 For God so loved the world that he gave his own son That whoever believes in him should not pay much but have eternal life Good morning radiant church. How's everybody feeling today? Good that that bad, huh? All right good Can we just go ahead and say hello to all those who are over at our portage campus? Come on, let's put our hands together and welcome them We love you guys If you're new to radiant, maybe you don't know we are one family that has two rooms We have a campus at portage actually we have multiple rooms because we have about eight other Radiant churches that are meeting all over the city and are all over the the state and the region and Some great leaders some of them join us on Sundays, and so We just want to say hello to you We love you guys pastor Stefan and Candice you guys are amazing if you brought your Bibles with you this morning I want you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 22 and while you're turning there I'm really concerned about something and so I want to bring it out because there's Two kinds of people in the world and one of them concerns me There's the kind of people that set their Christmas trees up before Thanksgiving And then there's the kind that set it up afterwards. How many of you since you're in church? I'm very concerned set your Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving raise your hand Can we just all reach out and pray for them right now because there's a real need for ministry to take place right now? Lord wants to change hearts How many of you have not gotten your Christmas tree yet raise your hand How many are gonna wait like me until Christmas Eve and put it up? Okay, just four of us. Okay, good Anyways, I just need to get that out of the way This is part four of our series entitled 316 the series that is based off of the most I think probably the greatest Bible verse in all the Bible John 3 16 now you could debate that you might ask why Do you think it's the greatest Bible verse? I don't think it's the best Bible verse although. That's pretty good But I think it's great because it encapsulates and one verse what the entire Bible tries to say in 66 books If you just had one verse to communicate the gospel John 3 16 is it and there's so much that lies below the surface That's what we're spending Multiple weeks this holiday season working our way through even on a day like today, which is the big give Weekend to really look deeper below the surface than just kind of saying it But what's the real depth of it? What's the meaning of it and so week number one? We took the first couple words for God And we looked at who God is week number two So loved what does it mean for God to love us week three? The world so what's the world? What's the world that we live in what's unique about the world? How does God see the world today? We're gonna continue in that same vein. He gave He so loved the world that he gave and I want us to all to start this morning by Together out loud saying John 3 16 It's gonna be up here on the screen. So let's say it out loud everybody all together ready set go for God So loved the world that he gave his only son That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life This is the gospel in a nutshell This is it for God so loved the world that he gave his only son Jesus and if anybody believes in him, they don't perish, but they have eternal life This is the essence of the gospel. This is why we're here. This is what has changed our lives and This morning we're gonna be Zeroing in on that phrase that he gave. What does it mean that God so loved the world that he gave? I know that we know that what he gave was Jesus But I don't know if we completely understand the implications of that gift and what he expects us to do with it beyond Just believe in it and receive that there's more to it than just believing it It's supposed to change us and affect us and the way that we live our lives and that's why I want you to look with me at Genesis chapter 22 because Janet before there was a John 3 16. There was a promise given in Genesis 22 In fact, I believe at all my heart that it was in the mind of God Even before he created the world that he was going to give his son That Jesus would willingly lay down his life as the son to save Fallen humanity and to bring us back to God You might say well, why do you believe that? Well, the Bible says that Jesus is The Lamb of God slain before the foundations of the world Jesus the Lamb of God will talk about lambs and sacrifice and what that means He was the Lamb of God slain Before the foundations of the world it means literally it was the intention of God It was the plan of God that Jesus would do that But even though it was in God's heart, he didn't reveal it to us right away The Old Testament is really a progressive revelation of who God is it starts off what God is creator It leads us to Jesus's Savior and it's a story of God's people Unveiling or seeing God unveiled before them of who he really is One of the most powerful aspects of God's revealing of himself is found in Genesis 22 It's to a man named Abraham Abraham is the man that in Genesis chapter 12 God said I am the Lord God Almighty walk before me Leave everything you know go on a journey I'm gonna give you a land and