Portfolio - Week 1

We're starting to brand new serious today called portfolio and you know, my whole

life when it comes to finances, everybody talks about their investment portfolio. Diversify

your portfolio, what is that biggest what is that star in your investment portfolio?

But I want you to know, I'm not an investor, That's not

who I am. I am not a financial expert by any means. So

any advice I give you will come from scripture because the Lord is an expert

on all things. And I want to talk about not over the last few

years. Every time we've talked about finances over the last three or four years,

we focused on the ninety percent. That's really what we have focused on.

But I want to talk about the giving portion over the next few weeks.

And it's not going to be just your standard us asking for more money.

Come on, somebody, because you know, a lot of times when

we talk about faith as the church, we want you to have faith and

we want you to give. But on the receiving end, we don't always

manifest a lot of faith. Amen. But we are a faith based organization,

and this church gives in faith just like we ask you to give in

faith. You know, we commit beyond. I'm not talking about felony.

I'm not talking about writing a check you don't have money for it. Come

on, somebody, that's not faith. That's felony, right amen. If

you ain't got no money in the bank, don't write a check. But

I want to talk about laying that foundation, that solid foundation, so that

we can get to where the Bible talks about the place where we can live

in more than enough, because that is promise in Scripture that we live in

more than enough. And I want you to know that more than enough can

be ten cents. If it's more than enough, if it's more than your

need, that is abundance. Come on, somebody, now, we want

a million dollars abundance. That's not promised in scripture, but our needs being

met and more is promised in scripture. Jesus talked a whole lot about money.

As a matter of fact, fifteen percent of everything Jesus taught was on

the topic of money. He taught about money more than any other single issue

throughout his whole ministry. Let me say that again. He taught about money

more than any other issue throughout his entire ministry. He talked about money more

than heaven. He talked about money more than love because he understood the direct

correlation between money and our hearts. Because where our treasure is there, our

heart is also. So when we bowled down giving, it's not actually about

money at all. It's about our heart. Because he is much more concerned

with your heart than he is your dollars. If you're watching this somewhere else,

or your payss or your whatever it is, he's more concerned about your

heart. And if he is in a place in your life where he has

a financial relationship, he knows he also has an intimate, deep relationship,

and the connectivity between you and him is a solid one. If you get

this piece right, it helps everything else line up. You got a Bible.

Go to Matthew chapter twenty five. Matthew, chapter twenty five. Not.

First of all, I can already tell I shouldn't have told you all

I was gonna talk about money. I just should have started going because everybody

just has that tense look. We're not gonna passed the bucket a second time

today, I promise. However, if you fall under conviction, it will

be at the table on your way out. Just listen. Teaching on money

is no different than teaching on anything else. I'm going to give you scriptural

principles that you can apply or not in your life. It's your choice.

God just tells me to give it to you, and you choose whether to

put it in place or not. Amen. Matthew, Chapter twenty five,

starting in verse fourteen. This is what we call the parable of the Talents.

It says, for the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man traveling to

a far country who called his own service and delivered his goods to them.

And the one he gave five talents to another two and to another one to

each according to his own ability, and a mess. Imediately he went on

a journey. Father. We thank you for your word. It's the only

change agent on the face of the planet. And today I pray that it

takes root deep at the fabric of who we are, that it changes the

way we think and the way we act, that today we understand this opportunity

we have in giving in Jesus' name. Amen. So Jesus gives the beginning

of this teaching, and he sets up what is going to happen in the

rest of this parable. That, first of all, in order to understand,

and I'm going to use the word master right. We want to all

want to master principles right, and to master giving. The first thing you

have to understand is that it all comes from the Master. Before he left,

he gave them the talents, which is money. It's not a it's

not being able to throw baseball really hard. That's not what kind of talent

it's talking about. It's talking about money. The narrow amen chetta, whatever

you want to call it, you know, it's SIT's He gave it to

them. The Lord is our provider of all things. So when we talk

about giving, we're not actually giving him something that's not already his. It's

already his, and he loans it to us to be a steward of and

to use. And as he does that, he requires for us to give

a portion back to him. Seed. You know, when I was growing

up, we grew all of our own food on the farm, especially potatoes,

and I love potatoes because it was like, you know, no matter

who cooked, nobody messed up potatoes. Amen. It's that's one of those

things that it's hard to mess a potato mash. It put butter in,

it's good. You fry it good, bake it good, whatever you do

do, it's good. Potatoes are good. And we would always get towards

late winter early spring, and we wouldn't have potatoes as much as we used

to eat potatoes through the rest of the year. And I was always I

want potatoes, and they'd say no, no, no, no, no,

well we're out of potatoes. And I would go and I'd look into

smoke house. I say, no, they're looking at all those potatoes.

