Chase What Matters: Invest Your Time, Talent & Treasure

Find True Fulfillment: Invest in What Matters Most Are you tired of chasing things that never seem to last—possessions, recognition, or fleeting pleasures? This Sunday at Rockwell Church, join us for the final message in our series Chase What Matters Most. Together, we’ll explore what it means to invest your time, talents, and treasure in ways that create eternal impact. Based on powerful truths from Matthew 6:19-21 and Colossians 3:1-4, this message will challenge and encourage you to align your heart with God’s Kingdom and discover the joy of living for what truly matters.  Don’t miss this opportunity to refocus your priorities and take practical steps to live intentionally for God’s glory. Whether you’re new to church or a long-time believer, this message will inspire you to steward your life in ways that leave a lasting legacy. 

Rockwell Church     Jan 26, 2025     Pastor Chris Teien
Invest Your Time, Talent & Treasure
“Chase What Matters Most” Message Series 4 of 4  

1. RECOGNIZE the Temporary Nature of Earthly Pursuits (Matt. 6:19-20)

2. ALIGN Your Heart with God’s Kingdom (Matthew 6:21)

3. STEWARD Your Time, Talents, and Resources Faithfully (Matt. 25:14-30)

4. Set Your MIND on Eternal Things (Colossians 3:1-2)

5. PURSUE What Will Last Forever (Colossians 3:3-4)

Video: https://youtu.be/hF3MZ0Ltg3o

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

All right, so we're at the end of the Chasing What Matters series. And to me, in the beginning of the year, my thought was that it would be really good just to remind people of what life is really about, to focus on the things that really matter. And in my mind, I pictured this old guy that would sit maybe in his rocking chair and tell you what really worked in life, the lessons that he learned, the secrets that he learned along the way. So I'm close to that old man, but I don't have a rocking chair. So uh I do love leadership training books, and I really like John Maxwell. He was a pastor before he became a leadership expert, and I love all of his different 21 laws of leadership, and you know, he's got all these formulas for leadership and stuff, and I I really enjoyed them. And I suppose if I wasn't a pastor and if I didn't work in marketing, I'd probably want to do something in leadership. I really like that. But we're gonna talk about what matters in most, investing your time, talent, and treasure. And John Maxwell's written a lot on that, so I thought I would just share a few quotes. But if you remember, the Chase What Matters series was first um putting Jesus' kingdom above everything else. And then the next message was on priorities in our life. And then last week was about leaving a legacy and discipling others. And today is time, talent, and treasure. How you spend your life. You might not have a lot of time, talent, or treasure that you can control, but what are you doing with what you have a choice to control? So let me just read some John Maxwell quotes. Aziz encourages us to prioritize, to be effective. About time, he says, time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours, scientists can't invent new minutes, and you can't save time to spend it on another day. The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. That sounds like seeking, like Matthew 6.33, seeking first Jesus' kingdom and his righteousness, and he'll provide everything that you need. If you put God first with your day, if you put God first with your agenda, he can bless you and help you in ways that you could never imagine. Just watch for it and trust that he will put him first. So time management is not about managing time, but deciding how to use it wisely. And sometimes I go through different phases. Like sometimes I'm in a phase of life where I'm just coasting through, getting stuff done, you know. There's other times where I'm like super structured, I've got my little Excel chart, I've got my time mapped out, I've got my goals and what I'm gonna read and uh all these things that I want to accomplish and do. And so it's kind of like seasons, you know? It's like there's a time in my life where I just push, push, push, and a time where I just like, I'm taking a break. Um, but it's kind of planned. Um, I have a sermon, like I could tell you probably for the whole rest of the year and maybe into next year, what I might like to talk about. I'm not 100% committed to it because things change. You might notice that I often change the sermon titles uh as we get closer because it's like that's not really what I yeah. But to have goals, to have a reason to live, to have a reason to get up in the morning, even if you're retired, even if you don't have a boss, even if you don't need to work anymore, to just put Jesus first and wonder, you know, what could God do with me if I gave myself fully to him? And then to watch, to see where God is working and the opportunities that he's giving you. Then to just faithfully do the little things and do them well. And just know that as you're faithful in the little things, God can give you more opportunity. God can give you more opportunity to serve, more opportunity to lead, more opportunity to make a difference. Talent. Talent is an interesting thing. So some