God Will Provide

Come on, yeah, give it up for Marciel. (congregation applauding) Absolutely love you guys, love you, love you, love you. All right, everybody, welcome, family. Welcome to Sunday morning, October 10th, 2026. It's gonna be a beautiful day today. For those who've been journeying with us, we have been strengthening the family to multiply. That's been our statement, banner statement all year long and God's been doing it, incredible things. We just finished a six week series on the grace of God to strengthen anything to multiply. It's gonna be by the grace of God. Everybody say by the grace of God. All right, and because you didn't get enough of it, we wanted to make sure that you had the opportunity. We've got a six week Bible study. We took the whole series, we packaged it, made sure that you could do five days a week of Bible study on grace. You may get a friend, a life group leader, somebody with you to say, "Man, we touch the grace of God, "but we need to own the grace of God, "or let it own us," would be a better way to say that. And we ended last week, Vincent did an incredible job speaking on prayer and fasting. So much so that almost a thousand people came to pray and fast and together on Wednesday nights. We had some college groups that said, "Hey, are we here there as fast as coming up?"

We're gonna start 10 days earlier. We had some people going 10 days of fasting and praying. All right, a little convicting for the older ones. All right, the young ones were leading the way. And we had a tremendous gathering together as we prayed, families were here, the kids. I think we got some cool kids' slides there. And the kids were painting, but also, maybe we've had some incredible folks painting along the way. And this is Maritza's painting over here. And I asked her about it. I said, "Hey, while you were in it, what was going on?" She said, "I just came in with this one word, Isaiah 54." And she read the passage and she was really drawn to the covenant of God, where God says, "I will be your husband, I will carry you." And she said, "I just started it. And as we worshiped and as we prayed, it just developed into this beautiful thing of the dove, the ceiling, the covenant sealer is the Holy Spirit. That ring speaks of covenant for not just some, but what, so I'm looking over here, but for the whole world." Isn't that cool? I love that, I love, I love the family and the multi-gifts that are here and so grateful for all God's doing. So, this next four weeks, we are starting a new series called "God Will Provide."

Now, we need to say that everybody say, "God will provide." Whoo, all right, he will, he has, he's going to. And it's gonna be a beautiful journey. And before I pray here for us to open the Word of God, I just want to encourage you, wherever you are today, there's people in this room that would be whether it's self-labeled or just your economic status. You say, "I'm in a place of poverty or poor. I don't have enough." There's those that are lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class. You say, "I have enough by somebody's standards, but not by mine. I want more." We have people that are wealthy who have more than enough, and you're saying, "Okay, well, what do I do with more than enough? What do I spend on me? What do I serve others with? How do I use what I have for others, as well as to provide for the future and our own families?" But we also know that in this room, finances have caused great stress. They've caused pain, they've caused divorce, they've caused anger, they've caused bitterness, they've caused striving, and even destruction in people's lives. Because at the core of our being,

the whole reason that God speaks so much to money and possessions is because if we don't learn to trust God with our daily bread, we won't get to trust Him with our heart. We'll miss what God has for us if we don't trust Him. Whether you have a little or a lot, I love this Proverbs 30, verse 8 and 9. It says, "Don't give me too little that I curse you or too much that I forget you. But give me my portion." So whether you have a little, whether you have a lot today is really not the issue. The issue is, is your heart wholly his. And therefore, we live like this. So let's pray, you all ready to go? We're gonna have a great month in the grace of God. Spirit of the living God, I pray, open our hearts and open our minds. We ask for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened, that we would know the hope of your calling, the glorious riches of your inheritance and the saints, and the surpassing greatness of your power towards us who believe. And everybody said, amen. Well, it's 2010 and our oldest daughter, Abby, And our next daughter was about to go into her sophomore year. Lauren was about to go into her sophomore year. Caleb was a senior in high school, at a private school, and then Daniel was in eighth grade.

And we had committed early on to a process that we took our kids through. We're gonna teach you guys how to live simply, how to learn to live within your means. We're gonna teach you how to work diligently. We're gonna teach you how to give generously. And then when we get to that place of college and the challenges that are ahead, we will partner with you in every way possible. We'll be a team, as long as you're living simply, working diligently and giving generously, we'll do the same and we'll learn how to partner together. Well, through Abby's first four years of college, we had been able to do it debt-free, had sold trucks and vehicles and she had worked hard and had scholarships and different things that gone on. She was doing well going into her last year of college and then Lauren was in her sophomore year and we've gotten through the first year debt-free, just partnering together. But we were $3,000 short for this particular year and our conviction at the time. And again, I wanna pause here to say, I'm giving you prescriptions, not descriptions, not prescriptions. Everybody has a different way that you're working this out, so everybody chill out when you hear kind of our radical way of doing it. So our deal was debt-free or we don't go. So we're not gonna go to college if we're not able to do it.

