The Judas Principle | Tim Timberlake | Celebration Church

man how many got your bibles today your smart device your android heard a couple of laughs we're gonna land in john chapter 12 verse 1 to kick it off i want to read to you something that stuck out to me and intrigued me going to unpack it if you're wondering what the principle is the principle is entitled the judas principle the judas principle as we're in this heart for the house sunday i want us to really think about this principle as it concerns our life the scripture says in john chapter 12 beginning at verse 1 then jesus six days before the passover came to bethany where lazarus was and he had been dead whom he had raised from the dead and there they made him supper martha served but lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him then took mary a pound of ointment of spikenard very costly and anointed the feet of jesus and wiped away his ointment from his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odor of the anointment then said one of his disciples judas iscariot simon's son which should betray him why was not the ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor this is what i want us to look at this he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and had the bag of treasure and would take money from it this he said not because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and had the bag of treasure and took from it as i was reading this i asked myself the question why in the world did jesus trust judas to be the treasurer over his money as they traveled i mean he knew all things he was god in the flesh she could predict that judas would in fact betray me and not only will he betray me but he's not the most trustworthy guy to keep money in the hands of how many you could agree to that as i was reading this i was like jesus that's not being a good steward i mean isn't that the question though that we ask ourselves when we have to make a decision if we're going to give what are they going to do with the money come on let's be honest how many ever asked that question before whenever we hear money talks whenever we hear sermon on money whenever the pastor say hey i want to teach you about tides and offerings the first thing i think of is okay what are they gonna do with it that's a very important question as you see here in this scripture though jesus trusts judas with the money now this is what i'm not telling you to do i'm not telling you to give your money to a judas not saying that at all i'm not telling you to entrust your finances with someone who will steward them poorly but i am saying there's a principle here that we can learn from and the principle is this people over possessions people over possessions as we continue to read the bible we see a very familiar passage of scripture jesus says that where your treasure is there your heart will be also we can flip it and say where your heart is there will also be your treasure what jesus is showing us here is is he cares more about judas than he does about the money judas is carrying and he desires for judas to choose to do the right thing it's unknown to the disciples because the bible says that they were shocked when judas portrayed jesus and eventually took his own life this was something that judas had hid very very well and it sticks out to me that sometimes you can be in proximity of jesus sometimes you can be in proximity to the bride of christ sometimes you can be in proximity of your blessing and your miracle but still not reach your potential because you have gotten in the way of what it is jesus desires to do have you ever noticed the only reason we ever lose gratitude is because we think of ourselves more than anything else [Music] i am the most ungrateful in my life when i'm thinking about me when i'm thinking about what i have going on when i'm thinking about what i need when i'm thinking about what i want i come to the point in my life where i realize the only reason i hit these veins of ungratefulness is when i put me before i put others this is the principle that i want you to understand and learn as it concerns what we're reading today it's god first people second we are third that's the practice jesus implemented it was always god first not my will lord but let your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven then it was people second god allow me to serve these people allow me to perform these things that you need to be performed and then it was me let me pull away so that i can get fueled back up to go back out and serve god and serve his people more than i am myself whenever we lose gratitude when whenever we lose this this gratitude we have to see where we've made things about us do you know one of the greatest ways of demonstrating gratitude is generosity the greatest way to display gratitude is generosity and one of the things that i've learned is over the last two years those that really didn't have enough for the most generous those that had great needs were the most generous as a matter of fact statistics say the bottom one percent gave seven percent of the generous giving last year the top one percent gave 1.3 percent and i know what you're thinking well i don't have a lot of money i i'm not rich i'm not wealthy and i would say to you you have more than enough to be generous as long as you have a heart that's still beating you can be generous because generosity is not found in the amount generosity is found in the motive behind why you do what you do generosity is not a dollar amount generosity is not a percentage generosity is not a figure generosity is the motive behind the heart of why you do what it is you do and let me help you out with this celebration we have so much more to do to help people connect with jesus christ oh man the church that i see is a church that's spread about this country and others the church that i see is in the areas that actually need a church to witness the gospel of jesus christ the church that i see is not limited to a building but beyond the four walls in the hands of millions and millions of people the church that i see hear me celebration there's a church that's not afraid to step out on the front lines and say god use us to do what you want in this hour because we believe that there are people that still need to encounter the gospel of jesus christ so that his kingdom can come on earth as it is in heaven generosity is not an amount generosity is the motive this is a generous church let me tell you the four phases kind of of of church life there's the friendship phase that's when you date church that's when