THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING - Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

well I don't know if you caught this while I was reading the text but it is rough it might be the roughest one in James and he's called as adulteresses in demonic and yet here we are now and he says weep and howl for the miseries that come upon you this text is tough we're gonna launch a new series next week entitled kittens and ponies just to try to recover from today I'm telling you it's wild but let me say this is we jump into this today I want to say that James is not being unique here and and James is not just kind of grinding an axe with the rich this isn't some personal issue James has James actually being very biblical in this section and some of you may say well of course is being biblical Ben the books in the Bible but what I mean by that is he's following a consistent thread that runs through all of Scripture these concepts he's unpacking none of its novel but he's unpacking what we see are concepts that are playing out through all of the scripture but he just does it as is typical for James in a really intense way and so as we look at this we got to answer basically three questions number one is why is he being so hard on rich people and number two what do they have to be so sad about why should they weep and howl and then number three is what does this have to do with any of us some of your sin you're like Ben I don't love money I've got no money to love so what does this have to do with me anyway well let's look at this because I think we'll see ourselves in this and my hope is that again we get a chance today to align our hearts with the Lord that's really what we're after today so and let me say this too as a pastor whenever you preach text like this it can always feel a little weird because people like here comes a pastor coming after our money that's why we did giving beforehand so I'm coming at you but I'm not going to ask for your we're not passing the plate again so here we go all right so that makes me feel better here we go verse 1 he says come now you rich weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you why is he so hard on rich people well let me just say this he's following a thread through the Bible and what you're gonna see in the Bible is God is not ant money right but God is pro people and this runs all through Scripture you see it at the very beginning of the Bible first five books of Bible called the Pentateuch and major stories it plays out in it is God chooses a group of people you choose Abraham says Abraham I'm gonna bless you I'm gonna hook you up and then I want you to be a blessing to the whole world and so later in history under Moses the people of God Abraham's children are slaves in Egypt and God sets them free powerfully from their slavery and he leads him to the land of promise that was flowing with milk and honey he says I'm gonna give you land and fields and houses I'm gonna hook you up I'm gonna bless you and then I want you to be a blessing to other people and you see that Moses gives them the law this is the structure of how we're gonna deal with one another's society and this runs all through it that God speaks like this I want your heart to reflect mine I loved you and cared for you when you were poor now I want you to love and care for other people who were struggling and hurting and it shows up all through the first five books of the Bible you get in verses like leviticus 19:9 we says when you've reaped the harvest of your land don't reap to the very corners of the field but he says in verse 10 nor shall you gather the Fallen fruit of your vineyard you shall leave them for the needy and for this stranger I'm the Lord your God he says I'm gonna give you a harvest and when you harvest don't go all the way to the edges and if you drop something leave it so that at the end of the day the people are going through a hard time can walk through your field and they can glean for themselves and they can do some work but so they can feed themselves he says I want you to do that and then he puts his name on it cuz I'm the Lord I'm telling you I took care of you I want you to take care of them you see in Deuteronomy 14 ways telling them to prepare for the sacrifices back then your sacrifice huge slaughter an animal to offer to the Lord but it wasn't like the Lord was hungry he basically dictated that you would throw a barbeque periodically throughout the year with you and your friends before the Lord that's kind of how it worked and so he tells them sell some stuff get your money and in Deuteronomy 14 he says and then spend your money on whatever your heart desires and then he says and you shall eat and the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice you and your household and then in verse 29 he says the Levite because he has no portion inheritance among you and the alien the orphan and the widow who are in your town shall come and eat and be satisfied he says as part of worshiping me have a barbecue with your friends that's your god right and then he says but don't forget the Levite they were the priests the holy guy and they didn't get to have property so he's like make sure that guy's fed and then someone who's journeying through your land that doesn't live here take care of that guy this stranger the alien and if someone's been through a hard time if their offender widowed invite them to the party - you throw a party was what