Wasn't Adam great. Yeah Didn't even point out how I butchered his last name last night. I was up here. I didn't even point that out at all But I'll just let him say it.
All right, great. Let me tell you a quick story This is a true story so in 1904 1904 in Portland, Oregon churches across that city were united for a gospel crusade So much so that by the next year businesses and stores like hundreds of them shut down midday so people could go pray So revival was breaking out across the Pacific Northwest in the middle of that was a 16 year old kid who gave his life to Christ His name was Robert Gilmore look Robert Gilmore, L'Oré Robert Gilmore L'Oré RG is whatever I call it now wasn't anything was it like in bolts wasn't anything dramatic? He just prayed and something shifted something change and all that bitterness drained away and something else took its place Filled it in you know what it was it didn't really matter, but RG wasn't in Portland for any good reason He actually was been working really hard for two years He dropped out a school in the sixth grade not because there's lazy but because he had to make some money for a family So at 14 years old he started working in an iron foundry iron brandry He had a series of jobs after I was a mechanic that was a carpenter woodcutter a ditch digger and a miner And he had no diploma yet no degree yet no connections But he had calloused hands a willingness to work and a mind that understood machines Understood machines now when God got a hold of the 16 year old he didn't get a polished seminary student What he got instead was a kid covered in rust and saw dust and willing to work and God said I can I can do that I can work with that I can use that so years passed and RG had been in the Navy and World War one when he came back from War one He had started before he left he started a business a car dealership with him and his best friend Unfortunately at the time he was gone for war his best friend Found alcohol and drunk himself to death in the business without business so he discovered when he came back to the war He was five thousand dollars in the hole and today's money That's approximately a hundred thousand dollars hundred thousand of American US dollars today, and he had no job So luckily our local rancher hired him to come level some land using a borrow tractor And this was what RG discovered that he had a love he felt great satisfaction you moving earth around so much so that after this Was over he gathered a bunch of money investments from friends and started his own business earth moving business And it was quite successful by 1919 He was doing well, but he felt the pull the tug of God God saying something else has to happen something's got to happen So he went to the pastor as maybe everybody should do we get the kind of tugs which is pastor said hey What should I do about this the way I think things work is you're truly devoted to God you truly devoted God You need to quit work and go into the missionary field and as pastor said let's pray about it So literally drop in their knees right then and both started praying about it And when they set up his pastor told him something just in four words that changed his life forever He said RG God needs businessmen to God needs businessmen to exactly so he went home and told us wipe Evelyn I've got a new business partner. It's God Most even more so this is not my business.
This is God's business. This is God's business. Not my business anymore I'm just the manager. I'm just a caretaker.
So that changed his life So things went really well by the time of 1927 hit he was 40 years old his business was doing really well He had a huge construction job and we had those jobs Sometimes you know you invest a lot a lot of money into it and this one went south went really bad He wound up being a hundred thousand dollars in debt today's money That's nearly two million dollars two million dollars in debt And this was really bad timing this was just before the Great Depression hit on top of that the surety company person guaranteed the job They were really upset and they wanted all their money back. So in the next contract They put in an ultimatum there for the next contract your you and your company has to work seven days a week It includes Sunday seven days a week or we will foreclose that means your house your business everything your own is ours RG refused. I don't work on Sundays And if you were here a few weeks ago you would understand why I don't work on Sundays And this made the owner of the surety company his name is mr. Hall very upset very angry He got out of the train and started going to the job site Look at all the paperwork in place come there and shut them down permanently So picture this a man on a train coming to take down take everything you own and he Arging standing on the job site waiting for this man got trained.
He has no money no leverage and no plan whatsoever But what mr. Hall didn't count on is he had a business partner business partner like no other Exactly. So what happens next we'll get to that later. I know I know you'll have to hang around and flex to pay attention I know oh exactly so Here's what you need to know the story is about a man who had nothing but gave anyway But gave anyway and what God did with that faithfulness changed everything so as has Adam said my name is Casey I'm an elder here Grace good morning and exactly so nine weeks ago.
