Miracle Offering

Speaker 5: Well, hey, Restoration Church.

Good morning.

Today is the miracle offering and thousands and thousands and thousands

of dollars will be received to use, to be used for projects around the world.

If we haven't met before, my name is Nate Gagne and if it's your first time here

today, I'll explain what's going on and, uh, and allow you to, uh, participate

at the level you're comfortable with.

But, Restoration Church, we give our tithe, we give our

giving to our local church.

We also give beyond that to something called Kingdom Builders, which is, uh,

which is something that goes toward three types of projects, and already this year,

We've, uh, together, our church, we've given over 100, 000 to Kingdom Builders,

and we're believing that miraculously, we may be able to hit 250, 000 this year.

And these projects that we give to are for local church expansion, to help

churches reach more people, to help our church even reach more people.

Global missions projects.

We have partners around the world that we've, that we've been helping

over the years and that we helped this year and then to help develop

future Christian leaders that, uh, you know, it doesn't end with us.

We won't be the last generation to follow the Lord, and it has been

an amazing and impactful year.

They're just going through, uh, you Uh, these pictures are a, uh, scroll of,

that feels kind of far away, a scroll of, of, uh, just different projects

that have happened through the year.

We've had teams in Tanzania, teams in, in Cuba, and we've done things, it's

been an amazing and impactful year.

Will you put your hands together for everything that

has happened already this year.

We have projects that we're still hoping to do this year, ways

that we're still trying to help.

Uh, those are, uh, helping our teenagers with their Kingdom Builders

projects of Speed the Light and BGMC.

And these are projects that help missionaries and the

gospel around the world.

A couple weeks ago you heard from Mike Bartell of Free International.

Our giving from Miracle Offering, um, uh, will, will complete that

project of what we've committed to give to Free International.

And then also, AG Foster Care Network and WorldServe are a couple other

initiatives that we haven't funded yet that we'll be funding this, um, in the

next couple weeks as we give today.

Uh, as the, as the money comes in, we'll be, um, when we can complete a project,

we'll be mailing out a check the same day.

It has been amazing, uh, an amazing year, impactful year.

For those of you who are, uh, part of the church, I have been asking you

and your location pastors have been asking you over the last few weeks

to pray to God and to ask Him this question, what do you want me to give?

And it's nothing that in our church where we tell you what to give, we

suggest to you an amount, we look at what you're giving, we're like,

come on, you can do more than that.

Uh, we're asking you to ask God.

If you're here and you follow Jesus, then this would be an area where you'd

say hey, I'll follow you in this area to Jesus What do you want me to do?

How do you want me to participate?

What's the level that you've asked and I and I I trust that you brought your gift

this morning that as you as you've asked God that as he's spoken to you about that

that you came prepared, but it's possible Like, that you're like me, and you forget.

And like, I didn't know that was today.

The other day, I didn't know we were in November.

They said something about November.

I'm like, oh, that's quite a ways away.

They're like, no, it's literally November.

And, uh, I'm like, what, what happened?

Someone call my doctor.

Um, now, they, there are gifts that have already started coming in online

today, and so you can give through the Church Centre app on your phone.

You can give through the website.

I know people are doing that.

Um, The one thing that I would ask is before you click enter

on the app or before you write something on your envelope to make

sure that you have prayed first.

God, what do you want me to do?

And if you're here for the first time or, um, you're, you're new to the church in

the last couple of months, so you've never done, uh, been a part of this before, once

a year, we receive the miracle offering.

Once a year.

We, uh, we encourage everybody to participate, and once a year, instead

of, um, giving at our seats or giving online, we have everybody come up

to the front and give in person.

So, if it's your first time here, a couple things you can do, alright?

So, you know first off, when everybody stands up and comes forward, if

you want to, pick up an empty envelope, walk forward and put it in.

No one's gonna double check, like, hey, you know, what did you put?

No one's gonna check.

