Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Stay Positive, Part 6: Ending the Scarcity Cycle

Episode Date: June 28, 2020

REOPENINGTo ensure safety at all of our Life.Church locations, our weekend services have been redesigned to create a sanitary, touchless environment that allows for physical distancing. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more:: https://www.life.church/updatesI’M GENEROUSWhen you gave your life to God, you accepted the most generous gift of all. This four-day Bible Plan will help you discover the only rational response. Start reading the next Stay Positive Bible Plan, “I’m Generous”: https://www.go2.lc/staypositiveSUPPORT COVID-19 RESPONSE AND DIGITAL MISSIONSYou can designate a gift to Life.Church to go to coronavirus relief or to Digital Missions like the Church Online Platform! Your gift above the tithe helps meet immediate needs in your community and around the world and helps other churches to spread the Good News of Christ to people everywhere: https://www.life.church/givingABOUT STAY POSITIVEThere’s no limit on hope. You can discover a whole lot to smile about if you know where to look. And we can help you find it! Don’t let life get you down. Stay joyful. Stay hopeful. And Stay Positive! For more about this series, visit https://www.life.church/staypositiveSTAY CONNECTEDStay updated with the latest news from Life.Church at https://www.life.church/stayconnected. You can also visit https://www.life.church/updates for the latest, or download the Life.Church app (https://www.life.church/app) and enable push notifications.NEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What is up, Life Church? So good to be with you today. It is just an honor to be able to conclude this series of Stay Positive. I've been with Life Church for 18 years, and it is, it's never a dull moment. I will say that. In fact, when I look at this year, 2020 has been probably the most challenging season in our generation for leaders in the church to navigate. and I just, I need to acknowledge on behalf of our church, the leader that we have in Craig and Amy Groschelle in navigating really challenging times, rallying us around the mission of the gospel of Jesus. Craig and Amy, we're so grateful for you. It has been, this year's crazy town. It's just crazy town. It's a bit of a paradox, honestly, like on one side of this paradox, it feels like, there's way too much hate and not enough love. It feels like there's way too many needs and not enough jobs, not enough supply.

It feels like there's way too much fear and not enough peace. But there's another side to the paradox, and I'm not sure you've all watched these headlines. The gospel of Jesus today is flourishing like never before. I'm telling you, people are meeting Jesus by the hundreds of thousands right now, all over the world. there are it's nuts there are those of you at all of our locations that are calling your church saying who can i help put somebody in front of me i just want to meet a need they're writing checks in faith just to meet needs that other people have there's another side to this paradox and i believe that um how you land on which side of this paradox is largely determined by how

you think. Specifically, do you tend to live your life through this lens of I'm about to run out? I got to hold on. Or do you live your life through this posture of there's more where that came from? Because I'm telling you, where you land and how you think largely determines the impact that God can use you to have on planet Earth. I believe that money, honestly, is probably the best testing ground of where you live, scarcity or abundance. Like how you think about it, how you operate with it, it's probably the best place to look on where do you live in this place of scarcity or abundance. Scarcity, church, starts in the mind long before it plays out in the wallet. And so what does scarcity mean? Just by definition, it's simply the belief that there is not

enough. The prophet hag guy writes this, see if you can relate. You eat, but you don't have enough. You drink, but you're not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And those of you with jobs urge wages to put them into a bag with holes in it. Who can relate? Anybody been in a season like that? Like, I just cannot get ahead. And scarcity is not just a mindset. It's actually a cycle. And it kind of goes like this. Pastor Craig has taught on this before. It starts with the fact that God supplies whatever we need. The Bible says every good and perfect gift comes from God, including your paycheck.

And then he supplies, then we consume what he supplied. And after we consumed it, we start to lack. And as we begin to lack, we start to fear. And what do we do with that fear is we medicate the fear by consuming even more. And if you do not believe the scarcity mindset is real, can we just take a minute and acknowledge the toilet paper run of 2020 people? Come on. Think about it.

Think about it. This is, yeah, see, she's trying to return what she thought she was going to need. Now, here's the thing. I think I'm a smart guy. I've got a degree. I still do not fully understand how a respiratory virus lungs, people, causes the greatest run on toilet paper in our planet's history. The history teachers will teach on this someday, and the students will be confident that COVID-19 is the great deadly diarrhea virus of 2020. Why else would we buy all the toilet paper?

there was never a lack and there was never an increase in need yet some of us got so freaked out by the fear of not having enough that we emptied the shelves this is real there are like bible lessons that for us to learn this year so you've got scarcity but here's what god's called us to live in and that is abundance and it's simply the belief that there is more than enough there is more where that came from. The Apostle Paul wrote this to the church in Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 3. Now to him who is able to do, say it with me, far more abundantly beyond.

All that we ask think, according to the power that is at work within who? Us. Listen to this. If you were a follower of Jesus, scarcity is a fiction. It is not rational. because everything about your God and the Holy Spirit that resides in you is exponentially more than enough.

