For Letter Words Sermon Series - “Give”

Church family. How are you doing this morning? That's two people. Come on now. How's everyone doing today?

Any man? A man? This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I got any people out there ready to rejoice with me this morning? I got to. Come on now. Look, I don't want you to take our gatherings lightly. Like this is my most anticipated day of the week where I get to gather with my family and only gather with family.

But, you know, to worship the true only God that is the creator of all the heavens and the earth. Let me just remind you that he created you, okay? He gave you the breath. This in your body. You know that, right? Come on, now, let me just I want to give you a disclaimer this morning. This message today.

I pray that you will not only hear it, but you will receive it if you hear and receive, I promise you it will change your life in the season that we are in. Heading towards Resurrection Sunday. The message that I believe that God wants us to hear and also believe Satan does not want you to receive it because the church, the big church, has struggled with.

What I'm to talk about this for generations, and I believe that if we begin to hold fast to what God is going to speak to us today, it will transform your life, will transform your relationship with Christ. And the Kingdom of Heaven will continue to take the Earth by storms. And so today I want to just encourage us as we lift up Matthew chapter nine versus 37 and 38.

We are still in our four letter word series. The first week we taught unrest and God was telling us that we need to rest, that we need to kind of slow down, take a Sabbath and rest in our Lord and Savior. And then one of our deacons who has a pastor's heart in calling on his life and he's walking it out in so many different ways.

He's just delivered the word last week full in espanol, Spanish. Amen. Such a blessing to our church and our congregation, because you can be multi-ethnic and multicultural, but not still be in. You can assimilate to one area. I don't want to go to the whole multi-ethnic conversation, but I'm grateful that we are a body of believers where we embrace our differences, we embrace who we are, our culture, our background in the different languages that we have.

And so just be ready. There's part two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten coming. I want us to get used to hearing God's Word in a different language. So Matthew, chapter nine versus 37 and 38 says this. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. And then he says, Ask, ask the Lord of the harvest.

Therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 2032 says 37 This is the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Today, the four letter word that we're going to talk about today is give, give. God is asking us to give of your time, to give of your talents, to give of your treasures, and also to give of your temple.

He wants your time, He wants your talents. He wants your treasures. He wants your temple, your body to be used for the glory of God. And so just to kind of set the tone of where we going this morning will be in our core scripture will be coming out of Matthew chapter 20 verses one through seven. This is what the Word of God says.

And Matthew, chapter 20 verses one through seven is typically it's it's a parable about the workers in the vineyards. Right. And to really understand. Matthew Chapter 20 yet to go back one chapter to Matthew, Chapter 19 in the chapter Chapter of Matthew, Chapter 19, Matthew is recording an encounter with Jesus, a conversation that is taking place with a rich young ruler, right?

He's having a conversation with Jesus and he's like, Jesus, what do I have to do to inherit the Kingdom of God? Because Jesus says, okay, let me let me tell you what you have to do. Jesus said, you should not murder, you should not commit adultery, you should not steal, you should not bear false witness. You should honor your mother and your father.

You should love your neighbor as yourself. The message is, I got that all wrapped. I've done that since the day I was born. He's like, Jesus. I've been walking in that posture for all the days of my life. Jesus says, Fine, go sell all that you have and bring it to the church. And we drink on that one.

I'm a drink for you on that one, and this is water. And just to let you know, Jesus told him to go sell all the things that you have and let the church use it. Now, remember, he wasn't. He wasn't. No, you know, average guy. He wasn't going from paycheck to paycheck. He was rich. I mean, he was blessed beyond measure.

Like he can buy everybody. Chickens do not bounce. They.

I can write a few, but after that, you guys, you're gonna be on your own. Hey, man. And what I want you to begin to understand is this. The rich young ruler begin to think about what all he's going to get ready to lose If he did that. And what happened? Jesus. I don't know if I can do that.

