Trust Test - Part Two

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Well, I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

Boy, what a series we have been teaching through and looking at.

And I know, I know, I don't have to even think about it, but I do know that for you that take the challenge of understanding these unbelievable principles from God and start practicing, it will change your life radically.

I told you at the very beginning of this series for this month, trusting God is the series, and it's basically a two-month series dealing with us being what?

Stewards of all that God has given us and managers and trustees and that God has given to us and how we uh are to manage those things that God has given to us.

And then we'll be looking, as I said earlier, next month on.

Can God trust us?

If God's going to trust us, then we got to learn to walk by faith.

Am I walking towards something or okay?

But uh anyway, we got to learn to walk by faith.

So it's gonna be, I'm telling you, these two months will be life-changing.

When I was at Liberty University and I'd first gotten there, I did not understand being a steward.

In fact, I grew up in a church where stewardship was not preached a whole lot.

Most churches, pastors are scared to preach on stewardship because they're afraid, you know, everybody's gonna think they're asking for money.

Well, I got news for you.

Stewardship's not about money, has nothing to do with money, really.

Has all to do with us managing what God's given us.

Amen.

That's stewardship.

Now, that does encompass money, but that's just a small portion of it.

Just a small part.

In fact, I'm convinced that's probably the least of it.

Because if you can't understand how to walk by faith and manage what God gives you, you'll never have a lot of money.

Hello.

So, so you you don't let Satan shut you off, and he'll love to do that about these, and you haven't.

I know you haven't.

You've been telling me how God's already working in your life in these principles.

Well, last week we said, we started out on Sunday morning, the first Sunday, can we trust God?

And we looked at how we could trust God.

And by the way, you can go online and watch them if you've not been here or if you've missed the, and I encourage you to do it.

It's a beautiful, it's the first time I've really done a whole month of stewardship for as a steward.

It's been life-changing.

Well, it's just reinforced everything I've been living for the last 33 years.

And I've been able to say, yes, that's true.

Yes, it works.

Yes, yes, yes.

But and that was the big one.

I said, we've got to learn to trust God.

And then the second message was can God trust us?

Boy, what a powerful message that was.

Satan literally tried to shut me up so I couldn't preach that message that morning.

You remember I came here, I preached sick, I had laryngitis, about uh, but I wasn't about to let Tommy's got a call.

We'll need to pray for Tommy.

He's gonna get somebody out of the ditch.

Amen.

Go get them, Tommy.

But uh, that's a service, baby.

Let me tell you, there's nothing better than a good record, man, if you need a record.

I've been there, amen.

You ever been there?

Oh, they're blessing, an angel in disguise.

So pray, and I love Tommy and his family.

They're very faithful here.

And uh, but anyway, so we said we got to learn to can God trust us?

And we sought that.

And then last week, and the last message this morning was the trust test.

Trust test.

Can God trust us?

Well, can, hey, if he can, then we got to pass the test.

And last week, if you'll look even in your outline, I gave a little overview.

We used the acrostic.

We went to Proverbs 3, in Proverbs 3, verse 5.

Proverbs 3:5

You know it.

Say it with me.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

Lean not on thy own understanding in all thy ways.

What?

Acknowledge him, and he'll direct your paths.

And we said, uh, I said, now the trust test is gonna be an acrostic.

And we're gonna use the word trust, T-R-U-S-T.

And part one, last week, we looked at three of the letters.

Letter T, take an inventory.

Take an inventory.

I said it's got to start there.

Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts.

See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

Psalms 139, 23, and 24.

We said, how important that is.

You've got to really know you're saved.

Can I get an amen?

We had seven people saved last week.

Let's give God another clap on.

Amen.

And then secondly, I said, we've got to not just take an inventory that we're saved, but how are we really walking with God?

How are we trusting God?

We looked at that.

Then the second letter was recognize God as your source.

You may think you are the owner, but you're really not.

Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives thee power to get wealth.

Deuteronomy 8.18.

We're not sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiencies in God.

2 Corinthians 3.5.

Amen, church.

Hey, he's the owner of everything.

Colossians 1, remember 17 and 18, he created everything for himself and includes all of us.

Can I get an amen?

So we saw that.

And then the third letter, understanding God's principles.

Now here's the key to the whole acrostic.

Understanding God's principles.

And last week we looked at five.

And we're going to close today looking at the other five, and then we'll look at the last two letters, S and T.

And letter S, surrendering everything to God, and letter T, testing God's promises.

But, real quick review, here we go.

What?

Understanding God's principle.

Five things last week.

Number one, we said the who's in charge principle.

God is the owner, I'm the manager.

Say that with me.

God is the owner.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights.

Amen.

In whom there's no variableness.

There's no what?

Hey, there's no favoritism.

Amen.

There's no favoritism with God.

Well, God's blessing him more than he's blessing me.

Well, there may be a reason.

Maybe God can trust him more.

Hey, hello.

Come on now.

Come on.

The more he trusts you, the more he gives to you.

Hello.

Remember, we talked about that.

Okay?

And then we said, number two, understanding God's principles.

The second principle was the give and grow principle.

Practicing stewardship will produce growth in all areas of our life.

And we said, 2 Peter 3.18, we are to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And then, number three, the do-it-now principle.

Stewardship deals with our present resources.

It doesn't deal with, hey, what I had, it doesn't deal with what I'm going to have.

It deals with what you got right now.

Amen.

How many times I've heard people for the last 30 years tell me, oh, Pastor Danny, if I had more money, I'd just give, give?

