The Gift or the Grasp
Tribe
2026-10-04

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Picture comes alive for us and that's what we're going to look at this evening. So, the first place that we're going to turn is in the book of Genesis. So, if you have your Bible with you this evening, let's turn to Genesis chapter three. We're going to read a few verses together that I'm sure are familiar to many of you if you have had a Bible for a while. Genesis or as one of my mentors used to say, Genesis.

I don't know why you would say it that way but he would say it that way and he was awesome. So, tonight, it's Genesis. Genesis chapter three and I'm going to start reading. We're going to read just verse one through nine and they are up here on the screen. So, I will start reading.

Now, the serpent was the shrewdest of all of the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day, he asked the woman, did you, did God really say you must not eat of the fruit of any of the trees in the garden? Of course, we may eat from the fruit of the trees in the garden, the woman replied. It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, you must not eat it or even touch it for if you do, you will die.

So, she's quoting God. Is that an exact quote of what God said? No. What part did he did Eve either add or leave out? Exactly.

God never said you must not touch it. He said, of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good need of evil, you must not eat. He never said, you can't touch it. Just... Okay.

Verse four, you won't die, the serpent replied to the woman. God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil. The woman was convinced, like, if that's not the world's easiest sales pitch, She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom that it would give her. So, she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then, she gave it to her husband who was with her and he ate it too.

At that moment, their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So, they sewed fig fig leaves together to cover themselves. There's nothing wrong with the human body, whatever shape yours is in. God made it beautiful. That's not the point of this passage.

Okay. Verse eight, when the cool evening breeze were breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. What was that like? And so, they hid from the Lord among the trees. Then, the Lord called to the man.

Adam, where are you? I'll have to keep reading. Verse 10, he replied, I heard you walking in the garden so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked. Verse 11, we gotta keep going.

Who told you that you were naked? The Lord God asked. Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat? We'll stop right there. Ugh.

Even in just that, those few verses alone, there would be so much gold to mine and to unpack and to consider and to search out. But this is one of two passages that we're going to look at this evening. The second passage is in our favorite book. Yeah. If you've been with our tribe fam for a while, we spent we spent like a fortnight in the book of Leviticus a few years ago.

Wasn't it great though? Yes. Yeah. Good answer. So, we're going to turn to the next passage.

Leviticus chapter 23. We're going to read verses 39 through 44. Leviticus twenty three thirty nine through 44. I'll read it. Remember that this seven day festival...

Oh, okay. Here's what I want you to be looking for as we read this next passage. Look for similarities, either in grammar, sentence structure, thematically, other connections. So, I don't want to ever be found guilty of baby birding you. I don't want to do all of this whip up an amazing meal, and then you come to church and you just go like this.

Ah. And then I dribble it right into your mouth, already chewed, and all you have to do is swallow, that raises weak Christians. I want you to consider for yourself. I want you to think for yourself. I want you to dig into the text for yourself because often times, as you know, when we have a discussion about these passages, your insights, your comments, or your questions are things that I never even saw or thought of and I learned from you as well and so, I won't baby bird you if you won't baby bird me.

Deal? And everybody said, deal. Verse 39, look for the similarities. Remember this seven day festival to the Lord, the festival of shelters or in your translation, it may say the festival of booths or it may say the festival of tents or it may say the feast of Sukkot. Begins on the fifth day of the appointed month.

After you've harvested all the produce from the land, the first and the eighth day of the festival will be days of complete rest. On the first day, gather branches from magnificent trees. Magnificent palm fronds, boughs, leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams. Then, celebrate with joy before the Lord, your God for seven days. You must observe this festival to the Lord for seven days every year.

This is a permanent law for you and it must be observed in the appointed month from generation to generation. For seven days, you must live outside in little shelters. All native born Israelites must live in shelters. This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God and so, Moses gave the Israelite these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the Lord.

