We are really trying to dive in and talk through the notion of being a consumer or a contributor. And it’s hard to stop consuming because it is the nature we are born into.

My youngest Aliza, I love her. One of the things that we have noticed is that she absolutely loves watching tv, but more specifically, the Amazing Spiderman and friends on Disney. And she would sit there and consume that show all day long if we would let her. This what we all do though.

We have so much going on that what we want to consume is stillness. And I get it. Life can be like a Buffett, we are taking a little bit of everything but that never really satiates our needs. We are consuming but the consumption isn’t sustaining us. It is actually draining us. It’s like eating a calorie surplus but never lifting weights, you might want to build muscle but all you are going to do is add weight that in the long run harms you.

We can do this for so long that we can become exhausted. And because of this there are moments where we are just looking for a place where we can rest.

And that’s totally fine… For a season.

If we aren’t careful, a season meant for rest can turn into us avoiding what we are meant to do. We become satisfied with sitting and consuming that we never get up to move towards what God wants for us.

Or maybe you have gotten up to move but now you are moving away from where God wants you.

We can’t allow a season of rest to turn into a season of rust.

The rust comes from us becoming complacent. You might be complacent because you’re scared, hurt, or something else but all those things will do is lead you to running from God instead of towards him.
We see this with Elijah. He had just prayed for rain and it came. Now Jezebel threatens him and we pick up the story here:

1 Kings 19:4-8
4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

Elijah had just killed the prophets of Baal, fire fell from heaven, he prayed and the drought had ended, but where do we find him? Alone, in the wilderness wanting to die.

It was this moment of fear fueled exhaustion that led him to this place.

How many of us are running from purpose or our contributions because the enemy has thrown an accusation or a threat your way?
Has the enemy told you that the plan God has is too great or you’re not good enough? These are lies to distract you from what God wants to do through you. He will twist things and make you think that you are something outside of what God says but that is simply not the case.

God’s plan is to use you but you are not the source. He is. They are his gifting, it’s his purpose, and his will. Fulfilling these things will satisfy us.

That is why staying stuck in consumption can be so harmful. Because you are endless absorbing anything to fill what only God can satisfy.

This also why contributing is so great because you are standing on and walking in what you were designed to do.

Thats why rest is okay for a season.

After this time of rest we see Elijahs encounter in the cave with God.

1 Kings 19:9
9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I believe this is a question to that God asks all of us at some point: “What are you doing here?”

God is identifying the Elijah is running. But this is the beauty of God’s grace, he doesn’t allow us to sit alone in it. He sits with us, he helps us through it, and shows us the path to take.

Elijah didn’t run because he was weak, he ran because he was weary.

He had been contributing, walking in purpose, had seen miracles, but he grew weary. And so he found rest in the lord. God took care of him, but he wasn’t allowed to stay where he was.

We have to be careful that we don’t switch from getting beneficial rest to selfish consumption.

Elijah ultimately was led to the mouth of the cave and had an experience with God that led him back to purpose. We don’t contribute to the kingdom for what we get out of it, we contribute because we want to be obedient in the service that he has called us too.
The tough part about contributing is that we have a natural fear associated with it:
If I am contributing towards others, who is going to contribute towards me?

We say this a lot but this is a promise for the word of God:
Those who water will be watered.

We don’t have to grow weary in our good because we know that God is going to take care of us. Look at what Galatians says:

Galatians 6:9
9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

You will reap a harvest of blessing if you don’t give up! Why?

There is power in our ability to stay. There's power in our ability to not give up. In a culture that says it's OK to leave, we have a God that gives us the power to stay.

We see this all throughout the word. Every time someone stay in the work that God had given them, his blessings, his promises, and favor followed.

Abraham, Moses, Noah, Joseph, Jacob, Peter, Paul, and so many more are at estimate to the power of staying in God’s will.

They weren’t in for what they wanted, they knew the prize was Jesus. They were focused on him and his character. His character is serve not be served.

The simple truth is this: consumer stay to get what they want, but contributors stay to make sure others get what they need.
They do for others what has been done for them.

There is a time for healthy consumption. Jason spoke about this last week, if you haven’t heard it, go back and listen. But I want to highlight a few quick things about unhealthy consumption:

The most dangerous thing about being a consumer instead of a contributor in your faith isn’t just inactivity, it’s deception.
You can feel spiritually full… while actually becoming spiritually stagnant.

