The First Tithe (transcript)

com. I’m so glad that y’all found us here at the TMC. And if you’re new, you were like, I’d like to come check out tribe. Little did you know you’d be on literally on the front row, but, like, you can handle it. Welcome.

Even to actually even when it’s on the back row, if you just lean forward, you’re, like, on the worship team. And so, welcome. I’m so glad that you found us. I’m glad that you’re joining us here today. And there’s already been several new things introduced to you if you’re new to tribe.

The venue is is not like what you are probably familiar with. Although, I would suggest that historically, the church has looked more like this than it’s looked like perhaps the church that you’ve come from. So we’re retro, old school, And there’s something else well, there’s several other unique distinctives. Another unique distinctive about our tribe fam is the format for how we do service and I really want this to be interactive between us and what that means is, yes, you will get to hear from me. My name is Brian.

I’m the lead pastor here at Tribe but I really want to hear from you. I wanna hear from you. I want us to engage in a conversation together. And this venue really lends itself to this format because it is like we’re all squeezed in here into a living room. And it would be let’s be honest.

It would be weird if I just set up here with all of you in this close of proximity to each other and and to me, and I just did all of the talking. And so what I would like for us to do today is have this be a team effort. And what that means is if you have a question, a comment, or a connection, all you have to do is raise your hand and let’s talk about it. Remember that old Saturday Night Live skit with, Mike Myers, and he was, like, it was, like, coffee talk? Okay.

Yes. Yes. Let’s have coffee. Let’s open up our Bibles. Let’s talk.

And so if you have a question, a comment, or a connection, all you have to do is raise your hand. We have, a mic, and the mic will come to you. Ella is running the mic around today. And, with the even within this small room, I know that we could hear your contribution, but there are a lot of families that are out of town and traveling and away for this week and, you know, every other week. And so they still get to participate in our service today when we get to hear your comment.

And so the mic, not so much for us in this room, but for folks that are watching the live stream. So don’t be scared when the mic gets put in your face. Just just let it rip. Okay? One two other things.

Number one, there are connect cards in your seat. They’re probably under your biscuits right now. If you would take a moment, if you’re visiting, we’d love to have a record of your visit. If you are looking for a church home visiting Jackson. We would love it if you called Tribe Home.

Obviously, everybody does their pre church shopping online today. Like used to, the first impression was made at the parking lot or in the lobby. Now, it’s in the comfort of your own home with your thumbs as you are looking for a church to come to. And so, if you are visiting us today, we would love to have a record of your visit. There’s also opportunity for you to write down any prayer request.

You can put that. Just leave it in your seat or there’s a little box back there by the picture frame. Ella is now making an eloquent gesture towards that box. You can you can put it right there if you would like. If they didn’t get the SNL joke, they might not get the Vanna White joke.

So I got them too. Okay. Okay. Alright. You got the Vanna White joke.

Alright. Alright. I’ll I’ll see what I can do. So, the other thing is this. If you’re familiar with the news, they’re down in around the San Antonio area of the great state of Texas.

There’s they’re just really going through it. And Lissa and I were in children’s ministry for almost ten years at a large church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And so they’re so doing children’s ministry, there’s a special place in our heart and I’m sure in all of your hearts for the children that are still remit that are still reported missing from the flash flood that that swept through that area, recently. And so, why don’t I pray for those families and for those children, for our first responders, and we’ll, join our faith together. Okay?

So I’m gonna be still for just a moment. Lord Jesus, we lift up this situation in Texas to you. Absolutely nothing ever is hidden from your sight. You know where every single unaccounted person is right now. Give discernment and supernatural insight to rescuers, volunteer personnel, rescuers, volunteer personnel, fire, EMS, search and rescue, sheriff’s department in their efforts to recover folks from this flash flood that you would help them guide them.

God, we ask for your mercy. We beseech your clemency and ask you, Lord, that the lives of those missing children would be spared and that they would be recovered and returned into the arms of their mommy and their daddy. And that you would bring healing to that area of the great state of Texas. And that you would reign over that situation. Reading a passage from God’s word this morning.

I’m going to go there myself. We’re going to read just a few verses. And why don’t we give somebody an opportunity to read? And would somebody please read Mark chapter 12 verse 41 through 44? I’ll give you a second for that page to load.

Once you’re there, you can, just raise your hand and Ella will give you the mic, and we’d love to hear your voice this morning. Jesus sat down near the collection box in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts, then a poor widow came and dropped in 2 small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I tell you the truth. This poor wid widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions, for they gave a tiny potter there with surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.

Woah. So this summer, we have been in, perhaps, unbeknownst to you, but but but to me, I’ve been I’ve been trying to stay in a series of several small meaning, like, we don’t spend weeks and weeks on them. Three different conversations, but they all kind of, like, are woven together thematically. And so this is the third conversation that we’re going to begin today in our, so far, summer series of conversations. And just to give you a recap of where we’ve been, we spent a couple of weeks talking about worship and the importance of worship.

And you can go back and listen to that. And what worship does for the harp, what worship does for the environment around you, what worship does to change and shift the atmosphere. And so we spent several weeks talking about worship. Along with worship is talking about the importance of God’s word and burying God’s word deep into your heart. So we’ve talked about worship.