Um, no one's, we don't want you to feel awkward.

And so you don't have to participate.

It's your first time here.

You don't know us, you may not want to give.

But it is possible that you're here, and you do follow Jesus already.

So it would be something that you could ask him.

Hey, it's my first time here But god, is there anything you want me

to do and you are welcome to give we're not going to be like Hey,

you want to help move the gospel?

Uh, you want to help jesus to be known around the world?

Sorry, we'd like to get you to know you first It's kind of like I don't

know if you realize this back in the golden days If someone wanted to

put money in your bank account, they just could Nowadays, they won't let

you unless you have to unless you have like proof Which is so stupid.

If someone wants to put money in my account, let them.

They don't need my verification and my approval.

Anyway, so anyway, we're not like the banks.

We will, um, receive what you want to invest into the kingdom of God.

And, uh, it is going to be a good time that we're together.

And today I'm going to share with you a couple of testimonies because you've got

to know that what we're, when we give.

It has absolutely nothing to do with our own benefit.

It's not about, it's not about whether we, we, what we feel.

It's not about, um, uh, it's not about ourselves.

It is about the kingdom of God.

And this is something that we might hit later on through our message.

When we give it something that is spiritual, it And it is a specific

way God wants to move in our life.

We know that God wants us to pray and talk with Him.

And that something happens in that.

It's not just about saying a recited prayer.

It's a relationship that's built.

He speaks to us.

He guides us through that.

He transforms us through that.

And we should pray.

We know that as we read the Bible, He speaks to us.

He guides us.

He protects to us.

He protects us.

He aligns us with his will.

And so we pray, not just because we have to do a checklist, but because

God wants to do something in us.

And giving is a similar way.

We don't just do it because we have to do it.

We know that when we give, He speaks to us.

He guides us.

He aligns us.

He transforms us as we do that.

So I'm going to share a couple of testimonies with you.

But the first I want to share with you is a video.

And it's a testimony from someone at the Plymouth location.

Her name is Brenna.

You likely, uh, some of you have met her.

She leads the youth, the youth group at the Plymouth location.

And, uh, I want you to hear from her and hear her testimony

that came out of last year.

Speaker 6: My name is Brenna and I attend the Plymouth location here at Restoration.

And as we step into our season of Kingdom Builders and Miracle Offering,

I wanted to share with you guys what we're So this is a work that God

moved in my life this time last year.

Um, so this time last year I was deployed and I was stepping out of my comfort

zone the most I ever have in my faith throughout that year of deployment.

And I was attending a church down in Texas and I was attending their equivalent of

circles and also trying to lead a ministry within my unit and lead a Bible study,

which are all things that were already Out of my comfort zone to put myself

really out there like that and through this season god was Kind of showing me

and telling me that there was something more that he needed and it was asking

of me to trust him more so I threw some prayer and through The miracle offering

sunday that I was tuning into online.

God really worked out in me that my giving and my tithing was

inconsistent and something that I really needed to trust God with,

which was hard for me to do before.

I was 20 years old working part time in college.

It felt like paycheck to paycheck, needing everything that I had.

So to really trust God through that process, um, through the

prayer that Sunday, God was speaking to me a specific number.

And I thought it was a little outrageous and it was really uncomfortable at first,

but I just decided right then and there that I was going to start my giving

with a bang and just trust God with it, knowing that it's going to his kingdom.

Um, so I whipped out my phone and I put 3, 000 into the miracle offering

and just decided from then on that I was going to continue to tithe.

Um, through that, I realized with the amount that I added to tithes that

week to kind of backtrack the last few months and that 3, 000, it had

been exactly 10 percent of what I had.

And that's when I realized that my fluctuating that 10 percent mattered to

God and it mattered to my faith and my trust in him So I decided from then on

that that 10 percent really is important to God and it really is important to our

trust in God and since then God has been Moving in my life working in my life

giving me opportunities to speak The gospel and to share about my faith and my

trust and to utilize that for his kingdom.