We started this series We entered the spiritual gym together and that's all based on first Timothy for eight Physical training is good physical training is good But training for godliness is much better promising benefits in this life and the life to come and we've been training for that godliness one Discipline and I discipline at a time we started with fasting. That's where we learned that to say no to the body So we can hear from God that much better prayer taking time to talk to and more importantly listen to the owner of everything The word of God getting into his truth and letting it change how we think Worship reorienting our affection towards the one that deserves it all Solitude getting quite enough to hear his voice Sabbath rest when riots broke out here because I suggested that you should stop and rest one day a week Service putting hands and feet to all these things we've been talking about and fellowship last week with pastor Rob Not when I doing any of these things alone. We're doing them together. Christian is a team sport We don't do it alone and that brings us all to this one.
Okay, which is which is stewardship stewardship This is where all those interdisciplines we're doing comes outward and are physically seen by others stewardship This is where prayer meets your wallet where Sabbath trusts meets your calendar where worship meets your Monday morning This is the capstone. This is the final station This is where your discipleship your discipline is shown that you actually got it or you didn't get it at all through the training So most of us think stewardship is about managing money better That is only such a small piece of what it's all about such a small piece now. Some of you already thinking. Oh, no Here's another certain about typing it is so much more than that.
Yes, I will talk about that But it is such a small piece of the overall picture. Yes stewardship is about handling money, but it's way way more than that So here's the big idea today the big idea faithful with his faithful with his generous like him Faithful with his generous like him. What does that mean when we're faithful with what belongs to God that is? He uses that practice to form his own character in us not just managing better, but becoming more like God Faceliness is the training ground, but generosity is the goal is the goal, right?
That's the idea here Here we go the road map for today. Here's four stops four stops the first is the appointment where God appointed guardians We're God appointed guardians the assignment what faithful guardianship managers what we actually manage three the transformation with faithfulness produces in us And the last the practical step the training how we grow how we grow okay for you scripture nerds out there Which hopefully is everyone we're gonna start with three foundational or key verses to build everything off top of and then I'll Follow up with about a dozen other passages to build on that you ready to get on this journey. Alright, let's go Stop one the appointment the appointment God looked at everything he created then he looked at us and he said yeah, I got an idea I want you to be in charge of that now Why did he decide that because he is faithful and generous we are making this image and he wanted us to be faithful and generous as well Amen's that's right exactly so here's our three foundational verses and each of them answers a very short question the first question is who owns it Who owns it song 24 one very simple very clear the earth is the Lord's The earth is the Lord's and everything in it the world and all its people belong to him. So who owns it God owns it What's it everything everything there's no no explanation needed after that all things next question What are we what are we first Corinthians four one through two answers that look at us as servants of Christ who have been put in charge A person who's put in charge as a manager some translation say a steward must be faithful must be faithful We're not owners we're managers not landlords Regardians and faithfulness is the job requirement next question.
Why why we manage? Why do we manage this? That's the first Peter 14 God has given each of you each of us a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts use them use them Well to serve one another to serve one another. That's the why we manage faithfully so we can give generously to serve others So that's the foundational verses everything I say well the built off of those going forward So steward stewardship a weird word words we don't use in normal language when we start to hear that word We start to go wrong even before we get going.
We think Stewart. We think I counted we think treasurer We think a guy who's responsible for a budget It's not it stewards on a manager of your own stuff. I steward is a guardian interested with someone else's household a guardian And trusted with someone else's household the Greek word here is one konomos one konomos which is two words put together One goes which means house and no most which means law arrangement. No words not a financial title.
It's a household title It's a household title. It means household guardian someone entrusted with a master's household. This isn't about spreadsheets This is about relationships That's what this is about in the ancient world a wealthy landowner would go away on whatever trip they went on and they appointed a steward To take care of everything that steward was in charge of everything going on in that household while the wealthy land order was away But when that wealthy landlord came back since the steward was not actually owning everything He was accountable to that wealthy landlord saying with us saying with us saying with us now Some you just said in your head, but I earn my paycheck. I work hard for it I'm sure you do but do you you know everything that you have was given to you by God your breath your ability your opportunity Everything was given to you by God every dollar you've ever earned was because an ability an opportunity that God has given you Do we hear do we all agree with that do I have any push back on that?
It's so we got a problem much further than we ever thought before all right good first and around me eight 18 We'll back this up. Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you the power to be successful He's okay. He's the one your paycheck though is real the work you did is real.
