Tell me if you can understand the things I'm about to describe to you.
A slender, continuous length of resilient metallic wire formed through a sequence of opposing helical and linear bends, creating a self-clamping bias via stored torsional energy. When applied to stacked planar substrates, it maintains compressive force through elastic deformation without permanent set under moderate loads, relying on friction and springback rather than adhesive or penetrating mechanisms.

A linear array of interlocking meshing elements, each possessing a pair of opposing protrusions and recesses, mounted on parallel fabric or polymer tapes. Actuation occurs via a bidirectional slider carriage containing divergent and convergent channels that sequentially disengage or cam the elements into engagement, converting manual shear force into precise sequential occlusion along a single axis while maintaining shear and tensile load distribution.

A rigid, tubular or semi-tubular sheath, typically fabricated from compressed cellulose acetate, aluminum alloy, or polymeric resin, crimped or heat-shrunk onto the terminal fray-prone extremity of a flexible tensile cordage. Its primary function is to increase localized flexural modulus, prevent filament separation, and facilitate insertion into narrow eyelet or grommet apertures through reduced surface friction and improved columnar stiffness.
Answers: image

I know for you analytical thinkers, and maybe even you competitive people, that was fun, but the reason I bring all of that up is because often times in life, we can hear people talking about something and we know it's important, and we know we need the information, but sometimes we're just unable to fully grasp what they're talking about without being able to see it.

So what happens is we can easily get locked into frustrated moments where, even though we really genuinely want to grow in our faith and understanding, we are inhibited because a pastor or leader is explaining some concept, but because we don't have a context, it's very hard for us to understand. This is a huge part of why I will always try to use a Bible story to help illustrate the point.This is why Jesus spoke in parables. The information was complex that Jesus was sharing, and beyond just complex, the information was revolutionary, it was counter to the culture,
it was even counter to the teachings of the rabbis and the religious leaders of the time. The parable, the story, the illustration, helped people grasp even the most complex messages.

This series has had some pretty intense moments and I know so many of you are right in the middle of brand new territory. You've never thought about the impact that former generations are having on your life right now. You've never truly understood the depth of biblical principles like God's love for you. You've never really grasped how detrimental those little sins really are in your life.

And to help you understand everything that we've been talking about,
I've tried my best to use imagery and Bible stories to help you understand and embrace what God wants to say to you.

Today is no different.

I can talk all day long about what it means to be a contributor and why it is so important for you to be a contributor, but I know it is so easy to walk away not really having a clear picture of how you can contribute, especially in the context of your daily life.

I know that you know you can serve. I know that you know you can give.
I know that you know you can encourage people. But all of these things are done, most often, within the four walls.

What does it look like for you to contribute outside the four walls of the church?

We often tell our staff that we want to be a team that is willing to get on our hands and knees and let you stand on our back and peek over the fence at who you could be.

So many of us live in the context of Thomas, who struggled to believe the resurrection until he was invited to literally put his finger into the nail scarred hands of Jesus. In John 20 the disciples told Thomas they’d seen Jesus, but we see in John 20:25 “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

John 20:26-29
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Listen, I want you to get to a place where you simply hear God’s voice and do what he’s asked you to do, to simply believe without having to see it,
and the reason is not just that obedience is something God desires from us, but because at the core of it all, contributing in the Kingdom is just the natural byproduct of obedience. Perhaps seeing is believing in the secular world, but there’s a blessing that comes when faith is activated in those moments where you can’t see the full picture.

I know we want to believe, to obey, we want to step, but there are things that keep us from contributing, like sin issues, ignorance issues, and fear issues.

So let me take a few moments to day and share on these three issues in the hopes that you can get a glimpse of what it looks like to contribute so you can effectively do it.

1. Sin Issues
Again, we’ve talked about this a lot, so I'm not trying to spend a lot of time here, but let me just bring up one thing that is the result of sin in the hopes I can help you learn what it means to effectively contribute.

Sin separates. I mentioned that last week. Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated you from your God

Acts 17:24-25, 28
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. 25 He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 28 For in him we live and move and have our being.