people think that they have talent. Uh, they were just born that way. This is a gifted person. And then other people are like, I worked really hard to get this skill. It didn't come naturally to me. People are like that with music, people are like that with sports, people are like that with a lot of things. So I I know at least one kid who seems to be able to memorize the lyrics of every song he hears. It's like he always gets the lyrics right. I don't know if he's a great singer, but he's always, you know, he can listen to a song and get the lyrics. So I have always been a world-class fracturer of lyrics. I always seem to get them messed up. So I'm not sure what he said, but yeah, nonetheless, talent is never enough. Maxwell says the choices you make, not the talent you have, will determine your destiny. Talent must be developed and refined through hard work, discipline, and learning. Identifying and developing your strengths to contribute to others and achieve your potential. So growing yourself, uh, learning. You might have the spiritual gift of teaching, but I think that you would do really good to go to teaching training and teaching seminars, and it'd be really good. If you want to teach in the church, if we have get you some resources to help you become a better teacher, because we can all improve. So many different things. You can improve your skills. Matter of fact, today, in the time that we live now, you have to constantly improve your skills because the technology is always changing. Uh, the job that they hire you for seems to always morph into something else, and either you can learn the new skills or you can be replaced by somebody who already knows the skills. You can be prepared for God to use you, uh, to be ready to be a leader, uh fully trained up, ready to share Christ, ready to share the Bible, ready to do things. You can be trained up in your quiet time on your own, as opposed to someone coming to you and giving you an opportunity and then giving you a year or two to get prepared for it. Now, usually when God calls people, they're fully prepared and ready to go. Or he calls them to prepare and then he gives them the opportunity for ministry, the opportunity to serve, the opportunity to make an eternal impact, even if it's just their job or their neighborhood or their school setting or their kids' soccer club or whatever. So time, talent, and treasure. Treasure. So you receive resources as you go through life. Some have more than others. Um, but if you give freely of your resources, your time, money, and energy towards others, if you invest in people, invest in the things that are in accordance with your faith, invest in the kingdom of God, give back to God for um blessing you with financial treasure, um, things will go well for you. And you will also store up treasure in heaven. And so that's the first thing is to recognize the temporary nature of earthly pursuits, the temporary nature of earthly pursuits. I've seen people that have like a room full of trophies of all the things that they've accomplished. And during the time, during the competition, that's what they were all about, is they just wanted to win the next trophy. And as they got older, the trophy room is you know something that just kind of gets ignored, dust accumulates on the trophies, um, and life goes on. Maybe it helped them build their character. Team sports are really good actually for helping to train people up to be uh useful in society, but sometimes we pursue things that don't last. We pay lots of money for vehicles, and then the salt destroys it. So I'm not sure which color of salt is the worst. I've seen purple salt, brown salt, green salt. And the other day I was like behind the salt truck. I'm like, yeah, no, I'm not gonna do this. You know, it's like I'm just gonna like look for a different router, pull over. I do not want the salt truck dumping salt straight on my vehicle if it hits the wheels and then goes, yeah, don't need that because rot moth, moth and rust. That's terrible. Because Jesus said in Matthew 6, 19, don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasure in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. I don't know what kind of treasures you'd really be interested in. If you had an unlimited amount of money, what you would spend your money on, the things that you would really enjoy. Um, on one hand, I would really like to have an old classic car like a 68 Roadrunner with a 440 Magnum rust-free. Actually, I got to car set one of those for a month in Tennessee, and that was really fun. I I need that car, but I wouldn't be able to enjoy that car because you couldn't leave it at the mall or park somewhere by itself because most likely somebody would come along and steal it. So you'd have to worry about that. So I don't know if you've ever experienced a problem with moths before. Somehow we uh had gotten some like nuts and fruit from one of the big box grocery stores, and I don't know what the deal was, but it was just in the cat in the pantry, and I looked and I'm like, oh my goodness, it's alive. And we opened it up and out fluttered moths. It was gross. So always check your food before you eat it. Oh my goodness, check the expiration dates because it goes bad. But rust destroys. You've