It's just the source of all of that is him Is him is him now? Let me go back to our friend our G Our G understood in the day the pastor told him God needs businessmen to he didn't hear God needs you to make money for him It's already God's money. That's not the deal what he heard and said was everything you build already belongs to him go manage it faithfully Go manage it faithfully. That's why he called God his business partner not his investor not his silent backer his business partner One who actually owns the operation well, it's true.
God doesn't per operation rally. He's not really partners with him We're actually kind of working for him instead. We're his guardian. We're just doing where working for him It's not our business.
It's God's business. The owner is not checking your resume. It's not checking resume He's checking for your faithfulness. He's checking for your faithfulness So here's what makes a difference.
It's not just good management. We're talking about here the owner We're talking about here is not distant. He's not some long demanding far gone landlord He is faithful God is faithful limitations three twenty three great is his faithfulness great is your faithfulness And he is generous extravagantly so so we are pointed to be likewise faithful and extravagant Extravantly generous like God and why because we're made in his image or maybe his image so the requirement again We'd be hit on the requirement because very important verse Corinthians 4 2 talks about us being faithful not about us being faithful Not perfect. Not mind you not perfect not flawless Faithful faithful Luke 6 in whoever is faithful and very little little Is also faithful in much is also faithful in much faithfulness starts small and grows and grows and grows The question here is are you faithful with what he's given you are you faithful with what he's given you?
Faithfulness is the only job requirement the only job Now if you were giving yourself a self-assessment an annual self-assessment on this job, how would you rate your faithfulness? How you want to sit out loud? How would you rate your faithfulness? Let's go back to the purpose the reason why we're doing this first Peter 14 use them the gifts he's given you the resources you've given you well to serve one another We're not appointed be guardians for our own benefit.
That's not it We're given it to manage faithfully so we can give generously to love and serve others Not just maintain but flourish flourish. We are God appointed guardians God appointed guardians faithful with his Generous like him. Okay, we're pointing guardians but guardians guardians of what exactly that's what it's a stop to the assignment Ready for stop to the assignment great. Let's go that there are three categories All stuff that God gives us their specs three broad categories you can chuck them in I'm sure you've heard them before the three teas time talent and treasure time talent and treasure how we spend our three teas Shows who we really love how we spend our three teas shows who we really love we can say all the words We want to say but where there's where the money money me throwed.
That's not it. There's some of the phrase like that Robert needs to vote. Okay, thank you very much. It's interactive.
It's interactive. Tell that well some purpose, right? All right, okay Time first one is time first he has time a fusion spores 15 through 16 be careful how you live make the most of every opportunity Make the most that's redeem your time save it. Don't waste it every hour Every hour is a gift from God every hours a gift from God once it's gone We don't get it back you might be able to make more money, but you never make more time never make more time What is space on this with time look like prioritizing what the owner values?
Over everything else prioritizing him first and then people next not letting the urgent crowd out the important not letting the comfortable crowd out the faithful Think about that not letting the urgent crowd out the important not letting the comfortable crowd out the faithful What does generous with time look like investing hours into people because people are the Kingdom Abouting hours because people are the Kingdom. We every hour given to serve someone advances the Kingdom advances the Kingdom How you spend your time shows who you love? How you spend your time shows who you love? T2, that's a movie, not that one.
Okay, the second talent, second is talents. God given ability and gifts. First Peter 4-10, we talked about that before, basically, God has given you every gift from his great variety. And then James, 1-17, every good and perfect gift is from above.
Whatever you're naturally good at, whatever you're naturally good at, teaching, building, encouraging, creating, planning, leading, serving, that came from God. They came from God. Your God given talents are not trophies to admire. They are tools to serve others.
Use them. Use them. Faithful with talent, what does that look like? Developing what God gave us.
Don't let it sit dormant. Develop what God gave you. And generous with talent, what does it look like? Deploying using the gifts to serve others.
Not hoarding them. Not hoarding them. You have a teaching ability. There's someone student out there that needs that.
You have an encouragement gift. There's someone who's on their last straw who needs to hear your encouraging words. You have a hospitality gift. There are new people precious back here who needs you welcoming her today.
Show that hospitality gift. Show it. Now, our G's talent wasn't his financial ability. It wasn't his public speaking, and it wasn't his connections.
He was a high school, or with him, high school. A six-grade dropout who understood machines better than anyone else in the room. He invented earth-moving equipment that no one had ever seen before. Scrapers, bulldozer blades, electric-powered wheels.
