Belong Church ATL Worship February 20, 2022

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] we're so excited that you guys have decided to tune in with us today yes it has been such a great amazing series before we get all up into that zoe just tell me how your week was tell me how everything's been for you my week has been amazing i'm still honestly trying to recover from our first sunday last week oh my goodness it was so good it was amazing i always love when we can come together corporately to learn about what god has to say to us and our pastor is in a brand new sermon series that he kicked off called rags to riches rags to riches riches you feeling that too i did too i do feel it so as we walk into this week guys i know some of you guys are coming in from different cities go ahead and drop that in at the bottom tell us where you're coming in from yeah and so our sermon series right now is all about giving us kingdom principles to transition us into a life of financial freedom and overflow overflow i know i'm trying to walk into that what about you i am definitely trying to walk into some overflow so what was your biggest takeaway from pastor's message you know what one of the things that was my biggest takeaway zoe is you know he talked a lot about isaac and how isaac sowed into that seed and then walked in that space of harvest it put me in the position of how god's been talking to me about don't quench the spirit lately you know how the old folks say like don't quench the spirit like typically when someone's feeling in the spirit well i had to go look that up because i said god what are you trying to say to me and he was talking about in that definition it talks about when you're quenching your thirst or even if you're in a space where you are twitching a fire that's trying to extend extinguish that fire well i feel like that's what that word was like for me you have to fan that flame you have to always be thirsty and that was that overflow that like that word that you just had to keep coming back for and i know that's what this series is going to be for us just keep coming back you know what i mean i'm so excited about it so we're actually we're going to continue in that same vein this week so i'm super excited about it and also with that you know we have just been continuing to fan the flame as we've been building out belong and uh we exist to be a bridge for people to experience and belong to christ in community and i love that because not only talking about overflow like not only do we want to experience overflow for ourselves but we want to be able to connect with the community around us and you know allow our blessings to go into the community i definitely agree with you and part of that way of having to connect into the community at the bottom of your screen you'll see where you have the opportunity to partner with us on even on that financial space on that given space so if you want to text belong atl to 77977 that's a great opportunity for you to plug in and just partner up with us in that space so what do you think about tell me a little bit about like what y'all been doing over here at belong i know y'all been doing some really cool things when it comes down to partnerships right on another level of of just different groups right yeah so you know partnering with us in community you know you just talked about giving but if you want to partner with us and what we're building here you can do so by texting belong atl to 9400 but one of my favorite ways to partner with us in building community is through our surviving so let me jump in about that because i know you served with the ushers right you know i like to serve with us you guys probably see me down here really serious face you know monitoring in that space i'm just kidding just kidding make sure that you keep your mask on all times right but this is a great opportunity we love as we're building in this church we need you and that's serious we need you there's somewhere for everybody i mean you have the opportunity to serve on ushers you can surf on um parking lot you can serve it as a greeter they can even serve with our next generation tell them about it zoe shameless plug so we are building out a new ministry for our next generation which is serving our nursery our kids and our teens and so that's actually launching april 17th on easter which i'm super excited about yeah we had a meeting a couple weeks ago where people are super excited to build and to grow the next generation so if that's you and you want to be a part of that ministry you can do so by texting or emailing generations at webalong.church oh my goodness joey joey and her plugs you guys haven't given i'm not even mad at it because this is the awesome person that you definitely want to just glean from so come on and get over there with that if you're definitely interested go ahead and get over there but before we get into worship zoe you know one of the things that i just love about god is that he has that opportunity just to cause us to a new level so before we get to that new level do you want to talk to us about i know you we didn't even get a chance to even say hey to our new like folks that have been partnering with us with worship today should we have that opportunity to just keep it a little bit yeah go ahead all right so guys we know that if this is your first time partnering with us we want you to put a one and not text we'll put a one in the comments below so go at this time go ahead and put a one in the comments below if this is your first time with us all right and if you're a recurring member we just want you guys to send a high five or say hey to those new first-time visitors so they can feel greeted properly but i don't know about you i'm ready for worship i really am too all right guys so let's go ahead and jump in as we're getting to worship let's prepare our hearts and minds in this moment so father we thank you god for being who you are we thank you for partnering with us in this moment and throughout this service god we know we have awesome things planned for us and god as we begin to walk into that awesomeness god we hope that we open our hearts up now to receive everything that you have for us come down right now holy spirit enter and have us an encounter with you right now god as we enter in a space of worship god we also open our hearts to not quench what you want to do god not quench in the space of just unflaming the flame but god we want to fan that flame on another level god we know we're entering to a net breaking season and as we begin to enter into