seen the rust destroy um the treasures. The treasures don't always last. Sometimes people steal them through online scam. Sometimes uh you invest in things and it turns out to be a ripoff and you lose that. Um either way, you go through your entire life and eventually you die and you leave everything to someone else. Now, some people, godly people, are wise, and what they've done is they've uh structured a plan so that when they die, a certain amount of money goes to a church or a camp or a Bible college or whatever. Um, you know, they also share with their their family, but uh they've planned what they're doing with their resources. They're honoring God even when they died, and that can be a good thing. But to put God first, to not load up your treasure on earth. You should have enough, you should be self-sustaining. Uh, it would be great if you were able to put enough in savings that if you had a hard time, you wouldn't have to call out for help, but you could provide for that. And on the other hand, there's some people that have like tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, or you know, even million, a million dollars in the bank. And they're like, I just need that because you know I got to get through this life. And they won't do anything to invest it. They don't do anything at all, they just sit on it when they could be putting that money in action for the kingdom of God. They're just so afraid. It seemed like people that went through the depression were especially good at saving, and I'm all for saving. I'm all for actually the old uh give 10% back to God, save 10%, and then spend the 80%. That's a good, that's a good way to go about it. But to put your treasures not here, but your treasure in heaven is what Jesus said. So, what did he even mean by that? He said that we're to, number two, align our heart with God's kingdom. We're to align our hearts with God's kingdom. You know, just back to this treasure thing, too. Sometimes it's not even about money and possessions and bank accounts, but sometimes it's about position, esteem. Um, sometimes it's about how you want people to see you in society, because that's really important to you. Um, you want to be seen as the uh, you know, the head, the leader, uh, and you'll do anything. Even compromise your faith to make sure that you keep that. But Jesus continued to say, wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be. So the heart is the innermost part of your being, the center of a person's emotions, desire, and will. And so ask yourself, what is it that you value most? What does your heart really want? And is it in line with what Jesus wants? What if your heart were in tune with what Jesus wants for the world, what Jesus wants for your neighborhood, what Jesus wants for your family, what Jesus wants for your day? What if that was in tune with that? And then to live that out. So nobody really knows your heart unless you share what's on your heart. But Jesus knows your heart, he knows your motives, and he can reward you for having that. To being a good steward, to see yourself as a good steward of God's resources instead of just an owner, and to know that uh there's eternal treasure, eternal value that comes from that. You could be making a difference in the world with your resources instead of just hoarding them, saving them, keeping them for yourself. Don't miss out. So Jesus says, wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Again, stewards. So a steward of your time, talents, and resources. Um, to faithfully use those. How do you use those? So it'd be easy for me as a pastor to get up here and you know tell you all the stuff that I do, because I'm a pastor and so I get to do that. You know, I get to spend a lot of time in God's word because that's you know part of my job, where you have a job and you also need to spend time in God's word. So I'm fully committed to the church and uh seeing it thrive and success and succeed because I have you know an interest and uh but I'm more um committed to the church than than you would know. Um so the church has a budget and you know they purchase things, but I also purchase many other things that the church doesn't pay for uh because I'm not just about being the pastor of this church. I don't show up at you know 9 a.m. and go home at 5 and say that job's done. Now I'm gonna get on with my real life and said this is my real life, and I'm 100% invested in it in the church as part of it, but I am totally a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are not my boss. He is. You are not my employer, he is. And I try to do my best to steward my time, talents, and resources to be constantly moving forward, to be constantly learning the next thing, you know, when technology comes along. How can we use that to better the church, to better the kingdom of God, to make a bigger impact than the people all around us to be a good steward? And I was trying to be a good steward before I became a pastor. And so we were tithing before I got in church ministry, and we were volunteering in church ministry before I even knew I'd have an opportunity to be a pastor. And so it's been our life, and because of that, God has rewarded us, and I think that's why He's given me an opportunity to be