Faith Has a Rhythm

1:01 who has three different verse references. We're not going to be in one spot today, but we're going to be in Daniel chapter 6. We're going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and we are going to be in Matthew chapter 6 as well. So you can jot those verse references down in your Bible. We're going to be in a different one for each point this weekend. And I've called this message, Faith Has a rhythm. Faith has a rhythm. And today I want to talk to you about something that every single one of us struggles with. And we are in this series, a mini-series, Jesus People Give. Next week, Pastor Skip is going to close out this series, then we'll be back in the book of Mark. But as you heard Matt and Taylor kind of talking about, this theme, Jesus People Give, is not just like an end-of-the-year theme. This isn't like a plan for us of like, all right, end-of-the-year giving church. We got to give. We got to give more money. You know, you hear those pastors say, give till it hurts. Not what this is about. We've been looking at this whole year, this theme of Jesus people, right? That we want to be Jesus people. We want our lives to reflect Jesus. When the world looks upon us, we don't want them to see anything but Jesus. And so we have taken a break throughout this year to look at the fact that Jesus people gather, Jesus people go, Jesus people grow. And now we're taking this break to look at the fact that Jesus' people give. These were all true attributes of the early church. We want them to be true about us. And so I want to talk about something, again, that every one of us struggles with. Now you might automatically say, okay, this is a giving series. It's money, right? Everybody struggles with money. That's what this is about.

2:41 Remember what I said last week, and I'm going to repeat this a few times today. this is not a financial series with faith implications. This is a faith series with financial implications. Why? Because our faith in Jesus dictates and determines everything we do in life. It determines our calendar, our relationships, it determines our likes and dislikes, and it determines our finances. So the topic we are discussing today is not finance. The topic we're discussing today is consistency. That is the topic we're addressing today, consistency. And here's what I've discovered about myself. I'm incredibly consistent at being inconsistent. Anyone else feel me on this? Like you're like, man, I have such a hard time being consistent, especially all my ADHD friends in here. It's like, this is a daily struggle, right? I mean, if it's not on my calendar, if it's not written in my notes app, it is not happening. I don't care what it is. Like, I have such a hard time being consistent. I mean, I can start anything. As a matter of fact, I do. My friends and my family know this about me. I start new hobbies. I start new interests really, really quick. But if you ask me a few months later, I'm like, what? What are you talking about? And they're like, well, you were really into that two months ago. I was like, I was? Really? That was my passion for life for two months? I can start anything. A new workout plan, let's go. A new diet, I'm in.

4:12 A new hobby, just tell me what to buy. A new Bible reading plan, I'm about to become the Apostle Paul. Y'all better look out. But somewhere around day four, things start falling apart, right? You ever notice how motivated you are to work out when you're buying workout clothes? Anyone ever noticed this? Like when I decide I'm going to work out, the first step obviously is why I need some new outfits, right? Because I can't wear my old outfits to the gym. What if someone I saw a year ago sees me there? So you get super passionate. You get the shoes, you get the shorts, the protein powder, the shaker bottle. You've got the intensity. You're ready. You're committed. You've spent $400 and you haven't lifted anything heavier than your credit card. And that's where it stays for some people, right? It's like, yeah, I don't need to go to the gym to look good. These shorts make me look so good. So who needs the gym when I just got these new workout shorts? You know, this is, this is a problem for me. I like, I have all the workout clothes, but I got to tell you, those clothes are sitting up inside my closet in my office, and I haven't seen them in like a few months because I have a hard time being consistent in the things that matter. And spiritually, Actually we do the same thing. You guys are laughing but some of you are exactly like me.

5:26 I realized something about people. We're actually incredibly consistent just not always about the right things right. You're consistent just not about the things that are important to you. Some of you haven't read your bible in three weeks but you haven't missed a single episode of your favorite tv show. Some of you can't remember the last time you prayed for 30 minutes but your phone says that your screen time is six hours and 42 minutes every single day. And by the way, why is it that your phone has the audacity to send you a report about that every single week? Like, hey, I don't need a reminder. I know that I'm failing. It's like, your screen time's up 18%. Thank you, Satan. I appreciate the encouragement. Not what I needed to hear today.

6:08 We're consistent just at the wrong things. Some of you say, I just can't find time to read my Bible. But somehow you've watched 47 videos of a guy pressure washing someone's driveway. Anyone fallen into this like TikTok algorithm that it just feeds you videos of people cleaning other people's yards? And you become so emotionally connected, right? You're like, this guy knocks on a door and he's like, man, I see you've got a messy yard. Can I clean it for you? And you're like, is he gonna do it? Can he actually clean that yard? And two hours later, you're like crying. You're like, he did it. This family's life has changed forever. You look in the backyard and your yard's a mess and you're like, maybe he'll come to my yard someday. But until then, I'll keep watching these videos.

6:49 the reality is we all have rhythms, right? The question is whether the rhythms are taking us where we wanna go. I want you to take a moment and evaluate your life, the rhythms you live by, the things you do habitually on a consistent basis without even thinking about it. You have rhythms. Are the rhythms in your life taking you to where you wanna go? If they're not, it's time to develop some new rhythms. We're great at starting things. we're not just great at sticking with them. And that's what we're talking about today. What you do consistently shapes who you become. Why? Because following Jesus isn't about occasional moments of inspiration. Oh, I'm so inspired today by the sunrise or the sunset. I just love Jesus. I'm inspired today because of the worship, so I'll follow Jesus.

