Abundance || F.A.V.O.R. || Pastor Adam Mesa

Welcome to the ALC Podcast. Here at ALC, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. I'm excited to get into the Word of God today as

Pastor Diego launched us into our Word of the Year last year. If you

miss that, you can go to our YouTube channel and you can see video

Pastor Aaron and I did talking about how we're calling this year the year of

Favor. As we're celebrating thirty years of ministry here at Abundant Living, we

see that God has put Abundant Living here, Praise God. Some of us

have socks and underwear that old, and so it's very impressive to keep something

around that long. And so thirty years of ministry, we're calling this this

is God's favor. We're here thirty years later not because of any fancy tactics

or anything like that. It's because the Lord has shown favor on Abundant Living.

And we believe that as God has shown favor into this church, he

shows favor on the people of this church and of this family. And so

we're digging into this incredible word called favor. But over the next kind of

four weeks. We started last week, so it's really five weekends. We're

breaking favor into an acronym so that we could best understand it. And so

I want to throw the word in the acronym up there so we can grasp

what does favor mean according to the scriptures. Obviously we could just preach about

the word favor, which we will over the course of the whole year.

But how does it break down in my own life, what pursuits, what

steps should I take to actively see God show favor in my life? Well,

the first thing is, like Pastor Diego shared last week, is you

have to have faith. There's a belief and a trust in God that He's

there no matter what. That you believe that God is very present and very

near. The second thing, which we're talking about today is that God is

full of abundance. It's God's desire to show his people abundance now just in

materialism, abundance, in peace, abundance and joy, abundance and wisdom.

And so it's God's desire that through abundance we can see that God is not

lacking. So many times we're scared to go to God in prayer, or

we're scared to trust God because we think he's lacking of something. If you

need peace, he's full of it. If you need joy, he's full

of it. If you need love, he's full of it. If you

need provision, he's full of it. And so we see, we're gonna

talk about that today. The third thing is you have to recognize that Jesus

won the battle for you. There is victory in favor, and so this

is not a fight that you take on alone. This is something that God

has taken personal and he fights for you and with you on your behalf.

So we have victory in Jesus name. The fourth thing is you also need

to walk in obedience. You can't just sit idly by in your faith.

You can't just sit on the couch and think that since God loves you,

everything's gonna fall in your lap. We have to obey the word of God

in our life and walk in obedience when it comes to our life. And

then lastly, and each weekend we're going to take a word. And lastly,

we see that it's God's desire to bring about renewal in your life.

Favor is an act where God can renew things he can renew areas. There

is never something that you can look at and say, God, I think

that's just dead. I don't think there's any life in that. No God

can renew all things. And one of the steps we have to take is

to renew our mind, because sometimes our mind is our greatest enemy. And

so as we commit to those five things, you can actively see according to

the word of God. It's when God brings about favor in our lives,

when we can have faith, when we can have abundance, when we can

have victory, when we can walk in obedience, and we could be renewed

by God. When you're tired, those days you feel like just walking away,

those days you feel like giving up, just know that God has a

desire to renew your heart, renew your spirit. So let's jump into obedience

today. If you have your Bible, go to Second Corinthians, chapter nine,

verses six to fifteen. And we're gonna continue this year. So as

you find your verse, would you stand for the honor of reading God's word.

We're gonna commit to this because we believe that God deserves all of our

attention as we stand and so Pechi Corinthians chapter nine verse six to fifteen.

Let's dig in. Here's what it says. It says remember this, whoever

so sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Each one of you should decide what you have decided in your heart to

give out reluctantly or under compulsion, For God loves a cheerful giver, and

God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things and at

all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good

work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the

poem. Their righteousness endures forever. Now, he who supplies seed to the

sower and bread for food will a also supply and increase your store of seed,

and will enlarge your harvest. Of your righteousness, you will be enriched

in every way, so that you can be generous on every occasion, and

through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you

perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people, but is also

overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which

you provided yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession

of the Gospel of Christ, and for your generosity and sharing with them and

everyone else. And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out

to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to

God for his indescribable gift. Amen. Let's pray, Lord, we thank

you so much for this word today, Father God, I just pray as

the word goes forth. Lord, may you speak to us today. God,

may we discover your truth more richly today. Lord, I pray,

Father, if there's anyone that's far from you, may today's message be a

calling that you bring them closer to you. Father God, I pray,

Lord, as we know you, serve you and love you. God,

you can help us to love others and love you more through this word today

in Jesus' name, a man, you may be seated. Thank you so

much. So let's talk about it. What's Paul talking about in Second Corinthians

nine. Well, number one, we can know the natural element which the

apostle Paul is talking in second Corinthians, which the area of Corinth was kind