I blessed you with and blessed those who were hurting I want you to be like me I did that to you you do it to me and you see he says that all through Deuteronomy says remember you were slaves in Egypt and I took care of you so remember them and take care of them and give to him later in history you see as their story plays out throughout the rest of the Bible some people in the nation of Israel were more successful than other people or had better circumstances other people with your hard circumstances were less successful would sell off their land and so you got in a situation where there were bigger landowners and then other people would put themselves in a hired worker situation let me get hired out to work this land and as they did that you see as scripture continues these laws started to get ignored and poor people started to get oppressed I'm not looking out for you I'm exploiting you I'm not gonna pay you I'm gonna take advantage of you and it got to the point where and there's certain books of the Bible like in Proverbs where it got so bad that the word rich almost got synonymous with evildoer and you see the prophets really pick that up I don't know if you've read much of the prophets they're really upset a lot of times and it's because people aren't reflecting God's heart you see in place like Zechariah 7 it says the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying thus says the Lord of house dispense true justice practice kindness compassion each to his brother don't oppress the widow or the orphan the stranger or the poor and don't devise evil in your hearts against one another but they refused to pay attention turn to stubborn shoulder stop their ear from hearing they made their heart like flint and then he ends by saying therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts he said I told you to take care of these people you're exploiting him not for him and so now I'm mad about it God's not anti-money he's Pro people you see it in Jeremiah 22 he says woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness his upper rooms by injustice making his countrymen work for nothing not paying them for their labor he says I will build myself a great palace whose spacious upper rooms so he shall make large windows in it panels it with cedar and decorates it in red because red was hot back then does it make you a king to have more and more cedar did not your father have food or drink he did what was right and just so all went well with him he defended the cause of the poor needy and so all went well is that not what it means to know me declares the Lord it's interesting there he says if you know me you know I love people and so if you knew me you'd love them too and if you don't love them I'm upset and God's not anti-money in any of this he says I'm gonna bless you but then I want you to be a blessing he's God's audience I'm money he's Pro people and so in Amos he's real upset he says you've trampled on the needy therefore I'm turning the Sun and the darkness and you see whenever God's really angry and pronouncing judgment and the prophets it's because you didn't value what he valued that's his issue so why should the rich why is he mad at the rich because they didn't value what God values God loves people and he didn't value what he values so I member for me I used to take when I was a youth pastor my kids whitewater rafting and I remember we went with this rafting guide once and they had all these Outfitters they'd put us these different kids and rafts and there was several of the guides mine included was very concerned about safety and making sure we all understood how this is gonna work got a big raft full of kids as we go down the river and then there was one guy that you could tell was just like trying to be cool trying to make a buddy like him it's not weird he's in some other raft baa and so I'm in this raft and sure enough as we're going down the river we pull up to this bridge that our guide had been telling us all about this bridge coming here's how we're gonna strop to navigate the pylons I hold up this bridge bump up up and he's telling us all about it this is the safety part here's how we're gonna roll and so as we turn the corner in this river we see the bridge and we see a big raft wrapped around one of the pylons and children scattered about in the water right rafting trip takes a hard left suddenly it's no longer getting this greatest get the kids out of water we're pulling kids out of the water they try to salvage the raft got a huge rippin okay so now you're not rafting to the bus you're walking to the bus so we get to the bus and that rafting guide who had done it captain cool kid you can tell didn't look very happy and so the other guys were trying to joke with him they're like oh man you sold beer today but bump up there all chug was him and he's like but he like looks like he's gonna throw up so I'm sitting by my guide on the bus and I was like what's going on here and she looks at me and she goes oh he is super fired she was like there is one thing our boss makes so clear take care of the people take care of the raft and he blew a hole in that raft and endangered these kids he is so fired he might die today like it is really bad and you could see it on his face this sickness of I was trying to be all about me and I didn't value what the boss valued and so when it came down Oh cuz judgments coming and that's the text here weep and how will cry and make noises when