7:42 It's not about occasional moments of inspiration. it's about a consistent life of obedience. Jesus' people build their lives around consistent rhythms of obedience. And if Jesus has our heart, that consistency will eventually show up in our calendar, our relationships, our habits, and our finances. A consistent faith produces consistent obedience and that includes our finances. Again, faith series with financial implications. Today we're talking about consistency, but I want to let you know at the forefront, consistency in spiritual disciplines will be reflected in your generosity and your giving to the Lord. So this is a consistency message with financial implications. What I'm going to do is I'm going to share with you three actions that we need to take when it comes to being consistent in our faith. Again, this is a faith series and faith has a rhythm. That's our title today. And Each action, I'm going to give you a little sentence you can write down in your notes just to help you internalize this and walk away with what consistency looks like within a believer's life.

8:55 And the first thing we're going to see is that we need to find the rhythm, find the rhythm. And here's what I want you to write down in your notes. Consistent faith is formed through consistent disciplines. Consistent faith is formed through consistent disciplines. Who in here wants to have a consistent faith? That when you tell people that you're a Christian, they can look at your life and there's consistency behind that. I'm gonna let you know, the opposite of consistency is hypocrisy. We wanna have a consistent faith, not a hypocritical faith. If you want a consistent faith, consistent faith is formed through consistent disciplines. Look at Daniel chapter six as we illustrate this together. Daniel chapter six, verse 10 in the New King James Version says, Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. Let's pause there really quick before we finish this text.

9:51 What writing was signed? Really quickly, backstory for you. Darius is the ruler of Babylon at this point. Daniel's about 80 years old. Nebuchadnezzar's dead. His grandson's dead. Darius, a new empire, is on the throne. Daniel has a place in the king's court. He has an opportunity to give wisdom to the king. The king really likes him. Darius likes Daniel. but the people who work alongside Darius hate Daniel because he's taking their notoriety and their fame away because he's Daniel and he's just rocking it. He's crushing it every single day. And they decide they wanna get Daniel thrown in prison or killed. And so they try to find something in his life to incriminate him. But Daniel was a man of integrity, right? Daniel was a righteous man. Integrity means he was the same person that everyone saw as he was when he went back to his room at night. He was the same person. He had integrity. so there was nothing they could find against him. So they used a good thing to incriminate him.

10:46 They come and they tell Darius, hey Darius, you should write a decree that nobody can pray or worship to any other god except our gods. And if they do, they should be thrown into a lion's den. And Darius says, that's a good idea. So he puts it into place, not realizing who he was incriminating in Daniel. And Daniel gets this word, hey, the decree has been signed. If you pray, you're gonna get thrown into prison. If you pray, you're going to get killed. And this is what it says. And in his upper room, with his windows open towards Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and he prayed and he gave thanks before his God. Courage, right? It's courage. Daniel, you're going to get killed. I don't care. I'm going to pray. I'm going to trust the God who sits on the throne, who shuts the mouths of lions, who's always had my back, who's taken me through everything that I've ever been through, who even when I thought there wasn't enough, he provided enough, he provided away.

11:47 I'm gonna have courage. We look at that and say, man, he had courage. Why? Look at the last part. As was his custom since early days. Why did Daniel have courage? Because he had consistency. Daniel had a spiritual rhythm built up in his life from early days that, guess what? I am a praying man. I pray every single day, three times a day. That's what I do. It's something I've always done. So why would I stop doing it? He prayed that day because he prayed every day. It says, as was his custom since early days. From the time he was a young man until his 80s, he always took time to pray because Daniel had a rhythm of prayer. He found the rhythm and he lived his life in the rhythm. His faith wasn't just a blind faith.

12:43 His faith had a rhythm. And I want to point this out. It was Daniel's consistency that preceded Daniel's crisis. It was his consistency that preceded his crisis. As a matter of fact, if he wasn't consistent, he wouldn't have been able to withstand the crisis. Some of us only have a spiritual faith that comes alive in crisis. But it's not in the consistent everyday, in and out, the waking up, the going out. It's not in our everyday lives. And so it can't withstand the weight of the crisis. The little decisions you make now determine your resolve to make bigger decisions later. The decisions you make now determine your resolve to make bigger decisions later. And if Daniel failed here, he never would have made it in the lion's den. I wanted to realize that this was his praying life, his spiritual life is what got him through the lion's den. Had he given up and said, no, I'm not going to pray. Yeah, I'm going to listen to this decree. I'm going to stop following God. God wouldn't have been with him in the lion's den.

13:51 It was his consistency before that day that gave him the courage he needed to stand in the face of the lions, in the face of kings and say, I'm not going to change who I am. I am a man of faith and my faith has a rhythm. And so I'm going to live out my faith. Look, Daniel didn't suddenly become disciplined when the lion showed up, right? The lion's den didn't create his faith. The lion's den exposed his faith. If he wouldn't have been disciplined before the lion's den, he wouldn't have made it in the lion's den. Isn't it remarkable to you how many Christians only have their faith visible when they're in a crisis? It's like there's no consistency, no rhythms of reading scripture, praying, worshiping, giving, gathering with other believers. But the second crisis hits, they're praying four times a day. All of a sudden, they're disciplined. They're praying four times a day. It's the same prayer. It's a prayer of deliverance. Lord, get me out of this. Lord, get me out of this.