There's potatoes. Let's cook the potatoes. And I would get the same talk

every year. No, no, no, no, those are seed potatoes.

I said, well, it was right beside the one that you made

French fries out off, So let's make French fries out of that one.

I say, no, no, no, no, no no. You

have to understand that that if you eat the seed, there will never be

any more potatoes. See, the seed has to be saved. The seed

has to be separate, because if you use it all, there's no seed

for another harvest. And the harvest is what's meant for us to enjoy.

Amen. So when we begin to talk about the Lord giving things to us,

what we mean is that he gives us everything, and then we return

the seed portion back to him, because we're going to get into what happens

with that in the next few weeks. But we need to forget the mindset

that I'm giving him something that he didn't first give me, because if we

get in that mentality that I'm giving him something that is mine, then I

get into the place where I think I'm doing God a favor by giving it

to him. Wool You know the story of true at Cathy, where he

prayed a prayers starts at his very first chicken sandwich shop, and he said,

Lord, I'm gonna be obedient, and I want you to bless me

to the point where I can give you ninety percent and I can live on

ten percent. You know, I want to be in a place. I

would love to be in a place one day where I can live on ten

percent and give God ninety percent. Now, most of y'all, when y'all

call the church, you don't get me on the phone. And this is

why. It has nothing to do with me being too important. That has

nothing to do with As a matter of fact, I'm the least important person

on our team. This is really all I'm good at right here. What

I'm doing right now. It's it everything else. We have people on our

staff, on our team that are so much better than me at But the

reason you don't get me is because anybody that calls, if I answer the

phone and somebody asks for something, I give it away. It's just simple

fact of the matter. I don't know how many times we've looked for something

around. I been looking for them, saying, hey, pastor, do

you know where so and so is? And I look at him and I

say, oh, yeah, I gave it away. And I say,

when we use that, we need that, I say yeah, but they

needed it more. Hey pastor, where are those microphones? Say? Oh?

I gave them to a church plan. Where's that old soundboard? Oh?

I gave it away. Trust me, you don't want to leave your

stuff sitting around in this building. I will give it away because I just

slanted towards general. It's not something that listen and I'm not tooting my own

hoard. It's just that is a spiritual gift, and that's just something that

comes very easy to me. Doesn't make me more spiritual. It just means

that that's just a particular spiritual gift that God has put in me and given

me so many times. I walk in Kathy and Connie's office and they pretend

like I'm not standing there for like five minutes. I'll walk in and They'll

just talk to each other like I'm not in the room because they know I'm

about to say, Hey, how much money is in the mission's account?

Can we And then they start Kathy looks like she's having an asthma attack.

I mean, you know it's because here's the reality. And I want you

guys to understand this. When it comes to giving, we're a small portion

of the Kingdom of God, and it's our responsibility to not maximize our reach

on the face of the planet, but to maximize God's reach on the face

of the planet. So that means, if God asks us to give everything

away, we'll give everything away, and we will rejoice and smile doing it.

