Blessed | It's a Heart Issue

Welcome to REACH, Casey, everybody. I just want to invite y'all to stand up and join in the worship with us. I know who I am, because I know who you are, the cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven, I have a future, and it's worth the living. I was born and raised to live again, and I was made for more. I know who I am, because I know who you are, the cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven, I have a future, and it's worth the living. I was born and raised to live again, and I was made for more. I know who I am, because I know who you are, the cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven, I have a future, and it's worth the living. I was born and raised to live again, and I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours, and I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours, and I was made for more. Alleluia, you call out my name so I'll sing out your praise. Alleluia, you bear in my purse, I'm not going back. Alleluia, you call out my name so I'll sing out your praise. Alleluia, you bear in my past, I'm not going back. I was sent there to be sent in a grave. I was called by name, born and raised back to life again. And I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of this is running my way? I know I am yours and I was made for more. I was sent there to be sent in a grave. I was called by name, born and raised back to life again. And I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of this is running my way? I know I am yours and I was made for more. I've lived stories that have pruned your faithfulness.

I've seen miracles my mind can't comprehend. There is beauty in what I can't understand. Jesus, it's you. Jesus, it's you. Oh, I believe. No wonder working God. No wonder working God. All the miracles I've seen. Too good to not believe. No wonder working God. You heal because you love. All the miracles we've seen. Too good to not believe. Too good to not believe. Too good to not believe. Oh. I can't resurrect a man with my own hands. But just a mention of your name can raise the dead. The glory to the only one who can. Jesus, it's you. Jesus, it's you. I believe. No wonder working God. No wonder working God. All the miracles I've seen. Too good to not believe. No wonder working God. You heal because you love. All the miracles we've seen. Too good to not believe.

Too good to not believe. Too good to not believe. Too good to not believe. Too good to not believe. ♪ After everything I've seen ♪ ♪ It's too good to die for me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I've seen cancer disappear ♪ ♪ I've seen mental place dissolve ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ I've seen real life resurrection ♪ ♪ I've seen mental health restored ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ I've seen families reunited ♪ ♪ I've seen prodigals return ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ I've seen a troubled souls delivered ♪ ♪ I've seen friends finally freed ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ We'll see cities in revival ♪ ♪ And salvation puts us free ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ We'll see more revelations ♪ ♪ Like the world has never seen ♪ ♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪

♪ Don't you tell me he can't do it ♪ ♪ Cause I know that he can't have me ♪ ♪ No wonder working God, no wonder working God ♪ ♪ All the miracles I've seen, too good to have for me ♪ ♪ No wonder working God, you heal because of love ♪ ♪ All the miracles I've seen, too good to have for me ♪ ♪ Too good to have for me, too good to have for me ♪ ♪ After everything I've seen, too good to have for me ♪ ♪ Too good to have for me, too good to have for me ♪ ♪ After everything I've seen, too good to have for me ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ After everything I've seen Too good to have to be Oh you're so good You're so good You're so good You're so good

You're so good applause Thank you! playing in bright rhythm playing in bright rhythm Thousand generations Falling down in worship To sing the song of ages To the land And all who've gone before us And all who will believe Will sing the song of ages To the land Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all All thrones and dominions All powers and positions Your name stands above them all And the angels cry Holy, all creation cries Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever If you've been forgiven If you've been redeemed Sing the song forever to Him If you walk in freedom If you bear His name Sing the song forever to Him Sing the song forever and again

And the angels cry Holy, all creation cries Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever Hear your people sing Holy to the King of kings Holy, you will always be Holy, holy forever Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all All thrones and dominions All powers and positions Your name stands above them all Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all All thrones and dominions All powers and positions Your name stands above them all And the angels cry Holy, all creation cries ♪ Holy, you are lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Hear your people sing ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Hear your people sing ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of kings ♪

♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ God, we thank you, Lord. God, we thank you for who you are. God, we exalt your name because your name is the highest name, God. Thank you for meeting us right where we are at. Thank you for who you are, God. We love you. We praise you. We lift you up, God. We give you glory, all honor, and all praise in the name of Jesus. Would you meet us where we're at? Help us in our pursuit of holiness, and we thank you, God, for who you are and all of God's people in the church. They gave a mighty amen. Can we give the Lord a shout of praise this morning? That's good. Have a seat. Say welcome, welcome, welcome to your neighbor. Welcome. Man, I am excited this morning. Is anybody else excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning? 40% of the people are excited to be here. It's okay, because I come bearing good news that today is not only Sunday, which is my favorite day of the week,

and it's not only today is the day of salvation, because salvation is today, but it also happens to be our Pastor Jessie's birthday. So we're going to sing her happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Jessie. Happy birthday to you. None of us can sing that as good as you sing it, but we do want to give you honor and happy birthday, Jessie. Thank you. Welcome. Welcome home. When we say welcome home, guess what? That's what we mean. We mean welcome home. We mean welcome home into a family of believers that have prayed for you so you are here not by happenstance, but by the grace of God, that you are here by the grace of God and that you are here by the grace of God and that you are here by the grace of God and that you are here by the grace of God where we believe that God is looking for unlikely people from overlooked places to do what? Extraordinary things.

