Are you Generous or Are You Judas?

Revere Church is here. We're so excited family for what God is doing in and through this community. We are in phase two of building the house campaign and we want to invite you to join us. Our goal is to raise five hundred thousand dollars and this isn't necessarily to buying a building but we believe God is preparing a building for us and this would be for the renovations of that building. There's a few ways that you can give. You can text any dollar amount to 84321. You can give online at reverechurch.com. You can click the link in the chat box or come in person, fill out an envelope and drop it off in the boxes outside each theater. Enjoy the service. I think someone came all the way to church today to hear that reminder. I have a father and even through the trauma it cannot stop his plan for me. If this is your first time here, sometimes we turn up when it comes to worship because we believe that God is worthy of us worshiping him. If it gets loud it's because we have to shout what God has done for us. We're gonna go through this passage but I want to start right here. In John chapter 12, the verses are on the screen. Let me read this over us before we go through this verse by verse but John chapter 12 verse 1 begins with this. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived whom Jesus had raised from the what church? Oh that's interesting. He was dead. Now he's at a dinner party. Okay. Here a dinner was given in Jesus's honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Not only did people see what she had done but people smelled what she gave. Which let me just think through this passage as I was preparing for this week. What is love? Is love a word? Is love a feeling? Is love an expression or is love action? I'm gonna open us up with a word of prayer and we're gonna dive into the text today. God we come before you. We thank you for your living and active word. We honor you. We praise you. We thank you. To you be the glory God for everything that you're doing in this house and around the world in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Welcome to church. Turn to your neighbors. Say hello. Introduce

yourself and then go ahead and grab a seat. Online family we want to know where you are tuning in from. We want to know where you are watching from. So put in the chat box where are you watching from. Oh welcome to church. I'm excited. I love Sundays. Sundays are fun days for me and it's not necessarily because we get to come to church but it's because I love the idea and the concept that when your faith combines with my faith it's like a breeding ground for God to move. And I don't know why you come to church but if you're anything like me you might want to come to church because you want to see God move. If you come to church maybe it's because you were like I want God to speak to me. If only God could speak to me I want God to speak to me. Well be careful you pray that prayer because sometimes God does. Last year at the beginning part of last year I preached a message. I preached a message on faith and it was a message not birthed out of an ivory tower of seminary or learned education. It came out of a place of prayer. A pit of desperation. And the message was a faith message. It was about like believing God to do what looks absolutely impossible. And after church service people were incredibly kind. People came up to me after service and they were letting me know how their message resonated with them. Now I'm not saying that you don't like the messages but y'all never tell me if you do okay. So I'm out in the hallway and I just love saying hi to people and introducing myself and some of you guys act like I'm invisible and I'm not offended because offense is a choice. But sometimes I want to know like are you good? Do you love Jesus? Can your face show it? Okay and so but this particular Sunday y'all were real nice to me so thank you. And it was after third service and a girl came up to me and people who came up to me they were sharing with me what they felt was impossible for them and only God can do. But there was something about her talking to me about this. The desperation in her voice I resonated with. I felt that before. And I said hey can I pray for you? And she said yes. And she went on to explain that she needed $850 like that day or else she was gonna be kicked out of her apartment. Like she she didn't know where she's not from the area. She had nowhere to go. If I'm not mistaken her community wasn't here in this

community and so she literally had nowhere to go. She was panicked. And so I said okay I'm gonna pray for you. And as I was praying for her, I just felt like this hunch. Like, you should give her $850. Like, you can answer her prayer requests. So what did I do? I ignored that voice and blamed it on the burrito I ate the night before or something. We listen and we don't judge, okay? Don't sit here and judge me with your judgmental faces, family, uh-uh. Because I mean, let me tell you a little bit about that journey, that season in my life. I walked away from that conversation and said, there was no way God would want me to give her $850. Like, there's no way. Because I had just come out of a season of paying off insurmountable debt that I didn't know was taken out in my name. I mean, I was fighting a bloodbath against debt. I took my debt very seriously. I was like, absolutely not. If it's cold in the winter, I'm not gonna put on the heater. If it's hot in the summer, I'm not gonna put on the air conditioner. If people are going out of town on vacation, I'm not gonna go. I will not go out to eat. I will not get my nails done.

