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With my soul, when you have that
true peace, you don't need it from anywhere else and you can
give it out. And so therefore I said all these things to say,
how can you truly follow Jesus until you know who he is, that
he's the lover of your soul. He's the redeemer of your soul
and heart. And it says, I have decided to follow Jesus. And
then the next song right in that sex page is I will live for him. And that's what I'm hoping and
praying that you'll do. I'm praying that you will give him your hands,
your feet and say, God, that's why my, you're, that's why you're
here today. That's why you were born. is to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen? And don't be afraid to. Don't be afraid because He's
awesome and He's wonderful and He's good and it's exciting.
It's the least boring life in the world, isn't it? Aren't you
busy all the time when you're trying to do something for God?
Take your Bible, please, and open them up with me to 1 Chronicles
chapter 4, 1 Chronicles 4. And I want to be a blessing to
you today because God wants you to be a blessing to you. And
as Dave prayed, and as Rich prayed, and others have prayed today,
talked about God, He's so good, and He's blessed us with so many
blessings, but God wants us to prosper. Do you believe that?
Do you believe God wants you to prosper? He does. He wants you, Jesus didn't even
say, I've come that you might have life and life more abundant.
Yes, life is full of pain, Bob. Life's full of pain, Beth. It's
true, life is full of heartache and shame and sorrow. I can get
an amen to all that. But life isn't about that, this
life. It's about the life inside your
heart. It's about the spirit of God inside of you. It's about
the real life forever and ever and ever. in eternity with Christ.
But yet He walks with you and He talks with you. He's with
you now. And He'll go through it with you. He knows your suffering
like no one else. But you know what He wants? He
wants you to be fruitful. He wants you to multiply. He
wants you to prosper. He wants you to do great and
mighty things. Do you believe that? Do you think
God doesn't know who you are? Do you think God doesn't care
who you are? God knows you, who you are, and He cares. And He
wants to give you So many things in life. He wants to bless you
beyond measure. How many people want to be blessed?
Come on. See, He says those that hunger and thirst, they're the
ones that get it. If you don't hunger and thirst,
you get nothing. But if you're hungering after, you want God,
He'll reveal Himself to you. He'll speak directly to you.
You'll hear His voice. He'll manifest Himself to you.
It'll change your life forever. That's what I want you to have.
1 Chronicles chapter 4. Are you there? Look with me,
if you would, in verse 9 and 10. Verse 9 says, And Jabez was
more honorable than his brethren. I want you to tuck that away,
that little statement that Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. Turn me up, please, Brian. I'm
pushing. My voice is really bad today,
and I don't want to push because it's hard. That's a little too
loud. Come on, there's got to be a happy medium in there. And
Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. And his mother
called his name Jabez, saying, because I bear him with sorrow.
Now look at verse 10. And Jabez called on the God of
Israel, saying, oh, oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed,
and enlarge my coast, and that thy hand might be with me, and
that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve
me, God granted him that which he requested. God gave him that
which he requested. God wants to give you what you
request. God wants to bless you. He wants
to prosper you. He wants to enlarge your coasts
and your borders. Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13, what I wanna tell you today
and what I'd like you to know today is how can you be blessed? How can you receive like the
blessings of Jabez? And the first thing I told you
to remember is that he was more honorable than everyone else
in his round. So first thing is I want you
to realize is that you just don't get what you ask for just because
you ask. Amen? How many people give, oh, you
have children. Do you give them whatever they
ask for whenever they ask for it just because they ask for
it? No. Beth, do you give your children whatever they ask for
whenever they ask for it? No. You should never give your children
or anyone whatever they ask for just because they ask for it.
But if your children are more honorable, if you have one child
that's more honorable than all the other children, when they
ask for something, you're like, here you go. Just like Eve, I
mean, Ava. Is Ava here or is she downstairs?
Where you at? She downstairs? Ava, Nicole's daughter, Nicole
has 2,700 children. She lives in a shoe, and she
doesn't know what to do. But she has a lot of children,
and it's hard when you have a lot of children all young. But she
has this one named Ava, and around the church, guess what? Nicole
cleans the church, and she does a lot of work around the church.
