Turn the Cat Around | J.D. Greear

2:09 already have it open there in your lap or turned on in your lap, you'll want to do that now. 2 Corinthians 9. One of the few things that I think even a very diverse church like ours can agree on, whether you like cats or not, we can all agree that cats are a bit ornery. Fair? Or at least persnickety. Maybe that's the better word. I know it is not the most popular conviction that I hold here at this church, but I am personally convinced that cats were put on earth to exemplify for us the craven heart of man, to hold up before us a mirror so that we can behold our very worst traits, repent of them, and return to Jesus. They do serve a good purpose. I mean, in my humble but accurate opinion, there is nothing more self-centered than a cat, right? Think about it. When you get home and you call your dog, they will sprint from across the house like you hung the moon. Call your cat, and you cat owners know this. Call your cat, and they might come, but sometimes they're like, not today, peasant, not today. And by the way, this is not just my sour disposition. A recent study published in Animal Cognition, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, proved that cats often recognize their owners' voices and just choose to ignore them.

3:34 A cat does not have owners, the study concluded. A cat has staff. Treat a dog well, treat a dog well, and that dog thinks you're the greatest. Treat a cat well, and the cat assumes I'm the greatest. Any cat owner knows that the one thing a cat really hates is having their fur rubbed the wrong way, and that is because veterinarians say the shafts of their hair follicles go so deep that when you rub them the wrong way, it literally pulls against the whole grain of their being. It builds up static, and it gets really uncomfortable for them. The way that I interpret that is that even their fur structure is prideful. It's as if their whole bodies are designed to say, you got to do it my way. My way is the only way. Now, if you are a cat, and your owner is rubbing your fur the wrong way, you got two options. You can demand your owner change the direction of his caress, or you can turn your body around. And why, you ask, this lengthy, though spot-on reflection on cats? It is because in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul says a similar thing to us about the subject of generosity. For many of us, messages on generosity or the touch on generosity rub us the wrong way. Paul says, we'll then turn the cat around. And so in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, that is what he attempts to do. How many of you think that was the greatest sermon intro you've ever heard in your entire life? Okay. How many of you say that's the worst sermon intro I've ever heard in my entire life? Okay.

5:11 What if, what if, and just go with me here, just go with me. What if instead of feeling irritating to you, what if messages about generosity felt life-giving? What if instead of building up static in your fur, so to speak, what if they released energy in you? Well, see, when God turns your heart around, that is what you will be like. Remember what Paul said, verse 7, such a good verse. Each one, each one, Paul says, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. That word for cheerful in Greek is hilarion, from where we get our word hilarious. Now, hilarious wasn't a word back then, so Paul did not mean exactly what we mean by hilarious. But the point is, God delights in people who love the subject of generosity, who giggle and chortle and snort with delight whenever the offering bucket goes by. He loves those kinds of givers because that's the kind of giver he is.

6:15 Specifically in this chapter, Paul addresses the primary thing that paralyzes people in their giving. The one way we are most opposite the direction that we need to be facing, and that one thing that paralyzes people in their giving is fear. If I had to pick out the number one reason people do not give, it would not be selfishness. It would be fear. You see, for most of us, money is our lifeblood. It's what grants us access to the good life now and what guarantees our security for the future. And so we worry, without money, how could life possibly be good? Without money for my kids, how will their life actually possibly be good? And to this very ingrained fear, Paul says, verse six, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who ever sows bountifully, we'll also reap bountifully. Verse 10, the God who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness as you give. Generosity, Paul says, is like a seed that you plant in faith.

7:27 Planting a seed always involves taking a risk. Taking that risk usually feels scary. I remember reading about an excruciating choice that a lot of Midwest farmers faced in the 1930s. Many, many farmers had moved out west because the ground was fertile, and for a while, things were great, and they kept getting these bumper crops. But then in 1931, the Midwest entered into one of the worst sustained droughts in American history. And by the end of the 1930s, many of these farmers were on the verge of bankruptcy. Now, it looked like the drought was starting to end, but there was of course no way to be sure and here was the dilemma that many of these farmers faced in the fall of 1939. Planting seed meant that you were putting about a month's salary into the ground and if no rain came then that investment would be lost. Many of these farmers had just enough grain left to feed themselves and their families for one more year. If they planted these seeds and no rains came. All would be lost and they would be left destitute. Thankfully, the rains did come in the fall of 1939 and those farmers who stayed and planted there received a bountiful harvest. Paul indicates that we face a similar choice when it comes to our resources. We can hold on to them out of fear or we can plant them trusting that God is faithful to multiply the harvest. You see, when it comes to generosity, Paul says, God operates with us according to the laws of the harvest. The laws of the harvest. There are three of these laws I want to highlight for you that relate to this passage. Law number one is that the harvest is limited to the planting.

