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for almost two years, and this will be the first time that I've done a sermon on giving and money.

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And as I was preparing for that this morning, I realized that I needed to repent before the Lord

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because I was not doing you any favors by avoiding it.

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Money needs to be talked about in the church because it is such a vital part of our everyday lives.

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It's what we work for, right?

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I don't think any of us work for free very often, do we?

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It's what we use to pay for things. It's what we think about frequently.

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Now, I don't know this to be a universal truth. We'd have to do some surveys, which I didn't do.

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But I would guess that many of you think more about money than you do about most things.

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What's the first thing that comes to your mind when your car breaks down?

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Is it trusting the Lord, or is it how in the world am I going to pay for this?

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When there's a big medical bill that comes in, is your first thought,

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where am I going to get the money to pay for this?

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When there's a job loss, do you begin to worry how you are going to pay for your mortgage and other bills?

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Or do you know that the Lord is going to take care of you?

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As a church, we need to do the best we can to make sure that all of us are equipped with the knowledge

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on how to honor the Lord with our money.

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So that's what we're going to do this morning.

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So I'm going to invite Liza. I think I saw her.

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I'm going to invite Liza up here this morning to read this text, and then we're going to dive into it together.

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So if you have her Bible, 2 Corinthians chapter 9, Liza is going to read verses 6 through 11 for us.

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And as she does that, there you go. Y'all are the best.

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Way to lead by example.

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We want to honor the Lord as we read the text in this place.

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Liza, it's all you.

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The point is this.

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Whoever says, scaring me will also read scaring me.

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And whoever says, bansalee, will also read bansalee.

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Each one must give as he has decided in his heart.

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Not reluctantly or under compulsion.

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For God loves a cheerful giver.

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And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,

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he may abound in every good work.

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As it is written, he has distributed freely.

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He has given to the poor.

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His righteousness endures forever.

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He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing

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and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

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You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way,

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which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

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Amen. Let's pray.

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Father God, thank you for Liza.

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Thank you for her willingness to read your word to us.

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And I pray God, you honor for it.

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And God, as we look at this text, I pray that you'll soften our hearts.

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I pray that you'll open our eyes to see how good you want us to have it.

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So God, we lift this time up to you.

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Give me a prayer. Amen.

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Thank you, Liza.

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So for the last 12 years of my life, I have lived in a farming community.

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For 10 of those years, the primary crop was cotton.

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The last two have been corn and beans.

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Now, where we moved from, the weather is dry, it's windy, and the soil is not the best.

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So what a lot of farmers have to do and what they have to rely on in the years that there is drought is insurance.

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Now, it wouldn't be wise for them to go spend tens of thousands of dollars to plant a crop during a drought without insurance.

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That's a good way to go bankrupt.

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And many of them do every single year.

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So I've become pretty familiar with how crop insurance works.

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I asked a friend of mine many years ago, during a year where there wasn't a lot of hope for a crop.

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And I asked him, why don't you just plant along the road so that when the adjuster comes by, he'll be able to see that you planted your crop.

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Now, his answer was much more spiritual than this, but he said that he had an adjuster come out one time.

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And he didn't just take sampling off the side of the road.

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He went into the middle of a 640 acre farm and made sure that cotton seed was planted.

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He said the risk to not plant it is too great.

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So he would never even consider not having crop insurance because then he would be uninsurable.

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And if he wasn't able to have insurance, he wouldn't be able to provide for his family during the dry years.

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So a good farmer will always plant the crops to reap a harvest, whether it's going to be dry or not.

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A good farmer doesn't just do the minimum in hopes that they are going to prosper.

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Now, I want us to look at the law of the harvest.

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Now, Roman, I'm going to be a Baptist.

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I got three points here and they all start with P.

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So ironic that you said that today.

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So I want to look at the principle, I want to look at the practice and I want to look at the produce that were promised.

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The law of the harvest is a principle as stated in verse 6.