Amen. And in this parable of the talents, the Master sows into

these people, he gives them a responsibility, and it says, each according

to his own ability. We all have different abilities. We're all gifted differently

and wired differently. And he looked at them and he saw their ability into

one. He gave five to one. He gave two to one. He

gave one and he said, listen, here is this is the money that

I'm in trusting you. And he went away. And it says the one

who had five talents took it. We don't know how he did it,

but we know that he went and he took those five talents, he invested,

he sold stuff. I don't know what he did, but he turned

those five talents into ten talents. The one that had two, he took

those two and he went and invested or he sold stuff. I don't know

how he did it, but he turned those two into four. And then

the one that he gave one too. Now, first of all, we

can tell right way that the master didn't have a whole lot of confidence in

his ability to multiply because he only gave him one and he took that one

and he went and he hid it in the sand. I know how he

did that. He dug a hole and he put dirt over the top of

it. Anybody can dig a hole put dirt over the top of it,

and most of us that's what we do. That's that's our financial process and

program. We just put it in the ground and we pushed some dirt over

it, and we pretend like it's not there until we need it. And

then the master comes back and he starts having a conversation and the one that

had five that turned it into ten comes. He says, well done,

my good and faithful servant. I've made you rule over a little. I'm

gonna make you ruler over much. Dude was happy. Then he had the

one that had two turned it into four. He said, listen, I

made your rule over a little. Now I'm gonna make your rule over much.

Well, no, my good and faithful servant, go your way.

And then the guy that has won he comes. He says, listen,

I knew you were a hard man. I knew you were a man who

reap where you didn't sow. I know what I know you. So here's

your quarter. And he said, what that got to five? Mauty ten?

I got to two mauty four. You bring him one? Well,

yeah, but I didn't lose it. They lose it. And he said,

oh, you're a slothful and wicked servant. And he took the one

and he gave it to the one who had ten. Because the Kingdom of

God is a progressive kingdom. God never changes He is the same always,

but his kingdom is progressive in the sense that the there's always more people to

reach and there's always more ministry to be done, and he relies on us

to be wise with our finances so that we can multiply those finances so that

we can sow into the kingdom. That seed goes into the ground, the

harvest comes back for us to enjoy, but the seed goes out and helps

us do ministry around the world. Amen. So if we look at this,

it's God's plan for increase to happen in our lives. But so many

times we think that all we're supposed to do is just stay alive and that

God is going to bring the increase. But the reality is He gives us

the initial investment and that he wants us to do the things necessary to increase

that investment. He gave you favor, and he gave you that job.

Somebody said thank you Lord for their job. Listen, I don't get very

many thank yous when I talk about he gave you a job. He gave

you a job, So go in a little early and work a little late

and earn a raise. Y'all don't like this kind of teaching. Do you

yea, y'all don't like that. Don't just expect cost of living adjustment.

Make yourself invaluable, because that's the Kingdom way. When your boss sits back

and assesses the organization that you're part of, be so valuable that they look

and they can pinpoint you as the reason business is good. Live those Christian

principles so that the people around you like you. Your desk in the midst

of all those cubicles should be the one everybody comes by and tries to make

eye contact with you because you're encouraging. If your desk is the one nobody

comes by, it's cause nobody likes you. You think, oh, I'm

just so focused on work. Now they don't like you. Guess who else?

Don't like you? Your boss, because you may get the work done,

but you are not contributing to the atmosphere of growth. And so live

those principles. Beyond clocking in at the right time and clocking out, and

clocking in at the right time and clocking out at the right time, master

those principles of increase in your lives so that the initial depot that he makes

in your life has a return on his original investment, but it goes beyond

that because there are some supernatural principles that are also in play in increase in

our lives. And now we're going to make the mandatory visit when we talk

about giving. Do you know that? I think it's actually a law that

if you talk about giving as a preacher, you have to use Malachi chapter

three. And I don't want to go to giving jail. So we're gonna

go to Malachi chapter three right now. Amen. I think it's just a

rule. So we're gonna get it out of the way, and we're not

gonna go back there again during this series. Malachi chapter three, verse eight,

Will a man rob God? You know I can appreciate several sermons right

there. Raise your hand. If you woke up this morning and said,

I want to rob God, anybody I want to see if I can get

away with it. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me?

But you say, in what way have we robbed you? In tithes

and offerings? You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me

even this whole nation. We're about to find out what the curse is.

Okay, We're about to find out what the curse is. But when we

read that, our minds immediately say, well, why would God curse me?

Why would God put a curse on me? Why? I thought he

was a loving and kind God. He is a loving and kind God.

And God did not say that he is cursing you. Do not say you've

robbed me and ties an offering, So I'm placing a curse on you.

