Generous Part 1 | God, Test My Wallet with Chris Schlotterbeck

You can have all of me

Every single little piece

You can have it all

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

To get connected or to give online,

go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.

If at any point during this message

you feel called to make a change in your life,

text change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

And all of you do realize that that is a fake smile, right?

No thank you, I appreciate it.

No reason to clap.

The last thing I need is ovation.

If you're joining us from home,

thank you for welcoming us into your space.

And I also want to throw out there,

if this is your first time here,

checking us out, joining us,

we're just glad you're here.

Welcome to HCV.

We are in week two of our current series, Generous.

Last week I kicked it off

by discussing Kingdom Generosity

as Alan Tolentino sung 24K Magic.

You did such a great job, didn't you?

Such a great series.

Thank you, Alan.

And as we continue our series,

let me just preface, if it is your first time,

yes we do happen to be talking about generosity

and money and all of the surroundings

that go with Kingdom Generosity.

And we are in no way trying to single you out.

We're just trying to say, hey, we get it.

We're talking about money.

And if it's your church home,

you know we discuss Godly Finances every single year

in a series focused on money.

And it's really funny because every year

leading up to this series,

in my mind I kind of get nervous

and I get butterflies

because I realize there's people sitting in the chairs

and watching online.

As soon as you hear money,

there's this kind of check in your spirit

or there's this thought pattern

that goes through your mind.

For some of you, you're like, let's go.

I'm all in. I love discussing money.

I'm a giver. I'm generous.

I self-identify as a person that has the gift of giving.

You want to support HCV.

You want to further the Kingdom.

And you're excited about it.

I'm not let's go, but I'm here.

I'm not going to be upset.

I'm not going to be frustrated.

I'm here. I'm listening.

I have plenty to learn.

Some of you are sitting there looking at me

with big, bold eyes thinking,

Chris, my coworker's beside me

and you're talking about money.

It's not the best Sunday. Can you change it?

And then finally, there's some of you

that are sitting there and you're mad at me

because you don't want me to talk about money

on a Sunday morning.

I want to just say that

I've been in all those positions throughout my lifetime

when it comes to church

and finances. I've been excited about giving.

And there's been times that I've been angry

that someone had the audacity

to ask for me to give money

from a church stage. So I get it.

But let's all just take a deep breath.

Just calm down and relax.

Because I believe

we all have something to learn

when it comes to Kingdom, money,

mindset. So why

talk about money in

church? Well, let me just share a few

things that some of you may not know.

The parables of Jesus,

you know, the little stories that he told.

Two-thirds

of them, 66%

of the parables

Jesus told directly deal with finances

and possessions.

That's quite a lot.

In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

which, of course, record

the story of Jesus and him being

here on earth, one in every

10 verses deal directly with

money. One in every 10.

In the entire Bible,

there are over 2300

verses

that talk about money

and possessions.

Please understand that's five times

as much,

five times as many verses that talk about prayer

and five times as many verses

that reference faith.

So in other words,

managing godly

resources is

close to God's heart. And he

desires that as a community

of faith we talk about it and discuss

it. Jesus even said in Matthew

621, wherever your treasure is,

there the desires of

your heart will also be.

And it's important for me to reference

that verse because listen to this

statistic. Last year,

the average American spent

$1.22

for every $1

they earned.

Can I share that again?

Last year,

the average American

spent $1.22

for every $1

they earned.

In other words,

that boat won't float very long.

It's going to sink.

And if you look at our culture

and our current state of our country,

we're deeply in debt

and continue to grow in debt.

And see, if those

numbers speak to you, here's

the reality, your treasure is

in this world.

I mean, think about it. We live in the most prosperous

nation in the world and yet we cannot

live within our means and need to

spend more, buy more, have

more than what we make.

And we think that all of that will make us

happy and here's the reality,

if that's you, your treasure

is in the world because it won't make you

happy.

If our treasure is there,

our heart is there as well.

And that's a big

problem if we call ourselves

followers of Jesus.

So let me be honest with you.

For the first 10 years

of pastoring this church,

I didn't talk about money.

Never did a series about money.

Never referenced tithing or giving.

I didn't want to be known as

the church that focused on money.

Because there's people within our culture

in the tri-state area believe that that's

all the churches want from them. True or false?

They believe that all the churches

want is my money.

And I didn't want HCV to

be known as a church like that.

So we never took an offering.

All we had was boxes in the back

and we

gave an invitation, hey if this is your church home, you can

give there and that's how we did it.

