Why Conditional Living Will Never Satisfy You

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

Pray together.

Lord, what we mean with that, with that last line of that great hymn of the faith is that regardless of how good it is, we're never gonna outgrow you.

Still be our vision, O ruler of all.

Regardless of how hard it is or how easy it is, we don't want to get away from you.

We don't want to get to where we like, I got it, I got it.

We're like a kid with training wheels.

We take the training wheels off and they just ride off down the block.

We don't want to get that far from you.

We want to live in intimate proximity of you.

We want to celebrate you and enjoy you.

And so, Holy Spirit, would you illuminate the scriptures this morning and increase our capacity to enjoy you and to chuckle at your nature and your goodness?

Just to be kind of look at each other and be like, can you believe this?

This is so stinking good.

That God, only you can do that.

We've not assembled to hear the ideas of a man.

We've assembled to better understand the revelation of God as recorded in your word.

And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture and lead us into the truth today because we want to be set free by that.

This is our prayer.

We're praying in Jesus' name when everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a C.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Malachi chapter three.

Malachi chapter three.

And if you're our guest, we're preaching the book of the Bible, the book of Malachi.

It's a short book.

It's only got four chapters.

Um, and and and and and and we're up to chapter three, and I'm gonna read verses six to twelve.

Verses six to twelve.

Malachi chapter three, verses six to twelve.

I want to talk to you this morning about this why conditional living will never satisfy you.

Why conditional living will never satisfy you?

Now, let me just let me acknowledge the obvious, because when I just said that, some of you are like, Well, what?

Uh that will make sense as we get into the text.

Now, Malachi chapter 3, verses 6 to 12.

Malachi 3:6–12

This is the part of the Bible that it says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.

Let me just ask a question.

How many of you have ever heard a sermon preached from this passage of the scripture?

Say amen.

And for most of you that heard a sermon preached about this, was the sermon about tithing?

Say amen.

Relax.

It's not y'all like, oh great, we'll take our whooping.

I'm not talking about that today.

Because here, let me just say this and I'll demonstrate the layer later.

When you take certain things, certain behaviors out of the context in which they belong, and you elevate them to a certain status, then you've become transactional and not relational.

And preachers are the worst people to do this.

We take something right here in this section and we elevate it over here, take it totally out of its context, elevate it over here, and we use it as a weapon or a club to beat people into submission and guilt and say, shouldn't you be doing this?

And I just want you to see that God's not that way.

He's not transactional, he's relational, he's not conditional, he's covenantal.

And so when I say why conditional living will never satisfy you, I want to plow some ground this morning and let that seed take root in you.

So let me just start reading Malachi chapter 3, verse 6.

Malachi 3:6

This is what the Bible says.

For I the Lord do not change.

Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.

Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

But you say, How shall we return?

Will man rob God?

Yet you are robbing me.

But you say, How have we robbed you?

In your tithes and contributions, you are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need.

I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that I will it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.

Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

There's three things I want you to see in the text this morning.

The first one is simply this is that God is patient.

God is patient.

Look at verse six again.

He says, For for I the Lord do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Uh that sounds innocent and innocuous, but God is, but what God is saying is, hey, listen, I could have responded so differently to you people, but I am the same, I do not change.

And therefore, in other words, I am patient.

I do not, I do not change.

If I weren't patient, if this wasn't true of me, then let me let me give you another word.

God is patient, but he's not slow.

Okay?

He's patient, but he's not slow.

Some of you are like, well, why doesn't God do this?

And why doesn't God do that?

He's patient, but he's not slow.

Remember, we referenced last week, 2 Peter 3.9, this says, hey, you know, God is not slow.

It's some concerns slowness, but he is patient, not wanting any to perish, but also come to the day of salvation.

There's some intentionality in God's patience.

When we lose patience, we we accuse God of being slow.

But God says, Hey, I do not change, therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

And then he says, This from the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.

It's just that little phrase right there, from the days of your fathers.

Just kind of a generic Bible reference to a long time ago.

Let me give you some application.

I want you to do this before you go to bed tonight, men, especially you.

I want you to look back at your fathers.

You say what do you mean?