of like modern day Las Vegas, and it's worst way imaginable. And so

this was sin city. And so what Paul is basically saying is Corinth was

known as a city of selfishness, a city of deception, a city of

gambling, a city of wealth. And so what he says is he says,

listen, Corinth, if you can figure out how to be generous,

not just with your money, but with your spirit, then what happens is

is this will lead other people to see how God has abundantly enris's your life,

how you walk in abundance. And when you give them an answer,

when they say, oh, my goodness, Joe, how do you walk

in so much favor from God? How do you walk in so much abundance

for God? How much you how do you walk in so much abundance?

And you say, it's because God, It's because I know the Lord,

It's because Jesus within me. And then when you have someone else that you

know that's in need or needs time, or needs your talents, or needs

your treasures, and then you freely give that to someone else, the Bible

says, what Paul says is that will cause a person to give thanks to

God because of your generosity and so abundance comes from a place where you and

I recognize that all that we have has been given to us by the Lord.

But none of us are self made. We are God made. None

of us can say that. None of'm saying I'm a self made man.

I'm a self made man. Now I'm a God made man, I'm

a God made woman. None of us have you been. And when you

and I can walk in that reality and show others what that really means,

then it says what Paul says is people will recognize that abundance in you,

they will recognize that favor in you, and then it'll lead them to a

place where they begin to give glory to God. Does it happen right away,

No, it doesn't happen right away, but it will happen as you

and I walk more and more in the favor of God. That's God's acknowledgment

to say, Hey, those are my children and I am actively working in

their life. And so if you're taking notes, we're gonna jump into the

notes quick. So here's your first point I want to share with you of

what we're gonna dig into. The first thing is this abundance in favor is

not only a material thing. It is a mindset thing. Abundance is not

just material. Oftentimes, when we hear a lot of preaching about abundance,

we're thinking of what it means for me, me, me, me,

But really abundance is what is more about? What do I get so that

I could give? Give, give. That's what abundance is. It says,

God, give me more than enough so that I could share it with

someone else, And so therefore it must totally, totally, tragically traine our

mind and transform my mind to say, God, it's mindset. I'm walking

in abundance, not just through material things, but it's my mindset. I

heard a story of a pastor one time who he was sharing a story on

how their church was growing and they were trying to get a church loan,

and so they went from bank meeting after bank meeting and after bank meeting,

and they kept getting told no and no, and know every single time.

And how many of you guys have ever tried to get a loan for something

that ever been told no before? Have you ever tried a third time to

get a loan for something? You ever applied for credit for something? And

those nine little statements come into your mailbox on how they told you know,

and they say, hey, good news, we found someone who will prove

you it's only forty percent interests And you're like, oh great. So he's

going to bank meeting after bank meeting, and they're even saying, you can

give us a high interest rate, but no nobody. So he has some

of his church leaders with him every time, and he leaves the meeting every

time, and he smacks his arm on the ground and he gets frustrated and

he's like, God, you're growing this church. You told us we need

to expand. After the fourth meeting he comes out again, he's mad,

God, what's happening? Why is man telling us no? Why isn't this

happening. By the fifth meeting, they're sitting with a bank once again.

Another bank tells them no, but he's dead quiet. This time he's quiet.

