1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church. 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,000 Amen, amen. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:19,720 It's good to be at Life House this morning, man. 4 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,040 I felt God's presence during worship. 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,680 If nothing else goes well, you've been blessed because you've been in God's house this morning. 6 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:32,680 I always tell people, you know, if God moves on to worship, if the preaching stinks, you're still in good shape, right? 7 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:33,680 Amen. 8 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:34,680 It's true. 9 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:35,680 It's true. 10 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:40,560 Well, we're smack in the middle of a message series called, In God We Trust. 11 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:48,360 And if you have a printed money of any kind on you or a coin, you can pull that out right now. 12 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,240 I'm not going to take it, I promise. 13 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:51,360 It's just for you to look out. 14 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:56,840 But if you pull that out, any denomination, in somewhere on that bill or somewhere on 15 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:00,280 that coin, now the coins are pretty little, you might need a magnifying glass if you're 16 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:07,240 like me, but somewhere on there, you're going to find the words, In God We Trust. 17 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:08,600 In God We Trust. 18 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,800 And this was originally stamped on the coins in the United States of America during the 19 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,120 Civil War. 20 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,720 But in 1956, it became the motto of the U.S. government. 21 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:19,720 It really was. 22 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:20,920 It has. 23 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,360 And they begin to print it on our money. 24 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:28,720 And the meaning of that phrase, In God We Trust, denotes that political and economic 25 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:34,200 prosperity of this nation is in God's hands and not ours. 26 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:35,200 Amen? 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:37,320 It's in God's hands. 28 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:42,920 When it comes to money and possessions, that's exactly what every Christian, that should 29 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:43,920 be your motto. 30 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,520 In God, I trust. 31 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:52,520 My political, my economic gain of any kind is not dependent upon my intelligence. 32 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:54,840 It's not dependent upon my ability. 33 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,560 It's not dependent upon my prowess. 34 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:59,120 It's not my logic. 35 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:00,660 It's not my ingenuity. 36 00:02:00,660 --> 00:02:02,800 It's not any of those things. 37 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,440 It really is that God's hand is on it. 38 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:07,960 It's in God We Trust. 39 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:12,440 I trust in God with this area of my life. 40 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:18,280 President Dwight Eisenhower had it right in 1956 when he took this to the Congress and 41 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,880 they put this, they printed it on every bill. 42 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,560 I think we should print it on the credit cards. 43 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:25,560 Amen? 44 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,960 Come on, instead of visa cross here at the top, it should say, In God We Trust, I probably 45 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,880 spend a little less when you get that puppy out. 46 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,560 In God We Trust, it should be on the credit cards. 47 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,880 This whole idea of this message series has been along these lines. 48 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,160 Are we trusting God in the area of money and possessions? 49 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,000 Are we giving this over to him in every of my life? 50 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,760 And I can tell you with complete confidence in my own life that God does a lot better 51 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,640 job with my finances than I ever would on my own. 52 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:54,080 I can tell you that for certain. 53 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:58,240 I got testimony about that which I don't have time to give this morning. 54 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:03,520 But if you know anything about God, if you serve God any length of time, you'll find 55 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,440 out very quickly that His plan is better than yours. 56 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:07,440 Amen? 57 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,000 So that's what this message series is all about. 58 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,080 I'm going to give you just a little short review. 59 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,320 We've done two messages previous to this. 60 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,160 And the first one, the big idea, say the big idea. 61 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:19,080 We have big ideas in our message, all right? 62 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,640 The big idea was that I'm a manager and not just an owner. 63 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:25,720 Say that I'm a manager and not just an owner, right? 64 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,040 Yeah, you're not the owner. 65 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:30,360 God's the owner, right? 66 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:31,560 I said that wrong. 67 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,000 I'm a manager and not an owner. 68 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,200 God's the owner, you're the manager. 69 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,640 The second thing that we hit, the second big idea is that too much debt will rob me of 70 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:41,800 freedom. 71 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:43,600 Too much debt will rob you of freedom, right? 72 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,440 And this morning I want to bring a third truth to you. 73 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:53,560 And I hope as I bring this truth to you that you adopted into your belief center, all right? 74 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,560 I don't know if you know this or not, but each of you have a belief center. 75 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:57,800 How many know that? 76 00:03:57,800 --> 00:03:59,720 Point to the person beside you right now. 77 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:00,720 Go ahead, point to them. 78 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:01,720 Just point to them. 79 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:03,520 Even if you don't know, point to them, all right? 80 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,520 And tell them, look, my parents taught me not to point, right? 81 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,120 Point to them and tell them you got a belief center. 82 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:10,360 You do. 83 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:15,640 You adopt things into your belief center and you kick things out of your belief center. 84 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:16,640 You really do. 85 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,920 You've got this place that's largest somewhere between your head and your heart. 86 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,160 And there's all kinds of things that come into that and you believe something, right? 