This conversation that we're going to have tonight flows particularly well because at sundown this evening, which we are about in, is the last day of the annual feast of Sukkot. So, Jews all around the world, even in Jackson Hall, are winding down celebrating and honoring this feast. And so, I think it fits. It pairs quite well. Now, it is your turn.

We have a mic that we can run around through the room. I would love to hear what your thoughts are. The reason why we have the mic in the room is so that everybody who is watching the livestream or will go back to watch the conversation that we're going to have this evening, they get to hear your wonderful, insightful contribution to our conversation this evening. And so, what similarities or what parallels or what connections do you see and let me just say this, if you are sitting there and you're like, oh boy, I they're both in the Bible. Okay, you're off to a great start.

So, if you're having trouble making connections or overlaps, it's okay, alright? So, I'd love to hear from you. What observations do you see in the text that match one another or are similar or connections that you're making? What do you see? Lisa has the mic in the room.

I'm gonna just walk to Nancy if no one else.

Slowly making her way.

Well, I I did

see you. Okay. Well, I do have this to say.

They pick on me. We've got some new visitors here tonight. You aren't gonna leave them a bad impression.

And no. They're they're... They should see how tribe is normally. And so.

I'm just older and wiser. Okay?

Well, she just turns around. She's gonna talk to him.

Well, he was given directives like. Oh. On the Sabbath, you will rest on that seventh day.

Okay.

Like, don't eat from that tree and you will rest. So.

Okay. Alright.

He was given instructions.

Ah, yes. In the garden, God gave Adam and Eve instructions. Right. And in this passage in Leviticus, we can see God giving instructions. Right.

Okay. Alright. Alright. I'll allow it.

Thank you, Jane and then Colin.

Kinda just to build off of what Nancy said instead of looking at God as someone who puts a lot of rules and is really harsh, it's kind of like putting a fence around your home as protection to bless you. So kind of the same thing with the fruit. He kind of maybe sounded like a mean God. Don't eat that thing that looks so beautiful and yummy. But when God, like, gives you, you know, something to obey him that is something you shouldn't do, but you want it so bad.

Everyone else does it. Listening to him is really just for your protection, your health, and like the day of rest, like that could seem really unproductive to a lot of people, oh but I can't, but really it's his protection to like bring more health to your body, to rest like he did and reset. So I think sometimes looking at God's commandments not as these harsh rules but as offense that protects you and keeps you healthy and on the right path is something that I've been kinda trying to look at.

Oh, that's good. Two things. Number one, hold on to what you're saying because we're gonna come back around to it. Thank you for pulling a fill on me. And then number two, what you're what you're saying is, I see God's protection in the form of fence in both of these passages.

That's great. Yes. Yes. Insightful. Colin, what do you have?

Maybe it's not a connection. I was just thinking, yeah, Adam and Eve, it says, so they hid from the Lord amongst the trees. And then in the shelter, you're maybe not hiding, but you're burrowing away or you're you're staying in your shelter for... In the... Made of trees for...

Oh. I like it. In both passages, trees are mentioned. There you go. Okay.

Let's do let's do this. Let's do this. Let's... I'm gonna put up both of these passages next to one another and it's in this next slide here. So take a look at the screen.

If you're listening to the podcast, it's gonna be tough for you, you should just switch over to YouTube. And for me, there's a there's a monitor in the back of the room, even though it's really on a large screen, it's still challenging for me to read, but you have it here, maybe it's a little closer for you. So these two passages are are both on one page. Genesis on the left, Leviticus on the right. Then, I've gone ahead and I've highlighted either words or phrases that are either identical or near identical.

This is a good spot to go, Did you ever think that there would be that many parallels or connections? We've talked about this at Tribe many times. The Bible often uses a literary technique to help us draw intended hyperlinks to key principles and that literary term is called thematic keyword repetition. These two passages are a great example. How you can take two seemingly unconnected passages as you read them in the larger context of the story.

Okay, I'm reading about Genesis, the fall of man. Okay, Adam and Eve sin in the garden. Okay, that's a bummer and then you go on with the narrative. You get all the way to the book of Leviticus and Leviticus has a bunch of laws and rules and we get to the feast of the Lord and then we get to the feast of Sukkot. Okay, you need to do all this stuff and celebrate it for seven days and live in shelter.

