It’s Time to Consider Our Purpose

It's Time January 19, 2025 Haggai 1:7-11 Notes


Isn’t purpose one of the most basic questions we ask ourselves? “Who am I? Why am I here? What’s my purpose?” Some look around them and find purpose from the external sources. This is the traditional approach: My family and my community give me my identity and purpose. The post-modern approach is more common today: I look within to find my identity and purpose. But both of these approaches, the outward and the inward, fall short. They both lead to false identities and meaningless lives without real purpose and fulfillment.

In the book of Haggai 1:7-11, God challenged His people to consider their ways to bring them into alignment with God’s ultimate purpose for their lives. We can consider our ways to bring them into alignment with God’s ultimate purpose for our lives.

Audio

Transcript

Good morning, church. Good morning! It's great to see all of you here today. We're continuing our series called, “It's time.” We're going verse by verse through the book of Haggai over these eight weeks.

We started last week, so we're in part two today. I would remind you of the theme, which we find in Haggai chapter one and a portion in chapter two. It reads like this. Haggai 1:2; 2:4-5 (ESV) “These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord… Yet now be strong… Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord…

My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.” So, we have signs all over the building. “It's time.” It's time to do what?

“Be strong, do the work and be fearless.” So, that's what we're talking about during this series. I hope you stopped by the “It's time” table in the lobby as you were coming in today. If you didn't pick up one of our journey guides last week, I hope you picked up one today. If you forgot and still haven't gotten one, pick one up before you leave today.

Drop by the “It's Time” table; you'll notice we have a lot of “swag” there. We have a lot of freebies that we're giving away to help us go on this journey together in unity. When you pick up a journey guide, pick up a bookmark too. We've got a bookmark for you that you can use in your Bible. Notice, in the”It's Time” journey guide, that it talks about our vision during this season of what we're believing God in.

There is a place to take your sermon notes and a daily devotion for the next six weeks. We started last week, but you can start tomorrow. It's five devotions per week. Saturday and Sunday gives you a “catch up” opportunity in case you missed a day or if you just want to reflect back on what you learned during the week, prayer and so forth. There's a lot going on in this guide,

so I hope you'll go on the journey with us by using our journey guide. Pick up a T-shirt; we have every size, I think, except for small. We ran out of small, but we've reordered those. We encourage you to wear one of our “It's Time” T-shirts during this season. We're the “T-shirt church.”

We have T-shirts for everything. We got those for you to help you experience the journey together. Well, enough about that. Let's dig into the sermon today. Last week, we talked about how Haggai was talking to the people of God who had returned from exile in Babylon after seventy years of exile and that Jerusalem had been destroyed and king Cyrus the Great of Persia had allowed them, when he overthrew the Babylonians, to go back home.

Not only that, but he encouraged them to go ahead and rebuild their temple. But, because of opposition and some changes in the political landscape, eighteen years had now gone by since their return and they had not rebuilt the temple. They had rebuilt their own homes. They had rebuilt those things. In fact, they'd gone so far, according to what we read in Haggai, that they had started paneling their houses and making their houses more luxurious.

So they've gone past the need to really greed, in a way, but yet, they haven't touched God's house. Here's what we looked at last week: Haggai tells the people of God that they needed to consider their ways, they needed to consider their priorities because they were putting their house ahead of God's house. That was last week. That brings us to this Sunday, as we continue in our series, verses 7 through 11 of chapter 1.

We see Haggai speaking for the Lord again. God says, ‘Consider your ways’ again to them. Except now, I think He wants to bring to their mind their purpose; consider their purpose.That's what we'll be “unpacking” today. Isn't that one of the most basic life questions?

Maybe you remember being a teenager and people begin to ask you things like, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ You may respond with, ‘Well, I want to be a superhero’ or ‘I want to be a nurse or a doctor.’ You listed whatever you were thinking at the time. But really, there is kind of an anxiety that starts to hit you, especially if you're planning on going to college when you graduate or going to some sort of kind of work. You might start asking these two very important questions:

‘Who am I and why am I here?’ It's about identity and purpose. ‘Who am I and why am I here?’

It's not just when you're a teenager. This can happen when you're in your 40s or 50s. They call it a “midlife crisis;” you think, my whole life was wrapped up in my kids, but now my kids have all moved out.

I'm an empty nester. Who am I and why am I here? That's when men buy corvettes; I don't know what women do, but men panic. I didn't plan on what I was going to say there, so I'm not going to just say something.

It could be risky for me to do that. We start the question again, ‘Who am I and why am I here?’ Traditionally, people would answer those two questions by looking at their environment. Looking externally would inform who they were:

their brothers,sisters, grandparents, the village they lived in and their peers at school. They would figure out, ‘Who am I, what is my identity, and what's my purpose?’ from external influence. That's the traditional approach in the modern era, the postmodern era, if you would. We find that the millennials, especially Gen Z and the Alpha generation, which is the children of the millennials, are looking more internally, which is kind of new.

Instead of looking at external ways of identifying ‘who am I and why am I here?,’ they look inside and they don't really care what gender their body is or what people say around them. They say, ‘I feel like this,’ and they decide the real answer to ‘who am I and why am I here?’ is just by looking inside. Both approaches are problematic.

We have to admit that the external approach and the internal approach both fall short and often lead to disastrous results for people. People end up living not the abundant life, but a life that's just missing something that lacks fulfillment. They often lead to false identities and meaningless lives without purpose and fulfillment. What about you? How have you determined what your true identity is?

How have you answered the question of your identity and your purpose, what the French call the, “raison d’être,” the reason for being, the reason for existence. I think there's a better approach, and that's what Haggai is telling us as he speaks for the Lord rather than the external, rather than the internal, the upward approach, to look and say, ‘Who do you say I am, God? What's my purpose here?’ That's what this section of the text today will address.

What's our purpose? In Rick Warren's best seller, “The Purpose Driven Life,”the first line in the first chapter reads, “It’s not about you.”

That's the first sentence in his book, “It's not about you.” That's really where we get off base in terms of our purpose in life, our identity. We make it about ourselves. You could say this, you could say that the root of sin or the attitude of sin is really this: I want my way rather than God's way. I want what I want, rather than what He wants for me.

That's really the root of rebellion, of selfishness and then all other sin seems to flow out of that attitude. I want what I want. So, what I would ask you today is, “Have you learned from the Lord what your identity is, who He says you are, and what your purpose is?” As we look at Haggai, chapter 1, verses 7 through 11, God challenged His people to consider their ways and to bring their ways into alignment with His ultimate purpose for their lives.

I believe that today God is inviting you and I to consider our ways and to bring them into alignment with His ways, with His ultimate purpose for our lives. As we look at the text, we'll see three steps towards bringing our lives into alignment with His purpose. Let's look at it. Haggai 1:7-11 (ESV) 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.

8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.

11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.” This is God's word. Amen. We're looking for three steps on how we can bring our ways into alignment with God's purpose. Here's the first:

1. By living for God’s pleasure.

By living for God's pleasure. I want you to look at verse eight. If you have your notes there, circle where he says, “I may take pleasure in it.” See that word, “pleasure,” right there. God, right there

through His prophet, Haggai, is revealing to the people of God the reason He made them, the reason He made us. He made us because it pleased Him to do so. It pleased Him to create us and He desires that we live lives that would please Him. This is the Lord speaking.

What pleases God? It’s a life that puts Him first and puts His kingdom first, so that we live as kingdom citizens. God desires that we please him. Now, who is this speaking in verse 7,

”Thus says the Lord of hosts…” Haggai is writing this, but he is clearly saying, ‘I'm not Speaking for myself, I'm speaking what the Lord told me to tell you. In your translations, you probably noticed that it's all caps “LORD,” which in the English translations is showing that the Hebrew name for God underneath this is “Yahweh,” which is the name that God revealed to Moses when he was at the burning bush. In Exodus chapter three, Moses asked, ‘We've been calling you the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What is Your name?