Then about 8 or 9 years

ago I went to a church roundtable

with other pastors

discussing how to effectively reach

people for Jesus because that's on my heart.

I want to see people change, transform.

And one of the topics that we discussed

was the different

series that we should speak about

every single year in our

community of faith. And it's funny

because finances was

one of the topics because

God values finances.

And He wants His people

to use their money generously

to further His kingdom.

Plus I learned

many people within our society

need to understand these

truths so they can get their finances

in order and stop drowning in debt.

$1.22 spent to every

dollar earned.

I mean there's a reason money and finances

is one of the biggest causes for marriages

to fail and end divorce within the US.

So I kind of had this realization

that it is my responsibility

as your pastor to share about

Godly Finances within

our community of faith every

single year. And I've been faithfully

doing it ever since.

So I felt it was best to share

our story, to share my story

about HCV and money.

And please understand I talk

about this story

every single first Sunday

of the month and start with why, which happens to be

today. If you want to join me for

start with why directly after this gathering I'll meet

you in the prayer room. We'll tell you all about HCV

where we began, how we began,

where all the money goes and how you can get involved.

But let's just have

a conversation. Is that ok if we do that?

Alright let's just open in prayer

and invite the Holy Spirit to come.

God we're just thankful you're in our midst.

We're thankful that

there is a move in this place.

And we value

you being here God and want to put

you first. So open

our minds, our ears and our hearts

to receive all that you have for us.

Transform us, change us, change our

entire outlook on how we see

money. In Jesus name

Amen.

So

it was the end

of 2005

and my wife and three kids

packed up a U-Haul moving truck

and moved from Syracuse, New

York to Maryland, our hometown.

Jess and I literally sold

everything we had

and invested in a church plant

called the Hub City Vineyard.

So please hear me.

It's never been about money

for us.

It's never about us growing

an empire.

We spent

over a year restoring a fire

damaged house in Syracuse, New York

that we believe

God gave to us for $16,000.

An insurance company

totaled the house so we could buy it.

We restored it.

Then we sold it.

So we could take the $45,000

profit

and we invested it in this place.

We moved here in December of 2005

and we actually moved into the family

house that Jess grew up in.

It had been in our family for decades.

Gary and Pat fell called to help us

with the church plant.

We had to get a new house

and they called to help us with the church plant

and they offered their house as a means

to get the church started.

So from the very beginning

this church has never

been about money.

This church has always been about mission

and the call to reach people for Jesus.

To share the good news

that God came to this earth

more than 2,000 years ago

to reach people like you and me

with His love, grace, and

forgiveness.

I spent the first three years

of this church plant

working multiple jobs.

I was a long-term substitute teacher.

I painted houses.

I did punch-out work for a number of job sites

and I lasted one day

pouring concrete.

God bless you to do it.

I worked during the day to pay my bills

and would meet with people at night

so that we could reach people

and of course we began to have regular gatherings

on the weekend.

It was about three years into the church plant

that I was able to begin to take a small salary

that helped to free up my schedule

so that I could work more for HCV

during the day.

Because at that point we were gathering about a hundred people

on the weekends and we had just

signed our first lease just up the street

on Bauer Avenue.

My time was being

spread way too thin.

I had family time,

work time, pastoring.

I was serving so that $26,000

salary

allowed for me to focus my attention on the people

that were a part of HCV

and schedule lots of events that focused on

reaching people for Jesus.

That's who we are.

We will do whatever it

takes to reach people

because 30 years ago

I was one of those people that was walking

through life

with no point,

no purpose, and empty.

Then I met Jesus

and He changed everything.

So from the very beginning

until now HCV has always been

about people

and I promise we will continue to be that way

as long as I

am leading this church.

But listen,

Justin and I don't own this church,

I don't own this building,

I don't own any of the stuff in it.

We do.

Because we are the church.

And everything

that my family has invested

into this church

will remain for future generations

so that others

can experience the love of Jesus.

Well after I'm gone.

And we want it to be that way.

So when it

comes to giving and finances and

investing in the kingdom of God, all of us

must remember that it all

comes from God in the first place.

He simply

gives it to us

to steward

and then to offer it back as an invitation

to give

as a means of giving back to Him.

Which leads us to our first thought

this morning, look.

It's all His.

Can we all say that together? It's all His.

