Matt: 28:18-20; , 20; 1 Tim 6:17-19

All right. Good to see you guys again. Good to have Dwayne back. Now, he said I just act like he's not here. So, I'm sure in and uh his uh and uh just still kind of jetlagged. Are you jetlagged?

No. Probably not coming back this way. You're probably not jetlagged going. You were jetlagged going that way, though, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it is definitely good to have you back, brother. Um, excited to be with you guys again this week. And, uh, we got some we have some prizes we're giving away today. Um, and now the maybe the men will feel left out, but um, this is for the ladies. I've got a woman's uh, study Bible. Uh, and pretty cool.

Everybody say, "Ooh." Ah. All right. Very good. So, for one of the ladies that was here last week, if you can just tell me one thing that you walked away with from the sermon, then this is going to be yours. Were anybody none of the ladies can remember anything from last week?

That's all right. That's right. That's right. She was not here. Anybody? Anyone?

I'm sorry. Gathering with the church is important. Give her a round of applause. That was very good. Come on down. Come on down.

This is This is yours. Full. All right. Now I've also heard now you know again I I said last week I due to the role that I have I'm I'm not a able to be here on a on a consistent regular basis but um I've heard we've had some babies born here. Somebody say amen. And uh and I'm always whenever I go I'm always telling people about the district just because we are in the association the most prolific church out there.

Uh just with our strategy of natural church growth. We've got uh we've got many babies being born. So this is for whoseever baby is the newest youngest that's here. Anybody like that? Oh, look at that. All right, come on down.

Now, this isn't about babies, but it is about marriage. So, you're starting to have uh all these children. You got to make sure that you remember marriage. There you go. Paul trip. All right.

See? So, how exciting. You get to come and and uh get prizes here at church. All right. I've got my water. Um so, hopefully I'm not going to have a coughing fit.

uh as well. Well, it is uh man, we are we are kind of walking through uh our our growth flywheel, right? Y'all remember and uh the the first part was the gather and group. Gather and group. And so, we're going to look at this next uh part today, the next half of that flywheel. But before we get there, I want to ask you a question.

And here's the question. Who owns your life? Who owns your life? Now, it's an interesting question because as we're sitting here in church, we know the church answer, right? It's just like when you know when you're in Sunday school and teaching little kids, you know, no matter what you ask them, it's always what? Jesus, right?

Jesus owns your life. And that's true. But I want to take some time today to really talk about that, to really take a moment and take a look in the mirror and take a look at that. See, it's one thing to say it. It's easy. If you've been in church for any length of time, if you've been a believer for any length of time, you understand the principle here.

But if that's the case, then who owns your money? Who owns your house? Who owns your car? Who owns your time? for people like me, who owns my retirement? Because I'm constantly trying to figure that out.

And and for just the few of us that are in that particular position, you know what I'm talking about. Who owns your abilities? Who owns your next five years? Because it may not be who you think it is. See, and here's the thing. Let's just We're going to have a moment of honesty here in church.

I like the idea of Jesus owning my life more than I like Jesus exercising ownership of it, though. Would you all agree with that? See, I can say everything I have belongs to God. I can say that, right? But until God starts messing with something that I had plans for, right? I mean, you know, and and you know, I'm constantly I I don't know about you, but especially again in the role that I have, I'm constantly like planning for what's the next week and what do you know, who am I going to be meeting with and what do I need to be thinking about as far as structurally and kind of planning and thinking, making plans for what's going to happen in the future because that's when we find out what we really believe.

See, when God starts messing with what I had plans for, that ought to be a wakeup call. And here this morning, I hope that you'll take a moment and say, "Yeah, I agree with that. First, who owns my life?" Jesus, of course. Really? Okay.

So, who owns your life? Who owns your life? 1 Corinthians actually says this. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19 and 20 says, "You are not your own. You are bought with a price." Wow.

You are not your own. You're bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. Somebody say, "Amen." Anybody sold a car recently? Anybody bought a car recently? Oh, we got some B buyers.

