Guest Speaker: Reece Whitehead

Would you stand to your feet with us, we're going to praise the Lord. Come on, how many of you know that God has been good? He's been faithful and He's worthy of all our praise today. Let's put our hands together and let's sing to Him. I've got a reason, I've got a story I'm gonna tell the world all you've done for me I've got a new song, I've got a new praise From every mountain top, I'll sing of your ways Join in, join in the sound of His people Crying out, lift up, lift up A praise to the Savior, shouting loud Sing unto the Lord forever The Mighty One, the Mighty One who saves Sing great is the Lord forever The Name above, the Name above all names Sing unto the Lord forever The Mighty One, the Mighty One who saves Sing great is the Lord forever The Name above, the Name above all names Come on, that's Jesus I've got a reason, I've got a story I'm gonna tell the world all you've done for me I've got a new song, I've got a new praise From every mountain top, I'll sing of your ways Join in, join in the sound of His people All creation crying out Lift up, lift up A praise to the Savior, shouting loud Sing unto the Lord forever The Mighty One, the Mighty One who saves

Sing great is the Lord forever The Name above, the Name above all names Sing unto the Lord forever The Mighty One, the Mighty One who saves Sing great is the Lord forever The Name above, the Name above all names Hallelujah Come, we're gonna hold back our praise today as we sing Won't hold back what you want God, here's our song For nothing less, you're worthy of my all God, you deserve Hold my praise Won't hold back what you want God, here's my song For nothing less, you're worthy of my all Hallelujah, He's worthy Come on, put your hands together And we sing Sing unto the Lord forever The Mighty One, the Mighty One who saves Sing great is the Lord forever He's worthy The Name above all names Sing unto the Lord forever The Mighty One, the Mighty One who saves Sing great is the Lord forever The Name above, the Name above all names Church, lift up a hallelujah in this place For He's mighty, He's worthy

And He's great and crazy to be praised Come on, if you believe that today, lift up a shout Come on, let's keep praising Him together He's an incredible God who does incredible things If you love Him, we invite you to praise Him along with us today We sing Why would I ever doubt your goodness You are the only one who's never failed me I've been a witness to your greatness I've seen the mountains move and tombs made empty You do more, so much more than I could imagine Right when I see the storm brewing You do something incredible You're my refuge You're my way through You're my faithful You do something incredible All my help is in your presence I can trust that you'll do something incredible And we declare together, we say No doubt about it, you are faithful Your Word is true and it has never failed me I serve a God who's more than able When I am weak, you're not You're my refuge, you're my way through, you are faithful, to do something incredible. All my happiness in your presence, oh, I can trust that you'll do something incredible. If you're trusting in a faithful God today, can you give Him a great praise right here? What I've been asking and what I'm thinking, you will exceed it. I will believe it. What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming, you will exceed it.

I will believe it. What I've been asking and what I'm thinking, you will exceed it. I will believe it. What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming, you will exceed it. I will believe it. Right when I think you're done moving, you'll do something incredible. You're my refuge, you're my way through, you are faithful, to do something incredible. All my happiness in your presence, I can trust that you'll do something incredible. You're my refuge, you're my way through, you are faithful, to do something incredible. All my happiness in your presence, God, yes it is. And we say today, what I've been asking. What I've been asking and what I'm thinking, you will exceed it. I will believe it. What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming, you will exceed it. I'll believe it, God. What I've been asking and what I'm thinking, you will exceed it. We believe it, Lord. What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming, you will exceed it. You'll do something incredible. If you believe it, give Him praise. Praise God. Well, I'll tell you what, it's going to be an awesome day in church today. Why don't you take a moment to greet somebody new. You say hello to somebody that you haven't seen all week. And we'll continue on in service in just a few minutes. God bless you. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Well, praise the Lord. This is the day the Lord has made, and we're going to do what?

Rejoice and be glad in it. Praise the Lord. Well, I like all your energy. You're moving all around the aisle. Some of you are going over to different sections. That's so awesome. Good job. It is always our privilege and honor to welcome those of you that are here for the very first time. If you're here with us, this is your first day. We'd just like to welcome you, honor you. If you don't mind, would you raise your hands so we can see who you are? Praise the Lord. Well, all over the place. Wonderful, wonderful. Well, welcome. We're so glad to have you here. On the back of your seat, there's a QR code to tap so you can share some of your information, and we can share information with you. Also, at the end of the service, we'd like to invite you to our Welcome Center Hub. It's right behind the staircase, right inside the atrium. There's people there with those bright yellow shirts. They would love to greet you, answer any questions you might have, and just let you know that we're glad that you're here. God bless you. And now, if you would, turn your attention to the video news. Welcome to Faith Church Orlando. Here's a look at upcoming events. They're going to throw. And complete. Millions gather to watch the Super Bowl.

