How do we access the unlimited resources of heaven? In the second message of a three-part series on the kingdom of abundance, Pastor Bill exhorts us about the power of the tithe, and how we must worship Jesus by allowing Him to be Lord over our finances and give Him your tithe. Laying a clear theological foundation from Abraham through the New Testament, Bill encourages us how to abound in every good work that God has for us. This message will transform how you understand the power to steward your finances well and walk in abundance and prosperity – spirit, soul and body! How do we access the unlimited resources of heaven? In the second message of a three-part series on the kingdom of abundance, Pastor Bill exhorts us about the power of the tithe, and how we must worship Jesus by allowing Him to be Lord over our finances and give Him your tithe. Laying a clear theological foundation from Abraham through the New Testament, Bill encourages us how to abound in every good work that God has for us. This message will transform how you understand the power to steward your finances well and walk in abundance and prosperity – spirit, soul and body!

well good morning nice to see you

always good to see you

i haven’t read this one for a little

while so i thought i’d

bless you with it today you can thank me

later

as a bagpiper i play many gigs

recently i was asked by funeral director

to play the graveside service

for a homeless man he had no family or

friends so the service

was to be at a pauper cemetery in the

kentucky back country

as i was not familiar with the backwoods

i got lost

being a typical man i didn’t stop and

ask for directions

i finally arrived an hour late saw the

funeral guy had evidently gone

the hearse was nowhere in sight there

were only the diggers and the crew left

and they were eating lunch

i felt badly and apologized to the men

for being late

i went to the grave side of the grave

looked down the vault lid was already in

place

i didn’t know what else to do so i

started to play

the workers put down their lunches began

to gather around

i played out my heart and soul for this

man with no family or friends

i played like i had never played before

for this homeless man

as i played amazing grace the workers

began to weep

they wept i wept we all wept together

when i finished i packed up my bagpipes

started for my car

though my head hung low my heart was

full

as i was opening the door to my car i

heard one of the workers

say sweet mother of jesus i ain’t never

seen nothing like that before

and i’ve been putting in septic tanks

for 20 years

[Applause]

that’s that is funny

uh before we uh get into the word i

wanna

excuse me i wanna pray for one one group

of people we’re dealing with abundance

dealing with prosperity of soul dealing

with that just

aspect that part of life and uh there’s

a number of folks in the room that just

really struggle with the fear of man

and uh all of us have dealt with that

one time or another so it’s

we could easily pray for each other on

this one but i what i felt this morning

but was that the the enemy has spotted

a gift of compassion an ability to be

moved by the thoughts feelings needs of

people around you

but he has worked to distort that gift

to where you actually fear people

instead of able to respond to them and

serve them i feel like

for example peter is he got this great

boldness but outside of the lordship of

jesus

he just put his foot in his mouth time

after time after time

you find a person who’s very sensitive

to the holy spirit very sensitive quiet

spirit

that person led by the lord speaks at

the right time very profound things

but not under the lordship of jesus they

become very introverted introspective

and self-absorbed i feel like for many

people in this room

you’ve got a god-given gift to excel in

compassion

but the enemy has persuaded you to fear

people’s

opinions rather than to serve them

according to what you discern what you

feel does that make any sense to anyone

so if that fits you put a hand up

because we’re going to pray for you

right now you don’t have to stance put

your hand up

all right if you’re close to someone

that has their hand up pray for him

because this is the day

i don’t think the lord would highlight

it if he didn’t plan

on really freeing each individual

uh that struggles with this area so put

your hand on somebody if

there’s a bunch of you together lay

hands on one another i guess but let’s

uh

yeah don’t let anybody be skipped just

pray for them we just say

lord that you that the lordship of jesus

would be seen

over their thoughts their emotions and

that they would be

used by the lord to display compassion

to be able to bring people into health

into deliverance that no trick of the

enemy no

tactic of the enemy would work from this

point on but instead they’d be

freed to excel in compassion

and to bring deliverance and healing to

people we declare that

liberty over your life we declare you

were born for this freedom

you were born for this liberty it is

god’s design for you and from this point

on

you’ll be aware of the trick of the

enemy

so you’ll be able to expose his tactics

and instead

moving compassion towards these people

you would have withdrawn from

we declare that the heart of the lord

and the gift that god has given you we

declare it in jesus name

everybody said amen amen all right

beautiful

you did good all right open your bibles

if you would please to luke chapter 16

and i’ve got two verses to read before

we actually get into luke 16.