All right. Excellent. I um I I just had a chance actually I I my my brother who uh is getting older and kind of in a in a kind of a that transition state of he can't be on his own anymore. He had to sell one of his cars. And so I went through the process having to find uh the title and then signing it over. and so you know met with and and if you know exactly you got to fill this out right I mean on the back you got to say who the seller is and who the purchaser is and the mileage and all those kind of things and so we went through that process gave me the money and I handed over the keys now imagine if I had kept a set of keys and I show up at this guy's house next And I get in the car and I start to back out.

What's he going to do? He's running out. He's like, "What are you doing? What do you think you're doing?" He's like, "Well, I mean, I needed to go to the store. I got some errands I need to run."

Says, "Wait a minute. You don't own this car anymore. This is not yours. But wait a minute. Wait a minute. But I mean, I used to drive it.

I mean, I remember I I used to I used to run errands just like now. And and I I used to get the car washed and used to get the oil changed. And matter of fact, I've got a lot of great memories in this car. And what's he going to say? Doesn't matter. You signed the title over to me.

Ownership has changed. And that means that the rights of ownership have changed. You have no more rights. This belongs to me. Now, when you begin to take it and look at that in the same way in light of you and your life, is that the case? Who makes the decisions in your life changes?

It's an amazing thing, right? You're not your own. You're bought with a price. problem is sometimes we live as though that Jesus paid for us but we kept the keys. Now you're either saying amen or you're either saying oh me. Yeah, that's me.

I'm trying to hold on to the keys. I'm trying to still claim ownership. When ownership changes, decision decision making changes. Who's making the decisions in your life? And here's the thing. This is the growth flywheel that we were talking about from Acts two.

Gather and group is what we talked about last week. This week, we're going to look at the second half. Give and go. Give and go. Now, give and go. Now, right away, you're thinking, "Oh, no.

The preacher's going to start talking about money, right? Oh, the preacher's gone to meddling now." That's true. you know, and unfortunately, you know, we've got a lot of TV preachers who have, you know, ruined the whole topic by, you know, preaching prosperity gospel and, you know, if you just phone in your faith promise and, you know, and you're going to be blessed and you're going to have all this. Anyway, we are going to talk about giving. See, because if we understand this reality that we are bought with a price, that God owns our life.

If he owns our life, then I can live generously. Somebody say amen right there. I can live generously. See, because what I'm going to talk to you about today is not really about money. It's about your heart. It's about your heart.

Because God doesn't need your money. Amen. I mean, he's he's got a cattle on a thousand hills. He's he he he he has everything. He doesn't need what's in your pocket. It's about your heart.

Turn your Bibles. First Timothy. First Timothy. Look at this. All right. 1 Timothy chapter 6.

In verse 17, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse1 17 reading out of the New American Standard. Here's what it says. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Let's pray together one more time. Father, I pray that you will bless this portion of your word.

Pray that it will sink down deep into our hearts. That we'll have a time of examination this morning to truly truly understand that we are bought with a price. That we are not our own. That you own us. Father, I pray that this will help us to make decisions differently going forward to lean upon you, to lean upon your leading in all the directions of our life, especially in the area of generosity and of going. So, Father, we thank you, we praise you and give you all the praise and honor in Jesus name.

Amen. Now it says instruct those who are rich. Now right away you're going okay well this isn't about me right rich. Now I would I I think I could probably we're not going to go this direction but I could probably make a case is that especially as we live here in America we are so so rich. If you've spent any time traveling abroad you know how rich we are. And that's true.

And situation though is that rich is whatever the other guy is, right? Rich is a relative term. Rich is something like, okay, no matter who you are, it's like, oh, I'm not that. You know, whether you have $10,000, the guy with $50,000 is rich. The guy with $50,000 says, "Well, the guy with $150,000, that guy's rich." The millionaire says, "Well, I mean, I'm just a millionaire.

I mean, you know, but the guy that's got five million, that guy's rich." And I would put before you that we are all rich. Nobody ever thinks that they're rich. It's always the other guy. And here's the thing is that at the same time as we read through this this portion it says instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches. Is that Paul's not trying to give us a guilt trip either.

