Skip to content Beyond the Gift: The Widow's Sacrificial Heart || Pastor Adam Mesa Mar 2 · 1 hr 15 min ...more
Beyond the Gift: The Widow's Sacrificial Heart || Pastor Adam Mesa
March 2, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min
Series Patria Sermons March 2, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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A Season of Growth and Vision 0:00 Well amen. Thank you to all of those who regularly give and consider Patriot your home church. It's great to see everyone. We've kind of had some emotional past 2 services0:11 seeing how excited our church has been over what God's been doing in our house. And so, if you have your Beyond Journal, you can pull that out because we're about to get started in a few minutes on the message. And if0:22 you want to take notes with us today, we're on page 78. If you're new to Patriot or just visiting us or haven't made it for a few weeks, we've been in a 6 week series. This is week 5 of that 6 weeks0:34 of a journey that we believe God is taking us over the 3 years of vision as a church. And we've seen God move tremendously. And if you don't have 1 of these journals, then when you leave today, if you0:46 like it still, even though we're towards the end, you're still more than welcome to have 1 and follow along up until next week. But you could get 1 out in the foyer from our dream team on your way out. But we've seen God0:57 do incredible things in our church as we've been believing God, not only that we go beyond as a church, but that God is already doing it in our church. We've experienced more growth over the1:09 past 24 months than we ever expected as a church. And to be quite frank, if it was my preference, because I've been the senior pastor for a very long 141:21 months at this point, and you know, so seasoned and so you know, just been this for a very long time. But if it was my preference, going into being the lead pastor of our1:32 church, if I knew that we would not only experience the growth that we've seen, but also need the necessity for vision financially, I think that would have scared me at first.1:45 I would say God, that's too much, too fast, give us 5 years, give us 6 years, let us, you know we got a whole new team for the most part, we got a lot of new stuff we're doing. And I would have honestly preferred to say1:56 God, maybe like 2030 give us a fresh wind. Like just give us some space to settle in and you know, I'm thankful that God has different plans. It may be oftentimes a stretch for2:08 us, it may be a refining time for us, it may be a pruning time for us, but regardless, here we are as a church. Our parking lots are full, our children's ministries are full, our youth ministries are full, our2:19 corona pre launch meetings that we were doing had more attendance than we ever anticipated. Our Alameda campus is already growing, we're talking about Easter. How do we add services to reach the needs of the people in2:31 Alameda? That's great problems. But with great problems also require great solutions and also normally require vision and finance. And so, as we've been in this season of seeing2:43 God breathe on our church, we've been talking about what does it mean to capture the wave that God has breathed into our church. And so, at the end of service, we're gonna give everyone who considers Patriot their home2:54 church, if you're just visiting, you're just checking us out, I know God's gonna speak to you through the message. But also, you don't feel any pressure, don't feel any pressure at all to be part of this. But if you'd3:05 like to come alongside and you believe that you've been reached and impact as a person through other people's generosity, It's an opportunity for us to fan the flame that God has already breathed. And so, we're gonna3:16 give an opportunity at the end of service for anyone that would like to make a 3 year commitment with us on top of our regular giving, you could do so. It's been emotional because just about every service from yesterday3:27 to today, we've seen about 80 percent of the room participate in what we've been doing. And God has just been there, He's meeting us, and He's the, the Spirit of God is alive. And, and you know, I know when you're kind3:39 of a new senior pastor, you build this picture in your head like, I don't think, I don't know people are, I don't know people are gonna see what God's doing, and people have seen it. And I'm just so honored that we've3:49 all seen what God's done through Ephesians chapter 3 20. This is what we've been believing God for as a church, and this is what we've been seeing. It says this, now to Him who who's able to do far more abundantly beyond4:00 all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. That's our prayer for your life. That not only that as you communicate to God, you pray to the Lord, you grow in the Lord, that God will abundantly4:12 exceed anything that you could ever think of, anything that you could ever ask of. May his presence be rich in his in your life, may his presence be rich in your family's life, and may we see God do what