For most of us, it's just another Sunday. But every year, people walk through these doors searching for something real. We have a close friend. She invited us to Super Sunday, decided to take her up on it. So we ended up going to Red Bar. I prayed, I need some direction. I prayed, I need some direction. And I really wanted to hear from God that day, and I still remember the message that Pastor Johnny was preaching that day, and it was almost like he was describing me in that moment. Year after year, people encounter Jesus, lives are changed, and families are restored. Think about the people in your life, your friends, neighbors, family members, co-workers. Your invite can change everything. The time that I actually gave my life to Jesus is the day of Super Bowl. And from that point, so much has changed. We even got baptized here in the church. I'm glad we came to this church because I can feel truly God's presence. This isn't about football. It's about using a day like this to help others take a step toward Jesus. If we didn't get that invite, where would we be right now? That one invite, you can plant that seed, and then it just grows. They'll find God. They'll find healing. I just say take a leap of faith and know that God will do something. So invite a friend and join us for Super Sunday on February 8th during our regular service times, because one invitation can change a life forever. Exciting things are happening at Faith. Here's a look ahead. We encourage you to connect, grow, serve, and reach here at Faith. So stay connected through the Faith app or our website. Have a blessed week.

Praise the Lord. A lot of great things happening at Faith. You know, that really struck me, that one invitation that can change a life forever. I'll tell you a quick story, and then we'll receive the tithes and the offerings this morning. A lady, I called somebody on the phone. I didn't know her, but she says, is this Dave Bush? And then she says, the Dave Bush? And I'm like, ma'am, do I know you? Because I didn't. I'm pretty sure I didn't. She says, you invited my son-in-law to church 20 years ago. I said, ma'am, that's awesome. How's he doing? I hadn't seen him. She says, well, he got, he got saved. His family got saved. I got, my daughter got saved. I got saved. We're all serving Jesus 20 years later. What did I do? I just invited him to a church event. Wow. But praise God, he did a great work in that family. Well, saints, it's our privilege to give to the Lord in our tithes and our kingdom builder offerings. It truly is an honor and it is an expression of our worship. After the fast, I felt directed the Lord to start reading just from the beginning. I just, I'm going to read, start it back to Genesis 1. And somewhere in Exodus, I keep noticing something.

When they had a revelation of God, they say, they make this declaration. I will give thee a tithe of all. You know, these very rich men, these very blessed people, they come into an expression of desire to worship God. And that was their, I'm going to give him a tenth of all. And so always remember to keep it as part of your worship. Keep it as part of your faith that you are doing what you do to honor God. And kingdom builder offerings, it speaks to your generosity. You're giving to be part of what God is doing. Amen. And so every one of us, somebody in the lobby said to me, I'm so proud of all that our church is doing. I just said, I feel the same way. I'm proud of what being a part of what we're doing around the world. And that's how we get to be involved. Amen. You are too, aren't you? Glory to God. So let's pray for God to just bless us so much that we can be, continue to be a great blessing. Father, thank you for every tithe, every offering, and every single individual that you know, very individually, you know, the number of the hairs on their head. I thank you that they're blessed so that they can worship you with their tithe and be generous in their giving to help the rest of the world receive what we have here. We thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Now I heard a little word that the Better Marriage Conference, speaking of blessing, you can still get the discount for just a few more days. So I want to encourage you to get signed up quick,

save a little money, Better Marriage Conference. God bless you. and renew your marriage as we grow together. Join us Sunday, February 15th at our Currie Ford campus as we gather together for the Better Marriage Conference. Whether you're married or engaged, this evening was designed for you, featuring a powerful word from guest speaker, Dan Lian. I believe that God wants to give each and every single one of your marriages more. Ask the question, okay, Dan, big Chinese man who obviously does a lot of upper body work but not as much on his legs. Okay, Dan, how do I actually take hold of this? I believe the Holy Spirit told me to tell you there is more joy ahead for your marriage. In the name of Jesus, he has got more in store for you. Doors open at 5 p.m. with childcare and dinner provided for kids 10 and under. So take this simple, intentional step towards a godly and better marriage. Amen, church. I wanna invite you to stand to your feet with us. We're gonna continue to worship the Lord. And how many of you in the room know and believe that we were created to worship the Lord? Amen, come on, can we do that in this moment? Can we just echo what the scripture says in Revelations 5 where we sing, worthy is the lamb who was slain

to receive all glory and honor and praise. Come on, all praise to King Jesus for what he's done for us on the cross. ♪ I am an instrument of exaltation ♪ ♪ And I was born to lift your name above all names ♪ ♪ You hear the melody of all creation ♪ ♪ But there's a song of praise that only I can bring ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ Would you lift it up? ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause you are the infinite God of the angels ♪ ♪ Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place ♪ ♪ You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory ♪ Would you sing? ♪ I have songs of thanks, not even angels ♪ And who else? ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus, who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Oh I know there's no one, there is no one ♪ ♪ It's only you Jesus, only Jesus, only Jesus deserves the glory ♪ ♪ It's only Jesus, only Jesus deserves the glory ♪ Church, I invite you to lift your hands to heaven.

