[0:00] Well, again, let me say good morning to all of you. I'm delighted that we can be here together, delighted that we can gather and worship, and in particular today, kind of remember why we're here.
[0:14] You know, 14 years ago, we started this church, and when we started the church, we made a commitment, and that commitment was to love the people in the city of Washington, D.C.
[0:27] long-term, which by long-term, we mean long-term, multi-generational, right, until Jesus comes again, as long as the Lord would have us here.
[0:39] And so today, one of the things that's happening is we are relaunching the home campaign. We feel that this is the time in the life of our church where we need to find a permanent home so that we can make good on that long-term commitment.
[0:54] And we're going to be hearing a little bit more about that later in the service, but I just want to say this is a huge opportunity for us. It's a huge opportunity for us.
[1:06] This is the first time that our church has been through anything like this. We've really never done anything like this before. And as I thought about and prayed about this time in the life of our church, which I have for many, many, many hours of time in prayer, thinking and pondering what this might be in the life of our church, I would say this.
[1:27] My greatest hope is not necessarily that we would get a building, although that's certainly a hope of mine. But my greatest hope is that this would be a time of tremendous spiritual growth for us, that this would be a time where we come together as a community and we grow, and in particular, we learn more about what it means to trust God, because it's the kind of thing that's going to require an enormous amount of trust.
[1:51] And so that's what I've really been praying, and in particular, that we would trust God when it comes to our finances, because this is going to be the single biggest financial decision we've ever made as a community.
[2:03] So what we're going to be doing for the next few weeks in light of that and our desire to grow through this process is to be talking a little bit about stewardship and about how we think about our finances individually and as a community.
[2:17] And it's important that we do this because, honestly, in the history of our church, we haven't really done it all that much. I mean, I could probably count on one hand the number of times that we have specifically preached on this topic.
[2:29] And so we're going to be focusing on that for the next few weeks. Jesus actually talks more about wealth than almost any other topic. Just take all the topics that, you know, the kind of more hot-button topics like sex or heaven or hell.
[2:46] Jesus talks way more about wealth than any of those other topics. And one of the reasons, I think, is because the relationship that we have with our stuff is kind of a spiritual barometer.
[2:59] It reflects the state of our hearts. And actually, this week in Luke chapter 2, we're going to see this encounter between Jesus and a man who, we might say, has a dysfunctional relationship with his stuff, with his wealth.
[3:16] And so we're going to see how Jesus responds to this man and what it looks like to have a healthy, godly relationship with our wealth. Now, you may hear this and think, well, you know, this doesn't really apply to me because I'm not really actually that wealthy, you know, so I'm going to kind of tune out.
[3:33] But what we have to understand is Jesus is teaching a group of people who, by almost every standard, are dirt poor. Jesus' original audience in this text is made up mostly of people who are living hands-to-mouth, right, who may own one additional set of clothing other than what they're wearing.
[3:53] So, if this would apply to them, certainly I think it would apply to us, at least to me. So, what we're going to see as we look at Luke chapter 2 is three things.
[4:04] We're going to see the symptoms of a dysfunctional relationship with our stuff. How do we know? Then we're going to see the underlying source or cause of the dysfunction.
[4:16] And then finally, we're going to look at the cure, the way out, the way into a healthier relationship with our stuff. So, symptoms cause cure. Let's pray.
[4:28] Lord, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You that You're a God who is here, who is living inactive, who speaks to us. And Lord, I know that when I hear a topic like this, there's a part of me that recoils.
[4:41] I don't want to know. I don't want to hear what You have to say. And I confess that to You. And I pray that despite that, Lord, that You would speak words of healing, words of truth, words of goodness, words of grace, that You would invite us to open our hearts and minds to what You have to say to us this morning.
[5:01] I pray this for all of us, Lord. We all need You this morning in one way or another. We pray this in Your Son's name. Amen. So, first of all, the symptoms of a dysfunctional relationship with our stuff.
[5:16] The first thing that we see as we begin to dig into this passage, beginning in verse 13, is that a dysfunctional relationship with money often results in strained relationships.
[5:28] It stresses our relationships. It causes tension in our relationships. This whole scene is set off when a man comes up to Jesus while he's in the middle of teaching and he interrupts him.
[5:43] And he says in verse 13, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Now, you can understand, you know, Jesus is teaching and this man is like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, you can do that later.
[5:55] This is more important. I want you to tell my brother to give me what he owes me. So, this guy's father has probably recently died and instead of grieving, he's fighting with his siblings over the inheritance.
