Anything But That | Pastor Chris Kouba

Man, worship and coming off a fast is one of my favorite things in the world.

I just feel like I'm sensitive to the Spirit in a powerful way.

Um God moved in a big way.

I've heard from many of you, and I hope that we continue to hear from you uh how God moved in the fast this week.

I heard from so many that did maybe the first time ever uh did a complete fast or things like that.

Maybe others that did other various things and that God spoke to you and that God began to reveal to you.

I heard about answered prayers that took place just this past week.

Uh I've heard about uh opportunities that that weren't opportunities at the beginning of the week that ended up being opportunities at the end of the week that God began to bring up.

Uh one of the things though that I continually have heard over and over again, resounding probably louder than anything else, uh, and it certainly was the case for me.

My my assumption always, whenever I do a fast, is that I'm gonna have like these unbelievably breakthrough, like quiet times with the Lord, and it's just gonna be like he's just gonna like just pour out all of these answers and like tell me all of these things and all of that type of stuff.

And and I even go into the process typically with this.

I I have I did this year too.

I had four things I wanted God to do.

Like I told him I needed this, and I need him to do this, and I need to do this, and I need to do this.

And here is what I heard.

I've actually already done all of those, but you've been too busy to hear it.

And here's what he told me.

I need you to stop doing this.

I need you to remove this.

I need you to go back to the quiet of the week.

And see.

That's right.

Repeatedly, people told me, man, it just feels so good to have the house quiet.

It just feels so good to be able to not have all of the noise.

The last thing that we want to do coming off of a fast physically is to gorge yourself and all of a sudden just eat, you will feel it.

What you also don't want to do coming off of a fast is immediately go back to the noise.

Folks, at the end of the day, I hope that what we discovered was this as a church.

God can sustain us better than we can sustain ourselves.

God can do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime.

That was Dr.

Floyd's message last week.

He told us that we should believe and trust and seek the Lord.

So please, let me urge you, because all of the temptations to go back to normal are going to be the case.

And when I prayed earlier just a second ago, that God would protect us from evil and that it would keep us from temptation.

I'm not necessarily talking about all of the external temptations.

I'm mainly talking about the temptations to run back to what we did before last week.

Where we just do normal again.

Folks, you don't want normal.

Instead, we want God to move in our lives, in our families, and in our church.

Let me just mention this really quickly.

Um, if you are interested, maybe this week this kind of began to spur into you just a desire for deeper prayer and wanting to see what this looks like.

We've got a prayer ministry at United City Church, but we want to kind of add fuel to it and do more with it as a serve team.

And so we've got a little QR code.

If you want to be a part of our prayer team, would you just sign up there?

Uh we're gonna have some scheduled things that we're gonna do, we're gonna have some organized things that we're gonna do.

We're also just gonna have people that say, hey, I want to be notified whenever I can pray about something going on in the life of our church, and I want to serve my church in this way.

Uh, I want you to go ahead and take a look at that and and and sign up for that.

I do want to take the opportunity to welcome all of the men and the women at our correctional facilities, all of those that are joining us online, and all of those on the Pando app.

Let's give them a hand and celebrate those that are there.

Hey, real quick, this is super cool.

Uh, our vision team, we've we we talked a little bit about this.

Our vision team is a group of people uh that basically have said that they are willing to give above and beyond to help advance the vision of United City Church.

And last year, a few months uh uh just just a few months ago, our vision team helped us support the uh opportunity for us to get onto the Pando app, which basically is an app that every prisoner in the state of Texas has a tablet, and they have this app, and our services are now streaming on that uh tablet on the Pando app.

And after just a few months of being around, uh thanks to the generosity of our vision team, we just crossed over 100,000 views from prisoners all of the state of Texas watching our services, which is super cool.

It's really, really cool.

If you want to be a part of the vision team, if God maybe uh allows you to want to be a part of what it looks like to help us to advance that that vision, let me give you a little QR codes as well.

We'd love to have you talk to you about that, and you can uh sign up for it, and we would love to see how God can be able to help advance some of these uh items.

