Returning To God

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

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

Let's pray together, church.

Lord, we've come to glorify you, which means to make much of you, uh, which means to understand you as you are, not as we wish you to be.

And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture, and in illuminating the scripture, you enhance our understanding.

You give us the capacity and the possibility of seeing things in the Bible as they are instead of as we've been told as we want them to be.

And so, Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth.

That's what Jesus said you would do.

That's what we ask you to do, that's what we need you to do, because we're set free by the truth.

Everything else is just bondage, and we reject that in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You could have a see.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to the book of Malachi.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, and I'll be reading in chapter three.

I want to talk to you this morning about when you hear Malachi 3, if you grew up in the church, your mind goes to, oh, I think I know what this is about.

Partially, but probably not.

I want to talk to you today about returning to God.

Returning to God.

And what does it mean to return to God?

What all is involved in returning to God?

What is that based on and banked on that makes it possible for us to return to God?

Now, while you're founding Malachi, I've told you before that everything that is said in the Bible happens in a certain context.

And if you take it out of that context, it doesn't make any sense.

So let me give you the context for the book of Malachi.

Have you ever heard the Bible verse, Jeremiah 29, 11?

It says, For I know the plans I think towards you, plans of good, not evil, plan to prosper you, not to harm you.

Most people have heard that.

If you've heard that, say amen.

And people are like, oh, I love that.

That was written to God's people when they were in captivity.

Did you realize that?

I take that as a no.

Uh they're in captivity, and God says, Hey, my plans for you have not run out.

Just because you people have kicked me off and I had to raise up a nation, Babylon, to come take you captive.

My promises are still good, but but there's going to be a consequence for not listening to me.

So, why do I tell you that?

Because these people, God's people, Israelites, are out of captivity.

They're back home in their homeland.

They've been there for about a hundred years.

They've rebuilt the temple, the the of the fervor of the initial Israelites, like, wow, we're back.

Let's go.

They're excited because they're like, hey, God told us he knows the plans.

Now bring on the good stuff.

We've been in prison for years.

Now reward us.

And God said, Hey, you still got to be faithful to what I say.

They kind of forgot that.

Not only that, but the priests were corrupt.

There's nothing worse in the world than a crooked preacher.

Amen?

Money grubbing weasels.

I think we're about to hunt those people on four-wheelers.

Just take them out to the deer lease, give them a 15-minute head start.

I'm not kidding.

And then hunt them down.

Not kill them, just scuff them up a little bit.

Anyway, uh, but that's what happened.

The priests were corrupt.

They were terrible.

And the people were apathetic and lethargic.

They were like, hey, if the preacher doesn't care, why should we care?

And then this is what happens.

The people start focusing on their circumstances, and they refuse to take responsibility for what they've done to get their life to the point that it is.

And so all of a sudden they're telling God, hey, this is not fair.

We don't have anything.

It's really hard.

And God points the finger back at the people through the prophet Malachi and says, Yeah, it's really hard.

You know why it is?

Because y'all are a bunch of knuckleheads.

That's in the Bible, by the way.

And he says, You want it to get better?

You want it to change?

Here's what God says: return to me.

Return to me.

This is why I want to talk to you this morning about returning to God.

Malachi chapter 3, verse 6.

Malachi 3:6

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 as you say, How have we robbed you?

And in your tithes and your 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.

If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is 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 nations will call you blessed, for you'll be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Now, how many of you have heard that passage read in church before and talked about?

Raise your hand.

Yes.

Most of you that heard before, you're like, and now we're gonna get a religious whipping about giving money to the church.

Yes.

You're sitting there thinking, I'm glad I shaved my legs for this.

Actually, remember everything happens in a context.

Here's what I'm gonna tell you in just a minute.

That the whole thing about tithing is just really about God's faithfulness.

And so this is what the passage is really about.

And so if you're visiting today, you can't walk out of here and be like, oh yeah, I went to church for the first time in 19 years, and guess what the preacher talked about?

Money.

That's not true.

If you say that, I'm gonna have to throat punch you, okay?

And I don't have that much energy because I'm sick.

I'm not sick, I'm getting better.

My wife said I was sick.

I said, You just don't like me.

And so what am I saying?

There's four things in this passage I want to point to about returning to God.

Number one, what makes that possible?

