Generations Church LiveStream 06.13.21

[Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] welcome to generations [Music] for is [Music] [Music] the mercy of our [Music] of the measure [Music] is that sets us free [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] i give my whole life to honor this love by the lamb who was slain i'm forgiven the sinner's savior crown him forever him forever is him forever is [Music] is [Music] because even though we're weak we strong [Music] this morning if you're here this morning and you want to just guys you ever see the movie filled with dreams if you build it they will come well this is going to be the field of praise up here and if you want to occupy this area this morning just come up to the front and worship if you feel like that lead of that come and stand in the altar and worship and seek god you're welcome to do that you can do that in this place amen let's press in this morning let's press in i haven't waited all week to come here to just stand in one place and slowly rock back and forth i want to get my praise on this morning i need some people to get my praise on with me amen so you have that freedom you have that liberty [Music] i need you in my heart and break me [Music] apart see that you're shaping my life [Music] [Music] is [Music] in my heart and break me [Music] apart of me is my [Music] my [Music] to trust what you say that you're good and your love is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] but your spirit is [Music] to trust what you say hey you're good and your love is but your spirit's strong in me [Music] your spirit's strong in me my flesh may fail my god you never will even when we're down in the depths of despair or whatever trial or tribulation or our lack of understanding of your purpose for us lord you're always there we believe in the power of your word and the things that you've done and we believe that you will do it again may your presence be here this morning lord work on our lives move in our hearts like we've never seen before lord [Music] walking around these walls i thought by now they'd [Music] waiting for change to come but knowing the battles won for you have never failed me yet [Music] your promise still stands great is your faithfulness faithfulness i'm still in your hands this is my confidence you've never failed me [Music] i know [Music] my heart will seek your praise again oh jesus [Music] my heart will sing your praises again sing your promise still stand your promise still stands great is your faithfulness this is [Music] i'm still in your hands [Music] yet [Music] [Applause] [Music] where there was no way and i believe i'll see you do it [Music] i'll see again do it again where there was no way i'll see you too [Music] your promise still stands great is your faithfulness you're faithful we're still in his hands i'm still in your hands this is my confidence [Music] still stands great is your faithfulness [Music] this is [Music] [Music] me [Music] come on put your hands together come on can you guys turn me up on this mike come on turn me up [Music] come on put your hands together come on you can do better than that we give you glory listen let me read to you can you guys turn me up in this please thanks thank you thank you let me read you some stay standing with me for just a moment this morning you guys carry me for a moment up here come on the little holy ghost yeah let's figure it out pull something behind me here yeah a little something sweet that's fine [Music] as i'm gonna read this next verse um let me read to you you can turn me up a little bit because i'm feeling a little preachy and i need to hear myself there you go awesome thank you thank you now jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of israel none went in and none none went out and none came in so jericho is shut up can't get in shut down it's on lockdown jericho's quarantine and the lord said to joshua see i have given jericho see i have given jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor man i don't even need my i'll preach this this morning you shall march around the city all the men of war going around the city once thus shall you do it for six days seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times and the priests shall blow the trumpets and when they make a long blast with the ram's horn when you hear the sound of the trumpet then all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall flat and the people shall go up everyone straight before him let me tell you this morning you ever ever hear that analogy death by a thousand tiny cuts and my daughter brooklyn this week she got a cut on her hand she goes i can't figure out why it hurts so bad it's such a tiny cut death by a thousand tiny cuts and that's sometimes that's how the devil is sometimes he'll just do a thousand little things to mess with you it's kind of like if you're here this morning honey and you got your hair done so nice lori you look so beautiful this morning the girls up here the guys you're okay lj we can't use you in this illustration and we can barely use me but if i came up to you and i just messed up your hair you got a little different vibe going on this morning it's looking good this is good if i just messed up your hair if i just went up messed up your hair that's not going to hurt you is it it's going to bother you though and that's what the enemy does he comes by he tries to mess up your hair it's it's not something maybe that's this is taking you out of life you still got the job you're still going to church but he's messing up your hair he says it's a thousand tiny cuts and it's maddening and what it does it gets you focusing on these things and you lose your heart for victory listen there are some things shut up right now that god wants to open up to you he wants to give the king and all the possessions into your hand he wants to give the king and all the possessions into your hand but you know what you're not going to get it like this [Music] you're there are some things