14:54 They're reading their Bible, all the verses that talk about deliverance and God getting you through a situation. All of a sudden, they become disciplined when crisis hits, but it's not revealing a true faith. Consistency is where conviction becomes character. Consistency is where conviction becomes character. Look, everyone in here, you have convictions. You do. That's why you're here today. That's why you're in church, right? Because you have a conviction as a family that we need to go to church. We need to be in church together. That's a good conviction. You probably have convictions that you should read your Bible. It's a good conviction. You probably have convictions that you should pray. You probably have convictions that you should be true to your spouse and not have an affair. You probably have convictions that you should worship and give. These are good convictions, but consistency is what helps convictions become character. Those convictions are meaningless unless you consistently practice those disciplines, and over time as you practice those disciplines, they become your character, they become who you are.

16:02 What you do occasionally might impress people, but what you do consistently shapes who you become. Think about this, whatever you do consistently, it shapes who you become. If you run consistently, you will become a runner. If you work out consistently, you will become a different person. If you start working out today and you work out every day for 365 days, a year from now, you'll be a different person than you were today. It will shape who you become. If you spend six hours every night binging shows in your bed before you go to bed, that will shape who you become. If you spend all your money on selfish desires, that will shape who you become. Spiritual maturity isn't built in moments. It's built in rhythms. It's built in rhythms. It was his rhythm of faith made as a young man that gave him the strength and resolve he needed as an older man. And this is what I find. Everybody wants Daniel's courage. We read this story, we're like, I want to be like Daniel. We sing songs about it. I want to be in the lion's den. I want to have a courageous faith. Everybody wants Daniel's courage. Very few want Daniel's consistency.

17:12 But it was his consistency that gave him his courage. Consistency took his convictions and made it character, and that gave him courage. It shapes who you become. I hear people say all the time, well, I'll live for God when I'm older. Right now, I'm young. Right now, I want to have fun. Right now, I want to live my life, but I'll do it when I'm older. When I get my life figured out, then I'll start serving and following God. Look, what makes you think that all of a sudden, you'll start making the right decisions when you've created a lifelong pattern of making the wrong ones. All you'll do is simply put yourself into a rhythm where you inoculate yourself to truth and you harden yourself to conviction. Here's the principle. You never rise to your intentions. You always fall to your rhythms. You never fall to your intentions. Rise to your intentions. You fall to your rhythms. Again, you can have incredible intentions to get healthy, but unless you fall into rhythms that keep you healthy, you're never gonna get healthy.

18:18 It doesn't matter how good your intentions are. You never rise to your intentions. You fall to your rhythms. You won't suddenly become faithful under pressure. Pressure reveals the faithfulness you've already built and big faith is built through small acts of obedience repeated over time. Faith has a rhythm. Small acts repeated over time. For Daniel, his spiritual life wasn't just an afterthought. It wasn't just something he did when he found time in his busy schedule. His faith was a rhythm he lived by. He was a man whose life revolved around his commitment to God. It affected and permeated every area of his life. When we hear that someone is spiritual, we tend to picture someone who's out of touch with reality, right? Someone who has their head in the clouds. If you say, oh, that person's so spiritual, it usually means they're a little weird, right?

19:13 Like they're a little hippie, they're a little flowy, everything's about the spirit and where they're being led. Not only is this completely unscriptural, it is actually unspiritual. To be filled with the spirit doesn't mean that you're weird. It means that you're controlled. To be filled with the spirit means that you are controlled by the spirit. It's the same word used to describe wind filling sails. The connotation is a ship can't go anywhere unless the sails are filled with wind and that propels the ship to go forward. In a Christian life, the idea is a Christian can't go anywhere unless we're filled with the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit and moving forward by the Spirit. Okay, 2 Timothy 1.7 says, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound, well-balanced, disciplined mind.

20:10 We don't practice spiritual disciplines because we're disciplined people. I already shared with you that I have a really hard time being consistent. I'm a very undisciplined person. And again, if I don't write it down, if it's not in my calendar, not in my notes app, I won't do it. It doesn't matter how important it is. If I don't have on November 1st, pay your mortgage, I won't pay my mortgage. I won't do it. I don't know why. I just won't. We don't practice spiritual disciplines because we're disciplined people. We practice spiritual disciplines because they are how Jesus forms us into disciples. The word disciple, we get from this word discipline, discipline.

20:51 We follow spiritual disciplines because we want to be Jesus' people. We want our lives to be formed into being disciples of him. You know, Jesus himself lived with intentional rhythms. In Luke chapter 4, verse 16, it says, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Why did Jesus go to church? Because he always went to church. It was a rhythm. It was a discipline he lived by. So when Sunday came, it wasn't even an option. It was like, I'm going to church. Why? Because I always go to church. It's a rhythm I live by. It's a discipline I've put into my life. And Acts doesn't say that the early church occasionally devoted themselves. Acts 2.42 says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. And the word that Luke uses here is the Greek word proskiterio.