So he walked away from an invitation that God has given him. And he kept all that he had. Not even knowing or even realizing that God or Jesus, same person, was the person that gave him all that He had. Do you realize that all that you have, God gave you and He asked us to steward over it, to manage it.

And so to understand, chapter 19, we go to chapter 20 now. So Peter is having a conversation with Jesus. He said, With Jesus, if that's what is required to enter into your Kingdom of Heaven, then we've done that and more like we are disciples. We've been walking with you for days and months and almost years on end. So Peter's like, What do we have to do?

Peter's was asking what is required of him? Because Peter thought he was at a different level than the rich young ruler. But lo and behold, he was at the same level. So this is where we get the parable of the workers in the vineyard, verse chapter 20, verse one for the Kingdom of Heaven is like a land owner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

Now, when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarii a day, he sent them into his vineyard and he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said to them, You also go into the vineyard and whatever is right, I will give you. So they went. Verse five says, The land owner came back again about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise.

And what he's saying is that he came back the sixth and ninth hour and he did the exact same thing again in about the 11th hour. He went out and found others standing idle and said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day long? They said to him, because no one hired us. He said to them, You go also to the vineyard, my vineyard, and whatever is right, you will receive.

So let me just kind of put this in the 21st century, you know, kind of just connotation. So he's he's saying this. The landowner goes out, he owns the vineyard, he stops by Lowe's, the Home Depot. See these guys standing around say, hey, I got some work for you to do. If you want to come with me, I'll pay you.

Right. You guys know Lowe's, the Home Depot. You get there six, 7:00 in the morning. Who do you see? Come on, y'all. They're looking for work, right? And so the lender is like, look, come on. 6:00 in the morning, they go pile into their land or take them to the job site, drop them off the job site. And while they're doing this before they do this, the landowner and the 6 a.m. crew, the very first crew that they're talking about, begin to negotiate their terms of their contract.

Right. You guys punch your clock, you go to work every single day. What do you do? You negotiate with your boss about how much you are valued as an employee and what work you're willing to do for set amount of money for the week. Right. That's typically what happens. And so when you begin to look at the terms of this, the way he talks about go into the marketplace and they consider what they will make the word for that is simple nail That's in the Greek symphony or what does that sound like?

Symphony and what does the symphony? A symphony is an organized gathering of vocal and instrumental instruments coming together with one goal in mind. They are walking in agreement even though they have different perspectives or different instruments. They're coming together unified for one common purpose and one common goal That is a symphony. And so the first work or group of work is a68 you.

They agreed for a dollar amount, a one day nary for 12 hours of work. So the 6 a.m. go. Next thing you do, Jesus come back. The landowner comes back and he says this 9:00. What happens? He goes back and he hires more people. He goes back again. 12 noon, he hires more people. I will pay you with what you're worth.

He goes back again at three. Then he comes back again at five, goes back to five, and everyone gets the exact same thing. There's no contract for any other crew except for the 6 a.m. crew. Jesus comes back, the landowner comes back at 5pm I still see people standing there ready to be used. The landowner itself in the scriptures is God.

God comes back to Home Depot or Lowe's and still see people. They're ready to be used. They didn't make the 6 a.m. cut. They to make the 9 a.m. cut. They didn't make the 12 noon cut down to make the 3 p.m. cut or even the 5:00 cut. There's still people there to be used by God to be use their gifts, the talents, the time, the treasures in their temple.

So what happens? Verse six is this about the 11th hour? He went out and found others standing there idle and said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day? They said to him, because no one no one hired us. He tells them, You go also into the vineyard, whatever is right, you will receive what is right.

Everyone can be used by God. Everyone can be used by God. So I don't mind telling the church, you know, you guys may come to find out by now, because I have this desire, this innate desire, you know, the kind of seeing from time to time. Right? That's just one of my my desires. You know, I just, you know, one of the days I'm going to break out, you're going to be like, what, pastor you have?

