Deepest Desire - Psalm 1 - Deeper

All right church hey, we are in week two of our deeper sermon series and so we can't wait to walk through this series We're gonna be in Psalm 1 today. Hey, if you didn't get a booklet last week We would love to actually put one of these booklets in your hand right now So at all of our campuses no matter where you're out, we got volunteers going around So if you want to stick your hand up and we're not taking attendance, don't worry pastor Andrews not in the back Looking at who wasn't here last week.

Hey put your hand up. We would love to get a booklet in your hand And this is what we're gonna walk through over the next four weeks. I Love for you guys as we're doing that to go ahead and turn to page 28 in your booklet And I just want to remind everybody to kick us off this weekend of really what this deeper initiative is all about because yes It's a five-week sermon series But this is really something that we're gonna be doing for the next two years and it's a discipleship Initiative that we're gonna be doing in the life of our church and here is the big goal that I want to make sure Everybody understands and you see that at the top of page 28 The big goal is a hundred percent engagement from everybody that calls Mercy Hill home.

And so we say, okay What are we what are we talking about engagement with like how are we talking about a hundred percent engagement? This is how I want to challenge everybody under the sound of my voice this weekend. Would you be willing? over The next four weeks to go on this journey with us and with God Where you would truly ask this question God, are you my deepest desire in my heart? You may not be able to unpack that in one week You may not be able to pull the layers back in one week But would you commit to jump in with us over the next four weeks and be willing to ask that question God Are you truly the deepest desire in my heart because this is our prayer throughout this initiative We want to see God do something in us as a church and then through that we will pray that God will do something through Us but it really starts with God doing something in us And we believe that God has given our church that question that we're gonna wrestle with over the next four weeks God are you our deepest desire and today we're gonna do that from Psalm chapter 1 So if you want to go ahead and to turn to Psalm chapter 1, here's what we're gonna be talking about We're gonna be talking about your happiness Okay Some people think well God don't want me to be happy Like that, you know that can't be sort of a biblical thing that God just wants me to be happy Who in here wants to be happy today who at our camps is what wants to be happy?

Okay, if you didn't raise your hand you're lying. All right We all want to be happy I mean from a two-year-old to a 90 year old I mean, I think all of us for the most part are operating out of that basic desire that we want to be happy and I think that was kind of put in our hearts and We're gonna see that ultimate happiness only comes from God Yes, that's the right answer, but it may not be your real answer. And so that's what we're gonna deal with today You know What is it that we have in that place for our ultimate happiness?

And is it God or is it not God? so a little bit of an exercise here at the beginning if you want to go and Turn to page 57 our sermon notes page Maybe just write this sentence at the top and you may not be prepared to answer it yet but maybe throughout the sermon you will be able to answer it if God is not in that place of providing ultimate happiness for us You know, sometimes we think if I only had this then I would be happy Right, if I only had what would that thing be for you? If you're honest if I only had blank I would be happy Think back to the old movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Not the new Willy Wonka with Johnny Depp, but the real Willy Wonka, okay Do you remember towards the beginning? What happens to grandpa Joe when he finds out he's getting that golden ticket He had been laying in bed for 20 years He finds out he's getting that golden ticket he pops up out of bed in a second because why He would only be happy if and that golden ticket was his answer that was gonna change everything for him You know if I was as cool as Pastor Nico, I may sing the song or do the dance for you But I'll just read a little bit of the lyrics of what he said when he popped up out of the bed and some of you remember this He said I never thought my life could be anything but Catastrophe, but suddenly I began to see a bit of good luck for me because I've got a golden ticket I've got a golden twinkle in my eye. I never had a chance to shine Then he says never a happy song to sing but suddenly half the world is mine. What an amazing thing?

Cuz I've got a golden ticket. I've got a golden Sun up in the sky that was the thing that was gonna make him happy and Have you ever thought? Grandpa Joe was laying in that bed for 20 years while his family's in poverty And then he got a chance to go to a chocolate factory. He popped up like it was nothing That'll across your mind.