21:46 And it carries the idea of persistence, steadfast devotion, continuing in something. The Bible teaches that there are consistent practices that form a spiritual life. And spiritual disciplines are designed to be consistent, not occasional. Daniel prayed as was his custom. Jesus worshiped as his custom was. The early church continued steadfastly. Now before you look at this and say, Nate, this is sounding awfully like a works message. Like a legalism message. It's like if we do this and do this and do this and do this, we're going to go to heaven. Isn't the whole principle of Jesus people that we don't want to be church people, we don't want to be religious people, we don't just want to be nice people, we want to be Jesus people. So help me out here. Rhythms are not legalism. Rhythms are how love keeps showing up when feelings don't.

22:41 too many people today live their life by feelings well I don't feel like it I don't feel like going to work today I'm gonna take a mental health day I don't feel like paying my bills because I just want to save my money to spend it on things that I want I don't feel I don't feel look the Christian life is not about what you feel it's about rhythms it's about consistency and too many of us live our life based on feelings rather than based on truth. Rhythms are how love keeps showing up when the feeling's not there. When you wake up and you don't want to read your Bible. When you wake up and you don't want to serve the Lord because it's been a really hard year. You don't pray occasionally only when you feel spiritual. Jesus people don't follow Jesus occasionally. We do it all the time when we feel like it and when we don't. You don't read your Bible occasionally when you feel like it might be a good idea. You don't kiss your wife occasionally when you think she looks pretty, right? This doesn't just apply to spiritual disciplines. It applies to every area of life.

23:45 Look, guys, I want to let you know, it doesn't matter how big you go on Valentine's Day, you still have to love your wife the other 364 days. If you just have one big day, look, I love you so much. That doesn't cut it. And the rhythms are not legalism. They're how love keeps showing up when the feelings aren't there. You kiss your wife. As a matter of fact, spouses, people will say that it's actually the little things. It's the small things done on a daily basis over the course of time that brings love in a relationship. It's not the big, grandiose moments. It's the little decisions. And so if consistency matters in prayer, scripture, and marriage, why would giving be the one spiritual discipline where consistency suddenly doesn't matter? Remember I told you this was a faith series with financial implications. We spent 25 minutes talking about this faith issue, consistency, which guess what?

24:38 It is something you need in every spiritual discipline in your life. This is not relocated just to giving. It's needed in all areas, but one of those areas is giving. And so let's look at the financial implications that come from consistency. If generosity is a spiritual discipline, generosity deserves a spiritual rhythm. And I wanna take you to 1 Corinthians 16, where we can see what the rhythm of generosity is supposed to look like. I love this verse because it's in the New Testament and it speaks to this concept of giving God a percentage of our giving. And anytime you talk about tithing, you automatically have one of those 94% who don't tithe that comes up and says, well, you know, the tithe is an Old Testament principle and we're not bound under the law and we're not supposed to tithe. I love bringing them to this verse because this is Paul writing to the church in Corinth, the Gentile church, and he mentions in this verse that he shared the same message with the church in Galatia, another Gentile church. And the topic of this text is how we are supposed to give, how much we're supposed to give, when we're supposed to give, what it's supposed to look like, and guess what? It's very close to the tithe. And that's because the tithe in the early church was something the early church in Jerusalem practiced because they grew up practicing it as Jewish people. And when the church started spreading to the Gentiles, this became a topic that Paul realized they have no connotation of tithing because they're not Jewish. They didn't grow up with it. And so he shares with them the biblical concept of tithing and giving to establish within the Gentile church what Jesus wants his church to look like. And number two, we need to keep the rhythm. And here's what I want you to write down at the top of your notes. Consistent generosity puts faith before feelings and God before leftovers.

26:30 1 Corinthians 16, one through two in the NIV says this. Now, about the collection for the Lord's people. So hey, this is about tithing. This is about giving. Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. There it is. See, he's been telling the other churches in the Gentile world the same message. And here it is. On the first day of the week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income. Super simple. Faithfulness means putting obedience into practice consistently. Notice that Paul doesn't tell Corinth, hey, give when the worship music is just right and you really feel emotional about it. No, he doesn't say that. He doesn't say, hey, give when you hear about an outside initiative or cause that you're really passionate about that month, give then. No, what does he tell them? How should you give? Well, you should do it every week on the first day.

27:31 Each one of you, all of you, set aside a sum of money. How much? Well, in accordance with how much you make, in accordance with your income, in accordance with what God has given you. Give a percentage of that. Notice how incredibly practical Paul gets. Each one of these words carries a connotation for our spiritual life, not only in giving, but in all areas. And here it is. On the first day, that speaks to priority. The first day, not the last. Not at the end of the week when I see how much I have left over, but on the first day when I don't know what's going to be there at the end of the week. Why? Because that first day requires faith. I'm giving it to God on the first day before I see what's going to happen at the end of the week. I'm trusting who my God is not what my money is. Trusting God. So on the first day of every week, that's consistency. He doesn't say on the first day of the week, whenever you feel like it. He says on the first day of every week. So we do it consistently. And then he says, each one of you, that's participation.