You know, I can hold out. I have a desire to sing. Right. But, you know, sing and actually be on on what's that word you always use was what is it called and what would be temple, whatever you will call it, Harmony. That's not me. That's not my gifting. Okay, you stay over there. I have. I covet. And Felicia always tells me, Goddess, that give me the gift of singing.

Because I would be honest. I would act a fool. I'm going to be honest with you. I would be singing all the time. I would be singing like nonstop. But God did not give me that gift to be in harmony, in tune with everyone. But God wants to use your gifts, your talents, your treasures, and your temple for His glory.

It doesn't matter if you've got picked at 6 a.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. or 12 noon. He's saying, My child, I see that you have value and worth and I still have a need for you in my vineyard. So what happens? 5:00 crew gets on site. They work one hour. 6:00 comes this is quittin time. So the landowner comes by say, guess what?

You guys work today, You get paid today. 5:00 comes and the landowner is thinking, how should I pay these individuals? You can go back and read the scriptures if I'm just paraphrasing for you. What he does is this. Typically the first crew that gets there get paid for it, right? That's typically how it goes. But he flips the script.

He says, you know what? Let's start with the 5 p.m. crew first. Let's pay them first. So this is what the landowner does. He he because there's there's you know, there's a6am crew. They've been there all day. Their hands are dirty. They work 12 hours. The clothes are ragged and dirty. They're sweaty, they're smelly. They just got the working 12 hours.

The 5:05 p.m. crowd gets what happens with them. They got to work at five, left at six. They still smell like bath and body works, right? Their hands are so clean. Their clothes are so clean. I work with them. To be honest with you. I work with a guy. He's he's an executive housekeeper. This dude, you know, he's inspecting the rooms.

He's to have creases in his pants at the end of the day. And I'm like, Julio, how in the world you to have a crease in your pants and you're still. I got wrinkles in my shirt, in my peers, and I'm suited up. And this dude, you know, he's move around cards and stuff and like, you must not be working, bro.

Like, you know, working. But the 6 p.m. crowd, Right? Their hands are dirty. They've been working all day. 12 hours, 2 hours, 12 hours of labor all day long. Clothes are dirty. They've been working all day. So the landlord comes around and pays his 5 p.m. crow and he pays in one denarii one denarii for one hour's worth of work.

Right? That's what the scripture says. They got pay first. Where's Mom? Where's my six alien people? Raise your hand if you're six. Eight people. What about any 9:00 to 3:00 people? So you're doing the math and you hit already right? I'm doing my math already. I'm like, Man, these jokers got here 5:00 in the afternoon. They got paid one Denarii.

I'll be here for 12 hours all my to make bank, right? That's that's what you. Come on. That's what you're thinking. That's what I was thinking. I'm like, okay, Jesus. That's. That's what's up. Like, you know, Mama talks about to get fat girl, we go to Ruby. Tuesday's a night. Yes, sir. Forget the four, four, four, four, four, four is go right.

So the 6 a.m. crowd gets there, they walk up to the landowner, their hand is out. And what do they place in his hand? One denarii. heck, no. That's not about to happen. I'm looking at my one denarii like, are you kidding me right now? Right, right. I mean, be honest. I just put in 12 hours of work and these jokers put in one hour worth of work.

They get one for one hour and I give one for 12 hours. Why is it it was a symphony? Go back to the beginning. They made an agreement based on that contract. I would do this for this amount. All the others trusted. The landowner says I would give you What is your value. At the end of the day, the first would be last and the last would be first.

So here we go. The six m people, they're calling the EEOC, they're calling the Better Business Bureau. They're called they call it. They got H.R. on speed dial. They're calling H.R. right now because this is this is fair, unusual treatment. This is a no. This is this is not what we signed up for. Stay. Order! Stay. What is your offer?

What was the offer? Letter? Verse 11 says this. And when they have received it, they started to complain against the land owner. And if you look at the word complain in the Greek, that word is going to God. And in the original language, what that means is that complaining mean that they were murmuring like low voice. They were complaining like, Man, I can't believe they know those sidebar conversations, you know, those parking lot conversations people be having after church.