An unchanging God.

An unchanging God, first of all.

Look at verse 6.

He says, For I the Lord do not change.

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

What's that got to do with money?

Nothing.

Nothing.

God says, Hey, I don't change.

What is he talking about?

He's talking about his nature.

He says earlier back in Exodus, he he self-discloses and he said, The Lord, the Lord, uh slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, forgiving sin to generate to thousands upon thousands.

God says, This is who I am.

I don't change.

Because if I change, you would already be consumed.

Because you people are so faithless.

You break my law every chance you get, but you're not consumed.

Why?

Because I'm still slow to anger and I'm still abounding in steadfast love.

I am an unchanging God.

This is what I want you to see.

And that because everything else in this passage, in this teaching, is built on and banked on the fact that God is faithfully, consistent, and unchanging.

Tithing in this text is simply the way God illustrates his unchanging faithfulness.

Unless you see that, you'll miss the foundation that all of this rests upon.

You'll just think, oh my gosh.

Here goes to church again.

Now, in theology, this doctrine is called immutability.

Immutability.

Now, how many of you have ever heard that word?

Say amen.

Six.

Wonderful.

Now, uh, immutability is a great thing.

This is why you should go to a church that only teaches you the Bible that pauses every once in a while and says, Hey, by the way, here's a big word.

Here's what it means.

Ladies, you want to be in a relationship with a man that's immutable.

You should say to your husband before you go to bed tonight, hey, you know what I love about you?

You're immutable.

Man, you should write that in a Valentine's card to your wife.

One of the reasons I love you, honey, is you're immutable.

None of your friends are saying that.

So at this point, I've said it six times.

You should be wondering, what does that mean?

Great question.

Here's what it means: immutability means that being perfect, God cannot and does not change.

In order to change, a moral being must change in either of two ways.

Either he must change for the better or he must change for the worse.

God cannot get better because that would mean that he was less than perfect earlier, in which case he would not have been God.

But God cannot get worse either, because in that case, he would become imperfect, which means he cannot be God.

God is and must remain perfect in all of his attributes.

Now, that's the way we talk about it in books about theology.

Here's the way the Bible talks about it in the 102nd Psalm verse 25 of God.

He says, Of old you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you will remain.

They will all wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away.

But you're the same, and your years have no end.

The children of your servant shall dwell secure, their offspring shall be established before you.

Now, I've told you theologically about immutability.

I've shown it to you in the Bible.

Let me give you one more expression of it.

There's a singer-songwriter by the name of Jason Isbael.

If you've not discovered Jason Isabel, you should.

Your life will be better for it, okay?

Bob Dylan said he's probably the best singer-songwriter alive today.

Uh, just to give you a little hint of where we're coming from.

Jason Isbel was in a band.

He became dependent on alcohol.

And then to quote him, he became a raging alcoholic drunk.

He said, I was a dysfunctional drunk.

He was so he drank so much, he got kicked out of a band.

How much do you have to drink to get kicked out of a band?

I mean, think about it.

That's like Arrow Smith having an intervention and saying, You do too many drugs, okay?

Thank you, Stephen Tyler.

Be quiet.

Uh, but he got kicked out of a band.

His life was kind of at a dead end.

And he met this woman, and he was so smitten with her, he said to her, on their first date, he said, You want to go swimming?

And she was like, Who goes swimming on a date?

I know.

It's just kind of different.

And she said, I was smitten with him.

There was something different about him.

She goes, So I went swimming with him.

We just went to the pool, we swam, we talked, it was great.

After that, we're on another date, and she goes, On that date, I realized he had a drinking problem.

And I looked him in the eye and said, I'm willing to do this with you, but you've got to get help.

And he went into rehab.

Ladies, you have power over us men you need to you need to be aware of.

So he goes into rehab, but in rehab, he writes her letters.

And she gets these letters, and and I saw him interviewed and her interviewed, and they said, You knew he was a raging alcoholic, and yet you begun a relationship with him.

And she said, Yeah.

And he said, Why?

And he said, Because when he was in rehab, he wrote me these letters about himself.

I said, Tell them about you.

He was so vulnerable and so emotionally available that I she said, I wrote him back and I said, if this is who you are, I'll wait for you.

And he said, This is who I am.