that you have to shout for there are some things that you have to in other words things you have to fight for let me tell you we're in a season right now this church needs to start fighting we need some warfare prayer happening listen a great cup of coffee and some cool signs out front is not going to run the devil off now we're keeping the good coffee and we're going to get more signs that's fine but that's not what's going to build victory that's not what's going to run the devil off that's not what's going to bring victory to people's lives it's a church that prays that fights that hits warfare prayer listen christian i can't do this every sunday i shouldn't have to do this every sunday this is some this needs to be part of our culture you all need to be home open up the prayer closet it needs to be part of your life you need to be consecrated go ahead set your bible on top of your tv and then when you turn on that show that you shouldn't be watching i pray that that bible haunts you we need to start living consecrated separated on fire holy spirit filled lives we go into the city and we're light we're salt and light we're not just a church down the road we're making impacts into our community amen come on guys i'm trying to give it to you this morning amen there's a warfare that needs to happen right let me tell you death by a thousand tiny cuts the enemy's crafty he's not gonna come in and some big thing you know that's gonna cause you to go off track or maybe cause a church to shut down but it'll be it'll be death by a thousand tiny cuts little things that continue to unravel and undermine and chip away and erode what god wants to do and it's a cycle battle that needs to be broken today in jesus name so lord we just come before you this morning as a church and just these in these moments right here part of this service we just come on let's just recommit ourselves to him in jesus name [Music] come on if we have to do it we just recommit ourselves to your word this morning we recommit ourselves to prayer we recommit ourselves to living up right before you god and the things that we've kind of grown accustomed to and maybe complacent with god we shake those off today in jesus name just by the power of your spirit god do us a solid and just extend your holy spirit test this morning in jesus name and just fan that flame the bible says a bruised reed you will not break and smoking flax you do not quench until you send forth judgment unto victory so god if you see us hanging over like that bruised reed like that little cat of nine tails that hangs over if you see our little wick on our candle just barely smoking you're not going to come by and snap it off or quench it you're going to fan the flame you're going to prop it up and that's what we're asking for you to do this morning god come on just come by and fan the flame right just lift your hands where you're at if you feel led lift your hands holy spirit just move upon people in this room in the name of jesus come on let's just linger for a moment [Music] yeah we bless your name jesus we give you glory do the work that only you can do holy spirit we need you we need an encounter with you we need to encounter the living god we don't need church we don't need man-made religion we don't need strategy and programs we need the presence of god come by jesus every person in this room god there's something that you desire to do in every heart in this room come on open up to him this morning come on open up tim this morning you're here why not just say god whatever you want to do i'm open i'm open come on give it all to him we worship you lord god come on let's let's lift our voice we love you jesus we give you glory come on let us be a chorus of praise in here this morning we love you god we worship you we we adore you god we magnify your name come on we lift you on high we declare your sovereignty we declare our insufficiency god meet us at the point of our need this morning in jesus name amen bless your name come on let's just let our prayer be like incense before you lord god receive our worship this morning god receive it come on we turn from things that are leading us away from you god [Music] will help us to see the blind spots in our lives god illuminate our life lord god don't let us be deceived god keep guiding us come on put that light before us on our path in jesus name have we blessed your name we'll send those times of refreshing now in jesus name send that refreshing now god people that are viewing online this morning i just pray that where they're at come on i just had a little witness remember my brothers and sisters that are viewing online this morning god that you'd meet them at the point of need that you'd fill their house right now where they're worshiping lord god touch them come on just lift your hands we give you glory right where you're at in jesus name may we bless you come on we give you glory we just want to be in your presence [Music] would you give the lord a good hand to praise this morning we worship you god we give you glory [Music] you can be seated this morning guys lovely johnette would you come and lead us in a few announcements this morning [Music] good morning as we're worshiping this morning i there's a song that we've been listening to at our house um and part of the song at the end um they're singing hell lost another one i am free i don't want to get emotional after all that worship but that declaration you're not necessarily worshiping god when you're saying hell lost another one i am free but that declaration you're declaring hell doesn't get me i am going to be in heaven forever with jesus and everybody in this room you can declare that hell lost another one i am free in jesus so i was just thinking of that as we were worshiping and just wanted to share so anyway we've got lots of awesome announcements today we've got so much fun stuff happening at the church this month or this summer but first of all just want to say welcome welcome to everybody who's here everybody watching