So if any of you guys are In that position where you're worried about it, or you're

not really sure how God is going to use you I just encourage you to just start

giving now and and prayerfully Talk to God through it and let him work that in

you and he will use you as a testimony In your family and in your friends and

in your life To grow his kingdom and and he really cares about your trust in

him in that so I encourage you to give and I May God bless you through that

Speaker 5: It's it easy.

Yeah, we put our hands together for Brenna.

Brenna.

We're proud of you.

And,

uh, thank you for, uh, being a part of our church.

I think that's one of the beautiful things of church online that if you're

deployed or, or things like that, like Brenna was still able to participate and

be a part of the church through it all.

And church online was a kingdom builders project.

One of our very first kingdom builders project.

In 2018 to get that started and to launch that Brenna, you, um, if you've never

met her in person, you may remember back from a number of months ago when

we shared a story, uh, from our trip in Tanzania that Brenna went on and she

had had a vision and prayer previously and then found herself standing in the

exact same spot that she had dreamed of.

And shared her faith with, uh, a bunch of children that had gathered around to, uh,

to stare at the white people and a bunch of them gave their life to Jesus and came

to church with us that night and were able to begin their journey following Jesus.

That was Brenna.

And, uh, she, obviously God's done a lot in her life, you know, the

previous, prior to the miracle offering, but, but then since then.

As she communicated with you, and I, I, I want to make sure, right,

because sometimes if you don't know me, you don't know our church, you

could feel, I don't know, I don't know, this makes me uncomfortable,

money makes me uncomfortable, but to hear testimonies from people who are

in our church, I, I, I want you to hear that because I want you to know

that what we're sharing, um, is true.

And also for you to know what we're sharing we practice.

My wife and I both grew up in this church and both tithe as teenagers and tithe

as adults and give to kingdom builders.

So if you've got your bibles open up to second kings chapter 14 and we're going

2 Kings 14 · chapter mention

to read through This scripture together this portion of the scripture together.

This is a true story that's been recorded And it's miraculous.

It's amazing.

It's uh hard for us to to believe that it happened Um, but there's

something to learn here from there's something to understand about god.

God is the same He doesn't change.

He's the same yesterday today and forever and so his ability to do

miracles in The Bible is proven true.

He's able to do those miracles now.

His ability to provide for this widow who's in deep financial trouble,

it tells us and shows us, hey, if he did it then, he can do it now.

And there are testimonies in the room of people that God has done great things

for, that He's helped them in a great way.

So 2 Kings chapter 4, and I'm going to start reading at verse number 1.

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

You can Use your Bible app to follow along or Google it You'll also have it

here on the screen But I've got to tell you this before we move forward if you

don't have a Bible We want to give you one for free And so if you leave the

service today go to the new here Welcome the welcome area and we'll give you a

Bible make sure you write your name in it because we give away a lot Of Bibles

that look exactly the same and write your name in it But we want you to have

a copy of God's Word So, verse number one says, One day, the widow of a member of

the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, My husband who served you is

dead, and you know how he feared the Lord.

But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.

Just pause right there, and can you place yourself in that situation?

I mean, this is, um, this is several thousand years ago that this has happened,

but here's a lady, her husband was a man of God, followed God, and now she's

being harassed by creditors, and their payment that they're gonna say, it's

not like we're gonna, um, we're gonna, uh, take money out of your bank account,

or we're gonna seize your property, no, we're gonna seize your children,

and they're gonna become our slaves.

It's deep pressure, deep problem, deep pain.

Don't miss that as you're reading that.

Understand that what she's experiencing is horrible.

It's horrifying.

It's scary.

It's hard.

So Elisha says in verse number two, what can I do to help you?

He's not sure.

He's thinking.

He's processing.

What can I do to help you?

He says, tell me, what do you have in the house?

What do you have at home?

