1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,280 Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church. 2 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,920 Good morning, good morning, good morning. This is Baptism Sunday. Turn to somebody, 3 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,280 give them a high five. Right now, tell them it's good to be in God's house. 4 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:28,800 It's good to be here on Baptism Sunday. Amen. I love the energy of Baptism Sunday. We love 5 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:35,200 the celebration. We're here to celebrate what Jesus has done in some lives. Stories that are 6 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:40,960 changed forever by the power of God and by the power of salvation through Jesus Christ working 7 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:46,480 in our lives. And we want to celebrate that. Water baptism is that. It's about being immersed into 8 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:52,400 the body of Christ through the power of salvation. But before we get to celebrating, we're going to 9 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,800 celebrate, we're going to be baptized in a few people at the end of gathering. I'm going to 10 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:05,040 continue on with a message series that I started last week called Bucks and Stuff. All right, look 11 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:10,960 at the walls right now. Look at the walls. Bucks and Stuff. Say it with me. Bucks and Stuff. If 12 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:16,000 you're visiting, you're like, what's going on? All right. Well, this is really about Bucks and Stuff. 13 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:22,480 It's about money and possessions. What do I do with my Bucks and my Stuff? How do I, as a Christian, 14 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:28,400 as a follower of Jesus Christ, how do I handle money in a godly manner, right? How much do I spend? 15 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:34,960 How much do I save? How much do I give to God? How much do I give away to others? How exactly do I 16 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:41,280 give glory to God through my Bucks and Stuff, right? What does the Word of God have to say 17 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:47,840 about Bucks and Stuff? How do I get the Holy Spirit involved in my Bucks and Stuff? What should I do 18 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:54,080 with my Bucks and Stuff? So, I use it in a God-honoring manner. So, this morning, this is 19 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,120 going to be the second message in this series, and that's where we're going to go in the Word 20 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,640 of God. If you would, though, before that, we're just going to bow our heads, prepare our hearts 21 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,640 for the Word of God. Father, we thank you for this day. God, for your blessing, for your mercy, 22 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,400 I thank you for each one that's in the house this morning. God, thank you for the presence, 23 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,880 the sweet presence of God that we felt during worship. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity 24 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:17,760 to baptize, and Lord, we just give the rest of this day. God, over to you. Lord, we've prayed all 25 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:22,240 morning doing that, and we just continue. Lord, place it in your hands. We give you glory in 26 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:30,560 Jesus' name. Everybody said together. Amen. Well, last week, we learned some things about Bucks 27 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:36,240 and Stuff, and if you weren't here, I handed everybody, or everybody got the chance to get a 28 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:41,040 key, and this is an old-fashioned master key, and we've got some back in the connection station. 29 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:46,880 You can grab one today on the way out if you didn't get one, but really what I started this 30 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:55,120 message series off with is the idea that God has to be the master key holder in our lives, right? 31 00:02:55,120 --> 00:03:00,320 He's got to be the one that has the key to every door. He's got to be the one who can open every 32 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:06,000 room. He's the one that has to have access to everything, including my Bucks and Stuff, so 33 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,200 this key was a reminder. If you want to grab one today, please do that. My wife Dixie standing 34 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,800 right back there by the connection station. She'll wave her hand. You can stop right there. They're 35 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:20,400 in a really cool LifeHouse mug that you can buy for a $5 donation. That's a shameless plug right 36 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:27,600 there. All right, so you can pick a key up that knows, but we want to be God-honoring in our Bucks 37 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:34,320 and our Stuff, but how exactly do we flesh that out on our end? What do we need to know? 38 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:41,440 What do I need to do? How exactly do I go about doing it, right? So God is in control of my Bucks 39 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:46,240 and Stuff, so one of the things we have to understand about God's economy and how God works 40 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,920 in this area of money and possessions is that we either live in God's blessing or we live in God's 41 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:58,320 curse. You're there under God's blessing or curse, and blessing and curse has been around since the 42 