Feeling Anxious About The Future? (Matthew 6) | Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you for joining us.

To learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at Celebration ORL or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.

Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 34, I believe, is God's word for us today.

Matthew 6:19–34

And we've already been introduced to the idea of it when Cassie was up here encouraging us around giving.

So I believe that God wants to free us up as it relates to prioritizing Him.

So the text tells us, starting at verse number 19, it says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break into steel.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break into steel, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The eye is the lamp of the body, so if your eye is healthy, the whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, then your whole body will be full of darkness.

And if then the light in you is darkness, how great that darkness is.

No one can serve two masters, for either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted.

Somebody say devoted, devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money.

Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about the body on which you will put on is not the life more than food and the body more than clothing.

Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap and gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?

And why are you so anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?

Oh, you of little faith, therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?

For the Gentile seek after these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you.

So therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

That's God's word for us today.

And it's it's birthed out of genuine, sincere recognition of the space in which many of us find ourselves.

Anxiousness.

In this text alone, Jesus mentions the word anxious six times in only about eight verses, over and over again.

Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, don't be anxious.

Because we live in a world that we're just so filled with anxiety, and if we and if we tie the anxiety back, that anxiousness is often about the future, and that future is often attached to provision and all the things that Jesus was speaking about.

And so I believe that Jesus is not necessarily giving us an antidote, but he is leading us to a space of freedom and shifting our perspective.

So today I just want to talk to us for a few moments around the burdens that we all carry in some way or another, but how we can walk in freedom.

And I have a title today's thought, Put God First.

Turn to someone next to you and say, Put God first.

Turn to the people that you ignored and say to them, put God first.

Turn around to the person behind you and say to them, put God first.

Come on, let's pray.

Don't sit down yet.

We're gonna pray and then we're gonna have a seat.

Lord, we thank you so much.

We thank you for your faithfulness, God.

We thank you for your word, and we thank you for moments where we can gather in your name.

Your name is the highest.

You are with us, you are holy.

So, Lord, I just ask that you speak to our minds, you speak to our hearts, that you reorient us to be surrendered fully to you.

I ask that you give us open eyes to see your truth, give us open ears to hear your prophetic voice above the whispers of the crowd.

And Lord, I pray that you give us open hearts to receive what it is you want to deposit into us today.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

You go ahead and take your seats at this time.

Put God first.

If you're joining us online, welcome.

I'm so glad you're here.

If you're in our family lounge, welcome, we're so glad you're here.

Church, we put our hands together for those who are joining us online remotely, those who couldn't be with us.

And while you're at it, can you put your hands together?

Y'all the real MVPs.

Y'all came out here and it's like six degrees outside.

So let's put our hands together for the real ones.

If you're online and you're local, we're looking at you.

I'm not here to judge, I'm just simply saying they showed up and y'all didn't.

I love you though.

Jesus is talking to a group of people in what we refer to as a Sermon on the Mount.

This is a series of teachings that are on the Mount of Olives, and as Jesus is unpacking these biblical truths, he's trying to reorient the community's mind around the things of God.

And so, what many scholars and theologians will refer to this is the teachings of the kingdom, and what you'll find about the teachings of the kingdom is that they are upside down.

In fact, what many would say is that we're in an upside down kingdom, and here's what I mean by that.

Jesus is teaching a group of people about what does it mean to live a life that is being shaped by the things of God.

And honestly, what you'll find is that the things that he's saying, it's upside down according to the way that we see things.

You'll see that the life and ministry of Jesus, he would say things like, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

That's upside down.

That's not the way that we typically think about things.

In the Sermon on the Mount, he specifically says that blessed are those who are poor in spirit.

I've never heard the words poor and blessed put together, but but Jesus is he's shifting the paradigm a little bit.

He he calls those who are meek.

He says, You're gonna be blessed and you're gonna inherit the earth.

But that seems so contradictory to what we see in society where in our capitalistic mindset, the more that I get, the more powerful I am, the more influence I have.

But Jesus is actually, it's the it's those who are humble, it's those who are yielded to the ways of God.

It's it's upside down.

Jesus even goes as far as saying, I want you to love your enemies.

But Lord, you don't understand.

My political opponents, they really offend me, so I'm going to hate them.

No, but Lord, you don't understand.

They they voted this way, they believed this way, so I feel justified in hating them.

But Jesus doesn't mince words, he's shifting the paradigm and he's saying, I want you to love those who even oppose you.

And he models it when he's on the cross and he says, Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do.

He's not asking us to do anything that he himself hasn't modeled first.

It's upside down.

And then he goes as far as saying, Don't store up treasures on earth.

You actually need to store up treasures in heaven.

That seems a little bit upside down, and Jesus is not giving us a series of motivational quotes, but he's actually forming disciples.

Jesus is trying to speak to a bunch of everyday people.

He's not at a leadership conference, he's not talking to people who are uh in a C-suite executives, he's talking to people that are living moment by moment, day by day, people who are living paycheck to paycheck, harvest by harvest.