he's done in our4:24 lives into other people's lives. And so we want to be a church that has open door policy. A policy that says anyone that's broken, anyone that's hurting, anyone that wants to experience the presence of God, then our4:36 church is open and ready. It's been said that churches aren't museums, they're hospitals. So we want to be a hospital, where hurting people, broken people can come and experience what it means to be healed and made4:47 whole. But I'll add this, we don't even we don't want to just be a hospital, we also want to be a university where people can be equipped and built up into the Word of God so that they can go out into the world and make4:57 an impact and make a difference. We don't want you to check-in the hospital and stay in the hospital bed. We want you to check out of the hospital and go, you know what, I want to be a doctor too. I want to help people.5:08 And in that same way that you may checked into God's hospital at some point in your life, we want to be able to equip you through the Word of God so that you can go out and make an impact to people in the same way. And5:19 being our church, being so healthy, it's not because we do good Instagram posts is why people are coming to church. It's because you're sharing the love of Jesus with those that you love and know, and they're having a5:30 hunger, and they're coming, and they're being reached in the same way as well. In just a few moments we're gonna start and I'm gonna read a passage out of Mark chapter 12 today, but before that we're gonna hear anTestimony of Transformation 5:40 incredible testimony from a young man named Anthony who goes to our Alameda campus. So check this out.5:53 My name is Anthony Valenzuela. I've been coming to Patriot Church for about 2 years and 5 months. My story begins, when I was, about 4 years old. All of a sudden I know that, you know, the cops are knocking on the door.6:03 They ended up finding a bunch of drugs all over the house. I see my mom get taken away in a police car, and I don't know, I'm in CPS later that night. When I went into foster care, I absolutely I had this longing for6:13 family. I wanted to feel like I was loved. I didn't feel intimate with them to the point where I was like, man, like, yes, this is family right here. Once I was in fifth grade, we were at a family party and,6:26 my dad tells me after the party while we're at home and everything kind of settled in, he's like, hey, we just learned that, you know, your your dad had passed away. And that minute that I heard that, it just my heart6:36 just broke. Throughout middle school and high school, I started to develop more addictions. I was getting addicted to to weed. I was getting into relationships at a young age, finding interest into girls. I was addicted6:46 to lust, to pornography, to getting to having sexual relations with people, and all of these things that I was just running to. Running away from my problems and running away from my hurt and my pain, and6:58 finding something to run to to give me a quick fix for those things. I would sit up at night just thinking like, man, why is this happening? Why am I here? Why can't it just be over? Knowing that these things were going7:08 on in my personal life, it totally shut me down. Stepping into this church was a a big act of faith. There was a group of young adults that were always asking if we had plans after Sunday. That was kinda my intro, to7:20 getting into the church, you know, that that young adult group and, being welcomed by the pastors. They were talking about baptism, you know, we had peaked interest on it and we were having a service and I was like, man,7:31 I wanna get baptized. I I said that and and we ended up doing it and we got baptized, December fourth in someone's backyard. Thank thank goodness for that that person's house and and being able to7:43 let us go there and, do that. There was actually this moment, it was the fourth of July parade. At that time, like, there was things that I was battling and and kinda wrestling through, emotionally, and I didn't know7:54 what that was. And I was like, you know, like, I'm a just set up, and I'm a just head out. My posture was more of like, man, like, I'm dealing with things, I wanna get away. Pastor Fuego finds out, what Pastor Fuego did8:05 was he pulled me to the side, and and and it was in front of everybody, but it was in front of everybody. And he was like, why are you leaving? Don't leave. Like, we need you here. We want you to be here. In that moment,8:15 like, I mean, I just had tears rolling down my face. Not because he was being rude, not because he but because I felt like what he was doing in that moment was exactly what I needed my whole life, which was for him to8:27 reach out and for him to say, yo, I need you here. We want you here. I even told my family, like, I was like, man, like, I didn't feel wanted. I didn't feel needed. So when I came here, I felt those things. And that's8:39 what kept me here. And I felt God really tell me those things. So when he was doing that, I knew it was God. We have all these these people, all