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:02,640 beginning of time, right? It's not a new thing. It's read it all throughout Scripture. If you read 43 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,960 the Bible, you're going to find out God's blessing in hand. You're going to find out what blessing is. 44 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,200 You're going to find out what curse is, and blessing is this. If I can give you a little 45 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:17,360 definition, blessing is God's supernatural favor or hand on my life. How many of you want God's 46 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:22,320 supernatural favor and hand upon your life? Raise your hands right now. I do. All right, it's God's 47 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:29,840 supernatural touch. It's God's supernatural hand on my Stuff and on my Bucks, and it's a supernatural 48 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:36,480 addition, multiplication, anointing on anything that we have that's God's, and we want God's 49 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:45,040 blessing. Now, what is curse? Curse is the opposite. Curse is the absence of God's favor and hand on 50 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:52,240 something. Curse means that it's just subject to natural forces, my natural hand, right? My natural 51 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:57,280 efforts with something. Curse means that it lacks God's favor wherever it is in my life. 52 00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:03,200 Curse means that Jesus' unlimited power, resources, grace, righteousness, right? Gracious hand is not 53 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:12,800 applied to that area of my life. In fact, curse is, it really opens you up for lack of protection. 54 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:19,680 Curse means that you're open to Satan's schemes. Curse means that the enemy can come in and he 55 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:25,680 can steal and he can kill and he can destroy, right? And evil can begin to permeate. 56 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:32,160 So I'm not sure where you stand on this whole idea of blessing and curse. Not sure if you ever even 57 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:37,520 thought about it until today, but I know for me personally, I'm on God's favor. I'm on God's hand. 58 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:43,520 I want his blessing in my life. I want to stay away from what the Bible describes as curse, and I 59 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,000 certainly don't want to open myself up to the enemy's influence. I don't want to open myself up to 60 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:54,000 what Satan can do in my life. And Jesus, he really revealed this source of blessing and curse, and 61 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,520 this is really a staple scripture in this church. I go to it often. If you've been here any last time, 62 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:04,000 you've heard this many times, but John 10, 7 says this, and Jesus said to them again, 63 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,320 most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves 64 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:14,560 and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, Jesus, right, 65 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:19,520 he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, 66 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:26,160 stay with me, steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come, Jesus came, that you may have life, 67 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:33,040 that you might have it abundantly. It's simple. What Jesus touches is blessed. What the enemy 68 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:38,720 touches is cursed. It's going to lead to thieving. It's going to lead to robbery in your life, right? 69 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:45,440 And there are supernatural forces at work with this, and we want that favor of God and not the 70 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:51,280 curse on our lives in any area of our life, not just in bucks and stuff, but literally in every 71 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:55,680 slice of my life. And this truth is shared all throughout scripture. It's in the Old Testament 72 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:01,280 and the New Testament. The Old Testament is this. The Old Testament is a teacher of God's expectation, 73 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:07,360 God's law, right? The Old Testament was God's law, and it was God's expectation for us, and it was 74 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:14,480 really kind of a list of actions that usher in God's blessing into our lives. He spoke to Israel 75 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:20,320 all the time. He was telling Israel, if you do this, and he'd list something, then I will do this, 76 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:25,280 and it'll bring blessing into your life. He'd say, if you do this, I'll bring blessing. If you don't 77 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,480 do this, it's going to bring curse. Now, when you get to the New Testament, Jesus drives home that 78 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:38,080 salvation in Him, right, an ongoing relationship with Him. Holy Spirit shifts our hearts, our 79 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:44,880 attitudes, which changes our actions and empowers us to move forward in God's way of doing life 80 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:51,520 that brings blessing into our lives. Salvation is a free gift from God. You can earn it, right? We 81 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:57,200 don't try to earn salvation from God. It's a free gift, and I say this often. God's love is completely 82 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:02,000 unconditional. You can't get away from God's love. I don't care where you run on the face of the earth. 