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 10:14

chapter 10 verse 14 tells us

look, the highest

heavens and the earth and everything

in it belong to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 8, 17-18

He did all this

so you would never say to yourself

I have achieved this wealth with my own

strength and energy. Remember

the Lord your God. He is the one who gives

you power to be successful.

Now let me be honest with you. The first

time I read those verses

they didn't set well with me.

In fact, when I read them

I didn't believe they're necessarily true.

Because when I look around

at the state of our current society

I see people that are simply

lazy and unwilling to work

in order to be successful in life.

I'm the exact opposite.

I'm going to go get her. I work

hard. I'm committed. I do whatever it

takes to be successful. I sacrifice.

I grind. So

my family will be taken care of

and this community will be a better

place because I am here.

But then you know something?

Two short months ago

my entire outlook changed

when I had the opportunity

to go on a short-term mission strip to Kenya.

I drove by,

saw, met,

and experienced poverty on

a completely different level.

Children who had no parents because of AIDS,

drugs, and poverty.

Growing up in houses that are built

from what we consider trash.

What we throw away, they live in.

The floors are not vinyl planks or

hardwood floors. It's a large

rock

that they build a house around

so the house won't be swept away

when it rains.

It was spending a week

with those who have absolutely

nothing

that made me realize everything

I have in this life

is because of what God gave me.

I realized that I was born in the United States of America.

I didn't do

anything to earn that.

I didn't do anything to deserve that.

I didn't do anything

to deserve being born here

any differently than those children

that are born in Kenya.

And those children are born into a world of

poverty, disease, and water

that is so contaminated they can't even drink it.

But here's the reality.

When we put ourselves

in their shoes,

when I look at my four-year-old son

Phoenix,

and a boy or girl

that's four-year-old in Kenya,

they have completely different opportunities

at their fingertips.

Because of things they

never did or deserve or

revert.

Everything that we have

in this life is a byproduct

of what God has done for us.

God gives you that mind.

God gives you those ideas.

God gives you your work ethic.

Your skill set that no one else has.

God gives you the willpower

to overcome. God gives you

and makes opportunities

for you to have connections with other

people or companies that literally

became a game changer for your business.

He gives us

the air we breathe, the food we eat.

Everything comes

from God.

And he says to his son, daughter,

I love giving you good gifts.

Just understand

that they all come from me.

And when we understand

that, when we understand that

it all comes from him, being generous,

that's when it's fun.

James 1, 17.

Whatever is good and perfect

is a gift coming down from God,

our Father, who created

all the lights in the heavens. He never changes

or casts

a shifting shadow, friends.

It's all his.

Which leads us to our next thought.

God asked us

to return 10%.

God says, church,

it's all mine. I'm

simply asking you, inviting you to

return 10%

to me.

Now the Bible calls this principle

the tithe. And we read about it

in Malachi 3, verse 10.

Malachi 3:10

Bring all the tithes,

and tithe simply is defined as a tenth,

into the storehouse

so there will be enough food in my temple.

If you do so, says the Lord

of Heaven's armies, I will open the windows

of heaven for you, and I will pour a blessing

so great, you won't have

enough room to take it in. Try it.

Put me to the test.

This is the only time

in the entire

Bible that God says,

test me.

It's the only time

he says, test me.

And it's amazing, it's all about our finances

because God knows

that our hearts can be easily

swayed by the lust of money and stuff.

And I get it.

There are people gathered here

watching online.

You're thinking,

well it certainly is convenient

that the guy who

leads the church is talking

about giving money to the church.

I get it, right? Just go ahead and nod.

I get it. Sometimes that's just the thought

pattern. So Ed, could you come up please

wherever you are? There you are. So I've invited

Ed to come up and share his

testimony

about tithing. And let me preference

this, and I even got it wrong during our first gathering.

I just met

Ed last week.

Ed doesn't go to our church.

He's not a part of HTV.

He's not even from around here.

But I felt like God

made a way for him to be here

last week and then I'll let him tell

the story.

Thank you.

Well, hello

my

siblings in the family of God.

To see you.

It's also very nice to see all of you who

are searching to be in that family as well.

And I hope you find God to follow him.

You don't

know me.

Chris knows me a little bit.

But I don't think anybody else in

this gathering does.

I was

I was born in the Air Force

and I retired

in the Coast Guard

45 years later.

I was

married 40 years and lost my wife

about five years ago.

I've been soldiering ever since.

I found myself up in Gettysburg

last week.

And I was looking at the libraries

up there for a while.

I found

Hub City

on Yahoo Maps.