So here we were, our back's were against the wall and we need $3,000 in two days. And it became one of those moments where we took all of our kids and we said, we're just gonna spend the day together just saying, God, what do we do? So we went down a slate over the day, a friend had a house that we hung out in. And we just said, God, what are you saying to us? Are we doing what you want us to do? Are we living within our means? The answer is yes. We worked hard. Is there anything else we need to do? Is there any way that we need to open our hands? And we just reaffirmed our values, our love for God, our love for one another and our commitment to do whatever. And Laura and I had also said that we were going down to tell the kids, hey, we have come this far. You guys are doing everything you know to do. And we're gonna take second jobs or third jobs to pull you guys through. And it was a holy moment because Lauren, our sophomore in college, she said tears coming down her face. She said, there's no way. Y'all can't work any hurry. Y'all can't do any more.

It's ours to take. You taught us to work diligently. You taught us to, if I don't go to school this year, I don't go to school this year, but it's our time to learn what faith is and it's our turn to learn what it means to work. And it was one of those teary moments, you know, where we all just said, oh my goodness, okay, they're growing up, they're owning it, they're taking responsibility. And Lord, here we are, we're just out here. Well, and we said, so we did, we prayed. God, would you provide for college? Would you do what only you can do and lead us, whatever we need to do as an act of obedience? So, and nobody knew this was going on. Our deal as a family was that we don't communicate our needs, so nobody knew what was going on. And I'm driving home and I get a phone call from a friend that says, hey, could you stop by my house? I wanna give you something. So I stopped by his house and I wasn't thinking finances. I thought he was a tool that he borrowed or something or another. And he said, you know, we had a really great year financially and I was praying about what to do with our extra and God spoke to my wife and I to give you a check for your kid's education. And I'm like, oh my goodness, wow. So, he gives me a check, we pray,

but I didn't look at the check, it was in an envelope. I get my car, I opened the envelope, it was $3,000. So, she went to college. And that year, Lauren would not only do well in college, but she would have an abundance for the next year and she would give out of her extra to Caleb's freshman year. And all of our kids got through college and master's degrees debt-free by the grace of God. But remember the principles. Live simply, I think we have a little slide. Work diligently, give generously. We're gonna say it together. Everybody, live simply. Work diligently and give generously. All right, wanna lay a little backdrop for this, how we got to this point, go through these points, and we're gonna take the journey for the next month together and it's gonna be glorious. So, when I was in college, where I just said, "God, I need to know what it means "to follow you." And I started in the book of Matthew, and I said, "I'm gonna read a chapter, "do whatever God said to do. "Whatever Jesus said to do, I'm gonna do it. "Whatever Jesus did, I'm gonna do it." And I began to run into passage that I wasn't planning on running into. And the first one was John 542, "Give to Him who asked of you."

Now, this is where the conviction just started. Just let it, just let it, just let it wash over you. Give to Him, ask of you, and do not turn away from Him who wants to borrow from you. Now, I had grown up in a home where our parents took care of our needs, but we were to take care of our wants. Well, we wanted a lot. So I started at five years old making little bracelets and sell them out in front of our house and lemonade stands, and then mowing lawns. Man, I had 25 different jobs. I counted them. I never got fired from any of them, but I had 25 different jobs up until college, and because I wanted a lot. And in another way to say that, even by my junior year, I was taking the Wall Street Journal. That's when it actually was a paper copy, and I started investing and all the stuff. So I was into money, to say least. And so I come to this passage, and I think, you know, 'cause my whole deal was, "Hey, I work hard for everything I get, and I am holding onto it, and I'm gonna get more." That was kind of my deal. But then I read this passage, I thought, "Okay, wow, if anybody asks for anything, is that wise? Should I do that?

