Acts 4:32-37 // Blessings for Others

well hey this is a pastor Josh from lighthouse Church I am so glad that you have chosen to watch a sermon video from our church if you're a regular attender at lighthouse and you call lighthouse to your home I just wanted to say that I love you that our elders and our leaders are so grateful that you're a part of our church family and I hope that this sermon just really blesses you and encourages you today as you watch it or as you listen to it as you're driving or whatever it may be but if you're someone who's not from the Colorado area and you enjoy the content that we create on a weekly basis first wanted to say thank you thank you for being an encouragement to us but I also wanted to just make two different comments one we love that you watch our footage online but we really want to make sure that you have a local church home that you can call family that you can be connected to that you can be a part of there is no good substitute at all for the church the body of Jesus Christ and so please find a local church where you can get connected and loved and please you know enjoy those resources we have as a church here in Colorado but please find a local church and the second thing is that if you are someone who enjoys our content perhaps you would consider giving to our church and generously donating so that we can continue creating great content for you and for our church and so I hope you are blessed and encouraged by the word that you're about to hear from one of our elders or from one of my sermons but be blessed by this video today thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning lighthouse Church family it's so good to be with you today and when I preach I get really hungry so I just have a few snacks that you know whenever I went hungry I'll just get an apple or or something here off of bread but I'll explain what this is all about later this is actually part of the message and you can think about well why is that up there you've probably never seen that ever before in church but I'll explain later about what that's all about but as you're came in today if you look on your seat you'll see this little sheet here and we were like everybody to take this home and put it in your Bible or put it up and put on your on your kitchen with a big kitchen magnet and and what we like you to do is be praying for our church staff God has blessed lighthouse with an incredible group of people that loved him that loved the church family and that really are serving so so very very well so we really would love you to be praying for them they need the prayer you need the practice so it's a really good combination right but also when I was a pastor a number of years ago and when I was throwing us 45 I was in a different career field and God called me to become a pastor and my kids at the time were like four six and eight and that God called me to leave where I was grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Colorado to become a pastor here and I took a $70,000 pay cut to become a senior pastor all right so that's a little scary for anybody to kind of think of think of that kind of a drop in pay but what happened when I went to that church is the first Evangelical Free Church of Colorado Springs the church family there loved me and my wife and our family really really well and they did so many acts of kindness and loving things and caring things that we always felt loved and cared for and supported so even though our paycheck went way down the love we were feeling from other people went way up so I wrote a little flyer over 50 creative ways to bless your pastor and staff and today my job in the world is I'm the national spokesperson for bless your pastor so I go on radio I go on TV and they talked to Christians all over America on hey it's really important to love your pastor and staff really really well and so we hope some of the ideas in here kind of stir you because the scripture says listen to this in 1st Thessalonians 5 12 it says you to show not just say but show deep appreciation for those who minister among you so for everyone sitting here God's call part of his call on your life is to show deep appreciation for those who minister among you and it can be staff the pastors and volunteers whoever but when you see people serving just somehow really express it but even look for ways to show it secondly in Galatians 6:6 this is we were to share all good things with the one who instructs us I don't know what the good things are in your life I don't know what your skills are your abilities what you have whatever but I know this that God's call on your life is that you learn to share what you have the good things you have with others and to be a blessing I believe God blesses you to make you a blessing and that this whole idea fits right into what we're going to talk about today and acts were the people of God in the early church we're sharing with one another and blessing and encouraging one another the other thing we're going to do here at the end of the year is in Thanksgiving we're gonna set up just a little an email to everybody and we're just gonna say hey we want to take a pastor and staff appreciation offering for Christmas so it's just kind of like a Christmas gift to the staff so just kind of keep that in mind and by the end of the year you are welcome to just give whatever God leads you to give but let's go ahead and take a look we're gonna read here today the passage that I was given to preach we're going through the book of Acts is gonna take almost a year to do that but today we are in acts 4:32 237 but let before I do that let me open in prayer Heavenly Father I thank you for every person that's here I thank you for those that will listen online at a later time and lord I pray that the words today would be life-giving and life-changing to each person I pray that you would speak to them and in a very personal and intimate way on how you have blessed them and you want to make the blessing not only this day this week this month but all the rest of their life may they live an open-handed life a generous life and may they be a wonderful blessing to many many people in the days weeks months and years to come in Christ's name Amen okay starting in verse 32 X 432 all the believers were one in heart in mind no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own