Welcome. I'm so glad you're here. Glad to see you. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Mark chapter 10. I really need you to turn there if you have the Bible with you or an app, whatever you have, but turn there. It will also be on the screen, but crucial passage. While you're turning there, just got back from the International Conference on Missions. I actually landed at 1230 this afternoon. Coming from Atlanta, it's a missions conference that I serve on the board and that I've been involved with for many years. Very special this year.

Because, my daughter spoke at one of the main sessions. Boy, you talk about a proud father. Talk about a nervous father, and then a proud father just in front of thousands of people, and she did so well. We were so proud of her. I just want to brag a little bit. I can do that, can't I? Okay. Because what I really like about it ... Most of you know what I really liked about it the most ... Okay, I'm going to show my cards here. Is that there's only been like three women ever speak at that. I'm trying to change that.

So, I guess part of trying to change it is having my daughter up there, and she did a fantastic job, but I think she's paving the way for many young women after her. Dave Stone, how'd you like Dave? Isn't he fantastic?

Let me tell you about Dave. Dave, great integrity in him. What he says, he believes and he lives. I've known him for a long time. His parents actually threw my graduation party from seminary. His parents, Sam and Gwen Stone, were very close with my in-laws, and they've been very, very kind to me and my family for many, many years. Dave is an incredible, incredible guy. Now, one more thing, and I usually don't use this time for announcements like this. You don't want to miss the Christmas series. You don't.

Every year, you guys come in here with bum hunk bug. I don't know what's wrong with you people. But you know, in the South, man, Christmas is woo, you know. But I've noticed in California, it just takes you a while to get into it. So I'm going to work really hard. I want you to have the best Christmas you've had in a long time. So I put some extra study in and some extra information for you. We're going to have a great time in the Christmas series.

And I'm going to do a little devotional every morning like we did before. I'm going to guide you through all 24 days of Christmas. We're going to have a fun time together. Okay.

All right, here's a fantastic text. I love this passage because, well, we misuse it most of the time. We're going to try to get it right here. Mark chapter 10, verse 17. Jesus, as he started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. Good teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, what's he asking?

Because they don't have a real concept of heaven in Jesus' day. This progressive revelation, he's not asking for heaven. He's asking to live forever. And there's a good reason why. He's got a lot of money. If you've got a lot of money, you want to live forever. Right? He's wealthy. And his idea of eternal life is like an earthly kingdom, which is why the Jews missed the Messiah the first time. He thinks there's going to be some kind of earthly kingdom that's going to last and last and you're going to live forever. He wants to be part of it.

Jesus' response in verse 18, why do you call me good? Jesus answered, no one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false witness or testimony. You shall not defraud, honor your father and mother. Teacher, he declared, all these things I've kept since I was a boy. Wow, this is a good guy. And look at the next verse.

Jesus looked at him and loved him. I think there's sarcasm there. Like, sure you have. You know what? I love you anyway. You know, bless your heart. You think you've kept all the commandments. You're delusional. But you know what? I love you. And that's how Jesus looks at us. It really is. Jesus loved him. He said, one thing then you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. At this, the man's face fell.

He went away sad because he had great wealth. In other words, he's thinking, well, what good is it to live forever if you're poor, right? Why would I want to live forever if I have to give everything away? Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Remember, kingdom of God is still a literal kingdom in the disciples' minds as well. And Jesus is saying, how hard, how difficult it is for the rich to enter into this kingdom.

I love this little part here because...

There's been all kinds of commentators try to downplay the seriousness of this verse here. You know, we've been told everything. Well, in Jerusalem, there was this little door that went into the city and it was called the needle and you had to get the camel with all the goods on his back through the eye of the needle. Nah, nah, not buying it. No history. Don't have anything associated with that whatsoever. This is a pretty harsh example. Yeah, he's talking about a camel. He's talking about a needle.

How hard is it to get a camel through the eye of a needle? Well, it's impossible, which is why one of the next things Jesus says is in verse 27, but with man, this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. So even the rich can come into the kingdom of God with the help of God. Verse 28, then Peter spoke up. We've left everything to follow you.

Truly I tell you, Jesus replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or feels for me in the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age. Homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and feels along with persecutions. Did you get that part? In this age, the age to come eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last first. Now, not too long ago, a few years ago, I faced a horrific situation with a masked man wielding the knife. Now, thank God he was my surgeon. And here's the thing. Once you have that kind of knowledge, you know he's going to cut you, but it's going to be for your own good, right? I'm about to cut you, but it's going to be for your good, right?

