Speaker 1: Hey, don't start clicking off. I promise we're going to
Speaker 1: get to the preaching in just a moment. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited about this. This is a very special tradition at Elevation,
Speaker 1: and we want to speak to all of you who
Speaker 1: call our church home, especially our extended family, our EPAM
Speaker 1: around the world, because once a year we have a
Speaker 1: special series. It's really more than a collection of teachings.
Speaker 1: It's a faith experience for all of the people who
Speaker 1: are part of our ministry at Elevation, and this year
Speaker 1: our theme is game Changer. I think one of the
Speaker 1: most exciting things that God is doing in our ministry
Speaker 1: is to open the doors of our ministry beyond our walls.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is we are amazed at
Speaker 1: the thousands and thousands and thousands of you who are
Speaker 1: letting us know that you're impacted by this ministry in
Speaker 1: another zip code, in another state, in another country, maybe
Speaker 1: eventually on another planet. But what I wanted to mention
Speaker 1: to you is that you can be a part of
Speaker 1: this beyond just consuming. Many of you have been blessed
Speaker 1: by God to be a blessing. Now I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask today, would you be willing during this special time
Speaker 1: of year to make a one time donation to the
Speaker 1: ministry or maybe partner with us on a monthly basis
Speaker 1: through recurring giving. I believe God could use your gift
Speaker 1: to enable this ministry to continue to reach, to continue
Speaker 1: to break paradigms, to continue to lift up Jesus. And
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you personally to go to Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org and you can see the ways to give there.
Speaker 1: But most importantly, know that we feel a tremendousness of
Speaker 1: responsibility to minister the word of God not only to you,
Speaker 1: but to challenge you to partner with us in reaching
Speaker 1: people for the Gospel. I believe your gift today could
Speaker 1: be a game changer, so don't put it off right now.
Speaker 1: Elevation Church dot org you can find all of the details.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this message and thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of the family. Excited to start a
Speaker 1: new series with you. The series is called Game Changer.
Speaker 1: The goal of this series is to increase your faith,
Speaker 1: and the way you increase your faith is to stretch
Speaker 1: and to obey God in practical ways. And so we're
Speaker 1: going to do that over the next few weeks. It's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite series. I can't ever figure out
Speaker 1: why this is my favorite series because it's a challenging series.
Speaker 1: At the end of the series, on December eighth and ninth,
Speaker 1: our church together and our em online around the world,
Speaker 1: let's thank God for our extended family around the world
Speaker 1: joined with us. We bring an offering and we take
Speaker 1: these weeks to pray and consider and ask God what
Speaker 1: he would have each of us to do on the
Speaker 1: level that he's blessed us. Of course, the church is
Speaker 1: able to do ministry on an ongoing basis because of
Speaker 1: thousands of people and families who faithfully tithe and give
Speaker 1: that first ten percent to God, which sounds like a
Speaker 1: lot when you first hear it. It's like ten percent, Bro,
Speaker 1: my gym membership is like forty a month, and you know,
Speaker 1: like that's a whole lot, ten percent of all of it.
Speaker 1: But when you realize that all of it came from God,
Speaker 1: it kind of makes you think about the ninety more
Speaker 1: than the ten, and then it really doesn't seem that
Speaker 1: crazy anymore. That's the game changer. The series is called
Speaker 1: game Changer, and the game changer is when you realize
Speaker 1: that it's all Gods and it all belongs to him,
Speaker 1: makes you grateful and hopefully encourages you to be faithful.
Speaker 1: So we're going to be doing that on December eighth
Speaker 1: and nine of this year and will end the year
Speaker 1: on a note of sacrificial generosity. Each of us and
Speaker 1: thousands of people do it. Last year, the church gave
Speaker 1: over ten million dollars in that offering, which is phenomenal,
Speaker 1: which is what enables us to expand and reach. Ask
Speaker 1: the person next to you, are you a game changer
Speaker 1: or a benchwarmer, because that's what I'm trying to find out, amen,
Speaker 1: And so it's going to be so good and I'm
Speaker 1: going to see God do amazing things. Well, sit down
Speaker 1: for now, drap somebody up on the way to your seat,
Speaker 1: and tell him I'm a game changer. When we say
Speaker 1: game changer, you know, every year I pick a word
Speaker 1: several months in advance and try to really build my teachings. Really,
Speaker 1: rather than pick the word, I try to see what
Speaker 1: God is speaking and then find a word that describes that.
Speaker 1: It works better that way. And I thought it was
Speaker 1: a little corny game changer. You know. You hear that
Speaker 1: like three times a day. ESPN but it sounded like
Speaker 1: a gatorade commercial to me more than a sermon series.
Speaker 1: But it really it'll mean something different when we're done
Speaker 1: with the series than it does going into it, and
Speaker 1: you'll see that. And today I just want to lay
Speaker 1: a foundation from the pulpit from Matthew chapter six. And
Speaker 1: last year's series was called Waymaker, and so apparently I'm
Speaker 1: on this like a Waymaker game Chang. I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: Cake Baker in twenty nineteen, see how if I could
Speaker 1: make a trilogy out of it. But Matthew chapter six
Speaker 1: will be a good place for us to start from
Speaker 1: the Sermon on the Mount. This was my dad's favorite scripture.
