Robert Morris – Living Beyond Blessed – Beyond Blessed

so we're gonna begin a new series called beyond blessed to be four weeks I'll preach all the weeks and the title of this message is living beyond blessed now you might think well what do you mean by beyond blessed I mean if you're blessed aren't you're blessed how can you be beyond blessed so I thought of a little natural example and it relates to where I am in my stage of life if you have a grandchild that's blessed if you have nine of them that's beyond blessed so I'm beyond blessed so what I mean by beyond blessed is that God so blesses us not I'm not talk about materialism please hear me but it's so that we can be a blessing it's so that we can bless others and this started this is actually beyond bless is the sequel to the blessed life in some ways it's the prequel they go hand-in-hand and I'll explain that but let me give you a little history of the blessed life in we started the church in 2000 in 2001 James Robinson's ministry came to me and asked me to come on the program and teach on giving and the reason was James said because I teach giving the way I teach giving he was talking to me so the way you teach giving is that you teach that we get to give we don't give to get everyone get that and there's a lot of give to get teaching going on right now and so he said you know if you've got want you to come on teach on that and then he said and if you can write a book that would be good and so I said well when are you talking about airing these programs he said in about 3 to 4 months ok so I actually went to a friend's vacation home and dictated the blessed life into a tape recorder in three days and then gave it to a guy in our church who's an editor and Ghost Rider that helped put it in you know written form for me who still works with me to this day he helped me on beyond blessed very very gifted writer and so anyway we we had it out and we self-published it now let me give you a little background 90% of all books sell less than 5000 copies 90% 95% sell less than 10,000 copies so only 5% ever sell more than 10,000 copies so we self-published the blessed life and sold 250,000 copies self-published then then we society to a publisher and now it's in 30 or 40 seven languages it's around the world it's used as textbooks in some places millions and millions of copies it's not just a best-seller it's still a best-seller in America every month it's still in the best selling list seventeen years later and many times still the number one spot and it's it's an international bestseller now just so you know also most people know this but I believe in giving the first to God I believe the Bible teaches that we'll talk about that a little bit and when I laid my hands on the manuscript for the blessed life I felt like the Lord said where you give this one to me and so I gave that church to gate that book to Gateway Church gateway church owns the blessed life now this is something that's so amazing about this debía I've never taken a dime for it from it is going to shock you on BET's sake and I wondered whether I should say it or not because it is a big number but I just want to let you know how God's use the book Gateway Church it brings in about a half a million dollars a year that one book to the church so it's it's unbelievable what God's done with the book and I believe it has helped spark a movement of generosity in the kingdom of God and many pastors would agree with that but right after I wrote the book I started getting a lot of emails and questions and people would say something like this pastor Robert I'm giving but I'm still in debt and for me I didn't understand that because giving is only one part of being blessed and it's almost like saying you know when you talk about grooming you know you need to brush your teeth and wash your hair and use deodorant and you know all sorts of things for grooming but it's almost like someone who's saying to me you know I comb my hair but I still state well you know there's more to it than simply running a comb through your hair you know so so giving is very important generosity but there's a huge second component and that's what we're gonna talk about and Beyond blessed and its stewardship now please hear me stewardship is not a bad word it's not a bad word many times we we have a bad connotation of it because a church will say we're going to do a stewardship campaign means we're gonna raise money for something or I'm gonna bring my annual stewardship message means he's gonna preach on money you know but stewardship has to do with every year of your life so let me explain to you about living beyond bless let me tell you a point number one point number one is it takes two legs it takes two legs here's what I mean by that I didn't name the blessed life I didn't name it the blessed wallet but in name it the blessed checkbook I named it the blessed life and a life walks on two legs if you're going to get somewhere you got to be able to move forward by moving one at a time even nick who was here last sunday night you saw him on the table moving his hips moving from side to side just moving right left right left alright so it's the same thing with being blessed the two legs are generosity which I covered in the blessed life and stewardship let me say it this way if you if you are generous but you're not a good steward God will never open the windows of heaven over you here's a reason why because you won't manage it right it can never give you a lot of resources because you don't understand stewardship you're not managing you won't manage them and so it'll be gate or get wasted on the other hand if you're a good steward but you're not generous by the way we call that tight go ahead and nudge okay then why would God bless you either now you please hear me because his purpose is to get the resources to the people who need it see if think