No, you wouldn't.

No, you wouldn't.

Because if you're not giving like that now, you're not going to give when you get it.

In fact, you'll be more gritty.

See, it's easy to tithe off$100.

It's a lot harder to tithe off$10,000.

Hello, hello, hello.

Now you say, how do you know that?

I've been there.

Amen.

So, don't say, and I'm going to prove that this morning scripturally, we're going to let's see what God says about that.

But anyway, so that was the other principle.

And then number four, it was the I'm in debt principle.

And everybody says, I know that one.

But it's not talking about being in debt financially.

What he was talking about, Paul said in Romans 1, 14 and 15, I'm in debt.

The moment you are born, you are in debt.

You are in debt to your parents.

You are in debt to all the things that God had already had prepared to bring you into this world.

Can I get an amen?

And we looked at it and we said, we're in debt to two things.

We're in debt to God for his salvation, for saving us, and man providing for us.

I meant loving us.

And then we're in debt to the previous generation, thanking those that have gone on before us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for our vets that have fought and provided a free country for us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Being thankful for the previous generation.

Amen.

Boy, we don't do a good job at that.

Being thankful for our history.

Instead of in America, we're trying to do away with history.

We ought to be thankful for our history.

You say, how does that scripturally seen?

I'm glad you asked.

Romans 15, 4.

Whatsoever things are written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

And then the last principle, understanding God's principles we looked at last week, was the fountain of youth principle.

Everybody wants to live forever.

And remember what I said?

We live forever through our giving.

Amen.

We live forever through our giving of our time, our talents, our abilities, our tithe.

Hey, you remember what I said, Psalms 49, 17?

For when a man dies, he shall carry nothing with him.

Even his glory shall not ascend after him.

You don't see a hearse with a luggage rack.

Amen.

They're just not there, okay?

And you've heard me say it, and I'll keep saying it as long as you hear me.

I'll keep saying it.

I'm gonna do my giving while I'm living so I know where it's going.

Amen.

I've already told my kids that.

I said, do you're not getting any of my money?

Because it's not my money.

It's God's money.

Stephanie, she's such a sweetie.

She said, Well, can't I get a little?

I said, I may leave you a house.

You can do whatever you want to with a house, but I'm giving my money to work.

Hey, where I know where it's going, so I'm investing in eternity.

Can I get an amen?

I'm investing in eternity.

I really am.

Susan, I'm committed to that.

And it's so exciting.

So, now here's where the writing begins.

Now we got five more understanding God's principles that are life-changing that we got to look at.

Number six.

And this is where you start filling in the blanks.

The whose number one principle.

The whose number one principle.

Look at Matthew 22, verses 36 through 38.

Matthew 22:36–38

See, there's a tendency, instead of giving God our best, that we give him the leftovers.

Hello.

We give him the leftovers.

Okay?

In other words, we got to take care of number one first, and then we give him the leftovers.

I had a guy tell me recently, he said, uh, well, if if I don't take care of me, then I can't give to God.

I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

So you you mean to tell me you think that God's depending on you?

He said, well, no, I didn't mean it that way.

I said, no, you need to be depending on God.

The problem is you're depending on you.

Hello.

And we're pretty good at that, aren't we?

Huh?

Look at what I'm doing.

Okay?

God's blessed me.

I'm the best salesman.

I have the best business.

God, I've built this business.

I was so excited about what David shared last week about this business.

He said, This is not my business.

I'm just a manager.

And thank God for what he's done.

How the Wilson family has given these facilities by the way for us to use till we can build our facility.

Now you tell me that's not giving back to God.

Let's give God a hand.

Amen?

In fact, you know what he said?

I was with him and we were talking to some other businessmen.

You know what he told the businessmen?

And I'm saying this because he's not here.

He's on a trip that he won because being in the top five businesses of the whole Surpro.

He and uh uh Christy are in Aruba.

They're going down the Christie said they're going down there and find that girl.

Amen.

Go for it.

But anyway, you know what he said?

Out of all the things of 33 years that I've done that I feel like God's allowed me to do and be a manager of, here's what he said.

The greatest thing is helping start this church.

Help him start this church.

Now, folks, that's the right heart attitude.

Amen.

That's a man that realizes he knows where his resources are coming from.

Amen?

Amen?

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

And that's what we're talking about.

The whose number one principle.

Listen to what he said in Matthew 22, 36 through 38.

He said, and I love this, the teacher, Jesus said, teacher, uh, uh, or the disciples were asking Jesus, teacher, what is the most important commandment in the law?

And Jesus answered, and here's what he said: Love the Lord your God with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

That is the first and the greatest commandment.

In other words, keeping God first.

Can I get an amen?

Matthew 6, 33.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

What does he say right there in uh Proverbs 3, 9?

You're in Proverbs 3.

Look at what he says in Proverbs 9.

He says, What a power, honor the Lord with your possessions.

Now watch.

And with the first fruits of all your increase.

And then look what he says.

And your barns will be filled with plenty.

And your vats will overflow with new wine.

Now, when he says first, he's talking about not just your tithe or your treasures.

He's talking about your time.

He's talking about your talent.

Some of you folks, you've got talent.

Some of you can sing.

And before long, we're going to be having tryouts for a choir because we've got a bigger stage.

It's going to be a huge stage back there.

We're going to, I mean, we're, we're going, we're going to get ready and get down.

Amen.

I mean, it's going to be awesome.

