Lord, Make Me Liberal

Seven Rivers Church has embarked on a campaign, a challenge to make commitments to bring our lives to bring our gifts before the Lord in order to accomplish the Constructing of a worship center a ministry center that will serve us for the next two decades of ministry in this place. What we're asking is this week you're going to receive in the mail a card. It's called a commitment card and we're asking you to make a commitment over the next three years and This commitment is to be over and above what you're already doing obviously it doesn't do the church any good for you to take Giving that you're already doing and then just switch it over and Call it building fund or capital campaign giving in fact It not only doesn't do us any good and this leads us because we'll assume we're getting this money over and above when it's Just been been moved around so don't do that. This is over and above What you're already doing if some people say what if we what if we move after a year and we're you know I can't make three year commitment I don't know what'll happen. Well none of us knows what's gonna happen the next three years. Do we so this is a commitment saying to the best of my knowledge You've got leaves me here and gives me the ability. This is what he's leading us to do If you move in a year to another church, guess what when you start going to another church and that's your church start giving your money there That's what you should do immediately and So seven rivers will be out your money, right? Of course not God will just bring in somebody else, you know It's not like nobody's gonna join our church in the next three years, right got to bring other people behind and they'll Pick up where you left off. We trust of course that that will be the case So next Sunday's big celebration. Let me tell you what's gonna happen. You're gonna get the car this week If if you're a member, you're certainly gonna get them if you're a regular attendor. I hope you're Might get one as well. If you haven't got any campaign information yet I don't want you to feel slided. It's all up there in the narthex. There's a table up there There's a fabulous video. You can avail yourself of and and other information and Obviously, it's we don't want to slide anyone if you get one of this this information that you don't want it Then don't do anything with it throw it away and that will be okay as well Here's the deal next Sunday we're coming in worship Saturday night Sunday morning and we're asking our church to Concentrate themselves to the Lord. I will call people forward in church to bring their gifts to God and And and do it as an act of devotion and and as a decision that I am I am breaking my Aladastra jar and I am pouring out my life on Jesus Christ in gratitude and thanksgiving to him now we ask the leaders of our church to go first and So we've got 108 families that have already responded And our goals were anywhere from one and a half million to two and a half million our consultant told us we should try to raise as a church Three years ago we did this and the whole church committed 1.7 million over three years Well, I'm here to tell you this morning that the first 108 families have made commitments and The total is up to almost 1.9 million So the first a hundred of step forward and we're already passed what the whole church did three years ago

God's it worked and That's a let me tell you something that's an astounding figure one million eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars Already committed by people gladly generously stepping forward and saying count me in now. We still got our work cut out for us And we need we need everyone to participate I'm not naive to think that every single family is going to participate But I'm going to feel sad for those who don't I'm going to feel sad for those who don't want to and And everybody can do something To say I want to be a part of this I remember a number of years ago a woman came to She's very devoted committed love what God was doing in her life and in the church her husband was in a Christian and She said to her husband now I want to give to the church and he said yeah, well, you know check the temperature in hell and This is going to have to get pretty chilly there before I consent to that and I'm not giving any my her hard-earned money to Jesus, you know And she said I remember she went back to him and she said will you let me give a dollar a week? Because when I walk in that place, I just want to know that I'm doing something And I talk about you know, I mean you have to be a pretty plenty of hard-earned diet No, no, not even a dollar Everybody can do something and my prayers that'll be your heart's desire to know why I'm going to preach this morning on one verse in the Bible I think it's just one line Jesus said to his disciples Freely you have received Freely you I'm praying that you'll experience the freedom of God to be a free, lavish and generous giver Because you'll come to realize how freely you have received is a good things of God The understand what grace is the words bandied about a lot grace is the unmerited favor kindness and goodness of God What do we possess that has not been given to us? What do we possess that we've earned? What do we possess that God owed us? Absolutely what? Nothing. It's all great. It's all goodness And if you are not a free giver of yourself, of your heart, of your goods, of your life It's because you have not first appropriated how much you have Received and so I'm here to tell you this morning if you're not apt to freely give Don't try harder. That's not the problem Back up and say why isn't my heart more free and lavish? It's because I don't understand yet. I haven't got how the love of God has been poured out on me Okay, now how have we freely received? Take your servant out line and you'll see I mean what would we do to make a list of how we freely received? remember we were Kids we used to sing count your many blessings right name them One by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done We were to sit here and talk about what God has done for us. It would just go on and on and on and on and on I mean from provision and family and friends and health and Education and strength and I mean we could we could talk all about what God did first yesterday, right? and and find that to be an inexhaustible Subject so you understand and anything I'm about to say doesn't even Doesn't even have a hope of capturing the free and lavish kindness and generosity of God towards it just a little sample just a little tiny Touching first of all let's say that we have freely received the forgiveness of God haven't we there's something that only God can give us and that's forgiveness because our sins are in a front to him I remember I was sitting with a guy out of problem with alcohol and he'd he'd have been drunk and and he was sitting in my office and And he said I've I've shamed the church and I've shamed my family and I've shamed myself and my company and he went on and on and on and And finally I introduced the idea that none of those were his real the real issue All sin is against too It's against God David David takes a woman in Adultery a murders her husband and then he prayers and praise in the Psalms what to God? He says against the and the only have I said Well, he certainly sinned against Bathsheba and he's sinned against his nation and he's sinned against Bathsheba's a Husband and family, but what's David's saying in in contrast Against against God all my sin is against God only God can offer me with what I most need and that is to have my sins carried away and And covered Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb. We celebrate the Lord suffer because it's Christ who takes on himself the sins of the world our sins our transgressions our failures are taken away by Christ. Excuse me