i’m talk i’m talking to you i’m taking

three weeks to talk to you

about the kingdom of abundance

and um

for several years now i’ve had such an

increasing

burning desire not just desire a burden

an awareness of the heart of god

regarding something

that i think for the most part the

church

has missed for various reasons

the subject of money when it’s talked

about in the church

receives all kinds of different

reactions oftentimes

because of past abuses abuses of people

who have

maybe on one hand they have taught that

uh

you know god wants everybody to be rich

and your spirituality is measured by

your income

or by how many possessions you have i

don’t know anything it could be further

from the truth than that

except the opposite which is also taught

by much of the church that

lack and poverty is actually a sign of

spirituality

neither are true i’d like for us to find

the heart of the lord

he tells us to pray on earth as it is in

heaven heaven

is not a place of lack heaven is not a

place of worry wringing our hands

to figure out what where where the next

meal is going to come from

it’s just simply not the lord the father

if if my children

are poorly clothed my wife is poorly

clothed they haven’t eaten in a long

time and i’m feasting and i’m nicely

dressed

then you have reason to question what

kind of husband i am what kind of a

father

and oftentimes we actually represent the

lord

through our lack thinking that that’s

god’s will when in fact his desire

is for us to abound and so that’s what

i’m doing this series for we did last

week

i’m going to talk to you about another

aspect of that uh this morning

but i want to read the theme verse for

this

this series and it’s out of second

corinthians 9

verse 8 god is able to make all grace

abound towards you that you always

having

all sufficiency in all things may have

an abundance for every good work

i love that verse so much i love the

thought of having an abundance for every

good work

many of you were able to respond last

week to

the need of our missionaries from our

own house set to

very dangerous place in the world not

able to mention their location but their

vehicles blown up

and everybody’s safe we’re thankful for

that but you responded

with radical generosity they’re able to

buy a much much better vehicle than they

ever thought were put was possible

and it’s because of the abounding unto

every good work

and i i personally i love the stories of

you know the missionary family or the

young couple that

prays over a meal when they have no food

in the house and they ask the lord to

provide and

and they sit at the table with the

plates in front of them and uh soon

there’s a knock on the door and there’s

somebody at the door

that’s brought groceries because they’ve

been led by the lord to supply them with

food

and i love that story and i’ve been on

the receiving end

of that kind of story but i’m tired of

being on the receiving end i want to be

the guy knocking on the door

i want to be abounding into all good

words works that’s

where we thrive we were we have been

assigned and designed

to thrive in the abundance of god’s good

work

to touch and impact people’s lives so

here it is again god

is able to make all grace abound to you

that you always having all sufficiency

in

all things may have an abundance for

every good work

verse 10 says this now may he who supply

seed

to the sower and bread for food supply

and multiply the seed you have sown

and increase the fruits of your

righteousness

one more thing that we’ll probably deal

with next week

is the concept of bread and seed

the lord provides bread to be consumed

he provides seed to be sown or to be

planted

and the church typically has done well i

have typically done well

in both modeling and teaching on

generosity

but not always teaching what it looks

like to be a good steward of bread

if you plant bread it doesn’t grow

it’s foolish to plant your bread it’s

equally foolish to eat your seed

discerning when the lord has given you

something that is going to

increase your future harvest that is

seed

but bread is for personal consumption to

the glory of god

if i buy a gift for my wife i buy her

a nice beautiful purse and she takes it

as we go out to dinner

i’m i’m gratified that she would want to

carry that purse that i spent our money

on

to honor her with and that she thinks

it’s beautiful and that’s what i do i

look for beautiful things

for her if i give a special gift to my

children i’m always honored and

gratified

when they use when they recognize that’s

bread not seed

and i’m encouraged when they use

something that i

sacrifice for that they could enjoy our

heavenly father is the same way

he delights in abundance for you

he delights in abundance and he provides

bread for consumption it is not

selfish to consume what god has given

you

it’s selfish to eat your seed

and it’s also pretty dumb

so we’ll deal with that probably a bit

more next week

but one more verse that i want to read

to you uh today

is i’m just going to read to you out of

matthew chapter 22.