I mean, praise God that we have the things. You know, we talked about it last week where, you know, we look nostalgically at the early church and, you know, how pure and it would be so much easier back then, you know, for them to gather and all the things that they didn't have like the dishwashers and the da Door Dash and the all the other things that make our lives convenient. And those are all great things. See, it's actually opposite because here's what it says. It says, "God who gives us all these things, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy." Amen.

I mean, praise God for those things. Praise God for that washing machine. Praise God for that dishwasher. It's a great thing. Those are fantastic things. God is a giving God.

Amen. In fact, that's one of the greatest things that we know about God himself is that God so loved the world that he what gave his only son. He's a giving God. And it's not sinful to have a nice house or to go on vacation or to have a car or all those kind of things. Whatever it is, those things are a blessing and that's wonderful. God gives us those things, right?

Those are amazing things. The problem is not what you have, it's what has you. Right? Because what can happen is we get focused. We get tunnel focused on those things on the things of this world. And here it clearly says in this scripture, don't set your hope on those things, especially on the uncertainty of riches because it may be here today and gone tomorrow.

Again, that's one of those things where I'm at that retirement age. I've got a 403b. I don't know what that means, John. But I'm sure that John can tell us what all that means. But here's the thing is that you know on a regular I pull it up on my on my phone and I look at the balance and there are days I don't want to look at the balance in particular now I it seems to be going the wrong direction and it is an amazing thing where it's like it t you know Bible tells us that that stuff takes wings and flies away one day I'll have wow that balance looks great and the The next day it's not there anymore. Wow.

Don't set your hope on those things. Oops. Somewhere it'll go forward. Perhaps these guys are watching the game back there. All right. Don't set your hope on wealth.

For sure there. Oh. Oh, let's try that. Okay. So, we have to ask ourselves a question then. Where is our hope?

Where is our hope? See, because money whispers to us. Money whispers to us. It talks to us. I can keep you safe. I can help you achieve your goals.

I can help you do things in life. I'll protect you. Don't worry. You listen to your money that way. I got to be honest. Sometimes I do.

Sometimes I do. Verse 18 says, don't forget, remind those those who are rich. So he's talking to us, richly supplies all supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works. That's where we're to be rich. That's where we're to be generous.

That's how we are to live our lives is finding ways in which that we can be a blessing. And we have to think about that especially here as this church is positioned in a neighborhood that has great needs. Amen. And and how can we be rich in good works to this neighborhood? How can we be the light in the darkness? How can we share those things?

Be rich in generosity because God has been so generous to us. We need to be rich in that same way. That's one of the ways. It's one of the indicators that people will know who we are and who we are owned by by that generosity. Now, you got to ask yourself that question then. And really the list is who owns you?

Who owns your stuff? And what does the owner want you to do with it? Because just like we talked about it last week, that you are sovereignly in the job you're in, not by mistake, but by God's providence. You are there because there's somebody that needs the gospel wherever you're working. You live in a place not by accident, not because you thought it had, you know, a beautiful frontage and that it had, you know, three bedrooms and two baths. That's not why you're there.

If you are truly owned by God, he opened the door for you to have the the the ability and facility to be able to be in that place. Why? So that you would be the light in the darkness in that place. You can go on and on how God has provided in those ways. If God owns my life, then I can live sent. Now, uh we are part of the send network and it's always reminding us that we need to be sending.

Matthew chapter 28-20. What is that known as? Tell me. The great commission. We as the church have been commissioned. If you've been in the military, you know what I'm talking about.

That if you are commissioned, you raise your right hand. You are sent. You are called in a certain particular area. In fact, let's look there real quick. Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28.

We'll go back there and look at it one more time. Probably very, very familiar for most of you. You know what the great commission says, but man, let's look make sure that we we're not missing something here. Matthew chapter 28, starting in verse 18, I want you to notice where the great commission starts. It says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe or follow all that I have commanded you.