Paul is preaching this passage to pagans in Athens who are far from God. That distance makes hearing him hard, but worse, it makes contributing impossible. Why? Because God is the source of everything good in our lives. When you are far away from the source, it makes contributing all but impossible.

Dealing with sin requires acknowledgment, confession, repentance, and receiving forgiveness. You don’t have to hide or grovel or wallow in shame. You confess it, turn from it, and receive forgiveness, and the result is a shift if your proximity to God.

So what does it look like to be a contributor? It starts with your proximity to God. Closeness to God solves so many issues, y’all.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

The only way we could ever contribute is out of the abundance of what God has poured into us! But he can’t pour into us if we are distanced from him by disobedience. If you want to be a contributor, you have to be a conduit.

If you aren't close to God, it's gonna be very hard for you to contribute to the Kingdom, and the reason is because you cannot give out of an empty cup.

They tell you on an airplane to put the mask on yourself before you put it on anybody else. They don't do that because of a lack of kindness and compassion. They do it because they understand if you are suffocating, you can't help somebody else breathe. Empty cups have no water to give.

If you are empty today, feel far away today, if you aren’t hearing him, check your proximity.

A contributor isn’t a perfect person, but rather a person who stays close to God, is quick to repent, and exhibits the fruits of the Spirit, among other things. (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). If these fruits aren’t consistently evident, repent and get close so you can contribute.

A contributor is not one who lives a lifestyle of sin.
A contributor is one who lives a lifestyle of obedience.

2. Ignorance Issues
Ignorance is not stupidity, it is simply not knowing the information. BTW Stupidity is willful ignorance. Don’t do that. Ignorance is Peter saying, “Let’s build three tabernacles.” Ignorance is Martha being more worried about the chores than sitting with Jesus. Ignorance is the disciples struggling to understand what Jesus was teaching. The only way we can kill ignorance is education.

And btw…I know sometimes there are things in life, especially in church, that are complex and hard to understand. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the complexity and cause you to either be paralyzed into inaction, just give up because it is too hard, or even worse, make a bad decision driven by fear not faith.

Hosea 4:6 - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

That destruction comes through fear, giving up, bad decisions, etc.

Again - education, learning, is the key to killing ignorance that leads to destruction.

A contributor is a learner, and a proactive one, at that.

A contributor learns, first, about the things of God.
Look at Paul, who before his conversion was a persecutor of the church! Yet, later in life, he tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:12-13
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, 13 even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief.

Paul learned some things that challenged his previous beliefs, and rather than fighting God and continuing in ignorance, he chose to embrace the truth and learn.

A contributor learns, second, about the needs around him.
Not only did Paul embrace the truth of who God was, what the church was about, and what God was doing in the Earth, he also learned about the needs of the people around him. How did he do that? Some was trading, some was divine inspiration. The chapters after his conversion shows Paul talking with Jews in the synagogue, with Greeks in the marketplace. This wasn’t idle chatter. It was Paul in his regular life seeking first the Kingdom of God!

He goes on a missionary journey in Acts 13:6-12
6 Afterward they traveled from town to town across the entire island until finally they reached Paphos, where they met a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Barnabas and Saul said. He was trying to keep the governor from believing.
9 Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye. 10 Then he said, “You son of the devil, full of every sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord? 11 Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see the sunlight for some time.” Instantly mist and darkness came over the man’s eyes, and he began groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him.
12 When the governor saw what had happened, he became a believer, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.
I don't know that Paul had a full understanding of what that governor needed to hear in order to accept Jesus, but the Lord definitely knew, and because the Lord knew, Paul could learn.
So the way Paul contributed to that man’s salvation was by being obedient to go where God told him to go, by listening to the Lord as he instructed Paul, and then speaking in the right moment.

Don't think for a second that your life is any different! Get it out of your mind that being a contributor means being forced to change every single thing about your life where it's kingdom, kingdom, and nothing else but the kingdom like a mindless drone. God is not looking for robots.