The friend of mine told me he said I got a lot of trouble because I said Jesus Christ became a pedophile We all thought well, you should have And he said but you know he did on the cross. He did He became a child molester on the cross. He hung there Baring the sins of child molesters. He hung there bearing the sins of the alcoholic and the adulterer Christ became the most detodary Center who's ever stood before God and God in his judgment seat turned his face on his own son because Christ bore your and my Transgressions our sins were laid on him The perfect one the righteous one the innocent one the obedience one. Oh, one has forgiven Has forgiven me. I've been on a long trip to get off one of those tubes. They call airplanes Where you've been packed with three four hundred people for 40 50 hours? You know, I'm talking about one of these across the world trips and and you've gone in airports and you shovel around and Know where along the way could you get a shower or anything else? You had the same clothes on and you are just ranked and And you know you you're walking like this and you're stinking you got stubble on your face and your hairs and you know The whole thing and you get to your home or your hotel and you get in that hot shower and it is just in their vana and You know you get your you get shaved up and you get all cleaned up and you get a little loose in your hair and

Now we can dream and You know you put on those crisp clean clothes and it just feels glorious Brothers and sisters we ought to feel that way every day Every day we ought to wake up and say I am clean and I am forgiven My sins have been removed from me as far as the east is from the west by the work of Jesus Christ on my behalf grace grace God's grace grace that bow pardon and cleanse within Grace grace God's grace grace that is greater than all my what all my sin forgiveness Have you not really received the forgiveness of God? How about a future secondly? Has not yet God given us a life of purpose and meaning that makes our future bright and glorious? Don't we not get up in the morning and say morning by morning new mercies? I see that God is walking with me through this day. He's my father. He's in me. He's with me. He's for me He has purpose for me. He's got He's got the stuff for me to do. I'm in his employee. I can wake up every morning and say Ray Cortes reporting for duty What he got for me to do today, Lord? And I can pour out my life for things that I have eternal worth and value and purpose David Livingston went to the end of the world to Africa the pioneer missionary We went had the privilege of going in Westminster Abbey this summer and I remember we we asked our guide about the We all wanted to see the the resting place the tomb for David Livingston and that great church And our guide didn't even know where it was It's so often the case so all well here's where Chaucer's buried here's where you know I want to see David Livingston to hero and And wouldn't you know it's all the greats and luminaries are all around the outer walls of the place and Westminster Abbey their monuments and Right in front of the altar is David Livingston's grave How appropriate and on his tombstone it says other sheep have I? And I must find them David Livingston who went to the heart of Africa at the end of his career They brought him to Scotland to Glasgow to receive a lifetime achievement award a Medal and usually when somebody walked into this great assembly hall to to be honored like that The whole place would erupt in raucous applause when Livingston walked in silent He shuffled forward his body twisted and bent over by by over 20 Subtropical diseases he had endured His skin was weathered and and an old from the the Saharan Sun He was the picture of a man who had spent himself for Jesus Christ When they gave him his medal he said they said what will you do with the last days of your life? He said I'm going back to Africa I will die there And this is why he said because Jesus said I will be with you Even to the end of the age I Will be with you You know what a privilege that is to say that Jesus Christ walks with you wherever you're going tomorrow He never leaves you or forsakes you he's with you You have a future of serving him not serving him in isolation But serving him in the power and with his presence with him when you walk with Christ every day Have we not freely received and last of all not only And and and I've only talked about the future. I haven't talked about the future in heaven. I got a call from Ron Brown on Monday morning and Ron said you and I can believe this but Ed Nath died last night and

