Hope Church LV Sermons
The Big Journey :: Countdown to Launch Wk2
in September of 1999. God changed the course of my life. At that time in my devotional life I was reading in the gospel of Luke. That morning I was in chapter four. I came to verse 43. Here's what it said. Jesus was speaking and he said I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also for I was sent for this purpose. And that morning in my devotional time there were no lightning bolts from heaven. The ground underneath my feet didn't shake but I sensed God's speaking straight into my heart. When I read that verse and God spoke into my heart I didn't know all that it meant but I knew that God was calling my life my family to relocate to be involved in the expansion of his kingdom in some other city in the world. I went and talked to my wife we prayed about it together and here's what we did together we we put our yes on the table. We said Lord yes you say what was the question? We didn't know but here's what we did know Lord and yes it's about the only two things that went together right Lord anything else didn't really fit. So we said Lord yes we don't know when we don't know where God we don't really even know what we knew that God had invited us on a journey of joining in his activity right in the city of Las Vegas. Now there was a lot we didn't know but we knew God had spoken. This big journey is a spiritual journey to understand the heart of God concerning the long-term plan for a permanent campus for our church and our personal sacrificial investment in that plan. I want to give you a couple of insights that I think really give us a right perspective on the stuff we're talking about because it's easy to jump straight to square footage and money and details and buildings. That's easy to do. What's difficult to do is to make sure that our perspective is right so that we see it through the lens of kingdom and not through the lens of our flesh. That's very important. Here's the first one. When God birthed our church he had the world on his heart because here's the deal. The church isn't the goal. The church is the platform. The nations are the goal because when God birthed our church he didn't just birth his church so we could build buildings. He birthed his church so that we could engage nations with the gospel. God has blessed us to be a blessing. Number three, a stronger platform locally will increase our capacity to serve globally. Let me give you a summary. God did not raise us up to have a wonderful place to worship. He birthed this church to join in his activity of changing lives, multiplying churches, and exalting himself among the nations, the relationship to others. If you are visiting with us this morning we are very thankful that you're here but I want to go ahead and warn you up front that today's time in God's Word is going to be a little bit different. Typically here at Hope we are studying straight through a book of the Bible and we are moving verse by verse unpacking the scriptures. But this weekend we're to a place where we need to have a conversation as a family. You see at Hope we believe that the church is not a building. The church is not a location. The church is a family and sometimes you just need to pull together as a family and have a conversation. I'm sure you've probably done that with your family where you pull together in the living room around the kitchen table and you discuss some of the things that are happening within the life of your family. And today is one of those days for us as a church because we have been on a journey together as a family of faith. It's been a journey of surrender. It's been a journey of faith, a journey of sacrifice, and a journey of joining in God's activity among the nations. And since 2001 when a few adults gathered in a living room and Hope Baptist Church was born all the way until today sitting here in 2011 we have been seeking to join in what God was doing in our city, in our country, and around the world. And there have really been three spiritual foundations that have really shaped who we are as a church. And as we begin this morning I want to give those to you just to remind you of some of the foundations that we've been living in and that have shaped us as a faith family. First of all, over over 10 years we've come to understand that we're on a life-changing journey that demands total dependence on a big God. You see we believe that God is big, that God is great. He is in a category all by Himself. He is not like us but that we are in desperate need of Him. And we need Him not just in the major tragedies or crises of life or in the big decisions. No, in fact, we need Him moment by moment and day by day. We are dependent on a big God but another spiritual foundation that has shaped us as a church is that this life-changing journey involves joining a big God who's at work in a big world. We believe that God is at work all over the globe this morning. That if you look among the 6.8 billion people on the planet that are spread among a little over 11,000 people groups in 195 different countries on seven different continents you will find the activity of God everywhere because God's at work all over the world. And the third spiritual foundation that's really shaped this journey for us is that this life-changing journey is God's invitation to a big life. You see God