87 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,760 And you act on what we believe, it's true. 88 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,640 And that could be based on the truth. 89 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:32,320 It could be based on a lie. 90 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,080 It could be based on an opinion. 91 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,440 It could be based on my preference, right? 92 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,040 But you believe some things and it stays in your belief center. 93 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,760 And as long as you believe it, you'll act on that. 94 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,080 If you kick it out of your belief center, you'll stop acting on it, right? 95 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:48,080 It's true. 96 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,800 If you believe exercise is good, guess what you're going to do. 97 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,080 You're going to exercise. 98 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,840 If you believe donuts are good, guess what you're going to do. 99 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:57,040 You're going to eat donuts, all right? 100 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:58,040 It's true. 101 00:04:58,040 --> 00:04:59,040 It's true. 102 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,560 So, you know, hopefully as we take a look at this truth, and here's the thing about 103 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:03,720 your belief center. 104 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:09,200 You want, you don't adopt things into your belief center that are just opinion. 105 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:10,920 Mine or anybody else's, right? 106 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:11,920 Your own. 107 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:13,680 Don't adopt things into your belief center. 108 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,680 That is just somebody's preference of some kind. 109 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:17,760 Don't believe any of that. 110 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:19,760 Look for truth. 111 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:21,640 Look for eternal truth. 112 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:22,880 Here's the thing about truth. 113 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:23,880 Truth's eternal. 114 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,520 And if you're going to get, and if you're going to find out truth that's eternal, you've 115 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:28,760 got to go to an eternal source, right? 116 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:30,880 And guess who the eternal source is? 117 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:31,880 God himself. 118 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,080 He's the only one that's the same yesterday, today, and forever. 119 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:36,520 He never changes. 120 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:37,720 He's eternal. 121 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,160 So you're going to adopt this into your belief center this morning. 122 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:42,720 So here's the next truth. 123 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,560 God blesses me with money and possessions so that I can be generous. 124 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:48,800 All right? 125 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:53,600 God blesses me with money and possessions so that I can be generous. 126 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,520 He gives to me so that I can give to others. 127 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,640 I get, so I give, right? 128 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,520 I'm blessed so I can bless others. 129 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,920 I get increased so I can share that increase. 130 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:11,120 However you want to adopt that phrase into your belief center, however you want to phrase 131 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,920 that, you know, that meaning, you want to pull that in. 132 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:18,040 If I get, I give. 133 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:20,160 However you want to work to remember it. 134 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:25,360 As Jesus followers, we must be generous. 135 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:26,360 We give. 136 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:27,360 We give. 137 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,520 And it turns out that being generous with our money and possessions has benefits for 138 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:32,520 everybody involved. 139 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,320 Now, if you're the receiver of the benefit, how many of you know that's a benefit? 140 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:36,480 How many of you like to get gifts? 141 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:37,480 Come on. 142 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:38,480 Yeah. 143 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,840 How many of you are lying because you're not lifting your hand? 144 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:42,160 How many of you like to get gifts? 145 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:43,160 Come on. 146 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,400 Some of you are grinning back there like, oh, yeah, you like to get gifts, right? 147 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,440 It's nice to be on the receiving side of something, but it turns out there's benefits for the giving 148 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:51,680 side as well. 149 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,720 Alan Lux in his book, The Healing Power of Doing Good, conducted research on the effects 150 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:02,040 of generous service and giving, pulling over 3,000 volunteers from 20 organizations. 151 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:06,920 Lux discovered that the uplift of giving, a physiological phenomenon produced in our 152 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,000 body when we give and serve, called a giver's high. 153 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,280 Lux found out that if people have helped out others, they experience a feeling of well-being 154 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,480 and tranquility at the counteract stress and tension. 155 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:24,440 Among the benefits Lux found, you get from volunteering and giving a more optimistic 156 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:29,760 outlook, increased energy, better perceived health, decreased feelings of loneliness and 157 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:35,440 depression, better weight control, less pain, a greater sense of relaxation, improvement 158 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,000 in sleep, a stronger immune system. 159 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:39,480 Isn't that awesome, right? 160 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:44,720 Believe it or not, God designed generosity to benefit everybody involved. 161 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:50,720 A study carried out in Tecumseh, Michigan, where 2,700 persons found that those who consistently 162 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:57,520 volunteered or gave had a mortality rate 2.5 times lower than those who didn't. 163 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:03,280 Apparently research is agreeing with what Jesus said over 2,000 plus years ago in Lux 164 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:04,280 638. 165 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:06,360 They really are. 166 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,320 Give and it shall be given to you. 167 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:10,520 Good measure. 168 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,960 Press down, shaking together, and running over will be put into your bosom. 169 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:21,000 For with the same measure that you use it, it will be measured back to you. 170 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,440 God's setup for giving is a circular thing. 