Listen as Mike White wraps up our series All In with a message about giving.
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Thanks for listening!
Listen as Mike White wraps up our series All In with a message about giving.
Stay up to date by following us on your favorite social networks.
Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Have questions or comments? Email us at contact@kingofkings.org.
Thanks for listening!
Well, good morning church. It's a privilege to be with you in worship today. A special shout out to our Northwest campus. They're on their second Sunday of soft launch. Yeah, give it up for them, that's good. Second Sunday, soft launch, grand opening next weekend. We love you guys, excited praying for what God's gonna do there in Northwest Omaha.
Speaker 1:Well, I've noticed over my life different trends in society and there's some superficial, surface level trends where you see hairstyle, you see clothing changes like that. What I wanna look at a little bit this morning are some deeper trends that tend to consume all that people are. I noticed one in a workout trend. Years ago, crossfit burst onto the scene and there might be some Crossfitters in here right now. They have the gallon water bottle jug with them and unique clothing, maybe missing some sleeves or something like that, looking a little bit yoked. Don't hurt me guys, don't hurt me guys.
Speaker 1:But this is an all consuming workout and I saw my friends get into this and it changed much more than their workout regimen. It dictated their schedule. They reoriented their lives around CrossFit. It affected their clothing, their time, their money, what they ate and even their vocabulary. Crossfit was an all consuming workout style. I see it in pyramid schemes. I'm sorry, multi-level marketing, is that what it's called? Why is it shaped like a nevermind? Nevermind. But you've seen these over different generations and they affect old and young in different ways. And some of the older generations you saw Amway, you saw Tupperware, maybe Mary Kay, some of the newer ones you see Pampered Chef, you see Lula Rowe, you see Arbonne, and I know your green drink is incredible. It just doesn't cure every disease on the planet. Okay, but I've noticed friends get into these too and they become all consuming as well. Where it creates your community. Who you hang out with, you push these products always. It's who you talk to, how you speak, how you spend your time and how you spend your money. I see it with TikTok. Different social media have it, but I think that's a unique one. It's not just consuming pictures and videos and information, but TikTok actually drives you to action in the form of TikTok.
Speaker 1:Dances is one way, and I've gone to a lot of high school football games this fall. I'll be walking up to the gate and I'll see a group of girls and one looks like she's having a seizure or something like that, and then I see the phone on the car in front of him and I realize, oh, tiktok dance. And you even saw your own pastor up here the other week. Pastor Greg was in a boot and he said, over exertion. Well, he really heard himself doing a TikTok dance. So, all right, I made that up. That's a total lie, but the mental image of that is really, really good.
Speaker 1:We saw one of some of our young staff here at King of Kings, a trend that came on a few months ago. It's this app called Timu. If you don't know what Timu is, it's kind of a Chinese Amazon and I don't know how. Has anyone bought a jacket for $1.47 and had your identity stolen simultaneously in the room? Anybody. But it was crazy how viral it went with some of our young staff and that was all they talked about. And I guess there's a reward system. If you get people to sign up and tag you on there, you get credits and get prizes. They kept saying, oh, mike, just sign up, one more sign up and I get a free popcorn machine or something like that. And it's like, wow, this is crazy, but it's all they talked about, it's what they wore. They would brag about the new clothes they got in and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So stuff becomes all consuming and I tell you that as we wrap this series all in, we don't want to be consumed by the trivial things that the world has around us. We want to be consumed by the things and the nature of God. In this three week series we've talked about loving like Jesus, serving like Jesus. Today we're talking about giving like Jesus. Don't get up and leave. Okay, we got good stuff coming, good scripture. Today we want to be giving, and this is our third year of our all in campaign, and we have two goals in this campaign 100% participation and 100% of the dollars raised will be given away to organizations that you guys submitted. And now we're asking you more on this in a little bit for each person man, woman and child to give at least $20 and 23 cents. We're really creative. That's the year we're in, if you couldn't put those two together, but that's what we're hoping for.