Okay and perhaps, your brain as you were reading Leviticus, which hopefully you do because it's very nutritious for you. Maybe when you got to Leviticus chapter 23 and you read about the feast of shelters, maybe your brain never made that jump back to Genesis three but look, it's been in your Bible this whole time. Look at all of the similarities. First, I want to point out in Genesis chapter three, the woman saw that the tree that's in green. Leviticus in verse 40, tree is common.

Then, at the end of verse six, she took, that's in blue and then in Leviticus 23 and verse 40, it says, you shall take, take and took are different conjugations of the same verb. Some of it's fruit In Genesis, fruit is also similar in Leviticus 40. And they knew that they were naked. Is similar in Leviticus. Look all the way down at verse 43 to know.

And then in Genesis verse eight, the garden, walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, Leviticus chapter 23 verse 40, you yourselves on the first day and then, from the presence, they hid from the presence of lord in Genesis but then in Leviticus 23, you're supposed to do something in in his presence. Adam and Eve hid from his presence but God is giving an instruction in Leviticus 23. I want you to do this in my presence, not behind me, not hidden from me, but right in front of me. Are you with me so far? Okay.

I have I've I am the lead pastor of Tribe, but I'm seeing tonight, once again, I have I'm a teacher. Like, my gift is teaching. And, yeah, that makes sense. Okay, I got another chart for you. Go to that next slide, please.

If you ever wanted to know those words in Hebrew, here they are and so I just broke, I just broke those words down. So, you can see the parallel she took and then in Leviticus, you shall take. In Genesis, from its fruit and then in Leviticus fruit, these are either the same or the very similar words. That is the response that makes my heart thrill. Trees, trees, they knew so that they may know the day on the day in the presence from or in the presence of before in the presence of Yahweh is repeated.

Yahweh is repeated. God, Adonai, and God is repeated there. So, how many in those few verses, how many words are repeated between both of those? Count. How many?

Eight. Eight. Similarities. Now, we know that in the Old Testament, perhaps even in the book of Leviticus, when a person goes to court, accusations are brought against them in order for a matter to be confirmed or ratified. The Bible says, the testimony of how many or more witnesses must have a cooperating story?

Two or three witnesses. How many do we have here? Eight. So what I'm trying to say is, God is yelling at us, not in a mean way, but in a pay attention to this. There's something here that he wants to impart to our hearts.

This is really important. Eight similarities within just these few verses, something's going on. Are you following me so far? The question is, What's he up to? Let me ask you.

What is he up to with these two passages? There's something that he has for us. Oh, a question.

You're quick. So you're talking about the similarities and I don't know why my brain is seeing the differences.

Oh, okay.

Because I mean in Genesis they are doing what the Lord told them not to do. Oh. In Leviticus, he's telling them what to do to praise him and to obey him. Well, obey and obey but they didn't obey in Genesis. So I don't, you know, that's that's just not working in my head like that.

I think that that that it's a little bit of a burr under your saddle as you're trying to sort it out. And that burr under the saddle is there for itching. You got to scratch, like what is going on? Take the saddle off, take the blanket off, let's get down to it. What is he...

What could he be getting at? Were you going to share something? Okay. Okay. I'm coming.

I'm coming.

Oh, sure.

Thing that I saw was redemption. It looks like the Lord is trying trying to redeem. It would say... Like in Genesis, you know, I don't see it exactly now, but she... Eve took from the fruit.

And then in Leviticus, he says, I want you to take this fruit on the Na Na Na day. So that's the word that came to my mind initially. And that's God's character in nature of course.

So rightly discerned Amanda that is part of God's intention. Our God is a God of redemption. In the pantheon of other Gods out there, only only the God of the Bible is a God of redemption. I'm going to redeem, God says in his heart, I'm going to redeem the error that was made, the sin that was committed in the garden and every year, I want you to be mindful of what Eve did and each year we get to practice undoing what Eve did as we walk out the plans and instructions of the Lord. So redemption is a huge part of connecting these two passages together.