He's talking to people who are dealing with governmental oppression, they're dealing with being misrepresented inside of the temple.

He's dealing with people who have everyday struggles, and to this group of people, he tells them, I want you to look at things from a different perspective.

Because perspective is everything.

When you what what you focus on is what you begin to reflect.

And I honestly believe that one of the greatest gifts that that God has given me is to be a leader in varying capacities.

But I think the greatest honor is that of being a husband and a father, because it's in that space that I realize that God has given me permission to be a voice of influence.

He's given me permission to speak words of life, but I also recognize that a large part of the insight that I provide is meant to provide perspective, which then is the very thing that causes me the deepest frustration.

Because when you have kids, and God knows we love our children, don't we?

But man, they just don't be listening.

Like you're trying to help them, and I realize that I used to be them, and so I I get it.

I I understand that today's stressors, the today's burdens, the concerns about tomorrow, I understand all that is real, but but when you've when you've lived enough life, you have a different perspective.

That when you then you think about some of the conversations that that you have with your family members and in this moment, in this moment, that that that girl that made fun of you in the lunchroom, I get it, I do not minimize that, but I lived enough life to recognize I don't even remember their names.

It's different perspective.

But in that moment, I know it's weighty.

In that moment I know it's challenging, but life is filled with us often trying to provide different perspectives.

And as and as a father, one of the things that that really challenges me is that when I'm invited into spaces and I'm trying my best to share insight and wisdom with my wonderful, incredible, sometimes hard-headed children.

They're inviting me into spaces, and I have to then recognize that I have a different responsibility in their lives.

When I was their father and they were little, I know that I was a I was a leader, I was a guide, I modeled, I demonstrated.

But then my role got demoted to just being an advisor.

Because how dare they grow up and start having ideas and opinions of their own?

And so now when they come to me, I'm saying to you, if I were you, this is my advice to you, or here's another perspective.

I know that the job is getting on your nerves, but but let me give you a different perspective.

I know that this relationship seems strained and I understand it, but but let me give you a different perspective because sometimes when you live enough life, the blessing that comes from it is that you just get a different perspective.

Keep that in mind, because now we have Jesus, who is an eternal being.

The Bible says, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God.

That Jesus is literally the instrument by which everything was created.

He's coming from a divine, eternal perspective.

He steps into humanity and he says, Hey, I know that what you're currently struggling with, I know that the financial peril that you're dealing with, I know that these things that are fueling your anxiety are the most important things in the world to you, but let me give you a different perspective.

Let me give you a kingdom perspective.

Let me show you how I view this.

He begins to talk about the importance of having a different perspective.

And he gets to the root of it when he says something to the effects of listen, you can't serve two masters.

And I know that we live in a world where we'd like to be a little bit of both.

I know we live in a world where it's one foot in and one foot out, but the Bible reminds us that a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.

At some point, you're gonna have to make a decision on whose side am I on?

Am I on the side of Jesus or am I on the side of the world?

And Jesus names that spirit mammon.

That spirit of consumption, that spirit of self-exaltation, that spirit of greed.

He personifies money into a spirit that can often run rampant inside of our very souls.

The spirit of mammon, the spirit of not enough, the spirit of just one more trip, just a little bit more of my account, just one more pair of shoes.

Well, not a pair of shoes, there's nothing wrong with having a lot of shoes.

But you guys get what I'm saying.

You guys understand what I'm saying.

Just one more, a little bit more, and it becomes this craving, this appetite that is never actually satisfied.

Because I can think back when I was younger, I had these thresholds of when I felt like I made it.

Man, if I could just make this amount of money, then man, I'll be good.

I'll be good for the rest of my life.

Spoiler alert, I got there and I was like, well, Lord, if I could just make this much, if I could just make this much, if I could just live here, well, God, when I get a chance to go to this location, then I will feel fulfilled.

And the algorithm is constantly speaking to us when we open up our phones and it's reminding us of where we're not because no matter where we are, there's somewhere else we want to be.

And that that hunger, that that insatiable desire for the next thing is always there, and Jesus calls it the spirit of mammon.

It's always going to pull at your attention.

And Jesus is not vilifying want.

He's not vilifying desires, he's not vilifying vacations, he's not vilifying nice homes, he's not vilifying anything.

In fact, Jesus doesn't communicate there's anything wrong with having stuff, but there's something wrong when the stuff has you.

When it has you, when it has you at a place where you can't be generous, when it has you at a place where you can't move forward, and it has you at a place where you will treat people with no dignity because it's all about you.

This is the machine of what capitalism does, it's all about me, and you will figure it out along the way.

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work it out.

Scripture does not support that.

So Jesus begins to speak about this idea of anxiety and over and over again.

He says, Don't be anxious.

That word anxiety, it literally breaks down to being pulled apart.

Don't be pulled in multiple directions.

Don't be shredded by what you see in the world.

Because we live in a world where we're constantly being told of the future to come, and I get it.

We're constantly being told about the economy collapsing, and I get it, and I believe we need to be wise and to be aware of how we maneuver through this world, but but the Bible tells us that it shouldn't create a sense of anxiety and stress.