If anybody has to borrow anything? I mean, I'm still bitter to a few people that I let borrow stuff that didn't return it or they didn't return the way I wanted, but Jesus seems to say, "Let it go," and just trust him. So I, in my mind, I thought, "Okay, so what does that mean?" And I had this thought, "Okay, you need to start tithing, giving 10% of your money to the local church." So I started setting aside 10%, but that other piece of, if anybody asked for anything. So I kind of took that, not kind of. I took it literally. And so a few days later, I'm watching TV and they had a World Vision commercial, or they asking for sponsorship for children in need. And I thought, "Well, they're asking, so I'm giving." So I signed up for that, for 18 years, I supported that child. I don't know if I think they were 35 by the time I finished, but I just responded. Right? And then whenever I was in a church setting or any setting, if they passed the bike and I had cash, I threw it all in. I just said, "Lord, whatever you're asking, "I want to respond and then I'm going to trust you." See, it's all about trust, not dollar figures, ultimately. All right, we'll come back to several of these passes. Next passage. Ran into Matthew 6, 1920, "Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth

"where moth and rust destroy, "where thieves break in and steal, "but store for yourselves treasures in heaven "where neither moth or rust destroys, "and where thieves do not break in and steal." Remember, I told you I was investing a little bit in the stock market, et cetera. And you know, if you're investing in the stock market and you're getting a yield of 10%, 15%, 20%, you're crushing it, right? And so I was doing okay, but then I had this thought when I read this passage, you know what, in the kingdom of God, if I sow into a kingdom activity, it is a hundredfold return. So why am I wasting my money on 20% returns when I could get a hundred percent return? Woo, this isn't a, listen, all y'all out there that do investments for a living. We're gonna talk about the balance and everything else. So just, when we talk about scripture, don't think immediately balance, think truth. Let God balance it out, okay? So I responded and I said, okay, well, then when I get extra money, instead of reinvesting it, I'm gonna invest it in the sure thing. And that would cause a change in my life. Next scripture, Matthew 624, "No one can serve two masters, "for either he will hate the one and love the other,

"but he'd be devoted the one and despise the other. "You cannot serve God and mammon, God and wealth, "God and money." Doesn't mean that you can't have money. We need to have resources. We need people to have abundant resources. There's so much need in the earth. We need people with abundant resources. It's just whether you are serving it or it's serving you. Who is Lord over that money and his name is God? He gave you the ability to make wealth. He gave you the ability to make provision. He is the one. And remember, you can make idolatry out of money having a little. It's not just the wealthy. So be careful if you point fingers at those who are wealthy. If you have little, if you're making a God out of money itself. Does that make sense? Wherever your focus is, wherever you're giving something, the place of God therein lies the issue. You can't serve both God and money. So let's serve God. Then we get into Matthew six, next verse 25. He talks about not being anxious for anything. So let's be honest with God and each other. Anybody ever been anxious about money? Come on, everybody, come on, everybody, come on.

Be a human with me. Everybody has been anxious at some time about resources, whether you have a litter, whether you have a lot. And so Jesus knew that smartest guy ever on the planet Jesus, and he starts talking about, don't worry about what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna drink, what you're gonna wear, all these different things. Your father knows that you needs those things. He didn't say be irresponsible. He didn't say, don't take a shower. He didn't say, you know, don't make a meal. He just said, don't worry about it for your father knows that you need these things. It ends, his little discourse ends in verse 31. Do not worry then saying, what shall we eat, what shall we drink, or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. But here we go. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you. Isn't that beautiful? It's amazing. You know, when I came to Baylor, man, I wanted to have the right clothes, the right car, the right everything, I wanted to be the coolest, I wanted to be the smartest, I wanted to be the most powerful. Whatever all, whatever it was, that's what I wanted to be. And I would try to look like this.

I think we've got a picture of that. Yeah, there it is. The Raybans, the whole deal. That was cool in my day. Take that down now. All right, so this was my goal externally. But when I encountered this, I thought it wasn't that I didn't dress appropriately or groom or whatever. I just said, I have been literally walking around thinking all the time, what does everybody think about me? You've heard me say this before, 90% of the time we are thinking that everybody's thinking about us. Think about that. And 90% time they're just thinking about themselves. Don't flatter yourself. They only have 10% to think about you. I mean, they're so obsessed with themselves. They may only have 5%. But we're living this bubble of self-obsession of what everybody thinks about us. And I remember getting free from all that and saying, I don't need all that, I remember going to a Baylor football game. And I thought, man, I'm free, I'm not insecure, I'm not wondering who's here, where do I fit, who thinks I'm cool, who doesn't. I thought, woo, man, when you get free of what everybody thinks about you,

what you look like and what you wear and all, what you drive and all that, when you get free, woo, you're free indeed, you're scary. You're scary powerful because everybody's caught up in that ridiculousness, all right. So coming out of these scriptures, I began to respond, be faithful to God, and God would move in powerful ways. I'd have a, there'd be a move of God among our friends. We'd have two and a half months of meeting every night, the power of God showing up, people confessing sin, getting free. Eventually, we would go on a mission trip that summer, we would see the power of God, the book of Acts, signs and wonders, and yes, you could say, there were so many things at play here, but without God dealing to the core of who I was and who we were related to this area of provision and everything that goes with it, if we wouldn't have dealt with the money issue, I don't know who would experience the power because the surrender wouldn't have been there because we would still be posturing instead of living free. So maybe another way to say this is this how I look at it. When we live like this, where's my stick man? There he is, there he is. When we live like this, I've got to get what I can. Everybody's got to think I'm the coolest because there's only so much to go around. I've got to have the most money,