I don't even know what that is, that sounds great. And he didn't wait for different gifts. He deployed the one that he had. What you have, what you already have, is already enough to serve somebody.
It's already enough to serve somebody. The next T, the last of the three T's, is treasure. This is where consumer culture screams the loudest. This is where faithfulness and generosity formation happens most visibly.
Because nothing reveals what we actually believe than how we handle money. Nothing reveals it more. Now, this is where you're going, oh, no, preacher boy. He's going to be talking about my money.
Oh, no, preacher boy, he's talking about my money. Well, think about this. We've already said it. Every dollar came from God.
Every dollar came from God. Came from him, still belongs to him, and is managed by you only temporarily, only temporarily. Not owners, we're not owners with a giving problem. We are guardians with a faithfulness opportunity.
We're not owners with a giving problem. We're guardians with a faithfulness opportunity. That changes your whole mindset. If you capture that, you capture that.
So what does faithfulness and treasure look like? Proverbs 3-9. Onto the Lord with your wealth and the best part of everything you produce. What that means is that God does not get the leftovers.
Whatever's left over from what's been eaten, think about that. Who eats first, the people that matter? What's left over? Someone who matters the least gets the leftovers.
I hope that you are giving God your financial leftovers. Otherwise, you're telling God where he ranks in your life. Where he ranks in your life. God doesn't get the leftovers.
He gets the first and the best. Now, I'll start talking about tithing just a bit. Notice that this church, we do not pass the plate. We don't pass the plate.
We expect our members of our church to tithe. Why do we expect that? Because they promised us when they became members. And we fully expect people that we're in full lifelong relationship with that are members of our church family to keep their promises.
And I would like, I'm very delighted to say the vast majority of our members actually tithe. And I'm very happy about that. Now, what does that mean? That means they promised to give the first 10%.
The first 10%, that's a tithe to support this house, God's house, and not just the leftovers. Tithing, when you're tithing, when you're tithing members of the church, you are practicing faithfulness. You are practicing faithfulness. It is an act of faithfulness.
And because of that, it's stewardship. It's warning you, a character in you, that's like our father. That's like our father. What does generous with treasure look like?
Open hands, not close to this. When you have to give away money, you have to open your hands. Which is also the same posture you use to receive. Same posture you use to receive.
If you're holding tightly, you can receive nothing. Receive nothing. I just stole Dave Ramsey's. All right.
You were to give beyond baseline expectations, meeting needs, funding ministries, caring for the poor. But listen to this, all right? We have a messed up assumption here. We think we get our heart right, we get our heart right, then we'll be generous.
We get everything right, our heart right, then we'll be generous. We're waiting to feel generous before we give. Jesus says, ah, ah, ah, Matthew 621. You've heard this many times before, where your treasure is, there, your heart will be also.
We've heard it so many times, I don't think you actually could attention to what it says. We think it says our heart determines where our treasure goes. No, it says the opposite. Our treasure determines where our heart goes.
Our treasure determines where our heart goes. That is not intuitive. That is typical revolutionary talk from our Jesus. We don't wait around to feel generous before we give.
We give. And giving until our heart follows the treasure. So our heart follows the treasure. It's practice that shapes desire.
Practice that makes us who we will become. It's not about feelings. Put your treasure towards God and people. And your love for God and people will grow.
So every purchase, every paycheck, every decision you make about your treasure is not a neutral decision. It's either forming us to become more faithful or less. More faithful or less. Every dollar is a self check.
Every dollar is a self check. Am I being faithful with his or my clutching like its mine? Am I clutching onto it like its mine? This is good stuff.
I like it. When we're faithful with these three teas, God doesn't just use what we manage. He transforms who we are through the managing. Do you hear that?
That's where we go to number three. The transformation. The transformation. All right.
The goal here is not what you think. Not what you think. The goal isn't. The scholarship is not stability.
Those words I said out loud were said to me more than it was said to you. Get your finances ordered and become a better budget. Have a cushion. That's not it.
It's not stability. It's transformation. It's not a balanced budget. It's a changed heart.
The goal here is to become faithful with what is his and generous like he is. Be faithful with what is his and generous like he is. Stewardship is a spiritual discipline like all these other ones. And just like that, they don't just change what you do.
They change who we are. They change who we are. Some of you think of this, this sounds really nice. I tried to be generous before it just didn't work.