We talked about being rooted in the word and the value and importance of that. And back in, oh, maybe it was, April or May, I was visiting with the lord. That’s not like the last time I was visiting with him. But we were talking about, like, hey. What do you wanna do this summer?

And he’s, like, I want you to talk about these three things, and then after that, then we’ll we’ll I’ll tell you the next things next. And I said, alright. What are we gonna talk about? What three things do you wanna talk about? And he said, I want you to talk about worship.

I want you to talk about the word. And then today, we’re going to talk about the third aspect of this kind of summer long conversation that we’ve been having. And we’re gonna talk about tithing and our finances. Now, let that sink in. Tithe yeah.

Never mind. Here’s a couple of reasons that that this topic often either makes people squirmy or gets an eye roll. And number one, people are sensitive when talking about money. And it’s it’s not the same as, but it gets into the realm and the arena of a stranger asking you, like, hey, how much money is in your bank account? What a weird offensive question that would be.

You just like, where what are you doing? Where are you going with this? So Lissa and I came, like, we got serious about our walk with Jesus here in Wyoming. I had gotten saved in high school, but was like like lukewarm at best. And then God grabbed a hold of my life while I was here in Jackson.

Lissa got saved here in Jackson. And we so this was our first exposure to, like, real authentic Christianity, and it was here in the West. And then in 2007, God invited us to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and we spent seventy seven wonderful years in Tulsa. And when we got to Tulsa, if any of you are from the Bible Belt, you’re like, well, yeah. That’s just what you do.

But remember, we are coming from a mountain state, inner mountain region Christianity context, culture. Like like like, nobody follows Jesus here. It’s just it’s just the way of the mountains. They’re busy following the mountains and all of the other gods that seem to flock here vying for people’s affections of their heart. So we get down to Oklahoma and we’re meeting people and they were like, hi, what’s your name?

Second question, also where do you work? And then what’s the third question to all my southern people? Yeah. Where do you go to church? And I can remember the first, like, 100 times people asked that, I was like, like, easy now, like It was like, what’s in your bank account?

Yeah. That’s how it felt like like like the the question was so abrupt, not abrasive, but, like, so intense. So where do you go to church? I’m like, how do you even know I’m like, dude, you like, a great way to lose all of your friends in Jackson is lead with those three questions. See, you’re laughing because you know how true it is if you’re from Jackson.

Can you imagine asking a new friend that you meet in Jackson or in the Intermountain region? Like, yeah. They would look at you like you dropped out of another planet. But in the South, it’s very culturally acceptable. And we love Jesus.

We were on staff at a church and we still felt like, like it caught our breath for you to ask where do you go to church. And we weren’t ashamed of it. It was just like, that’s a lot. And I feel like many people respond that same way when we talk about tithing at church. There’s another kind of, I wouldn’t say cringe factor, but another, like, a barrier to overcome in order to hear what God may have to say in the conversation whenever the conversation of tithing comes up.

And it’s the fact that I am, as the leader of this organization and the lead pastor of tribe, am talking about it. But I’m talking about it today. So in my notes, I literally I literally said, but those are silly reasons for not talking about money. I haven’t talked about money. For those of you who’ve been a part of tribe since we’ve, like, like, started, how many conversations have we had about tithing?

Before this. Before this. Well, you have to refresh my memory. You said diligent number. That’s less than one a year.

So so we don’t talk about too tithing too much here. I don’t talk about it too much, because number one, our tribe fam is, mature and generous with their finances just in in general. Number two, it’s so abundantly clear in God’s word, that that that you can’t escape seeing it in the bible and if you walk with Jesus. Number two, I also wanna be, like, sensitive. Like, in my mind, there are other things that perhaps the Lord would have us talk about and spend time on.

Nonetheless, all the way back in May, he’s like, I want you to talk about worship, the word, and also tithing. So here we are. That was our starting passage, Mark chapter 12. If you are title of the conversation that we’re gonna have this morning. And it’s called the tithing test.

That’s exactly what I meant. The test of tithing. So you’re paying attention. Good. The test of tithing.

Did you know this? Maybe you did. Jesus in the Bible, he talks way more about money and finances than he ever does about hell. That’s a good spot to go, Heat. Hell.

A G double hockey sticks. In the gospels, Jesus talks a lot more about money and finances than he ever does talk about health. It’s interesting. So let’s define terms. Maybe you’re brand new to this idea or concept or word or, principle of tithing.

Let’s let’s strip it down to the basics and the best way to begin is by defining terms. So that word tithe, how many of you have ever heard of that word used outside of a church context? The new age community talks about it a lot. The new age community talks about I wanna hear from you, but, Renee, would you crank that window open? Like, it’s something’s gotta help.

And then Logan, it might be a little bit I apologize if it’s a little bit distracting for you with the highway noise, but if you crack that sucker open a little bit, just don’t fall out the window. I know that and maybe and maybe, like, after a little bit close it because I know that it can be distracting. Okay. Tithing in the new age thing. Well, let me hear about that.