has invited us as His children to join Him on mission to join in His activity of bringing humanity of drawing humanity into a relationship with Himself. And yes through a relationship with God we experience hope and joy and completion but also through this relationship with God we are allowed to have a life that is significant. A life that counts for something. A life of investing in something that will outlast us and that is bigger than us of joining God in expanding His kingdom. Those spiritual foundations have shaped us as a faith family and several years ago we came to a place of understanding that what God was doing in and through this fellowship had exceeded the capacity of our current facility and so we came to a place as a church where we said God we believe you're leading us to establish a permanent home here in this city. A permanent campus that we can use as a launching pad to send people all over the world. And last week I shared with you that our construction professionals are telling us at our current rate of construction we will be moving into our brand new South Valley campus in February of 2012 and we celebrate that together as a church we're referring to it as as a launching pad for a very specific purpose because you see it hope we believe that the church even though it's a good thing the church isn't the goal. The nation's hearing the gospel. The nation's hearing the life-giving message of Jesus that is the goal and the church is simply a platform from which we can engage nations with the gospel. That's why at Hope we don't judge our health based off of our seating capacity. We judge the help of this church based off of our sending capacity. And last week we talked about the tension that's going to arise in this fellowship when we move into our new campus all of us are going to want to stop and say job well done. But we can't do that because building a church isn't the goal. Building a church is just establishing a platform from which in the generations to come we want to send thousands upon thousands of people to the ends of the earth for the sake of the gospel. That's what we're praying for and if you weren't able to be here last week let me encourage you to go online and to catch up with what we talked through last week. I gave several updates about specifics with this new campus that we want you to know about. And so this weekend we come to what we're calling commitment day. A time for us as a church where we step out and for some of us we join the journey and for the first time you're going to make a pledge this morning to become a part of helping support what we're doing in this new campus. For others of us we're simply going to affirm that we're going to finish this journey strong. And a little bit later in our service we're going to have a time where we come up to this altar and we do that as an act of faith as a faith family. But before that happens what I want us to do is look at a passage of scripture in the book of 1 Timothy. So if you have your Bible this morning turn to the New Testament book of 1 Timothy. This book was written actually as a letter to a guy named Timothy from a man who discipled him whose name was Paul. And in this letter which we know as the book of 1 Timothy Paul talks about a lot he talks to Timothy about what it looks like to be a pastor some specifics about being an overseer and things in ministry. But then he comes to the end of this chapter in chapter 6 and he begins to give a message to the church as a whole. And that's the piece that we're going to look at in just a moment. I'm going to read 1 Timothy 6 verse 17 18 and 19. But before I do that I want to give you some clarity about a few phrases that we're going to read in this passage so that when we read them it's not just left up to your interpretation but that you know exactly what Paul was meaning when he wrote these phrases. The first phrase we're going to see that's very significant is he's going to say those who are rich. What does that mean? Well in this context to be rich means that you have extra resources. Those who are considered wealthy were those who have extra resources. People who have more than they need. That's what it means to be rich. Another phrase you're going to see here is the phrase good works. And what that means is to leverage resources for the benefit of other people. That could be your time, that could be your home, that could be your car, that could be relationships, it could be influence, it could be wisdom. It is you and I leveraging what we have for the benefit of other people. Then one other phrase we're going to see in this passage is the phrase be generous. And here's what that indicates. It means a readiness to joyfully distribute resources. That's what it means to be generous, a joy that you get a readiness, a willingness to distribute resources. So with that understanding let's read together 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 17, 18 and 19. If you don't have a Bible this morning we're actually going to put these verses on the screen and I would encourage you to follow along with us. Here's what the Bible says in verse 17. "Instruct those who are rich" meaning those who have more than they need. "In this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works" meaning to leverage what they have for the benefit of other people. "To be