but they shared everything they had with great power the Apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there was no needy person among them for from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them brought the money from the sales and put it at the Apostles feet and it was distributed to anyone who had need Joseph a Levite from Cyprus from the Apostles called Barnabas which means sons a son of encouragement sold the field he owned and brought the money and put it at the Apostles feet all right what I want to do in our time today is I want to kind of go through this passage kind of section by section and I'm gonna be sharing things that hopefully are encouragement to you but I'm also going to be pulling things from my own past things where have I seen this kind of radical generosity this kind of amazing love lived out among the Christians I interacted with people I've known and just how I've really seen it because by the grace of God we want to see some amazing things happen at our church we have seen amazing things happen in her church but as we go to the Future even more amazing things this church is very very young for some of you you've just started coming in recent months but the longest of you it's only been four years so this church has only been on planet Earth for four years although it was in the heart of God from the beginning of time but God has a plan and a purpose for all of us and he wants to see some things working in US and through us so I want to give you some helpful thoughts about God's love and God's power and open-handed generosity that we might all begin to experience and live out in their own lives all right 32 here says all the believers and if you ever study the Bible one of the ways you can study the Bible is go look at what the words actually mean in the original Greek so I actually did that all the believers it means the crowd the throng a large number of people do you know how many here's here's the estimate some people believe that this church this congregation in Jerusalem was twenty to thirty thousand people twenty to thirty thousand people were gathering on a regular basis they were gathering for teaching they were gathering in homes they were sharing meals of one another they were loving out one another they were excited for what God was doing in their life twenty to thirty thousand people one of the reasons we know that is the Bible said the number of men grew to five thousand all right and whenever you'd have five thousand men at a religious gathering you got a whole lot more women and children right so just do the math so you quickly get yourself into twenty or thirty thousand people that were part of this early church and it says this it says they were one in heart they were united in their thoughts and in their feelings and at the core of their being and in their mind their soul their spirit their psyche it says with this time as we understand the Scriptures there was not disagreement or divisions among them but there was an amazing love and an amazing unity and I like to say when people are busy rowing the boat they don't have time to rock the boat and so these people were just excited for God working in their life and through their congregation and they just saw God on the move in some very very amazing ways when people are united there's no telling what can be accomplished you're interesting we have a lot of lights in this space right here a bunch of bright lights on me and they're lighting up the space alright light is good but you know what is really powerful is laser lights a laser can do amazing things in people's bodies and and in science laser laser light it has this incredible power but you know what laser lights are they are focused lights it's all going in the same direction they're all working together that's what that's what a laser light is it's all together going in the same direction and I believe God wants to moving people's lives so that you're together you're connected with other believers and together you're serving the Lord you're serving others your blessing others that kind of a laser light experience it says this about the people not one of them not one single person claimed or stated that any of their possessions anything they had was their own private possession but they shared whatever they had with each other I think in the home groups that are meeting here I in our church and I don't know how many there are but they're quite a few and people are opening their homes why is that happening because people are saying well yes I have a home but my home is to be used by the Lord I think in the home group we were in last year and we went to that particular home in the gal said where they she first bought that house she remembered walking into the living room she said all this living room was awesome to gather Christians in our living room so that was her first thought was not just a home for what did she want and her husband want and what have the kids want she walked into her home and said oh this home would be awesome to be a place to gather other believers and there's so many of you that are opening your homes and opening your lives and sharing what you have I know my wife and I have the privilege of having a nice home up at Lookout Mountain and it's been a joy for us to host birthday parties and in wedding showers and baby showers and elders meetings and young adults gatherings and and and we have a home but the Bible I believe what the Bible teaches us is we are blessed to be a blessing okay God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others and so what we have isn't it's ours but it's not really ours it's really gone I'm widowed I was widowed in 2010 my wife was also widowed in 2010 my wife had a eight year cancer journey before she went to heaven and Mary Ellen's husband was in a wheelchair and and then he went in for surgery and and some things went wrong and for four years he was in he was hospitalized on a ventilator and he was a quadriplegic and and and so we had some you know different experiences in our life but God was good in those in our life even though we were going through hard times but both of our spouses passed away in 2010 so they passed away in 2010 and and then we met a couple years later and then dated and courted and engaged and married and all of that but I remember when I was talking