Then behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Where does it start? Does it start with go? Not with go. Where does it start? Jesus is in charge.

Jesus is the king. So the first thing, you know, oftentimes when I'm thinking about the great commission, I'm thinking about that send. I'm thinking about being, you know, going and and all those kind of things, I got to back up. That's not where it starts. It starts with that Jesus is the one in control. And because he's the one in control, he has sent us.

Every single one of us if you are a believer and every church in every place is called to fulfill the great commission. There is listen there is there there is no other plan that the great commission is plan A. There is no plan B and you and I are it. He has called us to what? To go. To go.

Now many times we get uh we get uh we get a little distracted again. Going therefore and making disciples, which is this second part of the flywheel. We think, okay, go. Wait a minute. That means that we need to go somewhere, right? We're thinking, oh, okay, well, that's like I need to go on mission somewhere.

And yeah, that's that's true. But the thing is is that there is an aspect of going that is missionary focused. But the other part of it is the fact that we are to as we're going to make disciples. as we're going. Now, mission picks. I I I'm thinking I might have sent you the wrong PowerPoint, but let's see.

Oh, there we go. I didn't. Okay, awesome. That this is uh many of you know that I uh was on a mission trip uh in August and went uh to Ecuador. Uh this is myself and Roger Kenyon. Roger and I uh serve the association together.

Roger is uh pastor of Calvary Baptist in Greenfield. He's the president of our association. And so and you can't probably see it from there, but I wanted to get a picture is that it shows our takeoff time and that we're headed to Keto, Ecuador. Now, let me tell you a little bit about what our trip consisted of. Our trip was um we are we've had a long-term relationship with Keto Ecuador and what what has been in previous years is that we had a guy that was the head of our camp who got excited about being on the mission field and his name is Dave Wilson. And uh Dave was like, "Hey, listen.

I can't be the camp director anymore. I'm heading out to go to Ecuador." And we were like, "Fantastic, man." And you know, we started praying and thinking, "How could we partner with Dave?" And Dave, well, what are you gonna do when you get there? And he's like, "I have no earthly idea.

All I know is that there's lost people there, and I need to go and share the gospel with them." And so, sure enough, I mean, he didn't I mean, you know, we're Southern Baptists. We're like, you know, the largest missions arm in the world. He didn't want to mess with all the paperwork that goes along with that. So he was like, "I'm just gonna go. We're gonna see what God's gonna do."

And because and that really in a nutshell is Dave Wilson. All right. So he lands on the ground, starts, you know, interacting and starts meeting people. Sure enough, a year later, uh, he has like 18 small groups meeting around Ecuador. Has all these small groups and see and you know, just tons of people coming to know Jesus. And one of the things about it and he would share this with you on a regular.

He'd be like, "Chris, you wouldn't believe because they are a very Catholic oriented country." He would he would begin to share. And he said, "So we didn't have to." They understood that the Bible was the word of God. But when we began to share with them these things, the first thing they would say is, "Why did the priest never tell me these things?" And he begin to tell him, "Well, you need to talk to the priest."

But he said you could watch as these people trusted Christ, heard the good news of the gospel. He said their eyes would open and you would see you would see an amazing transformation right before you. And he and so when he would come back to the states, he would share this everywhere he went. And sure enough, he got, you know, just a group army of people that came and said, "Man, we want to help." Well, what happened was is that they had all these small groups meeting, but they didn't have pastors. So, he began another part of the ministry to train pastors.

And so, that's what Roger and I were there for. We we we set out actually a whole program for a whole year to go down and to train the pastors. Now, these pastors come from all over. They come. Sometimes it'll take them anywhere from two hours to six hours to get there. Some will ride trains.

Some will ride a donkey. Wherever, however that they can get there, they get there. Now, this first church that you see, amazing story. This is um it the uh it you probably can't again you can't see it from there. Uh but uh it it says camino hassa la mara meta no meta and what it means is the way to the gold in other words the way to the streets of gold is what it's talking about this building that you see amazing story pastor William which this is this is a shot of of we had uh each location we this was actually uh referred They refer to this as being in the jungle. Okay.