this community who are impacting Alameda. We're telling them about the8:51 gospel. I'm like, man, like, this is family right here. Like, where would I go? Where would I be without this? And I'm sitting here looking at all these faces and all these people that I've been shoulder to shoulder with9:02 for some time now, and I'm like, this is the moment right here. This is the moment where I'm saying like, you know what, like, I'm not gonna run away from my family, I'm not gonna run away from God, I'm not gonna run9:13 away from this moment right here. I wanna stay, I wanna be here, and I wanna be able to be shoulder to shoulder, and I wanna fight with my family together.9:23 Oh, praise God. You know, what we're doing is for more individuals like Anthony to reach them, to share the love of Jesus. I don't know if you caught in that9:35 video, but he said as a young boy, about 4 years old, his mom gets arrested. And he gets put into CPS. He immediately gets put into the system. And so, he's a foster child until he9:47 becomes an adult. You may have caught, he said my dad told me that my dad died when I was in the fifth grade. He's talking about a foster parent telling him that his dad died. And so there was a period that as people9:58 were inviting him to church, he had every excuse, every reason on why he could reject God. Why he doesn't need God. Where was God when I was 4 and I got put into the system? Where was10:10 God when I was in the fourth grade and my father passed away? Where was God here? Where was God here? And you see, there's a moment where He says I'm rejecting community, I'm rejecting family, because I don't know that10:21 it's good for me. I don't know that it's something that's gonna build me up. And there's a moment though where the love of God, the persistency of people in the church of inviting him, loving him, breaking down wall10:31 after wall, brokenness after brokenness, it leads to deliverance. Yeah, as a youth pastor growing up in this church, there was kid at child after child, teenager after teenager that would meet,10:43 that was an adopted child, that was a foster care child, and you would see it. You would see their walls come up the moment they walked in. I'd even see, you know, children that were hurting from divorce of parents and10:54 brokenness of the home, and you would see the walls up. You would see them, they just, they wouldn't look at you in the eye. They they they they would either cuss you out, the moment the sermon would start they would all11:05 of a sudden have to go to the bathroom or whatever it is, but what we would do is we would be consistent at loving them, caring for them, sharing the gospel with them, encouraging them, and also disciplining at the same11:17 time. But then we would see eventually that these young men and women, they would begin to love Jesus, they would begin to be healed, they would begin to be delivered. And you see something like Anthony, where 2 weeks11:27 ago I got an opportunity to preach up at Alameda and I've had the honor, because we we merged with a church called Encore, just about 4 months ago. And so, now that they're Patriot Alameda,11:39 the moment I started going up there, I had met young Anthony, but I didn't really know his testimony. And so 2 weeks ago when I went to go preach there, I went to use the restroom and it was number 1, so don't, you know,11:51 don't worry about it. But I go to go to use the restroom, and and Anthony's in there and he's got a little vest on, and he's got a mop, and he's got a brush, and he's got a12:03 broom, and he's sitting there hands and knees scrubbing the toilet. And he gets up and he goes hey Pastor Adam, if you gotta go, I got it all cleaned up. You'll be the first 1 to use it. And I said no Anthony, I just12:13 gotta, I gotta go number 1. But I'm sitting there, and as I'm washing my hands, I could see him in the mirror scrubbing the toilets. And I thought to myself, my Lord. This young man,12:25 22, 23 years old, he could be at the club right now, he could be at friends houses right now, he could be smoking, he could be hanging out with people, he could be at the local bar. He's in the house of God,12:37 cleaning toilets so that someone else could come and use him, not as a paid person. Now we got a nice campus here in Rancho and so you could eat off our bathroom floors. But at some of our smaller campuses12:49 that are more bootstrapped and everyone's gotta serve and do everything there, I mean he's there serving his time, and I see him. He take the brush, he washed his hands, and then he went up on stage and he woke them12:59 everyone for service. I thought, God this is what you've called us to do as a church. So sons and daughters that are broken, that are hurting, people that are looking for a savior13:11 can find hope in Jesus. But not only find hope in Jesus, you see in that video he was also praying for people. He was praying for an older woman. This is a young man who's all in for what God is doing in his life.13:22 And as13:22 a church, that's what we want to continue to see. Many of you and I, we're products of that goodness