I've got to have the house, I've got to have the car. If I don't or, and again, remember, you can live like this, it's poor or rich. There is not a dollar figure related to this, there's a heart posture. So they're not good, by the way. So then what God was doing in me as a young man and continually challenges me, then I need to surrender. I need to let it all go, right? There you go, look at that, look at that happy smile. Now we're free, whether we have a little or we have a lot, we were surrendered to Jesus. And then, but the real deal is to do the next one and that is this, those big old hands. Our body put on there, we receive, and if we had a fourth one, we may add it for next week, we receive from God so that we can give to others. We're just, okay, got it? I'm not gonna be like this. I wanna be surrendered like this to receive what God has for me to give to others. Woo! (congregation applauding) All right. I'm having fun, I hope y'all are. This is my joy box here. This is, we're gonna have a lot of fun. All right, so let's break this down. And this is just overview day, or may I say overview? 'Cause I will not satisfy every need that you have to be to answer every question on the sun,

but we're gonna get started today. All right, so what does it mean to live simply? There's multiple scriptures, but the core one I wanna deal with today is Philippians 4, 11 through 13. Not that I speak from what, Paul talking, for I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret, everybody say learned. Nobody's born with this secret, right? Paul or anybody else? I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having an abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthen me. Another version saying, I says, I have learned the secret of being content, whether I have a little or whether I have a lot. So when I talk about living simply, this is not the lifestyle police. We're not walking around the parking lot and say, oh, this car, that car, your neighborhood, this house, that house, or these clothes are that close. It's not the lifestyle police, what the scripture monitors us, be content with what you have. Whether it is a little or a lot, then ask God what to do with it,

but be content with what you have, not grinding and just all anxious and uptight, grasping for everything under the sun. Find a place of peace with God. Whether you have a little or whether you have a lot. And what that helps deal with is that helps you deal with, don't get into debt, trying to grasp for something that you don't currently have. Don't leverage yourself out to get more than God provided. Woo, that's good. Don't leverage yourself out to get more than what God provided. All right, and again, there's balance to investment and so on and so forth. My point is if you're not okay with what God's given you, then you're gonna leverage yourself out beyond what God gave to you and then it's gonna cause tension, stress, anxiety, fear, pain, that is not from God. But God didn't let that happen to you, you did it to yourself in love. Are you with me? Okay, if you don't have enough money today to go out to lunch, but you do have food in your refrigerator, then don't go out to lunch. Don't put it on a credit card that you can't pay off at the end of the month. And I believe in abundance, you guys. I wanna, I'll take somebody lunch. All right, this is not about that. But you understand what I'm saying. If you leverage yourself out beyond what God has provided,

you're going to get yourself into a stress place that God didn't intend for you. That doesn't mean that God doesn't want more for you, but you gotta start with where you are. So in the coming days, we will talk about how to deal with that. We'll talk about how to deal with anxiety, how to be a stress, how to work with the income that you have and all of that. But my question to you this morning is are you content? And until you are, I can't promise you you're gonna get there by leveraging yourself out or by hoping that something incredible happens, like it did to somebody else or whatever, case might be fine contentment. God has peace for you. Again, I could talk for hours and that, but I'm gonna keep on going. The second one is work diligently. Gonna spend a little more time on this. Each one, I'm gonna spend more time with you this morning. Work diligently partnering with God. He created you to work with him. Whoo, all right, ready? The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to force labor. I can read that again. Somebody like, what? What did you just say? I didn't say it, God did.

All right, here we go. The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to force labor. Second, Thessalonians 310. For even when we were with you, we used to give this order. If anyone is not willing to work, then he's not to eat either. Wow, partnering with God through the work that he's provided for us. That scripture, he doesn't work, doesn't eat. If you don't do chores, chores, you're not going to eat. We always fed our kids, by the way, we never abused them, we worked through it. We just taught them how to work. So the partnership piece is huge. Throughout scripture, God created you sovereignly to partner with him so that he can provide for you and teach you through it. So one of the big things that I've, through the years, tried to help people with is this basic thought. You say, "Golly, well, I don't have enough, okay?" So, but if I take this job for $10 an hour, I need $20 an hour or whatever. And then my response would be, if you will be faithful and deals in at $10 an hour and entrusted to God, then God is able to provide for you above and beyond like you could ask or think. But if you're not willing to work and to sow into a bucket, there's nothing for God to work with. He is so sprang, we'll reap sparingly.