to Mary Ellen about getting married I kind of made a comment I said you know I marry on I said what what's mine whatever I have you know my home my possessions my bank accounts whatever I have is yours it's yours all I have is all of yours and Mary Ellen whatever you have and she had shed possessions in a house and stuff and all of that and whatever you have whatever yours is mine and then I said Bob whatever we have is his is his you see we are not the owners of our stuff God is the owner none of us none of you in this room you're you're not the owner of your stuff whatever you have in this life you're not the owner of your stuff you are a manager you are a steward of what God and Trust to you and for some of you they will they'll be little and for some of you to be more and for some of you there be much but it doesn't matter how much we have in this life God owns it all and he'll owns it all and the what we need to do is manage what he has given us and and to learn to to use it and to share it for his glory and to be a blessing and a half to others as this idea of God touching our lives and really helping us understand that it's life changing when you understand that God's the owner and you're the manager and the steward it changes everything you see every every possession every every financial decision is is God what do you want for us what what do you want us to do huh what do you want us to get and and suddenly it becomes a matter of prayer I remember when we were looking for a home so we so very almost living in Littleton I was living in the highlands ranch and and she had her office and I had miles since we sold her house and I sold her house and and when we did that I remember saying to her you know I'm really excited honey but we're gonna have some money to give to the Lord and she said well what do you mean I said well you're gonna sell your house and they're gonna give you a check we come for the proceeds and we can give to the Lord off of that it's cuz well that would be a lot of money I said I know isn't that cool we get to give to God we don't have to give we get to give and so she ultimately sold her house and and we received those funds and we we have a giving account in our life and so we ever but babies account a checking account we have a giving account and we literally put money in the giving account from that sale of her house which was really God's house and that she moved into Highlands Ranch to the dark side that's what she called it and a little bubble of Highlands Ranch where I was living and and we lived there for a couple years and then we sold that house and we did the same thing we got a check and we said god we want to honor you with what you've given us and then we were praying for a place to live and and she had a dream to live in the foothills of the mountains and and I had a dream to have a happy wife and so so we moved in the foothills of the mountain and we're living our dream ok we're living our dream she's in the foothills and I have a happy wife but but the house we got I remember when we we we we didn't won't look that one house I looked at a thousand online but only walked in the door of one and we walked in the front door of that house and we felt the peace of God in that place and we looked at the living room while this is a great room living room to host a lot of people the dining room can have a lot of people and there's a place downstairs like an apartment that we could rent out and bless us somebody to live down there and anyway and we just like well yes this is the house but but and having that house that's been just a joy for us to open that home just yesterday we hosted people from India and and had them at home Hindu Hindu family but we you know we talked to them about the you know the love of God and God's working in our life and I always worked in and what a blessed thing to be able to to just open her home and love on somebody and care for somebody and that was just really really special but this whole idea for all of us is is where to where to learn to manage what what God gives us you know I was thinking about getting married and that whole idea of what's mine is hers and what's hers is mine and what's ours this is and I remember going to the are getting our wedding certificate and Jeffco and I went and I asked the lady we were staying at the counter I said how much is it and and she said $35 and then I said and all the money I make for the rest of my life which is true so but she didn't even laugh or anything you know but but I was thinking about that whole idea that yes everything and I have for the rest of my life it's it's we share it it's we're one and God site were one the other thing I've learned about a wedding certificate is you think you're getting a driver's license but you're really getting a learner's permit alright so when you have if you're single and you get married something you think oh I'm married you know he's mine or she's mine or never no no you got a learner's permit and you never really get the real driver's license the rest of your life is about learning so I married Mary Ellen when I was you know thinking about this I was 54 I think was a 54 54 and and I I said you know she's lived her life for 54 years without me it's not my job to change her but it is my job to understand her so first Peter says that men are to do well with their wives according to understanding so I kind of believe that when you get married God gives you a book and it's everything a man knows about a woman that's a book that every man gets and when you open it up it's blank okay it's blank your job as a man is the rest of your life is to learn about that woman that God has given you and to really love that woman to respect that woman and cherish that woman and value that woman and and to really learn to understand and and love that woman alright next verse here talked about with great power it literally translates with mega power with spiritual dynamite with life transforming power the Apostles continue to testify about the tangible reality to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as I pondered and prayed about this little section of Scripture I was mindful of this I was mindful of these prayer benches I was mindful of this open space I was mindful of the prayer team that is available you know after the services are or the loss I will come