171 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:26,440 It really is. 172 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:27,640 It's a circular thing. 173 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,200 It's an in and out kind of thing. 174 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:34,640 It's an investment in and there's produce back out. 175 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:35,640 It's circular. 176 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:37,560 There's a flow that goes with giving. 177 00:08:37,560 --> 00:08:39,840 You give out, God gives back. 178 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:41,920 You give out, God gives back. 179 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:43,360 It's circular emotion. 180 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:44,360 It's an investment thing. 181 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:46,120 How many know an investment is like that, right? 182 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:47,880 You invest in something, right? 183 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:49,320 You invest in a stock. 184 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:53,080 Any ideas for that stock to go up and it produces more and gives out? 185 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:54,840 It's the whole idea. 186 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:59,280 It's kind of like the kingdom of God and giving is a little bit like now some of you might 187 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:03,160 be too young to remember this, but how many remember the old candy machines that now this 188 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:04,520 was pre-COVID, right? 189 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:05,600 Everything's pre-packaged now. 190 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,000 You can't touch anything. 191 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:08,520 But back then they had candy. 192 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:09,520 It was all multicolored. 193 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,200 It was this sweet candy in there and you stuck a quarter in the machine. 194 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:14,680 You spun the knob, right? 195 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:15,680 And add a little chute. 196 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:16,960 You lift it up and you put down it. 197 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,920 All dumps out in your hand and half of it dumps on the ground. 198 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:20,280 That was the whole idea, right? 199 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,080 So you buy some more. 200 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,200 Yeah, that's kind of how it is in God's economy. 201 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,960 That's how it works in the kingdom of God. 202 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,280 And it's God who empowers the giving and brings back. 203 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,360 Now listen, I'm not preaching prosperity gospel. 204 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,280 I'm just telling you this is how God works in the kingdom and I'm going to show you 205 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:37,360 it scripturally. 206 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:38,360 He gives out. 207 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:43,680 If you get God in the mix, all right, he's the one that gives the increase, right? 208 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:44,680 It really is. 209 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:48,800 So, you know, when we're blessed with something, he says to give it back out. 210 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,240 It's not for me to hoard up for myself. 211 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:56,040 It's not for me to gather in and build an empire of some kind, right? 212 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,040 The Kip Empire. 213 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,040 I do have it on my, my Wi-Fi at home. 214 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,640 It's called Kip's Kingdom, but that's as far as it goes. 215 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:02,640 Okay. 216 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:05,040 You all know now if you come to my house, I'd get on my Wi-Fi. 217 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:06,160 All right. 218 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:07,520 But it's not about my kingdom. 219 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:09,320 It really isn't. 220 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,200 We should adopt in our belief center that it's about give and it'll be given back to 221 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:14,200 you. 222 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:18,280 This is how God works and as a people of God, we give. 223 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:23,360 He said that Jesus said this is going to be a defining mark of those who bear my name, 224 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:25,720 who are called Christian, right? 225 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:31,280 First John 3.16 says this, by this we know love because he laid down his life for us. 226 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,880 We also ought to lay down our lives for the brother. 227 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:38,640 But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in needs and shuts up his heart 228 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,480 from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 229 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,600 If we close up and just keep it all for ourselves, the word of God says, how do you even know 230 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:48,960 you have the love of God in you? 231 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:49,960 Right? 232 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,400 You can, Kip's interpretation, do you even know you're a Christian? 233 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:54,400 Right? 234 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:59,160 It's not a question of we give, we do give. 235 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,840 Matthew 6.1 says this, Jesus said this, take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds 236 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,040 before men to be seen by them. 237 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,800 Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 238 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:15,280 Therefore, when, say when, not if, when you do your charitable deeds, do not sound a trumpet 239 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:20,400 before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory 240 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:21,400 from men. 241 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:27,160 Surely I say to you, they have the reward, but when you do your charitable deeds, do 242 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,160 not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 243 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:35,600 That your charitable deed may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will himself 244 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,080 reward you openly. 245 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,480 It's not an if, it's a when. 246 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:46,680 In this passage, it's not just a when, but God says when you do it, when you give, you 247 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:48,680 need to do it this way, right? 248 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:51,360 You need to make sure you're not doing it to be seen by people. 249 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,320 You need to make sure that you're doing it in secret. 250 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,920 So secret that your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing, right? 251 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:01,240 It's so secret that this hand doesn't even know what this hand's got going on when you're 252 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:02,240 given. 253 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,840 And if that's not convincing enough, let me give you Acts chapter 2 verse 44 and it says, 254 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:10,200 now all who believe were together. 255 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:15,080 This was the first church, this was the early church, and had all things in common and sold 256 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:23,280 their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. 