Okay. Will power is not the engine. Practices. Practices.
Don't, again, don't try to feel your way to being generous. You know, Nike put it pretty well. Just do it. Sorry.
Just do it. Just do it. Discipline. It trains you, trains you in a way that effort alone cannot produce.
It trains something in you that effort alone cannot produce. I, you know, I'll do this a lot of my messages, but I love to go to, I love science. I love when science stumbles across a biblical truth. Here we go.
Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. These are sociologists, not theologians. They spent years studying the relationship between generosity and human well-being. Generosity and human well-being.
And they're, in their paper, the paradox of generosity. This is what they determined. It's what they figured out from years of studies. Generous people report significantly higher life satisfaction.
Lower rates of depression and anxiety. A greater sense of purpose and more energy, not less. Remember what Jesus said about that treasure and hearts things. This is what they discovered.
Practice shapes desire. It changes who you become. Generosity doesn't just bless others. It does, but doesn't just bless others.
It transforms the giver. So science has just confirmed what we've known for over 2000 years, for over 2000 years. Grasping makes us smaller. Giving makes us more like God.
Grasping makes you smaller. Giving makes you more like God. More like God. Why is generosity our specific goal here?
Why is our specific goal? Because I think we're all after Jesus, at least I hope we are. And Jesus was radically generous. He gave his very life.
Nothing was held back. Here's what makes this generosity possible for us to receive and ultimately imitate. We were separated from God. By our sin.
We couldn't earn it back. We couldn't stewart our way back to that. So God did exactly what only he could do. He said to Jesus.
He sent you who died a death that we deserved. Rose defeating sin and death. Where's my immense? And 2 Corinthians 8, 9, through.
Though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. So that his poverty could make you rich. It's not just theology. It's the reason generosity is possible.
We give because we've already been given everything. The most faithful, most generous act in history happened on the cross. It happened on the cross. We don't give to earn salvation.
That was a gift. That was a gift. We give because we've already been loved extravagantly and we can't help but respond. We can't help but respond.
Romans 8, 32. He who did not spare his own son. Our God is not a reluctant giver. He is an extravagant lavish.
Can't help himself, generous giver. A scandalous boundless over the top won't be stopped, generous giver. A reckless, excessive, heaven-emptying, stop at nothing, generous giver. And stewardship trains us to be like that.
Oh my God, for my amends. Absolutely. All right. Here it is.
I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. Soak it in. This is from Randy Alcorn, a Christian author.
God prospers me not to raise my standard of giving, but to raise my standard of giving. You say it's good, but think about what you're saying. Think about what you're saying. Not a higher standard of living.
Not a bigger house, a nicer car, but a higher standard of generosity. Someone else gets to eat and find Jesus. With R3Ts, he wants us to be extravagant, lavish, can't help ourselves, generous, scandalous, boundless, over the top won't be stopped, generous, reckless, excessive, pocket, imping, stop at nothing, generous. And that generosity forms God character in us.
God like character in us. Amen. I'll do it. You don't start.
You don't become generous and then start giving. You start giving and you become generous. Get that. Get that.
That will change everything. It will change everything. God get off the train, Mr. Hall.
Get off the train. I'm back to it now. He came to shut down RG. He arrived at the job site and for some reason, and no one seems to know why, he changed his mind.
I know. He let RG continue working. Not on Sundays. Not on Sundays.
But the debt didn't disappear. It was still there. Again, nearly $2 million of today's value money. The surety company installed their own accountant because they didn't trust RG.
His name was Mr. Frost to watch every dollar. And what Mr. Frost found out was things were way worse than they thought it was.
Way worse. The books were a complete disaster and they were way deeper in the hole than we thought they were before. And right there, right there in the middle of all of this financial catastrophe, RG was something that made no earthly sense. He told Mr.
Frost, yeah, I've pledged in today's money $125,000 for my church for missions. What? You did what? What?
What'd you do? You're already $105,000 in, you know, actually, $2 million debt and you pledged another $125,000. You can't even pay your workers. That's the money we're going to use to pay your workers.
And Mr. Frost thought RG had lost his mind. RG said, no, God told me to do this. I have to do this.
And so he did that. The next week, a difficult customer who had been very unhappy with RG turned around and bought three machines at today's value, half a million dollars. Half a million dollars. The immediate crisis resolved.