[6:10] And, you know, I've known a number of families who have gone through this very thing. Some sort of wealthy, older, previous generation person passes away and the entire focus isn't on grieving the death and the loss and coming together in that.
[6:25] The entire focus is who's going to get what, you know? And sometimes it's not just a big inheritance. Sometimes it's like who's going to get that antique armoire? You know, grandma always said that I was her favorite and I was going to get the antique dining room set and now you get it, right?
[6:43] This happens all the time. And so, it strains our relationships. You know, money is the number one issue that married couples fight about.
[6:53] It's probably not a surprise to most of you. It's definitely been an issue in our marriage as two people come together and try to figure out how to share expenses and how to combine accounts and how to prioritize spending and how to save and where to invest.
[7:08] And it causes lots of tension. I've also seen money come between roommates. When, you know, there's bills aren't getting paid and you got one person who's super responsible and they're always on top of paying the bills and the other person's, you know, always supposed to Venmo their share but they never do it.
[7:28] You know, and you have to remind them like 15 times. It comes between friendships, right? I see it dividing friends when some start to make more than others. You know, you graduate from college and you're all kind of at the same level and then after graduation over the next like 10, 15, 20 years like some people go into investment banking and other people go into like non-profit work, you know?
[7:52] And there starts to be this divide and then you've got some friends who were like they go out to eat like six nights a week and they're always going to like the new place in town. And you got the other person who's like barely able to pay their bills, you know?
[8:04] And they want to hang out but they just can't because they start moving in different circles, right? Because of that income split, right? So it causes tension in friendships. And, you know, dysfunctional relationships with wealth lead to all kinds of injustice and much of that we see right here in our city.
[8:21] You know, a lot of the wealth disparity is very clearly, you can draw lines on the DC map, right? Between wealthy and poor depending on where people live and those lines are there for a reason, right?
[8:34] There are systemic causes for that disparity. It also leads to overconsumption and waste so it hurts our relationship with the world itself. Our dysfunctional relationship with wealth causes all kinds of relational tension.
[8:49] So if that's true for you, if you're like, man, this has caused stress in some of my relationships, maybe you have a dysfunctional relationship with your wealth. So that's the first thing, strained relationships. The second thing we see is down in verse 22.
[9:02] Another symptom, excessive anxiety. Excessive anxiety. Verse 22, Jesus says, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.
[9:13] Why does he say that? Because most of us are anxious about our lives. He says, don't be anxious about what you're going to eat. About your body. What you'll put on. How much time do you spend worrying about your finances?
[9:26] It's a good question to reflect on. How much time do you spend worrying about financial security? Let me put it another way. How much does the desire for financial security and stability drive your decision making?
[9:40] You know, and if you're hearing this and you're like, I don't really spend all that much time worrying about my money. Let me put it yet another way. Do your financial priorities reflect God's heart or do they reflect a desire for financial security?
[10:00] Right? At the end of the day, if a friend that you knew and you were close to was in dire financial need, would you dip into your retirement account to help them out?
[10:16] Right? Where are your priorities? Right? It's something we're thinking. I don't think I worry about that that much. Maybe not, but maybe, yeah, maybe you do. So, excessive anxiety.
[10:28] Number three, another symptom is what we might think of as a scarcity mentality. Scarcity mentality. We live with a scarcity mentality. Verse 29, And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.
[10:41] For all the nations of the world seek after these things. And we need to understand the phrase seek after means a kind of single-minded pursuit. What Jesus is saying is, don't focus exclusively on worrying whether or not you're going to have enough.
[10:56] And that's a scarcity mentality. A scarcity mentality means we get so focused on what we don't have that we begin to lose sight of what we do have.
[11:09] And we become so focused on what we're afraid of lacking in the future that we're oblivious to all of the abundance around us.
[11:20] And one of the key ways that you know that you have a scarcity mentality is that all of your life is lived on zero-sum terms. You know, your loss is my gain.
[11:31] My loss is your gain. That's a scarcity mentality. So, people with a scarcity mentality tend to compare themselves to other people constantly. You know, your friend gets promoted.
[11:44] And you feel threatened by that. And so, you have to mentally tear them down or undercut them in order to feel less threatened by that.
[11:55] Well, they only got that because they're the favorite. They only got that because they're constantly kissing up. Or, you know, they didn't earn it. You know, if it had been me, I would have deserved it. That's scarcity mentality.