and lay a hand on someone while they're praying and you know why we do that because we were testifying you know the power of the Lord Jesus his resurrection power you you see we want you to have an encounter with Christ we we want you to to truly experience God in your life and for some it's that moment of salvation but for so many others if God is working in your life and and he's wanting to touch your life and he's wanting to minister to you and I can't tell you how many times I've sat or stood in this you know in our sanctuary space here or at the other place and just tears rolling down my eyes as I just encountered God and sometimes I've known knelt that my chair and and we want you in lighthouse we want you to truly not just show up at a church service come in and go out but we truly want you to have a divine encounter with the Living God and you see God is amazing in his power he can set people free he can say be from addictions and from hanging ups and hurts and habits and depression and disorders and broken lives and broken relationships and any destructive force in your life Jesus is the one who sets people free he's the one that gives you an abundant life he's the one that gives you a forgiving life in my own life journey I I as a young man growing up I was a liar you know you know how you could tell if I was lying my lips were moving because I would lie when I didn't even have to lie I was just a large light at all times I was a thief I would take money from my brother my sister my parents my employers these hands would take he's lips would lie on his hands would take I was immoral I thought it I thought immorality was normal I thought it was called high school I thought those are called college years but in reality wasn't it wasn't God's heart for me to be immoral but I was immoral I was a drunkard you know you didn't just drink I didn't drink to have a drink I drink to get drunk that why else would you drink you know and if so that was the life I lived liar drunkard and Morrow all that stuff and Jesus came into my life at the age of 21 and he changed me these hands that used to take how they work and and they and I haven't joy and giving these these lips that you still lie now I I get to speak to you today that's a miracle think about that it just me lying lips and God made these truthful lips I get to go on the radio and TV and and and talk to people all of America about his love on your pastor love onion bless them care for your staff you know they're working long hours there they often don't get paid very well many of them don't have any benefits bless them I'm able to speak that in and then when it came to morality or immorality I began to live a life appeared he from 21 to 27 when I first got married those were six years of purity those were six years of purity I was a born-again virgin I wasn't a virgin but I was a born-again virgin at 21 God set me free and allowed me to live a life of purity and then I had a wonderful life to my marriage for 28 years and then I became single again in my and my 50s and then I had to go back to this singleness and living in purity not impurity and many there's many people in our city and I my wife and I are part of a singles ministry I helped start that was citywide and the immorality among Christians is rampant and and people just don't have any sense of living a life honoring God with their bodies and but for several years I I you know and those single again years operated purity of my with my wife and I she looked a little Tynan and you know it goes go see her either you know we had a couple hundred dates before I marry her but I remember at night it would be like midnight and be like oh I got a drive a home on just you know everything inside of me wanted to go why don't I just sleep here on the couch but I thought no I want to live a life of purity I want to have a testimony that would honor God and you know what if the neighbors who are very close to my wife see my car there all night what are they gonna soom happened right what are they gonna assume happened so they're gonna go okay with all we know what you guys are doing so no so I would get in my car at 12:00 and 12:30 or 1:00 o'clock and I'd go home because he wanted to have a testimony testimony I would honor God in our life so he lived in purity and those in those single again years and and and then live in purity in our life now I do we we enjoy our marriage and joy I'm reg relationship and I and I travel in my work you know one of the wonderful things about purity is my wife never has to think why wonder what he's doing when he's traveling because if I couldn't control myself with her what could I control myself when I'm on the road right so you see that that purity it builds a firm foundation and so I can now travel and she doesn't have to worry about me and guess what I don't have to worry about her I don't have to wonder well wonder what she's doing who she's with you see we built on that firm foundation and and we lived a life a period so the power of Jesus to to change us is incredible and and in the drunkenness you know for 35 years I really didn't drink at all and now I may have one thing I may have one beer or one glass of wine that's kind of it but now my life is controlled not by alcohol but by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit the Bible says do not get drunk with wine but be what filled with the spirit the Spirit of God is the one that wants to control our lives so for any of you and all of you Jesus wants to rule and reign and and bless you and make you a blessing and and give you his resurrection power and whatever has gone on in your life and whatever's going on in the past the power of Jesus's is to be released and who you are Galatians says is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me no longer I who live but Christ you see for all of us that's the kind of life God wants us to live in his resurrection power there's another amazing way that God's power has been shown in our congregation you know we're only four years old as a church most churches that there were several I think Josh told me four years ago there were seventeen churches that started that planted in Denver four years ago and I think he said now there's only three or four left seven four years ago seventeen churches that we're gonna start a church and you know an 80% of them 90% of