It's going to be awesome.

And uh, for some of you that can play, you've heard me say, we need a keyboard.

Uh, we need instruments.

Uh man, I'd love to see somebody, anybody around here can play a saxophone.

Woo! I'd love to have saxons.

I'd love to have a little mini orchestra.

Get it going.

Just, I mean, give God your best.

Hey, your talents.

God's giving you that talent.

You're supposed to use it.

Amen.

You're supposed to use it.

1 Corinthians 16, 2, look at what he says.

On the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up, as he or she, hey, uh, may prosper.

God is telling us we are to give him the first, not the last, of everything.

Can I get an amen?

In other words, where do we put God?

Where do we put God?

In fact, I think with all my heart, one of the things that blessed my heart when we were, when I was raising my kids and I was pastor in Open Door Baptist Church, we told Eric one thing.

Eric was about 12, 13 when he went to work with frog doing lawn service.

But he was wanting a car.

He's already thinking about a car.

I said, I'll make a deal with you, son.

You work hard, and for every dime you save, I'll match toward a car.

This is when he's 13, so he's got, you know, two years he turns 15 and learn his license.

Two, two and a half years.

I said, and if you give, you guys said, but here's another stipulation.

And I used a jar.

Y'all y'all heard me say this.

My grandmother taught me two fruit jars.

Well, I used to love drink sweet tea out of it.

Amen.

By the way, let me give you a definition of sweet tea.

Okay?

A lot of people don't understand what sweet tea is.

Okay.

Sweet tea is that you you add a little tea to your sugar.

Amen.

I mean, a nice sweet tea, okay?

And and I can't no, you can't get that anywhere.

But anyway, those two jars, you say, for every dollar you earn, Danny Boy, she called me, you put a dime in in God's jar and you put a dime in savings jar, and then you take the 80 80 cents out of the dollar and spend it uh for you.

I thought to myself, very young in my year.

I said, man, that's a deal.

That's a deal.

I mean, I get 80 cents out of a dollar.

That's would not anybody say that's a pretty good deal.

Even though we're still held responsible how we spend that too, okay?

Okay, but still, that's a pretty good deal.

Long story short, Eric went to work.

Get up at 6 o'clock, start cutting grass, and work to dark, 10 hours a day.

The young boy at 13 was bringing in 250 bucks a week.

Now that's 24 years ago.

That's a lot of money.

By the way,$250, a lot of money now.

Amen.

Amen.

And boy, was he so faithful.

And let me tell you what blessed my heart, Susan.

Remember this.

The next two summers, with him working his little heart out, not only did he save enough money, about$4,000,$3,000 for the car, but he had given not 10% back to the Lord, and he had given about 15% back to God.

And those two summers, Eric was in the top 25 givers in our church.

13, 14 years old.

He said, Dad, I believe it.

God's blessing me, and I'm giving back to him.

In fact, he said, It's his anyway, right, Dad?

I said, Yes, sir.

You got it.

You got it.

And you know what?

I've all my kids, they grew up.

They're all givers.

Because they watched us learn to give together as a family.

So that's what it's all about, folks.

It really is.

I'm telling you, it really is.

I wished, I wished you, I could just do it for you.

But I can't.

And we said last week, you remember, and everybody said, Oh me, I said, you know where is God first in your life?

Look at your checkbook and look at your calendar.

Where's your money going and where's your time going?

You know if God's first or not.

You know.

You know.

So that's between you and him, and only you can change that.

I can't do it for you.

For good I would.

Now, number seven.

Oh, this even gets better.

Number six, the who's number one principle.

Now, the cheerful attitude principle.

Hello.

2 Corinthians 9, 6 and 8.

Look at this.

Paul said, What God loves is a cheerful giver.

But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, but he which sows boundfully shall reap boundfully.

Now watch this.

Every man according to his purpose in his heart, so let him give.

Now watch.

What does it say?

Not what?

Grudgingly or of necessity, not made to give.

For God, say it with me, loves a cheerful giver.

Say that with me.

God loves a cheerful giver.

Now I wrote up there for you, and I think it's in your your outline.

I love the saying.

We can give without loving.

You can be forced to give or you can give without loving.

But now notice the next statement.

Okay?

But we cannot love without giving.

Woo! Is that not good?

You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.

You just can't.

Because God, for God so loved the world.

Say it with me, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loved you so much that he gave his very best for you and for me.

To God be the glory.

Paul said, and I love the way Paul said it, and he said it so eloquently, he said that the Love of Christ compels me in 2 Corinthians 5.14.

The love of Christ is what motivates me to give of my time and of my talents and of my gifts and of my abilities and of my treasures.

Man, that's so good.

Here's two things.

Love asks, how much can I give?

Legalism asks, how little can I give?

Whoa.

Love says, how much can I give?

Legalism says, how little can I give?

My.

Come on, say it with me.

My, my, my.

Is that not true?

Amen.

I've been around people all my life.

They they do just enough to get by.

Can I get an Amen or an O me?

They do just enough to get by.

Okay?

Just like students in school.

You'll do just enough to get that C when in reality you're an A student or a B student, but you do just enough to get by.

Amen.

You don't give them.

Hey, you don't give your best.

You'll never, hey, experience success if you don't give your best.

Amen.

I promise you.

It costs something to be successful.

Let me go ahead and I'm gonna just help you.

Bless God.

There are no free lunches.

You may think you're getting a free lunch, but you're not getting a free lunch.

And God didn't raise us up to be takers.