Why?

Because we know who our Lord is.

APA says that over 73% of all adults have worry and stress as it relates to their finances.

73%.

Not mindful, not strategic, not aware, but worry to the point that it's fracturing their sense of peace.

Bankrate came out with a statistic that says that 43% of all adults say that their thoughts of their finances have robbed them of sleep, it affects their mental health.

We're talking about something that is insatiably attacking us and shredding us at a point that is robbing us of peace.

And Jesus, as the best pastor in the world, talking to people who are living moment by moment, is saying, That is not my best for your life.

You being you being wrecked with stress is not my best for your life.

You being consumed about what your next steps are is not my best for your life.

I will order your steps, I will open doors, I am with you, but I don't want you to be torn apart by worry.

So Jesus gives us the opposite.

He gives us the upside down, he gives us a different perspective.

And what he says to us is so the way that we can free you from this is to seek first the kingdom of God.

That that seems so upside down.

That seems so backwards.

What does it mean to practically seek the kingdom of God first when I'm dealing with so many things that are in front of me?

But Jesus breaks it down because the word that he uses for seek, it means to pursue, it means to prioritize, it literally means to orient your life around in an intentional way, to seek.

It means to chase it down, to look for it.

In other words, putting God first is not something that will organically happen in your life.

You will not accidentally stumble upon being completely loyal to Jesus.

Because we live in a world that makes that incredibly difficult to do.

So we have to be intentional.

So he says, I want you to seek it out.

I want you to be intentional, I want you to be diligent.

Seek first the kingdom.

First is a matter of priority, first is a matter of placement, first is a matter of authority, first sets the tone for everything else because order matters.

The order in which we do things, it matters.

So Jesus is not saying that these other things aren't important.

What he's saying is if you can simply put me first, everything else will begin to fall into place.

Here's a principle that I want you to keep with you.

When God is first, worry loses power.

When you put God first, when you genuinely put God first, worry begins to lose its grip on your life.

Why?

Because I'm putting God first.

I'm telling you, if you put God first in your marriage, worry begins to lose its power.

When you put God first in your business, it be the enemy and the worry begins to lose its power in your life.

When you put God first in the way that you raise your family, when you allow the fruit of the Spirit to be the way in which you demonstrate your life, you'll learn that worry begins a lot less having an influence in your life because order matters.

When we put God first, worry loses power.

Order, it matters.

I I read an article um a few weeks ago about an ATM.

And you know, of course, for those of you that are millennials and maybe a little bit younger, an ATM is a machine that you would go to that you would put your card in, punch in a code, designate how much cash you need.

Cash is a green note that we actually used to use to transfer for goods and for services.

Um it was meant to replace checks.

Checks were documents that you used to write down, an amount, and you would give it to a person in order to exchange goods for services.

I'm just trying to give you an economic lesson on a way that the financial world operates.

But these ATMs, it was they they have a purpose, they have a function where you can go to them and you can withdraw cash and order matters because you go up to the ATM, you you put your debit card in, you put in your code, and you you you go to withdraw money and you get said money.

It's super simple.

Well, what was happening with this one ATM is that for a couple of days, the line was literally wrapped around the building.

That even though there were other ATMs that were available, that this one particular ATM just had people just waiting in line.

There must be something special about this ATM.

And it turns out that when people were walking up to this ATM and putting in their code, that even if you were trying to withdraw$20, it would give you$1,000.

$20,$1,000 comes out.

And to make matters even more insane, the$1,000 wasn't even coming from your account.

You have people that are walking up, like, man, I got$24 in my account.

I'm gonna take$20 out.

Boom, a thousand dollars shows up.

And then they look at their account and they still see that they have$24.

So I have moments like this, and I say, Lord, why have you never entrusted me with such a moment?

I'm I'm serious.

I see these stories, and I often wonder, Lord, like, why not?

Why, like, why not me?

I would take that thousand dollars, I would give to the Lord, and then I would go and see what else the Lord has me to do.

I I believe that, I believe God knows the conditions of our hearts because I think that we all know that if somebody just put a thousand dollars in your hand, I know that I am a man of character and integrity, and I would do the right thing.

But I'm also the man that believes in miracles, and that could be God's blessing in my life.

And whenever the supernatural happens in my life, it must be the Lord.

So I'm just gonna walk this thing up.

I'd have been at that ATM every single day.

Every day, and I would have been testifying about the church.

You will never bless what God did.

I went to the bank account and I withdrew money, and the Lord just blessed me with the isn't He a provider, won't He do it?

That's a ram in a thicket.

Like I would have had every prophetic scripture you can find to justify it.

But the issue with the machine was things were out of order.

Because what was happening is when people put their card in and they were putting in their code a part of the authentication process, because there was a glitch in the system, it wasn't attaching that card to a specific account, it was attaching it to the entire network.

So it was just withdrawing money from all over the place and never from a specific account.

Now, on one end, that may look like good news to us, but if you're that person that had the abundance of thousands in your account and you see it disappearing, that's a little bit of a burden.