you cry why cuz miseries coming you didn't value what God valued and he starts sounding like the prophets and so when the prof when the Lord comes back you're gonna cry it's Lord of the Flies remember Lord of flies the boys at the beginning it's real positive we got this little horn we'll blow it we'll all take turns speaking will create a benevolent society and by the end what are they doing they're killing pigs trying to murder each other little Ralph's running for his life and you remember what happened in Lord of the Flies Ralph's run and his buddies were trying to kill him and what happens he gets out of the desert or out of the jungle and he runs face-first into a naval officer the picture of authority and what happens when he runs in that naval officer instantly he becomes a little boy again and he starts crying and all the boys start crying and Ralph wept for the end of innocence and for the darkness in a man's heart what's going on there we were living crazy but now the judgment is here I haven't lived in way that honored my rulers and I feel that and I cry that's what James is saying here right so why should the rich be sad because God is pro people and they devalued people and that's the problem the more we love money the less we love people and that's the danger because God loves people and so you see in verse 2 he says your riches have rotted your garments are moth eaten your gold and silver corroded he says your material possessions don't last what you put your value in doesn't last if your money and success and wardrobe gives you a sense of significance you put your human freight of your soul on a thing that's destined to fade and James uses past tense like it's already done it has corroded he's like it's so certain that that stuff won't last I'm talking about it as if it's already gone and so that's one mistake you put the significance of your eternal soul onto transient things that's a mistake but then he says there corrosion will be evidence against you and eat your flesh like fire that's just so horrible he says not only do you have a pile of stuff that corrodes he says it'll be Exhibit A against you he says could you piled all this stuff up what's he saying here is he saying God is anti saving no so let me just say that read the book of Proverbs proverbs till you consider the ant you sluggard ants save up during summer so they have food during the winter it's smart to save it's smart to invest it's smart to be responsible the Bible is not anti saving but the Bible is anti hoarding I'm going all for mine I'm going for me and I don't care about you you start going cross-purposes with God because God loves people and the more you love your money the less you'll value people and that puts you cross-purposes with God and that's not where you want to be he says you laid up treasure in the last days that's the problem he says these are the last days now what does that mean last days does that mean James thought Jesus was showing up any second history yeah probably he hasn't shown up why not Peter will explain it later because it's a god of days like a thousand years God's not in a hurry because now is the of grace not the day of judgment but if you're looking at the eschatological calendar there it is big theological word eschatology the end things what's happening well all through the Bible at the beginning God's created humanity then he gives the law and they're hoping for a messiah who will make things right again and Jesus comes and he's gentle and he's kind he cares for us and then when Jesus leaves I'm coming back again but not humble riding on a donkey I'm coming on a white horse and I'm shutting history down I first came as gentle and now I'm coming as a ruler and so James is saying the last thing on the biblical calendar is judgment and that should impact how you live the fact that you know that's coming should impact how you live it's like when my sister worked at a steak restaurant whenever they found out the boss was coming things changed hey the owners gonna be here today and what did they do make sure their shirt was right they're wiping everything down and it showed up yes sir right they were on their game because they knew the boss was coming and that should affect the way we play and that's what James saying though our priorities should be shaped by the fact that we know the end is coming we should live like we're dying right and the problem is they devalued people you see in verse 4 the wages of the laborers your field you kept back by fraud they're crying out against you the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts he says you didn't feed these people you didn't value them Rousseau talked about this and his autobiography you remember confessions he tells the story of a great prince who was told once about his people were starving the country people have no bread and so he said let them eat cake which many people thought Marie Antoinette said when you preach you have to look up where quotes came from surprised so anyway could've been her doubtful it's hard to say anyways the point is people debate on the significance of that statement but it's either a complete devaluing of people they're out of bread well then let him eat cake or it's complete ignorance of the pride of the suffering well then why don't they eat some cake like Wow either way it's unconscionable if you have power and resources you should care for those who don't that's the idea you see and some