MAR 19 2017 | Rooted S1E8

Sea Change Church · Rooted S1E8 · Adam Stadtmiller · March 19, 2017
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Okay, so hey, in this passage, we are in the eighth week of our Rooted Series. The Rooted Series is a curriculum that our small groups are going through, our community groups. We've got about 168 people in the church that are going through this curriculum, and it's basically how to walk in the shadow of Jesus, or like I said earlier, how to walk in Jesus' dust.

One of the things the Jews would say back in the day is you would find a rabbi whose dust was worthy to walk in, because when you walk behind somebody, you got dirty. And so it was an idea of humility to walk in someone's dust. And so Jesus was a rabbi that many wanted to walk in his dust. And this curriculum, and I hate saying curriculum, because it really is an experience. They're trying not to have a curriculum.

They're trying to have something you can look at and go into your life and change your life immediately. That's what we want to do here every week. I want you to have the opportunity that when you leave, you can make immediate change in your life. We want to give you tools. I don't want to fly at 30,000 feet and give you all these things to think about and ponder.

And sometimes we want to do that. I want to give you ways to actually change your life, to make your life better. To have you harvest joy like you've never harvested before. Not happiness, but joy. To harvest hope, to harvest peace. These are the kind of things that Jesus spoke about, and we want to live from a different center. The world is calling us to live from a worldly center. And there is a secular religion today that believes in man as God.

And they wouldn't call it religion, although they did originally call it religion. If you read the Humanist Manifesto version 1, it was called secular religion, and it says that we need a new religion. And now they've moved away from that talk because secularists today realize that that doesn't really work. But they said it at the beginning, and I'm going to hold them to it with the original Humanist Manifesto.

I encourage you to read it. And if you want to understand what's happening in our culture today, a lot of it started in the Age of Enlightenment, where we have moved from God being God to man being God, whatever man wants, whatever man desires, and the decisions that people of faith would say that are up to God, now we say that man has the ability to make God's decisions.

So man has been seated on the throne. Man has decided they don't want to be God's children. They would rather be God himself. And if you want to bastardize yourself from having God as your father, you can do that, and he will allow it. And so we look at harvesting our life not from a place of the world and taking the things that the world offers, but Jesus said, and Jesus is radical.

If you have not spent some time reading about the things that Jesus did, the things that he said, and we're going to see some of them here, Jesus was an absolute radical. Che Guevara had nothing on Jesus. Some of the radicals that you see in our society today or back in the past had nothing on Jesus. Jesus was absolutely radical for his time. And in this passage, you're going to see before this passage how he was getting into the face of the religious leaders.

Jesus didn't have time for secular religion, where secular principles had moved into a religion. Jesus said that true religion is to care for the widows and who? Yeah, the widows and the orphans. So Jesus says a religion that he is talking about is a proactive religion that is actually is like a die that gets cast into your life. It isn't a compartmentalized religion that is about following a bunch of rules.

It is about following in the dust of Jesus and beginning to live in a thing that we call dominion rather than control. When you're in control, as I said a few weeks ago, you are living within the boundaries, within the shallow confines of what your ability is. You only have so much emotional ability. You only have so much physical margin. And if you are going to try to control your life, then there will be an end to what you can control.

But human beings love to control. To live in dominion is to set down control and to say, God, I want to give you control. And so in these certain situations, where as opposed to going and trying to change something on my own, I'm going to take a day and I'm just going to pray. I'm going to trust that God is going to fix this. I'm going to believe in hope when hope cannot be seen on the horizon.

I'm going to believe in faith when you have no reason to have faith as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. In Psalm 23, one of the things just to say to you again, this is non-separative to the message, is once again, you never see us lying down in the valley of the shadow of death. We're always putting one foot in front of another.

And so if you are in that valley of the shadow of death, march on because we know that it will lead to green pastures where God would have us. And ultimately in Psalm 23, it leads us to living in the Father's house. We're going to look now because we come in this rooted curriculum. In Psalm 23, Jesus starts talking about money. Now in this church, I talk about money five times a year, about 10% of the year I talk about money.

