The Stewardship Collection | First Things First

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

How many of you guys are excited to get back into community and us hanging out and doing some amazing things?

I really believe that we can benefit from being in one another's presence and I and I truly pray and hope that you'll create this space to come out to one of our city dinners.

This is one of the things that I'm looking forward to.

I love people, but I love good food, as you probably can tell.

So it's going to be the best of both worlds.

Would you mind helping me welcome our online audience and everyone who may be watching this a little bit later on?

We're so, so glad you're here.

Thank you for worshiping with us today.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in Proverbs chapter three.

We're going to get there in just a moment, but I want to kind of set the context of what we're talking about and what we've been talking about.

Last week we kicked off our stewardship series.

And ultimately, what stewardship is, is how do we how do we presence God with what he has given us?

A steward is someone who understands that I'm not the owner of anything, I am a steward.

I manage what God has given me.

That's ultimately what it means.

Is how am I presencing God with everything that He has given me?

One of the scriptures that I that I love that kind of helps pull this all together is found in 1 Chronicles chapter 19, verse 14, where David writes these words that are meant to be uh perspective for us, but but also an exaltation of God and says, But who am I and who are my people that we could give anything to you?

1 Chronicles 19:14

David's talking to God, and he says, Everything we have has come from you, and we only give you what you gave us first.

That's what stewardship is.

It's understanding that God has given us what we need so that we can adequately give it to Him.

So as we are preparing for worship night tonight, I'm so excited about it.

But what worship is, is it's a it's utter surrender.

It's it's truly giving God his praise back.

I like to say it this way it's giving God his breath back.

The Bible says, let everything that has breath, praise the Lord.

God will never require us to do anything that he hasn't already given us.

So he says to us, I want you to praise me, and I'm going to give you the breath to do it.

God never requires us to do anything that he hasn't already given to us.

Matthew chapter 25, it takes a beautiful picture of what it looks like when stewards are in the mix, what it looks like when God has given you and entrusted you with some things, and how do you steward it accordingly?

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

And I believe that God has given us many things.

Last week we talked about this gift of time, and how do we manage and steward our rhythms and having rhythms and not ruts and routines, making sure that we are adequately presencing God even the way that we mess that we measure our time?

God has given us relationships.

How do we steward or presence and make sure that God is seen even in our relationships?

But God also has given us resources.

How do we steward God in the resources that He's given us?

Proverbs chapter 3, it says this.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

It says, Honor God with everything you own.

Give him the first and the best.

Your barns will burst and your wine vats will brim over.

Who does not want their barns to burst and their wine vats to brim over?

That sounds like something that's awesome to me.

But but I I wanna I want to highlight a word here because it says to honor God.

And ultimately, what that word honor means, I'll give it to you in the in the Hebrew, it's this word kebab.

And it's a word that that kind of communicates weight.

So ultimately, if we kind of put it together, it's saying, give weight to God's words, give weight to what God says.

Whenever we give God the appropriate amount of weight in our lives, that's actually our way of honoring and worshiping Him.

Let me give you a quick example.

Like I, as a as a husband, as a father, I give weight to my wife's words.

When she says something to me, I weigh them more seriously.

Because obviously, if you want to have a good marriage, I I gotta make sure that I'm weighing what she says versus what someone else who doesn't have context and history, we gotta give appropriate weight to what they're saying.

That's what it means to honor.

It means to give appropriate weight, to make sure you give proper perspective.

The thing that I believe that God wants me to encourage you with is that sometimes we're giving negativity too much weight in our lives.

We go into social media, we see something toxic and we give it weight and it weighs us down.

But when you somehow give God the appropriate amount of weight in your life, it frees us up, it gives us peace, it gives us perspective, it gives us hope.

When it says honor God with everything we own, it means how are you going to presence God with what he's given you?

Are you going to give him the appropriate amount of weight, or are you going to allow the world to dictate what your joy and peace look like?

Today I want to unpack some ideas about what biblical stewardship looks like, and I truly believe that it has the potential of changing your lives.

And I've simply entitled today's message First Things First.

First things first.

Let's uh let's pray.

God, we thank you so much, Lord, for um the gift of your word and and the and the beautiful opportunity for us to gather in your presence.

And Lord, as we draw closer to you, your word declares that you're going to draw closer to us.

So, Father, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes that we can see you, open ears that we can hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that it is that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

So, if you were here last week, you you may have caught that moment where I briefly shouted out that my wife and I we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary.

21 years.

Yes, I'll take your golf class.

Yes, I'll take it.

It was it was very well earned.

But then I also mentioned that but we had been together for about 25 years, and I want to get credit for that.

So we've we've been together for 25 years, about to hit 26 years, and and there's something that I've learned.

There's something that I've learned.