And so they get out of the meeting and one of the other church

members who's been helping in the loan process, who's a businessman, walks up

to him and says, how come after every meeting and you've been arguing with

all the bankers and trying to debate with all the bankers and all these things

like that, how come on this fifth meeting, you were dead quiet when

they told you no, you just walked away. He said, because in

the middle of this meeting, I heard God tell me, Son, stop

making me look so small, And so he said, I decided in that

moment, I'm no longer gonna fight, and I'm gonna stop with my words

making God look so small. That I believe that if God has told us

something, if God is blessing us, if God is moving us in a

direction, if God is gifting us, then surely he'll provide. And far

be it from me to get frustrated about where God is at in this exact

moment. Rather than recognizing that God is a big God, and God is

a provider, and God does richly bless his children, not just in material

things, he recognized every time he was stepping into that meeting, he had

a corrupted mindset that said, God, you have to prove yourself that you're

full of abundance, rather than knowing who God is and believing in every meeting,

even in the know to say God expecting to say, see what you

have around the corner. You know, Jesus says it like this in John

ten ten, And that's our verse Here at abundant living. He says this,

the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came

that they may have life and have it abundantly. Jesus is talking about this

stealing and this killing and the destroying. This stealing, killing and destroying.

Is this act of trying to steal your faith away from you, This act

of trying to steal your hope away from you, this act of trying to

steal your time away from you. Your talent's away from you, your treasure

from you. And so Jesus steps in and he says, I've come so

that you can have life and have it abundantly. He's not only speaking about

a material thing. He's talking about this mindset. This mindset. There's a

story of a great scientist. And how many of you guys know science has

gotten really good over the years, and it can do a lot of things.

And so there was a scientist where you know, he was able to

take you know, natural things from the ground, and he was able to

create living organs that move and and he was able to take other aspects of

science, and he was able to cure illnesses, and he was able to

create food, produce just from some plants from the ground and be able to

just from the DNA molecule of a piece of corn, he can grow a

little cornfield, and all these things like that. And so you know,

through the elements of science and through as science has grown. And one day

he's having a conversation with God and he says, God, how does it

feel that nobody needs you as much anymore? He says, God, look

at this. There was once a day where we had to rely on you,

and we had to trust on you for rain, and needed to pray

for you to heal and all these other things like that. But look,

through science, we can begin to cure diseases with many natural elements, and

through science were able to take just things from the ground and create nutrient dense

crops and foods. And so God, we're slowly we're needing you less and

less. How does that feel? And so God responds back to him and

he says, why don't you and I have a friendly competition on who needs

to And so the man says, deal, let's have a competition, And

so all of a sudden God shows up to the man, and all of

a sudden, God grabs a mound of dirt. He just grabs a big

piece of dirt from the ground and then he just kind of shakes it around.

He moves it around, and he breathes on. All of a sudden,

this gorgeous bird just comes from this piece of dirt. I mean,

it's one of the most beautiful swans you've ever seen in your life. And

so the scientist is like, wow, that's you know, that's gorgeous.

Okay, okay God, And so God says, okay, now it's your

turn, and the man says okay. He gets his little table and he

gets his little bleakers, and he puts liquids in it, and he gets

a little stove and he lights it, and he gets his little lab coat

on, and just when he's about ready, he leans over to grab a

piece of dirt, and God says, a a ah, before you start,

get your own dirt. You know, that's what life can be like.

No matter how arrogant or pompus, someone gets where they think they're living

in abundance. They think, oh God, I have science. Oh God,

I got ad bil I got tying off. God says, you using

all the elements I've created on this earth to create the things that you need.

I've been part of the process from the very beginning. So you could

look at this with your mindset and you could see that God isn't enough,

doesn't have enough, I can't make it. Or you can look at the

resources God has already richly provide to us, and you can say, God,

if you can provide dirt, and you could provide seed for the sower,

then who am I to be like the scientist who thinks that I have

it figured out, who thinks that I need to get out there and grind

this out myself. Who am I to think that I should surely just trust

in you, to know that as the thief comes to steel, killing,

destroy, steal my hope, steal my joy, steal my faith, steal

my trust. God is still faithful. He's still faithful. If He creates

and you and I from a mound of dirt, he could do so much

more with us. He could do so much more us not knowing is not

enough because many of us a lot of times, are faith lax, because

we simply just don't know how good God is. I have a friend who

plays a lot of golf, and he plays golf all the time. He

loves golf, and if you know anything about golf, golf is a very

difficult game. You got a little ball and you got a little stick,

and you have to hit that thing straight. Okay, sometimes you even got

to curve it. And you curve it all the time without even trying,

you know. So you play golf. And so he plays golf, but

he's not particularly good. And so every day when he comes home from playing

golf with his friends, he plays. Every Monday, he comes home from

playing golf, his wife always turns the corner and joy because she's seen her

husband, and she says, babe, babe, how is your game today?