That is a fantastic observation, Amanda. Are those thinking eyebrows or are those... I have a question eyebrows.

Yeah. Come on. Ma'am, which eyebrows are you showing us?

Don't forget to pack your angry eyes. What movie is that from? Alright. Alright. We can still all go to church together.

You have to get my obscure movie references. Yes. What were you gonna say, Bethany? I'd love to hear from you.

It's funny. Yeah. I I was thinking about saying something, so I guess my eyebrows told the story. I... The thing that I was writing down...

The thing that I had written down was redeemed exile because I felt like in this first passage in Genesis that God exiles them from the garden and that's where, you know, they have, you know, shelters in the form of like, you know, at least leaves covering their bodies and things like that. But then here, the... It's kind of a redeemed exile because they're pulled out of Egypt, but it's like for their good. Like they want to be out of Egypt, but it kind of appears a bit like an exile as well. And then add in all the parallels we've already made of like the shelters of the trees and all those things.

Oh. That's a great parallel. Can I add a parallel that I'm thinking about to tag on to what you just said, the parallel of undoing exile? So, in the garden, they left his presence. We kind of talked about this.

They left his presence. But, in the feast of Sukkot, the command is to come into his presence. Okay, look at this. A big bridge that can be built between these two passages that connects them is in one passage, Adam and Eve are taking what God has forbidden versus receiving what God has given. In the garden, Eve saw fruit that was pleasing to her eye.

In Sukkot, we are commanded to seek out fruit and branches that are pleasing to the eye. In the garden, Eve took what she did not have permission to take. In Sukkot, we are commanded, invited to harvest fruit and beautiful, freely branches. In the garden, they hid from God. In Sukkot, we are invited to celebrate before God.

You're thinking. You're you're thinking. Right? Okay. Alright.

You're thinking. You're thinking. In Eden, they took the fruit and hid from God. At Sukkot, God commands us to take the fruit and rejoice before him. Now, let's bring it home.

Yes, Elizabeth. And while Elizabeth is... Has something to share, let's bring it home into the New Testament because Jesus has something to say about this.

I guess I just see there is no reason to hide.

There is no reason to hide. That, we need to write lyrics to a worship song to that. No reason to hide. There was a reason to hide, but because of God's beautiful plan of redemption... Right.

So there's no reason.

Yeah. There is no longer any reason to hide. But that old dirty devil is still up to his same tricks.

Yeah.

You won't be accepted. You still carry the shame. You should hide from God because he saw where you were on Friday night, what you were doing late in the

shame just keeps you in the cycle. So Yes. There's no reason to hide.

There's no reason to hide. Okay. Oh. Bethany, let's turn to Matthew as as Bethany is sharing. Matthew chapter six.

I'm not sure if this is where you're going.

Well, let's find out.

But communion because

Communion?

Yeah. Oh. Because we killed Jesus and now we eat Jesus.

If you're new to tribe... If you're new to Jesus and Christianity, she is correct. Let's rip that band aid off now.

But but like would to elaborate, like this like super horrible sinful thing that we as humans did, was kill Jesus for no good reason. Now God says, take and eat. This is my body. This is my blood. So the very thing, the very sin that we committed is like a gift that we receive in order to be in the presence of God.

You don't need to raise your hand, but how many of you see the connection, the hyperlink that's forming in her brain? My hand is raised. I see it. So the first time we took Jesus' life at the cross, humanity. None of us are without sin.

All of us are culpable. Then, as we celebrate communion because Jesus rose from the dead, he says, take my body and eat. That oh, that's good. Okay. Matthew chapter six.

That's not where I was going, but that's a fantastic hyperlink. I don't know if I have this up there. Matthew... There it is. Matthew chapter six.