you kind of hopping around a little bit trying to see okay where is it that i want to plug in over the last two years it's it's been this dating phase of a lot of people kind of hopping around online and seeing okay i want to get a little bit of this today and i want to get a little bit in debt today i want to take a little bit of this today and there's nothing wrong with that but you have to get connected to one house so that you can flourish that's the friendship phase then there's a membership phase this is when you commit to a community this is when you commit to a fellowship this is when you get plugged in this is this is where you you find your your community you find your brothers and your sisters and you say this is my house how many of you are members belong to celebration church wave at me wave at me wave waving me i love you guys i i love what we do i love that we get an opportunity to do this together but then there's also the partnership phase so you got the friendship phase you got the membership phase and you got the partnership phases partnership phase it's those who are invested into the vision of the community those that want to see the community live beyond themselves those that desire to see the gospel of jesus christ taken to the four corners of the world and then you have the discipleship phase friendship membership partnership discipleship and this is the phase that i want to push you into today in the discipleship phase it's a core group of people committed to making sacrifice so that something could live beyond themselves in the discipleship phase it is a commitment to the community and to the body of christ that we will stand on the front line to ensure that the gospel will continue to be heard even after we take our last breath the discipleship phase is the only reason why we are here today because a group of people believed in the new testament that what jesus said he actually would perform my question to you listening to me right now is what is stopping you from being a disciple judas was a disciple and he was in proximity of jesus he heard the teachings of jesus as a matter of fact judas probably heard more teaching than uh most people because of his proximity to jesus he saw jesus perform miracles he he saw jesus open blind eyes he saw jesus pop up in deaf ears he even saw jesus raise people from the dead he saw people's limbs get restored he saw all these different things and he still stole from the treasury now as we're reading this we can be judgmental and say you know what judas man that was a bad dude you know how could he do all those things seeing what jesus has done how could he steal from jesus purse how can he steal from the back that jesus gave him and seeing all these different things that jesus had done and before we judge i would ask you to judge yourself we just saw the video we just saw the impact that we had we understand the impact that we could have if we had a generous heart so here's my question to you are you operating from a judas principle or are you operating from a jesus principle which is to seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you this is not prosperity gospel prosperity gospel says if you give you get more i'm not telling you that i'm telling you we live to give if you get nothing after you give guess what you've given to help someone connect to the gospel of jesus christ i'm not telling you if you give ten dollars tomorrow you're gonna open up your mailbox boom you're gonna have ten thousand dollars i'm not telling you that i'm telling you if you sow god is going to make sure that what you sow is multiplied in the lives of people that you may never meet if you sow god is going to make sure that people that need to hear about him hear about him god is going to make sure if you sow that when you sow it goes into the ground and let me help you understand this seed in the ground always meets a need so this isn't about us this isn't about if i give i get this is about we get to give it can you imagine if the mentality of jesus was if i give my life what do i get in return okay god i'm gonna give i'm going to make this sacrifice what is it that i get in return no he says in john 3 verse 16 i love so i give listen this is our house we love this house and because we love this house we give there are so many more people that need to hear the gospel of jesus christ because of how we give generosity is the only sign of gratitude when you're grateful for someone your generous switch of words when you're grateful to someone you're generous with what you give them i never give to my wife i never give to my son with the expectation of okay what are you going to give me in return that's my family it's my obligation to give to them it's my honor to give to them it's my my duty to give to them i never have my hand out as i'm giving i always have the intentions to bless more than i do receive so i want us to look at a couple of things as it concerns this judas principle the first one is this the two wrong responses to god's blessings pride right when we have an abundance of something a lot of times we fall in to pride my father used to always tell me two things define you in life your attitude when you have nothing in your attitude when you have everything there's people listening to me right now whether in this room or online a hundred thousand dollars is nothing to you and you know it and you carry your life with pride there's other people who have a hundred dollars and because you have a hundred dollars that you didn't have in some portion of time in your life you carry your life with pride but in order for us to steward what it is that god has given us and make sure that we're not taking out of the bag of the treasury of jesus we have to ensure that we're not living our lives with pride revelations chapter 3 verse 17 says you say i am rich i have a quiet wealth and do not need a thing but you do not realize that you are wretched pitiful poor blind and naked you say to yourself i am rich i don't have a need for anything i got the car that i want i got the house that i want i got more than i need but you don't even realize that you're blind some of you in here listening to me right now and online you say well i don't i don't have that as i mentioned before you have all that you need to be generous statistics say those who make thirty one thousand dollars a year are in the one percentile of wealth in the world think about that in the one percentile of wealth in the world and here we are thinking that we need more and there's someone across the world looking at our trash and