So I know what I'm talking about. Forget the parking lot in the sanctuary conversation at the coffee shop, drinking your latte with your pinky up saying, I am upset. But they didn't know. We don't know that the landowner, God hears us. He had a you're speaking against what God has already put in place and you're speaking against the very institution or even the leadership that God has placed in your job, at your at in the church.

Well, in the government. Come on now. Red and blue. Okay. Which side you follow? We're not supposed to speak against leadership. So this is this is what's taking place. This is can God's do is when they grumble and mumble. When was the last time you complain to God? Right? How long God am I going to be dealing with this guy?

When when are you going to deliver me from this God? When is my breakthrough going to come from God? I've been in the same situation for years and months and days and weeks. Go. When is my time? When is my next? I mean, you complain before I've complained before, right? I've cried out to God before like I win.

And why remembering and God hears this. So my question for you today is this Which crowd are you a part of? Are you part of that 6 a.m. crowd or are you part of that 5 p.m. crowd? I wish they would do this. I wish the church would do this. Why don't they do this? What has God blessed you with?

What talents treasures your temple, the mobility, the activity of your limbs, your voice. We're called to be the hands and feet of the gospel many of you don't know about. A couple of weeks ago, we just put in, we were speaking to some leaders because we've been praying for quite some time about our outreach initiatives as a church.

Like we wanted to kind of hone it in and a couple we approached myself and Shannon and we sat down to kind of talk with them. And we've we've actually placed in leadership Adam and Nancy Leasure as our outreach directors, directors, and she's shaking her head like, Well, why? He put me on blast. Pastor, I'm afraid now she's in the last row right here, one white shirt right here for glasses.

But we're so grateful because we know that we are called to be beyond these walls of the church. And so what this story reminded me about as we're talking about giving of ourselves, like you can't give God, let me just tell you that right now, you cannot out give God in any way, shape or form or fashion. This story reminded me about Matthew chapter 24, where he talks about the parable of the talents.

In the Parable of the Talents is just I'm a paraphrased prayer, paraphrase it for you is Matthew 24. Go back and read it for yourself. It's where God has entrusted three people with talents. One person receive, five, another person receive, I believe to the other more receive one. The person that receive five took theirs and put theirs in innovation and investment.

Let's say just say stock options and got back a ten fold or 20 fold investment on it. The same thing with the two. The person who had two talents came back and they dealt with their talents as well. What about the one that had one talent, that one gift, that one time, that one treasure, that one temple? What did that one person do?

They buried it. They dug a hole, put it in the ground and buried it. And this is what God has revealed to me years ago about this scripture, those that entrusted their talents to God and used it, mobilize their faith. The one mobilized this fear, the other to mobilize their faith in God is a God. What you have given me, I when steward it well, I'm a I'm a walk out in faith and put it to use.

And you come back with with ten fold or 20 fold, whatever the case may be. But the one that actually only had one was so fearful of losing the one that they had. And this is for those who like fear of of serving in the church or fear of tithing or giving in to a church or a nonprofit or even just using your talents like God has called those to be more musicians or singers or use it in connection to the Palm or even go out and help our kids.

Department of our youth, like God has asked you that God is equip you with time, talents and treasures and your temple. But God, I don't serve like that person. I don't seem like like Felicia or, you know, Joy or whoever me be and appraise the honor and the whole gamut of singers. I don't sing like Jane, but praise God for Jane.

God is using you right? Praise God for saying praise God for everybody who's here. That saying yes to go, guys, you know what? I'm all in. You can use my time, my talent and my treasures to people mobilize their faith. One of them mobilize their fear. About a week ago, a group of us went down to Florida to a conference called Exponential.

