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Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. Have you ever looked back in time and considered

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how certain defining moments have shaped your life in future? Today, John Metter, lead

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pastor of Cross City Church, looks at the importance of defining moments and how we

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can recognize what God is saying through them.

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Let me share with you the last defining moments message we've been in that all summer. They've

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been very personal. They've been very much application oriented. Here's what can happen

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when you have defining moments in life with God. I want to encourage you not to miss next

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week because it's going to be about the defining moment that every person in this room should

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have. At least one defining moment with God, what it looks like and how it changes everything.

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We're going to talk about that next Sunday morning. Then the week after that, August

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21st, we're getting into a brand new series called Origins from the book of Genesis, the

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very first book in the Bible. Of course, we'll talk about everything from the fact that Genesis

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1.1, the truth of it. Everybody in this room probably knows what Genesis 1.1 says without

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looking it up. Say it with me. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. See,

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you're already there. You're already prepared for the 21st. Literally, every question culture

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is asking and answering wrong, the answers are found in the book of Genesis. We're going

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to go back and look at Origins and take some time to talk about those key questions that

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everyone needs to know the answers to. Today, a moment of amazement. Would you please stand

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with me as I read Malachi 3, beginning in verse 7. God is using the prophet Malachi

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to talk to his people during a time when they're far from God. This prophet is coming with

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a message from God about how they've wandered away. Part of the overriding theme of Malachi

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is return to me. You see it repeatedly all the way through this book. Chapter 3, beginning

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in verse 7, repeats that and then moves into an area where God wants his people to return

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to him. Here's what it says in verse 7. From the days of your fathers, you have turned

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aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says

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the Lord of hosts. By the way, that's the way God works. Always, always. If you return

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to God, he will return to you. When you're far from God, God has not left. You left and

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he says, return to me. But then the question they have is, but you say, how shall we return?

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Verse 8, will a man rob God? Yet you're robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you? The

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answer is in tithes and offerings. And you're a curse with a curse for you're robbing me,

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the whole nation of you. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food

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in my house and test me now in this. The only time in the Bible where God says, I challenge

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you to try me out, test me and see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and

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pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you so

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that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground, nor will your vine in the field cast

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its grapes. That is prematurely, says the Lord of hosts. All the nations will call you blessed

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for you shall be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts. Let me just tell you, this

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can be a life changing message for you at a defining moment. Join me in prayer. Father,

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thank you that you give us all kinds of opportunities to return to you in every aspect of our life.

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And today I pray that we can return to you and have defining moments that change the

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way we do things in the future. Father, thank you that you love us enough to knock on our

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door, to convict our hearts, to speak to us about things like this. We ask this in Jesus

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name, all God's people said, amen. Please be seated if you would. So I've got some goals

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from a message today and here's what those goals are. First of all, I want you to understand

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what the scripture says about giving. That's going to be a big piece of what happens today.

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I want you to understand what it says about giving. Number two, I want you to learn generosity

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and joy. You know, sometimes people don't realize those two things work together. That

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you can be generous and have joy at the same time. Sometimes we think that when we give

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something away, there can't be any joy in that, but that's definitely not true. And

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thirdly, I want you to realize what true treasure is. True treasure is not how much we have,

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but true treasure is about where we stand with God and our relationship with him. Then

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number four, to see God provide in unexpected ways. I want you to be able to see that God

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can do that above and beyond what you can ask or think or imagine. God can provide for

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you in unexpected ways. And I want you to see that today. I'm going to speak about a

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date in past history, almost immediate past history for a moment. February 27th, 2005.

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Anybody know where you lived and where you attended church in 2005? Many of you attended

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here and this is when this church began to watch God do some amazing things financially.