He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. If you don't sow, there's nothing to reap. So instead of being fearful about the perfect job that provides the perfect amount of money, what I would say is work while you're waiting for that perfect job so that God has something to work with. And if you are faithful and diligent, the scripture says that God will provide for you and there'll be enough. My God will provide all your needs, according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So my question would be, what's in your hand right now? Right, you say, well, okay, I'm a waitress and I'm making, I don't know what the, how they do these days with tips, let's just say, I'm making $15 an hour, but to live, I need 25. Okay, should I quit my job or should I, because I'm waiting for that $25 job? I just wanna say it again, stay with your job. Trust God to take that $15. Be the best worker out there, be faithful. What I know about the business leaders in this room right here, if you are a faithful, diligent worker, they'll give you a job tomorrow, I promise you, and they will keep you, and then they will promote you because you are faithful and diligent. But if you're not willing to start with a little, there is no promise from scripture that God will give you a lot. Mm, all right, there's a lot here.

Okay, here's another one, Proverbs 21.5, the plans of the diligently, surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty. Or another way, this is translate, but everyone who wants to get rich quick comes surely to poverty, okay? So this is where the work of our hands is how God provides consistently, and he does do things above and beyond, and unique things happen. But it is this tilling of the soil that predates the opportunity for fruit in the present and fruit to come. But what I wanna say to everybody here is, in our world today, many of you guys think, if I win the lottery, then I'll be good. If I win the lottery, so I'm buying a bunch of lottery tickets, I'm working hard, and then buying lottery tickets, hoping that I'll hit it big. Well, just so you know, I think that we're up to 95% of people win the lottery, destroy their lives. Because they didn't know how to do it, it just came too quickly. Here's the latest one, gambling. Pause for a minute. Gambling. Gambling is not in alignment with the word of God, because it is based on betting on something that you didn't work for to come through for you at someone else's expense.

Somebody write that down, I definitely just came to my mind as I just started talking, all right. So, but here's the point. You guys, what is we gambling? We're hoping that if I put my $5 in, I'm gonna make $500, I'm gonna do whatever, and I heard a friend of mine that this happened and that happened, so we keep gambling, but remember, it's addictive by nature. It is addictive, it is as bad as porn, alcohol, drugs. If you give yourself to it, it won't let you out. Because you keep thinking, if I just do one more deal, and they let you win early to get you into bondage, like. So, if you are wanting God to be your provision, quit gambling, thinking that that's the way God's gonna provide. Because it causes brokenness and addiction. Again, I'm just hitting some highlights today. Anybody convicted, I don't want your hands fine. All right, so. Your daily bread comes from the work of your hands. You're faithful. You're diligent. God promises to provide for your kids. That's not what you're doing. If you want to invest in somebody that's fine, but you don't do it with your daily bread. Your daily bread comes from the work of your hands. You're faithful. You're diligent. God promises to provide for your kids.

Your hands, your faithful, your diligent. God promises to provide for your content with what you have. And if you have extra, you ask the Holy Spirit. What is good stewardship? What should I invest in? What should I do? Whether you're investing in a person or a company or whatever the case might be, but my friends do not sit around spending your life on gadgets and gimmicks and hopes and dreams around gambling with the resource that God has already given you. God has already given you. It's bad stewardship. All right. And just again, just want to have a sense again. With our kids, we taught them to work diligently. So what we said is, as our family, here's how we raise them. We are not going to debt. And when we don't have it, we don't have it. And we're going to trust God. And we're going to enjoy each other. We're not going to leverage out this family. And we're going to teach you how to live with what we have. Second thing on working diligently was we said, you will, when you go to school, you will do not some of your work, but all of your work. Whether you make an A or a C, you will finish your work. And you will be diligent and faithful. And then we will trust God to teach you the things where you're lacking. But if you'll do all your work, God will make a way for you through that. And if you are most somebody's lawn or if you babysit or whatever you're doing, you'll do all of it. Or if you sign up for a sports team and you don't like it because they're not nice,

then you're going to finish that. Whatever it is, we're going to learn to work diligently because in the work, there is provision. So because of that, we talk about college education with our kids. We had two that were kind of overachievers or not overachievers. They all worked the same hard. But we had two that came naturally to. Two that was a little more of a struggle. But all of them all made A's through health school because these days, let's be real guys. All you got to do is finish your stinking work and you'll get an A. I mean, it's not -- I know some of y'all's schools have done work that way. But as a general rule, if your kid is diligent, somewhat took him three hours to do assignments. Some it took him 30 minutes. You're right. It's not fair. But you don't want God to be fair. Okay. That's another topic. I'm sorry. I got to stay focused. All right. So here's the point. If you teach your kid to work diligently, so they all made A's, and then they were able to be diligent to pursue scholarships. And because of their work, they were able to get scholarships. I mean, think about Baylor. I don't know what it is today, but $250,000 for a kid. We could have never saved for that.

