Why God Doesn’t Like Leftovers | You Decide | Pastor Tim Payne

God's been so good to me. God's been so good to me. There's no one like Him. There have been times I thought I deserved it, and I didn't. There have been times where I knew I didn't deserve it, and I didn't. The God, God, the one true God, the everlasting God. King Jesus, He'd been good to me, and I know He's been good to you. You guys sounded so good. You sounded so good, and if you think it sounds good here, you can only imagine what Heaven has been so good to you. In your darkest nights, in your lowest valleys, I've been there. That's when we ought to sing it the most. That's when we ought to declare it. We ought to create over us that He has been so good. See, it's one thing to hear God's promises, but I said this in the first gathering. And since the Lord want me to say it in this gathering, it's another thing to personally receive that. You know, I don't know if your grandma could cook, your mom could cook, your daddy grandpa could cook, but you know, is that the table is there for the taking. God says, "Man, I have prepared a table for you to bless you." And I'm even going to do it in the presence of your enemies. [Applause] I was on the sideline Friday night. It was in the locker room Friday night, back at halftime, and the boys were like, "It's time to eat. It's time to eat." I'm telling you, man, I just decree this over your life. I sense this right now, honest to God. I just declare it a decree over you right here, right now, today, that God is saying, "It's time to eat." And God's saying, "It's time to eat. I got a table spread for you." I got all the stuff. God didn't forget nothing. God hadn't forgotten you.

God knows your needs, and He's more than capable of supplying your needs. And He's wealthy. He'd make Elon look like he got nothing. That's our God. And He's smiling at you, and He sees you, and He wants to bless you. I just sense God saying that, man. I'm so glad you're here. I love this third gathering. This is the third one. We have an eight o'clock, and then a nine-thirty, and then we got this one. And you guys are the caffeinated crowd. Y'all the ones that you got more than one cup. You know what I'm saying? Like, y'all came ready, man. Yeah, y'all. Y'all already do stuff, man. Y'all ready, ready. And I'm so glad. We're so glad you're here. I'm just so thankful for God's goodness. Man, Matt Crutchfield, we had his celebration of life. It was not a funeral. If you don't know Jesus, it's a funeral. Everything from that point is worse. But those who are believers in Christ, we don't see death as the door as the end. We see the death as the door to everything more. And heaven, I mean, we cannot even fathom how amazing heaven's going to be. But this place was packed out. We had overflows and people over there, we had people up in the balcony. And we had at least 11 people give their life to Jesus.

At least 11. Last Sunday, I think we had 18 saved in prison at Blackwater. Is that right? Eighteen. Last Sunday night. Eighteen men said, "Yeah, yes, I want Jesus." I don't know how many today, but a Pando app, 27,000 people watched on just one of our apps. And we had a lot of people come to Christ. Man, God is on the move here. So, yeah, man. You may look around and you may just see what you see in the gathering you attend, whichever one. But I want to tell you, momentum's a lot bigger than you think it is. And God's kingdom is way bigger than momentum. And that's what we're playing for. We're playing for the glory of God, for His kingdom. And I'm so thankful. I know I said it, but thanks for being here today. My heart is full and I want to give you a truth today that will break the chains of your life. Because if you think you're free and you're still bound, are you really free? You're not free. If the enemy's right there breathing on your neck, are you really free? Jesus said, "Whoever the sun sets free is free indeed." I just declare freedom over you today. You need financial breakthrough. And you're like, that's me. I want you to listen to the Word of God today. And here's what I know. What I know is every Sunday, there are people that they hear the Word of God. And I'm thankful, because if you don't hear the Word of God,

you can't know the Word of God. But you know what God's interested in? God's interested in us, not just hearing the Word. God is interested in us, doing the Word. Don't just be here as be doers. And so that's my prayer for you today that you're gonna take this message. And you're gonna say, God, I'm gonna follow you even in this area of my life. Even in this area of my life. I want you to turn around, say hello to somebody. We're so glad you're here. Want to welcome Blackwater Online Campus, PandaWap. Everybody here in Pensacola. Guys, phenomenal job. Thank y'all. Thank y'all. Pastor Michael, thank y'all. And an amazing job. Thank you guys so much. I don't know if y'all can hear me. I'm talking to you guys. But thank y'all. Thank y'all so much. Y'all got stuck in your ear, so I don't know if y'all hear me. But just, when this great, come on. Wouldn't that great? Thankful for it, man. So thankful for it. Well, I lost a bet.

I came in Tennessee, Orange. And last Sunday, a friend who was here, used to be a friend who was here last gathering. She came up, she said, Pastor Tim, you know, Ronnie doesn't ever come to church, except for Christmas Eve. But he wants to bet with you. And he'll come next Sunday if you want to take this bet. So if Texas wins, he'll come with me. But you got to wear it. And if Tennessee wins, I said, listen here. I'll wear a jersey. I'll wear a Texas jersey. I'll say I'll wear it three times. But if Tennessee wins, he's got to come at least twice before Christmas, and then you got to come on Christmas Eve. And we already got one of the two, so I'm winning. Don't tell him, but I'm winning. (audience applauding) Gave me a big hug. I took a picture, and believe it or not, I hooked him horn. So we got a picture in there. So, you know, something about humility. But it was hard. I'm thankful. You know, I didn't get to see the whole game. I got home last night later, and I watched the first half. But we were here yesterday for a minute, and that's where I was wanted to be. But that's what I heard.

So I look forward to seeing how we lost. (audience laughing) We heard this close, this close, but this close is only good horseshoes, right? But they aren't you thankful for football? Anybody, you glad football's back? (audience applauding) Thought it'd be fun for us to wear our jerseys, and I'm wearing a Texas one, so here we go. All the Texas fans came last gathering. Are there any Texas fans in here? I knew I loved you guys. (audience laughing) Y'all have my favorite gathering right here. You have my favorite gathering. You have my favorite gathering right here. I do love the state of Texas, but I tease my friends. I said, "Hey, man, I got no problem with Texas "because the University of Tennessee "was actually a university before Texas was a state." (audience applauding) So, that one got to him a little bit. But, you know, Vince Young, man, I loved watching him. But anyhow, we get to the message. Let's go to Genesis 4. How's that for transition? How's that? Genesis 4. I want to talk to you about living the blessed life. People say, "Man, I want to live, you know,

"I want to live to the extreme. "I want to get everything. "I want to squeeze life, get everything out of it." How many of you kind of wired like that? Like, "Man, I don't want to waste a minute. "I want to waste a day. "I want to, you know, God wants to bless you "so much. "You have to believe that." - Yeah. - The God who the devil tried to make Adam and Eve think was against them because God was holding back. Eat this. Oh, you can't eat it? Oh, did God say that? Oh, God doesn't want you. The God that he was misrepresenting was the God that put them in the middle of perfection. - God. - God wants to bless you. But you have a decision, you decide. I don't know if you have been driving and someone told you wrong directions, you went the wrong way, then you had a back track or you weren't paying attention, you missed your eggs and then you're like, "Hello, I'm in a different state." And then you had to turn around, "I don't know what it was." Or, you know, you got your maps on the phone talking to you, you know, with an Australian accent. And then it wasn't right.

And you're like, "What, we're all, you know, I don't know." But I know this, you have the will of your life. And if you'll yield to the Holy Spirit, you can live the blessed life. That doesn't mean a perfect life 'cause you won't be. That doesn't mean a stress-free life 'cause it won't be. By the way, some stress is good. If you don't have any stress, you're dead. You're dead, that's not good. You're with me? So watch me now, some stress is good, but you don't want to live stressed out. God wants to bless you out. That's what God wants to do. So we don't got time to be stressed when we're really blessed. And so notice that blessed is on the right. Notice the blessed right there, blessed and cursed. So why, coming up to the road, we get to decide. And blessed is on the right, is when you go right, you never go wrong. And so God is always right. How many found out before where you thought you were right, but then you found out God was right. You've been there before, you've had that aha moment. And so God wants you to be blessed. That's what he wants. Now there's a principle in the Bible. It's got three different names, don't let it trip you up. If you know where Bayou is, Boulevard, or Brent Lane, or there's some different names to the same road.

And there's some different names to the same principle. I'm going to teach you the one principle today with the three different names. But we're going to read a story in Genesis 4. Genesis 4, we find out that you got Adam and Eve. And chapter 3 is when sin entered the world. And chapter 4, well, let's pick it up. And we'll see that Eve, Eve has a child. Actually, she has two. Now Adam, verse 1, 312. I'm reading from the N.L.T. New Living Translation. Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife. And that's what you think that is. [LAUGHTER] I thought if we may get an amen there from somebody, Eve. And she became pregnant. She gave birth to Cain. She said, with the Lord's help, I produced a man. Interesting enough, Adam, his name kind of means like the man. The man, Adam, man, but the man. And he was the man until he wasn't the man. Every man wants to be the man. Every man wants to feel like the man. Can I get an amen on the man? And so if you're at the foul line, you have a chance to win the game. You want to be the man. If you've got the feel, you want to be the man. The man wants to be the man. If wives listen to me, you want to make your man feel like the man. You've got to do that.

That's not something you have to do. It's something you should understand you get to do. And if you do that, you're going to see the man really come out of the man. That's good preaching right there. Somebody better listen to that and start working on it. You'll be like, holy cow. But all of a sudden he won the man because he won the spiritual leader. And when we're failed to be the spiritual leader of the house, it looks like we neglect church. We neglect God's word. We neglect prayer. And the truth is we've all been there. Adam is beside his wife Eve shoulder to shoulder when the devil deceives her tricks her. She takes it. She eats it. And Adam should have been the man and said, no. But he didn't. And then not only did he not do that, then he also took a bite of the fruit. I often wonder what would have happened if Adam would have said, no, I'm not going to eat that. Like what would have happened if he realized he messed up by not covering her, protecting her, leading her, guiding her spiritually. But then when it came to him, that's the question I want to ask Laura when I get to heaven if we get to ask questions. I want to say, what would have Adam said, no, would we still be naked and eating blue bell ice cream and six packs. And when I say naked and eaten, you're like, oh, you know, because of sin. Because before sin there was no shame in the game. But sin brought shame. That's why their tales taught tale in head. And so anyways, he was not the man any longer. And now, now Eve says, the Lord has allowed me to acquire or produce a man. Next verse, let's read on. We're going to go through these verses here.

Later she gave birth to his brother and named a Mabel. How many of you competed against the sibling? We got anyone here who you're the older sibling. He went the older. He went the middle. Anyone the youngest. Anyone have a good rivalry growing up with one of your siblings. Anyone have a, we won't talk about it, rival growing up with one of your siblings. I'm sure there was some type of rivalry here. Sure one of them throw the football further than the other, the baseball further than the other. When they grew up, Adam became a shepherd, not Adam, sorry, Abel. Abel became a shepherd. What did Abel become? Yeah. And while Cain cultivated the ground. So he was a farmer. What was Cain? What was Abel? What was Cain? Y'all get a hundred. Class not dismissed, much else. When it was time for the harvest, when it was time, by the way, your harvest time is coming. There's a season ahead of you. It's called harvest time. Not every season is harvest time. Imagine going out there and you never planted an apple tree but you stand over your ground and it hasn't got to give you an apple. God's like just saying, "I can't expect to harvest what you never planted." And for some of you, you've been planting and you're tired. You've not only been in a planting season, you've been in a tending season where you're

tending, you're pulling the weeds and you're watering, and I know you ladies love plants, right? Maybe some guys here love plants, you don't have to confess that. That's okay. But ladies, how many ladies? How many ladies love them plants? Come on. Look at that. All right. Should we ask about them in? You know. Let's go. There we go. I'm securing my manhood. I got 37 plants. Let's go. I love his oxygen, baby. He's clean oxygen. Let's go. Let's go. It does make things come to life, doesn't it? And what's so crazy about this is these two guys both were given a gift. They were really good at what they did. What's interesting is Cain was the first baby ever born. Adam wasn't born out of the dust of the ground. God shaped a man and then he breathed his breath of life and man became a living soul as Genesis. And then Eve was there because God said, "Hey, Adam, go to sleep." Then it's easier. I'm going to knock you out.

I'm going to take your rib out and then I'm going to bless you out because you're going to wake up and go, "Woman, you're going to go," like, "Wow, man, she's hot." And God's going to say, "Peace, I'm out, y'all. I'm out of here." I'm just, "Give me a minute. Give me a minute. I'm leaving." All right? I'm out of here. They were naked and not afraid. The Bible says they were naked and unafraid. And now all of a sudden you have these two boys and it's harvest time. So Cain is not only harvest time, it's offering time. Here's what's interesting, it's offering time. Offering time had been taught to Adam and Eve when God walked with him in the cool breeze. In the cool breeze, God had already taught this and so now harvest is here and it's time to return an offering. It's time to return an offering. Do we have anybody that's a waiter or waitress, we have anyone that serves a waiter or waitress? There's several of you all. Awesome. How does it feel when you work your tail off and no one leaves you a tip? How about the real truth? How about when they come back and they at your table? You say, "You can have that table." Hold that thought. Hold that thought. Cain presented some. If I were you, I would highlight that word, "some." You realize there's some words in the Bible.

All the Bible is the Word of God. There's some words that will change your life. I can read a chapter and miss things. I can read a verse and blow past a few words that have the potential to change my life. If I just slow down in the school zone, if I just pump the breaks, one of those words is right here. Cain presented some of his crops and presented it as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift the best. I'd highlight that. I'd underline that. If you're on new version, I'd touch that verse and highlight it. But if you got your Bible right here, something pinned, man, I would sum and best. Very important. At the very beginning, the first book in the Bible, chapter 4, God is trying to teach us something that can keep you from being cursed. Abel also brought a gift. The best portions of the firstborn. I would highlight that, bold that. The firstborn lands from his flock. And the Lord accepted Abel in his gift. Why? His Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn. The Lord accepted Abel in his gift, but he did not accept Cain in his gift. Why? Because Cain brought some. Just some. Just some. That's what he did. I was in 8th grade, his babysitting, a friend of the family, and they gave me opportunity to make some money.

I was like, "Yeah, $15, come on. You know what you can do with $15. Let's go. I'm going to watch them boys," and we had one of these pizzas we got from Kroger. And it was a cardboard pizza. You know what I'm talking about? The taste. The taste. The cardboard. You know, so I'm putting the oven. This is my first go round. I'm not a cook yet. I'm not a chef. Like you are, Rob. But I put that pizza in there. I read the box. I turn it on and I get a little busy in the pizza burns. But here's why the pizza burns. Not because I overcooked it because I flipped it on the burner. I had a spatula in that one working, so I tried two spatulas, you know, a eighth grade, you know. I mean, that's when you got everything together. And I'm pulling it out and I fit the thing right on the burner and it just like fried So now, don't feel sorry for me, but I'm confessing, because confession is good for the soul, the Bible says. I'm confessing, and we laugh about this with this family. Now these guys are in their late 30s and maybe 40 by now. But what's so crazy is the burnt piece, which was 75% of the pie. I blessed the boys I was babysitting with. [LAUGHTER]

I said, but look, y'all get 75%. And they're like first grade, third grade, something like that. And they're like, OK. I'm like, I'm so sorry. That one's all me, man. I'm sorry. Next time, I'll figure it out. But I had a little bit over here. Had a little bit over here, the unburnt. And so I was eating the unburnt. Well, they were eating the burn. I was like, how is it? I know, I know, I'm sorry. See, they didn't know there was 25% of them charred over here. And so I'm eating this. I'm like, boys, here's all, man. I'm sorry. I know this. And what I did is I gave them some. I didn't give them the best. I was selfish. I was selfish. I put me before them. And I was supposed to be serving them. Are you with me? And so you know what I learned now as a leader? Leaders eat last. Leaders say, you first. You first.

That's what leaders do. And Cain was like, I'm going to give God the leftovers. It's a title of the talk today. Why God doesn't like leftovers? I said, that's a message today. Why God doesn't like leftovers? Keep reading. Look what happens here. This gets really interesting. Now, Cain, he is very angry. The Bible says, why? Because God didn't accept him in his gift. And it made Cain very angry. And he looked it. He looked it. I'm telling him, he looked ejected. You never know. Why are you so angry, God said? Why? You ever ask your spouse that? You ever ask your kid that? You ever ask someone in your family that? You ever ask your friend that like, why are you so angry? By the way, God doesn't come to us with statements sometimes. I've learned in my life, God often will come with questions. And when God comes with questions, it's not because he doesn't know the answer. It's because he's waiting for you to get there. He's waiting for you to get there. And if you don't know what I'm talking about,

let's just keep reading. Now, Cain's very angry, and he looked ejected. So God says, why are you so angry? The Lord asks, Cain, why do you look so dejected? By the way, don't look so dejected. By the way, your face tells a story. You know what I'm saying? Let's have a little fun. Can we have a little fun in church? Come on, some of y'all have been waiting for this moment. This is your moment right here. You're my birthday's December 15th. I'm gonna hook you up right now. Turn to your neighbor right now. Look at your neighbor. Look at your neighbor right now and say, hey, pastor, just wanted me to tell you something. You gotta fix your face. You gotta fix your face. How many thankful, how many thankful you were sent by yourself? No one was sent with you. How many thankful for that? Come on, come on. You know, I was thinking of this acronym and I was like, I better go. I better point this one. But we, the eyes are the windows of the soul the Bible says. I can look in someone's eyes and I can tell. We went to this, I don't know, I'm gonna mess this up. Iterology, doctor, is this right?

Something like that? Y'all don't know either. All right, something like that. And I went there and the guy, I walk in, he's like, fill out this questionnaire, you know? Don't you love it when there's like 10 pages and everyone asks for your address. I love that, that's my favorite man. He'll steal my address a minute later, you know what I'm saying? I guess they go different places, but that's not for me. So anyway, so then he's looking at my eyes and I've never had a dude look into my eyes, never really wanted to do to look into my eyes. It's a little uncomfortable. I started to get a little nervous, a little squirmish and he's kept coming in. He's like, stay still, stay still. And he's looking at my eye, my wrist. And he's writing, he's writing all these notes. And then at the end of it, he said, you were in a really bad accident. Did you break your leg? When you were a kid, I'm like, okay, this is the Holy Spirit, it is not a Holy Spirit. (laughs) I wasn't sure which way we were, just like, I was getting right, I'm looking at the door, I was like, I can make it there in three seconds, you know? And then he kept looking in and he said, you had a surgery about a year ago, didn't you?

He said, here's what's funny, your eye tells the story of your life. And he told me things that, you know, he's like, you're going bald, aren't you? I was like, no, that's not fair, I don't got a hat on. He didn't even give me on that one. But no, he just kept, he said this and this and this and this. I was like, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, 'cause of the eye. And the Bible says the eye is the window of the souls. So here's the truth guys, we ought to fix our face. If we're Christian, and listen. but you know what the world needs to see? Joy. That's why the devil fights so hard for it. How do you get your joy back? That's another sermon for another Sunday. But we can look and our face can reflect our heart. So God starts asking all these questions and he starts with, "Why are you so angry? Why do you look so dejected?" And he says this. He says, "You'll be accepted if you do what is right, but if you refuse to do right, then you better watch out because sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. Sin is crouching at the door, but you must subdue it and be its master." You know what it means? It means temptation is right there. It is right there and it's ready to strike. That's what it means. Just so close. God bless you. I always say, "Go Vols and certainly appropriate today. We're in a Texas t-shirt here." Why are you so angry? If you would have just done right, temptation is right there. Sin is ready to lunge at you. When we move to Tampa, there are gators everywhere, ponds, channels or ever. We had gators in our backyard. They told us that a gator can literally, from the water, jump out one, one and a half times their length. So a bigger gator, even though you think it's going to move slower, it can lunge out and just be real careful with your pets around the water. I remember being in college, I worked at gators, it's now dealers. I was working for Ralph Warren selling their fragrances and it was Saturday morning. I'm in Bible College trying to pay my way through. My parents helping me. I thank God for that. I graduated debt-free. Thank you, Mom and Dad. Thank you, Tim Payne, working your butt off

and thank you, God, for providing the job. But this Saturday morning, I was there at the counter and it was early and there was no one in the store. A gentleman, 80, I'm guessing, 80, 85, maybe a little older. He came by and looked at me and got right in my face, Rob. He looked in my eyes. They had a real stern look on. He said, "The enemy knows where your goat is tied." He's already leaning on the fence. Then he walked away. Good morning to you. I was very nervous. I didn't know I had a goat. And evidently, the devil was trying to get my goat. I was like, "We got a issue." You know what? He was trying to tell me. He was trying to tell me the sin is crouching at the door. Eager to control you, but you must subdue it and you must be its master. One day, he can't suggest to his brother, "Hey, bro, let's go throw the football. Let's go into the fields." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and he killed him. So the first baby that was ever born is also the first murder, the first murder. But he's also the first liar that I read. Look at this. Maybe that's not true because, you know, Adam blamed Eve. So Adam was sorry. Sorry, Cain. Adam, that one's on you. And they were in the field, Cain attacked. And afterward, Lord, look at Cain. Where's your brother? Where's Abel? God's coming with questions and he says, "I don't know," Cain responded, "Am I my brother's guardian? Am I my brother's keeper?" And the answer to that is yes. If you have a friend that cares about you, they ought to help keep you. If you are a friend, be a loyal friend and have the courage to talk about things that are very important. If you ever have someone speak into your life and they come with the right attitude and they're trying to come and they're trying to help you, I'm talking about accountability. You know that's a real friend. I'm not talking about someone looking down at you. You ought to have friends in your life. You could tell them anything and everything and they love you the same. But they're also not going to leave you like that. You with me? Well, I'll need friends to get us up and carry us. And then it's our job. Make sure in which direction they're carrying us. Make sure they're carrying us to Jesus. We all need friends like that. If you got friends willing to carry you, but not did Jesus get new friends. I'm talking about the closest friends. They matter. We all absolutely need it. Are you your brother's keeper? You better believe it. I'm thankful for people riding with me, right? If there's a blind spot and I don't see it, they say something, right? Sometimes we don't have the courage to have those conversations.

That's why I don't want to get upset at me or they can't handle that. We make all the excuses and say, "I love you," but we've got to talk about something and just have the courage to... And you know what happened? I'm thankful for people in my life that have corrected me. Because I thought they just corrected me, but what I learned is they directed me. And in some cases, they redirected me, thankful for friends like that. But the Lord said, "What have you done? Listen, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground." The Lord said, "What did you do?" And he says, "Now you are cursed and you are banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother's blood. No longer will this ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard that you work it. From now on, you'll be a homeless wander on the earth." So Cain was the first murder and he lies. I don't know where my brother is. Yeah, you do. You killed him. By the way, you watch those TV shows. You watch some of those episodes in there, and they're guilty as sin. Cain, interestingly enough, was also the first homeless person. Sin will take you places you never want to go. It'll keep you longer than you want to stay, and it'll charge you a whole lot more than you got. It's what sin does. If you keep reading chapter 4, it says that he goes to a land called nod. The word nod there in the text means wander or wandering, and the last thing God wants for you is to be wandering through life on the cursed path. God wants you to be blessed. I want to give you one principle, three different names. Let's read this real quick. Would you take your phones out? Would you take a picture and screen? Whatever. I want you to get these notes. These will really, really help you. There's something called the principle of the tithe. This is tithe. It's in the Bible. It means 10th, and it is not bringing to God. It means returning to God, returning to God. We return to God. Why? Because it belongs to God. None of us are really owners at the end of the day. All of us should understand we're really stewards from the beginning of the day. Like we don't take our car with us, we don't take our boat with us. When we die, we don't take our house with us. You know the only thing that we take with us to heaven are the people we bring to Jesus. You're not going to take your Louie, your hey dudes, when it was just not. We're not going to have our, we're not going to take our watches to heaven. Nothing wrong with those things, but you're just not going to take them to heaven. Genesis 28, 22 says, this is God speaking. He says in this memorial pillar right here that I

set up. Who set it up? God set it up. He said, this will become a place for worshiping God. As God's word, I will present to God a 10th of everything that he gives me. Abraham's speaking, I will return a 10th, the first, the tithe of everything he gives me. That is the principle of the tithe. Genesis 28, 22. Then another name for the same principle was found in Exodus. Look at Exodus 13, two short verses. This is known as the principle of the firstborn. Then the Lord said to Moses. Here's what he said. Lord said to Moses, dedicate to me every, what's the word? Among the Israelites, the first offspring to be born of both humans and animals, what's the last words there belongs to me? God said your firstborn belongs to me. God said your firstborn, even animal belongs to me. God was teaching these people, this principle, that the first is mine. Remember when we started the Ten Commandments and the first one, I have no other gods before me, and I say, God doesn't want to, God doesn't compete with anyone. God is number one. He doesn't want to be the one. God is the only one. He's the only one. He's the only name under heaven given to us whereby you must be saved. He is God Almighty and beside him there's no other. No one can match up with God. No one takes God into overtime. Are you with me? No one can stand like that before God. There's no one like him. And so this is the firstborn and God is teaching from Adam from the very beginning. He's teaching them this principle. The first comes back to me. The first comes back to me. The principle of the firstborn. Then the last one is called the principle of the first fruits. Exodus 23, 19. As you harvest your crops, as you get paid, how many get paid twice a month? You want to get paid weekly? Anybody get paid daily? Hi, my name is Tim. I want to be your friend. as that direct deposit drops, bring, what does it say? Come on, preach to me, what does it say? The very best of the what? Harvest, where? To the house of what? What do we bring? Look at this. You'll get the cheat sheet going yet? No, okay. That's back here. Don't turn around. Look, no peeking, no cheating. Where do we bring it? To the house. When do we bring it? We bring it first. Why does God not like leftovers? Because the first belongs to God. The first belongs to God. That's why God doesn't do leftovers. I want to illustrate this principle. This is bread. It's from Publix. You know it's good. It's fresh. I had them take it out. They helped me take it out of the plastic bag. They've been on the struggle bus last year. Can I confirm nor deny? Like it when I take the glasses off. God blesses us with bread. In the Bible,

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." Jesus said, "Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Bread is important. If you go to Israel, which I'm leaving, y'all pray for me, Pastor Tyler and I are going over there, going over there to pray, going over there to meet with some incredible peoples of a thousand Christians flying over there, a lot of pastors. The world is turned against Israel. I don't know if you know this, but even at the UN recently, all the different ambassadors, they all get around it. Everyone stays for everyone until Israel. Pastor gets up for Israel and two-thirds of the crowd walks out. The world hates Israel because God loves Israel and I would understand that. I would understand that God cares about his chosen people. If you haven't read the Bible now is a good time. I pick it up and begin reading because what the Bible talks about in the last days is on our news is happening right now. I could go a lot more into it and I will some other day, but bread you go to Israel, they take this bread and eat it with yogurt. That's like the land phone with milk and honey, man. That's a good day. When they got some yogurt and they got some bread, man, this is a staple right here. They would bless. They would break the bread. Jesus had bread the last meal with his disciples. What's interesting about this bread is it's all sliced. Now, if you know the Lord's Prayer, let's say it together and then I'm going to call a time out. We won't say the whole thing, but I'm going to get to my point. Let's say it together. Ready? Jesus said this. Sorry, I messed you up. That was on me. Psych. You're like, what is it? I'm ready. Jesus said, hey, guys, we ought to pray like this. That's the verse before the Lord's Prayer begins. Pray like this. Let's say it together. Ready? Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Right there. Give us this day our daily bread. So Jesus taught us to pray to our Father. Give us. Give us. We're to ask God to give us and our daily bread represents our finances. It represents our finances as our resource. So we're to ask God for our daily. See, God wants to bless you. God doesn't want you to live paycheck to paycheck for the rest of your life. God doesn't want that. That doesn't mean that there won't be a season where you do live paycheck to paycheck. But God don't want you to stay there your whole life. Are you with me? You don't want that. So give us. So we ask God to give us. And how many believe God is a good God? Come on. How many believe he's a good giver? Come on. How many believe that God wants to bless

you? Come on. Come on. But watch this. What happens is sometimes we ask God to bless us and we're asking for harvest. We never, we never planted. And so Jesus said, pray like this. Give us our daily bread. Give us our daily bread. And here's what happens. We get paid. And when you get paid, our life comes so fast, so hard and bills they keep coming, right? And so we get paid and we get a drop into the bank account. We're like, whoo, thank you, Jesus. But then, oh, my goodness, our spouse. Ahh. The one day we run in late, the car's on empty. And then, then you know what? We got some bills, don't we? We got a mortgage. We, some of us, we got children. (audience murmuring) (audience laughing) We haven't even gotten to travel sports yet. (audience laughing) Oh, they're lunch funny. That's so funny. So funny, Gavin. We'll get a phone call, you know. It's like, your child has, you know, owes something for whatever, you know? And you find out it's like 30 cents. You thought it was like 3000, you're like, okay. And then, and then here's the deal, man. We need electricity and my goodness, man. We gotta keep the, gotta keep the lights on and gotta keep the water running, right? And we already said the mortgage, man. But then we got other bills, right? And then you got doctor bills, right?

And then we got, what do we have? Subscriptions. Like, you know, we used to just have like direct TV, but now we stream them, baby, we stream them. And we, we got Hulu, we got Disney. We got Netflix, Lord knows we got ESPN. We got all these, and then you realize, you got to go to the dentist, you had a flat tire. Then your kids got a project at school. Then all of a sudden, get some more car trouble. In the same week, AC breaks. It's like, I'm just going through it. And then if that wasn't enough, Amazon doesn't show it up again. (audience laughing) If any of you are thieves, like you find my house, like you could, I'm telling you, man, Amazon just keep coming, man. I'm just kidding. Oh, you know what I forgot? You got pets. But where do we buy our dog food? (gentle music) Petco. Petco means you got to let go of this more money. And we just got a little bit left, a little bit. And then we come to church, and the preacher said, "Time for an offering." And you're like, "Oh, you want to talk about "the widow's mind?"

And then all of a sudden, the buckets pass. I don't know if you know this. We put cash in the buckets to start the offering. And we do that so that if you're here, and you've got gas in your tank or food in your belly, take it out, take it out on us. 'Cause we're blessed to be a blessing. And I'm not preaching this because our church is broke. And I'm not preaching this because our church is rich. I'm preaching this 'cause God put it in the first book of the Bible in the fourth chapter. And then he put it in the second book. And people say, "Well, I don't believe in tithe, "and that's in the law." Hey guys, newsflash, the law hadn't even been given yet. We won't even talk about what Jesus said about the tithe. We'll do that later, but we're down to the little, itty bitty little bit, right here, just a little bit. And it's time to give. And God doesn't ask for the whole thing. God just asks for the first thing. God doesn't even ask as much as the government does. And you better pay the government. God just said, "Hey, the first 10%." But what do you do? What do you do when you're just right here? And you're like, "Lord, give me our daily bread." And God said, "Why are you asking for bread "when you just return in a crumb?" Crumbs.

Churches are filled with Christians that come to church with crumbs. And it's not shame on you. This is poverty off you. This is obedience in you. This is blessing for you. So what do we do? We get all the, "Oh, I gotta give something to God." Bless my crumb. Jesus, I believe you're God of multiplication. I know you turned the water to wine. Lord, I heard what you did with the five loaves and the two fishes. See the multitudes, God help us reach our community. have crumbs left because you didn't honor me by returning to me what I gave you the whole thing. Tied is the first it's the 10th it's the first of what God bless you with when you begin to do that God will bless you next week I'm gonna talk about should we give to get or should we just give to give. We're gonna talk about that next week some of y'all think you know the answer I want you to be here we're gonna talk about it next next week this principle is on ground level as a Christian you will be no more mature in your Christianity than you are obedient in your tithe say one more time you'll be no more sure no more mature in your Christianity than you are in returning to God what is already his because only thieves don't return what they were they borrowed and God has so much more for you God God God doesn't want your God doesn't need your money God wants your heart and where your heart is that's where your treasure will be where your heart is now look some y'all checking out heads down we're not praying yet look right here I know there's tension with this because you're like you're asking me to trust when I don't have enough like I still have bills after it all and I lovingly is your pastor who cares so much about you would be

would say to you if it was just you and me lovingly I would say that's because you're doing it backwards and insanity don't you just get tired of the headaches don't you get tired of not having enough next week we're gonna talk about a good God who says what happens when we give I want to pray right now and I want to pray that you have the curse obey the Lord gave this to me he said you know what some people are wandering in their life because they've been pondering the tithe instead of obeying my word some people have been wandering in another bill and another bills like bumper cars all over again they're wandering and they're like okay well maybe this job will help me maybe that raise will make it better and you're still hitting the same frickin boom because you're doing it backwards and and this is where I close and I love you I love you I want this because God wants this for you listen to me listen to me listen to me do this and see if he's not trustworthy you have trusted people way worse than God way less deserving than God way more messed up and God is holy period but we've trusted people that are now our exes we trusted people that used to be our best friends we got the scars to prove the betrayal and you won't trust a loving God who gave his only son by the way Jesus was the firstborn Jesus was God's tithe God gave Jesus for you are ever made before you ever believed for you ever said the sinner's prayer God gave his offering for you God gave his offering for me people let you down don't confuse people with God he is faithful last gathering a big man sat right there my friend Josh he came in the middle school an atheist and I would say every Sunday we're so glad you're here you don't gotta be like this to be loved by us maybe someone drugged you to get here maybe someone dragged you to get here we're so glad you're here we love you man want you to fill it home and he came to me next Sunday big dude look down he said can I make it on me with you past him I said yes sir and he said come here I will talk to you he pulled me over I thought I was in trouble and he looked down and he said I'm the man you're talking about my wife dragged me to church I don't believe in God I like the music and I kind of feel a little something that's some good people here but I don't buy into all this

At this church In a middle school where we paid rent in a middle school where we had to buy chairs in a middle school Where he had to pay staff in a middle school where he had to pay to have a clean Someone was paying the tithe so someone could come to Jesus Someone was doing what was right so we could reach someone who was stuck in wrong are you with me? And then watch this then after following Jesus. He heard this and he said okay, I'm gonna trust I'm gonna trust and then God blessed his socks off. God has blessed him. I had him stand up last guy He's sitting right over here third fourth row, and he's like I'm telling you man. It's the deal God got no problem getting it to you Question is can God get it through you? Let's pray. Let's pray Lord I've been obedient to what you put on my heart what you said was for today Lord, I give all the results to you as obedient to your word God. I'm thankful Lord that I did what I was told thankful Lord for those who heard today they received today and Honestly, they're ready to repent today They're ready to change course. They're ready. They're ready to do it your way and stop doing it their way They're they're they're ready to be obedient Instead of being disobedient They're ready just to say you know what God said it settles it. I'm gonna trust him Only placing the Bible God said trust me. I Pray give them the courage Lord right now. I know the enemy's trying to be loud, but God you're better I pray you silence the voice when you're not gonna have enough then your kids can't play sports and that devil is a liar He has a liar He is a liar the blessed life is not the stress life my friends My cup overflows Not because I make a ton of money. I can make a lot more money doing other things not in this for the money Men is for souls. I'm in this for people It's what it's about God spoken to you today you got decision you decide you want to curse life you want to bless life Which one you're gonna go to you get to decide but hey

You also get to reap the harvest or lack of harvest based on which way you You went and so I pray it's a blessed life Lord Would you stand please in the presence of God with the prayer team please come forward as You stand we're gonna have a time of prayer It says a time of prayer Jesus said my house will be called a house of prayer the altar have been packed today You may need to come and repent. That's a great word in the Bible Jesus said it a whole lot Start reading the Gospels and geez like repent repent repent John the Baptist said repent repent repent Repent I don't know about you, but living in Florida. I like showers like a daily and Sometimes in the summer hourly Right like I want to stay clean right when you repent. It's like a spiritual shower We say God I was dirty. I would do my own thing. I'm backsliding Lord. I was running from you I was disobeying you and Lord. I'm coming back to the heart of worship It's more than a song It's your heart Giving is connected to your heart your hearts connected to giving you cannot separate the two and so if that's what you need To come talk to God about come on. No one here go look down on you. No one's gonna be like I didn't know they weren't a tiger That's not this church God may have spoken some totally different to you don't stay in your seat because you're like well I don't want them to think I wait here Don't don't give into that pride God resists a proud It gives grace to the humble so humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may lift you up And he may lift you up I'm gonna invite you to come pray right now God spoke to you. You're here. You're carrying a burden. You don't need to carry this burden anymore God's working in your life on something. God put someone on your heart. You got a co-worker needs Christ You got a child that needs prayer. You got a grandchild away from God, right? You got a job interview tomorrow. Come on. You believe in God for for that right man or whatever Let's pray. Let's be a praying church be a praying church

And then if you're here listen not everyone's God's child not everyone's got child You don't get to heaven unless you're born again. How do you get born again? Jesus Jesus died on the cross and he absorbed our sin and Then he absorbed our shame because shame always follows sin. Then he absorbed our punishment on that cross So you and I could embrace the love of God And scripture says if you will believe in your heart If you will confess with your mouth Thank you only spirit you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and if you'll believe in your heart you're in them from the dead, you will be saved. For it's with the mouth that we confess to righteousness, it's with the heart that we believe. So what has to happen is we got to transition from thinking I'm good enough to get to heaven to like there ain't no way I can make it on my own. Your tradition won't get you there, your religion won't get you there, your family who are great people, that won't get you there, your good works outweigh and your bad works won't get you there. The only way there is coming to the cross and saying Jesus I need you to do for me what I can never do for myself. Wash me and save me. Make me new and teach me how to live and he'll do it. I want to lead you in that prayer right now. You're not going through me. We're going through Jesus right now with his bow, eyes closed. I want to ask you, pray this prayer out loud would you? And then I'm going to ask you if you prayed this prayer for the first time, I'm going to ask you hold the hand up high. We're going to celebrate you as heaven celebrates you. So let's pray together. Would you say Jesus? I confess to you that I am a sinner. I need you Jesus to be my Savior. Jesus is Lord. Be my Lord. Thank you Lord for loving me, bleeding for me, dying for me. I believe you rose again on the third day and I now give you my life. I receive your life. Now teach me how to live in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Look here, look here, look here. Look here, Blackwater, look here online. Look here watching on the panel app. Let us know if you prayed that prayer for the first time. I'm going to ask you put your hand in the air and we're going to celebrate together on three. Don't be shy when you hold it up high. One, I see a hand in the air. Come on, God bless you. I see your hand. I see your hand. I see that hand. Come on, let's go here. One, two, three right now. Hold the hand up. Hold the hand up. God bless you. Come on, Blackwater. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.