9:17 This is verse six. He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will In other words, you can only harvest out of what you sow. If you do not plant the seed, there's literally nothing for God to multiply. You remember the story of where Jesus multiplies the little boy's lunch, John chapter 6? A story, if you were up in Sunday school, you heard in Sunday school, basically, you got 5,000 hungry men plus the wife and kids, about 15,000 people, they say, they've got no food. Jesus wants to feed them. And so he takes a little boy's lunch, five loaves and two fish, a Hebrew happy meal, a Levitical Lunchable. Another joke, by the way, that never gets old to me. And he multiplies the five loaves and two fish so that all 5,000 men plus their families are fully fed with 12 basketfuls left over. That is a great story, but there's one little detail that people often overlook in this miracle when they tell that story. And that detail is that the text says that it was as they took the loaves and fish from Jesus's hands that it multiplied.

10:21 You see, it wasn't that Jesus took the five loaves and two fish from the little boy and then turned it into a big pile of fish and a big pile of bread out of which they distributed it to the crowd. No, it's like D.A. Carson points out. The text says, as they distributed it, it multiplied. Technically, some say the miracle happened in their hands, not his. Now, why do I point out that little detail? because some of you say, God, if you multiply my money, I'll give it away. God says, I don't know, other way around. You give it away and then I'll multiply it. In fact, write this down. If you're taking notes, generosity is an invitation, an invitation for God to infuse blessing into your finances. You see, until you plant the seed, God can't multiply the harvest. So law number one is that the harvest is limited to the planting. Law number two is that the harvest is proportional to the planting. Again, verse six, but this time let's put the emphasis on the adverbs. He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Let me say something very plainly. And I know when I say it, some of you are going to bristle at it, but it is biblical. In many ways, your generosity toward others determines God's generosity towards you. Just look at verse six. That's literally what Paul says. God responds to you according to the measure of your generosity to others.

11:57 Paul is not alone, by the way, in saying that. He is merely summarizing a message that runs about the entire Old Testament. Wise King Solomon had said it this way in the book of Proverbs, whoever is kind to the poor, he says, literally lends to the Lord. Pretend that's up there. Whoever is kind to the poor literally lends to the Lord. The benefit of his gift will return to him in abundance. In other words, when you give to the poor, Solomon says, or any work of God's kingdom, it's like making a loan to the Lord. And God repays that loan in abundance. Solomon's own life is an example of this. There's a scene from Solomon's life that you might remember if you grew up in Sunday school. It was told me this, I think in like the fourth grade, it was a great lesson. It takes place right at the beginning of Solomon's reign, 1 Kings 3. God appears to Solomon one night in a dream, and he said, Solomon, request anything of me.

12:53 Ask me anything and I'll give it to you. Well, instead of asking for riches, the story goes, Solomon asked for wisdom. And God is so pleased with his request. And he says, Solomon, because you asked for wisdom and not riches for yourself, not only will I make you the wisest king who's ever lived, I'll also make you the richest king in Israel's history. And the meaning that was taught to me was that we should value wisdom above all riches, which is certainly true. That is the part of the story many of us know. but there's a detail in this story we often overlook also. And that detail is that this conversation took place on the night after Solomon's coronation. You see, the Jewish tradition was for a new king to sacrifice a single bull as a thank offering to God on his coronation day. Well, 1 Kings 3 tells us Solomon sacrificed a thousand bulls instead of one. In other words, Solomon went 1,000x beyond what was required. Do you think it is any coincidence that the only time in history God ever said to somebody, ask me whatever you want, and I'll give it to you, it was to an extravagant giver who gave 1,000x beyond what was required.

14:13 To the excessively generous, God will be excessively generous. It's like we often say, you cannot out give God. So the simple answer to the question, how much should we give is how much do you want God to bless and multiply? The harvest is proportional to the planting. And that leads me to law three, a very important law. The harvest is greater than the planting. This is going to be verse 11. What comes back to you is always greater than what you sowed, not just greater in quantity, greater in quality. Follow me. Plant a wheat seed, and that wheat seed turns into a wheat stalk that produces hundreds of wheat seeds. Plant an acorn, and it turns into an oak tree that produces thousands of acorns. The harvest comes back to us in a different form, a greater form, a better form than what you planted. Notice verse 11. Paul says that what you sow in faith, when you sow in faith, you will be enriched in every way. Question, church, what does in every way mean? The Greek word for every is a really interesting Greek word here.