Would you pour out your praise to Jesus, the worthy lamb, the worthy one, the righteous one, all who sits on the throne forever and ever. We declare who you are, Lord. ♪ The lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Righteous one who shed his blood ♪ ♪ Who proves to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, we lift it up, he's holy, holy ♪ Come on, we're going to one. You're seated on the throne, forever. Cause you're holy, holy, righteous one shed his blood. You prove to us the father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up and who else is worthy. Who else is worthy. There is no one, only you Jesus. Who else is worthy. Who else is worthy. There is no one, only you Jesus. And there is no one, only you Jesus. Jesus. And there is no one, only you Jesus. Oh, who else is worthy. Who else is worthy of all the praise. There is no one, only you. Would you lift it up and sing. Who else is worthy of the glory. Who else is worthy. We know there is no one, only you Jesus.

Only you are worthy Lord. Only you are worthy Lord. Well, if you believe that with all your heart, can you stretch your hands to heaven as we declare this today, we say. All the saints and angels bow before your throne. And all the elders cast their crowns before the lamb of God. And sing, you are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. Yes you are. For from you are all things and to you are all. You deserve the glory. Only you God, forever and ever Lord. We say, you are worthy of it all. Yes you are, you are worthy of it all. King of kings, Lord of lords. For from you are all things and to you are all things. You deserve it. Oh, somebody that knows that he deserves it today, can you lift your voice and sing, you are. You are worthy of it all. Yes you are. You are worthy of it all. Oh, for from you are all things and to you are all things. You deserve it. You deserve the glory. You deserve the honor. You deserve our thanksgiving. Oh, you've been a good, good God. Oh, you've been a faithful God.

Oh, you've been a healing God. Oh, if he's been good and you know that he deserves glory from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, can you pour out your worship to him right now? Oh Lord, that our worship to you be continual. From our hearts we sing today. Day and night, night and day, let incense rise. Day and night, night and day, let incense rise. God, day and night, night and day. Let the sweet perfume of our worship rise to you, God. We sing day and night, night and day, let incense rise. Oh God, day and night, night and day. We will bless you at all times. Yes, we will. Day and night, night and day. In every season, for every season you are good. Day and night, night and day. Let worship rise to you, God. ♪ Day and night, night and day, listen, rise ♪ But you are worthy. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ Yes, God. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things you deserve ♪ One last time, church. Let's fill this place with worship like we know he deserves it and say, ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ Yes, you are.

♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ God, for from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things, God, you deserve the glory ♪ Yes, you do. You deserve the glory, honor and praise, Jesus. Can you lift up one more mighty roar of worship to the king of kings? Oh, God, you deserve the glory. You deserve the glory. Church, church, we're just saying that God deserves the glory. Now, we just wanna remind everybody at every location what that means, the glory. The glory is the best of something. So what we are just singing and believing is that God deserves the best of us, the best of our worship. Yes, that's just a picture of giving him the best of our lives. Come on, if you wanna give God the very best, would you just lift up your hands to heaven? Lift your voice. God, you deserve the glory. We glorify you, God. Lord, we give you the very best, Lord. We honor you. We lift you high above every other thing in our life. You are worthy, you are worthy. And God, I just pray that your glory would fill these environments.

And I pray, God, that needs that are represented across every single location. Lord, may they be met by your power and by your presence today. Lord, I pray you'd bring encouragement, that you'd bring strength to those who need strength. And we look to you, we look to you, God, and we give you glory in Jesus' name. Come on, one more time. Put your hands together at every location. Give God praise. Oh, come on, the very best we got, amen. Amen. Amen. Praise God, you can be seated. Man, it's so good to see y'all look amazing. You look amazing at every location. Let me welcome our locations joining this second service today, our Red Bug Lake campus, our Michigan Street campus, our Narcoossee Road campus. Today's service streamed at our Central Florida Reception Center campus there at the correctional facility. Now, come on, across all those locations, let's put our hands together and give God praise for what he's doing, amen. So we're like, man, you make us clap a lot. I know it's because the fast is over, you're consuming more calories, so we gotta exercise to work some of those off.

But the fast is, well, our 21 days of fasting is done, and I wanna just commend and thank all of you who went on that journey with us. And I'll tell you, God has really been showing me things over that fast, and I know God has been revealing himself to you in a very cool way. And one of the things that we've been saying during this season of fasting and prayer that this is not just a moment, but this is to set us up for momentum for our year, for 2026. We're gonna be people who seek God in 2026 in a unique way. Somebody say, the church can say amen to that, amen. And so I wanna just make a little bit of a programming announcement. But normally on the last Wednesday night of each month, we have a night of prayer. If you've never been to one of our nights of prayer, I don't, all I can tell you is that you are missing out. And if you come, you will be so glad that you came. I mean, I'll give you a money back guarantee on that one. Like you will be so glad that you came. And so the first, during the fast, we did nights of prayer every Wednesday night. And so on the first night of prayer of the fast on the first Wednesday night, I just felt like the spirit whispered something in my spirit and just kept confirming it. And so I'm not gonna say that we're doing this