This lady who's, I mean she has nothing, she says, I have nothing

at all except a flask of olive oil.

And Elisha said, and I'm sure he was thinking about it, I'm sure

it clicked for him, he said, here's what you're going to do.

Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and your neighbors,

then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you.

Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each

one aside when it is filled.

So, she did as she was told.

Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.

Soon, every container was filled to the brim.

Bring me another jar, she said to one of her sons.

There aren't any more, he told her.

And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

She went to go find Elijah, and when she told the man of God what had happened,

he said to her, Now sell the olive oil and pay your debt, and you and your

sons can live on what is left over.

It was a financial miracle.

It was a miracle.

I mean, obviously it was a supernatural, uh, creative miracle.

And by creative miracle, we say God creates something that does not exist.

It's a creative miracle.

He created something.

It was also a financial miracle.

It's a provision.

Where, when they were pressed against the wall and it seemed like there was nothing

could happen, God was able to do something they couldn't even have imagined.

We don't know this lady's need, but she's in, this lady's name,

but she's in deep financial need.

She's grieving of the loss of her husband, fearful that she'd lose her sons,

fearful she's gonna be without anything.

And I think for some of us, we may have got to the place where, like,

what is the point of serving God?

I don't know.

What is the point of following God?

My husband feared the Lord.

My husband trained with the prophet.

My husband did everything God told him to do.

Now he's dead.

Now his legacy is we lost everything.

Why would we even follow God?

If you are in a place of desperation, stuck in a place of desperation,

stuck in a place of loss.

Stuck in a pace place of pain There's something to learn from this lady

She didn't leave the lord when problems came no she

continued to pursue the lord and

I Have this in my notes, but it kind of is like a word.

It's kind of like a rap or a spoken word So i'm just going to share it with you

Don't be separate when you're desperate.

Cling to the king through everything.

When it is getting tough, don't say, God, where are you?

What a waste!

How could you?

I thought you No, when things get back and they will for every single one of us

difficult things Happen to every single one of us whether we've made a decision

to follow the Lord or not whether we tithe or we haven't Things will happen.

There'll be difficult things that happen, but don't be

separate when you're desperate.

Oh, it's so bad It's so bad God.

How could you and then say well, I'm not gonna follow you anymore

No cling to him.

She said prophet, you know my husband.

He feared the Lord.

We are in bad in a bad place

She was saying it but but I if I understand anything if I've

learned anything if I've seen anything God can do a miracle

I want to talk to you from this passage of Scripture, some things to learn.

Some, some principles to apply from our life.

Just things to live by.

Things to understand.

Things that, uh, that we want to understand about God

that, that seem to be true.

Not every, I, there's not really another miracle of, of pouring oil.

It didn't happen in the New Testament.

We don't hear too many testimonies like that.

But the principle behind it.

What is, what is it that God does?

How is it that God functions that we can learn?

Here's the first thing.

God wants to use what you have right now.

Elisha asked, What do you, uh, what do you have in your house?

What's there?

She said, I've got some, I've got a flask of olive oil.

And, the, the thing for us, God.

God is not expecting you to do anything with what you don't already have.

The, the, the miracle offering.

You know, there, there'll be some that God will speak maybe this year,

maybe in the years ahead to give half a million, a million to give even

more than that to kingdom builders.

But he's not asking me that, at least not yet.

Because he can ask for it and I can liquidate everything I have.

We're not going to get to a million dollars yet.

So he's not going to ask me for something that I don't have, but he

often is going to use what I have.

He's going to ask for something I already have.

And so when we say, God, what do you want to do through me?

God, what do you want me to give?

What do you want me to do with the things that you've given me?

What are you asking of me?

He's going to look around.

He's like, well, what's in, hey, there's some olive oil.

Hey, there's some knitting needles.

Hey, there's some money.

He, he, he looks at what we have and he wants us to use what we have.