For the vast majority of people in the Kingdom, they are not called to vocational contributors, but are all called to be contributors in their sphere of influence. We are ALL called to that! But we cannot live in ignorance to the things of God and in ignorance to the needs around us if we are going to effectively contribute.

So do you need to ask yourself:
What do I need to learn about the things of God to kill ignorance in me?
And second, what do I need to learn about the people around me in my sphere of influence so that I can contribute?

Maybe you need to read that Bible, maybe you need a godly mentor or friend, maybe you need a study or a podcast or a message to help you learn. Maybe you need to be more aware of the needs and environment around you, but ignorance cannot be an excuse any longer for not contributing. Being educated is how you fix ignorance.

This is what a contributor looks like.
Not someone who is content to live in their ignorance, but someone who is actively seeking the Kingdom and adding value to others. Look, the closer you get to God the more you learn about him, and the more you learn about him, the better you get at recognizing what contribution he wants you to make in that moment.

What do you need to learn to be a better contributor?

And by the way, Jesus didn't pick experts as disciples, but every day, ordinary people. Jesus calling somebody like Peter should encourage all of us, knowing that God can use even the biggest knucklehead to make an eternal impact.

3. Fear Issues
Only sin is more powerful at destroying our ability to contribute than fear.

2 Timothy 1:7
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

If power, love, and a sound mind are what we get from God, then it stands to reason their opposites represent the paralyzing effects of fear, weakness, selfishness, double-mindedness and anxiety.

Fear will paralyze you into inaction, forcing you into a state of weakness, selfishness, and anxiety. That is a state from which you cannot contribute.

The Threshold of Scary
We all know where we’ve been and have a pretty good idea of where God wants to take us (if you don’t, Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. i.e. contributing), but we get to a place called the threshold of scary where we are forced to step into the unknown.

This is where fear stops so many of us.
We are afraid because we don’t know what will happen if we step out.
What if we fail? if we went the wrong direction? if we are inadequate?
What if you succeed? if you go the right direction? if you are enough?

If we don’t step what happens is we revert backwards and end up in a vicious loop that has us staring at our hands filled with knowledge, anointing, gifts, talents, yet because we’ve succumbed to fear, we ack the power of God, and we end up with a form of godliness, but no power, and the result is not only frustration with our current situation, we are powerless to contribute. And that’s when we start questioning everything.

A contributor lets faith lead when fear wants control.
A contributor chooses obedience and the unknown over fear and comfort.
A contributor understands that the same God who called you to step will be on the other side of the threshold, too.

What does that look like?
It looks like willingness to daily submit to God, deal with issues in us, address sin, confront our own inadequacies, embrace brokenness before the Lord, and most importantly of all, to simply say yes to whatever, wherever, and whenever he asks.

I have never regretted stepping over the threshold into the unknown, but I have routinely regretted not.

What is your threshold of scary?
Whatever it is, the joy of being a contributor is on the other side.

What does a contributor look like? You.
You, but willing to deal with your sin.
You, but willing to learn about the things of God and the needs around you.
You, but willingly stepping over the threshold into God’s plan.

Last week I made a comment:
One of satan’s best tricks is to get you so focused on what you don’t have that you refuse to embrace what you do have.

In light of the message for you today, the trick is to get you so focused on how you aren’t contributing that you are incapable of seeing what contributing looks like.

Let me kneel down and let you stand on my back so you can peek over the fence at the contributor you could be.

And the truth is, you aren’t far off.

You just have to be willing to say yes to his voice.

Maybe you need to say yes to Jesus to begin with.
“Jesus I confess you as Lord. I believe you died and rose again. I confess my sin and repent.
Save me Lord.”

Maybe sin and ignorance - even willful ignorance - and fear have kept you from contributing.
Jesus forgive me. Forgive my sin. Forgive my ignorance. Forgive my fear.
Holy Spirit teach me. Empower me.
Help me say yes when sin, ignorance, and fear want me to say no.
Help me contribute in the way you’ve called me to.

Let’s pray.