We don't even know Your name.’ God says to Moses, “I am, that I am,” which in Hebrew is “Yahweh, the self existent one without beginning and end, eternally present.” Not I was, not I will be, but “I am.” That's My name and that's what's underneath that capital LORD.

That's showing us some trends. Some of us have the Anglicized version of Yahweh, which is the Hebrew way of saying it. They call it Jehovah. It's the same word, it means the same thing. I am the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, which could be translated as Yahweh of armies, Yahweh of all of the heavenly host, Yahweh of all things like that.

That's Who's talking, the one Who made us. He said, ‘I made you because it pleased me to make you. I made you for my pleasure and I desire that you live a life that pleases Me.’ Now, sometimes I look at my kids and my grandkids when they're all at my house, they're eating all of my food and they're running through my house and it's chaotic. I will turn to my wife and I will say, honey, “Why did we make these kids?”

Have you ever felt like that? Then we remind ourselves that we did it because we wanted them. How about that? We did it because it pleased us to have them. We wanted these children; they were desirable to us.

We wanted them. Now all we've ever done since they were born is spend money on them and take care of them. They've never really done anything for us.

They've been completely dependent on us. Why did we make these kids? I think we have a little bit of an insight here about God. He made us because it pleased Him to do so, as those that could be objects of His love. We wanted children because it's an expression of my wife and I.

It was an expression of our love and of our oneness. Having made them, they become like little “mirrors” of us for good and for ill. But then, we immediately love them, and it teaches us something about God, if you will. Are you with me? Do you understand what I'm saying?

He says, ‘I want you to consider your ways, and I want you to live in a way that I could take pleasure in the way you live, because that's why I made you. I made you that you would bring pleasure to Me, that I might make you objects of My love and blessing and that you would receive that from Me and live in such a way that that's your desire. So, here's how you could please Me.’ He doesn't just leave us out in the cold. Okay, but how do we please you, God?

He says, 8 “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house,” There's three imperatives there. He says, “go up,” “ bring” and “build.” “Go, bring, build.” That's what he says. Whose house is this?

It is His house. You've been busy building your house. Put my house first. If you put My house first, I'll take care of your house. If you'll put Me first, I'll take care of you.

But, you've been putting yourself first. So, here's how you could please Me. Here's how you could bring your life into alignment with Mine: seek My pleasure rather than your own. Stop trying to please yourself and start trying to please Me and I'll take care of you.

Really, I think that's the struggle. That's why marriages break up. It is selfishness. People want what they want; this one wants this and this one wants that, and they never take care of each other. That's why businesses break up and that's why friendships break up.

That's why we're “sideways” with God. We need to repent because really, the attitude of sin says, ‘I want my way. I want to please myself’’ and God says, ‘Yes, but I made you for Me that you might please Me.

I made you for My pleasure and for you to be objects of My love and blessing and you've pushed Me away.’ This is what He's saying to them. The way that's looking for them is, ‘I brought you out of exile, I rescued you and gave you your land back. Eighteen years have gone by and you haven't even looked at My house.

You're not putting Me first. You've forgotten your purpose. Because one of the purposes for you, your identity, is that I made you for My pleasure.’ You should be living for that reason. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 5:9 (NKJV)

he says, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” Paul says that it's my aim, it's my goal in life to please God. What pleases God? Psalm 147:11 (NKJV) “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.” Now, that verse falls a little funny on the modern ear.

We don't like the word, “fear.” What does that mean? I'm supposed to be afraid of God? No, it doesn't mean to be afraid. It means to fear Him, to honor Him.

These are synonyms of the word in Hebrew: to honor, to revere, to hold up above yourself, to fear. But I think fear is the right word here. Let me tell you why I think it is. It's because of my memory of when I would be disciplined as a child.

Now, my mother was the professional spanker in the family. She had no hesitation. She would get what she called a “keen switch,” a little maple branch that she maybe sometimes left a little leaf on the end just to really terrify you. It sounded like Zorro's sword. .

That's what she used as her method of discipline. She would switch me through the house; I was a hard headed little booger. She had an approach, a method. She would switch until you cried and then switch you a couple more times to tell you to shut up.

“Stop crying now, you've cried enough. Stop crying now. That’s enough crying.” That's how I was brought up. But my dad didn't spank you.

He talked to me. I much preferred my mother's approach. My dad would take me into the bedroom and sit me on the bed and pull up a chair, knee to knee. He would say, “Son, look at me, look me in the eyes.” I didn’t want to look at him. “Look me in the eyes.”

He would talk to me. “Why'd you do that? Why did you hit your brother? Why'd you talk back to your mother like that?”

Whatever it was, he'd want to get to the root of the problem. I don't want to talk about this. I knew bad stuff was coming. Let's get it over with. No, he'd talk about it

and then he'd say this fearful thing to me that I was so fearful to hear: “Son, I'm really disappointed in you today. I have higher expectations of you. You're my firstborn son. I can't believe that you talked to your mom that way.

Don't ever do that again. I am really disappointed in you.” I would cry like a baby. My mom could switch me all over the house and I wouldn’t cry.

I was a hard headed little booger. But, if my dad said he was disappointed in me, I was boohooing before it got out of his mouth because I feared his displeasure. I think that's the heart of Psalm 147, “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.”

I fear God's displeasure. I want Him to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” don't you? Are you a people pleaser or

are you a self pleaser? Do you desire the applause of the one God? I just want You to be proud of me. I want You to please me. “Consider your ways.”

Do you live for God's pleasure?

Then, church,who is the church? Is the church the steeple? No, the church is the people. We're the church, we're the house, the temple.

In those days, it was the temple that they were building. But today, because of Christ, we're the church. How are we going to obey? Go, bring, build.

I think Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 and 20. Maybe this will be familiar to you. Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” God, I want You to build my house.

What's my house? It's people coming to God, so, it's disciples. The purpose of the church together is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who have a heart for God, heart for each other and heart for our world. We have it all over the walls out there in the lobby.

How do we do it? We go out and we bring them in, then we build them up. We go, we baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and we begin to bring them up.

So, I see something here. Do you see it there in verse seven that “go, bring, build?” That's what it was for the temple. But now it's “go, baptize, teach,” but it's very similar, church.

How are we doing on that?

That's what He's called us to and we are the church. So church, it's time to get out of our comfort zones and surrender our time, our talent and our treasure to Him and to get busy on His house. Then, He'll take care of our house. That's the first step to bringing our lives into alignment with God's purpose, by living to please Him. Does your life please Him?

Does our church please Him?

2. By working for God’s glory.

By working for God's glory, by living to please Him and then by working for His glory. Look at verse eight again. “Go, bring

and build.” Why, Lord? Why? There's two purpose clauses.

The first one is that I may take pleasure. We already talked about that. Verse 8, “…that I may be glorified, says the LORD.”.

He wants us to live in such a way that He gets the credit. Now, if you live according to your own strength, you might get a little credit, depending on how talented you are. But for Him to get the credit means you're living beyond yourself. You've surrendered your life in such a way that the only way anybody can understand it is saying that God

has blessed you, so He gets the credit. Isn't that why He made us? Isn't that His purpose, that He would take pleasure in us and that

we would bring Him glory? That when people see the evidence of God in our lives, they would give glory to God rather than man? That's what He says. The reason I want you to build My house and to put Me first is that I may be glorified. The word glory in Hebrew is “kāḇaḏ.”

It means heavy. It means glorious, weighty. If you'll remember in the Bible, whenever someone named their child “Ichabod,” it would mean that the glory has departed.

No glory. “Kāḇaḏ” is glory. I try to think of what glory is. It's like the sun shining the glory of the Son.

It's like the beauty of something. The glory of a woman is her beauty, not just her outward appearance, but the character. Glory is hard to define. In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the very first question it asks is, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is, “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”

That's why we were made. Back in Genesis, chapter one, it says, “Let us make man in our image, male and female He made them.” So, we were made to be the “imago dei,” in the image of God. Like the moon, which has no source of its own, it only reflects the light of the sun onto the dark earth.