83 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,240 You can go to heaven. You can go to hell. You can go anywhere in between there. You cannot get away 84 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,840 from God's love. He loves you. Just know that this morning. You don't get anything out of this 85 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:15,440 message this morning. God loves you, all right? You can't get away from that, but His blessing 86 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:20,880 is conditional. His love is unconditional, but His blessing is conditional, and you see it in the Old 87 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:26,080 Testament. You see it in the New Testament. Even salvation is conditional, right? If you want to 88 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:31,040 get saved, you've got to repent. You've got to confess before the Lord, and you've got to commit 89 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:36,480 to follow Him. There's a condition with that. Now, He loves you no matter what you do, but salvation's 90 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:43,440 conditional. God's blessing is conditional, and this starts the whole way back in Genesis. It starts 91 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,800 at the beginning, so if you've got your Bibles, you can go to Genesis chapter 2. I'm going to go to 92 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:51,680 verse 15 this morning, and I'm going to start there and read a couple of verses. Genesis chapter 2 93 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:57,120 15 says this, then the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend it and keep it, 94 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,520 and the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may eat freely eat, 95 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:06,240 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of 96 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:12,800 it you shall surely die. Now, give you a little picture. God places the first man, Adam, right? 97 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:19,680 Creates Adam, and even this garden that He creates, and as the Creator, He does something. He marks the 98 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:26,400 earth as His. If you create something, you're the owner, right? If you create something, you're the 99 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:31,760 owner, amen? Right? Just a few months back, I got to go to one of my grandchildren, my oldest 100 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:36,720 grandchild Kip, who's getting saved, or getting, he got saved. He's getting baptized today. Maybe 101 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:42,400 I'm the one that needs to get saved. My name is Kip too, by the way. He's getting baptized today, 102 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:49,680 but we got to go to one of, to a school where his art was on display, and I gotta say, his was the 103 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:56,320 best, by the way. We went to this art show, and you know how we found his artwork? His name was 104 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:03,760 on it. You know why? Because he created it, right? It was awesome. It was spectacular. It was the best, 105 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,800 and his name was on it, and it got displayed at a school, but afterwards he got to take it home 106 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:16,320 because it was his name on it. Psalms 24.1 says, the earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, 107 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:22,400 and the world and those who dwell therein. Everything that you walk, touch, and see, smell, 108 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:30,880 feel, here is God's, and you dwell in this place that he owns, right? His name is on it. So the owner, 109 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,760 the gardener, right? In the garden, the owner, God himself tells Adam and Eve, 110 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:41,600 you can eat from any tree in the garden. Anything, anything that produces fruit, it's all yours, 111 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:48,000 except this one tree that I own, and it was, and he even gave the tree a name. He called it the tree 112 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,960 of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, there's just one tree that I own, and you're forbidden 113 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:57,920 to eat from it. You can't eat from that one. You can have all the other ones. You can, you're welcome 114 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,240 to any other fruit that's in the garden on the face of the earth, but this one, I don't want you 115 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,560 touching this one, and he told him that because he's given each one of us free will. I mean, 116 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:09,920 oh, you have free will this morning, right? You can choose what you're going to do. Adam and Eve 117 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:15,520 were the same way, right? Even the angels have free will, and you can eat from any of my trees, 118 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:21,200 but if you touch this tree, he said, if you touch it, if you eat from it, you're going to end up in 119 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:27,440 curse. You're going to die. My favor goes away. You step into curse. My favor comes off of you 120 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:33,520 if you touch this one thing, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, that tree wasn't 121 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:38,480 evil in itself. It was the fact that it was God's, and God said, don't touch it, and he said, don't, 122 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:44,480 don't go near it, right? You can use anything else for your benefit, nourishment, health, right? 