15:27 It's the Greek word pantai, and it literally means every. Would in every way mean increased financial capacity. As in, if you give, that God will grow your finances. Well, yep, that would be included in the word every, because the word every means every. That is certainly a promise repeated throughout Scripture. I showed you one version of that promise last week in the last Old Testament, and only Italian prophet in the Bible, Malachi, Malachi 310, right? Open the windows of heaven, or he says, test me in this, he says. God says, test me in this. Give me the first fruits and see if I don't open the windows of heaven and pour out down on you a blessing until there is no more need. Here's another one, similar one, Proverbs 3, 9 and 10. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.

16:21 Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine or non-alcoholic welches, grapes, used for us Baptists. one of the things I've heard Pastor Brian say is that if he had to list out a short explanation of why he believed in God, yeah, he'd talk about the resurrection, he'd talk about the fulfilled prophecies, but he says God's faithfulness to this promise would be in that list, experiencing firsthand how God multiplied and blessed him when he put God first in his giving. And y'all, I 100% agree. I have seen God be faithful in this way again and again and again in my life and in the lives of many of you who've told me your stories. So yes, in every way would include financial enrichment, but does it, listen, does it mean only or even primarily financial enrichment?

17:09 No. Paul said in every way, which means there are other ways that God blesses you through your generosity. One of the things people ask is like, is this like the prosperity gospel? You give to God and God just makes you richer. When in verse 10, Paul says your generosity will increase the harvest of your righteousness. Again, think about the image of a seed here. You ever seen a peach seed? Ever seen a peach seed? You're still not seeing it now, but if you imagine it, there we go.

17:41 It's this hard, ugly thing that you would never want to eat, right? It looks like a little rat brain, but out of this little ugly rat brain comes these luscious fruits, right? Paul says, our generosity produces a harvest of fruit much better than itself. Now, what does that mean? Write this down. In every way would mean greater contentment. One of the miracles that God works in your heart through generosity is contentment. I've always heard that the secret to a happy life is not having all you want, but wanting what you have. One of life's great ironies is some of the wealthiest people in the world are actually the least happy. I mean, what good is having a lot of money if you're always dissatisfied and unhappy. The secret to a happy life is not having all you want. It is learning to want what you have. The Bible tells us, listen, that God uses our generosity to grow contentment in us. Veronica and I have certainly experienced that in those seasons where we have given in significant ways. It has been amazing how God has restructured our hearts to find contentment in what we have. Some of our most generous season where we had the least have actually been our happiest and most content seasons. By the way, some of you will find this interesting. You can literally prove this one by science. Dr. Elizabeth Dunn, who is a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, conducted an experiment where a bunch of students were unexpectedly given a cash reward as compensation for participating in the study. They then had the action to anonymously donate some of that money to a classmate in need. The participants did not know this, but the real experiment was not what they did first. The real experiment was on whether or not they were generous, what it did to their cortisol level. Now, cortisol is the hormone that makes you feel stressed. So they did saliva tests on them before and after giving the money or not giving the money, and then they compared those who gave generously with those who didn't. Dr. Dunn reported that participants who kept more money for themselves reported way higher levels of cortisol.

19:51 High levels of cortisol, of course, have demonstrably bad effects on your health, and generosity literally reduces your cortisol level. Some of you should consider generosity over all those thousands of dollars worth of supplements you're taking, because there's more scientific proof for God's way of reducing stress than Big Pharma's answer to the problem, okay? Maybe we need less essential oils and more essential obedience. Just saying, okay? In fact, to quote Dr. Dunn, medically, it's wiser not to be a miser. So yes, in every way would mean a more content heart. In every way would mean a more generous Christ-like heart. Paul said our generosity produces a harvest of righteousness. And one of the primary ways we experience that is the development of a Christ-like heart in us, because that's literally producing righteousness into you. Generosity literally forms Christ's likeness in you. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said it this way, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. By the way, for a lot of years, I literally quoted that verse wrong. You can go back and find old summit sermons where I would quote that verse backwards. I would say where your heart is, there your treasure will be also, meaning that where you put your treasure reveals where your heart is. Where your heart is, that's where your treasure goes. And that is certainly true. There are many other verses in the Bible that say just that, but that is not what Jesus is saying here. Here he is saying that where you put your treasure actually has a shaping training effect on our heart. Where we put our treasure acts like a magnet for the affections of our heart. You remember this thing right here?