Grab your Bible, 2 Corinthians chapter 9.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 9 is where we're gonna be.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

We're gonna kind of be all over the place, but 2 Corinthians 9 is where we're gonna launch from.

There are two different types of people in the world.

Two different types of people in this room, two different types of people online.

There are those who update their apps and their operating systems on their phone.

And then there are psychopaths who don't.

Okay?

Alright?

There are people who have stress that there's some app that needs to be updated since five minutes ago when you last updated your apps.

Uh, and you're like a uh a beta user to where if there's any sort of software update on your phone, you're gonna want to go and get like the very first version of it.

And then there's some of you who take wicked evil pride in how high the red dot number can actually go on your phone.

How many of you are in the first category where basically you update your phone, you're always there, you're wanting to make sure it stresses you out if you see any red dot of any kind and all of that?

That's right, we're called leaders, is what we are.

All right?

Okay.

How many of you on your phone right now have some app that has over 100 on it?

Oh gosh, that is oh.

There's counseling we're gonna be offering in the back as you leave.

Oh can't do it.

Can't do it.

Now you do realize why they go through the process of updating apps, right?

You do realize why they go through the process of updating phones.

There's two reasons.

The one reason is because it allows the phone to be more efficient, it allows the phone to be more secure, it allows the phone to be updated with different looks and apps, all that type of stuff, or for the phone to be able to run at its maximum capacity, because the technology that you have is a stable thing, but the operating system which you place upon it, it is something that's continually upgrading.

On the other hand, let's be honest, the reason why they have the process of you having to update apps, and the reason why they have the process of you having to update the system software in your phone is so that some of you proud iPhone 6 users out there will eventually no longer be able to use that phone.

And you will be forced to have to go and upgrade your phone.

In fact, some of you iPhone 6 users are like, you know, my phone has gotten a lot slower over the years.

I don't know what's going on.

It's been fine though.

And eventually their goal is to make you wean you off so that you have to upgrade.

We're in a sermon series called You, where we're looking at a better version of you in 2024.

Our desire is to help you, encourage you, equip you, put resources in your hands, and to tell you how you can have the best year of your life in 2024.

But here's what we want you to know.

The key to the entire series is this.

If you want to have the greatest year of your life in 2024, you can't just join a gym, you can't just eat less, you can't just make a few better, healthier choices.

Instead, the only way it's gonna be the best year of your life in 2024 is if it is the best year of your life spiritually.

The whole point of the series, in fact, is this a better version of you puts God first.

A better version of you puts God first.

Here's what you're gonna begin to discover.

Whenever you choose to put God first in your life, you actually get better in every area, every other area of your life.

What you'll begin to discover is that a lot of these things begin to fall into place.

Why?

Because your priorities are right, your compass is right, and God is the one driving all the things going on in your life.

We talked a couple of weeks ago how a better version of you gives God the first day of your week.

We talked about the importance of gathering for Sabbath and for worship and for church and the importance of being together and setting aside a day where I give it to the Lord.

We said a better version of you gives God the first of your day.

You gotta have a Bible reading plan and you gotta have a Bible reading a place, right?

And we talked about that.

I've talked to some who've said, man, this is awesome.

I'm now reading the Bible for the first time ever, and I'm ahead.

I've talked to some who've said, hey, I'm already behind, whether you are ahead or whether you are a high, doesn't make any difference.

The key is this that you're meeting with God every single day.

Don't beat yourself up.

We're not legalists here, but we do want you to know that if you want to have a better version of yourself, it isn't gonna be by ignoring God and then checking in with him once a week.

Instead, it's gonna be by you spending time with him every day.

We talked about last week how a better version of you gives God the first of your year.

That's why we went into this week of prayer and fasting, and our goal and our desire was not that you would go and tell God what you want to do in 2024, but instead that God could tell you who he wants you to be in 2024.

We would hear from him.

We'd redirect our steps and recognize that his will is good for our lives.

But here's what the next one I'm about to talk to you about, and here's what I'm gonna tell you already.

I know exactly what's gonna happen.