It occurs to me that order matters.

If they just had the authentication in the right order, then they wouldn't be leaking money.

Watch this.

That's exactly what the spirit of mammon does to our soul.

Because we don't have order, we don't just spend money, it leaks.

Dave Ramsey says that if you don't have a name for every dollar, you wonder where it went.

And unfortunately, we live in a world where because of the spirit of mammon that's always calling us to do one more thing, one more purchase, one more vacation, one more sh one more shirt, one more pair of shoes, one more thing.

Begin to be finding ourselves in this space where it's an insatiable appetite that is never satisfied.

So the Lord gives us some instructions.

So just put me first.

Because if you can prioritize me, things will have their proper order and you will not be leaking the way that you currently are.

When God is first, worry loses its power.

So how do we practically put God first?

That's a great word, and it's powerful in its implications.

But how do we practically do it?

Scripture provides a lot of different ways to ensure that this is not a concept that just exists within our mind and inside of our feelings, but it becomes measurable.

We could put God first on our calendar.

We go to church.

That's a practical thing that I'm doing.

I'm choosing to go to church the first day of the week.

I'm choosing this.

That's an effort and way of doing it.

Put God first also means I'm engaging in scripture.

I'm gonna read the Bible, I'm gonna seek God in prayer before I allow the day to get away from me.

Another way, these are measurable, practical things that we can do to show that we're putting God first, prioritizing God first.

In the area of our finance, God created something that could help us to do that.

And it's called the tithe.

Yes, if you came to church today, we're about to talk about money.

Close the doors.

I'm just kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

You can leave if you want to.

It's okay.

It's okay.

But let's but let's talk about it for a minute.

Because I believe that God wants to give us a space of freedom.

And so God, in his infinite wisdom, remember, a different perspective, a kingdom perspective, an eternal perspective.

He wants to speak into something finite so that we don't find ourselves living in bondage.

And so God created the concept of tithing in order to ensure that we have our finances in order, that we're prioritizing him even in that area of our life.

So what does it mean to tithe?

Tithe simply means a tenth.

But it's not just a tenth, it's the first 10.

It's the first 10%.

It's prioritizing God first.

It's not, let me get through the rest of the week and I may give God what's left over.

It's not tipping God, but I'm prioritizing God, I'm putting him first as an act of faith.

Proverbs 3 9 says, Honor the Lord your God with your wealth and with the first fruits of your produce.

First, your first fruits.

What that meant for the people of the Bible in the Old Testament is that when a harvest would come in, they were not waiting for the next harvest to decide on whether or not what they were going to give to God.

What it actually meant to tithe in that context was, hey, this is our first harvest.

We're giving that to God, trusting and believing that He's going to send more to come.

That's what the principle of first was meant to signify.

It's putting God first.

God is challenging us and inspiring us to live a life where we genuinely put him first in every area of our lives.

And I want to give you a couple of things on why tithing really does matter for us as New Testament believers.

The first thing is this it when I tithe, it declares that God is first in my life.

When I'm tithing, it declares that God is first.

I'm genuinely demonstrating practically that God is first.

Matthew 6, 33 and Matthew 6, 21.

Tithing is the way that we are practicing firstness in our life.

It's the tangible way in which we can show that God is first.

It's our way of saying that where my treasure is, there my heart will be.

Where my treasure is, where I put my money into something, that's my sign of me following it with my heart.

Anyone that's involved in stocks, understand that when you put your money in the stock market, your heart goes there.

You're looking, you're paying attention to the ups and downs.

There's an investment, there's an interest, there's commitment connected to it.

God knows that.

So when you are investing, sowing into the kingdom of God, your heart begins to care about the things of God.

God knows exactly what he's doing.

The next thing is when I tithe, it provides for God's house.

And Malachi talks about bringing the tithe to the storehouse so that there may be resources in that house.

That when we tithe, it ensures that the house of God has what it needs so that it can demonstrate and model the things that God wants us to do in our community.

That when we tithe, it demonstrates that we trust God.

Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 says, Trust in the Lord and lean not to our own understanding and all of our ways acknowledge Him.

Excuse me.

It demonstrates that I trust Him.

When I'm tithing, it means that God, I I trust you above all else.

I I trust you above my comfort, I trust you above my best, my feelings.

I I trust you.

When I'm tithing, it demonstrates physical trust.

Number four, when I tithe, it invites God's provision.

Scripture tells us over and again that when we sow, we also reap.

Matthew 6.33, it says it this way, that when you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will be added unto you.

You notice that.

Put God first, then the things begin to make themselves known in your life.

Proverbs 3, 9, verse verses 9 and 10, it says, Honor God with your wealth and the first fruits of all of your produce.

Look at what verse 10 says.

Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

When is the last time your vats were bursting with wine?

When was the last time your barns were filled with many?

This is the language of the time, but ultimately what it's saying is that when you put me first, when you honor God first, there's a release that happens in your life.

This is not a magic trick, but what it is, it's God's economy of sowing and reaping.