Don't go to the internet about that. The internet is super mad about Grandpa Joe laying in that bed Hey, but seriously, what's your golden ticket? You know if you were to be honest Man, if I only got married or had a better marriage more money got a promotion kid success accepted by friends You know crushed it at ministry Buy your first house Kids love Jesus the next big thing the next gadget see if we're honest many times Our deepest desire that thing we're fill in the blank of I'd only be happy if it it just actually may not be God And so that's the right answer God's the right answer, but it may not be our real answer and hopefully today Through Psalm 1 hopefully we can change that here's the big idea for today's sermon God desires to be your deepest desire God desires to be your deepest desire Let's go ahead and read through Psalm 1 verse 1 through 6 it says this blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers? But his delight it's on the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yield its fruit in season And its leaf does not wither in all that he does he prospers the wicked They are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous But the way of the wicked will perish Psalm 1 and the book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible Chapter 1 and chapter 2 is really an introduction to all of the Psalms And so if we just think about that longest book in the Bible we're in the introductory chapter and we're in the very first sentence and we're in the very first phrase and Many Bibles many translations literally start with happy is the man Blessed is the man So if there's any wonder if God wants us to be blessed if God wants us to be happy Just look at the longest book in the first chapter in the first phrase and it says blessed is the man So where do we actually go for that happiness? That's what we're gonna look at in Psalm 1 where do we commonly go as humans to actually find That happiness because there's some different places that we go And so before we get begin unpacking that if you have your booklet in front of you I'd love for you to write down three words in that booklet write down the word sin Write down the word created things and write down the word God These are the wells I think in general categories that most humans go to for happiness And so we're gonna kind of see and kind of pull those out from Psalm 1 Sin created things and God Let's look at Psalm 1 1 blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked Nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers So the first thing we see here is we are not going to find ultimate happiness and sin The very first thing that it starts out with right because it says blessed is the man I think you're expecting right after that. Okay, give me like okay. Give me what is gonna make us bless Give me what's gonna make us happy Blessed is the man and then it says who doesn't do these things? So this stuff is not gonna bring blessing So there's really when you look at it the way it's written here. It's kind of three threes Walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of Center nor sits in the seat of scoffers So you have this idea of walks stands and finally sits I actually think it's a really good picture of what sin does in our life who remembers back to when they were in like middle school or elementary school and Those first couple weeks of school could be super nerve-wracking when you got to go to the lunchroom Right, because when you're in your classroom, you could just kind of sit there do your thing You don't necessarily have to have a group of friends But when it comes time to lunch at least when I went to school I love lunch, by the way, Mexican pizza on Fridays.

The subs were incredible. I still love to eat at gas stations So it's probably from eating all those school lunches all those years But the thing that would make me nervous about lunch, especially if you go to a new school This first couple weeks. It's like man, who doesn't want to go to school? Right, who are you gonna hang out with? So a lot of times what you would have what would happen?

And we're gonna see this in the progression here. What do you do? You know those first couple days you just kind of like walk by You know, like you kind of hear what they're saying at that table and you're like, man, I'd maybe be interested You know and hang hanging out with them and then you get a little bit more courage and a couple days later What do you do? You don't just walk by you kind of stand there maybe over the table And you know, maybe they kind of acknowledge you and you acknowledge them and you you kind of begin to participate So you're a little bit more in right and then eventually if you're lucky, what are you doing? You're sitting down with everybody at the table Within a couple months. It's like man.

These are your best friends. You got your arms around everybody The point is that is kind of the cycle of sin actually and that's the point You know, you're kind of walking that road, you know, then you're kind of standing there and then eventually you maybe never thought you would get there You're just kind of sitting in it. You're just totally sitting in it You see a lot of times with sin, you know, we're like man, I'm just gonna dabble in it, right?

I'm not planning on staying there. That's the big thing with sin. I'm just I just kind of dabble around with it I'll just kind of mess around with I'm not gonna stay in it.

I'm not gonna stay in it. I'm not gonna stay in it But I don't think the guy who ends up sitting down in the seat with scoffers and not just sinners But scoffers like totally against God He probably didn't plan on sitting in that seat at some point in his life, but that's where he ended up Have we ever wondered because I've been there Have we ever wondered where you get yourself into some situation because of your own personal sin and you say how? Have we ever wondered where you get yourself into some situation because of your own personal sin and you say How in the world did I get where I'm at right now?

How did I end up sitting in this seat right here? It's one downward spiral at a time That's how sin works. And the thing is it doesn't satisfy us though That's the thing Sin it's satisfying enough to keep us coming back But it doesn't actually satisfy us.