I believe that there are five stages of unhealthy consumption.
Here’s what that looks like in a real, biblical sense:
- You mistake intake for transformation
In James 1:22, we’re told to be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. That’s the danger, consuming truth without living it creates a false sense of growth. You can hear sermons, read Scripture, take notes, and still never change.
- You become spiritually dull
When you’re only receiving and never giving, your sensitivity to God dulls. Hebrews 5 talks about people who “ought to be teachers” but still need milk. Consumption without contribution leads to:
- immaturity
- dependency
- lack of discernment
Let me say it plainly, you may have been in relationship with God for a while but you’re still a baby.
- You bury what God gave you
In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25), the servant who did nothing with what he was given wasn’t called cautious, he was called wicked and lazy. The issue wasn’t sin in the obvious sense. It was lack of contribution.
- You miss your purpose
You weren’t saved just to receive, you were saved to participate in God’s mission. Ephesians 2:10 says we are created for good works.
A consumer mindset says:
“What can I get from God?”
A contributor mindset says:
“How can God use me?”
- You become spiritually self-centered
Consumption turns faith into something that revolves around:
your preference, your comfort, and your experience.


But following Jesus is inherently outward. Even Jesus Christ said He came not to be served, but to serve. Here is the bottom line, The greatest danger is this:
You can sit in church, feel inspired, and still completely miss the life God actually called you to live.A simple shift If you want to guard against this, start asking one question after every spiritual moment:“What am I going to do with this?”
Not:
“Did I like it?”“Was that good?”
But:
“How do I live this out today?”

All of these things lead to weariness in us.

It’s like eating a big meal, yeah as you’re eating you feel good, but afterwards you feel heavy.

This is what happens when we just consume. The life we have just taken in dies because there is zero outlet.

This is like the sea of Galilee and the dead sea. One is full life and moving and the other one is salty nothing can survive. But the primary difference is the dead sea takes while the sea of Galilee receives and gives.

How do we avoid becoming weary? I believe have to shift some actions:

1. Shift from pursuing emotional encounters to empowering encounters.

An emotional encounter can make you feel close to God… but an empowering encounter will actually make you live for Him.

Emotional encounters with God are all about the feeling that God is with us. But here is the thing, God is omnipresent, he is with us all the time. But there is a difference in experiencing the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. Jason and I were out of town last week and one of the speakers said this, “The omnipresence of God is like Sun light, while the manifest presence of God is like a laser aimed at you.”
It is not bad to have an encounter with his manifest presence, but when that’s all you are seeking, you are trying to consume for you.

We see this in Exodus 32 with the Golden Calf. Moses had left to speak directly with God. The people were left at the base of the mountain. And left to their own devices, what did they do? They went back to what they had consumed.

The people of Israel had already:
Seen God split the Red Sea
Experienced supernatural provision
Encountered God’s presence on the mountain

But while Moses was with God, they got impatient. So they asked Aaron to make them a golden calf.

They had the manifest presence of God behind them but it wasn’t enough. They weren’t feeling it. And they longed to worship something. They wanted to feel like they were doing something right. But instead of worshipping the God that had saved them and brought them through, they focused on recreating a feeling.

And here’s the key: They didn’t reject worship, they recreated it emotionally. They caught something that felt spiritual but in reality it was disobedience.

Stop chasing the emotional moment and start chasing the transformative one.

They traded God’s Presence for man made experience.

An emotional encounter without obedience leads to distortion.
A distortion of our:
- understanding
- God’s Character
- Place and responsibility

When we limit our encounters with God to what we can see, control, and feel, it cost us the most important thing, Him.

On the flip side of this we see Pentecost happen in Acts chapter 2. They were told to go and wait. They start with over 500 people but the time we pick up the story there are only 120 of them left.

Why the drop off? Because some just wanted to be around the good things Jesus did, but they refused to be empowered by Jesus to go do the good works.

Is that you? Do you like being around the good things happening but you don’t really want to step into the responsibility that God has given us to help make them happen for other people?

This is the moment where we see the empowering of the Holy Spirit tangibly in the disciples lives.

Before, Peter publicly denied Jesus, now, he is boldly preaching the gospel to thousands.

The difference between emotional and empowering encounters is simple, emotional ones stay with you, empowering ones work through you.
A empowering encounter will always move you into action.

Israel wanted an experience they could control → it led to idolatry and loss
The disciples surrendered to God’s presence → it led to power and impact

Emotional encounters make you feel close to God.
Empowering encounters make you live for God. Which in turn draws you near to him.

One is a feeling and the other is a reality.

How can we turn moments with God into movements for God?

Through our response. Consumers don’t respond they just receive.

What does responding do? It breaks cycles. There are many people in this room that broke the cycle of alcoholism in their families because they responded to the injustice they saw. But when you are empowered by the Holy Spirit you don’t just break it for your family, you get to go help other families break it.

This is why being a contributor is important because we shift how it impacts me to how it impacts we.

This why seeking empowerment even when we are weary is worth it. Because we know on the other side of empowerment is a harvest God has prepared for us to bring into his kingdom.