28:32 Do you realize the entire body of Christ needs to be active in the disciplines of Christ? Each one of us is essential to make us the church that we need to be. And when we talk about the church, It's not the pastors and the staff. It's all of us. We're in the same business. We have the same goals. Each one of us needs to be present in the life of the body. And then he says, set aside a sum of money. That's intentionality. To set something aside requires me to intentionally look at what I'm giving, set it aside, and say, this money is not touchable. This money is God's money. I'm intentionally setting it aside. And then he closes out and says, in keeping with your income. That's proportionality. That is a percentage. I have to determine a percentage of my income that I'm going to give to God on the first day of every week with all the believers. Paul isn't describing an emotional moment in a service.

29:26 He's describing a spiritual rhythm. We need to find the rhythm, and then we need to keep the rhythm. A rhythm where generosity becomes planned, prioritized, proportional, and persistent. Paul is essentially saying, hey, don't give accidentally. Develop a rhythm. Put generosity on your calendar. Again, I asked before, but who are my calendar people? You've got like a running calendar of everything, your kids' sports, activities, events, and you need that calendar to survive, right? Things aren't gonna get done unless you have that calendar, unless you have those notes. What Paul is saying is let generosity be one of the things that you put on your calendar so you don't forget about it. Let it be something you schedule and prepare yourself. Live in the rhythm of generosity. A rhythm where your generosity reflects the generosity of Christ.

30:25 Consistency beats intensity every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Right? It's Sunday. We got some football fans. I've got a Cowboys fan up here. I promise I won't give you a hard time this week. Scout's honor. You know, in football, it doesn't matter how intense you are unless you're consistent. You can have the most intense guy ever that can go out there, but if he hasn't been consistent in practice for the past year, that guy's dead. He's not leaving the field. Because consistency beats intensity every day of the week. One huge workout doesn't make you healthy, right? If you're not healthy, you can't say, well, I'm just going to go one time and do the most intense workout ever, and that'll change me. No. Intensity doesn't matter. Consistency does. Reading 37 chapters of Leviticus because you missed three weeks of your reading plan doesn't make you spiritually mature. Reading your Bible consistently does. And one emotional gift doesn't necessarily make you generous. Giving consistently does. Generosity isn't measured by the size of the gift. It's measured by the pattern of the heart. It's a pattern of faith. Faith has a rhythm. And if my faith is in God, I'm gonna trust him consistently in this pattern of giving because my giving becomes a reflection of my faith.

31:42 Which let me tell you something, if giving is a reflection of our faith, I think a lot of us have to have some honest conversations with ourselves and our bank accounts. Because there's a lot of times that our finances are not reflecting a faith that is devoted to God, it's reflecting something else. Proverbs 3.9 says, Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits all of your increase. Look, God isn't saying, give me what's left. God's saying, give me what's first. Why? Because first requires faith, and leftovers don't. Right? That's the principle we were talking about before. First requires faith. This is the first that I have. So Lord, if I give this to you, are you gonna take care of me? If I give this to you, am I gonna make it to the end of the week? If I give this to you, am I gonna be able to pay my bills?

32:35 What it's doing is it's training your heart to trust God, not trust your money. And so we put ourself into this rhythm of saying, Lord, I'm gonna give you my first because I'm gonna live in faith. I'm not gonna give you my leftovers, which are rooted in fear. Leftovers are rooted in fear. At the beginning of the week, you don't know if you have enough to give, so you just wait. And then at the end of the week, if you happen to have some money left over, It's like, oh, good, I'll tip God this week for the great service he's given me. That's not generosity. Generosity gives the first. Tipping gives the last. Let me illustrate this for you, that God wants your first, not your leftovers. Anyone in here have a spouse who loves to eat your food when you go to dinner? Yeah? No? Only a few of you? The guys aren't raising their hand because they're like, my wife's going to punch me if I raise my hand, Nate, so don't put me in this situation. Guy is. We talked about this. One of my least favorite questions when I'm at a restaurant, I'm an only child, I'm selfish, I apologize, pray for my wife, is when she says, hey, I like what you're getting, but I also want this.

33:39 Can I just have some of yours? Or can I have a bite? This drives me nuts because I'm a very decisive person. When I look at a menu, I know exactly what I want, and that's what I want. And if my wife's like, well, you want to share this? I'm like, no, because I don't want that. I want what I got. I want what I ordered. And then the inevitable question when the dish gets there, we've decided, I'm like, we're not going to share, but the dish comes and she says, can I have a bite? Can I have the first bite? It's a dangerous question, right? Because I'm thinking, well, what if I'm still hungry? Well, what if I give you a bite and then at the end of the meal, I'm still hungry or I really love the flavor so much that I just want one more bite so I can savor the flavor? What if I want what I've been given and I don't want to give it away? And what if I tell my wife, no, you can't have the first bite, but then at the end of the meal I have some leftovers, and I have this kind of cut up, and there's some steak on there, and a masquerade. I'm like, here, you can have my leftovers. Tell you what, that's creating a very awkward conversation on the car ride home.