It's somewhat counterintuitive You would think when we're not satisfied in it We'd stop and go look for something else But it's kind of like drinking a soda where it quenches just a little bit where you have to go and drink another one afterwards And let me ask you this on that circle That you drew that first bucket where we go to find happiness the bucket of sin the well of sin that we draw from If you're gonna sin, what are the most likely areas where you're gonna sin? You may be So new to church where you're like, I'm not sure I'm gonna write this down on this page At least I'm not gonna let anybody see what I'm writing down on this page But if you're brave enough at least, you know make that list in your mind or if you're willing write it down and I'd encourage you Especially if you're in a community group, you know go share that with somebody Hey for me if I'm gonna go after Happiness in the well of sin, this is probably likely the way it's gonna look Because you're gonna remove some power from that sin if you're willing to write that down Willing to name it and willing to share that with others So that's kind of the first well, we may go to to try to find our happiness I mean, but clearly verse 1. Hey that ain't where we should go Let's dive back in looking at verse 2 So it's not the man who walks in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners Nor sits in the seat of scoffers like that's not where we're gonna find it But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law He meditates day and night So what is it saying? Hey the blessed life the happy man the happy life. It's not verse 1 It's verse 2.

It's not this over here. It's this But see many of us and we're really gonna kind of slow down on this part many of us We never actually make it to verse 2 Here's why? Many of us maybe have left verse 1 Right, we're not necessarily like walking with the sinners and sitting with the scoffers and all of that like we've maybe left that But we're not quite delighting God more than anything else and meditating on him day and night so we're kind of stuck between verse 1 and verse 2 and For many of us our deepest desire is probably something created maybe Maybe not sin But something God has blessed us with has maybe become our deepest desire and so we're not delighting ourselves in him and We're gonna see we're not going to find ultimate happiness and created things and if I'm honest And I know pastor Andrew feels this way and this is really the vision of what we're doing That is probably the greatest risk for our church right there and If you remember the vision video from last week And if you didn't see I really encourage you to go to our deeper web page and look at the video But pastor Andrew in that video quoted Hebrew Hosea 13 verse 4 through 6 It says this and this is the risk for a people like us But I am the Lord to God from the land of Egypt You know no God but me and besides me there is no Savior It was I who knew you in the wilderness in the land of drought It was I who knew you in the wilderness in the land of drought, but when they had grazed They became full They were filled Their heart was lifted up and what happened therefore they forgot me You see what it's saying? God brought them out of slavery out of bondage now they find themselves in the pasture of blessing of Safety of God's provision of everything they ever hoped for everything they ever dreamed of and what happened? Because of all those things their hearts were filled up and they forgot God That should be scary to us You know I think about myself. I was a teenager.

I was lost. I was directionless God saved me Called me to ministry Gave me a wonderful wife. We've been married for 16 years.

We have three healthy kids We're physically healthy our marriage is great. We love the church. It's great serving here How easy could it be for me that those things? End up sort of becoming the pastor that fill my heart and make me forget about God Even though all those things are God-given but at times those really great gifts can really compete for our affections and So I think for me in this verse especially the second part of verse 2 Was kind of like an oh crap moment when I read it. Can you say that in church? Okay, too late now Because the first part is like okay his delight Is in the law of the Lord I think we could be like all right? Yeah, I delight in God You know I think most of us can say that like we're good like I delight in God. We're off the hook right and Then it says and I mean this may be the most important and in all of the psalms and On his law he meditates day and night What is it saying? If we want to know What we really delight What are we thinking about day and night?

Whatever's in that number one position is in that number one position I mean, I really think it's just as simple as that So what we think about is a tell for what we desire That's why I says a little bit like kind of oh crap moment when you read this you know It's it's easy to be like man. I'd like in God like God's done so much for me. I'd delight in him but Am I meditating on him day and night or something else? so the question is You know what do we ultimately delight in and this goes back to the introduction? you know if we were to take verse 2 and Say his delight is in and put a blank there. You know if we were to scratch out law of the Lord We put a blank there his delight is in blank and on blank he meditates day and night What would that be for us if we're just honest I? Mean I could throw out some examples I could imagine what that could be for some people his delight is in job success So day and night he meditates on job success Her delight is in her kids health and so day and night. That's what she meditates on Bobby delights in running so that's what he meditates on some of you are like that sounds like hell not heaven Why would you why would you meditate on that? You know their delight is in adoption and so in adoption. That's what they meditate on if I were to ask my kids What what really are they delighting in honestly three boys and probably Pokemon cards and Pokemon cards is what they're thinking about day in and day out for Grandpa Joe. It was that golden ticket For somebody they may be thinking about It was that golden ticket for somebody they may delight in having a baby and that's the all-consuming desire of their life You know for someone else it may be going to plan a church or doing something ministry related or going overseas And that's what they think about day in and day out you see the thing is though If anything is filling that blank But God it will not satisfy us It will not satisfy us on the deepest level and this is really what Pastor Andrews Sermon was about last week, and this is what we're gonna be hitting week in and week out over the next four weeks You know last week.