Here's what I want to do. I'm going to break this passage down for you. I want to talk about who are the rich, why is it difficult for them to enter the kingdom, and can we identify those who are entering the kingdom? That would be three important questions to ask. Who are the rich, and why is it difficult for them to enter the kingdom? Can we identify those who are entering the kingdom? Step one, who are the rich?

How can we identify them? How do you know where the cutoff line is? How do you know I've arrived? I mean, does the wife come into the house and say, "Honey, I've been to the bank today. I've got some news for you. We're rich. It's official. We crossed the line today. Tell the kids to go tell all their friends the Vines family's rich." Woo-hoo. Is that how it happens? Now, seriously, how do we identify rich people? Because all my African and Indian friends think that I am incredibly rich.

They look at me like, "Man, Pastor Jeff is rich." But if Bill Gates were to see my bank account, he would see me as the less fortunate, right? How do we define rich and poor, especially when we realize that 700 million people live in extreme poverty, 700 million plus people live on $2 a day or less, and I've updated these stats, 50% of the world's population lives on $6 a day or less.

You are more wealthy than half the world. So there are at least 3 billion people in our world who would look at you and me and say, man, you're rich. They'd say, you pull a 20 out of your pocket, 40, 60, wow. Now I read a sarcastic article a few years ago and I've used some of the information from time to time when I talk about this topic. And I went back to it and I had to update some of the stats, which are more readily available now than they were 10 years ago when I first did this research.

So know that I'm being sarcastic, but I think it's a good way to help us understand how you and I have been blessed beyond what we could ever imagine. The article claimed that it is quite challenging and difficult to be rich, that rich people are set up for all kinds of trials and troubles that non-rich people do not have. Now, you can understand as I read the article, I thought of the world's smallest violin, Cry me a river, rich people have trouble. Well, la dee da, right? But then I sat back and I thought, okay, I'm going to read this objectively. And I want you to lean into, because the article goes on tongue in cheek to say that while 1 billion people live on a dollar a day, rich people have extra money.

They have so much extra money that they do estate planning. They actually spend money and time planning what they're going to do with their extra money. They actually pay somebody else to help them plan financially. Non-rich people don't have to worry about this, the article said. Most people in the world, they just exist from day to day. 2.8 billion people live week to week. 700 million people live day to day. They spend all day, every day, just trying to get enough money for a loaf of bread.

That is a successful day, and I'm going to get up tomorrow and do it all over again. But rich people, they have food problems too, and we should have compassion. While 800 million people will not eat today, 300 million being children, rich people, the article says, and we know that it's hard to believe, they got so much food in their house. It's amazing. We've seen this. They actually throw away the old food to make room for the new food to come in.

Moms will go to the refrigerator to smell the food and look at the expiration dates to determine whether or not they should throw this food out. What's amazing is they have so much food, they didn't even need to eat it. They can just throw it out and replace it with the new food. The article says they even go to a, the rich people do, they even go to a food warehouse called a grocery store or supermarket, and they get to choose from all different kinds of brands of the same food.

For example, bread, do I get wheat or full grain or multigrain or sourdough or white bread or Old Testament bread or Dave's bread or Daniel's bread? It's so exhausting and it takes so much time to choose. This is a heartache for the wealthy people and rich mothers really have to worry because they're trying to keep peace and harmony in the family. And what if they bring home a loaf of bread that the children don't like? What if the children get so mad they slam the door and refuse to eat it?

This could cause lasting damage physically and emotionally to the children. This places a lot of pressure on rich mothers and they know they have to choose wisely. The article goes on to say, in fact, two thirds of the children around the world just want bread. Any kind, doesn't matter what kind.

Moms will work all day doing laundry, sweeping streets, trading and bartering just to have enough money to buy one loaf of bread. Whether it's white or wheat or stale or day-old bread, they'll take whatever they can get. And when they get it, even if it's two or three days old, they get down on their knees and they praise God that they got the bread, the article says. On the other hand, rich people, they have expendable income, which is something poor people can't even fathom.

that they leave their homes a few times a week and they have somebody else prepare meals for them. That's what rich people do, the article says, believe it or not. So that if there's no food in the house that is desirable, even though the fridge is full, they go to a place called a restaurant and look at this thing called a menu and they can choose whatever they want. Each member of the family, everybody gets what they want and somebody else cooks it and prepares it for them.