One of the things that I have said on a regular basis, that giving is no longer required under Jesus. Everything has been given, so there are no more requirements to give. And if you ever go to a church and they give you guilt or they give you under compulsion that you need to give because the old, and they start reading a bunch of Old Testament passages, Jesus has freed us from that.

It is true in the Old Testament that there was a requirement to give. And if you did not give according to the exact way that God said to give, then you would be out of favor with God. And it would go into the sin category. But Jesus came and made a perfect sacrifice. And once there has been a perfect sacrifice, there no longer needs to be any sacrifices anymore.

We'll see that in Hebrews. So now you no longer have to give under compulsion. Why does a believer give today? Well, one, because we can now truly just say, God, I want to be generous. I want to help the widow. I want to help the orphan. I want to help my next door neighbor. I want to give to that mission. I want to give to send those kids to camp, whatever those things are, because I love you.

I mean, how good. I mean, imagine if your kids had to give you gifts. How annoying, right? If they have to give you gifts. I mean, I like a gift or two, you know what I mean? So it wouldn't be that bad. But if they had to give you gifts. But what's the difference? Have you ever had your child or someone come up and say, I just want to give this to you out of the goodness of my heart.

I've told this story before, but my grandma and I would always go get those drumstick ice cream cones. And you know, they're getting smaller, right? They're about this big now. I just pop one in my mouth. They're like bite size now, right? What's at the bottom of the cone? Yeah, right? The treasure. Get the chocolate at the bottom of the cone. You know what my grandma would do?

She'd get done with hers. I'd be all done with mine. She'd break the bottom off and she'd give it to me. Yeah, that's legitimate right there. I'm telling you what. You can trust someone who gives you the bottom of the cone. She just did it. Did she have to do it? No, my grandma loved me. In a life of spontaneous generosity. Now, we also want to have, you know, thoughtful generosity.

God, what would you have me give? That's a question we encourage all of you to ask. In regard to giving to this local church. In regard to all the other places you give. That you seriously consider, where should I give? But also spontaneous generosity. I'm just going to give that parking spot. Oh, over in La Jolla Village Square. That is tough to do.

I'm going to park over by the Petco in the far corner, you know. Let's get into this passage or I'll never get to it. Jesus is talking about money. And this is the first time this year that I'm going to speak about it. If you were brand new, I apologize. I'm so sorry. The only thing they talk about in church is money. I just hate talking about it sometimes because it's your first Sunday.

But nonetheless, a lot of blessing here. Let's read this again. Important. Jesus sat down. Right? Circle sat down. Very important. I believe that the biblical author sat down for a reason. And then circle opposite. Those are two key things we're going to look at. Where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.

Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small coins worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him. Jesus said, truly, I tell you, the poor widow has put in more to the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in everything that she had to live in.

Say the first thing here. Jesus is not impressed by money. When you are the author of all creation and you own the cattle on a thousand hills and beyond, you're not impressed by money. God is not impressed by amounts. God is not impressed by lavish gifts, by, you know, extreme, you know, exhibits. Like you'll see earlier in this passage as we talk of prayer.

He's not looking for someone to share the stage with. Not impressed. There is a kingdom currency, though, that he is impressed with that can only be bought with the heart. It is a kingdom currency that can only be purchased with the heart. Maybe the word isn't purchased. But we see that Jesus cares more about the way we do things, the how we do things, than exactly what we are doing.

And Jesus is talking to widows here. Let's get into this. This is a powerful passage. Okay, money is a central theme in the scriptures. It's all over the scriptures. And this, I'll tell you what, this kind of bothers me a little bit about Jesus. And I don't, do you guys, anybody else have trouble with Jesus? Like, it's okay to have trouble with Jesus.

There's some things he says I don't like. I still have faith and follow it. You don't have to like everything you believe. Does that make sense? I've been told for a long time, you know, you've got to like it, too. There's a lot of things Jesus told people they did not like. And there's a lot of things I don't like, but I believe them. The question is, can you follow when you don't like something?

