The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: Spend Wisely

Episode Date: December 6, 2020

God did not give you all you have so that you could have all you want but so that others could have all they need.

Well, amen and amen. How are we doing, church? Hey, it's good to see you. Thanks for joining us online. Welcome you way back there in the back. That's cool. All of our campus, Baker, everybody. Merry Christmas. Who's ready for Christmas? Anybody? All right. You can officially listen to Christmas music and all that kind of stuff and I won't hate on you. And you have picked a doozy of a Sunday morning to be here. We really have the convergence of four very important things in the life of our church, all happening right now, four things. So you've got a lot of work to do.

One is that we are, if you made it here by the first song, which I hope you do, we are culminating the one initiative. That doesn't mean we're finished with it yet. It's just we chose today to celebrate a bunch of the things that God has done in us and through us and to us. And so you saw that in the first song, but we've got a few more things I want to celebrate there. Also, today if you're in San Pablo, hopefully you notice something a little different, And those of you watching online and at our campuses,

maybe it looks a little different because we were celebrating the opening of our new broadcast location, which is pretty cool. And just for those of you that are keeping up, when we were next door, I used to preach from ladies' accessories, and now I am preaching to you from Layaway, which makes a lot of sense

because today we are going to talk about money. And so those of you're in your 20s, just Google what Layaway was, okay? I know you don't know. It's kind of like credit cards in reverse. It was crazy. You had to pay for it. And then you got it.

it. It was crazy, all right? And then also, in true 1122 fashion, the way that we're going to culminate and celebrate all that God has given us is that this is Compassion Sunday. Who's excited about Compassion Sunday? Anybody? Good. Good. And the fourth and final thing is we're starting a brand new Christmas series called How to Christmas. And the reason I feel like I need to teach you how to Christmas is because I don't think we're doing it right. So, thanks, Frank. I'm glad you're here at nine o'clock. So let's go in order. Number one, the first thing that's happening is we've got a few things to celebrate in the culmination of this one initiative. Two years ago, by the way, just by show of hands, when we started this journey two years ago, as you look over your life

over the last two years, and we began to just be saturated in this question, is he the one thing that drives everything? How many of you would say that God has moved the needle in your heart? He has influenced you towards him. Anybody, just me and a couple of people? Right, me too. Because it's not really a vision series that we were doing because the vision here at 1122 is not some new stuff that we're going to do. What we were hoping is that if people could get a vision of the one true God,

then it would change everything about everything, about everything, about what we do with our lives. That Shima Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is Akha, The Lord is one, not just one in a series of priorities, but he would be one in essence. And when we would see him for who he really is, it would change everything about us. And our normative natural response would be to love God with all, with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. And our number one goal in this one initiative is that everyone who considered 1122 their church would participate in in bringing to God their first and their best.

And I am pleased to announce to you that 11,293 people that call 1122 home participated in the generosity giving here at the Church of 1122. You just need to know in church world, that's crazy. That's crazy. That's pretty close to the attendance when we started this. Also, we were able to launch Fleming Island. Remember that?

Seems like three years ago, but that happened during this. We were also able to launch Baker Correctional and Union, and we are sitting in the new broadcast location right now. Now, one little thing happened that we didn't see coming, that little virus that we love to hate, right? A little global pandemic. And God allowed us to pivot and go online, and since then, since 1122 has gone online, and a part of the way we were able to do that quickly is because of your generosity. now about 339,000 people weekly connect with the Church of 1122. Praise God. And how many of you know that you can't stop a movement?

Even a global pandemic cannot stop what God is doing. And during this time, we baptized 995 people. And then my favorite of all is over the one initiative, 3,235 people put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the Lord. and Savior. And both of my one more's, I hope you know you can have more than one more. Do you know what I'm saying? Both of my one mores came to Christ during this one initiative, and one of my one more's was the one of 340 people that met Christ through hearing the gospel with 1122 online. Praise God. Also, we were believing God for $52 million in resources to accomplish what we believe God was calling this to accomplish over a two-year period of time.

And though we're not finished, okay, we've still got the rest of this month, and we'll leak into January a little bit, just because we're so gracious so that you can make your commitment. And if we will continue to dig, and if we will continue to sacrifice, and if we will continue to bring to God our first and our best, again, our goal was 52 million over two years, and we are on track to come in just north of $60 million in resources. Amen? Praise God. And in fact, if you're sitting here in San Pablo, you are sitting in somebody's faith. Do you realize that?

And if you're in any campus or watching online, I hope you know that you are sitting in somebody's faith. In other words, campuses didn't exist and our online expression didn't exist. And then a bunch of our people moved by God, brought to him your first and your best. And now God is doing exceedingly more with that than you could ever hope or imagine. Amen? And so part of the reason that we opened this. San Pablo campus is to reach one more.

And so here's what I'm excited about. I mean, I want you to think about this. I want you to be in prayer for this. That seat that's empty next to you right now could very well be filled with your one more. And don't you ever give up praying on your one more. I prayed for my primary one more for 30 years, and he got saved this past summer.