21:27 Remember this? Wool E. Willie. I had to go buy a new one because I couldn't find mine. But remember, where you put the magnet would actually determine where the beard goes on his face. He would literally pull and change the shape of the beard on his face based on where you put the magnet. This is what where you put your money does to the shape of your heart. What you do with your money determines the shape of your heart. When I was president of the Southern Baptist Convention, one of my primary duties was overseeing the annual meeting of the SBC. And there'd be like 15,000 people at this thing. So we'd meet in a big convention center in a big city. And that's always, there's always a big hotel that goes along with the convention center. And so they just rent out the entire hotel and they would give the presidential suite to the president. So my family got to do this twice because nothing says family vacation like going to the SBC.

22:18 Am I right? So in the convention one year was in Nashville and my family and I got to stay in the penthouse at the very top of the downtown JW Marriott. It is the nicest living quarters I've ever stepped foot in. It's like where Taylor Swift stays when she performs in Nashville. So when the family gets there, Adon, who is like 11 years old at the time, he opens the door to this presidential suite, and he starts running full speed from room to room with mouth agape going, Dad, look at what's in here. Dad, look at what's in here. And he goes in, he pulls back the curtain to reveal the Nashville skyline. He's like, Dad, look at the view from here. And then he opens the door to the refrigerator and it's totally stocked. And he's like, dad, look at all this food in here. And I was like, son, don't touch any of that. Those items cost like $1,000 each. In fact, don't even look at them because they know when you rearrange them and they can probably sense when you're looking at them and they're gonna charge me for that.

23:12 Well, finally, after about seven full minutes of him running from room to room, exploring this gigantic space at full speed, he finally just collapses on the bed. He says, man, this is making it hard not to love earthly things. And Veronica and I busted out laughing, but he was right. He was right. C.S. Lewis said, wealth has a way of knitting a man's heart to this world.

23:39 It's like a magnet that just pulls your heart's affections that way. Hey, listen, you parents who are well off, it's going to be nearly impossible for your kids not to grow up loving earthly things. but see generosity helps knit your heart to the heavenly world so by all means by all means enjoy the blessings of your money and do it without guilt but you need to be rich in generosity too Paul says because that's the only way to train your heart and your kids hearts to love eternity be rich in generosity in front of them you better show them how you are reducing your lifestyle to invest in heaven, not throwing away your excess, not throwing away your chump change, but you're actually reducing your lifestyle to invest in heaven. And they better be able to see that. Otherwise, they're going to grow up loving the things of the world and not loving the things of eternity. Again, generosity increases the harvest of your righteousness. One more, in every way means you'll be increased in spiritual anointing and power in prayer.

24:44 Listen, if you're a connoisseur of biographies of great Christian leaders like I am, you will know that some of the most anointed people in Christian history became that way through extravagant generosity. I think of John Calvin, who together with Martin Luther birthed the Protestant Reformation. When John Calvin died, Pope Pius IV, who was his enemy, groused in disgust about John Calvin, the strength of that heretic. was his utter disregard for money. Or Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf. Not one of you has named your kid after Zinzendorf, but he had a big impact on your life.

25:25 They say it was his willingness to liquidate his sizable estate. He was royalty. He liquidated all of it to fund missionaries, and that was a big part, historians say, of what sparked the modern missionary movement, which is resulting in you and I sitting right here in this room right now. The point is God uses generosity to enrich you in every way. God takes our peach seeds of generosity and turns them into luscious fruits of righteousness. So Paul's answer to the problem of fear in our hearts is the laws of the harvest. The harvest is limited to the planting, the harvest is proportional to the planting, and the harvest is greater than the planting. And see, he says, unlike those farmers in the Midwest, we know, we are assured that God is gonna be faithful to send the rain on our generosity. He will always bring the harvest. Verse eight, we know that he says, our God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

26:21 Notice how often Paul repeats every all abound. He's saying, hey, God is gonna pour this out on you. God is always faithful. There will not be a single exception. In this arena, God will never fail to send the rain, never fail to bring the harvest. That is how Paul attempts to turn the cat of our fear around. And then building on that base once he's removed the fear, Paul then says something that should resonate in the heart of every true follower of Jesus. Look at verse 11. You'll be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of the service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, it's also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. Your giving results in people giving thanks to God. Through your generosity, you see people find Jesus.

27:13 You see people escape from addictions. You see people discover the forgiveness of sins. You see people reunite with their families. And there is nothing that thrills God more than people being reconciled and restored and hearing those voices of praise and worship when they rejoice in God for his salvation that came through your generosity. Some at church, your generosity produces thanksgiving in others. And I wanted you to hear about some of that today. See, last year we introduced something to you called the legacy lanes. We took that language, by the way, from Psalm 112, verses 5 and 6, which says, it is well with the man who deals generously, for the righteous will be remembered forever. Remembered forever, that's legacy. By the way, that's the very passage Paul quotes in 2 Corinthians 9, 9, if you look at it. Paul says, because of your generosity, quote someone 12, people will give thanks to God forever.

