What Are You Leaving? | Pastor J.D. Greear

3:10 it's amazing testimony right put your hands together and uh let's celebrate that mike mike haggland and his wife chris mike's one of our elders and uh just stories like that all over our church of god's faithfulness um hey tuesday of this coming week there's an election i don't know if y'all knew that but it's coming and uh our nations will our nation will go to the polls and we will select leadership for the coming years we're going to pray for that um right here in just a moment. And also specifically, I want to pray for church members who are running for office, because we have a number of them, or currently serve in government. I know some of you are like, I don't want to pray about that. I just want to pray for the destruction of the candidate I oppose and all of his or her followers. That is not from the Holy Spirit. I'm going to go ahead and tell you that right now. What I'm about to do is, I think, more in line of what God wants us to pray. But I do want to remind you before we do this of what I said last week, which is we do believe, I believe, it is your biblical responsibility to vote.

4:11 Some people ask me after last week, they're like, hey, you said it's our biblical responsibility to vote, but there's no direct command in the Bible to vote. In fact, the Bible never uses the word vote, to which I say, of course not. Rome was not a representative democracy, so the command to vote would not have made any sense. What you do see, however, in the New Testament is the Apostle Paul and other Bible writers urging Christians to use any means at their disposal to influence the government for good. It's what Jesus talked about when he talked about being salt and light in a way that preserves society. Paul urges Christians, for example, in 1 Timothy, to pray for kings and all in authority that they would rule in ways that lead to peace and justice. And then Paul uses any opportunity he gets before Roman authorities to advocate for certain religious freedoms. We see him do that, For example, in Acts 16, in Acts 21, 22, 23, 24, and 26. And so it stands to reason that in a representative democracy like ours, the apostle Paul would urge us to use any means at our disposal to influence our government for good.

5:19 And for us, that primarily happens through voting. In fact, I would say it is hypocritical for you to pray for government leaders to promote justice and peace and then not take advantage of the opportunities that God gives us to promote that same peace and justice when we go to the ballot box. In a government like ours, where every citizen is responsible for the health of the Republic, not to vote is a failure of citizenship. And so that's why we say that voting is more than just our prerogative, it is our responsibility. And so I do wanna urge you to vote. And then after that, to relax, okay? Because on November 6th, whoever wins, Jesus is still gonna be king and his commission to be our witnesses is still gonna be the same, okay? And the older you get, you learn that who was in the White House is not nearly as important as who was on the universe's throne and his rule. And our agenda is not up for election this Tuesday or any Tuesday for that matter. Okay. And so as we get ready to pray for this, could I just ask, could I ask anybody in our church who is either running for office or currently serves in the government at any level, whether you are elected or not. We'll include in that any military, the police. For right now, we'll leave out public school educators this time, and we'll pray for them at a later time. But basically, anybody else whose salary is paid for by our tax dollars, or you're hoping soon for it to be paid by our tax dollars as you get elected, if that's you, would you just stand at whatever campus you're at so that we can pray? We may not have some at every single campus at every service, but yeah, just stand up real quick and do that, okay?

6:56 And let me just ask, in a moment, we're gonna stretch out our hands to these that are standing and we're gonna pray, you know, just symbolically just laying our hands on them. But I also know there's some of you in here that come in here because you're hurting today. You know, we're thinking about the election, you're thinking about what's going on in your life. And if that's you right now, could you just raise your hand? Just, I know that's a little bit of a bold move, but just say, I need something from the Lord today. And I just wanna say this is, I need something, okay? All right, would you just raise some at church who reach out your hands? You don't have to touch anybody, but just raise your hands and let's pray for these. God, I pray first for our election. I'm going to do exactly what you told me to do. And I'm asking you to give us leaders that will protect peace and prosperity and help justice reign in our country. I pray for leaders that will empower the poor and release the oppressed from any captivity. I pray, God, for those that will preserve the freedom that we have, not just to worship each Sunday, but to make disciples and to see your beauty and your glory come into the earth.

8:00 God, we ask you for that because you told us to ask. I pray for these brothers and sisters that are standing right now because they are in the government or they are running for government. I pray that you would anoint them with the spirit and use them as your salt and light in what can be many times a very dark place. And we pray for them and we commission them in Jesus' name. And I pray for those who raised their hands just now saying that they are hurting and that they need something. Pray that they would see how close you are, that you're looking right at them right now. And you know every single thing that's going on and you love them and you are here to meet with them and you have something for them today. I pray and we ask that we commit all it to you in Jesus' name. If you agree with that, would you say amen? Amen. And would you put your hands together for these people that are standing right now? That's all worth appreciation. Okay. Well, if you have your Bibles this morning, I want you to take them out and open them to Haggai chapter one. You say, oh dear, where is that?