online if you are with us for the first time we want to give you an extra welcome and on your way out today everybody wants to clap and praise and cheer today um on your way out through those double doors there's a table on the left with some gift bags grab one um it's just our way of saying thank you for joining us and we're so glad you're here so um when you came in you were handed a program and there's all kinds of stuff in that program one thing is your connection card and that's our way of just staying connected with you there is a place to put your name email phone number how you heard about us all that good stuff there's also a place to put prayer requests and you can um write out all your prayer requests or you can just put personal prayer requests those are prayed for daily by by well over 100 people so i just encourage you if you have a prayer need or you know someone who does jot that down and drop that in the offering basket at the end of service and then on the back of that there's all kinds of things going on and if you want to just um find out more information check those boxes and um someone will get in contact with you and if you've got a little one that may just be a little restless through the coffee bar you'll see our check-in attendant and they can show you where our family room is where you can watch the service so um you won't miss a thing if you need to go out so coming up i am really excited about this one so parents and people with kids grandparents if you have neighbor kids vbs is coming up in august it is going to be a train theme it's rocky railway had to practice saying that it's kind of a tongue twister for me but it's going to be three days of locomotive train fun all i mean our vbs's are so much fun um you won't want to miss it um it's august 27th through 29th and you can register on our website right now next week we'll have where uh parents can register over in the gen kids check-in but if you want to register now to make sure you get your spot just jump on our website and do that and we also need lots of volunteers many hands make the work light we need security to make sure everybody stays safe we need help with food we need team leaders and set designers so just mark that off on your connection card if you're interested and someone will get in touch with you this week and give you all the information you need tonight at 6 00 pm is next gen youth ministries so if you know a teenager middle school high school get them here at 6 00 p.m they will have so much fun and um always hear an awesome message by mark junior so um father's day is next week happy early father's day honey father's day is next week we're going to have hot dog barbecue and a hot rod car show so be sure and get here we want to honor all the dads bring a dad bring your dad bring another dad sons bring your dads bring your kids like i said at mother's day it's a good way to you know tell your dad come with me to church it's father's day spend some quality time with me get them to church and jen kids check-in which i mentioned a few times you may have noticed that at the end of the coffee bar it's that really cool tables and computers down there where the kids check in that team is growing and if you are interested in being a part of that team we would love to have you join us so there's a place on your connection card check that box and pastor sean will get a hold of you and give you more information about it such a fun way to get to know families and you're not necessarily teaching in the back you're just getting to check in kids and get to know them so check that off and be sure to help and check in so barbecuing booms july 4th independence day is almost here i told you we had a lot going on around here this summer so barbecue and booms july 4th come to church in the morning go home take a nap come back for a barbecue fireworks all kinds of fun outdoor activities be sure and be here it's going to be awesome and lastly if you're interested in what it means to know god more you may have some questions about the lord and you'd like to talk to one of our pastors there's a box on the connect card as well that says taking your next steps with god check that off and someone will contact you answer any questions resource you so um be sure and do that if you have any questions so now we're going to take a quick three minute break go refill your coffee use the restroom say hi to someone meet someone and meet us right back in here in three minutes [Music] [Music] [Music] because down you because of your [Music] because of you know you got this whole thing under control my soul is untouchable because you've already won me my victory is [Music] down [Music] now what they do [Music] no [Music] [Music] no all right you guys want to come back in and grab your seats before you get started you guys hear me okay test check one two can everybody hear me okay good good good no yes maybe awesome sounds like we still got some music playing in the background there is that outside yeah awesome we're ready guys lock em in yeah thank you there are some weeks that you guys can close those doors please there are some weeks uh that you could drive a car through the sanctuary when i'm speaking and i don't even know did you see the did you see the brush fire in the sanctuary last sunday when you're preaching no didn't notice it and then there are other weeks that there'll be like an ant crawling across the floor and i'm like can does everybody see that i just i think this morning's one maybe more of the ants i don't know um there was a guy totally off script here for a second named billy sunday anybody ever hear a billy sunday yeah great evangelist um he would he would he would go to towns and have his meetings it's set up wasn't really a tent they would they would actually build kind of like a little a little structure and he would stay in the town for like a couple weeks preaching wouldn't be like a one night service and funny about him uh he wouldn't do a meeting in a town unless all the