So, it provides light at night, but only because it reflects the light of the sun. In the same way, we are to reflect the glory of the Son, Jesus Christ, to a dark world. We are to be the “imago dei” and to glorify Him.

But, you haven't been glorifying Him; in fact, what you've been doing we see in verse 9, “You looked for much, and behold, it came to little…” You looked for much, you looked for your own glory. “...and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away.” It's funny that when you lift up yourself, you become an opponent of God.

When you lift up yourself, He humbles you. But, when you humble yourself to the Lord, He lifts you up. This is not just true before the Lord, it's true in relationships. You know that person who has to get the credit, the “glory hog.” Look at me, look at me, look what I did.

Often, that's revealing of a self esteem problem. Maybe, somewhere when they were growing up, they didn't get credit from their mom or dad. Instead of getting their needs met by somebody saying, ‘Hey, you did a great job,’’ they've been patting themselves on the back so much that they just keep on being in need. They wanted much and it came to little.

It backfires when you glorify yourself. “And when you brought it home, I blew it away.” What little bit you did finally get, God says, “I blew it away.” Why would He do that? Well, He anticipates that question. He says,

as verse 9 continues, “Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.” You've been putting your house ahead of My house. You've been busy for yourself, instead of being busy for My kingdom, which I've called you to, I made you because it gave Me great pleasure to make you.

I made you that you would reflect My glory, that you would be the image of God on planet earth and that you could be the object of My love and My blessing. Instead, you've rejected that; you are going to seek your own stuff, your own house, your own glory.

He's so gentle with it though. He says, “Consider your ways,” in verse 7. The reason I'm making it a little harder on you right here is to get you to wake up so you'll come to your senses. God's reasoning with us. He's so patient with us.

The Lord of hosts stoops down and reasons with us. That's what He's doing. Why did God make us? Isaiah declares this, Isaiah 43:7 (NLT) “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.”

”It was I who created them.” I made you for Myself so that it would please Me. I made you for My glory. That's your identity. That's your true identity. That's your purpose.

Paul talks about it in Colossians chapter three. He says, Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV) 23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” So, whether you work at the bank or work in a factory, you are self employed, you teach school, whatever it is you do, your employer is Jesus Christ. Whoever you're working for, that check is actually coming from heaven through them to you.

So, when you work for them, sign your work with the name of Jesus, as if He did it so He gets the glory. Work for Him and trust Him. That's what Paul says. You exist, so work with all your heart for the Lord, not for men.

Have you ever heard this quote, "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit?” Have you ever heard that the greatest team players, the greatest leaders, are the ones who give credit to God and credit to the team rather than being “glory hogs” and taking it themselves. You know that person. If you don't, it might be you that has to have the glory. We're in the NFL playoffs right now, the football playoffs, and there's always that player.

Maybe, some of you are thinking of a player like that in the NFL. He goes in the first part of the draft and has great expectations. He was a great college player. He arrives at the team and he's already “blinged out.”

He's already “famous on Facebook” and everything. He's making a lot of side money because he's got a lot of potential. Sure enough, he scores, but he always takes the credit. He becomes a problem in the locker room because he's not a team player.

He always takes the glory, he's always throwing his helmet and stuff if things don't go right and he blames it on them. Before you know it, he's only there for a couple of seasons and even though the coach and the owner like him and he's got so much potential and he's so talented, but he's like poison to the team. So, they trade him.

Then another coach thinks, Maybe we can straighten him out and they take him. Before you know it, he's played for six teams. Now, he's still got game, but nobody wants him. That's a story that repeats itself over and over again, not just in the NFL, but in life. It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't take the credit. If you'll let somebody else take the credit.

“Consider your ways.” Do you live and work for God's glory or are you a “glory hog?” Do you want the credit? Do you want the applause? What would it look like for you to start living and working, giving all the glory to Jesus so that we make Jesus famous? Church,

may I say this to you - I don't want to be famous. I don't want Eastgate to be famous. I want Jesus to be famous. I know it's important for you to invite people to church.

I want you to invite people to church. But, I want you to have as your first thought, I'm inviting them to Jesus. The church, well, that's us. We're going to work together bringing them to Jesus and we're a team.

But, let's invite them to Jesus first. Let's be busy about going out, bringing in and building up, using Haggai's way of talking about how to build the church, how to build the temple. Go out, bring in, build up. We want to make Jesus famous. That's one of the reasons that our church and myself personally have formed a group in Wilson called, “Christ Together For Wilson.” It's a group of pastors and churches that have agreed we want to collaborate for Jesus in our city so that revival breaks out.

Not to make Eastgate church famous. I could name so many other churches that we're collaborating with, but to make Him famous in our city. I told you that we're the T-shirt church. I've caused a whole bunch of other churches in our town to be T-shirt churches too. We made these T-shirts this past year that just say, “CT4W.” You can go to CT4W.org. That's our website that we built for this group, “Christ Together for Wilson.”

We all wore those shirts when we were cleaning up schools, doing landscaping and all this because we didn't put Eastgate shirts on. We didn't put Farmington Heights Church, Peace Church and Raleigh Road shirts on. All of the churches that work together, Redemption Church, Wave church… we didn’t put our shirts on. We put CT4W, Christ Together for Wilson, t-shirts on. Why? Because we want to make Jesus famous.

That's what we're praying for, is that God would cause revival to happen in this city because we want Jesus to get the glory. That's number two. That's the second step. Does your life bring Him glory? Here's number three:

3. By relying on God’s provision.

By relying on God's provision. We are at verses 10 and 11. Now, in fact, the way I got at this was God had removed His provision. He had brought drought. So, the timeless principle I was looking for to help inform our repentance and our action to trust God was to think, Well, why did He withdraw his provision?

It was because they were no longer relying on Him. That's where I get this step: By relying on God's provision. They weren't putting Him first.

They were saying, ‘We'll do it ourselves’ and so he says, 10 “Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought…” He names all of the areas, which pretty much covers everything. The word, drought, is the same Hebrew word as the word, “ruins,” that you see back there in verse nine when He says, “My house lies in ruins.” He says, ‘You've caused a drought in my house.’

You've caused my house to lie in ruins and now your house is being ruined for it. It's because you're not living according to the reason, the purpose that I made you. You're living for your own purpose. You're trying to make yourself famous.

You're trying to make your house famous rather than honoring Me and lifting Me up. You're not living out your life's purpose. If you'll live according to your purpose, then you'll learn to rely on My provision. You'll trust that all things come from the Lord. Look what Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount

in Matthew, chapter six. Matthew 6:33 (NLT) “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” if you'll put His house first, His kingdom first, He'll take care of your house. He'll take care of you. It's upside down thinking for the world, but it's right side up thinking in the kingdom of heaven.

Look what Paul says about this kingdom principle of sowing and reaping. He writes to the church at Corinth in his second letter. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 (NLT) 6 “Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” I like the Greek word under the word, “cheerfully;” it's “hilasmos.”

It's the root from which we get the English word, “hilarious.” God loves it when you give until it cracks you up; when you give hilariously and God will generously provide all you need, then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. For years, I've referred to this as “the art of flow.” The art of generosity is to let God flow to you and through you to others.

It looks like this. You've seen me do this church so many times, right? One hand open to God, no longer shaking your fist at God, but relying on God for all that you need, so now His grace, His blessing begins to flow to you.

Because you're depending on Him. You're putting Him first. But then, there could be another problem in the flow. You could dam it up downstream. It could be here

that you're not relying on God. Open that up now; start relying on God, but now it could be here because,instead of being a river, you become a reservoir.

If you dam that up, you close this hand, He can't flow to you anymore because you're a reservoir now. He can't trust you to be a giver, because God is a giver. “For God so loved the world that He…” “For God so loved the world that He…” Right?