saying what treasure we say that we are rich we have no needs for anything we have an abundance of but where does it go at the end of our life we can't take any of it with us and to be quite honest with you i would rather give away what it is that i have now so i can see the lives that it impacts than to take it with me to the grave what i have in this life can't go with me the car that i have can't go with me the house that i have can't go with me the things that i have in my wallet can't go with me none of my possessions can go with me but i tell you what can everything that i do for the kingdom of god while i was here and i refuse to live a life that is full and die full i want to live a life that is full and die empty knowing that i've given everything that i have to the body of christ so that other people that live beyond me can experience the same jesus that changed me from the inside out we can't live from pride the second thing that i want you to understand the mentality that a lot of us live from is shame in genesis chapter 32 verse 9 it says then jacob prayed o lord who said to me i will make you prosper i am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant i am unworthy to do what it is that i'm doing i am unworthy to be a steward over what you've allowed me to be a steward over and god is saying to us right now today there's no reason for you to operate in pride and there's no reason for you to operate in shame but what we can operate in is generosity it is our desire that god would use us to do something bigger than us guess what our money in the hands and in the lives of ourselves can only do a few things but when we put it together it can change the lives of many one of the most familiar passages of scripture found in isaiah chapter 32 verse 8 new king james version says but a generous man or woman devises generous things and by generosity they shall stand proverbs chapter 22 verse 9 says he who has a generous eye shall in return be blessed luke chapter 6 verse 38 says give and will be given to you good measure press down shaken together running over it will be poured back into your lap for with the measure you use it will be measured on to you i want you to think about that for a second because we measure our lives by success versus by impact give and it shall be given to you press down shaken together running over the same measure that was given to you shall be the measure returned to you we measure our lives based off of personal success instead of impact my prayer is that we would be a church that not only looks inward but we look outward to see how we can make an impact in the world you got to ask yourself this question why do i have what i have why do i do what i do do you think that you wake up go to your job or steward your business for you and your family no you do what you do for the kingdom of god because that's the only thing that will last the only thing that will last into eternity is what we do for the kingdom of god second corinthians chapter 9 verse 11 says this you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to god the only reason god desires for us to obtain any type of riches and so that we can be generous on every occasion it's not for us to keep it's not for us to steal from it's not for us to hide and act like we don't have it the only reason god allows us to operate walk into the things that he's allowed us to operate and walk into so that we could be rich in generosity on every occasion listen to me here's the judas principle judas was stealing from the treasury that jesus gave him to steward and the very thing that judas was supposed to carry was the same exact thing judas used to portray jesus think about that for a moment the very thing that jesus entrusted for judas to carry was the exact thing that judas used to portray jesus and sometimes we look at the story of judas and we say how could he betray jesus how could he turn his back on jesus how could he give him away with the kiss and we failed to realize that oftentimes we're doing the same thing because what we carry we often betray jesus with because we think it's ours in the first place and the reality is what you carry is not yours the money that you have in your account is not yours the things that you have possessed in your life it's not yours but guess what you can steal them if you think that jesus does not see them and the same thing that jesus allows you to carry is the very thing that you'll use to betray him with this is why the word of god says that you can't serve two masters have you ever found it fascinating that jesus never said you can't serve god and the devil have you ever found it fascinating that jesus says you can't serve god and satan you can't serve god and lucifer no he says you can't serve god and money this is why because jesus understood the three areas that we would be tempted in are our time our talent and our treasure you think about that the test that you are faced with in life the the areas in your life where you fall into sin most of the time they're found in how you steward your time they're found in how you steward your talent and they're found in how you steward your treasure if we can get those three things right i'm telling you we become more like jesus christ but it's because we get in the way of those things that we block what it is that jesus desires to do in and through us and today we got an opportunity to reset that and say god not only are you the god over my life but you're also the god over your back judas thought no one saw him stealing and to be honest with you jesus didn't say anything because jesus gives us choices and today he's giving us a choice i'm not talking about your tithes your tithes it's what belongs to god i'm talking about your above and beyond giving i'm talking about seeing god do something supernatural through your generosity through your heart through your motive to do something beyond what it is that you feel comfortable doing like i said there's people in here that operate from pride there's people listening to me that operate from pride and there's also people on the opposite side of the spectrum that operate from shame god is not asking you to be shameful of what it is that you have he's not asking you to be prideful of what it is that you have he's asking you what in the world are you going to do with it to help the kingdom of god and so i want you to ask yourself that question what am i going to do to advance the kingdom of god it's always people over possessions hear me very clear it's always people over property it's always people over what it is that we