He says that you have brought yourself under a curse. A curse is the

opposite of blessing. God's desire is blessing. Anything other than blessing is not

God and a curse. So he says, you're not operating in the principles

that I've given you, so by doing that, you are operating under a

curse. You've brought yourself under a curse. And we often think that it's

some kind of hoodo mojo magic and somebody casts this thing. But a lot

of times we just make bad decisions, come on somebody, and we put

ourselves under a curse the absence of blessing. Don't think of curse as just

some magical, mystical thing. It can be. It can be, but

it's also just living in the absence of blessing. That's a curse. Sickness

is a curse because it's the opposite and absence of health, poverty, absence

of prosperity, stress, worry, anxiety, the opposite of peace. It's

the opposite manifestation of God's desir and will for our lives. So when he

says you're under a curse, he's about to go, and he's about to

tell you the standard operation that believers should have happening in their lives when they

line up and we get the giving portion right. He says, for your

curse with the first, because you've robbed me even this whole nation. Then

he says, bring all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be

food in my house. And try me now in this, says the Lord

of Hosts. If I'll not open for you the windows of heaven and pour

out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

Let's break that down for a second. This phrase open the windows of

heaven. And in my mind when I first when I first heard this,

I had this vision of, like you know, the angels from the paintings,

the little curly blonde headed babies, with a diaper and wings, and

they're sitting there and they're throwing a hundred dollars bills out of a window.

Woo. That's in my mind. I was like, yeah, I like,

give me some more of that, right, I'm signing up for that.

But this phrase windows of heaven, it's only used five times in scripts.

Sure this is one of them. The other four times it's used directly

in relationship to rain. And according to the laws of Biblical interpretation, it's

fancy phrase I learned in Bible College, Come on somebody, which means if

it If it works this way four times one time is not a standalone way

to interpret that. If it means rain four times, most likely most often

means rain the fifth time as well. The first two times it's mentioned,

it's Noah's ark. God opened the windows of heaven. The rain came,

He closed the windows of heaven. The earth dried up. Then when God

told the prophet to go and pronounce a draft, it said a drought.

It says he closed the windows of heaven. Then he saw a cloud the

size of a man's hand. God opened the windows of heaven, and it

began to rain. So, if it means rain those four times, it

means rain here too. It's a supernatural rain that waters the ground to sow

in, because no one wants to sow and grow in a drought. Because

money is referred to in scripture as seed, it is seed that produces a

harvest. So it is raining and it is saturating and soaking the ground to

prepare the ground to receive seed. How many of you raise your hand if

you grow anything and have maybe the first time you grew something, you took

some little seed trays and you put potting soil in it, and you put

a seed in there, and you covered it up and you set it on

a window seal, and nothing happened. Because seed does not germinate without rain.

It will not germinate without moisture. So if if you're mad at God

because every time the black bucket comes around, you throw five dollars in but

nothing is happening for you, it's because you're sowing in a drought. It's

because there is no tithe which prepares the soul to germinate, and once germination

happens, continue in the tithing process, water happens and causes that seed to

grow. So you're living under the curse of drought Number one. If you

are not tithing, do it if you want to. But I want you

to be successful in life. I want you to be a successful kingdom citizen.

So this is something you need to understand and you need to implement.

I do not have a deal with our board that if giving increases during this

sermon series, my salary also increases. I don't get a cut. Come

on, somebody speaking of cuts. Anytime a cut is made, I take

the first one, because this church is not my supplier. God is my

supplier. Amen. If I will not open the windows of Heaven and pour

out for you such a blessing, that will not be room ufters is everybody?

Okay? Say amen? Everybody tracking with me. This is a little

more teachy than I normally do. But we gotta get there so I can

preach later verse eleven. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,

so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the

vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord of

Hosts. He says, here's here is a here is the curse you live

under when you don't tithe, and you don't give offerings. Is that the

devourer comes along and he eats your harvest. He eats what was intended for

you, but because you brought yourself under the curse, he eats it before

you can get it. That untimely thing that always happens just when you feel

like you're gonna get ahead. Come on, somebody, I mean, it

feels like that. Now this is not the case because next week paycheck is

not the one that's gonna put you over the top. Last week's would have

been Amen. It's the same amount every week. But we feel like we're

about to get ahead, and then something happens, and it usually doesn't bring

us to zero. It usually brings us into debt. Debt is the opposite

of abundance because it means we're no longer starting at zero. Our need gap

has now gotten bigger because now I have to get here just to get to

zero. So when the devourer comes and that thing happens and it robs us,

that's part of the curse. And you're like, yeah, but I

tithe every week and bad things still happen. Yeah, because you're alive.