like the whole year or anything like that, but we are gonna continue on Wednesdays to have nights of prayer for the foreseeable future for a little bit of time here. And like I said, this is a great opportunity. So we will have that this Wednesday version of that at every. location and so come out and pray with this I promise you'll be so glad that you did it is it is powerful it is always a let me healings and miracles taking place so our ushers are gonna help now and they're gonna pass out a card that will be useful to you at the end of service in church I want you to look at me real quick and I want to ask you to stay with this as we close out at the end of the service and we're gonna do something that's very sacred and at the very end of the service we're gonna be praying for those that need to make Christ their Lord and so I'm gonna ask you to stay through all the way to the conclusion of that's to limit any distraction for this moment when God is going to be speaking to us but I want you to take this card and and hold on to it and keep it with you and we'll deal with that at the end of service and so you don't do anything with it yet other than hold on to it but it is a privilege I want to introduce our guest speaker today and Reese Whitehead has become a friend of mine over these last couple of years and we have had so many great conversations and encouragements and Reese has come initially all the way from the from Australia but he's been in the US for over two decades doing ministry at some of some of the most amazing places of ministry and churches around the country he was he was on the leadership team at Willow Creek Church in the Chicago area one of the most influential churches in our nation and now God has been using him to travel and preach and and coach and and consult in churches and I tell you he is a gift to the church he's gonna be a gift to your life today and so I want you to get ready for the word and faith can we give Reese Whitehead a big faith church welcome as he comes to preach God's Word

thank you brother well good morning church you know I thought pastor Johnny was gonna say he feels in his spirit to extend the 21-day fast indefinitely and I was a little concerned for you in that moment I'm glad it's the prayer meetings that he's doing but I am genuinely honored to be at faith I love your church I love pastor Johnny and Jamie and pastor Matt and it's just been a joy to become fast friends with them over the last couple of years but definitely an honor to to get to share with you today there's another reason why I'm really thankful to pastor Johnny's invitation today because I live in North Carolina and if you've been watching the weather there's an ice storm in North Carolina right now and I'm in 80 degree weather ladies and gentlemen in beautiful Orlando so I'm just gonna say how spirit-filled your pastor is cuz like when we talked about this like no six months ago whatever he knew I need to bless past a reason bring him to the warm weather of Orlando and so I'm grateful hey speaking of your pastor he's been putting on a clinic on generosity teaching over the last month I've been so blessed to track and just thought can we just give your pastor appreciation of the faithful of teaching through that you know with many of you I was just gripped when he started to share that late last year he sensed in his spirit a word for the church and when he first started to talk about this I leaned in to hear what this word would be that would be a guiding clarion call for you as a church in 2026 and as you know the word the Lord gave him was the word seek that you as a church would be seekers seekers first of his kingdom of the presence and power of the Spirit of God in your lives and seeker for souls that you would be receptive to partner with the Holy Spirit as he seeks and saves the loss that that would be a description of faith church amen and so he asked me if I would conclude this series and I want to kind of add another word to seekers today and that word is perspective what does it mean for us to seek God's perspective on our generosity and that's what I want to zoom in on in our time together see perspective is not just what we see but how we understand what we see a few

years ago my daughter was playing in a middle school basketball game it was a an away game and I'm in the parents bleachers you guys can Picture it, it's on the other side of the court. You've got the home parents on one side of the bleachers and the away parents on the other. And we get to halftime and my daughter's team was not doing well. They were not having a good day out at halftime. And so the coach just grabbed the girls and sat them down on the court. Well, I'm sitting from over the other side and I see my daughter with her back to me. And I know this is breaking all kind of parent protocol, but I wanted to go and encourage my daughter. And so I got up, I walked down the bleachers and across the court, and then I knelt down behind my daughter and I put my arm around her and I leaned in close to her ear. And I just said these words. I said, hey, you're doing great and dad is proud of you. Well, when I said those words, dad is proud of you, that whole circle of girls focused in on me. But one particular girl, she was sitting directly across from me. And when I said the words, dad is proud of you, she got eye contact and she said something and I'll never forget what she said. She said, dad, I was hugging the wrong girl. This strange man came up to this girl,

this 14 year old girl, hugged her and told her he was proud of her. I so butchered that moment that I didn't even encourage my real daughter. I just walked back to the parent bleachers and kind of hung in shame. You see, perspective is not only what we see, but how we experience what we see. See, perspective is not only what happens to you, it's how you experience it. And you see, seeking God's perspective doesn't just affect your generosity. Listen to this, it defines your generosity. Now, I wanna echo this theme that Pastor Johnny has been sharing through this series. And it's this, that God does not want, God does not need your money. God does not need your possessions. God is not wanting your things. He is desiring your heart. He wants your heart. And unapologetically, He wants to be first in your heart. See, in this text from Matthew 6, 33, that has become your creedal text of guidance for 2026, is this declaration that if you would seek first the kingdom of God. See, that's what God wants. Don't be confused, understand through this series that the teaching of Scripture is not about your money, but it is about your heart.