of God. But there's more people. These walls that are completely written with people's names represent more Anthonys.Generosity and Sacrifice 13:34 They represent more Murieles. They represent more Shelbys. They represent more of the Pinedos, more people who need to experience the love of God. And they may not even know it. They may step into God's house and have a13:44 wall up that in time God will begin to chip away and chip away and chip away, and the goodness of God will show mercy. You know last week on Sunday night, we invited13:57 some of our leaders and givers in the church for a leadership night just last Sunday. What we wanted to do, and not everyone could make it, we have a few thousand people that serve and give, but we invited14:08 and about 500 people were able to make it last Sunday night. And we didn't really mind how many people came out. All we wanted to do though, was those that came, what they did last week, a lot of people who serve and14:20 give, they turned in their commitment card already. Because what they wanted to do is they wanted to show all of you who come to Patriot and consider Patriot their home church, but they lead in the church, not on staff14:30 in the church. They serve, they give. These are people in dream team, these are people in kids ministry, youth ministry, these are elders, deacons. They all came, and 2 14 cards were turned in. What14:42 they wanted to do was pre commit to the campaign. They wanted to show the church, hey, 214 of our families were all in. And so what I'm about to share with you is the number in14:54 just a moment that they committed. But I want you to remember, at our church we have about 14000 people that call Patria their home church. Of those 14000, that includes children's ministry, that includes youth15:06 ministry. And so, we have about 7000 to 8000 families who if you were to meet them in the streets and say hey, do you go to church? And they say yes I do, and do you have a home church? They would say yes, Patria. We15:18 have about 7000 to 8000 families represented between Alameda, Rancho, Pomona, and even some online as well that would say the same. And so 214 cards were15:30 turned in last Sunday, of the 8000 families. Not 21000 cards, not 2100, only 214 cards of thousands of15:42 families as leaders wanted to show you that they were all in. And I wanna such an honor and privilege cause we were blown away ourselves that 2 14 families committed to cover15:53 17 percent of the campaign, which that total is 3343979 dollars 2 1416:05 families, not 4000 families, not 5000 families. 2 14 families committed 334397916:17 dollars If you're new to Patriot, they did that for you. If you're new in your faith and you're going to faith, they know what God has done surely in their life, they want to multiply16:29 it in your life. And so you'll see people standing and clapping, cause it doesn't represent to them what's in it for them. It represents to them what God is wanting to do in your life. And so if16:40 200 families could do 17 percent, I just wonder if every other family just did whatever God would encourage them to do. There wasn't thousands, there wasn't tens of thousands,16:52 just 200 families. And they've covered 17 percent. And so last 2 services, Saturday and first service, we were blown away by how many people are committed. And many people came in at whatever level God called them to do,17:04 and has called them to do. And next week we'll have a moment of miracle offering for the next, starting next week and for the next couple weeks that anyone that wants to begin to sow, and we're gonna immediately see God17:15 do wondrous things, but it's absolutely incredible what God has been doing in our church. How many of you guys have ever met someone before that they're not with their spouse, and then when they talk about their17:25 marriage, they talk about it like, you know me and my spouse, we communicate so well. We never argue, we never fight, we have such a great marriage. And then 1 day you happen to be with them when17:37 they're with their spouse. And it's a totally different story. Like he or she says we never argue, and then they're there and they're arguing within the first 10 minutes. And we communicate so well, and you see them,17:49 you didn't tell me that. I didn't tell you that. And you think to yourself, I think he was lying when he told me that. You know, it sounds good until you get with the spouse. And then the spouse is normally a reflection18:00 of really what the health is. Sounds good when you're by yourself. I just want to encourage you, the reason why we did that last Sunday is so that you can see those that lead in patriot and consider it their home church,18:12 they consider this to be good soil. And 200 families have committed 3300000.0 dollars over the next 3 years, each person doing whatever God has called them to do. That should show you18:24 that it goes, okay, if the leaders are doing it, cause those would be the first to be like nah, what Pastor Adam's saying about the church's health and all that, what God's doing. The leaders would be the first to