See, what's gonna take place is that you can go and you can read your Bible more, you can go to church more, you can even not eat for a week, and you can seek the Lord through prayer and fasting, and you can do some of the other things we're gonna talk about in the weeks ahead.

But if you don't do this one thing, you're gonna look up and you're gonna find that your spiritual life stalls.

I see it over and over again.

People put practices into place and then they begin to wonder, why aren't I moving forward?

Yet this is also the very one item where most people look at that little red dot and refuse to update.

They refuse to make a change.

And eventually what they're gonna begin to discover is that while all of those other things are good and great things and will definitely help you in your spiritual life, this act of disobedience in this one area is leading to everything stalling out, becoming ineffective.

Here's the principle a better version of you gives God the first of your money.

A better version of you gives God the first of your money.

I can feel the tension in the room.

He's gonna go there.

Matthew chapter 6, verse 21, key verse.

Matthew 6:21

It says this.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It says here that there's a direct link between your heart, the nerve center, all that allows your physical body, but also your emotional and relational and all of those things to operate.

There's a direct relation between your money.

If I, if you drive a car, okay, and as you're driving the car and it comes up and you've got the check engine light soon little light comes on.

It would make no sense for me when the check engine light soon comes on to go to the mechanic or to go to the dealership and say, hey, I need you to fix this stupid light that keeps coming back on.

Like I don't know why it keeps coming on, I don't know why it keeps coming off, but if you could fix it, it's got a malfunction, it keeps showing up, and I need it to go away.

Or how silly would it be for me to get a piece of duct tape and to put it on my dashboard and cover up that check engine light because I no longer want to see it.

What is the point of a check engine light?

The point of a check engine light is not to tell you that the light is faulty, the point of a check engine light is to tell you about something else inside of the car that's faulty.

And what I want you to see is that your money is your check engine light.

It tells you what's actually going on inside of you.

Which is super interesting because a lot of times, whenever we hear talks about money, we assume the primary goal is money and it's not.

Instead, what I want you to understand is the primary goal, according to God's word here, related to this issue of money, is actually your heart, and so therefore, we cannot have a better version of you apart from talking about your check engine light.

Second Corinthians chapter 9, let's look at what it says, beginning in verse 6.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

The point is this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

For God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things, at all times you may abound in every good work.

This is the principle and the law of sowing and reaping.

I'm not a farmer.

The closest I ever got to being a farmer was my elementary school, had a garden outside, and we used to go out there and we used to plant stuff.

That's about all I know when it comes to the issue of farming, right?

But I've read enough about it and talked to enough people about it that do farm, and they simply tell me this important principle, okay?

If you sow nothing, you reap nothing.

If you sow some seed, you will reap some harvest.

If you sow a lot of seed, you will sow a lot of harvest.

Essentially, this is true.

You have to sow something if you want to reap something.

Luke chapter 6, verse 38 says, Give and it will be given to you.

Luke 6:38

Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap.

For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

You can't sow weeds and expect to get flowers.

I haven't met one person who doesn't want more money, who doesn't want to have more money, who doesn't want to spend more money.

And we all spend an unbelievable amount of our time thinking about how to get more money and what to spend when we have our money.

And when you operate outside of God, that's kind of all there is.

I make money, I spend money, I use the money, and eventually I'm gonna die, and people are gonna fight over my money.

That's the whole thing.

And that seems like a very silly exercise because the more money you have, it doesn't equate into more happiness.

Most of the time, it actually equates into more confusion, more burden, more expectation.

But here is what I want you to see.

When you bring God into the equation, he changes it.

I want to introduce you to what I believe the Bible teaches, which is this the E-R O I.

Eternal return on investment.

Eternal return on investment.

Please make no mistake about this.

This is not a money talk.

God desires that he would shape your character.

God desires that he would bless you.

God desires that he would have your heart.

But here's what he also knows: it takes your money to get it.

And so what God wants to do is to affect your money so that he can change other things in your life that actually are gonna have a way more long-lasting effect.

Which is why, if we're gonna talk about having a better version of you, you can't stall out by updating every app, but this one.