But guess who's always helping her? Only one, only one, Ava.
Ava today, this morning, came in here and vacuumed up because
she saw things. She was vacuuming the steps.
She was vacuuming here. Ava was doing that. You know what I said?
I said, Ava, I'm going to give you money later on today. And
I want to do it in front of the rest of the siblings. I want
the rest of the children to go, aww. And I want to say, she was
more honorable than you because she got up without even being
asked, and she kept her mother clean. I mean, isn't that more
honorable? Can I get an amen? So she deserves
blessing. She does. And the same thing
with us. It says that Jabez was more honorable. Therefore, when
he said, Oh God, Oh God, bless me. Bless me indeed. Enlarge my coast, give me more
influence on other people. You see, when God sees that you
want to be blessed for a good reason, he didn't just want to
be blessed to keep doing something. He said, enlarge my influence
with others so that I can be a blessing to them. And he said,
and don't let evil get over me. And he said, and don't let me
be grieved. And God said, you got exactly what you asked for.
What a wonderful man. That's what I want you to have,
exactly what you asked for. But there are certain things,
certain things that hinder us from God being able to bless
us. Can you hear me OK? And that's what I want to show
you today in the message. And I'll be as quick as I can, so
buckle up. Put your ears on so I can get
you out of here on time so you can go have a good lunch. But
there's certain things that we do or that we're doing that is
causing God not to be able to bless us. So I'm gonna just reveal
one of them to you today. Look in chapter 13 of Romans.
Look it with me in verse eight. It says this, it says, oh no
man anything but to love one another. For he that loveth another
has fulfilled the law. Keep reading, it says, for this
thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt
not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not
covet, and if there be any other commandment, is briefly comprehended
in this, saying namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And he goes on to say, love works
no ill with his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law. I want you to know that God wants
us to keep his laws. God gave us laws to keep. He
gave us instruction. He gave us precepts and concepts.
He gave us everything we need to know, what God wants us to
do. And if you ask me, if you ask me, okay, pastor, what can
I do to have God's blessing? I'd say, well, be obedient to
God. I do what God wants you to do. Just like a child, you
know, when a child is obedient to their parents and does what
makes the parent happy. Can I get an amen? Stop waving
to the children. I know the baby's cute and the
baby's waving. Stop, because you're going to,
stop it. They're going to be looking at
the baby and not listening. And I want people to listen. Restrain yourself
from the cuteness over there. But listen to me, when your children
go above and beyond to please you, why? Not because they want
something, because that's who they are. Because it's just who
they are. You know what the greatest thing
your children could do for you is love you. The greatest thing
my children could ever do for me is just love me. The best thing I could ever do
to you is let you know that I love you. And God says that you can
try to keep all the commandments all you want, but the fulfilling
of the law is loving one another, truly loving one another. And
that pleases God. And when it says that Jabez was
more honorable, I believe Jabez kept the spirit of the law in
his heart. He cared for one another and
he loved one another. That's why he asked God, enlarge my borders,
help me to be a bigger influence. Bless me, Lord. Help me to have
abundance so I can help others. You ever feel that way? But I
want you to think about this, is that if you always do what
you always did, then you're always going to get what you always
got. You know, it's a simple thing, and it's not a hard, complicated
thing, but if you want to grow, and you want to be blessed, and
you want to have more growth, and you want to have more, and
be blessed more, and everyone say, I want more. Come on, say
it. Say, I want more. Yeah, more of God. I want more
of God, and less of this world. Less of me. If you ever wanted
anything in your life, it's God. It's God because He can give
you everything you could ever imagine. So therefore I want
more of God. But here it tells us that if we keep doing the
things we always did, we're going to keep on getting the things
we always got. And so you have to renew your mind, as the Bible
says, and you have to get out the old thoughts and the old
ways and put in some new thoughts and some new ways. And that's
what I want to try to do, because how shall we grow spiritually
if we do not change our ways or our thinking? Romans 12 says
this, it says, Be not conformed to this world, But be transformed. That's what I want. I want you
to be transformed with blessings, transformed with joy, transformed
with love and power and influence in your life. But be transformed
by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God for your life. Amen?