if you’re writing references down some

pharisees came to jesus and they it’s

kind of funny

they came to him with all these words of

praise but they were setting him up

they were setting him up with a tricky

question and they were trying to deceive

him

so they they came to him and they said

teacher we know that you are true

you teach the way of god in truth nor do

you care about

anyone for you do not regard the person

of men in other words

you’re not manipulated by the fear of

man which was absolutely true

tell us therefore what do you think is

it lawful to pay taxes to caesar or not

they thought this would be a hard

question for jesus but jesus perceived

their wickedness

and said why do you test me you

hypocrites

i love how tender jesus is in these

moments

in your face says it like he thinks

why do you test me you hypocrites show

me the tax money so they brought him a

denarius

and he said to them whose image and his

inscription is this

and they sent him caesars and he said

render

the word there is actually pay pay

therefore to caesar

the things that are caesar’s and to god

the things that are god’s pay

to caesar what’s his pay to god what

belongs to him

this first of all

legitimizes the concept of tax and

paying taxes

you should be thankful when you have to

pay more taxes

because it means you meant you made more

money

you could look at either reality and

if you don’t like the way the money is

spent and believe me i get that that’s

not always spent well it’s not always

spent wisely

go to a third world country and it’ll

help to heal that part of your heart

just go somewhere where it’s a mess and

you’ll come back rejoicing at how

together

uh this one is honestly taxes are

something we should give thanks we ever

have the privilege to pay

if you complain it’s because you have a

poverty spirit

you have a self-absorbed see poverty

spirit itself is self-absorbed

it only measures what i pay doesn’t

measure what i make

what i want is i want the abundance for

every good work

but the abundance for every good work is

released to a people that knows how to

steward

promotion favor resource

knows when it’s bred and knows when it’s

seen and is willing to do both for the

glory of god

the issue at hand when we talk about

dollars and cents

is the lordship of jesus that is the

issue

so jesus here says what’s who’s on the

coin they said caesar he says well then

give to caesar it belongs to him

and then he said but give to god what

belongs to him the word is actually paid

pay god what belongs to him in the

culture jesus is ministering in it’s the

jewish culture

there’s only one part of their income

that is not theirs

and it’s called the tithe the paying of

the tithe

everything else belonged to them now i

know you could say well

everything we own belongs to god that’s

true but in this

illustration that would have made it

possible to not give caes what belongs

to him

because it belongs to god in this case

the lord is trying to teach the

difference between bread

and seed and he specifically says

pay to god what belongs to god

the misconception that has really cycled

through the church in the last 20 years

especially

is the thought that the tithe is from

the law and it actually

isn’t the tithe isn’t from the law and

you hear people say well we’re free from

the law that’s true you’re free from the

law

the mosaic law of sacrifices

rituals of cleansing those kinds of

practices that made you righteous before

the lord

jesus fulfilled the demand of all of

those

but that is not the law we are talking

about how many you know

the law of sowing and reaping is still

in effect

in the grace of god if you show mercy

what do you receive

you receive mercy jesus is actually

teaching his disciples

that much of what they want from the

father

they have to initiate through radical

obedience

blessed are the merciful for they shall

receive mercy

who gave it first in that illustration

a person gave it i realize we are alive

because of the mercy of god

but the illustration jesus is giving is

a person

extended mercy because of that they will

receive it

and much of our life is actually linked

to this concept

of sowing and reaping so in this passage

he says pay to god

what belongs to god in the jewish

culture in their thinking that was the

10

of their income my grandfather was

my my mom’s dad was fun to eat with if

we

ever went to a restaurant he liked salt

i do too i like coffee i like salt

chris and i have to sit next to each

other in any restaurant because we both

use it so

my grandfather he would get the salt

shaker in the restaurant he’d pour it

over put it

pour it he’d shake it over he would pour

but he would shake it over his food

and if it i remember sitting there one

day he shook and he shook and he shook

and he says ah it’s a tither

and he put it down and i did i didn’t

know what he what he meant i said what

do you mean grandpa tither he says ah it

only gives what it has to

we were raised in an atmosphere where

10 percent of my income is not giving

it’s a payment

dick joyce would taught us years ago he

said your tithe

is your rent payment for living on his

planet breathing his hair

and you don’t want to be evicted right

i’m trying to keep this humorous not

legalistic but

listen carefully stewarding this part of

our life

is huge because it has everything in the

world to do with the lordship of jesus

it is giving to him what actually