We looked at Proverbs 13 12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life You know I have Really physically experienced this some of you guys if your leaders here at mercy heal you probably know this, but so I lost my brother 13 months ago he had a 10-year battle with addiction and You know a lot of times in these relationships you know if you have a sibling or somebody who's dealing with addiction a lot of times those relationships were drift apart and I mean rightfully so many times, but with my brother. I just it probably was the deepest desire The deepest delight that the the thing that I prayed for more than anything else I mean I prayed for him.

I fasted for him. I tried to help him give money I mean it just was a consuming heart level desire. Here's a picture of us together Obviously we are brothers as you could tell Here on the right we both had a very same sense of humor, and that's one of the things I really remember about him But I mean I just I wanted him to get better on this side of heaven so bad So bad and didn't work out that way and he died from his addiction, and I certainly think God worked in his life but when you want something that bad and You put your hope in something that bad and many of y'all have probably had experiences like that, and it doesn't come true It is crushing on the very soul DNA level of who you are and One of the things I really learned from that and I don't know if I could ever do anything different I mean I probably do everything the same you know we're living in a war zone It's hard not to think about the war you know When you got somebody your family that's going on that's hard not to be consumed with that But one of the things I certainly learned is that I cannot put the weight of my life on anything, but God Because in a millisecond it could just be gone just like that All the best gifts that God has given us You know kids our marriages all these wonderful things Instead of worshipping them we have to worship God through them, and there's a big difference There's almost nothing sadder in my opinion especially after going through this experience Then someone in life who you can just imagine is climbing this ladder of Family or success or their marriage or money or whatever and they're just climbing this ladder their whole life You know and then they get to their 80s or 90s they're at the top of the ladder They're at the end of their life And they just really realize this ladder is literally just on the wrong building just leaning up against the wrong building and I've been climbing towards this thing my whole life and now it's about to just literally evaporate and That's what verse 4 says Look at verse 4 anybody who puts their hope in anything, but God The wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away Okay I'm not a farming expert like Pastor Andrew But my best understanding of chaff is it's basically just kind of a Plasticky coding to like a seed it's almost a nothing and so the Bible really uses it to talk about a nothing Like you have the seed and you have the chaff you throw it up on the floor The chaff is just so light and it's so nothing it just kind of blows away And verse 4 is basically making the point If you build your life on anything But God even if it's the greatest blessings that you could ever imagine that God gave you at the end of your life If that's the only thing you have built your life on It's just gonna blow away like the chaff and it's gonna lead to nothing The reality is only God can hold the weight of being our deepest desire That is the point of all this and this is why God desires to be your deepest desire Yes, because inherently that's what God deserves Because of who he is he deserves that everybody would desire him as their deepest desire But he's also so loving which is why he desires that we place our happiness and hope in him it is so loving that God would want us to do that and See we will find our ultimate happiness when God is our deepest desire We got it. We got to grab on to this right here And here's the thing I think we really need to understand There are so many things we can go after in this life There are so many good things that we can go after in this life that are not necessarily sinful You know some of the things I've mentioned what I was doing to try to help my brother Your marriage your kids like those are good things to go after But the reality is we have absolutely no guarantee that those things Will in a reciprocal way actually fulfill us or that those things will ever even happen so we may be going after something and putting all of our energy into something that will never come true and One of the guarantees we can have from this is that when we pursue God as our deepest desire He will fulfill those desires There's nothing better than having a desire fulfilled But this is a guarantee that if you go after God is your deepest desire he will fulfill that This is what Jesus says in Matthew 5 6 blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for what for they will be satisfied It's like the blaze Pascal quote there's a god-shaped vacuum in the heart of every human man Which cannot be filled by any created thing? But only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ so how do we make God our deepest desire in Some ways it's pretty simple in some ways not so much if we just look at verse 2 You would say well if you just delight in God if you just Center your life on him If you just think about him more than anything else if you just meditate on his word But here's the thing When I dig into this I'm kind of discouraged by that. I'm not encouraged by that And here's the difference between religion and the gospel and if we were just a religion Church I think this is what the message would be hey great news. There's a very clear path to your happiness If you just do the right thing by putting God at the center of your life, you'll be blessed and happy It's like okay. That's great news until we realize wait a minute I'm a sinful human being when I think back over the course of my life I have gone to the well more times than not of sin In the well more times than not have created things then I have God So is this chapter good news for me or bad news for me?