[12:07] People with a scarcity mentality tend to hoard their possessions. They tend to, not like the show hoarders, but just kind of, you know, but maybe. But they tend to kind of hold on to their stuff.
[12:19] They tend to be stingy. You know, people with a scarcity mentality tend to be stingy with their money, with their stuff, with their time. People with a scarcity mentality tend to struggle with perpetual discontentment because you're always focusing on what you lack and what other people have.
[12:36] And if it just had this or that or this or that, then, right, that's a scarcity mentality. And Jesus says, you know, this is the way of the nations. And what he's saying is, you know, this is how most people live.
[12:49] And guess what? When he says the nations, he's talking about people who don't believe in God. So another way of saying it is, he says, this is how atheists live. This is how agnostics live. You know, this is how people who completely reject the idea of God, this is how they live.
[13:04] And his point is, and you believe in God, you have a special relationship with God, and yet you're living the same way. Right? That's an interesting point Jesus is making.
[13:15] It probably stung for them to hear that. Right? So just to kind of pull this together, if money has ever put strain or stress on any of your relationships, friends, family, roommates, spouse, if money leads to excessive anxiety and you begin to realize, I actually prioritize my financial decisions to gain stability rather than to reflect what God might be calling me to do, if money tends to drive you to live with a scarcity mentality, perpetual discontentment, constant comparison, zero-sum mentality, chances are you have a dysfunctional relationship with your stuff.
[13:54] Now, what's the cause of this dysfunction? Where is it rooted? Jesus responds to the man in the crowd by saying this, man, who made me a judge over you?
[14:06] And I love that because it's kind of ironic. In one sense, Jesus is the judge over him. He's the judge over all creation. But what he's saying is, you want me to adjudicate, right, this conflict in your life, but that's not what you really need.
[14:24] And Jesus, as always, is after this man's heart. He's like, what you think you need is your share of the inheritance. But then he goes for the heart. Says in verse 15, take care and be on your guard against all, which means every form of, all covetousness.
[14:43] For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And here's where we see the root of this, right? What's the root cause of dysfunction when it comes to the relationship we have with our stuff?
[14:56] Jesus names it. It's what the Bible calls covetousness. And he says, be on guard against every form of covetousness. So what this man really needs is not more money, it's a different relationship with money.
[15:13] He needs the entire dynamic changed. The cause of his dysfunction is covetousness, as we said, which is essentially an inordinate desire for material things.
[15:25] Or, put it another way, an inordinate focus on material things. Now, sometimes that takes the form of greed. You know, often you hear the word covetous and you think of a greedy person.
[15:36] Now, sometimes that's true. Sometimes it's, you know, wanting more money or nicer things. Sometimes, though, covetousness takes the form of envy. It's not so much that I want, like, you know, this much more money in my account.
[15:51] I just want more money than him. You know? I want a better job than her. You know, I want a nicer car than those people. You know, I want a nicer house.
[16:03] You know, you get your house and you love your house and then you go have dinner at your friend's house. And then you're like, I don't like my house anymore. I need a better house. Right?
[16:14] And this is how it works. Sometimes covetousness takes the form of fear. Right? Covetousness can manifest as a constant fear of not having enough, a fear of running out.
[16:27] But however it manifests itself, the lie under all forms of covetousness is this. Here's the lie of covetousness. If I just had more, then I would arrive.
[16:39] It's like just over the horizon is satisfaction. And I'm almost there. It's like a carrot. And if I could just get a little more, if I could just have a little more, then I will arrive.
[16:50] Then I'll be okay. Then I'll be content. Then I won't want anymore. If I could just get to here, then I'll be okay. That's kind of the lie. And it just, like a carrot, it just keeps us going and going and going and going. You know? It's like when you're hiking and you think you get to the top of the mountain and you come over that hill and then there's just more trail and more hill.
[17:05] And you're like, oh. And then you just keep going, right? And every time you think you're at the top, it's like, nah, man, you're just getting started. Keep climbing. And that's what covetousness says.
[17:15] Keep climbing. You're almost there. Keep climbing, baby. You're almost there. Right? So this is the source. So then the question becomes, what do we do about it? You know, because we could be idealistic and say get rid of everything, but the truth is we need some stuff.
[17:31] We need some stuff. We value hospitality. It's nice to have a home to invite people into if you value hospitality. We need a place to live. We need food. We need clothing.