Notice, RG didn't wait until he could afford to be faithful. He was faithful when he thought he couldn't afford it. He's faithful when he thought he couldn't afford it. And God met him there.
This is not a good financial strategy. I'm telling you, it's not a good financial strategy. That is a man being transformed by the practice of faithfulness. It's a good spiritual strategy.
Not a man's strategy. Why don't we all do this? Fear. What stands in the way of our transformation?
Fear. Fear. The primary enemy that's off to the sphere. Fear of not having enough that leads to greed or a fear of scarcity.
Fear is often disguised as wisdom. I need to be responsible. Whispers. What if God doesn't come through?
That's what fear often uses. It borrows respectable words. These fears are all based on a stack of lies. Not just one, a stack of lies.
This stuff is mine. This stuff, what I have now, won't even be enough. I worked hard for this stuff. I did that.
Every one of those lies is contradicted completely by scripture. Mine. Psalm 24 one, where I talk about every single atom in this universe belongs to God. Every one of them.
Won't be enough, Philippians 4 and 19. He supplies every need according to his riches. I did that. Deuteronomy 8, 17 through 18.
The ability produced wealth comes from him. Fear says, hold tighter. Faith says, open your hands. Fear says, what if he doesn't come through?
Faith says, he already did. He was on the cross. What more do you need? Fear of scarcity is just unbelief.
It's just unbelief in a reckless, excessive, scandalous, heaven, empty. Stop it, nothing. Generous God. Just unbelief in that.
So the question is simply, do you trust him? Do you trust him? So how do we actually grow in this? Here's the training plan.
That's not for the training plan. You ready for that? Okay, training plan, number four. Again, we're not training to become better managers.
We're training to become faithful and generous like our father. Now, let me go in. This all sounds great, but you don't know my financial situation. You're right.
Obviously, I don't. But guess who does? You should say Jesus. Exactly.
God does, all right? And he's not asking you to start where R.G. ended up. He started where he started, which was in the hole.
He's asking you to start where you are and be faithful with what you have. Luke 1610, whoever is faithful with very little, is also faithful in much. So there's five Ps. Five Ps through this practice, the training practice.
The first P is pray. Pray. This is kind of an order of what you need to do. Pray.
Stewardship is relational, not managerial. You can't be faithful guardian if you're not talking to the owner. You can't be a faithful guardian if you're not talking to the owner. So ask him, Lord, how can I be faithful with what you give and need today?
And who do you want me to serve generously this week? Stay close and stay connected. That's simple. Stop number two or the second one on our list, actually.
Priority number two. P. P number two is priority. Right.
Proverbs 39. Honor the Lord with your wealth and the best part of everything you produce. The first of our time, the first of our talent, the first of our treasure. That's where faithfulness begins.
The next P is percentage, percentage. For treasure specifically, as I said before, our members faithfully give 10%. But that's just the baseline. That's just the baseline.
Note that tithe is not generosity. It is faithfulness, but it is not generosity. That is the expectation. The expectation is faithfulness.
Above expectation, that is generosity. It is not the ceiling, it is the floor. Generosity starts above baseline expectations. Ask God what generous looks like to you.
I mean, should I give another 1%, another 2%, whatever it is, whatever the number is, start there. That's fine. Give consistently and faithfulness compounds. Now some of you are doing the math in your head and going, that doesn't work.
That doesn't work for me. But here's what changes as you grow. As you get more mature. When you see a life transform because of the time you give, when you see someone find Jesus because of your talent, when you see a family that makes it through because of your generosity, you receive in return what is far more valuable than what you thought you gave up.
This is not sacrifice. It's the best investment you've ever made. What looks like a loss from the outside is actually a game from the inside, every time. The fourth P, practice, practice.
Faithfulness is consistency over time. Consistency over time. Not just giant, heroic, one-off moments. What's up systems?
Reoccurring giving. Decide once and practice it always. Schedule serving. No serve here and there.
You'll put it in your counter. Make sure you serve. Daily rhythm. Same time.
Same place. Build habits. Consistency beats intensity. Consistency beats intensity.
Faithfulness isn't a feeling. It's a pattern. Faithfulness is not a feeling. It's a pattern.
The fifth P, progress. Don't stay at the starting level forever. As God blesses, increase generosity. Not better habits, a better heart.