And so that seat that is open next to you, it could be filled with somebody. Then one day God is going to use what we're doing to fill up heaven. Amen? And in those folks watching online, we are praying that people would come to Christ. And so the third thing that we're here to do today is it is Compassion Sunday. And so though we have stretched like crazy and we have brought our first and best, and we have given from stored resources, and we have made sacrifices, even though we have given generously,

and I want to thank you for giving generously, I really believe you still got $38 a month hanging around in your pocket. And the reason I know this is because you're about to waste $38 on some Christmas crap that nobody needs. Could have used an amen there, Frank, but that's all right. It's just true. Now, I want you to know this. So my goal today is that you would continue to bring your first and best to the Lord here at the Ministry of 1122, and in addition to that, that you would sponsor a kid that you would rescue a child from poverty in Jesus' name. So at any point during the service, whether you're watching online or you're in any of our campuses, if you want to sponsor a kid, you can get up from where you are, you can walk over here to the sides. We've got some compassion

volunteers at some tables, and you could sponsor a kid right now. You don't even have to listen to the message. And if you want to leave and be the first to brunch, you have my permission. No problem. No problem. You can watch online. Or, this is kind of cool. Or you could tell you. text the word sponsor to 83393. You text the word sponsor to 83393 and compassion will send you a kid and then while I'm talking, you can just fill out the rest of the stuff here and you can sponsor a kid right there from your seat. Now, if you do the text thing, you don't get to choose your kid, but I just want to remind you that you didn't choose God, he chose you. So just like you trust God's sovereignty and your salvation, let's trust him in rescuing kids from poverty in Jesus' name. And I want to tell you this too, you guys have already done an incredible job.

We already sponsor over 12,000 kids, all right? Over 12,000. Now, we're about 400 away from moving into first place all time in compassion history. Now, this is not a competition, but we better win this thing. You understand what I'm saying? I got a bunch of really famous Christian preacher friends that write all kind of books about generosity and radical and they're all coming here, no problem.

But I just need to be able to throw this in their face to the glory of God and I need your help, okay? Let's go. 400 more. I believe before this service is over, we're going to be in first place. And again, Jesus talked about first and last in the Bible. And what if being first, the first church in Jesus' eyes, doesn't have to do with how many seats you have in the building,

but maybe how many kids you rescued from. poverty in Jesus' name, amen. Come on, so we got this, we got this. And another thing that I just want to point out, based on the number of kids that we have sponsored during the one initiative, when I tell you that over $60 million in resources will come in over that two years,

that's not even actually the right number. Because about $12 million has gone to sponsor kids, and so that number is actually $72 million in resources have been invested. into the kingdom of God. In fact, that means that our church double tides. Not only do we as a church give our first 10% to ministry and missions all over the world,

to church planning and all that kind of stuff, but the people that make up our church also give over 10% in offerings to what God is doing through Compassion International. Way to go. Way to go. And the reason I believe, the reason I know that we are able to sponsor kids,

is because it leads us to talk about this Christmas series that we're starting. I want you to have the best Christmas you have ever had in your life. And I don't think we're doing Christmas right. And so over the next four weeks, we're going to talk about four things. If we can get these four things right, when it comes to Christmas, this will be your best Christmas ever.

Again, today we're going to talk about money because we waste a lot of money at Christmas. Next week, we are going to talk about being too busy. Anybody too busy at Christmas? Yeah, me too. The week after that, we're going to talk about forgiveness. You know why? Because your family's coming to town.

And then we're going to gather and we're going to celebrate the incarnation of Christ. We're going to talk about Jesus. So let's talk about how to Christmas. What I hope and pray is that this year we would waste at least $38 a month less and we would aim it towards something that would bring glory to God. Instead of buying your kid that one more little dumb present, we would invest it into the life of a child. And instead of seeing utter disappointment in your kid's face on Christmas morning that we would see the joy of the face of a child one day when we get to heaven and meet them. Now, I just need you to know this.

I'm not anti-Christmas. I love me some Christmas. It is the most wonderful time of the year. I'm into the Christmas tree. I told you when I was growing up, we loved Christmas so much we never took ours down. We just slid it into the Christmas closet. And every year, the day after Thanksgiving, we would open up the Christmas closet and we would drag out the Christmas tree and slide it across the floor and plug it back in.

And then we always knew which way it would deface because we're capitalists, man. We don't, we didn't decorate all the way around. Why would you decorate the corner to back corner? You understand? We would just aim that towards where nobody's seed, throw a couple tensils on there. You don't know what tensils are, but that was that. Rednecks did it. Put a few more little tinsels on there and be ready to go. Then in my house we watched the Christmas movies, and I'm just going to settle it for you right now here

are the top five Christmas movies, and you can argue with me, but you'll be wrong. Number one, die hard. It's the best. Now, I am not condoning that you watch it or show it to your children, however, it's the best movie. Number two, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, okay? Cousin Eddie could be an elder at our church, that's just true. Number three is a tie, so there's There's actually six, it's elf, elf. I know it's a little goofy, but it'll get you. And the Christmas story, you'll shoot your eye out, all right? Number four, home alone, got to love that one.

