Stir The Pot

As we kick off this, this series brick by brick, we're going to have a theme scripture that that we're going to be in for the next couple of weeks. And I'll probably preach a message out of it. I'm not going to preach the message out of it this morning. But I want to get us started with this portion of Scripture, just so that we can familiarize ourselves with it. Because how many of y'all know the Bible is a big deal in the Church of Jesus Christ, because we believe that it is his word written to us that we can live according to right. It's inspired as the Holy Spirit breathes life into us to relationship with Jesus. It is in it is the inspired Word of God that can move us from the old life that we live before Jesus to the new life now that we live in Christ, which is a big deal.
Okay, some of y'all forgot that at Mercy city we are a
that means we simply come into agreement with God's word we say amen. Preach, preacher. Get a white boy. Right that donkey.
That's good.
Bacin respectfully, don't forget we're at church, everybody. Respectfully, okay. Got to put that respect on him. Anyway, do I do that for me? No, no, I do that because we need to become a people who know how to come into agreement with God's word, because God's word will change our life. Church doesn't change our life, showing up doesn't change our life. But God's word changes our lives, then the only way for God's word to change our lives is if we take ownership of it. And it's hard to take ownership of something you don't come into agreement with. That's why we are a Hollaback church. So get ready, we bout to go there. Ephesians chapter number two Ephesians chapter number two. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners, we can stop right there. Because the vast majority of us in this room are not of Jewish descent. There are a couple of us I know. But the vast majority of us are not we would be considered Gentiles or foreigners that would have been separated or far from God. But because of this, what's going on? We're no longer strangers or foreigners, because of the person of Jesus. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You're members of God's family together. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the Cornerstone is Jesus Christ himself. So I'm gonna say yay, yah, man, if Jesus is the cornerstone, then we are building on the right thing and I'm here to tell you this morning that it mercy City Church, we are a Jesus Church, always and only it'll be all it'll be that way for me, forever, is going to be Jesus that's it goes on to saying, we are carefully joined in Him.
Jesus becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him, you Gentiles are also being made a part of his dwelling where God lives by His Spirit. So the Message Translation says it like this brick
by brick,
brick by brick stone by stone, your work your fit together it says on the person of Jesus who is the cornerstone and so this is the real heart of the gospel isn't it? The true desire of God is that the disconnected would become connected that the far from God would become close to God that the lost and disconnected would be now found and connected. And this is what happens through each of us finding our place in him allowing him to fit us together as he sees fit according to our giftedness see because you have a giftedness and I have a giftedness and as we operate in our giftedness he sees it fit for us to fit together and as we fit together we build something that is far beyond what we could build alone seekers. I could build something by myself but it's a lot better if we fit together and we build together Do you see what I'm saying? Because you've got a different and a unique giftedness that as we bring together as God brings together and use our giftedness God does something significant. Oh man I love love, love, love that. So here's our prayers. We begin this brick by brick series that we would all be able to identify our place
sense of passion are places of giftedness are places of anointing, if you will, are places where we are passionate
that we might allow God to use us together to build something significant in a way that other people can't connect, see, because if you're here for the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time, the thing that you have to understand is that nine years ago, we started this church with six people.
And God used those people's giftedness to build something that 37 people could come be a part of. And he took those 37 people, and he built something that on last Sunday, 288 people could be a part of. And now he's taken that to build something that over 1000 people can be a part of each and every weekend, as we worship together in Seward, and here in Lincoln. And as God takes us beyond God's doing something so much bigger than just what you can see, he wants to build something significant.
And I believe that's what he's up to, in this time in this season. And that's what I believe he wants to do through this series. So anyway, as I was thinking through this series, I began to kind of think of some things specifically as I was reading the scripture that we're going to be in, which is second Corinthians chapter number nine. We'll get there in just a couple of minutes. But as I was reading that scripture, I just began to think about, you know, our lives and just different things like this. And let me let me just ask you, let me let me ask you something real quick. Have you ever
set out to do something significant that you destroyed?