257 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,680 Generosity is the defining or should be the defining mark of a Christian. 258 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:31,240 It is a reflection of God himself. 259 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,040 The Father gave the Son, right? 260 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:35,960 He sacrificed his Son. 261 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,400 He gave his Son so that we might have life and we might have salvation. 262 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:45,520 His Son, Jesus gave his own life so that we might have life and that we might have it 263 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:46,800 more abundantly. 264 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:51,720 And when Jesus left and went back to the Father, He said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. 265 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:53,680 And He gave us the Holy Spirit. 266 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:55,200 So the Holy Spirit came back. 267 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,040 And when the Holy Spirit got here, the Holy Spirit said, I'm going to give you gifts, 268 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:00,040 right? 269 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:01,360 The gifts of the Spirit. 270 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:02,360 It's in Scripture. 271 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:03,720 He said, I'm going to gift you. 272 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:05,240 I'm going to give you the gifts of the Spirit. 273 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:06,960 I'm going to empower you, right? 274 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,160 I'm going to guide you. 275 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:10,360 I'm going to counsel you. 276 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:14,680 God blesses me with money and possessions so I can be generous. 277 00:13:14,680 --> 00:13:16,680 It's how it works in the kingdom. 278 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:18,600 It's circular, right? 279 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,880 It's not just, give me, give me, give me, right? 280 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:23,160 Or give, give, give. 281 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:24,360 It's both. 282 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,040 It's all together. 283 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:33,600 My heart should be constantly fixed on this reciprocal work of generosity in God's kingdom. 284 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:34,720 Amen? 285 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,040 Not optional, right? 286 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,640 It's not up for opinion. 287 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:39,640 It really isn't. 288 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:44,640 I remember as I was preparing this and I got to the end of this first point, I remembered 289 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:45,640 Steve Pichallo. 290 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:48,440 Now, some of you know Steve and Betty. 291 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:53,960 They passed away during COVID and they were dear saints of God who were with us from the 292 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:55,080 very beginning. 293 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,840 But Steve used to, he had all of this phrase he used to tell me all the time, it's just 294 00:13:57,840 --> 00:13:58,840 what we do, pastor. 295 00:13:58,840 --> 00:13:59,840 All right? 296 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,320 He'd just say, it's just what we do, right? 297 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:03,320 It's just who we are. 298 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:05,800 It's part of the kingdom. 299 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:06,800 We give. 300 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:07,800 Amen? 301 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:08,800 Amen. 302 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:09,800 All right, we give. 303 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:10,800 We give. 304 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:11,800 All right? 305 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:18,360 And not only do we, not only are we generous, but God actually has an order to generosity. 306 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,960 I don't know if you know this or not, but God always has an order with everything. 307 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:26,320 Just about anything you go look at in God's Word, you're going to find God has an order. 308 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:27,720 He wants things done a certain way. 309 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,960 I've been reading recently in my own personal devotions. 310 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:33,200 I've been in the Old Testament. 311 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:34,520 I've been reading about the temple. 312 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,760 And it's amazing how God came down and told Moses, when you build the temple, I want, 313 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:41,200 he didn't just say, Hey, put a temple up, right? 314 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:42,200 Make it up as you go. 315 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:43,200 He didn't do that at all. 316 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:44,200 He had an order in it. 317 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:45,640 He told Moses everything. 318 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,680 He told him what materials he was supposed to use. 319 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:50,200 He told him how to design it. 320 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,880 He told him how, what it's supposed to look like, how big it's supposed to be. 321 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:58,480 God has order in what he does and he has order in generosity as well. 322 00:14:58,480 --> 00:14:59,480 Right? 323 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,480 And the order begins with this. 324 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,480 We should first be generous towards God. 325 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:05,640 All right? 326 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,840 Your generosity starts with giving back to God. 327 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,520 If we're living in God, we trust kind of life. 328 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,000 That means we give back to God first. 329 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,040 And we practice this generosity. 330 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:24,400 We actually should practice this generosity first with God before we're generous anywhere 331 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:25,400 else. 332 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:26,400 It's true. 333 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:27,400 Right? 334 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:28,400 It's how we get God involved in our finances. 335 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:32,480 I don't know if you know that or not, but when you're generous with God first, you bring 336 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,440 God into your financial picture. 337 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:40,280 You bring God in on board with you and he begins to walk with you and he begins to guide 338 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:41,280 you. 339 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:43,000 It's how you get him in the financial mix. 340 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,640 It's how you get him beginning to generate what's taking place or what should be taking 341 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:48,000 place in our money and possessions. 342 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:49,000 It really does. 343 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,920 And God has a plan and has had a plan literally since the very beginning. 344 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,840 The first man, Adam, the first woman, Eve, right? 345 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:02,240 And their two sons, Cain and Abel, God from the very beginning. 