He wants you to be a giver because you're His child, so that you live a life of the open hand. One hand open to God and one hand open to others, so that your generosity flows to you and through you. It proves that you're a child of God, that you're living that way, which is alien to the world and so you're trusting Him for provision.

You've considered your ways and so you give sacrificially. You give hilariously, but not under pressure. Not because the preacher pressured you. I'm not pressuring you.

I'm discipling and teaching. And then I'm asking the Holy Spirit to help you consider your ways. We're going on a journey together, talking about how to live the life of generosity. The truth is, we're really informed by two possible mindsets.

I'm visualizing a highway called “generosity;” a highway called “love,” because love is generous. This ditch of fear of not having enough, which is the scarcity mindset of thinking, there's not enough, I won't have enough. If I give, I won't have enough. That's usually informed by something that happened to you in your experience in the past where you grew up without much or you had a season where you were bankrupt.

Instead of trusting God, you're stuck with that mentality that keeps you from being faithful. Then, the other ditch is really the American materialism mentality, which the Bible calls “greed.” You never have enough, no matter how, because you're trying to please yourself and thinking, more, more, more. God's word says that you look for much, and behold, it came to little, it never satisfied.

Do you know why? It’s because you were built for something better. You were made to live on the highway of generosity, staying out of those two ditches. That's what God's really calling us to, church. Be a generous church, a generous people.

It's going to mean that we're ready to follow God's purpose for our lives and bring people in, that are far from God - to go out, bring in and build up. It may look like you are talking about Jesus more at the workplace or in your neighborhood. It may look like volunteering to serve the Lord more in His church or in some other nonprofit in the city. It may look like you are giving more generously than you've ever given in your whole life and really trusting Him with your finances. It may be that you've made a decision to make a gift that actually scares you a little bit because you're still trying to pull yourself out of the fear ditch.

On this journey, I want you to keep tithing and bringing your offerings as is your pattern. Church, you're a generous church already, but I want to challenge you to be more generous than you've ever been before by going on this journey together. Then on February 16th, we're going to ask you to make a commitment that's above and beyond your normal giving, where you're asking God, ‘Take me somewhere I've never been, that I have to rely on Your provision in order to accomplish the number that you've put in my heart to give towards reaching more people, bringing them in and building them up. I want to be part of a church that does that and I'm willing to trust You for it.’ Now, at the first service, I had a young lady come up to me and she said, “I've been listening to you, Pastor, I've been reading the journal and I've been praying, ‘Lord, what do You want to do in me and through me?’

I was asking Him to tell me and my husband, ‘What's the number we're going to commit to God on February 16th?’ This is because I've been telling people to not turn in money right now. Just be praying about what God wants to do to stretch you. She said, ‘I was praying that on Friday night. Saturday morning, I got a call from my boss.

He doesn't call on Saturday, which kind of scared me. He called me on Saturday and said, ‘Hey, I just wanted you to know when you get your paycheck starting this month, there's going to be an extra stipend in your paycheck for this reason.’ He explained it to her, and she hung up the phone and she asked, ‘Was that You, God?’ She believes that it was.

She got tears in her eyes, and so did I a little bit, because she put herself out there and said, ‘God, would You tell me?' He went ahead and made her boss call her the next morning. I believe that. You can do that kind of stuff, God. Do you mean that we can go on a journey together and You'll blow me away with Your provision if I will just open this other hand up? That was this morning.

I believe over the next few weeks I'm just going to keep hearing stories like that because I believe that you're a generous church and you trust in a generous God. Then, we're going to sow generously so that we might reap generously. I want you to take your time. It might feel like a wrestling match trying to get out of those two ditches. You know, if your car gets a wheel over one of those ditches, man, it's hard to get it out of the ditch.

It might feel like a wrestling match. Go ahead and wrestle spiritually about this and ask God what He wants you to do. Go on the journey. Don't count yourself out. I think God's inviting us to test His provision in this.

You might think, You're not supposed to test God. Well, there's one place where He does invite you to test Him. It's Malachi, chapter three. He says, in Malachi 3:10 (ESV) “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

It's the one place I can think of where God says, ‘Go ahead, try Me in this. Give Me a try; trust Me. Bring it into the storehouse. Be generous with My house and I'll be generous with your house.’ That's why we're doing this spiritual journey together.

Will you keep coming on Sunday? Will you keep engaging in this journey? Will you do the daily devotions Monday through Friday every week for the next few weeks? I encourage you to get in a community group and ask your questions in that group and talk them out. Pray the prayer, “Lord, what do You want to do in me and through me?”

Then, on our commitment Sunday, February 16th, be ready, by faith, to make a sacrificial, hilarious three-year commitment to give above and beyond your normal giving and watch what God does. We'll have a celebration and we're praying that God will trust us with $1.5 million in order to really get serious about reaching our region for Jesus. But, whatever the number ends up being the commitment, we can pray for a number, but whatever God does, we're going to celebrate.

If He does more than that, we're going to celebrate. If it's a little less than that, we're going to celebrate because we will have gone on the journey together. There's no pressure, not any pressure here. God's the one that's under pressure and I don't think He ever feels pressure. We're saying, ‘God, You said this, so we're going to try what You said.’

That's what we're doing. We're created as His image bearers. We were made for a purpose. We have an identity. He made us for His pleasure and He created us for His glory.

Will you decide today to bring your life into alignment, so that you please God, you give Him glory and you trust His provision? Let's pray. Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for this little book of Haggai that has big, big challenges for us. Lord, I pray for that person that's here today that's never given their life to You.

They would admit, Lord, I've been living for myself. Is that you? The Bible calls that an attitude of sin, selfishness, doing things your way rather than God's way. Is that you? Would you repent right now and say, ‘Lord, I repent of my sin and I turn to You.

I believe that You died on the cross for me, Jesus, that You were raised from the grave. I believe that. Would You come into my life, forgive me of my sin and make me a child of God? I want to follow You as my Lord and Savior.’ If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing, He'll save you. Others are here

and you're a follower of Jesus, but you struggle with this spiritual discipline of generosity. You struggle with it. You struggle with trusting God for provision and you struggle with generosity. Today, would you make a decision and say, ‘God, I want to go on this journey.

I want You to teach me how to move, to be a giver and to be generous. I want to be known as a giver.’ We pray it now in Jesus' name, Amen.

Audio

Transcript

Good morning, church. It's good to see all of you this morning. I'm very thankful you're here. It's time to do the work, to be strong and to be fearless for the gospel in our city. I'm prayerful that over the next few weeks together we would see not only dramatic change in our own lives, but we would begin to see God moving in our church and in our city.

Our theme verse for this whole series comes out of Haggai Chapter one, which we just sang a bit of together. And that is the people say, the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord yet. Now be strong, work, for I am with you, declares the Lord. My spirit remains in your midst. Fear not now if you weren't here last week, this is your first Sunday in this series and you didn't get one of these.

Take time right now, is anybody just seriously raise your hand if you didn't get one yet and we will get you one. It looks like everybody has done so good job. But we're going through that together. And there's a spot in there where you can be taking sermon notes along with the bulletin this morning. In last week's sermon and last week's time together, we talked about this idea that the prophet Haggai had heard from God that he needed and the people needed to consider their priorities.

God had brought them up out of Babylonian exile to inhabit the land and to rebuild the temple and to do the work of God and to bring him glory in this way. But they had gotten their priorities really out of whack. They had put themselves and put their own house above his work. And so having now addressed that in the first piece, it seems that the Lord now is calling them to a new purpose to consider the purpose of God on their lives. Where we're going to be this morning, Haggai, chapter 17 through 11.

Now this idea of purpose, I think, is as dynamic, maybe as important of a question for you as almost any in your life. We ask a lot of questions when we're young, and maybe it lasts a while in our lives where we're asking, who's Mr. Right? Who's Mrs. Right?