He raised us up to be givers.

Amen.

Amen.

You say, well, I don't like that preaching.

I can't help it.

God didn't call me to be popular.

He called me to preach the truth.

Amen.

Now I hope you like me.

I love you.

Hey, by the way, you don't have to like me.

I'm gonna just love you.

Nothing you can do about it.

Nothing you can do about it.

I mean it.

I mean it.

And notice what he said.

There's another principle.

Number eight, the understanding God's principle is the big shovel principle.

I love this one.

You cannot outgive God.

Look at Luke 6.38.

And Jesus said, give, and it will be given to you.

Now watch.

Good measure.

Now you gotta watch this book.

Good measure.

Pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.

That's another translation.

Will be poured into your lap.

Now notice the next phrase though.

Now here's the key.

Here's the key.

But by your, now circle the word your, but by your standard of giving, of measure is what this translation says.

It will be measured to you in return.

What a powerful principle.

Jesus said, I measure the standard that I give back to you by the standard that you give.

Woo! Hallelujah.

I didn't say it.

Jesus said it.

He that sows sparingly reaps what?

He that sows bountifully.

Do you get it, church?

You may not even be doing it, but do you get it?

That's the truth.

Here's what happens.

You start giving.

In fact, I had a guy the other day.

A gentleman said, Wow.

He said, Man, you give so much and God seems to just keep blessing you so much.

How is that?

How does that work?

He said, I'm glad you asked.

He said, Here's what I do.

I give, and guess what?

I take my shovel and I throw it in.

And then next thing I know, God takes his shovel and he throws it back.

He said, and God's got a lot bigger shovel than I do.

Amen.

Amen.

That's exactly what Jesus says right here.

The big shovel principle.

Dump truck, yeah.

Yeah, just back it up and let her flow.

He opens the windows and he pours you out a blessing that you can't contain.

Woo! Man, that's good.

Been there.

Living there now.

Very simple.

You shovel in and God shovels back.

And his shovel's a lot bigger than yours.

Number nine.

The river principle.

Boy, I hope you'll put this in your Bible.

You'll keep these last two, this test.

This is powerful.

This has so fired me up.

It's just reinforced everything that Susan and I have tried to build our life the last 33, 4, 30 plus wonderful years.

I got us some wisdom on that one the other day.

He said, say 30 plus, preacher.

I got it.

The river principle.

In other words, we're to be a conduit.

Say that with me.

We are to be a conduit.

I'm to take my life and not hold what God gives me.

I'm to pass it on to others.

Listen to what S.

D.

Gordon, powerful book he wrote, on quite talks on prayer.

That was where I found what I'm about to give you on the five outlets of power.

Here's what he said.

Gordon in his book, Quite Talks on Prayer, says this that there is one inlet of power in our life, and it's called the Holy Spirit.

Can I get an amen?

The Holy Spirit power.

And he said, but there's five outlets of power through which the Holy Spirit works through me and you.

Five outlets that the Holy Spirit uses to work through our lives.

Here they are.

Number one, through our life.

Through our life.

What we are.

I love what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3, 2.

He said, You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.

What that means is you're writing a letter, a chapter each day by the deeds that you do and the words that you say.

Men read what you write distorted or true.

What is the gospel according to you?

Wow.

You are a light that's set on a hill that cannot be hid.

You're a radiancy.

You radiate the good news.

You radiate the gospel.

What we are.

Not what we say we are, but what we are.

Hello.

You know we can talk a good talk, but can you walk the walk?

Amen.

We're all good talkers.

I know.

I've been around all of us.

We're all good talkers.

Hello.

All of us think we're a lot better than what we really are.

Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, get him.

I'm first.

I'm first.

Anybody with me?

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, come on, come on.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Let me just remind all of us we're not God's gift to society.

Amen.

We're just rotten, no good sinners saved by God's grace, thankful and excited about God's mercy.

Woo! That's good preaching, preacher.

Number two, this Holy Spirit works through our lips.

Hello.

Uh-oh.

What we say, how we talk, who we talk about, what we say about.

Oh yeah.

Ephesians 4.29 says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good.

Now watch.

To the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto its ears.

Now watch this.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is if it's not good.

Okay?

Now notice the next phrase.

To the use of.

If it's not necessary, look at the word edifying.

If it's not building up, and if and ministers grace, if it's not spoken graciously.

You got that?

Not good, not necessary.

All right.

Not good, not necessary, not building up, not spoken graciously and lovingly.

Don't say it.

Amen.

That's not enough.

I'm going to say that again.

Don't say it.

Amen.

You say, but brother Danny, that'd cut out most of my conversation.

Hello.

Hello.

Amen.

Amen.

And by the way, pastoral preachers are the worst.

I just got to the point I hardly don't hang out with a whole lot of them because they start talking about it.

I haven't heard it yet, but let me go ahead and tell you, it will, there will be word out because God's blessed this church so greatly, just like they did it open when we were at open door.

People start, hmm.

Well, I wonder what that.

You know, oh, in fact, no, I take that back.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

It is the words out there.

Well, I can tell you why they're growing so fast over there, because they feed everybody every Sunday.

I don't care.

Amen.

But the reason we feed everybody Sunday, it happens to be biblical.

They went house to house, breaking bread together, and we are building a New Testament church, and when we have 500, we'll still be feeding.

Hello! It's in the book.

Amen.

Amen.

And don't you love coming to church and listening and praising the Lord, getting fed spiritually, and then walk right in there, eat, and you're out of here by 12:30.