And the next thing we have to shift is:

2. Shift from stillness to movement.

Consumers stay planted where they are at but contributors move with God’s presence.

We talk about next steps a lot here at Freedom Church, because we know how important movement towards God is.

I think of guys Bill Webb, he has been open and honest, and he is trying to do the work to move towards God.

I think of Ryan Rodriguez. I have had some hard conversations with him, but he hasn’t shied away. He has embraced it and move forward.

We see this with the disciples, Jesus walks up on Peter and Andrew fishing, and he says drop your nets and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. He is asking him to drop the family business, and follow him around.

I can tell you if someone were to show up on a pipeline crew and say drop your tools and follow me, he would get laughed at or at least asked about per diem.

This is what Christ wants us to do. He wants us to respond to him by movement.

Exodus 3:1-6
3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

This is interesting because if the bush was consumed Moses wouldn’t have seen it. It was actually the lack of consumption that made Moses notice it.

3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The bush was burning and Moses decided to turn and see, then God spoke. And Moses responded again by taking his sandals off, then God spoke, and Moses responded.

This is how it will go. Maybe you don’t know what you are supposed to be doing right now because you haven’t responded to the last thing God spoke to you.

When Moses responded by movement, that led to God showing him something he had to take of or lay down, his sandals. Why is this important?

Because his sandals were the thing keeping Moses from being careful about the steps he was to take. It caused him to be more cautious about the steps that took. And this is the movement that we need to take.

The steps that pursue Holy Obedience. This is where we find stillness in God. God will meet you in stillness, but he will always move you towards purpose. And let me clear something up real quick.

Stillness without movement = consumption
Stillness with obedience = contribution

Psalm 46:10 — “Be still, and know that I am God…”

Stillness is where we encounter God. But it was never meant to be where we stay.

And this is the danger, if we camp in stillness, we become consumers of God’s presence instead of carriers of it.

What step do you need to take?
Saying yes to Jesus?
Baptism?
Serving on a team?

We don’t just want you to serve at church because there is opportunity, we want you to serve because as you are serving you more than likely help someone else. There is someone else that needs the help only you can provide.

Coming to open house?
Signing up for Alpha? Freedom?

What season do you need to be done with so you move into the season God has designed for you?

When you come to church, bible study, prayer meeting, or whatever other event, God is commissioning us to step towards him.

Where do you need to take a step?

Don’t let this be another moment you remember, let it be a moment you respond to.
Because the difference between people who grow and people who stay stuck is one decision: they moved.

Right now, I want to shift this moment. Because everything we’ve talked about— consumer vs contributor… movement… response… …it all starts with one decision.
A relationship with Jesus, surrendering your life to Him.

Some of you in this room… you’ve been consuming for a long time. You’ve heard messages. You’ve felt something before. You’ve had moments.
But if you’re honest… You’ve never actually given Him your life.

And here’s the tension:
You can sit in environments like this… feel something real… and still walk out unchanged.
Not because God didn’t move, but because you didn’t respond.

The Bible says in Romans 10:9
that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart
that Jesus is Lord—you will be saved. Not might be. Not eventually. Will be.

If you would say:
“I don’t know Jesus like that”
or
“I did at one point, but I’ve drifted… and I need to come back”

I’m going to ask you to do something bold. Because contributors don’t just feel something…
they respond.

Everyone eyes closed and heads bowed. if that’s you, I want you to raise your hand.
Not for me. Not for a moment. But as a declaration:
“Today, I’m giving my life to Jesus.”
I see you
Now I want everyone to pray this together—especially those who just raised their hand:
“Jesus, I give you my life. I surrender my sin, my past, my control. I believe you died for me,
and you rose again. Make me new. Fill me with your Spirit. Lead my life from this day forward.
I’m not just choosing a moment, I’m choosing you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Some of you just made the most important decision of your life.
But for others in this room… You already know Jesus. The issue isn’t salvation… it’s stagnation.

You’ve been consuming, but you haven’t been moving. You’ve been sitting, but you haven’t been stepping. You’ve been hearing, but you haven’t been doing.

And if you’re honest, God has already been speaking to you. About a step. About obedience.
About something you’ve been putting off.

And today, this isn’t about emotion. This is about empowerment.

So I’m going to challenge you the same way:
If you know there’s a shift you need to make—
From emotional → empowering
From stillness → movement
From consumer → contributor

If that’s you, I want you to step out of your seat and come forward. Not because the platform is special, but because movement matters. Because all throughout Scripture, Every time God moved, someone responded.

So don’t wait. Don’t overthink it. Don’t talk yourself out of it.
If God is speaking to you, move. This is what it looks like to stop consuming and start contributing.

Because the difference between people who grow and people who stay stuck isn’t what they heard.

It’s what they did next.