churches would shut down and go to the meeting you know so he knew something maybe that other people didn't know about unity anyways um towards the end of his life he started getting a little bit kind of crotchety you know and the worship service and this and that and the other and just kind of bothered him and he just wanted it i mean you can go on youtube and i think there's a video of him um i don't know would have been in the prohibition he was preaching during prohibition when was that any historians 20s yeah 30s um there's an old reel of him and i don't know what year it is but around that time probably and he's just preaching away and and those those little those little uh little uh housekeeping things of a church service began to bug him kind of like announcements this morning you know i'm in the shoot there i'm like that bull you ever watch rodeo i'm bucking i'm bucking i'm right wait to get out of the chute but in reality the announcements are what god's doing right so we celebrate those so we always have time for those thank you for sharing uh those with us this morning and we'll be sure to be a part of all of them amen for your instruction johnette so let's get right into it uh last week we talked about the biblical mandate to honor all men you might turn me down just a little bit guys if i start screaming here um one main point from last week just a quick recap capture the whole theme of so he could have just given us this one sentence last week and let us go well honoring others is recognizing the worth of what god has created that's really what it is we're talking about honor over the next few weeks here and building a culture of honor in the body of christ because not because it's a good idea or because it's a welcoming thing um or just nice to be a part of a group of people that honor each other but it's a biblical mandate and really what we're doing when we're honoring others is we're recognizing the worth of god's creation isn't that cool we're saying yeah you did something good here so we had a good time talking about you know honor being a pillar of civilization we talked about that last week this morning i want to talk about honor uh is the breeding ground for miracles everybody say more yeah god's always up to more than you think right so we're talking about honor for three or four weeks and how important that is for us to honor each other but let me tell you god is always up to more than what is on the surface he could ask you to go say hello to somebody you know as a christian do you ever feel led i mean maybe not so i feel led to just talk to that person in line at the grocery store come on somebody or or maybe at the gas pump or a co-worker at work or just kind of have god tugging on your heart a little bit and you think that's just to you know let them know god cares but you never know what they're going through i mean god's always up to more he's always up to more say more god is always up to more you know when you're given the offering it's not just about paying for lights to stay on or some thing project the church is doing he's working on your heart god is always up to more he's always always always up to more you being here this morning you came because someone invited you you came because it's your church you came because you wanted to come and get built up or worship but he's always up to more he does exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think so guess what god's up to more than you can even think you thought you knew what he was up to this morning he's up to more than that i love it so honor is the breeding ground for miracles and let's look at honor the making of a miracle and i want to start by reading a passage we got a couple of them to read this morning um i want to start by reading a passage from mark chapter six and let's jump right in jesus is rejected in nazareth he is preaching around the galilee which the sea of galilee had little places tiberius capernaum these little areas located around the sea of galilee which is like a massive lake so there were little little towns around this big body of water called the galilee the sea of galilee so he moves inland a little bit back to his homeland to nazareth and he's there and here's where it picks up he went away from there galilee and came to his hometown and his disciples followed him and on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished saying where did they kind of like this morning you'll be saying wow no you're more astonished at his teaching and many were astonished saying you probably would be more inclined to where did this man get these things how did that knucklehead come up with such a great message where did this man get these things what is the wisdom given to him how are such mighty works done by his hands and here's why they were confused about all this is not this the carpenter the son of mary and the brother of james and joseph and judas and simon are not his sisters here with us and they took offense at him and jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household and he could not do mighty many mighty works there or mighty work there this translation says except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them those must have been the ones that honored him hello and he marveled because of their unbelief the reason jesus did not do many miracles in nazareth is because of a lack of honor toward him we're starting to you know sniff something out here right a theme is emerging and here's something interesting jesus alludes to the fact that a lack of honor is a sign of disbelief says he didn't read it again here jesus compares a lack of honor to a lack of faith do do me one more time say more it's always more than you think well i'm not honoring that person it's worse than you think to not honor people it's always more it's always more with god it's always bigger it's always more with him amen it's not just the surface value you evaluate a situation think and i probably should do better but i'm not you know or it's always