But if we teach them how to work diligent and be faithful, the provision was in the hard work. Okay. Live simply, work diligently. Give generously. Give generously. Now remember, you don't go to three without the first one. If you're not living within your means content, if you're not working diligently, this giving generously thing is not your, I get to do whatever I want because I give generously. So this is a rhythm of the grace of God. So here we go, giving generously. We're going to read a little more scripture here. So the first way that I talk about giving is give obediently, joyfully, and sacrificially. So obediently, Malachi 3, Malachi 3. Will a man rob God, yet you're robbing me? But you say, how have we robbed you, Lord, in ties and offerings? You are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the whole tie into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. And test me now in this, says the Lord, if I were not open for you, the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Now, for those who've been around church a while, you're saying, yeah, that's the classic pasture deal. I knew you were going to do that. Tell us all the tithe. Yeah, I'm telling you to tithe for your sake. And here's what I'll challenge you like I have every year. If you think this is just about Antioch, Waco, or me trying to get you to tithe, tied to another church in this city for the next three months, six months,

year, whatever it is to convince you, but just tithe somewhere into a storehouse, into the local church, some local church. You say, well, I'm kind of, I watch this guy online, okay? Then put it in that local church. Your first fruits, put that 10% there and see if God done bless you. If he doesn't quit tithing, but it's gonna happen. It's a first fruits principle. And you say, well, that's the old covenant. Well, welcome to the New Testament. Then it says, sell everything, throw the apostles' feet and give everything to the poor. So you can either start with the training wheels or you can just, we'll get some buckets up here and you can just give everything and then we'll figure out how to distribute it. So I just want to set you free here. Everywhere with me. So go back and put that scripture back up there. So it says, in tithes and ovaries. Now we're gonna, we'll get down a little bit more on this. But here's the old, this is the, right. This is the old testament. Remember, we love the scripture in the next chapter. It says that God will return the hearts of the fathers, to the children and children, so the fathers so that the land won't be cursed anymore. We believe in restoration of family out of Malachi 4. We prayed it, we preached it, we believe in it.

But what about Malachi 3? It's the same deal. And here's the deal, under the old covenant, they were told to give 10% to the temple, offerings on top of that in a myriad of ways. And that percentage figure, most theologian degree, is 23%. So when I personally, and then when Lauren and I got married, we said, okay, we're at least gonna do what's in the law at 23%, and then we're gonna let God build out from there. The law's the tutor that leads us to grace. Tithing and offerings are like training wheels learning how to trust God. To get into the Liberty space, which we're gonna talk about in just a moment, where everything's the Lord's, but I have disciplined rhythms to keep me clear and clean so that I constantly and consistently trust God with everything that I have, okay? And let me just say, by the way, when Lauren and I started this, the first year our income tax returns said we made $6,000. The next year was 9,000. Then the big year was 23,000. And as it's gone up through the years, more than enough provision for us, we never stopped doing this as the baseline and then saying everything else is the Lord's. Now I am not, remember this is a description,

not a prescription, but I believe that the scriptures would challenge us with clarity at minimal levels so that we live different than the world. We're not trying to be countercultural. We're not trying to be subculture. We're trying to be counterculture. We live in a different system. God is our father. God is our provider. God is the one who makes wealth. God is the one who provides. We do it God's way and we let go and we trust Him. And then He facilitates more than we could ask Your thing. I had a friend who was in debt, $40, $50,000 and was really distraught about it. But as life had gotten leaner and there was less money, He realized they were holding back the tie. They were holding back offerings, et cetera. And they did an evaluation when He had lost a job that they were giving two to 3% of what they have. But his reason was, well, how can I just give, how can I give if I don't feel like I'm having enough, et cetera? And He was challenged by Lord, how can you not give? So He went back and He started tithing. Well, not only did He eradicate the debt within a year, but God gave Him a job that provided above and beyond. And He began to experience the breakthrough that it says, and again, Malachi 3. It says, see, test Him if He will not pour out for you a blessing and destroy the destroyer.