And that brings another challenge because there are often family tussles in rich people families over where they're going to go out to eat. The concern is far greater than just having food and water. They've got to talk about which restaurant are we going to go to two and three nights a week so that everyone will be happy. And that places so much stretch on the rich person's family because it causes fights and arguments. And sometimes the children will say, well, if you're going there, I'm just staying home.

And then they'll take the magic card that dad gives them and call Grubhub or something like that. And magically at the front door, food appears. Rich people problems. They have extra money. They have food issues. Unlike 1 billion people in the world who don't have pure drinking water, rich people have so much extra money that they seldom drink out of the tap. They actually pay up to one, two, three, sometimes $4 to drink out of a special bottle. They have so much money.

Some will even pay up to $6 or more, five times the amount one billion people in the world live on in a given day, for a caffeine-injected cup of coffee or latte. On and on it goes, the article says. And the rumors are that rich women have closets full of shoes and clothes.

enough to begin their own department store. And yet women in these rich families, and the article says, I know you will find this difficult to believe, but women in these rich families will stand in front of the closet and they will look at clothes from wall to wall and shoes, oh, the shoes, the article says, and they will say, I have absolutely nothing to wear. Meanwhile, dad is down in the garage. Yeah, that's right. With hundreds of millions of people, they would give anything to have a house in with a roof over their heads, rich people have little houses for their cars called garages. And if people, half the people in the world, a significant amount of people in the world, if they had any kind of house, any kind of roof, and even if they do, there's very seldom heat or air conditioning. And there's more than one family stuffed into this one room. But rich people, they even have houses for their cars.

While 92% of the world depends on walking or bicycles, anything with wheels, rich peoples, they own their own car and sometimes more than one. There might be two, three, or four in the driveway. It's just amazing. Poor people could never fathom this. Men, it's more shocking, says the article, will go down to the garage and they'll look at the car and sometimes they'll say, "You know what? I need a new car." Even though the car runs just fine, it might have a dent or two. It might not be as nice as the neighbors. It works just fine. 92% of the world would give anything to have that car. They would beg, borrow, and steal to have a car. What a fine thing it would be to have a car, but rich people don't think so. They want to take it and trade it in for that newer car, that new car smell. Rich people don't "Do this," the article says, "with everything they own." Refrigerator, they want one where the water comes out faster. Microwaves, heats up quicker. Sometimes they don't like the color or the style of the kitchen countertops, they'll just rip everything out and start again. And the reason is because rich people have so much extra money, they have to really think about what to do with it. The ending of the article talks about the fact that rich people have jobs and a regular income coming in, and their employees will often tell them, "You know what?

We're going to give you two, three, maybe even four weeks vacation where you don't have to come into work and we're still going to pay you. Poor people can't fathom that someone would pay you and you don't have to come to work. But this creates more tension because now you're going to have fights in the family where to go on vacation.

Sometimes the teenagers will say, well, if that's where you're going, I'm not going, and they stay home. They sit around all day playing video games and watching television, eating the food in the fridge, using the magic credit card again that belongs to dad, getting their food delivered straight to their door. They don't even have to leave the house. They don't have to hunt and gather like so many others. Somebody else hunts and gathers for them and prepares it for them and brings it to their door. The article ends by saying, Rich people have layers of stress and complexity that poor people do not normally experience, and then it lets you know it's tongue-in-cheek. Well, newsflash. Let me just give you some numbers to help you determine whether or not you're rich, okay? The latest statistics. If you earn $100,000 or more, you're in the top 10% of wage earners in the world. That's right. $100,000 or more in your household or as an individual, you are in the top. 90% of the world is poorer than you.

If you make 50,000, even if you take it down to 50,000, you're still in the top 75%. You're in the top 25% rather. You are more wealthy than 75% of the rest of the world. Years ago, I went back to Zimbabwe. We went out to the rural areas and we were in this village and there was an older lady and she was just seated on a mat in the three mud huts where they live. She and her children, extended family all around her. And We had a team of Americans there, and I was there, and I should have governed it better, but we all sat down around her, and one of them started asking, one of the Americans started from the South, started asking questions. And the first question that this person from the South asked this older lady on a mat in Chittimoyal, a village, do you enjoy your life? That was the question. I could have probably thought of some better questions, but her answer was, oh, yes. I have a great life.