34:34 She says, I don't want your leftovers. I wanted you to love me enough to just give me the first bite. And yet, how many of us do this with giving? God gives us what we've been given, and we hold on to it, and he says, hey, can I have a bite? I don't need it at all. Just give me a bite. just give me a percentage. And we say, well, wait a second. What if I need this? What if I want this? What if I like this so much that I get to the end of the week and I wish I had more? I don't want to give you my first, but hey, Lord, you can have my leftovers. He says, I don't want your leftovers. I want your first fruits. This is illustrated in Cain and Abel. You remember that story? Cain and Abel were both bringing an offering to God. Cain brought his leftovers. He brought what he had laying around. Abel brought a firstborn, a calf. And God was pleased with Abel's offering and not pleased with Cain's. Why? Because one was leftovers and one was firstfruits.

35:29 One was leftovers and one was firstfruits. If I pay for everything, buy everything, do everything, save everything, and then say at the end, well, let's see if there's anything left for God. That doesn't require faith. Again, church, this is a faith series with financial implications. The goal of this is that we'd be formed into Jesus' people. This is a faith conversation. God is not interested in your money. That's not what it's about. He's interested in your faith. He's interested in your heart. And this is simply a way that he can measure your faithfulness and the rhythms that you live by. Giving God what's left requires math. Giving God what's first requires faith. The issue isn't do I give. It's where does God fall in my order of priorities? I want you to ask yourself that question.

36:22 Where does God fall in your priority list? Is God first or is he leftovers? Leftovers ask, what can I afford? Firstfruits ask, God, can I trust you? Can I trust that you're gonna show up and be faithful on my behalf? Hebrews 11.4 tells us, by faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice. Why? Because Abel gave God the first before he knew what would come next. Faith gives first. Fear waits to see what's left. And inconsistent giving is almost always leftover giving. Last week was all about a push. Levi did an excellent job to start to give. If you've never given to give for the first time, this week is a push to not be inconsistent. But to do what 1 Corinthians 16 tells us to do and be consistent, live by a rhythm of generosity. The reason it's important is, again, inconsistent giving is almost always leftover giving.

37:19 That's why it's inconsistent because it's not given from first fruits. It's given whenever I might have a little extra laying around that I don't need for something I want. And so it's inconsistent because it's given whenever money is left over. And guess what? There's not very often money left over, is there? If we wait for the leftovers, there's very seldomly leftovers.

37:42 You can't say God is first while consistently giving him what's left. This is one of the reasons I'm such a big believer in automated giving. I love it. It's so helpful for me, for our family, because I don't have to put it on the calendar and remember on the first day of every single month, the first day of every single week to give it. I can automate it. I can set it to, and I get paid every two weeks, so I can set it to on the first day I get paid, every two weeks on a Thursday, and it's automated. And it helps me. It puts generosity on my calendar. It makes it a priority for me. It makes God first. Think about the things that you automate because it's a priority that you don't want to forget.

38:24 You automate your mortgage. We automate our retirement. We even automate our Netflix. Netflix is never once worried at night, I wonder if Nate's gonna remember me this month. Why? Because it's automated. It just happens. I don't even know when it happens. It just happens and then I can watch Netflix. The only time I notice it is when maybe the payment didn't go through and Netflix isn't working. I'm like, why isn't this stupid thing working? And I got to change my Netflix card. Why? Because what matters to us gets a rhythm. And the things that have rhythm in our lives are a reflection of what's important to our lives. So why would we leave worship to whether we remember on a Sunday? Look, the goal of this message is not an automation message. Automation is not a spiritual discipline. I'm not teaching you about automating things within your life. Generosity is the spiritual discipline.

39:17 Automation simply removes one obstacle to consistency. The goal is not recurring giving. I promise you it's not. We're not doing this series because we're really hurting and we need your money. We're not. God is blessing us. We're seeing an increase. We're seeing God continue to bless this ministry. You have been such a generous and faithful people and God continues to be faithful to us. The goal of this series is not recurring giving. The goal is recurring surrender. Again, faith series with financial implications. Jesus people, we want to regularly, consistently surrender to God and be formed into his image. This is just one of the places that it's most visible. Not because Calvary needs your money, not because recurring giving is convenient to the accounting department, but because Jesus' people practice consistent obedience.

40:14 Now, I also wanna challenge those of you who already give consistently. Don't confuse automatic giving with active worship. Some of you have been giving faithfully for years. Thank you. Thank you for your belief in the vision that God has given this church. Thank you for your obedience. Thank you for partnering with us in what God is doing. But I wanna ask you a question. When is the last time you prayed over it?

40:41 When's the last time you thanked God as you gave? Even if it's automated. If it's automated every Thursday, when's the last time on Thursday you remembered your gift was going out and you said, you know what? I'm just gonna pray and thank the Lord for what he's given me and the ability that I have to give it back to him. I'm gonna pray that he would use it to do more with it than I could have. When was the last time your giving cost you faith?

41:05 Automation can schedule the gift but only surrender can make it worship. The goal isn't automatic giving, it's intentional worship. And what happens as we begin to give, that rhythm starts to shape us. It shapes our heart. At first it's awkward, like going to the gym, right? Anyone will tell you the worst part about going to the gym is the first month because you're sore every day, you haven't been doing that, you haven't been allotting the time and all of a sudden you are and it's hard. But after you get past that first 30 days, it becomes easier, right? it becomes a rhythm that you're living by. You find the rhythm, and the same is true with giving. You begin to give, that rhythm starts to shape our hearts. You find the rhythm, you keep the rhythm, and eventually you begin to live the rhythm. At first you build the habit, but eventually the habit starts building you. And that leads us to our third and final action, that is that we need to live the rhythm. Find the rhythm, keep the rhythm, live the rhythm.