You couldn't do that anywhere in town.

And that gives me a reason to preach about 50 minutes.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm gonna feed you, so just hang in here.

Amen.

Amen.

We do it God's way.

I love it.

I love it.

I'm telling you, the intimate fellowship, this is it, this is why we do it.

When you sit down and you sit across the table for somebody, you get to know them, you get to love on them, you get to find out who they are, what they are, and you, hey, that's why we do it.

And Visters, every one of you are invited to stay.

We got plenty.

Oh, we got meatloaf.

Woohoo! Oh, oh, and we got apple Crispo.

By the way, I hadn't eaten any.

I've lost 10 pounds.

Thank you.

Amen.

And I'm proud of that 10 pounds.

Amen.

But I'm starving for a chocolate pie, Granny.

And I've got, I've got a Coca-Cola cake.

Honey, I may have to break my diet.

But just for a little bit.

But anyway, I'll go back treadmill.

All right.

But hey, through our life, through our lips, number three, through our ministry.

God works through our ministry.

Every one of us needs a ministry.

I don't care if it's washing dishes and Darren said, help me, amen.

Find something.

Do something.

Thank God for every one of you that volunteer to work in the nursery and with those kids.

Those kids down there are precious.

I just went down to our new building down there.

It's awesome.

But that is as important as my preaching.

You washing dishes is as important as my preaching.

Because you're serving the Lord.

Amen.

You're with me.

You're with me.

That's so important.

Find the ministry.

That's how the Holy Spirit works through us.

Thank you for playing the bus drivers.

And man, we just I want to see, it's just going to keep growing.

The larger we get, the more help we need.

Can I get an amen?

Listen, 20% of the people do 20% of the giving.

20% of the people do 80% of the work.

I'd like to see that changed at CCW.

I'd like to see it.

No one's ever been able to make that change.

Why couldn't we be the first?

I'm challenging us.

Why couldn't we?

I mean, everybody, everybody do just something.

If everybody did a little, no one would have to do a whole lot.

What is it?

Many make what's that saying?

Many hand make light work of any project.

Thank you, Derek.

Amen.

Can we all say amen to that?

And we're going to need some help on this land.

I'm in all kind of help.

We got to build a stage out there.

We got to, there's so much we got to do.

We need help.

And we don't want to have to just pay for it to be done.

We want to get the blessings of doing it.

Yes.

Amen.

I'm preaching.

I'm meddling, but I'm preaching.

All right.

Number four.

Then through our money, what we give.

God loves a cheerful giver.

We've raised almost$400,000 in a year and a half.

Can we give God a hand?

That pavilion is paid for.

Except we need to lay the slab.

I need$12,000.

Okay?

And we don't really have it in the budget.

We really don't because we've already paid for the pavilion.

We need$12,000.

And I went out there today.

We need to lay that slab.

Because the kids need to be able to do I wanna.

They need to be able to play basketball.

It's high enough.

So we need to do that.

So would you pray?

And let's just, let's just somebody help me.

Would somebody help me?

Let's let's we we need to lay that slab there.

$100.

Yeah.

Yeah.

$120 people,$100.

There you go.

There you go.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I like that.

$120 people,$100,$100.

That's it.

That's it.

That's it.

That's it.

Okay, that's really good.

Okay, I'll tell you what, right here.

I got the$500.

I'm giving for five people.

That's six right there.

That's seven right there.

Amen.

That's eight right there.

That's eight hundred.

That's nine.

That's ten.

That's a thousand.

That's eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen.

That's sixteen hundred dollars right there.

Just like that.

Amen.

Amen.

Five hundred.

Well, excuse me, that's$1,700 then.

No, what is that?

$2,000.

Excuse me.

Give me three.

Can I have three?

Can I have three?

Can I have three?

Boy, the talk will be out tomorrow.

I'll start the rumor.

Amen.

Amen.

Woo-hoo! Yes, amen.

Amen.

But that's the way it works.

When there was a need in the New Testament church, they met it.

Amen.

Amen.

I was walking out there yesterday.

There's mud down.

We don't need mud.

We need a slap.

Amen.

Somebody's going to give me a big check.

All right.

Here we go.

Now watch this.

Not just through our money, but hey, number five, through our prayer.

The Holy Spirit works through our life, through our lips, through our ministry, through our money, and through our prayer.

Listen to what he said in John 14, 13.

Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name.

Woo! That will I do that the Father may be glorified.

Can I get an amen?

Is that not awesome?

Is that not awesome?

Man.

And notice what I put in your notes.

We make our living by what we get.

But now watch.

This is awesome.

You'll take this to your grave.

We make our life by what we give.

Woo! Somebody say that's good.

We make our life by what we give.

Man, that's good.

Thank you, Jesus.

And then number 10.

The tenth principle of understanding God's principle is the who has whom principle.

Here's what that means.

Until God is in control of my life.

I think I'll put it in your notes.

I'm out of control.

Ooh, that's good.

Until God is in control of my life, I'm out of control.

Is that not good?

Boy, is that not good?

It's the Romans 12, 1 and 2 principle.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Romans 12, 22.

It's the Lordship, not I, but Christ.

It's the Galatians 2, 20.

I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless I live, yet not I.

But Christ liveth in me.

Listen to what James Lawless said in his book on stewardship.

Stewardship is more than now watch the management of a thing are things.

It's the refusal to let things manage us.

Let me repeat that.

Stewardship is more than the management of things.