Who's the one I'm supposed to spend my life with? That's a great question. And we ask other questions like what am I supposed to do? What sort of work fits me? What does God purpose purpose me to do?

And those are really good questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose? We've talked before in the past about how there's really two worldly approaches to figuring this out.

There's what you might call the traditional approach to finding one's self, and that is through your family and through your community. That the traditional approach was those outside of you would give you your identity and your purpose. Your parents, your friends, those you grew up with, your workplace. That that would impact your identity and purpose more common today. You'll hear people say that you have to look within to find your identity and purpose, that it's internal rather than external.

I would have to say to you that I think both approaches fall short, inward or outward, unless it's upward, that's the only one that's going to make any sense. Long term, they both lead to some false purpose, false identities, and sometimes to very meaningless lives without real purpose. Because our identity doesn't come from others or from self. It comes from the one who created. It comes upward.

And so we're going to really be addressing this this morning that this important question. What about you? What about your purpose? How do you fit into what God's up to, not only in this city and in this community, but but in your generation? What is your part to play?

What is your leg of the race? Do you know your true identity? Are you living the abundant life that Christ Jesus has called you to? Maybe you're getting glimpses of it, but not quite fully there in the book. This book was very famous years ago called the Purpose Driven Life.

The first line in the first chapter reads this. It's not about you. And I think he gets that right. He gets a lot of right in that book. But the main question is not so much what is who am I?

But who is he and what does he want me to be doing in his work, in this life? The reason you're feeling empty, perhaps today, or maybe unfulfilled, is that you've made it all about you rather than all about your true purpose, which is to glorify God and to know him and to enjoy him forever. That's your ultimate purpose. We're going to be in Haggai one reading together, and what we're going to see here is God challenged his people to yet again consider their ways. That was the word last week.

It's again this week, but with a little bit of a new flair. He's calling them now to bring themselves into alignment with his purpose. And we can consider our ways in this and see how God has given us purpose. I believe we'll see the text. Give us three steps, if you will, for bringing our ways into alignment with his ultimate purpose.

And so here we go. Just a few verses. Haggai chapter one. Thus says the Lord of hosts. Here it is.

Consider your ways. That's the second time he said this, but this time it's a little different. Notice verse 8. He says, Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much and behold, it came to little.

And when you brought it home, it blew away. Why? Declares the Lord of hosts, because of my house that lies in ruins while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above, above you, they have withheld their due, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and on the hills and on the grain and on the new wine and on the oil, on what the ground brings forth on man and on beast, if you missed it.

He says, on all their labors, God bless the reading of his word. Amen. I don't know if I want to bless that last part. That last part was tough. He says he brought a drought, that they brought it home with them and he blew it away.

Goodness gracious. Well, how can we bring ourselves into alignment with his purpose? Well, let's start with this. The first step is this, by living for God's pleasure. I love that point.

I worked and worked. Me and my dad this week writing sermon and worked and worked. This idea of what is God asking of them to. To start off, what is he asking them to consider? And he says right out the gate, he says, that I may take pleasure in it.

That part of our purpose in this life, maybe the biggest part of it, is that he would live a life that pleases God, that he would look at it and go, well done, good and faithful servant. I am pleased with you. That's the ultimate good words to hear at the end of this life is, well done. I have taken pleasure in what you've done in this life. You couldn't ask for more that the Creator of all things would say, you did good.

I'm pleased. Good job. He comes out in verse 7 and says, Consider your ways, set this upon your heart. And then gives them three imperatives. Now, these don't directly fit us because first of all, we don't live near any hills.

I don't know if he said to us, go up to the hills. I don't know where we would run to Battle Park. I guess they got a tiny hill there. But that's not the timeless principle of this section. He says, go up to the hills, bring back wood and build my house.

He's giving them direct instruction. And the reason for that is in verse 8 where he says, that I may be pleased with it, that I'll take pleasure in it. This is a great aim. This is the aim of the apostles. I could have taken you to many different places, but here's a really one to one spot.

Paul says that his aim in life was to please God. Second Corinthians, chapter 5. He says, Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him. That's his aim. That's his goal.

That's an interesting new way to start tomorrow. Some of you are going to start Monday morning. You got work to do, you got kids to take to school, you got a lot to do. What would it look like tomorrow if you woke up and said, alright, today, God, my aim is to please you. That would change some things, I bet.

Maybe for some of you it would change a lot that you would say, yes, I need to work. Yes, these are things that I have to do today. But I'm not interested in doing tasks. I'm interested in pleasing God. I heard recently someone say that they feel like they're not really sure if they're living their life or living out a to do list.

And then this person went on to say, and I don't know whose to do list it is, I don't even know if it's mine. And isn't that true, some of you are living someone else's to do list.

But there's a better aim. Paul says, and throughout Scripture you see the prophets and the saints of old saying, I know what my ultimate aim is, to please God in my work, in my relationships, that this gives new meaning to every conversation. Now the people I've been avoiding at work, now I can look at them and go, okay, I know I've been avoiding them. They're a pain, they're difficult, they make things harder on me. But if I'm aiming to please God, then I can look at them and say, okay, God, how would you have me talk to them?

Because I don't want to, but I can't avoid them today. What would it look like to have a different conversation? What would it look like to parent my kids in such a way that pleases God? Now my ultimate good isn't obedience from them. That's good, that's fine.

I just want God. I'm praying constantly could you just get these little hellions to stop acting up?

That's a prayer I just hate to say to you. That's a prayer God may not answer. And the reason being is because he has a better good than that. He has a better good that you would please him in the way that you parent. God, help me to understand my son, my daughter's heart in such a way that they would be led towards you.

Help me to do that today. I'll pray about this again tomorrow because tomorrow's going to be another day. But today, God, help me to know how to rightly discipline, how to rightly speak. Help me, God, My marriage is in turmoil. Would you make her change?

God, he may not answer that prayer. He probably won't. He probably won't do it. Instead, God, help me to be the man of God. You've called me to be the husband, to be the wife that you've called me to be.

Help me, Lord, to please you in the way I speak to him, the way I speak to her. Doesn't that change a lot? And if you mean that, that's significant. What if our aim has changed? The psalmist says in Psalm 147that the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him and those who hope and his mercy.

It pleases him that you come to him in every situation. It pleases him. This idea of fear is not, although that could be, but it's more like awe. Those who look to God and trust him and believe him. The awe and someone that really knows him, but also believes that he is doing ultimate good in their life and that his purposes are better than their own.

The Lord takes pleasure in that. I couldn't help this week as we came up with this point, to think of a movie that some of you may have not seen. It's a little older. It came out in 1981, so I wasn't born yet either. But I saw it later.

Alright, some of you are like, oh my gosh, you weren't even born yet. We got to reach the next generation. There's people that I just said that and they're like, ugh, I was born in 2009. Like, oh my goodness gracious, I'm turning 40 this year. That's really hard.

2025 has struck me, alright, I was born in 1985. This year is kind of bothering me a little bit. But this movie came out in 1981. It was called Chariots of Fire. Who's seen that?

Chariots of Fire. Kind of a cult classic, if you will. Not a lot of people have seen it. But it's about this Scottish runner named Eric Liddell. And it's a really great movie.

His life's actually better than the movie. His story is fantastic. In the twenties, he competed in 1924 in the Paris Olympics. And set the world record in the 400 meter at 47 seconds. Which is ridiculously fast.

It's crazy that that record's even been broken. But he set that record. And he was a Scottish runner and also a missionary later to China. In fact, when he went to the Olympics, he did not run the 100 meter dash. Because the preliminaries were held on Sunday.

And he says, I'm not working on that. The Lord's Day. And decided to only run the 200 and the 400 and won the 400. Really incredible movie. But I share that story with you because the movie made famous this line that comes to my mind at times.

He said, God made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure. God made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure. Now they kind of made this line up. Liddell said something a little different than that. Which I would say is even better.