346 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:09,080 First family on the face of this planet, God established this idea of giving to him first. 347 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:12,160 So if you got your Bible, you can go to Genesis chapter four, verse one. 348 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,400 If not, it's going to be up on the screens and it says this. 349 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:19,440 Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve and she became pregnant. 350 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:20,920 Then she gave birth to Cain. 351 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:24,600 She said, with the Lord's help, I have produced a man. 352 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:28,400 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. 353 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:33,440 When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd while Cain cultivated the ground. 354 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:35,360 So I want you to get this picture in your mind. 355 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:42,120 Abel, this first son, he becomes a shepherd and Cain, he becomes a farmer. 356 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:45,400 One's got sheep, animals of some kind. 357 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:46,680 Cain's cultivating the ground. 358 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:48,160 He's getting produce of some kind. 359 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:49,760 He's growing something. 360 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:55,800 It says when it was time for harvest, harvest is increase. 361 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:57,200 When you're harvesting something. 362 00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:59,960 If you're a farmer, you're bringing in, right? 363 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:01,680 That's when you get increase. 364 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,120 Not when you're planting a seed. 365 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,200 You're spending money when you're planting a seed. 366 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,240 Is when there's increase that comes in. 367 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:12,080 So when it was time for harvest, when it was time to bring the increase in, Cain presented 368 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:14,680 some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 369 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:19,440 Abel also brought a gift, the best portion of the first fruits of the lamps from his 370 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:20,440 flock. 371 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,480 Now I want you to understand something here. 372 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:24,640 Both these boys were being generous. 373 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:26,960 Both these young men, I don't know how old they were. 374 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,760 They were being generous towards God, right? 375 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:31,500 They both brought an offering. 376 00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:36,240 They were both bringing it in a generous manner, but there was a problem along the way. 377 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:41,200 It says this, the Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his 378 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:42,200 gift. 379 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,920 This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. 380 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,000 And God said this to him, why are you so angry? 381 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,560 The Lord asked Cain, why do you look so dejected? 382 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,480 You will be accepted if you do what? 383 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:56,560 What is right? 384 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,560 But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out. 385 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:05,240 Sin is crouching at your door, eager to control you, but you must subdue it and be its master. 386 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,320 What was the difference between these two boys offering? 387 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:12,560 What was the difference between what they gave out of their increase? 388 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,480 One, Cain just gave some of his crops. 389 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,680 He grew some crops and he just gave God some of the crops, right? 390 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:25,940 His brother Abel, it says he gave the first of the flock. 391 00:18:25,940 --> 00:18:31,320 He gave the first and the best of his flock to God. 392 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,320 God cares about how you give to him, right? 393 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:39,160 Any increase that comes into our hand, anything that God allows to come into our life, the 394 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:44,160 first act of generosity should be back to God and we don't give God just a portion of some 395 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:45,160 kind. 396 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,200 We just don't give him whatever, right? 397 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,840 Whatever is left, you know, we don't just hand that over to him. 398 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,760 We give him our first and we give him our best. 399 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:55,560 God cares about how we give. 400 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,080 He cares about how we do it. 401 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:01,280 He cares about what our generosity looks like when we give back to him, right? 402 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:02,400 There's a difference. 403 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:07,680 There's a difference between getting the best of something and just getting something. 404 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,680 You honor someone when they get the first piece, right? 405 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,800 If you get somebody the first piece of the pie, how many know you're honoring them, right? 406 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:16,800 Come on. 407 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:21,200 You're showing them respect when they get the first piece of anything. 408 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:25,160 When a guest comes to our house and my wife's great at cooking and she's great at baking 409 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:29,600 and she makes a pie or she makes a cake or something, guess who does not get to touch 410 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:31,440 the first piece? 411 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:32,440 Not me, okay? 412 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:33,440 All right? 413 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:34,760 I can have some of the leftovers. 414 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:39,040 You know, if there's something that fell off and got burnt, you know, I can eat that 415 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,800 beforehand and it's not because she's trying to withhold anything from me. 416 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,280 It's because we got guests coming and she wants to honor them and they're going to get 417 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:47,280 the first piece. 418 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,480 They're going to get the first and the best of whatever comes out of that oven. 419 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:54,080 Now after they eat, then I get to eat, right? 420 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,840 Then I get to dive into it as well. 421 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,000 It's the first and the best. 422 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,080 God is not interested in second place in your life. 423 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,960 He is not interested in your second portion of generosity. 424 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:06,960 He is not. 425 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,200 He isn't okay with your crummy leftovers that have been in the fridge for four weeks, right? 