I'll see it all the time.

There's three different types of giving that I want to present to you that I believe you can find uh that people try to do.

The three types are this tipping, tithe, and total.

Tipping, tithe, and total.

Tipping is the first one.

Have you noticed how tipping has gotten out of hand?

It's ridiculous.

It's absolutely ridiculous, right?

Like, I mean, it's it's unbelievable.

Don't stick.

If I do all the work, don't put an iPad in front of me with preordained 40%, 30%, and 20%, and make me have to do the awkward other none, right?

Because it's just like, why am I just charge me more.

Don't, don't, don't make me feel this guilty for for tipping.

It's just kind of gotten crazily out of hand.

And I'm not anti-tipping, all right?

I promise you.

I I am not.

In fact, I actually want and desire to be a very generous tipper.

And I think we should be as believers in Christ.

Whenever you go eat today, I think you should be generously tipping that weight staff that's there, right?

But that being said, I think tipping in general, though, the expectation just seems to kind of go, it's gotten nuts.

It's gotten a little wild.

A couple of months ago, I went down to uh a banquet downtown at a really nice hotel, and as we were going down there, we were running late.

There was a couple of folks in the car with me, and as we were going there to the to the hotel, we we knew we weren't gonna be able to make it on time by doing normal parking somewhere else and walking across the street.

So we ended up having a valet.

So I go pull up into the valet and I get my ticket.

At the end of the night, I go to go pay my valet, and when I go pay the valet, I don't ever carry cash.

I I can't imagine I'm the only one that that's the case, but I never ever ever carry cash.

I just haven't in years.

I'm not anti-cash, I just don't ever do it.

So uh I go to pay the valet and I ask the the person, hey, I want to add my tip onto the credit card that I'm that I'm paying this this valet with.

And they said, I'm sorry we're not allowed to do that.

What do you mean you're not allowed to do that?

They said, Well, we we don't we don't do that.

I said, Well, you have an ATM anywhere nearby, and they said, No.

I go to the five people I'm with, and I said, Hey, do any of you guys have any cash?

None of them carried cash.

So now I'm stuck in a in a weird spot.

And I said, Look, what what is there anywhere I can go to get a little bit?

And they said, It's fine, they don't expect tips, they're good.

Of course, you go walk out there on the big, huge board there, that like you know, you're they have the keys, tipping is encouraged, right?

And here I am, I've got a ticket that I paid for, but I don't have any tip to be able to give them, and I know how this is gonna go down.

I'm gonna walk up to the car.

The guy's gonna be so kind and so nice, he's gonna open up my car door as wide as it's ever been opened up, and he's gonna basically allow me to go get into my car, and he's gonna be expecting me to look him square in the eye and give him the old handshake, you know, like, hey man, I got you right here, all right?

Don't spin this all in one place, kind of a deal, right?

And then be able to walk off.

I'm feeling good, he's feeling good, everybody's happy.

Instead, it was one of those situations to where because I didn't have anything to give this guy, he opens up the door as wide as he could.

I look the opposite direction, don't look in his direction.

I basically then jump into the car, slam the door shut, and speed off as fast as I possibly can in order to avoid an awkward interaction.

And as I'm driving off, I look back in the mirror and see the disgusted look on his face.

Like, I can't believe that this guy didn't do anything for me.

And all the while I'm feeling guilty.

And the entire ride back from the hotel, I'm beginning to come up with all of these excuses as to why it's the hotel's fault that they didn't have an ATM.

It's the hotel's fault for not being able to go and to have a way for me to tip on there.

Who carries cash anymore?

Who even wants to tip these guys?

And I'm going through all of these various things talking about why it's everybody else's fault but mine.

I just described the offering plate being passed at church for many of you.

It comes by in the middle of worship.

Oh, this church cares about this money.

Why do we even do this anymore?

Like, what's the big deal?

Like, what that this is their fault.

But why are they and all of a sudden it's the church's fault because you feel like you're having a tip.

Or you don't want to feel guilty whenever you pass it along to somebody else.