about the need all the people who need food water the gospel preach churches built missionaries in all the need over here all the supply supply and demand would be God God owns everything he owns everything he owns everything in the world and out of the world for that matter he owns Mars you know he'll he'll be at Mars when Elon Musk gets there so he owns everything okay so God owns it all here's got here I here all the resources right all of them all of them God has it all here's all the need what's in between you are because God channels directs funnels his resources through his children so he's trying to get it over there so he'll bless you but if it doesn't get over there please hear me he's gonna move on to someone else he's gonna find someone who will be a river not a reservoir because he's trying to help those people who need help so he blesses so we can be generous but here's what happened with the blessed lot a lot of people call it generosity but then they did not catch stewardship or the management of their resources well and so the blessing didn't last very long because when they got blessed more they didn't handle it well they didn't manage it so that this is such an important thing it reminds me of when I was growing up I can't remember what it was I just remembered the picture of my mind I saw some cartoon character and they nailed one shoe to the floor you know so I mean if you want to just kind of get a deer on there you know so this guy just did this the whole time everyone got it cuz I want to quit doing that alright that's what a lot of Christians are like they're either generous and they just keep going in circles or they're tight and they just keep going in circles but you have to have both you have to be a good steward and you have to be generous and here's the the reason why it takes both legs to be blessed goes all the way back to our patriarch in the faith Abraham Genesis 12 verse 2 I will make your great nation this is God talking Abraham I will bless you notice the idea of blessing a person was God's idea God said I will I want to bless you and make your name great and here's the reason why you shall be a blessing I will bless you so that you can be a blessing see God wants his kids to be beyond blessed we're so blessed that we get to give a get away we need to help people we get to minister to people again you have to have both you have to be generous and a good steward now I got three kids and Josh James and Leigh and James the best way to say it was he was tight growing up he's all my kids are good stewards but let me tell me just give you the nalchi so I told I'll told all my children when they were growing up whatever you put in the bank I will match James almost broke me he put everything in the bank when he was 12 years old he started working part-time at a dry cleaners after school just a few hours a week and he said to me you told me you would match everything I put in the bank now not just gifts from grandparents but what I earned - right like when I are in chores when I did chores you did it so now I'm working here you're gonna do it I thought well it's just a few hours a week well he started working more in high school he had thousands of dollars in the bank I mean multiple multiple thousands of dollars jam josh and elaine borrowed from him I borrowed from him but I quit because I couldn't afford the interest so he he's tight he's so tied he would squeak when he walked you know he just was tight and everybody knew he was I didn't know he was generous though until a lady wrote me a letter so when we published the blessed life remember it was gateway church to published it so you you couldn't this is a gateway Church the only place you forget it and we didn't have but just a few hundred members and so you had to come to the church to get it so one day this lady comes to the church James was 16 years old he was the janitor he was our first janitor so he was cleaning the church building she comes to the church to buy some books and she tells the receptionist she's asking where the bookstore is she tells the receptionist I didn't know the Lord and my husband and I were separated and we were just a few weeks away from a divorce and I read the blessed life and I got safe I gave my life to Christ and I said to my husband I will give you anything you want in the divorce I'll take no money at all if you'll be one thing for him but you have to do is one thing I want you to read this book he read the book and got saved and they called off the divorce that's pretty good because they understood to give their lives from war okay so she's telling reception says she said and I want to buy 10 books to give him way to my friends that don't know the Lord so she there exceptions they talk for a while then she tells her where the bookstore is she goes down the bookstore they've already got the ten books set up and when she goes to pay for him the lady at the bookstore said it's taken care of I would have never known this but the lady that got these books wrote me a letter and told me and she said what do you mean it's taken care of she said well did you see the young man that was standing behind you that was taking out the trash when you were talking to the receptionist she said yeah I saw him she said that was pastor Roberts son and he came down and paid for the books for you I've watched god bless him in Supernatural ways supernatural ways why because he managed as well what God gives him and he's very very generous and he never tells anyone what he does he just does it so it takes two legs to live a blessed life and to live beyond less here's number two why talk about money I want to answer this question why talk about money pastor um I don't think you ought to preached messages on money and I really don't think you ought to write a book talking about it well have you ever read the Bible I really had to