belongs to him and that hasn’t even

started generosity yet

it’s just called returning what belongs

to him generosity starts after that

point

luke chapter 16. are you there

good me too luke 16

i want you to go right down to verse

10. jesus has already been dealing with

the subject of

money mammon in verse 10 he says he was

faithful

in what is least is faithful also and

much

he who is unjust in what is least is

unjust also in much

therefore if you have not been faithful

in the

unrighteous mammon who will commit to

your trust the true riches now stop

right there for a moment

mammon is a syrian term for the god of

riches

so when he’s talking about mammon or the

spirit of mammon he’s talking about

a spiritual entity that influences

the economies of the world

he’s dealing with it as a personality

not just the dollars in your park

pocket i mean you understand there’s no

it’s neither

evil or righteous the dollars you have

in your pocket

what i do with it determines whether or

not i mean whether i give it to a

missionary

or i buy lunch for my wife it’s

righteously used

unrighteous man who will entrust uh true

riches verse 12

if you’ve not been faithful in what is

another man’s

who will give you what is your own

now we’re going to read one more verse

but let me stop on this one

if i’m not faithful with what is another

man’s

what is that in my in my world

it’s the tithe i’ve been given something

it’s in my stewardship now i have the

privilege to demonstrate who my lord is

and in lordship i return

to him what belongs to him why does he

want that to happen

because he wants me to have my own

he’s actually interested in increasing

what

the abundance unto every good work in my

life he’s

he’s desiring to increase my capacity to

make a difference with resources

verse 13

no servant can serve two masters either

he will hate the one

and love the other or he will be loyal

to the one and despise the other the

word loyal

actually means to hold to so let me

illustrate this

now don’t don’t get weird on me here but

this is going to represent mammon all

right

and this is going to represent god

it’s not god it’s just an apple product

but it’s the closest i could get

all right that’s so pitiful isn’t it but

anyway here we go

what does he say he says either you will

love the one

love the one and hate the other

or you hold

to the one and despise

whenever money is talked about in the

church

see once the issue is settled every

conversation

about finances and is an invitation for

breakthrough and increase

but until the issue is settled it’s a

point of aggravation it’s a point of

of frustration it’s a point of i wish i

wasn’t here today kind of thing

and what the lord does in these moments

is he reveals to us

all right you you’re servant you’re

serving mammon you didn’t even know it

how can we tell because of what you’re

holding on to

the way serving mammon is evidenced

is in holding onto and despising

what about serving god instead of mammon

it’s illustrated by our love for god

listen to this and our hatred for that

which would defile

my complete absolute devotion to the

lord jesus christ

hatred sometimes our love for god is

measured by what we hate not people

don’t get weird on me here but it’s

measured by hating what he hates he

hates

that demonic spirit that entangles

scripture teaches us that those with

anxiety

and the shifting in values over

spiritual

resources and blessing to natural

resources to where they become

greedy they actually kill the seed of

the lord that is planted in their heart

to bring an eternal harvest the whole

story of the seed in the sower

part of what brought great damage to the

heart of the believer

was the fact that there were there was

so much

shifting in their focus about material

wealth and

possessions i you know i want everybody

in this

church to own their own home i want you

to have

a dream car to drive i mean i i really

do

my greatest ambition is for the

breakthrough in the miraculous

the breakthrough and the in the harvest

of souls but when it can be displayed by

bounty and your business and bounty in

your home man i’m all over it i want

everyone to have their own home paid for

not just making payments every every

month i hunger that i desire for that

why

because it frees us up to have an

abundance for every good work

so here he says if you’ve not been

faithful in an unrighteous man and who

will

commit to your trust true riches i

remember as a

as a younger pastor i always thought i

don’t know why but i always thought

if i handled unrighteous man

and well he’ll entrust me true riches

for some reason i thought was just more

unrighteous mammon it’s not

true riches is is why we’re here it’s

why we’re a family

we it’s why we do what we do we are

looking for the greater breakthroughs

the greater

demonstrations of the love of god the

power of god the deliverance the healing

the salvation all the stuff

that we have that we ate ache for in our

hearts

that’s the true riches it would be

foolish to think

that i can buy those things with

generosity it’s also foolish to think

i can explore all the realms of true

riches without faithfulness here

jesus himself links the breakthrough i

think i gave you the illustration last

week

natural riches i can buy you all a steak

dinner with true riches we can just buy

one and multiply it

all right this is not mammon any longer

this is now my water

the thought that

the tithe comes from the law