Let's look at verses 25 through 34. Matthew chapter six verse 25 through 34. I'll start in verse 25. Jesus is speaking because these letters are read in your Bible. So you know it's Jesus.

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Whether you have enough food or drink or enough clothes to wear, Isn't life more than food and your body worth more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns.

For your heavenly father feeds them. And aren't they far more valuable to him than aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.

They don't work or make their clothes. Yet Solomon and all of his glory nor in the latest fall trend from Steele was dressed as beautifully as they are, and if God who cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers that are here today, and thrown in the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have such little faith? Then, he really gets to it. So, I'm telling you, don't worry about things saying, what will we eat?

What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers but your heavenly father already knows all of your needs. And this verse is the crescendo. Seek first the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and then he will give you everything you need.

And then he reiterates in verse 34. Not as a indictment or a chastisement. So don't worry. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, so don't worry.

Don't worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will bring its own worries. And then he's like, trust me. I know. Today's trouble is enough for today.

This perhaps is worthy for you to jot down in your notes. The fullest joy comes from enjoying God's gifts, God's way. Let me ask you this really quick. At the beginning of our conversation, did I tell you the title of the conversation we're having tonight? You you need that.

You need that. Let let's put that slide up there. Maybe this would have tipped the scales a little bit for you to understand where we're going. The title of the conversation tonight, there's room at the top of your notes, is the gift or the grasp? The gift or the grasp.

Can you see how in the garden, Adam and Eve were grasping? They're reaching. They're striving. They're grasping. And then in Leviticus, this feast, God's family tradition was given as a gift which brings us to our our first big takeaway.

The fullest joy comes from enjoying God's gifts, God's way. If you've lived in Jackson for very long, you know that this is a town full of people consumed with grasp ing for what they think they want in life. And if you're unconvinced of that, all you need to do is look in their garage or on their roof rack if that's their house. A ski box full of skis, bikes on bikes on bikes on the rack, toys stuffed in the garage and in the backyard, grasping. And if I be honest, It's kinda tempting.

Isn't it? When it appears as though they have all the answers. It appears as though they ate the fruit, their eyes have been opened, they have the knowledge between good and evil, and they're not dying. This town at all levels, junior high, high school, college, young adults, my age, older, this town especially perpetuates a culture of grasping, which brings me to the question for your consideration this evening. A brave soul will ask this, am I receiving what God gives or grasping for what I want?

I'll put that slide up on the screen. Am I receiving what God gives or am I grasping for what I want? That slide did not make it in there. Listen to my mouth. The question is, am I receiving what God gives?

Or am I grasping for what I want? Apart from Jesus, the human heart must continue to grasp. I need just a few more centimeters underfoot this season. I mean, I've got one zero four underfoot, but if I had some big, fatty powder skis, one zero eight underfoot, oh, I'd be so happy. And then when it becomes spring ski mission season, oh, don't want 108 underfoot.

I want, like, 97 underfoot. I need one I need one more... I need a skinnier pair of skis. I need 87 underfoot. Yeah.

But there's a few that do, and those are my people that I'm called to reach. Those are my people that I'm talking to because I was one of them. All of these other analogies for all y'all. Now I'm talking to my people for a moment. Apart from Jesus, we are left to just grasp and grasp and claw.

And when we obtain and get, that's not enough. We need more. We need more. We have this insatiable appetite to take. If we...

If it's denied us, we'll do anything to get it even if it's not what God has for us. Because we're buying this lie, this narrative that says, okay, you skied sixty days last season. Yeah, but we got all those people. They got one hundred days on their passes this season. I mean, I think I got four days on my pass last season and that's more days than some have.

Grasping. Grasping. Grasping. Are you receiving what God gives or are you grasping for what you think you want? As Christians, we are invited to live a life of modeling how to put all of those things in their proper place by putting Jesus first and receiving what?

All of those other things according to his way and his timing. Is having more than one pair of skis bad? No. Is having a drift boat and a raft bad? No.

When they are in their proper place. Jen, yes. Calendars. So she said we're talking about gear, but what about our calendars? Say a little say a little bit more, Jen.