Went over to Cheryl's house and she was there crying in the doorway when I came in the door and she said at least he was saved The 10 years Cheryl Nath came to worship here and her husband came with her on and off for 10 years He said noted you Jesus last November he went to the pastor's class Last fall he went to the he went to the last pastor's class we had and Was converted Was in a wife group was in a men's discipleship group And when I walked in that house on Monday morning Nobody talked about what he did in his career nobody talked about anything but one thing That Ed Nath was in heaven His God had provided for him a glorious future I mean is that not enough will we just stop at any point and say forgiveness and a future but there's more a father Live will says that God is a father to us. He's adopted us He's made us heirs with Jesus Christ and he puts his spirit inside of us and apparently one of the primary Responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is to convince us that we are what? What do what do adopted children are always going to have a hard time believing that? They really belong that they're really accepted that they're really loved that it could really be true And so the Holy Spirit is put inside of us to tell us again and again and again What that we are the children of the living God that we have a father and that the father loves to Give good gifts and I've got a repent before you how often I think I have a father who if I ask him for bread would just as soon give me a Stone How much I struggle to believe that I have a father who absolutely delights in giving good gifts To his children one of the families in the church wrote about the campaign When all the talk about the building campaign started and sacrificial giving was brought to our attention my husband said What do you want to do about it? I said, I don't know It's not like we really have anything to give so we prayed and we came to the same conclusion. We give our second vehicle Our first thought was to sell it and give the proceeds to the church But after getting out the calculator I found that if we paid up up our debts with the sale of the truck It would open up more money in the long run over three years because then we could pledge the payment insurance license tag and gas So we cleaned up the car we put it out to sell and then the vehicle we plan to keep quit

Well early the very next morning. I got a phone call and Someone told us they wanted to give us their van We were stunned. Hey wait a minute. We're trying to make a sacrifice for the Lord So we decided we can still get along with one car in fact in the two weeks We've been driving just one we found that we communicate more and spend more time as a family now I had to call my mom and tell her the story they were coming here for grandparents day And she told me that my stepdad has made it very clear that church stuff is to be kept to ourselves Don't try to convert him He said that he wants to pay to have our old car fixed so that we can give it to someone in good condition Hey, wait a minute We're trying to make a sacrifice to the Lord and we just keep getting blessed This is just the beginning of the campaign. We haven't even given anything yet And we're blessed by being able to get out of debt becoming better stewards blessed by getting a better vehicle Blessed by having the opportunity to be able to give to someone else our van and still be able to give more than we ever thought We could for the sanctuary blessed if my stepdad is set if he lived in Citrus County He'd go to seven rivers and we're still looking for what our sacrifice will be to the Lord Do you really think that this father Doesn't delight and constantly giving good gifts to us as his children? We have a father So our dearest desire of our heart is to have a family and It's to have a father forgiveness future freely we ever see And the father John Peyton was the missionary to the new Hebrides I told you a story many times because I just I'm just so moved by this man He's the man who went there and lost his wife and his infant in the first year But when he was a young man He was born in 1824 in Scotland when he was a young man. It was time to leave home He tells of the scene. It was a 40 mile walk to the train station from his house He was going to Glasgow to serve as a a city missionary there and

His father walked the first six miles with him to the train station and he writes of it like this My dear father walked with me his councils and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey or fresh in my heart As if it had been but yesterday and tears are on my cheeks is freely now as then whenever memory steals me away to the scene For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence my father as was often his custom Carrying his hat in hand while his long flowing yellow hair streamed like a girl down his shoulders His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other and looks for which all Speech was vain. We halted on reaching the appointed parting place He grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence and then solemnly and affectionately said God bless you my son Your father's God prosper you and keep you from all evil Unable to say more in tears we embraced and parted I ran off as fast as I could and went about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him gazing after me Waving my hat in a do I rounded the corner and out of sight in an instant But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further So I darted into the side of the road and wept for time Then rising up cautiously I climbed the dike to see if my father yet stood where I had left him and Just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dike and looking to see if he could see me. I