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Literally, that date is a defining moment in our church life. Even though I wasn't here,

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I know it was a defining moment in our church life. So here's part of the backstory. After

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a breach in leadership, which led to several resignations of pastors in this church, this

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church found itself $6.3 million in debt and no repayment plan and no reserves to speak

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of asking the question, what will we do? Bill Anderson was called to be the interim pastor

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in those days as part of the answer of what's next. And on that date, February 27th, 2005,

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Bill stood in front of the congregation in this room and he preached a message. And that

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message was anointed by God. I saw it later on by videotape and I'm telling you, I saw

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in a moment during a particular moment of that message where it just seemed like the

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spirit of God just grabbed Bill Anderson and made him a prophet in this church. And basically

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what he said was, he said, this mountain of debt must be moved. This mountain of debt

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must be dealt away with. And with that, we began to see what is now called the miracle

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at First Ulysses. Debt was beginning to be paid off week by week by people's generosity.

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Now it's called about halfway into the process of this debt repayment, just about a year

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and a half after Bill Anderson made that statement. And by July of 2007, I came in 2006, but in

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July of 2007, just 28 months later, this church had paid off all of its debts and were debt

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free from that day on. Do you want to just praise the Lord for that? It was really an

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amazing moment. It was an incredible, incredible time. But the funny thing about it is, once

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the debt was paid off and once we burned the note on this stage, people kept giving. I

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mean, that's the funny thing. What do you do when the week after the debt's been repaid,

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you have $300,000 given for debt repayment, but it's already been repaid. And then the

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next week, another $250,000, and then next week, another $185,000, and then next week,

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another quarter of a million dollars. And before long, we were holding a million dollars

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in our hands saying, where is this supposed to go? Well, for the next 10 years that happened

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and kept happening. And over the next 10 years, not weeks, but 10 years, we funded just about

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everything that has to do with ministry. We completed the Bible translation in Mandarin

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Chinese before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and distributed that to thousands and millions

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of people that came from around the world to that place. We began to plant churches.

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We've planted several churches with those monies. We also began to support missions

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in a huge way. Kids Beach Club, Career Solutions, Six Stones was begun the year after that, and

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we just began to pour money into this community and feed people and help people. And I'll

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fast forward to 2020 and 2021 after having completed a $20 million building after all

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those things I just described. And this church is still debt free as a result of that. Praise

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the Lord. That doesn't happen very often. Our auditor last year, who we are audited

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every year by the way, and he said, I've never given a higher rating to a church for the

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way they do their finances. And he said, I never hear of stories like this, but what's

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happening is unique in this church in Cross City is to be commended, but God has obviously

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blessed this church in a huge way. These were all defining moments in a string of defining

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moments for our church financially. So I'm not just here to tell you about history. I'm

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here to tell you about the foundation of how we view giving and money, but allowed God

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to bless this church in such a huge way. Let me define it for you in a summary. Scripture

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teaches that we give the first 10th of all we receive to God and then listen to him regarding

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the rest. Let me read that again. Scripture teaches that we give the first 10th of all

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we receive to God and then listen to him regarding the rest. Now, when you get into this text,

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you're going to find that that's what God said to Israel when it says that he invites

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them to come back and walk with him because they have been ignoring that. They've been

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disobeying that and it's affected them in a huge way. And this passage is going to walk

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us through what God wants for us and what God wants from us. What God wants for us and

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what God wants from us. You know, often when we think about giving and any command of the

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Bible to give, we think, oh, God just wants that from us. But I've got to tell you today,

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God does not need your money. He does not need mine. God is able to provide without

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our money, but he wants something for you that's bigger than what you could ever give

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to him. And yet giving and generosity is part of how God brings that which he wants for

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you to you. Now, the scripture tells us what God wants for us in this text right here and

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I want to walk you through it. First of all, God wants us to experience his presence. That's

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where the text began. Look back at what it says in verse seven, return to me and I will

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return to you. So the message begins with an invitation. Return to me. You know, all

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the way through the Bible, God is giving us those invitations to come to him, to walk

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with him, to return to him. You know, I read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and I

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see these return and these come to me kind of invitations. The whole Bible is an invitation.