I'm gonna bless you in Genesis chapter 15 God then reveals to that Abraham. He says I'm gonna bless you Abraham And I'm gonna make your descendants Your children your children's children's children as numerous as the stars in the heaven in the sand on the seashore Abraham says believed God when God gave him all those promises Even though he was old even though Sarah his wife didn't have any children He believed God and it was reckoned or accounted to him as righteousness That's why Abraham is called the father of our faith in Genesis 22 Abraham and his wife Sarah after multiple multiple years and decades of Bereness have a child his name is Isaac Isaac was the fulfillment of the promise in their 90s in their 90s when Isaac's born. How many know that's miraculous I mean that's like hey, I know you're buying diapers, but not usually for you know your own kids in your 90s It's sorry. It's Thanksgiving weekend Abraham is should be planning retirement The dream of having children and grandchildren and all that kind of stuff long gone But God had given them a promise And then even after holding on to that they have this child of promise named Isaac Which means laughter joy and he and every time Abraham looks at Isaac He sees the faithfulness of God The promise of God yet unfulfilled Isaac is the encapsulation of all of Abraham's hopes and dreams and future Everything and Genesis 22 beginning in verse number one God speaks to Abraham and he says to him it says that after these things God tested Abraham and said to him Abraham He said here I am He said take your son your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of mariah And there I want you to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you So Abraham rose early in the morning saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac And he cut the wood for the burnt offering And he rose and he went to the place of which God had told him And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place from afar And then Abraham said to the young men stay here with the donkey and I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and he laid it on Isaac his son and he took in his hand the fire and the knife And so they went both of them together Isaac said to his father Abraham my father he said here I am my son He said behold the fire and the wood But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son And so they both went together and when they had come to the place that God had told him Abraham built the altar there and he laid the wood in order And then he bound Isaac his son and he laid him on the altar On top of the wood and then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son But the angel the lord called to him from heaven and he said Abraham Abraham Here I am Don't lay your hands Don't lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him For now, I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son your only son from me And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold Behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns and Abraham went And took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son So Abraham called the name of that place the lord will Provide as it is to this day on the mountain of the lord It shall be provided Man, there's just so much in this I don't know if you can Fow them for a moment what it must have been like for Abraham whose son is finally coming to the age of Getting married and having children starting his own life That you've been dreaming about since the moment that he was born when he was a young rascal running around A miracle in your house And every time every day that you've gotten up you've looked at your son And you've said this is he's my only son. He's everything All my hopes all my dreams my future my promise my purpose Is wrapped up In him and most rabbis most biblical scholars believe that by the time of genesis 22 Isaac has grown to probably his late 20s early 30s He's not a small boy anymore. He's a full-grown man And one day dad says come on we're going to go worship the lord So Servants come along with them. They go on a three-day journey from bear sheba, which if you don't know where bear sheba is It's at the lowest Spot in the kingdom of israel it's in the wilderness And they go north to what's now modern-day jerusalem to the land called mariah And when they're just a short ways off they can see it. Abraham says stay here. Isaac come with me And some interesting things it says number one it says that isaac was his only son number two it says that When they came into jerusalem, they were riding on donkeys And then it says as they got really close to the place where they were going to offer His son as a sacrifice. It says he made his son carry the wood Abraham brings isaac right up to the top of mount mariah He lays the wood out Isaac is Catching on to something's going on. You know, we got the knife. I know we got the firewood. I know we've got the fire Where's the lamb? And then abraham his father grabs him Holds him binds him lays him on the wood. It's a pretty gory picture To think of a father doing this to his son It wasn't really out of The norm though In the iron age middle east In which canaanites jebusites Ammonites amorites moabites mosquito