123 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:50,320 There's thousands and thousands of other trees to pull from. The majority all goes to you and Adam 124 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:57,840 and Eve. I made this for you, but don't touch what is mine. The tree, I'm telling you not to touch. 125 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:05,200 Are you hearing me, Adam? Are you hearing me, Eve? You'll get cursed if you touch it. This is the 126 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:10,480 first place in scripture that we begin to understand the truth of blessing and curse on this earth, 127 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:15,440 and, you know, if we want to get ourselves to a cursed position, just go ahead and start messing 128 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:20,480 with what's God's, right, and what he said not to touch. If you want to kick the door open so that 129 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,640 the devil can steal, kill, and destroy in your life, just start going and grabbing a hold of the 130 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:30,400 things that God said don't touch. Leave alone, right? Just start, just start talking, taking 131 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:35,440 what's God's, or just start taking what he says or grabbing a hold of what he says not to touch. 132 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:42,560 Let me ask you something. If you allow someone access to all your things, all right, all the 133 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:46,880 majority of your possessions, you let somebody have access. You let them come into your house, 134 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:52,640 you let them live in your house, you let them drive your cars, you let them eat your food, 135 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:57,840 that you let them get $10 out of your wallet when they need it. How many know I'm talking about your 136 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:05,280 children? Come on, right? What if you let them have access to all that stuff, but there's this 137 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:13,280 one thing in your house you say do not touch that thing. It's all mine, you got access to almost all 138 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:19,360 of it, but this is one thing I don't want you to touch, and if they steal it, how many know your 139 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:26,960 favor goes from here to here, amen? They're gonna be living in some curse, right? It's true. We want 140 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:32,240 God's favor, we want God's blessing over our bucks and over our stuff, and don't take what is His. Now, 141 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,880 I want to go in conjunction with that. I want to read you another portion of the scripture. I'm 142 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:41,360 going to Malachi chapter 3 verse 6, and it says it's in Malachi 6, 3 and 6. This falls right in 143 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:46,000 line with this. It says, for I am the Lord, I do not change. How many know that means God's immutable? 144 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:51,040 He doesn't change. He's yesterday, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, always, right? For 145 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:55,200 I am the Lord, I do not change, therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob, yet from the days 146 00:13:55,200 --> 00:14:00,640 of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, 147 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:05,920 and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, in what way shall we return? Now, 148 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:10,880 let me tell you who He's talking to here. He's talking to the nation of Israel, and He says this, 149 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:17,520 will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, in what way have we robbed you? 150 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:22,640 And the Lord answers, in time and in offering. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, 151 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:27,360 even this whole nation. Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, 152 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:31,680 and try Me now. And this says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven 153 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:37,120 and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room to receive it. God's talking to 154 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:42,400 Israel, right? And He's telling them, listen, a surefire way for you to not have the blessing 155 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:48,320 and favor in your life is to withhold the tithe, withhold the offering, and don't bring that to 156 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,840 the storehouse of the Lord. And you might be sitting here and you might be like, what's tithe? I've 157 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:57,200 never heard of that before, right? It's a thing. Well, in Scripture, in Old Testament, tithe was 10%, 158 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:04,640 and it represented one-tenth. And tithe was 10% of your increase. And actually, if you study it back, 159 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:09,920 it was called first fruits. Say first fruits. First fruits. It was supposed to be the first tenth. 160 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:16,000 And God says the first tenth is mine. This is also called first fruits in Scripture. And He says the 161 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,800 earth is mine, everything in it's mine. You have access to all of it. I give you access to all the 162 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:25,840 things that you have. And when you get increased, I want you, He's telling Israel this, I want you 163 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:32,320 to return 10% back to me. All the nation of Israel was not tithing. They were not giving offering. 