And then number five, I'm going classic. It's a wonderful life. All right, so I'm pro-Christmas. I'm into watching it all. Now, and do you remember Christmas as a kid? As you reflect on Christmas as a kid, what are the things that you remember the most? I mean, is it the presents?

Now, there are some significant presents that you might remember. And honestly, in this message, that's not what I'm talking about, man. My dad bent over backwards and partnered up with Santa Claus. And one time I got a motorcycle when I was in the sixth grade. I've told you about this. I crunk up my dirt bike in my grandma's house. That was quite a morning.

When I was 16, I got a 66 Mustang. You know, that was awesome. Ran out there in my long johns. Did a donut and merch in my grandma's yard. That was pretty cool. I'm not talking about that. I am talking about all of that just extra. wasteful junk that we spend at Christmas.

That's what I'm talking about. And I think Christmas Day present opening is a microcosm of how we treat money. We spend more than we have on stuff that we don't need to impress people we don't even know. And ultimately it always ends in disappointment. And it is not supposed to be that way. Here's the thing, parents, look at me. Here's what we do on Christmas Day. We look down our judgmental noses at our own children, and we three, you ungrateful little child of your mother,

I was sure that this present I brought you would fully and finally satisfy your little wretched heart. How dare you be disappointed. And then what we do, after we judge our own kids, is we walk out and spend the rest of our life living exactly the way that we just judged our kids on how they were acting. So we just call it the American dream. is that we just think that some more stuff is going to satisfy our soul. What if there was another way to do Christmas? Well, I've got good news.

In 1 Timothy chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul is instructing young Timothy, and he's not specifically talking about, he's not specifically talking about Christmas, but he is talking about money and how we handle money. So go to 1 Timothy chapter 6. I'm going to pick it up in verse 2 and a half. Timothy is a young pastor. He's taking over to preach at the church at Ephesus. And Paul says this, 1 Timothy 6,

Teach and urge these things. And what he's saying is he's just coming out of response to here's what false teachers are teaching. But Timothy, when you teach, here's what I want you to teach and preach. Verse 3. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness.

He is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for corals about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth. Now, basically that part is, if you were ever going to start a teaching or preaching ministry,

you want to pay attention to all that part. But this next half of verse applies to every single one of us. And this next half of a verse, it sets up where he's going, from here on. He says, these people imagining that godliness is a means of gain. In other words, there's a whole bunch of people that can begin to believe that God is a means to their end. Now, I know we rail against the prosperity gospel as seen on TV as we should, but I just need you to know every single one of us have a little bit of this in us. Do you ever do that? Do you ever try to

do a thing thinking it will get God on your side so then he will do something for you. Like say a prayer, light a candle, go to church, be nice to somebody. This is what he's saying here, that God is not a means to your end. That is not how it works. That you don't do some good things for God so that he will give you treasure, but that Jesus himself is our ultimate treasure. And then the next verse, verse 6 is the thesis for all of the rest of this chapter where Paul talks to Timothy about how to handle money.

And here it is, but godliness with contentment is great gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Now, just imagine, just imagine, if you lived in the fullness of those two things. Do you know what godliness is? Godliness is simply this. Imagine if you and God were cool. I mean, there was no condemnation. There was no regret.

Of course, you're not perfect, but you're perfectly loved by him. So when you stumble, when you sin, when you fall, when you miss the mark, you, to the very core of your being, knew that when Jesus said it is finished, that it fully and finally satisfies God's justice. And so God's not disappointed in you. That's godliness. And then you add to it contentment. I mean, think about this. In the Christmas season, just imagine for a second if you were utterly contentious. if there were no worries, if you felt no external expectations on you, if you weren't worried about

the parties you had to go to, the presents you had to buy, you weren't worried about impressing your mother-in-law when she came in for Christmas dinner because your pound cake never fluffs up like hers does or whatever the situation is. If you never had to impress your neighbors, that you ultimately, like, can you imagine if we lived in the fulfillment of Jesus' invitation in Matthew chapter 11 when he said, come here. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burden. By the way, does the Christmas season sometimes seem a little wearisome and burdensome? And he says, come here.

Come to me, all you who are worried and heavy burden about all the things that this Christmas season brings to you, and I will give you rest for your soul. You see, if that was you, if you really, really, really, lived in, rested in godliness and contentment, you'd be the richest person in the room. And then verse 7, a verse that my dad used to misquote all the time. He says, we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. Daddy used to tell me, boy, the Bible says I brought you in the world, I'll take you out. I was like, nope, Bill Cosby said that, so the Bible says something different.

That's fun. Ultimately, what Paul's going to do here now, Paul is saying, hey, listen, Timothy, here's the problem. You see, oftentimes we have our eyes, we have our priority. fixed on the wrong things. We have our priorities fixed on temporary things. But don't you remember, you brought nothing in this world and you're going to take nothing out of this

world. And in fact, the implication is and you ain't even staying here very long. So why in the world, as a follower of Jesus, do you keep spending money and investing money like you're going to live here forever? You've got to lift up your eyes off of your Pinterest page and Amazon

and you've got to get them up to heaven where you can begin to have an eternal perspective on what you ought to be spending money on. This is what Pastor Cam talked about last week. Remember, he said when he goes into a hotel, when he checks into a hotel, he does not hang up his family pictures and he does not renovate the hotel. If he were to renovate the hotel room, people would be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, why would you invest so much money in a place where you're going to spend such a little time?