Your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfather, and ask yourself this simple question.

What sins have been present in our family for a long time?

The Bible refers to them as generational sins.

What sins have been present in our family for a long time?

Going back to your father, your grandfather, and your great-grandfather.

You say, Well, what why do you want I don't know what you mean?

Ask yourself this question, uh, these key areas.

How have my fathers related to God, money, women, work, and friends?

Ask yourself, how have my fathers, the men who've gone before me, I'm not disrespecting your family, but if you want to see what your task is as a man, as a leader of your family, you have to ask these questions.

How have my fathers related to God, money, women, work, work?

If you have a workaholic father, uh that hey, I'm a great provider, I work hard, I provide, then your mom probably did without a lot of emotional needs being met.

Because let me tell you something, men, provision is a part of leadership, but it is not, it is not leadership.

Provision, I tell men in counseling all the time, provision is like the bathroom in your house.

It's the smallest and most necessary room in your house, but you don't want to sleep in there, amen.

You don't.

It's just a part of it, and you provide because if you're not careful, you will provide and your wife will emotionally starve and your kids will not know you.

And the whole time you're standing over here going, I make a good living.

Don't you enjoy this house?

Don't you enjoy that vehicle you get to drive?

Provision is a part of leadership, but it is not the sum total of leadership.

But some of you, it just never was modeled.

It's like, hey, I'm a provider, and so you don't know how to be with your children.

You don't know how to pursue your wife emotionally.

Some of you think I was too hard on my kids.

The reason I was with my kids a certain way, because I looked and saw my father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, and I saw the sins of my fathers.

And so I told my children, hey, listen, don't give your heart away in high school.

You don't want to peek in high school.

High school is great, it's about education and socialization, but those people don't matter, okay?

And so I don't want a bunch of drama with you and boys, and there's not a boy there that knows what to do with your heart.

So do not prioritize a relationship with them unless you're ready to get married.

And so my kids are like, we're cool.

Not that at all.

And some of y'all come up to me and go, Oh, you shouldn't be so harsh.

You should stay out of my business.

I don't tell you how to raise your kids, don't tell me how to raise mine.

But high school is not life.

Okay, it's a mud hole.

It's a it's a thousand ticks and no dog.

That's all it is.

And so it's just a bunch of people swapping blood.

Oh, she likes him.

Instagram, I'll grow up.

And so I just tell my kids don't calibrate your heart to that.

You know, but dad, all my friends, I don't care what your friends do.

Your friends are on their way to becoming inconsequential losers.

Oh, Dad, that's just so harsh.

It's not harsh now.

You got some evidence to point to.

And so I just looked at my fathers, my my my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and look at me, man.

Here's why I say this from the days of your fathers.

The greatest responsibility of a man is to ensure that the sins of the fathers do not get passed on to your children.

You can be the chainbreaker that kind of says, you know what, this stops with me.

We're gonna stop relating to God and money and women and work and friends the way my fathers have.

And my children are going to see something different in me.

So God is patient.

He says, from the days of your fathers.

And so just look back and just ask those questions.

Sit down with your wife and just say, Hey, how have they done that?

My my my fathers were not men of financial integrity, wouldn't pay their bills.

Therefore, I hate owing people money.

I don't have a lot of money, but I got a great credit score.

Uh, just because I saw it and I was just like, ah, didn't did not treat women well.

I'm a one-woman man.

I've been with one woman for 30 years.

She asked me morbid questions every once in a while, what are you gonna do if I die?

I don't know.

We're watching college football.

Why gotta bring that up?

Why are you crazy?

Okay, I don't stop.

What are you gonna do if I die?

I'm gonna get a bigger TV so I can see it clearer.

I don't know.

Well, I just I just it's never interesting.

I'm not better than anybody else.

I just saw so much immorality, but I'm just like, that doesn't interest me.

I'm sorry.

You said this is what I mean by from the days of your fathers.

You should have a frame of reference for the days of your fathers so that those sins don't get passed on to your children because nothing will hook you more when you see your kids engaging in behaviors that you hated when you were a kid.

And it's a tangible reminder.

I am failing.