Speaker 1: He used to read it every day, and then I
Speaker 1: would use it against him when he went acting right,
Speaker 1: I'd be like, you read it, but are you living it?
Speaker 1: So I've used the Bible against him as a as
Speaker 1: a weapon, all right, Matthew Chapter six, verses one through four,
Speaker 1: And I can't wait to share this with you. Very
Speaker 1: powerful principle. It's practical, but it's also on another level,
Speaker 1: very profound, and I think the best lessons are that way.
Speaker 1: And so here's what Jesus said, be careful not to
Speaker 1: practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen
Speaker 1: by them. So this might mean you have to delete
Speaker 1: some apps on your phone. Do you know what I mean? Well,
Speaker 1: if you do practice your acts of righteousness in front
Speaker 1: of others to be seen by them, you will have
Speaker 1: no reward from your father in heaven. That's scary. So
Speaker 1: when you give to the needy, for instance, do not
Speaker 1: announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the
Speaker 1: synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly,
Speaker 1: I tell you they have received the reward in full.
Speaker 1: But when you give to the needy, do not let
Speaker 1: your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
Speaker 1: so that your giving may be in secret. Then your father,
Speaker 1: who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Speaker 1: And the title of this message is the Secret Scoreboard.
Speaker 1: When my kids first started playing recreational sports, I went
Speaker 1: out and I turned to the person next to me
Speaker 1: and said, they need to turn on the scoreboard. And
Speaker 1: Elijah was playing t ball at the time for the
Speaker 1: mud Caps of Mint Hill. I said, they need to
Speaker 1: turn on the scoreboard. It was his first game. Brother
Speaker 1: looked back at me. He had several kids that already
Speaker 1: played t boy, he said, they don't keep score at
Speaker 1: this level. And when Elijah got in the car after
Speaker 1: the game, I said, congratulations on your first win. He said, win.
Speaker 1: They didn't keep score. I said, I did the first
Speaker 1: thing I did when that man said they don't keep
Speaker 1: score at this level. I found an app on my
Speaker 1: phone and I decided every game that he played, I
Speaker 1: was going to score it myself. And I told that
Speaker 1: boy this the following I said, when you get in
Speaker 1: this car after the game, you ask me if you won,
Speaker 1: and I will tell you whether or not you won.
Speaker 1: I am your official scorekeeper. I believe God wants to
Speaker 1: look at somebody today, y'all A uncle help me preach
Speaker 1: after three weeks off. And one of the first things
Speaker 1: that God does when he assumes control of your life
Speaker 1: is he becomes your scorekeeper, because by default, we tend
Speaker 1: to let everybody else keep score. And it's hard to know.
Speaker 1: Am I winning? In real life, especially in adulthood, Am
Speaker 1: I winning? I wonder that all the time. I feel
Speaker 1: like in some areas it's the weirdest thing I will
Speaker 1: win for a season. And while I'm winning in those
Speaker 1: areas for that season, the other areas that are also
Speaker 1: important to me suffer and I can't keep up because
Speaker 1: it's like I'm playing five sports at once, do you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? It's like the family thing and
Speaker 1: the financial thing. Those don't always work together. Sometimes those
Speaker 1: seem to compete against each other, and it's hard to
Speaker 1: keep score, especially because now we live in a world
Speaker 1: where there are permanent reminders of everybody else's score. And
Speaker 1: even though they're not playing the same sport, they don't
Speaker 1: have the same calling, the same circumstances, the same situation.
Speaker 1: We're all living on the same platforms, being fed the
Speaker 1: same false images and wondering is their life really that
Speaker 1: much better than mine? Or are they just a better photographer.
Speaker 1: The game has changed because back in the day, you
Speaker 1: used to compare yourself to a really small circle of people,
Speaker 1: whoever was around you. And that's why I grew up
Speaker 1: thinking I was a good guitarist, because I didn't have
Speaker 1: any really good guitarists to see on YouTube, and so
Speaker 1: you know, whoever else played guitar, all three of us.
Speaker 1: That was my standard of comparison. But the game has changed.
Speaker 1: Now it's no longer possible to feel really good about
Speaker 1: yourself for any length of time because the standards have
Speaker 1: shifted and the game has changed. Touch somebody say the
Speaker 1: game has changed when Jesus preached this sermon, the Bible
Speaker 1: says at the beginning that he went up on a
Speaker 1: mountain side and sat down, and his disciples came to him,
Speaker 1: and he began to teach them, and began to teach them.
Speaker 1: So like the text speaking physically has Jesus in a
Speaker 1: All right, let's say physically, the text is describing elevation.
Speaker 1: He went up on a mountain side, sat down, and
Speaker 1: began to teach them. That is the physical motif of
Speaker 1: the text. This is the beginning of it. But really
Speaker 1: what he was about to do was more like excavation,
Speaker 1: which is that he was going to dig out beneath
Speaker 1: the surface. And I'm not sure change in the name
Speaker 1: of the church, but excavation would be a good church
Speaker 1: name too, because when you have a really good encounter
Speaker 1: with God, when you really really meet Jesus, the first
Speaker 1: thing that he begins to do is challenge your values.