a pastor, not because I went to school and applied for a job and got a got the app, you know, got accepted. It was because we were living the life, and then it was just natural for us to step into a ministry role because ministers actually are according to Ephesians 4.11 are not aren't supposed to do all the work. They're supposed to be equippers. Uh Ephesians 4.11, equipping God's people for works of service. So Psalm 90, 12 says, teach us to realize the brevity of life so that we may grow in wisdom. Do you ever think about that? How short your life is or the time of your life? I do not know how long I'll get in ministry. I've heard from the professionals, actually from a professional pastor search organization, that if you are old and act young, you can stay in ministry for a long time. But if you're young and act old, the church will replace you. And so I know it's morbid and weird, but I have a countdown timer on my phone to 70. So I'm I'm a ways from 70. So got quite a ways actually. But uh, you know, to think, okay, you know, is that when I time out, will I continue to, you know, will I become an executive pastor then or an old person's pastor? I don't know. But to just know that these years that I have are the important ones. So I just can't take every month for granted. I got to keep moving forward and making a difference for the kingdom of God. We don't know how much time we have, we don't know how long we'll have this freedom. We don't know when the next pandemic or nuclear war or fire or who knows what could come. But we have today. We have today to live for God. We have today to invest our time, talents, and treasure. We have this season. Let's use it wisely to think about the brevity, the shortness of this life, and to grow in wisdom, to seek God's wisdom, to want to follow after the Lord. That is so important. Okay, so in Romans 12, Paul lists some spiritual gifts. And so these are some things that you might already have. You might be on this list. There's some other lists in the Bible also, but um, in his grace, so these gifts come not by you working for them, but God gives it to you in his grace. And I'm confident we all have at least one spiritual gift, and I've updated my list of spiritual gift tests on my own website at christlyon.com slash spiritual dash gifts, and you can take some free spiritual gift tests, or you can pay money to take some other ones. Uh personality, uh, leadership quality, and spiritual gift tests, those are helpful. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. So now I feel that in the days of the apostles, that they were more likely to be able to speak out the word of God and tell the future. But now, today I think that prophecy is us not foretelling, but forthelling, speaking out the word of God, taking scripture by the help of the Holy Spirit, taking scripture and helping to apply it to people's lives. And so prophecy would be that. Then another gift is if your gift is serving others, serve them well. There's so many different people that serve behind the scenes that you wouldn't know. Janet is here all the time doing her financial part. And so there's people that help keep the building going. We need more people to do that. There's people that are running the sound and video right now. We need more people to do that, actually. Man or woman, teenagers allowed, uh, we need more people in the line that know how to run the sound and the video in case other people are out of town or get sick or whatever. Many different ways to serve. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. I already mentioned. Uh if you have the gift of teaching, you can always learn to be a better teacher. You can help teach others to teach well. You can help with curriculum. Uh, I think there's a great need in the world right now for people to write really good curriculum for churches. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. So, I mean that's pretty simple, right? But some people are, we all, every one of us should be encouraging others. Matter of fact, that's what the church is about. We're about worshiping, encouraging, learning, and loving. We should all be encouraging. But some people are just like super gifted to be an encouragement. They're the ones that are like writing cards and sending notes and coming up to you, telling you, I heard about this, and I just want to encourage you, you're doing a great job, or you're gonna get through this, or um, here's a resource to help get you through, or uh, you know, they're just great encouragers. If it is giving, give generously. Again, we're all supposed to give, but some people are just their life is about giving. RG Laterno uh was an industrial guy who uh trusted God in business and reverse tithe. He's like, God, of everything that you give me, I'm gonna put 90% back into kingdom ministry and keep 10% for myself. He was a great philanthropist. Uh God blessed him greatly. I think there's even a university uh named after him. But anyway, giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, it doesn't say lead well. It says take the responsibility seriously, take it seriously. If God has given you the ability to lead, then look around and see what you can do to make a difference, how you can lead, how you can