it probably ends up being another sermon, but the Bible talks about a generous and cheerful giver.
[00:28:59] Are we as a church being generous?
[00:29:02] Are we being cheerful in our giving?
[00:29:05] You know, that word cheerful actually means being a Hilarious giver.
[00:29:09] That widow, she was an hilarious giver. She gave everything.
[00:29:15] She gave everything. And God wants us as a church to value him above everything.
[00:29:24] Now, what I want to do, what I do want to say, just really quickly, before we wrap up this morning.
[00:29:30] I don't want you to feel guilty for having possessions.
[00:29:33] It's how we use them.
[00:29:36] It's how we use them.
[00:29:46] It's how we use them.
[00:29:49] If you have possessions this morning, and actually in the uk, we all have possessions, don't we recognize this morning that God has given us things to enjoy, but let's enjoy them generously.
[00:30:07] If you've got a spare car and you hear a need, let somebody borrow your car.
[00:30:13] If you've got some extra lunch this afternoon, you think, I want to invite somebody back to lunch?
[00:30:21] Give away.
[00:30:23] Give away is the best thing we can do as a church. You know, here's a little bit of an example. Time's ticking, so I won't go onto some other stuff, but we have a house full of teenagers. Anybody got a house full of teenagers?
[00:30:37] It is a weird season, right? Mine were all sat there. If you don't. They're all sat there, the big, tall ones. And Phil and I are always amazed. We look at them and go, how do you get so tall? So one's bleached his hair blonde, and. Yeah, he's 17, just started college. The other one, Ruben, works with dad in the steel company. And then we've got beautiful little Heidi at the end.
[00:31:00] But we've now got a season where our house is full of teenagers. Like, full of teenagers. And you'll see people come through, like, different bedrooms and it's like, who are you? No, no, not quite. Not quite. Okay. No, not quite. They are from other churches and all that kind of stuff. Okay, okay. We do vet it. But anyway, so I do the weekly shop.
[00:31:21] I do online because I just don't like going to the supermarkets. So online comes and I do this weekly shop. Food prices are terrible.
[00:31:31] Like, it just seems to be going up food prices. And so I do this weekly shop, put it all away in the cupboards, in the fridge, the freezer, Right.
[00:31:39] Within two days, let me tell you, my cupboards are bare.
[00:31:44] They're bare.
[00:31:46] The milk, the kind of like 20 pints of milk that I've bought and then just thrown across the kitchen. No, seriously, the cheese is all gone, the eggs have all gone, the bread is all gone. Everything's gone. And like, a couple of months of this, I'm getting mad. I'm just like, Our money's just like.
[00:32:09] And Reuben does pay, bored. But let me tell you, it covers the cheese and the eggs.
[00:32:16] It doesn't cover any more than that.
[00:32:20] So I'm a bit cheesed off cheese, right? So we've got these teenagers and then their mates are coming and we like to have an open house. So they're going in the fridge, you know, and they're going in the cupboards, they're going with the milk. And I'm like, I'm clocking it. I'm going, right, I'm not using that milk. But anyway, so that's all happening and I'm getting a bit like really mad about this, going, oh, we just, Everything just. It's all going, it's going, it's going, right. Last couple of weeks, Phil just. They meet on a Monday. He's got all his firm are Christian, amazing, really. You're part of it. And Monday they pray.
[00:32:55] And Phil says, we've been praying. He's in the steel industry. Phil said, we've been praying for parcels, parcels of steel, okay? And last week a parcel of steel, a real supernatural provision came in to fill cheap, right? And what they do with it, they will sell it off and make a profit on it, okay? And so that happens in the business, right?
[00:33:19] I don't believe that's coincidental how God provides in the business, okay?
[00:33:26] So as I'm kind of getting a bit worried about all these possessions and food that I've got that seem to be going overnight, God then pours in in another way, as we are generous and I'm going to be really generous now, I'm going to smile when all those teenagers come and raid my fridge.
[00:33:44] I'm going to smile because then as we are generous, God always pays back. And we've got a million and one stories how as we've been generous when we've had not a lot and when we've had stuff, God has been so kind in closing this morning, you know, greed is really dangerous. We might laugh about, but it's really dangerous.
[00:34:07] It will shipwreck your faith. It will shipwreck marriages. Look at the, you know this guy who came to Jesus saying, jesus, help me, I want my inheritance.
[00:34:16] Like, it breaks families, it divides people, it wrecks marriages.
[00:34:21] And Jesus is warning them, saying, just don't, don't pursue these things. I've been pleased to give you the kingdom and let me tell you, the kingdom is limitless. There is not a limit on all that God wants to pour out on us if we will trust him. If we will not worry.