But here's the difference. When bad things happen. The Lord brings a blessing

to bring you back to even one hundred percent of the time. One hundred

percent of the time, that is the advantage of living and blessing and not

curse. So he rebukes the diviral on your behalf. And then it says

that your vine always bears fruit because it causes alignment in your life. And

you don't plant things out of season. You're not trying to plant squash in

December and get it to grow. There's divine alignment because most of us,

I know you're not going to admit this with a show of hands, but

most of us here have no idea where our money goes over the course of

a month. I should think about that for just a second. You're like,

oh, yeah, pay my house payment, I pay my car payment,

I pay my cell phone bill, I pay Netflix, and I pay

Hulu, and I pay YouTube TV, and I pay Then you add all

those things together, where's the other thousand dollars? We don't know because we

don't operate on any kind of plan, so we don't know what we're sowing.

We don't know what the harvest is supposed to be because we don't have

a plan. There's no alignment in our lives. But if I have to

write that first check every single week or every single month for that ten percent

for my tith, I have to put some planning ahead so that I make

sure I can make it till next Monday. Come on, somebody, and

it forces us to have some divine alignment. So when we get to rent

day. Come on, Now, when we get to rent day, we're

not scraping trying to find it because we've already had to do a little pre

planning. Wow, it's amazing that God would ask us to plan. He

tells us to sow seed, to put it in a row, to know

what's in that row, and know what's in that row so that our harvest

is not mistaken for a weed, and we dig it up. There's some

intention behind it, And tithing causes us to be intentional with our money because

we know that that is the first thing, and if that's the first thing,

something else important has to be the second thing, and then something else

has to be the third thing. And suddenly our needs are being met,

and our wants are still able to be met because our wants come under alignment

behind our needs. But most of us by our wants and finance our needs.

We paid for our wants. We go to the movie theater and we

put on our debit card, but we put our car payment on our credit

card. We put our groceries on credit, and we pay cash for whatever

convenience you for Starbucks. That's completely out of alignment. So bringing some alignment

to our lives causes the vine to always be ripe with fruit and to always

produce. Everybody's still tracking. He says, it shall never bear it shall

never fail to bear fruit in your field, and the fruit of the ground

will not be destroyed when we don't operate in tithes and offerings. That is

the curse that we're under. We operate like everybody else. We operate just

trying to understand why bad things happen, Why there's always inconveniences, why there's

this, why there's that, Because there's no purpose in our lives and there's

no heart attachment that is created when we give God our very best. Now,

let's go ahead and address that for a second. He did not criticize

them for not giving sounds like it right, But when you read Malachi chapter

one, that's why it's important to read the whole thing and not just pick

out a few verses. This is what he says. He says, Listen,

you're coming into the temple and you're offering blind sheep. You're offering lame

go You're offering lame and blemished offerings. It wasn't that they weren't giving.

It was that they were not giving their very best. Because God deserves our

very best. It already belongs to him. The Bible says, he owns

the cattle on a thousand hills and all the taters underneath. He owns it

all. And he says, I just want this relationship with you where I

trade you a dollar for a dime. Think about that. I'll give you

a dollar if you give me a dime. Anybody in this place right now

that will make that deal with me meet me in the furrier and I will

give you dimes all day long. That's a pretty good deal. And he

says, here's the here is the greatest thing. I'm gonna bring divine alignment

into your life. I'm gonna rebuke the devour so that you operate at an

advantage over everybody else in the world that doesn't understand and master this concept.