more with him jesus compares a lack of honor to a lack of faith we read to you verse 4 and through 6 again and jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives in his own household and he could not do he could do no mighty works there except he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them and he marveled because of their unbelief so jesus compares a lack of honor for him he he gives the lack of honor for him the lack of recognition for him and that's a loaded statement he he gives that as an excuse for why he didn't do miracles how important is honor i believe when we honor god and others we will see god's power manifest it just imagine the community imagine a community of people who honored each other who really honored each other i wonder sometimes if we'll see it you know i went to this thing one time and it's a museum in the middle of uh indiana and it's called menohof and that's short for mennonite house and there's a mennonite community back there these are all the mennonites and the amish and the german baptist these are some of the early migrations from the reformation period in europe if you know a little bit of church history and there's these are people that migrated over here christians that migrated over here and the mennonites are still i think we have a couple mennonite congregations here they don't dress funny today modern mennonite uh comet congregations would dress you know like this you know they're not like some of the amish still have a certain garb that they wear the german baptist they still have a certain garb that they wear the german baptist men back in the midwest they wear pants called broad falls i know because my friend grew up in a german baptist home and i've been back there and visited all of his family on a couple different occasions just mark he got the worst haircut in his life in indiana one time he was a kid it's like from here we need to just go bald buddy and their pants are called broad falls and they have to button over say i had 501s they're not like 501s they like button over because the zipper is too modern i mean some of the interesting uh you know ideas people come up with religious ideas but that place there menohoff it's a museum kind of an interactive museum it's really interesting you can go online today and look at it the bookstore there and some interactive things and you walk through this one there's one place you walk through this museum and um you you sit in a room it's like a courtyard it has these panels on the wall and it starts off and it says the early church jesus and his disciples you know this illuminated frame comes up and it's jesus with his disciples and then it goes through church history and it goes all the way about six or seven to the modern church and it says the modern church today in the world has taken on many different groups and gatherings and denominations and then it flashes back to the first panel that says will we ever see the early church again okay and that's what i wonder sometimes will we ever see the early church again will we see the honor that was among those problems and struggles but let me tell you their goal for their identity their behavior amongst each other is clearly outlined in scripture and that was the thing come on somebody that was the thing that they aspired toward that was the thing that they aspired towards genuine authentic community and the one of the biggest marks of that community was honor man they had all things common you want to talk about honor you had a need you didn't go without if i had in my ability to help you i helped you i mean it's just every pastor in the world that's ever preached is probably preached message is similar to this because it's true because it's the word of god so we're talking about that honor what does honor look like and jesus even alludes to the fact that a lack of honor is a sign of a lack of faith a distorted faith a damaged faith a disconnected faith he didn't do miracles there because they wouldn't recognize him they wouldn't honor him they wouldn't honor his word come on can we just extrapolate on that in our minds what does it mean to not honor jesus there's a bunch of things that come to your mind so i want to talk about three ways that i believe scripture teaches our hubs for a lot of other things that stem off of these and i didn't pick this first one for any other reason other than oh man i'm just stirred with this idea um listen honor the lord three ways to honor the lord i think that are connected to a lot of other heirs honor the lord with your first fruits and i was like oh this is a message on giving this is like a message on tithing or something maybe but it's deeper than that it's more right remember more it's always more than that so a couple verses here and i was listening to a really great guy the other day he said don't preach three poems if any of you know who i think was uh carrie new hoff or craig grishall one of those guys brainiac leader whatever and and great mentors teachers and don't don't preach three points now one of your points he said one point could just be a a thought you know process full of nuance and good stuff just take the one point but i got three points this morning and i'm going to be quick with them and you know i'm giving you three sticks of dynamite i'm giving you you know i'm giving you a a a rock you know and some another rock and a piece of paper i'm giving you three things that can ignite a fire okay i'm giving you a match a match striker and some wood what you do with them is up to you but i'm gonna give them to you just quickly this morning and the first one like i said is honor the lord with your first fruits here's old testament new testament honor the lord this is in proverbs honor the lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine got any wine drinkers in here don't raise your hand i'm just kidding that's old testament honor the lord with thy substance and with thy first fruits and god will bless you big time and then and then that's old