8:56 This is going to be a great exercise for you. Open your Bible to the table of contents, okay? It's not cheating, I promise. That is why the table of contents is in there. Haggai is the 37th book in the Old Testament. There's only 39, so it's, you know, two or three from the bottom. So look almost at the bottom of the second column where it lists all the Old Testament books, and there you'll find the page number. In my Bible, it's on page 1251, if that helps, okay? Last week, we started a new series called Lasting Legacy in which we asked the question of what the future you would tell the current you to do with your life if you could see what the future you sees. Well, today we're gonna see what Haggai says about that. Haggai is the second shortest book in the Old Testament. Only Obadiah beats Haggai in its brevity. Just 38 verses. We're gonna look at the entire book today, just two chapters.

9:50 So one day when you meet Haggai in heaven, you're gonna be like, awesome book, bro. I totally studied it, okay? So I'm getting you ready for that. As you keep trying to figure out where Haggai is, let me tell you a story about a man you probably never heard of. We'll just kill a little bit more time here to give you time to find Haggai. This man's name was Wilmer McLean. The year was 1861. Wilmer McLean was a fairly wealthy Virginian who owned a small farmhouse and a bunch of farmland just outside of Manassas, Virginia. Tensions between North and South were high. Word on the street was that shots had been fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Wilmer McClain and his family were non-combatants in the war. They didn't really even take sides in the conflict, but that did not stop Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard from commandeering McClain's house to use as his headquarters for the first battle of Bull Run, the battle that historians regard to be the first major land battle of the Civil War.

10:49 When the Union Army figured out that Wilmer McLean's house was where the Confederate general was keeping his headquarters, they shelled the house. One of the cannonballs even went down the chimney and exploded in the kitchen, which made a mess to say the least. You thought small group left your house destroyed after they were there. This was on a whole different level. When the battle was over, Wilmer McClain, who wanted no further part of this conflict, sold his land in Manassas and moved his family 120 miles southwest to another small sleepy village in Virginia called Appomattox. You see where this is going? Okay, it gets better. The house that Wilmer McClain purchased in Appomattox served as the courthouse for the region. And so four years later, on April 9th, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee formally surrendered his armies to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War in the parlor of Wilmer McLean's house. That's right.

11:50 In one of history's great ironies, the Civil War basically started and ended on the same guy's property, a guy who really didn't want any part of the conflict and was trying his best to isolate himself from it. There are certain conflicts that you cannot escape. I tell you that because in Haggai's day, a lot of Jews are trying to isolate themselves from what God was doing in their generation. And they wanted to focus instead on building a nice, comfortable, undisturbed life for themselves. The prophet Haggai is going to say to them, you can't do that. And if you try to hide from what God is doing by getting you a nice little farm down in Appomattox, he's just going to bring the battle to you. Which brings us to Haggai 1. Haggai appears on the scene somewhere around 520 BC. At this point, it's been about 70 years after God had sent his people into exile, and God has kept his promise to bring the children of Israel back to the promised land. Three Jewish leaders had stepped up to help lead Hebrew exiles back to Israel and get established. Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, they were political leaders, and then Ezra, who was a religious leader. Under Ezra, the reconstruction of the temple had commenced and the project had gotten off to a roaring start.

13:02 But by Haggai's day, the project had started to lose steam and had basically been stalled for about 16 years. And so Haggai, prophet Haggai writes his book to confront that lethargy. His book basically has five points and I'm gonna give you all of them. Here's the first point. Number one, he says to them, God is now second to you. God has become second to you. Look at Tagii 1, verse 2. Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Remember, after a good start, the work on the temple has been stalled now for about two decades. Verse 4, but God says, is it really a time for you to yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? Paneled houses was considered a great luxury back then. It would be like saying a house today with granite countertops.

13:54 We're not talking about people just trying to get a roof over their heads. These people are installing wood paneling and pools and saunas and pickleball courts on their properties. Meanwhile, God's house still lies in ruins. I want you to hear me very clearly. God does not object to them working on their houses, but the temple was supposed to be the center of their lives. The temple was to be the place where they would hear from God, the place they could teach their families about God, the place where strangers from other nations could learn about God's salvation. It was to be the headquarters of God's mission on earth and the place of their primary involvement in God's mission, which means that the temple should have been their first thought, not an afterthought. Now, I'm sure these people were like, listen, we've been living in political instability our whole lives.

14:49 We've been refugees and I just want something better for my kids. And if I don't look out for us and take care of them, then nobody will. That is understandable, but God says that's great, but there's an order to how I want my people to think about these things. Verse five, now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You've sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you're always thirsty. You clothe yourselves, but nobody is warm. And he who earns wages does so just to put them into a bag with holes. You look for much and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Number two, Haggai says the fact that God is now second to you, that puts you under a curse. When you put God second or third or anything but first, then whatever you put in front of him ends up being cursed, so to speak. You can't find your enjoyment in it. All your earning, all your collecting, all your gathering, he says, is like trying to hold money in a bag with holes.