So, this was where we started and each location we would have anywhere from 30 to 40 uh folks that would come uh to be trained and when they came they the p it was not just the pastors that came. They would bring their family with them. All right? So, they would come and all to hear what we were going to teach and going to share. Um, you see, of course, me and then Roger and then Pastor William is is the pastor of this church and then Javi is the little dude on the end. Uh, one of the greatest things about Ecuador is that uh, the men are all short.

I felt tall. It was it was now I know how the rest of the world feels. It was it was it was really cool. But anyway, Javi, fantastic translator. Uh it actually it came up uh during uh our discussion that uh my son-in-law who's a youth pastor when I told him who the uh translator was uh he said his name is Javi. And I said, "Yeah."

And he said, "Well, that's weird. When our church goes, the translator's name is Javi as well. I wonder if it's the same guy." And so sure enough, I shared uh with Javi and I said, "Hey, listen. Uh my son-in-law says that when he brings a group that there's a guy by the name of Javi and he's like that's me. And so anyway, small world, but Pastor William, Pastor William is that guy that if he wasn't in the ministry, he would be a gozillionaire.

You know what I mean? He his brain is always thinking and moving. So as as you saw this building, okay, let me see if I can back up. As you see this building, this is in the middle of a a destitute neighborhood. Okay, there is and I have other pictures. You don't have time to look at them all.

Uh but it's it's just you know there's there's chickens and cows in the lot next to and you know there's a ramshackle thing over here and there's you know just it's all so when they got there they had no place to meet. And so as he began to share the gospel and as people came to know Christ, he would tell them. He was like, "Listen. Here's here's what we're going to do. We're going to build a building." And they were like, "Okay, how's that going to happen?"

And Pastor Williams said, "Okay, here's what I want you to do. I want you to find anything, wood, discarded wood, bricks, blocks, sand, anything. And you come, we will use it. And as long as you're willing to commit to some sweat equity, we're going to build a building. And here this building is, it's an amazing it's an amazing facility. Now, he was blessed to also have skilled tradesmen that were a part of the church that were able to do and and Pastor William himself knew how to do some construction things.

And so, they were able to put all that together. And that's just how he does this. There's a little soccer field. You can see that other little covering. That's a soccer field right next to where they do a lot of activities, outdoor concerts. There's where kids come to play.

It's it's it's an amazing thing. But that's the guy. That's Pastor William. He I said, "Well, tell me tell me more. What's what's you know what's the greatest need here?" He said, "Well, let me tell you let me tell you one thing."

He said there's uh one of the greatest needs that we have here uh is that when people young people grow up they don't think that they need to get married and what happens is is they start having children very young but they never get married. He said and when I asked them why don't you get married? He said well we we can't afford to do it. Pastor William says aha we will fix that. So, not only is this a a an amazing church facility, it's also a wedding venue. In other words, as people come and especially a young couple that's not married, he begins to counsel with them.

He said, "Listen, you need to get married." They say, "Well, we can't afford it." He said, "We will fix that." They have a whole section in the church that's dedicated. A young woman can come and she can pick her colors. She has two or three different designs of wedding dresses that she can pick from.

She they they have the whole facility set up for when they do like the wedding banquet and reception. It's all right there. And he says, "Okay, now you can afford to get married." He leads them to the Lord. They come, they get married. He's began to build the church.

This is the kind of creativity he's always looking for. ways in which that he can solve problems. Figure out how the church, how the people of God can come alongside and solve the problem. It's an amazing thing. All right. So, that's Pastor William.

That's a That's typical uh rice and some sort of chopped up meat with a plantain. Amen. It was It was fan fantastic. And if it wasn't rice and meat, it was rice and beans of some sort, some kind. Uh fantastic stuff. We had fresh juice every day and it was a different kind of fresh juice every day.

You know, some days we say, "What's this?" And they would say, "Oh, that's strawberry juice and or this is cranberry juice or this is whatever kind of juice." And so that's fresh juice as you can see it over there. Um, and of course we also we had a stop there on the equator. Amen. and uh had some fun times there, you know, balancing the egg and all that, you know, where you you know, you can only do that and how the the water flows one direction on one side of the equator and it flows a different direction on the other side.