of us are good at that some of us aren't good at that and it's interesting I won't go deep into these I got lost in the weeds and statistics about giving in America today it's fascinating though you see a rise in giving is directly related to a rise in attendance to religious services isn't that strange like there's all kinds of different charity kind of surveys but you see people who walk with the Lord tend to reflect his hearts values right and when it be generous to the people he loves but he say to these people you've lived on the earth and luxury and self-indulgence and you fattened your heart for the day of slaughter he's telling him God loves people and if you love money you use people and at the end there's judgment for that so that's the first two points right that's why God's mad that's why rich should be said okay now if we ended here we couldn't it would I would basically have just preached Scrooge right cuz that's Scrooge right so this message is disturbing but I need you to know you all believe this anyway like every year when you watch Christmas Carol you're like his boss was nice to him he's not even gonna let that poor guy have an extra piece of coal what a monster and then when the ghosts come getting like that's what you get man you should be terrified and when the ghost of death comes really you're gonna die son and then when he wakes up he's like I don't want to die by a turkey god bless us everyone and we all leave I can end the sermon here and that'd be fine right that's where Charles Dickens did it and you're like where does Charles come up with these great ideas you've ripped them off from James right we could end it there and say so be terrified the death is coming and so give some money so you can be a little less scared but that that's not where the Bible ends this story and it's fascinating we should live like we're dying the end of the game should experience a change the way we play the game but the issue here is what are we gonna do if we don't like it and it's fascinating James as always is leaning on his brother here let me read you a bit of Luke chapter 12 because we mentioned this last week Jesus talked about this issue to Jesus told a story and he says to them in Luke 12 beware and be on your guard against every form of greed for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions so he says you can be greedy even if you don't have stuff even love money even if you don't have money to love right he says but be careful even if you got a lot your life doesn't consist of that if we told them this parable saying the land of the rich man was very productive and he began reasoning to himself saying what shall I do since I have no place to store my crops and then he said this is what I'll do tear down my barns build larger ones I will store all my grain and my goods and I will say to my soul so you have many goods laid up for many years to come take your ease eat drink and be merry but God says to him you fool this very night your soul is required of you and now who will own what you've prepared Scrooge so is the man who stores up treasure for himself but it's not rich towards God most of us in the story there Jesus does not he's halfway done Jesus says and he said his disciples for this reason I say don't worry about your life as the way she will eat nor for your body as to what you'll put on for life is more than food bodies more than clothing don't seek what you will eat and what you'll drink and don't keep worrying for all these things the nations of the world seek after but your father knows you need these things but seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you don't be afraid little flock for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom sell your possessions give to charity make yourselves money belts which do not wear out an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief can come near nor moth destroys for where your treasure is there your heart will be also what I love about that as Jesus tells a story that basically James was unpacking someone took their ease I'm all about me this is your fool you didn't value God's heart and now your life's over but then Jesus takes it a level deeper and says so I say to you don't worry and he shows you the roots of our sting genus is a lack of faith so this talk is not really about money it's about your heart right and so he's saying the issue is you don't trust God to take care of you and that's why you're not generous to other people you're looking for money to take care of you when you should be looking at God too and rather than Jesus chide and shame and wagging a finger what does he say he says don't worry little flock he calls you little sheep just don't worry little sheep your father's gonna gladly give you the kingdom see it's interesting because James was do the same thing in verse 7 he'll switch and say be patient therefore brothers until the coming of the Lord establish your hearts becoming the lords at hand he's talking about the day the kingdoms coming to but he's telling now the brothers to look forward to it he's telling the brothers be patient be ok it's coming and what you see is the arrival of Jesus is dread for some delight for others and what's the difference how much you trust him if I trust his heart I'm looking forward to his coming if I don't trust him and live my own way that I'm fearful when he arrives because our life is going different directions so rather than just