164 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:38,320 He told them, you're stealing from me what is mine, right? Just like it happened in the garden. 165 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:44,560 You're taking what is mine. What I said, right, it's the same principle. Blessing or curse with 166 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:51,600 our bucks and stuff. Then God reminds Israel, right, He kind of chastises them. He speaks to them 167 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:57,040 and He says, you're not doing this, right, and because of that you're cursed. And then He reminds 168 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:01,920 them. He starts to remind them, but if you don't do this, if you listen to what I'm telling you to 169 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:09,280 do, if you begin to engage in this, He says this. He says there's a huge blessing in store for you. 170 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:15,840 Actually, there's a guaranteed blessing in store for you. I call it the big guarantee. Say the big 171 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:21,200 guarantee. Say it with a little attitude, the big guarantee. All right, thank you. The big, huge 172 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:30,240 guarantee that God makes is that it's this, that if we follow His word in this particular area of 173 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:36,640 our life, He will bless us. He will move us. Now, this is kind of one of those no worry kind of 174 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:40,960 guarantees. I don't know if you've ever had one of those, and if you've ever bought a new car, you 175 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,920 get something called a bumper to bumper warranty. How many of you know what that is? Raise your 176 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:50,080 hand if you know what a bumper to bumper warranty is. A bumper to bumper warranty is awesome, 177 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:56,000 because if your car breaks, what you do is you drive it to the dealer, you pull it in, there's 178 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,160 this really nice smiley service person that will come up to you and you say, I'm here to drop off 179 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:05,680 my car. I'm having an issue with such and such. Here's my keys, right? So you give them the keys, 180 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:12,400 you go into their waiting area, you go buy yourself a snack, all right, the best snack you can find, 181 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:16,560 and usually, how many of the TVs on in waiting area all the time, right? And it's going to be 182 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:20,800 international house hunters. You can just about guarantee it. I don't know why, but right, so you 183 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:26,000 sit down, you watch an episode or two of international house hunters, and the service man comes right back 184 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,560 in, or service lady comes back in, they're like, sir, your vehicle is finished, and you know, 185 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:36,240 that's beautiful, that's wonderful. How much do I owe you? Zero, all right? It's under guarantee. 186 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,480 It's under warranty. You don't owe a thing, and you just have a, it's a wonderful thing to get a 187 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:46,160 guarantee. It's a nice thing that they're paying. I know I'm paying for it on the front end, I get 188 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:52,560 it, right? But it's a guarantee, and there's a place in Scripture, in this portion of Scripture, 189 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:58,160 if you go just a little further, where God says, it is blessing. It's blessing. Bring all the tithe 190 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,640 into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. He says, try me in this, right? How many 191 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,320 of that's, hey, go ahead, give it a whirl. This is the only place in Scripture you're going to say, 192 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,800 where God says, give it a whirl. Try me out, try my guarantee out, give it a shot, right? He says, 193 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,640 says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour you out such a 194 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:20,560 blessing, that you will not have room enough to receive it. Now look, he begins to state the 195 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:26,000 guarantee. He starts to give like the clauses in the guarantee. He says this, I will rebuke the 196 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:30,960 devourer for your sakes. How many of Satan's the devourer? He's the one who steals, kills, and 197 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:36,160 shows. He said, I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so it will not destroy the fruit of your 198 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:43,440 ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in your field. That's supernatural favor over 199 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,360 whatever you're putting your hands, your heart, and your mind to. Whatever you're working in at 200 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:52,400 the time, this is God's favor. He says the fruit's not going to fail on what you're doing. Whatever 201 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,800 you're spending your energy on, whatever you're spending your talents and gifts on, you are going 202 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:01,680 to be fruitful in that field. And then he says all nations will call you