When you sow something, you reap it.

What you give is what you also see in return.

I like to say it this way: when you put your finances in order, that it releases a blessing.

So when order is restored, blessing is released.

When you put your things in a proper order, God does move and he blesses it.

Number five, when I tithe, it reminds me that I am not my source.

And that's a big one.

Because if we're honest with ourselves, we live in a world where it's possible for us to be so consumed and so fixated on self-exaltation that we forget that God is the one who is our provider.

We can lose sight of the fact that even in spite of me going to college, me getting my degrees, then all the things that have lined up in my life, yes, it's me partnering with God, but God is ultimately the source.

Deuteronomy 8, 17 and 18.

I want to read this to us because I think it's powerful.

But it says this when he's talking about the importance of prioritizing God and putting him first, but I don't want to read this to us.

It says, Beware least you say in my heart, My power and my might and my hands have gotten me this wealth.

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth.

When I tithe, it reminds me that God is my source, that not my networking ability, not my ability to articulate, not my ability to walk inside of rooms and take over a room.

What it is is God using the way that He's wired me in my submission to him, and He's opening doors and creating opportunities for me, but I always remember that I am not the source.

Number six, when I tithe, it connects my money to a kingdom purpose.

It helps me to understand that I'm participating and partnering with something that is beyond myself.

Number seven, when I tithe, it gives my job eternal significance.

This is so important.

Because we we live in a society right now, and I recognize this tension.

I was talking with a bunch of the guys yesterday at our men's prayer breakfast.

Shout out to the men at the men's prayer breakfast.

Any of the men from the house that were at the men's prayer breakfast?

Six of us were there.

It was amazing.

It was amazing, it was amazing.

But we were there and we're talking about this us as men and leading and all the things, and we're talking about the tension of what does it mean when we're working?

And some of us are working in spaces where our job is just a job.

I'm I'm exchanging my time and my talent, and you're giving me resources for it.

And then other people are in spaces where they're passionate about what they do and they feel great about it, and they're working in an environment that's not toxic, and people are often in the middle.

And so we live in a world now where we spend so much time at work that if we're not careful, if I don't feel fulfilled, I can feel invalidated, I can feel as if I'm wandering in the wilderness, and I get you.

But what scripture shows us is that even when I'm in environments that I don't feel are ultimately fulfilling my purpose, I'm doing a job that is paying me money that I can still fulfill my kingdom purpose within the local church and beyond.

That's what it allows us to do is to recognize that even if I'm in an environment that doesn't satisfy my soul, I can use those resources to sow into the kingdom.

Scripture reminds us that the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous.

So that means that even if I'm in a job that doesn't feel as if it's filling my soul, that job still may be my missional assignment.

I may be in a space that God is saying, but this is where I called you to be.

So let your light shine in this environment.

So God shows us that when I tithe, when I participate, that maybe my income becomes part of eternal significance.

Here's number eight.

When I tithe, it transforms my money into a seed.

It's not me burying something, it's me planting something knowing that it will indeed produce fruit.

2 Corinthians 9, 6, Luke 3, 28.

Over and over again, we're reminded that when we tithe, that we're that we're sowing a seed that will indeed produce fruit.

Number nine, when I tithe, it breaks greed and self-reliance off of my heart.

Tithing confronts the spirit of mammon head on.

It ensures that it doesn't grip my soul in such a way that it robs me of being able to prioritize God.

I I was thinking a little bit about how this has manifested itself in my life.

You know, when I think about what it requires for us to live a life that honors God, what it requires for us to live a life where we can break free from greed and self-reliance.

And practically speaking, there are moments where that's incredibly easy and other moments where that's challenging.

Megan and I, our family, we're in a process of moving.

And so when I think about moving and man, can I just say this?

Moving's expensive.

Like moving from one place to another, like getting the boxes, all the stuff.

Like I'm I made a quick stop after a minute's prayer, but I was like, let me just go get pick up a couple boxes.

Just a couple boxes.

I I haven't moved in seven years.

Something I'm gonna go pick up a couple boxes, it's gonna cost me$20,$30 tops.

I go in there and get like eight boxes,$102 later.

I literally feel like I got robbed without a gun.

I'm like, what is what is happening?

And so so can I tell you guys, as the pastor of this church, I stood in a moment in the parking lot and I was like, okay, I have all of these expenses.

So so what if, what if I held on to the tithe for these next two weeks so I can get things up and going and then I'll and then I'll pay it back.

And in that moment in the parking lot, I said, the devil is a liar.

The devil is a liar.

I said, that's the spirit of mammon.

Now there was somebody parked next to me that didn't understand what was happening in that moment.

They didn't know why I was calling them the devil and what the spirit of mammon was.

But what I'm saying is it can creep in so quick.

It can creep in so quick where I'm like, well, I'll just I'll just move these things around.

But if I'm living a life and I'm making choices that removes God from the equation, then is it God that's leading me to make that choice?

If getting a new car means that I can no longer be faithful to God, then maybe I don't need to get that car.