is is a deep misunderstanding because

its roots are in the old testament but

the one who actually established the

concept

of the tithe was abraham

abraham is very significant for us

because he is called the father of faith

the father of our faith

he is the one that god gave a promise to

and it says and he believed god

and god considered him righteous because

of that belief

number of years ago john paul jackson

came to uh

speak here he’s at home with the lord

now but uh when he came he

he brought such great he always brought

a great word to us and he helped me

personally with a dream that i had had

that really troubled me and he really i

feel like i owe him a million bucks

because of the interpretation he gave me

and finally realized that’s a you know

it was a mysterious dream

and he just settled brought a lot of

peace and focus in my heart because of

that interpretation

one of the things that john paul said

when he was here is he said romans

chapter 4 is going to be key

for this next outpouring of the spirit

for this next wave of revival

and so i committed myself to reading

romans 4 every day and i read it every

day

for three years except for five days

because of international flights

i would read it day after dan and

becoming increasingly impacted by

this man abraham and his courageous

faith his bold faith

and one of the things that i noticed in

scripture is the bible tells us to

study to learn and to follow to embrace

the ways of abraham abraham is called

the father of faith

we are alive because of faith we have

been born again because of

the gift the faith that god gave to us

where did that come from

well in testimony it came from abraham

and it was abraham who after

a particular incident has great

resources

and he took a tenth of it and gave it as

a tithe

to bring honor to to uh to the man of

god

the point that i’m trying to make is the

whole idea of the tithe actually started

with

abraham did not start with moses and the

law which i think was like 400 years

later

so here you have abraham doing something

before the mosaic law

the mosaic law was not the the

seed bed if you will of the concept of

the tithe the mosaic law had all kinds

of rituals and

cleansing and washings and animal

sacrifices and all these things that

were to be done

to somehow obtain righteousness before

god and nobody could ever do it jesus

came and fulfilled that demand

but how many understand when the bible

says do not murder you still don’t

murder

now that you’re under grace now

maybe i should repeat this just in case

some of you are struggling with that

command

being freed from the law doesn’t mean

you can now murder

yeah being free from the law doesn’t

mean now adultery is okay

it says to love god with all your heart

soul mind and strength

everything about you still love god to

love your neighbor as yourself jesus

says

but he goes on and he says you’ve been

told

that you’re to not commit murder but i

say to you if you call your

a person a name you’re guilty

and so i i realized reading that you

know i

i’ve been able to go my entire life

without killing anyone

and it’s not even been tempting except a

few times on the highway

that’s a joke don’t don’t quote me

i’ve i’ve been able to go my entire life

without killing anyone i’ve done quite

well at it i’m not even

aimed at anyone a gun or anything i i i

got that part down

don’t kill but i have called a few

people

names idiot is the name that comes to

mind

the soonest

no one in here you’re all safe it was it

was the guy in the car but i will just

leave that

leave that alone so jesus says you

you heard you can’t commit murder i’m

saying you can’t call people names if

you do you’re guilty

so which which is easier to do the law

or grace

it’s a trick question what’s the

difference between law and grace

law requires grace enables

when when jesus says you shall not

commit murder

you are required when the law says

you’re to live this way you’re to do

such and such

there’s a requirement put upon humanity

but when jesus

in grace says you’re not even to call

someone a name

you’re not even to look on a woman to

lust after when he

ups the ante when he increases the

requirement

far past the the commands of the law

he’s doing so because the holy spirit is

given to you

enabling you to do exactly what jesus

would do

if he were in your shoes law requires

grace enables

the whole concept of grace responding to

the directive of the lord

is the fact that the holy spirit enables

us to do what only jesus can do

back to the subject of money the concept

of the tithe

was born in the heart of abraham our

father of faith

was ratified by the law

jesus comes along and in matthew 23

verse 23

we find jesus correcting the pharisees

again which

he seemed to have a full-time job

doing just that and what they were doing

is they were growing herbs

and they would have dill and come in

these various things and they would

chop up their herbs you know like into

ten pieces and they would take

one tenth and they would give that herb

as their tithe and jesus points to what

they’re doing he says this you should

have done in other words the tithe is

right

but you’ve done so at the expense of the

way to your provisions of the law what

is he saying

he’s saying obeying here

doesn’t excuse all the wrong stuff

you’re doing

in other words just because just because

you did this right

you tithed on your deal

[Laughter]