And God essentially is saying, yeah, same thing. Next verse. But, verse 8, but, if we... have food and clothing with these we will be content. Paul says if you're a believer in Christ and you have godliness with contempt, which is a great game, and you begin to understand we're only going to be here for a little while, and the only thing you can do with money is this, man, you can give it, you can spend it, and you can leave it. And I had a guy on Thursday, no, you can save it. Save it for what? You don't get to take it, you can only leave it. You understand that.

and then he says this, but if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. Can you imagine that? If you just had pants and a taco, you're like, I'm all set. It's all I need. Now, here is the reality. Is that for most of us, this is kind of a run-by verse. You just run by this verse and get on to the next verse.

Because you have food and you have clothing. Well, one of the reasons we do Compassion International, is because there's a whole bunch of kids around the world that do not have food and do not have clothing. That 22,000 children a day die of preventable disease around the world. 22,000 children a day die of preventable diseases that there are vaccines for.

They die of things like diarrhea. What do you do when you get diarrhea? You're uncomfortable that I'm saying diarrhea. It's kind of like a joke here. You don't tell anybody. It's an adult's, I have a tummy problem, okay? And then you go to Walgreens and you fix it. In third world countries, children die of it.

Listen, I know COVID is real and COVID is a thing. In America, there's been about 19 deaths a day because of COVID. 19. Around the world, 22,000 children will die of things like, let me tell you. Let me tell you what a first world luxury is, social distancing. washing your hands. I mean, what do you do?

What good is it do if you don't have clean water and you just go and you run dirty water over your hands? How does that help anything? Let me tell you, it doesn't. And if you don't have a refrigerator to keep food in, how in the world are you in a social distance? You can't. You've got to go into the market

to get your daily bread. That's just how it works. And I'm telling you, these little kids are not scared of the things we are scared of. What they are afraid of is starving to death and things like that, 22,000 children a day. 1.6 billion people on the planet live on $1.25 a day. 11 children under the age of 5 die every minute

and 35 mothers died during childbirth. And listen, I know statistics never moved the needle at all. So a few years ago, Pastor Britt and I and some of you, we were in Brazil kind of paving the way to plant the churches that we are now planting in Brazil to rescue children from poverty in Jesus' name. And so somebody, actually, actually a guy named Washington here from the church encouraged me to go to this place called

crackland crack land so if Disneyland is about Disney crackland is about crack and I'm not I don't have a I don't have a lot of experience with crack okay and so I showed up this place we went with this little mission organization and we go walking into crack land and the people in crackland have dug out the road so the police cars cannot get in there it was kind of a crazy place and we were bringing some food to like feed some folks and I had a Fanta and Pastor Britt had a loaf of Wonderbread, and we go walking into Crackland, and we turn this corner, and there are multiple card tables set up with mounds of crack in these little tiny bags like this, and people are buying and selling it.

It was like, imagine Wall Street, but instead of selling stocks, they're selling crack. There's all these people that use crack, and then there are these gangs that are in charge of it, and they had automatic weapons, they had mask on, but this is like pre-COVID, and they're all there, and then this lady, this little spunky Brazilian, lady walks up and she talks to the main guy to say, hey, I'm about to preach. And so the guy, the main guy, like whistles, does one of those. I mean like gang whistles, like, you know, I can't do it. And then he's like, hey, and I thought somebody, I think that there means different than what this means here, okay. And guys with, literal, guys with oozing's and stuff are looking at us,

and I'm standing there with a phanta. I have never felt more ill-prepared in my entire life. And so this Brazilian lady just comes in the ministry, boy, she's just hammering them with a gospel. And then at the end, she says, let's pray. And out of respect for the Lord, the guys pulled their masks down, they put their oozy's on the table, and they closed one eye. They still got one eye on the crack, but one eye for Jesus was closed. And she prayed. We handed out our phanta and white bread to some people. And then we go down into, across this little railroad track, and there was this little, like, shanty community. People were just all strung out on crack, laying in the mud. and we were going to talk to this one mom

trying to get her into the compassion program and as the Brazilian lady that ran the ministry that invited us in she's talking to the mom out walks this little boy has had some basketball shorts on he kind of dishevel walks out uses the bathroom right there and Ryan Britt says to me that kid looks like he's about the same age as JP

in that moment I just thought where you live should not determine whether you live. And the only difference between that boy and my boy is where they were born. On Thursday, my son got his learner's permit, okay? Right, you should pray. For you? And when he got home, he began to scroll through the internet

informing us as to what kind of car we ought to get him. I don't know where that little boy is that we saw in crackland is, but man, you know what he does on a daily basis? He scrolls through the dump trying to find something to eat that day. We're talking about two very, very different realities. And listen, I'm all in on this with you, okay? I am all in on this with you.

My family right now sponsors six children. We've got Grace from Uganda. She's 16 years old. I've met her three or four times. We have Brandy from Uganda. She's 12 years old. One time I went to visit her, and her grandmother's home, and her grandmother gave me a chicken to say thank you.