And he says, he says, with a smile in his face,

I won't say much, but what I will say is I got the highest

score out of all my friends today. And his wife always says, oh,

I'm I'm so proud of you. You're so gifted, you're so talented.

Every week you always get the highest score. Good job. Now,

for those of you that aren't laughing, the point of golf is to get

the lowest score, not the highest score. The highest score loses. The

lowest score wins in golf. But his wife don't know no different but that's

no excuse to just say I don't know. So you and I what we

have to do is sometimes we just have to say God, I don't know.

I'm playing a game called golf. I don't know how it's scored.

I don't know how it's tallied. I don't know whether I'm winning or losing.

But what I do know is I know you. And what I do

know is I know what your word says. And what I do know is

during as fast as I'm reading my Bible is I know that God is there

to be there for me. I know he's not far off from me.

I know God tells me according to Romans eight, I'm more than a conqueror.

So even though I don't underst in this game called life, foolly,

I do understand God's word. I can read it, I can see it,

and I can have faith to know God. I'm not gonna be lacking

anymore. I'm not gonna lack I'm not gonna lack peace. I'm not gonna

lack trust in you God. I'm not gonna lack this idea that I don't

know where You're at. You know, one of the church fathers, Gregory

Amnissa said this, God's abundance is not measured by material wealth, but by

the richness of his love and his grace. I'll tell you this, God

loves you. God is gracious towards you and I. How do I know

that? Because He saved us? How do I know that? Because He

sent his son Jesus for us. So if I can just survey and look

at that landscape, that God didn't have to do those things. He chose

to do those things because he didn't want us to be far off from him.

He wanted us to have a relationship with him, so that more than

anything, what we have to know is I have to know that God's mercy

and his love is rich. So if I can see that, if I

can perceive that, then that's good enough for me. There's the second point.

If you're taking notes, the truth about abundances. Abundance is open handed,

not close fists. Abundance is open handed, not close fist. If

I look at God's word and I say God, the word abundant, and

the word abundance is multiple times in the scriptures. We could see it in

John ten ten that God abundantly wants to give life. We could see in

second Corinthians, that God's desires to abundantly be generous towards us, so that

we're generous towards other people, so that we overflow to other people. Then

the trick is that God, in order for me to walk in a favor

and abundance is my life has to be open handed, not close fists.

We saw it in Second Corinthians. He says this, they have freely scattered

their gifts to the poor. Their righteousness endures forever. Now, he who

supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will also supply and increase

your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. This is

the idea to say that as you freely scattered, you freely live your life

open handed. This isn't just with monetary this is with everything else. The

three t's the time, talents, and treasure. If you can give time

to someone that needs time, if you could give your talent to someone that

can't afford it or can't get it on their own, or you can give

your treasure as we freely give. He says this, God will supply your

storehouse, He will supply your store of seed. How many of you,

guys, know a store of seed, it's a bank. It's what you

store, it's not what you need month to month to get by. God

will increase the store of seed the leftover that overflow. So why so you

and I can richly give to other people? And so if you need joy

today, the question would be who are you giving joy to? Because if

you want God to supply your storehouse, then you have to be giving the

very thing that you're believing God for. I just need forgiveness. Well,

when was the last time you forgave someone? I just need love? When

was the last time you loved someone? Oh? God, I need hope?

When was the last time you gave hope to someone else? God?

I just need someone to be there for me. When was the last time

you were there for someone else? This storehouse has to be given open handed,

not closed. About a month ago, we were out in the courtyard

and we picked my son up from school, and I was with my son

out in the courtyard, and if you know, here over in the Rancho

campus, we've been working on renovating our courtyard. And so some of the

money, like about half of it has been raised so far and the other

half hasn't And so out in the courtyard, we have this picture. Many

of you guys know it, and it's a coming Sue sign. And so

my son, Matthias, my oldest, he walks by it and he sees

he sees the he sees all the shading, and then he points out one

of the shades. He says, what's that. I said, Oh,

those are those are fire pits. We're gonna have fire pits where people can

sit it around, they can hang out. And he says, ooh,

can we make s'mores over those fire pits? I said, I said,

I'm sure we could. I'm sure we could do anything that takes fire with

those fire pits. And he's like, oh, man, that's so exciting

because he loves to make s'mores. And then he looks at this other thing

and he points to the corner. He's like, what's that. I said,

Oh, it's like that big jungle gym. It's a lucky climber and

so it's where all you guys are going to be able to climb and have

fun with your friends. And he's like, oh, that's so exciting.