That's the key. That's called obedience. And so we see money is a central theme. And Jesus talks more about money than anything else in the scriptures, other than the kingdom of God. Talks about the kingdom of God, but the second, more than hell, more than love, more than anything else. And you know, that really bothers me. I don't know if that bothers you, but I would kind of have a jaundiced eye towards Jesus with all this talk about money.

But money was a big deal in the religious culture of Jesus day, as we see here. Money had become a spectacle. The giving of money, the giving of alms, the giving of tithes had become this huge spectacle. And so perhaps Jesus wasn't so concerned about having people's money because we see that who held Jesus' wallet? Does anybody know who Jesus let hold his wallet?

Judas. Bad call, Jesus. Like, wrong guy. Seriously. Seriously. That's how much Jesus cared about money. He let Judas have his wallet, a known thief that would actually betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And so we see that the way Jesus' life, he wasn't really trying to get people's money. So what's he doing? What's Jesus up to again? You know, we see that Jesus is speaking about something that is culturally important, culturally central.

But also here, he's highlighting money's ability to make you its slave. That's the deal. And if you look in this scripture, here's what I came up with is this. Few, if any, possible idols. There's a lot of possible idols you can have in your life. Sex, power, whatever it is. Money. Okay? Few possible idols in our lives have money's ability to promise so much.

Think about it. Money can promise things that the idol of sex cannot. The idol of sex cannot promise everybody prominence. The idol of sex cannot promise everyone authority, cannot promise everyone power. It is somewhat limited, although it's still an idol. But what money does is money can offer you power. Money can offer influence. Money can offer leisure and margin.

It can offer happiness. I don't believe it can offer joy. I think giving your money away can give you joy. I've experienced that. But I have found that it can offer happiness. Temporary, momentary happiness. Money can even give you sex. We know that that can give you sex. Perhaps it can't buy you love, but it can give you something that kind of looks like love.

And at least you convince yourself that he loves you or that she loves you with this idea. So money, as a God, can offer so much. It almost offers everything that God can offer you. That is why I think Jesus speaks about money so much. And it strikes to the heart of our deepest fears. If we don't have enough, what will happen to us? It is the thing that sustains us.

It is the thing that we find our hope in. We know everyone has that number. It's all different for us. But we all have a number. And when the bank account gets to that number or below that number, you don't feel good. You ever go into the account and you're like thinking, Okay, I'm pretty sure my number is good. And you get there and something's happened, right?

And you're like 20% under that number. Or it's red. Like red's never good, okay? Just FYI, if you're new into finance. What do you do? I immediately, like, it can ruin my day. You know, just tighten you up. You know, like something happens. Like, you know, I remember recently I gave someone a check and they cashed it too soon. They didn't look at the date, you know.

And it was for rent, you know. Like that's, yeah, right. And so I'm looking. I'm like, you know, I'm overdrawn. Let's just say I'm overdrawn. And it's like a Friday, you know what I mean? And it's like 6 o'clock. You're not getting it fixed, you know. All of a sudden, I'm just, and I know I can fix it. But you're just, ah, you just get stressed. Money has the ability to sweep our feet.

And I gotta say that, you know, this is why so many of the great religious of the past, they renounced money as a lifestyle. Francis of Assisi. And he was, I think he was a little over the top, but I like him. He would go out, if he had any money on him, like one time he found coins in it. He was getting ready to go to bed or he was at night prayers.

It was like midnight or something. And he found some money in his pocket. It was like midnight. So he went out to find to give the money away because he didn't want to fall asleep with money in his pocket. Like over the top, in my opinion. But nonetheless, he is for Assisi. He's in your garden. So if you're in the garden and you have a statue, you've done something right, I imagine.

So I doubt there's going to be Adam statues there eventually. He would not. He renounced it. He would not let it. Jesus, now this is what's so interesting in this passage. In Matthew, or not in this passage, but in Matthew 6, 24, Jesus actually says that money can be a master. Now, if you go to the notes there, you're going to see this is really unique because the central lure of money is what?