them are here today they disappeared in four years but that wasn't lighthouses story you know lighthouse started it as a Bible study and then went into a you know I went into a warehouse and then I went to a high school then it went to the Presbyterian Church in Lakewood and then here you see it was just one year ago this month that Garden Park Church a church just two and a half miles over in this direction a sister Church to us they had been there for sixty years had a wonderful run and wonderful ministry in all kinds of ways but they had gotten to the point that they had gotten smaller and smaller and they really couldn't continue to sustain that that congregation so they made a decision to dissolve that congregation and to connect to lighthouse church and they they in God's sovereignty they said okay we have three buildings that will will give those to you we have cash in our checking account we'll give that to lighthouse and so the intent was that lighthouse was going to stay at the Lakewood campus and and then we're gonna do a satellite campus over here at the Garden Park Church but within a few months things just went upside down and we find out for the Presbyterians no no no you cannot stay here we're not going to renew your lease so they told us that in January and we knew that by August 4th we had to be somewhere else led to a lot of Prayer and a lot of conversations and how do you move in seven months here's an interesting statistic for you America a young church if they go if they have their young church and they live four years or five years they'll go buy a piece of land and for the moment they buy the land it takes seven years before they'll have their first service seven years from oh we need oh we need to have our own place seven years and we had seven not seven years we had seven months and Josh had driven by this this place here and he lives not far away and he came by hey any Saudi wow that's like a big building that could be a church anyway it was a soccer rink it was a it wasn't on the ring it was a soccer field before that it was a hockey ring this this was a hockey rink right here okay and then that was for 20 years then for 20 years it was a soccer field for 20 years and Josh saw the building and tracked down the owners in Oklahoma and called him up and said hey I saw your building would you be willing to sell it okay that's kind of rare them right out of the blue and they said well interesting you're calling they had 20 of these facilities across America we're thinking of selling this building and we just got it appraised 4.8 million dollars for this property but they said you know what but we're afraid that if we put it on the market it'll become a marijuana grow house okay God didn't want it to be a marijuana the girl she wanted to be a spiritual girl house okay all right he wanted to even put his son s-slow in on the lives of people and grow people in this place but they didn't want to put it on the market because they knew we'd be coming marijuana grows but God had a plan and God had a God had something in mind and and I told Josh he said Brian I found a building and they're willing to sell it to us and it turned out they were willing to come down two point three million dollars two point three million dollars they're calm down because they didn't want him to become a marijuana grow house and they said they'd sell it to us so never won in the market it just became available to us and then I told Josh I said okay you found a place and they're willing to sell those are two steps but before we a cue pie and I wrote them out we have 45 steps there's 45 steps we have to go through before this building will ever be ours you know we have to get the financing we have to go through the appraisals we have to get the city to improve it we have the you know the neighbors could could do it you know to have a public hearing I mean or maybe there's problems and there's all kinds of things that could happen you know in this process and I said I said I felt a little bit like we were the the Israelites walking through the Red Sea the Bible says that they had the water water evoi a wall of water on the right and a will Hall of water on the left and they were walking through and the Egyptians were behind them and they were walking through and in any moment that water could have went BAM and all of them would have been dead 600,000 people would have been dead in a moment if that water would have just came in and for seven months lighthouse church walked those steps those 45 steps with any moment any moment any moment the water could have come in and it would have stopped and we would have not known what to do or where to go and then by God's grace got the property got the keys to the we were able to buy it got the keys to the property in to really begin to renovate middle of June so we had seven weeks to make this into a church seven weeks how many of you here we're here in those seven weeks raise your hand thank you when you walk around here you go I like that a little piece of carpet right there I painted that wall right there you you did things and you know what there was eight thousand hours of volunteerism that went into this building eight thousand hours of people being here some days five 10 15 hours a day the staff work six days a week 10 to 12 hours a day but by God's grace on August 4th the door opened and we moved that's God's power we're not here by accident we're not here because josh is a brilliant guy he's a brilliant guy but we're not here because josh is a brilliant guy well we're not here because of human human there was he a lot of human activity but we are here by the power and by the grace of God this church is here in this city in this place in this time with a future because God's power is up on this place and Garden Park the church over there there's a now a church and ethnic church that's meeting over there and they're meeting over there with joy and they're hoping to be able to buy that building and Community Ministries is doing amazing work I'll talk about them in a few minutes here but they're hoping to be able to go ahead and buy the building where were they were they are currently operating where they've been operating for a lot of years so there's a lot of good there but but it was God's idea this was not man's idea it was God's idea but I look at here the looking at