Yeah. A lot of, like, gurus will talk about tithing, but, like so after for those of you who don’t know me, I have a long history in new age before I became a Christian. But, a lot of, like, what I have learned since being a Christian was in the new age just slightly twisted. Mhmm. Like, because the enemy can’t create anything new.

Right? So he just corrupts what’s in the Bible. So thank you, Amanda. But they talk a lot of gurus talk about tithing, but, like, that it’s, you know, it’s like a manifesting thing. Like, if you give 10% of what you, make and they use 10%, But if you give 10% of what you make to a charity, to your yogi, your cult leader, whatever, that, that you will then receive from the universe that multiplied.

Alright. Let’s this is really interesting. Let’s talk about any validity or truth to what demon worshiping yogis say. Is there any truth to that? Well, a little.

No. Well, a little. Alright. All truth is God’s truth. He is the author and the source of truth.

If it is objectively truth, and in this world, like, even that is almost offensive. To even dare declare that there is such a thing as objective truth. Objective truth means that it is true outside of our opinions and perspectives and even our knowledge and understanding of it. There is such a thing as objective truth in the universe. All truth is from God.

And sometimes, people stumble upon these truths disconnected from the source of truth, and preach it as if it’s a new revelation from them, but they’re just copycatting without citing, without proper citation at the bottom of their paper of the source of that truth. What about the principle of this is a good tangent, because this is helpful. What about the the principle of yin and yang? Is that true? Like, well, okay.

We’d have to define yin and yang. But that you get what you put out? I mean, is that not what Jesus talked about? That what a man sows, that he shall reap. Chris.

That’s great perspective, Gretchen. Thank you. I doubt I’m the first person who thought of the verse that when Gretchen kinda laid that out. But in Luke six verse 38, Jesus said, give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over and poured into your lap.

The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Jesus, not cult leading yogi. Alright. Tithe. Tithe is a Hebrew word and the Hebrew word means does anybody know?

A tenth. There’s nothing fancy about it. The word tithe is just a Hebrew word and it means a tenth. And in the Bible, God established the concept and the idea of giving a tithe. Let’s go to, let’s go right to the fountainhead.

Let’s go to the source. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis. I’m gonna go there too. Genesis 14. Ella, could I trouble you for a little glass of water, please?

Genesis chapter 14, the title of that chapter says, Abraham rescues Lot. In my little handwritten notes, I titled that one I titled chapter Genesis chapter 14, the first world war. You can dive into Genesis 14 and discover that on your own. Thank you so much. So this guy, Abram, he has a nephew named Lot.

And there are there are a tribe of raiders that come and kidnap Lot and this whole region, this whole valley, everyone and all the possessions get carted off. Abram hears about it and he goes, oh, that’s where my nephew Lot is living. Well, I can’t stand for that. And in verse 14, Abram rallies three eighteen trained men who have been born into his household. And I’m gonna keep well, I’ll I’ll just start reading in verse 14.

Or maybe if he wanted to read. Maybe the Bible app wanted to just jump in. It’s funny. Verse 14. I know it says 17 up there, but it’s okay.

When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized three eighteen trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Khadarimir’s army until he caught up with them at Dan. There, he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer’s army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobath, north of Damascus. Abram recovered all of the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with all of his possessions and all of the women and other captives.

After Abram returned from his victory over that guy and all of his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley Of Shaveh. That is, the King’s Valley. Verse 18, now there’s, we see this interesting character in the Bible, Melchizedek, the king of Salem. In Hebrew that means peace. Jerusalam means the city of peace.

And a priest of God Most High brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing and it’s so cool that we have it recorded. Blessed be Abraham by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who has defeated your enemies for you. Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth, there’s that Hebrew word tithe, of all of the goods he had recovered. So there’s in the Bible, there is when studying the Bible, if you come across a word or a theme or perhaps a phrase, If you want to discover more about that, you can apply a principle of, a bible study tool of first instance.

So Bible study tool of first instance is we can see tithe in offerings and things like that, Leviticus and Exodus, other places throughout the Bible. But if you’re like, I wanna know more about this, the best thing to do is go back and look at when is the very first time that phrase or word or theme is used. And this is we’re at the principle of first instance. This is the very first occurrence of a tide. Now, you may be thinking, well, what about Cain and Abel?

That’s different. That is an offering. And we’re gonna talk about that next week. This is the tithe. You may have thought those words were synonyms to each other.

Tithes and offerings. Tithes and offerings. They go hand in hand, but they are different. They are not equal. They are not synonyms.

This week, tithes. Next week, offering. Okay? So the first instance of this word is used right here in verse 20. Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all of the goods that he had recovered.

Okay. Throughout the Old Testament wait, this is a good spot. Let me check-in with you. Thoughts? Questions?

Maybe an observation from the text that we just read? Sometimes I can, like, get carried away and keep talking. Chris, thank you. One small observation was the fact that Salem king of Salem, name being Melchizedek, he’s a king, and yet Abraham still gave a tenth of everything that he recovered from that victory, which I thought was significant being, like, he doesn’t need it. The king didn’t need his his offering of that tenth.