net breaking season we have to have open hearts in this moment open hearts that are ready for the harvest that you have so god plant every seed that you need to plant in this moment we stand ready as open vegetables and we just thank you god for everything that you do we bless you right now in the name of jesus amen amen good morning belong family we are so excited to be in the presence of god today we serve the king of kings the lord of lords a god who was faithful to to supply every single need we know that he's a well that won't try us and we're [Music] [Music] everybody [Music] [Music] you only give us [Music] over and beyond [Music] so i'll gladly take a drink [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] for jesus [Music] drinking drinking [Music] [Music] if i need peace i'll take a trip if i need strength water flows [Music] is [Music] you are the one [Music] over and over again [Music] that's exactly who you are [Music] [Music] oh [Music] peace [Music] [Music] if [Music] and [Music] we cannot drink at the same time [Music] over and over again [Music] [Music] it's you and you and you and me we cannot drink [Music] [Music] [Music] his love never runs out his love never runs out and we cannot drink at the same time all his [Music] [Music] it never runs out all night your life never fails it never gives it never [Music] that's how your love works your joy never fails it never gives up and never runs out of me your peace never fails it never gives up it never runs out all night your love never fails never gives up it never [Music] it's more than enough it's more than love you are more than [Music] you're more than [Music] [Music] [Music] i'll never be more loved than i am right now i wasn't holding you up so there's nothing i can do to let you down it doesn't take a trophy to make you proud so i'll never be more loved than i am right now going through a storm but i won't go down i hear your eyes carried in the rhythm of the window call me [Music] you've never been closer than you are right now [Music] no matter what happens [Music] can you help [Music] stay by my side till the sun goes down [Music] you are [Music] circumstances [Music] i'm already loved i'm already chosen i know who i am i know what you've spoken i'm already loved more than i could imagine and that is [Music] [Music] more than i can imagine [Applause] [Music] is [Music] lori thank you for always [Music] nobody cares for me like you jesus [Music] [Music] so i am [Music] is [Music] no matter what happens no matter who comes and goes [Music] cause we've learned [Music] now lift your hands wherever you are and worship the lord right here and remember remember that he is enough i know sometimes we can get caught up in a lot of what we think we need and what we think we want but just to solve ourselves in this moment remember remember remember he's enough not what we think we need not what we think we want not who we think we deserve and what we think we deserve but he is enough we're already loved we're already chosen we know who we are and we know what he's spoken we're already loved we can't pay for it we don't have to work for it we don't have to win for it but we're already left we're already loved we're already loved we're already loved thank you lord we're already loved we're already [Music] to make jesus love you more [Music] is [Music] [Music] you mind if [Music] in every circumstance [Music] [Music] we thank you for being enough god we thank you for accepting our praise for the privilege and honor that you've given us to worship you freely you're worthy you're worried that you're worthy god thank you jesus [Music] [Music] so i could live in the freedom you died for [Music] and now my life is yours and i will see of your goodness forevermore [Music] you deserve the price worthy is your name worthy is your name [Music] you deserve the praise [Music] [Music] and now my shame [Music] your is goes on and on and i will sing of your goodness forever [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] you surround me you feel me you move on my behalf oh god even when i don't do what i'm supposed to do you are right there you are right there in the middle in the middle in the middle you are you are as your glory feels this flesh you alone deserve all praise you're [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] now yeah [Music] forever jesus oh jesus oh jesus oh jesus it's a powerful day it changes things it [Music] my god [Music] foreign [Music] your name [Music] oh god we will pour out we'll give everything we have to give cause you did it first you did it at the cross god you did it you did it for me jesus oh god so worthy is your name jesus you deserve the price what is your name worthy is [Music] jesus jesus [Music] jesus jesus jesus jesus [Music] [Applause] bye oh [Music] is [Music] with [Music] and we're going to transition in a moment but at home all over this room but we have an opportunity to do is join in in the earth with what's already transpiring in the heavens now the book of revelation declared that the elders around the throne they cast off their crowns at his feet and they declare worthy it's the lamp holy is the lamb we join in with the angels and the elders and we declare worthy worthy worthy worthy is your name both now and forever you were the lamb that was slain before the foundations of the earth and today as the long church we join in with the company of heaven and we declare that your name is marvelous your name is matchless your name is worthy there is none like you you're a beautiful god you're a holy god and you deserve all the glory you deserve all of our honor you deserve all of the praise we lift our voices like a trumpet and zion and we declare our god is the holy one he's the spotless one he is the redeemer he is the lamb of god playing on our behalf of the day we worship you we honor you with the first fruits of our worship we give it to you the first truth of our worship we give it to you [Music] and we thank you we thank you that you're not done doing what you're going to do in and through our lives we we honor you for allowing us to be participants in the earth to what you're doing in the heavens and we ask you this day i ask this thing that for whatever whatever your children around the world stand in the need of you show them that you are god who goes beyond you're the god of exceeding and abundant you're the god that opens opportunities that no man can shut you're the god that makes ways in the wilderness you're the god that exceeds our wildest imagination we stand in faith trusting and