But here's the thing We're not just a religion Church. We're a gospel centered Church, and that's the right way to read the Bible And when you understand what God has actually done for you That even if you feel guilty right now man, I'm not in the right place I've not gone to the right well that Jesus offers forgiveness even for that and honestly That's probably the only way that we actually are really truly gonna love him the way we should is when we actually understand that What is first John 4 19 say we love because he first loved us Love is not something we start with towards God We start with going to the well of the first bucket going to the well of the first bucket we don't start with I'm gonna Center my life on God and See the cool thing is when you look at this word happiness and happy and blessed throughout the Psalms many of the Psalms that talk about being blessed are like Psalm 32 1 blessed is the one whose Transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered You see it's understanding That we don't actually desire God the way we do it That we don't actually desire God the way we should it's actually understanding that and Understanding how sick that is and the depravity of that that puts us in a situation where we actually can accept what Jesus has to offer for us You think about the story in John for the woman at the well she's going to draw water and Jesus meets her there and it's just them two and She's drawing water to satisfy her but in her life. She's been going to these different sexual relationships to satisfy her She's on her fourth or fifth relationship and Jesus meets her there in that moment And so clearly she's been going to bucket one bucket two That's where she's been going to for happiness and satisfaction and Jesus meets her right there He confronts that so bad news first But then the good news is Jesus doesn't reject her for that It's because of the sin and the brokenness He's gonna be there to die for her and to be willing to forgive her of her sins And what is her response?

She wants to follow him. She wants to love him You see it's only when we experience that That Jesus died for us going to the well of sin Jesus died for us going to the well of idolatry which is that second one But in our hope and created things Jesus died for that for our sins and was resurrected on our behalf That's how we understand that he first loved us and that's how we truly can love him So yes, it's discouraging we read verse two. We're like, I'm not sure I'm meditating on him day and night but then we also have to think but God still loves me and He's still willing to have a relationship with me and hopefully that would create love in our hearts So here's the application today respond to Jesus's love by making God your deepest desire You see when you really truly experience forgiveness when you know how bad you were and that Jesus was willing to forgive you That's the only thing that can truly teach you. Hey, this is the water that will satisfy This is the well that will truly satisfy me And that's what Jesus said in John 4 14 right after this interaction he had with this woman He said whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again The water that I will give him will be coming him a spring of water welling up to eternal life you see that water that is what can fill our deepest desire and when the roots of your life You see this magnolia tree here when the roots of your life Begin to taste and experience what will truly give it life, which is the water Everything will begin to change in your life You see it doesn't start with what God's gonna do through you it starts with what God's gonna do in you but when those roots It's the exact opposite of sin what happens with sin It's a downward spiral of being unsatisfied and you have to keep going back because you're not satisfied in it Being satisfied in God is the exact opposite those roots begin to go down and as they taste that water One of my favorite parts and pastor Andrew's video where he says find the water find the water find the water that's what these roots are trying to do and That's what we get in verse 3 What will happen in our life once we truly? Go to God as our deepest desire those roots will begin to find water and our hearts will begin to change Those roots will begin to find water and we our hearts will be nourished in a way that they have never been nourished before And what will happen we'll see all this fruit begin to pop up in our lives He is like a tree the happy man Planted by streams of water that yield its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and all he does he prospers I'd encourage you to do this on your note page there at the very bottom draw yourself a little tree As you'll see I've drawn a tree here I actually didn't draw that our comms director Nate Smith through that that's an excellent tree draw yourself a little tree there and At this point in the sermon We see like hey, I can't start with the fruit. I can't start with the fruit I want God to produce in my life like he's got to do something in my heart first I've got to be the deepest he's got to be my deepest desire of my heart, but after that though Once the roots begin to latch on to that once the roots begin to taste that water it will begin to create fruit in our life So what I want to encourage you to do personally What are some things that you want to see God do in your life fruit that you want to see God produce in your life? Fruit that you want to see God produce in the church you see when God does something in us He will do something through us It may be character That he begins to produce in your life that may be the fruit that starts popping out of the tree it may be ministry The fruit of ministry as you're leading and sharing with others and serving it may be prosperity You look at the end of verse 3 and all that he does he prospers Think of Galatians 5 22. It's such a good example of man went when the internal is changed What happens the fruits of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness?

Goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law so what are those things you want to see God do in your life? over these next couple of years the fruit that you want God to produce in your life as You have him as your deepest desire Maybe serving or leading a community group or giving or going on mission maybe adoption or foster care And there's so many stories that are already coming out of people that are setting God as their First desire their greatest desire. That's where they're going to for their happiness, and it's radically changing their life And there's all this fruit that's being produced in their life, but it's not just individually We're praying that God's going to produce all sort of fruit corporately You know you think about deeper discipleship and deeper multiplication and deeper mission Some of the things we're really praying for over these next two years We want to see God Save 5,000 people that would get baptized here at Mercy Hill and then by year 10 ultimately send out 500 people to the mission field That would be a fruit that we can't just produce right God's got to do something in us and then something through us But we are believing God that he could do that through us The new home and hub that we're gonna build We are hoping that this is gonna be a strong tree for ministry in our community to plant more campuses to help revitalize churches To send out church plants to send out missionaries to the ends of the earth The worship academy we're planning on starting so that we can raise up worship leaders and people playing instruments from a young age Not just to fill the bands that we have here, but to be able to go out on teams that we send out to plant new churches You think about the investment into the actual infrastructure of the foster care system What God could do there through us Think about this with a story like the Northeast Campus You know that was a church that was dying and we had the chance to come in and kind of breathe new life into what was happening Man there are so many churches, there's 30 churches just here in Guilford County that are in just absolute crisis mode That if nothing changes these churches will absolutely die And what if God used us as he's working in us to work through us to see more stories like the Northeast Campus Where day one of that campus they're baptizing somebody the very first weekend Really these next two years for us are really about the next ten years What will God do through us? But we have to remember the point of all this though and what God is most concerned about is what he's going to do in us Not what he's going to do through us Because even ministry success, even the fruit of what he's producing Can end up becoming the thing that makes us most happy more than anything else I mean what a risk for me, for Pastor Andrew, for our church leaders, for our elders For that fruit to just be the thing that fulfills us and not God himself And that's why the point of all this what we're doing really is to say God we want you to be our deepest desire Hey guys I really want to close with this talking about this What's one of the primary ways God works in us and through us? Because I think it may answer a question some people have because you see in the booklet One of the big focuses of this is generosity For us to be giving towards the mission And so when we say okay, how does God use generosity to work in us and through us? Probably what most of us think and I want to help kind of correct this what most of us think is like yeah I get it God really uses generosity to work through us And we say it all the time like generosity fuels the mission so when you hear yeah generosity and the importance of making a commitment and all that We think yeah that's important to see the mission go forward That's important for the fruit that's important for God to work through us But I would say like yeah that's true but more than anything what we have to understand with generosity That's really first how God works in us And we miss this a lot of times I promise you we miss this God works in us through generosity And if we ever wonder why Jesus talks about money and finances and generosity so much in the New Testament It's exactly that principle And so it's important for me to close with that today because when we're talking about heart level things It's almost hard I think in Jesus's ministry to not talk about generosity You think about Matthew 6 21 what he says And also think about how we misinterpret this For where your treasure is there your heart will be also What do we think the way we read this verse is well you know Wherever my heart is like my treasure is gonna follow that right like that's logical nope that's not what he says What does he say and we're talking about heart today For where your treasure is there your heart will be He is saying that your treasure leads your heart period full stop that's the way it works A good example of this there's many people in this kind of age category in our church Imagine parents that just send their daughter or son off to college and now all the sudden You know they're wearing Carolina gear or where they're wearing app state gear They've never rooted for them in their life.