trying to give you a bunch of money or give away your money James is saying and Jesus saying no you need to give God your heart because the more you trust him the more you'll align with his purposes you need to focus right now in the end of this sermon it's not so go give a bunch of money today the end of the sermon is you need to love God more because the more you love God the more you'll trust him and the more you love him you'll love people that's where it goes it's Robin Hood right what happens in Robin Hood there's a lot of different versions of it let me tell you one the Kevin Costner version what happens the King left and if the King leaves some people take a mentality well this is a great opportunity to exploit those who have less power than me for my own comfort and we all boo that guy right alan rickman others say no the King loves these people so I'm going to love these people and I'm going to take care of them and I am going to associate with them and care for them and one day Sean Connery will return and when the King does right back in it is whoa to some it is delight to others it is the stench of death to some it's the joy of others of a wedding day and that's what happens in James your woe at the end or your delight at the end is all built on how much do you love him how much do you trust him because the more you love God the more you'll love is people and so what I'm pushing you to now is not to give away a bunch of money so you'll feel less guilty it's to press into grace because that'll make you generous you see it we're not giving out of guilt we're taking grace and it makes us generous that's what he's calling us to live like you're dying it'll change your priorities right but I'm living like somebody who's waiting for that coming day and it's interesting that coming of the day of the Lord just to give you a heads up I don't have time to read it all it's all through the Bible and if I can just tell you when I started seminary I remember when I suddenly had to read very large commentaries on books of the Bible and they were always filled with the word parousia parousia parousia and eschaton ecology and eschaton and Eska what and i'm like asking what like what are we doing here and eschatology they're talking about the very last day and the parousia you see has to exist and para means right beside the very last day God's coming to live with us and what I found was it keeps showing up because about one out of every three verses in the New Testament is about that day we tend to not think about that day at all but the Bible says you should and Jesus gives an illustration you should think of it not like the coming of a judge at Lord of the Flies but like the cousin of a groom because back then when a guy and a girl got engaged they got engaged and they were sort of technically married but they didn't live together yet the guy would go away to prepare a place for her and in doing that he would literally make his own furniture he'd just be out there saw and stuff and and as fast as he can to try to build a house so he'd go get his wife but she didn't know how good a carpenter did I marry how particular is he's hard to say and so she just kind of had to stay ready because they didn't announce the wedding day what you did was she just sat in her house ate chips drank a bunch of beer with her friends now what does she do she stayed ready right her friends had their lamps ready she would keep her hair done she would just wear her dress see that's what I always dress like this what huh and there was just this thrill of expectation for the moment they would hear some trumpet said here's some guys going nuts cuz all his buddies would be like what's up and they knew it's coming and the arrival of their hero was a day of joy right cuz I love him and so if I know he's coming it's a day of joy and I have made myself ready for his arrival and the whole New Testament is filled you know what were called in the New Testament those who love his appearing it's one of the things were called do you think of yourself that way I love the thought of his appearing I love the thought of him coming let me tell you something if you're Robin Hood you're excited the Kings coming if your heart reflects his priorities you can't wait to see him again but if you're living crossways death is terrifying to you but it doesn't have to be that way so what's the switch as I leaned closer into him I get to know him more and the more I want to know him the more I want to be like him the more I receive his generosity the more I'll be a generous person so let me encourage you there's no pressure to give today I'm not gonna pass the plate back around but I want to challenge you this holiday season read the Gospel of Mark see what your gods like experience the generosity of the king and you'll be a generous person that's what Jesus did to Zacchaeus Zacchaeus was a tax collector took money from people and the way it worked back then is you would work for the government that was occupying your people's land and you would extract taxes for the government and you could mark it up as much as you want for your own benefit and the government wouldn't penalize you so the people all hated tax collectors because they lived in the big house while everyone else suffered and so everybody hated Zacchaeus and then Jesus showed up in Zacchaeus neighborhood and what happened big crowd was see Jesus is a miracle worker Zacchaeus was a wee little man we