testament the new testament woe to you scribes and pharisees words of jesus this is written in red woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for i for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin all of your spices and you've neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faith these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone so here we have jesus in the new testament affirming tithing he said you tithe a very little because it was an agrarian culture they didn't get paychecks necessarily so they would give a tithe of their substance which was a lot of times their crops or their herds and he says you pay tithe down to the last little mint but you're mean you're not merciful you're the kind of people who i gave on every last thing i had pastor yeah but you're mean you're being spirited you're nasty you're toxic that's what he's saying here to these scribes and pharisees but and that's not my point the point is he says these you ought to have done given on that tithe that's fine and not left the other undone so he's affirming being merciful being kind and also tithing we have a new testament verse right here where jesus had a chance he had an opportunity to say listen the tithe is not important that's don't worry about that just be merciful he didn't say that he affirms tithing in the new testament the old testament speaks of first fruits and tithing jesus affirms it in the new testament it's not an issue of salvation but it's an issue of trust and devotion my understanding uh and i would add that the first fruits and giving to god i'm talking about giving the first fruits were you took the first fruits of your crop you took the best you took the best of what you had you or you gave that tai the tenth first okay you didn't you didn't say if i have room to give this at the end guys i'm not preaching on tithing i'm not talking about money i'm talking about the corazon the heart amen that's what i'm talking about and they would give the best they would give the first fruits now giving in the old testament the first fruits and tithing there's kind of some overlap on that because if you studied out first fruits were actually a little different than tithing but both of them are affirmed okay we're talking about giving to god of our sustenance i'm trying i'm trying to tell you how to start a fire in your life i'm trying to tell you how to honor god amen and so it's in the old testament the first fruits and tithings talked about we could we could preach a whole message we could talk about a whole series on giving and they've been done and they're great that's fine but jesus the firm's tithing in the new testament we know there was giving proportional giving tithing in the old testament and here's the thing i would add that all of this is wonderful but it's a bit of a wonderful mystery because let's go back even further let's go to the very beginning of the old testament to genesis and adam had relations with his wife eve and she conceived and gave birth to cain with the help of the lord i have brought forth a man she said later she gave birth to cain's brother abel now abel was a keeper of the sheep while cain was a tiller of the soil so in the course of time cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the lord while abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock and the lord looked with favor on abel's offering but he had no regard for cain in his offering so cain became very angry and his countenance fell and we know that eventually cain killed abel his brother out of jealousy now here we have cain and abel the first of adam and eve's three sons and we see them bringing an offering before the lord with no previous account in scripture of god requiring an offering you can read genesis 1 to genesis chapter 4 right here in this passage verse 1 through 5 we're reading and you will not find god instructing them on giving any kind of an offering where did they learn to bring the offering the one that was acceptable and the one that was unacceptable we don't know it's a mystery but obviously there was a conversation some people say you know abel learned what the good offering was because when god you know killed animals to make skins for adam and eve after they sinned to cover them that that was the first type and shadow of jesus christ who would shed his blood ultimately for the sins of the world so there was a covering of an animal slain was the covering the blood that was spilled hence the skins that were taken that blood spilled was a type and a shadow jesus in the old testament concealed he's in the new testament revealed and this was a type and a shadow of the blood that would eventually just like the blood over the doorpost and exodus uh where you know that the angel death angel swept over those houses that had the blood over the door so we see the fingerprints of god everywhere come on history is his story but there was no previous instruction given that's why it's kind of this wonderful mystery and i'd say it's wonderful because i got a bible let me see if i have it with me i think i brought it what's going on here with my mic here it is can we do something about that guys thank you help me thank you thank you this is my holy bible come on the little tabs on it anybody got any tabs anymore now brooklyn actually my daughter bought some tabs there's a little artisan person on instagram that sells handmade tabs i'm like oh the tabs are back cool they're way cooler than these ones but this bible right here has a little date on the first page of 1990 this is my first bible that i ever got 1990 still got it going to read it eventually and it's funny that i go back to 1990 and i didn't know spit about god like my pastor used to say i didn't know come here from sikkim right about god nothing and someone began to talk to me about tithing and the christian discipleship program that i was a part of if you know my story you know my story but i was in this live-in commune kind of christian discipleship program and you