OPEN
PRAY
·
Anyone ever have
a nightmare that even today makes you a little nervous? I had a recurring
nightmare in high school…
·
Couldn’t
remember my locker combo… the really bad dreams were when I couldn’t remember
the locker combo in the locker room…
·
The thing that
scared me as a young man about this dream: if I didn’t get the combination just
right, it ruined the rest of my day!
·
For many of us,
the topic of $ brings up all kinds of feelings… in fact, several of us might
even think that our finances are “my nightmare” right now – how to pay my
bills… debts… investments… children…. For many MONEY = STRESS
·
For others of
you, you came to services today and were like – I’ll be ok as long as they
don’t talk about money.” In fact, the topic of $ is a major critique among many
who are not a part of the church on a regular basis.
·
We believe that
the word of God has the key to unlocking secrets on many things… faith, prayer,
heaven… in our church, we also believe it unlocks the secrets of grace &
righteousness, healing and the Kingdom…
·
why don’t we believe there’s a way to unlock the secrets to
finances? …seems a simpler thing to open than eternal
life doesn’t it?
The
world around us has a combination
·
“What’s in your
wallet?”
·
0% balance
transfers
·
increase your
credit scores
·
refinance your
loan with Quicken
·
E-Trade
·
Take control of your money
In
this series, we’ve been unpacking the revelation that the Father has a
combination
·
The principle of
the firstfruits… specifically tithing (10%)
·
When we align the first 10% with God’s will, we release the
other 90% to contain the Father’s Kingdom Blessings.
·
Just like the
tumblers in a combination lock, Tithing (10%) starts the unlocking process to
seeing God’s “rewards” on our lives.
Problems…
·
We don’t see
Father God as good.
·
We don’t see our
paychecks as blessings from the Father.
·
We don’t trust
the church.
·
We are searching
for something more than contentment.
·
We’ve never gone
“beyond the tithe.”
·
We haven’t
realized that the entire Kingdom is Upside-down.
Word
We’ve been looking at the character of our Father
God in this series. If we want to live a generous life, we need to model our
life after the plans of He who has been so generous to us. He is a good Father,
who CREATED an order and a plan for all aspects of life including our wealth.
He is a good Father, who REDEEMED us and set us free… in fact, He redeemed all
of creation even our finances. Today, we want to see our Father as REWARDER.
But…
To experience Father as REWARDER, we need
to see Him as good.
· We aren’t rewarded
because we are good, we are rewarded because He is good.
· God is a good
Father, who wants to be our Rewarder.
· And because we’re in
relationship with Him, we get the opportunity partner together, stewarding
reward back into the kingdom.
·
7 “Ask, and it
will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be
opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives,
and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or
which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a
stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a
serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father
who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7)
· We are NOT talking
about Ferraris here friends. What we’re talking about is being in relationship
with a GOOD GOD who will supply our needs just because HE wants to love on his
kids. Kingdom: Relational – not cause and affect!
To experience Father as REWARDER, we need
to see every dollar as a blessing.
· The Israelites in
the wilderness – nomads… no regular income… slaves with nothing to trade at
first… no land to work.
· When they left
Egypt, they were showered in undeserved wealth.
· Manna from heaven… Quail…
Water from a rock.
· Every single day
required faith & thanksgiving.
· Even in this situation,
the temptation for the Israelites is our temptation – to complain… to worry
about the next day
· Philippians 4:6 “do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God.”
· Thanksgiving
releases a Kingdom perspective on our resources.
To experience Father as REWARDER, we need
to “let go” of our tithes.
· As we’ve discussed
for past 2 weekends, the firstfruits belong to God.
· The grace of the
tithe crosses every covenant (Abel, Noah, Abram, Moses, David, Jesus, & Paul)… like murder
or stealing, it’s not a LAW, but rather it’s a LIFE-GIVING principle that
aligns your heart with your Father and His Kingdom.
· Alignment with God’s
plan (10%)…releases other 90% for blessing
· But there’s a trap
some of us fall into… we give up the tithe PHYSICALLY, but we still hold onto
it EMOTIONALLY… God loves a “cheerful” and “thankful” heart…
Sometimes we are looking for the blessing and NOT the relationship.
· Kingdom: Rejoice in this
grace of giving (2Cor 9).
To experience Father as REWARDER, we need
to learn the “secret” of contentment.
· Not to step on any
toes here today, but the “pursuit of happiness” is an American ideal… it is NOT
a kingdom principle.