Speaker 1: And we want him to build our life up and
Speaker 1: build us and raise us, and all of these wonderful
Speaker 1: promises that are indeed in his word but if he
Speaker 1: does not first dig out a deep enough place in
Speaker 1: our hearts and a foundation that is steady and stable enough,
Speaker 1: then even what he builds in our life will be
Speaker 1: subject to situations and circumstances. And so the first thing
Speaker 1: that proves the presence of God in your life is
Speaker 1: that he will begin to challenge your values. You know how,
Speaker 1: you can know if you if you met with God,
Speaker 1: were your values challenged? And I'll prove it to you
Speaker 1: when he started preaching, because you look highly skeptical right now,
Speaker 1: I won't lie. I thought you're going to be more
Speaker 1: energetic with it, an extra hour of sleep, but apparently not.
Speaker 1: It's all right, It's all right. I'll hustle down a
Speaker 1: little bit when you start teaching. He said. Blessed are
Speaker 1: the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Well,
Speaker 1: right right off the bat, I'm kind of confused because
Speaker 1: Jesus is telling me that it's not those who look
Speaker 1: like they're winning a lot of times who are really
Speaker 1: the most blessed, blessed or the meek, for they will
Speaker 1: inherit the earth blessed to those who hunger and thirst
Speaker 1: what's a blessing about being hungry and thirsty for righteousness?
Speaker 1: For they'll be filled. And with each of these statements
Speaker 1: is commonly called the beatitudes. Jesus is giving a new
Speaker 1: definition of blessing. And one thing that you'll notice about
Speaker 1: it when he defines it, it's very contrary to the
Speaker 1: cultural values, which are very external. You know, everything is
Speaker 1: about how you look. If God blessed, it is going
Speaker 1: to show up as a physical manifestation in your life.
Speaker 1: But when Jesus showed up, it changed the game because
Speaker 1: in a religious system that was corrupted by the elevation
Speaker 1: of appearances over the real condition of the heart, Jesus
Speaker 1: begins to challenge the values not only of the world,
Speaker 1: but of the religious not only in the streets but
Speaker 1: in the synagogues. I've noticed the Church is really good
Speaker 1: at challenging the values of the world when it comes
Speaker 1: to sexuality and entertainment and Disney. That's twenty years old,
Speaker 1: but some of y'all will remember when the Church was
Speaker 1: really good at challenging the value system of the world.
Speaker 1: But the first thing that Jesus did, it seems to me,
Speaker 1: is to challenge the value of the church, and so
Speaker 1: in order to do that, he begins to dig. And
Speaker 1: it really changes the game because it seems almost like
Speaker 1: an inversion, seems like something is being flipped upside down.
Speaker 1: It's almost as if when Jesus comes on the scene,
Speaker 1: he's less concerned with playing the game right and more
Speaker 1: concerned with playing the right game. And some of us
Speaker 1: are playing the wrong game. And we spend a lot
Speaker 1: of our lives trying to figure out how to play
Speaker 1: the game right. But the question becomes, this is the
Speaker 1: game changer, not are you playing the game right, but
Speaker 1: are you playing the right game? And sometimes it takes
Speaker 1: us half our lives to realize I've learned to play
Speaker 1: the game right, but I wasn't playing the right game.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be tragic to spend your whole life to
Speaker 1: get good at a game that you weren't even supposed
Speaker 1: to play, to win the approval of people who don't
Speaker 1: sit on the throne anyway, to get really good at
Speaker 1: something that is isn't good for you. And I see
Speaker 1: this more and more, more more and more as it
Speaker 1: becomes easier for us to get sucked into systems of
Speaker 1: comparison and analysis that have nothing to do with real value.
Speaker 1: We start, we start getting good at winning, but winning
Speaker 1: at what? Winning at what? And the game has changed.
Speaker 1: It's changed so much for young people, you know, Like
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, it was different in terms
Speaker 1: of social media. Even the games that I played as
Speaker 1: a kid, the video games I played as a kid,
Speaker 1: were much different than the games I see my kids
Speaker 1: playing today. It was an entirely different level of nobility
Speaker 1: involved in When the games I used to play, we
Speaker 1: were doing real things, important things like when I was
Speaker 1: when I grew up playing games, we were we were
Speaker 1: saving princesses. We were training to win heavyweight titles or
Speaker 1: to do that, we had to we had to face
Speaker 1: opponents like Soda Popinski and King Hippo and Don Flamenco
Speaker 1: and the second Don Flamenco and Piston Honda and the
Speaker 1: second Bald Bull. Real stuff, you know, things that that
Speaker 1: transposed into actual life skill. But the other day, I
Speaker 1: was watching my kids play game on their phone and
Speaker 1: all they were doing and it was very it was
Speaker 1: very fascinating to me. I just watched them for like
Speaker 1: five minutes. All they were doing was tapping the screen,
Speaker 1: and I watched for a little while before I realized
Speaker 1: there's absolutely no strategy to what they're doing right now.