Anyway, great times. This is all right. So, this is actually down by the sea. Uh and so we actually went to three locations. We went to the jungle, to the highlands, and then to the sea. And this was actually at the sea.

This pastor here, uh, I think I have a picture of him. Yes, he's the one standing next to Roger. That is Pastor Danielle. Now, Danielle, we thought at first, oh, oh, heavens, it's a woman. And no, it's No, that's the way you say his name. Uh, Pastor Daniel.

And so, uh, this is him and his wife and their new little baby. And new little baby, I mean, not new baby, but cutest little girl. Uh Roger and I kept trying to figure out how can we pack our our our bags so we can take this little girl back. Um anyway, uh so Pastor Danielle is actually a church planter from guess who? Pastor William. Pastor William not only has his church, but I think he has about 12 different planters around Ecuador.

And Pastor Danielle is one of them. And uh and so this is their church. It's very hard to see from from this angle, but basically all it is is a uh covered with corrugated uh uh metal at the top. And then they've got a little uh building that it's connected to over on the side, which is kind of their fellowship area, or not fellowship area, but kind of a classroom sort of a thing. But this is where they meet uh every single week and uh gravel there on the on the ground. But what a blessing every single one of them were.

I mean it just it it would it would bless your heart. These pastors again came from all over to spend a day with us. We would and we were covering basically biblical interpretation, how to interpret the Bible and um just had a great time also uh with Pastor Danielle. You can't see it on that on that bulletin board in the back. And I've showed you his church. Pastor Daniel has identified four other places to plant churches as and is in the process of training future leaders to plant in those places.

Somebody say amen right there. What an amazing thing. I mean, he barely has a garage that he meets in, but knows that he is sent that he is sent. When he reads the great commission, he doesn't question it. He doesn't try to reroute it and say, "Well, that must be somebody else." He's like, "Oh, well, that must mean that we need to plant even though they don't have means to do that."

And we actually, that was one of the strategy sessions we had. Where are these funds going to come from? How can our association be a part of it? It's an amazing thing. So, here's my question. Could God be calling you?

Could God be calling you? Wow. You know, right now you may go, "Well, because I'm not sure. I don't know if I have the right education." In this room, you would have enough condensed education to take you wherever you'd need to go. Amen.

You got a missionary off the field. You got a guy here who has about 30 years of ministry experience. You got a church planter sitting in the back who has been through the fire and knows what it's like to plant a church. You have everything you could possibly need. The question is, could he be calling you? And you may be saying, "Well, who me?"

Let me and let me just put it to you this way. If that has ever crossed your mind, if the Holy Spirit has ever kind of wafted that flame at all, then you need to pray because that's where it starts. You may say, "Well, I'm not sure. You're hold on. You're try You're trying to think too far ahead." The Bible clearly says that we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

If you're trying to figure it all out before you even step foot on it, you're heading in the wrong direction. If God is calling you, he will provide for you. If God is calling you, he will begin to work in the hearts of others to help make that happen. And there may be others out there who are not called to the mission field, but called in in the exact same way to send people to the mission field. There are people that are sitting on mountains of money going, "How can we help missionaries to get to the field? All they're looking for is somebody like you, somebody like me who is looking to God to say, "God, you own me.

You own me. What do you want me to do?" If we took that seriously for just one minute, just one minute, could it be that some of those pictures that I just showed you kind of started something where you're going, maybe could he be calling me? You know, many times we give an invitation for salvation. Well, I'm giving an invitation for service. If you're here, I don't care who you are.

I don't care where you're at. I don't care what kind of education you got. If God is calling you, if you understand the principle that he owns you, he's the one that makes the decisions and God is putting something in your heart to go. Then you need to come and tell your pastor. I don't understand. I'll never forget when I first started having that embryionic call in my life and I didn't understand it.