And so how do we gain God's perspective on generosity? Well, I wanna present three God truths. And the first is a shaping or a reshaping truth that changes everything. And it's this, God owns it all. See, what we have isn't owned, it's entrusted. We are managers, not owners. We're stewards because all things belong to God. With many of you, I was in shock last week when Pastor Johnny confessed to an illegal, unlawful act when he took federal currency as a young lad and a Sharpie, and he wrote on federal currency. And he confessed to you, his faith community, that he wrote this on a dollar bill, which is totally illegal, but that's okay. Let's just listen to what he wrote. He wrote, this is the property of Johnny Wilson. That's illegal, by the way. However, if we run with the analogy, what would be more accurate is if you would write on a dollar bill, this belongs to the God I serve. Imagine you went home today and you grabbed a Sharpie and you just walked around your house and you started to write on it, this belongs to the God I serve. You went into the garage and you wrote on your car, this belongs to the God I serve. You went to your bank account, you wrote on it, this belongs to the God I serve. That's perspective, because it puts you in a place

where you're not an owner, but you're a manager. It's declaring what is true. This is how God puts it through the Psalmist in chapter 50, verse nine. He says, but I do not need. Eat the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine. I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains. I know all the animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, meaning I don't need you. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. For all the world is mine and everything in it. Do you know the number one category of New Year's resolutions? It's not your dieting or fitness. It's not your relationships. It's finances. The number one category of New Year's resolutions is finances. It's people wanting better for the year ahead in their finances than the year previously. It's people searching for relief from the paralyzing pile of debt that they've found their financial chaos is in. And so they declare, that's what I want in 2026. So, but Jesus knows you intimately. He knows your finances intimately. Get this, he chose in almost half of the parables,

the stories that Jesus taught in his earthly ministry, 42% of them mentioned the gripping power of money in our lives. That's how much Jesus cares about you having his perspective on generosity, that it's your heart first. See, your personal generosity reveals whether you trust yourself or God as your source. Your generosity will reveal that. So a story, a Texan pastor tells about a husband who hated his wife's cat. And he was always trying to plan how could he get rid of this cat? And one day his wife went on a business trip and he felt like, I'm gonna seize this opportunity to get rid of this cat. And so once his wife had left, he grabbed the cat, he put it in a box, he packaged it up and went down to the shipping yard with a non-return address. And he put it as cargo on a ship overseas. When his wife got back from the business trip, he said, honey, I've got some hard news to tell you. You might wanna sit down for this, but your cat has gone missing. And she was overcome with sadness. He said, however, because I know how much you love the cat, I've put up $5,000 reward for the return of your cat. And she was so moved and thankful to her husband. A little time later, the husband's talking

with a friend of his and he says, dude, I heard that you've put up five grand for the return of the cat. I know you didn't even like the cat. That's so generous. The man said, when you know what I know, you can afford to be generous. So let me ask you, do you know the source of your resources? And if you do, does that cause you to be generous? If you acknowledge the source of your resources, it will change your generosity. When you know it, it expands your generosity. Here's the second truth. God's favor follows obedience. God's favor follows obedience. Let me show you a little story about two brothers. One was a rancher and one was a crop farmer and it's recorded in Genesis 4 and scripture reads, an able kept flocks and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. An able also brought an offering, fat portions from some of the first of the first generations. From some of the first born of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on able and his offerings, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. There's an important term to notice in this passage. And it's the term over the course of time because what it means is Cain came to the leftovers,

what he had remaining and he gathered that as an offering to the Lord. It wasn't first, it was from after all of his priorities, what was remaining. Whereas able, who God looked favorably at, brought first his first born lambs. And in return of his obedience, he received the favor of God. Align that in your mind, the favor of God. There's a principle my parents taught me when I was 14 years old. I got my first after-school job at a grocery store. I'd sweep the floors and pack the shelves. I'd bring in the shopping trolleys from the car park, the shopping carts from the parking lot. I don't want you to get stuck on that. And I remember for 20 hours a week, I would get $96.60. And back in the late 80s, there was no direct deposit. You would go to the pay lady at the pay window and you'd sign for your pay envelope. And they'd give cash, it would be bills and coins, and I would open my envelope, and the first thing I would do, my parents taught me this biblical principle, is I took $9.70 and I put it in an envelope. And that following Sunday, I would drop it in the plate at church. And I've done that act now for 35 years of just following, in obedience,

this principle of Scripture. Now, if you do math really well in your head, you'll realize I gave the example that I gave on my gross, $9.70, back as a 14-year-old, because that's what I did. I've done that, I've given on my gross for 35 years. And you say, Pastor, can I give on the net? Well, here's what I would say, in 35 years of experience, this is what's been true. Every time I've planted more seeds, I've received more of a harvest from God. So you make your decision what you wanna do there, but there's an opportunity for you to understand, as Scripture teaches us, we reap what we sow. I had a mentor who was teaching me and he was sharing about generosity, and he said, Rhys, whenever you teach on generosity, you need to understand this thing. There'll be two people in the room, maybe two people in the same section, maybe two people one row away from one another, and they'll hear the same teaching, and they'll receive it in completely opposite manner. He said, the first one will understand that they have commitments and requirements that come from point A, and point A is representing your income, your revenue, and your commitments are, I need to get from point A, and I need point A to get me to point B.