get people uh on your side, how you can motivate them to do great works and to make a difference, how you can show them where we could go and how we're gonna get there, and how that is so important. If you have the gift of showing kindness or mercy, um, do it cheerfully, do it gladly. So, mercy. People need mercy, people need to know that God loves them, people need to know that they are cared for. I could need I could use help with visiting people who are hurting, who are sick, who are marginalized. So there's only so much time in my day. And some of the other churches actually have a visitation pastor, and that's what he does is he goes out and visits people. It's hard to spend half a day out visiting one or two people and get all the other church stuff done too. But discover your gift, use your gift, appreciate other people's gifts, and stay humble. Okay, so now I want to read to you uh this parable about the talents that you are familiar with. So I don't know if you've ever looked into these talents or these bags of silver, but in this, I'm using the New Living Translation, but in this parable that Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven and using our time, talent, and treasure well. So I guess. That a talent could be like 20 years of wages. I don't know what 20 years of your wages would be, you know, 500,000 to a million dollars. So if a rich guy came along and said, hey, I'm gonna leave you some money to invest, so I'm gonna come back for it, and you're gonna have to tell me about what you've done with the investment. But uh here you go. Uh have this talent which is worth a million dollars. Kind of makes the story more interesting, doesn't it? Okay, Matthew 25, 14. Again, the kingdom of Jesus is teaching, Sermon on the Mount. The kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities. And then he left on his trip. I just want to take a time out to say something that was brought up by somebody. So when I'm looking in that direction, I am not talking to the camera, I'm reading the monstrous screen on the back of the wall. Okay? Some people are like, oh, you just talk to the camera when you read the Bible verses, it's like, nope, I am not. There's a huge screen on the back of the wall, and I'm reading the verse from there instead of here. All right, so that's how that works. Okay, so back to the story, okay? So the guy distributes the money, somebody gets five million, somebody gets two million, and another guy gets one million, and they got their stuff, and the guy goes out of town. He's like, ah, see, I'll be back for this. So I'm going on a trip. Make me proud. And so the servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earn five more. What did he invest in? I don't know what he invested in. I mean, it's not like they had cryptocurrency or uh online investing or anything like that, you know. Maybe maybe he invested in sandal leather or parchment paper or something the Romans wanted. But anyway, so the guy invested his stuff. And so Jesus has given you life, he's given you time, talent, and treasure. How are you investing it? All right, anyway, back to the story. The servant with, as you know, the story, the servant with two bags of silver went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money. So they didn't have banks or safe deposit boxes like that. So after a long time, their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. Someday Jesus is gonna call us to give an account for our life. We're gonna stand before Jesus and we're gonna be judged not based on do we merit heaven, should we get into heaven? We're gonna be judged on what did we do with the resources that God has given us. Have we been faithful? So the master calls them and says, Hey, tell me what you did with my money. And the servant, oops, went the wrong way there. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more. And the master was full of praise. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling this small amount, so I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together. Think about those little responsibilities that you were. It was hard, but you got it done. And then Jesus saw that and rewarded you with more responsibility and greater opportunities. And that's when you really were experiencing the true adventure of serving Jesus. Just being faithful and being rewarded for being a well done, good and faithful servant. Okay, anyway, the servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more. And the master said, Well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling the small amount, so I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together. Did the master say, Hey, you did pretty good too? Not as good as the other guy, because I gave him more money, because I trust him way more than you. But you did pretty good too. I'm a little surprised. Good job, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling the small amount. So I'll be, I'll give you. It's not about the amount, it's about being faithful. So maybe you've got what you think is just a small amount of talent. Are you being faithful with it? Maybe you've got a great talent. Are you being faithful with it? Are you using it for God's glory? And then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, Master, I