426 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:12,200 He's dried out. 427 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:13,200 You stick some water on it. 428 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:14,200 Put it in a microwave. 429 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,520 Try to soften that thing up to eat it, okay? 430 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:18,760 That's not what God's interested in. 431 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:19,760 He's not. 432 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:21,800 He won't even accept it. 433 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:26,920 God will only accept our best and our first. 434 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:28,720 He wants the first. 435 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:33,040 So our generosity starts with God, right? 436 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:34,960 Cain gave God something. 437 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,320 He just gave him some of it. 438 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:41,120 And when God spoke to him and God spoke to him very nicely, He said, you know, Cain, 439 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:42,440 why do you look so rejected? 440 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:47,120 I know your offering wasn't accepted, but if you just go back and do what's right. 441 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:48,200 And Cain could have repented. 442 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:49,600 He could have said, you know God, I know. 443 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:50,600 I didn't do this right. 444 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:52,160 Let me just go back and do it again. 445 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:53,800 And God would have been fine with that. 446 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:55,040 Just go back and give your first. 447 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,040 But that's not what Cain did. 448 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:58,040 Cain got angry. 449 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,840 What was in his belief system, what was in his heart, right? 450 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,600 In his belief center was all jacked up. 451 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,360 And he didn't believe that at all. 452 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:07,920 And matter of fact, he got angry, the word of God says. 453 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:09,640 He got jealous of his brother. 454 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,560 And one day, very shortly after that, he literally took his brother's life. 455 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,440 It was the first murders in Scripture. 456 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,560 He took his brother's life because he didn't understand generosity. 457 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:22,960 He didn't understand what should have been first. 458 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:27,720 When it comes to generosity and when it comes to your belief center, we got to give God 459 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:32,320 our first and we got to give him our best of our increase. 460 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:33,320 Amen? 461 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,480 That's true. 462 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:37,440 Don't throw leftovers to God. 463 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,480 Even worse, don't throw nothing at God, right? 464 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:42,600 Don't do it. 465 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:46,080 And listen, God doesn't need your money, by the way. 466 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:47,080 Okay? 467 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:51,360 Do you know that He's the creator of all things, right? 468 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:54,400 Do you know that He spoke things into existence? 469 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,880 It's not like He needs what we're going to hand back to Him, right? 470 00:21:56,880 --> 00:22:01,360 It was, first of all, right, if we go back to the beginning, we're not the owner, we're 471 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:02,360 the manager. 472 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:04,400 It's all His in the first place. 473 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:05,960 Everything that we see around us, right? 474 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:07,960 So God doesn't need your stuff. 475 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:08,960 He doesn't need your money. 476 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:09,960 He doesn't need anything. 477 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:11,440 He can speak anything to existence. 478 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:12,440 He has all power. 479 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,080 He has all, He can do anything. 480 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:15,920 It's a hard thing. 481 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:17,760 Just look at it at your heart. 482 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,680 Like if you're going to be generous, you're going to be generous with me first. 483 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:24,000 Because if you're generous with me first, then you get me in the mix. 484 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,040 And then I can begin to bless what you put your hands to, right? 485 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:29,640 Because we do it His way. 486 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,800 Proverbs 3.9 says, It's on the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all 487 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:34,960 your increase. 488 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:39,520 So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. 489 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:45,900 Exodus 22-29, you shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe fruit and your juice 490 00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:48,120 is the first born of your sons. 491 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:52,600 You shall give to me likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. 492 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,400 It shall be with its mother seven days in it on the eighth day. 493 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,000 You will give it to me. 494 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,080 Generosity starts with God. 495 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:05,080 You want to be generous. 496 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,440 I'm going to ask if the praise team would come. 497 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:09,440 Make their way up here. 498 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,520 Now I know you're all wondering why has he got this table up here with 10 apples on it, 499 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:14,520 right? 500 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,080 And I want to kind of give you just something to look at, right? 501 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:19,880 There's 10 apples on here. 502 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:24,160 This represents God giving you increase into your life. 503 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,220 And God may have blessed you with a job. 504 00:23:26,220 --> 00:23:29,720 He might have blessed you with an ability to make increase somehow in your life and in 505 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:31,220 some way. 506 00:23:31,220 --> 00:23:33,080 And all this represents that increase. 507 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,840 And what God does is he asks for some of that back, right? 508 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,640 He says, I want you to, the first place you're generous, you honor God with the first of 509 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:41,640 your fruits. 510 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,080 And the Scripture talks about the tenth, the tithe. 511 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,360 Go here, it's talking about the tithe and offering. 512 00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:47,360 It's the tithe. 513 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:48,360 It's one tenth. 514 00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:52,440 He says, give this one tenth back to me and be generous with me first. 