Having lots of cash, you have the ability to have no masters. Do you see? If you have all this stuff, that's the goal. I don't have to work. I work for the man. You know? Or the woman. No offense. You know? About four other things I was going to say there. I just edit. You know what? You don't got to work. I need freedom. I need margin. I want to travel.

I got to get that car. You know? It gives you the ability to have no masters except, what does Jesus say? That it can be a master. That money can be a master. Many things can master us. And so in Matthew 6, 24, look what Jesus says. He says, no one can serve two masters or nine. Some of us have nine. Some of us have 52. Either you will hate one and love the other.

Strong words, Jesus. Back it off. Strong word. Hate one and love the other, Jesus? Really? How about like one and love the other? Like, back it off. But he says, no. You see, Jesus, like, one of the guys up front earlier said, you know, all in. Ben decided he was going to go all in. What does all in look like for you? You know, it doesn't have to be Francis of Assisi, but what does it look like?

Maybe it's just time to get your toe in the water. Let's just start there. Let's get a toe in the water, okay? Because Peter did that, and Jesus called him into the boat, and before you know it, he called him out into the deep water. Before you know it, Peter's walking on water, which is awesome. And so Peter had this amazing thing happen in his life.

You give Jesus an inch, he'll take what? Yeah. Watch it. So this unique central lure is if you have money, you will have no masters. Jesus says it's actually the opposite, or can be. By the fact, Jesus doesn't curse the rich. Jesus said you can have tons of money, just don't let it become your master, you know? One of the things I like about Warren Buffett right now, and the guy from Microsoft, Bill Gates.

They want to give away 90% of their money. I don't know what their relationship with God is like, if they have one. I don't know. But I think that's cool, you know, that they want to give away 90%. I think one of them wants to give away. I think Buffett wants to give all of it away. And he says, my kids don't need that many billions of dollars. We just don't need it.

He says, ridiculous. There's too many people starving in the world. I love it. But, you know, there's that sheep and the goats passage, and you wonder, I'd love to hear that conversation at the end of Bill, you know, at the end of their life with God, and see what that looks like. I don't know. I don't want to say what it would look like, but it's interesting to me.

And so, what we have here in this scripture is Jesus saying, don't let it be your master. Now, let's consume this text. There is a, this is a meaty text. I got a new French bulldog, and I give him this bone sometimes with meat, and he just chews on it. We can get into this text right now. Let's look at the widow's pennies. In the story of the widow's pennies, Jesus highlights, this is so good, Jesus highlights a woman who would not allow money to rule her life.

A woman who would only have one master. Highlights her. You know what I like? Jesus is up, he's sitting here opposite the money exchange. He's sitting opposite of that. We'll talk about that in a minute. And he's just watching, you know, he's just watching. And he's watching all these people do their thing. And then this widow comes up. And all, you know, some people, you would call people over and say, did you see that?

The guy gave enough money right there for a Ferrari. He'd call his disciples over. No, he didn't call them over for that. A widow comes up, and Jesus says, hey guys, come here, look, look, look, look, look, watch this, come here. And they all draw around. And when Jesus draws you around, and can you imagine him there and what it would cause? Because everyone's usually seated when people, Jesus had just finished teaching.

We'll look at that in a minute. And everyone's seated, and then people are coming up in this big procession to give their money. And Jesus calls his disciples up. So he makes a commotion. He calls them up, and they all gather around. And 12, I mean, he's got 12 guys. I mean, it's not a small group, you know. So he calls them all up, and he starts talking about this widow.

He basically takes the spotlight of heaven and puts it on her. This humble little woman who it says that if you have true religion in your life, these are the people that you want to help. These are the people that you want to care about. These are the ones you want to be like, actually. Jesus says weird things like, be like children, and the meek will inherit the earth.