Just kidding, because my nails at Girls Are Here. I didn't give up my nails. There's just some sacrifices. Help me, Lord. Okay, so surely the Lord's not gonna help me finally be at a month where I get to save and have extra money. Surely he's not gonna have me give away $850. So we prayed and I was like, the Lord loves you. He's gonna make a way, right? I get in my car, I drive home. And I thought about this girl. I'm like, was I supposed to give her the money? No, no, I wasn't. I get home, I sit down and make something to eat. And I was kicking back on my couch and I opened up Instagram and I got a DM from this girl thanking me for praying over her. And I was like, fine, God, I got it, all right? I texted her back, I DM'd her back, and I said, hey, can you shoot me your cell phone number? And I zelled her $850. Well, don't clap for me, Kara, because you wanna know something? I was disobedient. I should've given it to her on the first time, all right? But here's the thing, here's the thing. We want God to speak to us, but when he does, are we going to obey? The reason why I felt so convicted

that I had to give her this money is because I had seen God move miraculously in my life. And now I get to be part of her testimony as God provides for her life. Does that make sense? Yes. It is that posture that I think of when I think about Mary and her response to God doing so much for her. She had experienced so much of Jesus's love that she could not help but respond with generosity. Now, I don't wanna spend a whole lot of time here, but the question I wanna ask as we go through her life and her story is this hard question. Am I generous? Can you ask yourself that question? Am I generous? Okay, so we're gonna dive into her story and learn a little bit about her life. Her story is so powerful. It's actually written in three out of the four gospels and not included in the passage that we read in the book of John, but Matthew and Mark include that the dinner party was held at a man named Simon's house. There's always this little detail with this man Simon when he's mentioned in the Bible, why? Because Simon was a leper. And I love that the detail says Simon was a leper. Like, can he get a new identity, please?

If he was a leper, they should be like Simon, the one with skin like baby's butt. That's what they should say because leprosy was a skin disease. And the reason why this detail was included was to give us an understanding. If he was a leper, he couldn't hang out with friends. He couldn't hang out at the place of worship, meaning he couldn't go to church. He couldn't hang out with loved ones because they believe that leprosy was contagious. So now Simon, the leper, has been miraculously healed by Jesus and he's hosting a dinner party for Jesus. That is the most epic thank you dinner party ever, okay? So now get that in context. And while they're having this epic dinner party to honor and celebrate the Lord, we see something happen that we just read and we're gonna read in a second. But when we encounter Jesus, like when you have a real encounter with Jesus, it should change the way that you think, it should change the way that you live, it should change the words that you use because our model is Jesus. And when you have seen him do powerful things, you cannot unsee that. You cannot help but be moved by that. And that was Mary's response. The response to Mary encountering Jesus

was this extreme act of love. And I don't wanna spend too much time here, but it's hard for me to talk about this passage, John chapter 12, in isolation. Because if we don't understand the context, we're gonna think like, okay, cool. What she did was cool. Oh, that was kind. But you need to understand why she did what she did. So we don't have time, because there's a whole other. For another day bear with me. I'm gonna make it short in John chapter 11 Just one chapter before we see the Lord do a miracle in Mary's life now as scripture tells us that Mary Martha and Lazarus they were all siblings and Mary and Martha we are told sends word to Jesus who is outside of their city their cities in Bethany He's Bethany. He's outside of their city and Scripture includes John actually includes it in John chapter 11 that Jesus loved Mary Martha and Lazarus So the two sisters are like, oh my gosh, let's call the Lord Let's call Jesus because he's out there healing and moving and touching people and they're witnessing the miraculous Surely he's gonna come and heal our brother They knew that Jesus was healing the lame the blind the maimed the deaf the cripple. So Jesus Jesus you love Lassie. Guess what Lassie's sick come back to Bethany and heal Lazarus for those that know the story Does Jesus go back to Bethany? No, he doesn't Why wouldn't Jesus go in fact, if you know the story Bible scholars Please shout back loud and proud if you know this and it's okay if you don't we're on a learning journey together Jesus waited how many days before he rolled up in to Bethany Four days, huh? That's interesting Bible scholars Why did the Bible include this detail that he waited four days and in that time? Lazarus was dead. He's gone. He's in the grave girl by like they wrapped him in grave clothes