And so and so, as we're talking, he says, I want to

play in it, right now, I said, well, was you could

look around? Son, it's not here right now? He said, why

not? I said, well, we we've raised half the money so far.

Son, So I said, the lucky climber is gonna come, but

but we have to raise for all the other things. So we have half

a million dollars so far. It's a million dollar project to do all of

that, son, And so I said, we can't do it until until

until the money comes in. And he says, oh okay, and he

pulls out of his pocket. He says, early, I found a will

this help? And I said, well, considering that's all the money you

have to your name, and that's about as rich as you are. The

fact that you want to give that all that, son, yeah, that's

gonna help a lot. I said, yeah, that will help. And

you want to know, as a good father did what I did is I

took his dollar from him to teach him a lesson. If you offering it,

you better give that thing up. So we snatched that dollar straight out

of his hand and we did a dollar a dollar offering to the bank.

But again, as a child, he says, Wow, this is gonna

help a vision. This is gonna help build something other people are gonna get.

I get a partaking it. Other people get a partaking it. Yeah,

I have something I could give towards it. He was free handed with

what he had. He was excited about what God was doing. He was

excited even though he couldn't fully comprehend it. What he knew was this is

gonna be fun. This is gonna be exciting. And so therefore, if

this can get the vision to go faster, I got a dollar for it.

That's what an open handed faith looks like. This is the same way

that God is. And if we're called to bear the image of God,

look what Psalms chapter one five says. In the Word of God. It

says, for your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, your rule throughout all generations.

The Lord always keeps his promises. He is gracious in all that he

does. And the Lord helps the fallen and lifts the bit beneath their loads.

The eyes of all who look to you and hope you give them their

food as they need it. Here it comes. When you open your hand,

you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. The Lord is

righteous in everything he does. He is filled with kindness. God's filled with

kindness. What do you think makes God proud? What do you think makes

God happy with children of God? What do you think makes God want to

show favor to us, want to show abundance to us. It's when we

bear his image. Is when we can look at that word and say,

God, God, you opened your hand freely. You sustain people freely,

and so if you've called me to bear your image, then I have to

open my hand freely. I have to give freely, and by doing so,

he says, it will overflow and richly give to others. But a

lot of times, what we think is when we're believing God for blessing,

when we're believing God for favor, when we're believing God for abundance. A

lot of times what we do, Hey, I don't know if you've ever

been like me. Before you start praying for things, and as God starts

doing it, you didn't know that it came with problems. Right. Yes,

I got a new job and a great race. I hate my manager.

Great God, Great God, thank you so much, great, great,

thank you so much. I fell in love, I got married,

and turns out we can't get along God. What's happening. What's happening?

What happened with the honeymoon phase? We enjoyed each other? What's going on

right now? We prayed for kids, he gave us kids. We prayed

for three kids, and he had the audacity to give us four kids.

God, what are you doing? The question is what are you doing?

Clearly enjoying life. But the second thing is we can't blame God for those

blessings. So this is the way we often look at Darius Montgomery. Can

you run up here for me real quick? Can you come on here.

I need your help real quick, Come on up here, come on up

here. How many of you guys, any of you guys enjoy baseball?

Any of you guys enjoy baseball? You play? Anyone play baseball? I

don't. But how many of you guys know you ever seen one of those

cocky baseball players Before they see where they want to hit, and before they

go to hit, they point to where they're about to hit it, like

Babe Ruth. That's the famous thing, right, Babe Ruth, go like

you. You know, you suck as a baseball player if you do that

and then you strike out. You can never do that ever again. You're

never allowed to do that, like the audacity to be like, yeah,

this is this is where we're going, you know, and I'm gonna hit

the ball in that direction. I mean that takes that takes a lot of

faith. And so what you and I do is we often do we take

that back and then we point to where we want to go with all these

perfect expectations, right, like, man, I'm hitting every ball that comes

to me. And so you get married, right, You're married, right,

so here's your wife, and so want you to point it out right

like, I'm man, I'm married. You're pointing out your wife. There

we go, don't hit her. So you point up and you go,

oh, man, I'm married now, and here we go, we're moving.