It's the refusal to let things manage us.

Wow.

Wow, that's good.

Now, letter S and the Acrostic Trust surrender everything to God.

Now I want you to see this.

I told you I was going to show you this, what Jesus said.

Look at Luke 16.

Verse 10.

The statement I said earlier, if I only had more, I'd give more.

How often we've all said that.

I've been very guilty of that.

Look at what Luke says about this, and Jesus is speaking.

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.

Now, what did Luke mean?

Here's what he means.

If you are not giving sacrificially now of your time and talents and abilities and treasures, with what you have right now, you won't give sacrificially when you get more.

That's what he's saying.

Why?

Because it's a spiritual principle at work in our lives.

And that principle has shown that time and time again, it's not how much we have, hey, of the world and the things of the world that indicates our generosity toward God, but it's how much God has of us that exhibits our generosity toward the world.

Is that not good?

Mm-mm.

What a powerful, powerful principle.

So the bottom line is do I trust God with everything that I have?

Who do I trust in?

Am I dependent or independent?

Here's the question we're gonna answer, and I'm gonna show you this in Jeremiah 17, verses 5 through 8.

Jeremiah 17:5–8

Are you dependent or independent?

If you're dependent, that means you're dependent on God for everything.

My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4.19.

Okay, we're not sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency is in God.

Or are we independent?

That means I do it, I control it, I manage it, I do what I want with what I have when I want.

That's it.

But now notice what Jeremiah said about that.

In fact, I've never exergetically used these verses in all the years I've been doing stewardship.

God showed me this and I said, ooh.

That's it.

It's so powerful.

God says if you're going to rely on yourself, hey, and you're going to be like a now watch what he says.

You're going to be like a bush.

Look at verse 5 and 6.

Cursed is the one who trusts in man.

Cursed.

That's a pretty powerful word, folks.

Is the one who trusts in man.

Now watch.

Who depends on flesh for his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

In other words, if you're independent, your heart's not toward God.

It's turned away from God.

It's all about you.

It's all about me.

What I want, not what God wants.

Now watch what he says.

Mm-mm-mm.

Notice how he says what it will be like if we're independent and do our own thing.

Look at verse 6.

He will be like a bush in the wastelands.

He will not see prosperity.

Whoa.

When it comes.

And he will dwell in the parched places of the desert in a salt land where no one lives.

In other words, he says, we're going to be like, if we're independent, we're going to be like a bunch of bushes blown around in the desert.

And you know in the desert there's no life.

There's nothing good about deserts.

But now look what he says if we are dependent.

We're dependent on God.

Look at verse 7 and 8.

Blessed, that means happy, is the man and woman who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree.

I love this.

Planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes.

Its leaves are always green.

It has no worries.

Hallelujah.

In a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Wow.

What powerful, unbelievable truths.

Man.

In other words, now what?

Let me tell you what God taught me here.

The circumstances are the same for both.

Now circumstances are the same for the person who trusts God and the person who doesn't.

For the one who doesn't trust God, there's famine.

But the one who trusts God, there's prospering.

And his roots are grounded in the source.

They're grounded in Christ, which is God.

And the other one is like a tumbling bush.

Hey, blown by the wind here and yonder.

No security, no foundation.

Wow.

Is that not illuminating?

Is that not revealing?

Powerful principles.

And then the last letter in the word trust.

Test God's promises.

Here it is.

First Kings 8:56 says, There has not failed one word of all of God's good promises.

1 Kings 8:56

Did you hear that?

Has not failed one good word.

Not one.

Look, blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people, Israel, according to all that the promised, all that he promised to them, that hath not failed one word of all his good promises, which has promised by the hand of Moses, his servant.

Remember in the New Testament, Abraham said in Romans 4 20, listen what he said.

He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief.

And I love that, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Now watch, being fully persuaded that what God had said he would do.

Is that good?

God can't lie.

So either we trust God, so he can trust us, or we trust ourselves, which means God can't trust us.

And then we reap the benefits.

We reap the consequence.

Amen.

Oh me?

The point is trust.

Great Bible characters had to go through what I call the trust test.

You know when I was doing this?

I'd never thought about it before.

Bible characters who passed the trust test, Noah.

Actually, I just took the first five that came to my mind.

Noah.

Remember Noah?

What did God tell Noah?

You got to build a boat.

It's fixing the rain.

They said, rain.

Now wait, wait, wait.

It's not like it is here in Alabama.

It had never rained before.

Never, never, never, never, never rained.

And he's telling everyone, he's out there building this huge ark.

100 yards long, 50 yards wide, 30 yards high.

Huge, huge.

And he's telling everybody God told him to build the ark because it's going to rain.

No wonder they thought he had lost his mind.

They thought he was crazy.

But I want to show you one word, one word that I found.

Genesis 7, 5, and listen to what it says.

And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.

He passed the trust test.

Hello.

All, the little word all.

And then I thought about Abraham.

What about Abraham?

Remember Abraham?

He didn't have a son until he was 100 years old.

I asked the Lord the other day when I was reading that.

I said, Lord, I please, I would not like that to happen.

I meant.

I love my grandkids, but I can leave.

You can give them back.

But the prophecy was fulfilled, and now God says, now Abraham, I want you to take Isaac, go to Mount Moriah, and I want you to offer him up as a sacrifice.

Here's what I meant.

I want you to kill him.

I don't know if I could have done that, folks.

I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm not trying to be super spiritual.