My daughter lives in that mud hut there. You know what a hut is, right? It's a hut concrete floor, that's it. And my kids live there, my grandkids are there. I only live a mile and a half from the river so I can go down and wash my clothes. And I get a bowl of Millie Mill every day because I have a nephew that owns grain and maize and he grinds it up. What's the best thing you know? My buddy Cam Huxford was with me, asked this lady. Oh, she goes, the best thing I know is Jesus. Now you think about this lady's existence.

washing your clothes in the river, bathing in the river when you can, eating a bowl of rice milly mill every day, maybe if you're blessed, having some vegetables with it. And she says she's got a great life. We go to Nairobi. My buddy Rick Reed and I, in fact, that's why he's not here. He's in Nairobi right now. And Stella will take us out for home visits. And I'll go and I'll sit there in the slums with a mother trying to raise three children. And I'm telling you, this stage would be probably three times the size of their homes.

Very small home, no heating, no air conditioning, tin roof, sweating, an old sofa that's probably, I mean, it's got to be, it looks like 100 years old, and that's their existence. And she goes out every day asking for work to wash somebody's clothes or to do some kind of menial task, hoping they'll pay her because there's no contract, and oftentimes she'll work all day and they'll refuse to pay her.

We went into one house and there was this little boy named Christopher. You've heard me tell this story. Christopher and I were just seated beside each other. I said, Christopher, what do you want to do when you grow up? He said, I want to be a pastor. Now, if you were me, what would you have done at that point? I talked to Stella. I said, Stella, what's it cost to get this boy into school? What's it cost to get him a uniform and food and the rent for this home so this kid can have an education? We're going to make a preacher out of him. $900 a year.

One out of every four people in urban areas in the world live in the slums. Okay, let me say that again. One out of every four people in urban areas in the world live in slums. The problem is that 55% of the world now lives in urban areas. In America, only 10% of Americans live somewhere near the poverty line. In America, if you make $70,000 a year, You're rich. You're one of the richest earners in the richest country in the world. In America, even if you're on the poverty line, you still have access to food, clothing, and housing, something that the impoverished world does not have. According to Numa Productions, we in the USA are 6% of the world's population, but consume over 40% of the world's resources. Did you hear that? We are only 6% of the world's population, but we consume almost half the world's resources.

8% of the people in the world own a car. 92% of the world would see us driving a car and say, wow, that was one of the rich people. You got a car? You're rich. 1 billion people have no clean drinking water. Hundreds of millions of people see us going to the tap and drinking water. Wow, there goes another one of those rich persons. 800 million people will not eat today. 300 million of them will be children.

1 billion people or more live on $1 to $5 a day. People see you with $10, $20, $40 in your pocket. There goes another one of those rich persons. Experts tell us that we could feed and nourish the entire world with $20 billion a year. The hungry. And that's what Americans spend on ice cream in one year. In heaven's name, Jeff, what's your point? It's not guilt. Why should we feel guilty about the blessings of God?

I don't think so. Why should I feel guilty about working and ordering and providing just like you do? Why should I feel guilty that God has blessed our nation with provisions that I believe are tied directly to the Judeo-Christian values upon which our country was built? Why should I feel guilty over the reality that God has made his face shine upon this nation primarily to his good graces and the reality that as imperfect as they were, our founders undoubtedly sought the will and purpose of the divine?

That's the point. Here's the point. You have been blessed above and beyond most of the rest of the world. That's the point. Congratulations. Congratulations. Why aren't you happy? I mean, why are we not jumping up and down? We're the rich young rulers. Oh yeah. When Jesus talks about the rich in the Bible, that's you and me. Now it may not be every single one of you. It may not be, but it's the majority. You got a house, you got a car, and you got food. You got food.

And you're not worried if you're going to have that tomorrow? You're the rich one. So let's practice together just so we get this together. I want you to repeat with me, God has blessed me with more than I need.

But God has blessed me with more than I need. God has blessed me with more than I need. And I don't want you to apologize for that. I just want you to realize that you have more water, more food, and more shelter than you need. In fact, here's the reality. You will lose or consume more in one year than most people on this planet will accumulate their entire lives. Who are the rich? We are. Number two, why is it difficult for...

us to enter the kingdom of God. Uh-oh. It was such a good story when it was somebody else, wasn't it? There are two primary scriptures that deal with this. Matthew 13, 22 is the parable of the seed and the sower. And the seed goes out and there are different kinds of soil upon which it lands. But verse 22 says, the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

And then in 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 10, but godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich have expendable income, fall into temptation that they trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. So what do we learn? First, the kingdom of God and eternal life are sown into our hearts. Our eyes have been opened. So we see things we've never seen, feel things we've never felt, do things we've never done. Fantastic.