Speaker 1: I didn't know the game that they're playing because I
Speaker 1: don't play games on my phone. I read my Bible
Speaker 1: because I'm a pastor. But I walked over said and
Speaker 1: I said, what is that game? What are you doing?
Speaker 1: And they said it was called Cookie Clicker. They said
Speaker 1: it's old, Dad, it's an old game, not as old
Speaker 1: as your games, but it's an old game for us.
Speaker 1: I said, Cookie Clicker, Let me see it. How do
Speaker 1: you play? They said, you click the cookie. I said,
Speaker 1: all right, and then what like up up, downtown, left, right, left, right,
Speaker 1: ba start? Is that the They said, no, you just click.
Speaker 1: You just click a cookie. See, these kids don't have
Speaker 1: to think like we had defended. They said, you clicked
Speaker 1: the cookie. I said, all right. And then what they said,
Speaker 1: then you get more cookies. When you click the cookie,
Speaker 1: you get more cookies. I said, and then after you
Speaker 1: get more cookies, what do you do after you get
Speaker 1: more cookies? They said, well, the more cookies you get,
Speaker 1: the more the more cookies you can get each time
Speaker 1: you click. That's what y'all been doing over here for
Speaker 1: the last thirty minutes. No Princess Zelda, no Princess Toadstool,
Speaker 1: just clicking cookies to get more cookies, to get more cookies,
Speaker 1: to get more cookies, to give more cookies. I said,
Speaker 1: let me try that. It was addictive. I loved it.
Speaker 1: Five millions of cookies and I couldn't need any of them,
Speaker 1: but I had fun clicking. Let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1: Have you been clicking on stuff playing a game without
Speaker 1: asking the question what is the goal of this game?
Speaker 1: Have you ever argued with somebody? And then you realize
Speaker 1: that even if I win the argument, even if I
Speaker 1: win your approval, even if I win your friendship, it's
Speaker 1: not worth winning if I have to win it, even
Speaker 1: if I make you like me. And that's what he
Speaker 1: was doing. He was telling him quick clicking. Jesus was
Speaker 1: saying this. He was saying, quick clicking. Tell somebody quick clicking,
Speaker 1: quick clicking, and ask a different question. It's not am
Speaker 1: I playing the game right? You know? Because you can
Speaker 1: get that right and succeed materially relationally. You could get status,
Speaker 1: you could get power, you can get position, you can
Speaker 1: even be a really good preacher. But if you don't
Speaker 1: do it for the right reason, you can get all
Speaker 1: the cookies that you want, but you can't dunk any
Speaker 1: of them in milk if it's not real. Am I preaching? Okay?
Speaker 1: Everybody over fifty that ever clicked on worthless stuff and
Speaker 1: found out it wasn't worth clicking on makes some noise. God,
Speaker 1: the church is old. Did you hear that? That was
Speaker 1: a roar? Twelve and a half years ago? If I'd
Speaker 1: asked that, it wouldn't have been. Oh, that made me
Speaker 1: feel weird. But it's good. It's it's multigenerational. Amen, there's
Speaker 1: some wisdom that you get. Jesus gives it on multiple levels.
Speaker 1: And six times he does this thing in the Sermon
Speaker 1: on the Mount. I wish I had time to show
Speaker 1: you all of it. He sets up a construct like this.
Speaker 1: You have heard it said, But I say to you,
Speaker 1: you've heard it said. And then he would quote from
Speaker 1: the Rabbinic tradition that they had been handed through the
Speaker 1: Law of Moses. But I say to you, then he
Speaker 1: would correct the values because he was speaking to people
Speaker 1: who had perfected the appearance of religion. But he understood
Speaker 1: that if the behavior is right, but the belief that
Speaker 1: is beneath the behavior is not right. If your values
Speaker 1: are shallow, your victories will be empty. And why didn't
Speaker 1: you write that down? I worked all week on that, Gaston.
Speaker 1: I know you've got your pins out. I have faith
Speaker 1: in you. If your values are shallow, your victories will
Speaker 1: be empty. So I'm winning at what. I'm winning at what.
Speaker 1: And Jesus went up on a mountain side and he
Speaker 1: sat down. But then he began to teach them. He's
Speaker 1: digging beneath the behaviors to identify the beliefs, like one
Speaker 1: of them that he said, he said, you've heard it said,
Speaker 1: don't murder. But I'm telling you, if you're angry, even
Speaker 1: if you don't murder, you will suffer the consequences of
Speaker 1: that anger and eventually will either lead you toward taking
Speaker 1: action on it, or it will deteriorate your spiritual condition
Speaker 1: to the point that you might as well have gone
Speaker 1: ahead and done it because you're living in a prison
Speaker 1: of hatred. And whether or not you acted out doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: because beneath the behavior is a belief that led to
Speaker 1: the behavior. This is what we mean when we say
Speaker 1: Jesus was the game changer, because he didn't just play
Speaker 1: the game. That's why they killed him. He touched lepers
Speaker 1: that they wouldn't touch. He spoke with women who they devalued.