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Now, I can summarize that principle in eight words.

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Plant little, harvest little.

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Plant much, harvest much.

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So unless some other circumstances take their toll, that principle will work.

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If you invest a little bit, you can only expect a small return.

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We also say it another way.

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You reap what you sow.

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This principle will work with anything, with our resources, with our time, with our talents and our tithes.

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But I particularly want us to think about the advantage of investing in God's work.

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I also want to give you three truths that accompany this principle of sowing and reaping.

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The first one is, you will always reap what you sow.

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That means you won't get corn if you plant peanuts.

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If you want high grade beans, you need to plant high grade beans.

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If you want God's blessings, then you give Him your best.

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Now in just about every prayer, we ask God to bless us, don't we?

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We want Him to bless us.

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But do you know that you yourself determine how much God will bless you?

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Jesus told us in Luke 6.38 how the Father decides the measure of our blessings.

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He says, give and it will be given to you.

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Good measure, pressed down, shaken together.

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Running over will be put into your lap.

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For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

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So invest the kind of seed, faith, offering in God's work that you need back from Him.

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If you need money, honor God with His tithe even when you don't think you can afford it.

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He promises, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will be added to you.

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The second truth is that you will always reap more than you sow.

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One peanut planted can grow a bush of many roots that have hundreds of peanuts on them.

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One corn seed can produce a stalk with two or three ears having hundreds of grains of corn.

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One dollar given to ministry can result in thousands of saints thanking you one day in heaven.

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One life lived for God can influence hundreds if not millions to imitate that life.

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Now the third truth, applying the principle of the harvest is you always reap later than you sow.

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Sowing and reaping don't usually happen on the same day, do they?

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It may take months or even years to see your harvest and you may never even see all of its results until you get to heaven.

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Now you might say, I've tried tithing but I still haven't caught up with my bills.

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I've tried tithing but it doesn't seem to work.

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Don't give up sowing calls for patience and faith in the principle of the harvest.

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It will work.

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In Malachi 3 verse 10, if you've been in church, you know this verse, God invites you.

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It's an invitation to you and to me to test him by returning all those ties to the storehouse which is your church.

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And see if he doesn't open up the windows.

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See if he doesn't open up the floodgates with more blessings than you can handle.

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Understand that all of your blessings, everything that you have will not be in the form necessarily of material things.

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And God doesn't give a timetable for those blessings.

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He will do it when it's best for you.

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But he says, test me in this.

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Test him in this.

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But you can bet on this, God would not issue this challenge if he didn't want you to try it.

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And if he didn't intend to bless you in more ways than you can imagine.

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Now I think it's important to hear testimonies from those who have tested God with their resources.

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I asked several people in our church over the last week to share with me how they've seen God's faithfulness come through.

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How they've seen him do this work.

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And I'm going to read a few of those today throughout this thing.

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Here's one.

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They said, we've been tithing regularly for 40 years and have received multiple windfalls from God over those years.

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Here's one of those stories.

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I owned a 1998 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

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The body was pristine, but the frame was rusted.

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The frame had gotten so bad that the truck became unsafe.

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My son was driving it at the time and he had a friend do some welding on it.

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Still the truck was unsafe.

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I had him get some quotes from several local junkyards to junk the vehicle.

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The best price we got was $400.

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I feel that.

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On a lark he reached out to Toyota to see if there were any recalls on the vehicle.

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In fact, there were multiple recalls over the years.

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1998 included for the steel used in frames over those years.

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It was the wrong steel subject to significant corrosion.

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Toyota was offering a repair or replacement option for vehicles up to 15 years from the time the vehicle was sold new.

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Toyota informed us that we had four days left on the warranty.

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Toyota replaced the vehicle for $13,861.50.

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I only paid $11,000 for the truck and drove it for seven years.

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Praise the Lord.

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I love that story.

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I love that story.

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40 years of planting seeds.

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40 years of giving faithfully.