God's very first commandment in the Bible was to be fruitful
and multiply. So, if we always do what we always
did, we will always get what we always got. And if you want
to continue on and keep getting just stale blessings that you
have, or living off the old blessings, if you want new blessings, then
renew your mind. God wants us to be fruitful,
to grow in His grace and His blessings, in knowledge, actually
the Bible says in every good thing. every good thing. So what
hinders us? What hinders us in our growth
of a Christian? What hinders our spiritual growth?
Let me just give you one word, and it's not very difficult,
but it's disobedience. Disobedience more than anything
else, what it does, it grieves the Holy Spirit. When the Holy
Spirit tells you, don't be obedient to me, don't be obedient, be
obedient to the Holy Spirit. See, because the Holy Spirit
may tell me to do something, and I can't tell you to do what
the Holy Spirit told me to do, because he told me to do it.
Can I get an amen? But when the Holy Spirit tells
you to do whatever it is, it could be a small thing, could
be quit smoking. It could be stop lying. It could
be stop being angry. Whatever the Holy Spirit is telling
you, obey the Holy Spirit. And when you obey, start to obey
God, what it does, it takes away the hindrance of the Holy Spirit
in your life. When God commands us to do something
so that He can bless us, prosper us, increase us, in all manner
of blessings, So when we disobey, we hinder that growth. And honoring
God or dishonoring God? When he called, he said, J. Bezos
was an honorable, more honorable person. And that's what I want
us to realize what that is. And in Romans 13 and it says,
oh, no man anything but to love him. Right? No one, anyone. So what you owe each and every
person, please get this through your head, what you owe is a
debt that you owe to one another is to love them. So if you haven't
loved everyone that you know, then you're in debt to them.
And let me give you something that's going to hinder your growth
is debt. You know what hinders the biggest thing that hinders
financial growth in your life is debt. When you're in debt,
you can't grow. You can't get more money in your
bank account when you're in debt. Can I get an amen? That's why
God says, live within your means is the best thing. The best thing
the Apostle Paul said, he says, I have learned that wherever
state I'm in, there were to be content. Be content with the
house that you have. Be content with the car that
you have. Be content with the clothes that you have. Be content.
And when you're content, God will give you more. But the problem
is, is people aren't very content in so many things. So when it
says that, to owe no man anything but to love one another, and
he that has loved one another has fulfilled the law, debt will,
being in debt will hinder our financial growth and it will
hinder our spiritual growth. Can I get an amen to that? What
does that mean? It means if we owe, if I owe
to Keith and Beth and everyone here to love them, and I don't
love them, I'm in debt to them. So the same thing with God, when
God gives us a commandment, please listen, when God says in the
commandment that the greatest of all the commandments is to
love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind,
and all your strength. When God says, when they asked
Jesus, which of the 10 commandments should I keep, right? Which one?
And he says, there's only one. He says, love God with all your
heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, and
love your neighbor as yourself. On these two hang everything.
So therefore, if we are commanded by God to love Him with all our
hearts, you know we fall short. So let me just ask you a question.
How much do we owe God? How much of love are we indebted
to God? It's just like if you've given
me millions of dollars, and all you're, you know what I mean?
I'm in debt. I'm in debt to you. And we know that our sin debt
was taken away by Jesus. We know that. But we have a love
debt. We have a love debt. You know why? Because everybody
loves something. You love something. I love something. You love something.
And we do it. And the thing that we love the
most, we have no problem going and being faithful to. We have
no problem with the thing we love. My favorite TV show. Bam!
I'm recording it. I'm watching it. Whatever it
is. My football game. Bam! I'm right there. Nothing's
going to stop me. I'm watching that Eagles-Dallas
game. You know what I mean? It's like, we all have things
that we love. And we're very, very faithful to them. And God
looks down in his heart and says, what about me? And the truth
of the matter is all of us are indebted to God. Can I get an
amen to that? So what will hinder our spiritual growth is debt,
debt. Well, let me give you five real
quick things and I'll I'll get you out of here. But the number
one commandment is to love God. So how much are we in debt with
God? He says with all our mind, all our soul, our strength. So,
you know, we're in debt. And Jesus said, for where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. And I just want
to tell you, we are in debt, and this debt hinders us, and
God wants us to prosper. So let me give you five things
real quick. Prosper means to, this is what the word prosper
means, to push forward, to grow, to increase. God wants us to
be prosperous. And what is holding back God's
blessings? Let me give you five foundational principles, okay?