I mean, just radical things. And he calls them over, and he puts a spotlight when she gives something, and he says, heaven applauds that. And I ask myself on a regular basis as I give or as I do things in my life, am I living to please God? Do I want to, you know, God's pleased with you because you're his beloved. If you have come under the blood of Jesus, the wrath of God is no longer on you.

And if you have not asked Jesus, that's the central message of Christianity. It's what makes it a little bit controversial, right? That if you don't ask Jesus for his shed blood to forgive you of your sins, then the curse of God and the wrath of God is still on you because of man's original sin. I understand that's an issue. It's a stumbling block.

It's supposed to be, the Bible said. But at the same time, once we are in the center of God's love through the blood of Jesus, it says, once we are there, we can still do things like we said last week to please God. That the spotlight of heaven goes on your life. You know, we don't want to live for that where we're trying to do that to show other people like we'll see in a moment the Pharisees were constantly doing.

But living a humble life that says, God, I just want to please you. I just want to please you. I want to please you with my life, with my generosity. I just want to please you. One of the things we learn in the scripture is the way in which we shepherd our money. And you have to shepherd money. You really do. You really have to shepherd money. The way in which we shepherd our money has the ability to release amazing kingdom blessing upon our life.

I'm not going to promise that if you give money, all of a sudden you're going to get a hundredfold. Huge churches make a, you know, a whole, that's their whole theology that they do that. I have found that when I have been generous and seen other people generous, that God is pretty generous back. I have found that. We have never been without food.

I mean, God has been so generous to us. And if you meet somebody who is regularly generous and seeks God on what to give and does it from a pure heart, you're going to see a, I have never met somebody that has been, who's gone a day without God's blessing upon their life, especially in regard to financial things. But I'm not going to preach that as a for sure, because God's God and he doesn't have to do it.

We can give and God could say to you, you know what? I still want you to live in poverty because I want you, I want you to know me because there are riches in me. I am what's of value. And so we're not going to promise that. But at the same time, God does say that there is this amazing blessing and heaven turns and he looks upon the way in which we give, especially with money.

We're calling it generosity now. It's a way cooler way to say it. It means the same thing in a lot of ways. There are other ways to be generous, but in regard to how you deal with actual cash and how you deal with it is up to you and God. And it says oftentimes the spotlight of heaven will turn to that in your life. It's up to you. So we look at Jesus highlighting this woman.

To understand this story though, we must understand the context of what has happened in this scripture. So if you go back one passage earlier from this passage, we see in Mark 12, right before here, that Jesus had just finished teaching and offered a rebuke to the teachers of the law. Jesus was the keynote speaker of the day. This actual event that was going on, it was like a Saturday or a day where people had had teaching.

And Jesus had come up and he was the teacher of the day. And then Jesus taught a really hard teaching. And then he went and sat down opposite. We'll talk about that in a minute. Opposite of where the tithes and offerings were being given. Now, I'm not sure. I tried to do the historical research, but I don't think you were supposed to bring your offerings up in a show.

You would give your offerings to the priest of the day and you would bring them to the temple. But sometimes that could be done somewhere else. You didn't always have to bring it. But now they had made it the highlight of the service, the highlight of everything they had done is bring the money to the church. And I understand that there are churches like that today.

And I understand why people hate the church. Let me use that word again. I understand why people hate the church, because when the church and leaders like myself get this wrong, it's not a good thing. And Jesus actually says that. And I don't ever want to be in that category. That's why I've said it many times. Sometimes I never intentionally look to know what anybody in this church gives.

Now, some people tell me and I and some people will come word of mouth or something like that. And occasionally somebody, you know, I'll find that somebody gave a gift and I'll know who did it. So but never on purpose. And I don't know what you give. I don't check the tithing rolls. I don't trust myself. I find that I'm just a lot better pastor if I don't know that stuff.

And I can just get about the business of God and let you guys and trust you to seek God and care for the church you go to. Do you care for the church? Do you care for the body? Do you care for what we're doing here? And if so, I believe that you're going to be generous in that. We want to disciple you to that. And so Jesus said, this is what Jesus taught.