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This is not a get rich quick scheme, but it is a testimony that the Lord takes care of His people.

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So what do you do?

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What do you do if you're tithing and having financial problems?

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You continue to pray to see if there is another lesson God wants you to learn.

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Have you first dedicated 100% of your resources to God?

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Are you willing to give Him more than 10% if God lays that on your heart?

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Are you giving for the wrong reason, just hoping to get more from God?

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Is there another area of your life He wants you to commit to Him?

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Then when your motive is pure, what do you do while you're waiting on God to provide some relief?

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You continue to sow more seed.

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You continue to plant.

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You keep trusting and investing.

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And all you invest will be growing with interest until God starts to pay you back.

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So remember that most of your dividends will be laid up in heaven for you with compound interest.

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Next, I want to look at the practice.

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Look at the practice in verse 7.

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This tells us how to use the principle of the harvest.

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Do you know how farmers decide how much seed to plant?

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They first decide the harvest that they want to reap.

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Then they plant accordingly.

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They don't just plant haphazardly.

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They have a plan.

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And that plan begins with not the amount of seed they need to buy, but before that,

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they decide what kind of crop, what size crop they want to produce.

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They determine how many acres they want to harvest,

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and then they plant the seeds to reach that goal.

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Here I can give you some practical suggestions about giving.

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The first one being, give generously.

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Give generously.

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If you want to produce a lot, invest a lot.

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My motto has always been that you can't out give God.

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Now, I want to be clear.

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My generosity might not be the same thing as your generosity.

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I am not talking about a certain amount of money.

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In Luke 21, Jesus condemns a rich man, and he praises a poor woman.

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They both gave an offering, but the hearts behind those offerings were very different.

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Now, you might be in a season where you consider five, ten, or twenty dollars

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to be a generous amount of money.

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Or you might be in a season where five, ten, twenty thousand dollars is a generous amount of money.

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The point in being generous is not the amount.

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It's the heart behind it.

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Are you living your life with your hands open, understanding that everything you have is God's?

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Everything that you have is God's.

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And are you living your life trusting that because everything is God's,

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He's going to continue to provide for you in the midst of your generosity?

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Now, hear me.

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If you're new here, I need you to hear me.

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This sermon, this message is not to benefit our church.

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We are fine financially.

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I do not get a commission check every single month that's dependent on how much money we bring in.

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They do not let me fly private up in here.

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In fact, every time I've flown since I've been here, they put me by the toilets in the back.

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I think they do that on purpose just to keep me humble.

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I do not benefit personally by telling you to be generous.

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You do.

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You will benefit, but have the heart of the widow.

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Have the heart of the widow with her two coins.

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Understand that by giving generously, you are putting your trust in the Lord to take care of your needs.

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And then you're taking away your own ability to control your situation.

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Next, give cheerfully.

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Verse seven says God loves a cheerful giver.

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The word actually means a hilarious giver.

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You should be hilariously happy that you're able to invest in God's work.

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Thank Him for the ability to give because you know God is going to repay you many times more than what you gave.

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When we were in Panama last summer, the 16 of us that were on that trip wanted to bless the missionaries that we were there visiting.

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The day we were leaving to come home, we decided, let's pull the cash that we have.

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Let's pull it all together and let's give it to them.

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So I think it was about $1,300 or so that we were going to give.

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We were excited to give them to them because we believed in the work that they were doing and we wanted to bless them.

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So we give them the $1,300.

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We give them strict instructions on what that money is to be used for.

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And guess what?

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They didn't do a thing.

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We asked them to do with it.

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They saw other needs around them and they decided to give the money away.

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And the truth of the matter is, I'm not even mad about it.

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I don't think any of us were.

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We were actually laughing about it just the other day.

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Now, I can't wait to go back and give them some more money because I'm genuinely curious.

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What in the world are they going to do with it?

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I'm looking forward to that time.

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It's going to be fun.