this whole idea of the the there was just let me let me read here I'm sorry I want to go back to Scripture and God's grace was so powerfully at work that again the mega power the spiritual dynamite the life transformation and them all so in other words in the Apostles but all the believers God's grace was a paw powerful thing God's grace is an incredible thing let me talk to you for a moment about God's grace God's grace is the goodness and the love and the kindness of God that's coming into your life every day and in every way when you see it and when you don't when you feel it when you don't when you know it's there when you don't know it's there it's his incredible amazing grace that's coming upon your life when my wife passed away from her 8 your cancer journey she used to tell people she lived at the Big C and they say you have cancer she said yeah cancer but that's not the big C and they say what's your big C and she would say Christ she said Christ was my big C and and he let me manage my small C of cancer and they only expected her to live one year but by the grace of God she lived 8 years and so at her funeral I got to stand up to in front of people and I said let me talk to you about the waves of grace on the shoreline of our lives and yes sandy had cancer but here's how God worked and here's what God worked and here's how God worked and here's how God to work and the Grace and the goodness and the love of God in the midst of tragedy in the midst of suffering in the midst of hurt and heartache the Grace and the goodness of God was constantly coming up on the shoreline of our life and for all of you God's grace it's an amazing thing it God's grace transforms us it changes us and this grace was upon them all and then it says there were no need he poured deficient destitute persons among them and for from time to time those who own to possess land and houses sold them brought the money and put it at the Apostles feet and there was just distribution to meet the needs of others okay how have I seen that so I'm I'm 64 so how have I seen that lived out in my life let me give you a few truths to things and what this looks like I can look like in a life of a church one isn't most of the church as I've been part of over my lifetime we've had financial ministries whether it was Dave Ramsey or comput or crown or round blue or something but we had a ministry that help people learn to understand what the Bible says about finances because if you don't understand what the Bible says about finances you're gonna make a lot of foolish mistakes but the Bible is the bibl e-base the instructions before leaving Earth all right and so we would always have financial classes and so many people got out of debt and so many people made important changes that really freed up their lives and got them out of financial bondage that was one thing but the other thing is we had oftentimes be actively involved with people and I remember one gal she was a older gal single mom and she had a car loan and it was a 35% interest rate okay 35% interest rate so this mother had this car loan and she was in this financial class and I you know I said boy and and what happened she missed like one payment and they began to harass her they were calling her at work they were trying to call her employer they were calling her at at her house and they would not leave her alone and so I got involved with her and we ultimately said we were I was able to work with a company and we said we're gonna just give you the car back and they said well she's still going to owe us thousands of dollars I said no no no we're gonna just give you the car back and by the grace of God in that situation the president of the company said just take the car back and and and so but now the woman was without a car so we let our church family know we said hey we yeah we have a single mom that needs a car and someone donated a car somebody that's the grace of God right that's the grace of God and so suddenly her need was met but you know what she didn't see that car as her own she called it God's car and so she would call the church and say is there anybody who needs a ride to church I will pick him up in God's car to see the grace to see the grace there so she was in bondage and in being harassed and pressured and by God's grace they just we gave them the car back and then by God's grace someone gave a car and then by God's grace she didn't see it as her own she saw it as God's and by grace she wouldn't pick people up and gave him a ride see that's God's grace God's grace I think if another gal who came in to see me one day and she was on welfare and she needed rent money and to put in the deposit money and whatever else was going on I remember and I said to her do you have a job show no I don't I I have no skills I'm worthless I said well that's not true no one's worthless no one's no one's worthless and I said you know we could maybe help you but the problem is gonna be what about next month in the month after why don't and yeah I can't worry about that I just need I just need money now how I said no you need a future now I mean yes yes do you need money now I get that but you need a future she was well how am I gonna get that and and we had this Career Guidance test from crown financial ministries takes about 90 minutes to finish it and so it what it does is it tracks people's life experiences and their interests and their passions and their skills and whatever they've done and I said would you take that test our church paid for her to take the test she said yeah I'll take it so it printed out this huge report about this is what you're really good at this is where your skills are at this is the kind of job you should get and she took that and she was like I'm somebody I'm not a nobody I remember her going just being so shot look at this I'm somebody but she had been knocked down for so long and she took that and that was her resume she took pages from that report and within a few weeks she had a job and within a few months she was off of welfare and she went on to live a productive life because the church stepped in and helped her realize that she was somebody she was somebody I think right now Josh and Brianna on vacation you know how that's possible you can't pay for childcare for that long but there's people in this church family that said we'll take the boys we'll take