Where we are reaching the one that is farthest from God and then doing what? Helping them become a passionate follower of Jesus and to do extraordinary things, the ones that are unlikely, you can see that throughout the Bible, right? You can see that throughout the scriptures and you can see the heroes of faith. You can see the ones that were unlikely, that God called upon, that responded to a call and they did extraordinary things through the Holy Spirit and one of those members is Moses and in the book of Exodus, Moses who is leading his people out of Egypt in Israel and they are traveling around and they had just left the wilderness of sin and they are thirsty and those people are starting to question not only Moses and his leadership but they are also questioning God and they are questioning God and Moses says you do not need to be complaining or questioning right and later in the text in Deuteronomy as Moses is receiving the commandments from the Lord God himself and the ordinances it says in Deuteronomy 6 6 and it says that you are not to tempt or test your God that same message in Scripture is echoed in the gospel when Jesus is in the wilderness and he is being tempted and he is in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and the devil takes him up into a high holy place in a city and he brings him up to a high position and he says go ahead you jump off and he quotes scripture in Psalm 91 when he says it and Jesus he responds back to

him and he says this he says it is also written because we could get into a whole text of knowing scripture and where it come from and he said it is also written and he echoes the commandment that the Lord gave to Moses he says do not test your God and you can see that testing and you can see how it is translated into the next the last book of the Old Testament in Malachi 3 10 and when the Lord is saying to his people he's saying go ahead and test me in this so here are two influencers Moses and Jesus that are saying do not test God and that is a certain type of testing that you should not do and then there is God himself saying in this area test me in this and can I sit here and attest to the fact that I have tested God in both I have tested God in my disobedience to him because no matter what there is a testing going on and I can either test him in the areas of disobedience that Jesus and Moses and God himself said do not do or I can choose as a follower in a passionate follower of Jesus to test him in the area that he said to test him in amen so that is why it is important that we read the text that we get into the word and when I say that you have been prayed for as a church that is praying for you we're not praying for your only attendance and we're not praying for any money out of your pocket we are praying for your spiritual depth and that you would dive deep to the Lord and that the Lord would urge you and he would bring you to repentance and he would bring you to what we just stood and sang about in holiness for he is holy and we are called to be holy as he is holy so we're gonna take up an offering I'm gonna get some ushers up here front God we thank you Lord for who you are God we thank you for your word that you gave us to help guide us to shape us to mold us Lord God thank you for the trials that you have brought us from and thank you for the testing that you have given us God God help us be a passionate group of believers that are obedient to your word and obedient to your calling it says that those that have been forgiven much love much God and thank you for the love that you have placed inside of my heart and thank you for what you are doing in your church God so we ask that you bless the gift we ask you bless the giver in Jesus

mighty name Amen hi I'm Pastor Jessie and I'm excited to announce that in the summer of 2026 we are taking a missions team to the Dream Center in LA while we're there we're gonna get the opportunity to partner with them by going to skid row and serving the homeless giving them food and essential supplies we'll also work distribution center and multiple other opportunities to serve alongside them while we're there the dates for this trip is June 1st through 6 and we would love for you to sign up and come be a part of what Reach KC gets to do while we partner with the Dream Center in LA you know one of my favorite things about building mission teams and taking them out it's not just that we get to go serve a community and share the gospel and be the hands and feet of Jesus but it's seeing growth in every single team member from start to finish. So come be a part of what we're doing here. Come be a part of the missions and discipleship opportunity that we have. If you want more information, go ahead and scan the QR code. Come on, can we give it up for Pastor Jesse there? How many of you have ever thought about going on a missions trip? Okay, you got a lot of people going, Jess. So, because there's really no reason why not to, because on this one you don't even have to have a passport. So I mean it's like, hey, winning, you know what I'm saying? And the good thing is, is like, it's January. So I mean you have till, you have till June. I mean that's, that's six months, man. I mean, like, if you can't save a little bit of cash in six months, then we need to start Dave Ramsey, amen? Some of you just was offended at that statement right there. You're like, Dave Ramsey who? Dave Ramsey what? You're like, no, no, no, no, not today, Satan. You ain't gonna tell me, you know, I have things to do, amen? Well, hey, we just want to welcome you home and, and we are just so excited that you are a part of what God is doing here. And, you know, it's honestly a blessing to me to be able to pastor the church that God has built here. And I'm just reminded frequently of where he says, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against