I want a healthy marriage. I want a perfect marriage. This is

where we're headed, this is where we're going. And then you have children,

right, so you're like, oh, you got two children, three

children, So there you go. Man, whoa you always busy? You've

got three children. And then your point like all right, I got my

kids, now put one hand, one hand. I got my kids now.

Cool. I want my kids to be healthy, strong, I want

to have a great relationship with them. But if I remember correctly, you're

also a papa now right, you have three grandchildren as well. You're looking

good for being a grandpa. So all, man, I got my grandchildren.

Now I went from worrying about my boys to now I gotta worry about

my grandchildren. And then you have a job, right, You got goals

for that drop. You got dreams for that drop. Oh man, we

got goals and dreams for that job. There's my bad Oh my goodness,

there we go, point it up, point it up. There, come

on, come on, you got you got any hobbies? You got any

hobbies? What's your hobbies? Yes, you got you play chess? Oh

man, you want to be a good chess player. Right, so there

we go. You got a good chess player. Oh my goodness, there

we go. There we go, my goodness. And you got you got

like you got a home. You got a place where you guys live,

correct, Yeah, I got dreams for your home. Renovations. We want

to put a pool in the backyard. We want to do this, We

want to do that. We want new furniture. My wife wants to repaint.

So man, new goals. There we go, and so here we

go go ahead, put them on, put them on up, there you

go, So there we go. I mean, it looks like God has

blessed you, Like, look at all that blessing you over here, acting

all tired about it, you acting all frustrated about it, Like God,

you're praying right now? God, why'd you give me so many bats in

my life? They're like and how many guys know when he's pointing, where's

the bat going now? But they all going in different directions. And so

that's why when we feel like as God places things in our life, you

feel tired, you feel frustrated. Why because you're treating everything independent of itself

and you think that it's all going to different directions. So you get tired,

You get frustrated, you get scared. God, what are you doing

in this season? What are you doing in my marriage? What are you

doing my children? What are you doing my job? Because why we feel

like everything's going in different directions where rather you could put you could put that

back right quick. Rather, what would happen if you just grabbed one Okay?

What if this one bat was everything that God is? This is God.

You're holding your word, you're holding your prayer life, this is your

faith. This is your trust in God. And so instead of carrying a

new bat for everything, instead what you do is on the word and on

your heart. You inscribe everything that you feel God has called you in your

life. So you got your wife, you got your kids, you got

your job right here, you got everything. You got everything that you may

face. And instead of carrying one bat, now you just have God's word

with you. You have God's promises with you. So when something gets thrown

your way, now you just have one bat that you have to swing.

And so you say, oh, my wife needs something, she needs some

love, she needs some moth. Boom, there you go, send a

ball her way. Oh my kids need something. Boom, I can throw

ball that way. My grandchildren need some Boom, I'll throw ball that way.

Oh I got dreams at work. Boom, I'll throw God. God,

I'm tired, I'm weak. While you're only holding one bat, Get

used to that one bat. Get used to getting close with God, Get

used to trusting God, get used to knowing God. Because if you just

that's why Jesus says, give me your tiredness, give me your yoke,

and he says I'll take it. He says, I'll take your burdens,

jes said, I'll take your burdens, and he says, and then I'll

give you mind, which my burden is easy and light. There's a difference

between carrying seven bats and one bat. Jesus says, my burden yoke is

a lot lighter than the yoke that you'll carry on your own if you just

trust him. Thank you, Darius, you're a great baseball player. You're

like Babe Ruth, appreciate it so much. So what does abundance look like?

It looks like God, I'm only carrying. I'm gonna carry one thing

with me. It's you. I'm gonna carry your word. I'm gonna carry

your promises, and I'm gonna carry your favor. And when things don't go

the way that I think they ought to go, then I'm gonna trust that.