I've learned that my wife and I are undeniably different.

Spoiler alert.

And and the crazy thing is that I used to think that a successful, healthy marriage was us being the same, us thinking the same, us believing the same, all the things needed to be the same.

And so for many years, I didn't have the advantage of having premarital counseling like we offer at our church.

It was just, you love her, you love him, you love Jesus, get married.

Good luck.

Like, and we and we just had to figure it out along the way.

But but as we figured it out along the way and we started to kind of have counsel and really making room for the Holy Spirit, we've we've begun to learn how to appreciate our differences.

I'll put it this way: we learned how to make sure our differences completed one another instead of competing against one another.

Making sure, like, hey, like you're different and I'm different, and so we can actually use that to be a strength instead of a weakness.

So so let me give you an example of the way that Megan and I are different.

I don't think she'll mind me sharing this.

Megan is Megan is profoundly thorough.

Not that if she minded, it would really matter because I got the microphone, I do what I want to do.

Um but, but so she is profoundly thorough.

Megan is incredibly thorough.

Whenever she cleans up, she cleans up thoroughly.

So that means that we may have a project in the home.

Let's clean a house.

I may clean the entire house.

She will only get to the bathroom, but it'll be the cleanest bathroom you've ever seen.

Like she is, she is profoundly thorough.

That's just the way that she's wired.

And because she's so thorough, at one point it would drive me nuts.

But for me, I'm more efficient.

I just like to let's get in, let's get out.

So I've learned that for us, for the benefit of our marriage, it's not good for us to go to the grocery store together.

Here's why.

When I go to the grocery store, I know it's an aisle one, I know it's an aisle two, I know it's an aisle three, and I am going to hit it.

And if I go back into an aisle that I was in, I feel like I've failed God.

Like for me, it's I've I missed the mark.

Like I was just over here, I'm wasting time.

Megan, on the other hand, my beautiful bride, she'll walk in, like, oh, okay, let me walk over to aisle number eight.

I'm gonna go over to the freezer section, I'm gonna go back over to the produce section, but I also think I forgot something in aisle number eight.

It literally drives me nuts.

Y'all continue to pray for me.

But that's just an example of the way that we're different.

So I've decided, hey, you what?

Won't you let me go ahead and handle all of the grocery shopping so that way I can maintain my sanity?

I'm trying to help some men out there.

Just go ahead and take ownership of some things and you'll find that you'll experience peace.

Uh, another thing that my wife, lovely as she is, loves to do is that whenever we're ordering something to eat for the family, she always has an interview for every individual.

What do you want?

What do you want to drink?

You want Sprite?

What kind of Sprite do you want?

Like she is very, very thorough.

Let me tell you what me ordering food for my family looks like.

Hey, I was on my way home, I picked up some Chick-fil-A.

If you don't want that, you can always have cereal.

That's that's that's the way that I function.

So you get a sense of when she's ordering food, it's a 28-minute process.

I'm pulling up, I'm like, yo, you can eat it if you want to.

If not, I will love these leftovers tomorrow.

It's on you.

So you're seeing that there are these differences.

And so for us, we've learned that in these differences, it's okay.

She she has her space, I have my space, and there is no right or wrong.

It's okay.

But every now and then, you will have a moment where we need to have a definitive answer.

Something, somebody's gotta be right.

Somebody's gotta be wrong, and then those moments create conflict.

We all understand it.

In those moments of conflict, you're trying to figure it out.

And what I found is for me, the way that you resolve that conflict is by uttering these three powerful words.

I'm trying to help some men in here.

You didn't know you came here for uh uh a workshop on marriage, but I promise you, this is 25 years in the game.

I got something to say.

These gray hairs didn't come because I dyed it this way.

This has come from pain and sweat and toil and sleeping on couches.

Let me tell you something.

There's three powerful words that will begin to evolve and it will shut down every single argument.

I know some of y'all are thinking those three words are I love you.

That's the price of admission, that's to be expected.

That's why we're even working through all this chaos.

That's the price of admission.

It it could be, it could be you complete me.

That's that's powerful, that's very meaningful, and I do think that that has substance to it.

But real talk, you know what will shift every argument in my family is when I say, you were right.

Don't let it go to your head.

Because my accuracy is still pretty strong.

I'm like at Hall of Fame levels in regards to me being right, but I've learned, I've I've learned how to pick and choose my battles.

And so, in front of the entire church, I want to model this to you guys.

Megan, you were right.

Calm down, calm down.

We also got to make sure we function with humility.

Um but but but she's right, and let me let me tell you why.

Let me tell you why.

So the efficient version of me, whenever something is on sale, I genuinely believe that it is that business's desire to let me know what's on sale so that it can benefit my bottom line.

I really believe that.