And at point B is paying my mortgage or my rent, my car payment, my utilities, my grocery bill, like savings for retirement. I have responsibilities, and I need to get from A to B to fulfill those responsibilities. And person number one will say, I've done the math backwards and forwards, and the only way it works that I meet all of my commitments and all of my requirements in my life is on 100% of my income. I need all of it. I've done the math, it doesn't work out any other way for me to fulfill commitments in my life. Now, person number two, maybe sitting a row in front of that person, also has the same awareness of the commitments in their life that they need to get from point A to point B. Point B is where their commitments are filled, point A is the source to get them to there. But here's what's different about person number two. Person number two says, I actually believe in what the Bible teaches. I believe in the principles of Scripture. And secondly, I take my walk with the Lord with a lot of seriousness. I take my spiritual life, when I say to people, I'm a Christian, it really means something to me.

And so this person would say that I've done earthly math long enough, but I wanna do kingdom math. And kingdom math is, I get to point B with 90%. When I take my first 10% and I give it to the work of the Lord in the local church, where it invites the resources of heaven, instead of on 100% on person one getting to B, I'm able to get to point B on 90% of my income. According to God's glorious riches, He opens the window of heaven and He showers down the resources. So instead of it being earthly resources, I've got kingdom resources at my disposal. And something really cool happens when you do this is God, by His kingdom resources, doesn't leave you at B, but takes you to C. C is where generosity, like kingdom building. but it starts to get exercised and expressed in your life. You get to hear Pastor Johnny talking about the tithe and the giving to kingdom builders, and you get to say, yes, that's my family. Not because of me, not because of my paycheck, but because I have faithfully been obedient and I've received the favor of God that instead of at B, I get to C, and I experience His goodness in that way. Now, I've had five ministry moves in my life. My wife and I have purchased five houses in ministry moves, and many of them have not been easy.

We've had to leave friends and uproot our kids from school and leave our faith community to follow God's call on our life. But the first house was in Franklin, Tennessee. My wife and I wanted to buy a house, and we went on a prayer walk together, and we walked past this cul-de-sac, and at the end of the cul-de-sac was a house, and my wife just pointed to the end of the cul-de-sac, and she said, that's the house. And now, there wasn't a sale sign in the yard or anything like that, and I don't know whether she was moving in faith in the moment, but she just pointed to it, and she said, it's that house. Well, the next day, they put a sale sign in the front yard, and the next day, we bought that house. We were doing a prayer drive around Wheaton, Illinois, which is the next place we moved to, and we're going down this street, and my wife says, slow down, and she points to a house across the road. Again, no sale sign in the yard or anything like that, and she points to it, and she says, see that house right there? I want you to go knock on that door. She said, I'm going back to visit family for two weeks in Australia. While I'm gone, you have to go and knock on the door of that house.

Now, husbands, I'll tell you, if you have a praying wife, sometimes God's voice sounds a lot like your wife. So I did not wanna go and knock on this door, but with obedience from my wife, I went and knocked on the door, thinking this is gonna go nowhere. She had never stepped a foot into this house, by the way, and I knock on the door. The guy answers, and he says, you're two months early, but if you would shake my hand today, we'll sell you this house for 50 grand under market value if you shake on it right now. And I shook his hand, and we bought that house. My wife had never stepped a foot in it. That has happened five times in our lives where my wife, full of faith, has pointed after prayer and said, that's our house. Now, don't miss this. This is an act of obedience, and God's favor follows your obedience. Now, I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. I took my wife to the Ferrari dealership, and I had her point, any car, any car. It's not a car. Jokes aside, God's favor is not a genie in a bottle. It's an understanding that he responds to our obedience with his faithfulness, with his favor in our lives. I like how Billy Graham put it all those years ago.