Speaker 1:All right, we want to look at a scripture today, second Corinthians eight and nine. I'll be in those two chapters mainly if you have your Bibles open to those. And here's the context the apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthian church and there was a great famine across the Roman world and the Jerusalem Christians. The Christians in Jerusalem were struggling mightily. And so what Paul is doing is he planted churches all around the known world and he's going to them to try to raise additional money it's a literal all in campaign in scripture to raise extra money to go support these people and help eradicate poverty in that area. And so Paul's writing to the Corinthian church, and it was actually that church who started giving above and beyond. Then they stopped and so the Paul went to different churches, and now he's actually using them as the example, the Macedonian churches, which is the church of Philippi, thessalonica and the St Mary, and he's saying look at them and how generous they were, and he's trying to spur them on to give above and beyond to support this church in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:So, second Corinthians, eight and nine I'll be reading some different sections in there this morning start with verse one. And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches out of the most severe trial, the famine, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty, and welled up and rich generosity. That's confusing, for I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. They pleaded to be able to give them money. It's crazy, and they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, in keeping with God's will.
Speaker 1:Jump to verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord, jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet, for your sakes, he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich Onto 13. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that, in turn, their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality. As it is written, he who gathered much did not have too much and he who gathered little did not have too little. So Paul ends this section. He's actually referring back to the Exodus and how God provided manna, bred in the desert and fed them for 40 years, and they would go out and they would gather this manna, and what he's saying is that the people didn't have too much or too little. There was equality.
Speaker 1:Now I know some of you hear this and you think this is socialism. This is crazy, but it's not. It's biblical and there's no government attached to what the apostle Paul is asking here. What he's saying is that the church should lead the way in eradicating poverty and injustice. See, I think I get so consumed with my own world and I forget the why of giving, and so today I want to focus on the why of giving, the how of giving and the result of giving. So the first why we want to look at is that injustice and suffering exist in the world and God desires the church to help eradicate the problems.
Speaker 1:So, like I was saying, god is entrusting the church with this calling and some have plenty and have an overabundance, and what he's saying is see those, have your eyes up and visually see those who are suffering around the globe and then, out of your plenty, give to those so that there will be equality. And I think I can get so consumed with my own world, my own living. I go to work, go to my kids' activities, come home, go into my garage, sit on my couch behind my privacy fence and just be consumed in my world. And what Paul is asking Christians is to raise our eyes up and see beyond ourselves and see the suffering that's around the globe. And that's what Paul is doing here. He's letting them know about Christians who are in great suffering and he's calling them to help above and beyond. And I believe he's entrusted this with the church.
Speaker 1:But I think one of the problems is the church hasn't owned this mantle and we've advocated our responsibility and looked to the government to solve these issues. And I don't care which color tie you cheer for in election season, I don't think either side has done a great job in this. But what if the church was moved by the gospel of Jesus and we raised up above and beyond our giving, and we helped eradicate suffering and injustice around the globe? This is the why of giving one of them. The second why I believe that a generous, generous giving reflects the heart of God throughout Scripture. So we see injustice and suffering and then we're moved and motivated by the heartbeat of God. We want to give because he's generous. And Paul refers to this in verse nine. He says, for you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. And this is the story cover to cover of Scripture. I think we look and we think that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. But when you read the Old Testament you realize how generous God was, over and above beyond what the people deserved.
Speaker 1:In the first few pages of Scripture there's relationship with God. There's sin that enters the world. They fracture relationship with God and then one of the first things God does is he sacrifices an animal and he provides clothing for them. I mentioned the Exodus, the people of God. They become captured by the Egyptians and they're enslaved for hundreds of years and then God uses Moses as a liberator to bring them out and they're in the desert. Wandering for 40 years is what Scripture says. And God provided this stuff called manna, which is literally what is it? And so the people imagine this. They would wake up every morning and they would come out on the ground would be fresh Texas Roadhouse Rolls just all over the ground, everywhere, right, and just cinnamon butter everywhere, right. It was a 40 year carload for the people of God. I don't know, but God provided an incredible ways and we see at the end of this journey, in Deuteronomy 8, what God says is that their clothing didn't wear out and their feet did not swell. I don't know if your Timu jacket is going to last for 40 years, guys. Okay, just a heads up on that one.