42:00 And here's my sentence for you to write down in your notes. consistent generosity trains my heart to trust God. Consistent generosity trains my heart to trust God. Matthew 6.21 is our verse for this. This is what it says. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

42:27 Notice that Jesus doesn't say where your heart is, eventually your treasure will follow. No, Jesus tells us that where the treasure leads, the heart follows. That our heart follows wherever our money is. Whatever we're investing in, our heart follows that. It's not vice versa. Your heart follows your treasure. That's massive. We usually think, well, when my heart becomes more generous, when I start feeling it, then I'll start giving. But Jesus says, no, you got it wrong. Start moving your treasure and watch what happens to your heart. because consistent giving trains the heart. And eventually, whatever you repeatedly practice becomes part of who you are. Consistent prayer will train your dependence. Consistent reading of scripture will train your mind. Consistent worship will train your attention. And consistent giving will train your heart.

43:23 Generosity doesn't just reveal your heart. It actually redirects your heart. It is part of God's formation. Generosity and giving is a part of the sanctification process where we present our bodies to the Lord as our reasonable service, holy and acceptable to him. We give him all of it, and part of that is our finances. And as our treasure follows God, he gets our heart. Because what is God after? Your heart. He is after your heart. and every time you give, you're reminding your heart who your God is. Every time you give, you're reminding your heart, okay, I serve a big God. I trust a big God, the God of a cattle on a thousand hills, the God who cares for every hair on my head, the God who cares for the birds of the field and the flowers of the field, the God who's never let me down, the God who's coming behind me and going forward.

44:23 the God who is preparing a way for me. So heart, remind yourself, your God is not this treasure you're giving away, your God is Jesus. And it trains my heart, my faith has a rhythm. This sermon is about so much more than money. Again, this is a faith series with financial implications. We are not trying to get money out of people. We're trying to form Jesus people. That's what we're trying to do. Consistency is how generosity moves from something you do into someone you are. See, Jesus doesn't want us to occasionally pray. He wants us to be a praying people. Jesus doesn't want us to be people who occasionally worship. He wants true worshipers, not people who occasionally give. He wants us to be generous people.

45:18 He wants it to move from something we're doing to who we're becoming. And the goal of this series isn't that you would give generously. It's that you would become generous. You're not training your bank account. You're training your heart. because spiritual disciplines aren't merely things we do. They're practices God uses to shape who we become. The discipline isn't consistent giving. The discipline is consistent surrender. Giving is simply one of the places surrender becomes measurable within your life. So if you wanna know if you're completely surrendered to God, look at your finances, and that will give you a clear picture of how surrendered you are to God. Consistency doesn't just change what you do. over time, it changes who you become. And here's why I'm preaching this, and this is where I wanna close. Last week, Levi, you heard Levi mention that statistically only 5% of American Christians tithe consistently.

46:14 Remember him saying that? Was anyone else shocked by that number? I'm like, wow, only 5%. Now, he said 5% tithe consistently, so that's only 5% of American Christians give 10% of what God has given to them on the first day of every week in proportion to what God has given them. Only 5% of Christians do that. And he mentioned that the average Christian, average American Christian gives 3% of their income. And that number goes down the more you make. If you get to 100,000, the average American Christian gives 2.5%. If you make 25,000, the average American Christian gives 4% of their finances. So the more you get doesn't mean the more you give.

46:55 Now, in our opening video, we shared that only about 6% of the people who call Calvary tithe consistently. Now again, that's tithe, that's 10%. Only 6% tithe consistently. Now, before you freak out and think that the pastors were like looking through all of your financial records this week and looking through what each person was doing, that's not what we did. What we did is we took the total number of givers, weekly givers at Calvary, and we took the total number of people who attend Calvary each week, and then we use median metrics for New Mexico on household incomes, and we calculated that it's about 6%. So that number could be a little bit lower or a little bit higher depending on how those statistics skew. But it's about 6% of people who call Calvary tithe consistently. So let's flip that around. About 94% are not. If I knew that 94% of our church was living in an area of spiritual disobedience, what kind of a pastor do you think I'd be if I didn't talk about it?

47:50 If 94% weren't praying, I'd teach about prayer. If 94% weren't opening their Bibles, I'd preach about scripture. If 94% were destroying their marriages and adulterous affairs, we'd talk about marriage. Could you imagine if 94% of our church was having an affair? You'd be like, Nate, what are you doing? Talk about infidelity. Stop letting all these people skronk each other. It's not okay. We got to fix it. We got to solve this issue. You wouldn't say, why are you talking about this? So why would I suddenly get quiet because this particular spiritual issue involves a dollar sign? That's not pastoring. Let me ask you a question. Should pastors avoid discussing biblical obedience simply because one subject makes people feel uncomfortable? Pretty sure that's what the Presbyterian church did and it didn't work out too well for them.