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But if you were to open the book of Genesis, you can't get past Genesis three before you

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see God coming to find Adam and Eve who have sinned against God and who are now separated

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from God. And God comes into the garden and says, where are you? Come to me. He takes

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care to cover their sin and they can fellowship with God. Again, he's always wanting to come

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to us and us to come to him. One of my favorite prophets is Isaiah. Isaiah chapter one, verse

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18 says this, come now, let us reach him together, says the Lord. Though your sins are scarlet,

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they will be as white as snow. That's an invitation to salvation. But all the way through the

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Bible that come to me is there. Jesus said it in the gospels, Matthew chapter 11, verse

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28, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Get all the

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way back to the end of the Bible, Revelation chapter 21 and 22, very last chapter of the

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Bible. The Bible says this, there's a verse there that says the spirit and the bride say

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come and let all who thirst of the water of life come. The invitation to God is always

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you come, you return to me because I'll be there when you get there. And when you come

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back to me, you'll see things happen that could never happen otherwise. So we start

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this message by just reminding you that God wants us to experience his presence. But secondly,

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this text tells us that God wants us to see his faithfulness. Test me now in this. There's

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nothing else in the scripture like this. Now where else does God make this kind of challenge

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or make this kind of promise? Test me now and see if I won't open the windows of heaven

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for you. Now what was happening back in Malachi's days, the people forgot God's faithfulness.

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That's so easy to do. It's easy to forget all that God has done for us. And so they're

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living on their own. That is not working out very well. And what's more, because of their

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disobedience things were getting worse in their lives and they're getting a little bit desperate.

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So God sends the prophet and says, here's the problem. You've walked away from God.

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Now listen, I've got to tell you this. And when you walk away from God, it will never

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go right. It may feel right for a little while, but only a little while. And as you get further

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and further away from God, you'll see what that distance is like and you'll begin to

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hear what the spirit says to you. Come return to me. I'll return to you. You always want

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God to be in your life. Trust me. You don't ever want to walk away from God. But when

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you come back to God, as Malachi said, you're going to see his faithfulness. Test me now

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and there. See if I won't open the windows of heaven. So God wants us to see his direct

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provision unexplained by anything else. That's what our church experienced. How can a church

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to $6.3 million in debt pay that off at 28 months in addition to securing all their budget

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needs and then how can they keep on going for the next 10 years and pour money into

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missions and Bible translations and feeding the community and loving people around us

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in the name of how can they do that without God opening the windows of heaven and pouring

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out a blessing that can't be received. I mean, it doesn't happen apart from God's power,

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does it? So that's what God is telling people in Malachi's day. Now we all know that God

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provides in a number of ways. Someone might say, well, God provides for me through my

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job or he provides for me through my ability to do certain things, my strength to do hard

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work, my wisdom to be able to figure systems out, whatever it might be. But let me just

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tell you, if God didn't give you the strength that you have, you couldn't do anything.

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If God didn't give you the ability to think that you have, you couldn't do anything all

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the way through scripture. The Bible calls God the God who gives us the ability to make

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a living, to make wealth. And we couldn't have that apart from his power and his strength,

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everything we have he gives to us. It's always amazing to me that people that pray so hard

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for a job and believe God opened the doors for it and thank God when they get that job,

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forget to give to him when the paychecks come. All of a sudden they forgot who gave them

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the strength or the wisdom. They forgot how God opened those doors, but that was happening

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in Malachi's day. Crops would come out of the ground, not like they wanted, but they

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were still having crops. They were still having fruit, but they weren't giving thanks to God.

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And now they're hurting and God says, return to me and return to me in your giving. Let

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me just tell you, giving is not a mathematical thing. It's a spiritual thing because it doesn't

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always add up when we bring our tithes to God and we give the first tenth of our income.

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We don't see how it's all going to add up in our budget, but here's what I've learned.