28:09 We have five legacy lanes at this church where we give in ways, mostly outside the walls of this church, that increase thanksgiving to God. Those five lanes are international missions, leadership multiplication, local outreach, domestic church planting, and triangle gospel expansion. At our church, at Summit Church, we have structured our budget so that 35% of everything we receive automatically goes into one of those five lanes. For those of you that are slow at math, that means 65% run all the ministries of the church. Then 35% goes into one of these five lanes. So last year, I told our pastoral team, I said, let's dream about what God might want to do in each of these areas. And I said, only realistic stuff, right? Not stuff like, let's start our own Christian NBA franchise or let's plant the first church on Mars, none of that stuff.

29:06 But let's just ask God what he wants to do through us in these legacy lanes. And let's not let the size of our budget right now determine the size of our faith. Let's ask God what he wants. And so our team, our ministry teams, our pastors, our elders, our ministry leaders, they basically came up with, it was right around $300 million of future projects that we believe God is leading us toward. Now, 35% of our budget automatically goes into those lanes, which by the way is a huge amount, much, much higher than what most churches give to this. 35% of all you give automatically goes here. But then our elders, our elders made this decision. They said, okay, anything that comes in above budget will go exclusively to these lanes. In other words, we'll direct 100% of all extra money into one of those five lanes. So if our budget's $55 million, for example, in a year, and you give 60 million that year, the extra five million goes 100% exclusively into these five lanes.

30:07 We put that out there last year and you responded. And so let me tell you some of the things that we, by God's grace and your generosity, have seen happen in the last year. By the way, at several points, you're gonna feel like clapping. Can you not do that until the very end? Let it build up in you like static on a cat's fur, okay? And then you can explode in a meow of praise at the very end when I give you the signal. In the international missions lane, we partnered with the Museum of the Bible up in Washington, D.C. and a group called Illuminations to fund two Bible translation projects in two of our strategic locations overseas. See, we had summit people in two regions in Asia that did not have a copy of the Bible in their native language. Each of those translation projects cost about $150,000 each. And because of your generosity, we fully funded both of those projects, which means right now there is a copy of the Bible in a language that before your generosity did not exist.

31:12 I know you want to clap. Don't do it, okay? We're mobilizing not only our people to the ends of the earth. we're multiplying the scriptures because that's where the power is. Something we would love to do in the next year or so, we wanna do a retreat overseas for all the international missionaries that are currently over there that we've sent out from this church, which is about 300 of our members right now are living overseas on these teams. A retreat where they can reconnect with us and with each other, where they can recharge, where we can pour into them. I mean, y'all imagine that, 300 summit missionaries and a bunch of you in a retreat place in Europe where we can pray and dream together. That retreat, don't do it. That retreat, that retreat's gonna cost about $500,000, but through your generosity, we can do it. In the leadership multiplication lane, we wanted to mobilize not only those called to full-time ministry, but also those gifted in the marketplace who wanted to use those talents for the kingdom of God.

32:07 So we started this thing called the Renewal Residency. It's a three-year program where young professionals get trained to use secular skills in the Great Commission. So it means people that don't, their main gift is not preaching or leading worship, but people who are gifted at some part of the marketplace and wanna use that for the Great Commission. Your generosity funded the first year of that program, which is about $100,000. We had our first class of young adults in it learning to do business as mission. That is on top, of course, of all the Summit Institute and Summit collaborative training, which is people being trained for full-time ministry, that we're doing on top of that. We wanna see these things grow and expand. In the local outreach lane, Some of our members had a dream. This, by the way, did not come from me or anybody on our staff. It was a dream that some of our members had. It was to partner with North Carolina prisons, all of them, to provide tablets with summit sermons and Christian life resources specifically curated for prisoners.

33:06 It was really innovative, and the North Carolina prison system said, sounds like a great idea. It was going to cost about $200,000 to get these tablets in prisons across North Carolina, but through your generosity, it is fully funded. By the way, through these tablets, we've already seen over 5,000 prisoners become subscribers to our channel with over 100,000 views thus far and 45 salvations that have already resulted from that project. We also wanted in this lane to offer a ministry called Recharge for foster families. in which we would offer a monthly night out to foster parents, all expenses paid, something they desperately need and rarely get. We'd take care of their kids. We'd send them out to a nice dinner. That program costs about $100,000 a year, and we funded half of it through your generosity. We also wanted to translate all of our G4 resources into Spanish. G4 is how we minister to people in crisis, addictions, bereavement, grief, divorce, any of that. We wanted to translate them into Spanish for our Summit en Español campus here, as well as for other Latin American churches who would like to develop lay counseling ministries.