He's tucked away in his tomb. He's dead. Jesus waited four days. Why did Jesus wait four days? Why was this detail included? According to early oral tradition There was this mystic group of rabbis and Jews that believed that the soul would linger outside of the body for three days Why is that because in Hebrew the word neshama is the same for breath and soul? The word is synonymous So they believe that the soul can linger outside of the body for three days and tell me How many days later Jesus roll up into Bethany? Four days. Yes, and when he rolls up people are shook. Wait, you said that you loved Lazarus. What what happened? Why didn't you come you could have saved him and you did it on the fourth day Jesus rolls up into town and Everyone is like, what is he gonna do? Mary we read in John chapter 11 is at the feet of Jesus and she asked Jesus a question That most of this room have asked at some point before if you would have been here my brother would have lived And you might have asked that same question You could have changed this and you didn't God's timeline and our timeline are so different See Mary gets to witness the saving grace of her brother Sebastian of her brother Lazarus. I know. Oh my gosh telling myself Mary gets to witness Jesus perform a miracle and Lazarus who is in the grave is Healed and it comes out and is alive That was a Freudian slip. But let me tell you why? Ah Sorry, I have a brother I have a brother and I've been praying for him for years. I've been sharing with this community Um his battle with mental health and addiction and I feel like God had rescued my brother from the grave and my brother was actually here in second service and we got to worship together and and when I take a look at the life of Mary and what she did I understand Why she did what she did because there was no other act of saying. Thank you Thank you Thank you for healing my brother

So I want you to go there in the theater of your mind. The night is set We know it's nighttime because it's they're having a dinner party. So the Sun is setting over the Israeli Sun sunset and there's dishes on the table filled with falafels and hummus and pita bread and fish and there's Olive oil and there's glasses of wine out on the table and there at this table. There's the The sinners and the Saints and the lovers and the haters and the dissenters and the rabbis and the disciples and they're all there and I want you to be at this dinner party and see who is at the table. And what did they see? What do they think? What do they hear? What do they feel in my mind's eye? I could see them at the dinner party. Okay in my mind's eye James and John also known as the sons of thunder are arguing between themselves and kicking each other under the table Like I'm the best. No, I'm the best I'm gonna sit his right hand because they're kind of the meatheads of the New Testament They argue about who was gonna sit the right hand of God who else is at the table? Peter is probably at the table running his mouth had foot and mouth disease and he's just getting himself in trouble We know that Judas is there and Judas was a Zionist who wanted to overthrow the Roman government So he's getting frustrated that Jesus is like, are you not gonna take them out and and Simon is there and Simon's like Ah, look at my skin looking shiny and good scripture also includes that Martha was there and she was busy doing things like hello That's her mo. She's busy doing things and then Mary gets up and does something That no one is expecting look at verse 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard a Pint is 12 Roman ounces what we would consider a pound. It is a pound of perfume an Expensive perfume scripture says and this is the equivalent to our day and age of roughly $55,000 she poured it the book of Mark records that she broke the bottle and if you break a parfum You know that oxygen will take the scent away So if she broke it, it's meant to be entirely used Matthew includes that she poured it out on Jesus John writes that she poured it out on Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair Mark and Matthew include that it was from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet and the house was filled with the fragrance of perfume Now washing feet for esteemed guests was common and still is common in the Middle East

However, it's done by the slaves of the house. Never the owner of the house or a guest Mary was a guest in Simon's house Mary got into the lowly position of a slave to do something Extravagant and the interesting thing for me that I've discovered is the word extravagant and the word generous are synonymous So this was an extravagant generous act of love She is all in and scripture says and the house was filled with the fragrance of perfume My prayer for this community as we're talking about our values in this series is that we would smell Like a sweet perfume that that people would walk in and be like I smell Jesus. I smell hope I smell freedom. I smell forgiveness. There's there's something different here I smell Jesus and we are the ones that are pouring out perfume on the feet of Jesus that when people walk in There's something different here now this in and of itself is a beautiful act of gratitude a Beautiful act of someone being so grateful that gratefulness expresses itself in love But I need us to understand what that perfume represented So theologians people who study the Bible believe that this perfume was considered a dowry. What's the dowry? when a young single woman would be presented to a family to get married a dowry would be the estimated value of her life To the family who's going to inherit her to help take care of them and their family as they have taken her on does that? make sense so the total value of Mary's life was broken and poured on the body of Jesus Everything that you are everything that represents you was poured on the feet of Jesus This was everything that she had Why was this so moving? as a single woman in this society a Single woman would have no rights to property would have no financial access and would have no covering With her brother being her financial access with her brother being her covering with her brother being her status in society Jesus didn't just heal Lazarus