And a thing about this is that God, when he asks, when he invites us to

experience impossible things, he, he asks us to do that through possible ways.

And he doesn't ask us, hey, if you want to experience impossible things, You

better learn how to fly an aircraft.

Because the only way that you'll be able to experience me is if

you've got a pilot's license and you're up at 35, 000 feet.

And you're like, well, we're all eliminated.

There's like two people in the church who can do that.

The rest of us, we're out of luck.

He doesn't ask us to do impossible things in impossible ways.

He's, what do you have?

Alright, well, if you will place before me what you have, I can do

impossible things through that.

I remember many, many years ago, um, one of my, one of my friends at the

church, or maybe he's not my friend anymore, well, I'll have to ask him.

Um, but he said to me this, he was really excited, he, he had a, he had a, he had

a job, but he had applied for a new job that was like, uh, more than double his

current pay, and so he was wound up, he was, he was, he was well paid at the time,

and he's like, man, if I get this job, oh man, and he, I remember him saying,

he, and it was a bunch of us around, he said, if I get this job, I'll be the

largest tither in the church, and he was so excited, And I asked him this question.

I wasn't trying to be rude, but I said, oh, do you tithe now?

And it was silence.

And he was thinking about what I could do if I had what I did not

have instead of thinking about what can God do with what I have now.

God's not concerned with us giving five million dollars away a year.

He's concerned with us being obedient to what he tells us to do.

God's not concerned.

If you, God spoke to you and he said, give five dollars, he's concerned with

you being obedient to that five dollars.

He's not comparing you to what anybody else gives in the room, what

anybody else gives in the church, what anybody else gives in another church.

He's saying, will you do, uh, what I've asked you to do?

Will you be obedient with what you have?

Because if you'll let me use what you have I can do impossible things through that.

For each of us.

It's the journey we're on.

It's not a comparison journey with anybody else.

It is me and Jesus, you and Jesus.

What do you want?

And then being obedient to him.

God is not limited at all by what you have right now.

He is not limited at all by what you have now.

Here's the second.

principle here.

God stretches us through his instructions.

He asks us to do something and it's possible, it is possible for us to do

it, but it is not necessarily comfortable for us to do it or even easy for us

to do it because it can really be humbling sometimes to be obedient to

what God's doing or because it's Because we can't figure out how A leads to Z.

God, I need a miracle.

What you're asking me to do, this is stupid.

No, it's not.

God, I don't think this is gonna work out this way.

And she was told by Elisha, pour your little jar into many larger empty jars.

I'm pouring this out.

Sure, it's possible.

But it's through that instruction of saying, I'm going to waste my

time pouring this out into all that.

Pouring this out into all of these.

And it's so simple.

It's so stupid that some would say, that's not going to make a difference.

Why is God just giving me busy work?

And they'll walk away from doing the easiest thing possible.

In her mind, it's like, well, that will take me about a minute

and a half to pour that out.

But, some people wouldn't even take the minute and a half.

To see what would happen.

God, some of you, God, what do you want to do through me?

Well, that doesn't make any sense.

Uh, well, well, it won't take a minute and a half.

If it was 5, 50, 5, 000, 50, 000, 500, 000.

I just, I'm not sure that it was actually God that wanted me to do that.

And they wouldn't pour out the little bit that they have.

There's a couple, uh, instances in Scripture.

Well, there's a lot of instances in Scripture, but two that you may

be familiar of or you've heard of before, or are easy to explain.

There's a group of 5, 000 men needed to be fed.

Jesus said to his disciples, Hey, take that little boy's

lunch and feed everybody with it.

And they looked at each other, and kind of looked back at Jesus, and they

said, You just want to clarify Jesus?

What do you want us to do for you?

Take that little boy's lunch and feed everybody with it.

And the, the instruction stretched them, not because it was difficult, but because

it didn't make any freaking sense.

I do not get this.

Lord God, I do not understand how this instruction is

going to lead to the miracle.