it. And so there is nothing that, that can stop what God is trying to do. And, and I believe not just here, but across the nation and world, there is a revival that is taking place and we can either focus on that or we can focus on the other things that are happening and defeat what God is actually doing throughout the country in places that people would not even think that the gospel could prevail and God is doing it. And so one of the ways that we love, you know, Tucker mentioned this, of reaching the one that is far from God and helping them become a passionate follower of Jesus. One of the things that we would love for you to do here is get connected to the growth track, right? The growth track is an opportunity for reach to help you become a passionate follower of Jesus. We cover the fundamental things of who we are as a church, why we started reach, why reach is what it is today. And, and, and then we go into the spiritual disciplines and then the fundamental beliefs of who we are doctrinally and just everything. And it just really helps you kind of walk your way into a passionate relationship with Jesus. And so we would love to get you connected. 101 is our first class. It starts from first, second, third, fourth week of every month. We'd love to get you connected in that. It happens during this service right here. And so then you can attend second service as well. And so we just want to welcome you. And just if you haven't been here in a while, maybe it's your first time, first time in a long time. Hey, we just want to welcome you. You can get connected. You can go out to the Connect Center right out here and fill out a card and we'd love to reach out to you. Well, hey, I am in a, a series. We've been going through a series for quite a while. And honestly, for about the last year, I have felt the Lord placing on my heart, hey, I want you to preach this series. And so I've, I've worked on this series and I've had it kind of in my pocket for a little bit. And I felt like the Lord just said, hey, January is the time. Kick off the new year with just the right way and the right mindset. And so I want to kick off a series that is titled blessed. Amen. Blessed to be a blessing. We are blessed to be a blessing and I don't even think that we fully comprehend what that truly means. And so I want to dig in for the next few weeks

of what that really looks like. What does it mean to live a blessed life? What does it really mean to actually be a steward of what God has called us to? And honestly, this is a series that has to do all about your heart. It's a series that is, is all about the heart. And so that's where I want to start today. I've titled my message. It's a heart issue. Come on, everybody say that with me. It's a heart issue. It is a deep-seated heart issue so much that I think some of us almost need a heart transplant. And honestly, the truth that we are going to unpack during this series has the power to fully change your marriage. It has the power to fully change your family. It has the power to even change your health and your relationships, your job, and even your entire. life did you know that God wants to bless your life did you know that that God literally truly wants to bless your life and there are some principles that he has put in place in the Bible to help us walk out in his blessing to help us walk out what it truly says let's take a look at Matthew 7 1 it says this judge not that you be not judged for with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged back for the you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured back to you now I want to ask just a simple question really quick does it say money anywhere in that passage no it does not see the context is judging it says don't judge or you will be judged now I want us to commit this to short-term memory for just a moment judge not unless you be not judged say that with me one time judge not unless you be not judged and with the same measure you use it will be measured back to you right now flip over to Luke 6 you don't have to literally flip your Bible unless you really brought it and you can you can follow along with me here I have a couple of different passages but if you flip over to Luke 6 right you and you look at the first sentence of Luke 6 37 and the last sentence of 38 it says judge not and you will not be judged for with the measure you use it will be measured back to you now why does the Bible do this why does it have a parallel passage of Jesus teaching on this subject well I want to show you a verse in the middle of it that the context is often misunderstood by a lot of people and in Luke 6 37 through 38 it

says this judge not and you will not be judged see that's the part that we read and then there is this middle part that we did not include because in Matthew it didn't talk about it see the the Gospels are different perspectives of the story it's like if you was to talk to three or four different people in a group of a scenario of what happened you're gonna get three or four different stories it doesn't matter who you're talking to and and then the middle part and Luke it says this condemn not and you will not be condemned forgive and you will be forgiven give and it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together running over will be put into your lap for with the measure you use it will be measured back to you now I want us to notice something here nowhere in this passage does it say money it does not appear and yet most of the time when we hear this passage we think about what money right why because in fact when we hear the word or see the word give we oftentimes think about money am I wrong that's just what it is I've had pastors literally ask me how often do you preach on giving and I think we preach on giving every single week right giving is different than money we can't preach on grace and not talk about giving why because Jesus gave his life so that we could have a relationship with Jesus we can't speak on marriage and not speak about giving because a marriage will not work if both people are not giving look at any relationship and anytime there is turmoil it's because one is either apprehensive about giving all of themselves or the other one is apprehensive or one feels like they've too much and the other one didn't pull their weight but it's about 100% giving on both sides so this idea of giving literally applies to every area of our life not just our finances so we have to understand that giving in any capacity is all about the heart it's all about the heart there's an heart issue Jesus said this that where your treasures is guess what there your heart will be also it's a heart issue let me say something to you is is this you if you talk to people oftentimes they will say hey I don't even go to church well why don't you go to church because all they are is after my money all they want is my money there's some of you that feel that right now because I've mentioned the word