And at the conference, we are you know, we're talking about church planting and how are we going to mobilize more church points out from one church and kind of just help people walk out their calling that God has called them to do. And in this in one and one of the sessions that we were going to, there was a guy that they prefaced with the video and I don't have the video that they showed on my show, video what he did before.

But there was this guy by the name of Evan Mummery. He is from Zambia. And back in 2016, Evan had this righteous. He's a pastor, He's leading the church, he's leading in communities. He had this righteous indignation in himself, like it was that righteous anger that he had because Zimbabwe is the president of Zimbabwe wasn't leading the country the way that he needed to.

Like he was upset and out of his frustration, out of his anger, he began to record himself on a phone, uploaded a Facebook. And let's see what happened after this. We all knew that you could die, you could get brutalized, could get jailed. You could never be seen or heard from again. This is what happened to people that confronted Robert Mugabe.

You know, a year before you couldn't have paid me to do what I do simply because of the kind of fear that was associated with doing that kind of thing. My name is Yvonne Mowery there. I'm from Zimbabwe. I'm an everyday, you know, family man passed. I had two kids at the time. We're expecting a third one. The day that I recorded that video.

I was really angry. I had literally spent the day trying to figure out how to pay for some very basic things that my family needed and that included food. With Zimbabwe in meltdown and its economy in freefall, the veteran president Robert Mugabe, attended the state opening of parliament last month. As a people Zimbabweans, we were scared. I'm sitting in my office.

I see the Zimbabwean flag. The thought that came to me actually was this flag is I like this flag. This is a beautiful flag. And so I take my phone and I put it up against my Bible. I just start to speak from my from my heart. They tell me that the black the black is for is for the majority of people like me.

And for some reason I don't feel like I am a part of it. Quit standing on the sidelines and watching this flag fly everyday that it flies is begging for you to get involved. Is begging for you to say something, is begging for you to cry out and to say why I didn't have a big fall. And I think there was a sense of I don't think that many people will see this.

Within hours, the Post had attracted over 10,000 views and within days over 100,000. All over the world, hundreds of Zimbabweans have responded by posting photos of themselves wrapped in the national flag. They say they feel patriotic again in a country where rights groups say civil liberties are routinely violated. And when those who dare to criticize the leadership face arrest.

You know, people were saying things like by end of the day, everyone will either be dead or be in prison. Thousands of these comments coming through, that sudden sense of realizing, my gosh, what have I done? Literally everywhere I went, people recognized who I was. People would say, thank you for what you're doing. You almost wanted to say under your breath, you have no idea how scared I am right now is.

I just want to be a nobody and just go back into blending into being a nobody. Hi, this is Yvonne Moeti in Harare, Zimbabwe. We are now officially on day number three, but here we are on day five citizens. We are now in day number 19. My father called me. He said, What are you doing? These people will kill you.

And he gave me testimony of people he knew that had been murdered by back when we live in an oppressive society, every generation that does not draw the line but into the next generation has to do it. I'm going to do the same thing to my kids. And I said, Dad, I'm sorry. I can't stop right now. We are sending up the finger to the saying enough is enough.

There was no plan. We literally built the plane as as it see, our people remain strong. The dream was to increase the number of people that had the courage to speak truth to power. And there was a moment in which we then decided, okay, let's attempt to shut this whole country down. What we were going to ask Zimbabweans to do was to take one day off, and I'm going to work on opening your businesses, not getting on the street and just staying indoors.

I still don't know why I thought I was at that point saying those words. And it's a make or break moment because if no one takes heed, we're done. Not only are we done as a movement, but then they will come after us and government and they will get us glued. And in that moment, you realize that you you don't want it.

You don't want to die. And you want to live. You want to be part of the picture. You want to see what it looks like when we get a breakthrough. You want to stand on top of the mountain and enjoy the view with everybody but you. But you also realize that sometimes walking a journey like this means that you have to be okay with months.