If I'm going on a vacation, that means that I have to go through a season where I can no longer give to God, then maybe that's not God leading me on that vacation.

Because why would God lead me into an environment that causes me to no longer prioritize him?

So I believe that when we look at these things, it helps us to break the greed and self-reliance off our heart.

And number 10, tithing is not an act of generosity, it's an act of obedience.

I remember talking with a man a few years ago who had given a substantial amount of money to the church, and I said, Man, thank you so much for your generosity.

He said, Keith, I'm not being generous, I'm being obedient.

Because God's word tells me, it reminds me to return the tithe to God's house, and I'm simply doing what God's called me to do.

When I give above and beyond that, that's me being generous.

But Keith, I'm simply being obedient.

When we tithe, it's something that's powerful that happens.

It literally transforms lives.

But I also recognize that in this room we can wrestle with these implications because we know that there's a lot of tension around the concept of tithing.

Some of you are thinking to yourself, like, doesn't the Bible say tithing in the Old Testament?

Is that really a New Testament principle?

I watched this really smart guy on a podcast say something about that.

He's not a pastor, he's not leading anything, but he's got a podcast with a bunch of followers, so it must be right.

I digress.

But then I find it interesting when we say these things, like the Bible says that tithing's an Old Testament thing, in the New Testament, it speaks about generosity.

But then I say, if that's the principle you want to live by, then do it fully.

In other words, grace never negates discipline, it actually creates a higher standard.

So if we're saying tithing is exclusively an Old Testament concept, let's go deeper into it because Jesus never calls us to go backwards.

Let me give you an example.

Jesus is talking to his followers at the Sermon on the Mountain.

He says, You have heard it said, do not murder, but let me take it to the next level.

I don't even want you to have anger in your heart.

You have heard it said, don't commit adultery, but I'm gonna take it to another level.

I don't even want you to have lust in your heart.

You have heard it said that you should love your neighbors, but I'm gonna take it to another level.

I want you to love your enemies.

What you actually see in the Bible is that grace requires more of us, not less.

So if we're saying that tithing is an Old Testament principle, then what we have to understand is tithing is simply the entry point of generosity, never for us to go less than.

We see this over again in Scripture.

For some of us, we're saying, Keith, I can't afford to tithe, and I understand that.

I get that.

I literally have been there.

I understand the struggle that goes with it.

And so for us as a church, we hear you, we see you, and we want to support you.

So as a community and as a team, as a church, we want to make a couple of things available to you.

First and foremost, we have financial coaches and job coaches.

We have a legacy team that are people that God is literally called to be generous and they want to be a part of the solution.

So they make financial coaching available free to come alongside, to walk with you, to help you to establish what it means to have a budget, to live within your means, to literally walk with you and disciple you around resources.

But also as a part of that legacy team, we have a team of people who are literally experts in their field who want to walk alongside you because maybe you're in a job that you don't like, maybe you're unemployed, underemployed, literally people who do career coaching as a part of that.

So maybe you're in this space where Keith, I got a job, but I feel unfulfilled, I don't even know how to complete my resume.

Our legacy team is designed to come alongside and help you with that.

So if that's something you can benefit from, please reach out to us, let us know, because I understand that and we want to be a solution to that.

If you're also in a season where you're struggling financially, you're unemployed or you're underemployed or you're struggling, please let us know.

We literally have as a part of our budget something we call benevolence.

And because of the faithful giving of the few that are in our church, it allows us to create the margin to come alongside and help people as we can.

So please, if that's you, then reach out to us and let us know and we'll see how we can help you.

We also have Financial Peace University.

Our semester just kicked off.

That was the first group that Megan and I ever went through over 20 years ago.

And I remember how transformational it was for our lives because at that time we were just living paycheck to paycheck, just trying to survive.

With three kids just trying to survive, but when we were able to go to Financial Peace University, it gave us a divine perspective of our money, how to manage our resources, and it truly did free us up.

Here's the the last thing I want to say as it relates to some of the challenges with tithing.

Many of us may say, but the church just wants my money.

And I I I laugh at that a little bit because I've never heard us say that about a politician.

I never heard us say that about publics.

I never heard us say that about Nike, and God knows I love me some Nike.

I never heard us say that about polo because we we look at it as I'm giving to something and I'm getting something back.

Now, here's what I know.

I know in the church we have seen financial scandals, we've seen improprieties that are in the body of Christ, and it and it grieves me to my core.

So when God called Megan and I to be senior pastors, there's a couple of things that I said to our advisory board and that I said to Pastor Nate, who oversees our resources.

I said, here's the thing.

I want to make sure that we function lean, I want to make sure that we're good stewards, and I want to keep my name out of the papers.

Real talk.

I don't want my name attached to anything unless it's glorifying God.

So we have we have a board of trustees, all of them, they are part of our church.

You can have conversations with them.

We meet every single month going over every dollar that we spend.

Pastor Nate is incredibly diligent.

Sometimes I'm like, Nate, can I just go get some coffee?

I don't know, it's not in the budget.

Like, Nate, he's on it.