15:55 A couple of years ago, I went skiing with a few of our pastors and one of them, I won't tell you his initials for privacy sake, but his name was Daniel Simmons. He decided to try snowboarding for the first time, which meant that he fell a lot. He'd never really even learned to ski and now he was trying to snowboard. He didn't have any snow gear. All he had on was a pair of jeans. So the first night for him was miserable, right? He was cold and wet. And so at his urging, we got up early the next morning before the slopes opened and went out to find him some ski pants. He found a pair on this clearance rack at a ski shop. They were like 70% off or something. So he bought them, put them on, and out we went. Later that morning, however, he discovered that his wallet was missing, which led him to discover a humongous hole in the pocket where he had put his wallet. And I was like, well, now we know why they were 70% off. We spent several hours retracing his ski paths, which actually wasn't that hard because he didn't cover that much ground because all he did was fall the whole time.

16:54 But the point was, we've been several hours looking for it and we're like, look, there's no telling where that wallet is. And we spent all day looking for that wallet but never found it until later that afternoon as Daniel was taking their ski pants off, he discovered his wallet inside the lining at the bottom of his pant leg because the hole had opened up to the inside lining and that's where his wallet had gone. There's nothing worse than putting something valuable into something with a hole in it. But that's what you're doing, God says, when you pursue your own little kingdom without putting me first. We saw last week that the prophet Malachi said that when we don't put God first, we live under a kind of curse. Y'all, that is not my word, that's God's word. And that's exactly what Haggai is explaining here. You collect and I literally scatter it. I make you lose it. In fact, I would just ask some of you to consider, might this be an explanation for what is happening in your life right now?

17:51 It almost feel like God himself is frustrating your efforts with one financial blow after another. Might it be that he's just trying to get your attention? Now, let me be clear. Not all financial hardship is because you're doing this, but Haggai shows you that some of it might be, and you should at least ask the question, God, are you trying to get my attention? God, you're not first in my life. And if God points that out to you, then you should obey him. When you fail to put God first, he will sometimes literally frustrate your financial plans. Now, the way they experienced the curse was they lost their ability to enjoy financial blessings. Again, verse six, you eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you're still thirsty. I've heard it said this way, money will buy you a bed, but it can't buy you rest. it can buy you education but not wisdom companions but not friends a house but not a home amusements but not happiness conveniences but not peace insurance but not security and maybe that describes you right now I cannot tell you how many wealthy people I've sat with over the years who y'all despite all their money just cannot find happiness and peace all the money in the world couldn't keep their family together couldn't keep their marriage together. And I can tell you how many times I had one of them look at me and say, I would give any amount of money to fix my family. But money can't buy that. Or they're reckoning with the fact that that they've achieved more than they ever thought they ever would or could.

19:27 But they still just don't feel happy or satisfied or at peace. Listen, I'm not trying to beat you up if you're in that category. I'm just trying to say what you were looking for in those things was never found in those things. You can't use money. I can have the nicest bed in the world, but it's not going to give your soul rest. You can get the best education in the world, but it's not going to give you wisdom. It's not going to give you real relationship. The problem is not that you don't have enough. The problem is that you're drinking from the wrong well. There's like the Fortune 500 CEO that I always quote to you, who said that he spent his entire life climbing the ladder of success only to find once he got to the top and walked off that last rung at the top of all that he had wanted to achieve, he found out that that ladder had been leaning against the wrong building the entire time. Now, listen to me, hear me. God does not begrudge your money or your success. In fact, Paul in first Timothy talking about money says, God gives us richly all things to enjoy. God is an extravagant giving God. I mean, he, look at just look around the beauty of nature.

20:27 It's just extravagant and in many ways unnecessary. Look at a sunset, look at sunrise, look at oceans and mountains and rivers. God created the beauties of nature. He gave us the ability to build amazing buildings and cars and boats and nice clothes and handbags and whatever else it is that you love. He loves to see you enjoying those things. But here's the thing, you gotta put him first. And if you don't put him first, then those very blessings that you put in front of him will become a curse to you in some way. In fact, it reminds me of the words of C.S. Lewis that I always give you. And these are my paraphrase of what he said in one of his books. But he basically says this, when you put first things first, the kingdom of God first, God will throw in second things because God's an extravagant giving God. But when you put second things first in front of God, you'll lose not only first things, eventually you'll lose the second ones also.

21:21 At least your ability to enjoy them. That's just C.S. Lewis's paraphrase of Matthew 6, 33, where Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And then all these things, all these other things will be added to you. All these things means financial blessings. It also means the ability to enjoy those blessings and for them not to become a curse to you or your kids. Put first things first, Jesus says, and God will just throw in second things because that's the kind of God he is. But you put those second things first and you will lose not only the first things, God, you eventually, he'll frustrate your ability to enjoy the second ones also. So the first and second thing is like, hey, God's second to you now. And that puts you under a curse. Let's keep reading in Haggai for the third one. Chapter one, verse five. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Consider your ways. The Lord is gonna use that phrase, consider your ways four times in this book.