knew you were a harsh man and harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate, I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here's your money back. But the master replied, You wicked and lazy servant, if you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered crops I didn't cultivate, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? I guess they did have banks. I don't think it. I'll have to go look at my theology books on banks now. At least I could have gotten some interest on them. And then he ordered, take the money from the servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. So why he was afraid. He was afraid that he wouldn't have enough, that he wouldn't get enough back. He was afraid to invest. He was why are we afraid? We're often afraid that we won't have enough for ourselves. We're afraid that something bad could happen and we won't. If we give this to God, we can't, we can't trust that He could give it back to us. So if we if we give this little bit to the Lord, um we're afraid that we might come up short when actually God could bless and God could provide in ways that we didn't even expect. And then it says, To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, Jesus says, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. So it is a sad thing when we do not use the resources and talents, the gift and abilities that we have. And there's a lot of people that say, I'll do it when I'm older. And then they get older, then they have more excuses, like, oh, I'm not as healthy as I was. I don't have as much energy as I did. And it's always this excuse of why I can't put Jesus first. So think about this story in relation to this thing here. A skilled carpenter was hired to build a house. He cut corners, used cheap materials, and rushed the project. At the end, the owner handed him the keys and said, This house is my gift to you. The carpenter was stunned to realize he had built his own home poorly. Pretty sad that that carpenter was kicking himself. Man, if this was gonna be my house, I would have done it this way. Number four, we're just set our mind on eternal things. When we have eternal things in perspective, it makes it a lot easier. When we know this world is not it, that we don't die and then that's the end of the adventure. But actually, it's just like the pregame before the big game. It's just 1 Corinthians 4 2 says, It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. Luke 12, 48. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. In Ephesians 2.10 says, believers are created to do good works which God has prepared in advance for them to do. So set your mind on eternal things. Paul writes to the Colossians, Since you have been raised to a new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at the place of honor at God's right hand and think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. So to put that perspective, to know that this earth isn't it, you could actually be bringing people to heaven with you if you share your faith and do things to help them come to Christ. Um, so many things. Set your sights on the realities of heaven. What do you think about heaven? Randy Elkorn wrote a book on heaven, and it's a pretty good book. Um, there's some stuff in there that's kind of speculation that I don't know if it's in the Bible, like space travel, I don't know. But it's a good book. You should read it. And as you think about heaven, think about okay, if I've been faithful in this life, Jesus could give me more opportunity and responsibility in the thousand-year reign of Christ in the millennium, that we could have that, that just to hear Jesus say, Well done, good and faithful servant, just to be able to look back and know that I sacrificed on that time on earth for all these uh wonderful things in heaven, to know that you did well, to know that Jesus knows you did well, to know that God the Father was pleased and the Holy Spirit is like you listened to my prompting, you trusted my empowerment, you carried out my will, and you were successful because Acts 1.8, all power will come upon you when the Holy Spirit comes in you. You'll be my witnesses. Um, such a good thing. Okay, number five, pursue what will last forever. Pursue what will last forever. I already carried covered some of that, but you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all of his glory. What a great thing to think about. What a great thing to um look forward to, to know that you are investing your life, that your time, talent, and treasure invested into the kingdom of God is going to make a difference for now and all eternity. So uh, you know, I like to uh keep fixing up my truck. Actually, I just keep painting over the rust. So I go through lots of cans of black spray paint every fall to keep it looking black, and it works okay. But, you know, it's got a rust problem and it just you know continues on, but that's not my life. I need transportation, and transportation is expensive, so I'm glad that it's still working for me. But my life is not my vehicle. My life is not my position, my life is not um where I live. Uh my life is tied up in Christ, and I look forward to all eternity and what that will be. I don't know exactly what that