So, you know, you almost kind of want to wear a badge, I give online, or something like that, right?

You know, kind of a thing.

Or maybe you clean out your wallet so that you don't feel as bad.

But none of the process is cheerful.

If tipping doesn't connect with you, this past week I got to prepare my taxes.

That was fun.

Whenever you hear taxes, do you ever like love the government more at the end of the process as opposed to the beginning of it?

No, you're like, what the heck?

This is ridiculous.

And you feel like it's this like this this duty that you have to do.

And all along, I want to tell you if this is how you are viewing the approach of giving, a better version of you is not gonna tip this year.

That's gonna that's gonna instead lead you to where you're just angry and you're mad, and you're mad at the church, and you're mad at God, and you're mad that people talk about money, and you're mad at all these things, and that is not at all what God desires for you.

That's not at all what God intends when it comes to this.

Instead, what I believe the Bible teaches, the biblical model, is actually that of the tithe.

It's of the tithe.

Tithe is kind of a confusing thing because a lot of times, whenever we give to the church, what we might say is we might I just gave my tithe, regardless of what we gave, regardless of what amount we we gave.

But the actual word tithe is translated both in Hebrew and in Greek to mean tenth.

What it's essentially saying is this.

Is that you give a tenth of what it is that you have.

But here's what I want you to understand.

The principle of the tithe is a principle because it's not saying that, hey, you just give the tithe and you're good.

Instead, what it's trying to suggest is this when it comes to the issue of giving, which is the heart of giving, it's saying the tithe is a good model for you to be able to use, and tithing shouldn't be the ceiling of your giving.

Tithing should be the floor of your giving.

Right?

Meaning that I give 10% as just the start, but then I'm able to give even more as God begins to bless and I begin to do various things.

And you understand that the principle of the tithe is it's important that we don't want people to feel guilty.

I think the principle of the tithe is helpful to serve as a guide for them.

Let me mention a few things about the tithe.

First of all, tithe is from the first fruits.

Tithe is from the first fruits.

The tithe isn't just 10%.

The tithe, hear me, the first 10%.

In the story of Cain and Abel, Genesis chapter 4, you can turn to it if you'd like.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

The very beginning of your Bible, there's a story of Cain and Abel, these two brothers.

God receives an offering from both of them, and God had regard for Abel's offering, and he did not have regard for Cain's offering.

The difference was not the amount.

Take a look in Genesis chapter 4, verse 3.

Genesis 4:3

In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.

And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.

So Cain was very angry and his face fell.

The reason why God did not accept Cain's offering is not because it was less than what was required.

The reason why God did not look favorably on his offering is because it was from the leftover, not from the first fruits.

The idea is this God wants us to give him the best, not the rest.

He wants to receive the top portion that everybody wants, not the bottom portion that not even you want.

Proverbs chapter 3, verses 9 and 10 says this honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.

Proverbs 3:9

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

The idea of the firstfruits is a recognition to the Lord that I know where this came from, and I know where it can come back even more in the future.

And so I know that you will sustain me, and even if I have to give up what appears to be a lot and the best, but you still will come through, and that you will show yourself faithful in every single way.

Tithe denoted the amount, firstfruits represented the nature of the gift.

This means that we're not supposed to do is get our money, spend it, save it, invest it, take a vacation, do all the stuff, have the unexpected things come up that I gotta pay for, have the things that I really need that I didn't know I was gonna need last month come up for, and then make the decision of whether I'm gonna give the rest.

Instead, what it's saying is the very first fruits, the very first thing, that's what I am supposed to give towards the Lord.

Now, here's what I here's what I was simply telling you.

I'm not trying to get legalistic about this, uh, but but I do think it's important for us to see.

It's an issue of recognition and an issue of practice.

You're giving God the first and the best, not the rest and the leftover.

Let me get super practical for what this looks like for Hillary and I.

For us, what we do is I get paid twice a month, and I have automated giving that goes out right away, and I give based upon what I get right away the first 10%.

And here's why: because I know me.