[00:34:40] Someone said to me recently, I won't embarrass them. They said, esther, I've got this gifting, I've got this talent.
[00:34:47] I want to use it for the church.
[00:34:50] I love that.
[00:34:52] And they are using it. They're gifting in the church. They're just bringing. They've got a bit of extra time and they want to serve and they want to bring their gift. And they say, God, Esther, we want to serve God's house.
[00:35:05] That is somebody putting value on the kingdom of heaven coming for such a time as this. Are we going to be generous towards God, really? Finally, Drew, will you get on the keys on the. Which one? The piano sounded great.
[00:35:23] Piano, keyboard. Come on. Piano, keyboard, piano.
[00:35:30] Are we being generous towards God?
[00:35:34] Let's start changing, you know, when we've got all our possessions, let's start changing the I, I, I. What can I do? What can I do to Lord? What do you want me to do with this, Lord?
[00:35:46] You know, we can't afford not to give to God because you know what? We rob ourselves of the miracles. We rob ourselves of the supernatural provision of heaven. And I know it's tough.
[00:35:57] 2011, we lost everything as a family, and I mean everything.
[00:36:01] Had to move in with my parents. We had tiny, tiny children. We lost everything. And we decided in that moment that we were going to still continue giving to the house of God. Not just finances, but we did give finances, but in our service as well.
[00:36:16] And within 12 months, God got us out of a really bad mess, Like a really bad mess.
[00:36:22] And not only that, but over those 12 months, we kept having parcels of money through the letterbox.
[00:36:28] And this one dear family, I know who they are.
[00:36:31] We were up north at the time. They came and put a load of food, food bags, Tesco food bags on our doorstep, Right? And I believe God's provision came because in that season, we decided that we're still going to give to the house of God. We're still going to be generous to God because we need him above all the possessions we've got. So we know how tough it can be when you feel like, I've got nothing to give. What can I give? I've got nothing in the back. Like, there's nothing.
[00:36:57] I encourage you, like the Bible says, to give the first fruit. Don't give God the leftovers because it shows that you don't actually trust God to provide for the rest of the month.
[00:37:08] Give him the first of your time, your finances.
[00:37:15] Light the day. Give him the first of your day. And I promise you he will provide, he will come through. You know, our vision as a church is to to reveal the glory of God across the southwest of England. You know what the glory of God is? Did you know if you are in Christ, you are a carrier of his glory.
[00:37:33] We are carriers of his glory. In other words, we're carriers of the likeness of Christ on the earth, his goodness, his generosity. We are carriers of that.
[00:37:46] And so the vision is that when we go into the workplace on Monday morning, when we talk with our neighbours, when we go into our schools, our universities, our campuses, wherever we go, we're carrying the goodness, the generosity, the heart of God. Wherever we go, it's his goodness, his character on display through us.
[00:38:13] We just stand this morning and I'm going to wrap up.
[00:38:21] We want to be a generous church, right Lord, start in each of us today.
[00:38:29] Lord, we thank you for your word because it gives us a bit of a wake up call that actually Lord, you're for us, you're not against us, you're not saying that you want us poor or in poverty.
[00:38:42] You're actually saying you want our heart, you want us to trust you. Lord, I thank you that we are more important than sparrows. I thank you Lord that you number the hairs on our head. That is how much value you put on us.
[00:38:58] I thank you Lord because you sent your one and only son, God to the earth because you put value on us. How can, how can we not pay you back with our hearts, with our lives to see your kingdom come, your will to be done.
[00:39:18] Lord, I pray that we will be known as a generous church.
[00:39:24] Father, people may not agree with our doctrine, they may not agree with you, but Lord, I pray God that they will see you in us.
[00:39:36] I believe church that we are going to win the lost. We're going to win people by reflecting a generous God to the world.
[00:39:46] That we will be hilarious givers with our time, with our service because we put value on Jesus Christ, we put value on the coming kingdom of God.
[00:40:01] Glorify your name, Jesus.
[00:40:05] Lord, I bless all those who work hard and labour Lord, I don't know how we're doing it because no one gets paid, Lord. Our staff team don't get paid.
[00:40:20] Our noughts to 30s leads don't get paid a penny to do what they do, Lord. They just give of their time.
[00:40:29] And Lord, you just keep pouring back, you keep giving us more and more, Father, we just thank you and honor you Lord.
[00:40:41] Lord, will you speak to each of us this week about putting you first God forgive us when we don't trust you enough to give you everything it Lord, you know that we're human.
[00:40:54] You know our frailties.
[00:40:58] But Lord, I thank you that you love us.
[00:41:01] You put value on us today.
[00:41:04] In Jesus name, God bless your church.
[00:41:07] Amen and amen. Amen.