is. The Lord hasn't exactly told us, but to just trust that whatever God's got for us next is gonna be pretty awesome. So I just want to, you know, talk about tithing for a minute. So there's a lot of confusion when it comes to tithing, and there's also some weird research statistics, like a recent one that came out said that 31% of evangelical Christians did not give to any charities last year. And so I'm like, how do they know that? So they can't see a cash giver. How do they know what people are giving? Churches aren't submitting that. So are they going on a little uh um survey thing and they're filling it out? And um yeah. The great 2024 study by Gray Matter Research and Infinity Concepts found that 31% of evangelicals did not make any charitable contributions the previous year. So is it because they didn't claim it on their taxes? Because it doesn't make sense for a lot of people to claim it on their taxes anymore because it's easier to take the standard deduction instead of itemizing. So it's not really a tax-deductible gift, it's just a gift that is one that you give, especially to the church, to help it move forward. So I don't exactly know how they can know that, but I do know there's been this big pushback against tithing. And tithing is old testament. Oh, people shouldn't tithe, though, tithing is so terrible. But I think it's a concept that is timeless. I think that tithing and offerings are timeless. So in Leviticus 27, uh it's God says to his people under the law, a tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord. It's holy to the Lord. Numbers 18, 21. 10% or tithing, 10% of income or produce was part of the Mosaic law to support the Levites, priests, and the work of the temple. And it also funded uh community care, such as helping widows, orphans, and foreigners. But tithing started before the law was given. Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Jacob promised to tithe to God in Genesis 28, and so it shows that tithing was before the law. In Matthew 23, 23, Jesus spoke on tithing. He said, Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, but you've neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have, you should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. So Jesus didn't say, Don't tithe. So uh Jesus acknowledged tithing, but emphasized heart motives injustice, mercy, and faithfulness. And in 2 Corinthians 9 7, it says, Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Um, 1 Corinthians 9 13 says the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive a living from the gospel. So that's part of supporting church and pastors and believers are encouraged to support ministry in kind of similar to the way that tithes support the temple. So tithing does not, you can't buy your way into heaven. Tithing will not make you right with God, but tithing can get you blessed by God. It teaches discipline, trust in God's provision, and prioritizes his work. So when we put God first, 1 Corinthians 16 2, on the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income to honor God and to support the church. So I I set mine up online at rockwell.churchforward slash give. So um automatically every two weeks, the number that um my wife and I have agreed on is given. And so tithing isn't a strict legalistic command. Tithing is a way for us to honor God. It should be the floor, not the ceiling. You shouldn't say, Oh, I'm only giving God 10%, can't give him any more. Instead, you could give way more than I've heard of people that uh have given, you know, 50 and 60 percent. They look for ways to give away their income, they look for ways to give away their resources. Um I had a great quote here. I always say it when I lose my great quotes. I should highlight them better. Yes, here it is. Okay. In Malachi 3.10, the only place in scripture where God invites us to test him, promising to pour out abundant blessing when we bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. So, on one hand, the church can't be the storehouse because people don't tithe. So if everybody were the tithe, we'd have a lot more resources to be a storehouse. But if people don't give, churches will die. And um yeah, it will be sad. But anyway, Dave Ramsey, who teaches people how to get out of debt and go on a budget, said tithing isn't about the money, it's about the heart. It's about trusting God with what he has already given you. In Ilmer Towns, in his book, Tithing is Christian, writes, Tithing is the first step toward financial freedom. When you invest your treasure in God's kingdom, it draws you closer to him and aligns your priorities with his. And my own experience with tithing has been that when I was faithful to give, um, over and above what I thought I could afford, that God was faithful to bless. And so I'll share that story on another day. But basically, we had committed to tithe and had a faith budget for what we'd be short, and soon I got a bonus and soon I got a raise. And so we've been tithing ever since, but we put God first with our finances. So I'll show you a super one minute video clip, and then the worship team will come on up here and sing. And then the next series is Love in Action. So Jesus said that people will know we're disciples by our love and what that means.