Aug. 28, 2024

Embracing Sabbath Rest, Generosity, and Kingdom Influence

Embracing Sabbath Rest, Generosity, and Kingdom Influence
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315: Pastor Russell Daniel from Hutto Community Church as he shares his inspiring journey from a young pastor at The Fellowship at Scofield Farms to planting his own church in Hutto. Discover the trials and triumphs of establishing Hutto Community Church, the unexpected challenges of running a CrossFit gym during the pandemic, and the resilience required to build a thriving community of faith.

Pastor Plek and Pastor Russel delve into the profound significance of Sabbath rest and the boundaries between work and worship. Learn how the principles of Sabbath and tithing, rooted in creation and the Mosaic covenant, can transform your approach to time and finances. They also explore the spiritual benefits of tithing and generosity, sharing compelling personal testimonies of financial miracles and God's provision that will inspire you to trust more deeply in divine blessings.

Got questions? Text us at 737-231-0605!

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Support the show: https://wbcc.churchcenter.com/giving

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Chapters

00:06 - Church Planting and Growth Discussion

09:34 - Sabbath Rest and Work Boundary

19:47 - Generosity, Tithing, and God's Blessings

27:14 - Unexpected Blessings and Provision

38:39 - Empowering People for Kingdom Influence

44:13 - Sunday Morning Ministry Roles and Importance

53:40 - Caring for Parents With Dementia

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:06.509 --> 00:00:09.455
And welcome back to Pastor Plex podcast.

00:00:09.455 --> 00:00:18.350
I'm your host, pastor Plex, and with me in studio today is none other than the pastor from Hutto Community Church, russell Daniel.

00:00:18.350 --> 00:00:18.992
How are you doing, man?

00:00:18.992 --> 00:00:29.861
Awesome, man, man, this is so exciting to have you back in the branch, back in the hood, if you didn't know this.

00:00:29.900 --> 00:00:31.103
Russell was a pastor at like 22 or something.

00:00:31.103 --> 00:00:32.707
My wife would say 18.

00:00:32.707 --> 00:00:33.408
, 18.

00:00:33.408 --> 00:00:34.009
, 25.

00:00:34.009 --> 00:00:35.371
He was pretty much 10.

00:00:35.371 --> 00:00:35.953
Oh, 25.

00:00:35.953 --> 00:00:36.334
Okay, yeah.

00:00:36.841 --> 00:00:37.875
At Schofield Farms.

00:00:37.875 --> 00:00:40.046
Yeah, what was the name of the church then?

00:00:40.046 --> 00:00:41.204
The Fellowship at Schofield.

00:00:41.225 --> 00:00:42.646
Farms, the Fellowship at Schofield Farms.

00:00:43.021 --> 00:00:46.130
It was great that was a great starter church for you.

00:00:46.130 --> 00:00:51.009
It was and that was exciting and we would meet regularly and kind of talk about different things.

00:00:51.009 --> 00:00:53.145
Pretty sure you saved my life a couple of times.

00:00:53.145 --> 00:00:55.151
It was awesome.

00:00:55.151 --> 00:01:06.730
I enjoyed that period of time and it was exciting to watch you grow, watch you get married which you were pastoring as a single dude, which Don get married, which you were pastoring as a single dude.

00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:07.313
which Don't ever do it.

00:01:07.313 --> 00:01:07.716
Don't ever do it.

00:01:07.716 --> 00:01:08.058
Terrible idea.

00:01:09.481 --> 00:01:10.063
Just terrible.

00:01:10.063 --> 00:01:14.868
Anyway, I'm really proud of you and the fact that you went through.

00:01:14.868 --> 00:01:17.885
I think Austin Christian Fellowship planted you guys and now are you your own thing.

00:01:17.885 --> 00:01:23.739
Yeah, now you're your own thing and we're going to adopt you in eventually to the Hill Country Association if I can convince you of that.

00:01:23.921 --> 00:01:25.212
opt you in eventually to the Hill Country Association.

00:01:25.212 --> 00:01:27.185
If I can convince you of that, I think we were supposed to talk about that.

00:01:27.185 --> 00:01:28.430
Yeah, that's what we were supposed to talk about today.

00:01:28.430 --> 00:01:29.094
I totally forgot.

00:01:29.094 --> 00:01:30.099
We'll talk about that.

00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:31.162
We'll have to get together again.

00:01:31.162 --> 00:01:32.748
You can buy me lunch again.

00:01:35.242 --> 00:01:37.368
All right, so tell me when you planted at Huddo.

00:01:37.368 --> 00:01:38.561
Okay, so we moved.

00:01:39.343 --> 00:01:40.625
My wife and I got married in 15.

00:01:40.625 --> 00:01:42.968
We moved to Huddo in 16.

00:01:42.968 --> 00:01:47.865
Spent a couple of years trying to raise up people, which is crazy.

00:01:48.106 --> 00:01:48.528
So, hard.

00:01:48.969 --> 00:01:50.917
People are like, yeah, we'll come when you start the church.

00:01:50.917 --> 00:01:52.522
So finally we just pulled the trigger.

00:01:52.522 --> 00:01:54.668
We launched Easter of 2018.

00:01:54.668 --> 00:01:57.656
Nice, and it was great.

00:01:57.656 --> 00:02:05.984
Fast forward about a year and a half and things at ACF had kind of shifted and they decided, hey, we're kind of going in this direction.

00:02:05.984 --> 00:02:15.445
So we're going to draw a line in the sand and if you guys feel like you want to take your church and become independent, we'll help you, we'll bless you, go, be fruitful and multiply.

00:02:15.445 --> 00:02:20.843
And so we took that back to our leadership and we said, yeah, this is probably the best thing for us to do at this point.

00:02:20.843 --> 00:02:22.426
Huddo's kind of out there.

00:02:22.426 --> 00:02:25.772
It's not as far as you think, but people in Hutto just have a different mindset.

00:02:25.772 --> 00:02:29.967
Yeah, like not Austin, don't want to be Austin.

00:02:29.967 --> 00:02:34.265
So we did that and so we started Hutto Community Church January of 2020.

00:02:34.265 --> 00:02:35.100
Yeah, which was?

00:02:35.641 --> 00:02:36.604
impeccable timing.

00:02:36.604 --> 00:02:37.486
Yeah, it was great timing.

00:02:37.486 --> 00:02:40.501
Oh wow, wow, that's wild.

00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:45.850
We also bought a gym at that same time, which was a terrible idea CrossFit gym, I don't know.

00:02:45.850 --> 00:02:46.633
Did I tell you that?

00:02:46.633 --> 00:02:47.373
No, yeah.

00:02:47.373 --> 00:02:59.526
So we had joined a CrossFit gym, fell in love with CrossFit, which still am, yeah, our owners decided they were going to close and so we were like, well, what if we just take it?

00:02:59.526 --> 00:03:01.768
And they were like, okay, yeah, sure.

00:03:01.768 --> 00:03:04.949
So we took over that Same time that we planted a church.

00:03:04.949 --> 00:03:08.685
I'm a glutton for punishment, if you didn't know.

00:03:09.548 --> 00:03:13.149
Wow, I mean, you couldn't have predicted what happened.

00:03:13.149 --> 00:03:13.368
No.

00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:14.664
So what happened with the CrossFit gym?

00:03:14.664 --> 00:03:23.871
So that went about a year and a half and March, april of 21, we really got it in a good spot.

00:03:23.871 --> 00:03:39.509
Then we lost one of our most important coaches and like she was doing kids stuff and personal training and all this stuff, and she got a full-time gig at another gym, which we were like wow, like good for you, but that sucks for us.

00:03:39.509 --> 00:03:46.808
And that was a time period when nobody was like nobody wanted a job, nobody wanted to work and we couldn't hire anybody to save our life.

00:03:46.808 --> 00:03:47.872
I mean, we tried and tried and tried.

00:03:47.872 --> 00:03:50.468
Finally we were just like, all right, we've got to pull the plug.

00:03:50.468 --> 00:03:53.969
So I met with some owners of another gym.

00:03:53.969 --> 00:04:05.893
They were looking to get out of their lease and so they moved into our spot, took over everything and we just became regular members again and it was great oh wow.

00:04:06.540 --> 00:04:07.926
Glad to be out of that business, for sure.

00:04:08.219 --> 00:04:10.769
Okay, so tell me about how church has grown, and all that.

00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:16.812
Yeah, so we were meeting in the YMCA when we were with ACF, which YMCA, hutto, ymca, yep.

00:04:16.812 --> 00:04:19.983
So full setup and teardown every single Sunday.

00:04:19.983 --> 00:04:20.843
How?

00:04:20.884 --> 00:04:21.124
was it?

00:04:21.124 --> 00:04:22.245
Did you enjoy setup teardown?

00:04:22.266 --> 00:04:23.307
Oh gosh no, I hated it.

00:04:23.307 --> 00:04:25.750
Like I tried to have a good attitude about it.

00:04:25.750 --> 00:04:37.271
I'm like all right, here we go, team Like good job, but like you can only fake it for so long, like it was just miserable and like we started with way too much stuff.

00:04:37.490 --> 00:04:37.692
Yeah.

00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:47.634
And you know, full pipe and drape, like the whole gym gym, and it was, I mean, this ginormous screen as big as what you have like um, it was rough.

00:04:47.634 --> 00:04:54.223
But so we were like we're not doing this anymore.

00:04:54.223 --> 00:04:55.348
So we found another church in a little industrial place.

00:04:55.348 --> 00:04:59.180
Uh, they said, you know, we could meet on Saturday nights, which, uh, started out great.

00:04:59.180 --> 00:05:04.531
And then, you know, covid happened and we were obviously, you know, closed.

00:05:04.531 --> 00:05:12.127
So you do the online thing and after like four weeks of online, you're like I hate my life, like can we record this on Monday?

00:05:12.127 --> 00:05:15.987
For Saturday it was just, it was weird.

00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:50.007
But you know, being in Hutto and out there, williamson County, as soon as the governor opened things up the next week, we were back person yeah which I mean we were a third of what we were, which was not big to begin with right um, so we kind of muddled through and then man, saturday nights just got tough yeah like tough, tough, tough, especially once football season rolls around and you know, then every every event in huddle, like the chamber, gala, birthday parties, I mean everything happens on a Saturday night, so you're just like dogging it.

00:05:51.661 --> 00:06:04.769
So we met there for two years and then, by God's grace, so my wife is a realtor and so she had some clients who she's worked with for I mean forever with their business and they they were looking for a new space to get into.

00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:11.564
So they found this old daycare.

00:06:11.564 --> 00:06:17.002
Um, and it's weird, it's got a like a building up front and it looks like it's two lots, but it was all one and it has like a like a trailer in the back, like a double wide kind of deal.

00:06:17.723 --> 00:06:17.843
Um.

00:06:17.843 --> 00:06:25.471
And so they looked at the space and owner walked out and told my wife like this building is great, it's perfect for our business.

00:06:25.471 --> 00:06:30.865
And he looked to his left and he's like but this building back here, like we don't have any use for right, you know anybody who needs it?