believing that we have not seen all of the best that you're going to do we stand in expectation for what our future and our tomorrows will look like we stand in expectation knowing you're the god that holds our future and you're the god who holds our hands in jesus name if you believe that i want you wherever you are to give our god the greatest shout of praise that you can i mean wherever you are give him praise and i'm really trying i'm trying to wrap it back up and keep it together but wherever you are if you this is an opportunity a divine opportunity we may not all be in the same room but we're in the same space and i feel more more than ever the presence of god operating both powerfully and supernaturally on your behalf i believe for some of you your testimony will be that the worst truly is over and some of your best days are on the brink i'm really trying to keep this together but i'm believing i believe worship opens up opportunity for us to see god in new ways and in new realities and i believe anytime we begin to call him holy and worthy god begins to take us spaces in him that we have yet to experience my prayer for you today is the moment where you say i'm walking in the days that i have not seen that ears have not heard that have not entered into the hearts of men i'm walking into the moments that my grandparents prayed for i'm walking into the opportunities that seemed like closed doors and god built me a brand new house i'm looking at the god that makes waves out of nowhere [Applause] [Music] and i'm trusting i'm believing i know the god who loves you as wildly as he does he hasn't failed you yet and i guarantee if there's no other guarantee i can give you it's not about to start now he's worthy he's holy he's excellent in all of his ways and for that we love him we honor him and we give him glory forever forever can y'all help me thank god in the chat for this worship team for this band i'm very very very grateful for all that god has done in a very quick span of time here with the long church and i'm grateful for a team that serves with their whole heart all the way around i'm going to give you one scripture we're going to give of course you all know we are right at the beginning of a series we're calling rags to riches we're in a finance series i'm very very excited about what god's given me to share today so as we prepare to give i want to read this proverbs 3. verse 9 and 10 honor the lord with your wealth with the first fruit of your crops then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vance will brim over with new wine i've told you all this i said it since the beginning of the year i'm believing that this for all of us is about to be the year called overflow everybody shout at overflow overflow as god brings strength to our lives he's also going to bring overflow to every aspect of our resources our finances and what he's called us to do and to deal with to build a future the way the the scripture proverb solomon gives it to us so clear the way that we reach the space called overflow is honoring him first everybody shouted with me first i i honor him with my wealth and with my giving before i do any i don't honor him in the middle i don't honor him at the end i honor him first i give first to him what belongs to him the tithe the sacred portion my offering and on the other side of me giving him the sacred part it opens up the opportunity for overflow to come here is what i'm trusting god for this year for you as you honor him in every aspect of your giving you are going to break through barriers that seemed insurmountable this time last year and it's all going to happen because you did it for him first just type it in the chat first first first i'm not giving him my leftovers i'm not giving it to him after i've given it to my mortgage and my light company i trust god with it first and god blesses everything i have left so what i want you to do if you're uh tithing you're giving offering today here with belong i want you to text belong atl to 77977 again that's belong atl the 77977 should be coming on the bottom of your screen now and i want you to partner with us believing in faith that this year you're going to hit the space called overflow and god's going to allow it to happen because of your faithfulness in your giving all right let's pray this through real quick father i thank you that wherever we start today is just the baseline for what you're about to do in our future today we trust you with our tithe and we trust you with our offering what's what's ours is not even ours anyway it all belongs to you so thank you for trusting us with the resources you have and today we give back to you with cheerful hearts knowing and believing that you are the god that can change our lives in a moment and because you are gyra you're more than enough you have the ability to exceed our needs according to your riches and lord so we trust you with our giving we trust you with our resources and we know that you are the god that fills in all of the spaces in the middle for that we love you and thank you forever in jesus name amen amen if you are excited about giving today if you are excited about what god is about to do in the midst of our lives i just want you again to join me in thanking him for what's about to come all right so we are now in our third week of this rags riches series i'm very uh thankful for what god has already done in our in-person service and even last week really talking about the law the principle of giving but today i want to go a little a little bit deeper and i want to start in mark mark 10 i'm going to read verses 17 through 27 from the passion translation and if you don't give me 30 minutes 35 minutes i think god's gonna say a lot in these next few moments that really opens your heart up to what it's about to look like when you give him your whole heart matter of fact i want you just to drop a heart in the chat real quick just drop in no matter what color it is y'all can drop eight of them if you want to drop a heart because really what we're dealing with today is the heart of the matter as it pertains to our giving here it is mark 10 17 as jesus started on his way a man came running up to him kneeling down in front of him he cried out good teacher what one thing am i required to do to gain eternal life jesus responded why do you call me good only god is truly good you already know the commandments do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not give a false testimony do not cheat and honor your father and mother the man said to jesus teacher i have carefully obeyed these laws since my youth jesus fixed his gaze upon the man with tender love and said to him yet there is still one thing you in you lacking go sell all that you have and give the money to the poor then all of your treasure will be in heaven and after you've done this come back and walk with me king james says you're going to come you're going to take up your crawl so you're going to follow me completely shocked by jesus answer he turned and walked away very sad for he was extremely rich and jesus looked at the faces of his disciples and said how hard it is for the wealthy to enter into god's kingdom realm the disciples were startled when they heard this but jesus again said to them children it is next to impossible for those who trust in their riches to find their way into the god's kingdom it is easier to stuff a rope through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to enter into god's kingdom but this left them all the more astonished and they whisper to one another than who could ever be saved and jesus looked at them and replied with people it is impossible but with god god makes all things possible for a few moments today i want to talk to you from a subject we're simply calling hustle and flow hustle and flow hustle and flow and the the premise of where we're going to drive for these next several moments is it really deals with with this fact this concept that we live in a society we live within the context of a culture that glamorizes how hard we hustle to attain what it is we want we talk about how hard we work uh how many different things we are doing how many different things are transpiring how booked we are how busy we are we live in a culture that prides itself on how well we can hustle to attain what it is we want and or desire what i want to break off of us is the need to work hard with our hands but still have an empty heart and the truth is you can spend your whole life hustling to attain but if the flow of your heart is off everything else is going to be off too god is not afraid of you having riches god is afraid of you having wealth without him because whatever you begin to glamorize and in essence idolize you have now replaced that very thing with him so i don't want your hustle to become your idol because you're working hard now so you don't have to work hard later but the truth of the matter is if god is not in the middle of it you're going to miss it all anyway god has a way and i'm going to walk you through in scripture god has a way of helping you to get what you want pray for and desire and still keep him at the same time and i'll say this i don't want to be in a space or position where i gain anything and i lose him in the process so y'all ready to walk this three i'll take a deep breath go ahead and take a deep breath now breathe in breathe out because this is going to get a little tight in just a few moments all right as mark 10 17 opens up this is really one of my one of my favorite stories within the context of jesus's teaching and it's one of my favorite because it has so many very intricate nuances to it that have principles for our lives principles for the kingdom and principles for ultimately what he's calling us to do so as we open up in verse 17 what you'll see in the verses 5 verses 12 through 16 jesus just got finished laying hands on a bunch of little children parents were bringing their children to jesus to pray for them to lay his hands on them and jesus is like like suffering little children to come let them come on the other side of children departing a zealous young man sees an opportunity to engage jesus he's not a child but he ain't grown grown yet he sees an opportunity to engage jesus and the thing that he asks jesus and i don't think we spend enough time here and this has everything to do with how we give what we give in the position of our heart he says to jesus what must i do to attain eternal life right the very first place everything gets off in our lives it's when we think what we get and how we're positioned in him is from the position or the posture of what we do we see god's love for us god's salvation for us what god gives us as a direct result of how well we work we have already thrown away the work of grace in our lives hear me there is nothing today that you can do that's gonna make god love you any more than he already does all right there is nothing you can say today that's going to change god's mind about what he has said about your life your future your destiny and ultimately what he's called you to i believe that if we stop trying to work so hard to be in his favor we'll soon see that our works wasn't doing anything for us anyway now let me let me paint it like this how many y'all ever wanted to date somebody and you worked extra hard to get the attention you know when you knew he was going to be in the room your attire looked a certain way you smelled a certain way when you walked in the room yo your fragrance filled the room you made sure your head wasn't busted that day you know you made sure you had anything in order when you knew the opportunity was coming to be presented with somebody you were interested in and fellas is just as bad with us right we make sure that fit is tight that that lineup is straight and we want to be sure if we gonna be around her and her girls everything look how it's supposed to look why because we are working to impress somebody that hasn't seen us or that has seen us that we want to see us in a different way what i love about god is that there's nothing you can do that's going to impress him god is not impressed by our worship god is not impressed by our cute bible devotion god is not impressed by anything that we call the milestones that make us great god did all of his impression work at calvary what impresses god and what impressed god was the shed blood of jesus on all of our behalf watch so now i don't have to spend my life working trying to for him to see me i've already been seen i don't have to spend the rest of my life hoping that if i do the right things i'm going to get his attention i cannot be loved any more than i am right now so here is why all of this is important and why all of this matters in the grand scheme of what god is calling you to do even from a giving perspective because when our hearts feel that we've got to do more we approach giving from the position of what we owe god so we begin to see giving as a chore and we see giving as something we've got to check off of our monthly bills as far as it pertains to giving to god or get given to church or giving when he asks of us to give right whenever giving becomes a chore we strip the grace out of it you don't give to god because you owe him you give to god because you've got an opportunity that's two completely different things when you live from the position of what you owe you'll always feel like you're in a debt that you can never pay off how many y'all have ever owed somebody money and when they you saw them coming and you didn't have any money like you ducking trying to be sure they don't see you you trying to get low like you try to make sure you do whatever is possible because you don't have what you need to pay off the debt here's the thing when we approach god from a position of i owe you and church has yeah please hear my heart as i say this church has put it so much in our language that it translates to every part of our spirituality we owe him this praise we owe him the seed we owe him this time when the truth is everything that we give to god now from a kingdom perspective is not to pay off a debt it's an opportunity to see him differently if you live from oh you can never walk in opportunity that gives expansion owing keeps me in debt opportunity opens me up to expansion and what god wants to do with you in every aspect of your spiritual life your financial life your emotional life he doesn't want you to live from the position of i owe him this much i've got an opportunity to do something different it changes the way you look at your time you look at your seed you look at your efforts it's not me working off a debt it's me stepping into divine opportunity and when god gives me opportunity he also gives me expansion what have you missed because you were working to get it because you owed him instead of resting in the grace of what expansion looks like i want us to shift our minds whenever an opportunity comes to give this is not a moment for you to start tallying in your head okay well i spent this here and i ain't got this in my check and i got no no whenever an opportunity comes for me to give i smile because this is a new opportunity like i'm not paying off a debt that can never be paid off i've got an opportunity to partner with heaven and see things from a different lens what partnerships have you missed because you felt like you had too much debt you owed him too much what has god been trying to get to you to get through you that you couldn't receive because you were living like a debtor what spaces did you come to god as if you did not deserve the work that christ has already done and because you felt like you didn't deserve it you resisted it when god was trying to send you the right opportunity i need everybody to shout it typing in the chat opportunity i feel this in my heart before this quarter ends some of you all are going to see opportunities that you've never seen before you're going to see doors open up that have never been in your position before and if you don't change the way your heart feels towards god you're going to feel like i can't do it because i owe him too much instead of saying i'm going to walk through it because he's opened me up with this new opportunity everybody shout opportunity so he says what can i do to gain eternal life how can i earn eternal life and he says look you know the commandments don't murder don't commit adultery don't steal don't give a false testimony don't cheat uh honor your father and mother and the man said teacher i have carefully obeyed these laws since my youth i want you to understand what's revealed just in that text jesus begins to question him about the mosaic laws that solely deal with the way you treat people and the first thing the man says is i've lived this since i was a little boy i've done everything right here it is you know your heart is out of position with heaven when your answers are filled with arrogance it still amazes me to this day how many people are blind to who they truly are they've lived under the pretense of a false self so long that they see no error in anything they've they're doing now or anything they've ever done right but when my heart is off arrogance speaks before humility so i'll begin to speak from the position that i've got it all together when in truth i'm probably missing some parts and i don't even know it what blessing have you missed because your heart was too proud to see it from the right lens what spaces has god been trying to give you more but you were too proud to see it from his seat what is god trying to do in your life today that if you would just humble yourself it'll change your whole world god wants to lead your life with humility not arrogance and the thing is i don't care how good you think you are or how well you think you've lived there is something in your life that's off the mark right and jesus actually says it to this man in the next verse 21 21 uh he says there's still one thing lacking when when that verse translates it translates to romans 3 and 23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the lord right he's telling him i hear what you're saying but there's still some stuff missing here's what i love about god though when god tells the man he's got stuff missing he's still looking at him from the seed of love it says he looked on him with tender love this arrogant prideful rich young man is speaking out of his self and jesus still loves him now this may only resonate this kind of off off mark a little bit but this man on the resume with a few of y'all i'm glad that even in my arrogance he still loved me like i'm glad that even when i thought more of me than i should have he never stopped loving me i'm glad that his love is not like a faucet that can turn on and turn off his love is unrelenting and he loves me even in my foolishness so he said look you're still missing something and here's what i want you to do go and sell everything you've got give the money to the poor your treasure is going to be in heaven after you've done this come back holler at me work with me and you can follow me take up your cross and follow me and the bible says immediately the man was filled with sorrow the man left dejected because jesus came for his god you see when you've hustled to build it on your own without him it hurts you when he asks for it when you have built your life with your own hands and built your wealth by your own hands when he asked you to surrender it it seems like an impossible thing the truth is if his hand is in my wealth he can ask for it all because i've watched him do it time and time again whatever he takes he has the ability to give back over and over again right even like he took job's entire family his sons and daughters all of his wealth but on the other side of job's submission there was restoration what here it is what has god been asking from you financially that you say god i just can't even do that right now you you you know these you know all these bills i got got it you know all these children i got you know i'm still paying off sallie mae and fannie mae and all their maids and you know i i'm i've got all this stuff it would be impossible for me to surrender to you what you're asking what you're really saying to god is my bills have more authority than your provision so when you ask me for what should be a simple thing i have to check with the god that's ruling my life i love you and i sing to you but my life priorities still got to stay in order it's hard for me to surrender my finances here when i've got more to handle here then i've got money in the bank anyway so the thing that god will always check for is where is the position and the flow of your heart because when our lives are trusting him when we choose to trust him with everything we got god can ask us for a hard thing and we'll do it even when it's hard now let me just ask y'all how many y'all in the last y'all can raise your hands in here you can put your hands up in the chat how many all in the last two years god has asked you for something you felt like you did not have that may be financial that may be emotional that may be relational have you ever heard god like literally ask you for something like that you know you know god i i ain't got it right now you you want me to forgive them i ain't got that type of forgiveness in my heart right now you you want me to go back to that nah i gotta see see what had happened was and i remember when you know and we go through our whole litany of our wives and the truth is if he is not just savior but lord of every aspect of our lives when he asks us for the hard thing the hard thing isn't as hard when i'm submitted in the right place i can give up what he's asking for without fear of what i'm going to lose on the other side of it the man walked away dejected because he spent his whole life hustling building wealth but wealth without him means nothing new jobs new opportunities new doors that he's not in mean nothing you may get more money but you're gonna have more stress on the other side of it too like i gotta have him in the middle of everything that's working so he walks away dejected and the disciples are confused because in their context in their framework of thinking in the context and the culture of the time the assumption was the wealthier you were the closer you were to god so the way people handled wealthy people of wealth people of influence was as if they had a closer relationship with god because of how he favored them and blessed them so the disciples are confused because jesus asks someone he's blessed with all this wealth to give it back and what jesus is trying to explain now to them is the way my kingdom works it doesn't matter how much wealth you attain on your own if your heart flows off if what is in your heart is not in alignment with what i've called and created you for everything else is off i think my bigger question for you today is as it pertains to your finances and your resources where is your heart do you trust god as much as you say you do when it comes to the thing you think you don't have enough of it's easy to trust god to sing a song and it's easy to trust god to to shout to do a devo but what happens when god starts poking at the thing you feel like you need more of can you trust him when you don't have what you need and when you've got more than enough to ask for the thing that you think you need the most when was the last time god asked you to do something differently financially and you didn't say no with your mouth you said it with your actions you said i'll never reject him i'll never just say no but everything in your life the way that you responded in action looked completely different than what he was asking for all right so here's the last thing i'm gonna i'm gonna give you last two things in in verse 25 like in verse 25 i think the version i said it's like getting a rope through a needle king james talks about it's like getting a camel through an eye of a needle and there are several historical landing places for that some call it translation differences in aramaic it actually and camel and rope have the same translation but i think the truth of what jesus is trying to give his disciples is this you me us we're in this world but we're not of this world so the standard that we live by does not match the place where i exist i live here but i'm not ruled by here my principles my decisions my faith all look differently than what it looks and feels like in the world that i exist in right so a lot of times when we talk about the kingdom of god people look at it as a far off place that we're gonna get to by and by the truth is right now those of us that have accepted jesus christ and the work of holy spirit we are living in god's kingdom right now everybody shouted right now so because i'm living in his kingdom right now the way my life moves and operates is not the way the rest of the people in the world do it my life lines up with his values his principles his design his desires right so when it comes to my wealth when it comes to my income when it comes to my finances that same principle applies i know that everything i get is not mine anyway the earth is the lord's and the fullness thereof he just trusts me to be a steward of what he puts in my hand my question is how is your heart handling what he put in your hand are you claiming kingdom of god while still operating on worldly principles is everything you touch being released before you have an opportunity to sow it are you paying everything and giving god what's left are you trusting god with what's first and believing everything else is gonna line up y'all gonna hear me say this throughout this series throughout this year whenever god allows increase to hit your hands he never gets the leftovers he gets what's first giving it to him first blesses the rest of what you got this is the sacred fortune and when i give it to him first it opens up the opportunity for him to bless everything else when i live in the kingdom of god i'm ruled by its principles and the principle as it pertains to giving is is a very simple one god would much rather your heart flow right then you to hustle wrong and god is not going to call you to build five businesses that takes your heart out of alignment god is not going to call you to spaces that challenge the flow from your heart that he actually needs because watch god is never trying to take anything from you god is always trying to get something to you it it's never god trying to strip you of anything you've got it's always god trying to give you more of and an opportunity for you to receive more of what you don't he's never trying to take he is always trying to give what would happen if you changed your lens on the way you see giving and changed your heart about how you feel about giving opportunities and trusted god with your money the same way you trust other individuals with your life now here's i'm going to tell you this story and this is this is it um i i realize and y'all know just justin foster he's got my heart i love him i realized i had a whole lot of faith in justin foster when i let him drive me to a preaching engagement and while he was driving down the interstate someone called him to do a graphic design and justin with one hand is designing something on his phone while driving across 65 going 85 and i said god i don't know if i made the right decision today god if you love me just let me make it there alive that's all i'm asking i know you love me just let me make it there live justin's literally designing a flyer while driving 80 85 miles an hour down the road his kneecaps got the wheel jesus ain't got it his kneecap does right we get there and just like but did you die like you made it safe right i realized in that moment i had a lot of faith in justin foster with my life what happens when we translate those same places of faith in people to how we really handle god because very often we say we trust him deep but our actions don't prove it in particular as it pertains to our resources you show up for service you'll log in do this you'll serve every once in a while but what happens when god starts asking you for hard things is your heart ready to surrender the heart and do you trust him with what you've got the way that you should so that he can get you more too much is given much is required those who have little give little those who have much give much it's it's levels to giving but in every level the heart still got to be the same here it is i'm teaching my girls how to tithe off 50 dollars now so when 50 becomes 5 000 it's not a hard thing it's a principle and when five thousand becomes fifty thousand it's not a hard thing it's a principle and when fifty thousand becomes five hundred thousand it's not a hard thing to do it because it's the principle when you live the principle you hear me say law and principle interchangeably here when you live the principle right god always exceeds your wildest imaginations let me pray this through for you father i just thank you that today we are trusting you more with our money than we ever have in our lives this this year this season will be one where we believe that we're gonna sow and reap in the same season and because of that we know that we've got to trust you beyond our wildest imagination with what is our resources today father we declare that the first portion is your sacred portion you don't ask for it all you ask for peace but with us giving you a peace you turn around and bless it all so father today i'm asking that you remove the hustle mentality out of our mind and you replace it with a real outflow of our heart that giving ain't difficult when our hearts are right towards you give us the faith to believe that you're god who's good enough to get anything to us that our lives need and because we've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread because there's never been a moment where a son has asked for bread and been given a stone because even in our difficulties when we didn't understand what was happening you always proved yourself to be jira to date we make the decision to trust you with our hearts as it pertains to our resources we thank you that you are the well that never runs dry and because you never run out you have opportunities for us that will exceed our wildest imagination today we surrender our heart we surrender our will we surrender our emotions we surrender the space in our lives where poverty has cursed our perspective of giving we break even today the generational ideology and curse of lack and we declare that because you're the god that's full of abundance you're going to allow what we need to flow through us and to flow to us father i thank you for releasing the dams that have blocked wealth and we declare in jesus name that everything you put in our hands we're going to steward it and manage it appropriately father we thank you that there is no place of wealth or resources where our hearts will ever be tainted again and today we trust you more than our words could ever say with our future with our lives and with our money today god i'm asking you to do something i've never asked before i pray today lord you blow on bank accounts and on resources and on 401ks and iras father keep our heart rate as you allow increase to hit them and father we trust and believe because you hold our days and because you know our tomorrow you will be the god that provides appropriately and does everything that our hearts and lives need we trust you with our resources the earth is the lord's and the fullness thereof and we believe that because it all belongs to you you know what to give us in every season of our lives so father i thank you that lack is cursed off of us you are teaching us how to be resourceful you are showing us what it means to steward and steward well you are teaching us financial boundaries you are teaching us how to operate within our means by the grace of your holy spirit you are showing us everything that this season of our lives need to see so father i thank you that the hustle mentality is forever broken and what you want from us is our hearts today lord we surrender our hearts again we rend our hearts before you and we surrender our hearts back to you we ask if there's anything that you discover within this context that you would remove it so that we see you from the right seat and from the right perspective and father we love you for being the lord who provides you our jehovah tyra and we trust you with all of our resources now and forever in jesus name if you believe that i promise you i'm trusting god to do something spectacular something supernatural in your resources this year i believe as we go through these next 12 weeks of teaching you're going to see god do something so uncommon that it's going to shake your whole family and your whole family line i'm asking for lost money to be