Speaker 1: He challenged their social values by associating with people who
Speaker 1: ethnically and religiously had nothing in common with the Jewish people.
Speaker 1: And that's what they hated about him. He didn't endorse
Speaker 1: their values to run his campaign. He challenged their values.
Speaker 1: He got beneath their actions and challenged their values. As
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, he did it not only in
Speaker 1: terms of hatred and murder and adultery, but he did
Speaker 1: it in terms of other areas. Like one thing he
Speaker 1: said was you've heard it said love your neighbor. But
Speaker 1: that's easy. I say love your enemy. See that changes
Speaker 1: the game. Grace changes the game. I said. The grace
Speaker 1: of God is a game changer when the grace of
Speaker 1: God really becomes operative in your life. What Jesus is
Speaker 1: saying when he says love your enemy is you can't
Speaker 1: insist on God relating to you one way and then
Speaker 1: you turn around and relate to people another way. So
Speaker 1: if you want God to be gracious to you, that
Speaker 1: grace has to flow not only to you but through you.
Speaker 1: And if it's not flowing through you, it didn't really
Speaker 1: flow to you. If you don't give it, you don't
Speaker 1: got it. And I'm sorry for my grammar, but my
Speaker 1: theology is spot on. It's a game changer. And we
Speaker 1: beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten Father,
Speaker 1: of the Father full of grace and truth. So when
Speaker 1: grace shows up, it changes the game. And the Bible
Speaker 1: actually says that when Jesus finished teaching all these things,
Speaker 1: the people were amazed at his teaching, not because he
Speaker 1: was so funny, not because he was so succinct, not
Speaker 1: because of the human wisdom, but he taught as one
Speaker 1: who had authority, and not as one of their teachers
Speaker 1: of the law. Well, what was it that his teacher,
Speaker 1: the teachers of the law were teaching that had no authority.
Speaker 1: They were teaching on the basis of appearance. And that's
Speaker 1: what he's correcting in Matthew chapter six. It's not a
Speaker 1: giving scripture. It's a scripture about intention. So when you give,
Speaker 1: he assumes that you're going to give, not if when
Speaker 1: he's making the assumption that your actions will align with
Speaker 1: your values. And I've learned that the greatest way for
Speaker 1: me to know whether I'm winning in my life is
Speaker 1: not to ask people you know, or not to consult
Speaker 1: certain external scoreboards that can tell me how I'm doing,
Speaker 1: because my bank account is a bad indication of whether
Speaker 1: I'm winning or the car I drive or any of that.
Speaker 1: But when my actions match my values, I'm winning. And
Speaker 1: it's cool when you can get to that place. Not
Speaker 1: that I live there all the time, but when I'm there,
Speaker 1: I know it and I can feel it. And when
Speaker 1: I'm living from that place, I don't need others to notice.
Speaker 1: Because my father is keeping score right, we need to
Speaker 1: shut down some scoreboards that are visible in our life
Speaker 1: for a little while and get in the car. Like
Speaker 1: Elijah got in the car for me, and he would
Speaker 1: ask me every game did we win? And I never
Speaker 1: lied to him about it. I always told him sometimes
Speaker 1: I said, no, y'all, y'all played terrible today. Honestly it was.
Speaker 1: It was painful to experience. I love you anyway, but
Speaker 1: that was awful. Am I am? I winning? And the
Speaker 1: game has changed now. I mean, it's it's crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: It's crazy because now can somebody please explain to me
Speaker 1: what are v bucks and what do they do? Right? Well,
Speaker 1: that's what I thought, at first, like they buy stuff like, Okay,
Speaker 1: So my kids are playing Fortnite and they asked me
Speaker 1: will I will I give them V Bucks? Graham asked me,
Speaker 1: will you buy us some V Bucks? Now, my first
Speaker 1: hurdle was that real world money is now being exchanged
Speaker 1: for I'm telling you, man, these these games have changed
Speaker 1: for money on a game. And so I told Graham
Speaker 1: that I would buy him some V Bucks. And I
Speaker 1: think I bought him like, you know, five billion V
Speaker 1: bucks for ten dollars or something like that. I don't
Speaker 1: know the system, but I bought him some V Bucks.
Speaker 1: And then I went in and I said, let me
Speaker 1: see what those V Bucks do that I just bought you.
Speaker 1: I said, what are you going to do with the
Speaker 1: V Bucks? He said, I'm gonna buy skins because on
Speaker 1: the game I was watching him go around with a
Speaker 1: pick axe killing people with a pick axe and stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, great family values. And I said, do you
Speaker 1: get a sharper axe or something with the V bucks?
Speaker 1: He said, no, I'm buying skins. I said, well, what
Speaker 1: do the skins do? Do they protect you from other people?
Speaker 1: He said no, the skins don't give you any in
Speaker 1: game advantage. It's just for people to see. So now
Speaker 1: I'm angry because I just spent my real money for
Speaker 1: you to wear something that doesn't help you at all
Speaker 1: in the reality of a game that is already virtual.