I have the capacity to break this generational thing in my family.

Second thing you see in the text is that God is covenantal, not conditional.

God is covenantal, not conditional.

What do you mean?

God always relates to his people from the perspective of the relationship, the covenant.

Israel, God's people, always relate to God on the basis of their circumstance, conditional.

We say that again.

God always relates to his people from the perspective of relationship, the covenant.

God's people typically relate to God, they always relate to God on the basis of their circumstances.

It's very conditional.

So back in Egypt, remember they get out of Egypt and they get out in the wilderness.

Why'd you bring us out here?

Well, there's no graze back in Egypt.

We don't have any food.

God rains down quail on them.

We don't have any, and God brings down manna.

We don't have any water.

God tells Moses, strike the rock, and water gushes out.

They relate to God out of their conditions.

Okay?

God relates to them out of the covenant relationship.

Two totally different things.

God is covenantal, not conditional.

Now look at verse, the latter part of verse 7 into verse 8.

God says, return to me and I will return to you.

That's covenant talk, okay?

Says the Lord of hosts.

But you say, How shall we return?

Well, a man robbed God, yet you're robbing me.

But you say, How have we robbed you?

Conditional.

This is the way people are.

It's Jeremiah 31, 3.

It's not on, it's not in your outline, but back then when God kind of reminds him of the covenant, he says, I've loved you with an everlasting love.

Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness towards you.

Sidebar, okay?

If you're married to someone who is conditional, not covenantal, three things happen in your marriage, whether you realize it or not.

If you're married to someone who's conditional, they're not covenantal in the way that they don't say, Hey, I've loved you with an everlasting love.

Therefore, I've continued in faithfulness, even when you're a knucklehead.

I am faithful to you, I'm always gonna love you.

It's never conditional.

If you're married to a conditional person, you experience these three things.

Number one, you rarely feel heard or understood in an argument, much less validated.

Number two, you rarely feel closure after an argument because they're never wrong.

They're just never wrong.

And number three, you will be you you will come to believe that for this marriage to work, you have to compromise.

You have to compromise.

A conditional person always threatens to get their way.

They're always threatening.

Well, I'll just tell you what, I may just have to just get a divorce if I'm gonna get my they're always threatening because this is how they survive.

Now, by the way, your marriage is ruled by maintenance, not maturity.

That kind of a conditional uh instead of a covenantal relationship, a conditional relationship, it's ruled by maintenance, not maturity.

What do you mean?

You don't have a 20-year marriage that just slowly grows and matures and gets more satisfying.

You have really about an 18-month relationship cycle that repeats itself 13 times.

And eventually over the span of 20 years, and eventually one or both of you, when you feel a cycle starting back up, one or both of you kind of looks and says, you know what, I don't think I want to do this anymore.

And what they're really saying, they're not saying I don't want to do the relationship.

They're saying I want to get off this relationship cycle.

But what typically happens is the relationship ends because they don't know how to do a relationship because it's so conditional.

It's not covenantal.

Covenant is relationship.

Conditional, it's just two ticks and no dog.

It's negotiating who's gonna get their way.

Eventually you'll start fighting from the perspective of yourself just to survive in that marriage because your partner always fights from the perspective of themselves.

And the more you fight, the more isolated you feel because your partner is not covenantal.

Their greatest loyalty is to themselves because it's how they survive their past.

And it it feels like they're punishing you in the present, but they just they just had to survive, and so they're gonna keep surviving.

So you should say to your partner, if you're married to a conditional person, you just just say to them, hey, listen, you don't have to fight me.

What do you want?

I might just give it to you.

You don't have to fight me to get it.

That is that is a news flash to them.

But anyway, sidebar back to the Bible, verse nine.

Now, by the way, do you feel what just happened in this room?

Hello?

Did you feel that?

Okay, okay.

And I'm not trying to be gamey, I'm just I want to give you a context for for because I know as the preacher, when you say that you know, God is covenantal, not conditional, you're like, oh my gosh, what does this guy live in reality?

I just want to give you a reality context for that.

Okay?

Look at verse 9.

What do I mean when I say God is covenantal, not conditional?