under loom in that wrong have you ever read the Bible talks a lot about money you said I don't know about that every time someone worshiped watch it they brought an offering God commanded offerings God set up tithing no that was not thought up by preacher even though you might think it was a preacher didn't think of that God did God put typing in the scriptures that heaven earth will pass away but the word will never pass away it's pretty amazing so God did this as a matter of fact Jesus talked about it so much it probably would have upset you to 16 out of 38 parables talk about money in possessions so on here's a good question was Jesus trying to get their money okay before I enter that am I trying to get your money I mean let's just come straight up answer the wizard am i trying to get your money now I never want to be mean but sometimes I like to say things straightforward I'm just gonna say it's straightforward I don't need your money I've never needed your money and you might think well you need let to build this church no I didn't because God built this church and you might think well yeah but he used my money no he didn't he used his money and I would be very careful about calling the money in your account yours cuz he'll let you know whose it is pretty quickly the earth is the Lord's and the full to serve matter of fact that's the the content of the whole book is whose is it who's it belong to who's the owner and who's the Stewart and God's the owner so God has it all and he directs it through those will who he good stewards and you'll be generous because he's trying to get it to a need he knows what he's trying to do so I've never apologized for preaching on giving the reason is I know it's actually a blessing for you to give I know that I believe it all my heart I wouldn't apologize gonna preach to your marriage I wouldn't apologize want to preach on prayer why cuz I'm helping you I know in my heart I'm doing this to help you and I know it will help you I know it well so let me just go back this question was Jesus trying to get their money no he was trying to get their hearts that's why he had to talk about money and possessions and let me read it directly from him Matthew 6:21 this is Jesus speaking for where your treasure is there your heart will be also how many times should we get that back word I've heard pastors even get it back with let's say you know the Bible says where your heart is and they're doing it right for the offering you know where your heart is there your treasure will be also that is not what it says says where your treasure is there your heart will be in other words it's not there but it will move there once you put your treasure there there your heart will be also this one pastor said to me I know if I can get the people's hearts in the church then they'll give I said no actually if you can get him to give then their hearts will be there another pastor I was some I travel them speak you know in other churches and conferences of things and so I was in this church one time the guy said listen if you see anything in the service that you know you that can help us you know please let me know so after the service we went out to eat and I said yeah I'm gonna I did see something and I want to I want to kind of put it straightforwardly to your so it'll make an impact on you and so he said okay great I said well I realized that you don't believe in your heart that giving is a blessing for people and he said really so tell me why I said well when y'all were giving the offering today you got up and you were talking about it and you said you know it's time to give the offering and then you said but this is not for guests this is just for members and I said so that would be the exact same thing to me as next week you get up and say now we have a bunch of 18-wheelers in the parking lot and they are full of new clothes from Macy's and Neiman Marcus and Saks and Nordstrom's and they're brand-new and they're all free they are free except now this is not for any of you guests this is just for our members I said see when you said that you let me know that you don't believe giving is a blessing because when I give people an opportunity to give I'm giving them an opportunity to be blessed so that they could be a blessing so that's why we talked about it and here's number three being a blessing we've talked a little bit about it but I want to cover this a little bit more being a blessing that God blesses us for two reasons I don't want to leave out the first reason he blesses us because He loves us you bless your kids because you love your kids and God does love you and he does want you to be bless and the way there's nothing wrong with wanting to live in a safe neighborhood nothing wrong with wanting to have a bigger home more bedrooms so the kids don't have to share bedrooms there's nothing wrong with having more bathrooms there's nothing wrong with wanting to be in a better school district for your kids there's nothing wrong with wanting to give embraces of any braces or help them in college or drive a dependable car it's nothing wrong with any of that and what happens is the enemy comes along and it seems like any of those thoughts you have the enemy says that's just materialism he's supposed to give up all for Christ and he just tries to speak condemnation to us all the time there's nothing wrong with wanting something nice for your family that's not wrong so God blesses us because He loves us but he also blesses us to be a blessing and so when we talk about that I want to show you there there was a book a long time ago very popular great book I met the guy wrote it and we talked and shared and he's a great guy but it was cuz a little book called the prayer of Jabez you remember that book okay so it comes from two scriptures in the Bible great scriptures and willing to show you the old scriptures all right