And she wrote him back the line from my Bob Dylan song that said, Bring yourself back to me from across that far, that far ocean or something.

And so they wrote letters, incredible letters back and forth.

He gets out and they're like, Well, how'd it go?

And she goes, We're married.

I'm happy as I've ever been.

And she said, What did that tribute to attribute that to?

And she said, He was just like his letters described him to be.

Here's the thing that God says about himself.

He says, I'm just like my letters describe me to be.

I'm immutable.

I don't change.

Now, Amanda Shire, who married Jason, but she didn't say he's immutable, but what she did say was, this man is really who he said he is, and he's not changed.

God says the same thing about himself.

He says, Hey, here's this whole thing is based upon this.

I'm an unchanging God.

Therefore, you are not consumed.

Now, what does that mean to you sitting in this room?

If you're in this room right now and you think, you know what, I'm not as close to God as I've been before, or I'm not as close to God as I could be, uh, I don't want that to stir up fear in you.

I actually I want it to stir up a little bit of confidence in you because God says to these people, here's the beauty of an unchanging God.

He says, the Lord does not change.

Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, you people that have screwed it up your whole life, are not consumed.

Now, why does the Bible say you're not consumed?

Here's why.

Because you could be.

Does that make sense?

You could be consumed.

And God's like, hey, I'm an unchanging God.

I'm faithful, I'm consistent, I'm I'm merciful, slow to anger, all that stuff.

Now, the second thing you see in the text, first of all, unchanging God.

Second thing that makes this returning is it's a reciprocal return.

It's a reciprocal return.

Verse 7, he says, the latter part of it says, return to me and I'll return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

But you say, How shall we return?

Will a man rob God?

Yet you are robbing me.

But you say, How have we robbed you and your tithes and contributions?

You are cursed with a curse, for you're robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Now, when I say a reciprocal return, God says, Return to me and I'll return to you.

Now, why doesn't God go first?

When God says, return to me, here's why.

Because when God sees you and I returning, repenting, and turning back to Him, what we're demonstrating to God is that I understand and I take responsibility for what I've done.

Let me say that again.

We're saying to God, I understand and I take responsibility for what I've done.

That's what repentance is.

Until you understand and take responsibility, you're just a victim.

We are a nation of victims because everybody's got a reason and an explanation and a well, you know, this and the reason I did this.

When's the last time you heard somebody say this?

I don't have a leg to stand on.

This is all my fault, and I'll take whatever responsibility I have.

I just need help.

You heard that recently?

No.

People always begin with, well, let me explain to you why it's this way.

Few people say, you know what?

It's me.

But that's what God looks for.

God looks for the man or the woman that's willing just to be honest and go, you know what?

It's me.

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

Rarely are we static in our relationship with God.

We're typically turning from God or we're trying to turn back to God.

Rarely are we just kind of stuck in one place, because it's kind of going, oh, okay.

But why do I say that?

Because tithing is a biblical behavior that turns us and keeps us turned towards God.

Let me say that again.

Tithing is a biblical behavior that turns us and keeps us turned towards God.

This is what God is saying here.

And you're like, I I don't I don't know about that.

Let me ask you a question.

How many people do you think either contacted or were contacted by their financial planner over the past week about the coronavirus?

Something I like, uh, what are you talking about?

The stock market dropped more in the past week than it has since the crash of 2008.

Terrible week if you have a retirement portfolio.

It probably went down 10 to 15%, depending on what you were invested in.

And so I have a friend that manages about, I think,$150 million in private assets, which when I get around to him, I just kind of think, man, that's awesome.

What must that be like?

Except on weeks like last week.

I don't think that at all.

Matter of fact, I reach out to him and say, Do you need prayer?

And he's like, Oh, I'm sending emails to all my people.

Some people panic.

What is this like?

He said, I try to tell them, hey, just keep your powder dry, stay patient, the coronavirus, fears are gonna go over.

The media wants to blame Donald Trump for the coronavirus.

And I'm like, what?

And he goes, Oh yeah, it'll happen.

And then I turn on the TV that night, and that's what they said.

This was a Trump virus.

I'm like, how much do you have to hate a man to blame him for a disease?

I'm like, dang, I'm gonna blame him for everything.

The next time I don't pick up my shoes in the living room, my wife says, Pick your shoes up.