generous, ready to distribute resources and ready to share" verse 19. "Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may hold take hold of that which is life indeed." Now Paul says a lot here in this passage but I believe specifically what he's painting for us is exactly what generous living looks like. He's painting a picture. What does generosity really look like when it's fleshed out? I believe Paul teaches us that in this passage and the language that he chooses to use he begins with some negative, a negative angle on his language and he closes with a positive angle on his language. Meaning there's some stuff he says that we're not to do and there's some stuff he says that we are to do. But I want to begin by addressing what he means by some of this negative language. I believe what he gives us is really two warnings. Two warnings to those who are rich that I want us to take heed of this morning and here's the first one. The first warning he gives is this. "Apart from Christ, abundance will produce arrogance. Apart from Christ, if you and I are not walking into him with the Spirit and Jesus is not pressing his life out through us." Guess what? Our abundance is going to result in arrogance. He says people who have more than they need are going to be tempted to look down on other people. He uses the word "conceded." The word "conceded" simply means having an exalted opinion of oneself. And here's the picture. The picture is a person who is rich looking down the economic ladder at other people and feeling superior. That's what it means to be "conceded." Is you're looking at other people and thinking, "I'm better than you." You're exalting the view of yourself and that's typical because in most cases where you find wealth, where you find riches, guess what you also find? Pride. In most cases. And I know what some of you were thinking. Some of you were thinking, "Amen, I've been waiting on somebody to tell all those rich people in this church that they don't need to be "conceded." Because Travis, I agree. I've seen them. Some prideful, wealthy people go to this church. Well, here's the deal. And this is convicting, but it's true. This message is not for a certain group within this church. This message is for everybody in this church. And here's why. Because from a global perspective, guess what? We're all rich. When you look at it across the globe, you and I have way more than we need. We have an abundance. We have extra. God has given that to us and we are wealthy. Let me show you what I mean. For most of us, when we went to eat breakfast this morning or as you think about what you're going to eat for lunch today, guess what you have? Options. It's not if I'm going to eat. It's what do I want to eat? Listen, when you go around the world, that's not normal. That's not just the standard across the board. A couple of years ago, we brought a partner of ours from Zimbabwe over to America to do some stuff with our missions team. And when he was here, I remember hearing him talking on the phone to his wife and here's what he said. He said, "Honey, guess what? In America, you get to eat every day." But when I look around this room, for most of us, when we think about a meal, guess what we have? We have options. And take that a step further. For most of us, when we go to our homes, guess what we have at our house? An appliance called a refrigerator that we get to store food in that we want to keep cold. Listen, that's not normal. And probably besides your refrigerator, do you have a cabin or a pantry that has more food in it? Just for you to choose from. For some of us, we throw food away that we buy and we just never decide that we really want it. And so it goes bad. Listen, from a global perspective, that's rich. That's abundance. And all of us are living there. Another example would be our clothing. I dare say for most of us, when we went to get ready this morning, you looked at a closet or somewhere in your room and you chose of all the things I have, what would I like to wear? Listen, that's not normal across the world. Not everybody has that abundance. They don't have extra, if any. Another example is transportation. For most of us, we have a form of transportation called a car that we rely on for some of us, guess what? We have multiple cars. And for a lot of us within those cars, guess what we have? We have a piece of technology that tells us where to go and how long it's going to take us to get there. That's not normal. For some of us, within those cars, we have air conditioning units that keep the temperature to a right temperature so that we're not hot or cold. Some of us have CD players and DVD players that entertain us as we drive. Listen, from a global perspective, that's extra. That's abundance. That's wealth. One more example is technology. Probably it's your house just like at my house. I have multiple options for where I want to watch television. I have multiple options for where I want to get on the computer. And now we're even to a point we just don't have a phone in our house. We have a phone that we carry with us and keep in our pocket. Listen, that is abundance. God has given us that, but we need to recognize that we as a nation are wealthy. And here's the temptation that if we're not pressed in to God's kingdom purposes, guess what's going to happen? We're going to become arrogant and we're