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Next, always give prayerfully.

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Ask God how much His work needs and what your responsible share is.

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Sometimes giving money to something isn't God's best plan.

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For instance, there are many stories of churches going into a developing country,

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seeing a need and throwing some money at it.

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Their hearts in the right place, they do it generously and cheerfully,

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but they don't necessarily do it prayerfully.

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One church decided to buy a couple tractors for a small farming village in South America.

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They saw how long it took to plant the crop and to harvest the crop.

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So with their American mindset, thought we could provide them some tractors and equipment

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and it's going to make their life easier.

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And it did. It made their life easier until they had to buy diesel.

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It made their life easier until a hose blew and they didn't know how to fix it.

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Now those tractors are sitting in a village in South America rusting.

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Hundreds of thousands of dollars just sitting there

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because the village didn't have the resources or the knowledge to keep them going.

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Give prayerfully because the answer is not always money, but sometimes it's time.

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Can you give your time?

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Sometimes giving generously is sharing the knowledge that you have.

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Sometimes giving cheerfully is training somebody a skill

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and watching them do it better than you.

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Ask God what the best solution is.

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And finally give wisely.

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Determine that it is your best choice to honor God first.

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There's too many stories.

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Too many stories of people who want to help.

259
00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:16,500
So they give generously.

260
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They give, but the problem is they're throwing money at a bad situation.

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I've seen far too many situations where people are enabled.

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They're enabled to continue to do bad things

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because the giver isn't wise about the situation.

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It does not honor God to give money to a person you know

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who's going to spend it on an addiction.

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It does honor God when he give with the purpose of building his kingdom.

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If you think about the money in your pocket,

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in your bank account, your investment accounts, think about whatever that number is.

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Ballpark it.

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Maybe it's $100.

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If I get everything I have, then I could get my hands on in the next week.

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Maybe it's $100.

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Maybe it's $100 million.

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I have a feeling most of us fall between those two numbers somewhere.

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Here's what I want you to do with that number, whatever it is.

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I want you to ask God to give you wisdom

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on how best to use it to expand his kingdom.

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With the time and the money that you have now,

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how are you using it to invest in the kingdom?

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Or are you using it to invest in your own kingdom?

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The Jews gave the first fruit to the harvest to God

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in anticipation that he was going to bless the rest of the crop.

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Now, I'm sure they had needs, just like you and I do at the first of the month,

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but they trusted that if they honored God at the first of the month,

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he would bless them at the end of the month.

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You cannot give God.

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Finally, let's look at the produce.

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I want you to look at the superlative words in these verses.

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All grace, a bound, all things.

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All things.

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At all times.

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All you need for every good word.

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Do you see all those superlatives in that text?

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It's God repeating Himself.

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He's repeating Himself to impress upon us that we can't outgive Him.

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He doesn't need our gifts. He owns everything.

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He doesn't need it.

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We need to learn to turn loose of those material possessions.

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Learn to obey God.

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And then we'll learn how He can be trusted to bless us abundantly.

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Also, look at the benefits of this passage promises.

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The benefits to you and me will be increased seed and harvest,

303
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increased righteousness, made rich in every way.

304
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We'll promise a generous spirit.

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And look at the benefits to others from our faithful giving.

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They will be blessed by our generosity.

307
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They will praise God and they'll pray for us.

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That's a benefit to us.

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Even God benefits when we give.

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He gets thanksgiving. He gets praise.

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When we give, God's work grows.

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Missionaries like Roman and Emily are supported.

313
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Ministries all over the world are supported.

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And guess what? Jesus gets the credit.

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Not me, not Cornerstone.

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It's a win, win, win situation when God's people support God's work

317
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and say, God's spirit leads us.

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Does anybody have any water?

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Thank you.

320
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Unopened everything. Thank you.

321
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I hate how water tastes. Do you?

322
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Does anybody have any flavor? You do?

323
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Raspberry lemonade.