00:06:31.064 --> 00:06:50.384
yeah, and like we were like yes, like our church, will take it so we, we did this whole deal where you guys like divide the property yeah, before, before we closed, we had to divide the property, so we took one half and they took the other half and it has been the biggest blessing for our church.

00:06:50.384 --> 00:06:52.855
So, like we're meeting in a glorified double wide and we've tried to make it, not look like a double wide.

00:06:52.916 --> 00:06:56.024
But it is like it has been awesome, and I mean immediately.

00:06:56.024 --> 00:07:09.108
You know, just moving to Sundays was a huge boost for us and we've been meeting in that space a little over two years now and we're busting at the seams, we're setting up extra chairs in front of the door.

00:07:09.108 --> 00:07:16.254
I'm sure the fire marshal would hate it, but we've got kids shoved in these little tiny rooms everywhere.

00:07:16.394 --> 00:07:22.726
I mean it's great, it's much better problems to have Listen, if I understand, making the best of what you have.

00:07:22.766 --> 00:07:23.927
I totally get it yeah.

00:07:24.209 --> 00:07:24.449
Okay.

00:07:24.449 --> 00:07:28.175
So, Russell, what are you preaching through right now?

00:07:29.161 --> 00:07:35.966
So we are about to finish a series called the Treasure Principle, which I stole from Randy Alcorn yeah, of course, but he's got great stuff.

00:07:35.966 --> 00:07:38.307
So this is kind of our little giving series for the year.

00:07:38.307 --> 00:07:39.550
Oh nice yeah.

00:07:40.161 --> 00:07:42.048
We preach through the Treasure Principle.

00:07:42.048 --> 00:07:52.209
We kind of like did a modified treasure principle because we kind of fit into our Catholic campaign, I think for our Nehemiah series I think.

00:07:52.209 --> 00:07:55.269
I think we read through the treasure principle and we preached through Nehemiah.

00:07:55.581 --> 00:07:56.725
It's a phenomenal little book.

00:07:56.725 --> 00:07:57.526
It's awesome.

00:07:57.627 --> 00:07:58.108
I love that.

00:07:58.108 --> 00:07:59.545
It's like that changed.

00:07:59.545 --> 00:08:01.887
That changed everything when it came to giving.

00:08:01.887 --> 00:08:02.689
Well, I want to.

00:08:02.810 --> 00:08:26.074
I want to incorporate what you're talking about with the treasure principle, with what I talked about on Sunday, because we talked about time, treasure, talent like how God wants your time, and we were talking about this over lunch, like when it comes to the Sabbath, because I always think this is and it's not funny, because it's obviously chronologically a different dispensation, a different time, a different covenant.

00:08:26.074 --> 00:08:31.911
Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord.

00:08:31.911 --> 00:08:34.668
Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

00:08:34.668 --> 00:08:47.408
You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day, which they're about to build, a tabernacle which takes a lot of fire to kindle or to put in the kiln to do gold and design stuff.

00:08:47.408 --> 00:08:50.548
Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

00:08:50.548 --> 00:08:59.029
Now I know there's a lot of people who believe that everyone should still be keeping the Sabbath, like that is, like the requirement of God.

00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:04.692
However, they don't have guns ready to shoot people who don't keep the Sabbath.

00:09:04.740 --> 00:09:06.046
Now I'm not sure, why that is.

00:09:06.740 --> 00:09:14.587
That's the part where I'm like either it's the death penalty or no, because that was the Old Testament command, that was part of this dispensation.

00:09:14.587 --> 00:09:19.172
So, anyway, that might be a bit extreme, but I think that's kind of how I read it.

00:09:19.172 --> 00:09:20.381
That's what the Bible says.

00:09:20.381 --> 00:09:23.947
And maybe someone might say well, the government says you can't kill people.

00:09:23.947 --> 00:09:28.995
So that's why I'm just waiting, I'm going to petition to the government eventually to have the law put in.

00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:34.804
If people don't keep this out, good luck with that, which I think is a bit far.

00:09:34.804 --> 00:09:49.970
That's why I think that Jesus, when he came and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this Jesus when he came, he died on the cross, he rose from the dead, and the symbol of our freedom in Christ is baptism, and then the continual relationship with Jesus is the Lord's Supper.

00:09:49.970 --> 00:09:53.847
And for me, the Sabbath day was a symbol.

00:09:53.847 --> 00:10:04.951
And for me, because it's written, the Sabbath day is a symbol for all generations, to all the world, that they can trust God for their provision, because he's commanding them to rest one day a week.

00:10:04.951 --> 00:10:06.014
Your thoughts?

00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:06.681
Yeah.

00:10:06.681 --> 00:10:10.971
So I go back to the creation order.

00:10:10.971 --> 00:10:16.152
So God made the world in six days and on the seventh he rested.

00:10:16.152 --> 00:10:26.091
So you've got the commandment, you've got God's order, and so I think our God is a God of order and he does things on purpose.

00:10:26.091 --> 00:10:32.067
So I don't think it's by accident that he rested on the seventh day and then he commands us to rest on the seventh day.

00:10:32.067 --> 00:10:37.206
Now I don't think, you know, I don't think we need to be putting anybody to death because we're not taking a Sabbath.

00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:49.412
But, for believers, like there's a principle there that, like you, should live by like you should be able to back away from work long enough to be able to rest, to be with your family, to worship the lord, to have fun together.

00:10:49.412 --> 00:10:51.458
Um, and I think it's.

00:10:51.458 --> 00:11:03.102
It's really similar to the tithe, uh, like when you, when you are tithing and you give 10 percent like and just pet peeve, like I hate when people say, oh, I'm tith and it's like 20 bucks, I'm like.

00:11:04.344 --> 00:11:04.924
I don't think so.

00:11:05.566 --> 00:11:11.291
But you're saying I'm not God.

00:11:11.291 --> 00:11:15.914
There is a God, he's in control, he's going to provide for me, he's going to take care of it.

00:11:15.914 --> 00:11:29.788
So I can trust him with my treasure and I can trust him with my time, because I don't have to work all the time, you know, to make sure everything's done, like God's going to do more in six days than he than I can in seven.

00:11:29.988 --> 00:11:30.489
A hundred percent.

00:11:30.750 --> 00:11:31.873
And like it's just good for you.

00:11:31.980 --> 00:11:42.706
Like you need a day to rest and not think about work and to let your brain like, relax and one of the things I brought up on Sunday and I do not think I made this up because I didn't I stole it from somebody else.

00:11:43.547 --> 00:11:46.129
As all good pastors do, yeah absolutely.

00:11:46.529 --> 00:11:51.934
When you think about creation, day one, day two, day three, humans come on day six.

00:11:51.934 --> 00:11:56.424
Yeah, god creates human beings.

00:11:56.424 --> 00:11:56.586
Day six.

00:11:56.586 --> 00:11:59.986
I'm not sure if that was an all-day thing, I'm not sure how long it took God to make the humans, but it happens.

00:12:00.047 --> 00:12:26.785
On day six there's their day zero and then day one for human beings was a rest day I've never thought about that so you work from rest, not for rest, and I think that that principle has is seen, uh, even in the in the mosaic covenant is that they were first liberated, given rest from slavery, and then they were given liberated, given rest from slavery, and then they were given freedom.

00:12:26.785 --> 00:12:28.725
Then they're given the law.

00:12:28.725 --> 00:12:34.993
In the same way, when you are saved by Jesus, you're dead in your sin.

00:12:34.993 --> 00:12:36.706
He makes you alive in Christ.

00:12:36.706 --> 00:12:50.912
He'll come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, but there is a yoke, there is something that you put on when you follow Jesus, even though there's rest, but that comes after, you receive the comfort of Christ and you're in him.

00:12:50.951 --> 00:12:54.394
So anyway, I bring that up and I do think what your point was like.

00:12:54.394 --> 00:12:56.316
You were designed not to grind it out.

00:12:56.375 --> 00:12:57.336
Seven days a week Right?

00:13:02.760 --> 00:13:04.809
How do you, as a pastor, do you have a day of rest?

00:13:04.809 --> 00:13:05.351
How do you?

00:13:05.351 --> 00:13:05.754
How do you?

00:13:05.754 --> 00:13:06.496
How do you sabbath?

00:13:06.496 --> 00:13:07.279
Is that even a right thing?

00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:07.841
How do you?

00:13:07.841 --> 00:13:08.903
How do you implement?

00:13:09.884 --> 00:13:11.167
yeah, um.

00:13:11.167 --> 00:13:21.841
So generally I take fridays and I say no to all meetings, like I mean, it's got to be a pretty special deal yeah, for me to say yeah, I'll do that on a friday, right?

00:13:21.841 --> 00:13:26.801
Um, you know, I've told even our staff like, don't call me, don't text me.

00:13:26.801 --> 00:13:38.522
Like if we want to text about something fun, like great, cool, let's, let's do that but, like don't text me about work on friday right uh, so I try to put a limit on that, like I don't let my message prep bleed over into that.

00:13:38.542 --> 00:13:41.327
Like, if if it's yet to be done, then it's going to be on saturday, right, like I'm gonna take that day now, like I'm not the greatest at it.

00:13:41.327 --> 00:13:43.352
Um, like it's yet to be done, then it's going to be on Saturday.

00:13:43.432 --> 00:13:43.653
Right.

00:13:43.754 --> 00:13:59.889
Like I'm going to take that day Now, like I'm not the greatest at it, like it's still, like there's still life to be lived and everybody else is working on Friday, so it can be tough, but I really try to take that day and you know we'll do date night with my wife.

00:13:59.889 --> 00:14:03.474
You know, pick my daughter up early from school, jump in the pool.

00:14:03.474 --> 00:14:06.022
You know that kind of focus on the family.

00:14:06.022 --> 00:14:07.625
You know, have my quiet time in the morning.

00:14:07.625 --> 00:14:10.022
I'll still go to the gym, you know that kind of thing.

00:14:10.222 --> 00:14:11.908
But yeah, I kind of do the same thing.

00:14:11.908 --> 00:14:22.317
So kind of for me, I do my sermon practice, so I preach the sermon on Thursday around three and then five o'clock.

00:14:22.317 --> 00:14:25.706
It's Sabbath time and I, adrian.

00:14:25.706 --> 00:14:32.399
I usually have a date night Thursdays, and then Friday morning is more non-things all the way up to Friday night.

00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:37.152
Because usually, whenever you do a rehearsal dinner for a wedding, it's usually on a Friday night.

00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:45.245
You do a whole lot more weddings than I do, and then Saturday would be the wedding or another event.

00:14:45.285 --> 00:14:46.629
Yeah, some church event.

00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:49.224
Sure, there's always something going on, usually Fridays you don't have.

00:14:49.224 --> 00:14:54.565
So I kind of take that same policy, yeah, and I think that works.

00:14:54.565 --> 00:15:04.761
So I think the big thing, the question we got on this, let's see, the question I have about this specific thing is where did you get?

00:15:04.761 --> 00:15:09.013
The Sabbath's purpose was to show the world that God was in control instead of for rest.

00:15:09.013 --> 00:15:10.884
This was a new concept for me.

00:15:10.884 --> 00:15:13.191
That Sabbath was abolished with Jesus.