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I've learned that if you can't figure it out mathematically, that's not the end of the

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game. God will make it happen and make it work through his extra provision after we

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have given to him. And I've got story after story under my belt of how that's happening

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in my own life. And I am thrilled to be able to tell you some of those stories. I remember

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a few years ago talking to a couple, a young couple in the church I pastor at the time

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and they had incredible financial challenges and they knew the practice of giving and tithing

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to the Lord, but they were not doing it at that time and actually their CPA advised against

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it. They had gone to get some advice. They needed to get it out of debt. They needed

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to retire certain loans that they had taken out and they said, in all this we still want

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to be faithful and give to our church, give to God. And the CPA said, look, I'd stake

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my professional reputation on this. You cannot give to your church and still get out of financial

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trouble. And they ignored his advice, began giving to God and they came back a year or

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two later debt free and the guy said, look, I don't see how that happened. They said,

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well, your professional advice isn't worth as much as you think it is. Because God supplied

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for us above and beyond what we could even imagine he was going to provide. And that's

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how this principle spiritually speaking works mathematically. It doesn't add up to those

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that only use a calculator. It adds up to those that are trusting in God and seeing

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him provide an amazing way. Now my wife and I were talking about this this last week and

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she brought up a memory that I have. I remember a day when we had a certain bill that we had,

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it was just under $200 and this was like 35 years ago, something like that, a long time

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ago. I don't know how much $200 is adjusted for inflation, but it's probably $500 comparable

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bill. So it's a pretty sizable bill, right? And, and I also knew we had a financial commitment

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to our church and it was kind of down to the choice. I'm not going to write the check to

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the church. I'm not going to write the check to this bill. What are we going to do? We

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prayed about it, thought about it, said, all right, the bill has to be paid, but we believe

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that the Lord needs to be trusted. They wrote the check to the church. The next day, the

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next day we got an envelope in the mail from a company I'd never heard of before. It turns

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out that we had done some business with this company in the past and it was an insurance

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company and I had a reimbursement check coming back from them. And you want to guess what

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the amount is? Exactly what I wrote the check for to the dollar the day before. And I looked

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at the heading on the check and the return address on the envelope and I held it up to

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Kim and I said, have you ever heard of this company before? She said, I've never heard

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of it before and the name of it was Sovereign Life Insurance Company. I still don't know

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if there's an insurance company by that name, but I know the check cleared and it went in

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my account just fine. Now that was before Google, so I didn't have a chance to Google

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it, right? So bottom line is God showed us he's faithful, he's able to do above and beyond

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what we can even ask and think. But here's a story I can't help but tell because this

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story is just incredible. I still have evidence of this in my home today. I was pastoring

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a church in Irving, Texas and we were conspiring together to remove all the debt of that church.

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Every church I've ever gone to, when I went as pastor had debt and when I left was debt

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free and that was always an important thing for me to be able to lead a church that way.

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So this church was in debt and we had committed to helping pay it off and it took a sizable

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commitment on our part. And the bottom line is I needed new clothes at the time and I

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needed in particular, suits. Do y'all remember when preachers had to wear suits? Do y'all

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remember what suits are, right? Anybody have a three piece suit they wear anymore at all?

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Raise your hand if you have a three piece suit. I don't think many of you do. Oh, there's

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a few of your hands. I see sir that you don't have that on today though, right? And there

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was a day when that's the kind of clothing I wore on Sunday morning. I always had a suit

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on, always had the tie on, you know, the slacks that are baggy and all that stuff. You know,

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I've had them all, but I was needing new clothes and we were giving to our church and just

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didn't have enough to get new clothes. And I remember a pastor friend of mine called

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me one day and he said, John, if you're ever coming through my church in Tennessee where

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he pastored, he said, I've got a few suits for you. And my friend's name was Wayne Barber.

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Wayne was about six six, just a little bit taller than me. And over the previous year

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or two had gained a lot of weight eating out, I guess, fried chicken dinners after church

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on Sunday morning. He outgrew his clothes and had to buy new clothes. So he said, I've

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got some suits. They're actually tailor made suits and I can't wear them anymore. I'd like

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to give them to you. He said, save some space in your car when you come by. So we went on

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vacation, my wife and I, and we drove a suburban in those days. We had six kids all at home.