Because he’s a king. Kings don’t need nothing. Not from the peasants. Right. Not from Abraham who is a, like, essentially a, a, what do you call those people that move with the seasons?

Nomad. And did you tell me another word? They’re they have a nomadic lifestyle following herds and flocks and seasons. Yes. Nomads.

Great. Yeah. Nomads don’t have anything to offer a king. That’s great. That’s a great observation.

Well, one thing is just that I know Melchizedek is mentioned later in the New Testament as a type and shadow of Jesus. And so the first tithe goes to the first, like, or the type and shadow of Jesus. That’s a great that’s a great connection. So following the principle of first mention as a Bible study tool, the first place that tithing is mentioned, a person gives a tithe to a king, the king of Salem, Melchizedek. And we know from reading our Bible that there is a hyperlink between Melchizedek that’s in the New Testament that ties Melchizedek to Jesus.

So the first person to receive a tithe is Jesus. With every head bowed, every eye closed, that is that is beautiful. So what does, specifically, what does Abram give to Melchizedek? A tenth of all the goods that he recovered. So that predominantly had to do with livestock.

There were there were, objects and things and clothing and trunks and chest, you know, whatever you can imagine. But it primarily had to do with livestock because that was a livelihood because of the nomadic herding agrarian lifestyle that they were living. And so today, we don’t give animals. I mean, I guess you could, but we don’t really have any place to keep them because of all of you that are in here. So we’re gonna Freezer’s too small.

Freezer’s too small. But listen, if you take the principle of tithing, which is established in the old testament. You’ve heard me talk about this many many times. We have to take this is part of the old covenant. You have to take it into the new covenant because we live under the new covenant.

You’re not bringing animals. You’re not sacrificing animals. You’re not spilling the blood of an innocent ram or anything like that because we are under or a part of the new covenant. But here’s what here’s what I want the the picture that I want you to get into your mind. Is when we take things that we see in the old covenant, we have to bring them into the new covenant, but with the filter.

And that filter is the cross of Jesus. Because Jesus established and confirmed a new covenant. Look what else is speaking of new covenant, look what else is in that little passage that we read. What does Melchizedek bring to Abram? Bread and wine.

Let’s have communion together. Let’s fellowship together. And Abraham’s like, you’re gonna have a tenth of everything. Here you go. So the cross acts as a filter to filter out the the things that were established in the old covenant three things.

It confirms the law in the old covenant. It modifies it. Or the third thing is it deletes it. Okay? So let’s take tithing.

Tithing through, as we filter it through the cross of the new covenant, what happens to let’s start simple. Animal sacrifice through the new covenant. What? Deleted. Deleted.

How about worship? We’re commanded in the old covenant to worship. Put that through the cross. Confirmed. Maybe modified a little bit, but for the most part, confirmed.

How about, thou shalt not murder, old covenant? Filter that through the cross. Confirmed modified? You have heard it say okay, okay, well, Bible point star. You’re gonna have your turn up here in a moment.

Alright. So, when it comes to tithing, it is modified. Because we don’t bring our animals. We don’t live in an agrarian society any any longer. And we’re not commanded to bring the best of our herds or flock.

So it gets modified. So let’s go into the New Testament and see a little bit better about what Jesus is talking about. Two more verses and then we’re gonna land the plane. Luke chapter 14. Yes.

We’re on the fourteens today. So in the Old Testament, the command was a tenth. When you bring a tenth to the temple or to the Lord, The other what’s the math? 90%. 90%.

It’s those glasses. The other 90% is completely yours, whatever you want to do with it. It’s all yours. Not one person living under the old covenant ever had one thought about considering the Lord with the other 90% of their entire personal economy. 10% to the Lord, the other 90% all mine.

We can see that Jesus modifies the tithe in the New Testament with this verse right here. Luke chapter 14 verse 33. You cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. If you’re gonna get your nose tickled, let the word of God do the nose tickling that may cause you to sneeze with uncomfortability. These are Jesus’ words.

Not mine. Not the church’s. These are Jesus’ words. You cannot be my disciple. You cannot follow me with any kind of dedication.

You can follow him casually. You can follow him from a distance. You can think he has some nice ideas. You can think that he could have some solutions for maybe problems that you’re facing in your life. You could think that, like, oh, he has he’s a good moral example, but you cannot follow him with any amount of seriousness or endurance.

That’s what it means to be a disciple. Without giving up everything you own. So what does that mean to us? That’s a great question. Now, let’s I like to do this mental exercise.

When it comes to, like, alright, I think I understand what Jesus is talking about. I often like to take a verse or or something that’s challenging that he says, like, I mean, I know what he’s talking about, but but but what does that leave us? And I like to put it in the context of let’s say that you, are meeting with a friend from work who knows nothing about God, and they came across this verse somehow, someway, and they’re like, hey, can we meet at Pearl Street Bagel? I have a question for you. Okay, sure, great.

You sit down at Pearl Street Bagel and you’ve got all that like delicious like honey walnut cream cheese on your salted bagel and a cold sport tea and like the sun is out. Everything is perfect, right? In Jackson. And then they say, I read a verse from the bible become my disciple without giving up everything you own. They ask you this question, do you follow Jesus?