Five real quick, and I'll go quickly with them. Number one,
number one principle, you ready? You should write it down. God
owns you. God owns you. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, turn
to 1 Corinthians 6 and I'll read 7 for you. 1 Corinthians chapter
6 as you're turning there, 1 Corinthians 7.23 says this, you are bought
with a price. So you can't, you have to understand
these certain principles for you to be able to have the blessings
of God. The number one principle is that
you gotta realize is that you've been bought and paid for. You
don't own yourself, God owns you. Look with me in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, are you there? Look with me in verse 19. 19
says this what you see that's everyone looking he says what
no you're not he's saying don't you know that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God
and what's it say you are not your own you the first principle
you have to realize is that God owns you how do I how does God
own well if God doesn't own you then you don't belong to him
and if God you don't belong to God then you don't go to heaven
with God If you don't belong to him, right? How does someone
belong to God? You gotta come to Jesus and just
ask him. Ask him to save your soul. Give him your soul. Say,
I trust you with it. Give it to him. I mean, everyone
has a soul. Who do you want to be in charge
of it? You, the government, or God? Just trust God. Amen? But look what it says in verse
20. It says, For you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify
God in your body, in your spirit, which are God's. So let me ask
you a question, church, people, friends, my brothers and sisters. The number one principle is you
got to realize you don't own yourself. Why do you keep thinking
you do? I'm going to go where I want
to go and do what I want to do and I'm going to be what I want
to be. Well, then you can't be blessed by God. It's a number
one thing rule is that for spiritual and financial and prosperity
and growth, you got to realize you belong to God. He is your
property. He owns you. You're His property.
The second principle is to honor God. Honor God. In Proverbs 3,
9, and 10, you don't have to turn there, but it says, honor
God with all your substance. It says, honor the Lord with
all thy substance and with the firstfruits of your increase.
Listen to what He says, so shall your barns be filled. filled
with plenty. See, God says, if you honor me
with what you have, and you say, what do you mean by that, preacher?
Well, if you have a car or a truck, honor God with it. You know what
you ought to do? I'm just telling you, when I learned these principles,
God started to bless me spiritually like I cannot tell you. And you
can't put a price on love and joy and peace. You can't put
a price on wisdom and understanding and knowledge. You can have billions
of dollars and be an idiot. Be a fool, be wicked-hearted,
but if you have a couple hundred dollars and be the most wisest,
richest man in the world, amen? God will never, ever, ever allow
you to be begging bread or homeless or clueless or foodless. He'll
never allow it if you're following Him and honoring Him. He'll always
bless you. He'll even said, men in this earth will give it to
you. If you're following God and serving God, guess what?
People start knocking up and saying, hey, I heard you had
a need. I have a house for you. I got a car for you. I got a
truck for you. I got clothes for you. I got new shoes for you. And you'd
be like overwhelmed with so many things that God will have people
give to you. Because God said, give and it
shall be given unto you. Press down, good measure, shaking
together. Running over will God give it
to you. Know what he said? Will men give it to you? So you
start doing what God and honoring God. What does that mean? When
I first got my truck, I first got my car and I learned this
principle. Do I start doing with it? I started saying, well God,
you gave it to me. I want to honor you with it.
What do you want me to do? He said, pick people up for church. The greatest
thing you could ever do is bring people in. There's a girl that
I went to school with. She wanted to come to church
today. But I didn't because I was busy all week. She only called
me on, I think, Friday night. And she said, could you have
someone pick me up? She lives in Clifton Heights. And there's only two families
I know that live close, Rich and Donna and Danielle and Dave. And I forgot to call them and
ask them to do it. You know what I mean? But my
point is this. You should be asking me, Pastor, is there anyone
I need to pick up? Can I pick someone up? God gave
me a car and a vehicle. I want to honor God with it.