bites It wasn't out of the ordinary for mesopotamian middle Middle eastern iron age cultures to worship gods that required human sacrifice But you and I look at that and go that's just bizarre It wasn't wasn't out of the ordinary for these people that worship bail and ashura and tofet and molak And abraham was very familiar with all those gods. They were his neighbors He was familiar with those gods because when he lived in ur the caldees Tradition is that that was the profession that he learned from his father terra. He was an idol maker He made gods that people worshiped like that So when yaway god the almighty god who had revealed himself called him to do this I don't know but i think that there was an inner struggle that was going on on the inside of him Number one is god's testing me. It says it really clearly in verse number one god tested abraham Are you gonna be loyal? Are you gonna be faithful? Are you gonna be obedient? But on the other hand, he's like i thought you were different than the other gods Who aren't even real gods. They're idols. They're fake. They're at best demonic Powers that are masquerading as deities and at worst. They're just the imaginations of Men who are trying to figure out how to deal with their sin issues But i know you i've heard your voice And i've heard you promise me that you are going to bless me and through my descendants You're gonna bless the other nations of the world. How is that possible? If my son dies Honestly, i think two things are going on here. I think number one isaac Represents his promises, but abraham knows that even if he obeys god and slays his son He has so much faith and confidence in the god of the promise that he believes that god will be able to raise him back from the dead He wasn't lying to his son He knew he was confident in god god who's able god who will keep his promise no matter what And you know what he was right because god is able to raise back from the dead a son That has been slain out of obedience to the father See because genesis 22 was more than just an internal battle with within abraham It was an internal battle that was going on in the in the heavenlies Because god was showing abraham He was doing two things. He was testing his obedience, but he was also showing abraham Who he was You see because what he did was he let abraham walk through the same journey that he is a heavenly father walked through Sending his son Letting him come into a city on a donkey Isaac had to carry the wood jesus had to carry the wood Isaac could have fought back against the father. He's 30 years old. His dad's in his probably hundreds He could have fought back and resisted, but he doesn't jesus didn't resist He went to the cross like a lamb silently to the slaughter. He could have resisted, but he didn't he was bound to the wood But at the last minute the angel the lord intervenes and says abraham don't do it I wanted to show you What i'm going to one day do on a different mountain I wanted to show you What it feels like How much it cost to give in order to save But i'm not going to ask you to do what other deities would do other deities would have you to kill your son No, i'm the kind of god who actually steps in and says i'm not going to ask you to do it I'm actually going to do it for you. I'm going to offer myself I'm going to become the substitute and what we know is that a couple thousand years later Jesus christ the lamb The spotless lamb of god would walk a hill in jerusalem go to the top and not resist The father's will but would carry his own wood and would become the spotless lamb the perfect sacrifice For our sins to rescue us and to bring us back to god for god so love the world that he gave his only begotten son Not only did god send his son jesus willingly laid down his life Nobody took his life jesus said and john nobody takes my life, but i willingly lay it down jesus and the father willingly did it to save us But there's some things in this story that i just think are Are masterful and powerful on god's part number one is the The mountain called mariah literally in heber language means the place that god sees See because what was going on was the testing of abraham's heart in the area of giving What will you what will you give me? How much will you give me will you give me at all? Will you give me your plans? Will you give me your dreams? Will you give me? your future Will you give me your family? Will you give me everything how much of what belongs to you? Are you willing to submit and surrender to me? And the other thing that he was testing Was can you trust me? abraham When the things i ask you to do don't seem to make sense And seem illogical and irrational in the moment Trusting that my nature of being a good god in the end has a plan I'll tell you what if you've never been tested like that you haven't been alive for very long All of us as followers of jesus will find that kind of test god It doesn't it doesn't make sense what you're asking me to do It doesn't make sense why i'm at this place in my life my hopes my dreams my future I'm trying to do it your way, but it seems illogical if i surrender every part of me i have fear fear That if i let go That if i let go Everything's gonna die But what we find in the story of genesis 