Verse 9 he says, You're cursed with a curse, for you're robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Now, I want you to see something here.

What God, this is what I want you to see.

Pay very close attention.

This gets me kicked out of the preacher's club, okay?

Uh uh, because preachers use this and they say, Hey, you know what?

You're not tithing, and so you're under a curse because you're not tithing.

And I'm like, uh, that's not what the text says.

What God is not saying, He's not saying you're under curse because you're not tithing.

Uh now that motivates you to give, doesn't it?

Uh anyway, the literal translation from the Hebrew is literally this by the curse you're being cursed, yet me you are robbing.

Hear that again.

God says, hey, by the curse you're being cursed, yet you're you're you're robbing me.

Uh again, when you isolate behaviors from the covenant, they become transactional, not relational.

And so a lot of preachers take this tithing, this behavior of tithing, out of the context of the covenant, and it becomes transactional and basically try to manipulate you to say, hey, you don't want to be cursed, then you better tithe.

That's not what God's saying at all.

God's saying you're already under a curse.

He said, What do you mean?

Look at verse chapter 2, verse 2.

It's right there in your Bible.

He says, if you will not listen, Malachi 2, 2, if you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.

Indeed, I have already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.

And so it's not like, oh, you people are not giving.

So I'm gonna curse you.

That makes God like the the filchy moralizer, banker, book, boogyman.

No, here's what look at me.

God, remember, he's covenantal.

He's always about the relationship.

God is like, hey, you got good, you what do you mean in chapter 2, verse 2, about talking about the curse?

Remember when we were in chapter 2, I told you this is from when they were going into the promised land.

God put half the tribes on Mount Ebal, the other half on Mount Gerizim, and the people of Israel walked in in between in the valley into the promised land.

These people said, if you obey God, there's gonna be a blessing.

These people over here said, You disobey God, there's gonna be a curse.

And because God is consistent and constant, they disobeyed.

And so they're already under a curse.

And so you can't take tithing, which is a covenant behavior, out of the context and use it as a weapon for fundraising.

That is a cheap hermeneutic and it's terrible.

And preachers do it all the time.

So, what am I saying?

I'm saying the curse was for their disobedience.

That was already happening.

And so, because they looked at everything through a conditional lens, here's what they did.

Stop me if this sounds familiar.

They looked at everything through the lens of the conditional.

And so, like, oh, we're under a curse, it's getting hard.

Well, we're not gonna give then.

And God says, Hey, the curse is the consequence for your disobedience.

Don't harden your heart.

I give you consequences to turn your heart back to me and back to the relationship.

Now, I also know this when you say that the word tithing, uh, here's the second and last sidebar of the sermon, okay?

Uh, when you say the word tithing, I know that there's some internet theologians in the room, and some of you are like, oh, well, you know, I've done my research and the Old Testament law is no longer in effect, and so therefore, tithing is part of the Old Testament law.

And and I'm like, okay, great.

By the way, we used to have uh a person that worked here that said that to me.

The key phrase, used to work here.

Uh, and and we didn't we didn't fire the person.

I was just like, well, I've got a I've got I've I've got a theologian online that I really like, and he says it, and I said, wait, time out.

You have a theologian.

Your salary comes from other people's tithe, as does your budget.

And you got some guy with a whiteboard in his mom's basement shaping how you think about this.

Because again, look at me.

We take a behavior and we take it out of its context and we elevate to a place it should never be.

You should think about covenant, not the condition, uh uh, not this conditional thinking.

And so if you're in the room and you very well may be, look at me, I'm not mad at you.

I fundamentally disagree if you're like, oh, tithing's old testament, that doesn't apply anymore.

I I would just say, because here's what happens most people focus on how they want to live, and then you decide what you can believe.

Let me when again, you you you focus on how you want to live, and then you decide what you can believe.

And when something happens, what you believe doesn't bring you any comfort.

Have you noticed that?

It's kind of like, man, we try to pray, and your wife kind of looks at you like, really?

Like this is some magical incantation?

Because you didn't say, What do I believe?

And I'm gonna submit how I live to what I believe.

Big difference in the two, man.

Big difference in the two.