I tried to explain to her, Delta's carry-on policy with African chickens. We have Sonia. She's 11 years old. She's from Indonesia. We have Vittoria, who is eight years old from Brazil, and her twin, Clara, who was eight years old from Brazil. We let Reagan pick one time, and she got a little bogo, except it's a little, they don't give you a deal, though, so no problem there. And then there's Vitor. Look at Vitor. man, son's out, guns out. He's also rocking the Brazilian tank top. You see, this isn't just write a check and send it off to some faceless nameless organization. What Compassion International does, it connects one Christian here with one kid there. And one of my favorite things about it is I love

to introduce the rich people of America to the poor people around the world and watch them meet one another's needs. You see, you'll learn some stuff from these kids as they begin to write you letters and do that kind of stuff. In fact, I got this email on Friday morning. Says this, I just wanted to share, my 17-year-old son and I have started attending the Church of 1122 on Thursday nights. Last night was our third time.

Usually at church, the message on money makes you leaving, makes you leave feeling like crap and that you are a bad Christian for not giving all of your money to them. Pastor Jobie, your message was so powerful at the end. My son, who was a high school junior, plays soccer four nights a week, and works the other three, was so moved. He sponsored a kid, his own age, from his own pocket. I was crying. He told me, I waste a lot of money on my paycheck, on dumb stuff, when all this kid wants

to do is to go to school and have a good life. I know if you were able, you would sponsor all of them, so I would, I would, I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do. I'm always so proud of my five kids, and I give them everything I can because God has blessed me with all that I need. God moved his heart last night in such a way that I can't even put it into words.

I have always taught my kids that as long as you have a roof and food, you'll be okay. It took us a long time to get that roof and food. There was a time of going without both. So in short, I just want you to know if no one else sponsored a kid last night, a 17-year-old high school kid from a dingy trailer park with not much knew that he has more than this kid will ever have

and wanted to show right now in the Philippines that he is not alone that God will show him his love through a pier across the globe. Thank you and Merry Christmas. Amen. That's what we're talking about. And so Paul keeps going. Verse 9, he says, but those who desire to be rich. So anybody, anybody desire to be rich? Anybody?

All right? Just me, this guy, and the liars. All right, that's cool, no problem. By the way, when the Bible talks about rich, it just means that you've got more than you need. That's it, okay? You just got some extra. He says, but those who desire to be rich

fall into temptation into a snare. He's saying it's a trap. When you have this desire to be rich, you've got to be really, really careful because it is a trap. it'll get you. You see, you reach out and think you grab hold to some things of this world,

and then you don't realize the things of this world have a hold of you. There's this old African proverb. I don't know if it's real or not. But they say the way to catch a monkey is you take a jar, a vessel that's bottlenecked at the top and you fill it up with sweets and rocks. That the vessel has to be heavy enough

that the monkey can't pick it up and run off with it. And what the monkey will do is we'll reach its hand in there, grab hold of the sweets, And then if you're the hunter, you just walk up and you've got a monkey. You just bonking on the head or whatever. And all he has to do is let go and he can get away. But for whatever reason, in his little monkey mind, he can't let go of the things and all he has to do

is realize that it has a hold of him and he would be free. And you look at him and you'd be like, you dumb monkey. All right, look at me, you dumb monkey. Let me tell you what happens to you and me every single day of our lives. Is that we, we who desire some stuff in this world, we want to grab onto it, and what we don't realize is it is grabbing on to us. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. And now one of the most misquoted verses in the whole Bible, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. It does not say money is the root of evil. It says the love of money is the root of all. kind of evil. You see, as Jesus followers, we are supposed to love God and love people and use money to that end. If your affections begin to go towards money, then what will happen is that you will begin to love money and use God and use people to that end. Money is a great tool, and money is a terrible God. This is what he's saying. Verse 11, but as for you, O man of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. He says, flee, that you need to run away from certain things, and you need to run to one thing.

Here's what this means. For anybody that desires to be rich, there are certain people, places, websites, TV shows that you should avoid. And the reason is because it begins to stir some things in you. How many times have you just went to a store, even though you had no one? intention to buy in anything, and then you just bought some stuff you didn't need to impress people you don't even know. He's saying, don't do that. Some of you should never turn on HGTV ever, ever, ever again. Are Chip and Joanne glorifying God with their abilities? For sure. But when you watch that and you're jealous, not of a new house, but a handy husband, then you probably shouldn't

watch it anymore. That's just true. Now, I like to beat up on the girls because you deserve it. So let me just tell you. It's not just you. I'm sitting in my house, minding my own business, and I start getting hunting catalogs that start showing up, okay? And it might be mossy oak, it might be cabellas, but this one was a Ku-you catalog. If I told you about Koo-you, Kew, is like super-cooled camo. And my friend, Jeff Kopp, bought me, gave me a gift card for my birthday. I told you this a few weeks ago. By the way, everybody at our church that has Jeff's number texted their birthday to Jeff, hoping to get a gift card. On Thursday, he was here. He's like, sorry I can't. I'm sponsoring kids. So, but he got me one. And so I went online with that $100 gift card. It cost me

$500. Okay? That's just how it had. And I'm telling you, I'm all set. I got more. You can't even see it. I don't even know why you would buy camo. It doesn't even make sense. But when I see the super down ultra-hitted jacket, and they got a good special on it right now, it's full price plus tax, and they'll send it right to you. I got to pay attention to this. Now again, my friend Ryan Kwan, Y'all know Kwan, Pastor Kwan, lives out of in San Francisco Bay area. He'll be here to preach two times next year. Super Metro.