the boys we'll take the boys I by the way I don't raised my hand but you know but four people stepped up and just said we'll take the boys and and so they could get away that was called blessing your pastor right and and I think of an unwed mother that a number of years ago we came in contact with and she was about to have a baby and had no place to live and my wife and I had a place in her home and we said we just come live with us come with our live with us and she came and she lived with us and she had the baby and and if she was able to get work and kind of go on with her life and and it's that idea I think of a friend of mine there was a hundred years old and and he truck and I said why does a hundred years old of a truck and he said Brian I'm man with a truck never lacks friends there's always somebody that needs a truck right Indy and you see so he saw that possession not as his own but he saw it for the family of God he wanted to have a truck that he could lend out when there was a need for somebody that had a truck and and so this idea of this sharing of this openness isn't incredible oh no I better eat my lunch here what about this I do any of you ever like drive around town and see someone else standing on the corner every ever give him money yeah any we're giving her money I have I have a lot of times I've done that maybe give him a 5 or 10 or 20 I don't know and you know there's a need you can see that there's a need and so you might give them something but but this is really fascinating so Community Ministries they're a food bank to enough miles away there's a you know Joyce and Phil are in our church family Joyce leads that ministry ministry been doing it for many many years this is a cart of food and if you live in one of five zip codes you can come once a month my wife volunteers are on Tuesdays and she gets so excited because they go through this little grocery area they have and and and they literally give people this cart of food plus meat plus dairy so a fresh produce and bread and and all kinds of all kinds of stuff and so any guess how much food is here but the word you let's do a little test how many you think this is under hundred dollars of food let's see we'll do a hundred 200 or 300 how many of you think is under a hundred dollars worth of food vision okay how many you think it's under two hundred dollars worth of food okay how many think it's under 300 hours worth of food 275 275 dollars so here's the really really cool thing so for Community Ministries to be able to give this to a family have a needy family come in there once a month be able to go through the line and get help from Mary Ellen our other volunteers and get a whole lot of food for their family it cost it cost to do that do you know what it costs and donations for Community Ministries to be able to give this to a family five dollars five dollars think about that give somebody five dollars on the corner and they'll go by five dollars or something you give five dollars or ten or twenty or fifty or hundred whatever to Community Ministries and this happens again and again and again when I look at these verses I think how can there be no need among us this is one of the ways do you know anybody that needs food delivery live in one of the five zip codes telling about Community Ministries they'll walk in there they'll be loved they'll be respected and for five dollar donation that somebody else gave they're gonna walk out with food real food they have utility help there they they have jackets any of you have extra jackets in this house he Jack's is maybe not wearing my wife loves jackets she's not a shoe lady but she is a she likes jackets you know and and so the if you have extra jackets give them the communion mystery because they're gonna give them you have child clothing give it ministries will give them to somebody that needs it school backpacks they did that this last year our church through the generosity of one person gave money to get backpacks for every single person in the school next door 88% Hispanic school by the way and and all the children I think there's 220 got backpacks filled with supplies because of one generous person so do you see this idea where we're truly when Christians are operating according to God's calling upon their life generosity is happening and there's this open handedness that goes on but then it talks about this when in verse 36 it talks about Joseph a Levite from Cyprus from the Apostles called Barnabas which means son of encouragement and he sold a feeling he owned and he brought money to the Apostles feet it was interesting he gave the money the apostles but it wasn't for their bank account it wasn't to make them rich it was to be given to the apostles so that it would be distributed to anyone that had need it's interesting in any congregation anywhere in the world there's three kinds of people there are those that are struggling financially there's those that are stable and there are those that have surplus or more than enough this scripture kind of points that all three because there were the people struggling and there was help for them there were those that were stable and they were obviously being part of sharing what they had but there were also those that had more than enough it's interesting that some people that have more than enough don't know why they have more than enough because what they do is they default to say well I have more and more than I ever thought I would have where I got I have a lot of money or whatever but they don't know why they have it they just think well I guess it just means more for me I mean nicer clothes nicer restaurants better vacations you know bigger house second house third house more cars whatever they just come up with a list of more more and more for themselves and yet the Bible says Psalm 67 7 that God blesses us that all the ends of the earth might worship Him so I believe that God wants to bring blessings to us that they might go through us alright blessings to us that they might go through us you know some people they they give to get but I believe we give because we've received God has brought some present something into our life you're interesting in my own life this last year my wife and I had the privilege and I called a privilege to give a house to God's work give a house to God's work we had a rental property down in the Colorado