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And so those six kids filled the back two seats as you know, but we had a storage space

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behind that. And I made sure that on the clothes rack, there was about that much room for the

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suits he was going to get me. And after church, I met with Wayne. He said, pull your car around

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here where mine is and I'll give you these suits. And so that's what happened. And I

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opened up the back of the suburban. He handed me about three or four suits and I put them

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in there and I closed the door. He said, no, no, I'm not through yet. So I opened it back

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up and he gave me three or four more suits and I put them in there and closed the door.

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He said, John, leave the door open. I've got a lot of clothes to give you. So he started

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giving me more and more suits. Now these are tailor made suits that I never would have

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paid that much money for at all. He kept giving them to me. He kept giving them to me and

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I kept stuffing them in the back of that suburban. And after a while, I didn't worry about whether

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they were wrinkled or not. I was just stuffing them in right and left, literally. I even

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considered leaving a couple of my kids behind so I could take those suits with me because

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it was that big of a deal. Well, we drove all day that day after that. I was just amazed

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at how much he gave me. I didn't even know how many suits, how many pants, how many shirts.

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I didn't even know. And so when we got to the hotel that night, I thought I'm going

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to cath them all. I'm going to get them all out and I'm going to put them on this big

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old clothes rack that's in our closet of our motel. And it had a big thick wooden dowel

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about that big of a round. I thought this will hold. And so I started getting them out,

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started counting them secretly in my mind, going through a calculator, thinking how much

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are these worth? And they were worth thousands and thousands of dollars. And they all fit

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me perfectly. And that night, Kim and I went to bed and we were thanking the Lord for that.

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We went to bed. In the middle of the night, we heard a boom. And Kim woke me up and she

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said, look at that closet rod. It had broken in the middle of the night and all those clothes

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were on the ground. And the second I saw that, I thought of this passage, test me now in

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this and see if I will not pour out a blessing that you cannot receive. And literally that

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closet could not hold those clothes. And I thank the Lord for that clearly evident way

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of providing for me. You guys praise the Lord a little bit with me because I still have

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a few of those in my closet. God's able to do things like that and you just can't watch

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things happen like that in your life over and over without realizing, hey, this really

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happens. God really does provide in surprising ways, unusual ways that we would never have

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trusted Him for. It doesn't add up when we give away our money or our offerings or our

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tithes, but it does add up in life. We can't see it mathematically on a calculator, but

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we can see it in real life. God wants you to see that He can do that. But God also wants

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to give us His protection. That's the next thing this text says. He says, then I will

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revoke the devourer for you. It's an agricultural statement. What God is saying is I'll keep

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what destroys your plants and your fruits away. It's a statement of the natural breakdown

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of things, but also in inference, there is a definite enemy that works to rob and kill

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and destroy the things that we have or the things that we are. You know what John 10

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10 says, a thief comes only to rob and still kill and destroy, but I came to say, may I

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have life and have it more abundantly. Now this is not prosperity teaching at all. This

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is all about God taking care of His children in a way that only God can. But the curse

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of earth and the curse of sin and the curse of the enemy have open season on us without

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God's protection. You know that's true. You know that's true when bad things happen

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and you don't seem to have protection for it sometimes. When I was a young pastor, I

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pastored in Oklahoma city area and there was a man that drove in from maybe 30 miles outside

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of town where he had a large farm. His name was Orla Ratliff and he would tell stories.