little man was he couldn't see anything no one was let him up to the front somebody hates him so he just climbs up on a tree and what is Jesus do just Jesus go hey look at that tree guys it's a rich guy we pan out get him down he's cancelled is oh Jesus no Jesus pivots the parade to the tree and was like hey old man what are you doing up there he says get down from there I'm coming to your house I remember as a kid I used to always confused me Jesus like I'm coming to your house and suddenly Zacchaeus like I'd give away all my money you know my dad sewed up rather neatly what's that about and what happened was Zacchaeus had been ostracized his whole life yeah he made a lot of money but it was at the expense of loving people so nobody cared about him he was alone and here was the guy he knew would judge him but now is not the day of judgment it's coming but now is the day of grace and so why is James riding like this because when God announces judgment it's the last thing he wants to do if he really wanted to judge us he'd just do it the reason he announces it cuz it's the last thing he wants to do if I kill an ant I don't tell him now if you get on my foot one more I just step on you touched me you die all through the Bible God announced his judgment why cuz he wants repentance he says I don't delight in the judgment of the wicked at all I want you to turn and live Jesus will pivot the parade to say even though everyone's rejected you I'll come sit at your house Scrooge not to terrify you but to love you and the more I love you I will fall that frozen heart and Zacchaeus by the end of it is willing to give and be generous to his culture and that's the same with you lean into him and it'll change you and let me tell you the more you do that the more you'll see how much fun it is to be someone who suddenly says I am living right now the values that I want to be true of me what I'm dead letting your end affect how you live is a pretty motivating thing it's terrifying at first if I give away this money then I'll have less money if I don't have any money then I'll starve no buy it'll be alone and then may see a tag oh no now is the chance to practice faith and as I practice faith and I'm generous you'll see it's a joy it really is more blessed to give than to receive it's an exciting thing to do cultures shift this way I remember for me when I was in college I was in this men's fraternal organization and there was one guy in there I didn't really like personality wise I wasn't a big fan of him but I remember I became the chaplain still didn't like him but I remember I stood up there and I told this group of guys hey there's this new conference coming called passion I'm gonna get a group of us and we're all gonna go and a guy came up to me later and he was like hey man are you going and I said well no I'm gonna organize it he said why are you not going I said cuz I don't have any money I didn't have any money back then and I remember he came up to me the guy didn't like and all by ourselves he said hey man I'm paying for you to go I think you should be there with us I remember I was like ma'am I hated this guy and now suddenly I feel like an idiot that this guy paid for me to go and I showed up at the first passion conference ever changed my life now I'm the pastor of passion City Church Washington DC because some guy decided to be generous and you're in the wake of the blessing of that guy and he hasn't met you right in that amazing and I can't remember his name right now I gotta look it up I just decided to tell this story last minute but how incredible is that John Wesley when he was in college he came from money so he decided I'm gonna decorate my house like crazy and so he he took all his money and he bought all this like high-end decoration about really great stuff and and that's fine if you do that quite honestly but what he did was he said I spent all that I had and I just had a couple coins left he said and then the the chambermaid the lady that would take care of this dorm he said I noticed her walking into work and all she had was a linen garment there's a middle winner so I asked what was going on and she couldn't afford a coat and he said I looked at all my beautiful pictures and I looked at this woman in the snow without a coat and I didn't have enough money to help her and he said I don't like that I don't want to live like that it doesn't feel like it it connects with the generosity of the god I know so he made a decision that day I will not let my standard of living outpace my standard of giving you're gonna meet a standard of living but let me tell you something don't let it outpace your standard of giving let him rise the same or if you want to do what John Wesley did what he did was in his first year he made 30 pounds and he figured out I need 28 to live so he gave away two but a year from then his wages doubled he made sixty pounds and he lived on 28 and gave away 32 when his income rose to 90 pounds he lived on 28 gave away 62 and when his income became 120 pounds he lived on 28 and gave away 92 and then he got audited because they assumed he was stealing haha and they're like going through his house he's like check it out man he's like hey I got nothing to hide why because I have integrity inside matches he out I'm living like I said I believe and let me tell you something work committed to doing that as a church we've tried from the very beginning to be a generous house we're working on