48:42 Jesus isn't Lord of your life if there's an area of your life where you've told him, stay out. Please hear my heart, church. please hear my heart in this. I am not trying to get something from you. I'm really not. I'm not trying to get something from you. I'm not trying to do a big end of the year push so we can increase our numbers. You hear a lot of pastors say, give till it hurts, give till it hurts. This is a topic I'm honestly very uncomfortable talking about. My dad is as well. We don't talk about it a lot. We don't take a formal offering. We have black boxes that you give between you and the Lord. It's not a topic that we're really comfortable about talking about, but it's one that we feel it's important to talk about. As a matter of fact, the fact that your pastors aren't comfortable should give you some solace because let me tell you, there's a lot of churches where the pastors are not uncomfortable talking about giving. Every week it's give more, give more, give more. We need a new building. We need new land. We need this.

49:33 Give, give, give, give, give. It's not us. It's uncomfortable. I'm not trying to get something from you. I believe God has something for you. I believe God wants to bring you freedom from fear, freedom from greed, freedom from a scarcity mentality, freedom from comparison, and he wants you to experience the joy of generosity and the confidence that comes from trusting God fully with everything you have, what that can bring into your life. Again, this is a faith series with financial implications. I want to see your faith grow, and that will change every area of your life. So what do we do with all of this? I wanna bring this to a close. Remember I said last week, ask yourself, Lord, what would you have me do with what I learned today? That's the question we wanna ask each week in this series because we don't all have the same steps. We don't all have the same movement here.

50:25 Each one of us, if you're giving on a regular basis, you have to ask this question differently than the person who doesn't give at all. What do you want me to do with what I've learned today? Last week was all about starting. If you've never given, try it for the first time. This week is all about staying. It's about consistently. Not giving sporadically, but giving consistently. You should have all found a handout. in your seats today. It looks like this. It says growing a generous heart. This is a little chart we've prepared for you. And we prepared it to be a help for you, a resource for you. The purpose of this isn't to make you feel bad on the car drive home. The purpose of this is to be a resource. On the left, it shows you different annual income levels. And at the top, it shows you different percentages. So right now, look on that chart and find yourself. Find your annual income and then calculate about how much you give on a monthly basis and you can see what percentage you're giving. The reason we do this is, again, 1 Corinthians says each one of us, every one of us, should give on the first day of every week. Set something aside in proportion to your income. This helps you set something aside in proportion to your income. It isn't a scorecard. It's a growth chart. Don't circle your number and walk up to people after church and be like, hey, look where I'm at. I'm a 12 percenter. That's not the point of this. The point of this isn't to walk around and show your friends. The purpose of this is to do some heart work and say, Lord,

51:54 where the treasure is, the heart is. So where's my heart? I'm going to take this. I'm going to put it up to my heart. I'm going to examine where my treasure is. And that's going to tell me where my heart is. And if my heart is not in the right place, I'm going to do some work. I'm going to take a step to the right so I can get my heart aligned with where my treasure is. And I can get my heart aligned with you. The invitation is find yourself on this chart and simply make a move to the right. Simply make a move to the right. If you're not on the chart, that's okay. Jump on the chart. Jump anywhere. You've never given before, jump in anywhere at the very beginning and just start this journey and then begin praying, Lord, what does it look like to move to the right? Can you imagine what would happen if every one of us as a church took a step to the right? If each one of us, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians, took a step to the right from Calvary Osuna to Westside, from East Mountains to Santa Fe, if we all said we're going to pursue this together, could you imagine what God would do? I'm not going to tell you how far to the right you need to move. That's between you and God. My wife and I sat down, we looked at this chart, we talked about it, we prayed about it, we determined, we decided that this year we're going to take two steps to the right. Now is that going to be a stretch? Yeah. Is that going to be hard? Yes, it is. But we believe that generosity is a discipleship decision, not purely a financial decision. So I'm not going to tell you how far right you need to move, but ask God what he's calling you to do and take a step to the right.

53:23 And as you do, make it a rhythm. Make it consistent. Not something you forget to do. Not something you do when you feel like it. Not when you have leftovers. Let it be your first fruits. Let it reflect your heart as you find the rhythm. Keep the rhythm. Watch how you begin to live the rhythm. This is not me saying Calvary needs you to give consistently, but rather Jesus is calling you to follow him consistently. Remember, we want to be Jesus people. Jesus people don't give when they feel like it. We give first, we give faithfully, and we give consistently because generosity isn't something we do. It's part of who Jesus is forming us to be. Amen? Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the challenge that it brings. Lord, I'm thankful that what you're after is our hearts. Lord, we want you to have our hearts. We want you to be in full control of our hearts. So Lord, I pray that you would train our hearts to be generous people, that you would train our hearts to live beyond what we want and what we need and what we have, and we would begin to start looking at you and trusting that you are enough for us, that you have our best intentions and hearts and mind.

54:44 And Lord, that as you begin to shift and change our hearts, Lord, every area of our lives would experience that. make us consistent people make us Jesus people when the world looks on they don't see inconsistencies in our lives but everything they look at like Daniel they see integrity they see a rhythm of faithfulness let us live lives like that in Jesus name we pray and all God's people said Amen