Like, I mean, we're we're really trying to do our best to honor God with our resources because we believe that if I wouldn't spend my money on it, I'm not gonna spend the church's money on it.

That's our principle that we live by.

So we try our best to genuinely live a life that is great stewardship.

Here's what I want to invite you to do.

Next week, I want to invite you to join us for Vision Sunday, because that's where we're gonna be unpacking what God did last year, but also casting vision for what we're believing God to do this year.

Because I truly believe this: that if you are tithing to your church, they should be able to demonstrate that it's good ground.

I don't believe we should just willy-nilly be giving money away.

Like we should be saying, can we sense the activity of God in our community so I can make sure that I'm sowing into good ground?

And so next week is gonna be the week for that.

Someone came to me and said, like, hey, you know, next week is Super Bowl Sunday.

I'm like, I don't care, the Eagles aren't playing, so it doesn't matter.

So, so, so come to church, participate in Vision Sunday.

We're gonna have some exciting things to do.

And then if you choose to go watch the game, you can, but it doesn't matter because both of those teams could drift off into the sun and I wouldn't miss them.

Anyway, I I want I want to close with this as it relates to transformation that I've seen take place.

This past week, Megan and I had an incredible opportunity to go to Miami to a pastor's conference.

There's about 500 pastors at this particular conference.

And and while we were there, it was it was filling for our souls because you're in the room with people that are doing the same thing they were doing, we're able to speak the language and speak to the challenges and the blessings that come from it.

And as we were walking through in preparation for one of the services, uh a young man came up to me.

He's like, Excuse me, are are you are you Pastor Keith?

I was like, Yeah, man, what's up?

He's like, Man, like you don't you don't know me.

He said, But man, um, when I was 15 years old, my my mom brought me to a riot night.

Side note, when I was in Jacksonville, we had a ministry called the Riot.

It's hard for me to explain, we'll talk about it later.

But we would have these once-a-month revival services called riot nights where we would bring in people from all over the city.

Thousands and thousands of students would come and get saved.

It was for students and young adults.

And I oversaw that division of our church.

So we're going back to like 2014, 2015.

So he's like, I was a kid when I came to that, which immediately made me feel like an old man.

But he said, Man, I remember I came to this one riot night my mom had invited me to come to, and I remember you preached this message.

And he literally began to tell me the message.

He's like, Man, you talked about how your son broke his phone.

I'm like, Yeah, and he's still doing it.

Um You remember that message, don't you?

Where he broke, he broke his phone.

He's like, Man, you told this story about your son breaking his phone and all this.

I'm like, Yeah, bro.

He's like, Man, that message changed my life.

He said, Man, it changed.

I gave my life to Christ that day, and I've literally shared that illustration in different places all over the world.

I'm like, man, what are you up to now?

He's like, man, after I got saved, I went on to Bible college.

I'm now working at this church in Atlanta, and we we do revival services all around the world, man, and I've literally seen thousands of people get saved.

And he said, and I remember it happened at an altar call at a riot night.

Now, what he doesn't know is I remember that when I was in Jacksonville, we had like this wave of generosity that hit our church.

The average church has about 20% of the members that tithe regularly.

But for whatever reason, at our church at that time, we got up to 35%.

And I remember sitting in an executive meeting, and the senior pastor said, Man, like, just because 15% more are giving, we have this much margin in our budget.

So we're gonna take all of that and invest it in the next generation.

Because you'd be amazed at what God can do.

And I remember we were all looking and like, okay, man, it'd be cool if we could just get some raises though, but okay, okay, fine, we'll give it to the next generation.

And so, me having that conversation with this young man, talking about what God has been doing in his life, and I know that it was only possible because people in the local church had decided to give, which then created an environment where this man got saved, went on to school, and now he's leading the same types of movements today.

That is what you call a divine full circle.

This is what the house of God is supposed to do and be.

This is the work of the ministry, and this is why we're an all-hands church.

But I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to acknowledge that in the same way Jesus was talking about anxiety and stress and wonder, that that tension still exists in this room.

And whether we can tie it directly back to how much money I make, tie it back to provisions for the future, the economy, the politics, all of these things are unearthing something inside of us that is giving birth to fear and worry, and it's literally tearing us apart.

So while we're talking about financial stewardship and the importance of putting God first, I also recognize that in the state of worry, it's hard to get our minds around the idea.

And I want you to know that I that I see you.

I want you to know that I feel you, and I want to I want to pray for you.

Specifically, I feel like God is encouraging me to pray for some people that are.

Dealing with worry, that are dealing with stress, that are dealing with anxiety, that are dealing with uncertainty, that are also dealing with direction.

Because I also know that oftentimes we we just don't know what our next step should be.

What career should I go into?

Which job should I have?

What is my calling?

What is my purpose?

What is my value?

And all of these things can create the sense of uneasiness, and it's all present with us.

But what's most important is that God is with us.

So I want to pray for us.

God has put something on my heart to read over us another guided prayer that I want to declare over us that are dealing with worry and stress and concerns about calling and purpose and all the things we were talking about.