going to begin to think that we're better than other people in the world. And Paul says here, don't do it. Press those resources, press your life into your relationship with God so that you see things from a kingdom perspective and you don't begin to have a highly exalted view of yourself. Randy Alcorn said this, "If you have sufficient food, decent clothes, live in a home that shield you from the weather and own some kind of reliable transportation, you're in the top 15% of the world's wealth. Add some savings, two cars in any condition, a variety of clothes in your own house, and you have reached the top 5%. You may not feel wealthy, but that's only because you're comparing yourself to the mega wealthy." Here's what that means. That fact means that 95% of the world, 95% live on less resources than we do. So we can't compare ourselves to those who live beside us or other people in our city. We must look at our wealth from a global perspective and when we do, here's what we realize very quickly. We're rich. We're wealthy. Now, I know that there's some people here this morning and you're walking through a difficult time because of the economy. And I'm not at all making light of your situation because I know I've heard stories. It's difficult right now. But what I do want us to see this morning is that when we compare ourselves to everyone else in the world, we are rich. Last week, I showed you a couple maps and I want to put those back up there very quickly. Here's a map of the world. You'll see everything up there. I want to show you this map through a couple filters. Here is the map through the filter of population. You'll see that India and China got bigger and everywhere else got smaller. Why? Because there are more people in India and China than anywhere else on the globe. Let me show you the map to another filter. This is the filter of resources. You'll see that the United States got bigger and everywhere else in the world got smaller. Here's what that means. That there are more resources in America being spent on less people than anywhere else in the world. We have extra. We have an abundance and I want you to hear me say this very clearly. Resources are not the issue in America. I mean, look at the map. We have resources. Here's the issue in America. Priorities. Because somewhere along the way, we've started to think that because we have extra and because we have abundance, that we're to use it on ourselves. Listen, that's abundance producing arrogance. And Paul says, don't. You need to press into Christ and see from a kingdom perspective so that you know your resources aren't just for you to have and not to have a lower view of other people and an exalted view of yourself. A second warning that Paul gives us in this passage. Apart from Christ, abundance will produce dependence on possessions. That's the second warning he gives us as he's speaking with this negative language. Apart from Christ, abundance will produce dependence on possessions. He's saying those with extra are going to be tempted to put their trust in their resources. Look at the next part of the passage. He says, listen, tell them not to be conceded or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. We all know this to be true. Over time, as you and I live at a certain level of luxury, maybe that's a certain size house or certain elements of your lifestyle are driving a certain car slowly but surely our security and our identity becomes wrapped up in those things. It happens to all of us. Paul's saying here, don't let that happen. And here's what happened over the past few years. I'm sure some of us have had to let go of some of that. We've had to transition to a new level of lifestyle. And for some of us, our self-worth has went down a little bit because our identity and our security was wrapped up in those possessions. Paul says, don't do it. Don't let your abundance be caught up in your flesh to where you become dependent on your possessions. He said, I'm warning you. It happens to the best of us. And he Stanley said this, the number one competitor for your heart is money. There is nothing that you and I are going to be tempted to put our hope in, to put our faith in more than our money. Nothing will compete harder or more consistently for our heart than our money. But Paul says don't do it because it's never enough. Because every person in the room thinks that security will come from the next level of lifestyle. But Paul says, listen, there's uncertainty in riches. They can go away tomorrow. So don't prop your ladder up against your riches. Put your hope, lean into your relationship with God. Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter 6. No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth. Jesus could have chosen anything to say there. He could have chosen addiction, relationships, hobbies. He could have said anything but he chose to say wealth. It's a dangerous thing. And all of our hearts drift there. And here's what's typical, the more you have, the more abundance, the more extra you have, the harder it is to trust God. That's true. And before we move to kind of the next section of this scripture, I want you to take a minute and I want you to look internally. Have you found yourself as a place where you are looking down the economical ladder and thinking you're better than other people? Have you found yourself there? I was convicted this week. There's some areas in my life where that's true. Have you found yourself dependent on your possessions to the point that money is the controlling and consuming passion of your life? I found myself there in some areas this week. And here's what's important. Before we can apply the next two principles we're going to look at, we've got to be honest about where we land in this area first. Have you found yourself letting your abundance produce arrogance? Have you found yourself letting your abundance make you dependent on your possession? Some of us need to repent this morning. We need to go before God and agree that it's sin and ask Him to forgive us and give us a right perspective and allow us to not look at these things apart from Christ but look at these things through the filter of Kingdom. Well Paul moves on and he begins to speak from a positive perspective and what he really does here is he gives two characteristics of generosity. He's going to show us what generous living looks like and here's the first thing he says. He says, "I am to view my resources through the lens of eternity." We are to view our resources through the lens of eternity. Look at verse 17. He says, "Look, don't fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy." He says, "Don't put your hope in your riches. Put your hope in your heavenly Father. Put your hope in the source." And every human on the planet wrestles with that. We wrestle with putting our hope in what we have and seeing our things in light of today versus seeing what we have in light of eternity. We all wrestle daily with using our resources for gain on earth versus using our resources for gain in heaven. And here's why. Because all of us have a flesh that craves and longs to use the resources that are in our hands for pleasure, comfort and attention on earth. All of us have that. But the Scripture teaches something different. The Scripture teaches that as we press into our relationship with God, as we walk in the Spirit, we will not have the desire to utilize our resources for gain and attention and pleasure on earth but for reward and treasure in heaven. And I hope we teach some biblical principles that we believe make it much, much easier for us to view our resources from a biblical perspective, to view our resources through the lens of eternity. And I want to give those to you very quickly. And for a lot of us, we may want to write these down because these are so important as you and I handle resources. Here's the first one. It all belongs to him. God owns it all. The Bible says that the earth is the Lord's and all that it contains. It all belongs to him. The past couple of weekends me and Shara have had the privilege of babysitting my two-year-old nephew. And he's just learning to walk and kind of how to speak. So we bought some different toys for him so that when he comes over, you know, he's not bored out of his mind. And so we'll play together, we'll watch TV, we'll eat lunch together. And the other day we were sitting there and he was playing with some different toys. And one of the things we bought him was a shovel. And he sat the shovel down and was playing with another toy. And so I picked up the shovel just to look at it. And I realized that my nephew, Jerick, had learned a new word. Here's the word. Mine. And when he said that, I had a conversation in my head. I didn't say it to him, but it isn't my head. Here's what I thought. Boy, what do you mean yours? At what point did you gain the ability to purchase this toy? Oh, that's right. You didn't. You are way too immature to understand that that doesn't belong to you. That belongs to me. Now I didn't say that, but that's what was happening in my brain. And here's what's convicting. How many days do you and I grip our stuff so tight? And in essence, say to God, this is mine. And the whole time he's looking down on us thinking, you are so immature and you don't understand. It all belongs to me. God owns it all. Here's a second piece that gives us a right perspective. It all belongs to him, but he's entrusted some to me. There's some of the things that God owns. He owns it all. And there's a piece of it that he's entrusted to us as his children, that he's given to us. So here's what that makes us. That doesn't make us owners. It makes us managers. The stuff that I have in my life, it isn't mine. It's he has, he's entrusted it to me. I'm a manager of God's resources. Here's the third piece. What he has entrusted to me, I am to use for him. That's stewardship. What he has given us, what he's entrusted to us, we are to live day by day looking for ways that we can utilize it for the sake of the kingdom of God, not for gain from me, not for attention on me, not for luxury for me, but how I can leverage it, how you can leverage it for the sake of the kingdom of God, what he has given to us we are to use for him. And I think those principles should shape the way that we look at resources and they allow us to see what we have through the lens of eternity. And I'm not saying that God is telling you to give everything away this morning. He's your heavenly Father and he loves you and he longs to give you good gifts. But what's important to realize as he does that is that the end all be all for him is not that you would have good gifts. It's that he would leverage what