[17:42] Most of you couldn't do your jobs. I probably couldn't do my job without a computer and a phone of some kind. So we need some stuff. So how do we deal with this? You can't live in the world without any possessions.
[17:55] And I would argue that I don't think there's anywhere in Scripture that tells us to live in the world without any possessions. So what we need is what this man needs. We need a different relationship with our stuff.
[18:07] So the cure for our dysfunction is as we look at this text, we begin to see where Jesus is pointing our hearts. And it's essentially this, that we have to find a way to change the relationship that we have with our stuff.
[18:21] And in this passage, that means at least three things. Number one, we have to begin to recognize the truth about our wealth, recognize the truth about our stuff.
[18:35] This man who has interrupted Jesus, who wants his inheritance, he believes that if he gets more of that inheritance, then he's going to arrive and be satisfied. He'll be at the top of the wealth mountain, and he won't need any more.
[18:48] And so Jesus responds to this man by telling a parable about another man who finally does arrive. He's like, let me tell you about a guy who got where you want to get.
[19:01] He finally arrived. Rich man had a great year. This is the parable. He ends up with more than he ever knew what to do with. You can imagine the guy with the inheritance being like, that would be so amazing. I want to be that guy, right?
[19:15] And so what does this man in the parable decide to do? Well, he decides to build bigger barns. He essentially adds to his already bulging retirement account. He just adds to it.
[19:27] And he decides that when he looks at his retirement account, when he looks at the stock market and everything's trending in the right direction, he's like, I can retire early. And so that's what he does. And listen to how this man perceives all of his stuff.
[19:40] In verse 17, and he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones.
[19:51] And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry.
[20:02] And you can see the emphasis that Luke is putting in that passage. Me, me, me, my, my, my, my. Have you ever seen Brian Regan, the me monster? Just Google it.
[20:14] He's a comedian. It's hysterical. Me, me, me, me. This, this is that guy. It's me. It's mine. My barns, my stuff. And, you know, we laugh.
[20:26] And I love that, that bit from Brian Regan. I think it's funny. And, and you kind of can sneer at this guy a bit. But how many of us see our stuff that way? I mean, you know, if I'm totally honest, I know I do.
[20:40] And this is really a seed of covetousness, and this is what Jesus is getting at. The seed of covetousness is, this is, you're living under the illusion that all this stuff belongs to you.
[20:50] And this parable shatters that illusion like a hammer striking a glass table. Just bam. Because God says, fool.
[21:05] God says that to you. It's, it's not good news. Fool. This night, your soul will be required of you. And all this stuff, whose will it be then?
[21:17] Right? The truth is, we're never going to arrive because none of this stuff belongs to us. We don't even own our own soul.
[21:35] Everything, even your body, your soul, belongs to God. And ultimately, He has the final word in what we have and receive and what is ultimately taken away from us.
[21:52] We don't have that kind of say. And that's a hard truth to swallow, but it can set us free. Right? So this is the first way to begin to gain, come out of the dysfunction.
[22:05] We begin to recognize the truth about our stuff. It doesn't belong to us. We're never going to arrive. The second thing is we begin to learn how to rest in God's abundant generosity.
[22:18] We begin to rest in God's abundant generosity. This is where Jesus begins to say, consider the ravens. You know, they're sitting there and there are ravens, probably, and Jesus is pointing to them.
[22:30] Consider the ravens over there. They don't plant at all, and yet God provides for them. And then He says, consider the lilies. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all His glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[22:45] They're more beautiful, these lilies, than Solomon ever was. Now, why the reference to Solomon? You know, that's interesting. For a long time, I didn't pick up on the significance of that.
[22:57] But it's actually not by accident. Solomon spent, anybody remember, how many years did Solomon spend building the temple for God, the dwelling place for the Lord to honor God?
[23:10] How long did he spend building the temple? It was seven years. How long did Solomon spend building his own house? Thirteen years.
[23:24] So how much more time and energy and sweat and money do we pour into our own security? Do we pour into our own lifestyle? Over and above the things that we pour into what God is calling us to be a part of.
[23:43] Right? So this reference is very deliberate. And Jesus is saying, Solomon spent 13 years building his house. He only spent seven building the Lord's house, and yet, this lily growing here in the ground on the side of the road is more beautiful than anything Solomon ever did.
[24:02] A scarcity mentality focuses on what we don't have. Jesus invites us into an abundance mindset where instead of focusing on what we lack or think we lack, we focus on God's abundant generosity all around us.