So whenever I get a text message or an email, I'm like, oh my gosh, they they sent a text message just to me.

I don't know about anybody else, but they send a message to me, and I want to maximize this moment.

But my my wife, who is far more thorough, her her position on things are like, yeah, I don't know if we need that right now.

Do you want to come up here and do this?

I just need you to say amen when I say something good.

So, so but but here's the thing.

So for me, I'll I'll order stuff, I'll see something, I'll order it, and then I just kind of throw it into the cabinet.

That's just kind of my my rhythm.

But but Megan, on the other hand, is like she is very particular.

Her her section of the of the underneath the sink in our in our bathroom is very organized, it's very orderly.

All the fragrances are lined up based on aroma and colors and boxes and all that stuff.

I get something, I throw it under there, I grab something out.

So when people are like, hey, what are you wearing?

I'm like, I genuinely don't know.

I just looked at the box, I sprayed it on, and I keep it moving.

So but that's but that's just our our differences.

But but what's interesting is she came to me in a very loving and pastoral, wifely way.

She said, like, hey, I think you need to like slow down on on buying like your beard products and and your hair products, because yes, of course I have products for my beard and my hair.

You don't look this good by accident.

Like it's a process, it's a process to it.

And so I was like, no, because it's on sale.

She's like, no, but I I think you're repeating some things.

I I feel like you already have this stuff.

I'm like, you don't know what you're talking about.

I kept buying it, I kept buying it, and then this Wednesday I made a decision.

Okay, you know what?

I'm gonna organize, I'm gonna organize under the sink.

I pull out all this stuff, and Megan was right.

I I had so many repeated items.

I I had so much stuff that I already had.

I began to calculate the amount of wasted money that I had spent on buying things that I didn't think that I had, doubling up on things.

Some stuff I opened it up, I used it once, put it back under there, now it's expired.

I was blown away, and I said, You were right.

And and my wife and her very non-gloating, just filled with grace, she just kind of smiled and nodded, but then she still finds ways to bring it back up just to kind of highlight.

So I want to say it one more time.

The last time, you were right.

You were right.

Again, relax, relax.

So I began to put everything in order, I began to put things in the right place.

I I found where I had an abundance of things, I found where I had extras of stuff.

I actually went up and dropped some stuff off in my son's room.

I was able to be more generous with what I had because I was able to bring order to something that was very chaotic.

So y'all were laughing one moment, now we're gonna pivot.

Watch this.

I think that we are more blessed than we think we are, but if we don't have order in our lives, we just have an abundance of a bunch of stuff that God never intended for us to accumulate in the first place.

I I believe that there's times where our lives can be similar to how it is under my sink, where there's so much stuff that we accumulate.

We have a lot of repeated things, but if we just began to put things in their proper place, if we began to put things in order, we would actually begin to see that we are more blessed than we think we are.

You see, the thing that I've learned in this biblical principle is that is that order is the way that God functions.

He's a God of order.

The Bible tells us that as Paul's communicating to the Corinthian church, that God is not the author of confusion, but he's the God of decency and order.

God wants things to be in order.

He wants things to be in order because I think sometimes our lives are filled with so much chaos, similar to under my saint, that we don't realize what we have.

We don't realize what's in front of us, we don't realize the freedom that's really available to us because there may be too much chaos in our souls, so to speak.

See, God's original plan was always for his people to trust him.

Always.

That was God's original plan.

Remember the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?

You can have from this tree, and you can have whatever you want.

Or as T.I.

would say, you can have whatever you like.

Or you can go to that tree, but stay away from it because it's gonna bring you death and destruction.

It seems like it's a pretty, pretty, pretty simple equation to me.

God said, do this, don't do that.

And then God backs up.

And do you know that the enemy shows up?

And what's the first thing he said?

Did God really say that you that you can't have that?

We get lost in semantics.

We know the rest of the story.

They they believe the voice of the enemy, or they gave weight to the enemy's words instead of God's words, and it broke out into chaos.

And oddly enough, I I feel like sometimes we wrestle with the same thing because we we we come to church or we read the Bible and we see something that challenges us or something that that hits us in the chest, and we're like, but but did God really say that we need to serve one another?

Did God really say that we have to be unified?

Did God really say that we should tie the God and we begin to find ways to get into this game of semantics to find ways to step away from what we know God's word says.

And it produces chaos.

Scripture says there's a way that seems right.

It seems right.

It seems like a good idea.

It seems that if you do it this way, you're gonna produce godly results, but it says, but it ends in destruction, that it ends in chaos.

And what I found more often than not, that when I begin to do things God's way, and I begin to put them in the order that God has commissioned and commanded me to do it, that I begin to experience this sense of peace, this sense of blessing.

Something that I love to say is when order is restored, blessing is released.