And you say, yes, I follow Jesus. And they say, what does that verse mean? What would you say? How do you answer that question? All the way in the corner, Renee.

It’s cooled off in here a little bit, Right? Feels alright? I’ll try to answer this question. Yeah. I feel like this is a mind shift, so that you know in your heart that everything you Yeah.

It’s It’s his to use however he wants. And he doesn’t mean, you know, go live on the street. He means if I call you to use your car to go give your friend a ride to the airport, give a ride to the airport. There you go. Your time, that’s probably one of our most valuable things here in Jackson.

It’s the same thing, like, go visit the person in the hospital or, you know, drop what you’re doing, your main objective, and sacrifice it for him. I like it. Who would wanna add additional contribution to that? With a quick stop at joining. Piggy piggybacking on Renee, the idea of like going and giving a friend a ride to the airport with it is And if you’re not from Jackson, that is a huge sacrifice because It is.

Park traffic Fight your way through that traffic, unless you live, like, East End or north of town and you’re like, yeah, give me a ride. Or you’re from LA. Ah, or you’re from LA. You’re like, this is nothing. For us locally, there’s a huge sacrifice in the summer.

Alright. Continue. I think it’s I think it’s that principle of holding things loosey, like this is all yours, and the the step before that is you’ve gotta continually listen. You’ve gotta have that relationship with God, So that you recognize his voice when he’s prompting you to help a friend with a ride or give a little I think he’s saying like the numbers, as far as like the tithe part, the numbers are irrelevant in the sense of are you constantly listening and obeying what I’m telling you to do regardless of how much it costs you, time, talent, or treasure. I think that’s more of the heart posture that he’s getting at, like Brittany was saying.

Yes. That’s an important ingredient. As a Christian, you have surrendered everything like, like, give a great sacrifice and fight this traffic and give a ride to your friend to the airport, a key component of that is being able to hear the voice of the Lord that would prompt you to do it in the first place. Craig, Joy. Joy.

Corey. So the problem with doing life with somebody so closely is that they can repeat and regurgitate basically everything that you say. So time, talent, and treasure was a big point of, of what I was gonna talk about. So, anyway, it just came back back up to me and Joy got it too. So So so what what you’re saying is, included in what would be the Old Testament would be, like, livestock.

Testament, like, well, I don’t have livestock. Yes. But your time, your talent, and your treasure are all acceptable things that the Lord would receive as a tie. Talent, and your treasure. Your treasure includes finances.

Yeah. Okay. I had a thought, along the lines of what Renee was sharing with, she was saying how hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and his leadership involves giving up the amount of focus that you need to be able to follow him. Give up focus. Give up bandwidth in your life that you may fill with other things of this world or things that the Lord isn’t calling you to, and then the obedience to follow in the same vein of if you live with an open hand with everything that that you know he’s given you, you’re much more willing to be obedient to use your life for his glory, not for your own selfish purposes.

I love it. Living life with an open hand. Oh, yeah. Lissa and then Jaya, I’ll I this is this is great. Great contributions.

Just to go off of what Renee was saying with the mindset shift, just being honest, like, you know, finances, I think, for all of us can be, like, the most stressful area of most of our lives. It’s maybe even easier, at least for, you know, me, it used to be like, Lord, I’ll go anywhere. I’ll go to Mongolia. I’ll go whatever. I’ll go and do the things, but if you ask me to, like, give all that I have, like, like, you I think you find out real quickly where you’re holding on to is if you were to think about God asking for that.

Mhmm. And I remember Brian helped me make a mindset shift. We were living in Tulsa and times were rough and we hadn’t sold our house here and we were paying rent there and the kids were little and Brian was in school full time. We were like, Laura, I thought you called us here like, where’s the provision? Where’s the provision?

Like, we’re turning diapers inside out and we have and, you know, I went to reach to call my parents for help and the Holy Spirit was like, I was like, And we took all of our checkbooks at the time, you used checks, and we put them in a box and we took anything that represented our finances and we went out in the driveway with our kids, I’ll never forget it, and we lifted it up and we said, Lord, our name is on these checks and our name is on these accounts but these are yours. We give them to you. They’re yours. We are like the conduit that you’re gonna pour resources in through. And I’ve and so let us be good stewards now with the little that we think we have, which we were abundantly rich even though times are tough.

With your resources down the road. So we just gave it to him. I remember my mind shifting, like, it’s his responsibility. I just have to be obedient. He’ll bring in resources however he wants, and we just need to understand that it’s not ours so that we can be trusted with it.

So I remember that was just a huge shift for me. It may be our names on the check or on the account, but it’s all his. And if we keep it thinking of it that way, then I never start to cling onto it as if it’s mine. Mhmm. To either give away or to, you know, be a good steward or save, which are both from the Lord.

It’s all his. Lord, what do you wanna do with it? And all the way back to Jay, in the bible, there’s the bible talks about seed, and he says some of the seed needs to go into the barn. Some of the seed needs to go back into the field. K.