22:14 The implication is that they have unconsidered ways. Think about what you're doing. And that leads me to Haggai's third point. All this happened through a small leak, not a big blowout. That's what he means by consider. Take time to think. You see, listen, the neglect of this temple did not happen all at once in one fell swoop. They'd started strong, remember? They just got distracted with other things. That's often how life works. In the Christian life, slow leaks happen more often than big blowouts. I've got three girls driving cars right now in my house. Actually, I've got my wife four girls, which means my insurance bill is like $100,000 a year. and y'all, I feel like whenever I get into one of my daughter's cars, the little check tire air pressure light is on. I do not know what it is about them, but those girls seem to be able to find every small nail in the triangle. I'm like, are y'all like driving through construction sites?

23:11 Have you started to date a boy in the construction industry, or are you driving through fields of cacti or something that I should know about? And of course they don't know where they picked up the nail because that's the thing. When you have a small leak, the low air pressure doesn't usually show up all at once. You just walk out one day and you're like, how did my tire get so low? And why do I never think of buying the road hazard insurance? This is similar, Haggai says, to how Christians fade spiritually. This is what Haggai is pointing out. It's like you drifted in your priorities. You drifted in your faith commitments. It wasn't some big decision. You drifted in your willingness to sacrifice and you just woke up one day and realized that your low Holy Ghost pressure light was on. were like the church in Ephesus, Jesus says. What happened to you? You lost your first love. It wasn't some big decision you made to walk away from God. It's just the leak that led to the losing of that first love.

24:09 Think with me for a minute, will you? If you're a Christian, go back. What is the one time of your life when you were really on fire for God? Go back to whatever that was, the time of your life when you were most on fire. Maybe you were a brand new Christian. Maybe you were coming off some spiritual high, middle and high school students, maybe you just got back from camp, right? Or college students, maybe you just got out of WinCon. Maybe if you've been here for a while, it was during one of our previous giving initiatives and you felt the thrill of trusting God. You felt the thrill of putting him first. It was amazing to put his kingdom first and then to see how God blessed you when you did that. Think about how much you prayed in that season and what you prayed about, how eagerly you gave, how boldly you trusted, how concerned you were with people in your life who didn't know Jesus? What happened? Consider your ways. What slow leaks took place? What spending habits started to shape your life? What bills did you obligate yourself to? What other priorities started to consume your time? Think about your prayer life now versus then. What do you mostly pray for it now? I mean, I've asked you this before, but if God answered tonight at 12 a.m.

25:18 in one fell swoop all the prayers that you prayed last month. How many new people would be in the kingdom Monday morning? Think about what brings you the most joy now versus then. What do you dream about doing with your money? Remember that time when you were like, it was just things were really like what you dreamed about doing with your money. What do you dream about doing with your money now? What are you really excited about? Oh, if we save enough money, we're finally going to be able to do this. And I can't wait to do this. Is it getting wood paneling for your houses or a pool or a house with an ocean view or a new pair of shoes or finally going on a real vacation or is your first love the kingdom of God? You know, again, listen to me. There's nothing wrong with those blessings. God likes wood paneling in your houses. The question is what comes first in your heart? What's your first love? By the way, Haggai, I would say, just like Jesus did, but the best answer to that question is not what you say with your mouth.

26:15 The best answer to that question is what you do with your money. What you do with your money is a more reliable gauge of what your heart loves most than is your mouth. Veronica and I made a decision years ago that to the best of our ability, our biggest bill every month would be investment in the kingdom of God. That way every month, when we look at our monthly spending, we would have a reminder that Jesus comes first. It's what James Clear calls an atomic habit. He just means a foundational habit that then shapes the rest of your life. And so when we would look at that, it'd be like a reminder that everything in our life was organized around this one big thing and it was the kingdom of God. Now, I know not everybody has the ability to do what she and I did. My standard is not yours. I'm just saying you should ask yourself, what does my bank account honestly say about what matters most to me?

27:12 All right, that's number three. A couple more quick things from Haggai. Let's jump to chapter two now, down to verse 13. Haggai says that this general malaise toward the temple is matched by an overall malaise in their lives toward God. The problem, listen, was not their giving per se. The problem was the fact that God was not first in their hearts and their giving was just a reflection of that. And what that means, and this is the reason, this is an important point. What that means is that they can't fix it by simply throwing some money in the plate because what God wanted was a total reorientation of their hearts. And when that happened, well, then the giving issue would take care of itself. Haggai makes this point by means of an illustration. Chapter two, verse 13. Then Haggai said, if somebody who was unclean by contact with a dead body touches the ceremonial clean foods, don't those unclean foods become unclean? And the priest answered and were like, yeah, it does become unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, so it is with this people, declares the Lord.