Oh, yeah. I mean, for maybe for someone else. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

We're talking about gear, but I'm asking about calendars. Like, could it apply to anyone else besides me to your calendar?

Like, how you spend your time?

How you spend What your what I like to do is I try to stay in my lane with my giftings or with my... How I spend my time and stay in your lane. Don't get out of your lane.

Yeah. Trust him. He has something to say about your calendar. Now, this is the point of our conversation as we wind down this evening where I at as a as I deliver God's word, I was at a crossroads and all week, I was heading down, let's say, the left fork and the left fork was asking you, you know, I I I like to do a good old blistering altar call of like like asking you to identify where it is in your life and in your heart that you're grasping right now And you are like Adam and Eve. Repent of that.

Stop grasping and enter into the season of Sukkot where you receive what God has for you and instead of hiding it from him, you celebrate before him. That's not the fork that I'm gonna take. I'm gonna take the right fork because as I was marinating on this message this week, I felt like the Holy Spirit say, you are going to be speaking to a room full of people tonight that I want to recognize that they have resisted the temptation of grasping and instead are living by faith in the feast of Sukkot to wait on the Lord's timing and in his manner to take what he has for you. So, if you can hear even though it's my voice speaking to you right now, the Holy Spirit would want to whisper to your heart that he has seen the decisions that you have made in the secret. To not fall for the temptation that Eve did but to wait for the Lord's timing and in his way and the Lord says, if you're not in the midst of that that season of feasting before his presence, the Lord says that right around the corner, according to his way and in his timing, he's gonna tell you, go for that thing.

The Bible says, you can't give a cup of cold water in my name without me creating a record of that. Every single time you have denied yourself, he sees it. Every single time that old dirty devil has come to try to whisper in your ear, you deserve this. You should be getting that. You should have that.

You should take this. I know that. No. No. No.

No. But it's okay. Grasp for it. Reach for it. Take it.

And every single time you've said, no, I'm not gonna do it. Jesus is like, oh. We got a disciple right here. He calls around the angels and he says, did you see how she just denied herself? Did you see how he let that opportunity go?

It might have cost him a little bit of integrity. He might have needed to like, you know, weasel the situation a little bit but he could've gotten and he said, no, I'm not gonna do it. The Bible says in the song... In the book of Song of Solomon, with one glance of your eye, you have ravished my heart, my beautiful one, my bride. When we take our eyes off of the fruit.

Remember the Bible says in in Genesis that Eve saw the fruit and it looked good for the taken. But in Song of Solomon, the young man says to the young woman with one glance of your eyes. Meaning, when we take our eyes off of that thing that either our flesh or the world tells us that we should be grasping for. When we take our eyes off of that thing and we turn and we redirect our gaze to Jesus. He's like, look at you.

Look at you. Oh you of little faith. That was not a a accusation or condemnation. He was saying, are you kidding me? With that little bit of faith that you have, you you you chose me instead of grab.

He's like, look what you did with just a little bit of faith. Look at you. So I want to pastorally encourage you this evening With the words of Jesus. Seek first, not your own ambition, position, stuff, relationship, fill in the blank. He goes, just put me first.

And watch what I do with your life. And so this evening, I just want to encourage you for every single time that you have done that, the Lord sees that and he's pleased with you and he's cheering for you and he's excited for you and even if you're like, oh, I mean, maybe I did that that one little thing but then, that old dirty devil's trying to remind you of the seven other things that you are like grasping for. He knows that too and what does the Bible say? The righteous man falls down seven times but he what? Gets back up.

Just get back up. Here's the last takeaway you can write it down if if you want. We enjoy the gifts of God most deeply when they do not rival God himself. We enjoy the gifts of God most deeply when they do not rival God himself. Maybe you need to repent, but I think what the Holy Spirit wants to whisper to your heart this evening is encouragement.