All I have to do is keep swinging the bat that you gave me,

and at some point I know you're gonna deliver the ball that I need

to hit. Here's the third point, as we close, Abundance leads to

praise, not performing. God. God don't. God don't bless you so

that you can perform. God doesn't bless us so that we can perform on

Facebook, so that we can perform on Instagram. God doesn't bless us so

that we can go and we can even come to the altar and act like

we're putting on a performance to God. If you're gonna come to the altar,

you're coming because you're praising God for something, because you knew where He

took you out. If you're going to go on Facebook and share something,

it's because it's not coming from a performance that you hope that your cousin in

Nantucket sees and gets jealous that you got a better husband than them, or

you got a better job than them. And you say, oh, God

blessed me this week. Look out how I'm growing, look at I'm doing.

And then you're looking to see if someone that you want to see it,

your ex wife or your ex husband saw it. At that point,

you're putting on a performance. It doesn't come at a pace a place of

praise. But God has told us look at this when we were we read

two Cristons. He says, this service that you perform not a performance,

but your act of generosity is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people,

but is also overflowing in many expressions of what thanks to God. Because

of the service by which you have proved yourself. Others will praise God for

the obedience that accompanies your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and for your

generosity in sharing with them and everyone else. What God does in our life

is meant to lead towards a place where we praise God, where we give

them all glory and all honor for what He's done and what He's going to

do. And others will see that and they'll say, man, man,

But a lot of times what we do is we selfishly act like these things

that God did for us is just for us, because you know the work

that you put into it. If you're walking in a place where you're starting

to see some freedom in your life, and you're starting to see some victory

in your life, and you're starting to move forward, you can reflect and

you can say, God, that time I'm spending in the Word is paying

off God. That time that I'm spending in worship is paying off God.

That time I'm spending in prayer, it's paid off God. That time that

I'm spending going to church it's paying off. So then you have a friend

or a loved one who's looking at you and they're saying, oh, man,

can I get some time with you? Can you walk with me?

I want to be where you're at? And you say, no, I

don't got any of that left over. I worked hard for what I get.

I worked hard in my Bible, I worked hard going to church.

If you want what I have, you need to start doing what I did.

Which that may be a place where they grow to but in the meantime,

it may just take a call a week from you where you start encouraging

them and start giving them what you've learned, giving them what God is showing

them giving you, start passing the praise off rather than saying, oh,

how did I get to where I'm at? I'll send you the address and

you can go. It's a place where it says God, no, someone

has asked me. They're saying they're seeing peace in my life. They're saying

they're sing victory in my life. Then I'm gonna start taking the time.

That's why Jesus said He's called all of us to make disciples. He didn't

call the church building to make disciples. Hold you and I to make disciples.

So as God is showing fruit in your life. God is looking at

you and I to say, you better gather someone up to take on that

ride. You better not be selfish with what it is that I'm showing you,

because he says, because as you give this out, I will lead

you to give thanks to me, but also others will give thanks to me

because of our obedience. So here's the last thought in this is we can

see in the Word of God that abundance in favor is seen in this way.

It's found in boundless It's found in boundless blessings. So you can see

in the Word that abundance in favor is seen as we close it's boundless blessings.

Psalms twenty three to five. You prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my cup

overflows. What David is saying is he's saying, God, there are no

bounds to the blessings that you provide, to the richness of your presence.

And then the second thing that we see in the Word of God is we

see that God, through favor and abundance gracious, He gives grace and guidance,

He gives you grace and guidance. I don't know what to do next

week. I don't know what to do it by the summertime. I don't

know what's next for me man. I don't know how to be there for

my kids. I don't know how to be there. I don't know how

to be there in my next season. I'm graduating college. I don't know

what's next. Well, God can be gracious, and he could give you

guidance Isaiah fifty eight. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy

your needs in a sun's scorchland, and will strengthen your frame. You will

be like a well watered garden, like a spring. Those whose waters never

fail God's favor and abundance come in a place where He will give you guidance

and he will show you grace. Grace is that thing that doesn't corrupt us,

or that thing that doesn't break us when we feel like we're gonna be

broken, where we feel like we're gonna be overtaken. And then the last

thing is this, which is what we can all believe for all the time,

is that God can give grace. God can give favor in a bund

and he can give miracles. Manifested God can show miracles, and you can

see it in the life and ministry of Jesus. Whether Jesus is feeding the

five thousand, or healing a leper, or opening blind eyes, or walking

on water or turning water into wine. We see that through Jesus's manifested miracles,