324
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You guys, you guys do this? I drink more water if it's flavored.

325
00:23:33,500 --> 00:23:36,500
You guys do that?

326
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Y'all are all coffee drinkers.

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That needs its own flavor.

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That's generous of both of you. Thank you.

329
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Much better.

330
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Much better.

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Do you know why they were so quick to jump up when there was a need?

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Because I provided the water and the flavor for it.

333
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All they had to do was sit there and wait for me to make the need known.

334
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That's all they had to do.

335
00:24:23,500 --> 00:24:30,500
They didn't walk in here this morning carrying an extra bottle of water,

336
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carrying a flavor packet, hoping that a need might come up.

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Instead, they understood that what had been given to them

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would be used to fill a need later.

339
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They could have held onto it themselves.

340
00:24:48,500 --> 00:24:50,500
Shauna could have run out here as soon as I gave it to her and said,

341
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peace out, I'm good.

342
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She could have gotten thirsty and drank it herself.

343
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But they didn't.

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Everything you have has been given to you by God.

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And once you understand that, it's easier to be generous.

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That everything you have has been given to you by God.

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Maybe God has given you a skill, a talent.

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Maybe He's given you loads of cash.

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Whatever it is, those things that He has given you

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were never meant to terminate with you.

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You're just the conduit that God funnels His resources through.

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Don't hold onto the water.

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As needs arise, give.

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Trust Him.

355
00:25:56,500 --> 00:25:59,500
According to research,

356
00:25:59,500 --> 00:26:05,500
only 5-10% of churchgoers give to the ministries of their local church.

357
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5-10%.

358
00:26:07,500 --> 00:26:10,500
Now, I don't know if that's the case here.

359
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I have no idea who gives and how much they give.

360
00:26:14,500 --> 00:26:17,500
But I would guess that that could probably be said of us as well.

361
00:26:17,500 --> 00:26:21,500
5-10% of our church gives to the ministries of this church.

362
00:26:21,500 --> 00:26:24,500
Do you know what that tells me?

363
00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:28,500
It tells me that 5-10% of us

364
00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:31,500
are trusting the Lord with our money

365
00:26:31,500 --> 00:26:39,500
and the rest of us have some faith issues.

366
00:26:39,500 --> 00:26:43,500
Do you want to grow in your faith in the Lord?

367
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If you've ever been there, you're like,

368
00:26:45,500 --> 00:26:48,500
Man, I really want to trust the Lord more.

369
00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:51,500
I really want Him to strengthen me.

370
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Trust Him with your money.

371
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Test Him.

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Let me share one more story.

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I was in my mid-30s

374
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and have been involved in church since I was 8 years old.

375
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I must admit to have had my doubts about tithing.

376
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I always felt it was to enrich the pastors.

377
00:27:17,500 --> 00:27:20,500
My life changed when I got married and changed careers.

378
00:27:20,500 --> 00:27:24,500
After years of working in IT, I left my job to start a new venture.

379
00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:27,500
There was no guarantee of income.

380
00:27:27,500 --> 00:27:30,500
Having just bought a new home, I was really scared.

381
00:27:30,500 --> 00:27:33,500
I sold some employee stock and received around $40,000.

382
00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:38,500
Ironically, the stock was worth half this when I handed in my notice.

383
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But miraculously, the company I was leaving became the subject of a takeover

384
00:27:42,500 --> 00:27:45,500
and the stock price went through the roof.

385
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In hindsight, God was getting me ready for my new venture.

386
00:27:49,500 --> 00:27:53,500
I'm not sure why, but due to the unexpected increase in the stock price,

387
00:27:53,500 --> 00:27:59,500
I felt something in me to tithe 10%, which was $4,000 to my local church.

388
00:27:59,500 --> 00:28:02,500
The results during that year were phenomenal.

389
00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:04,500
Sales were popping up everywhere.

390
00:28:04,500 --> 00:28:06,500
Never a week went by without me closing a deal.