money three times so far for now and you're thinking God why did I come to church today every time I've been to church they talk about money all they want is my money let me say something to you yes God is after your money not the church the church is not after your money God is after your money because he is after your heart see he's not after your money or we're not after your money that means that your heart is connected to your It's almost like there is a string connected to your wallet. You can almost watch people Like they start to reach for their wallet and it's almost like there is a small heart attack Right like like they Tucker started talking about giving and it was all good till he mentioned Malachi 3 And then the next day, you know, it was like, oh Always talking about money. Oh Yeah, no, you can't have my money and then we start having and it's like every time you dig in your pocket Even when it's not at church. I've literally seen it to my myself It's painful to watch money go away your car breaks down on Thanksgiving we have an SUV that broke down the transmission went out of it from one family gathering to the next family gathering and Immediately when it started slipping I thought god, that's six thousand dollars. Oh Man, that's a lot of money. And then I thought where am I gonna get all this money from? We're gonna have to pay or pay it with a credit card and then pay it off over the course of time And it almost makes you sick right there. But listen if God can get your wallet God can get your heart There's nothing more that you protect Than your wallet, that's why offense happens so bad in the church When we talk about money even with unbelievers or people, I mean we could talk about sex, baby We could talk about you. I mean we could do all of that We could do all these other things and everything is cool. And it's like, oh, yeah We all joke laugh, but we talk about money and it's like people are ready to pull out pistols I mean, they're ready to shoot at me. They're throwing tomatoes at me I mean, it's like it's a bad show like get off the stage, you know, and it's like I mean you're ready to leave You're contemplating. Can I go to the bathroom? Can I slip out? How can I get out of this room? I don't even like being in here now. Now don't get mad at me

Right when I because I'm not even the one who said it Jesus did he said where your treasure is there your heart will be also that means your heart always Follows your treasure Wherever you invest in if you put money into stock, what do you start doing? Start watching your stock. You've got apps on your phone. You've been watching YouTube videos nowadays even crypto Come on, somebody. I've got some I mean ever there's some people that got I mean, you've got Roth IRAs Come on, I don't even know what they do, but I know I get a monthly statement from Raymond James I don't even know how to read it Only thing I know how to read is the bottom line in bold letters. Come on. Somebody says I got that much money I'm like hallelujah. Somebody's doing some favor like I get thank you Lord I'm trusting I'm trusting the man with my money and he is making more money with it and we will start checking out how our Investment is doing and you never even checked out those things before you never even cared about it before but you care about it now Why? Because your treasure is there Because your money's there and when I can start watching my money make money come on somebody we all in a good play That's called compound interest and your interest is making you money now all of a sudden I have interest in my money Amen, and so it's like not only just financially But how many of us here today would say this that you want your heart to be in the things of God? Come on. I mean if you are believe I know a lot of people here feel like this is a trick question I'm gonna you know, he's gonna throw me under the best bus But here's the thing how many of us truly want our heart for the things of God? I mean we want to be passionate about the work of the kingdom We don't just want to be passionate followers of Jesus without being passionate about the things of God Then how do we do that? How do we do that? We put our treasures there We put our treasures there why because it's a heart issue now I want to just take a second and think about these verses that we was just talking about Right and get away from talking about this and I know everybody's like finally Now remember in these verses he's actually talking about judgment He's actually talking about judgment. He's talking about condemnation He's talking about forgiveness when you give judgment you gonna get judgment

Don't condemn people or you gonna be condemned forgive and it will also be forgiven you will be given Forgiveness, what is Jesus saying here? He says hey, whatever you give Will be given back to you Not not I'm gonna give you $100. I'm gonna get $100 back. But whatever you so you will reap Here's the part that we don't hear a lot of preaching on though good measure Press down shaking together running over will judgment be given back to you. Press down, good measure, press down, shaking together, running over, will condemnation be given back to you? Good measure, press down, shaking together, running over, will forgiveness be given back to you? So with the same measure that you give judgment, judgment will be given back to you. That's the context of these verses, judgment, condemnation, and forgiveness. To actually capture the full meaning of this truth, I think that we need to do a little bit, or know a little bit more about the terms, good measure, press down, shaking together, and running over. I found this really interesting when you study it, but Old Testament, it instructed farmers in Israel to leave the grain in the corners of their fields for the poor. Come on, how many of us wish that this would come back? All the wealthy people have to just leave money laying at their fence line, and then you got all of us just at the fence line. We would be fighting over it, come on, let's be honest, I mean, we'd be like out there, I mean, whoever can fight the best would walk home with the most money. I mean, it just sounds, I mean, I think there's a reality show there somewhere, but. But there were two sets of harvesters in the field each time that harvest would come, and the primary harvesters were actually the ones that were in the middle of the field being paid for bringing in the crop. And then in the corners of the field were the poor who were actually harvesting for themselves to feed themselves and their families.