Just When I think about being a disciple, I think about, like, if if Jesus was, like, a celebrity artist in our day and he was, like, going on tour, right, there’s a big difference between being, like, on his, like, tour, like, with his team versus being, like, a Jesus fan. So, like, being a Jesus, like, let’s say I’m a fan of Jesus. I listen to his music and, like, when he comes into town, I, like, wanna go to his concert. It’s, like, convenient for me to, like, be there with him. And so when I think about being a disciple, you’re not just being with him or listening to him when it’s convenient or when you want to.

You literally follow him everywhere he goes. You think about the disciples in the Old Testament. When Jesus asked him to follow, he didn’t tell him like, he just said, follow me. Like, you literally and physically gave up everything to follow him. And so when I translate that to today, what does it look like to physically follow and be a disciple of a messiah that may not currently be physical physically present with us?

That’s that’s what I think about is how do we physically follow him and be his disciple with everything that we have. I love it. Ella, right up here. So much great discussion. Alright.

One more thing. But I think, especially in the Old Testament, like, numbers are really important, and every number coordinates to, like, a Hebrew meaning. So I looked up 10 because it’s a tenth. It could have been 20. It could have been 15, but they decided a tenth.

Tenth. And 10 goes with the Hebrew letter yud, which means complete wholeness and oneness with God. And so it’s like that is a representation of everything that everyone is saying. Like, Shmah, you have to listen and obey. Jay, you have to follow with everything that you do.

Like, you have to be in complete oneness with the Lord and give him all of that. Alright. Alright. This is good. This is good.

In saying all this I’m saying it anyway whether he told me I could. Yeah. And Clay’s not here to nudge her. Yeah. Clay’s not here to nudge her.

You can be Clay and nudge her. You can nudge me. Anyway, in saying all this, how we need to be in one with God, this morning as I was driving in, I was like, Lord, let your spirit fill this room, but I wanna know you know, sometimes you feel things drop in your spirit and he’s like, was that really God? And then Clay called me and said a friend had just shared with him. Corrie Ten Boom had said, make an appointment with God and keep that appointment.

And if we will do that and spend that quality time with him, we know if it’s him. We know what’s real. Yes. So make an appointment with him and keep it just like we do all the other appointments. Sure.

You know, why is he not the most important? That’s great. Thank you. Listening to the listening to the voice of the Lord of how to give your time, talent, and treasure is important. When it comes I wanna make this note.

Do we need to pray about if we should commit robbery? Do we need to pray about I really need to hear the voice of the Lord. No. You don’t need to pray about that. Do we need to pray about committing murder?

I mean, with their little barcodes and their windows, and their Okay. No. No. No. Rental cars.

You don’t need to pray you don’t need to pray about that. Do we need to pray about should we give? No. But what? And how much There you go.

That’s a better, more intel a more mature question. You never need to pray, Lord, should I give a portion of my finances? Now, in in in I mean this sweetly and fatherly to you. In immaturity, you may pray that. And in God’s graciousness, he will answer and talk to you about that.

But as you grow in maturity, you realize or you come to greater and greater and greater understanding of giving back to the Lord, specifically finances, is a part of following Jesus. One more verse. One Corinthians chapter six verse nineteen and twenty. Not 14. Not 14.

Sorry. First Corinthians six nineteen through 20. Paul is speaking, he says, you don’t belong to yourself. Man, how many people would just absolutely choke on those words in our modern world and society. And what’s the famous quote?

I am master of my own fate, captain of my own destiny. But Paul speaks truth by saying you do not belong to yourself. How many of you willed your own birth? If you did, you might be able to to argue with this statement. Okay, no takers.

You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. And what was that price, y’all? The precious blood of Jesus. Purchasing sinners from captivity, paying the ransom price to take them, to buy them from the marketplace of sin and slavery, to take them out of captivity and bondage. And then here’s something incredible about Jesus.

He said, you’re free to go. He doesn’t buy us and then say, I bought you. Now you’re my property. He buys us and then gives us this incredible gift of free will. Giving us the choice whether to follow him or not.

You have been bought with a high price. Therefore, or it only makes sense to honor God with your body, your physical body, yes, of course. But like what Renee was saying, By being willing to surrender everything. This is why I talk a lot about making Jesus the leader of your life or the boss of your life. I use those I use those two phrases a lot, like at Easter and Christmas.

Whenever I’m talking about the gospel to lost folks because when you say, has Jesus become your personal Lord and Savior? Very poignant and theologically accurate and powerful. But that phraseology gets lost on a lot of people. But when you ask, is Jesus the boss of your life? People can connect with that better.

Is Jesus the leader of your whole life? Oh, that helps the rubber meet the road. And that’s what Paul is talking about here. So honor God with your body and what he’s saying with your body is your whole entire life. Tithing.

Last thing. Where are you going? Okay. Stay stay. If you leave, everyone else will.

Dang it. Well, you win. Gretchen, come help me. Show everybody your t shirt. Stand up.

Okay. Jesus would have wanted me to buy this shirt. Okay. Stand up. And, sorry.

My voice is ask me for some M and M’s. Can I get some M and M’s, please? Yes. Yes. Okay.