he's entrusted to you, yes, for you to experience joy, but also for other people to be blessed. That is so important. But that's the first characteristic of generosity that Paul teaches us, is that we are to view our resources through the lens of eternity. Here's the second characteristic he gives us of generosity. I am to hold all my resources loosely before God. We are to hold everything he's given us loosely before God. We've talked about this before at Hope, but the one of the word pictures for generosity means on your fingertips. It means that you and I hold everything that God's given us loosely on our fingertips. And at whatever point God speaks into our life and calls us to live generously, we distribute it. And honestly, that's what I hope this week has been for your family. If you've prayed about this big journey, pledge, and offering that you've just looked at the things in your life that God has given you as you're holding those on your fingertips and God, what is it that I have that you would like for me to invest into the big journey? That's what it's been. It's not obligation. It's not us making you do something. It's you spending time with your heavenly father and asking him, "God, what are you leading me to invest out of what you've entrusted to me?" That's the picture here that Paul's giving us. And there are really two expressions that are going to arise as we do this is you and I hold everything loosely before God. Our generosity is going to express itself in two ways. And here's the first expression. I am to live ready to make a difference by serving. I'm to live ready to make a difference by serving. He says, "Be rich in good works." He says, "Be rich in leveraging the things that you have to benefit the people around you." Man, you should have extra of that. That should be overflowing in your life. How different would people perceive Christianity? If you and I constantly walked with a desire to say, "How can I serve you? How can I leverage what I have so that you can benefit from it?" That's a much different mindset. And the common denominator in every person who will ever do that with a genuine heart is humility. It's also understanding, "Listen, I'm not superior. I'm not better. God has just chosen to entrust me with extra, with abundance." And so I want to leverage that abundance to benefit other people. Paul says here to be an extraordinary servant. He said, "Go over and above in serving people and don't let your extra time, wisdom, influence, homes, cars be spent on your lifestyle." He says, "Leverage it for the kingdom. Leverage it to benefit other people." But there's another expression that Paul gives. And it's this, "I'm to live ready to make a difference by giving financially." He says, "Be rich in good works. Be a servant." But then he goes on to say, "Be generous and ready to share." Meaning we are to be ready to joyfully distribute those resources, to give them away to other people. That's difficult. That's a challenge for a lot of us, but that's exactly what the text says. The opposite of this word "generous" is the word "spontaneous," meaning you don't really do it a lot, meaning you're not intentional about it. And maybe when you really feel some pressure, maybe then you'll give something away, but you're not living your life to really see distribution of your resources spill over into the lives of other people. But Paul says to live generously. That's what he says to do. And honestly, that's what we really want to make a mark with this offering, because I don't know if you know it or not. But 10% of everything that is given in this big journey offering, guess what we're doing with it? We're living like this. And we've decided that 10% isn't staying here. We're investing it directly into our partners around the world just to make this statement once again. That's not about us. It's bigger than us, and we want to invest into something that will outlast us. Martin Wood-Jones said this, "I regard myself as one who has the great privilege of being a caretaker for God, a custodian and a steward. I do not cling to these things. They do not become the center of my life in existence. I do not live for them or dwell upon them constantly in my mind. They do not absorb my life. On the contrary, I hold them loosely. I am in a state of blessed detachment from them. I am not governed by them. Rather do I govern them. And as I do this, I am steadily securing and safely laying up for myself." Treasures in heaven. That's the picture. That's generosity. And Paul chooses to close this passage by talking about eternal rewards. He says, "As you live this way, as you are over the top in your serving, as you're over the top in your giving, you are steadily securing for yourself a good foundation in heaven." I wrote this in my notes. "When I begin to understand that the way I handle resources in this life has direct implications in eternity, it changes my heart and the way I view money." Because here's the deal, what we're going to do in a few minutes. It's not about a number. It's not about how big your wallet is. It's about your heart. Nobody in the room can write a check big enough that God's like, "Wow, he owns it all." This is an expression of our heart and our desire to see the ends of the earth, to see our country and our city experience an intimate love relationship with God. It's