Like, you had this great idea that I'm going to accomplish something, but because of the way that you acted or interacted with it, it ended up becoming destroyed. I really thought about this, like I said, as I was reading the Scripture, but specifically in regards to pastor Carrie has shared with us some of her her cooking snafus, you know, um, she I will say has gotten much, much, much better, much better. I mean, you know, somebody, honestly, somebody came through clutch with a rice cooker a couple of weeks ago. I don't know. But, I mean, I'm telling you that, that I think it's gonna be a game changer. Anyway.
As the weather gets cooler, as it's been, you know, these last couple of days, it makes her constantly think, oh, I want to make some soup, right. And as she did this last week, she made soup. It reminded me of one of the very first time she cooked soup. She came with this grand announcement. She said, Matt, I'm gonna cook soup. And I was like, sounds awesome. Let's, let's go. We had only been married for maybe a year at the time. And she hadn't cooked much up until that point. And so she was going to really venture out and she was going to cook some soup, some vegetable beef soup, okay. And so she made this grand announcement, and she's really excited about it. And she comes home and she has all the ingredients. And you know, she like, she didn't get the canned vegetables. She got like, she's chopping up vegetables. And I could tell she's really feeling herself. You know what I mean? And I just thought this is gonna take a while isn't it? That's That's what I thought. So, so anyway, so she's chopping up vegetables and she's chopping up the, you know, all the stuff, right? And she throws she throws it in the pot, and it wasn't long man. And you know, that vegetable before they Death starts to smell good. It's okay, you know what I'm saying? So I will try to get over to little pot and open it up. Not. Not right now. I'm like, Oh, okay. So she's like, so proud of this. She wants it to be a surprise. Right? Well, so it was I don't know how much longer but it was a while. It was a while everybody. And she says hey, dinner's ready. And I'm like, Yes, I'll come out and I'm like, okay, it smells good. It smells really good. And then she pulls up the lid from the pot, and I could tell on her face that while it smelled pretty good, it didn't look so good.
And she kinda like got a little frown on her face. And I was like, What's the matter and a walk over and she's stirring the pot, but all the vegetables and meat everything is stirring with it because it had burned together. She forgot to stir the pot. She didn't stir the soup while it was cooking. She just let it cook. And so while she had this grandiose idea to prepare this delicious meal and even while it smelled good, not only was I not the one opening the pot, and luckily she wasn't either stirring the pot.
You ever set out to do something awesome and you destroyed it because of your lack of intentionality.
That's what I think of as I read this scripture this week, is I thought about
This I thought of this story as I was praying and preparing for the weekend because I think that when it comes to giving in the kingdom, many of us operate, operate like the newlywed Erickson's. It's a last minute plan, and our best attempt to go on without much consistency.
It's a last minute plan. It's a portent, big vision. But it doesn't come from much consistency. So I've learned some things over the years about plans. And a couple of my favorite quotes concerning plans is this if you plan if you fail to plan you plan to fail. See, she had this grandiose idea, I'm gonna make this soup. But she didn't realize we needed to put that meat in the crock pot during the day, for the duration of the day, so that it will be ready for when we got home, she didn't realize that she's gonna go with fresh vegetables gonna need to cook just a little bit longer stir a little bit more. Do you see what I'm saying. And so what happens is we want to do these great things for God. And we want to be significantly involved with the things that God's doing. However, we oftentimes fail to plan for what God wants to do in us. And when we fail to plan, we might as well just plan to fail. The other quote that really stands out to me is this opportunity always favors the prepared. So what I'm trying to encourage you with is let us be people who when it comes to giving, choose to prepare our hearts choose to prepare our minds choose to prepare our spirits choose to prepare what God wants to do. In US, I believe that when it comes to giving in this Christian life, planning is very, very, very, very important. Because if we don't plan, oftentimes, we'll just choose not to partner with the purposes of God.