00:15:13.191 --> 00:15:28.760
Well, first off, it is still for rest, the Sabbath, but the concept that the Sabbath day is a specific command for a specific day, with a death penalty of enforcement being a thing is no longer in fact.

00:15:28.760 --> 00:15:31.746
Um, it's the same thing with circumcision.

00:15:31.947 --> 00:15:45.447
So circumcision was the symbol of the abrahamic covenant, which is for land and blessing, uh, for abraham's descendants, which has been fulfilled in jesus, which is that why now the whole world has opportunity to be.

00:15:45.447 --> 00:15:48.171
Father Abraham had many sons.

00:15:48.171 --> 00:15:49.774
Many sons had Father Abraham.

00:15:49.774 --> 00:16:06.114
I am one of them, and so if you were a Gentile, that is impossible for you to be a son of Abraham unless Jesus adopted you to be a co-heir with Christ, and so therefore, through that, because from this rock, god can make a descendant from Abraham.

00:16:06.114 --> 00:16:07.746
So that's essentially what he did.

00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:12.711
So the symbol of the Abrahamic covenant was circumcision.

00:16:12.711 --> 00:16:18.893
The symbol of the Mosaic covenant was keeping the Sabbath day holy.

00:16:18.893 --> 00:16:21.288
So it is for rest.

00:16:21.288 --> 00:16:23.687
You need to rest one day a week.

00:16:23.687 --> 00:16:25.956
It is for rest, you need to rest one day a week.

00:16:25.956 --> 00:16:31.143
The whole point of saying that was not that To our point.

00:16:31.143 --> 00:16:37.284
It's like we do it on Friday, whereas Jews would do it on Saturday and they kept it religiously.

00:16:37.284 --> 00:16:45.947
This is where Paul says one person sees one day more sacred than another, whereas everyone regards every day as holy.

00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.970
Well, if you make all of them holy, you've made none of them holy.

00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:52.591
You could make that argument, but that's where it's personal conviction.

00:16:52.591 --> 00:17:18.964
So how you rest and this is where it goes into kind of what you're saying about giving Like how you rest, like if I don't work, don't look at my sermon on Friday I have to trust, by the power and grace of God, that on Saturday evening when I start to look at that sermon again, by the amazing supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, all the sermon block you ever get sermon block where you're trying to write a sermon and you just nothing.

00:17:19.380 --> 00:17:20.365
All week until this morning.

00:17:22.881 --> 00:17:26.048
You're sitting there going like I have no idea how to start this.

00:17:26.048 --> 00:17:27.200
I've got a page of.

00:17:27.421 --> 00:17:29.507
it's going to take me five minutes, five minutes.

00:17:29.507 --> 00:17:30.911
I got five minutes of stuff yeah.

00:17:33.041 --> 00:17:35.367
I'm going to sit up there and be like, hey, don't sin, all right.

00:17:35.868 --> 00:17:36.510
I'll see you next week.

00:17:36.510 --> 00:17:37.160
You know, I don't know.

00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:38.541
Yeah, think about that.

00:17:38.541 --> 00:17:39.483
Yeah, think about that.

00:17:39.703 --> 00:17:40.464
Contemplate that.

00:17:40.464 --> 00:17:50.057
And so I think, for me, like I'm always trying to think of, like how can I make this intro match a contemporary intro hit to a biblical time?

00:17:50.057 --> 00:17:52.380
How do we make a theological bridge?

00:17:52.380 --> 00:17:59.207
And sometimes you just beat your head against the wall because you're wanting to make something be relevant and yet interesting and yet biblical.

00:17:59.788 --> 00:18:06.211
And you know it's a sin to make the bible boring, you know, because it's the word of god, it's's the most powerful, amazing thing in the world.

00:18:06.211 --> 00:18:09.409
And then so you're feeling the pain of that.

00:18:09.409 --> 00:18:16.691
So that's why, for me, when I don't look at it on Friday, god has always come through.

00:18:16.691 --> 00:18:19.255
Yeah, yeah, right, amen to that, yeah.

00:18:19.255 --> 00:18:22.130
And so that's why I look at it sort of like trusting God.

00:18:22.130 --> 00:18:37.651
With that time, it's like I am intentionally taking time away from work to focus on the Lord and to rest, and so that's how I feel like giving is, like when I, you know, god can do more with my six days than I can do with seven.

00:18:37.651 --> 00:18:43.913
In the same way, god can do more with 90% than I can do with 100.

00:18:44.075 --> 00:18:53.251
And I and I know you know, 90, like 10%, like I always think 10% is a good number to start with, but if you gave 5%, because that's what the Lord called you to give, I think that's okay.

00:18:53.251 --> 00:19:05.107
If God you know, my wife and I decided to give like 1% more every year and that is we're now at oh gosh, we're at 20.

00:19:05.107 --> 00:19:10.736
And then we now give, and then every year we increase a percentage that we give to other things.

00:19:10.736 --> 00:19:23.619
So instead we give 20 to the church, but now we give to something else and that's hard, but it's growing.

00:19:24.082 --> 00:19:25.788
And I don't sit there and go like I have to give.

00:19:26.421 --> 00:19:27.285
It was the first time.

00:19:27.285 --> 00:19:32.029
This year was the first time where I looked at money and I go, I get to bless a ministry.

00:19:32.029 --> 00:19:37.181
Yeah, and it was not that it's not exciting to bless the church's ministry, because I really believe in our church and all that we're doing.

00:19:37.221 --> 00:19:39.762
But when you're the pastor.

00:19:39.883 --> 00:19:45.705
Now it's like, oh, I'm going to go and this is going to impact something different what I think.

00:19:47.207 --> 00:19:52.250
sometimes I think people don't believe us Like I don't ever miss my tithe.

00:19:52.250 --> 00:19:58.934
Yeah, you know like there's never been a day where it's been like looking at the bank account like man, you shouldn't have tithed.

00:19:59.055 --> 00:20:00.935
Right, like I've never, ever thought that.

00:20:00.935 --> 00:20:08.301
And like we tithe, we give more than the tithe.

00:20:08.301 --> 00:20:18.313
And again, I think people are like oh yeah, okay, sure, like, but like that's something I passionately believe in and I think our churches not you and me, but like as churches as a whole are super underfunded.

00:20:18.313 --> 00:20:19.481
But they would be.

00:20:19.481 --> 00:20:27.740
They would have all the money that they would need to do all the ministry that they need if all of our people would just tithe Like.

00:20:28.986 --> 00:20:29.327
I don't know.

00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:34.728
Like I don't want to beat people over the head Like oh, you need to give, but like there's such a blessing in, it.

00:20:34.768 --> 00:20:37.407
There is, and I think here's where I always go with this.

00:20:37.407 --> 00:20:40.528
It's like I don't want to drive by, guilt you into giving.

00:20:41.109 --> 00:20:41.791
Like be guilty.

00:20:41.791 --> 00:20:42.913
It never works.

00:20:42.913 --> 00:20:43.594
It'll never work.

00:20:43.594 --> 00:20:44.253
It never works.

00:20:44.755 --> 00:20:49.227
And you can only give and you can only live to the measure of faith that God has given you.

00:20:49.227 --> 00:20:54.968
However, I think part of growing is asking God.

00:20:54.968 --> 00:20:56.625
I really believe this.

00:20:56.625 --> 00:21:05.249
Asking God grow my faith and then this is why I love Malachi 3.10, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.

00:21:05.329 --> 00:21:16.722
Test me in this as the Lord of hosts and see if I will not open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need, and I'll be translated until you don't have room enough for it.

00:21:16.722 --> 00:21:22.481
I love that, because that, in fact, the actual translation is until there's no scarcity.

00:21:22.481 --> 00:21:26.571
In other words, it is the opposite of scarcity.

00:21:26.961 --> 00:21:28.426
You're going to have an overabundance.

00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:29.865
It's going to be mind-blowing.

00:21:30.121 --> 00:21:31.807
This is Old Testament passage right?

00:21:31.807 --> 00:21:35.002
I always have questions about it.

00:21:35.042 --> 00:21:35.826
Yeah, hit me, I love this one.

00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:39.223
Part of that passage is I will rebuke the devourer.

00:21:39.223 --> 00:21:45.188
Do you think for our people who may be like, oh it's my money, I'm not giving.

00:21:45.307 --> 00:21:46.070
That's a great question.

00:21:46.140 --> 00:21:52.967
There's a devourer in their life that God's just allowing that to be there Like hey, you got another flat tire.

00:21:53.067 --> 00:21:53.730
Man.

00:21:54.702 --> 00:21:56.127
Hey, your AC's going out.

00:21:56.127 --> 00:21:59.809
I'm just kind of wondering out loud what are your thoughts on that?

00:21:59.809 --> 00:22:05.752
God allows those things to happen, whereas if we trust him, we give, we're generous.

00:22:05.752 --> 00:22:10.445
He's like, hey, I'm going to rebuke that, I'm going to keep that from you, man, that is a great one.

00:22:11.144 --> 00:22:11.940
I really believe that.

00:22:11.940 --> 00:22:28.406
I think sometimes you give, or if you don't give, and then your air conditioning goes out and you have some medical bill you can't pay and then you have another, you probably add all that stuff up and it might.

00:22:28.406 --> 00:22:28.567
I'm not.

00:22:28.567 --> 00:22:30.564
This is where I don't want to get overly superstitious.

00:22:30.584 --> 00:22:35.680
This is where it's like well, well, well, the reason why all these bad things happen to you is you weren't giving.

00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:36.683
I'm not going to say that.

00:22:36.683 --> 00:22:38.882
I had a friend in seminary who believed that and he would.

00:22:38.882 --> 00:22:42.567
He's like I'm not tithing this month and sure enough something on his truck would go out.

00:22:42.567 --> 00:22:45.012
He's like dang it, I should have tithed.

00:22:45.133 --> 00:22:46.275
I knew this was going to happen.

00:22:46.275 --> 00:22:49.538
I don't know if it works quite like that, but yes, you should have tithed.

00:22:49.538 --> 00:22:51.428
But there is a general principle, right?

00:22:53.124 --> 00:22:55.084
Like it's God's protection over it.

00:22:55.084 --> 00:22:55.787
You're trusting me.

00:22:56.820 --> 00:22:57.082
It gets.

00:22:57.082 --> 00:23:03.046
So there's such a nuance there because you don't want to be like if you tithe, nothing bad will happen, because that's not true.

00:23:03.046 --> 00:23:09.313
That's not true, right, yeah, but I've never seen someone who gives generously ever being won.

00:23:09.313 --> 00:23:09.773
How about that?

00:23:09.773 --> 00:23:10.994
I've just never.

00:23:10.994 --> 00:23:11.596
I mean, you could.

00:23:12.181 --> 00:23:12.663
I agree to that.

00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:20.791
I'm not a person that's homeless because they gave all their money away and they weren't about to go kill themselves or something.

00:23:20.791 --> 00:23:31.077
I think if someone who is generous because God has led them to be generous, god's not going to lead them to a place where they're going to be in want.

00:23:31.077 --> 00:23:34.711
I think the problem is nobody asks God to lead them in this.