I am gonna tell you a story at the end about my dad. I found this Bible. And again, it was just sovereignty of God this week, a couple of days ago. It's my dad's old Bible. After he passed away, I got it from their home. And I opened up the front cover and there's, there's a little note in here. So I haven't picked this up in years. And here's the note, open heaven. I just see a picture of heaven open to us as a church. His goodness and power poured out, Malachi 3.10. Open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out blessings. As the Lord is opening heaven, we open our hands and our hearts and trust Him with our security. That's a good word any day all day long because it's the word of God. Test Him, see if He will not. We'll talk more about that in the future, okay? So we give obediently, we give joyfully. Anybody up for joyful giving? All right, we're almost finished, hang in there. If you're too convicted, it's all right. Stay, stay in it. Second Corinthians 9. Now this I'll say, he who's supposed to spare so sparingly will also reap sparingly. each one must do just as he purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Ah, they're making me tired again. Ah, rock pressure. What is that? First of all, I just want you to know, I don't look at the giving records. They do let me know if somebody does something extraordinary, so you may get a thank you note from me, but I don't look at the records. So you're only lying to God, you're not lying to me. I don't have a dog in the hunt here. So, are you with me? Can we just be real, and I hope I'm being real with you. All right, so, don't have some clives, and now they're saying even more, oh my goodness. That's just ridiculous, that's just ridiculous. The tie this is because I get to breathe air, because God created me. It's God's world, he gets the first fruits of my life just because he created air to breathe. This is not asking a lot here. So, but God loves a cheerful giver. Those who get not grudging all their compulsion, and it says in God is able to make all grace abound to you that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good work. How many people want all grace to abound to them? That always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good work. Woo, that's what I want, maybe you want that. All right, we're gonna make sure we're given

with whole hearts of joy, and the joy then breaks out all over the place. You're gonna hear testimonies in the coming days. We have had thousands of testimonies, you guys, of people giving $5 to $5,000 to $500,000. We, if you've been around a while, these are the exciting day. This month, you're gonna hear stories and experience stuff that you've never experienced before at the generosity of this house. This is the most generous church in the world that I've been a part of or even know of, the amount of generosity in this room. Not just from the wealthy in the room, but also from those who have very little. It's just stunning, it's amazing. And I've always said, whatever you do, do it unto the Lord so that joy can come out, not only of your heart, but out of those who receive. And we're gonna experience joy, you guys, as we get our lives aligned financially and we start opening our hands and start letting God be a conduit of grace through our lives, we are gonna be full of joy and there's gonna be grace abounding to you in areas that you never even thought possible. Lastly, it says, I'm just gonna quote this scripture, don't put it up there 'cause it's too long. Second Corinthians says this about the Corinthians, it says, they long to give out of their great need.

And they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to one another by the grace of God. I remember years ago, we lived here in the neighborhood for 10 years, just to block over. And the only actually thing that ever happened to us really negatively in our house, we were gone for the day and our house got broken into and they stole anything they could and really just turned the house upside down, et cetera. And so we're there, the police come, et cetera, and we're trying to, you know, just sort it all out and there's a knock at the door. And this is guy named Anthony. And Anthony lived in our neighborhood and he said, hey man, I heard what happened. Man, I'm so sorry. Anthony used to be in a gang, used to be in drugs, had all these challenges in life. And he said, I checked all over the neighborhood, it's nobody in this neighborhood. We'd take them out if it was. You're our pastor, man. I promise you, nobody in this neighborhood did this. And he said, in my wife and I were just saying, this is not right, it's not right, your family's not right. He said, so we wanted to give you something. We just wanted to help. And he gave me $41. He said, I'm so sorry, it's all we had. We'd give you more if we had it.

This is just, we just pushed everything together that we had and I know, Anthony, I knew it was everything they had. And I just said, Anthony, I can't. He said, you cannot, you cannot keep me from loving you, honoring God. Don't take our joy from us. Most precious $41 I ever received in my life. I just wept, just worshiped God, told the kids, gathered everybody together. Anthony just came by, he gives $41 everything they had, because he loves us, he cares for us. We've lived in this neighborhood, so we've laid our lives down and God has built family, praise God. Memory of a lifetime, $41. Now you see in our little by-liner that God will provide, live simply, work deals and give generously committed to eternity or living eternally. And because these gifts and these things that happen change people's lives forever. I shared about my time in college when God was getting ahold of me in the area of finances. And that particular summer that I was reading through the Book of Matthew, I made $5,000. In 1984, that was a lot of money. And but because of giving, et cetera, I gave half of it away over the next few months. And at the end of that semester, we had felt God was telling us to go to Papua New Guinea