be18:34 like I don't see it. And you would see that in their commitment. But the fact that you see it in their commitment, and there were many that couldn't even make it just because it was a Sunday night. You could see this,18:44 say oh, they too believe that God is doing something in Patria. So we're gonna have an opportunity in a few moments to worship, and if God will call you and speak to you to make a commitment, we'll give you that18:56 opportunity. But I just want to share a brief thought with you from the life of a widow, in the story of Mark chapter 12. And if you've been in church long, you may have heard this passage before, but if you have a Bible19:07 and you like to turn to Mark chapter 12, it's just a few verses that we're gonna read, but they're absolutely powerful, what Jesus tries to teach us in this story. And so, if you're ready, would you just do me for a19:18 moment? Would you stand for the honor of reading God's word? Because when God's word is taught, we want to give him our full attention because he's worth the honor in this house today. Here's what this passage says. It19:28 says Jesus sat down, he's in the temple, he's in the house of God, he's in church for lack of a better term. They would have called it a synagogue or a temple. And it says, he sat down opposite the place where the19:39 offerings were put, and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow19:51 came and put in 2 very small copper coins worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said hey guys, come here. All his 12 disciples, come here. I want to tell you20:03 guys something. It says Jesus said, truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but20:14 she gave out of her poverty and put in everything, all that she had to live on. You may be seated. Let's talk about that a little bit today, because what Jesus begins to reveal20:27 a powerful truth in just a moment in what he says. What happens is is back in their day, everyone gave publicly. And so, you may see that in the Apostle Paul's writing in the New Testaments, he'll often20:39 say, hey, give whatever God put on your heart. Well 1 of the reasons why he says that is because in the Jewish faith, everybody would give publicly for more of an accountability. And so what happens20:50 is, it had ended up being twisted because you would see wealthy people dropping in bags of money. But Jesus would immediately see that those individuals weren't tithing, those individuals21:02 weren't giving an offering, they were giving a tip. They weren't tithing to God, they were tipping to God. Cause it was easy for them. And so the amount may look like a lot to the average person, but Jesus knew what21:14 their capacity was. And so in that moment, He's showing the disciples to say, I know what they could actually actually give sacrificially. And Jesus goes, they're not giving sacrificially, they're giving out of their21:26 abundance, which quite frankly is easy to do when you give out of your abundance. There's no stretch, there's no challenge. In the same way with our time, our talents, and our treasures, we call it the21:37 3 t's, is that when God would enable you and call you, there's often times that God will stretch you to give up your talents, to give up your time, and to give up your treasure. Not just21:49 in church, out in the world as well. God has called us as disciples of Jesus to be people that are generous with our time, generous with what our talents are, what our gifts are, and generous with our22:01 treasure. That God would speak to us and we would live a life that's generous, because it's through our generosity that we live in a world where everyone wants to know what is in it for22:13 me. That's what everyone wants to know. If your boss came 1 day to work and said hey everyone, I need everyone to stay till 3 am and put in some extra hours. Our first thing wouldn't be like22:25 oh I love this company so much, I can't wait to work till 3 am. Your thought would be, what's in it for me? We getting double time? We getting triple time? Am I getting overtime?22:37 Do I get a promotion at the end of this? What's in it for me? And in your work, that may be Okay to do. But in the kingdom of God, what happens is, is when we give up a selfish22:49 lifestyle in a selfish way of putting, when Jesus calls us to give of something, not just financially, but he's gonna ask you to give your treasure, he's gonna ask you to give your talents, he's gonna ask you to give22:59 time to somebody, and we cannot lead with well Jesus, what's in it for me? Because Jesus didn't go to the cross for what was in it for Him, He went to the cross for what was in it23:11 for you and I. So that on the day that we would be broken enough to rest our faith and hope on Him, Jesus gave His life freely for you and I. So Jesus23:23 calls us to live a life that freely sacrifices, and what He sees with this widow is she gives her everything. Number 1, 1 of the things Jesus is disappointed in and 1 of the reasons why He's calling His disciples23:34 over, is because the widow should have never had to feel like she had to give