On his journey over and over to China. And he lived there and he died there as a missionary to China. He said, God made me for China. That was something he famously said many times. But I like this idea that God made me for China.

God made me fast. And when I do what God made me to do, I feel his pleasure. They're on something there. When we see God and aim to please Him. And we start to begin to understand his purpose for us.

When we do the purpose that he's called us to, we feel his pleasure. I don't get it every Sunday, but I gotta admit, this is my favorite place to be. I mean, I've said this many times. If the Lord's coming back on one particular day, I hope It's Sunday at 10:30. I really do here in eastern North Carolina.

Like, he can time that out and figure it out based on time zones. Alright, come when I'm up here and we're listening together and we're preaching, man. Because when I'm doing this, I know I'm right where God's called me. There's other times. Monday's challenging.

Monday, I want to quit sometimes. Monday, I'm not too sure about me when we're walking in his pleasure. As Eric Liddell said, when I run, I feel his pleasure. I love that. Whose applause do you seek?

Whose approval are you after? Do you seek God's pleasure. What's our church's purpose? What should we be doing as a body of believers to best please God? That is a great question for us.

Are we the kind of church that aims above all else to please the Lord? Not to make it comfortable in here, although that's good, I think that's fine. Not to make it a certain thing that pleases us. No. What would be the way we could do church that would best honor Christ?

That's a question that's scary, but it's such a good question. As I was kind of pondering this this week. He says, go to the hills, bring back the wood and build. It reminded me of a three part challenge that he gave the New Testament. He said, go also to the New Testament.

And he said baptize. And he said teach. Similar to go, bring, build. Our instruction is equally as powerful, if not way more so, way more poignant for the eternal kingdom. Matthew 28.

We have the Great Commission where Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and behold what I am with you always to the end of the age. He says that very same thing to these people. And I will be with you, declares the Lord. When we go and do the things he's called us to do, we can know that he's with us and we can feel his pleasure. When we go off doing our own thing, we have no certainty that God is with us.

In fact, you might could argue that it's absolutely not with us. He's absolutely not there when we say no, your way is fine. I'm going this way. He's going to still do what he intends.

Does our church please God? Do you? Are you seeking his applause? I don't know. Sometimes when I'm doing someone else's to do list, I'm not really confident in who's.

If I'm doing someone else's to do list, I think I'm trying to make them clap. Oh, I just want it tomorrow. I just want to work hard so that my boss will say good job, who cares?

But I might get a raise. Jonathan. Great. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Do you believe it?

Guess who you'll please too. When you're aiming to please God in your work and you do all things under his glory, you'll work harder than everyone else anyway. But you're not aiming to say, I don't want the applause of men. I pray that God will be pleased with me. Are you willing then to stretch to get out of your comfort zone?

If your aim is to please God, then your time, your talent and your treasures are not your own. And you'll begin to understand that in a full way, maybe like never before. That God, if you've called me to talk to this person today that I would normally disengage from, then my time is yours. God. Oh, man.

I've got this gifting or this talent, but it's going to require so much out of me. No, no. When you're looking to aim to please God, you'll do that. If you're trying to please him with what you have, then it's all his. Here's the second step.

By working for God's glory, you're seeking to please Him. Sure. And your work is for his glory. That's the second part of what he says. He says that I may take pleasure and that I may be glorified.

Does your life and work bring him glory? This word glory is the Hebrew word chabod or chabad, which is to be weighty. It literally means that something weighs a lot. That when you consider God, he is of great weight in your life. He's heavy.

That he's not just some flippant piece of what you do, but he carries great weight in your life. The first purpose of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which y'all are like, blah, blah, blah, but this is a really important line that we've often referred to. And we may even think this way and not know where it comes from. But they asked the first question, a famous first question is this. What is the chief end of man?

The chief end of man. And they get this right, I think, when they say man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That's it. That really is it. What is your eternal purpose?

This is an end. That's your eternal end. That you will spend your days forever glorifying God. Now, if that makes you feel a certain way, I don't know if you're ready for heaven yet, friend. That's what heaven's all about.

It's a place of God's eternal, unbroken glory. What's great about that is that's what you were made for. And you might be a little uncertain about that, but you were built for worship, and you're incredible at it. No one has to teach you how to do it. You're awesome at it.

What you're not great at is knowing who or what to worship. And that's the fallenness of man. No, the chief end, the eternal purpose of mankind is to know God, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. What a great thing. And God says, when you're not about that, I have a hard time showing you abundance.

This passage bothers me a little bit because I don't ever want to be the kind of Christian or even the kind of preacher that would say, hey, if you'll follow God and glorify God, you will have plenty. Because plenty could look like a lot of different things. It may not be wealth, it may not be abundance in your storehouse, whatever it is that you're thinking of. Hey, if I do what God asks me to do, then I'm going to have more than enough. Yes, but it might be different than you thought.

It might be abundance in areas that are way better. But he goes ahead and tells them something. And this isn't the only place where God acts this way. So I think this is kind of who God is, that he is desiring to be generous when he calls us to generosity. He's the most generous thing that exists.

He's the most generous creator, the most generous giver. This is who God is when he calls us to generosity. Just know this, friends, he is way more generous than you and has showed it off again and again and again. But at the same time, when we choose to be miserly and unwilling to give in any capacity in our life, it seems God is saying, oftentimes, then I can't be generous to you. I know that kind of feels sort of health and wealth, but there's a principle here that's just true.

He says in verse nine, you looked for much, you people of God, you looked for much. What does he mean? You're working really hard in your fields. You're putting cedar planks on your houses. You're making them look real good.

You're getting all your stuff tidy, but something's going wrong for you. Have you noticed it? When he says, consider your ways, he's saying, have you noticed that when you worked, worked, worked, worked, worked, that it came to little? It came to little. And he goes on to say, and when you brought stuff home, you brought it home.

And I blew it away. For some reason, their refrigerators just stopped working. They didn't have them then anyway, but their stuff was going bad. I blew it away. Stuff that should have lasted, stuff that I was bringing home.

God tells them who's behind it. They might have been asking for years, like why is just. Why is the ground not bearing fruit? Why can't I seem to make things work? God says, I did it.

And the people would cry, why? We see there in verse nine why? God says, because you are all about you. You are busying yourself. He says in verse nine, while my house lies in ruins.

Now this is somewhat repetitive of last week, but he's bringing a new light to it. Last week he didn't tell him who did it. Last week he said, hey, you clothe yourselves and you're not getting warm. You eat and you can't get full. You drink, you can't, you just can't.

You keep being thirsty. Your pockets have holes in them. He says, consider this when you bring it home. I blew it away. No more questions need to be asked.

Why would God allow such a thing? No, he didn't allow it. He did it. I brought the drought. I made the heavens not rain.

I prevented the dew. I wouldn't even let the dew settle in the morning. Wow.

Some of you have experienced this in your life. Maybe like not others, none other in the room. I don't know what it is about God's relationship with me if I tried to go in the opposite direction of what he's called me. I experience famine in my life. Just been the way he's worked with me.

When I decide I don't want to be generous with my time, with my talents, with my treasures, I want to do my thing my way, for whatever reason, with me. He says, alright, go ahead. He's a gentleman in that way. Go ahead. But hey, I'm not in it.

Do you really want to live this life and God not be in it? Well, that's a terrifying place to be, especially as a Christian. You'd be better off not even being a believer if you're going to do that. To know him and then walk away from him is even worse.

Why did God make us? Why are we here? At the end of the day, we are purposed and made for his glory. He tells the prophet Isaiah, bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.

We're called to do this. We're called. Not only are we created, but we're called. This famous passage that comes to mind often, I would encourage you to let this be one of your go to memory verses in Colossians 3, where it says, whatever you do work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will Receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

And whatever you do, friends, you're not working for men, you're not working for yourself. You're working for God's glory. It's an amazing thing what you can accomplish in this life. If you don't care who gets the credit. Are you aware of this yet?