With not seeing that Wednesday, the 6th of July 2016. We are shutting Zimbabwe down the roads and stay home. Nobody goes to work on that day. We want them to know that we are serious where you are. No violence is our day. We are all Zimbabweans. Talk to you against posture. Ever worry? They called on Zimbabweans to stay at home in protest against the country's economic troubles.

When it comes time to listen to the normal activity that lets you know that the morning bustle has started. Someone put up something that said there is no one. Wow. I mean, the central business district in there's no one, I think. my goodness, this is working. Civil servants held a stay at home protests that shut down most businesses.

Government offices, schools and hospitals for a day. It was the biggest act of public defiance against Robert Mugabe in a decade. We have a completely, completely shut down city. The whole thing came to a complete standstill. Right now, thinking to myself, my God, they did it. And these are people who are not scared. These are brave people.

You know, this is this is a citizens coup. You also realize the most unexpected things can break a system that no one ever thought could be can be broken.

The story of the state of your freedom and democracy today will one day be taught. It will be taught whether you agree or not. Make sure that when they tell it, they are never able to say that you did nothing.

That video for me is so powerful because it talks about the symphony of people coming together, right? Of one common goal, one common agenda to do what the conductor has called them to do when God has called his people to unite together in every tribe tongue, to be unify every color, creed, every nationality, every ethnicity. He calls us together to mobilize believers as Christians, there's a symphony that God wants, but he can't do that if only a portion of the body is giving of themselves.

Like we can't move ourselves if only one part of our body is moving. When God is asking to give of yourself, your time, your talents, your treasures, and your temple, He wants all of you. The righteous indignation that even had mobilized so many people in Zimbabwe, they set the country down. What more were Christians have as a holy indignation for our community who are lost, for community, who need to hear Christ?

What can we do as a body of believers together and see this? This story didn't tell you the other half of his story. That is show the part where his wife had to flee the country with her kids, with their kids. They didn't they didn't talk about when he got in prison five different times. And we're not talking about doing a typical 72 hours.

No, maybe 72 weeks. What happens then? He didn't talk about when he was in jail and he was fearful of his life. He didn't talk about the time frame where he walked into the jail for the very first time and he's crying out to God, God, what do you want me to do? Who's with me? The very first day he was in jail, These big news I'm talking about Dave Powers, Big Isaiah Powers, big.

I'm talking about Jerome being. We talking about big people, right there, Carlos Big. Like these big news coming up on him. And he's getting ready. He's like, okay, I can take one of my but I can't take off for like, this is real talk. He's wondering, God, I'm about to fight for my life. I will lay down my life for the gospel.

So these guys come up, they approach him, he's getting ready. He's like, he's out of stance, like, okay, this is about to go down. And he said, Evan, it's okay. We're not here to hurt you. We're here to help you. His testimony says this. We've been praying for you here in a jail that a revolution will take place in this country.

There's somebody willing to stand up and say, you know what? The injustice has to stop. So whatever you need, we got you. yeah, buddy. Yeah. Four big guys on your back like that. Like for real?

I can hold my weight. No, don't sleep on me now. Come up. We've been trying. Do you want to? But I'm saying this. He was in jail. Still received death threats. The cook of the jail told him one night. Evan, do not eat your lunch today. Well, go there. Poison it. Well, if at any time they give you a different plate, don't eat fast or eat off somebody else's plate.

So what happened the next day, thousands of people came to the courthouse, the jail, in protest of Evan's arrest.

They released him. His dad says you can no longer stay in Zimbabwe. You have to go out of this country. So he flees. He flees to America. He had to get an asylum. But God told him, you have to go back. Come on. God, are you kidding me? Like real God? You want me go back to the place I bought it from?

He says yes. I'm an old guy. We got to. We got to talk. I didn't hear. I know. God said you have to go back. So he goes back. Not even ten steps off the plane. They're there to arrest him. Throw him back into jail. And then it happens four more times.

So sometimes when we say that you're giving of yourself, you don't know what that's going to look like. You don't know what persecution may come before you.