I mean, he's from San Francisco. A lot of hair progged up. His pants don't even make it all the way down to the end. He shows like half his cap and his ankle. You know what I'm talking about him? He got a KU catalog because he sent me a hoodie, a Kew Hoodie. And he sent me, he sent this text to me, because listen, I don't think they're setting a lot of camo

in the San Francisco Bay area. Do you understand? And he sent me a text, and it just said, why in the world do I have a catalog like this? Because I have a friend like you. That's pretty cool, isn't it? So again, I'm not talking about when on purpose you, out of love, buy for your people something that's not what we're talking about.

We're just talking about when we waste us. Paul says, flee from that. Run away from that. But you can't run away from something and not run to something. So he says, also pursue these things. Righteous, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Ultimately, you run to Jesus because he is the only one that can give you what you are looking for, which is eternal security and ultimate satisfaction.

This is what Jesus is talking about when he teaches on money and the sermon on the Mount. I talk about it all the time. Jesus says when it comes to money, there's basically two classes of people. They're spenders and they're savers. How many spenders we got in the house? If you're a spender, raise your... Look how proud we are. Praise God.

The problem is, though, is spenders are often looking. looking to buy something that will give them satisfaction in an ever will. You just won't find your ultimate satisfaction in a new car. It's just your car. You can't even see what you look like driving it. It's kind of dumb. And so Jesus says, hey, spenders, look at the flowers. Look at the flowers. The flowers spent zero dollars on what they wear, yet God dresses them in splendor. So don't worry about trying to find your satisfaction in that, in stuff. And then how many of you are savers? If you're a savior, raise your hand? All right?

See, they don't even raise your hand all the way. They're like, that's too extreme to go here when efficiently I could participate in your game. Okay, I could see the smugness on your face when I said, Saber. You see, ultimately, your problem is that you're looking for security in your saving. And Jesus says, hey, listen, man,

you'll never find security there. Look at the birds. The birds have no 4-on-1-1-K. And yet God takes care of the birds and are you not more important than the birds? So we look for our satisfaction and we look for our security in him. And to that end, Paul says,

fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. That we live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day. That these things have some sort of like alien algorithms now that we know that throw in our face stuff that knows will tempt us to click a button and spend money that we don't need to spend. And so it is a fight.

It is a daily fight. Fight the good fight of faith. You see, there's a Native American proverb. A guy goes to the chief of the tribe, and he is the holiest, most renowned man in the tribe. And this man, this journalist, asked him, so how did you get to be this way? How did you end up being in this kind of position? And this chief says, well, inside of me every day, there are two dogs at war. And there is a good dog, and there is a bad dog.

dog and the journalist says, well, how do you know which one is going to win? And he says, the one that I feed. This is true of every single one of us. According to Romans chapter seven, Paul says, and even for believers, inside of us, there is a war going on here. There's some good things that we want to do. We can't seem to pull it off. There are some evil things we don't want to do, and we stumble and fall in that area over and over and over. So what do we do? We flee from those things, and we pursue the righteous one, his name is Jesus. And I'm just telling you, getting a letter from your compassion kid will help feed the good dog. And then what Paul's going to do in the next few verses, I'm just going to read them all real fast, then Paul, as he's trying to tell Timothy, hey, listen,

Timothy, be careful if you want to be rich, because you'll get all stuck in the things of this world, but instead of fixing your eyes on the temporary things of this world, why don't you fix your eyes on Jesus. And as Paul is explaining this to Timothy, Paul gets all caught up in his own advice. He says, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you were, about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontchus Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time.

He who is blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. This is what he does. Paul is saying, hey, look, Timothy, when you're teaching and preaching at your church, we live in a world that wants to bait people into this materialistic road and then blame them when they go off the cliff. But as for you, man of God, don't you do this? You get your eyes fixed on Jesus.

That's what you do. That you begin to see him for who he really is, and when you understand that he is the one thing that drives everything, it changes everything about everything about everything. Even the way we spend money. He's saying, Timothy, that's the goal. That you should turn your eyes upon Jesus.

that you should look long in his wonderful face. And then, and then the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And then I think, this is speculation on my part, I think Paul kind of lost his place. Because you know he's a good preacher because he says, amen, but he ain't done,

he just keeps going. He gets so caught up in this doxology about the character and nature of Christ that he's like, oh no, no, what was I talking? talking about again? Oh yeah. So he keeps going. Verse 17. Now as for the rich in this present age, because that's what I was talking about. As for the rich in this present age. So section one is about people that want to be rich. Now he's going to talk to people who are rich. Now if you've been around

1122 for a while, this will not come as a shock or a surprise to you, but 99.9% of us in all of our campuses and listening online that you are rich. You are. Now, the problem is, the problem is, is you don't think you're rich because you don't feel rich. You don't feel rich, but the facts are that you are rich. The inverse of this, it's maybe sadder, most people think they are generous because they feel generous. But in fact, you're not very generous at all. Did you know if you make minimum wage in America, then you're in the top 7.8% of wage earners on the planet? Minimum wage. if you make $35,000 a year, you're in the top 1% of wage earners on the planet. I'm still waiting one year.