[24:21] Right? We begin to notice and to see the things that God is doing in our lives and the ways He's blessing us rather than the things that we think we lack. And when we begin to do that, we begin to understand how worthy and valuable we are to Him.
[24:36] Right? So we begin to rest in God's abundant generosity. Number three, way to kind of begin to right this dysfunctional relationship with wealth is that we begin to actively cultivate a lifestyle of generosity.
[24:49] Jesus says in verse 33, sell your possessions, give to the needy, provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.
[25:00] So He's saying invest in things that will last for eternity rather than ending up in a trash dump. Right? Invest in things that are meant to last. You know, we live in a world full of things that have a kind of engineered obsolescence.
[25:14] You know, they're made to break, they're made to wear out. Now, Jesus says a lot of things in the world are like this, but not everything. And in fact, a lot of this world is going to be remade. It's going to be recreated.
[25:25] And there are many things in this world that are meant to last for eternity. First and foremost, human beings. You're going to last forever. The people around you are going to last forever. These bodies were made for eternity.
[25:38] Invest in things that last. Invest in things that will extend beyond a couple of years before they become obsolete. What we begin to see is that generosity, the active aspect of generosity, not just thinking I want to be generous, but the act of being generous, begins to cure covetousness in our hearts because generosity and covetousness can't coexist in the heart.
[26:06] Every time you give something away, it reminds you that it was never yours to begin with. And over time, those acts of giving chip away.
[26:16] They chip away at that illusion and that lie. Right? So it takes this kind of active, repetitive, habitual generosity. I know I've told this story before, but I've got to tell you again, this, you know, Bill and Aida Spencer, two of my professors in seminary and kind of, you know, they were sort of, I really looked up to them as a young Christian and I remember this was in Massachusetts and, you know, we think it's cold here.
[26:44] It gets pretty cold in Massachusetts as well, sometimes a little colder than it was this morning. And imagine living in weather like this and the long winters up there, living in a house that's only heated by a wood stove.
[26:58] They lived in a house together, a tiny little house that was only heated by a wood stove. They've both written books and all this stuff, conferences, that's where they live. And part of the reason they lived that way is because they had committed when they first got married to giving as sacrificially as they could.
[27:12] And when they started out, they were students and they couldn't do much and so they'd try to give, you know, I don't know, you know, maybe six, seven percent of, because most of what they were spending was kind of borrowed or whatever. But slowly over time, they began to increase it.
[27:26] And when I met them and was known to them, they were at a point where they were giving away 50 percent of everything they brought in. You know, so their whole way of thinking about tithing, right, was how can we increase?
[27:39] How can we increase? How can we increase? And so they're living in a house as heated by a wood stove in Massachusetts because their goal, their main priority is to give away 50 percent of everything.
[27:50] And they were saying, hopefully in the next few years we can get that up to 55 percent. And I just remember thinking as kind of a young student living off loans and couldn't even imagine that kind of thing, just being floored by that.
[28:03] Generosity cures covetousness. So, for all of us who have a dysfunctional relationship with our stuff, and I would definitely put myself in that camp, we have to do something to right that dysfunction.
[28:20] And Jesus says, recognize that nothing that you have belongs to you. It's all God's. Rest in God's abundant generosity, which we see all around us, and cultivate a lifestyle of generosity.
[28:35] Convert that into action, right? But there's still something missing. All of this requires trust. At the end of the day, the real $64,000 question, do you trust God enough to live this way?
[28:55] Do you trust God enough to be the owner of your stuff? Do you trust God enough to begin to cultivate a lifestyle of generosity, giving things away that you may never get back?
[29:08] All of this boils down to this question, do I trust God? Verse 32, we begin to see this answer to this fundamental question of how do I know I can trust God?
[29:21] How do I know? He says, fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Now, earlier he said, seek the kingdom.
[29:35] Now he's saying, but don't worry, God, God, it's his great delight to give you the kingdom. Now, what's that pointing us to? How could God take people like us who have a dysfunctional relationship with wealth, who don't trust him, who live with a scarcity mentality, who constantly envy one another and compare ourselves and live this kind of discontented, anxious, fearful lifestyle?
[29:58] How could God take people like that and say, here's the kingdom, it's all yours? Jesus Christ, to whom all things belong, Jesus Christ, who is the owner of all things, willingly gave it all up and died on the cross so that God could give us a place in his kingdom.