Jesus restored those areas that protected her. Do you understand the weight of this gift? She could not help but take everything that she had what is the greatest thing that I have and Give it to Jesus in this generous act of extravagant. Love and If you're not moved yet in this time Especially as a single woman Your hair was to be covered and in the Middle East still to this day Your hair as a woman, especially as a single woman is only to be seen by your husband and your family so at some point Mary slips out from the dinner party and goes and pulls out an alabaster jar a Vial that represented her entire life and at some point during the conversations during the debates during the laughter and the cacophony Of people who are once dead and now alive people who are once sick and now healed of celebrating Jesus This woman comes in and quietly breaks the perfume bottle, she removes the head covering and she begins to pour out oil and anoint Jesus from the top of his head down to the soles of his feet. And as she's there, the head covering is removed, the hair comes down, and in my mind's eye, I could see her so moved because of everything that Jesus has done for her. You've healed my brother. Todah Rabbah. Todah Rabbah, Messiah. Todah Rabbah, Rabbi. Thank you. Todah means thank you in Hebrew. Todah Rabbah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you for everything you've restored. Thank you for everything you've given me. Thank you for bringing my brother back from the grave. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And then she takes her hair and she begins to wipe the feet of Jesus. Why is this significant? If this has not taken your breath away, I'm going to check your pulse to see if you're living because this is a moment. She takes her hair down, she's wiping it. Why is this significant? Paul the apostle says in 1 Corinthians that a woman's hair is her crown of glory. If we're following the line of theological truth together, she's taking the crown of her glory and she's putting it as a rag on the feet of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you for healing my brother. Thank you for restoration. Thank you for everything you've done. So we think about generosity. I ask, are you thankful? Are you generous? Are you grateful for everything that God has done? This act was something that would have made the room go absolutely silent. Mouths would have been open. The jaws would have dropped. You would hear people like take in their breath as her hair comes down untangled from a top knot on her hair

and is used as a rag at the feet of Jesus. Oh, there would have been murmurs. There would have been whispers. People would have been talking. The shock not only came in what she gave, but the shock came in how she gave it. Does that make sense? What an act of lavish love. You want to know something? There's always a cost to generosity. Always a cost of generosity. There's a financial cost. There's a social cost. Because not everyone is going to understand or know why you're doing what you do. Mary was accustomed to being on the floor though. When she ran at the feet of Jesus, when Lazarus died, she fell at his feet and said, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. She's weeping. Then she was also at the feet of Jesus when she was studying. In my mind's eye, not a lot of women are there. Martha is clearly in the kitchen and she's irritated that her sister wants to be a student and a scholar while she's busy doing everything else. Jesus said, no, your sister has chosen the right thing to worship. Mary is at the feet of Jesus as she's learning from Jesus. Here she's at the feet of Jesus as she's wiping his feet with her hair. This is extravagant generosity. Finally, Judas blurts out what everyone in the room is thinking. John doesn't include this detail, but Matthew and Mark do say that other people began to whisper. We pick this up in verse 4. One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who is later to betray him, objected. He said, why wasn't this perfume sold and money given to the poor? It's worth a year's wages. Now, Judas points out, hey, this is a lot of money. We could have been generous. We could have been good people by giving this money away. And Mary's act makes no economic sense. It feels like a waste. And here in this narrative, we see the beautiful and painful reality that depicts our human heart. Are we Mary or are we Judas? For those that encounter the love of God, we want to be generous. We want to be generous. We want to give, right? But then there's that other part of our heart that's like, yeah, but dude, I could think of 101 ways to spend the money that God has given me. So the question I'm asking is, are you generous or are you Judas? That's the title of our message today. And yes, it took me a while to get there because the value that we're talking about here in this series, We Are Revere, is generosity. And I know that if I were to start the sermon and said, today we're talking about generosity, you would have turned me off. You would have checked out because money is funny and people feel away when we talk about money. But the truth of the matter is, is that here at this community, in this house, I don't talk about money a lot because it makes me it reveals some deep things and ways that I feel about my relationship with money. I grew up poor and I never, ever, ever want to be like thirsty or like in need. My God has provided all my needs.