But Jesus is trying to show you that although the gospel has been sown into your heart, although you have heard and you have understood, and you should be ecstatic that your eyes have been opened to the kingdom of God, you have to also understand that the enemy wants to rip it out and prevent it from going deep. And one of the most successful ways is to distract you with your wealth and to convince you that you're poor so that you'll keep chasing more and more of it. You won't have time for the kingdom of God.

That's the plan where you become absolutely useless in the kingdom of God producing no fruit so that the gospel gets choked right out of you. What is the ultimate indication that the gospel is being choked out of your life? Well, the gospel has been sown into your life, but you're not sowing into the gospel. Your greatest fear is not having enough. Your greatest fear is not that the kingdom of God will fail to prosper.

Your investment as a result into the kingdom is minimal at best and leftovers at worst. Second, those who spend their lives accumulating more and more of the things they don't need through debt or mismanagement, we're told are plunged into ruin and destruction. And you look at that, I think, really? Ruin and destruction? That's harsh. That's strong. First Timothy, some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

There are many griefs the wild pursuit of more brings. We know that. The family that pursues stuff tend to abandon their children, and the children tend to hate their parents. Financial stress because you're outspending what you earn is typical of marriage breakup in the first seven years. When you have insatiable appetites, and you've got to have every new gadget, every new thing, What happens is you get sucked into this and you will find yourself having to work even more to pay for things you don't need, which means you have no time for God, which means there's no fruit, which means you are a barren branch.

But do these things really keep a person out of the kingdom of God? Again, that's pretty harsh. Jesus says in Mark 10 verse 23, Jesus looked around and said to the disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed at his words, but Jesus said again, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who's rich to enter the kingdom of God. Now, What is the passage truly about? What is this story truly about? And you know what it's about? It is about the simplest of truths when it comes to your relationship with God. It is about the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before you. That's what it's about.

Jesus doesn't command everybody to go sell everything they have and give to the poor. That's preposterous. There are plenty of wealthy people in the book of Acts that supported Jesus' ministry. No. Why did he ask this man to give up his wealth? Because this man had an idol that he loved more and above and beyond the work of the kingdom of God. So Jesus said, I can't use you until you kill that idol. What is an idol?

An idol is anything a person gives ultimate worth, importance, or devotion to instead of God. Anything that takes the place of God in your heart, if you worship it, if you give ultimate worth to it, your joy and your contentment is based on that thing. Your hope and security, they're based on that thing. And the reason then it is difficult for rich people, you and me, to enter the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is because we are idolaters.

supported by the fact that we have not conformed our lives to the image of God's son. Now stay with me here. There's good news at the end. You're thinking, boy, I'm glad because it's pretty bad right now. Let's have a come to Jesus moment. Literally, let's have a come to Jesus moment.

What was Jesus like? The purpose of the Holy Spirit in us is to conform us to the image of Christ. So what was Jesus like? Well, you could say he's compassionate, yes. Dependent on God, yes. He removed himself often from the crowds to spend time with the Father. Humble, yes. He gave up treasures in heaven so that he would not lose us. But the one word that has described Jesus throughout his life and ministry and throughout early church history on up today is the one word, sacrifice. Sacrifice.

Remember when we put the word Yahweh on the board and I told you about my encounter with Rabbi Glick? Beautiful word, Yahweh. And in the Hebrew language, it's pictorial. So you've got yod means hands, outstretched hands. You've got vav, which means, or you've got yod-hei. You've got hei, which means behold or take notice. Vav in Yahweh means yod-hei, vav-hei. Vav means spike. And when hei is double, so yod-hei, vav-hei, Yahweh.

The second time when hey is repeated, it's behold, behold. So basically in the name of God, this is the point, and I had to do a short version there. I'm sorry if it was too fast. But Yahweh, in the very word Yahweh, the name of God that evolved into Yehovah because the Jews did not, the Hebrews did not repeat the name of God. So they repeated, they said the word Hashem, which means the name.

And then they combined Adonai and Yahweh and what they believed the vows to be in Adonai and came up with Jehovah. The point is the original term for God in the Bible is Yahweh. Pictorially, it means this, behold the hand, behold the nail. In the very name of God, is the idea that one day there was going to be great sacrifice, that God was going to send his son into the world. And Jesus did not pursue wealth. He pursued people. He did not pursue personal gain. He gave up his life. And if you and I are going to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, if we're going to follow him, that's what dirt road discipleship means. That means we're walking so close to Jesus that the dust of his feet are kicked up. It's kicked up into our face. All right. Dirt road discipleship. We're right behind him.