Can I bring someone to church, Pastor? My goodness, how many
more people would be in this church? Because so many people
don't have a ride. Will Hamilton, he picks people up, and he comes
from Center City, and he only picks up a few because they're
the only ones ready in the morning. Do you know how many other people
there are? Wouldn't it be great if part of your ministry was
you brought someone to church every Sunday? I drove the bus
forever in churches I've been to. The greatest honor I ever
had was being able to pick people up. I mostly picked up old people,
old ladies, excuse me, old women. Is that right? No. Older females.
I'm not politically correct. Help me, okay? Elderly? Is that
it? Elderly? Older ones? But anyway, wise are awesome,
I love them, and I'd pick them up, and you know what they did
the whole time? Complained. But that's okay. I was the happiest
guy in the world. I was picking them up. Hey, you're five minutes late.
It's too hot. It's too cold. And I just sat
there in joy with a smile on my face saying, praise God. I
was so happy to pick them up because I was doing it for God.
And I'm just telling you, honor God with all that you have, your
car, your home. You know, I saw, I'm sorry, I
saw this little, it was funny, I saw it last night. It was on
Facebook and it was about the liberals because, you know, they're
nuts. So, I know they are. And it was Scarlett Johansson
playing, I think it was a Saturday Night Live skit, it was a little
video on Facebook. And it showed Scarlett Johansson, who is a
liberal, and all these liberals, and they had a helmet on a dog,
and they let her dog talk like they could communicate. And so
the dog was like, I voted for Trump. And they're like, that's
impossible. You can't be that way. And it was so funny, because
what he was saying was everything that I would say, or you might
say. But to them, it was absolutely
blasphemy. That can't happen. And so my
point to that, my point to all that was that when you honor
God with your substance, your car, and your home, she said
this, she said something about, well, we're good people, we help
the poor. And the dog said, you never had one homeless person
in your house. The dog said that, and she goes, that's not true.
He goes, oh, yes, it is. I know. You've never had one
homeless person in your house. And she was, like, all embarrassed.
It was funny. Our dogs know about us more than some other people
know about us. What our dogs know about us, you would not
want our dogs to talk. Amen? My point to that is, you
have a home. You have a car. You might have
a little bit of money. You might have some extra clothes.
You might have some extra food. Honor God with it by helping people,
loving one another. Don't keep it to yourself, it
doesn't help. The third thing, the third thing you must know
is the tithe is the Lord's. Turn to Malachi chapter 3. That
is the last book in the Old Testament, right before the book of Matthew.
Malachi chapter 3. You need to learn these principles
so that you can be blessed. And that's why I'm teaching them
to you, so you can be blessed. Amen? Because God wants to bless
you. The tithe is the Lord's. Malachi
chapter 3. Look with me in verse 7. In verse
7 it says this. Are you all there? Are you there?
Not all, should I wait? Say amen when you're there. All
right, that's more of you. Verse seven says this, even from
the days of your fathers, look what he said, are you gone away
from my ordinances? And you have not kept them. Look
what God always says, return unto me and I will return unto
you, sayeth the Lord of hosts. But look what it says, but you
said, wherein shall we return? What that means is they didn't
even know that they were away from God. To them, it was just
life is normal, we're going to church, we're doing our thing.
I didn't know I was away from God. And God's saying, I've been
away from you a long time. Turn back to me and keep going,
look what it says. And they said, wherein shall we return? And
God answers them, will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed
me. But you say, wherein have we
robbed you? And he says, in tithes and in
offerings. He says, you are cursed with
a curse. See, let me just tell you something.
When you're cursed by God, it doesn't mean that all this bad
stuff's gonna happen to you. What it means is, you're not
gonna be blessed. Because if you're not blessed,
you're cursed. And I want to be blessed and I want you to
be blessed. I want God to do what he's going to say here.
Look what he said. He said, you are cursed with a curse for you
have robbed me, even this whole nation. He said, bring ye all
the tithes into the storehouse. He said, that's the church house.
He says, and there that there may be meat in my house. And
look what he said, prove me now. Therewith, saith the Lord of
hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour
you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive
it. Nowhere on in the Holy Scriptures
does God ever say, prove me. Go ahead. Try me. Go ahead. See, see it. And I know it because
everyone in the church that I know who ties their income or above,
God blesses them. They have more than they need.