515 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,800 Now a couple of things go along with that. 516 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:56,800 A couple of things happen when you do that. 517 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,480 First of all, he blesses the nine, okay? 518 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,080 And trust me, you're going to have all 10. 519 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:07,280 It'll never even come close to God blessing nine in your hand instead. 520 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:09,040 You can keep all 10 for you. 521 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:10,040 God gives you that option. 522 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,480 If you do that, we can be disobedient to God. 523 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,680 We can just say, okay, God, I'm keeping it all, right? 524 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,520 But if you hand him one back, you get him in, you're generous to God first. 525 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,320 You get God in the mix and all of a sudden God begins to bless. 526 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,000 He begins to bless this. 527 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,360 Now the other thing is you got to understand about something what you hand back to God. 528 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:31,000 Because when you hand something back to God, and this is in the New Testament, it's in 529 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,280 Scripture, when, I don't know how many of you remember this story or maybe you've never 530 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,640 heard this story before, but in two places in Scripture, Jesus is out teaching. 531 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,640 One time he's teaching 4,000 men plus women and children. 532 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,480 And another place he's teaching 5,000 plus men, women and children, okay? 533 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,160 He's out there, they're out there for a long time and they all get hungry. 534 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,960 And all that's around is one lunch, right? 535 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,440 There's some bread and some fish in both cases. 536 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,720 I'm not going to go into all the details, but they, you know what they do with it? 537 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:01,640 They give it to Jesus. 538 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:02,800 They bring the one lunch. 539 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,520 They hand it to Jesus and they say, Jesus is all we got, right? 540 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:11,240 4,000 plus people, 4,000 plus people, and this is all we got. 541 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:12,560 And Jesus says, okay, give it to me. 542 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:14,360 And you know what Jesus does? 543 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:20,720 He takes it, the word of God says, he blessed it, he broke it, and he fed all 5,000 and all 544 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:21,720 4,000. 545 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:28,280 Each time he fed the entire crowd and they took up baskets full of food afterwards. 546 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:29,400 What am I getting at? 547 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:34,000 The one thing that you place in God's hand, anything, this is the principle. 548 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,880 You can put this in your true center, okay? 549 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:43,800 Anything you place in God's hands, he will bless, break, and multiply. 550 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:49,800 And it's always full circle he gives back every time. 551 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,360 It's all through the word of God. 552 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:52,760 It's all through the word of God. 553 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,960 You give him the one, one thing. 554 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:57,600 I don't have that ability, right? 555 00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:58,600 You give me something. 556 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,000 Matter of fact, if you give it to me, I'll probably spend it, lose it or something, right? 557 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,000 It'll be gone. 558 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,800 If you give it to God, he will bless it, he will break it, he will multiply it, and it 559 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:07,280 will come back around full circle. 560 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:08,280 It's true. 561 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:16,080 I'm going to ask if you'd stand this morning. 562 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:17,600 I want you to do this this morning. 563 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,160 The way it responds, this is you and Jesus. 564 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,720 This is between you and God. 565 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,840 You've heard the word, you've heard what's in the word. 566 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:27,840 I want you to just close your eyes. 567 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:32,800 I don't want anyone to look around, it's between you and God. 568 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,160 You got to let the Holy Spirit talk to you about your belief center. 569 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,160 What do you believe? 570 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:43,840 I make no apology in preaching this in God's word because this is blessing that God wants 571 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:44,840 for you. 572 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,200 And while you've got your heads bowed and your eyes closed, I'm going to read out of 573 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:48,200 Malachi 6 and 12. 574 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:49,200 You need to listen closely. 575 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,240 It says this, for I am the Lord, I do not change. 576 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:53,680 That's a great phrase there, by the way. 577 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,280 I do not change. 578 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:59,320 For you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob, yet from the days of your fathers you have 579 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:03,280 gone away from me, from my ordinances, and have not kept them. 580 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,160 Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 581 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,880 But you said, in what way shall we return? 582 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,280 And verse 8 says, well, a man robbed God, yet you have robbed me. 583 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,440 For you say, in what way have we robbed you? 584 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:15,960 In tithing and offering. 585 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:20,040 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. 586 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,320 Bring all the tithing to the storehouse that there may be food in my house. 587 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:24,920 Now listen, he says this. 588 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:26,960 You don't see this anywhere else in Scripture. 589 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,920 And try me in this, says the Lord of hosts. 590 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:35,160 If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you such blessing, 591 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,880 that you will not be, you will not be room enough to receive it. 592 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:45,200 And he goes on to say, not only that, but I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, 593 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:50,040 so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit 594 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,120 in your field, says the Lord of hosts. 595 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:56,920 And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful lance, says the 596 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:58,800 Lord of hosts. 