00:23:34.711 --> 00:23:44.223
In fact, one of the things I always say is like because James 1.5, if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

00:23:44.223 --> 00:23:50.329
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, for he who doubts, like the way of the sea blown and tossed by wind, he should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.

00:23:50.329 --> 00:23:51.652
He is a double-minded man and stable in what he does.

00:23:51.652 --> 00:24:01.403
Okay, when you pray, god tell me what to give and you go to God's word.

00:24:01.403 --> 00:24:02.726
I'm like which 10%?

00:24:02.726 --> 00:24:22.090
Because in the Old Testament you got the 10% that went to the Levites, the 10% that went to the national feasts, the 10% that went to the poor every three years, and then so you've got at least 23 and a third, and then you got first fruits on top of that and all the holiday stuff, okay, so what does that mean?

00:24:22.090 --> 00:24:23.972
So should you be given 23 and a third percent?

00:24:23.972 --> 00:24:25.695
Maybe, maybe that's it.

00:24:25.695 --> 00:24:33.933
But I really think it's more like what God is saying here is ask him, because there's freedom.

00:24:33.933 --> 00:24:35.844
In the same way, there's freedom with your time.

00:24:35.844 --> 00:24:39.011
Ask God how to lead you.

00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:47.412
And so the way I always think of asking God I think I've mentioned it God's word, god's spirit, god's people.

00:24:47.412 --> 00:24:49.304
So, god's word, you have freedom.

00:24:49.304 --> 00:24:49.484
There.

00:24:49.484 --> 00:24:54.007
There's a general principle of giving, there's a general principle of Sabbathing God's spirit.

00:24:54.007 --> 00:24:56.252
I feel led in this way.

00:24:56.252 --> 00:24:57.696
And then God's people.

00:24:57.778 --> 00:24:59.320
This is usually when it comes to our money.

00:24:59.320 --> 00:25:02.887
Nobody wants to show me the budget.

00:25:02.887 --> 00:25:04.170
Right, you know.

00:25:04.170 --> 00:25:06.454
One, people just in general don't have a budget.

00:25:06.454 --> 00:25:15.509
But two, no one wants to show that because if we saw how little that you gave to the purposes of God, then you would say you're going to judge me.

00:25:15.509 --> 00:25:24.968
Or maybe, on the flip, I don't want anyone to think too highly of me, because what I give At some point the only part that you're supposed to keep secret on this, by the way, is giving to the poor.

00:25:24.968 --> 00:25:35.185
I don't know if you guys knew that like that, you remember, cause the, whenever Jesus is hanging out the temple and he doesn't say like, can you believe these people giving out in front of everybody?

00:25:35.185 --> 00:25:38.280
No, in fact, he commends, it's like it's.

00:25:38.280 --> 00:25:45.413
He uses the widow's example, example as a let's spur on everybody else to give, like shit.

00:25:45.413 --> 00:25:59.468
So your giving should be encouraging to the congregation, okay, but it does say, when you give to the poor, don't announce it like some people do, and you know, look at me how much I'm giving.

00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:00.663
That's where.

00:26:00.663 --> 00:26:04.059
How do you guys do offering here, do you?

00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:04.561
have a pass plate.

00:26:04.561 --> 00:26:06.186
No, we don't do any passing of the plate.

00:26:06.186 --> 00:26:07.270
Yeah, I got the box in the back.

00:26:07.270 --> 00:26:08.724
Yeah, the box in the back.

00:26:08.724 --> 00:26:09.508
Yeah, that's what we do.

00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.789
Yeah, and we just Most of it's probably online at this point.

00:26:12.789 --> 00:26:13.132
Yeah.

00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:13.887
So we've?

00:26:13.887 --> 00:26:19.126
We never passed the plate ever, so we didn't have to transition that either.

00:26:21.821 --> 00:26:22.932
Which made COVID really easy.

00:26:22.932 --> 00:26:23.940
People just kept giving online.

00:26:23.940 --> 00:26:25.788
Yeah, it was super simple.

00:26:26.580 --> 00:26:28.969
I think everybody kind of had to transition to that.

00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:30.306
How do you feel about online?

00:26:30.306 --> 00:26:31.462
Like I think it's good and bad.

00:26:32.685 --> 00:26:38.667
Okay, here's where it's bad and, to be fair, I don't give online.

00:26:38.667 --> 00:26:44.791
Well, I give online, but I make sure I do it every paycheck, uh-huh so it goes like you're manually doing, I'm manually.

00:26:44.811 --> 00:26:46.303
You haven't said it on automatic.

00:26:46.303 --> 00:26:49.711
Yeah, so uh, first of the month, uh-huh I did it.

00:26:51.174 --> 00:27:14.000
I did it manual for a while, um, and then I I found that I in 2022, I think that's when I shifted that's when I hit out of my own personal salary 20%, Because Adrienne still for her, she gives 10% and I just do 20, and then I keep increasing mine Anyway.

00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:24.426
But when I got to 20, I got nervous and I had an auto pay and I was like all right, the Bible says test me in this.

00:27:24.426 --> 00:27:26.559
And that's when I broke out a spreadsheet.

00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:27.563
I was like fine.

00:27:27.663 --> 00:27:35.505
I'm at this place where I need to test God, he said I could, I'm going to do it, and then, as soon as I said I'm going to test, god that's.

00:27:35.505 --> 00:27:37.248
I had this crazy situation.

00:27:37.248 --> 00:27:43.278
So, um, I'm watching football and uh, I'm, I'm.

00:27:43.278 --> 00:27:58.906
I'm home alone with all four kids, I'm watching football, I'm playing outside, I have the football on outside, I'm playing with Austin outside and Titus and Paxton, my two youngest, are upstairs and I think everything's fine, until the point where I go.

00:27:58.906 --> 00:28:04.595
You know, I haven't heard them scream, giggle, laugh anything in a while and I go crud.

00:28:04.595 --> 00:28:23.026
So I run upstairs and there they are in their boy's bathroom, taking toilet paper, plunging it into the toilet, throwing it on the ceiling, flushing the toilet and thinking it's the funniest thing ever the toilet is overflowing with water and I go.

00:28:24.067 --> 00:28:27.922
Then I don't even tell them to stop, I go, what are you doing?

00:28:27.922 --> 00:28:43.222
And then I go, oh crud, and I run downstairs to the garage which is right underneath, where they were flooding the bathroom, and it's raining in the garage and I'm like, okay, god, you're gonna have to come through on this.

00:28:43.222 --> 00:28:52.387
And so, by the grace of god, um, we had a uh, mitchell remodeling, I'll give them a uh, uh, I don't know advertisement.

00:28:52.387 --> 00:28:54.873
Shout out thank you, uh, because they they took it.

00:28:54.873 --> 00:29:03.690
They said, whatever your deductible is, that's what we'll, or whatever the insurance says it costs, we'll, we'll waive the deductible, we'll just take whatever the insurance gives us.

00:29:03.690 --> 00:29:07.933
And I was like, oh my gosh praise the lord, that was like seven grand right there.

00:29:08.516 --> 00:29:10.119
Then our air conditioner went out.

00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:18.528
Then, uh, like a whole bunch, a whole bunch of stuff, and I was like give you know.

00:29:18.528 --> 00:29:24.454
Okay, and then that year.

00:29:24.454 --> 00:29:27.538
In fact, I keep it all on.

00:29:27.557 --> 00:29:34.150
You have the spreadsheet I have the spreadsheet and I keep it by day to see all the crazy things that happened, because it was so wild.

00:29:34.150 --> 00:29:37.585
Let me see if I can pull it and just month after month, random stuff would come in.

00:29:37.585 --> 00:29:38.208
Maybe it was at 23.

00:29:38.208 --> 00:29:40.679
Let me see if I can pull it and just month after month, random stuff would come in.

00:29:40.679 --> 00:29:41.520
Maybe it was at 23.

00:29:41.520 --> 00:29:43.083
Let me see.

00:29:43.083 --> 00:29:48.731
Okay, yeah, so at first, okay, it was 23, not 2022.

00:29:48.731 --> 00:29:51.316
So I actually wrote this down.

00:29:51.316 --> 00:29:53.625
I prayed Malachi 310 at the beginning of January 23.

00:29:53.625 --> 00:30:02.448
I was fearful that giving 20% would be a little silly and I could out give God and I started recording the extra income that I started to receive since January 1.

00:30:02.448 --> 00:30:06.905
I wrote that in there, which is sort of wild that I actually even wrote that, that's pretty neat and so I put the giving.

00:30:07.928 --> 00:30:14.727
And then in January God's giving to me I got a buddy of mine paid me back $500 that I'd forgotten about.

00:30:14.727 --> 00:30:20.541
Another guy paid me $150 that he borrowed but then said I told him don't worry about it, and then he paid it back.

00:30:20.541 --> 00:30:23.627
And then a church asked me to speak, gave me 500.

00:30:23.627 --> 00:30:28.003
I got an extermination overpayment for $200.

00:30:28.003 --> 00:30:32.933
Adrian sold some weather mats on Facebook marketplace for 50 bucks.

00:30:32.933 --> 00:30:38.132
I got a random Amazon gift card from somebody in another ministry just for a hundred bucks.

00:30:38.132 --> 00:30:43.405
Gift card from somebody in another ministry just for a hundred bucks, uh, uh.

00:30:43.405 --> 00:30:47.881
Another church paid me 300 bucks and then the the mitchell remodeling took care of the deductible, which was two thousand dollars.

00:30:47.881 --> 00:30:51.152
And, uh, adrian sold the car, bet all right.

00:30:51.152 --> 00:30:53.679
So all of that was just like that was january.

00:30:53.720 --> 00:31:08.106
After, like, the whole thing was like oh, that was one month, that was one month oh man okay, then you know, this is then and now, granted, it's a tax return, but still, but still, it was thirteen thousand dollars of a tax return yeah, which I was like hallelujah okay.

00:31:08.146 --> 00:31:11.960
And then, uh, I got a random check for five thousand dollars.

00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:18.962
And then I got a random check from a lady who lives in dallas that I haven't seen in 15 years sent me $300.

00:31:18.962 --> 00:31:21.968
You got to send this to me.

00:31:21.968 --> 00:31:25.374
I got another check for $10,000, just random.

00:31:25.374 --> 00:31:33.859
Then, another one of our sweet people at our church we got some money stolen from the church.

00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:34.740
Wells.

00:31:34.780 --> 00:31:42.040
Branch is not known for the purity of souls as far as so anyway, we had money just sitting here, I think.

00:31:42.040 --> 00:31:47.852
A random homeless guy broke in and stole money and the guy at our church, just a blessing, just felt like bad and gave me $1,000.

00:31:47.852 --> 00:31:49.987
Then I spoke at another thing and got $2,000.

00:31:49.987 --> 00:31:50.950
And then here's what blew me away.

00:31:50.950 --> 00:32:00.781
At the time I was looking for a truck and you've seen my amazing truck out there yeah yeah, so, truck out there.

00:32:00.801 --> 00:32:01.042
yeah so, uh.

00:32:01.042 --> 00:32:05.757
One of our elders came, it came up to me and said hey, here's a check for twenty one thousand seven hundred fifty dollars out of nowhere.