carry it's always people over it is what it is that we have a selfish ambition and motive it's always about the people of god because every person has a name and that name is important to jesus and if we can go after people guess what god says then i'll open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings so much so that you can't receive them all by yourself no blessing that god gives you is meant to enjoy by yourself nothing that god allows us to steward walk into as it obtains as it accrues as it builds as it compounds it's meant just for us he gives us these things he allows us to be stewards over these things so that we could bless someone else so i want you to take this moment right here i want you to ask god how is it that you desire to use me to advance your kingdom i don't want us to operate from a judas principle of having a bag stewarding the treasure of god and taking from it and thinking no one sees this he does we may never see it we we may never know but the thing about it is he does and i refuse to take my last breath go to the gates of heaven and he say listen i i gave you every opportunity to live from the principles that i gave you and you still chose to steal from my treasury my desire that i would hear two words well done thy good and faithful servant judas i believe he stole from god because his heart was heart and because his heart was hard his heart was blinded because his heart was blinded eventually he was heartbroken this is heart for the house sunday and i want to encourage you to have an open heart to be used by god to do something bigger than what we could do alone be a part of the story of what god is doing in and through celebration church there are hungry kids that need to be fed there are people in our city that need to hear about the gospel of jesus christ there are other cities that need to hear the gospel of jesus christ because we have said yes so let's be those people the majority of our church is still not in the building and let me help you understand this we don't give to a building we give to a purpose and that purpose is to advance the body of christ and the kingdom of god [Music] so let me be very clear if you're at home and you say i'm not giving because i'm not going to the building then your heart is hard if you're at home and you're saying i haven't been in a building in two years so i'm not giving then your motive is wrong we don't give to a building we give to a purpose and that purpose is to advance the gospel of jesus christ i want you to stand to your feet right now as you saw on the screen we had hundreds of our youth encounter jesus i believe we're supposed to have thousands of youth encounter jesus we want to make space for jesus to do what it is he desires to do that's why we have moments such as future conference that's why we create moments such as sisterhood 2021 and i want to encourage you ladies if you have not already bought your tickets please do so the heart behind sisterhood is because i believe one of the greatest moves of god in the history of all mankind will be led through women hear me hear me very clear what was the last thing god created what was the last thing that he created a woman and i believe the last great move of god will be led through the women of god be in the house sisters hear me be in the house don't miss what god is doing it's so special it's so unique i believe god desires to meet you here if you've been here for a while you know i never encourage you with an amount to give but i always encourage you to pray as i mentioned before some of you you can give out of your abundance and i don't want you to i want you to give out of your need if you give out of your abundance that's because you got it i'm not asking you to give what you have i'm asking you to give what you're expecting god to do in and through your life me and jen every single year we give until it hurts because i understand and know that there's someone hurting that needs that i understand and know that if we don't say yes to the generous generosity that god has called us to step into there may be someone that misses an opportunity to connect with him and for a moment can you imagine the city of jacksonville can you imagine the city of orlando can you imagine south florida can you imagine dc can you imagine north carolina zimbabwe paris the netherlands can you imagine these cities without celebration church i sure don't want to and i'm so glad that because of generous people like you we get an opportunity to show our cities what it means to be a beacon of light to the world shout ready to run with the gospel of jesus christ to preserve what it is that he desires to do so i want you to take this moment if you're with your spouse i want you to grab your spouse by the hand if you're by yourself i want you to grab yourself by the head and ask yourself this question god how do you want to use me how do you want to use the bag you've instructed me to steward i don't want to be a judas i want to be more like jesus [Music] my father's always telling me in moments like this son there's always going to be two amounts that float around in your head god is the bigger one follow the voice of god because giving to god will never take you backwards it will only push you forward and so at this time i want my wife to come we're going to sow today and we're going to believe that god would do significant things in and through our generosity [Music] i believe that the half has not been told of what god desires to do in and through celebration church and that god has so much more for us and so many more lives to connect to our expression so if you're a friend today i want to push you to become a member if you're a member today i want to push you to become a partner and if you're a partner today i want to push you to become a disciple because i believe that as we do what god has instructed us to do god can do so much more through us together than he could ever do a part so grab your partner by the hand let's pray heavenly father we thank you for this opportunity god i ask right now that you would touch our hearts to be more like you your word says in john chapter 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and so god we love you we love your house and today god we will give what it is you've called us to give and god we thank you that you would get glory out of it in jesus name we pray amen and amen

Channel: Celebration Church

Views: 55,802

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Id: O-jQDC7a5Zw

Length: 35min 48sec (2148 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021