Okay. Those are your M and Ms. Now, this played out in various forms all throughout Selah and Kai’s childhood at the movie theater. When our two kids were little, you know, we’d go see Cars or Shrek or whatever. And they would always, like, stock up on all the snacks.

Big thing of popcorn, M and M’s, whatever. And then during the some point during the movie, I would ask them, hey. Can I have some of your M and M’s? And what was what would a typical child’s react? They’re mine.

Who bought Seita and Kai those snacks? I went to save the seats. So we are not too unsimilar to a child with M and M’s in the movie theater. The few M and M’s that we have, what is our tendency? Keep it safe.

We want to keep it and save it. The Lord asks, can I have some of your in the news? And what is our typical first response? It’s mine. It’s mine.

I don’t have none. Some people may even go so far as to think, but, like, look at all of the M and M’s that he has. Why does he want my M and M’s? These are my M and M’s. We somehow seem to forget how those M and M’s got into our cup in the first place.

That money in your bank account, it might have come by the calluses on your hands or you’re business savvy, but who gave you the ability to work with your hands? Who gave you those brilliant ideas? Well, I went to school and I you just haven’t traced it back far enough. And you are, if I can be honest, you’re committing willful intellectual ignorance. The very best thing that you can do is acknowledge the source.

Every single good thing that you have in your life comes from God, creator and father. And he loves to give abundantly more than we could ask for or dream of. But why, after having given out the M and M’s, you can continue to enjoy what you’d like. He’s been waiting. Why is the last thing I’m gonna say?

Why does God ask for some of our M and Ms? Why he do that? To keep our mind right. There’s there’s one more, slide. Leave it for the better.

The test of tithing proves the truth of trusting. How much do we trust him? So I have given my child some M and M’s, and they’re enjoying those M and M’s. And then as the father, I invite my child to give back to me. I don’t demand.

I don’t certainly don’t need them. But when I ask for M and Ms, the first reaction is what reveals the child’s heart. And I’ll say this about my son Kai. He’s like 20 well, 20. He’s 20 now.

When he was a baby, anytime he would hand him a cookie, fresh baked chocolate chip cookie, the first thing he would do is break the cookie in half, find the bigger half, and hand it to his little sister to his big sister, Selah. And he would go, here, Leila. Leila. And he would just give. He’s a very generous boy.

He was a fine, generous young man who I love very much. But your first reaction when there’s an invitation to tithe, to give, is not because he needs it. It’s not because Tribe needs your finances. You are not the source of Tribe’s finances. You’re not the source.

You are you are not the source of Lissa and I’s paycheck. Tribe pays our, paycheck, but you’re not the source. God is our source. You’re not giving to tribe for the sake of giving to tribe. You’re not giving to tribe for, like, like for us.

You’re you’re invited to give to reveal the condition and posture of your heart. The test of tithing proves the truth of trusting. Can I have some M and M’s? What? Oh, yes.

Thank you so much. Yeah. So let’s just invite the Holy Spirit to just whisper to our hearts for a moment about all that we’ve talked about. I love how much conversation there’s been today regarding this topic. Holy Spirit, just speak to us about what it means to follow you, to make you the leader of our life.

Holy Spirit, speak to us about how we use our time, talent, and treasure. A symbol just that we give him everything when we sing this. Lord, I give you my heart. I give you my soul. That last line of truth or of trusting God, of the tithing being about trusting God brought a hyperlink in my brain to Matthew six twenty four saying no one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other.

And it goes on to say you cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. There is more reason to this than just God being like, I’m just doing it just to do it. So many of the commands he gives us in the Bible, if we obey them, we receive blessing. And this goes deeper than just like, well, if you give him 10%, he’s just gonna multiply it and you’ll have a lot of money. Like, that’s not always the case.

Sometimes you’re just gonna keep giving and giving and giving, and he’s gonna provide in other ways. That’s right. And that season of, like, cutting it close paycheck to paycheck might last longer than just, like, the giving one time. But knowing that God knows our hearts and our patterns as human beings, and so he calls us to be able or to do these things to avoid being enslaved to this resource that we all need to operate so that we can operate in that freedom like Brian said. So join me in praying as we pray over the tithe and offer him.

Father God, we give everything we have to you Because everything that we have is from you. God. There’s a a line from the song that says, sure. You made it with no handouts, but you actually didn’t because it was God’s hand. God God has handed us so much.

You have handed us so much. I wanna pray that you use the things that you’ve given us for your glory. Or we’ve got a phone number that you can do for a text to give, change if you were on the old one. This is super easy to just throw it in your phone as a contact and just add it to the tithing. All you do is text the word give at any dollar amount.

And if it’s the first time, it’ll have you do some setup. But after that, it’s just easy as texting a friend. Few announcements. As Brian said, the connect parts, that were all around the room. Great.

If you’re new, so that we can have a record of your visit, get connected with you, especially if you wanna come on a regular basis, put you on a text blast that we can tell all the events to you and tell, sometimes their schedule changes. And so good to keep you in the loop. But on the backside of that too, there are spaces for prayer requests, and our staff gets to pray over that every week. And we love getting to join with you in prayer to love and support you guys. And so whether you’re new or you’ve been coming for a long time, throw some prayer requests on that on the back of that.

