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.