That when we put things in our rightful kingdom order, we begin to see a blessing get released from it.

Matthew 6 33.

It's literally the foundation that our church was founded on.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all things will be added unto you.

Our statement, leading people to experience God first life, we are called to be God's family, pursuing God's kingdom.

You see that whole idea about order, seek first the kingdom of God.

Look at things through the lens of godliness first, then all these things, and that these things that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 6 was all the things that we stress about, all the things that we often wrestle with anxiety about.

See, stewardship is never about the individual item that God has called us to steward, it's really about trust.

It's a matter of putting things back in their rightful order.

It's understanding that if God has given this to me, then I trust that He can get it through me because there's going to be more that comes this way.

See, a lot of times when we look at our lives, we think that it requires us to make these large-scale changes.

I have to change everything.

When I looked under my sink, I have to change everything.

I really didn't have to change a whole lot.

I just had to put things in their proper order.

I had to put them in their proper place.

See, God's word talks about order so, so much.

And I think that what happens is we have to choose to do things the way that God had intended us to do it.

So, spoiler alert.

Yes, this is a financial message.

Lock the doors, Mike, don't let anybody go out.

But but but let me let me be honest with you.

It's it's it's talking about resources, but I think it's so much bigger than that.

It's it's it's so it's so much bigger than that.

In fact, what I've learned is I believe that if we can grab a hold of what God's word says about these things, it has the ability to radically change our lives.

And and let me tell you why.

Do you know that pre-pandemic, in the pandemic, and even as we're trying to come out of it, the most consistent prayer request we got was surrounding around money in some way?

In fact, when I was looking at the things that we are worried about as a people in this country, you know the top three of the four things was money.

Think about that for a moment.

The the first one was personal finances, second one was job, third was economy, fourth was health.

That means that people like I care more about money than me being alive.

Think about that for a moment.

That is a that is that is an alarming thing that when people are stressed, when they can't sleep at night, when they're worried, it's they're thinking about resources, they're thinking about paying for college, they're they're thinking about how are they gonna pay off this debt, they're thinking about these things.

And I understand it.

I I think about these things as well.

But it's interesting how scripture paints a completely different picture when it talks about resources.

There are over 800 verses in the Bible that talk about resources, and none of it has anxiety or stress attached to it.

So, so what is it that the Bible is communicating to us as it relates to stewarding what God has given us that somehow in our culture we've lost it?

That somehow we've missed it.

Because I promise you, we're not dealing with anything conceptually that hasn't been dealt with back in what we refer to as the biblical days.

Solomon says that there's nothing new under the sun.

That means that the same things that we wrestle with, providing for our families, all those things, that's not new.

So that means that the biblical concept of it, that was never their main filter because they had this understanding that God was their provider.

More is said about resources in the Bible than heaven and hell combined.

But can I be honest with you guys as a as a pastor?

Man, there was a time where I I hated and hates a strong word, talking about money, preaching about resources because you realize how uncomfortable it makes everybody feel.

You realize that it has a stigma attached to it, you realize the dynamic that goes with it.

Everybody has their own baggage as it relates to resources, money, churches, and all those things.

And so what would happen is over the past four years of me being a pastor in this capacity, I've preached on money once.

And even as I was preparing for this, God began to really check my heart.

And he says, if you're getting prayer requests that are centered around resources and money, if you're recognizing that the church steps up and helps people in these moments, if you see that this is an area that the country is the most stressed about, why would you not share my biblical truth on it?

You are literally holding words of life that can help someone begin to walk this out the way that God intended them to, and because sometimes it's uncomfortable, we can shy away from it.

But I believe that if we can begin to do things God's ways, we can get kingdom results.

See, here's the thing I want us to understand.

God's love for you is unconditional.

I want you to hear me.

I'm going to look in the camera.

God's love for you is unconditional.

God's love for you is unconditional.

God is going to pursue you.

He loves you no matter where you are.

God's love for you is unconditional.

Walk away with that in your heart.

But his blessings are dependent upon obedience.

Let me say that again.

God's love for you is very much unconditional.

But his blessings are dependent upon obedience.

That means that we have to steward our lives in a way to position ourselves to receive what it is that God has for us.

I've over the past Three years I've been looking at these moments in scripture that has this powerful word, if.

Let me just share a couple of them.

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will heal the land.

This is in scripture.

If you do this, I will do that.

If you are willing and obedient, then you will eat the good of the land.

If you seek me, you will find me.

You see that God is available, but we have to play our part.

And the if is the aspect of our obedience that God requires of us.

If you give, it will be given unto you.

Even when we look at the life of Abraham, who we would define as being the father of the faith.

You know what the thing about Abraham is?

He had to make a choice to position himself to be the recipient of God's promise.

The children of Israel, they were in Egypt.