28:10 And so with every work of their hands, including what they give, even what they offer is unclean. In other words, until you reorient your heart, Israel, even your giving will be impure. God is not looking for some knee-jerk guilt-based reaction where you throw some money into the offering to help alleviate your conscience. God wants to be first in your heart again. This is number four. God doesn't want your money. He wants your heart. Could you write this down if you're taking notes? God is not concerned with how much money you give. It's not about God raising money as if God had needs. He is interested in what you're giving says about his priority in your heart. That's it. Y'all, I made this point last week. The reason Jesus talked about money so much was not because he needed money. It was because he knew that what we do with our money is the best barometer of the kingdom love air pressure in our hearts.

29:07 what we do with our money is the indicator gauge of how much we delight in and trust God. And y'all, you can't fix that problem by trying to give a little bit of money. And see, I fear that's what many of you are going to try to do in this series. Some of you react to teaching series like this by guiltily throwing in your lunch money into the plate. You're like, here, is this going to make me a good Christian now? Is this enough? Am I doing enough now, God? That is not what God cares about. What God wants is not your money. What he wants is your heart. and if he's got your heart, then the money problems will fix themselves. Y'all listen, Jesus did not come for your money. Money is the one thing Jesus never ever needed any of. I mean, he basically never raised money for anything he built. He was basically homeless and poor his entire life. In fact, God even makes this point in Haggai, Haggai 2 verse eight, the silver's already mine. The gold is already mine, declares the Lord of hosts.

30:01 It's already mine. I don't need it from you. In fact, the irony of this book, y'all, is that the temple rebuilding project that was started by God, so the temple rebuilding project that we're talking about was started by God moving the heart of King Cyrus, a pagan Persian king, to provide all the startup funds. God's like, hey, remember this? I don't need your money. I can commandeer money anytime I want. What Jesus wants is your heart, and when he's got your heart, your giving will reflect that. That's number four. Here's number five. Haggai's book ends with this amazing promise. Verse 21. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I'm about to shake the heavens and the earth. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel. By the way, Zerubbabel is a super fun name to say. You should practice it later. Zerubbabel. All right. I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, and make you like a signet ring, for I've chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.

31:02 Number five, if you'll trust me, I'm about to blow your mind. See, in Ezra 3, which is the backdrop for the book of Haggai, it says that when this generation of Jews laid the foundation of the new temple, many of the older generation began to weep, not for joy, but because this new temple seems so small and paltry compared to the glory of Solomon's temple that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed 70 years prior. And they're weeping because they thought they would never again see glory like that on the earth. But God said to them through Haggai, you think that old temple was something? You ain't seen nothing yet. In fact, y'all think about it. When Haggai wrote this, Jesus was still to come. This was written in 520 BC. Jesus would come 500 some years later. The very son of God himself would walk into this temple that they were building. And he would be in that temple a glory that would surpass anything that Solomon ever built. and then after Jesus died and resurrected, God's spirit would come directly and blow into that very temple, the one they were building and the fires of the very holy of holies would gather like tongues of fire on the heads of those disciples.

32:13 It would no longer be his glory behind a curtain. It would be his glory in their hearts and he would send them out like an unstoppable force to spread his glory into all the earth, make disciples of all nations, create worshipers of all people groups and he would promise them that not even the gates of hell or Nebuchadnezzar's strongest kingdom could ever stop the forward progress of his glory on earth. And so God says to them in Haggai, trust me, you ain't seen nothing yet.

32:38 You see, through Haggai, God said something to them. I believe he also says to the Summit Church, don't look backwards for my greatest works. Look forwards. I'm gonna shake the world. We've seen a lot in Summit Church, haven't we, in the last couple of decades? In the last 22 years, we've baptized over 10,000 people at this church. We just crossed that line a few weeks ago. Over 10,000 people. By the way, there's going to be a lot to clap about here in the next few things. So let's just wait until the very end. Okay. I gave you one free one. Let's wait till the end to clap the rest. The last 22 years, we planted 608 churches. They have together. I know. I know you want to clap. Just hang on. Together, they baptized another 7,000. That means through your faith and generosity, 17,000 people have professed faith in Christ through baptism.

33:30 At least 600 of the 10,000 for us have been college students who came to the triangle to get a good education and to put their moms and dads in debt. And instead, what God did is radically transform their lives. By the way, that 600 is only, since we've started specifically counting college students, the real number is probably double that. We've seen over 100,000 first-time guests walk through our doors and fill a little card out. Over 100,000. You have started prison ministries in nine different prisons. By the way, with 166 salvations in those prisons in the last two years alone. I know you're dying to clap. Just hang on, okay? Families in our church have gotten involved with 1,600 foster kids in this area. You've adopted hundreds of orphans and you've helped hundreds of refugees get resettled. We've sent out over 7,000 people on short-term mission trips.