22 is when you actually let go that's when things really live That's when the promises of god come alive. Why because god sees And as soon as we let go that's where god becomes the god who is jahovah jaira the god Who provides for it will be provided on the mountain of the lord? See what god was showing abraham is god god was saying to abraham i'm testing you But i'm also letting you test me because what i'm going to show you In this circumstance is that i'm not just the god who gives i'm a god who is a giver I'm part of who god is is generous has anybody found god to be generous with you i'm just talking i'm not talking about things i'm just talking about in life Love joy peace patience kindness gentleness all those fruits of the spirit are the goodness of god His generosity towards us. He's blessed our lives. Jesus is the greatest gift That could ever possibly be given if you just need to know what generosity is just look at the cross God is generous but in genesis 22 on the mountain where the lord will provide god was saying this is who i am I am your provider. You can trust me. I am your provider. You don't have to be afraid I am your provider. I know your past. I know your present and I know your future I know what you have. I know what you don't have. I know what you want. I know what you don't want I know what I wired you for. I know what I created you for and I am a god who is involved in every facet of your life You're never going to have too much. You're never going to have too little all I need to know is that I got all of you And if I've got all of you you will never lack a single thing in your life See god reveals some things on that mountain Giving reveals a lot of things about who god is Giving reveals a lot about who we are And I'm not talking about giving like the world gives. I'm talking about giving like god gives If we look at this story we see god's generosity. I wonder I wonder How we can gauge our own hearts What's the thermometer that we can use to take the temperature of our soul Of whether we're really following god whether we're really servants of the lord whether everything in our life is really submitted to him Or whether you know, we're kind of going through the motions holding our breath at thinking maybe god's not gonna Little question for you. How many of you when you were going to school every once in a while You decided you didn't want to go to school that day. So you would learn to fake Being sick anybody anybody raise your hand you liars. I know I did it. I I mean didn't want to go to school. It's God got sore throat mom Really what I wanted to do was watch cable all day long and avoid taking tests Especially in my senior year. I had a bad case of senioritis And I was like, oh man, my throat's rough. My mom got wise to it because I used to be able to just I don't feel good. I'm gonna lay in bed and it was fine. She'd make me pot pies You know like I'd eat pot pies and bread and butter and watch cable was the best days of my life It's like I'm not taking tests My mom started getting wise to it So when I said I was sick, I didn't feel good. She walked in my room with a thermometer. Let's take your temperature Digital thermometers. It's like, why did they have to come out with those? So put it under your tongue take your temperature if you did not have a fever you did not stay home You could be missing a limb, but if you didn't have a fever you were going to school My mom's like, oh, no, you're fine. You're going to school Thermometer it's like you do everything put a pillow over your, you know, double blankets up to get hot or whatever you could But it didn't work. She always knew Thermometer gives it away and can I tell you that God has given a thermometer for you and I to tell the temperature of our heart Whether we're well or whether we're sick Whether we're really submitted to the god who is the god who's provider Whether we're acting like god or whether we've become infected with the love of money with self with materialism Whether our heart is in the kingdom After the things that god Is after or whether we're after building our own kingdom and the things our hearts after and that thermometer that tells our heart is our giving It's our giving Because giving reveals three things. It reveals three things about god. It reveals three things about each and every one of us Number one giving reveals our priorities Giving reveals our priorities. What's important to us? It's been said if you want to know what's important to somebody. What's a priority? Just look at your checkbook ledger But I know we don't write checks anymore So everybody thought you're off the hook. It's like I just used my debit card Yeah, well, we also have smartphone apps that show us all of our debits and all of our deposits It's a ledger and if you were to go through your ledger today Some of you are like, I haven't ever balanced my checkbook shame on you Dave Ramsey you you need to take that class I mean, I don't even know what the balance of my checking account is man Come on. But if you look at that thing today, what would your ledger say about you? What's the priorities of your life because you can say some things a priority But where you put your money where your mouth is you put your money where