· The apostle Paul
seems to think that no matter what’s going on with our life’s circumstances, we
can trust the Father and trust in His strength for our situation.
· Philippians 4 11Not that I am
speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to
be content. 12 I know how to be brought low,
and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the
secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I
can do all things through him who strengthens me. Did you realize this was about resources?
· Key: understanding
Father as rewarder comes from a heart
surrendered to Him.
· It means that we
recognize God’s blessings, God’s strength, God’s provision despite the fact
that we may not be taking Caribbean cruises and driving brand-new cars every
year (or we may).
· Contentment is a key
for us… in fact, I’ve rarely seen it modeled better than in the lives of our
Sr. Pastors à Same home for 40
years
o What a lot of us
miss is Patience in the process.
· Kingdom Principle – pursuit (faith
in) of God’s strength releases contentment.
To experience Father as REWARDER, we need
to move beyond the tithe.
· When we begin to see
our Good Father providing our every need... when we let go of our 10%... when
we become content in every situation… THEN, we can begin to move beyond the
tithe.
· We’ve talked about
how the tithe (10% of gross income) unlocks a generous heart in us that allows
the Spirit of God to move more freely on our other 90%.
· When the Spirit of
God lands on our 90%...
o We tend to get
excited about living debt free.
o We tend to get
excited about living generously.
o We tend to get excited
about giving.
o We tend to get
excited about telling others about giving.
o We tend to get
excited about offerings… gifts above the 10%
· If we recognize all
of our resources are from God… if we trust that we will be content no matter
what… if we know that Holy Spirit is resting on our money… we will be ready to
give above and beyond.
· And when we do!?
· We begin to
experience the Kingdom in powerful ways…
Our good Father created an amazing financial
plan for our resources… our savior Jesus redeemed every part of our lives
including our resources… as we steward that plan, the Holy Spirit comes and speaks into how we can
move beyond the tithe.
He nudges us to be generous… sometimes extravagantly… to bless
others around us in powerful ways… in fact that’s the fun part…
That’s the part… the grace of giving on
Robert Morris’ life… that we love about the book we’ve been recommending…
Blessed Life pages 61-62
Ø “I
mentioned earlier that when Debbie and I got married, our combined gross income
was $600 per month. That’s an annual income of $7,200.
Ø “After
a few months of tithing and giving extravagantly to the Lord, Debbie got a
different job that paid $18,000 per year. About that same time, I began preaching
and doing revivals. That first year, my income from offerings was $32,000. Thus
together, our annual income went from $7,200 to $50,000.
Ø “In
our second year of marriage, as we continued to tithe and give whenever and
wherever the Holy Spirit directed, Debbie quit her job in order to stay at home
while my income increased to $72,000. Our income had now risen from $7,200 to
$72,000 – a ten fold increase.
Ø “Within
three years, our income had risen to more than $100,000, and by God’ grace we were giving 70% of it away!”
Isn’t
that incredible!?! The Lord blessed their faithfulness in tithing and giving, but they chose to live content with
30% of their blessing. Wow.
Where
do we go from here?
The entire Kingdom of God is upside down… it
all requires faith…
·
Lose your life to find it
·
Serve to lead
·
Love and pray for your enemy
·
GIVE it away and it will be RETURNED to you.
·
Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever
would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
If we pursue the stuff of the Father, he
loves us and will supply all our needs. We seek His Kingdom and His
righteousness and everything we need is added to us. And, we can see the
parallels with our resources...
·
Righteousness = tithing (10%)
·
Kingdom = 90% - Holy Spirit what do you want me to do
with my blessings?
Let me
end with this…
1)
You DO NOT have to give anything to the church, your
neighbor, or anywhere to receive any of the grace of God… (say it again) you DO NOT “have to” give!
2)
God will not love you more or less if you give or don’t… but this isn’t about God’s love for us…
this is about our faith in him… for many, our finances are the last
“Stronghold” that the enemy has on our faith.
3) But there is this
crazy truth “where your treasure is”
there GOES your HEART.
4)
I’ve never seen someone’s heart grow quicker for the Kingdom than when they start tithing… or
when they increase their gifts.
5) To go back to our
idea from the beginning… how
much of your heart do you want to unlock today?
o Start giving
something
o Start tithing (10%
of your gross income)
o Start to move beyond
the tithe… partnering with Holy Spirit to release your Kingdom finances in
powerful ways.