And I know my natural tendency is gonna be to get that money and to begin to like that money, and then begin to look at that money, and to begin to count that money, and begin to do all the things I want to with that money, and then I'm gonna look up, and I'm a preacher of the gospel, I am the pastor of this church, and best case scenario, I'm gonna be six for twelve.

Instead, what I would tell you is we have set in a place for us to where it's automatically there, so I don't even have the temptation to be able to take it away, or to spend it rather before I go and give it.

First, for some of you, I know people who put reminders on their apps.

I know some folks who who who one guy told me about how he used to write a check to every every time he got paid, he would write a check for the first 10% immediately to the church and turn into a big old stack of checks to the church, all right?

Our accounting office would love it if you wouldn't do that, but that's fine if you want to do that as well.

The point is not to get legalistic, the point is this, though.

Do you give God the tithe, the first fruits, the first of whatever you have?

Let me give you a second idea about the tithe.

It's giving back to what is already his.

It's giving back what is already his.

This principle is so ingrained in scripture.

Malachi chapter 3, there's a specific phrase and description of it.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

In this chapter, the prophet Malachi, he's writing to the Israelite people, and they're just playing church.

They're doing some things, but they weren't doing the right things.

They weren't being totally rebellious, but they weren't being totally obedient.

And so God calls them out.

Malachi 3, verse 8 says, This, Will man rob God, yet you are robbing me.

Malachi 3:8

But you say, How have we robbed you in your tithes and your contributions?

You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.

Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Literally, what God is saying is that if you are not tithing, you are robbing God.

The idea of the storehouse is the kind, and the context here would be the temple.

An obedient Israelite isn't asking these questions that I most often get asked on a message like this.

If I give 7%, is that okay?

Or if I need to tithe off the gross, or do I need to tithe off the net?

They didn't know anything else than what God gives you, you give him 10%.

That's what you do.

That's how this works.

What God provides, 10% of it belongs to the Lord.

I know there's some debate over this.

Some folks are gonna say stuff like this.

Well, that was Old Testament, and now we live in New Testament.

Or that was the law, now we live in grace.

But I want you to know the principle of the tithe existed before the law was put into practice.

Abraham tied to the high priest Michelzedek in Genesis chapter 14.

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

Jacob promised to tithe to the Lord in Genesis chapter 28.

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

Jesus himself clarifies and reemphasizes the tithe in Matthew chapter 23, verse 23.

Matthew 23:23

And I believe that God would never want us to do less under the law than he asked or under grace rather than he asked us to do under the law.

Please hear me.

My desire for you in this is not to be legalistic about it.

You can take all this whole series and make it legalistic, and it can cause you frustration and anger as opposed to blessing and joy.

But instead, I believe tithing can be the training wheels of your giving that can radically change not only your life, but your finances.

I've been asked about this.

I don't give a full tithe.

Is that okay if I work up to that?

And I would simply say to you, God says that when you don't take the tithe, you're robbing him, you're taking what belongs to him.

So in some sense, it's like saying this Hey, I only robbed 30 convenience stores this week as opposed to 100 convenience stores last year.

Is that is that good?

Is that a good thing?

And yeah, it's better than last time, but it's not what God wants for you.

It's not what God asks of you.

You're never gonna be able to experience God's abundant provision unless you step out in faith and follow him fully.

How about this one?

I get this all the time.

But I don't agree with you that the tithe exists to the local church.

I will simply tell you this.

I don't see anywhere else in the Bible where it talks about how the fact that Jesus died and the gates of hell will not prevail against his church.

He calls it the bride of Christ.

If you start talking trash about Hillary, I'm gonna make sure you all know something.

You can have a problem with me.

No one's gonna talk bad about my wife.

And in the same way, I feel like we treat the church as like it's like, eh, whatever.

No big deal.

I'm not asking you to stop giving to wherever it is that you feel led to give.

I'm just asking you not to rob your church to do it.

That's all I'm asking.

And I would simply tell you, again, the goal is not just that it's 10% and that's it.

I want you to see the benefit and the blessing of man giving way more.

That, that is where the joy comes.

That is where God begins to move in your life.

I also hear this.