So I took the 45 minute drive down

here to visit the vineyard

to where I found

Pastor Chris

preaching about tithing.

And I

deplore seeing

the lead pastor

reach out and ask

his

people and his

building to

support the church.

So after

the sermon

I did

thank him for his fine teaching

and the way

he taught it. But I

complained to him.

I told him I didn't like him doing

that. I think he should get a layman to do it for

him. Why not?

Get somebody who's not going to benefit

by the basket being passed

to him so he can pay his

light bill and put braces on

his kid's teeth.

You know, it just kind of bugged me.

So in the great vineyard tradition

of giving the

task to the complainer

I forgot that part.

He said,

fine, you teach it next week.

Holy Spirit moment.

I came to Jesus in 1964.

I feel real comfortable with him.

I started giving

a percentage of my income

in about 1986 or 87.

That percentage got

larger and larger. I found the vineyard church

in 1992

or so, 1991.

1990?

Yeah. And

I've

been tithing since about

1994 pretty

fastidiously.

I really make sure that I at least give

that 10 percent.

So

that's what I do

with the tithes.

I've been

noticing in my ledger

the first year

I find

out that my bills are all

paid.

At the end of the month

that I didn't

have any

outstanding

bills.

The

that was

that's on an income that was

pretty significant back then. It's not so much

now. I think I make about

$55,000 a year.

I'm real happy with that actually. I'm

glad that I'm not making

jobs of money actually.

So

my 10 percent

given to this church

is probably going to pay about

half the musicians

power bill.

And I've decided

that

to give my money

in a more significant way

to the

to the vineyard

movement in Cameroon

where my $550

bucks actually

pays for a lot

of churches to do a lot of things.

It's amazing how

such a small amount can

go so far.

But this

tie, this

taught me a couple of things.

One thing is discipline and finance.

I don't

spend as much money on me

as I used to.

And I have lots of money left over

at the end of the month.

It's probably five years after

I started tithing that I realized that

I've got about

all my bills are paid off.

All my mortgages are paid

off. All my cars and boats and

whatever other useless stuff that

I had is

completed. I'm not in debt.

I'm not in debt anymore. And that's been that

way for about 25 years.

No mortgages.

All that I make

is

to

pay for what

King Solomon taught Larry Brackett

and I was that there's only three reasons

to accumulate wealth and that's

to provide for your family, to provide

for your retirement so that you can give more.

So

at the end of every month

I'm able to actually

give more.

That discipline

happened

first I think. And then there

was this realization of a relationship

with God that

because

I know

what he has to deal with

in my heart and with our

hearts that I became

closer and

the material

things in the world didn't

matter so much.

What

Elon Musk

makes is nothing compared

to what God has.

What

I make is nothing compared

to what God has. What all of you have

is nothing compared to what God has

but

he wants to

be one with us.

He wants the unity of

us with him.

It's like taking

baby steps

toward the Lord

in this insignificant thing that

we call money.

Our income is just

it's all from him anyways

so when we give back 10%

it's like taking a baby step towards him.

Now

what's

in it for me

is regarding ties

that the blessings that came

to me went far beyond what I

ever imagined.

He opened the floodgates

unto me

in a spiritual way

and he made all the material

way

pretty insignificant.

He took away the worry

of debt. I remember

being in debt. I remember hating

it. I remember being

way down at the end. I mean

8%

on the mortgage

and

18% on the

credit card. I said

this is an incredible

stress

an ungodly stress

on me so I needed

to get out from under it and it was only

through the discipline that I learned

from tithing that

this happened.

So

I will continually

thank God for his blessings

upon me and I

ask

also

that God does the same

for you.