you don’t get a pass on your judgment

that you’ve made towards other people

you don’t get a pass there

the way to your provisions of the law

are relational in nature

it’s the way we treat this the way we

give honors the way we value and respect

people

jesus went on and brought correction to

them about

their their unwillingness to even care

for take care of their own parents

because they had dedicated their

resources to god

under the guise of dedication to god and

they wouldn’t even move with compassion

to take care of their own family members

so he’s rebuking them for neglecting the

weightier provisions

that god had required of the life but

instead they were giving

a tenth of their dill

what did jesus do he said this you

should have done so we’ve got abraham

we’ve got the law we’ve got jesus we

have the early church fathers

the early church fathers those who were

alive during jesus time

and those who followed in the first 150

years

they were strong proponents of the

concept of the tithe

and moving beyond that into offerings

i remember judson cornwall who was a

great inspiration to me

he would he would uh have meetings with

his uh the business people in his church

it was just kind of a

it was a common uh

it wasn’t a requirement but there was

just this there was this understanding

with these

this group of business people that they

they

started as a minimum 20 of their income

that they would give to the lord

now i never say anything of this nature

to imprison anyone

all i want to do is say number one give

him what belongs to him period

for your sake if you don’t belong to

this church whatever church you belong

to

if you uh you know you don’t

it goes into the storehouse um

malachi 3 says test me in this

and see if i won’t open for you the

windows of heaven how many of you have

been praying for open heavens

sometimes money opens the window

wow it’s what he said

it’s actually what he said

he says will a man rob god yet you’ve

robbed me but you say in what way have

we robbed you

in tithes and offerings he says you are

cursed with a curse you’ve robbed me

even this whole nation

bring the whole tithe into the

storehouse that there may be food in my

house

what is that food is it in the pantry or

is the spirit of revelation that rests

upon the church

i don’t know of any church in the

country where there’s continuous flow of

the spirit of revelation where there’s

increased understanding that is not

generous financially

generosity in the natural releases a

spiritual blessing

that is just unparalleled

it’s a smile now and then it’ll

encourage me

that there may be food in my house try

me now on this says the lord if i will

not open for you the windows of heaven

pour out a blessing until there’s no

more need there’s this interesting thing

that took place

in israel’s history israel was required

of the lord to

rest the land every seven years

so they’d grow crops for six years they

wouldn’t plant any of the seventh year

they would just glean off of what grew

naturally out of that seventh year

israel didn’t do it

for 490 years that’s just

somewhat of a delayed obedience there

to put off the yes to god for 490 years

what is one seventh

of 490

70. how long was israel

in exile 70 years

you never keep what you withhold

and we never keep it you know you can

fight for it you can grasp it you can do

whatever you want i’m going to

control this i’m going to discipline

that we never keep what we withhold

so israel ends up with 70 years in exile

i don’t believe it’s the punishment of

the lord i just think there’s this

this thing that we don’t always get that

when we when we

obey the laws of the kingdom there’s

this thing that just works for us that

doesn’t work otherwise

and when we violate the laws of that

kingdom you can’t get the blessing of

one government

by obeying the laws of another we all

love the idea of the promised land

we love the idea of the promises of god

coming to fruition in our life we love

the ideas of

of living with more than enough so that

we can abound into every good work

but those realities are never tapped

into

by following the laws of the principles

of an inferior kingdom

and so the lord is actually inviting us

into a journey with him

the journey is demonstrate lordship by

returning

what belongs to him and you know i

i say this not in in harshness or

rudeness it’s just

you know if you don’t trust the house

you’re in to do that then find a place

where you trust

because you need to be able to put that

into the storehouse

so that there will be food so that you

your family your descendants will be

powerfully fed of the lord

in in what’s happening in that local

church but the tithe is something that

belongs to god

i’ve encouraged people i’ve challenged

people for years i’ve watched as people

brand new believers will just take that

huge huge step of faith

and take that part of their income and

the lord will time after time after time

bring great return and great blessing

what i’ve noticed is that the older

saint that does it

they don’t always get as quick a

breakthrough

what i’ve noticed is the older saint

that’s been doing it for a long time

doesn’t always get

the quickest breakthrough why because we

are required to live

off of the testimonies of the early days

to keep ourselves encouraged that he has

not changed

faithful and little faithful in much

anytime you have a delayed answer it’s

never punishment

it’s always because he’s building

something in you that will pay off later

delayed answers faith brings answers

delayed answers bring

answers with endurance

character is formed in the delay and the

lord is building

in us the capacity for the long haul

he’s actually raising up world changes