blessed. That means people 203 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,560 on the outside are going to be looking on the inside, they're going to be scratching their head, 204 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:09,840 going, what's going on with them? You know, why does it seem like God's hands upon, right? And you 205 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:15,760 will be a delightful ant, says the Lord of hosts. He's telling Israel this. He's extracting them. 206 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:22,880 He's letting them know. He'll rebuke the devourer. God himself will rebuke the devourer. The vine will 207 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:29,680 not fail to bring fruit. The nations will call you blessed. People are going to be scratching their 208 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:35,120 heads wondering what in the world is going on? And do you know how many times I've seen this to be true, 209 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:38,320 this guarantee that God lays out with people that I know that practice this? 210 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:46,160 100% of the time. I could walk around this room right now and hand the mic to people that practice 211 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:52,560 this and they'll tell you it'll blow your mind. It's insane. God never fails in this. He never fails 212 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:57,680 to keep his end of the deal. Never, ever, ever. And it's an incredible thing. And there's stories 213 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:01,600 in this house. And you say, well, why are you, you know, this is celebration Sunday, Pastor, 214 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,440 and you're preaching on money. No, I'm not. I'm preaching on a principle. I'm preaching on what God 215 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:11,680 has to say. And some of you might be choking on 10%. I get it. Like, what? You know, a tithe, a 216 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:16,880 tenth? What is that? And I encourage you to do this. If this is something brand new to you, 217 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,720 check it out in God's Word. I'd be glad to sit down and talk with you. It's threaded all through 218 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:25,920 scripture. But if you're just starting out, just start giving, right? Just start out somewhere. 219 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:30,720 Maybe it's 1% and work your way up to 2%. Maybe you got to adjust your income over here or your 220 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:36,800 debts or whatever it is. But start setting aside and start giving to God and watch what God does in 221 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:42,080 your life. This is the only place in scripture where God comes and says, I'll guarantee this. 222 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:49,360 I will do this. Here's how bold I am about this. And my board's going to cringe a little. But I've 223 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:55,040 done this in the past. I remember twice I've been along these lines. And I remember getting up and 224 00:20:55,040 --> 00:21:00,960 saying, listen, try this out for six months. If God does not hold his bargain, do it with all your 225 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,960 heart. Do it the way the Word of God says. Make sure it's first fruits. Do it the way He says. Do 226 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,160 it for six months. And if God doesn't hold His end of the bargain, come back and talk to us. 227 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,920 If you're tithing to the church, we'll write you a check back because He always does. I've never, 228 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:20,480 ever had anybody come back. Nobody. Because God always keeps His hand. And I can't, as a pastor, 229 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:28,720 not talk to you about what God's going to do in your life. And He wants to do this. And He wants 230 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:34,560 to place this guarantee in your life. God wants to bless you. He wanted to bless Adam and Eve when 231 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,800 they were in the garden. They got themselves in trouble when they touched what God was cursed. 232 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:45,120 Amen. It's true. It's true. There's a blessing. Can I get an amen for blessing? Amen. It's true. 233 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:50,320 Zach and the worship team is going to come at this time. They're going to make their way to the front. 234 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:58,640 God's favor is with bucks and stuff when we hand them the key, right? The master key to your life, 235 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,920 the room of your life. And listen, I'm not going to have an altar call. I'm not going to make you 236 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,600 stand. I'm not going to give you a reason. I'm just telling you, it's in God's Word. Go look, 237 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,520 right? If you don't blame me, check it out because I want you to walk in a place of blessing 238 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:17,360 and just get the key. Give the key to God and say, okay, God, this is your deal. I'm going to be 239 00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:20,960 obedient and I'm going to see what you do. And He'll do it. I'm telling you. He'll rebuke the 240 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:28,880 devourer. The vine will not fail to bear fruit and the nations will call you blessed. He will 241 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:36,320 rebuke the devourer. The vine will not fail to bear fruit and the nations will call you blessed. 