And the primary harvesters in the middle of the field would fill up a basket, and they would carry it over to the barn or the wagon, and then they would go back out and fill their baskets up again. To these workers, honestly, it didn't matter how much they filled their baskets up. It didn't matter how much they had in their baskets. They were being paid by the hour, and they just needed to work until all the grain was in the barn, and this was the fastest way to work. Go back, fill it up, go over, do it. Now the poor working in the fields, though, they worked in a different way. Why? Because most of them didn't live close to the field. They didn't live anywhere near, they didn't have the luxury of making trip after trip back from the field. So whatever amount of food that they could get in their baskets would be the amount of food available to their families until the next harvest time. So they had a lot of incentive to get as much food into their baskets as possible. So here's what they did. They'd make sure that they didn't get a partial measure, amen? They would make sure that they would go and they would get a good measure, and they would fill up the basket as much as they could, and they'd press it down and compress the grains to make more room, and as they did this, they would shake the basket to eliminate, come on, how many of us do that when we pick up leaves in our yard, right? You got to put them in the bag and you just got to kind of shake them down and press it down so that you can get as much in there and you feel like you're ripping the compost people off because you're putting more in there than you really should be. You know, I put my kids in there and I use them to stomp it down, you know, and it's like, come on, guys, you got to jump, you know, get it down in there really good. I mean, we got to get in here as much as we can, you know, and then we press it down, and then what they would do is they would shake it to eliminate any air between the grain and then they would pour in as much grain as possible, literally heaping it up

above the rim until it would start to spill over on the sides. How many of us know it's one thing to receive a basket of free grain? It's far better to receive a basket of free grain that is good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over the basket. That's why the Lord chose to use these terms in this passage when he's talking about judgment. He knew that Israelites would immediately identify with the point that he's making. He said, hey, whatever you give, you're going to get a lot more of it in return. No matter what it is, you're going to get, this is literally God's universal principle. You always receive more than you give. Now you can apply this to other areas as well in our life because the law of sowing and reaping, literally, if you plant one seed, you don't just get back one seed. What happens? You usually get a tree or a plant that reproduces seed. That's what the law of seed time and harvest does and it is the way that God designed it and it's just the way that God is. So whatever you give, we're going to get back more of the same. That's just how it is. So it would be better to give good things than bad things, amen? That's why some people constantly have bad things continuing to happen in their life. It may not even be that you're just doing bad things, but maybe you're thanking bad things. Maybe your thoughts towards people is not God honoring. Maybe the things that you're saying to other people is becoming gossip and slander and the thing that you have been, you've been trying to get ahead. but you keep falling back because you can't get ahead because you are getting back more of what you have been giving and you try to sew in one area but you're still you can't you can sew two different things and then wonder why you're getting two different results you can't continue to sew into your spouse like you love her but then watch pornography on the side because you're going to get more back of what you're sewing it's going to automatically change your opinion of your spouse why because you're harvesting things that you have been sewing in the private

and the things that you are doing in private will manifest themselves in public because God's law of seed time and harvest God's law of sowing and reaping happens I heard a pastor share a story one time and he was counseling with a single mother and and she didn't have anywhere to leave her kids and so she brought her kids to the office and she left him with the pastor's assistant right outside of his office and he knew that they were there and so they left the door open and they were taking or they were talking and this is what she said the lady was telling him and she's like my kids just yell at me all the time and I don't understand why they continue to yell at me and literally simultaneously she turned to the door and said y'all quit yelling out there she looked back at the pastor and she said I just don't understand why they continue to yell at me all the time well we know right yell and you get yelling good measure press down shaken together come on that was a word for somebody right there somebody can leave right now go home and I mean they're like that changed my life I'm done yelling I'm not yelling at nobody no more I mean and that's just so so how can we develop a heart of generosity how can we become a generous person this is more than just money this is just an act of who we are well way back in Deuteronomy 15 God tells us this he says four things we need to do to develop a generous heart if you're taking notes four things we need to do Deuteronomy 15 seven through eight says this but if there are any poor Israelites in your town when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you notice who is doing the giving here right it is the Lord do not be hard-hearted why because it's all about the heart or tight-fisted towards them instead be generous and lend them whatever they need so the first thing that we need to do there's four things that we need to do to develop a generous heart the first thing that we need to do is deal with a selfish heart deal with a selfish heart Deuteronomy 15 9 says this do not be mean-spirited why because it's all about the heart don't be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debt is close at hand if you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord you will be considered guilty of sin what do we learn from this passage selfishness is wickedness in God's eyes and become sin selfishness is wickedness see God implemented an economic system back in the day where all debts were canceled every seven years come on how many of us wish that would be reimplemented you know I mean it kind of is like things fall off of your credit after seven years and I mean we're still people are praying for that like come on seven you know fall off but you know I mean literally all debt was paid and if you thought during this