34:16 That cost $35,000, and through your generosity, we fully funded that. One more that I'll mention here. We are dreaming right now about setting up something here in the Triangle called a Summit Family Life Center that will serve as, think of it as a headquarters. That's an actual building we're looking at. Headquarters for ministering to the homeless, orphan, prisoner, unwed mother, in high school dropout in our communities. Think everything from daycare facilities to emergency food supply to tutoring services to job training to healthcare offerings in Jesus's name. Imagine a Jesus center committed to ministering to the most broken places in our city. That will cost close to $40 million. That is on our list and by God's grace, we will get to it. But I'm just saying maybe there's somebody in here right now ready to help and make it happen now. It's like I've told you, You appoint pastors to set the vision for the church, but the people through their giving, they determine the pace at which we accomplish that vision.

35:13 In the domestic church planting lane, we planted 15 churches last year and we've committed a million dollars to them over the next three years. One of those churches was King's Church in Wilmington, right, in Wilmington, North Carolina, right off the campus of UNC Wilmington. I've told you the story. They had a core team of 16 people. What was unique about the core team is that both of the lead pastors, Both of them were saved in the college ministry of the Summit Church, which means that they came to faith in Christ after they got here. But what makes it even better is all 14 members of their core team were saved either through Summit's college ministry or the college ministry of a church that we planted. Now, that's the part I've told you. Here's a little update. They launched their first service this fall. Just a few weeks ago, they had over 600 at their launch service with 300 college students and they've already baptized over 20. We also sent out one of our staff members this year, Peter Park, at our downtown Durham campus.

36:07 We sent him out to pastor an international church in Kuala Lumpur and help him establish a multiplying collaborative over there. That church is growing like crazy. They just went to two services and they are preparing to plant another church. We are now at the stage where our plants are planting churches. We planted Mercy Church in Charlotte, for example, that planted Mercy Church in Kenya that is now planting one in South Sudan. We planted Summit Denver that planted the Heights in Denver, that then planted a third one in Denver. By the way, for that church, that makes you a great grandparent, right? And you never look so good at this age, okay? All that was fully funded because of your generosity. Somebody get this, our church plants in America have seen over 2,000 baptisms so far this year. I know you want to clap, the static is driving you crazy, but let it build up just a little bit more, okay? And the Triangle gospel expansion lane. We purchased land for campuses in Fuquay, Verena, and Chapel Hill. Those land prices were $3 million for Fuquay, Verena, $6.4 million for Chapel Hill for less land because everything's overrated in Chapel Hill. Am I right? I'm just kidding, okay? But it is more expensive. And through God's grace, the county's goodwill, and your continued generosity, we hope to start building on those pieces of property soon. Now, Summit, at all campuses, let's put our hands together, and now we can give God glory for all of them.

37:25 but wait, wait, I saved the best for last. I saved the best for last. One more thing I want to tell you about. Actually, not me. I want our college leadership to tell you about it. I wasn't sure what lane to put it in because it kind of touches several of them, but you put your hands together and welcome Wes Smith, our college pastor up here. Now, if you thought you wanted to clap during my part, you're gonna wanna go crazy in this one. But again, say amen, okay? You can whoop and say amen, but don't clap until the very end because otherwise it takes like 35 minutes. And I am the college pastor here at the Summit Church. And I just wanna share a little bit about how God has been moving on the college campus because of your generosity. Now, the first thing is, as you know, we had Church of the Dome this year.

38:17 And at Church of the Dome, we baptized over 170 college students that day. We had over 170 college students get baptized. A couple of those stories are, one's a story of a student named Brett. Brett actually got baptized last year at the summit, but he's on the lacrosse team at UNC. And so he started a Bible study with all the lacrosse guys. They've been coming every single week. And then at the dome, he invited all those guys to come. And then at the end of the service, two of those guys decided to follow Jesus and get baptized. On top of that, we have a student in a sorority who's been sharing the gospel with one of her friends for two years. And she's been sharing the gospel with this friend and she invited that friend to the dome and that day she gave her life to Jesus. But not only that, I think we sometimes forget that when you change a college student's life, you can also change a family's life. We have a student who came to NC State and when he came to NC State, he got a vision of sharing the gospel and so he started sharing the gospel with his girlfriend.