Donald Trump made me do it.

Ah, I'm not a good husband because Donald Trump, I don't know.

I just, it's it explains everything.

But I said to my friend, I said, so basically, you your clients are freaking out over a disease.

He said, the markets, I mean, they always know, they always react to.

Here's my confession.

I don't understand the stock market, okay?

I ain't all into that.

I think it's great if you are.

But I was just like, this past week I didn't look at my friend and kind of go, you know what?

I'm envious of you.

But why do people do this?

Why do people because I'm thinking in my mind, why do people blow his phone up, email, get me out, blah, blah, blah.

I want to be in bonds.

Oh, blah, blah.

He said, I'm trying to talk people off the off the ledge.

Just stay in, we're gonna be fine.

And I and I'd say, I wanted to ask him, but I didn't, but I just like, Lord, why do they do that?

And he clears the bell, the Holy Spirit said, because of what Jesus said, what the Bible says.

Matthew chapter 6, verse 19.

Matthew 6:19

Jesus says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy, or thieves break in and steal, and coronavirus happens.

But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Here's the principle for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is why my friend got, he's out on the phone all day, every day, calling people all the country.

We're gonna be fine, we're gonna be fine.

Don't pull out, don't cut your losses.

We're gonna it's gonna tick back up.

Just relax.

Why?

Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be.

Now look at me.

The Bible doesn't condemn you for that.

Jesus doesn't say, and by the way, you're bad people if you worry about your retirement account.

No, you're not.

Someone said to me one time, they said, Hey, is it wrong to plan for retirement?

I said, I think it's wrong not to.

I mean, I buy lottery tickets every Friday.

That's my plan.

Just a joke.

Relax.

But the Bible, look at me.

Stop laughing.

You're in church.

The Bible.

Look at me.

The Bible does not say, hey, where your treasure is, there your heart will be.

You weasels, you materialistic bunch of church people.

Not at all.

The Bible just states the obvious.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.

Why else do you think Jesus said, therefore, lay up treasure in heaven?

Because he knows that's not going to change.

It's not going to change.

You're not bad people because you think about your finances.

You should think about your finances.

Men, you should have a financial plan for your family.

And you should sit down and talk with your wife about it on about every two or three months.

Hey, how are we doing against our budget?

How are we doing financially?

What are we wasting money on?

What are we not putting enough money towards?

You should be the one leading your family to say, hey, do we have more treasure in heaven?

Or is all our treasure here on earth?

That's how you have interesting conversations in marriage.

Besides, where do you want to eat?

How's your food?

If that's the biggest thing you said to your wife in the past month, she is miserable.

Yes.

She's going to start reading those books that have uh uh Fabio on the cover.

Oh.

And he took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

No.

A reciprocal return.

God says, return to me and I'll return to you.

Stop thinking about Fabio.

Some of you ladies are like, How'd you know?

Here's the thing.

One thing you see in this passage is that the Bible is very clear.

There's a consequence for tithing, there's a consequence for not tithing.

He says, You're cursed with a curse, the whole nation of you.

And then he says, this is the third thing we see that kind of shapes the way we think about returning to God.

We see the full tithe.

Verse 10 bring the full tithe into the storehouse.

That there may be food in my house.

And just stop right there.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse so there may be food in my house.

Talking about the temple, my house.

The modern day equivalent is a church now.

Because what would happen back then is that people would say, oh, a tithe means a tenth.

And so people were to bring a tenth of their, if they were farmers, their produce or their income or whatever.

And so when he says, bring a tenth, let me just give you some statistics from modern day, from the latest research that I could find.

I said this less than 14% of people in most churches give anything.

That means in this room right now, that there's 14% of the people in this room that support the ministry of this church.

Now, believe it or not, I'm not mad at the other 86%.

I don't check the giving records.

I don't know who gives what.

Now, I have preacher friends of mine that tell me you're crazy.

You should know who gives what.

I said, why?

So I can suck up to the rich people?

Well, I mean, you gotta know who to ask in time of need.

That's another thing we don't ask.

If I ask you to lunch, you don't have to bring your checkbook.

Because I'm not gonna say, hey, brother, you know we're building a new sanctuary.

What can we count on you to do?

You just need to shower with a power washer after that.

So that's not coming, okay?