Speaker 1:And then we go to the New Testament and we see the ultimate generosity of God, and one of the most well-known Scriptures around the globe is John 3.16. And it says for God so loved the world that he gave. He gave generously, not a small thing, that he gave to humanity his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And this is what Paul's referring to. And he says Jesus, who was rich, was literally in the throne room of heaven being worshiped, gave that up, condescended in the form of a vulnerable baby who lived with an impoverished mom and dad that were unwed teens at that point, and he lived in obscurity for 30 years, lived a perfect life, died a horrific death to reconcile humanity back to God. This is the God that we worship, who had nothing, nowhere to live, no possessions, and then gave the ultimate sacrifice for you and for me. And so the why of giving is that we see the generosity of God and our hearts are changed because of what he's done for you and for me. So we see the why of giving. We see injustice and poverty around the world and we see the generosity of God to us and his son Jesus, and we want to be motivated to give Now the how God desires our giving to flow out of a generous, willing and transformed heart.
Speaker 1:We move beyond religious activity, but what God really cares about is the state of our heart and he wants our giving and generosity to flow out of that. Verse seven but just as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us, see that you are faithful, for us see that you excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want you to test the sincerity of your love. Go to the heart behind it by comparing it with the earnestness of others. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. See, god wants the heart and he wants our giving to overflow out of that heart and he wants us to see the things that he sees. He wants our hearts to care about the things that he cares about people in relationship with God and relationship with each other, and in some ways, I've seen this.
Speaker 1:We started giving our kids allowance a few years ago, and I want my kids to spend their money in line with how I think they should spend their money. I don't know if any other parents struggle with that, but I struggle with where my line is of suggesting things and controlling things. And so there was this game that burst into the scene a few years ago called Fortnite. It's a multiplayer I'm using the wrong terminology. You fight whatever and kill people and blow stuff up, I don't know. And so my son came to us. We started playing this game and there's something called a battle pass and skins that come out all the time, and there's a store where you can spend little money in a virtual game. And so I said, okay, bud, tell me these skins, do they help you fight better or run faster? No, and I was like whoa, okay, what's the point of these skins? You're basically dressing up your character like some doll to look pretty in a virtual game, and then every month, they're incredible at marketing. There's this new battle pass, where they release new things, and I just struggled as a parent to watch them spend a lot of money on these skins in a virtual game.
Speaker 1:I got permission for these stories too. My daughter, she's the center too. So there's this thing that came out a little while ago called a Stanley Cup. Men, I'm not talking hockey, so stay with me. I heard it the first time I thought, oh hockey, that's weird that women are talking about hockey. But anyway, a Stanley Cup women 10 to 50 know what I'm talking about and I'm convinced, if you want to make a fortune in this world, just create the next water receptacle that people are gonna drink out of, okay. So she wanted to buy a Stanley Cup with her hard-earned babysitting money. I said, oh, that's great. How much is it? $45 for a Stanley Cup. And I was like we have plenty of cups at home that are free, that work just as well to hold your water.
Speaker 1:So I find myself struggling as a parent with how my kids spend their money and I just wonder if God sees us and he wrestles with that at times and say I want your spending to be in line with my heart. I want you to care about the things that I care about. And if we step back, I ask you and I look at myself in this too. What does our spending show that we prioritize in life? Is it the things of God, relationship with Him and with each other? Is it eradicating injustice and poverty? I think too often I can look at myself and spend money on myself and miss the things of God. There's such a great invitation to partner with Him and expanding the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:There's a verse in Matthew 6 that talks about where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, so what you love the most you're going to spend time and money and effort on. And you see, our giving is more than just this religious act to get God off of our back. There are actually times in Scripture where God says stop giving. Stop doing this, because it was out of a terrible heart and a terrible motivation. You look at Malachi 1 and they would offer sacrifices of literal animals in worship and with these priests the leaders of that movement were doing. They were sacrificing the least of these, the crippled, the sick, the blind, and that's what they were giving to God on, all the while keeping the best animals for themselves. And what God tells them is stop it. Stop lighting these useless fires. I wish you would just shut the doors to this temple and stop offering these, because their hearts were far from God. But they would check in the religious box by giving. But what God shoots for is the entire heart.