If you don't care who gets the credit, you can accomplish some incredible things. I think sports are maybe one of the most obvious places where this is true.

Any sports lovers in the room probably know this. If you've observed, if you have a favorite team, what you've probably observed over years of being on board with football or whatever it is you're watching, you'll notice that certain players that are into themselves, that want to be the spotlight, end up undermining the team's efforts. This happens from Little League up. I coached Little League for a little while. Some of you parents, this is a sidebar, alright?

When you coach your little ones, yeah, maybe God will turn them into MLB players or NFL players, but teach them humility. Cause it's something. When you coach a little leaguer that thinks he is already Greg Maddox or somebody, he already thinks he's got it. That's difficult because you're looking at him and going, you're not even four foot tall yet, man. Like, good grief.

But Mommy and Daddy, this is why poor people get on American Idol that think they can sing because mommy and daddy just straight up lied to them. Tell them the truth with love. Sports are great, but then you, sometimes you end up with these people and you know, you can think of them right now that many teams will part with them. They'll just go from team to team to team. And it's not because of their abilities.

They might be the most talented people on the field, but here and here, nobody wants to deal with them because they can't figure out how to share the spotlight with anybody. But players that you hear of that give glory to others are usually the most successful and on the most successful teams. This is a principle that's true in our world. Have you realized yet that it's true in your life, that you can accomplish so much more in your life if you'll know that the credit is not yours, that the glory is his? And then when you start to act in such a way that you know your life is either going to be glorifying to him or not, it begins to change the way you live.

You go, well, I can't say that I can't do that immoral or unethical thing. I can't treat my kids or my wife, my co workers that way because if I do, God will get anti glory because everything I do as a Christian is either for his glory or not.

And you may not think this way all the time, but let someone around you find out that you're a churchgoer or a bible believer and then you start acting up. Guess who gets the glory? God gets this anti glory and then you get this ongoing thing where people constantly say and they love to say it, you know, Christ seems kind of alright. But that church, man, it is full of hypocrites. I've heard this my whole life and my response normally is yeah, the church is full of sinners.

Guess where else is full of hypocrites? Your house, where do you live? That place is full of hypocrites too. Like I'm not ashamed that we're full of sinners. But we shouldn't be known for the things that we are against.

We shouldn't be known for the things that we screw up all the time. Give God some positive glory in the ways in which we live. Do you live and work for his glory? Do you work hard? Hardily?

The Bible says, as for the Lord's glory as a church, do we glorify God? Boy, I don't even want to be a part of a church that's not into God's glory. I don't want to be a part of that church. If when we come up here to do worship and they did a great job this morning and I don't know, I can't determine the hearts of these people that are up here. There's no way to know.

You can't see it. But what I want to be happening here is authentic worship that you in the audience, you're not looking up here and going, wow, Mark really sang good today. You did, buddy. But that's not what I want him to think. I want him to think God's in this room and I want to praise him.

Salvation belongs to you. We sang that should be what we're about. Not I can't believe that that one song, when it went from song one to two, there was a lot of space there and it didn't feel right, you know, can we be a church that's for its glory that you've come to this place to worship the one true God. I pray that that's true, that we be that kind of church. That's why we're this kind of weird church in Town, you may not know this.

I do not ever want you to invite people to our church that are already faithful. Church. Don't do it, please. When you find out, oh, yeah, we go to Redeemer. Oh, yeah, we go to Sunset Baptist.

We're over at Inglewood. Say, praise God. You know, I know they're doing some outstanding things over there. That's the way a person who doesn't want the credit speaks. A church that doesn't want the credit.

I don't need Eastgate to be the greatest church in town. I need the church to be the church in town. I just want us to reach the nations here. And whatever he wants to do with our little. Our little congregation, maybe he wants to grow it.

Maybe he wants us, I don't know, but that we would just be faithful and say, God to you, the glory, and we're going to go wherever you send us. And that you would reach people. Because guess what needs to happen in order for us to reach the tens of thousands of people that don't go to church in this city? We need every church to grow by probably a thousand people. We better be praying for our brothers and sisters in the faith that don't go here and say, I hope.

I hope so desperately that you would reach them. My buddy over at Covenant Community Church. Covenant, it's over there near Wesleyan's campus. His name's Jason Purdy. Y'all can pray for the Purdy family.

They're young pastors here in town. A young family here in town. And they're right there off the campus. And I've told them lately, I said to Jason, I said, buddy, I have been over there at NC Wesleyan for Rock the Mountain and invited 500 different college kids to come to come to church here. And almost to the person, they'll say, where's it at?

How do I get there? And they'll time and time, 9 out of 10 times say, I don't have a car. How do I get there? Are there internationals? They have a lot of international students there.

They're looking for somewhere they can walk or somewhere they can catch a ride. Now, we could solve that. We could throw a bunch of money into buying a bunch of school buses or something. And some of you are like, let's do that. We could do that.

But I told Jason, I said, you. You can walk there. They can walk to your church. What are you doing on the college campus? Because I saw a need, and I could say, well, I want the credit.

I want to be the church with all the College kids. Cool. I mean, maybe God will do that, but I'd love to see. I'd love to hear 50 of those NC Wesleyan College kids are going over to Covenant right now. Are y'all serious about it?

I don't need the credit. I don't need to be the. Oh, he's the coolest pastor in town. That's probably true, but I don't need that kind of credit. I don't need that kind of credit.

I'm definitely. I don't know. I like me. You don't have to. I don't need the credit, though.

God gets the credit and he made me. Whatever it is I am. I'm just aiming to be more of his. Here's the third step. Work.

Seek his pleasure. Work for his glory, and then rely on his provision. This part is so important. You can't get here until you've trusted him with the rest. That your life is about his pleasure, that your life is about his glory.

Then finally you can say, then, I don't have to worry about my bank account. I don't have to worry about what's coming in and coming out. I should be a good steward. Don't hear me say that. I'm not saying, hey, don't make a budget.

No, be a good steward of what God has given you. However, you don't have to worry and stress over these things where God is providing. Rely on his provision. Because guess what? You can work your fingers till the bone and God can say, but I withheld the rain.

I turned the spigot off. You can't control that part. But I worked and worked and my budget was so tight, everything was right. And then guess what happened? My car broke down.

God could have prevented that, but did not. He allowed it. Oh, this, this and this. But now look at my kids. My 15 year old, guess what he's doing.

He's growing. And all of a sudden everything he's wearing looks like capri pants. And I don't know what we're doing. You know, he's walking around the house the other day. I'll call him out.

He's very thin, so the waistline of the stuff he was wearing when he was 10 will still fit. But he's grown up. And so he's walking around with jamma pants the other day that look like this. I'm like, what are you doing, man? We're not that bad off.

Like, we can buy you another pair of jammies, you know, but they're comfy, you know, I had to burn One of his shirts one time because he wouldn't stop wearing it. Like I made a point about this. It's like this shirt's got to go and you need to see how we're getting rid of this disgusting thing. Hey, you can do all the work of budgeting and preparing and all that good stuff, but God calls the rain, he blesses the produce. Jesus taught them this.

He's taught us this. He instructed his disciples, and now us. He says in Matthew 6, Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and he will give you everything you need. That's the way God has ordered his world. It's not up to you how it's organized.

He organized it. He said, seek me, seek the kingdom I will provide. Do you understand this kingdom principle? Paul reiterates it further. 2nd Corinthians 9.

He says, Remember this. A farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.

And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. There's a principle here that we either decide to believe or we decide isn't true. I believe in Christ Jesus. I believe he died on the cross and all that stuff.

You might be saying that I got the gospel, but do I believe that when I sow generously I'll reap generously? That when God calls me to give cheerfully that he's going to provide all my needs? Jesus says in another place it is greater to give than to receive. I don't know. Receiving is pretty great.

I liked it better a few years back when the tax season was something to look forward to. I liked it better when I was po po and I turned my taxes and go, I might get something back. Those times are over now. I'm waiting till the very last minute. Like I don't want to pay nothing.