They had to make a choice to follow Moses into the wilderness and then subsequently to the promised land in order for them to do it.

They didn't magically appear there, but every day they had to step out by faith and choose to do things God's way and going God's ways.

See, we have to realize that this is so much bigger than about money.

This is so much bigger than resources.

Because here's the fundamental thing I want us to anchor ourselves in.

Do we genuinely believe that the creator of everything needs your money?

No.

But what God wants is your trust.

What God wants is your loyalty.

What God wants is your obedience.

So what life does is it positions us in moments where God gives us what we need to give to him.

And all he's asking is, if I'm giving it to you, can you can you give it back?

If I'm trusting you with this, can you give it back?

I I remember when my kids were were so much younger.

And and this is before uh Keith Jr.

and and I think Daniera and Caleb was just too small, but to even be working.

So you know, as a father, you're like, hey, I'm gonna give you the money that you need to go and buy me something for Father's Day.

We we know it.

Dad's out there right now, because you know Father's Day gets no love.

Like it's it's back runner.

Hey, just Father's Day's next sun, next Sunday.

I just want to make sure that I'm helping some families out right here.

Because sometimes we forget.

I mentioned it to my daughter, like, hey, you know, Father's Day, where are we going out to eat?

Huh?

Like, I mean, like, okay, like it's that I mean I feel like I do a lot, but okay, let me move on.

I digress.

Um, but I'm like, okay, let me let me give you what you need so that you can go and buy me something.

I'm giving you what you need so that you can honor me with it.

And they came back with a tie.

I gave you$100.

What did you do with what I gave you?

Oh, we went and got something to eat.

We went and did some other things, I got this new video game, and we got you a tie.

That that seems like something's out of order.

I gave you what you need to give it back to me, and you're choosing to keep it.

Who am I talking to right now?

God gives us what we need to prioritize him in it, and are we choosing to honor him in it?

Is the biggest question.

I remember when Megan and I got into full-time ministry.

And can I be real with you guys?

I took a substantial pay cut.

Substantial pay cut.

Subsizable pay cut.

Like entire salaries worth of pay cut.

Like it was it was a big thing.

And I remember saying to Megan, I I don't think we can afford to tithe.

Because that pay cut, you can feel it.

This isn't like, oh, I'm missing that$25.

This is like you feel it.

I'm like, I don't think we, I don't, I don't think we can afford to do it.

And I remember her looking at me and saying, we can't afford not to.

And it challenged me.

It it it it forced me to make some adjustments in my life.

It forced me to scale back on some things because I knew in my heart, what good would it make if I can say that I have all the channels, but I'm not prioritizing God.

It became that big of a deal for us.

So I began to make some adjustments, and now almost two decades into this journey and truly, truly putting God first, much like I said earlier in this message, Megan, you were right.

Megan, you were right.

Because what I can tell you guys is that even though we have gone through seasons of challenge and sacrifice, we do not worry about money.

I want you to hear what I'm saying.

I'm not saying it because we're rolling in it.

I wish I had more money in my bank account as we speak.

In fact, if somebody wants to be a blessing to the man, okay, let me move on.

Um I I I really do.

I really do.

We have plans and things that we want to do and things that I'm I'm I'm but what I'm saying is I'm not gripped with worry about it.

Because when I've learned to prioritize God in every area of my life, it's brought in freedom.

So I believe that it's nothing wrong with having nice things.

The problem is when nice things have you.

Make money, but don't let money make you.

Make you get out of character, make you get out of the will of God, and sometimes our ambition can get us to a place where we begin to step away from what God's word says and prioritizing him, and now we're off on our own.

God doesn't want us to live like the statistics communicate about our country, where we're wrecked with anxiety and stress as it relates to resources.

God wants us to be a group of people that even if we have setbacks, man, there's peace.

Even if we have challenges, there's peace.

Even if we have some things that are going on, even if we go through a pandemic, there's peace.

There's this understanding that God is our provider.

See, the thing I want to help us with, real quick, as we prepare to close, my first closing, I still got two more.

Um, is is this is that simply here's what tithing is.

Tithing is giving 10% back to God first.

It's first.

This is why first things first.

It's it's it's saying that I am going to put God first.

It's it's not I'm gonna give God what's left.

It's not I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna get some things.

Ooh, I got this left.

God doesn't want tips, he doesn't want scraps.

He says, I want you to put me first.

That's what it means when we honor God with what he has given us.

Through scripture, there's this idea of putting God first.

You'll see it from Genesis to Revelation.

Put me first.

I can't be second.

If I'm not Lord of all, then I'm not Lord of all at all.

God wants to be Lord of every area of our lives.

And I believe that Malachi chapter three highlights it the most.

You may have heard it.

Malachi chapter three is a prosperity preacher's dream.