I knew it.

You, Chris Kuba, you always talk about money.

You're all about money.

Yeah, city church, they're all about money.

This is all they ever want is money.

I knew it.

This confirms it, this proves it all along.

And I would simply tell you this, as pastorally as I know how to say it.

I want this so bad for you that you would experience the joy and the blessing that comes by living in God's economy, by tithing to a local church.

If we are offensive to you in any way by what we're talking about to you today, I would say this.

Then tithe to another church, but just make sure you tithe.

This isn't a fundraising deal.

I desperately want for you to experience all that God has for you.

And this is not about us, this is instead about what God desires to do in and through us.

And He wants to change us, and do not find yourself at a place where you've done all these other things walking around with an iPhone 6 that won't work.

But instead, you have the opportunity to upgrade and experience God giving you abundant blessings that are not limited in any shape, way, or fashion to money.

Ultimately, what God desires is not a tipping, it's not a tithe, it's the total.

It's the total.

You don't just pay God 10% so that you can do whatever you want with the 90%.

Instead, when you give God 10%, here's what you begin to discover: God begins to get your heart, and then what happens is that you begin to find yourself at a place where even if you spend every other penny of the 90% on yourself, enjoying life, paying for the needs that you have, doing all the things that you're supposed to do, you begin to do so with a God awareness to where you're thankful every single step of the way because you know where they came from.

In the same way last week, when we were without food and we saw that God can provide and give us actually way more than just what food could give us, whenever you begin to give 10%, God begins to get all of your heart and you'll begin to discover you're not worried about all of the things that you're worried about right now.

Why?

Because you see that God gives you a peace and a freedom when it comes to finances, which, let's be honest, actually has a grip of and a hold, destroying family after family after family.

So even what we're doing isn't working.

So instead, let's try and see what God says and have a better version of you.

Um Matthew chapter 6, verse 33.

Matthew 6:33

Do not miss this verse.

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

When you get God your first, when he has your money, he has your heart, you begin to understand.

I'm not just paying off a debt, I'm not just tipping, or I'm not just giving a tax, but instead, I get to be a part of this larger thing where a bunch of people said they were gonna pray and fast, seek the face of the Lord, give up their tithes, give up their money, seek his name, and see him do things that we can look up and say, What?

We got to experience that.

Folks, 2 Corinthians chapter 8.

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

This is an unbelievable passage.

If the Bible's writers still wrote today, I would love it if they could write this about us.

2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.

2 Corinthians 8:1

What could it be said?

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the United City Church.

For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

What does this mean?

A bunch of rich people got together and wrote a bunch of rich checks?

No.

It means a bunch of normal people going through normal life with normal trials, they gave.

And so God is saying, Hey, I want to highlight this people, not for their amount, but man, their heart.

Look at what I look at what happens.

Look at what it changes into.

Verse 3.

For they gave according to their means.

Look, I'm not trying, we're not doing quotas here.

We're not gonna give you a bill for your seat.

You need to relax.

I don't even have any idea if you've tithe.

I don't even do what you make.

That's not the point.

I don't even know.

The whole idea is this that instead we would be a people that according to the means which God has given us, and look at what it says next.

It says, and even uh beyond their means of their own accord, you want to know what happens when you begin to give 10% to the Lord and experience his joy, you start looking for new ways to give.

Not ways to cut.

You don't start looking for ways that you can give less, you start looking for ways that you can give more.

And then look at what it says happens.

Begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us.

How great could it be said about United City Church that we put ourselves before the Lord, we sought his face in every single way, and then God opened up opportunities for us to reach people who aren't yet here.

For us to go impact this community, for us to be able to do things and help the poor and to help the needy and also help the spiritually poor and the spiritually needy that are all around us, that are in classrooms with us, that are in our neighborhoods, that think they have it all together and they're trying to do everything they can to look like they've got it all together, but they are hurting and they are desperate.

You want to know why?

Because such were some of you.

But God changed you.

And because of that, look at what takes place.

Skip down to verse 7.

But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace as the act of giving.

I say this not as a command.