But the movement of one person saved the nation. Come on, Church. What he did that night to call the sit down for the entire country, rally people from all across the country inspired him. It says we can do this because he got tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired and church. I'm tired and I'm tired of being sick and tired of people walk around hopeless people walking around with anxiety.

Depression, walking around. Enslaved by the courts. By. By the. By the world. God has called us to be free. He has called us to be ambassadors of the King. And we're not doing anything about it. Not anymore. And not anymore. Not on my watch. Now, pastor of this church, we will still advocate for racial reconciliation. We were to advocate for the the injustices of our immigration system.

We will still advocate for those who may not look like you, Talk like you or even speak like you, or even have a sex you the same sexual orientation as you. We will advocate for the marginalized. For those who are on welfare, those who have to figure salaries for everyone from A to Z, we will be ambassadors of Christ fully.

And that part time based, that is we're calling for full time ambassadors.

So church Well, we're talking about giving of ourselves, of our time. It's time for you guys to be all right. It's time for you guys to stop playing around with church when we talk about giving of our talents. There shouldn't be any, like, in God's house whatsoever. If you call yourself a family member, one church. I need you guys any.

You pull it together. Do what God has called you to do. Get outside your comfort zone. Be stretched, get uncomfortable. Stop sitting on the bench. Get your butt up. Do the work of the gospel. But, Pastor Ryan, there's no room for my talents. You know what? It's okay. We will make room for you. Well, my talents may be.

You know I do. Selwyn. Or basket weaving. You know what? You can basket weave all you want at the front door, greeting people. Hey, man, I'm giving of your treasures. And we don't talk about money. Latin Church, Even though scriptures do. But if you're not giving sacrificially or just giving out just obedience tithing, you know? Okay, Been talking about tithing.

I know it's not in New Testament. We can go through all of that with you and we can sit down and pull it out. Pretext by pretext. But no guy said he loves a cheerful giver. Well passed. Ryan. I can give 10%, but give 6%. Give something. Start somewhere. I know. I believe me. I know what it looks like to be broke.

Been there, done that. Got a Ph.D. in it. Paycheck to paycheck, bounced checks and all of this of Let me learn how to manage my money. Took some time, but I still gave to God even in the midst of my lack. God always showed up somehow and provided for my family. I don't know how he did it. My God, even in our lack.

So guys, we got a few projects here in a church. We got a roof that's $120,000 that we trying to, you know, reaching like, how are we going to get another hundred $20,000? Yeah, I want to write a check, write it to one church and see if you just got a just a spare $120,000 sitting around. Let us know.

There's things that God has called this church to do, but we're not able to do it because everybody's not contributing the way that we need to do, not only from a financial standpoint, but from your body standpoint, your presence. God wants your availability and your ability. He wants your availability and your ability. He needs all of that grown up in nursery school.

We should do the song. You put your right hand and you take your right hand out, take your right hand in and you go with that. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about. You put your left hand and you take your left hand out. Take your left hand in and you out of that you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.

That's what it's all about.

So we go through the right hand and the left hand, and you put your right foot in and your left foot in. But there's a part of the song that I love. It says this. You put your whole self, put your whole set of you put your whole self in and you know that I can do salsa, too.

I'm just saying being multi-ethnic I'm let's be multi this sidebar conversation because I'm real serious point Yeah know how to bachata and salsa merengue. You know we're a multi-ethnic church. You know you got to be able to turn and twist it. Okay. Church I'm like, you know, there's lessons coming pretty soon. But going back to the sermon here, Bill, there's a point in your life that God is asking you, stop.

Give me just your one hand or your left hand or just a left foot. My dad, God has asked you that. You put your ourself in. That's good. He's asking that you give all of your time, your talents, your treasures and your temple and church. We're call to unleash heaven on earth. The hope that you carry that's within you has to be carried out to these highways and byways in these cities and in schools and our communities.