00:32:05.757 --> 00:32:06.097
I know this is.

00:32:06.097 --> 00:32:06.660
This is insane.

00:32:06.660 --> 00:32:08.182
I'm just kind of going through it, this, uh.

00:32:08.182 --> 00:32:11.952
Then I got another spoke another church for 250 bucks, uh.

00:32:11.952 --> 00:32:18.209
And so another thing adrian spoke at a women's treat for a church for $750.

00:32:18.209 --> 00:32:23.561
And then another thousand dollars came in at the end of the year.

00:32:23.782 --> 00:32:32.291
So when you look at that, here's this is what's wild the total amount of money that we were out of, out of like not expected, not expected.

00:32:32.291 --> 00:32:32.853
Are you ready for this?

00:32:32.853 --> 00:32:35.702
$64,932.

00:32:35.702 --> 00:32:42.351
What we gave was a total of 20,683.

00:32:42.351 --> 00:32:47.463
So when you look at that, like, this is where I said you will not have room enough for it.

00:32:47.463 --> 00:32:49.409
I can't even fit my truck in my garage.

00:32:49.409 --> 00:32:51.163
Okay, that's how, I don't have room enough for it.

00:32:51.163 --> 00:32:51.944
All right.

00:32:51.944 --> 00:32:57.042
So, like I think that's the encouragement that I got a brand new truck, a brand new one.

00:32:57.042 --> 00:33:01.588
Like I was looking, I was on Facebook Marketplace, I was, like you know, going.

00:33:01.588 --> 00:33:04.132
I was like you know, listen, $20,000.

00:33:04.132 --> 00:33:06.355
Truck's gonna be a decent truck That'll last me for a while.

00:33:08.500 --> 00:33:20.112
I wanted something that could fit all six of the family in there and yet you know move stuff around for the church and you know help move people and help do all the things and the Lord came through wildly more than I'm going to write that down.

00:33:21.034 --> 00:33:21.394
How many?

00:33:21.394 --> 00:33:28.013
Let me pull my notes up 64,000, 64,000, $932.

00:33:30.182 --> 00:33:33.971
And what I gave that year was 20,683.

00:33:33.971 --> 00:33:36.388
The return was 213%.

00:33:36.388 --> 00:33:39.628
Now, listen, this is not an investment strategy.

00:33:39.628 --> 00:33:43.145
I am not giving financial advice but listen, that's like.

00:33:43.847 --> 00:33:56.326
But that's what god does I know the wild part about it was I remember in january being terrified and I said, okay, I'm gonna take god, put him to the test with his word, and especially after that it was raining in the garage.

00:33:56.326 --> 00:33:58.250
I was like we're screwed.

00:33:58.250 --> 00:34:01.601
Um, uh, let me think, yeah, what else did I have to?

00:34:01.601 --> 00:34:05.671
Because I had random um expenses?

00:34:05.671 --> 00:34:07.496
Uh, that, let me see.

00:34:07.496 --> 00:34:08.599
Yeah, I don't think.

00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:10.403
I don't know if I wrote those, all those down.

00:34:10.403 --> 00:34:23.063
Oh, unexpected, yeah, 7700 was the ac heater went out january 1 and then right after that is when we flooded the the house, and so you know you have 7700 and expenses there.

00:34:23.063 --> 00:34:26.690
Uh, let's see, I had the stolen money of 150.

00:34:26.690 --> 00:34:30.284
It was only like 150, but still, but still, uh.

00:34:30.284 --> 00:34:36.496
And then, uh, oh, we bought a new uh washer and dryer.

00:34:36.496 --> 00:34:38.451
I think, no, no, we were given, we were given a washer and dryer.

00:34:38.451 --> 00:34:39.300
We were given a brand new washer and dryer.

00:34:39.300 --> 00:34:40.501
It no, no, we were given, we were given a washer and dryer.

00:34:40.501 --> 00:34:42.342
We were given a brand new washer and dryer.

00:34:43.244 --> 00:34:44.467
It's like that was $3,000.

00:34:44.467 --> 00:34:45.931
I was going to say I looked it up, it was like three grand.

00:34:45.951 --> 00:34:53.505
I was like that was because our dryer went out and I was like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do?

00:34:53.505 --> 00:34:56.688
And then someone randomly didn Because we had the top loading ones.

00:34:56.708 --> 00:34:57.007
Yeah, yeah.

00:34:57.168 --> 00:35:01.152
And I said, hey, we have a what's it face loading the stackable kind.

00:35:01.152 --> 00:35:02.873
Yeah, I think they are stackable.

00:35:02.873 --> 00:35:04.554
No, they're not stackable, they're just front loaders.

00:35:04.554 --> 00:35:06.275
And so do you want it?

00:35:06.275 --> 00:35:14.539
I'm like, yeah, so we got front loading washer and dryer and we still have that.

00:35:14.539 --> 00:35:17.186
That was wild.

00:35:17.186 --> 00:35:20.980
Oh, and there were other things like root canals happened, which is like $650.

00:35:20.980 --> 00:35:30.070
But still, like the stuff that over and over happened where God came through, over and over again, I stopped counting after, really, the year of 2023.

00:35:31.762 --> 00:35:33.139
It's like fine God, I don't need to test you.

00:35:33.139 --> 00:35:33.981
I was like, oh my gosh, this is just real.

00:35:33.981 --> 00:35:34.262
That's insane.

00:35:34.282 --> 00:35:35.447
So, anyway, that's an awesome story, isn't that crazy?

00:35:35.447 --> 00:35:35.927
It's awesome, just real.

00:35:35.927 --> 00:35:36.228
That's insane.

00:35:36.289 --> 00:35:37.492
So, anyway, that's an awesome story.

00:35:37.512 --> 00:35:38.054
Isn't that crazy.

00:35:38.054 --> 00:35:42.432
It's awesome $64,000.

00:35:42.432 --> 00:35:47.442
I mean just to think like it's wild to me.

00:35:47.461 --> 00:35:51.072
People think like I can't even give 2%, like there's no way.

00:35:51.072 --> 00:35:57.393
But this is a testament to like yes, you can, because God does whatever he wants.

00:35:57.393 --> 00:36:00.028
I'm not going to say your return is going to be 213%.

00:36:00.028 --> 00:36:02.728
However, I am going to say but he'll provide, he'll provide, he'll provide, yeah.

00:36:03.539 --> 00:36:08.809
So, I believe that and all this whole time we were able to give.

00:36:08.809 --> 00:36:14.840
I told our congregation back in 2021 when we started our capital campaign.

00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:31.847
We're doing a capital campaign for our property that's in Breakaway, brushy Creek, and I was like we're going to give a full year's salary plus to the capital campaign.

00:36:31.847 --> 00:36:35.309
And we did, and we finished it a year early, which was wild.

00:36:35.309 --> 00:36:37.168
We finished it in 20.

00:36:38.135 --> 00:36:42.655
No, yeah, we finished it last year 21, 22, 23.

00:36:42.876 --> 00:36:51.086
Yeah, so we finished it in July of 23, when we started that thing in October of 21 or whenever it was November 21.

00:36:51.086 --> 00:36:52.887
So that was kind of a wild thing.

00:36:52.887 --> 00:36:59.161
We finished our capital campaign, which is over a year's salary, which is mind-blowing, and that was a blessing, Like that.

00:36:59.161 --> 00:37:00.226
Like to think that.

00:37:00.226 --> 00:37:07.981
And there was a part of when I look at that, like when we finished that capital campaign, there was a real sense of, I don't know, dopamine hit, I don't know if that's.

00:37:07.981 --> 00:37:09.367
You know, it was like, yes, we did it.

00:37:09.367 --> 00:37:11.788
It was like a real sense of accomplishment.

00:37:11.989 --> 00:37:22.266
that not like I did anything right, but I got to partner with the Lord to watch him by faith, what he would do to provide over and above, over and over again.

00:37:22.266 --> 00:37:34.478
Kind of wild, so cool, yeah, anyway, so yeah, so time, like, give your time and trust that the Lord is going to make up for the time that you feel like I need to work, yeah.

00:37:34.478 --> 00:37:42.940
And then your treasure, like he can do more with your 80% than you can do with your 100%.

00:37:42.940 --> 00:37:43.313
He can do more with your 90% than you can do with your 100%.

00:37:43.313 --> 00:37:44.675
I always this is what I tell my people.

00:37:44.675 --> 00:37:52.039
I don't know what you tell yours, but start somewhere, pick a percent and then ask the Lord every year is this what I should be giving?

00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:54.943
And then for me it was like we got to 20 and then it was like all right, no longer give to your church's general budgets.

00:37:54.943 --> 00:37:59.347
We got to 20, and then it was like all right, no longer give to your church's general budgets.

00:37:59.347 --> 00:38:06.175
Think of either missionaries, think of poor, think of something else, and then do that.

00:38:09.873 --> 00:38:11.161
That's awesome, Okay.

00:38:11.161 --> 00:38:18.550
The last one we talked about was like in Exodus 35, 36, Bezalel and Aholiab 35, 36, Bezalel and Aholiab.

00:38:18.550 --> 00:38:25.610
They are like the two guys who are servants and they're filled with the Spirit of God.

00:38:25.610 --> 00:38:32.083
The first time it mentions someone being filled with the Holy Spirit or filled with the Spirit of God is Bezalel and Aholiab.

00:38:32.083 --> 00:38:32.806
Isn't that wild?

00:38:32.806 --> 00:38:33.981
Isn't that wild?

00:38:33.981 --> 00:38:34.786
What verse is that?

00:38:34.786 --> 00:38:37.947
Look at Exodus 36.

00:38:37.947 --> 00:38:39.121
Okay, yeah.

00:38:39.461 --> 00:38:48.356
Yeah, see one yeah, and then uh, and there, and he fills him with his spirit to teach in that, and that's what you think.

00:38:48.356 --> 00:38:56.068
Teach the bible, but no, to teach art, which I always think is hilarious.

00:38:56.068 --> 00:38:59.253
Um, I, I, I kind of love that.

00:38:59.253 --> 00:39:06.210
So, yeah, the Lord has put skill and intelligence and he turns their heart and he fills them with the spirit of God.

00:39:06.210 --> 00:39:10.623
Let me see, let me find the actual verse for Bezalel and Aholiab.

00:39:10.623 --> 00:39:18.650
Yeah, this is where I just loved it.

00:39:19.329 --> 00:39:22.974
Uh, look at, yeah, uh, exodus 31.

00:39:22.974 --> 00:39:24.695
Uh, verse 2.

00:39:24.695 --> 00:39:28.121
Uh, it says let me see if I can find it.

00:39:28.121 --> 00:39:43.242
Yeah, uh, see, I've called by name bezalel and I've filled him with the spirit of god in that wild, with the ability, intelligent, with knowledge and all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs, to work in in gold, silver and bronze, and then all the way.

00:39:43.242 --> 00:39:51.394
In Exodus 36, the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with what the Lord has commanded.

00:39:51.394 --> 00:40:10.027
I love this because God has a mission and if he has a mission, he has the people, he has the manpower for the mission, and I think sometimes people feel like, well, I'm not a pastor, I can't really be used.