He said, we've found in our own home that God's blessing upon nine tents when we tithe helps it go further than 10 tents without his blessing. Here's a biblical principle followed by a promise in two back-to-back verses. Proverbs 3, verse nine is the principle. It says, honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. And verse 10 is the promise. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Pastor Johnny said it like this a couple of weeks ago. He said, if you take the first 10%, and you give it to the work of the Lord, that first 10% has the power to redeem the other 90% in your revenue. But if you choose to take that first 10% and use it to pay your car payment or your mortgage, none of these companies have the power to redeem the other 90% of your income. Only God has that power. When you are with obedience, take your first 10% and allow it to be redeemed by the kingdom of God. You see, when you rely on earthly math, kingdom math isn't mathing like earthly math is mathing. You see, here's the punchline. Both of these two guys, sitting a section away from one another, Both think each other is a fool. You're a fool if you give your 10%

because I need 100%, I've done the math, I need 100%. The second guy thinks the first guy's a fool if he's relying on earthly math. So here's my question to you. What kind of fool do you wanna be? An earthly fool or a kingdom fool? A kingdom fool. Relying on earthly resources or relying on heaven's resources? Come on. It's powerful to understand. Here's my last point. My last truth and maybe my favorite, it's this. God fills what faith empties. God fills what faith empties. 1 Kings 17, verse seven. Sometime later, the brook dried up because there'd been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him. Elijah, go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I've directed a widow there to supply you with food. So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink? And she said, I'm gonna get it. He called, and bring me, please, a piece of bread.

As surely as the Lord God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I'm gathering a few sticks to take home, make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. Elijah said to her, don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first, make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me. And then make something for yourself and for your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, the jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land. So she went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. This is how we get over the generosity hump. If he will resupply, why would we not give? If there is a promise of his resupply, why would we not give? If you, when you're invited into kingdom builders, you would take this moment to prayerfully come before the Lord to follow his promptings and his leadings. When you sense that nudge of the Holy Spirit

to give more than you've ever given before, you will experience more than you've ever experienced before. Why? Because your flour jar won't run out and your oil jug will continue to run over. God's favor follows the obedience and God is always faithful to fill what faith empties every single time. Don't miss the small act of incredible faith that this widow exercises in this passage. This demonstration that she would put God first before her son and herself. An astonishing act of faith and it moves the heart of God. Understand this, church. It's not the size of your gift, but the size of your faith to give that gift that moves the heart of God. You might be a high-capacity giver who gives a large gift, but it doesn't activate your faith to give that gift. That is not moving the heart of God. You may be a single mother with your last $20 and you're planting that by faith and God sees the faith activated in your life to give that gift because you know you've got no more flour and you've got no more olive oil, but you're giving it unto God so that you can receive through faith, Him refilling, Him resupplying your needs

according to His glorious riches in heaven. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can you clap if you believe it? I had a friend of mine who got into an argument with his wife before he went to work one day. When he got to work, he realized, you know what, that argument was pretty well all my fault. And when I get home, I need to ask her forgiveness and apologize. As he started to reflect on it, he thought, you know, what would be nice to accompany my apology would be to get some flowers. So on his way home from work, he drove on the way to the florist, and on his way, he saw what might feel like a sign from heaven. On the side of the road was a sign that said, cheap flowers. And so he pulled in looking for a bargain, and he asked the guy for a dozen red roses. And the guy packaged them up and gave them to him. He was really proud of himself, and he gets home, he's got to skip in his step, and he finds his wife in the living room, and he comes to her, and he presents a heartfelt apology for the argument accompanied by his flowers. And his wife is moved to tears. She forgives him immediately. She gets up and she goes to the kitchen to get a vase for the flowers. And as she gets out the vase, she looks down on her hand, and on her hand is red paint. The flowers had been touched up with spray paint. And suddenly, this husband's act became an unintentional statement of what his apology

was worth. His apology became worth roadside spray painted flowers. Sometimes when we sense the Spirit of God deep in our spirits, prompting and nudging us towards extra levels of generosity, we're a little bit like that husband that saw cheap flowers on the side of the road. And God knows our heart, and when we just start penny-pinching a response is like this acknowledgment that you've heard the voice of God in your life, but your response is, I'm going to gather what's kind of left over, and I'm going to give that as an offering to God. The heart of God is receiving this statement from you, here's my act of worship, God, to the architect of the universe who's brought me the free gift of salvation, and in an expression of gratitude and praise that you are worthy of it all, what I want to bring back to you and lay as my offering is spray painted flowers. How you respond at the beginning of this new year to believe that he will fill what faith empties. That your offering under God would be worthy of an expression to say, God, you didn't hold back your most treasured one. Your act of generosity was the greatest gift that we'll ever know in human history when you gave Jesus your son for us. That he would live a perfect life, that he would die a cruel death, that he would be buried, and he'd rise again for you and I, that we would be made right with the father. Because of that, I take my spiritual walk seriously, and when it comes to the principles of scripture, I want to believe them, and I want to follow through with them in my life, and you will see that my generosity reveals where my source comes from. Some of you are in financial difficulties right now, and you're listening to this message and you're like, I want the favor of God, then my encouragement is give him an act of faith and obedience and the faith will come. You want to cry out for Jehovah Jireh, the great provider. Take your eyes off your earthly means and invite the resources of the kingdom of heaven into your life through saying, I believe what the Bible says, and I'm going to live