But at the same time, as I've been a pastor, I'm realizing, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It is my responsibility to give you the full counsel of God. And I'm like, wait a minute, I am not gonna keep a blessing from them by teaching them the full counsel of God about the lives that we get to live of blessing and abundance when we follow his way. So I don't wanna keep a blessing from you and I don't want a curse to be on me. Cause woe to me as a teacher if I don't tell you the word of God because I'm afraid of it making you feel uncomfortable or I'm afraid of you feeling offended by it. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The reason why I speak boldly about this isn't just because the Bible speaks about finances or the Bible tells us what we should do with our finances. That's not the only reason why. I'm walking in abundance and blessing because I've obeyed the word of God. Maybe you're here and you're like, well, you know, it's my job and it's my money. Well, God is the giver of your health. God is the giver of the favor that you had to receive that job. God is the giver of your family and the wealth that you have today. So wait a minute, if we know that scripture says every good and perfect gift comes from the father above,

that he has been so generous to us, our response should be extravagant generosity. Now I know, I know some people are like feeling away and they're like, oh, we're talking about money. Okay, let's not talk about money. Let's talk about our health. Let's speak about this from a health perspective. If I go for my annual physical and I have been obeying the laws of good health, I am saying no to flaming hot Cheetos and I'm working out often and I'm drinking 90 ounces of water a day. I'm obeying the law of good health. I'm gonna go to the doctor and he's gonna poke and he's gonna prod and he's gonna ask me questions and I'm not gonna have any pain because I'm in good health. Now, if you go to the doctor and you haven't been following the laws of living a good and healthy life, they're gonna poke and they're gonna prod and you might say, ouch. If you say, ouch, it reveals that there's something wrong on the inside. If you come to church today and you're like, we're talking about money and you find yourself saying, ouch, it's because there's probably something wrong on the inside. When we talk about giving and finances, we should be oh so overjoyed

because God has so generously given to us that we cannot help but pour out our love and act of obedience. Now, I have to admit, when we talk about money, it might make people feel away. There could be trust issues or stewardship issues. Maybe you have questions. I totally get that and I say this with pride, like legit, God-fearing pride. In this community, we have stewarded the finances of God so well and so beautifully. We've never been in the red. We've paid all of our bills. Not only are we saving for a future building, but in addition to that, we actually abide to the principle of tithing as a church. You don't give to a church, you give through a church. We are very, very generous and I am so excited about that. We as a church have grown also in our understanding of tithing and our practice of generosity and giving and over and above and I get it. Maybe you're here like, well, we could trust the church, but I don't know if we could trust you. Okay, no problem. Here's something about me. I don't touch the finances, like at all, ever. I never touch the money in this house. Not because I'm better, because A, I am homeschooled. I'm good with words, not good with money. If you try to put money in my hand,

I will say thank you so much. The offering box is over there. You wanna make a donation to the church? Thank you so much, give it to Pastor Eric. The math won't math with me, okay? You wanna know why? It's called the fear of God. If you ever wonder why I don't touch the finances in this organization, number one, I don't wanna go to jail, all right? I am too cute for jail. I will minister to inmates. I will not be an inmate to the glory of God. Number two, I don't wanna go to hell, all right? One-way ticket to heaven, that's me. I don't wanna mess with God's money. No, no, no, no, no. I wanna follow the life of Mary who didn't give out of righteous obligation. She didn't give what was required of her. She gave above and beyond out of who she was. John makes it very clear that Judas wasn't concerned about the poor. Let's pick up on the tattletale. He says this in verse five. Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. And then John says, come close, I got to teach. All right, you wanna know why?