00:40:10.699 --> 00:40:12.666
I don't know how many times you've probably heard that at your church.

00:40:13.248 --> 00:40:17.280
Oh, yeah, yeah, like you know, how do you want to serve?

00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:25.472
I just kind of want to sit here and show up and you're like you know, god can use you, even if you don't feel like you can use you.

00:40:25.472 --> 00:40:41.492
And I also sometimes think here's one thing that I struggle with personally, and I really want to do better at this as a pastor and as the church as a whole, is what do you do with really talented people who like them holding a door?

00:40:41.753 --> 00:40:44.226
man that's great Way to go you are.

00:40:44.226 --> 00:40:52.077
You would rather be a door holder at the house of the Lord than king of Satan's world.

00:40:52.117 --> 00:41:29.954
Right, right, Like there's something like that, but you probably also could do some other things other than just hold the door, and one of the things that we have at our church whether you're a—we have school teachers at our church and you're making a ministry impact in your school I want you to think about just school teacher the ability to influence people for the kingdom of God, because you are skilled in the art of teaching math, which may not feel like very Jesus-y, which may not feel like very Jesus-y, but it is actually very Jesus-y when you do it in the context of gospel-oriented.

00:41:29.954 --> 00:41:33.443
I know my son's second grade teacher is a Christian.

00:41:33.443 --> 00:41:46.878
I think she goes to the Stone and so we know that whenever our son is with her, we feel really confident that she's praying for him, that she's seeking the Lord on his behalf, and that really is comforting.

00:41:46.878 --> 00:41:49.347
But then what about all the kids who don't know Jesus?

00:41:49.347 --> 00:42:02.215
She's praying that they might have come to faith, and we have so many Christian teachers in our own church that are ministering to high school students, ministering to middle school students, ministering across the board.

00:42:02.235 --> 00:42:03.338
I'm just thinking teachers for a second.

00:42:03.338 --> 00:42:05.150
But it's not just that.

00:42:05.150 --> 00:42:19.530
When you're a great tech person and you have a ministry to the people at Apple, ministry to the people at Google, it's a big deal, and I feel like one of the things that we need to bet me personally, I need to do better as a pastor is empower people.

00:42:19.530 --> 00:42:23.436
I don't know if it's like bring your pastor to work day, that's a great idea.

00:42:24.106 --> 00:42:26.311
I've been to a couple of people's workplaces and it's great.

00:42:26.311 --> 00:42:29.670
And they're like this is my pastor, and they're like so.

00:42:29.731 --> 00:42:30.675
You have a pastor.

00:42:30.824 --> 00:42:32.445
Yeah, like what does that even mean?

00:42:32.445 --> 00:42:38.552
And you're like, I guess I'm good, it teaches the Bible, it teaches the Bible and stuff.

00:42:38.552 --> 00:42:40.152
I know big words.

00:42:40.193 --> 00:42:49.961
I don't know it's weird for the people there, kind of weird for me, but the people that bring me it's awesome because this is who I listen to every Sunday.

00:42:49.961 --> 00:43:09.737
This is the person that's pouring into my life, but beyond that, because they're probably pouring into the lives of others in their sphere of influence, it's a big deal, and so I always want to challenge people like your mission field or your ministry or your service to the Lord isn't just bringing coffee, although I listen, I love.

00:43:09.737 --> 00:43:12.327
We need good coffee and people.

00:43:12.327 --> 00:43:21.177
We have at least 20 visitors every Sunday and they come and they're expecting coffee, or like they're blessed by coffee and you provide it, so way to go.

00:43:21.177 --> 00:43:27.496
At the same time, god hasn't just put you in your sphere of influence for no reason.

00:43:28.257 --> 00:43:31.815
Yeah, yeah, I mean I try to tell our people that all the time.

00:43:31.815 --> 00:43:34.922
Like you know the end of Esther, chapter 4?

00:43:34.943 --> 00:43:44.608
Yeah, like, maybe you've been put here for such a time as this, like I believe that about every single person in our church and you have no idea what they're going through I believe that about every single person in our church and you have no idea what they're going through, who.

00:43:44.608 --> 00:43:46.492
You have influence over what they're going through in their life.

00:43:46.512 --> 00:43:47.231
That's the thing.

00:43:47.231 --> 00:43:51.496
People look at you and I like oh, you're the pastor, you're whatever.

00:43:51.496 --> 00:43:55.320
No, you're the missionary on the field, you're the one.

00:43:55.320 --> 00:44:00.568
If the gospel is going to make a difference, you're the one who's going to do it.

00:44:00.568 --> 00:44:11.349
I'm here to help you and to support you and to teach you, but God put you in your place of work, surrounded by the people that you work with, or whatever, because that's exactly where he wants you to make a difference for his kingdom.

00:44:11.690 --> 00:44:13.375
So, good.

00:44:13.775 --> 00:44:16.027
Peter calls us priests, and that's what we are.

00:44:16.027 --> 00:44:26.550
We're all priests, ministering before the Lord in our place of work, the places we go to play, wherever we go to eat, all those places we visit on a regular basis.

00:44:26.550 --> 00:44:41.068
We are missionaries on mission for the kingdom of God, and our people are the ones who will reach the folks that you and I will never even see, and I don't think we can overemphasize that enough.

00:44:41.489 --> 00:44:44.737
So let's get back to just the Sunday's coming.

00:44:44.737 --> 00:44:47.248
Yeah, that's one of I think.

00:44:47.248 --> 00:44:52.413
Recently I was with somebody and said why do pastors always say Sunday's coming?

00:44:52.505 --> 00:44:57.831
Because Sunday's always coming Every seven days Real regular, oh man, it never stops.

00:44:57.945 --> 00:45:00.931
Anyway what I mean by that is we have to.

00:45:00.931 --> 00:45:17.704
It's not like put on a show, that's the wrong way to put it but the Lord's work is going to be that people are coming to meet with God and what we're trying to do is remove distractions of the world to give them a space to experience God.

00:45:17.704 --> 00:45:31.400
The reason why people are coming to church is they want to experience a supernatural being who actually exists, loves them, sent his son to die for them, raised him from the dead, and they want to interact with him on the regular.

00:45:31.400 --> 00:45:37.385
And when there's a bunch of people who all believe, rightly, in the same thing, there's a powerful experience.

00:45:37.385 --> 00:45:47.380
Now to make that all happen, it doesn't just like people don't just show up at 9 o'clock when our service starts or 10 o'clock at huddle when the service starts.

00:45:47.380 --> 00:45:50.896
People have been there for a while, prepping, getting ready.

00:45:50.896 --> 00:45:55.056
You know, my son asked me Daddy, how long does it take you to make a sermon?

00:45:55.184 --> 00:46:04.454
I'm like it depends Some weeks it's five hours and I feel like I'm walking on air, and other weeks it's like 25 hours and I'm like dying.

00:46:04.454 --> 00:46:10.416
But, yeah, so talk about some of the ways people get involved at your church on a Sunday morning.

00:46:10.956 --> 00:46:14.634
Yeah, I mean, I think it probably starts with our worship team.

00:46:14.634 --> 00:46:16.811
Other than me, they're the first ones who are there.

00:46:16.811 --> 00:46:26.119
I'll generally come up like super early and do like a message, run through and make sure there's no leaky faucets.

00:46:26.119 --> 00:46:26.746
So is that?

00:46:26.766 --> 00:46:27.007
the.

00:46:27.007 --> 00:46:28.510
Would you call it your servant service?

00:46:28.510 --> 00:46:30.596
No, you do a message.

00:46:30.596 --> 00:46:30.916
No, no, no.

00:46:32.166 --> 00:46:35.293
So that's me, by myself at 6 am Nobody else is there.

00:46:35.353 --> 00:46:36.416
Nobody's there, you just preach it.

00:46:36.416 --> 00:46:37.077
They're dreaming.

00:46:37.157 --> 00:46:47.166
Yeah, and that just helps me work through any kinks that there might be work on transitions or make sure it's in my head.

00:46:47.166 --> 00:46:56.755
But then worship team shows up at 8.30, and they work through all the kinks they've got to work through make sure all the tech is working good.

00:46:56.755 --> 00:46:58.356
Which tech is such a headache?

00:46:58.356 --> 00:47:01.518
Good tech people are like a gift from the Lord.

00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:04.802
Yes, If you're a good tech person, come see us.

00:47:04.802 --> 00:47:09.652
We have desperate need for you.

00:47:09.672 --> 00:47:11.766
Video sound all that stuff, yeah.

00:47:11.766 --> 00:47:17.865
And then we have a group that comes at nine and starts to pray for the service oh nice.

00:47:17.865 --> 00:47:20.675
So we'll gather in one of our kids' rooms and we'll just pray for 30 minutes.

00:47:20.675 --> 00:47:27.166
So we'll pray for needs that are going on in our church body things we know about things people have asked us to pray for.

00:47:28.949 --> 00:47:47.351
You know, like we're trying to get a new building landed, so we're praying for that, praying for my sanity, you know, but then we pray for the service too, pray that all the things you mentioned, the distractions of the world, that all of those would fall away, like literally as people walk through the door, like we literally pray that.

00:47:48.945 --> 00:47:50.929
So you have people that come and just be a part of the prayer team.

00:47:50.929 --> 00:47:52.914
Just to pray, yeah, just to pray, so good.

00:47:54.818 --> 00:48:04.038
So we do that, and then 930, we gather everybody and we'll pray, like all our volunteers who are there, our greeters, our hospitality folks, our kids' workers.

00:48:04.038 --> 00:48:06.911
We'll all gather and we just pray for the service.

00:48:07.072 --> 00:48:07.233
Yeah.

00:48:07.634 --> 00:48:12.010
And that's not real long, it's two minutes something like that, but it's kind of like our rally.

00:48:12.010 --> 00:48:12.431
Here we go.

00:48:12.431 --> 00:48:14.018
We're here to serve.

00:48:14.039 --> 00:48:14.664
We're here to see the Lord move.

00:48:14.664 --> 00:48:15.891
You guys get there at 30.

00:48:15.891 --> 00:48:19.655
You have all your volunteers prayed up ready to go 30 minutes before service.

00:48:19.764 --> 00:48:19.905
Yeah.

00:48:20.306 --> 00:48:22.172
That listen.

00:48:22.172 --> 00:48:23.255
Wells Branch Community Church.

00:48:23.255 --> 00:48:28.342
We have a long way to go 30 minutes before, oh man, yeah, no, it's good.

00:48:28.362 --> 00:48:34.494
That's our rally and we've transitioned like when we launched at Austin Christian Fellowship.

00:48:34.494 --> 00:48:43.675
I mean, it would be literally 10 of us in the room to start a service and now, like if somebody walks in late, all the heads turn.

00:48:43.976 --> 00:48:44.177
Yeah.

00:48:44.706 --> 00:48:46.036
Our people just show up early now.

00:48:46.036 --> 00:48:47.023
It's the coolest thing.

00:48:47.023 --> 00:48:55.855
That's wild and they're there they gather coffee and there's five or 10 people on the front porch welcoming everybody in and people just hanging out.

00:48:55.855 --> 00:48:57.690
The kids run crazy.