Do not hear me guilting you.

If that is the case today, please hear me.

You have misheard me.

This is a pastor who knows.

You cannot read your life.

Please let this verse resonate in your soul.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He became you by his sake.

Would you bow your hands and would you close your eyes?

The reason we can trust God with our money.

The reason that we can trust God with our heart is because he is so generous.

He didn't look at the mess that we made in our world, the mess that you made in your life, and say good luck.

God in his mercy, in his grace, with all the luxuries of heaven, eating nothing, decided to send his one and only son, Jesus, born of a woman, died of death on a cross, bore upon that cross my sins, your sins, my wrath, your wrath, my punishment, your punishment.

He rose from the dead three days later, and unexplainably offers us the opportunity to make an exchange.

The exchange is your life.

Where you give him all of your sin, all of your condemnation, and all of your wrath, and he gives you all of his righteousness, all of his mercy, all of his grace, all of his riches.

So that when God looks at you, he doesn't see what you have done on your own, which is never gonna add up and never be good enough, but instead, when God looks at you, he sees the perfect righteousness of his son Jesus, and he not only allows you to move from being a place where you're an enemy of God to being a friend of his, everything changes.

And he gets your heart.

If you're here today and you want to receive Jesus, you want to give your life to him.

I'm gonna ask you to do something.

No one looking around, would you just raise your hand so that I can see it?

Did you raise your hand?

See you guys back there.

Thank you so much.

Couple raising their hand, appreciate you.

Who else?

Did you raise your hand and say, I want to raise, I want to receive Jesus.

I want to receive, I want to be rich in him.

I want to receive this gift.

Anybody else?

Anyone else?

Raise your hands.

I'm gonna invite you to pray a prayer with me of faith.

Pray these words, dear God.

I want to be rich.

I want to experience your abundant provision in my life.

Thank you for saving me, for dying on a cross for me, rising from the dead right now.

I give all that I know about me to you.

To be the Lord and Savior of my life.

Keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed.

If you just prayed that prayer with me, I want you to look up and I want you to look and see where the closest pastor, leader is in our church, in the front or in the sides.

In just a moment, you're gonna know the cue.

All of us are gonna stand up, and I'm gonna ask you to go to them.

Others, if you need to come and join United City Church, we're gonna be a church that's gonna get serious about what God's Word says in all areas of our lives.

So if you want to be a part of a church that's gonna be trying to reach the people that are not yet here, that's gonna call you to be a better version of yourself.

God may be leading you today to lead the way.

An amazing group in growth track today.

God continues to add to our number.

If God is leading you to join officially through membership, would you come forward today?

Others of you need to be baptized like these four that we saw.

What a great, powerful testimony of what God's done in somebody's life.

Whether that was last week or whether that was 50 years ago, whatever it is.

If you need to follow through in believers' baptism, would you come today?

Others of you may need to give your life to ministry.

Maybe God's calling you and leading you in such a way where you feel like, I want to do this, I want to do this for good.

I want to do this in my life.

You come.

Maybe some of you just need prayer.

In fact, we want to open up this altar.

Last week we flooded the altars with people that were praying and asking for certain specific things on the fast.

What we want to do this week is we want to open up this altar.

We want to ask you if God answered a prayer for you, or if you want to thank the Lord for the way that He met you, if there's some way that you want to just spend some time with Him as a result of the fact that you spent an entire week dedicating yourself, would you just come forward?

Let this altar be a place.

You can just thank the Lord for all that He has done.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this time.

Move in our midst.

All people to yourself, as you always do.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Wow, what an amazing message we got to hear this morning.

I hope the Lord showed himself to you in a fresh, new way.

Hey, if you made a decision today to follow Jesus or a decision for Christ, we would love to process that with you.

And so text the word next to 55498, and someone from our team will be more than happy to reach out and process that with you.

If you missed the message or you missed the note or two and you want to go back, don't worry.

We've got the option for that as well.

It's going to be available on Spotify as well as Apple Music.

This has been an amazing morning.

We love you guys so much, and we hope to see you next week.

Bye.