people who know how

to affect the course of history with

their lifestyles

most believers that i know are praying

for just that daily provision so that we

can

help to meet pay the electric bill pay

the car payment do

this and that and those things are fine

i never fault anyone for that kind of

approach but i feel like i feel like

we’re supposed to actually

see what the lord would be willing to do

in our lifetime

and here’s i don’t know if this will

make sense i tried it last service

didn’t go over very well so i’m going to

try it again

one of the things that has been a very

strong lesson for me personally

has been the realization that all of us

have a limited number of days would you

agree with that

the bible fact the bible says display

your heart of wisdom by numbering your

days

demonstrate that you have wisdom by

realizing you’re not on this planet

forever

so live with that kind of wisdom limited

number of days number one number two

we all have a limited amount of strength

if if you don’t believe that just try to

stay up for seven nights in a row and

see how good you work the quality of

your work is in seven days

i mean we just can’t do it we can’t pull

it off and yet ministry after ministry

experiences ex

crazy burnout because of the

unwillingness to take time off because

it will cost too much

if i take time off it’ll cost the

ministry too much and so there’s

person after person that experiences

burnout the church celebrates the pastor

who works seven days a week

never takes a vacation because he loves

us so much yeah you’ve just lit his fuse

he’s offering to the lord a blood

sacrifice that is unacceptable

it’s an unacceptable sacrifice god

himself rested the seventh day

god himself and to violate that i don’t

care

how sincere you are you drink poison you

die

even if you’re sincere you can’t violate

the design of the lord

and the lord designed us for rest and

for work we were designed that way so

here’s this concept

limited number of days limited

strength but we have access to unlimited

resources

would you agree

it wasn’t and as much as i was hoping

for but i’ll work with it it’s all right

limited amount of days yes

this is not i don’t have a trick

question for you i know you don’t trust

me right now

limited amount of days yes limited

amount of strength

yes access to unlimited resources

yes every minister i know of spends

what’s limited

to say what’s unlimited

pushing the edge of burnout exhaustion

because we’ve got to save the dollars i

believe in wisdom and saving i’m just

saying

heaven looks at it differently the world

around you will applaud the person who

burns out you know

dies at 35 because they just they

burned up with exhaustion because of

their love for the harvest

well that’s awesome but think of how

many more i could have won if you would

have just taken a day off

lasted another 35 years i don’t say that

in any way to point fingers are to bring

condemnation i’m just saying

heaven has a different perspective when

we pray

on earth as it is in heaven we are not

praying for an environment of survival

we are not praying for an environment of

survival we are

saying god change the way i think the

way i do

life so where you could trust me with an

abundance for every good work

i want to shape the course of history i

want to see

specific i want to see people in this

house

in this family own a house outright

that’s what i want to see

i want to see every person a part of the

house is my personal

cry of mine to see every person not only

own a home but own it outright

not as giving permission to live uh you

know in a in a self-centered way but i

just mean

what could happen if just the money that

is spent on

interest every year just interest money

put back into the kingdom

what what happened just the interest let

alone

the rest we have the capacity to shape

the course of history

through radical generosity through

radical lifestyle

of sacrifice of learning how to delight

in the provision of the lord

without having to apologize yes i that

is a nice horse

you know i know i don’t deserve it but

it’s just the grace of god without

having to jump through those hoops

apologizing

for blessing being able to use what he

has blessed you with

as a testimony of what kind of father he

is

why because this it’s the nature of our

god as

father that is in psalm 67

is actually to woo the nations to

himself

it’s his demonstration as a father

displaying his kindness his privilege on

your life on my life

that is to woo literally the nations of

the world

to him

it’s tough to see that wooing if we

don’t pay our bills

it’s tough to see that wooing if we live

just in mere survival and it doesn’t

matter to me

what your assignment is in life whatever

you know i mentioned it again last week

what does blessing and abundance look

like for joseph in prison

he just becomes in charge of the other

prisoners

it’s not the mansion on the hill it’s

the place of favor

for being in his lane to have righteous

influence on those under his charge it’s

realizing the role that we have in life

and it may change in a year it may

change

in 10 years but where are we now when

i’m in this neighborhood i don’t like to

be in well guess what

you get to bring righteous influence

into that neighborhood because that’s

the lane you’re in right now

what does bounty what does abundance

look like it means that you get a

breakthrough and you start

sharing with your neighbor you’re able

to pray with them for their own personal

breakthrough

that your own family is healthy and and

theirs isn’t and you give the chance to

serve and to

love on them and get give an impartation

of what family life healthy