But if you're one of the people who's like, oh, I think that's all, I'll just give you two things.

Number one, grace makes you capable of more.

Just I just write it there in your notes.

See the Sermon on the Mount.

How many times Jesus says, You have heard of old, but verily I say unto you, because Jesus believed grace makes us capable of more.

We're not bound by the law, we're set free by grace.

What do you mean?

Matthew chapter 5, verse 27.

Matthew 5:27

You have heard that it was said, you should not commit adultery.

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

See, grace raises the standard because grace makes us capable of more.

It doesn't put us back under the law, it sets us free from the law.

Here's the second thing I would say to you Jesus indicates that tithing continued into the New Testament.

Now, this is what my friend who used to work, I would just say, help me with this, because I could get a new truck.

My truck's 10 years old, and I got another truck that's 20 years old.

I'm due for a new truck.

I can get a new truck if I can just somehow find a way to wiggle off the hook and stop tithing.

He goes, Well, I'll send you this guy's don't, please don't.

Uh I and but here's the verse I would just read to this person, Matthew 23, 23.

Jesus is talking to the Pharisees.

He says, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you tithe of your mint and your deal and your cumin, and you've neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.

You blind gods straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.

Pay attention to that phrase, these you ought to have done.

What are these?

Justice and mercy and faithfulness.

And then the next phrase, without neglecting the others.

And I had to say to a man that I love, hey, listen, you neglect the others because you this frees you up to just spend it all on yourself.

And you're trying to find satisfaction in conditional living.

And conditional living will never satisfy you.

He goes, Well, how do you know?

Because, because you are not, you'll never be better to yourself than God wants to be to you.

And you've got to come to believe that.

And look at me, and unless and until you come to believe that, you're the person that's like, I'll tell you what, all the church wants is money and blah, blah, blah.

And I'm just like, okay, all right.

Keep me posted.

Here's the last thing I want to say to you that the text says that God is invitational.

God is invitational.

Now, most people read this passage, what do you mean God's invitational?

Verse 10 bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need.

So when I say God is invitational, most people read this passage of scripture and you think about it wrongly.

You think and you ask and you listen for what is God telling me to do?

That's law.

Why do you love the law so much?

Why do you put yourself back under it?

You should ask yourself, what is God inviting me to?

What is God inviting me to?

Because again, God's always about the covenant.

We're always about the conditions.

And God is inviting us to.

What is he inviting us to?

Let me just read this morning.

This is verse 10 to 12.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test.

He's inviting you to that.

Test me, says the Lord of hosts.

If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need, I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.

Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

This is all covenant language, beloved.

Now what do you mean?

Conditional living never satisfies the people who are created for covenant blessing, because you can never experience inconditional living what only comes in covenant.

Let me say that again.

Conditional living never satisfies the people who are created for covenant blessing, because we can never experience inconditional living, what only comes with covenant.

Now what preachers do, especially TV preachers, they're the worst.

If I was God, we would hunt those people, but I'm not.

So they'll be on TV tonight saying things like this if you give, send me a thousand dollars, I'll send you 10,000.

There's a tenfold anointing, and I'm just like, ah.

Because they take this, they take it out of the context of covenant, and they make it a condition.

If then, if then, if then, that's transactional, beloved.

God is radically relational.

You say, What do you mean?

When you isolate specific behaviors and you elevate them to a certain status, then that is transactional, not relational.

And you know who you're like in the Bible?

You're like the prodigal son.

Remember him?

He goes to his dad and says, Father, give me my share of the estate.

Translation, give me my inheritance.

You're as good as dead to me.

And his dad gives it to him.

And then the Bible says he took his money and he went off and he squandered it in riotous living.

You know what that means?

That's Bible talk.

For he went out to Lubbock, to Texas Tech, guns up, joined a fraternity, discovered whiskey and women and song, and blew it all in one semester.

Yes.

And then stay with me because we are conditional.

God is covenantal.

And then he fails every class and he has to come home for Christmas break.

And he is dreading it.

His parents are like, You want to fly home or fly you home?

He's like, No, I want to drive because I got to make up my story.

So he's driving.