that and I talked about a few weeks ago I won't go through it all here again but we do it with some of the parties we do outside for the neighborhood just inviting anyone to come we do it with friends giving let's serve a meal to whoever wants to walk in the door we do it through above and beyond our first year as a church wedding a full year 2018 we gave money to central union mission and little lights about forty thousand dollars our first year to Central Union mission to help those who are homeless and to little lights to help kids who are needy in the city 2019 we were able to give away 62 central Union little lights and we added Samaritans in which helps women who are in trouble and we're trying to continue doing that and love DC we gave way almost ten thousand dollars worth of books to kids that can't afford their own books we're like you know what if we rally you guys we can make a difference and do that last summer we found out little lights didn't have snacks for kids a lot of them don't have consistent meals from school's out so you guys gave generously and we bought snack food for the whole summer for kids that are part of the lowlights program and I just want you to know as a church when we challenge you to give it's it's so that we can be a part of making a difference in the city and we're gonna try to keep saying that and it's a little weird because it can sound arrogant say like look at all we're giving but I'm trying to let you know how you're giving as you're a part of this church we want to be a church that the like Noelle said is a city on the hill that the city benefits because we exist that people are blessed because we're here because that's what Jesus was like when he showed up in our life it changed everything so when we show up in their lives it changes things and we want to be a place of generosity and quite frankly we're gonna have to be to create space for people I don't know if you know this down here I'm looking at you guys cuz I can see y'all it's hard to see some of y'all up there and I know you can't see me way in the back we're running out of room here how do you solve that I don't know but what I've learned in DC is not cheaply so we're figuring out and it's funny now we're at the size is a church that people come up to me all the time out front I love visiting people out front somebody like I can't wait any but get involved here and serve other peoples like when are you gonna launch this ministry this ministry of this ministry this video I was like we'll launch it when we can grow the staff and have space to do it but all that is bottlenecked by by our ability to do it and I don't say that to shame anybody I'm just saying it's exciting because if I can encourage you statistically speaking you guys doing a great job of being generous to church right it's awesome so none of this is me beating you up but it is me saying in this cool that a year and a half if you're a part of this church here and impacting the lives of thousands of people and if you drive to the city you go what I'm doing is commensurate with my values I'm helping the the most hurting among us and let's be a generous house let's be a generous people and if that is scary to you there's no pressure like I said plates not coming back by but just keep coming back keep hearing about a generous God because the more you know about him the more you'll want to be a part of what he's doing and when you become a part of his what he's doing you'll be surprised by the joy of it I want to put my money there I remember the first time I launched a giving initiative with college students they saw their giving was helping create a home for women who had been trafficked and they got so excited about it I remember at one point I just said on stage what Jesus said in Luke I said some of y'all don't have any money or college kids and what I love about Jesus he said I'll then just sell something and give it to the poor I just left that that's and Luke Jesus like oh no that don't worry just sell something and I love this group of college kids because some of them would come up and it was guys that were like hey man I sold my PlayStation and hand me an envelope and you could tell you like that all right okay [Applause] but you can see like like their shoulders come up and the heads come up yeah man I made a decision one of my favorites was the track team put together a fundraiser and got the money and then they called our office and they were like how lady I'll stay open and we're like well we closed at 5:00 and they're like all right we'll be there and it was like a few minutes till 5:00 and we look out the door and there's this group of guys sprinting printing sweating oh we made it thank goodness there you go these kids were racing I want to be a part of what God is doing in the city I think God loves that kind of hard so don't feel pressured but feel invited Jesus came racing towards us and we get a chance to run alongside of him right love God you love people and then that final day will be a joy not a burden

Channel: Passion City Church DC

Views: 10,312

Rating: 4.889328 out of 5

Keywords: More Problems, Atlanta, passion city church sermons, city church, More Money, Mo' Money, Passion D.C., Ben, Passion Messages, Ben Stuart, Washington D.C., Stuart, Passion Sermons, Passion City Church, Passion, this changes everything

Id: u6ZH9jZ1Ryo

Length: 37min 43sec (2263 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 26 2019