He's my dear friend

and

in the spirit of

Matthew 9 and Matthew 12

and Hosea 6

I would ask that

the Lord God Almighty

Hashem

my friend, bless each and

one of you followers

here and that

you're able to give

from the abundance that he gives you

so that

his storehouse will bear fruit

and that each person here

is honed, is sharpened

in the compassion

and mercy

that comes from

you achieving a relationship

or a better relationship with

the Lord God Almighty, creative universe

lover of our soul

savior, redeemer

the guy that sanctifies

us that we might become one with God

Amen

I got a

postscript here

I don't

want you to give until

it hurts

I want you to give until it feels good

I also want you to know

that Jesus spoke in analogies

parables

and

I believe that Malachi

3 is

a parable or an analogy

of our

walk with the Lord

because

as he walks to us

in ten steps

with the abundance that he gives us

he's asking us to

take a step to him

one step

one little baby step

as an assurance to both

him and yourself

that you are

in the family of God

God bless you and God bless this church

So just like I said earlier

and just like Ed shared

I don't want to encourage you

take God up on his challenge

put him to the test

and for some of you

you're like well I'm not sure about this

church you know I haven't been here that long

give it somewhere else

give your tithe to another church

give to Convoy of Hope, give to Compassion International

it makes no difference to me

tithe somewhere

that you feel God

putting on your heart and then after

three months come talk to me

because I guarantee you

your mind will change

and your outlook will change

and as your pastor

I want you to experience all that God has for you

and this isn't a talk about what we hope to get

from you

we're not hoping to gain anything from you

this message is for you

because over the 18 years

of pasturing this church I've experienced

many miracles and opportunities

that God has surprised us with

because of our financial obedience

I mean you're sitting in a house of miracles

remember we broke ground in this

at the height of COVID

and we couldn't even gather as a church

but here we are

and even though it's an awkward topic to discuss

here's the reality it shouldn't be

because if I don't discuss it

I'm robbing you of a blessing

and even though we're uncomfortable as Americans

talking about money

I get it I don't make friends this Sunday

I'm not called to be your friend

I'm called to be your pastor

and I don't want something from you

I want you to experience the financial blessing

that comes from God

now I get it you can go online

and read about tithing

oh it's not biblical Chris

it's an old testament law

Jesus no longer recognizes it

and you can search up online

and find many people that have all these reasons

for what I just described

and it's just not true

well it's kind of true and false

it's an old testament law

that's what I read to you from Malachi 3

but it's not an old testament law

it's a biblical principle

how do I know that?