So just relax.

Just facts.

Less than 14% of people, most churches give anything.

And of those that give, only 5% give a full tithe.

Again, tithe means a tenth.

Half the Protestant churchgoers in America say their tithes.

This is Malachi.

This is why God says, bring the full tithe into the storehouse.

Excuse me.

Half a Protestant churchgoers say their tithes can go to a Christian ministry rather than a church.

A third say tithes can go to help an individual in need.

And more than a few, 18% say that tithes can even go to a secular charity.

For many churchgoers, tithing is just another term for generosity.

So in churches anymore, we don't use the word tithe.

We talk about being a generous church.

I say every once in a while, if today's a day you practice obedience or generosity.

Remember that?

You hear it at the end of every service almost.

Obedience is the tithe.

Generosity is an offering.

That's what I'm talking about.

But we're not afraid to say what the Bible says.

Now you're like, no, I don't why why do you tell us all that?

Here's why.

Look at me.

I'm not mad at the other 86% that don't do anything, uh, don't give anything.

I'm sure you got your reasons or whatever they are.

Here's what I want you to ask yourself.

What would it be like to be a part of a church where everyone worked towards giving the full tithe, bringing the full tithe into the storehouse?

What could that church do?

Does that make sense?

No pressure.

We're not gonna lock the doors and go, okay, get out your checkbooks.

We don't even pass a plate.

Vistors call to me all the time and kind of go, hey, don't you care about money here?

And I'm like, uh, why are you asking that?

You need to borrow something?

And they go, well, you don't take up an offer.

Yeah, we do it all the time.

It's these wooden boxes by the doors.

And so it's not about coercion, it's about understanding.

And so when I when I read statistics and say, hey, only 14% of people that go that give anything, and of that 14%, only five bring the full tithe.

And so here's all I want you to walk away today and ask yourself, what would it be like to be a part of a church where everyone was working towards bringing the full tithe into the storehouse?

Just let that capture your imagination this morning.

What I wants to see is that God can, I know it's easy to kind of go, hey, I just can't, we can't do that physically.

We cannot do that.

No shame, no guilt.

Here's what I'm gonna say.

I want you to see from the Bible that God can see you live in this way, which is why it's in the Bible.

So again, if you're sitting there, don't beat yourself up.

Just ask yourself, hey, what's my first step towards being that kind of a person?

That's all.

Lastly, there's an invitation.

There's an invitation.

Here's what makes turning to God uh a possibility.

It's a lot of part of verse 10.

After he says, Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, he says, 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.

I will rebuke the devourer for you.

That's a reference to locusts that would come down in swarms and devour their crops so they have no food.

He says, 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.

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

So here's the invitation.

The invitation from God is when you think about it, God says, put me to the test, which really goes against what the Bible says in other places, where it says, Do not test the Lord thy God.

Did you know that?

The Bible says over and over, uh, do not put the Lord thy God to the test.

Uh matter of fact, the first, probably the most popular place it says is in Deuteronomy chapter 6, about verse 16, he says, You should not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Massa.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Now, does the name Massah ring a bell?

Some of you are like, I got nothing, dude.

I got nothing on Massah.

If you remember, uh, I don't know, two or three years ago, we preached through the book of Exodus.

Remember that?

We were like six years in the book of Exodus.

Exodus chapter 17.

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

There's a story.

Exodus is about about coming out, about that they leave bondage of slavery and they're headed to the promised land.

They don't get five miles out of town, okay?

And the people of Israel are whining, oh, why did you bring us up in the desert to die?

There's no water, there's nothing to eat.

And God, by the way, does not like it when we don't trust him.

Why?

Because he's an unchanging God.

If he says, hey, I'm gonna deliver you, guess what he's gonna do?

He's gonna deliver you.

And so they get out, I mean, Exodus 17, read it.

They turn on Moses.

What are you doing, dude?

I'm gonna have graves in Egypt.

You brought us out of the desert to bury us in the desert?

What kind of a, what kind of a leader are you?

And God's like, excuse me, what are you people doing?

You think I'm some late-night TV preacher that says one thing and does another?

And he says, Don't put me to the test.

Later in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

The devil himself is is tempting Jesus.

And he says to him, I mean, he says to him, what he says to him is, hey, pick yourself up on the top of the temple and throw yourself off, and then God will rescue you before you hit the ground.