it leads people to know him deeply. So when I'm praying for a

miracle from God, I have to know that on the back side of that

miracle, as God would manifest that miracle. The only way that God manifests

miracles is if it leads you closer to him. God has never performed a

miracle to lead you away from Him. And so as I'm believing God for

a miracle, I have to pray to say, God, on the other

side of this, this is how my life will look different. This is

how I will be closer to you. This is how I will trust you

more. This is how I will be healing and forgiven is that God has

I need a miracle manifest and the other side of it is going to lead

me closer to You, not further away from you. We can all pray

for the miracle to win the lotter, but if you win that miracle lottery

and you never step foot in church again, I'll tell you this, that

wasn't really part of God's plan. You just won the lottery. That's what

that was. Is God's desire that if He's gonna bless you, is gonna

bring him closer to you and you closer to Him. So we could see

that through God's abundance and favor that it leads us to these things. And

the greatest thing of all is that if you're in here today and you have

never known Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, because everything we've talked

about today, even when we sung in worship, Pastor Daniel talk about this

aspect of there is this right that God has for us, but it's for

those that are the children of God. There's a certain free gift that people

give. And so just out in the world, because someone's successful, or

they look great on the outside, or they seem like they have it put

together, that doesn't necessarily mean that they do. The outward blessings and outward

abundance doesn't equal someone having a good relationship with God. That's a free gift

that God. Anyone can attain some of those things, but one no,

what is the free gift of God that only people that are children of God

can truly receive? Only children of God can receive life, true life,

abundant life. Only children of God can receive true peace. Only children of

God can receive true joy, true hope, true faith. And so what

does it take it takes from me to say, God, I recognize that

I fall in short of your glory. I've recognized that I've sinned in this

life. But today I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and he

rose three days later. Why did Jesus die on the cross? He died

on the cross because he was a perfect sacrifice for you and I. Someone's

got to pay for the sins of the world. Either you and I are

paying for it on our own, or someone can pay for it for us.

But only Jesus is the one that could pay it for it, because

he's both our priest and our king. Jesus was perfect, he was sinless.

He's also God. He's the perfect priest, He's the great high Priest.

Jesus fully God and fully man. And so when he placed himself on

that cross and he died on that cross, and he spent three days redeeming

us, getting the keys from outer darkness, and three days later he rose.

That was God the Father signs saying this is the perfect sacrifice that for

the rest of time, humanity just has to have faith and trust in Him

and I can bring them into restoration into this family of God. It's a

pointed that one day you and I all will stand before God. Everybody dies.

And that's not something to be said to scare anyone or frighten anyone.

It's a reality that you and I have to face at some point in our

life, and we have to know one day, where will you go?

Where will you spend eternity? I know for a fact that if you were

to ask me today, Adam, where would you spend eternity? I would

say, I'm going to spend eternity in the Kingdom of God. If you

said, well, how do you know that? I know that because I've

given my life to Jesus Christ. That's how I know that. I know

that because I have recognized that I've fallen short and I've reckoned that I can't

get into Heaven on my own. I can't pray for it, I can't

pay for it and I can't work my way into heaven. But I do

know someone that can get me into heaven, and his name's Jesus. And

I do know that Jesus told me that if I believe in Him and I

confess him, that surely I'll be saved. So if you're in this place

today or you're in the courtyard watching online, and you've never given your life

to Jesus Christ, I encourage you in this moment that it starts with a

confession of faith, trust in Jesus to know that Christ died for you and

he rose again. So would you join me all right now, family,

as we say this prayer out loud together, would you say this with me

as some people are going to be meaning it for the very first time,

and by no means is the prayer the thing that saves us. Through this

prayer, we're affirming what God is already doing in your heart. Would you

join me in saying this today, Dear Lord Jesus, in this moment,

I confess you as Lord and Savior. I believe in my heart that you

have died on the cross for my sins. I repent to my life sins,

and from this day forward, I trust in you, and I commit

to follow you for the rest of my days in Jesus' name, a man

praise God. We really hope you enjoyed the message and if you said yes

to Jesus, we just want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional

to help you walk out your faith. Click the link of the description or

head over to grow dot faith to download your devotional. Oh and be sure

to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening to ALSC

podcast and we hope you tune in again.