And I was a fairly new believer and I went to my pastor. I said, "Pastor, I don't know, but there's something in me. I don't I don't know. I don't understand it." And he began to say, "Listen, that's where that's where it starts. Starts with a desire in your heart.

Do you have that? Then you need to pray. Talk to your pastor." Because here's the fact of the matter is that in what we just read in the great commission is that Jesus wasn't creating some kind of missions program. He wasn't creating a missions program. He was merely describing what disciples do.

What do disciples do? They make disciples. That's what they do. That is how I believe one day that we will stand before God and give an account of Did we make disciples? Did we make disciples? Well, where are we to make those disciples?

We already talked about it, right? Wherever he sends you, that's where you're to make disciples. And again, it could be that it could be overseas. It could be somewhere else. It could be in a third world country. It could be, you know, in a dangerous place.

I don't know. But the fact is you are already there. You're already there. You don't have to look around. You don't have to figure it out. You're already there.

You live somewhere. You work somewhere. You shop somewhere. You're already there. That's your mission field. Now, I want you to also understand, and you hear Dwayne talk about it all the time, when we're talking about making disciples, we're not just talking about being nice to people.

You should be nice to people. Don't misunderstand me. It's not about just doing good things for people, although you should. It's not about just inviting somebody to church and then the pastor can take it from there. That's not what we're talking about. Got to understand that making disciples at some point Jesus will enter the conversation.

At some point you will open your mouth and you will share the good news of the gospel with someone. Now it could be no I I don't know where you're at in your in your walk and in your life. It could be that you're still trying to work out those first things. You're trying to how to be nice to people. how to say hello to people because I believe that every evangelistic conversation at some point begins with hi right maybe that's it but also maybe it is again you go well Chris I don't I'm not sure if I know enough I don't know exactly how to share the gospel listen all you got to know is what Jesus has done for you once I was blind and now I can see that's all you have to know now but you're going to say well Chris is somebody going to ask me a question. Maybe what if they ask me a question I can't answer.

Chances are likely they're going to. And that's okay. And if you don't have an answer, that's even better. You say, "You know what? That's a great question. Let me do some study on that and I'll get back with you."

It's very simple. But but you get back to the conversation again. You say, "But here's the thing. All I know is what Jesus has done for me. How about you? Wow.

That's all you got to know? I I could have I could have paid a whole lot less from seminary and still that's all I need to know. Amen. That's all I need to know. Give and go. That's what God has called us to do.

It's a simple message, a simple act. Give and go. A lot of times we think those are two different things. Fact is they aren't both those areas. It's about ownership. Who owns your life?

See, if the money is mine, I'm going to use it on me. If my house is mine, I'm going to use it on me. If my life is mine, I'm going to use it on me. Are you following me? But if Jesus owns my life, what does that mean? That means that my resources are available to him.

That means that my time is available for him. That means that my home is available for him. My life is available to him. Why? Because he owns it. How much should I give?

Yeah, you're missing the point. I believe in tithing. I think tithing is is absolutely a biblical principle. And we can have an argument and a discussion about what all that means. That's great. We can disagree on it.

It's fine. How much should I give? That's between you and God. As long as you have joy in giving, as long as you're generous in your giving, that's the biblical principle. Where should I go? It all comes back to this.

Who owns my life? Great question, right? Let's pray. Father, thank you for how much you have given us. Father, I thank you for how because of your giving. And father, you've given us the example and the principles all throughout your word for us to be generous for us to live in a state that we we don't own the stuff.

We are stewards. We're keepers of it, but it's all from you. Father, I pray now that you will help us. Help us to be in that mindset. Help us to leave here knowing that you're you you're calling us to give and to go. How we how can we bless?

How can we how can we go? How can we go where we're at? Or potentially how can we go to the mission field? Father, I I don't know what you're doing in the hearts of your people. I trust that you're accomplishing something. And so, Father, I pray that as we are here in this place, that your people will open their hearts, open their hands, and Father, that they will really trust and follow you because you own our life.

Father, we love you. We thank you for all that you're going to do. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen.