The Other Side of Obedience | Four Letter Word | Twin Rivers Church

So today we are starting a mini-series, it's just gonna be for a couple weeks, and it's called Four Letter Word, okay? So I'm gonna let you guess in your mind what we're talking about. What word? Love? Pray? Holy? And some of you are like, no, that's not the four letter word I was concerned about. Maybe I need to do a series on renewing the mind, you know? The word that we're gonna talk about, has massive implications on your life. As a matter of fact, I would say this, and this isn't hyperbole, this word determines how intimate of a relationship you have with Christ, it determines how much your character grows, and it determines how much blessing God can pour out on your life. Here's the word, four letters, obey. Obey. For the next couple weeks, I am going to actually look in the scriptures, and I wanna show you some clear commands that we're given, and I wanna show you three different areas that our obedience is often lacking, but if we could get it right, if I could get you to take a step in obedience,

it is going to open up a new way that God is going to bless or mark your life with blessing like you've never seen. You know, obedience is really the holy grail of any parent. They want their kids to obey them, but that's a challenge, and it takes a lot of strategy. I remember walking, and this was years ago, walking into our living room, and it was covered with toys, and our three oldest kids were there, and they were much younger, and I said, all right, guys, I want this cleaned up, and I gave Sawyer, Sydney, and Ellie each a portion to clean up, and I could tell they weren't real motivated to participate, so I said this, I said, for every person who completes their part, you're gonna get a Popsicle, because sometimes parenting is bribing, basically, okay? And now, Sawyer jumped right to it. He's always kind of been that, let's jump in, let's get it done. Sydney was a little slow, but she got there. Ellie was the one dragging, resistant, not wanting to participate. Ellie, you know, she's just a little girl this time, she's kind of like, you know, this high pitch, but I don't wanna do this, and it's like two-eight octave, that it irritates the, you know, mind, and just the ear of an adult, and then she even said this as she's picking them up,

she's like, I'm like Cinderella, and you're like the evil stepmother, you know, and Ellie was dragging on, and I was starting to get frustrated about the, you know, discipline, the bippity boppity boo out of her is what I was about to do, but nonetheless, all of a sudden, Ellie's whole demeanor changes. She stops whining, complaining, and immediately she's in doing what I've asked her to do, and I'm immediately searching for why did this change take place, and then I noticed Sidney, who had completed her portion, is come back in the room, and she's eating her Popsicle. All of a sudden, Ellie did not see what was required, she saw what was going to be the reward, and in this moment, she saw the other side of obedience. I don't know if you recognize this, but throughout Scripture, we are commanded to do many things, but in that, there's a two-part or two-factor to every command, and it's this, there's the requirement, and then there's the reward. There's the instruction, and then there's the incentive, and when you recognize that those two things exist in commands from Scripture, you start to see how that reverberates in the life of people. People who struggle to obey, they only ever look at the requirement. They look at what's gonna cost them, what they have to give up, what they're gonna have to do,

and they never seem to walk in what is written in Scripture, because ultimately, they can't ever see anything except for what it costs them. But people who live a life of obedience, who consistently grow in following the commands of the Lord, here's what they've learned, there's another side of obedience. It's not the requirement, it's the reward they see. They don't see what it's taking, they see what they gain. They don't see what costs them, they see what they're going to be given, and that has allowed people to walk in obedience in a powerful, powerful way. As a matter of fact, I would say this is true in most of our lives, in most things. You know, physically, we're commanded to kind of take care of our bodies, as is the temple of the Lord. Well, you know, that's gonna require some things. It's gonna require sweat, and breathing hard, and lifting heavy things, and eating broccoli. And listen, if you focus on that, you're probably not gonna stay with it. But if you look and go, no, I see the other side of obedience, I see the scale number going down, I see how good I look at my swimsuit, well, then you're more likely to stay with it. It's true emotionally. We're commanded not to keep any bitterness whatsoever in our hearts, you know, but that.

means it's required of us that we're going to have to forgive and even bless our enemies. Nobody wants to bless their enemy. Nobody wants to forgive. We want to hold on to resentment. That's all you see is what it's going to cost you, that you've got to actually forgive, that you're actually going to bless someone who cursed you. You're probably not going to do it. But if you see the other side of obedience, that on the other side of forgiveness and blessing your enemy comes a peace and joy, and that your heart remains clean before the Lord. Well, all of a sudden you go, okay, I think I can do this. There's a powerful, but yet nuanced reality to walking on obedience, and it's recognizing the other side of obedience. Now let me say this, there is no area in our life that this is more true than in our financial life. Reality is, scripture is very clear in multiple passages, that we are to surrender our financial lives to Christ. And I mean, we know that it doesn't make sense. Why would you trust him with your eternal life, but not your financial life? Yet, if we were to look at one area that the majority of us are not obedient in, it's that. As a matter of fact, I looked at a recent study that said that of church-going Americans, only 5% tithe. In this room, that means one row of everyone who's attending today have chosen to walk in obedience to this. Now, the truth is, is that for most of us, the reason we don't, we have our reasons, our rationalizations, our understandings. But what it ultimately boils down to, I believe is, is that we're looking on the wrong side of obedience. And what I'd like to do is actually show you what I think is the most famous passage of scripture when it comes to this practice. And I want to show you how maybe you've even been looking at it the wrong way. Let me show it to you. Malachi chapter three, starting in verse 10. Bring all the tithe, which means tenth, that word just means tenth, into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. So God just says, bring 10% of your income into the local church. That's what that means. And he says, now, and test me in this, says the Lord of hosts. And if, see, if I will not open up for you the windows of heaven, pour out for you so great a blessing until there is no more room to receive it, then I will rebuke the devourer, which for an agrarian culture was insects and plagues. And for your sake, he will not destroy the fruits of the ground, nor will the vine of the field drop its grapes before harvest, says the Lord of hosts. All nations shall call you happy and blessed for you shall be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. Now, what I just read you is 109 words. 16 of those words are the requirement. 93 of those

words are the reward. 16 of those words are the instruction. 93 of those words are the incentive. Now, you tell me what God is displaying about his heart in the way that's written. Does he want your money or does he want to bless you? Does he want, does he need something from you or does he desire that you would trust him so that he could open something fresh in your life? The reality is for many of us, we read something like that and all we see is the cost, all we see what's required, all we see is what it's going to keep from us, and we're missing the point there's another side of the obedience. And let me just say this, that tithing, to be clear, is not tipping God. Tithing is not when you have a little extra throwing something in because you just want God to kind of give you an extra blessing. Tithing is not going to God as a vending machine saying I put in 10 percent and I get out more. Tithing is not when the idea that we're buying our salvation or paying our way to heaven. Scripture is clear that we are saved by faith alone, that in the work of Jesus Christ that is the only way through salvation. And it also is clear that you are loved whether you tithe or not by God. You are loved completely and unconditionally by God. It has nothing to do with how much money you give. So let me be clear, this whole concept of this command has nothing to do with you going to heaven or receiving God's love. It has to do with how blessed do you want to be with your time here on earth. And for most of us what we don't understand is is that you could actually give 10 percent and still not in fact be tithing because God's not in it for money, God's in it for something else. Let me explain it this way. Right here I have 10 bills. Let's let this represent your income and let's go through how you might spend this. You know you receive your income so the first thing you're going to do is pay rent or your house payment. And then the next thing you do is probably pay your car payment. And then the next thing you're going to do is you know you're going to pay your cell phone or maybe you know all the apps that you have or all the streaming services. And then it's time for you to go to the grocery store and some of you You go to Whole Foods, so that takes two of these. And then after that, you get home and you see all the food you bought, but you don't feel like cooking it, so you start eating out. And then some of you have daughters, and that takes two of these, you know?

And then finally, let's just say you go out with your friends, have some fun, and so now you're left with this, and you go, you know what? I'm a believer, I follow Christ, I realize I need to surrender my financial life, I'm going to tithe, and so you give this. Except for you didn't tithe. Because God doesn't need money. God invites you into this practice not because He needs your income, He wants your faith. And if you give after you've paid everything, there's no faith in it. No, no, no, this is the way it works, is that when we get it, the very first bill becomes what's given to God, because God clearly shows us in Scripture that He wants to be first in our time, He wants to be first in our thoughts, He wants to be first in our finances, and so we give to Him first. And when you give to Him first, before you give to anything else, here's what happens, something supernatural happens, this is no longer currency, it becomes faith. That all of a sudden you have engaged in something that has taken something that's regular, something that you can feel, something that just operates the way of the world,

and now you're able to do business in heaven, because this is no longer a bill or a dollar, this is now faith. And when God says, when you release faith in my life, or faith from your life, now all of a sudden I can start to do some things with your life. And there's this idea that now this is not a currency, it's become a step of faith or a spiritual statement. Let me tell you some of the things that happen when you do this. First and foremost, you all of a sudden, you don't realize this when you do it, you just kind of go to online giving, and you just give, but what you don't realize is because you've done it first, here's what happens, all of a sudden you have now taken a step of faith first over your fallen nature. Your fallen nature wants to keep, it doesn't want to give. Your fallen nature doesn't want to invest, it wants to provide for itself. And the truth is that you're gonna have to deal with your fallen nature at some point. Because if you keep your fallen nature, here's what it'll tell you, I know how to bless me better than God knows how to bless me. I know how to open doors for me better than God knows how to open doors for me. I know how to do business for me better than God knows

how to do business for me. And you will sell yourself short because you think you know better for you than God knows for you. One of the things that happens when we say, God, I'm gonna make you first in my financial life is you step over your fallen nature and go, you know what, God, I trust you to bless me better than I trust myself to bless myself. I trust you to open doors for me that matter more. That all of a sudden you start putting your life in his hands versus keeping it in your hands. That's the reason that Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 23 says this, bring this tithe to the designated place of worship, your local church, the place the Lord God chooses for his name to be honored. Notice this, doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God. Listen, you're not giving money, you're giving up control to God and saying, my life's yours. You do something with, and I'm trusting you to do more with my life than I can do, you're teaching your fallen nature how to trust God. Here's the other thing that happens when this is first is that you step over the enemy's lies. Listen, this is not currency, this is a spiritual statement. And the enemy is working overtime to keep you from obedience because disobedience is where his will is accomplished in your life. Obedience is where God's will is accomplished in your life.

And so he'll come in and say, you can't afford to do that. That's just, man, that's just another greedy preacher talking about money, churches aren't trustworthy, all the things you hear today. But I want you to know this, every time you choose to keep this instead of give this, what you are saying spiritually is, enemy, I trust your plan for my life more than I trust God's plan for my life. When you give it, you say, God, I trust you, and what your word says, when you keep it, you're saying, enemy, I agree with you, what you've said about this, I'm gonna agree with you in this moment. This is not money, this is a spiritual statement. Second, this is the last thing that happens, when you give this, there's a step of faith, and here's the step of faith, it's in spite of what you see. When you really sit down and think about giving the first 10% of your income to a local church, I mean, let's be honest, I mean, I remember when I was faced with that, it's like, what are we talking about? That's crazy. Because I can see the budget. I can see how much comes in, I can see how much goes out, I can see what, and I don't have an extra 10% to do this with. But the problem is this, is that now you are making your decisions based on what you see

when God has called us to walk, not by sight, but by faith. Here's what scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, it says, for we walk, everybody say walk. We walk by faith, not by sight. Let's be clear, we walk or we move forward in what God has for us by faith, not by sight. If you live your life by sight, you stay stuck where you are. Every time you take a step of faith, you move forward in what God has for you. Some of you are fighting the same battles, you're in the same instances, your character's in the same place, your relationship's in the same place, because you're not moving forward because you don't make any decisions based on faith. All your decisions are based on what you see, not based on faith. And so if there's anything I could say to you as your pastor on this topic, it would really be this, this is not about money. This has such strong implications in your life because it's really a testimony of how much faith you're walking in. And so let me say this, if you choose to never release your financial life to God, you are never gonna see everything God wants to release into your life. You cannot receive all God has planned for you by sight,

you can only move forward in faith. This is so much more than dollars and cents, you are making a spiritual declaration, not a currency donation when you choose to tithe. And this comes out of a reality that I've lived this, if you've been here for any time, you know that part of my story is I grew up in rural West Virginia, I grew up in a single wide trailer, my mom and dad both worked, but they went to school at the same time and their income at that point in their life was, they were very hard working, but it was very limited. I walked on a dirt road from my bus stop about a half mile to get to our trailer, we walked in and all my clothes were hand-me-downs, I was on a school lunch program. We didn't have a lot, I didn't know it, from the standpoint of, my parents were so good to me, but at the same time, there were some differences. I remember when my dad took me one time to the pawn shop to get my birthday gift, that's not typical. You walk in and your options are an engagement ring, about a velvet portrait of Elvis and a Glock, that's not normal, okay? And I just remember that this very much affected me. As a matter of fact, my mom would give me a dollar bill every day so that I could buy a drink, like a Gatorade or something at school, and what she didn't know is I never bought a single drink,

but I would take that dollar and I would hide it in a pencil box that was under my mattress and at night before I went to sleep, I would open it and I would sit there and I would count how much was in that box. Because for me, feeling it and seeing it made me feel like I could handle the fear of not having enough. Well, here's the reality, when you have a condition like that in your heart and somebody says, well, let's give 10%, you're like, that's crazy. So here's what I can tell you is not only was I not giving, but my faith was weak. Struggled to read the scriptures, struggled to follow God and his plan for my, struggled honestly with habits and hangout, I mean, just all kinds of stuff, because it was just a weak faith. I had to see and touch and feel money, so I didn't have faith for anything more than that. And one day I'm in a life group setting and I'm at a guy's house, his name's Sam, and Sam's probably 40 years older than I am, but I'm walking in, this house is beautiful and Sam's got just some nice stuff. And I had a high, high concentration on money because I wanted it. So after the grad, I'm asking Sam, how does this work? How did you do this? I'm asking about interest rates and retirement.

And we're talking like I'm 19 years old. And he was so gracious to talk to me about all these things, but then all of a sudden after my questions, he asked me a question, he says, well, do you tithe? And I kind of like, no, I don't tithe. I don't have 10%. I don't have what I wanna have, much less 10% to give. And I just kind of made the comment, I said, you know, I can't afford to do that. And Sam looked at me in the face and he said, well, you can't not afford to do that. He said, based on where you are and what you believe God wants to do with your life, he said, there's no way. And for the first time in my life, Sam sat down and he showed me what the other side of obedience looks like. He didn't show me what it cost me, didn't show me what I didn't have. He showed me what God promised and he challenged me to go, which side of obedience do you believe more in? Your ability to manage the 90% or God's ability to bless that 90%. And out of that, I made a decision to become a tither. And I'm telling you, I am so grateful that someone was willing to look me in the eyes and say, there's another side of obedience. Don't sell yourself short. Don't let what you see dictate your life. Don't let fear be what keeps you

from all that God has for you. And when I look now, that was 20 plus years ago. When I look now at everything God has done in my life, we don't owe on our mortgage, we don't owe on a car. We have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams. And it is a completely because I chose to look at the other side of obedience and say, God, I'm gonna surrender this to you because I believe you want more for me than I even want for myself. And you can have my obedience. And God said, with your obedience, now you're gonna see what I can do. And he has blessed us immensely. And as a pastor, the most loving thing I could do is I don't need your donations, but I want you to walk in obedience because I want to see God open that over your life as well. So here's what I'm gonna do. You've now been through the hardest part of this sermon. Everybody. Okay, do you breathe? Okay, I Will spend the rest of showing you in Malachi 3 all the blessings God said that'll be released over your life That if you choose to trust him in this part of your life, okay, here's the first one This is pulled straight from the scripture We just read the first thing God says he'll do is he will open a flow of divine power in your life According to Malachi obedience opens heaven says it opens a window some translations say that opens a floodgate Here's the deal. It opens heaven. Now. Here's what I want you to understand There's a lot more in heaven than money The idea that I'm obedient and sometimes you can get more money You're selling yourself way short when God says I he didn't say I open my wallet when you're obedient He said I open a window to heaven and heaven has a whole lot more than money And let me tell you you need that because there's a lot more you need than just money

Listen a marriage in unity is worth more than many money Thriving children are worth more than money peace that passes Understanding is worth more than money and God doesn't say this is an exchange rate where you get money and you give money He says you trust me with your financial life and I'll open everything I've got in the storehouse of heaven over your life Now I was talking I was having lunch a few weeks ago with a guy named Eric and his wife named Brandy They attend this campus and he he serves on our security team and and listen I didn't know this but Eric was telling me he's a he's like a black belt in some form of martial arts Like like you see our security. Listen, that ain't just a radio They got like they got a lot more than that going on. Matter of fact, I hope one of y'all try something I want to see Eric do something to y'all like I you come in walking straight you gonna leave crooked, you know Because you tried something that's what I want to see it But he was telling me about this but he said he said we want to tell the story pastor He said and you know, I've had my business since 1998 and he said it was always I mean we struggled and struggled and struggled He said we got to 2020 and it was about as bad as it's ever been He said we got bills piling up We got no accounts and he said we tried everything he said we came in one Sunday and you were preaching on tithing He said we've been in church a long time But he really didn't tithe and he said Brandy and I looked at each other and were like, well, we might as well try We've tried everything else And he said so we went all in on tithing as a matter of fact, they didn't just tithe personally They tithed on the business as well. He said because that's how desperate we were. He said within six months our business doubled He said to date it's tripled. He said Brandy has been promoted so many times She is now over every person she's over has more education and more experience than she does He said it is unbelievable what God did he said I couldn't believe it and he said but this this was the best part and then they went on and Talked about all God was doing and it had nothing to do with money They talked about how their faith had exploded what they had been rich in how their son who was just graduating high school Was hungry for God and what God was doing in his life Listen what I am saying to you is this the Bible says in one translation. It doesn't say a window. It says a floodgate

You know what a floodgate is It's a gate that holds back Building water water is building and building and building and building and when something opens that floodgate There's so much water that is released. It overtakes the area that it is holding back from This is the picture of what God wants to do He says if you will just open yourself to obedience It will open a floodgate because in heaven I have been building and building and building All the things that you need for your life and it is gonna flood into your life dry places all of a sudden are gonna have life places that have had nothing are going all of a sudden have favor on them people And connections and open door things that you couldn't create. Well, this is not a money-for-money thing God says I'm going to open the floodgate of heaven over your life And all I need is for you to use the key of obedience to unlock this because I want to do this in your life It's so much more than just money. Now. Here's the second thing that happens is is that God from the scripture? It says I will exceed your expectations Let me just tell you I've learned this what you believe for your life. God has a whole lot more in mind than that Whole lot more as a matter of fact, let me just say some of you are sitting here going why I'm bad with money I'm in a dead-end career. I'm too old Listen, the Bible says that God says a blessing not blessings Because one blessing from God is enough to transform your life. He don't even have to bless you multiple times And if you don't believe me Let me just I went back and just looked at some of the people who are at the top of their industry and you don't even Recognize that they're tithers for example, William Colgate in the 1800s started a cosmetic company And he got some advice when he started the company from a Christian friend of his who said listen said William Here's your here's got to be your rules. You have to do really good work Yeah, no shoddy work. You have to be honest in your dealings and he said I need to give 10% of everything to God So William just said, okay. Well that sounds right and he gates are given 10% of his everything to God They made soaps laundry detergents and eventually they started making what you brushed your teeth with this morning But what really launched them is they didn't invent toothpaste What launched them is is one of their the people in the company had the idea to put it in a disposable tube and they? Patented that too. So they went from making their money selling their toothpaste to making money from selling everything

Everybody's toothpaste. And William saw the blessing of God on it, so he stopped giving 10%, started giving 20%. But God blessed him even more, so he started giving 30%. So God blessed him even more, so he started giving 50% of his income away. And he found out he cannot outgive God because he died over 100 years ago, and today his company is still the top at what they do, and is worth $78 billion. He's died, but the blessing of God's still on it. Listen, you don't think that's, Harlan Sanders gets his first Social Security check at 1965, and he's a long-term tither. He said, I had an idea one day, I felt like God gave it to me, for 11 herbs and spices to be put on some chicken, and to be franchised out. He said, I didn't have any money in capital, but I found a few people who would invest. And now, at the age of 65, he launched what is the largest chicken operation, Kentucky Fried Chicken, in all of the world. And it was the latter part of his life, after multiple failures, but one God idea delivered more for him than he could have ever delivered for himself, just because he trusted God with a financial life. Some of you sports fans, Derek Carr. Derek Carr went to a mid-major school,

he was not drafted in the first round, he was not even in the top five quarterbacks drafted in his year. He went to the Oakland Raiders. That's like God pronouncing death over your career. They won three games the first year that he was there, nothing looked positive, but Derek came back the next year, and led them to a little better understanding. Came back the next year, they had an even better run, and in his fourth year, Derek Carr has performed so well that it made him the highest paid player in a contract, highest paid player in NFL history, the contract he signed. At the press conference, they asked him, they said, what's the first thing you're gonna do with this big check? He said, the first thing I do with every check, I'm gonna tithe, just like I did when I was in college and got $700, I'm now gonna do that on this $100 million plus contract that I received. I could hear Derek Carr's pastor shouting from wherever he was when Derek Carr said that in that moment. Listen, God doesn't meet our expectations, he exceeds our expectations. He takes joy in blessing his children, and when they walk in his ways,

he takes joy in doing more than they could have ever imagined. I'm telling you, what you have in your mind for what God wants to do is nowhere near what God has in his mind for what he wants to do. You're believing too small for what God wants to do. He's gonna open doors you can't believe were open to your life. He's gonna set you in places you cannot believe that he could set you in. He can put favor on your life, he can connect you to the right people, he can do so much more, and when you take a step of obedience, you find out what he's actually capable of. God exceeds our expectations in a way like we never dreamed when we trust him with our financial life. And let me just say this, because I know there's some people at times that'll push back and say, well, that's just prosperity gospel. Listen, the gospel is the gospel, it's free, there's no prosperity tied to it, except for you get everything the cross said. But if you believe God has destined you to poverty, you haven't read the scriptures. God blesses his children. He likes for people to walk in his favor because it's a testimony to every person around them

that he is good, and every good and perfect gift comes from heaven. And when we begin to walk in that, God will set you in places you cannot believe. We don't get to get, but we do give because God is good, and in his goodness, it pours back again and again and again to our life. Listen, I'm standing here as someone who came from nothing, and God has given me so much, and it's not because I ran some scheme with him, it's because as I walked in obedience, he anointed every step I take, and he says, Joe, I'll put you further than you could ever believe. I'll put you in a place you could never dream. I can do more with your life than you ever dreamed possible if you'll walk in obedience. Come on, I done got mad now. Listen, here's the third one. He says, I'll place you under protection. Now, remember he said, I'll rebuke the devourer, I'll place you under protection. What does this mean? First of all, he's gonna protect you from you. The Bible says that he rebukes the devourer, and he says insects and plagues, because that's an agrarian culture, but basically that's what was eating their income. You know what devours your income?

You. Buying stuff you don't need, charging things you shouldn't, impulse buys, up late Amazoning yourself into debt. When you start to tithe, God comes in and he doesn't just protect the things around you, he starts to protect you from you. Like some of you are here and you've never been good with money. God can come in and give you the fruit of self-control. He can give you wisdom you don't have. You come from a family that's got nothing, they don't know how to use anything, any money in any way. You can have divine understanding because God starts to protect you from you. If you don't believe it, I found some data for you here. Look at this. In a recent project, researchers studied the financial lives of tithers. Look at this. 80% have no credit card debt. 74% don't owe anything on their car. And 48% own their home. The data shows that tithers are better with money. But not only does God. protect you from you, God puts a protection over you. Here's the way you should think about the blessing of God. The blessing of God is like an umbrella.

It does not mean you're not gonna get, it doesn't change the climate, but it does put a layer of grace over your life. So let me say it this way, just because you're tired don't mean you're not gonna get sick. It doesn't mean crisis is not gonna come, it doesn't mean you might not lose your job. That's part of life, and let me just say, God would never do something to take that out of your life because that's the kind of stuff that crafts your character. Okay, so instead though, what you will find is that you got an umbrella. It doesn't mean it's not gonna rain, but it does mean you have a more coverage than without it. That there's an extra measure of grace, and I've seen this again and again. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who have trusted God with their financial life, and here's what I notice about them. It's not, there's just a strength in them. When they're going through diagnosis, they're just, their language is different. When they've come out on the other side of losing their job, there's a faith in what they expect for God to do. When they're going through a difficult situation, and their kid's far from God, they're not talking about it's over, let's pack up. God can't do it. These people have faith because somewhere along the way,

the change didn't just happen around them. There was a change in them, and there was something that the Holy Spirit came in and did in their heart, not just in their financial statement. Listen to me. Partial obedience always leads to an insecure faith. Full surrender always cements your faith. And the reason some of you waver back and forth constantly on what you're believing God for is because you walk in partial obedience. But when you are fully surrendered, you start to see a track record of God's hand working in your life. And even when the weather gets bad, you know, God, there's something, a gift of faith, there's pay, there's protection. You're active in this moment. That's why, by the way, you can't keep tithers from tithing. Once people cross this line, and after the first service, I went out and talked, and people were lined up telling me stories about we tithed and we didn't know how it was going, and God did this, and God did this. You can't keep tithers from tithing. You know why? Because they've been in a storm and they've sensed the protection of God in those storms. And so what I want to say to you is some of you need to be protected right now.