I need to the result.

I mean, I don't get it.

And because we don't get it, we don't do it.

But the people in scripture who saw the miracles did what they did not get

and they got what they did not have.

5, 000 people ate that day.

There are 12 baskets of food left over.

Because God can take the little that we have and do impossible things with it.

God is, uh, and God wants us to obey Him even when we can't understand.

In the Old Testament, there's a story of a man that had leprosy, and he went, uh,

he went to say, Hey, I need a healing.

I don't, you know, I'm coming from a faraway land.

We worship other gods, but I heard your god can heal.

I need a healing.

And the prophet told him, Oh, a healing, healing, healing, here's what you can do.

Go dip yourself in that river seven times.

Do that.

You'll get the healing.

And Naaman, Naaman experienced what you probably experienced.

Like, what a waste of time.

Who told me to go see that idiot?

Stupid.

Stupid.

Bathe in a river seven times?

Stupid.

And he's freaking out.

He's, he's angry.

Why would God, why would it be so stupid?

And then one of his servants was like, hey, I don't try to be rude here,

but he just said dip seven times.

We're passing, it's not even out of our way, we're passing right by it.

Why don't you just dip seven times and then that, that way you at least know

how much of an idiot that guy was.

And then, and then we'll go back and, Yeah, I dipped seven times, only thing I

got was leeches, and you can share that.

And so, Neiman's like, you're right, you're right, it's easy enough to do it,

I think it's stupid, it's ridiculous, but I'll dip seven times, one, two, when I dip

you dip, three, four, five, seven times, comes up, and he's like, I'm healed.

Imagine if he didn't obey.

Imagine.

Imagine if.

He didn't obey.

Here's something I teach my children.

They're still learning it, but I'll teach it to you as well.

When I ask my kids to do something, they're like, why?

Why do I have to do that?

Why should I do that?

Why do you want me to do that?

And I respond with, you can ask me why after you obey.

Do what I've asked you to do first, and then you can ask me why after.

God, or, and, and, and I think the same thing.

God, why do you want me to tithe?

God?

God, why do you want me to share my faith?

God, why do you want me to to worship you?

God, why do you want me to go to church?

Ask why after you obey?

'cause sometimes just the obedience you understand and it makes sense.

Dad, why did you want me to not play in the middle of the road?

They're learning.

Um, Principle number three, God multiplies.

Verse number six, Soon every jar was filled.

A little bit of oil.

Stupid instructions.

But she does it.

And God multiplies what she put in, to then it filled every jar.

Obviously there was a huge miracle there.

But every jar was filled.

You should, I didn't put this in my notes, you should write this down,

you should write this down, write this down, write this down, write

this down, or type it in your notes.

We move, you have the opportunity to move from feeling stupid

for doing it, to feeling stupid that you almost didn't do it.

That's the blessing for you.

This is stupid.

I'm not gonna do this and then you do it and then you feel stupid

like what if I didn't do it?

What would I have missed out on?

Sometimes it's like I feel so stupid to go to that person and ask him to pray

for them And then you're like, hey, I just felt like led to pray for you.

Can I pray for you?

Then they start crying and you walk away like I'm so stupid.

I can't believe I almost didn't pray for them and This is a great

blessing We feel stupid when God asks us to do something like, Okay, let's

feed this lunch to 5, 000 people.

Okay, let's dip in the river seven times.

Okay, let's, let's, um, let's give him a miracle offering.

Okay, let's come forward and let someone put their hands on me and pray for me.

And we feel stupid and awkward.

Listen, that's the enemy trying to keep you from obedience.

God's instructions for us are gonna feel stupid.

They're so easy for us.

But yet it forces our pride to be taken out of the way Because god

wants humble people following him.

God wants to bless humble people god Desires a humble heart For us

in the miracle offering how You know, we each give our part And

somehow it turns into this huge astronomical number That every year we

celebrate, and we can't even believe.