time hey I'm not going to do this because he might not be able to pay me back God says don't think that way don't think that way he actually calls that a selfish heart and he says that is sin why because he is dealing with heart issues he's telling the people of Israel hey I want you to be generous because I am generous let me ask you a question why did God create giving why did he why did he invent this most of us would probably answer so that he could support the work of the ministry right so he could support the work of of the church but but let me ask you this think about it do you really do you really think that God needs our money to support his work is the light bill in heaven too big for God I mean is he running out of gold that the streets are made of I mean listen to this God did not create giving for your sake or for his sake he created it for our sake why because giving more than any other activity that a believer does works selfishness and greed out of our hearts and lives it literally gets rid of it I mean the things that are making us feel uncomfortable even whenever this stuff is talked about is the stuff that we have to deal with this is why I struggled greatly this is why I struggle greatly with much of the the hearing that I hear of preaching that happens on this because it sends the wrong message the message that you hear a lot of times is hey if you give you will get if you give hey give give this and God's gonna you can hear TV evangelists talk about it you can hear but do you know what that does it actually works selfishness and greed back into your heart and back into your life saying hey you know what I'm gonna only give today because I know God is gonna give it back to me I know that this is what how do you think that God feels when people say well I want to get so I'm gonna I'm gonna give I wonder if God is thinking you know what this is absolutely wonderful my people have finally caught the vision of getting they finally figured it out no we need to catch the vision of giving not getting we don't give to get we give so we can give more when we give with the wrong motivation we aren't pleasing God and he can't bless that James 4 3 says this when you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives why that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures huh isn't that whenever we operate selfishly as believers we have either forgotten or didn't know all that we have actually belongs to God see this

happens when we act like owners instead of like stewards see everything that we have God actually has see a grateful heart is a rare and precious thing and it's a heart that the Lord can bless sometimes we can see a glimpse in our lives that give us an example of how the Lord might feel for example you might notice sometimes that when you give something to someone there's often two types of attitudes people respond to a blessing with either gratitude or greed but let me explain greed can show up in surprising places when you give to someone once they may be surprised and grateful right but after you give generous after you've been generous several times in some people there is a tendency to start seeing that gift as entitlement and I think that we can respond to God in the same manner a lot of the times oftentimes many of us will do it often God repeatedly blesses us and gives and before long it's expected and if something stops we are offended and mad and it's greed or gratitude we will we will oftentimes use this and walk away from a church even because we don't feel like God loved us enough to do something in our situation that we expected him to do because we're greedy and the fact of not just money greedy greed is a heart issue it's not just a monetary issue okay it is a heart issue I heard a pastor share the following story I thought this was was interesting I've been in this situation before he and his wife was giving a vehicle away and they were standing in their driveway and there was a couple that they were given the car away to and they were there and and there happened to be two different vehicles in the driveway at that time and the one that they were giving away and then the car that they actually owned that they was not giving away right and and the couple came and they shared with them that they would like to while they're standing in the driveway the couple shared with them hey we would like to give you a vehicle we would like to bless your family we've heard that you guys need this and and the wife responded to the gift with so much gratitude I mean she started crying and she could tell that they could tell that she was just so excited and and and very expressive in her thanks but the husband on the other hand was not see as they talked about as they talked he

kept commenting to the pastor on how nice the other vehicle in the driveway was and as sure a short time later they stepped in the house and the husband finally came right out and asked do you think that you will ever give the other car away now see we need to be aware that our attitudes towards possessions have a powerful ability to expose the true nature of our heart whether it's greed or gratitude all that money or material things will do will bring it out you bless somebody with something and it will magnify what is already in their heart that's why the theory behind well if I had more money I would give no you wouldn't no you wouldn't you're lying because you won't give now you're offended by the thought of even giving you're offended by the thought and we dance around some of these principles because of how it is and so the second thing that we need to do in order to develop a generous heart is to deal with a grieving and grudging heart Deuteronomy 15 10 says this give generously to the poor not grudgingly for the Lord your God will bless you and everything that you do how many of us want to be blessed and everything that we do I know I do and he says give generously to the poor if we learn to give with the right heart God will bless you and everything that you do I want you to catch this this little lesson if you're taking notes selfishness attacks us before we give and grief attacks us after we give have you ever given towards something and given a large amount and something breaks what happens the enemy comes in and says hey you shouldn't have done that right like dang man my transmission went out shoot I just sewed in however much money in the miracle offering and it's like how do you get around all of this the enemy comes in says you shouldn't have done that we have grief and we can develop a grudge towards giving you it's crazy my wife is gonna shoot me I don't typically I just had this random thought and I don't typically speak on random thoughts because they always get me in trouble don't they Jess and and and so but but I just had this this thought and I'm gonna say it because I think it will kind of apply but I just had this thought while I was speaking that we're