How long does it take to drive from Lubbock to eat to Sugarland?

Eight hours.

Eight hours, yes.

Eight hours.

And he's driving.

He's making it up.

And here's what it sounds like.

I'm not worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of the hired men.

I've been working at Torchies out in Lubbock.

And I hate the smell of queso and Mexican food.

And I hope we don't have Mexican food.

And Dad, I'm sorry, and I'm not worthy to be called what he said.

Make me like one of the hired men, and the dad is on the porch because the father's always about the relationship.

And he is on the porch and he's looking at you saying Bolt and going, if I see him, I'm outrunning you, my man.

And all of a sudden, them little headlights come around the corner, and the dad just takes off running.

Woo, whoa, whoa.

And the sun hits the brakes, like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

And the dad rips the door open and the sun gets in.

He goes, Dad, you know, listen, I blew everything.

I mean, I mean, I just I go to the club and I bind, and the father just grabs me and hugs me and says, Stop, stop.

And he looks at everybody and says, Hey, this son of mine was dead.

And by the way, who is the father talking to in that story when he says, This son of mine was dead and is alive, he's lost and he's found.

He's talking to his servants because wherever the father goes, those who serve him go.

And the father is just like and the dad, sorry, the son's like conditional.

I'm not worthy to be called your son.

See, he wants to, he wants to get out of the context of relationship.

And the father just says, No, no, no, no, no, no.

You're always my son.

Even though you acted like a knucklehead, you're always my son.

Quick.

Quick is Bible talk for shut up.

I don't want to hear it.

Bring a ring and a robe and sandals.

This son of mine was dead and alive.

He's lost and he's found.

And killed a fatty cat.

All of a sudden, Hank Williams Jr.

starts up.

Wow, we got the pig in the ground and the beer on ice.

Because all my rounding friends are coming over tonight.

Yes.

And they have a party.

Yes.

Those kind of behaviors only make sense in the context of covenant.

Can you imagine your son coming home or your daughter coming home next month and being like, hey, uh, it's not good, dad.

It's not good.

They call the house, they always ask for dad.

They don't ask for mom.

Hey, dad.

If it's a girl, they ask for dad.

If it's a boy, they ask for mom.

Because they work in that deal.

Can you imagine your kids and you're like, ah, ah, how bad is it, son?

I failed every one of them.

And I don't know if they're gonna let me come back in the fall.

And by the way, I know I'm broke.

I got three credit cards.

I maxed them out.

And they shut me down.

They put me in, I mean, I got I got collection agencies calling me.

And this is the way you would respond.

You would say, come on home.

And when your son got home, you'd have big patio lights in the backyard, and you'd have big buffet spread, and 200 people there all walking around whining and dining, and your son's like, we're just celebrating that you're home, son.

Yeah, but dad, you don't understand.

Oh man.

Guess what?

We'll get all that worked out.

We're just celebrating that you're home.

Now, who's the most uncomfortable person at that party?

Who?

The son.

No, the father paid for the party.

The father is finally this knucklehead is going to trust me that I value the relationship more than I value the behavior.

That's what preachers, and I don't know why they do it, they take behaviors out of context and just say, hey, you better, and they use it as a club to beat into submission and tell you, oh, you don't want to be cursed, do you?

You better give.

And then what the Bible is just saying, hey, again, God is invitational.

You got to ask this morning, what is God inviting me to this morning?

Some of you, it's like I was talking to the guy the other day, and he said, You know, Pastor, I pray all the time.

Or I used to pray, I don't pray as much as I used to.

And I was just like, this is some bull child.

You just tell me this because you found out I'm a preacher.

You ain't gonna tell me this.

Well, you know, I used to pray a lot, and I don't pray much.

And I said, Hey, let me ask you a question.

When you pray, whether it's a lot or a little or never, uh, when you pray, are you praying to a God you believe in or to a God you have a relationship with?

Because some of you, you just pray to a God you believe in.

Ain't got a relationship with him.

My children have access to me and my stuff in a way that none of you do.

Because of my relationship with him.

And so if you're just here and you're just praying to a God you believe in, what the Father's inviting you to today is to relationship.