Speaker 1: Now I'm mad because I'm spending real money. God, have
Speaker 1: a counseling session for a moment. I'm sick of spending
Speaker 1: my money on stuff to make me look good that
Speaker 1: doesn't really make a real difference in my soul. V Boss.
Speaker 1: I'm a grown man, and I gotta get to the
Speaker 1: point where I don't need validation from people to do
Speaker 1: what's right because it's according to my values. You don't
Speaker 1: give so people will see you. Jesus isn't saying that
Speaker 1: you have to write your checks in a closet and
Speaker 1: put it in the mail and no one can ever know,
Speaker 1: and don't get your tax exempt status when you give.
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying, if that is your reason, then that
Speaker 1: will be your reward. Your reason determines your reward. Well,
Speaker 1: I feel like preaching that, and if the reason I'm
Speaker 1: doing it is to be seen, then that's my reward.
Speaker 1: So if they see me and if they say that
Speaker 1: I did it good, then that's my reward. But if
Speaker 1: I have a deeper reason, then I have a greater reward.
Speaker 1: And here's a game changer for me. I have this
Speaker 1: like Sunday School way that I see the Bible. Sometimes
Speaker 1: that messes me up because like I imagine stuff like
Speaker 1: when it says your reward in heaven or your reward
Speaker 1: from your father. I always used to picture like a
Speaker 1: corner of heaven where there was like pots of gold.
Speaker 1: It was like more like lucky charms and leprechauns than
Speaker 1: the Bible, but it was like it was like these
Speaker 1: big rewards in heaven, treasures in heaven. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm probably not gonna need gold in heaven because up
Speaker 1: there it's called gravel. You see, I'm saying, like there's
Speaker 1: not a value of monetary. It's like v bucks in heaven.
Speaker 1: So it's not going to really buy anything. But now
Speaker 1: I'm realizing that this is not a passage about hey man,
Speaker 1: give and then when you get to heaven, it's going
Speaker 1: to be like, you know, your uber is going to
Speaker 1: be a mayboch, Like it's not about getting this reward
Speaker 1: in another place, it's about getting it from another place.
Speaker 1: Then your father. This was the key to unlocking the
Speaker 1: scripture for me, it said he sees what is done
Speaker 1: in secret. That used to scare me. Oh God is
Speaker 1: watching me all the time. Ah ah, But now I
Speaker 1: see that it means he's keeping score, and that means
Speaker 1: nobody else gets to And when I live that way,
Speaker 1: there is a certain validation that only comes from Him
Speaker 1: and living according to the values that He's given to me,
Speaker 1: and the world can't give that. And when I'm not
Speaker 1: living in alignment with that, then I get the car,
Speaker 1: and the car is my reward. And when the smell
Speaker 1: of the car is gone, then so is the thrill
Speaker 1: of owning it. If I do it for people, then
Speaker 1: I have to get it from people. One scripture I
Speaker 1: like to think about when I'm having a pity party
Speaker 1: is one time when Paul was talking about preaching the gospel,
Speaker 1: and in certain situations Paul would say, don't pay me.
Speaker 1: I don't want any money from you. I want something
Speaker 1: from God. And he wasn't always doing that, but when
Speaker 1: he explained it to the church at Court and first
Speaker 1: Corinthians nine, he goes, hey, I got nothing to brag about.
Speaker 1: I preach because I'm compelled. In other words, God called
Speaker 1: me to do this, so I almost have to do it,
Speaker 1: But if I do it out of obligation, then it's
Speaker 1: just a discharge. I do it like it's a privilege,
Speaker 1: then it's a reward. So the revelation for me was
Speaker 1: that my reason determines my reward. So if I'm doing
Speaker 1: this for you, then you hold my reward. But if
Speaker 1: I'm doing this for him. It applies in every area
Speaker 1: of life. It applies to giving. Okay, Jesus said this.
Speaker 1: He said, I didn't come to abolish the law. I
Speaker 1: came to fulfill it. That's what he means by the
Speaker 1: game changer. I didn't come to play the game a
Speaker 1: little better, keep the law a little better, like put
Speaker 1: more on top of it. I came to change the
Speaker 1: reason that you do it. So one of those things
Speaker 1: is giving. In the Old Testament, you would see an
Speaker 1: obligatory system of giving, where I bring the tithe because
Speaker 1: I have to, or else I'm under a curse, and
Speaker 1: so I bring God the first fruits of my produce,
Speaker 1: in the first fruits of all of my increase because
Speaker 1: I have to. It is obligation oriented. That's how most
Speaker 1: of us live. But grace changes the game. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: I didn't come to abolish it, but to fulfill it.
Speaker 1: In other words, I came to give you a different reason. Now,
Speaker 1: it's not that I'm doing it because I've got to.