As Jesus taught, you don't want Jesus coming to your church, right? Because listen, at least I don't if he's saying this. Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogue and the places of honor at the banquets. They devour who?

Like the one who was just walking up. See, Jesus knew what was up. He knew what was going to happen. The Holy Spirit had told him what was going to happen. And so he basically says, you devour. Now that widow was sitting in the crowd. Sitting in the crowd with two pennies. All she had to live on. Not half of what she had to live on. Two pennies to live on.

She's sitting in the crowd. All the teachers of the law. Now you know where they're sitting? Where do you think they're sitting? Front row. Best seat. Front row. Jesus just hammers them. Hashtag hammers them. It's radical. Does this amuse you? I think it's awesome. It says, they devour widows' houses. And for a show, make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished.

What? Most severely. Not severely. Most severely. Perhaps you've seen the princess bride. Mostly dead. Well, most severely. He's mostly dead. Let's look at this. This is amazing. This has really stuck out to me. This is powerful. Verse 41. Oh, you can miss it. You can miss it. Verse 41 here. It says, Jesus sat down where? Opposite. Not in alignment with. Not next to.

He's not sitting in front of it. Like here, watching people come in and bring it in and slapping them high fives when they put their keys to their car in. He sits opposite of it. And I think he's showing, and I think the author is trying to say, that Jesus is sitting opposite to what is happening. He is setting himself opposite. Now, this is my interpretation of this text.

I don't think there's enough in the text to say that that's true, but I think it's interesting. So we'll just put hashtag interesting on that one. But this, I think, does have enough backing. It says, he sat down opposite the place where the offerings were being put and watched the crowd putting their money in the temple treasury. If you want to do a study of Jesus sitting down in scripture, Jesus, the posture of Jesus is definitely something that is put in scripture for a reason.

Jesus kneels down when he has the broken woman who is caught in the act of adultery. And he writes in the ground. Jesus sits down in John chapter four or five, where he sits with the woman at the well. Jesus has this incredible posture. And so Jesus sits down here. And I think it was on purpose. And we see that there's another time in scripture, perhaps one of the most powerful, probably the most powerful posture that Jesus will ever take in the scripture that I see.

And it is in the book of Hebrews. This came out to me while I was studying. And I thought, where else is Jesus stood up or sat down? And it shows it in the book of Hebrews. And if it's on the screen, it says, and after what? He had provided purification or offering. The word that I have is offering. After he had provided purification or a perfect sacrifice, he sat down at where?

The right hand of God. He didn't sit opposite of God. Didn't sit opposite of God. Where did he sit down after a perfect sacrifice? He sat down at the right hand side of God. He sat right next to God. So that Jesus offers it, and he sits at the right hand of the majesty of heaven. This is so important. After making a perfect offering, Jesus sat down.

And so in this scripture, I believe this. Jesus is showing two types of offerings that we can actually model in our lives. We can model this one that is all about you or the pressure valve, you know. Like, I'm just going to give a left so I don't feel guilty anymore. Never give because of that, please. Like, don't waste your time. Like, you know, a little bit.

I'm just going to throw a little something. I mean, okay, I feel a little bit better. Jesus never wants you to do that. Jesus wants you to go and sit with him and say, God, what would you have for me? Jesus, what do you pray? I'll pray. What do you say? I'll say. What you do, I'll do. Show me what to do. He wants relationship. He doesn't want robots.

That's why he died on the cross. That's why you don't have to give anymore. He wants you to take time and make this something that's important. He had a perfect sacrifice. It was so opposite of these imperfect, big sacrifices that were happening. And he modeled it and he showed a woman who came up. And while we can do nothing in perfection, when we do things in the partnership and collaboration with God, they get the cloak of Christ's perfection upon them.

And so when we do something in the name of Jesus, the perfection of Jesus goes over that. And I believe that because of partnering and collaborating with God in the way in which she gave and the heart in which she gave, that she gave a perfect sacrifice. And so we see Jesus showing what would eventually happen. There is no more need for sacrifice anymore unless you just want to love God and care for him.