242 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:41,280 Amen? Amen. Amen, it's true. Well, listen, typically at this point in the gathering, 243 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,640 Pastor Eric would be coming at the East Shore campus and we would get ready to close out. 244 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:51,600 But we wanted to include everybody today in this celebration, in baptism celebration. 245 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:56,480 And we're going to baptize today at the end of gathering. We've got several baptisms are going 246 00:22:56,480 --> 00:23:04,000 to take place this morning. And I'm going to begin with all this. I'm going to start the baptisms off. 247 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,560 And I want you to know this. This is a time. This is a blessing. This is something we need to 248 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,600 celebrate. So can I, we got to, we got to get, I got to get your cheer going on, right? Okay. 249 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,960 So I want you just to give the Lord a hand right now. The best hand you can possibly get. Yeah, 250 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:24,960 come on. Give Him glory. You can shout, give Him glory. So baptism, water baptism is this. This is 251 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:30,800 an obedience to Christ. Once you come from death to life and you get, accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, 252 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:38,480 and you get saved, you move from truly death, right? You go in the old man or the old woman and 253 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:43,760 you come up doing Jesus Christ. And it is a celebration. It is something to celebrate. We 254 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,760 love doing this. We're excited about doing this. I'm going to ask if Bethany would come. She's 255 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,360 first and they're going to bring the children back in. We want, we love for our children to 256 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:56,800 come in from kids church and to see baptism. We don't want them to miss this. We want them to be 257 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:01,760 apart. You ready to get wet? Yes. She's like, yeah, it's warm. It's awesome. All right. Come on, 258 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:10,880 swirl around. This is like a church spa tub right here. So beautiful. Mr. Dave helps us all week 259 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:21,040 long. Get this thing good and warm. See, that's not bad, is it? Good, good. And I love so much that 260 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,400 Bethany is here this morning. I'm going to ask you to just take a few steps forward. I don't want 261 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:30,720 to hit your head on the back of the mattress. But I love that she has a testimony of what God's done 262 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,480 in her life and she's going to speak. She's going to let you know a little bit about that. Everybody 263 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,520 smile because it's hard to be up here speaking. All right. Smile real big. But God has moved in 264 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:48,320 her life and I love hearing stories. So here's, here's the mic. Hello. My name is Bethany Reiner. 265 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:54,400 Um, I cannot believe I'm here today. Um, last year at this time, if you told me I would be 266 00:24:54,400 --> 00:25:00,640 getting baptized, I would have laughed in your face. Growing up in Philadelphia with a big family, 267 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:05,200 we always went to church, but I never went there to build my relationship with God. 268 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:11,440 It was always to see my friends or because I was me too. As I got older, I would purposely pick up 269 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:16,160 shifts at my work or lie that I had shifts just to go out with my friends and basically be up to 270 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:22,240 no good. I became addicted to some things and eventually I got to the point not even wanting 271 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:27,840 to hear anything about God. If someone said his name, I would get mad and walk away. I didn't want 272 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:33,520 to hear anything about church or God. I would push my family away when they tried to help me, 273 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:38,960 but they didn't give up on me. Eventually I moved up to Carlisle with my brother and my sister-in-law. 274 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:44,240 I was trying to start over and for the first time I actually felt God's presence. It was a Sunday 275 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:49,120 morning after my brother dropped me off from church. I was home alone and suddenly I went into 276 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:56,320 a panic attack. I sat on the kitchen floor and tried to keep myself from passing out. 277 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:02,160 I was so scared I didn't know what to do. All I remember is thinking I didn't want to be alone. 278 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:09,200 I wanted someone here. The best I can describe what happened was it just felt like a hug. I felt 279 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:16,400 peace throughout my body. I never felt this way before and I immediately started sobbing. 280 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:21,040 I got goosebumps and even though I couldn't stand up and walk around, I felt so strong. 281 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:26,560 I feel God really spoke to me through this experience. From that moment on, I knew that I 282 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:31,680 wanted to grow in Christ. I'm so thankful that God blessed me with my family and I'm very excited to 283 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:37,120 see what God has planned for me. I'm by no means perfect and I still struggle with certain addictions, 284 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:40,400 but I know that Jesus is my Savior and He's the only way into heaven. 