not about the pocket. It's about the heart. I'm going to ask you a few evaluation questions. I want you to think about your life. Can you honestly say that what you do with what you have is honoring to God? Another question is your lifestyle, reflect and attitude that desires gain on earth or that desires gain in heaven. What is it that God has been leading you to do but you've been afraid to do because of money? How hard is it for you to obey God when you know it's going to cost you financially? I want us to wrestle with that stuff today. Randy Alcorn also said this. God wants your heart. He isn't looking just for donors for his kingdom. Those who stand outside the cause and dispassionately consider acts of philanthropy. He's looking for disciples immersed in the causes they give to. He wants people so filled with vision for eternity that they wouldn't dream of not investing their money, time and prayers where they will matter most. He says today more than God is looking at how much he's seeing past all that to your heart. He wants us to be people who see our resources through the lens of eternity and who hold everything loosely ready to joyfully distribute it as he leads us. There's one thing we've learned in 10 years as a church. It's that God's faithful. He's faithful and we can trust him. So today as you give, here's what I hope, that you can give with great joy to a faithful God who promises to take care of his children. To the point that I'll say this if you're here today and you feel like you coming to give is out of obligation or because you want to do it because the person besides you's doing it, listen, don't give. If you can't do it with such joy, understanding the significance that you're making in the kingdom of God, listen, keep your money. Don't give. We want to have an expression of worship in a few minutes where with great joy, we invest in God's activity here at this church and around the world. Because here's what I believe. Every time you and I live generously, we're conformed a little bit more to the image of Jesus every time. And we have a chance to do through this campus, honestly, what not many people around the world will ever get to do. They'll never have an opportunity to establish a launching pad like we are. They don't have the extra. They don't have the abundance but we do and we want to steward it. For what God's entrusted us, we want to steward it in a way that honors him. Yesterday I was just kind of praying through my message and I got a text message from a family. Here's what it said. He said, "Hey Travis, I know hope is doing commitments this weekend." And since we can't be there, I want to let you know that my family will be keeping our previous commitment to the big journey. And I said, "Thank you. What a blessing." And then they went on to say, "Hope is still home for us." And we feel that God has called us to that commitment. And just because we moved to another state doesn't mean we shouldn't fulfill it or continue to support what he is doing and hope. Here's what I love about that. Not the money. I love that a family has so caught the vision of what God's doing here that they understand there's nothing better they could do with their resources than invest them in the kingdom of God. That's beautiful. That's what it's about. A heart of gratitude and joy that wants to invest in God's kingdom. So as you came in today, there was an envelope in your seat. And I hope this week you've had a chance to really pray over this commitment card and what that's going to look like for you. Our team's going to come now and in just a moment they're going to sing a song that just gives us a chance to process. But you'll see on the commitment card there are several different options. One is for people who are new commitments. Maybe God has just brought you to this church. We're thankful that you're here and here's the deal we want you to be a part of the journey. We want you to join us as we seek to establish this launching path. For others of you, maybe you've already made a commitment. And here's what we're asking from you is that today you would choose to finish strong. You would say, "You know what, me and my family? We're going to finish this thing out. We're going to continue to invest faithfully." Maybe for some of you, God would lead you to raise your commitment. Maybe He's given you more of an abundance and you would like to raise your commitment. You can bring that as well. Here's what I want to ask you to do this morning. Live generously. See your resources through the lens of eternity. Hold what you have loosely and as only as God speaks. Only as God leads you to bring your offering today. Maybe some of you would bring a one-time offering. I don't know what He's speaking into your heart, but here's what we're going to do. Our team's going to sing a song for us. And I want you just to be seated and I want you to prepare your heart to give. Maybe some of you need to fill out the commitment card. But when you have that, just put it in the envelope and seal it. Our team's going to sing a song that I'm going to come back up and pray for us. And then we're going to have a time when we move and bring our offering. So I want you to be there just before the Lord. Maybe praying with your family. Just examining your own heart. Preparing to bring this offering today as our team sings.