found i'm asking god to open up the door open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings that you don't have room enough to receive i'm asking god to block the devourer off of your life off of your fruit off of your resources off of your provision and i'm thanking god today y'all i feel the lord i'm thanking god today that when you expire and leave from this earth you're not going to expire empty your children will have an inheritance because of what god is going to start in and through your life now may this be a moment a season where you see the overwhelming and overflowing favor of god in and over your finances and it is so in jesus name so i don't know what your position is look like i don't know what your finances are i don't know what your resources have looked like what i do know is the god who sends provision i i've lived the days where i dug through couch cushions to find a couple nickels and a couple coins just to be able to feed my children i realized that the principle worked at every level when i had little but i trusted him with what was holy he exceeded my wildest expectations and when he's blessed me to shift tax brackets and i trusted him the same with what he gave me the principle still works today you may hear this now and say i miss my opportunity to give i want to jump in to give god in this opportunity to give god what my heart missed before again you could text belong atl to 77977 but but there may be some of you that say i've heard this message my heart's been convicted i want to see god differently in every aspect of my life not just in my finances but in my walk in my conversation and my interactions i'm going to see them differently and i believe that this is the place where god is calling my life to be part and listen the long church we simply exist to be a bridge for people to experience and belong to christ and community and what we've done from worship what we've done through word what we've done through preacher and what we'll do through post show it's all to be a connector for you to see him differently everything that we do if you don't see him differently we've done it in vain if you don't see jesus in it we've missed the mark our desire is to bridge you back to him and if today you're saying i need jesus i want jesus i've been running from them but this is a moment where my heart's convicted to do it differently today if you hear the voice of the lord don't let your heart get hard open up the opportunity to step into a new space with him and for those of you today that are going to say yes to god again in partnering to be a part of this community to give in jesus your hand for the first time i want to pray this very simple prayer father i thank you for those that are giving you them for the first time who have fought and ran from what you were calling them to do but today they're submitted and surrendered and i honor you for what you're about to do in their lives and in their future simply because they chose to partner with the community that was going to transform their lives today father do something supernatural in their midst so they will simply know that it is you at work in them in jesus name if that's you i want you to text belong atl to 9400 again that's belong atl to 9400 all right and i'm believing god that as you text that number and as you respond to the questions that are going to be text to you that you're going to join and be a part of something that's going to give your life longevity it's going to bless you with long life and with all that we thank him we love him i love y'all and i can't wait to see you again next sunday for part 4. [Music] wow marissa that was so good right he gave a whole new meaning to the phrase hustle and flow right like literally we can have all the wealth in the world but it means nothing if jesus isn't at the center and i love that because god is like the ultimate example of sacrifice and giving because he gave us his son and you know what that's so rich that you said that i'm just the ultimate sacrifice because when i was sitting there what i got from that message is that jesus is the real tithe yeah and if we really understand that jesus is the real tithe it goes back to owing we don't owe jesus but he gave us an opportunity opportunity an opportunity to enter into that and so guys i'm just so excited about that word this is just what we needed to start this week right let's see what's in the comments what do you think i know social media has been talking wow it says kiki williams says wow pastor lebriane gave my life a whole new what i said to the meeting hustle and flow hashtag belong atl make sure you're following us on social media all right and john carter says pastor lebron bless me today he blessed me too john carter all right and that's hashtag belong atl i always love the choir at belong our worship team is literally amazing we have some of like the best worship leaders around and they all get to come together and and bring us the we need i know that's always true for me tiffany jackson says i'm trying uh not trying i get you girl i'm trying to hustle and give where do i do that at i'm glad you i'm glad you asked you can give partner with us in giving by texting belong atl to 7797 and then kane johnson says i've been i think that's a song every day i'm hustling every day there's a couple songs like this i've been hustling all my life all my life i want to give my life to christ where can i do that pastor uh well you can do so by texting belong atl to 9400 it's going to send you a couple of prompts and one of those is to partner with christ in receiving salvation i mean there will be next steps that will prompt you so that you can walk this life out with us here at belong so guys we're just so excited just as we enter into this next week we just got so much of a good word right so much and i know you guys were probably enjoying last week because last week was national love week right it was valentine's day was monday so just want to just connect back in with you guys as you're starting their week strong remember this message and just go in and sprinkle a little jesus wherever you go remember this message and know that you can be a part of that tide even in your services and so much more and so i'm just excited what about you zoe i'm super excited and so we will see you guys next week same time same time bye belongers [Music] okay

Channel: Belong ATL

Views: 2,255

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Id: GT9l02FovB8

Length: 92min 52sec (5572 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 20 2022