So here's a quote from RG Lauterno. This is how it all started. First, and I tried to look up who this guy was and I discovered his story. So now the story is what it's all about.
Here's this quote. The question is not how much of my money I give to God, but how much of God's money I keep for myself. I keep for myself. After his debt crisis, after he was $125,000, you know, he pledged $125,000 to the church, and God showed up with a half million dollar sale, RG shifted fully into manufacturing machines that he had been inventing.
And while the rest of the country was suffering through the Great Depression, okay, here's what art happened to RG's company. In 1932, he had a net profit of $1.2 million. And this again, during the Great Depression, during 1934, he had a net profit of 2.2 million dollars. I'm sorry, $8.2 million.
And by 1938, he had a net profit of $32 million. This is a man who decided 10 years before to make God his business partner, to make God his business partner. His machines eventually supplied nearly 70% of the allied equipment in World War II. He built more than half the Alaskan highway.
He has nearly 300 patents and manufacturing plants and four continents. And God has God blessed him, RG didn't upgrade his lifestyle. He upgraded his giving. He started at 10%.
Then eventually gave 20% of his total income. Then eventually he gave 50, can you imagine him 50% of your total income to God? Well, it gets further than that. In 1835, his wife, Evelyn, a good woman, gently suggested they flip the script entirely.
They started giving 90%, keeping 10% for themselves and giving 90% to God. RG and Evelyn set up a charitable foundation to distribute their 90% to Christian causes around the world. But here's the thing, their business kept growing. And that 90% number kept getting larger and larger and larger.
In fact, so much, they had difficulty giving away all the money they were putting into it. The more they gave, the more there was to give it. Here's another quote from this RG I love. As I shoveled it out, God shoveled it back, but he's got a bigger shovel.
He's living that life. This is real. This is real. Imagine that life.
And if you're thinking, I can't imagine it, it's because you're not looking through it with God's eyes. You're seeing your limitations and your numbers, not what God would do with it. Think about how God rewards faithfulness, how he rewards your generosity, your character, you haven't performed a character like him. Notice, RG didn't start generous.
He started faithful. He started faithful. And God made him generous. It always starts with faithfulness.
Always starts with faithfulness. And that's the progression. Faithful with little, faithful with much, generous like him. So 1927, a sixth grade dropout with $2 million in debt, standing on jobs like waiting for a man to step out and try and take everything that he had from him.
He had nothing except the best business partner you could ever possibly have. At the end of his life, he had 300 patents, machines that helped win a world war and roads that built the modern, the machines that built the roads of the modern world and factories all over the world. He wind up through his foundation speaking over 300 days a year, a few thousands of miles a week telling everyone who would listen what God can do with a faithful guardian. What God will do with a faithful guardian.
And when RG Laternal died in 1969, he hit one verse on his tombstone, Matthew 633, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you. That was his life verse. Not seek first, your security.
Seek first, your comfort. Seek first, the kingdom. And watch what God adds to that. And provide so that we can give.
God provides so that we can give. And in the giving, we become like him. We become like him. So I'm going to give you two options this week.
We have no life group this week. Two options. You can pick one or the other. Or both.
Option one. This week. Before we would have had life group, I'm going to do this. Open up the church app, a little website, set up a recurring giving if you don't already have one.
Or increase the one you already have. Set up that recurring giving. And then remember, your heart will follow your treasure. That's the first option.
Second option. Identify a person in your life this week. Probably someone outside the church who needs your time more than your money. A co-worker that's drowning.
A neighbor who's been meaning to check on a family member that you haven't talked to in a while. Give them an hour of your time that you weren't planning to do ahead of time. That is stewardship with skin on it. When you're done.
When you're done with either one, I want you to text your life group leader. If you're not like your brother me or Rob or Ryan. And just say I did it. That's it.
No explanation. I don't need any of that. Seriously. I'm not joking.
This is completely real. So if we don't get a text from you by Wednesday, I'm going to be tracking you down. I'm not joking. I'm completely serious.
I can do two options. You get to pick. Or actually more precisely let God tell you which one to pick because actually it's not your resources. It's God's resources.
And if this idea scares you, wait. Don't run from it. Lean into it. Because that fear is pointing exactly to the place where God wants to meet you.
RG was scared too. He was $2 million in debt and pledging another $125,000 that he didn't really have. And God met him right there. He'll meet you too.
Let's name him.