I'm going to say this and somebody's going to jump up and be like, told you Martha, we're rich, baby. 35K knocking it down, all right? Go to Mickey D's afterwards, baby, you can supersize it whenever you want. On me. Look, if you have things like a car, a phone, access to health care, if you have a room in your house dedicated to put clothes that you're not wearing in, you're rich.

if you have a refrigerator, if you've ever taken leftovers home with you, that's what rich people do. And now what the Bible is going to say here, I love this, is there's a way to be rich that is God glorifying, and then there's a way to be rich that is you glorifying. And nowhere in the Bible does it ever implicate you for how much you make. There are serious implications on how you spend it, though. And so, I'm talking to you. I think, so Paul, when he's talking to Timothy, he's like, Timothy, sometimes you're going to be preaching to rich people. And when you preach to rich people, here's what I want you to say to them.

And I think that applies to us right now. He says, charge them. Not politely suggest, but charge them. And he gives them four things. He says, not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. So Church of 1122. Number one, I charge you, ready? Don't be haughty.

That's not haughty, it's haughty. It means arrogant. Don't be arrogant. Listen, if you're knocking it down, praise God. Praise God. That he gave that to you, that he blessed you. But don't think you're a self-made man. Did you pick your parents?

Did you pick where you live? Did you make all those deals come through? No, no, no, no. When we think we are somebody because we think we made all this money, you know what you look like. You look like a 16-year-old kid. driving his mom's Mercedes.

Has anybody ever seen a 60, well, you see it all the time around here, but have you ever looked at a 16-year-old boy driving his mom's Mercedes? They'd be like, what an industrious young man he must be. No, no. You're like, move over, punk, you're in your mom's car, okay? No problem.

So give credit to God because it all comes from him. Secondly, don't set your hopes on the uncertainty of riches. This is what we around here lovingly call the cul-de-sac of stupidity. when we buy a bunch of stuff thinking it's going to do for our soul

what it cannot do for our soul either satisfaction or security this is best played out in the dressing room you go to a dressing room right and you got some new clothes now you realize the clothes you wore into the dressing room used to be the new clothes on the hanger

and then you take off these clothes and you throw them with aggravation on the floor and you curse them how dare you make me look so frumpy I cannot believe it and then you put on some new pants and you get the owl you know girls can do the owlboys their heads can spin 360 degrees around so they can see all the angles. And then you begin to think that these pants are going to do for you what those pants failed you in. I'll take them.

Another lap in the cul-de-sac. Now, what I'm saying, I'm not saying buying stuff is stupid. I'm saying you are stupid. Me too. Me too. Okay. Don't put your hope there. just can't do for you what you want it to do for you.

But set your hope on God. Set your hope on, in him, you will find eternal security and ultimate satisfaction. And then the fourth thing, he wants you to understand that God gave you, that God's not beating you up for the things that he has given you, but put your hope on God who richly provides us with everything.

And here's the word, to enjoy. Christians should enjoy what God has given us more than anybody else on the planet. And as you abide in Christ, what ought to begin to happen in your life is the things that you enjoy most will begin to change. So when God richly provides for you, we bring our first and our best to him because he is first, he went first, he loves first. What we do with our money indicates what's first in our life. And so we bring our first and our best to him. And then, for sure, we save, and then we spend.

We spend. And what begins to happen is you sure, man, you take your wife to a nice dinner and you order a bacon-wrapped fillet cooked medium-rare. And as you do that, you understand that's gospel meat. Look, before the cross, you couldn't order it medium-rear and you couldn't even have bacon. I'm not saying that's what Jesus died for, but it was for sure included. Glory to God, okay?

And when you dive into that steak, then your worship does not terminate on you or the steak, but it raises up to a good, good dad who gave you a steak to eat, that we should enjoy. But then what also begins to happen is then sometimes what you do, oftentimes what you do is you begin to invest and share and be generous in other areas because you find more enjoyment in releasing a child from poverty in Jesus' name than you do in a new pair of pants. That's what he's saying. And then he gives a to-do list. And normally I'm not into to-do lists because I don't want you to get confused, but if you read all of First Timothy, you'll see that Paul doesn't give this to-do list because he says, if you do these things, then you'll be right with God. He says, because of what Christ has done on the cross, if that has changed you, because he came and lived a perfect life, because he died on the cross in our place, because the tomb is empty, and he ascended to the right hand of God, the Father, and is coming back to take his sons and daughters to be seated. with him at God's right hand. If that matters to you at all,

then you ought to live differently than the world lives. He says, they are to do good, to be rich and good works, to be generous and ready to share. So here's the to-do list. Do good. Be rich and good works. Be generous and be ready to share.