They're not rich, but they have what they need. And abundant
more blessings than that. Because you know what the best
thing about being blessed is? Being a blessing to others. If
you're not here on Wednesday night, I don't want to embarrass
anybody, but Nicole and Donna and my wife and other people
on Wednesday night, they give praises. And most of the time,
you know what they praise God for? For Beth over here. Beth
Bailey. Because she gives. Nobody knows
it. She goes out and buys stuff and
gives it to people and it's a blessing. She is a blessing. That's all
I'm going to tell you. See, she's been sick and she's
in pain and I felt bad for her because I love her so much and
I don't want to see her in pain like I don't want to see Bob in pain. But
guess what? Just because you're in pain doesn't mean you can't
be a blessing. And Bob, you're a blessing to me, brother. I
mean, you have just filled me with such, woo, thank you, Jesus,
that Bob's here, you know what I mean? And he blesses me. And
Bethany might not know this, but they give more than almost
anybody, and God blesses them. And they say, oh, well, the best
way to have blessings is that you are a blessing. If you can
be a blessing to other people, that's the part that he said,
love one another. Caring and giving, that's what it's all
about. But I just want to let you know that the tithe is the
Lord's because you are the Lord's. He owns you, so honor God with
what you have. And just remember, 10% isn't
bad. 10% of, I'm going to give you three things, 10% of your treasure,
10% of your time, and 10% of your talents. See, 10% isn't just out of what
you got left in your book, in your pocketbook. 10% is whatever
increase you have come into that week, give God 10% right off
the front, the firstfruits. God says, you do that, you're
honoring me, and you're more honorable than others. Ask me
whatever you want, and I'll open the windows of heaven, because
I see it happen all the time. But 10% of our time to God. It
sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Think about this, that there's
24 hours in a day, and 10% of 24 hours a day is 2.4 hours a
day. So that means we owe God, of
our time each day, 2.4 hours. What does that mean? Coming to
church? No. You only come to church for a couple hours. It
means talking to Him, worshiping Him, loving Him, reading His
Word, studying. How about this? Going out and
telling others about Him. How about this? Going out and
fulfilling the law and loving one another and telling in the
name of Jesus, I give you this. But doing something for God in
your mind, your heart, for 2.4 hours a week. There's 168 hours
in the week. 10% of 168 hours is 16.8 hours a week for God. Please let that sink in. 40 hours,
just say I know many of you work more or less, but 40 hours of
that week is for working. 56 of that week is for sleeping.
That's 96 hours. Out of the 96 hours, if you take
the 96 out of the 168, that leaves 72 hours left. 72 hours out of
your week. And then if you give God his
16 hours that you owe him, it says that leaves 56 hours a week
to do whatever you want. 56 hours out of the week you say
I work too much. Well, that's even more time than
working You said I don't have time really how much time you
spend in front of TV and from the internet from this, you know
I mean, it's like we're just playing we're not God says be
honorable And you know you honor be honorable by honoring God
with your time your treasure and your talents. You have some
talents I want to thank God for Brian. He's doing electrical
work for the church. We're gonna put lights up I want
to thank God for Brian and for Doug and for other people that
are digging out concrete downstairs to put a shower in so that there
can be a prophet's chamber and a shower here. I mean, I want
to thank God. People have talents. Dave, I call him MacGyver. He
can do anything. He really can. And give him duct
tape and a bungee cord. He can do anything. But the thing
is, you have many of talents. You're good at something. You
ought to tithe some of that talent. We need so many things around
the church. Kenneth, if you just gave a little bit of your talent
to the house of God, this place would be unbelievable. And I'm
not guilty. I'm just telling you what stops
us and what hinders us. The fourth thing is, we are responsible
to God to be good stewards of what He's given us. Turn with
me to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, please. 1 Corinthians chapter
4. These five principles, and I'm
almost finished with them, are principles that you need to know
so that you can either do them, work on them, or get rid of whatever,
so that you can be blessed and have more. I've never seen a
person out give God. I've never seen it. You can't
out give him. You give him your time, guess
what he does? All of a sudden you have more
time. You give him some money, what, 10%? He'd make $100, give
him $10. Make $1,000, about $100. I mean,
it sounds like when it gets to $100, well, that's a lot. You
just made $1,000. He gave you $1,000. He gave you the job,
the ability, the wisdom. He gave you everything to take
that job. And then you take your money and you give it to everyone
else but God. And he's like, okay, do whatever
you want. But the truth of the matter is he can't bless you.