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He told stories about going out to the field with a diaper in one pocket and a diaper in

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another back pocket and take his grandson out there with him and be out there all day,

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change his main diapers as he needed to and come back. He would tell these folk stories

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about working hard and trusting God for the fruit to come out of the ground and the corn

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to come out of the ground, et cetera. And he made this statement one time when we were

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talking about this subject about the devourer. He said, you know, I need God to rebuke the

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devourer on my farm. I said, what do you mean Orla? He said, well, the Hessian fly, the

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green bug and the grasshopper, I can't keep them off my plants. Only God can hold them

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back. And I said, Orla, really? You pray that so that your fruit and your crops can make

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it. He said, I absolutely do. And he said, I've seen God hold those things back just

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so I can have a harvest. He said, it's amazing how that works. He said, pastor, that's what

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Malachi is talking about. I said, it sure is, isn't it? An agricultural illustration.

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The truth is God really, really does do that. He really does have a supernatural way of

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intervening for us. Just read your Bible. Remember when he protected Israel for 40 years

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in the desert and they didn't have any food or any water and man it came down from where?

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Where did it come down from? Heaven. Water came out of the rock. The Bible says in Deuteronomy

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29 and five, I have led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out

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on you. Your sandal has not worn out on your foot. Anybody in this room have shoes that

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are 40 years old? Would you raise your hand? I promise you no woman will raise her hand.

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The truth is only God can make shoes last 40 years. Only God can make a robe or clothing

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last 40 years. And that's what this says. It basically says that God will rebuke the

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devourer. Only God can keep people from going hungry and help them when nothing else is

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around. What about in the gospels when Jesus is teaching these multitudes of people and

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they're hungry and the only thing they have are two fish and some little loaves of bread

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that a little boy has and Jesus takes those and breaks those and feeds the multitude.

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And in Mark chapter four verse or six, chapter six, verse 42, the summary statement of what

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happens after that miracle of provision is they all ate and were satisfied. I mean we

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have a God that keeps things from wearing out. We have a God that keeps things from

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running out. God can do things that nobody else can do so trusting him is always best.

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But not only that, here's something else God wants for us. He wants us to enjoy his reputation.

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In verse 12, all the nations will call you blessed for you shall be a delightful land.

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Even today the world marvels at the provision God has for his nation Israel that Malachi

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is speaking to. And even today it's amazing God's favor on those who obey him and walk

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with him in financial principles. Back in 2005 when Bill Anderson stood up on that day

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and preached that prophetic and anointed message about provision, he made this statement.

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He said I hope the whole world is watching because God is going to provide in a way to

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show what he can do and God did do that and people did see that. And we still call it

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the miracle. We don't call things miraculous unless they are. It's still called the miracle

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and if you walk out the center of the worship center and go east into that parking lot you'll

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see six stones in that miracle garden and they'll always be there because it's a defining

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moment in the life of this church where God works in amazing ways, surprising ways, supernatural

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ways on behalf of our church. We love that. We love that. And we tell the story all the

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time. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for that. So God wants something for us. A lot

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of something for us. But God also wants something from us. We wouldn't want to leave out that

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part and verse 10 is where that is. Bring the whole tide into the storehouse. All of

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this passage hinges on that one command. God says you do that. That opens the door for

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all this generosity from me. That's what opens the windows of heaven for me to pour out a

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blessing that you can't receive. Specifically he says I want you to bring the first part

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of all the harvest or all the increase or all the pay or the first part of your check

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to him. God wants us to acknowledge and worship and honor him with our giving because he's

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the source of it all. Sometimes I wish our paychecks would not just get direct deposited

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or come in the mail but sometimes I wish our paychecks would just float down from heaven

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so we'd have to look up and wait for them and go oh yeah, ultimately that does come

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from God. But it really does. So here's what God says he wants from us. He wants us to

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acknowledge and worship him with that. And the amazing thing is God provides all that

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he has for us and asks us to keep the 90% and be wise with it but he wants us to first

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acknowledge his provision with the tithe, with the tent. That's sprinkled all the way

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through scripture. Proverbs 3, 9 says honor the Lord from your wealth and the first of

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your produce. Or Matthew 6 verse 33 in a text that deals with possessions and worrying about

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having more he says Jesus says seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all

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these other things will be added to you. Put the first things first. And the New Testament

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church has always had the practice of as they gather on the first day of the week bringing