We need your help. I need your help. There's new leaders. This rising up that God is building up within our church. There's there's new young adults that God has raised up in our church. There's there's older adults that still have God has called you not only to glory, but he's called you to do things for the gospel, for the kingdom of God.

But you're still sitting down. There's some things that God is calling you to do that He's been prompting you to do that. You're still sitting down. Got to say, to stop doing the hokey pokey, Do the Holy Pokey. Come on. Church. He wants you to do the Holy Pokey and give yourself fully to him. And so today, as we begin to land, is playing, I'm reminded of a story in the Scriptures, I believe is Matthew Chapter 24, where Jesus, as he's nearing the cross with His disciples, He begins to tell them that there's something I have to do as your Lord and as your Savior.

I must wash your feet today. He tells his disciples that, you know what? I have to wash your feet because I did not come to be served. I come to serve. So Jesus took off his robe, which was his crown. He wrapped the apron around his his waist. He got down on his feet, begin to wash the feet of his disciples, even the one that's going to betray him.

The person that you are the odds with God is asking you to wash their feet. The person that you have conflict with God is asking you to wash their feet. The person that you don't care about too much God to say, Let me wash your feet. It's easy to wash the 11 disciples feet, but what about the one that you have the issue with?

Jesus Kneel down as a servant and begin to wash the feet of his disciples. It guys, they have no trucks coming by doing the street sweeping. They'd have any sewer systems Washing the feet of guest was the responsibility of the lowest servant in the house. You know, you've got those service that may be outside and some servant that's inside is the lowest one that's in the house.

Jesus positioned himself to be the lowest person in that room, to wash the feet of the disciples, to give of himself, because he knew that in days coming days, you will fully give of himself for us to redeem us back to the King, to redeem us back to our position to heaven.

So today I'm going to ask that you don't leave because I know sometimes people leave right before this this last song, the leaders of this church, some of our staff, our deacons and our elders would like to wash your feet today. But Pastor Ryan, I got, you know, my feet. It's okay. I get it. And I know that may be uncomfortable for you, but this is the perfect place to be uncomfortable.

And so what we're going to do after this, this one song and maybe midway through it, if our leaders midway through, because we have so many we have six stations, there's two up front and there's one in the back. Midway through, you will see our leadership team go into those positions, those stations, if you wouldn't mind just walking over there and let us wash your feet and then we're going to anoint it with some oil, some frankincense and myrrh.

Come on down. Blessed is the feet that carry the gospel. And you know what? I'm a I'm a foot person because I like to wear flip flops from time to time. So I like to keep my feet tight. And I was going to get it all ready for you guys about, you know, Pacific won't be active. So how to do anything, any manicure intentionally.

So that way I can just let you know, like I know where you are. If you don't feel comfortable with taking off your socks and your shoes still come by and let us bless you and anoint you. So midway through the song, Let us Stand, We're going to say, I give myself away. And I think it's proper because what we're saying that we're willing to give of ourselves, of our time or talents are treasures in our temple.

Got to fully give you my self. Let us do that for you today. We want you to rest in his presence. We want you to abide in his love. And we also want you to give of yourself fully. Are you willing to do that today? And for those that may be here today, guests or members or whatever the case may be, if there's some things that you need to do with God at the altar, come to the altar.

The altar would be open or pastor or team would be here. We'll walk with you, will pray with you. If you don't know God for yourself, please don't leave today. Tap me on my shoulder. Tap. One of the biggest of the elders is washing your feet. We can walk you through the prayer of salvation. Don't leave today, not know where your salvation is.

An eternity today we desire to give ourself away. We desire to rededicate our lives to Christ God. I've been too far away from you for so long. God, I'm to give myself back to you. God, God help me to walk the straight and narrow path. God help me to find somebody who will who's willing to disciple me. This is the hero discipleship pass around.

I don't have anybody to do life with this. Okay? We will put you with somebody. Pass. Right. I need help. Let us know. Don't leave today with questions in mind. Hey, man, been