actually we're gonna go out to eat after after service and I forgot my wallet all I have is is my key and and I don't even have any cash or money on me hey oh man you didn't have to do that come on we're going to eat we're going to eat at Hawaiian bros and I'm gonna save the rest of the money so that I can eat tomorrow too on my way to work at the church and and and I you know what I just thought I should speak on these thoughts more often Emma like this is the one time I did not get in trouble by a thought that I just had now here's the truth is that she's not grieving over that $100 you know why she just jumped up and gave me that $100 because I gave her that $100 before service huh you know what I'm saying she ain't gonna give me no $100 like well you might but but she's not grieving over that $100 I mean maybe a little bit because this was in her pocket for at least an hour you know what I'm saying like come on some of us can't have this in our pocket for 30 minutes and not be on Amazon come on somebody blessings of Amazon here we come but she's not grieving over it because it was mine in the first place you see the reason that we grieve after we give is because we think that it was ours to begin with but Psalms 24 says this that the earth is the Lord's and everything in it so this wasn't mine or this wasn't hers but you know what now it is there you go you can have it why because we want to develop a generous heart and it might only be a hundred bucks but you know what a hundred bucks could change somebody's life hundred bucks could change my life you know I mean I'm just saying I mean the reason that we grieve after we give is because we think that it was ours to begin with and so the third thing that we need to do to develop a generous heart is or is to develop a generous heart the thing that we need the third thing we need to do is develop a generous heart and Deuteronomy 15 14 says this give him a generous fell where gift from your flock your threshing floor and your wife and your wine press share with him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you why God wants us to be generous not just with our money but with our thoughts with our actions you see the world we were born in our flesh selfish but we are born again generous we have to renew our minds and and we

just have to do this think about it don't you really want to be known as a generous person we read Luke 6 a moment ago and if we were to go back and read the context and back up a little bit more here is what we would actually find Jesus saying give to those who ask give to those who can't pay you back give to those who don't deserve it give mercy to those who wrong you give the kind of treatment to others that you would hope to receive back from people he says give give give and your father will give back to you Jesus is dealing with a selfishness heart head-on it's the first thing that we have to teach our children isn't it think about it what do you have to try and teach them so hard at the beginning is share right every baby's first verbal expression isn't mama or data is why you want to know what that translates to me me me me feed me wash me change me hold me pick me up help me do this help me and after their first couple of words they learned this one quick mine that's mine sharing is literally the hardest thing that we have to teach our kids what happens you've seen it right you have a you have a get-together and you have guests over and and one of their kids walks into your son's room and picks up a toy that your precious two-year-old dropped and the toy that he was playing with all of the sudden he drops it and goes back over to that other kid that he don't really familiarize and know very well and he snatches it out of his hand and he said hey that's mine I was playing with it now now we know what happens because honestly this happens all the time even as adults don't you realize that God is saying to all of his children hey when are we going to grow up when are we going to grow up and become like our father because he loved us so much that he gave here hear me when I say this church generosity is a sign of spiritual maturity generosity is a sign of spiritual maturity I heard a woman I heard a story of this woman who got in her car after church and and she was with her two kids that was in church and and the little girl got in the car and she said mommy did you know that there was a woman in the Bible and she only had two pennies and she gave them to Jesus and the mom said yes I have heard about that I did know that little girl

said I want to give something to Jesus and the mom said well that's great why don't you ask God what you could give him right now and she looked in the rearview mirrors and and the baby could close her eyes tight and she's watching in the mirror and she suddenly opened her eyes really big and said what widdle baby really no not little bit Oh Betty baby okay yeah you can have Betty baby I don't like her that's cute right but at some point we have to grow up and we have to say Lord what do you want me to give what do you want me to give you of myself and and say yeah that's great that is what I'm going to do that's what I'm gonna do God what would you want me to do in my life that I could honor you more what do you want me to get rid of what do you want me to give to you so that I can do that which leads me to my fourth and last point that we need to do and that is develop a grateful heart develop a grateful heart Deuteronomy 1515 says this remember remember that you was once slaves in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you that is why I am giving you this command what so you mean he said all of those principles that we talked about for this remember that you were once slaves in the land of Egypt and and the Lord your God had redeemed you that's why I am giving you this command yes God is commanding us to be generous and to be grateful you see when we are selfish and grudging and are giving it is a sign that we have forgotten everything that God has done for us everything that God the authority behind this comment is actually or this command is a reminder that everything that we have is actually from God every once in a while I think that we need to remind ourselves that everything we have in our lives is from God literally like everything that I have in my life right now is because of God and what God is doing in my life it's not because of anything that I've done how great I am how not great I am how any of these other things it's because of what God has done in my life and every once in a while I think that we need to remind ourselves that we were once in bondage and that we were headed towards eternity without God literally I mean there are people in our lives that if we look at their lives of people that we used to run with and we used to do all kinds of things with I mean you