well 500 years before there was an old testament law

we read this in Genesis 14

and Melchizedek the son of Salem

and a priest of God most high

brought Abram some bread and wine

there's our friend Abram again

Melchizedek blessed Abram with his blessing

blessed to be Abram by God most high

creator of heaven and earth

and blessed to be God most high

who has defeated your enemies for you

then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth

of all his goods he had recovered

see bringing a tenth of everything to God

and giving it back to him

because he gave it to us

giving it back to the storehouse

to the local church

it's not just an old testament law

it was happening 500 years

before there was old testament laws

then you read about the old testament law

that I shared with you in Malachi 3

then we see Jesus talk about it

in the new testament

look at Matthew 23 23

what sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law

and you Pharisees

hypocrites

now please understand

Jesus didn't start the conversation

talking about the tithe

he was challenging the religious leaders

that they were mistreating people

and then he speaks about the tithe

right in the middle of it

let's continue

for you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income

from your herb gardens

but you ignore the more important aspects of the law

justice, mercy, and faith

and let's read the next part together

you should tithe yes

let's read it again

you should tithe yes

but do not neglect the more important things

see it's not just an old testament law

it's a biblical issue

that Jesus challenged us to do

you should tithe yes

and here's the reality

if you choose not to tithe

God won't love you any less

he won't love you anymore

if you do tithe

God is inviting his people to tithe

because he wants to change your life

which leads us to our next thought

I'm going to read it again

I'm going to read it again

which leads us to our next thought

God says

watch me work

now hear me out

I'm in no way saying that if you begin to give

and tithe to HGV

that suddenly God is going to

give you a heavenly Rolex

he's not going to give you a new fur coat

or a jet to fly around in

I'm not promising you riches

I'm not even promising you

you won't get sick

I'm promising you that troubles won't come

he is simply saying

if this becomes your money

mindset

blessings will rain down in your life

let's go back to Malachi 3

bring all the tithes into the store house

so there will be enough food in my temple

if you do so

says the Lord of Heaven's armies

I will open the windows of heaven

for you

and pour out a blessing so great

that you won't have enough room

to take it in

now how many of you wants God

to open up the spiritual

blessings from heaven

I want both hands up

right

say God open up heaven

and download it

and then he says

put me to the test

and I can tell you

time and time

I can have many of you stand up

right where you are

and experience of freedom and relief

once you started tithing

there's been business owners that have shared with me

that their businesses have been transformed

since they began to tithe

I mean I'm not

promising you anything

this is what God says

and he is so serious about it

what's he say test me

here's the crazy thing

this isn't a test that you can fail

I mean

so many of us we have horror stories

of test taking from school

we hated it

and when God says

test me

the only way we fail is if we don't

walk in obedience

it's the only way you fail

some of you are thinking well Chris

I'm broke

to which I respond okay

10%

of that should not be very hard to come up with

seems like a good system to me

right

I mean God promises

to do something that will blow your mind

that if you live this way

so my point is why put it off

and some of you are sitting there thinking

well Chris I'm struggling financially

I can't pay my bills

now's the perfect time to start tithing

because you need a blessing

remember church

remember church

remember church

it's all his

and I think

so many people struggle with the tithe

because they word it as

well I have to give 10%

no

you don't give anything

you're returning 10%

of what God already owns

and he says watch me work

and then Jesus says

in Acts 20 you should remember the words

of the Lord Jesus it is more blessed to

give

than to receive and I get it

it's counter cultural

right

but the word blessed

is defined as happy

fortunate to be envied

I mean it's the life that all of the

Americans living today

want not just the

church people want

to live a life that's happy

fortunate and to be envied

and here's the crazy thing

when you're in a relationship with Jesus

it's right within your grasp

all you have to do is trust him with your finances

it's more of a blessing

to give than to take

it's personal

and you have to try it for yourself

and like I said

I've been pastoring now this church

for literally 19 years

and every single year God

provides for all my needs all our needs

and more

he doesn't want us anxious and angry

when it comes to money

he wants us excited

he wants us to have fun experiencing the

blessings of living and giving generously

because this

enables us to continue to reach

the hurting people within our community around the world

look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 9

for God is the one

who provides seed to the farmer and then bread

to eat in the same way he will provide

and increase your resources and then produce

a great harvest of generosity

in you

yes you will be enriched in every way

so that you can always be generous

and when we take your gifts to those who need them

look at this they will thank God

see God is

communicating to us

about our resources and our finances

not because God needs them

you heard Ed share that

it's because he wants our hearts

which leads us to our final thought

when it comes to finances Jesus

challenges our hearts

he says look in the mirror church

don't store up

treasures here on earth where moths

eat them and rust destroys them or

thieves break in and steal

store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust

cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal

wherever your treasure is

there the desires of your hearts

will also be

see God knows

that wherever our resources go

wherever we spend our money guess what

our hearts are going along with it

God wants our hearts

and we need him to have

our hearts otherwise

we are going to find ourselves lost and

wondering and he is

inviting us to be generous because

he is the one that provides the seed to

the seller and we are

generous because

he will meet all of our needs when

we are when we are meeting

the needs of our community look at 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

tell them to use their money to do good

they should be rich in good works

and generous to those in need always be ready

to share with others by doing

this they will be storing up their

treasure as a good foundation for the future

so that they may experience

true life

let's experience true

life church

now let's watch and listen to another

story this is Ashton's

story of financial

obedience let's watch

living very comfortably

making a really

good salary

so I felt

at one point while I was working

in biotech biopharma that the Lord

called me out of that and actually

called me to take a job

on a farm

in the middle of winter

sleeping with the rats

so that's you know that's a whole

other story right there

but I went from making what I had

been to making

$150

a week and

during that season

I ended up getting

into a really significant

accident

it landed me in the hospital for a week

I had two emergency

surgeries I got

out of the hospital

they hand me this bill and it's

for a quarter

of a million dollars

and at the time

I had about 300

to my name

in my bank account

and the state

called me

about a month and a half later

and they

said uh Ms.