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the first of all that they've been given to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 16 too on the first

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day of the week as each of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper so that no collections

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be made when I come and today we practice that through whatever way we give including

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an offering box as you leave or an offering bag as you leave. We practice that. But sometimes

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I forget that he asks and all he asks is a dime of every dollar that he's blessed us

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with. But I should remember what my father taught me when I was a little boy and that

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is the heavenly father wants us to bring the first tenth. Dad used to give me an allowance

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every Saturday morning of a dollar. Now for a six and seven year old boy that's a lot

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of money. And he'd give me a dollar in dimes. Ten dimes. Always wondered why the dime. And

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then I realized when he gave me the dimes he said now you need to take the first dime

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and you need to give it to the Lord. That's just what we practice. The Bible says practice

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that. It was instrumental that he gave me my allowance on Saturday morning before I

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could spend that dollar somewhere else. And I'd bring that dime to church the next day

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and put it in that offering plate and I practiced that from the time I was six year old on and

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my brother did as well. And that's what his heavenly father taught him from the text that

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we just looked at right here. Bring the first of all that's been given to you because God

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asked that from us and he has so much more that he's going to give for us. Now I want

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you to have your attention on the stage and then in front of the stage for the next moment.

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I'd like to illustrate the principle that we've been talking about today and I think

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it'll be helpful if you can see it with your own eyes. Because what I have is two tables

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here. This is your table right here. And this is God's table. And I'm going to make an

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illustration out of all this increase that I have here. So I have a lot of fruit here

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on this table. Can you see this fruit? There's a lot of fruit here. I think there's about

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60 pieces of fruit on this table. Now basically I want you to see that God provides all that

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you have through however he does that. Through work, through someone giving you something

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else, whatever it might be. God has provided everything. He wants this for us but he asks

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something from us. And basically he asks for a tenth. I think I've got six different kinds

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of fruit here. And I've got these green apples. I've got some pears here. I've got this banana

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here. I've got a mandarin here. I've got a peach right here. And I've got a cantaloupe

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here. You can see the cantaloupe and I'm sure that everything's going to come rolling off

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when I pick that cantaloupe up. And I'm just going to use this to illustrate the fact that

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God is asking something of all that he's blessed us with. And this is that something. I'm going

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to take it to this table here where you are bringing this to the Lord. Six different pieces

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of fruit out of the 60 that you have. I just line them up here so they'll take up all the

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space they can possibly take there. And then I want you to compare what God is asking you

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to do. This is what God has asked us to give to him. This is what God asked from us. Alright?

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You can break this story down in any way you want to with any currency you want to but

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in that day and time it was the fruit of the ground. And this is the fruit of the ground.

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So he wants this from us. But it's not like God wants everything from us. He wants this

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for us. Now I want you to contrast the two there. And I want you to wonder why in the

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world with God's blessed us with all that he only asked for one chance. Why is that

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such a big deal? Why is it so hard for us to do? But look at it in contrast, in comparison.

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God wants the first in order to remind us that he gave us it all. And to worship him

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with that. And then God wants us to keep this and to be wise about how we live with it.

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Wise about how we spend it, how we eat it, who we give it away to. Now we need to listen

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to the Lord on all this but we need to never forget God asked this from us. For us and

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from us. You know if I'm not careful I begin to stay on this side of the picture and I

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look longingly at that over there. I mean I know I've got this right here. This should

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be enough right? But that apple over there looks a whole lot better than this one right

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now. For some reason that sometimes looks better than this. And if I were to go over

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there and to pick up that apple and to make it my own. I mean if I were to bite into this,

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whose apple am I biting into? I'm not biting into my apple. I'm biting into the apple

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that God asked for me. One time I did that and I almost bit into it and someone said

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no on the front row right here. I'm like you're feeling the messes as though you are. But

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sometimes we don't think anything about taking the money that really got asked for us and

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spending it on whatever instead of saving. No. This is the holy moment between us God.