34:24 And you have sent out 736 of your membership. to the nations as long-term missionaries. Isn't that amazing? Now, you can clap for all that, right? So praise God. But there is so much more that we believe God has for us. See, I believe what God said to Haggai, he says also to us, and that is you ain't seen nothing yet. My plan is still to shake the world and that the greatest works of God's spirit, y'all, are still ahead of us. In fact, I can say that beyond any shadow of a doubt. They have to be because there are still 6,000 unreached people groups in the world. Unreached people group means a group of people who are united by a common language, who have no witness to the gospel in their language. And we know that history is not going to end until those groups have heard. And many of them have believed in the gospel, which means somebody somewhere is going to see God shake the earth. And I really want that to be us.

35:27 And that same spirit that blew into this temple at Pentecost now blows through this church. and as God says to Zerubbabel, I wanna make you my signet ring. I wanna make you my chosen channel of blessing in this world. Someone, I know that what he says to us is similar to what he would have said to the people of Israel through Hagia. Don't sit around reminiscing about how I showed my glory in the past. Don't weep over all the things you think were awesome back then that you think are not awesome now. Don't revel in the glory days of the early church. Have you even read about the days of the early church? They were way more confused and messed up than we are half the time. Doctrinal confusion, right? Some guy sleeping with his stepmom, people getting struck dead in the offering, okay? So it wasn't a rosy time back then. And don't talk like the Reformation were all the glory days because yeah, Martin Luther was pretty fantastic, but he also had a pretty intemperate tongue and his rhetoric got out of control.

36:22 And at the end of his life, he basically became anti-Semitic. So don't think he's just all awesome all day long. And don't talk about the modern missionary movement or the first great awakening as the apex of what I'm doing on earth. No, verse 23, I'm about to shake the earth again. And I've chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. How could we have seen what we've seen in the last 22 years if it wasn't that God had not chosen? We're not the only ones he chose, but how could we have seen what we've seen unless God had chosen us? And he says, don't even think about looking backwards.

36:53 You see, that brings me to something I wanted to introduce to you this week, something I told you about last week, something new that we're calling legacy lanes here. legacy is something basically just means something bigger than you that you're gonna leave behind to the world to the generations that come after you. Legacy lanes are how this church is doing that. Okay, so first let me explain a couple behind the scenes things about our church budget. Okay, slightly nerdy, but I promise you it'll be worth it. 65%, that number, it takes roughly 65% of our budget to run our church. And by run our church, I mean to pay all the salaries, to run all the ministries, provide food for all the things we provide food for, to pay all the bills, pay for the buses, electricity, the upkeep, everything, this TV itself, it all comes out to 65%.

37:46 You say, what happens with the other 35%? 35% of everything we get goes into five specific ministry areas that we call legacy lights. There are international missions, domestic church planning, local outreach, growth and expansion. And by that, I mean starting and building new campuses here in the triangle. And then leadership multiplication, things like our Summit Institute, which trains and sends out pastors and faith in the workplace and other ministry leaders. Now, those five areas are not new. We've been doing those for 22 years. What's new is the name that we're giving to them, Legacy Lanes. 35% of our budget every year goes into these five lanes. And everything we get above budget each year goes into these legacy lanes. So in other words, if we take in more in a year than we had budgeted for, we don't give ourselves bonuses or raise our salaries.

38:44 It all goes into this 35%. Now, here's where it gets exciting. I asked the staff who were leading in these five areas to begin to pray and seek God about what he wanted us to do in these areas, just to let God enable them to dream and just say, if God's gonna shake the earth and do exceedingly abundantly with all we've asked or imagined, what would that look like? And I told them, listen, I said, I said, when I say dream, I don't mean ridiculous stuff like, let's buy a Disney World for Jesus. I'm not talking about stuff like that. I'm talking about things that we might, that we think God would actually want us to pursue in these five areas. They've come back to me with $400 million worth of projects. all right you can check them out let me give you some examples okay in international missions we want to translate the bible for the first time into some native languages in the regions where we have strategic overseas missionaries they don't have a completed bible a full bible translation costs about three hundred thousand dollars that's an example of something in that lane domestic church planning we want to multiply our capacity to plant churches by starting not just new churches but new collaborative training centers across the country in some of the churches we planted so that we can multiply leader development so that we're not the only ones doing the leader development.