Why are they doing that? Because that's where their treasure is their son or daughter and now their heart has followed that And it's the exact same thing with money Wherever our treasure is that's where our heart will be And so you almost can't even get at matters of the heart without dealing with money and treasure and generosity you just can't And that's why this is gonna be a big part of this initiative Not for what God's gonna do through us, but what God is actually gonna do in us through that You think about the rich young ruler that comes to Jesus He comes to Jesus talking about salvation and Jesus beelines to money in less than 30 seconds Have you ever thought about that? I mean the dudes coming to ask about salvation and Jesus is talking about finances And what does it say? Jesus looking at him I imagine Jesus just like looking him dead in the eyes Jesus looking at him and then look at this phrase this has just struck me Looking at him loved him. He loved him He saw what this guy was wrapped up in wasn't bad stuff But he loved him Jesus loved him. So Jesus had to say this to him. So what does Jesus say you like one thing? Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come follow me Jesus loved this guy. That's why he told him that what's it say disheartened by the saying He went away sorrowful for he had great possessions You see how treasure is a beeline to the heart for what's ultimate for us for what we truly trust For where our happiness truly is Hey guys, I want to show you a video now for the conclusion of the sermon So check out this video and then I will come right back up We have been together for married for 10 years but known each other since high school We are high school sweethearts We have had many years to sit and think about what we wanted our life to look like We had checklists our plan was to get married start a family build our family dream home This is like a 10-year plan that we were going down and checking the boxes My whole entire life I focused on setting these goals and I've always been able to achieve those goals And I've pretty much gotten every single one I've put on that page And at the end of it there's just always been this feeling of great what's next We are now at our 10-year mark we have checked off the last box about three years ago Which was build our family dream home We're still unhappy We had more stress I started realizing like I'm tired of thinking about like what's next Anything that I put on that list is never going to fulfill me We put all of our eggs in the materialistic basket and we didn't really understand Listening to God we thought we did but it was always our mind telling us what we thought we wanted to hear It wasn't necessarily you know me praying and saying hey God these the goals that you have for me or these the goals that you have for my family It was more or less my security was coming from what I could accomplish and what from what I could do Making sure we're putting enough away from retirement making sure I'm putting enough away for rainy day savings fund Making sure I'm putting enough away for my kids to go to college and it's like okay at what point am I relying on God We prepared for our plan not God's plan And surprise you're having a third kid That was a blessing that at the time felt like something that was not on our list What a blessing that we get a kid to show us that we are not in control We really opened up to okay God has plans for us that are out of our control And we really need to be more open to listening to those plans and we need to let God put us where we need to be I mean even when we built our house it was you know where's the best school districts where do we want our kids to be in school at And it was us taking control and trying to figure out you know what was going to be best and from that came so much more stress I think because at this point I'm starting to focus more on you know giving to a point that it hurts That it's uncomfortable because that's really the only way to take me personally out of my comfort zone Because if I still have that comfort there of hey you know there's this savings there's this this nest egg there's this cushion I don't truly feel like I'm giving up that control Letting it go is probably the biggest struggle but for the first time ever I'm really deeply trying and we're giving with a straight forward attention When we're truly open handed and we're giving it to God that burden is lifted and that is an indescribable feeling Amen hey let's give it up for Steve and Ashley We know most of us wouldn't get on a video and share what we're actually thinking and believing so man awesome that they'd be willing to do that Hey I would love just the end of the sermon now kind of in light of that testimony video in light of what I'm talking about I'd love to reference this we're going to reference it every week these commitment cards you got last weekend And guys this is a tool this is a tool that's what it is more than anything else It's a tool that we hope that God is going to use in your life and this is how I would encourage you in light of today's sermon This is how I encourage you to kind of deal with this You know I just kind of close with you know our treasure actually leads our heart I mean that's what Jesus said and so I want us to use this as a tool to say God There are so many things in that second bucket that second well that you've given me You know wonderful family financial security kids like all these things in this pasture of blessing But God I'm going to make a commitment and what that commitment is going to reflect is that none of those things are in front of you My spouse is not in front of you my house is not in front of you my kids are not in front of you Nothing you have given me is going to be in front of you but my commitment to you Is going to be that you God are going to provide me more happiness than anything else And that's what I would ask that you would wrestle with with this as a tool to say man does that reflect That my treasure is going to lead my heart Let me pray for us Lord We thank you Jesus that you are the greatest treasure Jesus You are the thing that we should be willing to go and sell everything to buy the field with that treasure That's who you are Jesus It's only when we get that that we truly will want to go to you for happiness Lord I know I am so prone to go to the well of finding ultimate satisfaction in my kids or my wife or some other blessing that you've given me God I pray that you would take those things just like you looked at rich young ruler in the eyes because you loved him And you wanted to remove anything that was on the throne of his heart that was not you Lord I pray Jesus because I know you love us that you would be willing to do that for all of us Today and over the next four weeks I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.