things are valuable If you were to look at my ledger, let me tell you what would be important number one food Anybody with me on that? I like to eat And and I like to eat like good stuff Try and eat pretty healthy, but when Tuesday comes around it is taco Tuesday at me Pueblo If you've never been to me Pueblo Just smack yourself because You've done yourself a disservice Dollar tacos on Tuesday. I mean and they're chicken tanga Oh man, they're carne asada And go there and I like to you will see it every week taco Tuesday taco Tuesday taco Tuesday Two weeks ago. I went for lunch and dinner on taco Tuesday I went at lunch came home Jen's like, I'm hungry. Let's go to me Pueblo So number one you'd see food number two you would see books Because I like to read I if I'm talking to somebody and they'll recommend a book. I'm on my amazon app looking it up. There it is swipe How many know that one touch one click one swipe thing is a killer right amazon amazon amazon amazon amazon amazon amazon me Pueblo Pueblo It's kind of like that Third thing that would show up on my ledger is Jane She's not here this morning. She was in the first service But I love getting stuff for Jane if Jane sees something that she likes she's uh dutch and kind of cheap that way She's like, oh, I'll just keep my eye on it's like don't keep your eye on it's going to be gone One day you're going to keep your eye on it and then it's going to be gone if you like it get it I mean within reason So she she knows and we have a rhythm. She knows she doesn't have to feel guilty about buying it She just has to show it to me. I'll buy it and then she doesn't have to feel guilty about it So she says do you like these boots? Oh, I love those. Those are awesome. She's like, yeah, I'll keep my eye and I'm I'm looking it up on amazon swipe jane There goes because jane's a priority to me and I giving is part of gifts are part of my love language And so I love to I love to do that and it used to be my kids But now they're like 20 and 23 and 25 and it's like you're on your own now I paid for a lot now, you know, you're on your own Those are priorities kingdom of god number one priority First check jane and I write every single month every single paycheck Is Not just we obviously we give our tithe to local church, but we have missionaries that we support individually that we give to We love to give into the kingdom of god as priority of our life if you were to look at the priorities of your life What would show up on the ledger of your heart? What shows up you look at the ledger of god, you know, what's number one? the world you Your name shows up on god's ledger Because he paid the ultimate price for your salvation If you look at god's ledger it would be 7.7 billion names That god's investing that he's giving to It's because giving Reveals our priorities Jesus said that where your treasure is there at your heart will be also Think about that our where our treasure is that's where our heart will be also It's our priorities What's what's important to us what should be important to us, you know We're tempted sometimes to get so wrapped up into the things of this world But the things that we think are important Are only important for a period of time. They're temporal How many realize that even like in clothes and fashion and things things have a lifespan about them Possessions have a lifespan about them. Jesus said thieves break in and steal rust corrodes it moth destroys it And he says store up for yourself treasures in heaven where these things don't happen because wherever your treasure is there Will your heart be also a lot of the reason why our heart is so anchored into this world is because that's where we're investing our Treasure the way to get your heart deeper Further and more committed in the kingdom of god has put your treasure there It's invest because what happens when you give is listen You're giving your generosity changes your priorities When you give into kingdom things you're not given into things that have an expiration date onto You're not buying a pair of buckle jeans that in 2006 were the hottest thing and now you can't give them away to anybody that you know You're giving into something that will last for eternity because it's giving into people people last forever That's why when you look at god's ledger, it's people that are on the top of the thing This world is passing away the grass withers the flower fades But the word of god remains forever this world is going to be renovated It's going to be renewed but the only reason why god created this world Was for to have a dwelling place in a meeting place between heaven and us God loves the globe. He loves the planet and we're supposed to be good stewards of the planet But he loves it because he loves us What happens is we fall in love with the world to the exclusion of the people First john chapter 2 says don't love the world for all that's in the world is less the flesh less the eyes In the pride of life and all these things are fading away But that's different than john 3 16 saying that god so loved the world. Well, which is it? Are we supposed to love the world or not love the world? God says i want you to love the people in the world and i want you to steward the world But i don't want