Dare you I dare you to believe that you have a father in heaven That loves you like that But it's watching you he's watching your children He loves you. I dare you to believe that Because if you do It will set you free Freely you have received Freely give if you do not freely give you have not appropriated what you have received now What's free giving? Freely we have received Freely give it means we give freely it means we give liberally and it means we give motivated by Great to give freely is to be uncoherst One of our staff members said I knew this campaign was gonna go great because those people were bringing their pledge cards in with smiles on their faces It's to give liberally It's to say what his mind is not mine. I freely give it up and I give it all up to give liberally My love the mom who had two little boys cabin was five and Ryan was three and she was making pancakes for him and and They were arguing over who would get served first. She's okay teachable moment teachable moment She said to the boys listen if Jesus was here, you know, Jesus were here. I was cooking for Jesus. He would say I'll go last you have the pancake first Always now how's that kid? So the older boy I looked at his little brother and he said Ryan We should do what mom says you be Jesus

The earliest moments of our life children learn a word right? What's that word mine? It's mine. It's mine You see little kids do that with toys my cousin mine. They haven't touched it for an hour somebody could get near it mine We're just little kids is all we are Mine it's mine in the gospel free free's us to say it's not mine It's not mine Freely and liberally and motivated by grace That's a great thing about church giving you realize that If you give to the heart association you give to hospice you give to the red cross you give to any of those organizations They'll send you letters and accolades won't they and You get thanked and I see the pictures in the paper every single day, don't you? People giving charitable giving and they get their picture in the paper I mean if you give to campus crusade and you give them the navigators and you give to a Christian college and you give to any of those places They'll put your name on plaques and they'll send you stuff and if you give enough the president will even call you What do you get if you get to the church of Jesus Christ? nothing Nothing you don't even get a note you don't even get a fake note You don't even get you don't get like there's no parking out there. Did you notice there's no parking? It's a big donor parking You don't get to sit in a sky box for church. You know with food and a buffet and all the Repliands down there just you know having a suffer and you're up there eating and with waitresses and nothing You get nothing but you give anyway Because it's not about getting anything you've already received it It's about gratitude Freely you ever see Freely give What did the scriptures say Macedonian Christians they what they beg for the privilege to give They beg they would not be excluded They gave out of their property they gave liberally I Pray that you could say God make me liberal Make me liberal in my giving These people were poor and Paul I'm gonna tell you something Paul writes to the Corinthians who happened to be what? Rich About the Macedonians who happened to be poor and since these poor people gave according to their ability and beyond their ability Incredible because they believe the Lord Jesus Christ had became a became poor for their sex though He was rich he became poor That we might become rich What about the early Christians did they give Freely they didn't consider their property to be their own? Did they give liberally? They brought it all didn't they to be shared amongst the needy and Abundant grace was upon them all And last of all what about that woman She's standing in the back of the room and Jesus comes in and she breaks her expensive bottle of perfume and the rest of the people in the room are A gas darned day We should have sold that perfume and given the money to the Poor let me tell you something as soon as you start raising money for Jesus Christ They'll always be people who pop up and say it should be going to missions sound so spiritual It should be going to the poor we should be doing this with it. I just think that's terrible Let me tell you something then they don't care about the poor and they don't care about missions. They they care about not giving When you hear that talk it doesn't have anything to do with the poor Hasn't got anything to do with missions that has to do with not giving and being threatened by other people's lavish love for Jesus Jesus has leave this woman alone Her gift meant the world to him She breaks this was it was her gift lavish Did you read closely did you hear what it said? This is a year's wages imagine you coming next week with a year's Wages And laying them at the feet of Jesus she comes and she pours it all over his head She just gushes out love for him why what motivated her you have to read Luke where the word is used and says this woman was a Center Center is a code word in the Bible meaning she was why She was an immoral woman This is a woman who had received forgiveness and a future and a father What happens when you realize that you have freely received you? Freely gift Next week you'll have your chance and I ask will this room be filled with a pungent perfume of broken People bringing their gifts breaking open their hearts and lives and so I ask what's your alabaster jar? Will you bring it next week? Will you break it and pour it out For Jesus if you do you won't be the first one Who's ever been broken long before you ever broke anything for Jesus he broke something for you didn't he?