So if you're in here with us today and you say, Keith, yes, that's that's me.

I want you I want you to pray for me.

I have areas in my life that I'm worried that I feel like I'm being torn.

I have areas in my life where I have concerns.

I have areas in my life where financial futures are part of it.

I have areas in my life where where purpose and calling and next steps, all of these things are existing within me right now.

And Keith, I just want you to pray for me.

If that's you want to count on three, I want you to boldly slip your hand up.

One, two, three.

Amen.

We're gonna go into a moment of worship in just a second.

And I want to invite us all to stand on our feet.

And as we're preparing to go into worship, I I want to do this.

I want to, this is a year where we're leaning in, so I want to invite everyone that lifted their hand up to come and meet me at this altar.

Because I truly believe that when we can step into these moments, when we can be vulnerable in the presence of God, knowing at the altar is where I lay something down, but I also pick something up.

I believe there's something powerful about it.

So come on in, come on in.

We can come on in.

Let's let's get in here, let's get close.

Let's get closer, let's get close here.

There's something that I want to declare over all of us.

We can come in here a little bit closer, right here, to in case anybody's on the wings.

I want to make sure everybody's up here.

Because I I get this.

I I I remember graduating from college and trying to figure things out.

I remember the uncertainty, wanting to make every dollar count, struggling, all of the things that go with it, the purpose and the calling are all interconnected.

And I and I I hear you, I see you, I feel you, and I believe God has a word for you.

First and foremost, before I read this prayer over us, I just want to encourage you that God is so pleased with you that He sees you stepping up to this altar.

He sees the surrender that's connected to it.

I know that some of us up here we may be working in toxic work environments.

It's been a long time since I worked in something that was like toxic to my soul, and I understand that that's a burden that we spend so much time at work that knowing that I'm going into a space that feels like it's a vacuum of all hope, it grieves my heart.

And it grieves the heart of God.

And I want to declare over you that maybe this is an assignment, maybe you're dealing with a little bit of abuse, but I'm believing that God's going to open a door that will free you to step into whatever your next best season is, but be faithful where you are.

Don't let it rob you of your witness.

Don't let it rob you of your character, but let your light shine even in that space because how you steward this season will set the tone of how you go into your next season.

But I believe that God has a word for us that I want to declare over us.

So as a family and as a community, I want you all to lift your hands to heaven.

And for those of us in our seats, let's extend our hand if you're joining us online.

Uh I want you to pray along with me.

But I want you to receive what I believe God has for us.

It's simply this Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you right now.

We're not coming as people who have it all together, we're coming as sons and daughters.

You said that you know what we need.

You said that you are our Father.

You said that we are worth more than the birds and the flowers.

So today, we choose to believe your words over our worry.

Lord, we confess that we've carried weight that we were never intended to carry, that we've tried to be in control of things that we simply can't control, that we've been living in the what if instead of who God is.

So right now, we release it in the name of Jesus.

We release fear about the future, we release panic about provision, we release anxiety that's tied to bills, that's tied to debt, that's tied to our income, that's tied to the unknown.

Lord, we release the pressure of purpose and calling.

We release the heaviness that's been stealing our peace and robbing us of sleep.

And Lord, right now, we repent for any place where money has become more than a tool.

We repent for any place where mammon has been sitting in the seat of power.

We repent for any place where our heart has been divided.

So, God, in the name of Jesus, we rebuke and renounce the spirit of mammon over every area of our life.

We rebuke and renounce fear and scarcity.

We renounce the lie that we're all on our own.

We renounce the lie that this is our peace and our security is only found in our bank account.

Father, we receive your peace right now in the name of Jesus.

Peace in our minds, peace in our bodies, peace in our homes, peace in our decisions, peace in our sleep.

And Lord, teach us how to seek you first.

Lord, today we decide we're gonna put you first in our hearts, we're gonna put you first in our thoughts, we're gonna put you first in our calendar, we're gonna put you first in our obedience, we're gonna put you first in our relationships, and yes, we're gonna put you first in our finances.

Give us the wisdom to take the next step, give us the courage to obey, give us the discipline to build healthy patterns, give us community so that we know that we don't have to carry this on our own.

And Father, we ask for your provision, not just for money, but we ask for strength, we ask for clarity, we ask for favor, we ask for opportunity, and we ask for grace.

Lord, we invite you to open a door that no man can shut and close a door that no man can open.

Give us divine strategy and give us support and make us the kind of people that live with open hands and generosity that is securing you.

So in the name of Jesus, we surrender it all to you with an expectation of knowing that your name is the highest, with an expectation of knowing that you are glorious and that you are holy, you're holy in our finances, you're holy in our minds, you're holy in our marriage, and we're gonna cry out from the depths of our soul knowing that the chains have been broken and that today we are free and we're choosing to walk in peace.

Anxiety has no place in our homes or in our lives anymore.

In the name of Jesus.

So, as a family, let's give God praise.

As a family, let's give God glory and let's worship him one more time because we're putting God first.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website celebrationorl.org.