What does Jesus say?

Matthew 4, about verse 7.

It is written, you should not put the Lord thy God to the test.

And then God comes along in Malachi 3 and says, Test me.

What did what what's happening here?

Here's what's happening.

When God sets up the terms of how you can experience Him, then there's no other way that you and I can experience God this way.

Are you aware of that?

And he says, and thereby put me to the test.

Is there any other way that you can test God?

There's not.

Which is, by the way, look at me.

It's why if you've been in this church three Sundays, we don't talk a lot about money or anything.

Why?

Because this is not about pressure and guilt and manipulation, it's about understanding.

People that have put God to the test in this, they can't fathom and they've experienced what God says you experience.

They can't fathom living any other way.

You say, Well, what do you mean?

They experience what God says they experience.

Look at the consequences of returning to our unchanging God through our obedience when it comes to tithing.

He says, There be maybe food in my house, uh, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need.

Just stop right there.

Until there's no more need.

I walked in this morning.

I don't feel great.

I feel better than I felt Friday.

I didn't have a voice.

I called Wade Burgess on Friday.

He said, You got a sermon?

He goes, Why are you asking?

I said, Because I can't talk.

I said, but we'll be fine.

I walked in this morning, had a bottle of Dayquil and some other drugs.

One of our men meet me at the door.

They goes, What are you doing?

I said, I don't feel great.

And I said, but it's fine.

And I told him a story.

I grew up as a kid.

My mom worked in a sewing factory up the street from our house, our little rent house.

And one day I heard my mom in the bathroom.

She was sick.

She was throwing up.

And so I was like, Mom, mom, you okay?

I'm fine.

Mom, you don't have to go work and stay home.

She came out.

She said, son, if I don't go to work, we can't buy groceries.

Oh.

And so my mom walked out the front door.

I went out the back door and I walked around and I peeked around the house and watched her.

And she's walking down the street.

She stopped, threw up in the street again, kicked some leaves on it, and just walked on to work.

So I said to my friend Gary, I said, sometimes you just got to kick leaves on it and go to work.

Now, I'm not saying that for pity.

Some of you woke up this week, your back hurt, you couldn't feel your left leg.

It's not because you need a new mattress, it's because you're old and your body's breaking down.

Guess what?

Just because you're the preacher, you can't say, you know what?

My nose is a little fluffy.

Y'all have a share time.

What kind of a daisy are you?

Give me a break.

Suck it up, buttercup.

So I said, hey, between services, uh, have me a few shots of this day quill.

I mean, and when I got said, uh, I got something out there under the seat of my truck.

I don't want that.

Is that in a mason jar?

Yeah, my buddy made it in his back at his dear lease.

I don't want to know about that.

Please tell me you're not imbibing that.

Yeah, and I can smell colors.

See what kind of sinners you go to church with?

Give me a break.

And so, so here's what I'm saying.

Growing up in that, watching my mom just, hey, we gotta go to work because we gotta eat.

When I remember the first time I read in the Bible, and I'm not making this up.

The first time I read this, I didn't read it because I was like, Old Testament, that's like God's like mad.

I like New Testament.

Jesus loves people, Jesus loves hookers.

God, the Old Testament, kills people.

I think I'll read the New Testament.

And so I remember the first time I heard somebody preach on this.

And he said this.

He said, See if I don't open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need.

It's that part there.

No more need.

Because when you grow up and all you know is need, when someone says no more need, you're like, you're my my immediate response is shut up.

That is crazy talk.

But yet I was drawn to it.

And then he goes on.

And he says, verse 11, I rebuke the devourer for you.

So 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.

And all the nations will call you blessed.

What does that mean?

The nations will call you blessed.

That means everybody in your cul de sac can't figure out why you're so content.

And then he says, you'll be a land of delight.

So what are the four consequences?

Sufficiency, protection, blessedness, and delight.

Here we go.

I'm done.

Look at me.

If you get to the end of your life and you look back and you can only describe it, your kids around your deathbed, your grandkids around you, you say, Grandpa, how would you describe your life?

You say, Oh man, what a sufficiency.

And I've been protected and I've been blessed.

And I've just, man, my life has been a delight.

Would you be disappointed?