Because it highlights the importance of it.

But what I want to make sure is that we don't allow our exposure to pain points of the past to make us miss out on what God wants to do in the future.

What it says here at verse number eight, it says, Should people cheat God?

Yet you have cheated me, but you ask, what do you mean?

When did we ever cheat you, God?

You have cheated me when you have not given me the tithes and the offerings.

Man, you're you're under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.

Bring all your tithes into the storehouse so there will be food enough in my temple, says the Lord of hosts, and I will pour out a blessing on you so great that you will not have room enough to receive it.

Let me let me let me streamline that a little bit.

God is saying, Man, like, are you are you cheating me?

Are you not prioritizing me?

You're you're missing out on what I want to do because if you position yourself to put me first, I have so much I want to release to you, I have so much things I want to do, but you have to steward what I've given you first.

My son is is driving now.

And and of course we're we're talking about, okay, we want to we want to get you a car, but you have to steward.

Can you can you just go to the store and come back like I've asked you to?

Can you do that well?

Okay, can you run an errand for me?

Okay, you can do that.

When I see that he can steward those things well, then it makes me want to make sure that I can give him his own vehicle so he can drive because he understands what stewardship is.

I think sometimes we're asking God to give us the keys, and he's saying, But you haven't even managed what I've given you yet.

You haven't prioritized me what I've given you, and I got so much I would love to do, but I need you to prioritize me first.

Here's a couple of things I want you to walk away with.

We're gonna move through this very quick.

Tithing is simply giving back to God what already belongs to him.

Giving back to God what already belongs to him.

We've shared this last week, we shared it today.

Everything we have is because God has given it to us, he's entrusting us with it.

I'm I'm giving back to God what he has already given unto me.

Everything we have has been given to us by God.

Our jobs, our degrees.

It doesn't mean we don't have to work for it.

It doesn't mean that we don't have to do the things that is required of us, but it's simply saying I am returning the tithe.

That's why tithing is always connected to the word return.

Return.

Return the tithe.

You can't return something unless someone else owns it.

I'm returning to God what already belongs to him.

Here's the second thing I want you to write down.

Your tithe enables your church to have its assigned impact.

Your tithe allows your church to have its assigned impact.

Let me let me say this.

The passage of scripture it says that um for you to bring your tithes into the storehouse so that there may be meat, there may be resources in the house of God.

Let me let me break this down really quick.

We live in such a profoundly generous church.

I I love it.

We actually live in a fairly generous city.

There's so many different nonprofits and things like that.

It's it's amazing to see the kingdom principles that are here in Orlando.

But when we talk about the assignment that God has given our church, we recognize that God has called us in this incredible city to have a very specific assignment.

And I like to simplify by this: we're called to reach the lost and equip the found.

That's my simplest way of putting it.

There's a whole lot of other things I can say.

We have a comprehensive mission statement.

We have a whole bunch of we are statements that kind of speaks to our culture and character that's all rooted in scripture.

But what we feel to reduce it all down is that we're called to reach the lost and equip the found.

And we do that in a multiplicity of ways.

We do that in services like we have, we we do it in sisterhood gatherings like we had yesterday.

We we do it with with worship night like we're having tonight.

We do it in baptisms, we that's our way, and everything we do, it falls into these buckets.

Are we reaching people and are we equipping people?

If we're not reaching people, if we're not equipping people, then we're not going to do it.

So that's that's our our mentality.

So if this is your church, if this is your home, then what God is saying, our ability to do those things is contingent upon your willingness to partner with the vision that God has given us.

Let me say this very clearly.

If we are not your home church, do not tithe here.

Something you probably never hear nobody say.

But if we're not your home church, don't tithe here.

You can give here, you can, you can certainly sow here, but tithing goes to your home church because that's the place that you're saying.

I want to partner with the vision, the assignment that God has given that local assembly.

We're just getting started, and obviously, COVID threw everything off as we were trying to land our building and all these other things, and that all got put on pause, but but please be clear, we are just getting started.

That we are just in the beginning stages because what we know is we want to be a church that is as powerful in the church as we are in the community as well, and we're just getting started.

So my hope and my prayer is that if you look at what God has called us to do and you feel like that's the type of thing you want to partner with, then this is the place that we're asking you to be obedient to God with your resources.

If there's another place that you feel that better fits the vision and hope that you want to see that's is expressed in the community and in the kingdom at large, then that is the environment that I want to encourage you to do it.

It's not about you doing it here, it's about you doing it because it's about you walking in a place of freedom.

That's what God's will is for your life.

The third thing I want to say is that your tithe has the favor of God on your life.

It has the favor of God on your life.

We we truly view the tithe as being sacred.

It's literally the set apart portion that is for God.