And you may say to me, well, pastor, how in the world could I have an opportunity to do those things? I mean, if I just had an opportunity to be generous and ready to share, they're not sure it would be happy to. Well, I've got some good news for you.

For $38 a month, you can sponsor a kid. And just a second, the band's going to come, we're going to sing. And we respond to the gospel. It's what we do here every week. And we respond by bringing our first and best to him, okay? We bring our ties to the Church of 1122. And then we bring our offerings in partnership with Compassion International, And I believe we can sponsor thousands of children.

And there's packets on the sides of all of our campuses, or you can text sponsor to 8339. And I also want to talk to our online audience. We have hundreds of thousands of you tuning in from online. And some of you, many hundreds of you, have emailed to say, how could we participate with 1122? I know a bunch of you go to your home church, praise God. Your tides should go to your home church.

but a way you could participate with the movement that is 1122 is that you could text sponsor to 8339. Then he says this, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. In other words, this world offers you some things that it says is life and will give you life and every single time it will let you down. Have any of you ever spent, let's say, $38 on a thing and you were highly disappointed?

Anybody? Okay, all of us do. This is why Taco Bell is open late because we can make some terrible decisions. Or sometimes, you know, sometimes you plan a nice dinner on purpose and I'm telling you you should and those things should be celebrated on purpose.

But you know how many times where, like, you just don't have a good plan? and like, what do you want to do? Whatever you want to do? I don't care. What do you want to do? And you have that fight. And then you're like, all right, we've got to feed the people.

And so you go to like, what, chilies? Nothing wrong with chilies except everything. Okay. And what do you get when you come out? Disappointment, heartburn, indigestion, fatness. Just regret. Just shame and regret. That's what you're doing.

For $38 for an hour. I've never met the person that received their letter from their compassion kid and thought. Yeah, I shouldn't have done that. Nah, man. So be, do good. Be rich and good works. Be generous. Be ready to share. And thus store up for yourself as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. What if this year we did Christmas differently? And we just changed the way we spent. And a lot less wasteful spending and just a little bit of wise spending. And we rescued a child from poverty in Jesus' name. Here's the point. God did not give you all that you have.

have so that you could have all that you want, but so that others could have all that you need. Now, this is, I'm just going to confess to you this last little bit. Reagan, can you come here? You over there? Come here, buddy. This is the most emotionally manipulative thing I can think of. Run, run, run. So, hey, babe.

So every one of these packets, okay, every one of these packets, here's an 11-year-old, is somebody's little girl. Is somebody's little girl? And imagine just for a second if it was your kid on this packet. Seriously, and you were doing everything you could do. But the unemployment is what it is, and disease is what it is in the third world country, and the corruption at the top is hard to even explain. And you were hoping and praying that there were some people in Jacksonville, Florida,

that could make a difference in your kid's life. If you were that person and it was your kid, what would you want them to do? Why don't you just do that? Why don't we just be those people that demonstrate the gospel, that people from a long way off made it possible for someone to be rescued? Because that is what the gospel is. That we were broken, we were in spiritual poverty, we were blind and dead, and God, who was a long way off, sent his son, Jesus Christ, who was rich but made himself poor. And he didn't just tithe his blood, he gave it all so that every single one of us could be rescued and adopted into. his family. That's what the gospel calls us to do. Amen? So, let me say here with me. So I'm going to pray.

And when I get finished praying, normally I stand you up, but I'm going to have you just stay seated. The band is going to come at all of our locations and it's going to sing a song over us. And during this song, we bring, we bring our first and our best, our ties and our offerings to the ministry of 1122. And we sing. Okay, you can join along in singing or you can just let this song wash over you. And we pray. And today, we're going to sponsor. We're going to walk to the sides and fill out the packet right now, or we text, sponsor to 833-9-3, and then they will shoot you back the name of a kid and a link. And you hit that link and you just follow the instructions, and you will relieve a child from poverty in Jesus' name. And that's a better way to do Christmas.

Let's pray. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we thank you for your love towards us, that you didn't wait for us to get it right, but you demonstrated your love for us and this, that even in the midst of our own sinfulness and utter depravity, you sent Jesus on a rescue mission to save us, to redeem us, to adopt us into your family. And God, the moment we are rescued, we become a part of the rescue team. And so, Lord, in a year where we had all of our family. all kinds of plans to send all kind of people all over the globe.

God, I thank you that today, ultimately, we can be sent to the ends of the earth to do for one child or two or three or four, but to do for a kid, essentially what you did for us, to pay for us, to rescue us, to redeem us, to adopt us. And so, God, I pray that you would be glorified. And Lord, I pray for these children. I pray for the hundreds or thousands of kids that will be sponsored today. And God, I pray that many of these young boys and girls would grow it to be good dads and good moms. Lord, I pray that they would be doctors and they would bring healing into their land.

God, I pray that they would be teachers and they would change the educational system in these places. God, I pray that future presidents and prime ministers would be compassion kids, and they would bring character and integrity from the top down. and all of that will be pointed to the one name under heaven that deserves our worship. And His name is Jesus. And we pray it in His name. Amen. So as we sing, you pray, you sing, you bring, and you sponsor.

Let's respond.