Here's the fourth thing.

God blesses according to our obedience.

This is a principle of the kingdom of God that not everybody understands.

We get jealous of other people.

Oh, they get more.

Oh, they're better looking.

Oh, they get nicer clothes.

Oh, they get to talk on stage all the time.

Oh, they get to go to Pastor Nate's house.

And we're just jealous about everything.

They got healed, mine are not getting healed.

And when we're spending all this time like trying to compare

ourselves with other people and to recognize, first, you're not God.

You don't get to determine what God does and doesn't do.

I don't get to determine that either.

He makes the decisions.

He acts according to His wisdom and His purposes.

I Not mine.

So he does what he wants.

But also to understand, that sometimes, people have had more years of obedience.

They've taken bigger steps of obedience.

And because of that, they've experienced greater blessings from God.

Because those who obey the most, get blessed the most.

This, this lady, only the containers she and her sons collected were filled.

What would happen if they had scoured the land a little bit

further and they found ten more jars?

Ten more jars would have been filled.

What happened if during the, the, the, the feeding of the 5, 000, another

5, 000 people would have showed up?

5, 000 extra people would have been fed.

It's in our obedience that God blesses.

So, those four things.

God wants to use what you have right now.

Don't feel bad about what you have.

Retirement, fixed income.

Low paying job.

Don't you feel bad about what you have.

God can use what you have.

Principle number two, God stretches us through His instructions.

He's not going to tell you to do something that's logical and makes sense every time.

Something that's really easy.

He's going to ask you to do things that don't quite make sense.

So He can know if you're really going to follow Him.

Principle number three, God multiplies.

He takes the little that we have and he does something far beyond possible.

Far beyond what we could imagine is possible.

And principle number four, God blesses according to our obedience.

It is being obedient to God that leads us to the abundant, John 10, 10, the

abundant overflowing life that, that God has for us is by being obedient to Him.

Why am I not blessed in my relationships?

Well, are you following God's word in your relationship?

Why, why am I not blessed in my marriage?

Well, are you following God's Word in your marriage?

Why am I not blessed in my workplace?

Well, are you following God's Word in your workplace?

Why am I not blessed in my finances?

Well, are you following God's Word in your finances?

Why am I not blessed in my health?

Well, are you following God's Word in your health?

So, usually it's not a God problem, it's us problem.

It's a following problem.

We know exactly what to do.

We just don't do it.

It's that same old stupid question, how do I lose weight?

Eat less, move more.

And we're like, I need a different way.

What can you tell me about Ozepic?

I need a different, eat less, move more.

I, there's gotta be a different way.

And I'm not mocking anything.

Just, The simplest instructions that sometimes we don't want to follow.

I want to share with you another testimony from a guy in our church named Bobby.

And, uh, this is from him.

And I want to share this with you.

Bobby writes, I grew up in church and attended Christian schools where

tithing was always talked about.

But it wasn't until I attended Restoration Church that I began to

understand the gift and joy of giving.

To me, tithing always seemed like a chore rather than

something to get excited about.

Similar to going, similar to going to the gym, you know you're supposed to do it,

but it's hard and much easier to avoid.

When Pastor Nate returned from Africa in 2023, He shared a powerful message,

thank you, about the work being done there with Kingdom Builders.

He talked about, uh, giving away a pair of his shoes to Kasim,

who called him Baba or Dad.

It was such a powerful message that brought tears to my eyes and inspired

me to think about the ways I could make an impact, not just locally,

but throughout God's Kingdom.

Watching the Gagne family and all the ways they're impacting our church and

community both locally and overseas has shown me just how much someone

can give when they intentionally and wholeheartedly pursue it.

Being intentional and focused is the best way to attack anything

and giving is no different.

Figuring out your 10 percent tithe and an overall plan for giving

forces you to budget and plan.

Most importantly, it requires you to audit your spending and

look at what you prioritize.