But honor God with everything you have. Now the fourth thing
is we are to be responsible to be good stewards. Look in 1 Corinthians
4, look in verse 2 with me. It says this, Moreover, it is
required in stewards that a man be found, say a church, Faithful. Faithfulness to God and the things
of God. Faithfulness in your money. Faithfulness
in your time. Faithfulness in your talents.
All that leads to is God blessing you. with a whole lot more. I
want to just tell you that He says, moreover, it is required
that a steward of God should be found faithful. And we all
have to give God an account, because we're all going to give
Him an account when we stand before Him one day. That's what the
Bible teaches. He's going to say, and you might say, I didn't
know. Well, I'm sorry, you just found
out. And I think the Holy Spirit kind of reveals, we're all going
to stand before Him someday. He's going to say, what did you
do with my life that I gave you? What'd you do with the knowledge I gave
you and the wisdom I gave you? What'd you do with the church? I put
you in a church with people that needed you. I mean, I'm here
to tell you, please listen to me, this church needs you. It's not the same when you're
not here. Just you showing up makes it better. It helps people
around you. Someone comes in and they're
new, and they come in and they see the church fast full, and
they go, ooh, something might be happening here. You know what
I mean? They come in, they see the church half empty, and they're
like, oh, I wonder why. And then they're looking for
some reason. I'm just telling you, you are very, very important
to the work of God. You're very important. And I
mean, God loves you, and he wants to bless you, and he wants to
use you. The greatest thing in the world is to be used by God.
I'm just letting you know. There's no greater thing. The
fifth thing I want to do and finish with this is God is your
provider. Number one thing is know that
you need to know is God owns you. He bought you. You don't
belong to yourself. Number two thing is you need
to honor God with what you do have. Number three thing is to
learn is that the tithe is the Lord's. Tithe is your treasure,
your time, and your talents. The number four thing is that
you're responsible for what God has given you. He's going to
hold you responsible. And the fifth thing is that God will
provide. everything that you need. Turn
with me if you would, please, to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians
chapter 4. Say amen when you're there. Amen. Tithing our treasures, our time,
and our talents. Oh my goodness. All this God
will increase. More treasure? How many people
could use some more money? I know I could. How many could
use some more time? I know I could. How many use
some more talents? Oh boy, I know I could. Amen. Well, whatever you got, this
young lady here, how old are you, 13? This young lady, 13, just
started playing the piano two years ago, and she plays on Wednesday
nights, Sunday nights. She's gonna play right now in
a minute. I mean, what a blessing you are, because if you weren't
here using your talents, we would have no one to play an invitation,
because Bethany's downstairs. We went for so long, years without
a piano player. without a piano player, in a
church. We have an electric piano, and it also works an organ. We
have no one to play the organ. I have a guitar in there, and
I have a hammer dulcimer and a mountain dulcimer, bing, bing,
bing, bing, and no one to play it. I have microphones, microphones
here for people to sing, and no one sings. And I go like,
you know what I mean? It's like, hmm. And it's, well,
we're just a new church. Well, we're coming up on seven
years. And we still have not one, not one, please listen to
me, not one person to sing a special. In seven years, other churches,
they got like five piano players, 12 people sing, people are fighting,
it's my turn to sing, no, it's my turn! I don't have anybody.
I called in a cute lady in the back, her name is Janet, Schoolmeister,
remember? She's back there, everyone say
hi, Janet. See, I'm just embarrassing her a little bit, but I always
give her a text saying, could you come and sing a song for
us? And she comes just to sing a song to be a blessing. She
has a talent, and she's going to use it for God. You might
say, well, I can't sing. Well, you can do something. And
I'm just telling you, it blesses the church to be a blessing.