This has to be the overwhelming, defining characteristic of our lives. We give up things we love for things that we love more. Now, here's my question to all of us. We said that the reason Jesus said what he said to the rich young ruler is not because wealth is bad, but because wealth is the one thing he was unwilling to give up. It was his idol. Now, is money the one thing you refuse to give up? Then it's your idol.

You know how many times in ministry I've heard people say, well, I serve. Well, good for you. I'm glad you serve. But what they're saying is, well, I give my time. I don't need to give my money. Do you know why you won't give your money? It's your idol. That's why. And what do you do? Repent. That's what you do. And here's the proof. When we are forced to choose between the kingdom of God and more and more stuff, you know where your heart is. And Jesus told us this numerous times. Because if your heart is not right, you seldom choose the kingdom of God. You choose you.

The idea of sacrificing things we love for things we love more is absolutely foreign to us. Do you know why? Because we're idol worshipers. Now, I knew that I would have to give you a sense of practicality here, so I've done some research, and I'm going to give you that. So if you look at the chart, you've got the average salary and expendable income in Glendora, La Verne, San Dimas, Claremont, Rancho Cucamonga. You've got two numbers. The first number is the average salary and household, and the second number is the average expendable income.

So if you live in Glendora, that's probably what you make in a household. And that's how much money you have on the right, expendable income. Now, I know what you're going to do. You're going to do what I did. You're going to say, whoa, Pastor Jeff, you're crazy. There's no way you're going to tell me I got $24,000 a year in spendable income. You go get your bank statement and you add up everything you spend your money on that's not necessary. Not necessary. And you're going to be surprised of how much expendable income you have. And I know that because I did it myself.

Guilt conviction. Laverne, 104,000 household income, 23,000 expendable. San Dimas, hey, these are the facts. Hey, have you ever gotten a note from the bank and you're thinking, man, that's not right. That's not right. I have more money in the bank than that. And you call them up and you go through it and you find out, man, they're right every time. Every time. So you just stop doing it after a while.

And here's the sad part. The average giving in these five areas to charity is 1.3% unless you're a Christian. Then it goes all the way up to 2.5. So Jesus makes a one point percentage in your life. The stats on tithing, only 5% of Christians in America tithe.

And here's the beauty of this. Those who do tithe go far beyond near the 20% mark. So those who tithe, they don't just tithe. They go way past it. And you know why? Right? Because they believe the challenge in Malachi where God says to the people, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house and test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts. God says, if you'll do what I'm asking you to do, I'm going to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you.

and they actually believe it. So they start giving. And here's why, here's how they think. 5%. They think, wow, I started doing this and I don't know how this is happening, but I'm going to try a little more and I'm going to try a little more. Next thing you know, they're giving 20% away, but you can't out give God. Now, I was curious about two other categories quickly. How do millennials spend their money? Oh, these millennials. So if you're a millennial, Here's how you spend your money on average. Number one, I don't think I have a chart for this, but I'm just going to give this to you. If you're a millennial, 29 to 44, they tell us the age group, then you spend your money on dining, convenience, and coffee. Compared to the older generations, millennials spend more on restaurants and takeout and coffee and ride shares. More than half buy coffee that costs over $6 and 79% say they will splurge on hot restaurants.

They spend their money on experiences over possessions. Millennials prioritize spending on experience, travel, dining out, cultural things, or services or big ticket items. They're not really that interested in possessions as much as they are experience. They love online and convenient shopping. Oh, they love Amazon. They love to buy it. It shows up at the door the next day, big boxes and boxes and boxes. They love it.

and values and sustainability. Millennials often choose brands and products with sustainability and ethical values or social impact over the pure low price. I mean, we boomers, you know what we did? We went to save a lot. We went to big lots. Woo hoo! Not the millennials, I don't think so. Unfortunately, where the millennials are concerned, they only account for 11% of total US charitable giving.

yet they're 26% of the population. That means they're giving somewhere on average around $480 a year, a year. But their average salary in SoCal is 70,000 per year, which means they're giving $485 versus $7,000, which would be a tithe. Okay, let's get to the boomers. What about we boomers? What do we do? Well, we do like to eat out.