391
00:28:06,500 --> 00:28:10,500
I was top salesman in my branch, runner up for Rookie of the Year in my company,

392
00:28:10,500 --> 00:28:13,500
and finished in the top 10 of all salespeople in the company.

393
00:28:13,500 --> 00:28:17,500
I even qualified for an overseas sales convention to Mexico.

394
00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:18,500
I did not correct this.

395
00:28:18,500 --> 00:28:20,500
Overseas is not Mexico.

396
00:28:20,500 --> 00:28:23,500
I'm not going to throw that out there.

397
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You know who you are.

398
00:28:27,500 --> 00:28:32,500
While I was grateful, I did not attribute the success at the time to tithing.

399
00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:36,500
Being young, I somehow felt I was this great salesman.

400
00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:42,500
Invariably, the sales dried up and I subsequently migrated.

401
00:28:42,500 --> 00:28:45,500
It would take me 10 years later to form my own business.

402
00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:51,500
The first year was hard and it seemed like I was working 10 hours a day and reaping nothing.

403
00:28:51,500 --> 00:28:57,500
My relationship with God got back to a great place and God spoke to me about the issue of tithing.

404
00:28:57,500 --> 00:29:02,500
For the first time, I had a full understanding of this divine principle and its effects.

405
00:29:02,500 --> 00:29:06,500
I understood that tithing was really not about our money, but about our hearts.

406
00:29:06,500 --> 00:29:13,500
We can't say we put God first and refuse to tithe the first fruits of our increase.

407
00:29:13,500 --> 00:29:19,500
When Jesus said, seek first the kingdom and all things will be added, I now understand what that means.

408
00:29:19,500 --> 00:29:24,500
Tithing is a great way to demonstrate we are seeking God first.

409
00:29:24,500 --> 00:29:30,500
Invariably, when we do all our needs are met by our Heavenly Father.

410
00:29:30,500 --> 00:29:35,500
I started tithing every penny that came into either my business or personal accounts.

411
00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:36,500
The results have been amazing.

412
00:29:36,500 --> 00:29:43,500
One time I had a choice between tithing $1,200 or missing an important bill that could affect my business significantly.

413
00:29:43,500 --> 00:29:51,500
I put God first and the next day got a letter from my accountant saying that the tax man owed me $14,000.

414
00:29:51,500 --> 00:30:01,500
Trust God with everything and he will be faithful to his promise.

415
00:30:01,500 --> 00:30:09,500
Father, I thank you that you are good. I thank you that you are generous.

416
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I thank you for how you meet our needs.

417
00:30:15,500 --> 00:30:17,500
God, help us be a church that's generous.

418
00:30:17,500 --> 00:30:23,500
Help us be a church that understands that everything that we have is because of you.

419
00:30:23,500 --> 00:30:25,500
You've given us the skills to work.

420
00:30:25,500 --> 00:30:30,500
You've given us the ethic. You've given us the ability.

421
00:30:30,500 --> 00:30:36,500
And so God, I pray for our church.

422
00:30:36,500 --> 00:30:44,500
I don't pray that you will increase our budget.

423
00:30:44,500 --> 00:30:58,500
I pray Father that we will be a people that holds our hands open, ready to give as you lead.

424
00:30:58,500 --> 00:31:04,500
And so Father, I pray you work on our hearts, all of our hearts.

425
00:31:04,500 --> 00:31:11,500
You've been so generous to us.

426
00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:17,500
And so God, I pray that you'll help us be examples of faithfulness and trust.

427
00:31:17,500 --> 00:31:26,500
I pray for many more stories like this one to come out of how you've proved yourself over and over and over again.

428
00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:30,500
And how faithful you are.

429
00:31:30,500 --> 00:31:32,500
And so God, we give you this time.

430
00:31:32,500 --> 00:31:57,500
Moving our hearts, speak to us. Your name you pray. Amen.