[30:22] And this right here is the greatest act of generosity in history. It's not something that we do for God. The ultimate act of generosity is something that God has already done for us on the cross.
[30:35] And what this does in your heart is this, if God has freely and joyfully given his son, and if he has freely and joyfully given everything necessary to invite us in so that we can live with him for all of eternity, how can we not trust him to give us what we need in this life?
[30:58] Right? If he's given us everything for eternity, how can I not trust that he's going to take care of me over the next few weeks? It's all about trust. You know, my oldest son is a great swimmer now, but I remember teaching him how to swim.
[31:14] And we did it in a lake. And I remember I was in the water and there was this dock and I remember him coming out on the dock in his little bathing suit and he's there, you know, kind of shivering on the dock.
[31:27] And I held out my arms and I said, okay, now I'm going to count to three and I want you to jump and I'm going to catch you. And he's like, okay. And I go, okay, one, two, three. And he just stands there and I say, I say, okay, let's try that again.
[31:43] One, two, three. And he's just, and I said, hey man, you know, you want to jump in? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you trust me? Oh yeah, yeah. You trust that I'm going to catch you?
[31:53] Yeah, dad, I trust you, dad. You sure? So when you jump, you know that I'm going to, as soon as you hit the water, your head's not even going to go and I'm going to grab you. Yeah, dad, I trust you, I trust you. Are you ready to jump?
[32:04] And he's like, nah, I don't think so. Right? And there's that gap between saying you trust somebody and actually coming off the dot.
[32:16] And I would say, I think trust doesn't really become trust until you let go of the dot. At some point, you can say it all you want, but at some point you've got to let go.
[32:28] And then you're going to find out. Then you're going to find out, is he going to catch me or not? That's when it becomes trust. And I think a lot of us are like that in our lives. I've been reflecting on this.
[32:41] And, you know, I wonder how much of my life I am clinging to the dot. You know, and God is sort of sitting there in this ocean of blessing saying, come on, I got you.
[32:56] And I'm clinging to the dot. And I'm praying, I trust you, I trust you, I trust you, but I'm not really letting go. You know, I think we want to trust God, we love the idea of trusting God, but at some point we've got to let go.
[33:12] And, you know, as we, I think, think about this home campaign, this image has been coming into my mind because I think in many ways our church is sort of standing on the dock right now. You know, we're like, man, we have never done anything like this, we've never taken a risk like this, we've never made a financial decision even close to this.
[33:30] We've got to figure out how long we're going to stand on the dock and at one point are we going to let go as a community and trust that God's got us, that He's going to continue to provide for us the way He has for 14 years since we started in a living room.
[33:44] And you know, 14 years ago, as I said at the beginning, we made this commitment to love the people of D.C. long term for multiple generations. and what I've been amazed at is to see how many people over those 14 years came to D.C., started coming to Advent and they thought, you know, maybe I'll be in D.C.
[34:02] for two, three, four years until the end of my internship or the end of, you know, the next administration or something like that and then they end up changing their plans, they end up passing up job opportunities to stay because they feel God calling them to make that commitment.
[34:19] And I've been amazed and humbled by that. And so, those people have decided, many people over the years have decided to put down roots. Now it's time for our church to put down roots.
[34:31] Now it's time for us to find a permanent home, which means a space that we don't only use on Sundays for worship, but a space that we use seven days a week, right, for ministry to serve the community around us, for discipleship and formation, a space that not only meets our needs, but a space that can be used to serve the surrounding community in all kinds of ways.
[34:53] You know, as I said, it's going to be the biggest financial decision we've ever made, and now we're sort of standing on the dock, and we're looking at this God who has provided for us faithfully for 14 years, and we have to decide, are we going to keep clinging to the dock, or are we going to trust God, let go, and dive in?
[35:09] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your provision, and we thank you ultimately for the cross. And Lord, as we look to the cross, we see not some requirement that we have to meet, not some standard that we have to live up to, Lord, not some amount that we have to be willing to sacrifice for you.
[35:33] We see an unfathomable, incalculable sacrifice that you made for us. Lord, and I pray that whatever we do, and however we move forward from this day, I pray that the wellspring of our generosity would be the cross.
[35:49] I pray that would be the place where that living water pours into us, and soothes our fear and anxiety, and fills us with trust.
[36:01] And I pray that every time we're tempted to doubt you, you would turn our eyes to the cross and remind us again what kind of God you really are. We pray this in your Son's holy name. Amen. Amen.