597 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:03,880 God's word says, if you get me in the mix, I will rebuke the devourer for you. 598 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:09,680 I will, I will, I will go before you, beside you, in front of you, and behind you. 599 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,400 Father, we come to you today. 600 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,360 God, your word is quick, it is powerful. 601 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:17,800 God, it comes in and just opens us up. 602 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,160 God, it speaks to us. 603 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,760 And God, I know there might be some wrestling right now. 604 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:23,720 God in their heart and in their minds. 605 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:25,600 Lord, it's about giving you the one. 606 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:26,720 God, it's about giving back to you. 607 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,600 It's about being generous to you first. 608 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,720 And God, then being generous otherwise to others out beyond that. 609 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,720 Lord, I pray, God, that you would minister and speak, Lord, to each one in the house. 610 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:36,920 God, let them look into your word. 611 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,840 God, if they don't, if they don't think I'm speaking truth, God, I pray they search your 612 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:40,840 word. 613 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,160 God, if they begin, they'll go home and look into it themselves. 614 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,480 And God, they'll rightly divide the word of truth. 615 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,440 Lord, I pray, God, you're blessing upon this group. 616 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:50,280 God, I pray that you're in the mix. 617 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,720 God, I pray for flow in their lives, God, in every way and in every area. 618 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,440 And Lord, we just give you praise and glory. 619 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,040 And as your eyes are closed, Zach, just sing one song. 620 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,080 I want to give you time to pray on your own. 621 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:03,320 This morning's he sings. 622 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,680 I'll bring it's our God. 623 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:13,880 Sing with me, I'll bring it's our God. 624 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:24,480 No, we'll see how great, how great is our God. 625 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,480 Let's sing the above our names. 626 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:34,480 Oh, he has the name above our names. 627 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:44,480 And he's worthy of our praise. 628 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:56,480 If our heart will sing, how great is our God. 629 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:03,400 I'm asking to look up just as a way of maybe closing out this morning. 630 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,160 Maybe you, you know, you might be looking at this, you might be thinking, man, he talked 631 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,160 about a tenth, like that's a crazy number, right? 632 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:10,160 A tenth? 633 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:11,160 Like you've got a tenth? 634 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,800 Let me challenge you to do something. 635 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:14,960 Just walk in obedience. 636 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,040 Follow God, all right? 637 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:19,280 Sometimes maybe some of you are just going to be the first time, you're going to be a 638 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:20,280 first time giver. 639 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:24,120 Maybe a tenth, you need to talk about a tenth more, you need to understand what that is. 640 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,800 Or maybe your finances aren't in a place where you can do that right now. 641 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,240 Just begin to trust God with your finances. 642 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:31,960 Give for the first time, right? 643 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,320 Give for the first time what you can. 644 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,960 And then, man, there's people in the church, there's pastorals that we'd love to talk about 645 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:38,960 this more. 646 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:39,960 I got a whole testimony myself. 647 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:41,280 I'll tell you my story. 648 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,680 I did not do so well at the beginning in life and some things. 649 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,760 And I'll give you my testimony of finances and what God's done and what he can do in 650 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:49,760 your life. 651 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:51,520 But just trust him. 652 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:52,520 Let him in. 653 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:54,160 I'm telling you that word. 654 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,720 I'll tell you how confident I am in that word. 655 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:57,720 And I'll make this statement. 656 00:30:57,720 --> 00:30:59,400 I'm bold enough to make it again. 657 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:04,760 I told people many times when I preached on finances, I said, look, go ahead and tithe. 658 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:08,240 And trust God with a tenth of your increase. 659 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:09,240 Give it to him. 660 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:13,880 And if you give that to this church and you track that, if God doesn't hold up to his end 661 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,960 of the bargain in six months, I'll write you a check back for every dollar of it. 662 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,960 Do you know how many people I've ever had come back to me? 663 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:21,960 Zero. 664 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,080 Because God always keeps his word. 665 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:25,080 Always. 666 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:26,080 Always. 667 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:27,080 It's true. 668 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:28,080 It's true. 669 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:33,440 So just give for the, you know, just start to step in this because God wants to be in 670 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:34,440 your finances as well. 671 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:35,440 Amen. 672 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:36,440 All right. 673 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,440 Y'all, y'all still okay with me now? 674 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:39,440 Good. 675 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:40,440 Good. 676 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:41,440 Turn somebody, get them a high five. 677 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,520 Tell them it's good to be in God's house. 678 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:44,520 God bless you. 679 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,040 Bring somebody back to life house next week with you. 680 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:49,040 Amen. 681 00:31:49,040 --> 00:32:00,400 Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church. 682 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,880 We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message. 683 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:09,000 If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with 684 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:18,960 us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com.