I saw. I saw when you denied yourself. I saw when everybody else was grasping and you waited for my instruction. And what my plan for you, my desire for you is that you would feast and you would have all of those things but they wouldn't have your heart and you would celebrate before me, not hide from me. So, Jesus, I pray for my friends.

And as we take just a moment for the Holy Spirit to whisper to us would you just whisper words of encouragement to us? That you've seen those moments Just let him whisper to your heart for just a moment.

Thank you. Jesus,

you're so good to us.

We'll stay in this attitude of worship. Just a couple minutes, we'll be out of here. But every time we gather here at Tribe, we just... We bring our tithe and our offering to him, and it is an act of worship. And that passage that we read in Matthew six thirty three, I see...

This is just my observation. I see tithing in there, seeking first the the kingdom of God. There's no actual text that says you have to give x amount and at this time, but that just stirs in my heart. It's giving... It's an act of worship when we bring our tithe.

It's not just because the church needs your money. It's an act of worship, and it changes us, and it recalibrates our heart to what is important to our fathers. That and reading your Bible and spending time and worshiping all those things keep our heart calibrated to the Lord and so that's why we do it. We bring our tithe and above and beyond that and offering. We ask the Lord, what would you have me give?

Because he knows your heart better than you. What what is holding on to me? Speaking of grasping, boy, money sure can be a temptation whether we have a lot or a little. So that's why we bring our tithes. So I'm just gonna pray over that.

Just have a couple quick announcements and we'll we'll be out of here. Heavenly father, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you that your character and nature never change. You are so faithful and you never fail. We just love you so much as we bring our tithe and our offering to you whether it's now or throughout the week.

We just say thank you for keeping our hearts calibrated with yours. Holy Spirit, help us to listen and obey the voice of your Holy Spirit when he speaks both big and small. We wanna be so tender and sensitive to that. Thank you for who you are and for the local church when this money comes in. We use it to help the needs of our community and to bring people closer to you.

So, Jesus, we say thank you. Help us to be good stewards always of what you give us and what goes out. We thank you so much in Jesus' name. Amen. The way that you give here is at Tribe is very simple.

You see on the screen, there's a QR code. You can scan it there from your phone if you'd like or we have a black box on the way out that you can scan or if you have something physical, you can drop it in anytime there. Just real quickly, if you are coming to Tribe and you're calling Tribe home, we would love to plug you in somewhere even if it's just once a month. This place is so beautiful and there's already a lot of stuff done, but it does take a tiny army every Sunday for us to kinda re... Speaking of calibration, recalibrate the chairs and get the kids stuff ready and all of that.

So if you would like to serve here at Tribe, please come talk to me right after. We would love to get you on a greeting rotation or whatever is meaningful for you. And then the last thing, Bethany, would you raise your hand and Phil raise your hand? If you're a young adult, will you go see them afterwards if you don't know what's going on with young adults? I know there's a Bible study starting soon.

I know that there's a lot of season activities happening. So if you don't have the number and you're on that... If you're not on that feed, please go see them and we'll talk about young adults. But let's get out of here. If you'll stand to your feet, Brian, will you come praise out?

This coming week, you know how last spring, I was invited on a tour to go to Israel then the war with Iran broke out and that trip didn't happen. Well, the trip's back on. I leave this week and then I'll be back in, like, a week or two. I can't remember when I come back. Just whatever the app tells me, I go and do.

So I'll... I will be gone, but then I'll come back, have lots of stories. So let me pray for us. Lord Jesus, help us. You be the boss of our lives, of our stuff.

Like Jen so awesomely said, our calendars, you are in charge of all of those things, and we just wanna receive from your goodness. Lord Jesus, I command a blessing over each and every person here this evening. Lord, that we would feel your face smile upon us when we make the choice not to grasp but to receive all of the good things that you have for us from your timing and your way. I command a blessing over each and every person here this evening. Lord, this fall, help us to fill our freezers full of meat.

Give us a great week. We pray these things. In Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you guys so very much.

There are some delicious cookies in the lobby. Have those. Have a great week. And remember, you got this.