And this is what Paul thinks, too, I believe, as we read in second Corinthians chapter nine. And I know that in this Hollaback church, it became really, really quiet the second essay giving, because it's not really something we like to talk about, but I'm telling you, we're going somewhere in the life of our church, and it's going to be done because of the radical generosity, that God is stirring in the hearts and the lives of people, we are going to reach hundreds of 1000s of people. I'm telling you right now, by the Spirit of God, that there are 200,000 college students in our region that need to be reached. There are there are hundreds of 1000s of high school students that need to be reached for the for the kingdom of heaven. And I'm telling you what, we are going to be a part of it by God's grace, and spirit.
But we're gonna have to be prepared.
And here's what Paul encourages the church at core when he says this in verse number one, Second Corinthians, chapter number nine, he says, I really don't need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem, for I know how eager you are to help. And I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece, we're already we're ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers see this term right here stirred up many. That's what made me think of the soup story.
That's that's what made me think of the soup story.
I thought, Man, that gift of giving is like the pot of soup. That is unstirred.
But here's what we have to understand. If we're going to see the difference. We got to see the difference between this ministry of giving
and this they begin to give you here see the difference here is the ministry of giving to the believers and the the Macedonians beginning to give they were different types of gifts. Giving to the believers in Jerusalem was considered an offering it was considered an above and beyond it afforded the people in Jerusalem, the ministry leaders in Jerusalem to to do ministry to the down and outers it afforded them to do ministry to the people who were disconnected who were far from God, who weren't yet a part of the fold. It was considered an offering that essentially what we like to say around here is it accelerated the vision to the last that wasn't already currently taking place. It afforded them that opportunity. But what happened was with the Macedonian believers who begin their giving, what it was specifically talking about was a group of people that really saw the value of the tithe or giving bringing to the local church in doing
The ministry that was that was already taken place to reach the believers and continue on to move what God was doing among the local church forward. But here's what's so interesting that while these Corinthian believers were stirred to bring this offering, what it did when they went above and beyond is it is it stirred the Macedonian believers who weren't giving, who weren't faithful, who weren't consistent, who had never considered you know what I'm going to bring my first and best to the local church, I'm going to do this, they had never considered that an option for them. Because the Corinthian believers went so far above and beyond in their generosity, it stirred the least of these because the Macedonians Listen, everybody, what we have to know is they were coming from a region that was impoverished, they didn't have an abundance, they didn't have a lot. How many times have we convinced ourselves that we can't give because we don't have
that's a lie from the enemy that tries to lock you in a place of poverty.
But here's the reality, if we can have some people who have been faithful, but will consider it an opportunity to go above and beyond, I think that it might just stir the faith of some people who otherwise might not give
or see that their gift would be valuable. Oh, what's my
$20 going to do? What's my $100 is going to do what's my $1,000 is going to do?
I believe it could change somebody's life.
We used to teach this in our youth ministries.
We believe that $1 could translate to a soul. We believe that $1 God can take even the smallest of gifts. If it's done in faithfulness, we believe that God can take $1 We believe God can take $10 and turn it into reaching a soul.
Because this isn't just about giving to give. This is about giving to to do something spiritual in the hearts and the lives of people. But I love how it was the faith of the Corinthians
that stirred the faith of the Macedonians. So Paul's commenting he's commending their generosity, the Corinthians. But he goes on to say this in verse three. And I think this is interesting. He says, I don't need to write a letter, but I am going to send somebody what I am sending these brothers to be sure that you're really ready, as I've been telling them, and that your money is all already collected. I don't want to be wrong in my boasting about you. We would be embarrassed not to mention your own embarrassment. If some of the Macedonian believers who are starting their faith who are on fire in their faith because of the commitment that you made to generosity, these Macedonia's are they're giving out of what they don't have. They're trusting God because of what they've seen in you. It would be a shame if I were to send them
and realize that you weren't actually ready to give like you said, you were
Have you ever been stirred by the Spirit of God to do something that then you backed away from? For whatever reason?
You backing away from faith or backing away from that step? You got to realize that everybody has somebody watching you.
Everybody has somebody watching.
Now, most of your lives aren't lived on a stage. But everybody has somebody watching you.
What is your level of faith said to your kids? What is your level of faith said to your co workers? What is your level of faith said to your spouse?