on this mission trip and at the same time, not ask anyone for any resources. And so here we were, we were kind of out there and I didn't have anything left. And then money just started coming in and I'll tell this story another time. But abundance, we needed $3,000 a piece and there were so many miracles that happened, it was just crazy. And my parents were not believers and they were not for me, obviously, going into the jungles of Papua New Guinea. They weren't for me giving money away. They weren't for me following Jesus. But I felt like God said, especially my dad, just bring him into everything. So before we went to New Guinea as I was wrapping the semester, I asked dad if he would come up to drive me home because somebody else is gonna use my car. So he came to Waco and we needed to kind of collect the money before we're gonna go. We went around and we would go to this person's house who said stop by and that would be $1,000 and somebody else would do this, pick up our plane tickets, et cetera. And my dad was just dumbfounded. I mean, he didn't even know what to say. He's like, I can't believe this. Why are these people doing this? And I said, dad, they love Jesus

and I've tried to be faithful in my finances and this is, at best I could explain what was going on. And he just had to understand, to understand, it was the whole time. So I leave for New Guinea. I'm gone for three months. I come back to my hometown and gonna spend just three or four days with my parents before I returned to college. And my dad said, hey, can we go for a walk? And we go for a walk. And he said, I've been thinking for three months, how in the world did that happen? Like, what is this God thing? What is it, how can he provide for you? Why did those people give money? What is all this about? And he said, I've been thinking for three months about it. And I remember you telling me before you left what about this born-again thing? About what it means to know God. He said, could you just tell me one more time what it means to be born again? But I was 59 years old. I went through the whole gospel, explained it to him and I said, God, what do I do? You know, do I close the deal with Dad? Do I leave him in prayer? And I felt like I said, just wait. So I shared the whole gospel.

Is there any questions? No, I think I understand. And I just paused. We could walk into my house and it was normal. My dad's have it. Turn the TV on. And there was an evangelist on the TV. I'm just sorry for staying here. Evangelist on TV. He said, if you just ask the question what it means to be born again. I wanna lead you to Jesus right now. Please bow your head. My dad bows his head. I bow my head. I'm like, unbelievable. I'm just shocked. My dad gives his life to Jesus. And this was the Bible that I bought it. He's with the Lord. Not necessarily because of my persuasive preaching but the power of God to move through surrender. Who knows what God will do is you get free in these coming days. I'll affect you, your friends, your family, your coworkers, who knows? But it's gonna be beautiful. Let's stand together. Our prayer teams can come to the front. Right now, be available.

All right, everybody, this is it. This is the most important time of the whole day, whole week. Right now, this moment, just five more minutes. You're asking God right now. Just close your eyes to a way to focus. You're asking God, God, how do I need to respond to you? Is there something I need to deal with to repent of related to resources? Is there somebody I need to give to? Is there somebody I need to make right that's wrong? Holy Spirit, would you just come? Visit me, visit our family, visit the way we look at things. While you're asking God that question, From the top to the bottom, we've got people up on the landing area that can pray for you. You can turn around and walk up to the landing area, but don't let anybody keep you from getting personal prayer right now. Actually, our prayer team prayed ahead of time and they said wake up. Somebody named James, that you're struggling with the solution. These are individuals. But God is wanting to give you answers today if you will trust Him. He sees you. He knows what's going on with you. I had another word about a single mom saying, "Does anyone see me?" And the answer is, "Yes, God sees you." And God knows. So you're responding right now to God. You're coming down for prayer. Responded to those words that we just gave you. The last thing I want to do, if you're hearing the sound of my voice, you don't know Jesus. Or if you're a prodigal that needs to come home, pray this simple prayer with me right now. Lord Jesus, if you need Him, tell Him, "Lord Jesus, I need you." I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe you rose from the dead. Just pray with me. I believe you made a way to the Father just for me. Forgive me of my sins. I put my sins in your feet. I put my brokenness in your feet. I'm coming to you, Jesus. I need you. I need you. I get my heart to you. I get my life to you. I'm coming back to you, Lord. Forgive me for the gambling and the dictions to everything but you, God. I lay it all down. I'm going to let it go this time. I'm going to let it go and trust your power

to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I'm letting go of everything but you right now. I'm trusting you with my heart and I'm trusting you with my life. Guys, you're going to sing and let God seal this work and you may just need to grab your spouse's hand or with a roommate and say, "Hey, can we just pray together about this? Or that?" But don't miss a window here to let God seal the work right now. Again, we'll be available here. We have people up on the landing that can pray for you as we sing. You respond. [MUSIC PLAYING]