We like our food and eating out. We spend $6,000 per household per year, $500 a month on eating out. That's the average. We lead the way in alcohol spending. We like to drink, or you do, not we, somewhere around $50 a month.

Then here's where I fall into the category, coffee, $150 a month. Really? Well, that's five times 30. If you get a coffee every day and you know as well as I do, some of you hit it twice, baby, in the afternoon.

Here's the crux of the matter. Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? So I was talking to my staff, okay? And I reminded the staff, okay, remember, we have a large staff here.

We probably don't have as large a staff as most churches our size have. In fact, I know we don't. But I reminded our staff, do you realize you get paid for ministry? When you come into this fireside room and we take two hours to pray and sing and worship to God, you're actually on the clock. You're getting paid. Most people wouldn't have that experience. And speed of the leader, speed of the team.

So I challenged our staff, what is your faith costing you? I've asked myself that question many times. I get paid to do this job. Remember I told you I'd probably do it for free, but don't tell the elders, right? I mean, so we get paid. I mean, pastors in India and Africa are dying. I mean, they're living hand to mouth. I get paid. I got a car. I got a home.

What does my faith cost me? It's the same question for you though. What does it cost you? And it should cost you the only thing all of us have that we can give that most people can't, money. It should cost me. I should give to where it actually hurts me and I have to sacrifice something. Sacrifice is the way you identify the rich who are entering the kingdom of God. Now let's not forget though the two powerful statements that Jesus makes and then I'll finish. Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Oh, yeah. Can I tell you something? Jesus is looking at you and he loves you. You've blown this for a long time. He still loves you. He loves you. He'd like to take you back behind the woodshed, but he loves you. And he might. Hebrews, he may have to. The Lord disciplines those he loves and he's very patient, but he reserves the right to involve himself in woodshed ministry.

The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, who then can be saved? And Jesus looked at them and said, with man, this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. Here's your action point. Can I ask you to pray that God would change your heart? He can change your heart, but you got to be serious about it. You got to say, God, I am greedy and I want more and I want Amazon and I want the new gadget. God, I'm going to tell you, it's my idol and I need your help. Would you change my heart and stand back?

Because he will. If you really want him to, he will. And then for those of you that know better and you have for a long time, you need to grab your emotions by the scruff of the neck and do what you know is right and stop making excuses. In the room, there are three groups of people. There are those who have been at this church a long time and they have given and they have served all their lives.

And that's why a lot of us are here. We're living our lives on the back of their legacy. And I want to first of all thank you for all the sacrifice and all the service and all the giving that you've done. And let me just tell you, lean in, keep going. Even in that category, there are some of you that are using that thing. You know what? I give my time to the church. Yes. And you don't give your money because it's your idol. Did you hear me? You don't give your money because it's your idol. You're not going to give up what you love most. You'll give up your time because it's not your idol.

So don't pat yourself on the back thinking, I get my time. Okay, I'm glad you do. You give your money.

Then there's the new guard. There's a lot of people who've come over the last 18 months. I know you kind of got to get your feet wet. You got to say, "Do I really like this church?" Some of you think after today, no, so you go lay. I hope you don't do that, but that does happen sometimes. I know somebody's going to tell me every time I come here, you speak on money. I haven't spoken on money for a year, so if you only come when I speak on money, God's trying to tell you something. My goodness. Come on, man. You come once a year, I talk about money?

And the new guard, I need you to drop anchor and I don't need you to wait till next year. I need you to help us finish strong this year. And then there are some of you in this room. You are the rich of the rich. The fact is you could write a check for $10,000 and it would not hurt you one bit. Wouldn't change your lifestyle, would not phase you. Some of you could write one for 100,000. That's right. We have those people in our church. There are a select few that could write a check for a million dollars and it wouldn't hurt them. Yeah. That's not most of us.

And for those of you who fit into that category, the Holy Spirit's been working on you a long time. He's been messing with you and you know he's talking to you. When I just said it just now, you, oh man, he's talking about me. I hope he doesn't know it's me. And I'm just challenging you, obey God. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. And he tells them in 1 Timothy 6, be rich in good deeds. Lay up for yourself a good foundation for the time to come that they may hold or lay hold of eternal life.

So here's why I'm doing this now. Number one, I don't want to do it during Christmas. Once I start my Christmas series, beeline for the manger. I don't want to talk about it anymore this year, so I got to talk about it now. I need you. We just opened up a new canvas. I've done everything I could over these last 16 years to keep us out of major debt. There are times we thought about moving, but you know it's so expensive, can't do it. But we still have to grow.