Springs it used to be my home number of years ago we rented it out and we just felt God leading us to to God's work and so last year we did the thing is it was called the donor-advised fund and we we gave we put the whole house and the proceeds into what's called a donor advised funds so that we could give to God's work like this building so we were part of this like many of you we gave from that we are involved with helping community minutes we love what they're doing so we have resources to give to that we're involved in Africa every year my wife and I go to Africa and we were involved with child sponsorships in clean water and solar lamps and so we have great joy in being able to have resources to be involved in Africa God blesses us that all the ends of the earth might worship Him well we go to the ends of the earth all right it's a three-day journey to get to that ends of the earth in rookin giru uganda we would go there every year we volunteer our time and we do that so there's a lot of joy in all of that all right so so we kind of had a Barnabas experience we we had the privilege of of giving giving this house and being able to do some things for the work of God but but let me give some context in this because we gave the house but we also had we had five bedrooms of furniture dining room appliances let me enroll all of that we had what are we gonna do with all of that so there's a few things we sold and then we put it on Craigslist and we said free and we were able to bless some people with it and meet a need we then contacted lutheran Social Services we said we have a dining room table we have a bed we have a couch we have this read that and we found out they're a bunch of people coming from the Congo they were moving here from the Congo with nothing and so we said hey come and get all of that so we had the privilege of just sharing all that and being a blessing but but as I thought about that last night and this morning I thought back to when I was 21 I was sitting in a church service and the offering plate was coming towards me and I looked in my wallet and I was gonna throw and throw on a dollar or a five or something and I was like oh my goodness I only have twenties they are all safe so I went to put it back home I put my wall back in my pocket and then I but my friend who led me to Christ was sitting there and I'm thinking he's never think I'm not even a Christian if I'm not giving something I wonder if I can put in 20 and take out change you know and I thought no I don't think you can do that I don't think it allow that you know the usher police are gonna come and get you and I remember reaching back to my wallet and taking out 20 and I think my hand was shaking I'm like oh my goodness I was scared if I give this what's gonna happen to me I don't know last us this kind of dumb really I remember dropping into the plane and like that was like a big deal but God is prompting me to give and I and I had to say yes to the prompting yes some people some of you might do you think well Brian did yeah if I were rich some day I would give a lot to well you know the truth is you know the test is to see if you'll ever be generous in big ones what are you are you are you generous in small ways the Bible says he was faithful and little will be faithful and much he was an unfaithful little be unfaithful much so for me I had to learn to give $20 when it felt like was the end of the world a year later I remember I I had more month than money I had bills I couldn't pay and I had a little paycheck and and I remember sitting there going okay well how am I gonna do this and I realized I didn't have enough money to make my life work financially and God said give to me first I'm like you gotta be kidding you know no way and I said no one ever told me to do this but I I sense I should give it a tenth of the of my paycheck and and and again I was scared and I were the shaking hand I'm like Lord if I do it I don't know what's gonna happen for the next two weeks and and I but I did yeah and then and then over the next in the future years God sometimes would lay in my heart a certain amount of money to give and I would given and I didn't always understand it but he would say I want you to give to this mission or give to this project or give to this person and I and I would just say okay there was a number of times in my life God said give your car away oh I get my car we wants to give a car away but God say won't you give me your car away and I don't know I maybe know how many times no I think six times that's when we give my car away and I remember one time we went on was was worth giving away we put it for free on Craigslist and the people had got over Christians and they said it came from heaven but it looks like hell but it drove well but the reason I say all that is to say God starts with you today it's not what you might do or could do or would do someday God's grace is to be upon you today in this day and this hour and these moments and is it scary to be open handed instead of tight fisted yeah but what a joy because what God does is he caused you to experience him see all those acts of fear that became acts of faith became moments of God being real to me and God being good to me and faithful and over in and and and over time and and so for all of us what are we gonna do is what we've got now how are we gonna live open-handed now with what we have our what skills do you have now that God can use how can you be a blessing to somebody else now what what can you do to that the grace of God might be great among all of us as we gather in homegroups and as we hear each other's story and we know that someone needs help moving and someone needs a piece of furniture where somebody doesn't have money for groceries or or or whatever and we just say the grace of God is great among us the goodness of God is great among us that's my prayer for you I prefer all that the goodness and grace of God would be great among us and we would have the joy of living that out with the family of God in this place called light house let's go ahead and pray together

Channel: Lighthouse Church

Views: 338

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Lighthouse Church, Denver church, gospel sermon, generosity, giving, NAE, Brian Kluth

Id: Sw0M8f-rEZ4

Length: 53min 6sec (3186 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2019