Speaker 1:In Matthew 23, one of the two times that Jesus is, he's most angry. He's challenging the Pharisees, the religious leaders, on this exact same thing. He says it like this he says woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. Wow, you give a tenth of your spices mint dill and coming. Yes, it is coming. It's a different plant. Hopefully it's not your only takeaway today. It got some comments out of the first service Mint dill and coming. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law Justice, mercy and faithfulness. That's the heart. You should have practiced the latter. He's affirming the biblical tithe of 10%. More on that in a minute, without neglecting the former. You blind guys, you strain out a knot, like they would actually do that with their water with some kind of cloth, and he says but you swallow a camel. He's showing their level of hypocrisy. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You hypocrites. You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they're full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish, then the outside will also be clean.
Speaker 1:It talks about them giving and having these religious practices to be seen as religious by those around them. But their heart was terrible inside and I just imagine they have all their spices out on this table in public and they're just dividing it up and separating things out and they're just measuring it perfectly. So it's this perfect tenth that everyone can see. I'm giving my tenth away, but Jesus challenges that. It says, hey, don't quit doing that. That's really good, but go deeper. Care about what I care about Justice, mercy, compassion, eradicating poverty around the globe. Do both of these things at the same time. Okay, he's going for the heart, he's going deeper. And Paul doubles down on this. He says we want to test the sincerity of your love.
Speaker 1:In verse eight, the way we give and what we give reflects the love that we have for God and for humanity. And what's amazing I was reflecting on this a little bit there is no clear line between greed and generosity. You don't know where you are in that. You see some commands in scripture where it's like lying and stealing. You generally know when you're doing that, but being greedy or generous. There's no clear line, it's kind of this gray area, and that's the point. God wants the heart to overflow with generosity. You can give a ton of money away and still be extremely greedy. You can give just a little bit away and be exponentially generous. This is who Jesus affirms in the New Testament a widow who literally gives two pennies away and he says she's given more than you have because he's going for the heart. And so the how of giving we have to be transformed by God's love and allow it to overflow in our giving. Second, how God calls his people to give sacrificially, just as he gave sacrificially to us.
Speaker 1:This is what Paul's applauding with the Macedonian church. They're giving above and beyond. They're sacrificing their lifestyle to be able to help and support these Christians that are hurting around the world. Look at verse 5. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord. I believe that, supporting the biblical tithe, the first 10% goes back to God and I believe scripture supports this, it's genuine to the local church first. And then they did what they didn't expect they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, in keeping with God's will. So it's a literal, above and beyond, where they're giving their 10% and then they're giving even more to help with the all-in offering they're sending to Jerusalem to support the Christians who are suffering greatly there. Verse 2, paul says this out of the most severe trial, the great famine that's happening around us, their overflowing joy, their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. Now, having an equation up, this doesn't make sense. This is illogical. To see this Overflowing joy you're like, ok, I get it. Plus, extreme poverty equals rich generosity. That doesn't make sense. But God doesn't make sense sometimes. So what these Christians did is they were already impoverished, extreme poverty and they sacrificed even more out of a joyful spirit to give above and beyond to help people hundreds of miles away who are suffering greatly.
Speaker 1:There's a person named John Wesley who lived in the 18th century. He was a priest and he started the Methodist Church. He had a similar thing where he started giving, just excessively. So his notes, his journals, tell the account of it. It says that he was a single priest. I guess all priests are single, but he was way into good brandy to tobacco and playing cards, like priests should be. But what happened one night is there was a chambermaid who was coming and he just hung up a picture in his room. A chambermaid came by to check on him and it was an extreme winter. And he looked at her and noticed she had a very thin coat on to keep her warm. And Wesley? He wanted to give and he reached into his pockets and he had nothing left because he just hung it on the wall and God transformed his heart there and overflowed in generosity. And so that year his journals say he earned 30 pounds, lived on 28 and gave two away. Well, the next year Wesley's income doubled to 60 pounds. Yes, lord, let it be. And. But he kept the same standard of living at 28 pounds, and then he gave 32 away. The next year he earned 90 pounds, lived on 28 and gave 62 away. Years down the road, his income ballooned to 1400 pounds and he still lived on 28. John Wesley gave 98% of his annual income away and he was so egregious. The taxing authority then came to audit him. He's like look around, I've got nothing. I've got like books and a candle and that's about it. Okay, so I'm giving it all away.