And one of the things that Megan told me back when we were wrestling with, can we afford to do it, is this.

We can do more with 90% of God's blessing than 100% without.

We can do more with 90% with God's blessing than 100% without.

When you tithe, you are positioning your rest of your resources to be blessed by God.

Now, now let me let me say this, and I want to help somebody really quick.

I realized that in the beginning of this scripture, it says, if you don't tithe, you're cursed.

And here's the thing: I was raised in a school of thought that said, if you don't tithe, you're cursed.

So if you you you didn't tithe, you struggle with this whole concept, you weren't walking in it.

It was, well, that's the reason why you got a flat tire.

And that's the reason why your kid didn't get the A.

Like it was literally like every little thing that happened in your life was the result of the curse of God that's on your life.

Let me free somebody up.

Jesus became the curse, so we're not under a curse anymore.

You you are not cursed.

I want to free somebody up right now.

You are not cursed.

But what I'm telling you is if you position yourself to be in alignment with God's word, you will be tremendously blessed.

But you are not, you are not cursed.

The Bible tells us that if you do these things, that your finances are tremendously blessed.

I'm so grateful that my daughter from a very young age got a hold of this revelation.

And she may have gotten it just by being exposed to me.

And Megan, I don't feel like we drilled it down real heavy, but I think she was just exposed to it.

And so I remember as she first started working, she's trying to figure out how to manage her money, and it always seemed like she was running out of money all the time.

And I was like, I don't understand, like you just got paid, and how are you broke already?

You you know that feeling.

Some of us are like, yeah, that's me yesterday.

Um, but and so we have a shared account.

And I remember looking into it and just kind of like auditing where she's using her money, because that's what good dads do.

You just want to judge your kids where they blow their money at.

But I began to look at how she was managing her money, and what I saw over the three months as I was going back and looking, the first thing she did every time she got paid is that she gave at her tithe.

Every single time.

I mean, she was like 17 at this point.

I'm like, good Lord, I wasn't doing that when I was 17.

So you know what happened?

When I saw how generous she is, and she still is.

Like, there are times where she's like, Oh, I'm gonna go buy these gifts for my friends.

I'm like, Yeah, that's cool.

What you getting me?

Like, I mean, um, my point is, I used to say, like, are you sure you should be spending that much money?

But here's what I've learned.

See, God has given her the gift of generosity.

And generosity doesn't mean wealth, you just have a heart to really make a difference and sow and be a blessing to people, and God has given that to her.

And so I didn't want to be the dad that was shutting it down with my fiscal responsibility.

I was like, you know what?

If you feel called to be generous, do it.

Just make sure that you make sure you don't hurt yourself, but but be generous as God is leading you to do it.

But now that I know that my daughter is generous from the time then, even up until now, you know what I used to do back then?

Because I saw that she prioritized God, I would just slide money into her account.

Because I saw how generous she was.

Two days ago, she called me up and said, hey, my car is acting a little bit funny, I may have to put it in the shop.

I'm not sure how much it's gonna cost.

I don't even know if I can afford it.

I was like, put it in the shop, no matter what it costs, I'm gonna help you with it.

What I'm saying is, if me as a flawed man can see the generosity of my daughter and it compels me to want to help her, how much more does our Heavenly Father see when we're prioritizing him and making sure we're putting him first and he wants to come in and say, I see what you're doing, and I'm gonna come and get involved to give you the resources and the peace that you need.

This is the God that we serve.

Here's the fourth thing: tithing is an act of faith and commitment.

It's an act of faith and it's a commitment.

Understanding that the same way that we grow in our faith and every other area of our lives, tithing is an act of faith.

And what I believe is that sometimes the concept of it can be so overwhelming based off of where we are that we we forget that it does require faith, but also we don't give ourselves grace to grow into it.

Here's what that means.

I realize that for some of us, the way that our budget is set situated, it would be literally impossible to just jump out into tithing this exact moment.

I understand that.

What I'm saying is, what does a next step of faith look like for you till you can get to that place where you're fully surrendered in that area of your life?

Tithing is an act of faith, and we can grow in our faith in every other area, but we also can grow in our faith as we put God first.

And I think every one of us has to genuinely ask, what does a faith step in my resources look for me right now?

I believe when you begin to pray prayers like that, a true, genuine prayer, like God, I I want to put you first, but you kind of see what I'm working with.

What are you calling me to do?

What step do you want me to take with the desire of me getting to where you're calling me to be?

God will lead you, He'll give you peace, He'll give you perspective.

And one of the things I know is it requires a commitment.

When I was trying to figure that out, what it simply came down to is okay, here's the amount, here's the consistency.

Don't step away from that.

And then as I grew in that, my faith grew, God showed up, then it increased.

Okay, now I can grow, and then and I just grew in it.