00:48:57.690 --> 00:48:59.396
It's so much fun that is great.

00:48:59.396 --> 00:49:02.371
I don't know what the original question was, but that's what we do on Sunday mornings.

00:49:02.472 --> 00:49:03.514
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that.

00:49:03.514 --> 00:49:11.911
It's like where can people serve on a Sunday and I think the primary places which you mentioned for us is prayer team.

00:49:11.911 --> 00:49:15.806
Always we have a 7 am prayer call, which you don't even have to leave your bathroom or your pajamas or wherever, Just call in 7 am.

00:49:15.806 --> 00:49:17.170
But then we have tech team.

00:49:17.170 --> 00:49:19.153
Obviously we have huge need for tech team.

00:49:19.153 --> 00:49:22.541
Obviously we have huge need for tech team, huge need for hospitality.

00:49:22.581 --> 00:49:35.036
there's so much set up that we do outside which is set up tents set up banners and all the things so that people we're not even doing that stuff yet and like we gotta get there, especially when we get this new building.

00:49:35.137 --> 00:49:49.422
It's gonna be confusing for people, yeah everything's confusing especially well we're a split ops, so our children's ministry is all the way down the other side, yeah, which is you know, right past the mexican restaurant yeah, it's ridiculous.

00:49:49.422 --> 00:49:50.565
So it's kind of weird, right.

00:49:50.565 --> 00:49:53.773
So you, you worship here, but then if you have kids, you're like where do I go?

00:49:53.773 --> 00:50:04.652
So you have to have like a whole, a whole team outside to go, like hey, um, children's ministry isn't actually over here, it's down, let me walk you down yeah, and so and those five to ten people just to do

00:50:04.693 --> 00:50:10.570
that yes, and honestly, those people, the people that are new, people that are new and they have kids, they don't know what to do.

00:50:10.570 --> 00:50:17.119
They come 15 minutes early and so that's a great time to talk with them, but that that gets into.

00:50:17.119 --> 00:50:18.184
You can't just show up at nine.

00:50:18.184 --> 00:50:24.460
If you're a servant filled with the spirit of god, you kind of got to be here at like 830, 845.

00:50:24.460 --> 00:50:57.155
Anyway, and then children's ministry is such an awesome place to serve, and because there's so many people involved, that means the more people involved, the more people might cancel, and so on any given Saturday night we'll have two or three, four people cancel, which means that Sunday morning our children's director a branch kids director they're scrambling to find people and thank God, the Lord always provides, and that might be another thing to put in my blessing thing.

00:50:57.244 --> 00:51:00.315
Like when did people not show up and then the Lord provided somebody else?

00:51:00.315 --> 00:51:01.992
Like it's a beautiful thing.

00:51:01.992 --> 00:51:04.798
But I do think that's where you're like when you show up to serve.

00:51:04.798 --> 00:51:18.092
It's such a blessing because there's so many people who are depending on you to serve children in a way that honors God, and you are blessing kids, you're blessing new people, you're blessing people that are just desperate need for ministry.

00:51:18.092 --> 00:51:19.510
You just don't know where people are at.

00:51:19.510 --> 00:51:20.246
They're coming to church.

00:51:20.266 --> 00:51:44.791
One of the things that I always like to say is every greeter is a pastor and every usher is an evangelist, meaning when people come in and you pastor them into the kingdom of God and then when you usher them or if you seat them, you're putting them next to somebody that's going to share the gospel with them, or somebody that they might be able to connect with, or it's another touchpoint of connection.

00:51:45.572 --> 00:51:46.795
So two things here.

00:51:46.795 --> 00:52:04.186
Number one I think being one of the greeters outside is one of the most important jobs, and here's why it's not just because, oh yeah, I'm here to open the door, because people know if they're coming back to your church before they ever sit down with their coffee here, because of the experience they've already had.

00:52:04.186 --> 00:52:06.833
So that is literally the most important job out there.

00:52:06.833 --> 00:52:13.297
But right behind that, I think the biggest opportunity to make an impact for the kingdom is kids' ministry.

00:52:13.297 --> 00:52:22.608
I can still tell you names of the men and women who served me as a child, and that's where kids come to know Christ.

00:52:22.608 --> 00:52:24.873
And that is so true.

00:52:24.873 --> 00:52:26.496
I can't overstate that, you can't.

00:52:26.496 --> 00:52:27.259
That's so important.

00:52:27.445 --> 00:52:35.458
Well, and let's just go back to that Psalm 87 too, the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

00:52:35.458 --> 00:52:44.288
So when you take a look at that, that means that God loves the gates of heaven more than all the other places in the world, loves the gates of heaven more than all the other places in the world.

00:52:44.288 --> 00:52:51.510
And when you, your church is a gate of heaven because someone's coming for the very first time and the very first person out there greeting them is a person who says like come on in.

00:52:51.510 --> 00:52:58.331
And that says a bunch, especially if you've got face tattoos, especially if you feel like you're different or you don't have, like you don't feel like you belong.

00:52:58.331 --> 00:53:01.552
Or maybe you're like well-dressed and you're different, or you don't have like you don't feel like you belong.

00:53:01.552 --> 00:53:07.494
Or maybe you're like well-dressed and you're like I don't feel like I belong, like you can go and like, hey, you are welcome here, come on in.

00:53:07.494 --> 00:53:08.554
And that's a big deal.

00:53:08.614 --> 00:53:09.516
It is, it's huge.

00:53:09.876 --> 00:53:20.679
So, and that's where, like you know, the gospel is, I guess is exclusively inclusive, meaning like it takes everybody from all walks to say here's the king.

00:53:20.679 --> 00:53:25.920
Like in your darkness, in your sin, in your weakness, come on and worship the king.

00:53:25.920 --> 00:53:28.001
So yeah, all right.

00:53:28.001 --> 00:53:29.541
Yeah, I think you and I hammered that home.

00:53:29.621 --> 00:53:35.704
So, yeah, come serve, you know, be a part of the ministry that's happening.

00:53:35.704 --> 00:53:40.826
I think one of our, the live stream.

00:53:40.826 --> 00:53:42.927
I had somebody come up to me and say, hey, I watched the sermon online because they were out of town.

00:53:42.927 --> 00:53:43.329
That was a big deal.

00:53:43.329 --> 00:53:48.554
That was because our live stream people were out there cranking away serving our church, which is huge.

00:53:48.554 --> 00:53:51.117
We need more live stream people, more live streamers.

00:53:51.378 --> 00:53:54.820
It's wild how you know, it takes nothing for that thing to go down.

00:53:54.820 --> 00:54:00.114
I mean just nothing, so frustrating it is so frustrating.

00:54:01.864 --> 00:54:03.715
Praise the Lord for Cody.

00:54:03.715 --> 00:54:06.148
Cody, thank you for revolutionizing the live stream.

00:54:06.268 --> 00:54:10.831
Hey, I don't know if Cody remembers this, but he actually led worship at my church here at Schofield.

00:54:11.072 --> 00:54:13.420
No way Like way back in the day.

00:54:13.420 --> 00:54:14.284
Way back in the day.

00:54:14.284 --> 00:54:15.327
I think it was one of those Sundays.

00:54:15.387 --> 00:54:20.838
I was like hey, Chris, Pastor, Chris, you have anybody who can lead worship at our church?

00:54:20.838 --> 00:54:23.804
You're like well, I got this guy.

00:54:23.925 --> 00:54:24.065
Yeah.

00:54:24.106 --> 00:54:24.909
I got this guy.

00:54:24.909 --> 00:54:28.094
I don't know if he's going to be there, but if he shows up he'll be really good.

00:54:32.326 --> 00:54:33.789
That's probably exactly what I said.

00:54:34.150 --> 00:54:35.275
Oh my gosh, that's funny.

00:54:35.275 --> 00:54:38.684
Well, yeah, and he probably was what were you like 2013 or so, or 2014?

00:54:38.684 --> 00:54:40.132
Yeah, we lost in 2013.

00:54:40.132 --> 00:54:40.967
Oh, that's wild.

00:54:40.967 --> 00:54:41.748
That's funny.

00:54:41.748 --> 00:54:43.393
Cody's awesome.

00:54:43.393 --> 00:54:44.255
Yeah, cody's great.

00:54:44.376 --> 00:54:48.288
Hey, any other thoughts on all that we just covered?

00:54:48.288 --> 00:54:49.115
That was a lot.

00:54:49.115 --> 00:54:50.869
Oh wait I actually have one more question.

00:54:50.869 --> 00:54:52.969
Sorry, I have one more question.

00:54:52.969 --> 00:54:57.230
This also came in from the sermon, which I think actually had nothing to do with the sermon from Sunday.

00:54:57.230 --> 00:55:03.394
It's a huge question which is kind of like completely so everyone, pause your brains.

00:55:03.394 --> 00:55:03.936
This is a.

00:55:03.936 --> 00:55:08.086
This is like a random question how can you honor your parents when they have dementia?

00:55:09.228 --> 00:55:10.090
Is it wrong?

00:55:10.170 --> 00:55:11.532
to put them in a nursing home.

00:55:12.114 --> 00:55:14.338
Ooh, that's tough.

00:55:14.338 --> 00:55:24.507
Um, you know, I think you honor your parents by caring for them in the best possible way, and sometimes the best thing for them is to be in a nursing home.

00:55:24.507 --> 00:55:36.898
Uh, and that's really, really hard, I know, especially like, depending on your cultural background, like like for me, like I mean my grandfather he had a massive heart attack in 94.

00:55:36.898 --> 00:55:44.719
And I mean he just there was no way he could live on his own in our family, like house and family dynamics and all that Like there's just no way, uh, he could live on his own in our family, house and family dynamics and all that.

00:55:44.719 --> 00:55:47.641
There's just no way he could have lived with us.

00:55:47.641 --> 00:55:48.581
It was just impossible.

00:55:49.485 --> 00:56:01.784
So when my grandmother passed away, we found a place that was three minutes from our house, which was a huge blessing because we could run up my parents could run up there in the middle of the night if something was going on, or whatever.

00:56:01.784 --> 00:56:03.987
My parents could run up there in the middle of the night if something was going on, or whatever.

00:56:03.987 --> 00:56:19.177
We would go see him every day after school and spend time with him Not a lot, because he didn't know what day it was, or what he had for breakfast or anything, but it was important for us to spend time with him.

00:56:19.217 --> 00:56:20.282
Really it becomes a ministry.

00:56:21.545 --> 00:56:22.088
It's a huge ministry.

00:56:22.128 --> 00:56:24.905
You minister to them the best you can, wherever they are.

00:56:25.105 --> 00:56:27.253
Yeah, there is no easy answer on this one.

00:56:27.253 --> 00:56:39.027
I think the negatives of putting a parent in a nursing home is it can lead to social isolation, depression, loss of independence and, depending on the quality of the place, like the mistreatment, elder abuse, neglect.

00:56:39.027 --> 00:56:41.670
Like the mistreatment, elder abuse, neglect.

00:56:41.670 --> 00:56:42.710
Okay.

00:56:42.710 --> 00:56:51.257
And then also, if you're putting someone into a financial burden, it could cost $90,000 to $100,000 a year.