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And every time I write a check, every time I give an offering, it's an act of obedience.

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It's a holy moment. It's an opportunity for God to do things that he otherwise wouldn't

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do. Now God will protect this more because I am following his financial principles. And

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if this is not enough, what does God promise to do? I will open the windows of heaven and

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provide for you a blessing which you cannot receive. In the illustration of my suits,

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there wouldn't be enough table to hold the fruit that God would pour out. And that's

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true of your life as well. And you can watch that unfold over the days of your life and

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you can be impressed and it will affect the way you live life. It is a defining moment.

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You know during that era when we had that big giving emphasis for the miracle, there

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was a little lady that had since graduated to heaven. And she actually wrote this story

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out and I had just a conversation with someone that was very close to her. But here was her

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testimony and I want you to listen to it. She said, I don't have a problem paying ties

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but the last part of the last year, 2003 and 2004, was having a challenging time making

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ends meet. The devil kept coming at me and saying, you know God would understand if you

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use your ties to do something else with. God doesn't expect or want you to struggle this

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much, et cetera, et cetera. Several weeks went on and that pay period I doubled my ties

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to the church. This is, she's writing that. The very next weekend there was an announcement

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at church that for that month only the church was asking the entire church to consider doubling

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their ties. That would have been that tough time that I was talking about. She said, how

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about that for a confirmation from God? I had done this for about five months, double

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ties, when I received a check in the mail that was more than double for all the ties

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I'd paid since I'd paid double. Wow. The money I received was mineral rights on a land

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I had owned for years and of course then the value of that land was starting to skyrocket.

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The next month I received a check for $2,000. I was so shocked I kept looking at the check.

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I know you can't out give our God, but this was crazy. The most I have received is $19,000

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a month and that's just so much for a little single female that God takes care of. I heard

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this from another person and they told me, this lady told her this. She said to this

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other friend, if this keeps up, I'm going to have to get me one of them there financial

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advisors for the future. Trust me now in this the Lord says, if I can't pull out a blessing

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that you cannot receive. Now this is real life stuff. We're not making stories up here.

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I still have seats in my closet. I still remember that sovereign life insurance check. My wife

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and I talked about that. The testimony of this woman will live on. That debt is still

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gone because of people that just trusted God. What he wants from you is to get you to the

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place where you can experience what he wants for you. What better day to begin doing this

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than today? Return to me and I will return to you says the Lord. I want you to stand

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with me for a moment if you would. I'm going to pray a concluding prayer in a moment. Before

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I do that, I want to encourage you to do one of two things. First of all, I want to encourage

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you to stop by a decision station. It may be that you need to make a spiritual decision

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today and we are here to help you with that. We have people that are standing at those

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decision stations by the time I close them prayer. Stop by, talk to them if you would.

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Secondly, I would invite you if you are a guest to come to our guest reception room

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just outside the center exit door across the hallway. I'll show you those six miracle stones

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and I'll tell you a little bit about that story. Next, I want to ask you and challenge

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you to test God. Try. That sounds awful arrogant for a pastor to say test God except for the

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fact that God has already said that. Test me. See if I won't prove to you that I can

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open the windows of heaven and provide for you a blessing you cannot receive. Let me

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just tell you today, this is going to be one of the greatest defining moments that you

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will live with for the rest of your life and the residual effects of that are going to

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affect other people as well in a positive and a powerful way. Trust God with your giving

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but trust Him with your life. Father, in Jesus' name today, I am so very thankful that you

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do what you say you'll do. That you provide the way only you can provide. That you will

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demonstrate that you're faithful. Lord, in this room I know there are people that are

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calculating in their mind the challenging financial picture they have and I understand

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what that's like. I've been there as well. Lord, in the end, nothing is better than trusting

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you. I ask you today to give us the ability and the courage to trust you. Father, there

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may be some today that need to trust you as their Lord and Savior which always comes first.

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Give them today the ability to do that. Thank you that you love us. In Jesus' name, amen.