See, because in one season, you might be stirring somebody's faith. But come on, let's stay encouraged in our faith. Paul was writing to these Corinthians because there was a discouragement of their faith. And he was trying to stir something on the inside of them to remind them of the goodness of God and the commitment that they made to God when he was being so good.
And when they were seeing
this is the quietest message I've ever preached.
Isn't this fun?
I just feel like it's in our hearts. And that's my prayer. That's my prayer. That's my prayer. But I got some good scripture coming out, too. I got some good, good scripture coming up, too. So let's let's let's keep reading. Let's keep reading.
So I thought that I should send these brothers ahead to make sure that the gift you promised is ready.
But I don't. I don't. I want it to be a willing gift. Not Want to give and grudgingly, see, we quote the heck out of that part of the Scripture. We quote the heck out of I want it to be a willing gift and not one given grudgingly. We never talked about the fact that he scented some Macedonians ahead. He's given them a letter to take to the people of Corinth and he said, Hey, listen, I want you to have the gift that you promised prepare.
err, we quote the heck out of the half where we say don't give grudgingly let it be a willful gift and all these types of things. We don't quote the one that says it's the same verse. Did y'all ever know that? That's the same verse. I read that a couple of weeks ago, I was like, that's the same verse. Wow, Shazam.
Imagine, imagine, Hey, God was doing something so significant in you, that you said, Hey, Pastor, man, I'm gonna give $100,000 I'm gonna give $300,000 I'm gonna give $300 Right. And then all of a sudden, the, you know, the stuff starts hitting the circular cooling device, right? And, you know, like, stuff starts happening in your life and in your world. And you're like, oh, man, I don't know if I can do that. Or I'm upset. You said something that ruffled my feathers. Or you challenged me to sew my seat, so that somebody else could sit in a service, and I'm going to the 830 now, not the 10. And I'm ticked to you and all the stuff. No, nobody's saying that any nobody center. But just imagine what it'd be like, if you were right. Imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine somebody asked you to park down the street, rather than taking up a parking spot in, in the parking lot. I mean, imagine, so you're offended, you're like, you know what, I don't think I'm gonna give that way. I don't think I'm gonna do what I originally set out to do.
But I sent a letter or text message. And I said, Hey, man, remember when you committed to XYZ, I'm gonna send somebody over to your house to make sure you prep for three weeks from now.
Did I be in the newspaper? You know what I'm saying? Like that? I wouldn't be in the newspaper. I'd be going viral on social media, the preacher that wants all the money? No. Like, no, this is the apostle Paul, you know, saying, but it happens to be part of the Bible that we just absolutely leave out. We're like, Hey, brother, just do whatever you want. No, do whatever God's moving you to do. And stay faithful and committed to that, because what God has done in you has the opportunity and the ability to do something great. And somebody else who is far from God right now, who is young in Christ right now, what he stood in you has the ability to do something great in them.
I don't want you to
do it grudgingly. Remember this, a farmer who plants seeds, only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.
You must each decide in your heart.
In your heart, in your heart, he's talking about an offering here, he's not talking about the time, you don't decide the time in your heart, you decide the offering in your heart. The tithe specifically means 10%. And it's the first of your increase. That's what the tithe is. Some of us need to start the time.
Paul's talking about deciding in your heart, what you'll do above and beyond the time. Do you hear what I'm saying? Because going above and beyond will always stir somebody's faith, it will always create opportunity for somebody's faith to be stirred. There are hundreds of 1000s of people who are far from God in our city, let alone our state in our region where God has called us to. And not just this church, but I believe God has called us to do significant things in other churches, as well.
And you're going to hear more about that in the next several weeks.
deciding your heart, how much to give, and don't give reluctantly.
Or in response to pressure, we quote the heck out of that portion to don't give a response to pressure. But we never talk about don't give reluctantly.
Don't let anybody pressure you in and I'm telling you the truth. Do not be pressured into giving.