would literally see things that they are doing in their life and we get to this place and we're saying why are they still doing all of that stuff some of those people are still in the streets not doing well literally just got the report of of a woman that attended our church for over a year that was basically suicide by the police it's like how do we get so far away from what God is doing in our life that we forget and for some reason we end up turning to God and in our lives and our lives are headed in a total opposite direction and if it wasn't for the grace of God I wouldn't have anything right now literally and when we remember where our lives would be without God we can always maintain a grateful heart every single one of us God has redeemed us and God has saved us our future is God's I mean think of a different life that you could have had think of the life that you could have had today if you didn't have what or if you wasn't where you are at right now think of the the different eternity that you would have when we put it in that perspective it shouldn't be hard to give of ourselves honestly it shouldn't have a hold on us because God has given us so much and some of your stories may be different maybe you're one of the richest people in the room maybe you're the poorest person in the room do you know what it is still true even if you're the richest person in the room without Christ you don't have nothing I've seen I've seen Robin Williams wonderful comedian rich kill himself money don't satisfy the things because at the end of the day God is all that matters you know I was thinking about this for over ten years I ran a a tree company and that tree company did over half a million dollars annually I I ate I could eat a steak when I went to Wagyu it don't matter Capitol Grill we didn't have to eat at Longhorn it didn't matter about a year and a half ago my wife and I made the decision to give away our business we didn't sell it we gave it away and we gave it away free of charge we have the ability honestly to liquidate and walk away with a very large sum of money I had about two hundred and fifty to three hundred thousand dollars in equipment that I could have just sold on marketplace walked away with some money and kept my

phone number and all my connections over the years and potentially made a couple of million dollars over the next five or ten years and at that time we had recently walked through a very bad situation in our life and in the ministry that a lot of people don't even know the details on a lot of people will talk bad about me in a public setting because they don't know the heart behind what really happened they don't know the situation that even happened and so they can talk about what they don't know but you know what they're gonna get the same thing that they've been sowing because they don't know what really happened and they don't know what God called me to do because in the middle of a moment in the middle of a serious situation in my life in ministry where I wanted to quit I wanted to give up I wanted to walk away from everything that was happening I felt God say give away your business and focus 100% on Reach KC focus 100% and so a year and a half ago that's what we did fully trusting God fully believing that he had protected us in his hands and that he would take care of us could I have walked away which hundred with hundreds of thousands of dollars sure I could have I would have been a whole lot better in a situation I can guarantee you that but God called me to trust him completely with like a a fifth of the salary at best of what I would be able to get I have to think about paying bills now which ones can I pay and which ones do I have to wait for next year and do you think that there are times when I'm in that crunch that God don't say see I got you and then I'm like yeah but God I can't even pay the this I got to wait till I get paid next time to even pay my car payment and he says yeah but don't worry about it because I got you and guess what he has not missed a single beat yet you want to know you want to know why I can happily and thankfully give with such extravagance because I have forgotten where I came from never 20 years ago I would have never I mean never gave away anything like that in fact I probably would have took it from somebody amen like oh you got something oh yeah I was reminded yesterday morning as I was laying there God brought to my remembrance this friend that I used to have back when I was running the street and honestly I got robbed and and I

ended up shooting at somebody and that's why I went to prison the last time and I was laying there and I was thinking about this story and I don't know that I ever put two and two together but I had a friend that used to run tough with me and he called me one day whenever I was at work and he said hey bro there is police sitting outside of your house down the street he said I don't know if I would come home if I was you I was like you're right you know I'm saying your boy got 30 pounds yeah yeah yeah move out in a third so I called this other little dude and I said hey man will you go to my house and will you get that stuff out of my house and bring it down here to where I'm staying at so he did and the next morning I woke up and had been completely robbed God reminded me yesterday yesterday morning I wasn't even thinking about this message that that's the kind of heart that we used to have because that friend set me up to get out of the house so that they could take what I had but now I will offer it willingly oh you want to rob me here you ain't gonna get much I mean you can have my truck payment if you want please I'll take a beater I don't care shoot I'm gonna turn air one up so loud I can't even hear the squeaking of the wheels you hear me that's all you gotta do turn the radio up louder you got a piece of crap car put a sub in the back you won't hear none of it I'm not kidding beat that thing to death who cares you know but I'm thankful because of what Christ did in my life that's why I can make sacrifices that are so radical what could you do what have you been saved from what is God did in your life if I could have everybody stand with me real quick across the room hi thanks for watching us we're so grateful that you've been a part of our church we don't take it lightly that God is using unlikely people from overlooked places to do extraordinary things for the kingdom of God and you are a part of that