I don't know if I could have done that.

But he did.

And remember as they're going up the mountain, Isaac, his son, turns to his daddy.

Can you imagine what that had to do to his dad's heart?

And he said, hey, we got the wood, we got the fire, but where's the sacrifice?

Here's what he said.

Boy, what, what wisdom.

God will provide the sacrifice.

And there he goes.

He draws back that knife and he's about to pierce the chest cavity to kill his son.

And an angel said, Stop! I'm not so sure the angel may not have just grabbed his arm.

And here's what he said.

Listen to this.

Unbelievable.

Do not stretch out your hand against verse 12 in Genesis 22, against the lad, against Isaac, and do nothing to him.

Now notice this.

Notice the next phrase.

God says, For now I know that you fear God, since you did not withhold your only son from me.

In other words, he says, I know that you trust me.

He passed the trust test.

Amen.

What about Joshua?

He comes to the Jordan River and it's hot.

I like the way God does it.

It's always in the flood season, so no one can make any mistake who did it.

And he says, step into the water.

Step into the water.

Oh, down it's yonder.

Yeah.

We've got to get me a quartet scene then.

Yeah.

Step done.

All right.

But now watch this.

What's this?

Can't you see the people?

Hey, Joshua, get the rod.

Where's your rod?

Where's your rod?

Remember?

Red Sea?

Moses rod?

I'm leading up to a conclusion that's going to be awesome.

I'm going somewhere with this, but I'm having fun while I'm doing it.

He said, No, you're not going.

God says that you don't need a rod.

You just do what I tell you to do.

You step into the water.

And I'll take care of the water.

And notice what the Bible says, and what an unbelievable in Joshua chapter 5, verse 1.

Joshua 5:1

Now it came about that all the kings of the Amorites, those that were against them that were beyond the Jordan of the West, and all the kings of Canaanites, all them that were ready to take them out, were by the sea, heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they had crossed and their hearts melted.

There was no spirit in them any longer.

In other words, they said, Woo! We're not messing with those guys.

If God be for them, who can be against them?

Amen.

We'll just let them go.

And then the last one was David and Goliath.

Remember?

They talked to good game.

When I do a series with the young people, I've got one on David and Goliath, one of the greatest men.

It's on, in fact, I got it on video.

Dr.

Falway used it on the old time gospel hour.

They would wake up in the morning.

You had the Israelites on one side of the valley, and you had the Philistines on the other side.

And they were in, you know, they were basically going to meet in the valley and fight.

So here's what would happen.

In the morning, the Israelites would get up early out of the tents and run out there and say, Jehovah! Jehovah! And then Goliath would come out.

Boom! Boom! And he would literally challenge them.

You cowards! Give me one man to fight me! And you know what they'd do?

They'd turn around and go and run back into the tents.

Literally, read it.

1 Samuel 13.

I'm serious.

But there was a little lad there named David.

And he went and he said, He said, What are y'all running from?

Told his brother, why are you running from this uncircumcised Philistine?

You know what he said?

Why are you running from that dog?

He said, Who does he think he is?

We're on the side of Jehovah.

He said, I'll fight him.

Well, now there was not one wanting to fight him.

So the news spread quickly.

They grabbed David, bring him to Saul.

Saul says, Don't you understand you're nothing but a little ruddy, red-headed, freckle, freckle-faced little boy.

That's the third time David's told him he couldn't do it.

He said, Well, I got news for you.

Ain't nobody else saying they'll fight him.

And I want you to know something, King.

I've killed a bear and I've killed a lion with my bare hands.

Have you done that?

I don't know what you're thinking.

How'd he kill that lion with his bare hands?

He used his sling.

He is the fastest sling in the West.

Hit that lion between his eyes.

He went down, ran over there, broke his jaw.

I already got that figured out.

Wait till we get to heaven and see.

He said, I'll fight him.

Now watch what King Saul says.

Okay.

Well, isn't this how we do?

We say you can't do it, but then when somebody else says they're going to do it, we try to tell them how to do it.

Hello, owe me.

Teach us.

Oh me.

Teach us.

He said, Well, since you're going to do it, you got to put my armor on.

He's almost seven foot tall, weighs 250 pounds.

David's 5'6 and weighs 130 pounds.

Can you imagine him without an armor on?

Now notice what he does.

He puts that armor on, he can't walk.

He throws it off and looks at what he says.

I love it.

Here's what David says.

And this is in 1 Samuel 17, 37 through 40, but I want to pick up with the one verse.

And David girded his sword over his arm and tried to walk, put on Saul's armor, for he had not, and watch, he had not tested them.

So David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.

And David took them off.

And David said, I'll go with what I know to be real that I've that God has given to me and trusted me with.

I'll go with my sling and I'll go with my staff.

God gave him the trust test and he passed.

He used it.

Now let me show you what I saw.

Then I'm through.

Noah when I wrote, I'm about to have a Pentecostal spell.

If Papa was here, he'd be running.

Here's how it works.

Noah trusted in God.

Now listen, not the familiar.

The familiar was it never had rained.

You with me, church?

You know what?

We're doing grounds that's never been done before, feeding people all the time, doing stuff that we're doing.

You know, that's not the familiar.

Now watch this.

Abraham trusted in God and not personal feelings.

If he had allowed his personal feelings to intervene, he would have never offered Isaac.

You with me, church?

You with me?

Joshua trusted in God, not methods.

If he had used the rod, that was the method that Moses used to part the sea.