I hope I'm helping someone.

Like sometimes it can seem overwhelming to do it all overnight, but what does that next step of faith look like for you?

Giving God your best and giving him what's first.

It's an act of faith, but it also requires consistent commitment.

Here's the the final thing that I want to share with us, and the worship team can come back out and and to join us.

Tithing is not about money, it's about trust, it's about freedom, it's about putting God first.

Our issues with money are never about money, it's always something else connected to it.

And what I believe God knew in his infinite brilliance is that I don't want money to have you.

The only critical things you see in scripture about money is when it's connected to greed, is when it's connected to being consumed by it.

Every other perspective that scripture paints of money, it's always a tool that advances the kingdom and gives us joy and peace and blessing.

And I think that there are times where there's a discrepancy in that.

Because maybe our ambitions, the things that we want, and I understand it, it's okay to have nice things, but just don't let those nice things have you at a place where you can't function with the will of God and mind.

I want to pray for us.

Lord, I thank you so much for your word.

I thank you so much for truth.

I thank you, God, for these moments where we can come together and we can gather in your name and we can honor you, and we can hear messages like this, and we can be challenged, we can be encouraged, we can be inspired.

So, Lord, my prayer is this let this word go on good ground.

If there's anything that I said that is not of you, I pray, God, that it doesn't get rooted, it doesn't get planted.

But God, if it's you, I pray that we can grab a hold of it, that we can see that it's you, we can hear that it's you, we can let it take root in our hearts, and we can begin to walk by faith and trusting you, even in this area, because that is what you've called us to do, to position ourselves with those if statements, that if we do this, your word says that you are going to bless us.

We don't give to get, we give to give, knowing it's going to advance the kingdom, but you are always going to be a generous God.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

What I what I also realize is that God never requires anything of us that he hasn't already given us.

That's the main point through this entire series.

You can pick the topic, it all comes down to God's given it to us so we can prioritize him in it.

And so it's not missed on me that that God wants our loyalty, God wants us to live surrendered lives to him, God wants us to live in such a way that that we've we've given him our lives.

This is the moment in our service where we we begin to ask, like maybe for some of us that's in here, your next step is to surrender your life to Jesus.

It's a powerful moment, it's a moment that we pray about as a staff every single week.

But I realize the reason you're able to surrender your life to Jesus is because Jesus gave his life so that you can surrender your life to him.

He will never require us to do anything that he hasn't already given to us.

John 3 16.

God so loved the world, he gave his son.

See the principle?

God's like, if I'm gonna ask you to do it, I'm gonna do it first.

I love you so much it compelled me to give you something that is so sacred to me.

My only begotten Son.

Jesus became God's tithe for humanity.

Are you willing to receive that's what this is all about?

Are you willing to receive the gift that God has given to us and then restore our lives with that choice?

If you're in here with us today, and maybe you're away from God, and for you this may be a hard pivot.

We just gotta finish talking about money, but but I want you to understand it's all connected that God loves you so much, it compelled him to give you his very best, and what he's compelling us to do in this moment is to respond to it and receive it.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to present this question.

If you're in here with us today and you have not surrendered your life to Christ, I don't believe that you're here by accident.

I believe that you're here for a divine appointment for you to receive what God is extending to you.

So if that's you, and you recognize that today is the day of salvation as scripture calls it.

Today is the day that I'm going to receive God's tithe to humanity for myself, and I'm gonna live a life on this journey of being submitted and surrendered to Him.

I want to pray for you.

So if that's you, you're away from God on account of.

I want you to boldly lift your hands up.

One, two, three.

Hands up to surrender your life to Jesus.

Amen.

Hands in the back.

Amen.

God bless you.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm so, so proud of you.

Those who are watching online, I'm so proud of you.

Church, can we put our hands together and celebrate with everyone that's saying yes to Jesus?

Here's what I want us to do.

We're going to go into a quick moment of worship, and I'm going to ask if you don't have to rush out of here, don't do it just yet.

We got like another five minutes tops.

But I really want to have this moment to be sacred as we pray, as we worship God, as we give Him our best.

Let's stand to our feet.

And what I want to do is I want to I want to lead us in a prayer.

A prayer of surrender.

And we have some folks in the back that have said yes to Jesus.

We got those who are online, those who have made that decision in our hearts.

So I'm going to ask all of us as a family to repeat this prayer after me.

Then we're going to go into worship and then I'm going to come up and share some things at the very end.

But would you all repeat this after me, helping along those who possibly are praying this prayer for the first time?

Repeat this with me.

Say, Lord Jesus, I give you my life.

I believe you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

And now I am saved.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Church, can we celebrate with those who made that decision?

And now we're going to go into a time of worship.

So let's worship the King of Kings.

Thanks again for listening.

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