Some of you are tithers, and you've forgotten this is a promise to you. And I want to tell you to claim it. I feel that in the Holy Spirit right now. Claim, God, you're protecting my kids. I know they're far from you right now. God, I know that they're doing cutbacks right now because of AI, God, but you're going to protect me. Start to claim the promises that you are due to because you have stepped into this with God. Now, here's the last one. It says, I will make an example of you. He said, all these nations are going to look at you because you're blessed. Here's what blessed means if you want a basic understanding. Here's what blessed means. Supernatural power working for you. Here's what cursed means. Supernatural power working against you. God says, when you trust me with your financial life, I'm going to make an example that there's just something on your life that's not you. People are going to go, that guy's not good enough. She's not smart enough. There's something on their life. TJ's at the Jefferson County campus. I see him almost every week. He helps in the back when we come and arrive. And if you saw him today, you would have no ability to grasp what he's come from.

TJ was horribly addicted to alcohol. It almost ruined his entire family. His marriage was on the rocks. He considered himself an agnostic. I mean, far, far, far from God. And through a chain of events, he surrenders his life to Christ. And there's this thing that happens where he starts taking steps of faith and God starts working. He took a step of faith to get sober. And today, he is completely free from that addiction. He took a step to restore his family. Today, his marriage and his daughters and his children, they're all in unity. He took a step to start attending church. And he found a community, a life group. He serves on a team. He found the richness that comes from doing that. Well, eventually those steps led him to that. He and his wife started tithing. And when they did, it was good, except for it hit them at a time where they were, he was making a career change and he was going out of a fixed income into a sales-oriented. And the transition, he said, was gonna cost him several months of basically no income or little income. And he said, so we're gonna have to live off

my wife's income, which was secondary to mine. And he said, so we would sit down and we would write out what we owed that week. And he said, we would tithe and then we'd write out what we owed and we'd see how much do we have left within the week. And he said, well, this went on for a few weeks and then it kept trending down, kept trending down. This wasn't working. He said, we got to the math one week and he said, here was the math. If we paid our tithes and paid our bills, we would have $27 left for the next two weeks. That's not enough to buy a tank of gas. And he says, so this moment she looks at me and we try to decide. Are we going to tie? And he said, so I called my life group leader and I just laid out the math for him. And I said, what do you think we should do? Is it wise to do this? And he said, his life group leader said, I think this is a pivotal moment for you, a place of faith that God's got. And he said, he said, by my experience, God's never been late on his bills. So I think you should tie. Well, something in that just caused TJ to have peace. And he came into his wife and said, I know it doesn't make any sense, but we're gonna tie.

They wrote their ties, they wrote out their bills, $27 left in the account. Something triggered a miraculous occurrence because over the next seven days, she received a unannounced bonus. He got an unexpected check from the IRS. Can somebody say God's at work? If the IRS is sending money, not taking money. Couple other things happen. In seven days from their obedience, they received $8,000 from unexpected places. And listen, listen, some of you are like, well, that's just coincidence. Some call it luck. TJ calls it blessing that follows obedience. And I'm saying to you that my prayer is this, that you would hear the voice of the Lord that says, I wanna open a window over your life. I wanna exceed your expectations. I wanna put protection over you and that I want to show you as an example for those who walk in obedience, they walk in my blessing. Listen, I'm telling you as someone who's lived it, it's out of a pure pastoral's heart that I wanna see God undo the wrong decisions you've made. I wanna see him lift you up further than you can lift yourself up. I wanna see him push you forward in his. I don't wanna see anything limited. And this is essential.

You have to understand there's another side to obedience. How many of you sincerely would just say this? I wanna see God's greater blessing on my life. Come on, raise your hand, just raise your hand. Of course we all do. So here's the secret. God doesn't control that, you do. Obedience goes first, blessing comes second. And you're going to have to take a step of faith.