39:12 His girlfriend then comes to know Jesus and then him and his girlfriend start sharing the gospel with her parents. Her parents become Christians, and then all of them get baptized at the Dome this last year, right? It's amazing that we see how God is not just changing college campus, but he's changing families. And then we also have just seen God moving in crazy ways on the college campus. We have more students involved than we've ever had at all of our schools, and even specifically at UNC. We've had a lot of students coming at UNC, and so one of the things that we've been trying to figure out is how do we get more leaders? If you have more students, you need more leaders. And so we started something new this year. we started something called the freshman, first year leader cohort or freshman leader cohort. It happens at 6 a.m. in the morning, which most college students don't even know there is a 6 a.m. in the morning, but it's really early. And it's just a time for them to get developed and trained up so they can go back and reach their classmates. Now we were hoping maybe 30, 40, if God goes crazy, maybe 50 students will show up.

40:05 We had 150 freshmen show up in order to be the disciple to go back and reach their friends on campus. Now, one of the things is when you grow, it's awesome, But there's been one issue, and that is as we have more and more students, there's less and less places we can meet on campus. And it's got harder and harder to actually reserve rooms at the university. So we've been praying and trying to figure out what are our options. Well, then actually someone came to us, this group that they actually own an old fraternity and sorority house. And they came to us and said, what if we didn't use this place for parties? What if we use it as a ministry house? What if it's actually a house of prayer? And so we have this unbelievable opportunity within walking distance from campus. It has an amazing event space where we can hold leadership gatherings, where we can have prayer and worship nights, where we can have outreach events. It also has places that our staff can stay. And then maybe even most importantly, it has 40 parking spots. If you've ever tried to park in Chapel Hill, that's a big deal.

40:58 So it's an amazing, amazing opportunity. And the goal is not just that we can reach students in Chapel Hill, but that we can raise them up to send them out all over the world. And as Pastor J.D. was saying, our heart is not just to reach the college campuses here, but to reach the college campuses all over the nation. So we're trying to plant churches that reach college campuses. And we did that this last year at King's Church at UNCW. And like Pastor JD said, they kicked off with 300. They still have 300 coming every single week right now. And they've already seen 12 students come to know Jesus. And I wanna tell you about one of those stories. There's a girl named Ellie. Now, Ellie is probably someone you wouldn't expect to be a part of a ministry. Ellie, when actually she came to college, she was worshiping Greek and Egyptian gods. She has all these tattoos. She has all these piercings. But one of our student leaders walked up to her and shared the gospel with her. And she said that no other ministry and no one else had ever come up to her because of the way she looked.

41:54 And that she actually felt really ostracized and lonely. And she thought that maybe Jesus wasn't for her. But our student leader told her, no, Jesus came exactly for you. And that next day, Ellie gave her life to Jesus. Yeah, praise God, praise God. Now, this year we have an amazing, amazing opportunity. Close. Well, this year we have an amazing opportunity that we had to plant another church, reaching another college campus in Southern Illinois. And they already have 35 students who are there right now just waiting for us to get there. And we have an opportunity to fund to help get that started, right? Now, here's why I tell you all these stories. Because of your generosity, there are college students on the cross teams and fraternities and sororities and college campuses across the nation that when they came to college, they didn't want anything to do with Jesus, but now they're worshiping him as king. Why? Because of your generosity. But here's the thing.

42:45 Our goal is not just to reach the college campus. Our goal is to raise up college students and send them to the nations to reach the world. That's amazing. Come on. for the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but it's also overflowing in many thanksgiving to God.

43:14 You know, I've just seen that video several times now. One of the things that occurred to me is he handed him an ESV paper study Bible. There's some of you in here like, my gift never really makes any difference. one of you paid for that ESV paper study bottle. It costs about $3.50. Because you gave it, you have a brother in eternity. I want you to go with me in a minute in your mind's eye. Go with me into eternity. I want you to imagine where they are 100 years from now.

43:42 Now you're meeting all these people whose lives were changed because of your generosity. Don't you think that there you will be glad for every act of faith and every ounce of sacrifice of generosity you gave in Jesus' name. By the way, I got a letter from Luke's mom a while back, just a few weeks ago. And she said, hey, I just wanted to say thank you. Because when my son came to college, he was not a believer. He was going the opposite way. We were praying for him. And through your church, he came to Jesus. And now look at how God is using him in Central Asia. So because of your generosity, there is thanksgiving in the hearts of a couple of parents whose kid found Jesus here and now Thanksgiving in places like South Asia. What a privilege to be involved. Amen? Isn't this what you want to give your life and your resources to?