If God does not stir your heart, we do not want you to be a part of this. If it's your first time at Mercy city, if it's your first few times, we do not want you to be a part of this. The only way we want you to be a part of this is to be a beneficiary of it. We don't want we don't we don't we don't honestly you guys, we don't need your money. We don't want your money. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Here's the heart of this. We want the people that are connected to the life of our church, to walk in the abundant blessing that God has for their lives. That's all we want. And the only way you can do that is through aligning to God's word.
I don't want you to be pressured into anything. If you feel an ounce of pressure, I want you to wait until God gives you a word for
You can move forward on God's word.
But I also don't want you to give reluctantly.
If you give, I want you to give full of faith. Now God gave me a word man and I'm standing on this word, my heart is stirred. I am not letting the giftedness I'm not letting the the things that God's put in the pot of my life burn at the bottom, I'm keeping this thing stirred. I'm keeping this thing going, I'm keeping this thing flowing, so that somebody can experience the goodness of God.
For God loves a cheerful giver.
And God will generously provide all you need. If you ever thought about this, God will generously provide all you need. Sometimes we don't give because we feel like we need. But sometimes I think we need because we don't give.
I think more often than not, we have needs because we choose not to give because the enemy has talked you out
of God being able to be a blessing in your life. And I'm not just talking about financially, because here's the deal. I'm not talking about a natural thing. Right? The Bible tells us that where our treasure is there, our hearts will also be
pestered Carrie and I have given money, believing that our kids would be saved. We've given money and attach some faith to it that God is stirring in us. We trusted and believed God, that God would do significant things in our family. We've trusted and believed God, we sowed money. When it came time to plant this church, we sewed money. Why? Because we're not giving money we're giving our heart. I'm saying God, I trust you so much with my kids, and with their future, that this is more important than this fun, this is more important than this thing, and we will trust you for him.
I don't know what God is stirring in you. But my goodness, I don't want you to give reluctantly, when God speaks, I want you to give full of faith, I want you to give cheerfully and I want you to know God said it, he's gonna do it. I don't care if it takes five years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, I don't care if you see it, this side of heaven, or your kids end up seeing it. If God says it, then you saw it, and he'll do it.
Because he'll provide generously all you need, then you'll always have everything that you need and plenty left over to share. And if you don't believe like, please go look at the Bible. This is the Bible. I'm not twisting scripture. I'm not taking it out of context. We can sit down I'll show you where all my study notes are.
As they share freely and give to those generously who are poor. Poor Yeah, yes, it is financially. And we have plans and we have consistently given to the least of these, we will continue to do that. But it's also meaning poor spiritually. Those are far from God disconnected. From a place of life and life giving power and God their goods, good deeds will be remembered for ever,
forever, forever. The only thing that you're gonna do that will be remembered forever
is sowing into the kingdom.
So when your time so when your talent, sowing the treasure
so when your time so when your talent, sowing your treasure.
So what's Paul saying?
He said to the church of Korea, don't forget to stir the pot.
Don't forget to stir the pot.
Even with the most laid out and thought through plan,
you got to stir the pot.
everything in its place the plan is in place the parts in place the ingredients are in place. Everything you need to make the impact
is in place. Don't forget to stir the pot. So when the time comes to eat, everybody can enjoy the ingredients. Stay stirred. Stay encouraged, keep going. So here's the question that I'd like to answer. In the next couple of minutes.
What stirs your pot?
What stirs your pot? Where have the ingredients of your life began to settle at the bottom of your heart? Where have the gifts, the talents, the passions, the hopes the dreams in your world? Grown stagnant? Where have they become disconnected or even died? What stirs your heart? What stirs your heart? I had a mentor teach me once that I could identify the things that I'm passionate about.
The things that stir my heart by inventorying these three things what makes me glad what makes me sad and what makes me mad. What brings a smile to my face? What causes my brow to furrow? What
brings a tear to my eye. And if I'm being honest, the thing that is stirring my heart personally right now, I saw statistic a couple months ago as Barna released some research that 4% of Gen Z
has a religious affiliation 4%
Gen alpha, what does that mean for them? I don't know. But 4%
of Generation Z has a religious affiliation. That's not just Christianity, that's any religious affiliation.