The fifth and last thing, Philippians chapter 4, look with me if you
would, please, in verse 19. Philippians 4 of 19, it says,
but my God, shall supply all your need according to his riches
in glory in Christ Jesus. But my God shall supply all your
need. You might not believe that. I
know it. And that's what it is, is you
got to realize you don't own yourself. God owns you. Honor
God with what you do have. The tithe is the Lord's and your
time. tithe your time, your treasure,
and your talents, and that we are responsible. You're going
to be held responsible for everything God's given you. You say, well,
He hasn't given me much. You're still going to be responsible
for it. What do you do for God? What do you do for the church,
the body of Christ? Think about it, because God thinks about
it all the time. He wants to open the windows
of heaven and pour you out blessings. The last thing I want to read
to you, and we'll be finished. Could you come on up, please? You don't
have to turn there. Just listen. It's found in Ephesians
20, if you want to jot it down. It says this, it says, now unto
him. that is able to do exceedingly
and abundantly above all that you could ask or even think according
to the power that worketh in us. Worketh in who? In us. Listen to that verse again. Unto
him that is able, he's able, amen, to do exceedingly and abundantly. What wordage, what wordage, exceedingly
and abundantly above all that you could ask or even think. according to the power that worketh
in us. I gave you those five principles.
I hope you jotted them down. I hope you're a good little student
today. But as she starts to play, I'm gonna ask everyone to please
just stand to your feet for a little time of invitation, a little
invitational song. This is a time where you can
come and honor God with your heart. As we sang, Lord, your
heart's not yours, is it? It's God's. Why don't you give
him your heart today? How about your worship? Who does it belong
to? Your praise, who does it belong
to? It belongs to Him, doesn't it? Why don't you give Him some
worship, some praise, some love today? How much do we owe God
when it comes to how much we love Him and love one another?
Why don't you slip out of your seat and come to this old-fashioned
altar and bow before the Lord and just worship Him? That's
what worship means. It means bowing down before Him. Bowing down, acknowledging the
God of the universe, Acknowledging your God. So your God, my God,
shall supply all your needs. As people humbly giving their
hearts to God, giving them their worship, their love. Can you
give God your time sometime? He gives us life, doesn't he?
Every heartbeat is a precious gift. Why don't you give him
your time? Why don't you read your Bible
some and spend some time alone with him? Why don't you just
worship Him and put on some good, godly Christian music and sing
and worship and lift your hands to the Lord like my sister Helene
used to do every day? Why don't you just give God what
He's asking for? You know what He wants the most?
He wants your heart. Why don't you love Him with all your heart,
all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength? And why
don't you love one another? Get rid of all the Stuff that
you feel, the anger, the resentment, the envy, the covetousness, the
jealousy. Get rid of all that now. Leave
it at the altar and just ask Jesus to forgive you and to cleanse
you from all sin and unrighteousness. And why don't you invite the
Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, the God of all creation,
why don't you invite him into your heart right now? Why don't
you say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins and I turn to you,
the giver of life. the lover of my soul, the giver
of eternal life. I give to you my heart now and
my soul. Here's my heart, Lord. Take and
seal it. Here's my soul, Lord. Wash it, cleanse it, claim it
for yourself. You paid for me with your own
blood. You know He loves you. Why don't you just trust Him
today? Why don't you call upon the name of the Lord? Why don't
you say a simple prayer like something like this? Say, Lord
Jesus, I believe in you. I believe that you're the Son
of God, God incarnate flesh, as the Bible says. I believe
that I'm a sinner, that your word is true, and I know I'm
a sinner, but I believe you love me, Lord, and you died for me.
Lord, I don't know much, but I know one thing. I need you. I want you. And I call upon the
name of Jesus. Come into my heart and save my
soul. Give me eternal life. Live in
me. And help me to live for You.
To find my purpose. To know my reason. God, help
me to be a blessing. God, bless me. Increase my coasts. Enlarge my borders. May evil
not come upon me. May I not be grieved. May I be
a blessing to others, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. We're going to close for
a word of prayer.
Five Principles To Be Blessed
| Sermon ID | 5717182102 |
| Duration | 39:57 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Chronicles 4:9 |
| Language | English |
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