285 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,600 So Bethany, I'm gonna ask you just to take a few steps forward. 286 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:53,600 Do you publicly confess that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior? 287 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:54,100 I do. 288 00:26:54,100 --> 00:27:06,980 And I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 289 00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:53,140 We have another baptism and this one is my grandson Kip. Can you give him a hand as he comes? 290 00:27:53,140 --> 00:28:06,100 Yes. I am super excited. I am grandpa, actually poppy to my grandson and he is our oldest 291 00:28:06,100 --> 00:28:16,980 grandchild and Kip gave his life to Jesus and told me personally that he said, actually pop, 292 00:28:16,980 --> 00:28:21,780 I gave my life to Jesus three times. So I got saved about a hundred when I was young. 293 00:28:21,780 --> 00:28:26,500 So but he has given his life to the Lord and something that was super special for me, 294 00:28:27,140 --> 00:28:32,500 when him and I talked about this and he was very clear on giving his heart to the Lord. 295 00:28:33,300 --> 00:28:36,340 I had a one of the things we do here, we talk about this necklace, 296 00:28:37,540 --> 00:28:41,620 wearing a cross necklace to represent being an ambassador for Jesus wherever you go. 297 00:28:41,620 --> 00:28:46,660 And I gave him the one that was on my neck and I have seen him wear that thing all over the place. 298 00:28:46,660 --> 00:28:51,300 He's playing sports, out playing with the kids. He's broken a couple times. He just keeps 299 00:28:51,300 --> 00:28:57,060 patching it back up and putting it back on and he knows Jesus is the Lord and Savior. So I am super 300 00:28:57,060 --> 00:29:03,060 excited to baptize my grandson this morning. So I'm going to ask you to step just a little bit 301 00:29:03,060 --> 00:29:10,100 forward here. So Kip, do you profess publicly that Jesus is your Lord and Savior? Yes. So I 302 00:29:10,100 --> 00:29:21,700 now baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 303 00:29:40,100 --> 00:29:41,700 Oh, 304 00:30:02,100 --> 00:30:06,660 I have the special privilege of baptizing my daughter this morning, my daughter Lucy. 305 00:30:06,660 --> 00:30:15,300 Come on in Lucy, get in here. We're going to have you stand right over here. 306 00:30:17,140 --> 00:30:19,380 She's a little bit of a short stack, so she can go deep down. 307 00:30:23,940 --> 00:30:30,260 Lucy accepted Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior on Easter Sunday a couple years ago. 308 00:30:31,620 --> 00:30:34,340 Whenever we announced that we were doing baptisms this morning, she said, 309 00:30:34,340 --> 00:30:38,660 Dad, can I get baptized? I said, well Lucy, well why do you want to be baptized? And she said, 310 00:30:45,780 --> 00:30:49,860 she said, because I love Jesus and I want everyone to know that I'm a Christian. 311 00:30:50,980 --> 00:30:53,380 That's it. That's all you know. That's all you know. That's all you got to know. 312 00:30:54,820 --> 00:30:58,900 And this morning, Lucy, I have one question for you. Have you accepted Jesus as your personal 313 00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:04,260 Lord and Savior? Yes, I did. She did. All right. With that, I baptize you in the name of the Father 314 00:31:04,260 --> 00:31:06,260 and Son and the Holy Spirit. 315 00:31:34,420 --> 00:31:57,700 We also, I also have Patrick, and I both have the privilege of baptizing Elisa this morning. 316 00:31:57,700 --> 00:32:03,060 Elisa serves in the youth ministry team here. She's an amazing youth leader, and I know that 317 00:32:03,060 --> 00:32:07,460 she has, I'd ask her, but I think, don't think she can get it out, but she has accepted Jesus 318 00:32:07,460 --> 00:32:11,940 as her personal Lord and Savior this morning and has made the decision to take that next step in 319 00:32:11,940 --> 00:32:16,100 baptism this morning. So Elisa, I just got one question for you. Have you accepted Jesus 320 00:32:16,100 --> 00:32:20,500 as your personal Lord and Savior? Yes, I have. Do you want to say anything? 321 00:32:22,740 --> 00:32:29,380 I just want to thank all of my family and everybody in this whole church. I've been going here 322 00:32:29,380 --> 00:32:35,860 ever since I was a lot younger, so everybody who's been here to watch me grow up and grow 323 00:32:35,860 --> 00:32:41,220 in the Lord. And I want to thank all of my family and friends that aren't here today because I 324 00:32:41,220 --> 00:32:47,780 this decision very much so on a whim. I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. 325 00:32:47,780 --> 00:32:54,100 Just thank you for leading me and towards the Lord and having every ounce of confidence in me. 326 00:32:54,100 --> 00:32:57,780 Thank you. Absolutely, absolutely. Well, then it is our privilege, Pastor Kipp and I both, 327 00:32:57,780 --> 00:33:15,300 she said, it's our privilege to baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 328 00:33:15,300 --> 00:33:32,660 Well, this morning over East Shore campus, Pastor Eric is coming to close and the worship team is 329 00:33:32,660 --> 00:33:37,380 going to lead us in another song. But I'd be remiss if I didn't give an opportunity to anybody 330 00:33:37,380 --> 00:33:40,900 in the house this morning that knows Jesus. And you're sitting there this morning and you 331 00:33:40,900 --> 00:33:44,900 feel the Holy Spirit tugging you, you're like, I got to get in the water. I got to follow 332 00:33:44,900 --> 00:33:49,940 Jesus's example in baptism this morning as the worship team is singing this song. 333 00:33:49,940 --> 00:33:54,580 I want you to come and I want you to talk to Pastor Kipp. Come on in and we'll dunk you right then and now. 334 00:34:02,580 --> 00:34:08,660 Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church. We pray that you were impacted 335 00:34:08,660 --> 00:34:14,100 powerfully by this message. If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would 336 00:34:14,100 --> 00:34:23,780 like to partner with us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com