Speaker 1: I'm doing it because of the grace of God. Am
Speaker 1: I saying this right? Lord? It is a shift in perspective.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you keep doing the same things, but you
Speaker 1: find a deeper reason to do it, and then you
Speaker 1: find meaning in your life. But if you're not careful,
Speaker 1: you run around all your life changing the things that
Speaker 1: you do, but you find no meaning in the things
Speaker 1: because as long as you have shallow reasons, you get
Speaker 1: empty victories. But when your reason gets deeper, when you
Speaker 1: start saying, you know what I'm giving to God. I'm
Speaker 1: serving God, not because I have to, or not because
Speaker 1: people might notice, or not because I'm going to go
Speaker 1: to hell if I don't, but just He's been good
Speaker 1: to me, just because I know that my Redeemer lives.
Speaker 1: That's why. Then your Father, who sees what is done
Speaker 1: in secret, will reward you. Whatever is your reason controls
Speaker 1: your reward. You believe that. You believe that if you
Speaker 1: have a devotion just so you can post on Instagram
Speaker 1: that you had it with a picture of your coffee
Speaker 1: mug sitting next to Colossians Chapter three, verse seven. Do
Speaker 1: you believe me that if that's why you did it,
Speaker 1: that's what you get out of it? And when it
Speaker 1: only gets twelve likes, don't cry Because I preached Matthew
Speaker 1: sixty one through four, and I told you that if
Speaker 1: that is your reason, then that is your reward. I
Speaker 1: see it like a game show in my mind. Tell
Speaker 1: them what they've won. You know, it's like you know
Speaker 1: absolutely nothing because you did it for the reason, and
Speaker 1: people will go, I left that church. Why'd you leave
Speaker 1: that church? Because I got burned? Were you in the
Speaker 1: cooking ministry? You see the scar? Is it nasty? I
Speaker 1: get it. We get hurt. But sometimes the reason that
Speaker 1: we got hurt is because in our heart, what we
Speaker 1: needed from people was too much, and we shouldn't have
Speaker 1: been doing it for people to begin with it. All
Speaker 1: the applause died down by seventy three percent. It always
Speaker 1: happens when you challenge the values. And I noticed a
Speaker 1: trend in my preaching a couple of years ago that
Speaker 1: bothered me. So I've been I've been working on it.
Speaker 1: Where I was I was preaching a sort of theology.
Speaker 1: It was a little perverted in this way, not on purpose,
Speaker 1: but you just shift toward it. You say, if you will,
Speaker 1: God will, and God's gonna, and you fill in the blanks,
Speaker 1: you know, like, if you obey God in this area
Speaker 1: of your life, it will produce a blessing. So it
Speaker 1: was a cause and effect. What I'm coming to understand is,
Speaker 1: while that's true on the surface, the real blessing is
Speaker 1: built into the process. The real blessing is built in
Speaker 1: when he says, don't let your left hand know what
Speaker 1: your right hand is doing when you give. That means
Speaker 1: that it ought to be so automatic because you've operated
Speaker 1: out of your values to the point like these guitar players,
Speaker 1: is there a guitar anywhere around here? When they play,
Speaker 1: there's got to be one, right LJ. When they play,
Speaker 1: they don't have to think about I would play y'all
Speaker 1: talk dirty to me by poison, but that's not appropriate
Speaker 1: for church. That's the first song I learned, though. That's
Speaker 1: what I think about when I see electric guitar. They
Speaker 1: do this with the right hand and this with the
Speaker 1: left hand, but they don't see these hands, these hands.
Speaker 1: If I've done that enough, this hand is going, and
Speaker 1: this hand is going, and the left hand. What is
Speaker 1: this glycerine? By Bush? I think I'm playing of all
Speaker 1: those songs shout of the nineties, and if you've done
Speaker 1: it enough, it's not even a thing. And Jesus, I
Speaker 1: would like for you to get to the point where
Speaker 1: My grace has changed you enough that you don't have
Speaker 1: to you don't have to think about it or pray
Speaker 1: about it. God, should I give to further your gospel
Speaker 1: in the earth. I just need a sign. How about
Speaker 1: your common sense? And so he challenges values. And that's
Speaker 1: what I've always loved about this moment in our church,
Speaker 1: when we are getting ready to give, or when we're
Speaker 1: calling people to serve. You know, it changes the game
Speaker 1: because when your intention in coming here is in what
Speaker 1: you get, then that's your reward. When your intention in
Speaker 1: coming is to give something that God put inside of you,
Speaker 1: you are no longer dependent on people. And that's the blessing.
Speaker 1: The blessing is built in to the process. And I
Speaker 1: think we need to take our scoreboard back. I think
Speaker 1: we've adopted the world's values in some ways that have
Speaker 1: caused us to win some victories that are empty. Then
Speaker 1: your father who sees what has done in secret, he
Speaker 1: will reward you, not with pots of gold in heaven,
Speaker 1: not with v bucks and cookies, digital cookies, cookies made
Speaker 1: of pixels, complements from people, and empty status that can
Speaker 1: be here one day and gone the next. When you
Speaker 1: have crappy values, you will never have lasting joy. And
Speaker 1: popularity is a crappy value. That's in the Greek crappy values.
Speaker 1: Socility and position is a crappy value. I'm gonna work
Speaker 1: my way up excavation before elevation. Pleasure is a crappy value.