Speaker 1:But this is the picture of who we should be as the people of God, willing to sacrifice and cut things so we can generously and out of a joyful spirit, give more away to expand the kingdom of God. And so I asked what? What are we called to sacrifice in this season so we can give more? Maybe it's just a few lattes a week, maybe it's going out to dinner a couple of times a month, maybe you look at your next year's vacation and say you know what, instead of this, let's go down and just have a road trip so we can give more away. But God's going after the heart. So we've seen the why, we've seen the how and now the result, which is my favorite part, because God does incredible things with generous giving. We have to see how the kingdom of God works. So the first result we have to know what's going on. So the first result we have to know this the kingdom of God functions with an exponential economic system. It's not just a one for one. God works in the exponential.
Speaker 1:9, verse 6, it says this remember this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Sorry Now, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. That's important. We'll get there in a second. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and, through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. So this is what God is saying, and God has entrusted us with wealth and the ability to make wealth, and it's not a prosperity gospel where he gives back for us.
Speaker 1:There's this twisted theology out there. Okay, but what God wants us to do is invest what he's given to us, and he has an exponential economic system. And so you see this, from the beginning of scripture, god creates and then says here is my creation, I'm entrusting it to you. He's doing the same thing with us today. He's giving us stuff and opportunities to invest it for his kingdom. But we get this twisted and I believe our culture says you earned it, you worked hard for it, it's yours, do with it what you want. And as the Christ follower, we have a different message. Throughout scripture he even warns the people of God and Deuteronomy 8. They're coming into the promised land and he sees what's ahead of them comfort and prosperity and he sees what it's gonna do to him. And he gives this warning. He says you may say to yourself my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me, american dream. But remember the Lord, your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers. As it is today, he's saying don't forget everything you have. The ability to get more stuff is because of me, and I think we handle things differently when we have that mindset.
Speaker 1:Years ago I was living in Austin and I was dating this girl. I was 20 years old and her dad bought a Corvette, right. All the guys are like, amen, right, lord, let it be so. So they come over one morning to my apartment and they're showing me this Corvette and her dad comes up to me and he says do you want to drive this Corvette? Right, and I have to play it, cool. But inside I'm like, of course I want to drive the Corvette. So we get in this Corvette and he's sitting next to me and you've heard this mantra before, that everything is bigger in Texas. It's generally true, okay, except for outdoor volleyball games and the 4th of July in Omaha, nebraska. Dude, you guys do a crazy here. World War III way to go, but speed limits in Texas are a little different.
Speaker 1:I think it was like 115 miles an hour on this highway, so I'm exaggerating. But he's sitting next to me and I'm driving out of the apartment complex I can still remember it I'm being so cautious with how I'm handling his Corvette. I get out on the highway and I think I'm going like 27 miles an hour on the highway right. And he looks over at me and he says Mike, what are you doing? Open this thing up right. So I slam on the gas and we take off. But you see, I was so cautious with how I was taking care of that because it wasn't mine. He had entrusted this with me for a period of time and I wanted to honor the wishes of the owner with how I took care of it.
Speaker 1:And I think this is the heartbeat of God. He supplied us with resources and the ability to make resources and he says invest them according to my heart and my will. And he uses this as an agrarian society. This is the imagery he's giving. He's giving seeds and farmers Shout out to all the farmers in here. You get it. You plant seeds to get fruit or vegetables or whatever it might be, and this is what we're doing in the kingdom of God. He's giving us the opportunity to invest things he's entrusted to us and then exponential results come. It's incredible.
Speaker 1:This is how Jesus speaks in his parables. Right, a mustard seed, the smallest seed, makes this huge tree. You see yeast, good yeast, work through dough and it spreads all throughout of it. They plant seeds and there's a harvest that they can't even fathom. This is the heartbeat of God. Jesus even refers to his own death in this way, the exponential benefit of Jesus' death, and John 12 he's talking about. Unless a kernel dies, it remains a single seed, but when it dies it has benefit beyond that single seed. And this is what we see with Jesus, who lived the perfect life for you and me. He died a horrific death and now we have life now and life forever. And thankfully, jesus didn't give $20 and 23 cents or 10%, but he had to give it all to make it right with God. And this is what God wants to move our hearts.