Badalena we would like to apologize

it turns out you were actually

like really broke

and really poor

and so we've

redone the calculations

and you owe us

$125

which I had like I could

pay that one

so God just wiped

out this quarter of a million

dollar bill

and I owed $125

and from that

season I just saw

God be so faithful

and be such a provider

that it was

so easy for me moving forward

to never doubt his faithfulness

to never doubt his provision

to never doubt

my financial security again

because God had just

absolutely blown my mind

now in a position

and a job

and a job

where I'm

very grateful to be

very financially blessed

it was the Sunday service

before Easter where we

had four incredible services planned

and the

screens started

glitching out and I just

felt the Lord put it on my heart

to go to Chris

after service

and let him know that

whatever that invoice

came out to, whatever it took

to fix that problem

and to get our church ready for Sunday service

that they were just going to send me the bill

and I was just going to

take care of it

and I have never written

a blank check blessing before

and

so the bill comes in

and you know, praise the Lord

I had the finances to cover

it and

I'm sitting in church

the next Sunday

and I'm in one of the four services

and it's absolutely packed

and I'm sitting off

to the side in the room where the drums are

and I'm looking out

over this packed

sanctuary

and I'm just

thinking, praise God

so a few weeks

after that, about two or three weeks after

a long time client

of mine came in

and out of nowhere

they turned to me and

tell me that they would like

to bring ten million dollars

over to my business

which is huge

I look at that

and I say

you know, okay, I

said yes to five thousand dollars

which is not

an insignificant amount of money

but God blessed me with

ten million

and you know, I never

I never give to get

it's never

me challenging the Lord

to outdo me

it's walking in obedience

and showing myself faithful

and knowing that

I'm going to show

the Lord that if He chooses

to bless me, if He chooses

to provide me with resources

I'm just going to live open-handed

and that

if He needs me to get those resources

to someone else

the answer is yes

applause

Ashton wanted me to share

with all of you that

you know, in her story

before

she got in that accident

she actually started tithing

when she was earning that

one hundred and fifty dollars a week

so in tithing that one hundred and fifty dollars a week

it allowed for God to

bless her so that that bill

was almost paid in full

and you can hear her

whole testimony today at one o'clock

it will be released on all of the podcasts

on iTunes

and wherever else you get your podcasts

her whole testimony and story

will be on there if you'd like

to listen to it and before I get

to the action steps

which are going to be real simple

I want to read for you

a list of everything that we did

as a community of faith in 2023

and early 2024

because I believe it will change your mind

about what God is calling us to do

as a community of faith

now I send out this year

in recap to everybody that gives

to our community of faith

at the end of the year

so last year, 2023, we welcomed 761

first time guests into our

community of faith

we baptized 129

people

just last year in 2023

many of which were entire

families

and it spanned several generations

2023 is the year of first

here at our community of faith

we established an every other week

Bible study at Hagerstown Healthcare

glad to see you guys

and not only is that Bible study on Wednesdays

happening every other week

but it's now become an every Sunday morning

site where the residents

of Hagerstown Healthcare are joining us

and are part of our community of faith

online

we began a partnership with the Arc of Washington County

serving our friends with disabilities and special needs

on the every other Wednesdays

we host them here on our campus

for a Bible study

we sent several partners on a

missions trip to Appalachia

with the Appalachia Service Project in West Virginia

God of course challenged me

to give away a Christmas gift

and we sent

$56,000

to Blood Water Mission where we built

six wells in Africa

last year as a community of faith

many of you saw the images

last week

in 2023 our backpack giveaway

was a huge success we gave away

1200 backpacks and supplies

to students in the

tri-state area

and not only was it backpacks it was haircuts

it was food, it was shoes

it was clothes you name it

we gave it away on Halloween

in 2023 we gave away

22,000 pieces of candy

I did not participate in that

I believe we gave away

fruit, ok

there was roughly 250

cars that rolled through our parking lot

right for the

giveaway in November we partnered with

local elementary schools and gave away 150

complete Thanksgiving meals

to families in need

we continued our involvement in a

Reach Cold Weather shelter in 2023

with over 600

community service hours volunteered

our Angel Tree Initiative in 2023

saw 183

children and this is

children with parents that are incarcerated

in local prisons

and we gave them 366

Christmas gifts during

the holiday season

last year in 2023 we gave away

flowers, glow bracelets

coffee, water

and we gave away almost a thousand

pairs of shoes to

Souls for Souls

we hosted here in our building

a mom prom, a paint night

a seniors group every once a month

cookie exchange, family movie nights

Easter egg hunt, bike blessings

we had meet Santa during the holidays

and the list goes on and on

at the beginning of 2024

we hosted our first ever Tim Tebow Foundation

night to shine

serving the special needs community

with a prom that just blew

our minds, right? And this year we're going to

double the number of participants in it

in March of this year we hosted a

national story tour

a night of hope and healing for the recovery

community and this

auditorium was packed

with over 600 people

hearing the good news about Jesus

in 2024

we quadrupled

our benevolence money

and benevolence money is money that's given away

to local people that are in need

and we actually developed a

benevolence team where we're going to give away

nearly $20,000

to families in need

in 2024 many of you know that

we're partnering for around the

world missions, we want to go to the ends

of the earth, we're currently focused on

raising $10,000

to build a kitchen at a school

in Kenya that Jess and I visited

right so if that's on your heart listen please

give because I believe between this Sunday

and next Sunday we're going to have that $10,000

to build that kitchen, amen?