And we give out of a complete place. And I found that incredibly powerful this week as I looked at that. See, giving had become a spectacle. It says, when you give to the needy in Matthew 6, Jesus says, but when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. They've made it a spectacle, a complete spectacle.

So that your giving may be in secret. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. You know, one of the people I have to keep my giving from is myself. Sometimes I give and I think that was awesome. You're pretty awesome, Adam. Adam, you rocked it. Thank you very much. You sure did. You know, when I start congratulating myself on being faithful to God, I just waste the time.

You know, if you were at the men's breakfast yesterday, Dick Cotton spoke. It was rich. It was a rich time yesterday. And, you know, we spoke about why we do things. You know, we're just sinners. He's had an amazing life. Him and Evie have had an amazing life. The kind of life you write a book about. Like, amazing. And the thing Dick would tell you is, it's all because of Jesus.

Like, I'm nothing. It's all because of Jesus. He said it so many times yesterday. It became the central theme of what he was talking about. The bronze star saved two men's life on the enemy lines against the Germans. And, you know, all these things that had happened. A huge business career. None of it means anything to him. What matters to him is serving Jesus.

He talked quickly about integrity. He said, you know what I did every day? I love this about integrity. He said, when I was on the road a lot, 30% of the time I was on the road. And he said, I would go have my dinner at 6 p.m. I would go to my hotel room and I'd lock the door. Because I wanted to have integrity in my life. And then I'd call my wife who was having devotion was with the kids.

And I would speak to my wife. And then I'd pray with her and each of the kids. Or talk to them each evening at 6 p.m. You want a businessman who travels a lot, know how to have a model, a map for integrity? Yeah, that's how you do it. It's saying that, you know, I had locked myself in my room. That was like in the 60s. What do you got to do now? Put a bolt on the door.

You know what I mean? Get a dog. Get a dog. We're circling the tower. I'm almost done. Jesus called his disciples in verse 43 to him. Jesus said, truly I tell you, this widow has put in more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty. Put in everything she had to live on. It's radical. Jesus here is speaking about kingdom currency.

How can she give more? She can't give more. Because there's a difference between what this world values, which is passing away, and kingdom currency. I want kingdom currency in my life. I want hope. Because when we go after the things in our lives, generosity, care, forgiveness, we implement the weapons of our warfare, as it talks about in the scripture.

Hope, joy, worship, the word of God. When you make these things the culture of your life, it will begin to release kingdom currency into your life. And you'll have exponentially more in all areas of your life. Because you are saying, I want to live from a different set of tools. I want to use a different set of tools in my life. I don't want to live on bitterness and grumbling.

I'm a grumbler. Man, I've been realizing I'm a mutterer. You ever read the scripture? Mutter. Everybody else, I catch myself muttering. My daughter said, what are you doing? I'm like, nothing. You know? Muttering. I'm muttering. I don't want to be a mutterer. Jewish leaders muttered, it said. Remember that? It said they muttered. I don't want to be a mutterer.

Muttering doesn't do anything for me. Speaking God's truth and switching over from muttering to speaking hope and joy. Jesus is speaking about kingdom currency. I already said this. The way we shepherd our finances is the ability to unlock kingdom blessing. Huge. Huge. And finally, she gave out of her poverty more than they had the, excuse me, she gave out of her poverty.

Or more aptly put, from a place of faith. She wasn't going to let money be a master. And she was going to give out of a place of faith. But you know what? I believe that there's a power, a force, a father. That's the difference with Christianity is it offers you a father. A lot of other religions. They offer you a God within yourself. They offer you a lot of other stuff.

Christianity offers you a father that says, I'm your father. You will be my beloved. That's, it's radical. It's so unbelievable. The whole story. He sends his son. I mean, it's just unbelievable. But when you get in touch with a father's love, a true father's love, that's the message. And that's what we want to bring to people. Amen? Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Fuck. nut. Man. ...