relationship looks like this is the

privilege of the abundant lifestyle

see the the poverty mind is

is self-absorbed

and it is witnessed when we come

together

give me a little grace here is witnessed

by the fact that when we come together

often times most people come in for what

they can get

and haven’t yet ministered to one person

while coming and yet the scripture says

when you come together let each one have

a psalm

let each one have him let each one have

something to deposit

in another person’s life the whole issue

of

poverty is not dollars

one one final comment here

in the old testament

the blessing of god was seen almost

entirely in material wealth and blessing

just go in your concordance or if you

have a ipad or computer program with

just put in the word riches just put in

the word uh

wealth or any of these kinds of terms

and look it’s abraham

it’s david it’s solomon hezekiah just

looking at a verse this morning hezekiah

abounded in extreme wealth

what’s the point in the old testament it

was

external blessing that god gave

to change their heart

it was external to change this

in the new testament it is internal

prosperity that’s to change the external

the kingdom is within you

above all else 3rd john 2

let let your health let you prosper in

all things and be in good health

even as your soul prospers this is what

tastes the bounty of the lord

i’ve been forgiven i have been set free

i am free to be a servant i have

resources that are unlimited

i can serve and love everybody around me

something’s happening in here

where i realize that god has given me

extreme abundance

and what happens that begins to shape

health that begins to shape my

finances it begins to shape everything

around me old testament

outside in new testament inside out

i have to have it here that means that

means that

that it just means that we talk

differently to the neighbor it means

that

as we get help at the store and they

tell us where in the store to find the

product that we need

the way we treat that person it’s the

it’s the cashier it’s the

waitress at the restaurant it’s all

these things it’s just our interactions

with people

i can tell those who have poverty of

soul because everything is aimed towards

them

but when you experience the blessing

of holy spirit inspired royalty

then you know you have limited time

limited strength unlimited resources i’m

going to use my access to the unlimited

whether it’s dollars or kind words to

make somebody else’s life better

go ahead and listen

[Applause]

i felt earlier this morning in uh

just looking forward to today

that i was to pray something of you i

don’t remember ever praying before in my

life

i don’t like talking about my personal

finances are giving that sort of thing i

i stay away from i did it one time

only only after kind of a weird week

newspaper article so i i i said well

just just in case there’s young

believers here that could be affected

wrongly

and i i went into specifics but i never

let beth immediately reproduce it i just

did it in-house i love the thought of

giving i love the lifestyle of giving

benny and i’ve never given as low as 20

of our income we we learned early on and

we love to push the boundaries we love

to see what god will do

if i can just wreck i’ve planted i’ve

planted bread before and it was

depressing because it just didn’t grow

a thing this just got old and moldy

oldy moldy but i also know what it is to

hold on to things loosely and

there’s a grace on my life for for for

generosity there is

i know it’s true i know it’s i know it’s

true

i just i hold on to things loosely i

mean i want to be responsible but i

you know i i just i can give anything

and i feel like there’s a gift of

generosity that the lord would give

and i don’t know if you want it but

you’re going to get it

so i’m not going to have you raise your

hands because

some of you have raised just because

your neighbor did and the lord knows

better so

i’m touring with you now i want to just

pray for you and i feel like there’s

this

gift this grace for generosity that the

lord would release

father first we recognize you’re the

extreme one you’re the generous one

jesus you gave all you withheld nothing

and so we acknowledge that and we give

honor to you and praise to you

and i ask right now that you would

impart a grace a gift

to as many who are even slight slightly

open

release a gift of generosity

and help us to break into something for

this city

that would cause the city to rise to its

geneva status of excellence

of increase of bounty to be a blessing

to the state of california to this

nation

i pray this and honor the name jesus

amen

i want to have the ministry team come on

down quickly if you could all hold your

places

uh for for just a moment here anyone

else

i know chris brought a led a bunch of

people to christ earlier today

but if there’s anyone that missed that

one i want to make sure that you

understand there’s a freedom banner over

here

i encourage you to come down tom just

explain so good

we give pastor bill a big hand that was

awesome

thank you

so good so good come on

thank you jesus we just say yes god we

want more of that amen

all right if you need healing in your

body for anything at all if you need

healing from poverty spirit how many

guys need to just

break up with a poverty spirit today

yeah just say

we just repent we break up with a

poverty spirit

and we just receive holy spirit inspired

royalty amen

so bless you guys if you need a miracle

in your body in any way or your marriage

or your soul in any way

come on forward let somebody pray for

you here every week miracles happen up

here and it’s just powerful so

bless you guys have a great day we’ll

see you tonight