you to fall in love and get your heart anchored into the things of the world Because wherever your treasure is your heart will be anchored there I think there are a lot of people that can't rise above Worldly thinking because they're anchored to the things of this world Got change and shifts our priorities and that's what giving does number two is giving is an overflow of thanksgiving It's an overflow of thanksgiving. We just you know, we all gathered together a couple days ago to give thanks And hopefully we took time, you know in between watching the lions get destroyed and In the turkey get destroyed And eating rolls with mayonnaise and spicy mustard and turkey how many know it's time to throw turkey away when it tingles in your mouth It's like, mm. That's okay. We're probably done But on thursday, man, everything's good. It's like we're eating pie and But hopefully we gave thanks Do you know that thanksgiving Is a posture of our heart and attitude that opens up heavenly doors It opens up heavenly doors It opens up doors of god's provision. It opens up doors Of god revealing himself as our provider What a stressful way to live our lives thinking that we've got to provide for ourselves that we've got to figure it all out But what a Profoundly supernatural life it is for us to live our lives knowing god is my provider everything I have in my life belongs to him It's on loan to me What a profound Place it is to get in life where you can say different than the way that the world gives the world gives because there's a return investment The world rings a bell and we drop money into a red kettle The world gives because we want the tax rate off But the believer gives because we are so full of gratitude and thankfulness at what god has done that we can't help ourselves Freely, we've received therefore freely. We give I mean remember where you were before jesus saved you If the gospel is nothing more than a self-help improvement plan to make ourselves a little bit better a moralistic therapeutic Deism where we just see god as the one who's going to brush us up and make us the best possible Version of ourselves and we can be but we're pretty good before that then we won't be thankful But if we realize I deserved hell I rebelled against god. I was sinful and dead in my trespasses. I was an enemy of god I was in this world without christ and without hope I deserve judgment nobody's getting off this planet alive And one day I was going to stand before god as his enemy and in the midst of that long before I ever loved god God sent jesus who took my place paid my debt on the cross then god raised him up and offered me new life He said you're a slave. Do you want to be a son? I said yes He says you've been living on the streets. Do you want to live in my house? And I said yes He says i'm going to bless you keep you and use you to change the world And my life has been radically changed and you want to know it fills my heart every single day. It's massive gratitude It's massive gratitude It's like god. I don't have anything I don't have anything you can have anything all of me because without you. I don't have any of it It's overflow of thankfulness. It's just like thank you god Thank you This last week there was a young man. It was all over the news a young man named john chow who christian young man who was passionate about reaching the nations of the world Studied missions and he went against all odds to an to a people that have never been reached on a remote island off the coast of india And he wrote in his journals letters to his families don't get mad if i'm killed Because they don't know any better. I'm willing to lay my life down for the gospel He loved people so much. He believed in the gospel so profoundly He was willing to do whatever it took even to risk his own life and he went onto this island He had some breakthrough, but he ended up getting speared through he got shot through he was martyred for the sake of jesus And he was joyful about it He loved not even his life under death You know what i was blindsided by is when i got on twitter The hatred that was expressed towards that young man If he'd been doing something that the world considers valuable They would have celebrated it this guy's dead for his political convictions. This guy's doing something for the environment This guy is trying to bring, you know Greenpeace to whatever anything that the world views is valuable they would have celebrated But because he's this radical in love with jesus believes the bible to the bone that those who believe in jesus christ Will be saved that they will not perish that these people need and deserve to have a witness They need to hear the gospel that it's the only power under salvation. He's willing to lay his life down for We ridicule him and we hate him and we mock him and we wish that something worse had happened to him That's the way that the world thinks But do you know that that young man's predecessors who lost their lives in the jungles of ecuador about 30 or 40 years ago Made a statement about giving he said this He is no fool Who would give up what he can't keep? In order to gain what he could never lose He is no fool Missionary in ecuador him and this whole company had been martyred for the sake of the gospel