But that statistic doesn't speak to me so much about Gen Z, it speaks to me more about Gen Y, or Gen X, or the baby boomers. Where are the fathers? Where are the mothers? Where are the grandfathers? Where are the grandmothers? Where are the people that should be sewing significant seed so that this doesn't happen? And they stray away? Where are they that's what stirring me right now. It's stirring me to identify people in my generation that have the means that have the ability that have the experience that have to know how to sew into somebody and say, there's purpose for your life. You don't have to be unaffiliated, you can stand for truth, and there's opportunity for it. That's why when this opportunity came to send the students to San Diego State so we could learn what it looks like in our region to do this. We're like, Yes, I don't care. I told I said, I don't care how much it costs. We're doing it. I don't care if we have it or not. We'll find a way. We're gonna do it.
That's what Sir, in my heart right now. So here's my question was stirring your heart right now?
What's stirring your heart right now? Our ushers are coming, man, if you could come.
What stirring your heart right now.
We've got these hearts for the house envelopes. And we're going to attach seed to this in a couple of weeks. But my question is what's stirring your heart right now?
That's what's stirring my heart. What's stirring your heart? See, we can either give reluctantly,
when it's time to give.
Or we can give an impression I don't want to do either.
I want to get full of faith. And so here's what I'm asking as we close service today.
If you haven't received one of these hearts for the house envelopes, and mercy City Church is your home church. Again, if you completed the three week challenge, and you haven't gone anywhere, it's your home church.
But if you haven't received one of these, we'll just slip your hand up. We just want to get one to everybody. So that you have it.
And this is not the next step. Is it. Okay, and I'll put up and put money in it. No, that's not that's not what I'm talking about.
Come on chapel, sewer.
Officers are moving quickly.
Awesome.
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
So here's what I'm gonna ask.
This is, this is not about the amount going in this envelope. This is about what stirring your heart.
My heart has been stirred in such a way that the original seed that I thought I was gonna sell, God said, No. We're gonna go, we're gonna go, we're gonna go bigger than that.
That was a reluctancy.
I said, Okay.
So here's what I want you to do. What you with your spouse, with your family. If your kids are young, let your kids be a part of this. And let's ask what straight our hearts. What are we passionate about? Where do we want to see where do we want to see people inspired to know Jesus? And that's what I want us to write on this envelope. Things that we're believing for, yes. But this is not a gift to get type of thing. This is a gift. We're sowing seed we're believing for. I'm believing for hearts of fathers to be turned toward children and children toward fathers. That's what I'm believing for.
I'm believing that God is raising up some some boomers,
some people and Gen Y and Gen. X, to be able to speak into the lives of the millennials.
Gen Z
and Gen Alpha. That's what I believe that's what's starting my heart right now.
So I just want to pray for you as we're praying together. God what's stirring my heart?
And what seed Do you want me to attach to it? That might just inspire somebody who's poor, somebody who's lonely,
maybe lonely financially, but lowly in spirit
to come into agreement with your plan and your purpose?
Come on a few with your spouse. Can you both just grab hold to the envelope together?
That's what to pray over us said
Okay, come on Seward chapel.
Father, we trust you, we trust you to store our hearts. We trust you to store our lives. God, we trust you, we trust you. And so God I pray that we would not give ever out of guilt out of manipulation. We would not give out of guilt or obligation, Father that we would only and forever give because our hearts are stirred God that we would never ever give less or more than you're asking us to give God if you say don't participate, that we won't participate if you're saying participate than we will. But God I pray that between now and the 24th of this month, you would speak to us in places of trust about what we're passionate about. Father, I pray for a revival of dreams, a revival of truth, of revival of life, in our hearts, in our lives. God some of us have let go of things that we need to bring back. So God I said boy, in Jesus name, amen. Amen.
Thanks again for listening to today's message. For more information on all that God's doing at Mercy city, or to share how the message has impacted your life. Visit us online at Mercy City DOT church or on social media.