For the rest

of the year we're going to host our first annual

tie-dye run for freedom in October

so get your running shoes on now

and start training we're going to have a mile

front run, a 5k and a 10k

every single

dollar will be given away to

Compassion International where

children's lives will be changed

and we'll see God

change the world

this year our annual Christmas gift is

going to build a recovery house for women and

children caught in the horrors of human trafficking

coming in 2025

amen? Yep. Coming in 2025

2025

I'm already looking forward to next year

we're going to do one day to feed the world which

benefits Convoy of Hope and their efforts to

feed every single person

around the world, I feel

God calling us to purchase a food truck

so that we can expand our

weekly community dinner not only bringing people

here but going to them

so if you know anybody that's looking

to get rid of a food truck we want to

buy one. Next summer

we're going to take our first

high school short term missions trip to

the Dominican Republic so

high schoolers you want to go on a

missions trip see Steven today

because we are going next

summer, right? I feel

God calling us to make a difference in HCC

and the other local colleges in the Tri-State

area if you're attending HCC

or Sheppard or one of the downtown

colleges I want to spend

money on you to reach your generation

right? I want to host

a Bible study, I want to host groups

I want to start seeing you make a

difference in your generation

what if

what if

in the years to come God uses

our community of faith to build recovery

houses for

addicts and single moms to

recover in healthily

I'm telling you my vision

our vision is

big, it's big

but it's all about people

so if you've ever questioned

the motives of our church

you can be rest assured that we

are reaching our community amen?

So real quick action steps

five simple access steps in choosing to

give right? Because I believe all of us

are called to tithe number one pray and listen

you got to pray and listen

2 Corinthians 9 7 to 8 much each

decide in your heart how much to give

and don't give reluctantly in response to

pressure for God loves

a person who gives

cheerfully and God will give generously

to all that you

need see tithing is a heart

issue it's not a money issue

and if you're struggling with the idea of tithing

or giving just talk to God about it

pour a coffee cup

a cup of coffee for Jesus have a

conversation with him and I guarantee

you he will speak into

your heart that it's all about

giving generously and when we listen

to the Holy Spirit we will quickly

hear that he

desires generosity from our lives

so number one pray and listen number

two decide how much to give

Malachi 3 10 bring all

the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough

food in my temple what's a tithe

it's 10% some of you are thinking

well Chris I don't have 10%

to give ok 2 Corinthians 9 7

decide in your heart

how much to give just erase

the 10% start somewhere

right start somewhere

start at 3% start at 5%

start at 6% I don't

care start somewhere

and then what you see from the

fruit of God blessing you expand

it to the point where you are giving

a tithe for example Jess and I

we get paid by HCV

we have our tithe

we have 10% taken out of our paychecks

before it's even written

so that we can give beyond 10%

we want to give 12 13

14% because we believe

that's God's best right

within our community of faith you can give online

you can give when the basket

comes by you can put it into the

baskets in the back it makes

no difference how you do it

but when you give online

and some of you that struggle to remember to write

a check or to bring cash you can

just click the tab reoccurring giving

and give once a month like Jess and I

do or once a week or every other week

or whatever fits best for your life

you have to remember it's all about

generosity Luke 12 34

wherever your treasure is there

the desires of your heart will also be

not only

right do you decide how much to give

but when you give you give cheerfully

because God loves a person that

gives cheerfully and when we give

cheerfully what are we doing we're showing

God that we love him

and that we're giving out of the abundance

of our heart because that's what

pleases God the most

not only do you give cheerfully

but I want to challenge you

keep a journal and what do I mean by that

well God says

God will generously provide all you

need then you will always have everything

you need and plenty left over to share with others

you heard Ashton's testimony

you heard Ed's testimony

some of you just need to track a journal of

things that you need and I'm not talking about a Rolex

I'm not talking about

wants I'm talking about needs

and you will see that as you begin to

give back to God he will meet every

need that you have and as you

record them guess what your generosity

will only grow

which leads to our final step

church you got to live on a budget

Proverbs 13 11

and 16 wealth from get rich quick

schemes quickly disappears

wealth from hard work grows over

time wise people think before

they act fools don't and even

brag about their foolishness

right some of you that struggle

with giving live on a budget

and when you live on a budget and you

lay out how much you can actually afford

when you give the 10% first

then you track your budget

so that you're actually giving out of

the abundance of your heart coming

in September we're going to launch another

financial peace class here

we have three or four different leaders

are going to launch that when our groups

start in September so pay attention

to that if you want to learn how to

budget and how to get out of debt

that's a great opportunity to get

into it

you