I'm gonna be honest. I sit back sometimes and I say lord When I talk about giving When I talk about generosity in the kingdom of god most of the time I'm thinking about money You know what I'm realizing money is the easy part God I want to be willing to give it all If that required my life maybe I mean I Might someday I don't know I want to be able to say yes, you can have it all lord But you know what I know is that every single day of my life I have the opportunity to lay my life down Every single day that I get up I have an opportunity to deny myself Not fight the father's will and to live Out of a generous overflow Because the third thing that giving reveals About us that we need to understand is that giving is always sacrificial. It always costs us something It always costs us something if it doesn't cost us anything It might be charity, but it's not kingdom generosity David in second chronicles 24 verse 24 was Told by god that in order to divert a curse that was on the nation He needed to offer sacrifices to the lord and he knew right where he wanted to go Mount Moriah Where Abraham had been willing to offer Isaac why because he needed god to be a provider There's a problem. There was a man named maruna who owned the threshing floor It was a a threshing floor for a wheat on top of this mountain So david went to aruna and he said i want to buy this from you and aruna said no no no no you can have it He was being generous you can have in fact if you're gonna offer sacrifices. Here's the lamb Here's the goats you can have it all And david's answer to him is profound. He said this No, I will pay full price Because I will not offer to god anything that cost me nothing Giving is always sacrificial You want to know why it's sacrificial? It's because when you feel it God feels it when it moves you It moves him When something has died in your life That that money could have been used for or your time could have been used for But you willingly let it die for the sake of the kingdom It releases access to life that you never ever could have imagined I've seen it in my life. I've seen it in my own experience. I've seen it in my family. I've seen it in our church Because you see god always calls us to the mountain of sacrifice mount mariah was a mountain of sacrifice Abraham and david both climbed up to the mountain of sacrifice and both of them it says built an altar to the lord Jesus would climb the mountain of sacrifice Not mount mariah, but mount calvary and he would offer the perfect sacrifice Because it's on the mountain of sacrifice that we are able to see Further and from a higher perspective than we've ever seen before And this morning god's calling us all to the mountain of sacrifice That's what kingdom builders is about radiant church It's not just a program. It's us saying We're going all in and we're going to live sacrificial lives. We're going to invest in those who've never heard We're going to reach our generation. We're going to reach this city with the gospel of jesus christ We're going to say no to some things in this world so we can say yes to some things in eternity We're we may not know the names and the faces But we are concerned and in love with the people that you god are in love with and we're going to give And we're going to feel it so that the nations will glorify your name And that's what the big give offering is about that we're about to receive. It's about us saying to the people in our city Jesus is the one who provides It's not us Jesus provides I'm going to ask everybody at both campuses to stand up And the ushers to move into place And this is An opportunity for every one of us to participate in the big give offering I want to remind you it's two things Number one is this offering is for woods lake elementary it is for The lumiere project that we talked about last week in africa, which is our global project And it is to help plant radiant church guadalajara mexico and We're going to pass the buckets and receive that but we're going to do it in an environmental worship because giving and worship Go hand in hand. We're not just going to give to god here. We're going to give to god here. Amen Father, we love you. We thank you Right here right now. We build an altar Of generosity of thankfulness and overflow Jesus you are the priority of our heart use what we give today to change somebody's life For eternity in jesus name your husband just grab hands. We're just going to pray over what we just gave today We pray that the gifts that we just gave Lord that you would put your supernatural touch upon them To be used to impact people's lives god. We're saying we want to become more like the god we worship Lord, we want Thanksgiving and generosity to be the overflow of our lives And we pray that as we do that as we take steps to do that we pray that there would be an Intensification of the heart of god and the eyes of the holy spirit to see like you see and to love like you love Pray that woods lake elementary would never be the same again We pray that northern Western africa would never be the same again We pray that guadalajara would become a radiant city in the midst of mexico and latin america Lord, we've done our part. We pray you put your hand upon it and do your part In jesus name