So I'm not sure. God, are you sure about this? Is it better to give than to receive? That's what he says. Do I believe it?

It's better for me to spend my time and my talent, my treasure wisely for his kingdom than to just hoard it. I don't know that I've tested this perfectly, but I have observed, and I said this last week, I've observed the kinds of people that seem open handed in their life and they always to have more peace than me. The kinds of people that just will, hey, you need something, I'll be there. You know, the kinds of person, kinds of people you can call and you know they'll show up to help you figure out how fix this part or do this thing, or you need help moving something, you need somebody to help watch the kids. Those kind of people that are just like, yeah, I'll be there, man, I got you Generous with their time.

They don't seem to be anxious. I try to hoard my time, I need my me time. I need my alone time. And I'm an introvert, so I make that excuse like, I gotta be alone or I'm gonna die. Then I found I'm anxious.

I'm not living the abundant life. When I try to hoard my time, my stuff, when I say, I don't want to give that out, I don't want. I don't want to be generous. Do you have one hand open? Do you have one hand open to God?

Oh, we're mostly happy about this. Like, I'm happy to have my hands open to God, but I don't know about this side. And then we find out he just stops pouring in when we close this side. It's just the way God seems to be working with his people. Do you rely on his provision?

Those who rely on God's provision surrender it all. If you could really get this principle, you would surrender it all. If you could really understand that none of this stuff is mine, not even my time on this earth is mine. He's got an eternal plan for me. But no man knows the hours.

Some of you have lost people lately. I've heard some hard stories as of late, little children that the Lord took home. And there's just. There's no way of knowing when and how. So even our very time is in his hands.

You understand this. But if you can get to a place where you say, none of it's mine, it's all a gift of God. My time, the things he's gifted me to do, the stuff he's given me, it's all his. If I can really get that perspective, then giving it away is super easy. I've never had a hard time giving away other people's stuff.

When I was a little kid and we would give my dad, it would be Father's Day and my dad's getting a gift from the family. I didn't pay a dime for that. I'm happy to bring that to him and say, happy birthday, dad. Happy Father's Day, dad. Cause it didn't cost me nothing.

That's your life friend. You understand that principle. This stuff isn't your own. You're giving away God's stuff back to God. This is funny game he plays.

He's just like your dad. Guess who paid for your dad's Father's Day gift. Your dad isn't that wild. Your mom. It's the same thing.

I'm just using dads mom's same way. If you're doing a joint bank account, guess who paid for it? Mom and dad. This is how this works in God's economy. It's all his.

And he's just wondering, hey, do you want to play the game where we give it back? No, I don't want to play that. I don't want to be generous. Well then I can't be generous with you. And I can't show you this abundant life that I've promised you because you a miser.

It's time church to be the kind of church that gets serious about surrendering all and seeing a move of God in our city. And if we're to do that as a church, I'm urging you to do it as a people. And I can't control that peace. I can only be what God's called me to be. And I'm imploring you to also be the kind of people God's called you to be.

I recognize this isn't a quick conversation. It means getting ready to follow his purpose and reaching God's people in this city. It requires life change. To be generous in this kind of way, sacrificial, with all your time, talent and treasure requires great life change. And I understand that this is why your natural gut as I begin to urge you to give more of all of you that your natural bent is to say no, so is mine.

I'm asking that the spirit of God and his will would be in us. That we would be set on fire for his purpose.

I'm asking you over the next few weeks to be prayerful about this God. How do you intend to work in me and through me, with every part of me. Be prayerful with your spouse about this, with your children about this. Go on the spiritual journey. Don't count yourself out.

I'm nobody. What am I going to do? No, you're important. You're here. And God has a plan for you and his kingdom purposes.

You can trust God in this. You know. This is one of the only places in scripture where God invites us to test him. Normally he says, don't test the Lord thy God. In Malachi 3, it says, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. And remember above all this that God created you to be a blessing, to be blessed, and to be joyful in generosity. So as we close now, I want to remind you of some things I asked you to commit to last week. And those of you who are on part two, good job so far, but don't check off the list for me. Do this for God's pleasure and for God's glory that for the next few weeks you would commit to be here to hear from God's word and to worship as a fellowship of believers.

Do this devotional with me. I'm putting something on every week. I've had several people ask me. I'm putting it on Facebook and Instagram. If you don't do those two things, I don't care.

I mean, that's fine. I don't blame you. Social media is kind of annoying and sometimes a waste of time, but that's just where I'm putting them. Alright, so if you want to hear from me and you have those apps, I'm putting like a four minute clip every day of whatever the Lord's speaking to me. Monday through Friday, for the next five weeks, we're going to be in that devotional together.

Do it with us and see if the Lord will stir you. If you don't have a habit of prayer and devotion in your life, this is an opportunity to get started. Seek his kingdom first. Christ says, wake up. Let it be the first thing you do.

I know some of you are like, I probably should pour some coffee first. I think that's okay. Get you a little coffee and sit down with the word of God and in prayer. Attend a weekly community group. If you're not in a community group, get in a community group.

We're having fun together. My community group. We are having a good time, alright? We're having a blast together and we're celebrating God's word and prayer and all of that. And then in a few weeks we're going to have a Sunday coming up and I've already had some people asking me about this and this is why I'm sharing it.

We're calling it commitment Sunday, February 16, in a few weeks. And there we're Going to be asking you by faith to make a sacrificial faith financial commitment for a three year commitment and so be talking to your spouse about this. If you have questions, if something's still uncertain to you about what we're doing, talk to me, talk to one of the leaders here and ask us what we're up to. Because we're created for his pleasure, for his glory, and we rely on his provision. So let's pray now together.

Church Heavenly Father, we ask that you would so be with us in everything you've called us to do. Help me first. I pray Lord, for myself as your people pray for themselves. That we would first and foremost understand our God given purpose. We know that it's got something to do with making disciples.

And whatever we do, we're all ministers of the gospel, ambassadors of the gospel in our workplaces, in our families and we know that's definitely part of this God. I just ask that we would so understand your purpose and live into it. That we could say, as maybe some of the saints of old said, that when I run, I feel your pleasure. That when I preach God, I feel your pleasure. That when I work hard as a doctor, as a police officer, when I work hard in woodworking, when I work hard killing bugs, when I work hard, you fill in the blank.

That I feel God's pleasure in my life because I know it's not only the work of my hands that he's purposed me to do, it's the things he's given me to say to others. It's the opportunities I've been given to share the gospel. God, I want to feel your pleasure in my life. That you would be pleased and say, well done, good and faithful servant. Do that in each and every one of your people.

That a church on the move is really just a bunch of people that God has moved. That a church that gets serious about glorifying God means a bunch of people in that church got serious about about his pleasure and his glory. I just want at the end of the day we to be the kind of church that people look at and say God's in their midst, they're following him. They sure do love each other. They sure do love that gospel.

They sure are serious about what God's calling them to do. Oh that I could be that kind of church. God, let it be. My friend, if you've come today and you'd like very much at the end of your life for God to say well done, good and faithful servant, but you know that can't be possible because you've never said yes to Jesus, the one who paid it all. The one who gave you the ability to be made right with a holy God.

If that's you, my friend, and you're hearing this truth and you want to change, pray with me simply this. As Romans 10 says, if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. If that's you today, my friend, pray simply this. Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sin. I believe that today, and I believe because of that, Lord Jesus, I can be free from guilt and from shame.

That you've paid it all. And I thank you for that, Lord Jesus and God, I believe that you raised Jesus from the dead, that the tomb is empty. And that gives me hope that not only did you conquer my sin on the cross, but also you conquered death for me. I have nothing to fear in this life because of all that you've done. Dear friend, if you prayed that with me, you just confess Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Welcome to the family of God. And we pray with you this prayer. God help us to be your lighthouses, your ambassadors of the gospel, wherever you send us. Pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.


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