So I need you. This year needs to be our best Christmas offering we've ever had. And when I tell you that we need a million dollars by the end of the year, we need a million dollars by the end of the year. Now, you think of that and you say, man, oh, Pastor Jeff, churches. Let me show you how easy this is. Let's bring up a chart here. Let me show you how easy this is because we have so many people in our church. If 1,500 people made a total pledge of $100, that's $50 in November and $50 in December. That would equal $75,000 right there.

And if 1,000 people who are capable of giving $150, 75 each month, that's another 75. If 700 people could give 250, 125, a monthly amount of 125, then that's another 87,000. 600 people able to give 500, 250 a month.

225 people able to give a thousand. So the most you would give, and I know there's a lot more people in this room capable of giving a thousand dollar pledge over two months, $500 a month. That's what it would take to get to a million dollars. That's how easy that is because we have thousands of people.

The problem is what we do is we tend to sit back and say, well, let's let the 20% take care of this and we won't give anything. See, if we do that, we don't arrive. But if everybody just gives a little, give up some lattes for November or December, give up something. It's so easily doable, easily doable. So I'm going to call the ushers and just hand your wallet over to, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Come on, let me have fun. Let me have fun too.

You know, you guys don't realize how hard this is for me. This is not my gifting. So we're going to take our offering. I'm not expecting you to do this right now. I mean, we are going to do our giving time. But I'm asking, come on, man, help. Man, our church is on fire right now. What we're doing in this valley, what we're doing with 1,000 young adults and sending them out into the valley, it's just, look, you're investing in something that's going to last forever. So keep going. Go strong.

And just ask God. I'll ask you to do. I'll never know. This is between you and God. I will never know. Now, I will tell you, if you write a check for a million dollars, I'll probably find out. I'm just going to be out. Somebody's going to tell me, hey, Sonia. But listen, I'm not going to go searching for those kinds of things. I'm asking each of you to pray and ask God which number he's asking you to deliver. And don't do the number that costs you nothing. That's the point. Do the number to hurt you a little bit. You might even have to trust God.

And that's when you get into that relationship and experience with God. Remember what Jesus told the disciples at the end? He said, nobody's left home. Brother, sister, mother, you've not left anything that you will not receive a hundred times as much in this present age. Homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields. So he gives you the challenge. Just test me, trust me in this and I will deliver. By the way, there's a second chart that we look at just quickly.

And this Jesus came up with this for me. He said, look, if you want to be simple, if your goal is a million dollars, you need 4,000 adults to give $250, a monthly page of 125. Come on, what do you spend $125 on a month? I guarantee you spend so much more than that on home deliveries and food and rest. Come on, this is California. You can't breathe without having to pay that. We can do it. That's the average cup of coffee per day is $5. That's $150 a month.

The average spent eating out is $11. Man, I don't know where they're going. It costs me about 20. But anyway, monthly cost $330. Even Chick-fil-A is almost $20 now. What's going on? And then the average spent on entertainment, $10 daily cost. I guess it's daily. So the point is it's doable unless, unless not everyone's in, but if everyone's in, we can do it.

This is the, you've heard messages, you've heard what's going on in Denver Chazanga's ministry and Ajay's ministry. And the one thing we've never wanted to do is do something that's caused us to stop being able to do that. And as I told you before, we couldn't anyway, because it's written in our bylaws. We're going to give 10 plus percent or more to missions no matter where we are. We're never going to sacrifice that so we can have something here, but we need you. Okay. Pray. Ask God to reveal to you.

what he wants you to do. And if your heart needs to be changed, ask God to change your heart because that word, the one word that really represents who we are is the word that most described Jesus' life. He left his home in heaven because the one thing he didn't have was you and me. He was willing to give up things he loved for something he loved more. And that's the call on everybody's life. Father, thank you for giving me the strength to deliver a message that is difficult.

that doesn't come natural. I pray that the people in the room would feel, first of all, your grace and love for you look at us and you love us. And then I pray that they would hear loud and clear the calling on all of our lives. The one thing that we have that a lot of the world does not have is you've given us resources.

And you've asked us to whom much is given, much is required, to sacrifice some things in our lives so that we could give to what matters most, the expansion of Christ's kingdom in this valley and beyond. Hear our prayer, O God, and work in our lives. And everybody said, amen.