first chronicles 4 verse night now jay-bez was more honorable just once you notice that the Bible calls him honorable even more honorable but honorable then his brothers and his mother called his name jay-bez saying because I bore him in pain how the word jay-bez in the Hebrew means pain hurt or sorrow okay that's what his name meant was pain and jay-bez called on the God of Israel or prayed to God oh that you would bless me notice he's asking God to bless him and enlarge my territory or increased my income that your hand would be with me that you would keep me for me we'll watch that I may not cause pain can I say that another way that I could be a blessing to someone that I wouldn't cause pain but I'd cause blessing so God granted him what he requested okay so he prayed to be blessed so a real simple question was that a bad prayer was in a knee prep and if it was then why would God grant it and why would God call the man who prayed it more honorable than his brothers so I just want to notice an honorable man prayed to be blessed and God granted him why so he could be a blessing are y'all following me so is it wrong to ask God to bless you please hear me I want to shout it from the rooftops no it is not wrong to ask God to bless you so you can be a blessing that is not wrong let me give you an analogy let's say you live in a community it's kind of a farming community and there's a guy in the community that's a mechanic and he works on people's cars for him and he will fix signal parents cars for free and widows cars for free and he even paid for the parts himself good guy he helps other farmers when they bring in the harvest he brings his whole family and helps his kids and all but they just kind of struggle to get by he just doesn't make that much and so the the dairy farmer gives him milk and the chicken farmer gives him eggs and and let's just for this analogy let's say that you own an apple orchard and you give them apples and then one day and other family moves in and you think you know I should help them tune so you help them then another family and the community grows pretty soon you're helping five or six families and then you look at a piece of land that you had that you never planted and you think you know if I clear those stones out and and fertilize that soil I could probably plant some more trees and I could help more people so you plant the seeds and then you pray and you ask God to bless you is that wrong are y'all following me it's like the enemy has so messed us up that we should never ask God to be blessed and that if anyone even preaches on being blessed or even talks about finances oh that's that prosperity stuff that's out of whack and that guy's materialistic it is not wrong to be a blessing it's not wrong steward your finances in such a way that when you see a need and God leads you you can meet that need are y'all following me that's what I'm talking that's what beyond bless is about beyond blessed is about being a blessing not being blessed for selfish reasons but being a blessing being blessed so we can be a blessing let me tell you one more stories that happened to me Debbie and I have some land you know outside of Metroplex and we were driving in one time and we were going to stop and get gas on the way and go the bathroom and all and I started thinking about oh this is gonna sound bad but I'll explain it in a moment I started thinking about this drink that I drink about twice a year that someone introduced me to in high school so just gonna sound bad and I started thinking I'm going to get when I stop I'm gonna get that drink so let me go ahead and tell you what the drink is all right it's a dr. pepper with peanuts in it how many of you have ever heard of someone putting peanuts in dark pepper come see hands ever campus okay how many of you have ever tried it how many of you like it how many of you think it's the most disgusting thing you've ever heard of in your okay alright okay so anyway again it's about twice a year I'm not I'm not I don't need to go to class or anything yet you know but but I just got thinking about it the reason it's pertinent to the story is because otherwise I would just got gas on the card pay the cards in the month go in use the restroom come back out but I had to go to the counter because I had my craving you know that I wanted dr. pepper and peanuts so so which of the calendar to pay for it and there was a lady in front of me who was counting coins out no paper money just coins she bought a dollar and 32 cents worth of gas so I did what any of you would do I know you you'd do the same thing I went out to the pup she was about my age maybe a little younger and she had her son and daughter-in-law there and she was buying it but that's all the cash they had and I said I'd like to fill your car yes and then many of you know that I give hundred-dollar bills away when the Lord prompts me and I said and I want to give you a hundred dollar bill and the reason I do this is because I used to be very messed up I was on drugs God saved my life and God prompts me every now and then to give someone a hundred dollar bill but I you have to know that this hundred dollar bill is to remind you that God knows where you are that he loves you and that he wants to change your life this mother of these two grown young people said she gave me a hug and she whisper in my ear he'll never know how much they needed this right now that is living beyond list that's living beyond but you have to be able to manage your finances so you can bless other people when God tells you to

Channel: gatewaychurchtv

Views: 124,383

Keywords: gateway, Gateway Church, gatewaypeople, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert, Sermon, Jesus, God, Dallas, Texas, Beyond Blessed, Living Beyond Blessed

Id: 56uXNMy8Ihk

Length: 26min 48sec (1608 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 14 2019