Wow, that's what giving does. Giving positions us so we can be the

one who gets five and turns it into ten, so that we can be

the one who gets two and turns it into four, so that we're not

the one who has one and just tries with all of their might and all

of their energy to hold on to the one. There is some alignment and

some wisdom of finance that comes as a result of faithful giving. And he

thinks that this principle is so important that he also applies this principle to our

walk of salvation. Bands you can come and get ready. He he makes

this same principle of giving when it comes to salvation. In Romans chapter eleven,

verse sixteen, it says, for if the first fruit is holy,

that very first that tithe, that thing that is set apart before everything else,

the best Jesus. Jesus is the first fruit born of many brethren,

the first that came from resurrection, that led to resurrection our salvation experience.

He says, for if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also

holy, and if the root is holy, so were the branches. Jesus

tells us in another teaching that we are the branches. He is the vine.

He's screaming to us that salvation is simply a contractural exchange of super natural

funds. It's called redemption. He redeems us. He has a ticket and

he trades it in for your life. And because he was the first fruit

that came out of the ground, when we follow him, we also live

in resurrection, just like he lived in resurrection. That we don't have to

be defeated. We don't have to be broken, we don't have to be

busted, we don't have to live in fear. We don't have to live

in hurt and anxiety and shame and all those things. Because Jesus was holy,

we can also be holy. Because he led the way and he made

the exchange for your life. You didn't have the ability to pay the debt

you owed. Jesus didn't know the debt, so he came and paid yours.

And we walked through life and we think we have no value. There

are people in this room right now that you think you have no value,

that you're worthless. There's no hope, there's no destiny, there's no future.

But the creator of everything, I thought you were so valuable that he

used his life to redeem you. Let me put it in financial terms for

you. He took a ten dollar bill and he bought something worth ten dollars

with it. He exchanged his life because he holds your life at the same

value as his. He said, when I look at humanity, I trade

my life because those men, those women, those boys, those girls that

are gathered in Oakwood, Georgia at Cornerstone Tabernacle, each one of them,

their lives are as valuable as my life. And he is so valuable that

he paves his streets with the things we work all week to get. He

paves this street with the gold that we so desire. The King of Kings

traded his life for you. Watch because he knows when he makes the investment,

that there will be a return on the investment. The Bible says that

Jesus looked, and he says, greater signs than these, shall you do?

Says, when I make the investment in you, I'm multiplying my reach.

The same spirit that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead lives on the

inside of you. Not to a certain measure, but the same spirit,

the same power that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead. So one,

two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine,

Just in those first few rows, like fifteen times more pious where than was

in the tomb that day. This place is a virtual power plant of God's

potential miracles because he made an exchange. Everybody's staying with me all over the

building. And if you're here today and you feel like your worth is diminished,

you feel like that that your second class. You feel like nobody can

love me, you're full of shame and guilt all the time. That's not

how Jesus sees you. He sees you worth investing his life in Jesus.

Jesus sees that, not some weirdo down the street. Jesus, and he

is calling you today to exchange the herd and the brokenness, and the guilt

and the shame and the mad decisions and all of those things for his worth.

What a deal, What an opportunity you have this morning. Listen,

if you feel broken, if you feel shamed, this altar call for you.

But also if you're here and you've never asked Jesus to be the lord

of your life, to forgive you of your sins, to wash you clean,

He'll make that exchange right now, This morning, and he'll take all

of your hurt, all of your brokenness, and all of your dysfunction,

and he'll trade it for his peace and his strength and his power and his

wisdom right here in this altar this morning, and all you have to do

is step out and come. So, if you're here today and you feel

broken less than on the count of three, step out and come. I

don't care if you blew it and made the biggest mistake of your life last

night, doesn't matter. And if you're here and you've never asked Jesus to

be your lord, I'm gonna count to three. In just a moment,

I'm gonna ask you to come as well. For alter team will go ahead

and get in place, with nobody looking around, but with every eye open,

I'm gonna count to three. If you're here and you want to find

that worth this morning, you want to be saved from your sin this morning,

change your destination from hell to heaven, step out and move. When

I count to three, one, two, three, step out and move

right now. Come on, where are you? Where are you? You're

not less than, you're not second class, you're not broken beyond prepare there's

value in you. The world needs you. Jesus needs you to live in

fullness so that he can maximize his work on the face of the planet.

Come on, come on, come on, Pastor Clay. Mmmmm