Look it, look it, listen. I think he's Latino because Latinos love to throw shade. He's like, he didn't say this because he cared about the poor. He did it because he was shady. He did because he was a thief. As a keeper of the money bag, he used to keep, he used to keep, he used to help himself. I can't read. He used to help himself to put, I'm putting the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable. He used to help himself. to what was put into it. Oh, yes, yes, yes. A little for me, a little for you. That's what's going on. All right, great. So when thinking about this narrative, more often than not, we are prone to think of ourselves as Mary and not Judas. We're the ones that give, I worship the Lord and I raise my hands and I sing really loud. That's awesome. But is that obedience or is that a feeling? Is that an emotion or is it an action? See, the truth is we have to ask ourselves, am I Mary or am I Judas? Because the Lord has entrusted his bag to you. The Lord entrusted his bag to Judas, but the Lord has entrusted his bag to you.

What is that? His wealth. Your health is wealth. Your job is wealth. Your relationships are wealth. Your life is wealth. The Lord has entrusted that to you. And Micah 3 says to bring our tithes to the Lord. If we are not tithing, we are not obeying God. Do you know that you can't even consider that you're a generous person unless you obey the first principle of tithing? So are you generous or are you Judas? I don't mean this for shade. I mean this because we are revere and we need to have an honest conversation about not just who we are, but how we live. I'm so proud of this community. I am so proud to see what God has done and how God has taken what we have given and he's multiply it to impact the globe. When I say the globe, I'm talking about the globe. I'm so proud of seeing people's lives transformed because they're applying biblical principles of stewardship and finances to their life. This is amazing. This is beautiful and this is good. At the same time, we need to be honest about areas that we need to grow. If this is revere and we're talking about our values.

I had a conversation with Pastor Eric. I've been talking about us moving and getting into a new building. And I have to make a critical decision in three weeks where we're gonna go. And I don't know where we're gonna go. In fact, I'm gonna invite you in shamelessly. Will you pray for me? The pressure feels so overwhelming. It really does. Because in speaking to Pastor Eric, how he has deduced giving patterns, tithing, attendance, people in community groups, he said that we are a church of 2,500 people. And I'm so proud that so many people call this church home. But then he also shared with me some interesting information. He said that of the 2,500 people that call this church home, only 17% tithe. But the math ain't mathing. So 17% of people are covering 100% of this organization? He said, yeah. I said, I think that people think, oh, someone else will do it. Someone else will tithe. Hey, that someone else is you. You're being invited into giving back to God what he has so generously given to you. And it's not just tithing, it's how we live our lives. I mean, let's talk about the building campaign. We've been talking about this for eight months

and I understand it's hard to give to something that you can't see, but isn't that faith? If you can see it, is that faith? I'm asking people, I'm inviting people into believing that God is gonna provide where he guides, period, full stop. He can do anything, but he wants to use us so that we can be part and witness the miracle of what's going on. When Pastor Eric told me that we have 2,500 people that are part of this church and only 333 people actually gave to the building campaign, it made me really question like myself, what am I doing wrong? What am I not communicating? How are we not obeying what the word of God says? And I realized, I was just thinking about this this week, it's been eating at me. And I had a conversation with God and I was just like praying in my head. And again, I don't hear God. I'm jealous of people who hear God. I'm not a hearer. I just felt like this nudge. I was praying for you, I was praying for this community and asking God, where do we go and what do we do? And I felt very clearly like this impression that God was nudging me by saying, the people want to be generous. You're a generous people,

but they don't know how to be generous. Because if it comes down to paying my mortgage or giving to the church, the mortgage is gonna win. But it's not a financial issue. We are a very wealthy people. Side note, if you live in Orange County, you rich. Like you rich, rich, okay? In the global world population, like you filthy rich, all right? It's not that we don't have money. It's that we don't know how to steward it correctly. And the Bible is teaching us how to manage our money. And we're like, nah, I'll do my own thing. I'll figure it out my way. So as I was praying and preparing for today, I was like, wait, wait a minute. We offer Financial Peace University here within our congregation. And I was reminded as I sensed that God was saying that we are generous people, we wanna be generous people, we don't know how. My mind flashed back to a girl in this community by the name of Tani. I've known Tani for years. Tani's been here in this community for four years. And when she first came, her life was a mess. Her finances were a mess. She was drowning in debt. She went through Financial Peace University, FPU, and her admission.