that out. Amen? Amen. So God in heaven, this is my prayer, that you would respond the way you promised to in scripture, that God, as we declare that you own it all, God, as we declare that your favor follows obedience, and that God, you'll... Always fill, you always resupply what we empty in faith. And I wanna pray, God, that you would do that afresh. Lord, let us know in fullness the Jehovah-Jireh, the great provider in our lives. Lord, that we would be a church that would be seekers of the kingdom of God first. We'd be a church that are seekers of the presence and the power of God. And we would be seekers of souls in joining you, God, in seeking and saving that which is lost, that we may know your kingdoms expanding through Faith Church, through the greater Orlando area and beyond. For we want to live to make Jesus' name famous. And it's in his matchless name we pray these things. And everyone agreed, said, amen and amen. God bless you, Faith. Amen. Thank you for that word, Reese. And I want everybody to look at me because we've got to figure out what we do with the word from the Lord. And these next couple moments is so sacred and so important. So thank you for locking in with us for these.

We've got a couple minutes carved out here at the end of this service for this. Jamie and I sat down this week and talked about what it would look like for us and what we would need to do to jump to the next tier in our generosity journey and what we would do for Kingdom Builders to jump to that next level that we kind of showed that chart last week. For some of you, the response may not be that. For some of you, the response may be that you've never tithed before. And you heard me maybe talking about the next week is kind of the experimental week of what it would look like if everybody, so maybe you're not ready to commit to like a year of tithing. Maybe you're willing to commit to a week of it. And so next Sunday is kind of like an all-tithe, like everybody's gonna try it one time and see what God does. And maybe that's the main response to God's Word today. But I want you to take this card that we passed out earlier that just says plan, vision, dream as we think about what we all could do for Kingdom Builders in 2026. And Kingdom Builders, again, it's that step of giving where it's not just giving to faith church.

You're giving through faith church to make a difference around the world and to see people saved through missions and ministry organizations that we partner with. And God is doing amazing things and we get to be a part of it. And there's three different things. When you fill this out, you're not gonna turn it in. There's no collections coming or anything like that. This is for you to fill out and take. But I would ask you to do this process with us and to fill this out. I'm not gonna ask you for an amount of money. I'm not gonna do that. What I am gonna ask you to do is I'm gonna ask you to ask God. I want you to partner with God in this moment. There's three different slots. Let me explain them real quick and then I'll pray for you and we'll fill these out together. And then we're gonna pray for those that need to give Christ their life. But the first thing, this is plan, the plan amount. What's a plan? That's just a budget. It's what I could do. If we carve this out and if we do away with this, we could probably give this every two weeks or every month to Kingdom Builders.

The next one is a vision amount. What's that mean? Well, what if God got involved in that? What if he started to fill up some empty places that we're providing him to fill up and he was able to, when money came in that maybe I didn't expect, what could we do if God got involved? And that's a different amount, a larger amount. And the final amount there to fill out is just a dream amount. And I think every believer should have a dream of like, man, what, I mean, if God just blessed me like completely unexpectedly, what would be the dream amount that I could give in a given year? And so write that dream amount down on that card. And I want you to take this with you. Pray over this through the year. And we're gonna see God do amazing things through our generosity towards Kingdom Builders. And so when we get ready to fill this out, I wanna pray for you. Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. I thank you, God, that you are speaking to us. And so we ask you, God, what would you have us do? What an important question. Lord, your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. So God, speak to us now as we get ready to have this moment of faith to fill out this card.

Speak to us, we pray. I want you to take just one minute. Go ahead and fill that card out together, maybe as a family. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, God. And I do wanna ask for, if you would, just close your eyes, and if there's anybody in this room, as Reece said, God is way more interested in you giving Him your heart. There's no dollar amount that you're gonna give that's gonna take the place of you committing your life and your trust in Jesus as your Savior. If you're here today and you need to make that decision, you just know who you are, and you're not right with God, and you can't take the risk of walking out of this building without saying yes to God. And so, if you're at any location, you need to give your life to Christ today with nobody looking around. Would you do me a favor? Just hold your hand up. Say, Pastor, will you include me in this closing prayer? I need to give Christ my life. Yes. Yes. Anybody else? At every location, I need Christ today. Just slip your hand up. Let me see. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

God is good, and God is drawing you to Him right now, because He loves you, and He's mercy is ready to forgive. Anybody else? I need Christ today. Okay. Why don't we... Everybody at every location, why don't you stand with me as I lead you in this closing prayer. Let's pray together, and let's encourage those who need to make this decision to give Christ their life. Pray this with me. Say, Jesus, I give you my life. I give you my heart. Say it out loud. Say, I believe on you to be my Savior. Say, I invite you to be the Lord of my life. Take control, guide me, renew me. I will serve you all the days of my life. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen. Our campus pastors are coming. Let's go ahead and give God praise for what He has done. Church, I'm excited about next week. Don't miss next week. God's put a word on my heart from 2 Corinthians chapter 5 of Him using us to declare His message in all the world. God bless you. We love you.