Malachi 3:10; Proverbs 3:9–10; Ephesians 1:15–23; Galatians 5:25
What does it mean to make room for God to move? On Heart for the House Sunday, Pastors Max and Juliet Lyons share the vision behind Elan's annual offering, recap the call to put God first through the tithe, and point to the quiet revival in the United Kingdom as a sign of what God may do here. Pastor Juliet shares the picture God gave her of the church He wanted to build, and together they cast vision for Elan's next home in Naperville.
Key takeaways
- Elan never talks about money because it wants something from you, but because it wants something for you: a blessed and generous life.
- The first belongs to God; when you put Him first through the tithe, you will experience His supernatural blessing through the ups and downs of life.
- God is doing something significant in the United Kingdom and, pastors across the United States report, here too, so the church must make room for what He is about to do.
- God showed Pastor Juliet a people more desperate for His presence than His gifts, who value the fruit of the Spirit over the gifts and fight for one another's souls.
- Making room is our part and moving is God's part; Heart for the House prepares Elan for what comes after its current space.
Message notes
A Sunday that will grow
Pastor Max opens by sharing something he sensed during worship: that Heart for the House Sunday will one day become one of Elan's biggest Sundays of the year. For newcomers, he explains that Elan takes two annual offerings above regular giving. Heart for the Kingdom at year end gives away every penny to organizations advancing Jesus' kingdom; Heart for the House in June advances what God is doing at Elan. The tithe keeps the church healthy, while Heart for the House allows giant leaps forward, like moving into the current building in October before the church was even three years old. Since then Elan launched a second service and roughly doubled. Heart for the House is about making room for Jesus to move.
Recap: put God first
Pastor Max revisits last week's teaching on the tithe. Elan never talks about money because it wants something from you, only because it wants something for you. Scripture consistently says the first belongs to God: the firstborn in Exodus 13, the firstfruits in Proverbs 3, and Malachi 3, where withholding the tithe is called robbing God. The Bible never says give the tithe but bring it, because we are returning what is already His. Malachi 3:10 is the one place Scripture invites us to test God, so Elan repeats its challenge: tithe for three months, and if you regret it, the church will refund every penny. He cites Sir John Templeton's observation that tithing families prospered more, and Adrian Rogers' line, "Give to God what is right, not what is left."
Steward the other ninety
God wants His people living in financial freedom, not bondage to debt. Elan has given every person a free copy of The Generous Life by Rob Ketterling and purchased Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University for the whole church.
The quiet revival
Pastor Max shares statistics from the United Kingdom, where Juliet grew up and they lived until 2017. The nation has moved from 8 percent Christian to 12 percent in six years, young adult Christians have quadrupled from 4 to 16 percent, and young men are now more likely to attend church than young women. They call it the quiet revival. Every pastor he speaks to in the United States says the same thing: more people coming to Jesus, more men, more young people, more hunger. Elan wants to make room for what God is about to do.
What Pastor Juliet saw
Pastor Juliet shares, for the first time publicly, the picture God gave her while fasting and praying before Elan launched. It was not a building but a people: more desperate for God's presence than His gifts, worshiping in spirit and truth without performance, refusing to misuse grace, living with urgency about Christ's return, loving the real gospel rather than entertainment, passing truth to the next generation, valuing the fruit of the Spirit above the gifts, and unapologetic disciples who do not fight one another but fight for one another's souls. She reads Ephesians 1 in The Message: the church is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.
Walking in cadence with the Spirit
Using a video of metronomes that gradually synchronize through shared proximity, Pastor Juliet describes the Holy Spirit as the common foundation that brings very different people into step, drawing on Galatians 5:25. Speaking honestly about a loved one who died the night before after choosing a different path, she warns that a culture built on comfort is raising children without strength, and says she will give her last breath to the church. Heart for the House is about legacy, not just resources.
Making room for what is next
Pastor Max likens making room to his gym routine: he cannot make muscle grow, but he controls the inputs. We cannot make God move, but we can prepare. With about two years left in the current space and a church that has doubled, Elan must prepare now. A 65,000 square foot church property on 11 acres near Neuqua Valley High School is for sale, and Elan needs to set aside at least one million dollars over three years: 250,000 this year, 325,000 next, and 425,000 the year after. Past offerings grew from 19,000 to 27,000 to 127,000. Both one-time and recurring gifts are available, and Pastor Max and Juliet are doing both. They never tell people what to give, but ask everyone to ask God and trust Him.