Speaker 1:We invest in the kingdom of God and this is what he says results, harvest of righteousness, and that's more like right relationships. Injustice is dissolved, like that's what we're doing with the kingdom of God when we invest exponentially, and this third year of all in this is what we've seen the first two years. It's incredible. There's exponential results. We take partners that you've submitted, we call them, we pray on it, we vet projects and then we invest your funds into these projects. It's crazy. You heard John Peter today talking about the exponential results in India. If you get our app, which is new and incredible our team works so hard shout out to Josiah Wood he won't like that, but shout out to Josiah Wood on this project. Download the app and look at what's going on there. There are testimony videos of the Brandt House Disney Elementary restoring dignity that works with refugees. You see breaking poverty and injustice. That has a ripple effect, exponential impact for generations to come. It's so cool. Lastly, the result. I love this one.
Speaker 1:People praise God and they give him thanks because of generosity. This is not the why behind we do it, but this is the result that God promises People will look and say what is going on. I wanna know more about the God that you serve. Chapter nine, verse 12, it says it this way this service that you perform is not only supporting the needs of God's people. That's a goal, but it goes beyond that the needs of God's people, but it's also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves. Men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity and sharing with them and with everyone else, and in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace of God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. This is what we see through all in Because of your generosity. People see the heartbeat of God.
Speaker 1:We saw a testimony our new Northwest campus. One of their partners is Standing Bear Elementary and it went out on Facebook that they were one of our partners in the 2023 campaign. And right away, a teacher from that school posted on our Facebook page and she said I am completely in awe of the generosity of your community and I think she's a believer. But y'all, when society, an unbelieving generation, looks at us putting our money where our mouth is, they're gonna respond because there's common ground with helping kids and families eradicate injustice and poverty here around the globe, and they may not get our theology or what we do. They're gonna say, huh, something resonates with me because of what you're doing.
Speaker 1:So, king of Kings, the last two you've been so generous. You've given over $300,000. What if we blew that out of the water and said we were over a million dollars in our first three years? That'd be incredible. So here's my invitation to you right now Take your phones out, or, if you already have your phone out, just swipe over from Snapbook and get QR codes on the seats around us. There's a QR code on the screen, there's a QR code on the seats in front of you, and just invite you to scan that right now. And as soon as you scan that, we'll deduct $1,000 from your bank account right away. But this will take you to our landing page for all in and you will see the partner organizations there, what they do, some testimony videos and there's a way to give on that as well and what we say in all in, as we follow the year, and we say a minimum of $20.23.
Speaker 1:And for some of you, that truly is a lot of money. I know for my kids who don't earn that much. That's a lot of money for them, and that might be your situation right now too. I think. For most of us, that's not much money, and so I encourage you to pray, to seek the face of God and what he wants you to give. One way my wife and I have approached this is we move the decimal point to the right, not the left. Okay, guys, but this is how we've done the last couple of years. It's saying can we go one? Can we? Maybe we'll see. I don't know, maybe that's a way for you to approach all in this year. Maybe it's some multiple of $20. Maybe it's just some huge gift.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it is but the goal right now is to pray, to seek God, to receive His generous love and then to give that. And we see exponential things happen in the kingdom of God. So I just invite you to stand right now. Just wanna pray over you. Today, the God's gonna do a measure, be more than we ask or imagine in all in 2023.
Speaker 1:So, jesus, thank you for your ultimate generosity. God, you're a God of the heart and we pray that today, that our hearts are moved and transformed because of your abundantly generous love for us. Jesus, thank you for that, for your life, your death, your resurrection. And Lord, you didn't trust us all with wealth and resources in different capacities. Let us see those as yours. You've entrusted us with those. Let us give back to you and Lord, we pray just for a movement of your spirit, lord. There's exponential impact here in Omaha, in this country and all around the globe. Thank you for these friends in this room, their generosity, their love for you. Lord, do mighty things in this campaign in 2023. So we love you. We praise in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.