40:01 These other churches are too. Each of those collaborative centers costs about a million dollars each. When it comes to local outreach, we believe that God is leading us to create a family and community outreach center in the triangle, which would enable our campuses to serve and work with community partners to create just resources and ministries. Like a new one, affordable daycare that has a ministry kind of real component to it in some of these parts of the city where there's not. They don't exist. And that would give us a center from which we could bless the homeless, the orphan, the prisoner, the unwed mother, and the high school dropout. That'll be a couple million dollar project at least. For growth and expansion, there are a few specific projects you probably already know about that the Lord has put on our hearts. getting a Chapel Hill campus built, for example, and others. Also, if the Lord wills, we would love to purchase a camp and retreat center where our Summit kids and our high school students, middle school students, our college, our men's and women's discipleship conferences could all go and actually do that and a whole lot more.

41:07 And so we don't have to drive eight hours to go to camp, for example, okay? Right, there we go. All right, there are a couple of our student leaders. They're like, amen. You're like, where is this camp? I don't know, right? God's got to provide both the camp and the money for us to either purchase it or build it or whatever. But that's an example of something in that lane right there, leadership multiplication. I think I've told you this before, but the church historian Rodney Stark says that the number one predictor of the future of any Christian movement in America, the number one predictor, right? It's not how many baptisms they have, how good their preachers are, how much property they own, how much money they have. The number one predictor of the future of any movement is how many young men and women they are raising up for ministry. so we want to excel at that, and we want to build a training complex to house the hundreds of apprentices and interns for future leadership roles, both in the Summit Church and our church plants for faith leadership in the marketplace and the government and other ministry positions around the world. We would love to have a place where we could house them, because that'd be a huge help to most of them, since most of them are raising their money to be able to do this.

42:12 So that's an example of the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Now, people say to me, they're like, Why push this hard? Why such big dreams? Because God said, I'm about to shake the heavens and the earth again. And I've chosen you. I've chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. These are what we believe God wants us to do in the kingdom. That's the temple, so to speak. But he wants us to build. And you get to determine how quickly we accomplish these things. Y'all, here's the deal. Listen, more behind the scenes stuff in the Summit Church budget. You appoint pastors to set the vision for the church. But you, the congregation, you determine the speed at which we accomplish that vision. We set the vision, you set the pace. All those things that I've mentioned and many others, the things we wanna get to and by God's grace and according to his favor, we will get to. But it may take us 10 to 20 years to get to some of those things.

43:07 Maybe God is gonna put it into your heart to help us accomplish these things now. I mean, the mission is urgent. Maybe you're gonna look around and say, you know, the wood paneling on my house is less important to me right now than that community outreach center being built is. That Bible being translated, that housing complex being built. Which brings me to the season in our church that we're in. We are saying, listen, that everything you give in the month of December is gonna go to ministries in these five lanes. Everything, 100%. Not one dime of what you give in December is gonna go to run the church. All of it, 100% of what you give in December is gonna go through this church to kingdom expansion in those five areas. The 65% we need to run the church, we will make up that at other times throughout the year. Everything in December is gonna go to these five areas. My hope is that in giving to this church in December, you will know that you're investing in an eternal legacy.

44:07 You say, well, JD, I'd like to know a little bit more about these legacy lanes. Not just more of the details, but maybe even how to invest in them beyond the month of December. Great. That brings me to the legacy team. The way you find out more details about the legacy lanes and even help shape our future in them is by becoming a part of the legacy team. All anyone gives in December, like I said, is gonna go to the legacy lanes, everybody. But if you wanna learn more about these lanes and even help speak into shaping the future of them, you can join our legacy team. You say, well, who can be a part of the legacy team? How do you get invited to that? The legacy team is for any summit member who wants to give over and above their tithe to accelerate the mission and vision of the summit church. You self-select. The only prerequisite for being on the team is that you demonstrate the gift of generosity, which for practical purposes, we define as you giving $1 above the tithe.

45:02 See, if you've gone $1 above the tithe, then you've gone from first fruit giving to eternal investing. And again, that's self-reported, of course. We are not pulling up your W-2 and checking in on that. We take your word for it. Now, we'll say before you lie or exaggerate to get on this team, make sure you read Acts 5, okay? I will tell you that. Once you join the legacy team, you'll be able to give directly to one of those legacy lanes all year long, not just in December. We'll also be publishing periodic reports like these for the team and tell you specifically how different projects are moving along. Those on the legacy team will also have access to participate in certain fellowship gatherings and enrichment opportunities where we pour into you. The plan is for there to be at least two legacy team meetings every year. Those are voluntary, of course. My point is this is not some kind of exclusive club. It's not an invitation only deal.

45:55 It's for those of you who believe you have the gift of generosity and you care to see more about where and how our money is invested in these five lanes. Does that make sense? If you're interested in joining this team, you just go to summitchurch.com. It's right on the front page or you can always talk to your campus pastor. Okay? Remember our key verse in this series. You remember? Psalm 112, five and six. It's well with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with biblical generous justice. For the righteous will never be moved. The stuff that the righteous builds, it won't sit around and rot. it won't just fade away. No, the righteous will be remembered forever. The righteous leave a legacy that will be remembered forever.