Speaker 1: It's a great byproduct. It's not bad to feel good
Speaker 1: and enjoy stuff, but when that's the goal of the game,
Speaker 1: it's a terrible value. And when my values are shallow,
Speaker 1: my victories are empty. So I want God to run
Speaker 1: my scoreboard. How about you. I need that, Come on,
Speaker 1: I need that. It's too stressful. It's too stressful. Life
Speaker 1: is too stressful, and too many people have too many
Speaker 1: different opinions, and there's too much to keep up with,
Speaker 1: and I can't do it anymore. So I want my father,
Speaker 1: who sees what has done in secret, to keep score
Speaker 1: for me, and I want him to make the decision
Speaker 1: was that good? Am I a good dad today? Because
Speaker 1: I certainly can't ask my kids what they think about that.
Speaker 1: I can't because what I will need to do to
Speaker 1: be a good parent in some seasons will mean sometimes
Speaker 1: that I am not popular. But if I'm parenting according
Speaker 1: to purpose, if I'm living according to purpose, I don't
Speaker 1: have to consult all these other sources. Say this out loud.
Speaker 1: God is my source and he is my reward. God
Speaker 1: is my source and he is my reward. God is
Speaker 1: my source and he is my reward. Now clap your
Speaker 1: hands if you want to live that way. We're going
Speaker 1: to get around these values over the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: I'm not teaching only on giving or tithing or any
Speaker 1: of that. I'm going to be teaching on principles of
Speaker 1: faith and principles of vision and principles of value. That's
Speaker 1: what we've always done at this church. I never stood
Speaker 1: up on this stage and preached from an emergency that
Speaker 1: we needed people to give, and I won't start now
Speaker 1: because there is none. But now there's an opportunity coming
Speaker 1: up as this year in is for thousands of you
Speaker 1: to begin to operate according to Kingdom values, putting God First,
Speaker 1: what a lot of people begin to do during this
Speaker 1: season that I think is so appropriate is they begin
Speaker 1: that practice of tithing, that's the first ten percent, and
Speaker 1: rather than just giving some one time gift, some spontaneous gift,
Speaker 1: they get systematic and strategic to begin to align your
Speaker 1: actions with your values, because otherwise, what is it, it's
Speaker 1: just rhetoric. Your actions reflect your values. So thousands of
Speaker 1: people during this season will begin to tie the first
Speaker 1: ten percent to God and go online and set that
Speaker 1: up in a recurring way. And then thousands will bring
Speaker 1: an above and beyond gift, and we'll use that to
Speaker 1: build the church and build the kingdom and preach the gospel,
Speaker 1: and will show you in the weeks to come some
Speaker 1: videos and testimonies of what God is already doing around
Speaker 1: the world. Thousands of you online that just click on
Speaker 1: and click off. Now, God's going to call you off
Speaker 1: the bench to the game. Off the bench in the game,
Speaker 1: because when you get in the game, that's when you
Speaker 1: start to discover who God really is, not when you
Speaker 1: sit and spectat, but when you participate and sacrifice. And
Speaker 1: God is calling on us in this season to get
Speaker 1: in the game and make a difference in the world
Speaker 1: for the glory of His name, and I feel like
Speaker 1: making a difference. I want my life to count for
Speaker 1: something beyond what I can see. So the worship team
Speaker 1: is gonna come now and we're gonna sing again. Would
Speaker 1: you stand to your feet. I'm gonna worship God. Please
Speaker 1: don't leave. It's so stressful. When I say standing, five
Speaker 1: hundred people start heading for the car. And we don't
Speaker 1: need any of that. But I want us to take
Speaker 1: a moment and seal the word that God spoke today.
Speaker 1: Are you excited about this season of faith? Come on,
Speaker 1: clap your hands if you're excited. Father, we ask you
Speaker 1: now that that you would align our values with yours.
Speaker 1: Sometimes what you value and what we value are so different,
Speaker 1: and we need your help in those areas. Sometimes we're
Speaker 1: looking at the wrong scoreboard and we feel like we're
Speaker 1: failing because we're allowing the wrong people to run our scoreboard.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we feel like we're failing because we're considering all
Speaker 1: the wrong columns and not the ones that are inside,
Speaker 1: the ones that matter. So I speak over your people
Speaker 1: today a blessing of affirmation and validation that can only
Speaker 1: come from you. I pray that you would speak even
Speaker 1: in these moments, the words that we need to hear,
Speaker 1: that we would align our values with your voice, and
Speaker 1: your voice alone that rises above every storm, transcends every season.
Speaker 1: To believe and know that your grace is enough for us.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, I pray and the whole church say amen.
Speaker 1: It is so well. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
Speaker 1: There are just a couple things I'd love for you
Speaker 1: to do. Number One, subscribe to our show. That way,
Speaker 1: the most recent episode will always be in your feed,
Speaker 1: waiting for you, ready when you are. And Secondly, if
Speaker 1: this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to help
Speaker 1: us continue to reach others, you can click the link
Speaker 1: in the description and you can give now and I'll
Speaker 1: see you next time on the Elevation Podcast