had no money you couldn't work if you were in this christian discipleship program you were totally committed to this we're like monks in a monastery and uh kind of like a teen challenge type of program if you're familiar with teen challenging and you couldn't work you had to be committed to the program you know and then once you graduated out or whatever you got their blessing you could work and they would give us 10 a week sustenance right it says honor the lord with your sustenance well that was my sustenance at the time and so a tithe was a dollar tithe on ten dollars was a dollar and i thought a dollar you know i was coming out of a kind of rough and tumble life and yes of course i didn't have anything at the very end but there were times when i had thousands of dollars in my pocket and i remember blowing through that money like it was nothing you know just in that crazy lifestyle which you know eventually ended badly but even then as a new christian you know and have my ten dollars and no money coming in at all it still didn't seem like much money a dollar didn't seem like much money so you know tithe is the tenth jesus talked about or tied proportional giving yeah this is why kerry knew off says one point could be a whole sermon i'm still on the first point we got three we'll see if we get to the other two don't get nervous uh and so um yeah i might not get to the next two we'll leave them for next week but i'll finish i'll finish this one and so i give a dollar you know all of our food sundries clothing everything's taken care of in this program for you is free and so uh i decided you know one week i said i'm gonna give five bucks i'm not gonna give ten percent i'm gonna get fifty percent of my income which was ten dollars and i gave this was just a few months in i was a christian for just a few months i'm just giving you one story we there are many great stories in here i'm sure so i give the five dollars and a couple days later my brother shows up at this place where i'm staying he says hey man uh i got a new car uh you want you interested in my old car now you understand in my family if you had a car worth four hundred dollars you didn't give it away you sold it you just didn't give a car to somebody in the fountain i don't care if it's worth two hundred dollars i gotta sell this car i need that 200 yeah of course we understood there was no giving of any and his car was worth more than that matter of fact i got to thank i got to thank him again for that car because that little 240z was how i met johnette i was driving a little 240z it was all smashed in the front i saw 240z going down the road the other day i'm not kidding on el camino that goes out of 240z it was all restored and the guy goes yeah and i go i got my wife because of a 240z he's like really he drove off i was like just kidding honey kidding not kidding he gave he gave me the car and and he said i'll sign it over to you and this and that will take care of it give you the car and immediately my mind saved the holy spirit took me back to a couple days before remember when you thought you were giving something special because you know for five dollars i mean you could buy your soda with it you could buy you know whatever you had ten bucks and they didn't have like a lot of sodas and stuff there so it was a little mad money if you can imagine it remember when you gave that five dollars the other day it wasn't that god said you'll never out give me mark it wasn't that he said that which is true you can't out give him but it was more of a do you see what happened son when you trust me see what happens when you trust me that's what it was and i've been trusting him for 31 years now i've never regretted tithing i've never regretted giving of myself my time talent or treasure never regretted never regretted giving my time talent or treasure never regretted you know the regrets i have but i haven't given more that's the only thing and thank god when johnette and i met she believed in that she was you know a giver and we've never regretted it and god you know has provided and provided he's jehovah jireh come on you like that new song by elevation jira uh he's the god who has provided is providing and will continue to provide that's the god we serve amen god was pleased with one offering and not pleased with the other uh it's interesting i'm gonna close here guys it's interesting that it says that that cane brought some of the fruit of the soil it's not just a coin in the coffer listen today there are people in this room um lj yeah you can come thanks brother there are people in this room that are all resolved in this area okay there are people in this room like two more minutes here guys there are people in this room that are already resolved in this area there are people that are not resolved in this area there are some people that may think that it's not even you know i don't believe in that i think you're just trying to pull you know an offering or something like that i can't do anything about the way you feel about all i can do is present god's truth to you as i've experienced it as i understand it i'm telling you if you're on the fence there's a verse in malachi a little verse that says prove me says the lord bring all the tithes into the storehouse and see if i won't pour you out a blessing that there's not room enough to contain really i don't know about you but any blessing that god would pour out i think i could contain it was my that's my thinking all along because i've known that verse for many many many many years and until john and i moved into a house one time maybe you're even in this position right now christian let me just give you a little refreshing and it was funny because we moved into a house and the person said there's some property behind the house and you can you guys have heard me talk about this before there's an area back there where you can build you know you put a garden in and you can use as much space as you want it was 1500 acres of undeveloped parkland so you could take as big a piece of property as you want out there and i remember one day going out there and you've heard me tell us and i take the rototiller border from johnny's dad and i'm like rowing i'm like rototilling rose as long as this room i'm out there all day i've got this whole like half of this room you know yeah it was just dirt it was nice there was really no weeds so i'm thinking man and i started looking at that and thinking i don't even have enough seed to find i ended up in a little corner back there the size of the sound booth with some pepper and god reminded me of this verse mark have i not blessed you have i not poured you out a blessing big enough that you can't contain it how many of you are trying to keep up with just think of it like this for a second let me help somebody be grateful that yard needs to be mowed come on you got laundry guys we're thinking about these things all the wrong way what a revelation you've got laundry that needs to be done you've got the house choices god has poured you out a blessing that you have a hard time sometimes even containing and what are we doing sometimes we're complaining about it see i gotta put gas in my car i gotta i gotta put oil in this car i gotta you know get the oil chain that's a blessing that he's given you that sometimes it's hard to even contain does that not make sense he's given us so much next time you have a pile of dirty laundry on the floor somebody said i got some right now amen i felt the holy spirit all across this room no and you say ah these clothes instead of saying that look at the blessing that god's given you that's hard to contain it's there it's happening god's doing it and if you're on the fence this morning i want to encourage you take a step step into proportional giving bring the first fruits to him proportional giving is a tenth that's what it says in malachi it's a tenth and you know what's so what's so awesome we're having this conversation the other night with some young adults about the tithe sorry i'm taking a couple extra minutes here is it so fair it's so wise it's it's almost like holy i mean the bible says that the tithe is holy but it's not just holy because it belongs to god and he uses that but it's holy because it's a holy idea because it doesn't matter what you have isn't 10 a fair number it just seems you look at someone who doesn't have a lot god says 10 you look at someone that has millions he says 10 it's a relative figure but it's very fair because i know people that are struggling financially but a lot of times a little trip through starbucks a little trip through taco bell or whatever bro that was your tithe because your your limit your funds are so limited but you really could have taken your tithe from that and you know it is like you have to go live on the street but you could have taken your tithe from that and given it and planted the seed and honored god and watched him bless your life if it's someone with great resource it attempt 10 is just enough where you have to think about it and make a decision it's not 50 where you go that's impossible it's not three percent where you go no problem it's it's just such a holy number it's like 10 is so righteous where god says it's just enough where they'll have to think about it and make a decision because 99.999 of the people i mean could do it and it would not affect them adversely with maybe a couple adjustments but the reciprocal of that where god blesses and you do it because you're honoring him i'm done with that lord i just pray that we have a heart of honor for you in all areas we have some other areas to talk about i think there's three key areas that we can talk about in terms of honoring you that a lot of other things flow out of and sure yeah giving to you of our first fruits there's a lot of things that flow out of that you said where our treasure is there our heartbeat there's so much that flows out of that when we give it's for the expansion of the kingdom there's so much that flows out of that god ultimately comes starts with a decision to make that decision to do it so i just encourage people's hearts today to consider this lord god and to consider it as an act of honoring you more than anything else as we give to you in jesus name amen on that note john would you come and pray over offering this morning for us that was almost the prayer over the offering right there well take out your connect card and um get that ready for the offering as well and i i just want to add it wasn't his 240z that attracted me to him he was attracted to my my blue 1980 buick skylark that i was driving i was like are you a narc his 240b it died on us but that that 1980 buick skylark actually we drove that for a few years when we were first married but anyway get your connect card out let's pray over the offering and then ushers go ahead and come on up for us all right lord god we just thank you for this opportunity to honor you with our giving lord um we just thank you father for um for just your blessing on our life lord you are jehovah jireh our provider and all of it belongs to you 100 of what you give us belongs to you god but um we honor you with our 10th god and we just thank you for that we pray that you would bless it and it would be able to be used for all that you've called us to do here in sacramento lord we love you today god we just thank you and honor you and rejoice in you in jesus name amen go ahead all right so just a reminder tonight six o'clock be here if you are a teenager get your teens here for um next-gen youth and we're just going to go ahead and dismiss as you're done giving um you can give today and be sure to be praying for the mcclintocks today because baby noah is is due like any time and pastor darren left to go home and be with sarah so keep them in prayer this week [Music] [Music] i feel so alive

Channel: Generations Church Sacramento

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Id: hF5uT6lVzQQ

Length: 71min 10sec (4270 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 13 2021