my first service, she was here as my witness to testify. She said, my life has transformed because of Financial Peace University. And of course, as a pastor, I mean, I had to correct and be like, through Jesus and then FPU. She said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But through FPU, Financial Peace University, she said, I learned how to manage my finances. I learned to be generous. I learned to give back to God. She now is an independent business owner. She is not in debt, and she is living very financially secure, and I'm so proud. And so, yeah, clap for Jesus, clap for Tani. But clap for yourself. I was so convicted about this word, and I need you to know that as a community, we are doubling down on educating you on stewardship, that Financial Peace University, there's a cost for the class. We're covering the entire cost for the class. While there, wait a minute, there's costs for the booklet and the things that you need, yes, and we are paying for it. Because we believe that we are gonna teach you the principles of the Bible, and your lives are gonna be transformed. And this free class, which is usually not free, actually closed down last week.

But I pulled a pastor card. I said, the Lord rarely speaks to me like this, and if he does, we need to move. So I pulled pastor privilege, and I said, I need people to volunteer to lead some more recourses. So we launched not one, but two Financial Peace University courses online, one on Monday, one on Wednesday, for free 99, but there's only 30 spots. So if you want them, you have to go sign up. When I tell you that we wanna be a people like Mary, who know how to give generously, that's what I want. Look at the words of Jesus. When Judas is out there throwing his shade, he says, leave her alone, Jesus replied. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. And here's the thing. When you have been deeply touched by the grace of God, you cannot help but respond in insane ways. Extravagant love, receiving extravagant love comes with radical obedience, radical generosity, and whatever you love the most, you will give the most to. Although Mary didn't know the details of why she was anointing Jesus, bear with me, because I was so excited as I was studying this this week, and how these powerful points came together.

There was a prophetic understanding of Mary's anointing of Jesus. Why do we know this? Mary didn't say why she was anointing Jesus, it was an extravagant act of love. But in Hebrew tradition, when somebody dies, they must be anointed before being buried. Stay with me, stay with me. Jesus was crucified five days later on a cross, on a high holy holiday. That holiday was Passover. Jesus had to get down on the cross before sunset. They were rushing to bury him, so they pull him off the cross, they wrap him in linen, and they bury him without what? Anointing him. They bury Jesus without anointing Jesus. How do we know this? Because on the day that we recognize as Easter, three women went to the tomb to go do what? Anoint him. Mary anointed Jesus for his death. Isn't that giving? I don't know why I'm giving or where it's going, but it's gonna be for the glory of God. I want him to take my very best. I want him to take my very best. This is gonna bring God glory. This is gonna make a way for God to move. And where do we get this insane amount of generosity from?

We learn it from our God, who in John 3, 16, says that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. That is insane generosity, that God would so love us, the wretched and the ratchet, that he would send his son, Jesus, to forgive us of our sin and live a life of forgiveness and mental hygiene and health and wholeness. That is the God that we serve. That is why I believe in this community, we will be a fragrant aroma to the community and the globe of what God is doing in here. We are going to be people who revere Jesus and will do anything to anoint him with the totality of what represents us. Say, have it all. Todah Rabbah, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for everything. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you for how you've forgiven me. Thank you for making me whole. Thank you for restoring my mind. Thank you, thank you. Take this as my offering to you. So my response to you is what is your response to the generous love of Jesus? Are you Judas? Are you generous? May our life be a sweet aroma unto the Lord. I'm going to pray for us and then

my invitation to you is to give back to God an offering of praise. Maybe you're new to church, maybe you're new to these songs. The lyrics are on the screen for a reason, because we want you to participate in worshiping God and giving him what is rightly his. So Spirit of the Living God, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you God for what you have given us. Thank you for your generous act of love. We give you our worship, we give you our life, we pour it out unto you like a sweet perfume broken at your feet. Take what we consider to be our glory, our crown of glory, and may we use it as rags at your feet. We honor you, we praise you, we love you, we thank you in Jesus name, amen. We hope you enjoyed service today. If you want to say yes to Jesus, you can click the link in the bio. If you want to make this house your home by joining a regroup or recourse or joining our Revere Serve team, you can also click the link in the bio. And if you are part of our online family and you've been giving online, we just want to say thank you. You are part of loving on our local and our global community. Because of your generosity, we are able to take the word of God further than we could ever imagine. So thank you.