46:43 This is one of the churches that we planted overseas. I'm just kidding, that's not true, okay? This is, you Spanish speakers, be gracious. This is the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. Is that all right? Does that do all right? That's like a C minus in my Spanish pronunciation, but whatever. Its architect was a guy named Anthony Gaudi. Gaudi was born in 1852 and Gaudi sought to express his faith through architecture and this, the Sagrada, the Familia, that was his masterpiece. But here's the thing. When Anthony Gaudi died in 1926, it was unfinished. In fact, it's not scheduled to be fully finished until 2026, exactly 100 years after his death. Gaudi only lived to see the completion of its first, what we call facade, which was the nativity. Its second facade, which is inside there, the passion was not finished until 1976.

47:39 Its third and final facade, which focuses on the glory of Christ's return, that's not gonna be completed until 2026. But I love how Gaudi himself explained this right before he died in 1926. They're like, aren't you bummed out that you're gonna die and not be able to see the completion of your work? And here's what he said, I love this. He said, yeah, but my client is not in a hurry. life is not a short story and I am not its star. I contribute what I can to the odyssey of God, but I am not its central character. I am playing a part, however small, in an epic tale with many actors, vast battle scenes, a million interweaving subplots and countless twists and turns. I am not in control. I cannot possibly understand the whole story. And actually that's okay by me.

48:25 God is building something even more beautiful than this building, his church. And you and I, Peter tells us, we are the stones of that church. We're the living stones. And you and I were purchased with something far more valuable than money. Jesus gave up far more than wood paneling on his house to purchase you and me for his kingdom. He poured out his blood for us. We are the church that he is building. And one day it's gonna be people from every tribe and tongue gathered around the throne to proclaim the glories of Jesus. Isn't that the legacy you wanna give your life to? It's like I always tell you, there's only two things in life that are gonna last forever. Only two things, the word of God and the souls of people. So build your life around both of those things because that's the legacy that lasts forever. Y'all, in light of the extraordinary price that Jesus paid for you and me, isn't it only appropriate for us to give our first and our best back to him?

49:21 Surely he deserves more than your leftovers. a salvation this costly that is more beautiful than a building like this demands something from us in return. So my question for you is what legacy are you leaving? What legacy are you leaving? Based on what you're doing with your money right now, what legacy are you leaving? What are you building? Is it wood-paneled houses?

49:44 Are you leaving something even more important, the kingdom of God? You say, but J.D., I don't have much money. Well, yeah, I remember the story of the woman with the offering line that Jesus told with the two mites, one eighth of a penny each. We're talking a minuscule amount of money. She gave a quarter of a penny, when it was all said and done. What she gave was financially meaningless, but Jesus said she contributed more than all the big donors because what she gave represented the gift of her heart. He said, that's a more significant investment because God didn't need your money, but he was looking at it as your heart. By the way, really wealthy guy in our church, new Christian actually came to Christ here at Summit. He asked me one time, he said, that woman you tell that story about, Jesus' story about the woman. Was she real or was that one of Jesus' made up stories? I said, who are you talking about? He said, the story of the two meats, motes, mites? He said, yeah. Is she made up or is she real? I said, well, it's not a parable.

50:35 She's a real woman. He said, so that means I'm gonna meet that actual woman in heaven. I said, well, yeah, you are. He said, when I meet that woman in heaven, I don't want her to come up to me and say, I outgave you. She said, I don't want her to say you were one of the rich guys on the line that threw in a lot, but it didn't represent the gift of your heart. I wanna give the same as her.

50:58 Y'all, the point is, it's not about the money. You leave a legacy by putting Jesus first in your heart, whether you put in two mites or 200 million. Hi, guys, big question. Is God first in your life? Is he first in your time? Is he first in your affections? Is he first in your money? Because friend, God is doing something on earth and you can't escape it. I don't know why you would wanna escape it, but I will definitely tell you, you should not be Wilmer McLean and try to run from it and build yourself a nice little farmhouse in Appomattox because God is inviting you to be a part of something eternal.

51:30 That's why we give you this card right here. We're not taking it up. We're not taking it up today. I'm just wanting you to consider very seriously what it would look like for God to be first in your finances. What would it look like for you to be part of this lasting legacy? We're not taking it up this week. I just want you to keep looking at it and praying through it in your family or in your home there for the next couple of weeks, okay? I want you to bow your heads if you would. Bow your heads. And I want all of you right now that know Jesus, I want you to say, Jesus, thank you for what you gave for me. Thank you for what you gave for me. I want you to think for a minute about where you'd be without Jesus.

52:11 And then I want you to ask this question, you listening? Jesus, what do you want me to do for you? and then just listen. Jesus, thank you for what you gave to save me. Jesus, what do you want me to do for you? I'm gonna leave you with the Holy Spirit for just a couple of moments there with your heads bowed and then at all of our campuses, our worship teams will come.