It wasn't about methods, it was about God.

Amen.

And then, are you ready for this?

David trusted in God and not in man's armor, not in man.

He trusted in God.

Is that not good?

Man, that's a message within itself.

And I didn't put this on you out loud, but Psalm 60, write this down.

Psalm 66, 10.

Fear thou, O God.

He said, well, fear God.

Then he goes on in this David said, For thou, O God, hast proved us, has tested us.

Thou hast tried us as silver is tried.

Ladies and gentlemen, God's going to test us before he uses us.

Hello.

Listen to what Job said in Job 23.10.

You remember the story of Job.

He knows the way that I take.

When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Three things, because I know Susan, when I get home, she'll say, You didn't give us the last three blanks.

Woo! Man.

Man, I'm about to jump this bench, but I might break my leg.

Is that not good, church?

Come on, church.

Some are saying no, that's hard.

No, it's not hard, it's truth.

And we shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free.

Amen.

Amen.

And free indeed.

Promises that God gives his children.

Here it is.

When we pass the trust test.

And by the way, the only place in the Bible is in the area of giving of our tithes.

He says, you can test me.

Number one, he will provide for us.

Verse 10.

Test me now, says the Lord of hosts in Malachi 3.10.

If I will not open up you the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing until it overflows.

Now I know what you're thinking.

Pastor, are you telling me that God will take care of me in every area of my life, including finances, if I put God first?

No, I didn't say that.

That's not Pastor Danny's truth.

That's not CCW's truth.

I didn't say that.

God said that.

That's God speaking, not me.

I'm just the delivery boy.

Amen.

Then number two, he will protect us.

Verse 11.

Look at what he says.

Then I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground, nor will your vine, hey, nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes, says the Lord of hosts.

In other words, you're going to prosper.

Satan's not going to rob you of God's blessings.

And then the last thing our lives will be attractive to others.

Oh, I want this church to be so attractive to people.

Not because we think we're good stuff.

No, but that we love God and we love people.

It's all about God, not about us.

Can I get an amen?

Loving on people.

Matthew 5, 16.

Let your light so shine.

Look at what he said in verse 12.

What did he say?

He said, All the nations, all the nations will see the joy and the prosperity of God on your life.

Is that not awesome?

Is that not awesome?

Amen.

Is that not awesome?

Praise the Lord.

Is that not awesome?

Amen.

Yeah, give God a hand.

Amen.

I close with where our stock started.

If you take the truths that you've been taught this month and begin to apply them to your life in all areas, are you listening?

God will radically change your life.

We've been doing it for 30 plus unbelievable years.

Is that not true, honey?

Every need we've ever had, God's provided.

And by the way, most of the time he's given us wants.

That's the way he is.

Remember?

He opens the window of heaven and pours you out blessings that you can't contain them.

In Proverbs 3.10, he gives you plenty, more than you really need.

But that's not why we do it.

Why do we do it?

Why are we good stewards?

Why are we good managers?

Why are we good trustees?

Because we love him.

He's my daddy.

He's my father.

Without him, I'm nothing.

Without him, I can do nothing, but with him I can do all things.

Amen.

Is that not a beautiful principle?

Let's pray together.

Every head bowed, every eye closed.

Father, we thank you.

We love you.

We praise you for being the awesome God that you are.

Father, I know there's people here that say, Pastor Danny, I need to be a better steward.

Or there's a lot of people that just need to start being stewards.

Start somewhere.

Start giving of their time some and their talents and their abilities and their treasures.

They gotta start.

They gotta start somewhere.

Start somewhere.

Start regularly and faithfully giving.

And then grow into to more.

But start, start, start.

Start.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you for your truth.

It never returns void.

It always accomplishes where you send it.

Some of our church people will take these truths, and God, you're gonna radically change their lives.

And three months from now, they'll be Pastor Danny, can I give a testimony?

I want to share what God's done these since January when I took took God's word at face value and started trusting him.

Started trusting him.

In fact, I want you to look up, I want you to look up here at me for a minute.

I want you to look up here at me.

I want to show you something.

Come here.

Come here, Clay.

Come here.

I'm gonna tell you what trusting God really is.

Turn around.

Face there.

All right, no, don't look back at me.

Okay.

I'm gonna count to three.

And I want you to just fall back.

Totally.

Don't look back.

If I can't hold you and catch you, we're in trouble.

One, two, three.

Fall back.

I didn't plan that.

God just told me to do it.

But did you see what he did when I said fall back?

He went.

Did y'all see that?

That's what a lot of us are doing right now with that message that I just preached.

Teach us.

But God, you don't know my bills.

God, you don't know that.

And we just go down the list while you can't do it.

You're kind of looking back.

The only way you're gonna trust God and let him trust you, you just gotta fall back.

Give it all.

I promise you, he will not let you hit the ground.

Because if he did, he'd be a liar.

And I want you to know Titus 1.2, Hebrews 6.18, Numbers 24, 3.

God can't lie.

Can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen, church?

Couldn't have asked for a better example.

Because that's what we're doing now.

Oh, Pastor Danny, yeah, that's his he's preaching that, but Lord, I don't know.

Can I really do this?

Can I really do this?

Well, guess what?

You'll never know until you let go.

Whoa, that was good, wasn't it?

You'll never know until you let go.

Whoa, that was good, preacher.

I like it.

Thank you, Jesus.

That's good.

You'll never know until you let go.

And give him everything.

And then you're gonna see.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at thechurch at CW.

Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.