00:56:51.257 --> 00:57:01.728
I mean, think about that, or that's probably on the upward side of it, but still that's a lot of money to care.

00:57:01.748 --> 00:57:24.759
But sometimes if you don't have the skills to take care of them or you know like they can't I mean you don't, I don't know room might be the wrong word for it but like you all of a sudden realize that the financial or not financial burden, but like the burden of care, that you don't have the skills, the capacity, that might be a reason not to.

00:57:24.759 --> 00:57:26.472
So the thing that you have to do is really I would.

00:57:26.472 --> 00:57:33.971
This is why you talk to your parents on the front end of like, hey, how do you feel about nursing homes and what do you think about that?

00:57:33.971 --> 00:57:35.751
And you can live with me anytime.

00:57:36.505 --> 00:57:38.570
My father-in-law would have just rather us take him out and shoot him.

00:57:38.570 --> 00:57:40.976
No, I'm serious.

00:57:40.976 --> 00:57:45.309
I mean they live on 100 acres outside of farmersville.

00:57:45.309 --> 00:57:55.715
He said nobody will know and but I mean that's where he wants to die, and so like, okay, however, we can make that happen like I don't know like he's, but I mean like how?

00:57:55.735 --> 00:57:55.876
do you?

00:57:55.876 --> 00:58:04.847
Because like three and like still doing great, but you know but how do I mean, like honestly, if a parent says that and you're like, oh man, this is not good.

00:58:04.847 --> 00:58:05.851
Okay, you should live with me.

00:58:06.052 --> 00:58:10.067
No, I'm not moving yeah, uh, okay, you know they're still your parent.

00:58:10.067 --> 00:58:13.300
You want to honor them but you want to man if you make?

00:58:13.320 --> 00:58:15.969
you make me feel guilty for doing whatever I did.

00:58:15.969 --> 00:58:18.376
I'd make them feel guilty for putting them in a nursing home.

00:58:18.376 --> 00:58:21.831
I make them feel guilty for not putting in a nursing home and staying at their own house where I couldn't care for.

00:58:21.831 --> 00:58:25.164
Feel guilty when they were at my house and they hated every moment of it.

00:58:25.164 --> 00:58:28.257
And then my kid's quality of life was taken down.

00:58:28.257 --> 00:58:31.307
My wife was frustrated because she felt like I put a parent above her.

00:58:31.648 --> 00:58:37.487
Like there's so many different things, and that's why I feel like this is where, going back to the Lord's will, there's God's word, there's God's spirit.

00:58:37.487 --> 00:58:41.931
There's God's word, there's God's spirit, there's God's people.

00:58:41.931 --> 00:58:45.954
Whenever you have a question like this, god's word says you need to honor your mother and father.

00:58:45.954 --> 00:58:50.579
Whoever doesn't take care of their own family is worse than an unbeliever.

00:58:50.579 --> 00:58:51.139
That's where you go.

00:58:51.139 --> 00:58:52.500
Okay, all right, that's what God's word says.

00:58:52.500 --> 00:58:54.322
So what does taking care of them mean?

00:58:54.322 --> 00:58:57.947
Then you go to God's spirit how does the Lord convict me?

00:58:57.947 --> 00:59:05.340
And then you run that by the grid of God's people that are in your life elders, leaders, community group leaders, whatever and you go hey, where are you at with that?

00:59:05.340 --> 00:59:09.755
And then they're able to through that grid when all three of those align.

00:59:09.755 --> 00:59:13.672
That's how you know you're probably smack dab in the middle of God's will.

00:59:14.114 --> 00:59:14.815
That's a good question.

00:59:14.815 --> 00:59:15.777
It's a hard one to answer.

00:59:16.885 --> 00:59:18.954
I do feel like it makes me convicted.

00:59:18.954 --> 00:59:21.070
I need to go talk to my mom about that, Like what would be?

00:59:21.070 --> 00:59:27.012
You know, my mom is in her 70s and she's fine, but what happens when she's in her 90s?

00:59:27.012 --> 00:59:37.791
Adrian's parents live in, or Adrian's grandparents live in a nursing home we call it the resort because it's really nice and that makes you probably feel better about it.

00:59:37.791 --> 00:59:43.396
Anyway, but he's like 96 and she's like 91.

00:59:43.396 --> 00:59:46.329
Wow, and they still drive.

00:59:48.172 --> 00:59:49.235
That's scary and it's fine.

00:59:52.065 --> 00:59:54.956
He just takes all the back roads and he comes over to the house.

00:59:54.956 --> 00:59:57.005
Pretty great, that's awesome, but it's wild.

00:59:57.005 --> 01:00:02.898
So I think there is a real truth in that that taking care of people and honoring them is a big deal.

01:00:03.925 --> 01:00:06.391
Yeah, and hopefully you can have a conversation beforehand with your parents.

01:00:06.472 --> 01:00:13.175
yeah, that's probably the biggest thing and and make sure you keep having that conversation what?

01:00:13.175 --> 01:00:14.057
What I mean?

01:00:14.057 --> 01:00:23.543
Is someone, what someone might say say in 2024, that might change in 2034 well, yeah, it's so different today that it wasn't 1950.

01:00:23.563 --> 01:00:27.175
Like it's a completely different world, completely different expectations.

01:00:27.175 --> 01:00:29.568
I mean, did nursing homes even exist then?

01:00:30.311 --> 01:00:30.771
I don't know.

01:00:32.195 --> 01:00:45.036
I mean yeah, and just because our culture says it's good, that doesn't mean it is Right, because I think there's something really special about your children taking care of elderly people.

01:00:45.036 --> 01:00:55.858
It makes them a greater respect, a greater love, because when you see your parents taking care of their parents, that's kind of powerful.

01:00:55.858 --> 01:01:05.197
So again, I think there's so much into that and I really think that the biggest fear for parents is they don't want to be a burden.

01:01:05.197 --> 01:01:15.326
I don't want to be a burden to my children, so I will do whatever I need to do and suffer, even if that means going to a place that I don't really want to go to, because I don't want you to have to take care of me.

01:01:15.326 --> 01:01:22.054
So I'd rather take care of myself and pay the $100,000 a year or whatever, so that you aren't burdened by that.

01:01:22.054 --> 01:01:26.201
And there might be some truth in that, but that might be self-isolation in some ways as well.

01:01:26.465 --> 01:01:30.291
Yeah there's a lot of things that go into that one, so we don't have a good answer for you.

01:01:30.291 --> 01:01:35.014
I'm sorry, but talk to your community, talk to the Lord and consult God's Word.

01:01:35.014 --> 01:01:36.038
All right, any?

01:01:36.057 --> 01:01:40.070
other thoughts, you know, going back to the giving thing, yeah, yeah, go ahead.

01:01:40.090 --> 01:01:41.173
You know, going back to the giving thing.

01:01:41.173 --> 01:01:41.554
Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

01:01:41.554 --> 01:01:42.659
Yeah, one more one more giving thing.

01:01:42.679 --> 01:01:42.838
Go ahead.

01:01:42.838 --> 01:01:48.068
You know the question.

01:01:48.068 --> 01:01:53.753
My people don't know this, unless they're watching, but the thing I think we have to answer is like or the thing our people have to answer is are we going to be consumers or are we going to be contributors?

01:01:53.813 --> 01:01:53.994
Yeah.

01:01:54.445 --> 01:02:04.606
And part of that is like not just am I a contributor, but am I an owner, like my pet peeves?

01:02:04.626 --> 01:02:07.436
is when people will say well, you know your church and I'm like, you've been here for five years.

01:02:07.456 --> 01:02:08.139
This is like your church.

01:02:08.139 --> 01:02:15.889
Your church, you know, like I've got a pastor friend who's like, oh well, there's five things that can happen to me as the pastor and four of those five end up with me not being here.

01:02:15.889 --> 01:02:19.317
So this is way more your church than it is my church.

01:02:19.818 --> 01:02:20.177
I like that.

01:02:24.784 --> 01:02:26.094
So I think that's just important for our people to know.

01:02:26.094 --> 01:02:27.221
You've got to answer that question who are you?

01:02:27.221 --> 01:02:27.824
Are you a consumer?

01:02:27.824 --> 01:02:34.565
Are you just going to float in, drink the coffee, eat the donuts and leave, or are you going to be the person who's like no, this is my church and.

01:02:34.565 --> 01:02:37.114
I give to it and I'm going to serve in it.

01:02:37.114 --> 01:02:42.896
I'm going to serve the people who are here, Because I don't think any of us want to just be consumers.

01:02:43.277 --> 01:02:44.259
It's good man, maybe more than that.

01:02:44.259 --> 01:02:45.688
Anyway, that was my last thought.

01:02:45.688 --> 01:02:46.773
I love it.

01:02:46.773 --> 01:02:48.429
Hey, thanks for watching.

01:02:48.429 --> 01:02:49.773
You can check us out.

01:02:49.773 --> 01:02:52.070
Oh wait, first off, how do people find you and your church?

01:02:52.773 --> 01:02:53.996
Howdocommunitychurchorg.

01:02:54.336 --> 01:02:57.434
Okay, and do you have your own podcast right?

01:02:58.005 --> 01:02:59.166
Just YouTube stuff.

01:02:59.568 --> 01:03:01.050
Is it just like find Russell Daniel?

01:03:01.210 --> 01:03:02.231
Find Russell Daniel.

01:03:02.231 --> 01:03:03.373
Yeah, you can find me on YouTube.

01:03:03.373 --> 01:03:04.193
Russell G Daniel.

01:03:04.193 --> 01:03:05.195
Ooh, Russell G Daniel.

01:03:05.215 --> 01:03:06.077
Russell G Daniel.

01:03:06.077 --> 01:03:07.159
Yeah, that's what's up.

01:03:07.398 --> 01:03:09.521
Yeah, one of the things I've started doing is called Stories of Hope.

01:03:09.521 --> 01:03:12.452
Oh, nice, so we've got two episodes of that, so detailing.

01:03:12.452 --> 01:03:23.940
Really, it's an encouragement to people who feel like they're lost or feel like there is no hope.

01:03:23.940 --> 01:03:25.021
There actually is.

01:03:25.021 --> 01:03:27.731
We have a big and awesome God who does it all the time.

01:03:27.731 --> 01:03:29.014
That's wild yeah.

01:03:29.315 --> 01:03:29.735
I love that.

01:03:29.735 --> 01:03:30.496
It's been fun.

01:03:30.496 --> 01:03:31.559
All right, hey, thanks for watching.

01:03:31.559 --> 01:03:37.670
If you have any questions, we'll bring Russell back, because I have a feeling that we're going to do future podcasts more with old Russell from Hutto Community.

01:03:37.670 --> 01:03:44.539
If you have any questions, you can text us at 737-231-0605 or just go to pastorplekcom.

01:03:44.539 --> 01:03:45.760
We'd love to hear from you.

01:03:45.760 --> 01:03:49.336
We'd love for you to text in and just let us know what you're thinking.

01:03:49.336 --> 01:03:52.708
Any questions you have, we'd love to hear from you, from our house to yours.

01:03:52.708 --> 01:03:56.463
Have an awesome week.