Throw it in the brown box in the back. We would love to pray with you guys. We’ll also have some prayer after service as well back in that we call it the VIP section. So if you need some prayer, wander back there and we’ll do some prayer. We’re gonna be starting, working with the Good Samaritan, service here, and we will be helping serve meals and worship nights.

Just it’s been on our heart to be involved with serving in the community on a super regular basis. We’ve been really good with mission trips and serving Wind River, pretty regularly, but we wanna be, like, face in the community, tangible boots on the ground here, super local. So if you’re interested in that, we’ll be talking more about that in the weeks to come. We’ve got sign ups for Sunday goodies for those, who brought the donuts today? Coles.

Coles. Coles. Coles. Coles. Coles.

He’s back there. But it’s a great way to serve, with not just your money, but with your, time to bring that stuff. And then Tuesday nights, we have a young adult service that meets here. There’s a huge young adult population that needs Jesus out here, all the seasonal people. And so we’ve actually got a lot of those, meal sign ups filled right now.

Praise God. But, if you’re interested in serving, the young adults that come with just cooking or picking up takeout, we would love that. That is a huge, huge help and a huge pull to get people here just saying that there’s free food for a bunch of poor young adults. That’s pretty great. I think that’s all I got.

If you wanna come up here. Thank you, Conda. While Brian comes, can I just share one thing that I think is really cool and unique about Tribe is, you know, I think if you’ve been a part of a church for any length of time, there’s like a thing where you look at people or the cross section of your church and you you kind of assume who are your, like, big givers kind of a thing, you know? It’s like you just know people at the stage of life they’re at or whatever. I’m gonna get choked up just saying that our biggest givers, we don’t run and I don’t look at who gives and who gives what.

That’s our board does that. But our biggest givers, we do know at Tribe, are our young adults. They’re in their early twenties learning how to tie to the Lord. And it’s just, you know, when we go to spend a dime, we think, man, that did not come easy. Like, there’s all this money sitting in a savings account.

They collect their tips from the village, and they put it all in there. And it’s just it’s so humbling and so awesome to see these young adults learning that at such a young age. So it’s really a cool thing we have at Trev. Awesome. One last thing just before you leave.

We have been doing this heartbreakingly for almost two years now, but, at the on the first Sunday of every month, the Jewish community in this town gathers on the town square to once again call the world to remembrance of the almost 50 hostages still unaccounted for that are being held in Gaza. And our tribe family goes to support the Jews that are taking the stand on the town square. And this is the first Sunday of July twenty twenty five. And so, members of the Jewish community will be on the town square. And if they are there, I will be there.

And I’d like to invite all of you to join with your support for them in what they are doing. And let me just say this, because I know that some of you are either hesitant or cautious or maybe even reluctant. You, of all people, are the most invited. Come have a conversation with a Jew. Talk to him or her.

Ask her questions. Get to know, like, ask her, why why are you standing here? Not why are you standing here? You know, it’s all about inflection. Help me to understand why you’re here.

And then you can even ask them, why should I be here? Listen to what they say. I promise you are being you are listening to some narrative. Why not listen to a narrative from a Jew? And I I I was, had lunch this week with a a person a young adult that was like, I mean, I I feel a little bit conflicted.

I know what the Bible says. Those who bless Israel will be blessed. Those who curse Israel will be cursed, and those who harm Israel harm the apple of my eye. And Christians have not always done a great job of standing with Israel. Some would even think that Christians have replaced Israel.

That is a fallacy. But I understand your I understand your position in feeling reluctant to sympathize with Israel on account of the narrative that you’ve been fed and what you’ve seen from certain news sources. But when I was talking to this young man, we had a great conversation. These words came bubbling out of my mouth, and I was like, that’s so good. I’m gonna write it down.

So I said this, and I’m a tell you, you can be pro Israel and grieve and even be outraged at the loss of civilian lives in Gaza. You can be pro Israel and grieve the loss of lives of civilians in Gaza. Coming to join us on the town square is simply standing in solidarity with our Jewish community who are calling for the release and the return of their loved ones still held in captivity in Gaza. That’s why I go. And if you’re if you’re all in, great.

Come again. So many of you. I see you month after month after month after month on the town square. If you’ve never been, come this week and check it out. If you’re like on the fence and I don’t know how it feels, come and investigate.

If you’re literally on the fence, to me, that would make the most sense for you to come. And you can ask those two questions. Ask a Jew, why are you here? Ask a Jew, why should I be here? Hear what they have to say.

So it’s at 5PM on the town square. It’s about the only thing that will get me to the town Square in the summer. I come once a month. So on the town square, 5PM, please, all of y’all, come and support our Jewish community here. Will you stand up?

Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, you have given us so many M and M’s. Thank you for all of the incredible M and M’s in our life. Help us to live with an attitude of trusting you that our gift the giving of our time, talent, and treasure just exercises our trust muscle in you. We tell you that we love you.

Father, I command a blessing over each and every person in our tribe fam here today. Give us a great week. We tell you that we love you. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen.

I love you guys so much. Have a great week. And remember, you got this.