44:34 Here's my invitation to you this morning. Maybe you feel led to give today. You can respond to God's generosity right now today. We do this every week. Again, whenever you give to the Summit Church, 35% of your gift goes directly to fund the incredible things God is doing in those legacy lanes. 65% provides the ministry here. You just text the word give to 33933 or you can do what I do, give online at summitschurch.com slash give or you can drop your gift in the bucket on the way out or you can just talk to your campus pastor if any of that confuses you. Here's something else. I want you to listen really closely. In December, on the weekend of December 14th, we're gonna have a special opportunity to give to the legacy lanes. Everything collected on that weekend, 100% will go exclusively to the legacy lanes. You're gonna hear more about that in weeks to come, but I want you just to start praying about what that might mean for you.

45:32 Now, by the way, I know some of you hear this and you're like, well, JD, the company I work for has a way of giving to charities, but we can't give to churches directly. I understand that. Some of the projects in the legacy lanes may qualify for that kind of giving though. So if that's you or you're in a position like that, come and talk to your campus pastor or just let me know. I've told you, and listen, I want us to be, for you regarding giving to the kingdom of God, I want us to be what my financial planner is for me when it comes to stocks. See, I don't really know much about stocks and if I invested directly, I'd probably lose all my money. But I give it to my financial planner and he knows what my goals are and he invests them on my behalf. Well, y'all, for ministry, I'm not an expert at much, y'all, but for ministries, I can tell you where you can get the best E-R-O-I, best eternal return on investment. So again, I'm not an expert on much, but I'm telling you, it's my job to figure out which one gives you the best eternal return on investment and say, this is the one.

46:34 So we say, we're not just giving to the church, it's like you're giving through the church to this thing. So if you're in a situation like that with your company, let us know and we'll help you. And say, these are really good kingdom investments. Finally, for some of you, I know this has sparked something in you just hearing all that. We got a group here at the church, several hundred members, ordinary members called the Legacy Team. Just ordinary summit members with the spiritual gift of generosity. You're like, what does it mean to have the spiritual gift of generosity? We don't strictly define it because the Bible doesn't strictly define it. In most cases, it means that you give over and above your tithe, even $1 above your tithe, or you've been entrusted with substantial resources to invest in God's kingdom and you wanna use them wisely. When you join the legacy team, you get to be on the inside of the development of some of those projects and you can contribute directly to the lanes if you want, not just once a year in December 14th. If you are committed to generous giving here and you care about where that money goes, you should be a part of that team.

47:31 So if you're interested in joining the several hundred summit members who are already part of that team, if you're interested in that, just text the word legacy to 33933. Okay? Those are four ways you can respond. but let's end on the last verse of chapter nine, verse 15, where Paul just takes a right turn at the very end. And he says, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Y'all, it's like Paul can't help himself.

48:00 Paul's like, you'll never, you'll never be asked to give to others. You never could give to others more than God has given to you. God's gift to us, Paul says, is inexpressible. Our God is not a God who ever approaches us with needs. Oh no, the God who died for your sins when you were his enemy, who will take care of all your needs today and tomorrow and the day after that, and then every day after that forever. That is a God, not a God who comes with needs. It's a God who comes for you to give something to you. You could never give to yourself so you can afford to trust and obey him today and experience the joy today that comes from leveraging your life today for other people's salvation and hearing them give thanks to God through your generosity. generosity is an invitation to infuse God's blessing his greatest blessings into your finances so let's bow our heads right now and let's just listen to the Holy Spirit for a moment could we where's God telling you right what how's he speaking to you right now where's he telling you to be generous you already know you don't need me to tell you he's been pulling something in your heart I know that what's that step is it to start tithing That's a scary decision.

49:13 To start tithing, maybe to say, Lord, yes. Maybe it's to give for the first time to the kingdom of God. Maybe like where my wife and I are, it's going beyond the tithe to what's next and say, God, this year, we want you to stretch us to this spot. Maybe one of these projects grabbed your heart and you felt the Holy Spirit pull in one of those heartstrings and say, hey, that's for you, that's for you. I want you to invest specifically in this. Could you listen right now? just listen and be open to where he might be prompting you to obedience and then obey him. Maybe it's for you to join the legacy team so you can hear about these things as they develop. Church, let the Holy Spirit speak and just say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. I want thanks be to you for your inexpressible gift. God, make us a people who say yes to you.

50:13 Not because you need anything from us, but because you're a God we can trust and a God who gave something inexpressible to us and we are safe in the arms of our heavenly father. Thank you, Lord, for being here right now in this moment. I know it. In Jesus' name. Summit Church at all of our campuses, can we stand to our feet right now? I want us to celebrate and declare the faithfulness of God as we sing a great old hymn together, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Our worship team's gonna come and they're gonna lead us. Hey, listen, don't just mindlessly sing these words. Celebrate them. Cling to them.