That's what it comes down to.

That's why God says, put me to the test in this.

Look at me.

Nobody can do for you, including you.

You can't do for you what only God can do for you.

That's why He says, put me to the test.

The problem with most of us in this room is you're putting yourself to the test and you're failing.

And you don't have a self-awareness to go, my God, what am I doing?

I'm not mad at you.

I'm sad.

Because deep inside, at a level you don't have words for.

You can't work another job.

You can't sell something else out of your garage full of man toys you never use.

Just pedal faster.

And along comes a God and says, Return to me, and I'll return to you.

Let's pray together.

One of the things that you'll notice about God is he always puts things in a bigger context than we're willing to.

But it's only in that context do the things of the Bible make sense.

So in the context of returning to God, God says, Hey, you want to see how unchanging I am?

How much I meant this back then, and I still mean it today?

And then do this.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse.

Stop justifying and say, Well, my brother-in-law's a missionary, so we sport him.

My kids go to Christian school, so that's kind of my tithe.

No, it's not.

God says, I will so bless you, you'll be able to do all that stuff.

You don't have to rob from me in order to do it.

If you're our guests, we like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.

And so, some questions come up on the screen.

We'll talk about them tonight in our community groups.

But right now, just kind of just be still and just ask yourself, what do I take away from this today?

Father, thanks that you uh you always put things in a bigger context.

We always put them in a real small context and take offense.

You put them in a really big context and say, Hey, come experience me this way.

And that that's humbling.

And God, a lot of us are like that great theologian Tim McGraw.

We got a life that most would love to have, but some days we just wake up fighting mad.

It's not our wife's fault, it's not our kids' fault, it's not our job's fault.

It's just that something's unsettled in us.

So help us to repent from taking it out on them.

And help us to take it up with you.

Because you're slow to anger and you're abounding in steadfast love.

Therefore, we're not consumed.

And you're unchanging.

For that we're grateful.

So we say thank you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest, then we say again, thanks for being here.

Hopefully you've had an opportunity to fill out one of those guest cards in your in the seat back pocket on your row.

And when you leave in just a moment, if you would, just drop in those wooden boxes by the door.

Uh, we just love to have a record uh of that you are here.

We're not going to show up and announce at your house.

We think you matter to God, so you matter to us as well, okay?

There's a few things we want to make you aware of by way of announcement, so give your attention to the screens.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Women's Weekend 2020 is a time of worship and connection with the women at Grand Parkway.

With over 120 already registered, it's filling up fast, so be sure to register at grandparkway.org slash events.

We live in one of the most diverse counties in the nation.

While we do believe God sends us to other countries to share the gospel, he has also sent other countries here among us to hear the gospel.

One of the most important ways our church connects to the nation is through our English as a second language ministry.

ESL has several ways you can take part.

One of them happens this Tuesday, March 3rd, at our monthly coffee hour, where we meet new people, play games, help others practice speaking English, and drink coffee.

Make plans to join us Tuesday at 6 p.m.

in the warehouse.

If you would like someone to pray with you or you have a question about anything you have seen or heard today, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage after our service.

Let me just say this about ESL, our English as a second language.

If you've ever wanted to be curious about that, Tuesday night at 6 is a great night to show up.

Just meet people.

Let me just say this: people from other countries, they're just like you.

They want a better life for their kids than they had.

They want to be helped.

They don't understand our culture.

They don't understand our faith.

They're curious about that.

They're open.

They're very hospitable.

So it's not like you've got to be like a missionary to be there.

You just got a person, you've got to be a person that's willing to stick your hand out and say, Hi, my name's Neil.

Tell me your name.

And they'll tell you in as much English as they have their name, or when their friends will translate for you.

So if you've ever been curious, or you're like, hey, you know what?

I'd like to get involved in my church and do more than just come on Sunday morning.

That's a great place to just kind of step into, just ease in and just kind of see what it's like.

Tuesday night, 6 o'clock, they meet at the warehouse, which is our student ministry building at the back of our property, okay?

Stand on your feet.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So hold your hands out.

Your God is unchanging.

The same yesterday, today, and forever.

And because he was good in the beginning, he's good now, and he'll be good in the end.

So depart now and stop beating yourself up for your inconsistencies and bask in his consistency.

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

Amen.

Bless you.