He's just saying, Hey, stop just believing in me and come to know me.

Come to understand what I'm like.

Why?

Because God is invitational.

And when you read a passage like this, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, you're like, What?

What?

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse.

There may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test in this and see if I'm not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need.

Can you imagine that life?

Now, again, everybody thinks differently.

Some of you had bad experiences with this.

And so I'm just going to say to you what I've been saying to you all morning.

Things like God is invitational, God is covenantal, not conditional, and God is patient.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and they give you some space to think about it.

That's just who God is.

That's what He's like.

He's all those things.

And anytime you take behavior, certain things, and you elevate them up here to make them law, you've lost sight of the relationship.

Conditional living will never satisfy you.

It's like the man that goes, the single guy that goes to the club three, four times a week looking for a wife, versus the man that goes home to the same woman every day.

One of those is more content, more happy, more satisfied because he's in a relationship.

God created you and I to be in a relationship, not relying on ourselves and the conditions of our life, hunting and foraging for satisfaction instead of being in a satisfying relationship with a satisfying God.

And there's certain behaviors that accompany that relationship absolutely, unapologetically.

And he said that I'll so bless you, I'll so open up the windows of heaven and pour down a blessing on you.

You won't just tithe, you'll be a person that gives an offering when a need comes up.

That's when you can say, Let me just give as I purpose in my heart to give.

And Father, I just pray you'll just kind of brood over us just for a moment before we're dismissed today.

There's so much bad teaching around this, so much manipulation and guilt and fear.

And I just pray against that in Jesus' name.

And I just pray that everyone in this room would today hear that God is a covenantal God.

He's not a conditional God.

And he relates to us, all of us who know him, out of the relationship.

And we relate to him out of our conditions.

I pray, God, we just repent of all the things we've erected to protect ourselves from the relationship.

Root over us now, God, as we think about these things.

Father, for many of us, we've trusted in ourselves, in our devices for so long, it's really hard to trust you.

Much less to do what you say to do.

And so I just pray, just that, Lord, today, you'd give us clarity about what are you inviting us to?

What kind of behaviors accompany this covenant relationship where you say, I've loved you with an everlasting love.

I'm never gonna stop loving you.

Therefore, I'm I'm faithful to you.

And I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would just give us clarity around that.

So, what is God inviting me to?

The Bible tells us this morning, God, from Malachi 3, that you're inviting us to put you to the test in this and just to come and posture ourselves under the windows of heaven.

Not just with our words, but with our behaviors.

And just trust God for the outcomes.

So, Holy Spirit, set us free from conditional living that never satisfies and woo us and win us to the covenant relationship we're created for.

This is our prayer.

We pray it in Jesus' name when everyone said.

Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for being part of our church.

Look at me.

You're always welcome, okay?

You're always welcome.

If you're our guest, if you would, there's a number on the screen.

Just text welcome to that to that number.

We'd love to have a record of your visit.

No pressure, no expectation, just an opportunity.

Help you take the next step in your faith journey, okay?

Uh we have different things going on at different times of the year in our church to help people take the next journey and just celebrate and enjoy.

And so give your attention to the video screens for this week's announcements.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's a few things we want you to know.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

Today is a community group Sunday.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The Varsity is happening December 7th at 1030 a.m.

All adults 60 and over are welcome.

The family Christmas party is December 3rd.

We'll have train rides, a live nativity, and fun for the whole family.

Our Kids Advent Choir is coming on December 11th.

If your kid is five and up, we would love to have them join us.

For all of these events, register at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Now, your children are probably not done in the children's building because you're getting out early.

Yeah.

Yes, you ungrateful Baptist, stand in awe.

So here's what I want you to do.

Don't run out here like your hair's on fire.

Look around, fix a speaker blessing over you.

Look around.

If there's people that you know, check on them.

If there's people you don't know, introduce yourself to them.

Okay?

Y'all are like, hurry, we can beat the Methodists to the good restaurants.

Stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

Your covenant God loves and values the relationship and all the behaviors contained within.

Be done with conditional living.

Foraging, hunting, searching, wanting, never finding.

Come home to the relationship you were made for.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.