everything. Those are smaller communities and these were smaller cities, and so the wealthy should have been helping take care of this23:46 widow. And so Jesus is pointing out first of all, it should never have gotten to the point where the widow has to do this. So he's saying look at all these people coming and giving freely, and even tipping God, but also23:58 they're leaving this widow up to hang to dry. And he goes, but look how hungry she is for the Lord that she's giving her everything. Now there was a corrupt theology in Jesus's day, and24:10 sometimes we see it trickle into the world today, which is this, is God can't do anything in your life until you give. And so that's what she's thinking. She's fallen prey to that false theology,24:22 and so she's giving her everything because she's going through it and she's been told that God can't do anything until she gives it. And that's not the truth.24:34 That's not the truth. That that that for the brokenhearted, for the 1 that is mild and meek, the 1 that is needing Jesus, Jesus is not like hey you start doing things and I'll show goodness and mercy to you. It is24:45 this, that all the goodness and mercy will follow you for all of your days. It's not, it's not contingent upon what you give financially. But Jesus is amazed by this woman because He24:57 says look how she is giving her everything for God. She kneaded and hungered for God so much and if you know anything about Jesus, it's not recorded for us, but most25:09 theologians believe that Jesus would have immediately sent the disciples and others to begin to care for this woman so that she's not left to hang out and dry. They were called to do something that the rest of25:21 the church wouldn't do. And what we're trying to do as a church is we're trying to minister to those that are brokenhearted. We're trying to minister to those that are not at a place that they can give yet, that aren't25:31 at a place that they know Jesus yet, that aren't at a place that their healing, their marriage is not restored yet. We're not saying hey this is what's in it for us. We're saying what can we do for you? What do you need?25:42 You need hope? Do you need prayer? Do you need a relationship with Jesus? Do you need a miracle? Do you need deliverance? And there's no contingency tied to that. I met a man last night at Saturday service who says25:53 since October, I drive from Fresno every single weekend down to here to the Rancho campus for service. From Fresno. Now some of you aren't amazed26:05 because you're not good at geography, and you must not know where Fresno is. Fresno is 5 hours away towards Northern California. He's closer to the Alameda campus than he26:17 is to the Rancho campus. But he said, I I in October, I lost my mother and she passed away. And my brother lived locally, and he came to church and God touched his life. And26:29 he invited me and my wife. And he had a he had like a 6 month old with him in his hands, and he had a 2 year old that was spinning in circles with his wife, and he said, and he said every weekend since October. And he26:40 goes now we go to service Saturday, and he says we drive down on Saturday, we crash on my brother's house on his couch, and then we go to church. We would go to church on Sunday. Now we go to church on Saturday, and then26:51 we drive back home after service. I know, I know. I can say this because our online people are watching the27:03 service from yesterday. So I could say this to y'all, there are people who woke up today 5 minutes away who saw rain in the forecast, and decided to stay home from church, And yet there's a27:15 couple with young children that are, that's an infant and a toddler, and they're driving 5 hours every weekend since October to hear from God. There's tons of churches between us and27:27 them. I don't know why God does it. I don't know, I don't know why people sacrifice like that. But there are people that are. And there are people who are feeling God that calls to them, and God begins to speak to them,27:38 and God begins to heal them in ways that they could never imagine. That's what we're committed to as a church. And Jesus looks at the wealthy people and he says these people are giving out of convenience and ease, but27:50 this woman is hungry for God and she's giving her all. And so, the first thought I just want to share with you is that Jesus shows us that God sees your heart. It's not about what's on the outside, the28:01 exterior. A lot of us, we're trying to, we're trying to give a persona on the outside that we have it all together. But God's not impressed by that. He, what he wants to see is what transformation is28:13 happening in your heart. Cause whatever happens in your heart will come out of you. It'll overflow on the outside. It's not about giving a good perception on the outside. First Samuel sixteen:seven says the Lord does notShow more In this video 0:00 A Season of Growth and Vision5:34 Testimony of Transformation13:29 Generosity and Sacrifice28:23 Legacy and Commitment45:09 A Call to Action and Faith
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