Have you ever added up how much you spend at Dunkin Donuts each year?

Let's be honest, the coffee and donuts aren't even that good.

2023 was the first year our family budgeted and planned our giving

with specific goals and intentions.

We ended up giving more than twice the amount we gave the year before.

This year, for 2024, we made it a goal to give even more.

And we exceeded all of our giving in 2020, 2021, and 2022 combined.

All along the way, God has blessed us in ways we could never imagine.

You can't outgive God.

He closes with this.

In Acts 20, 35, Jesus says, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The impact of Kingdom Builders is eternal, and there is no

greater joy than participating.

Guys, put your hands together for Bobby.

Thank you, Bobby, for sharing your testimony with the church.

Yeah, we didn't, I'm getting myself in trouble.

We didn't pay people to, to give these testimonies here.

Um, no, these are people who want to share about what God has done.

I would like you to grab your, every location, you need to grab

your miracle offering envelopes.

And in a moment, we're going to give, I want to invite, uh, location

pastors to come up at your location.

And, let me ask you, let me answer a question for you.

You may be asking, why would others want to do this?

Why would others want to do this?

You're going to see people excited to give.

Move to give.

You, you, you, you stay around our church long enough.

You're going to hear other testimonies.

You're going to hear people praying to give more.

God, I want to do more.

God, I've got this future goal.

God, I want to do more.

Here's what I'm doing now.

But God, I pray I'd have the ability to do more.

That is so counter culture.

And probably for some, not ever how you've experienced giving in church.

It's like, you were trying to figure out ways.

Is it like the government?

Can I do some things to be able to give less?

People praying that way.

They give because God has done so much in their life.

And they want it to be shared.

God has done so much in our lives.

That we want to do things across the world.

We want to do things in New Hampshire to make a difference and to And

to show Jesus around If you can't give today Don't feel like a slug.

Don't feel Embarrassed.

I just want you to pray that you'll have the ability to give next year

God give me the ability to give next year Miracle Offering is a day when

everybody walks up front, alright?

We, we, what we love is 100 percent participation.

If you're able to move and you're not able to move, you can pass

your gift up with someone else.

We love for 100 percent participation.

And some of you already have given online.

I want you to still move forward and come.

You can write on your envelope, give online.

You can just bring an envelope with you, symbolic of the

gift you gave this morning.

If you aren't prepared to give, write on that.

I'd be ill.

Pastor, pray for me that, uh, that things financially will change and

that we'll be able to, to be people who aren't needing miracles but who can

participate in miracles moving forward.

And then, um, if you, you know, if you're not prepared, you forgot, you,

you can come forward, you can give next week, you can give online after service,

there's other ways to participate.

Everybody, at every location, will you stand to your feet?

Let me, over location, here's what you're going to do, if you can all give

me your eyes so it's not confusing.

You're going to all walk straight across to that aisle,

and then come down that aisle.

That'll, otherwise it'll be a traffic jam, like when Chick fil A opened, alright?

It'll be a complete disaster, but we'll be stuck here for the next three days.

Other locations, do what makes sense, but, is um, the music's going

to start in a moment, so, let me pray, and then we can begin to give.

Jesus, we pray.

These gifts in our hands are like a small jar of olive oil.

It is like a boy's lunch.

It is, in our hands, it does not look like it's going to be enough

to make a difference in the world.

But we know, Lord God, what you do.

You multiply.

And what is going to happen today?

God, every dollar given today is going to be, uh, transformed into souls.

People are going to come to know Jesus, our Lord and Savior, through this giving.

Some that we'll see, some that we'll meet in heaven, but we're going to look

at what we gave today and look at the amount of lives that changed for eternity.

And we're going to think that was a bargain.

God, you've multiplied this offering into thousands and thousands and

thousands and thousands, if not millions of lives coming into the kingdom of

God through this offering here today.

And we thank you for that.

And we praise you for that.

In Jesus name, Amen.