And if we live in contrary or contradiction to that thought, we are out of step. There are so many stories this year that illustrate this. One of them came right here from Life Church Edmund. Stanley found out he was going to get a stimulus check from the United States government. government. And Stanley decided within just an instant, didn't even have to think about it, that's not going to actually be for me. That's going to be for somebody else. There's going to be somebody that is going to need that. And I actually heard this story hundreds of times in our church that people earmarked whatever it was coming to them from the United States Treasury. I'm going to

meet a need. And you might listen to that. And he did. He met a need of a single mom. And you might think, well, he must have been loaded. He's actually retired and on a fixed income. abundance has nothing to do with what's in your bank account and everything to do with the God that you serve and how you think listen to the words of Jesus John chapter 10 the thief your enemy doesn't like you very much and he doesn't like your God very much and he comes the Bible says only to steal scarcity, kill scarcity, and destroy. And Jesus says this, I came that you might have life and have it what? Abundantly.

This is the life he's created for you to live. And so, church, how do we inoculate ourselves against this scarcity mindset? We're going to jump way back into the Old Testament, and we're going to look at a story, probably one of my favorite stories in the Bible. This is in the book of Second Kings. If you want to follow along, it's unbelievable. We're going to start in chapter 4, verse 1, and God is going to show us how to inoculate ourselves from this scarcity mindset. The Bible says, a certain woman, the widow of one of the guild prophets cried out to the prophet Elisha. my husband your servant elisha is dead and you know that he revered the lord yet now his creditor has come to take my two

children into servitude elisha answered her what do you want me to do for you and that he didn't let her answer the question and he asked another question he says what do you have in the house this is going to be a really important question remember this she replied the servant of yours has nothing in the house but a jug of oil. God's about to do a miracle out of something that seems like nothing. To her anyway. Now, understand the context of what's happening. First of all, the current king of Israel had led literally the entire nation to worship false gods. And so when she said that my husband who's dead, he revered the Lord and he served you, the prophet Elijah, she's basically saying, we are one of the few in Israel that have been faithful, remained faithful to God,

and yet I'm still in a corner. I would argue she's kind of upset with God, because we've done everything you told me to do. And now my kids are going to be taken by Citibank, because my husband loving the debt, and they're going to come knocking on my door, and they're going to take my kids into servitude, because under Mosaic law, you could actually enslave people to settle a debt.

Bad news. This woman is freaked out, desperate. And if you find yourself in a similar place today, or even if you might find yourself in the future in a similar place, we're going to discover three principles of God's provision out of this miraculous story. The first is simply this. Do not diminish what you have. because what you have, though it's, I've got nothing, she said, but she actually had something,

but it was so incredibly small to her that the word she used to describe what she had was nothing. I can make a tossed salad with the amount of oil that I have. Do not diminish what you have because what you have ate nothing. I know I'm not supposed to use the word ain't, but it just sounds better preaching saying, what do you have ain't nothing? Because in the hands of God, with the blessing of God, it's something. Don't diminish what you have. The servant of yours has nothing in this house but a jug of oil.

Look at the dialogue in this story. We already see scarcity and abundance in both of their conversations. He says, what do you have in the house? Abundance asks the question, what do you have while scarcity is fixed on what you lack. And if you spend more time complaining about your problems than acknowledging your blessings, God needs to set you free from this scarcity mindset. Because you have more than you actually think you have. There is more good and more resource in your life than you give yourselves credit for.

I think the second thing, and I love this, is that God often does the extravagant through what seems insignificant. He often does the larger than life through things that seem so small. Like the farmer would never harvest a crop if he always diminished the tiny insignificance of the seed. But he doesn't view the seed for what it is. He views the seed through what it will create. when planted, right? It is the seed sewn in faith where God does the exponential. And so let's just

let's just set the stage here. She's in her home. She's freaked out. She's talking to the holy man. And she says, I don't know what to do. They're coming from my boys. And in the verse three, Elisha says this. He says, I want you to go and I want you to borrow as many vessels from all your neighbors. And he says, I need you to get as many vessels as you can. The prophet knows that God's about to do something. Then he says, come back and close the door on yourself and your children and begin to pour the oil into all the vessels. And as each one is filled, I want you to set it aside. So she went out, she closed the door on herself and her children,

and as they handed her the vessels, she would pour the oil. Remember, I've got nothing more than that to make a salad. but I now have a room full of jars according to the instructions of the prophet. God often does the extravagant church through things that seem insignificant. Why? Because no one else could get the credit when he does something remarkable. I mean, the Bible doesn't say, if you have the faith the size of a galaxy, you can say to this mountain be moved.

No, scripture says, if you have the faith, the size of a what? A mustard seed. Always the small, creating the magnificent. And I think there is no other principle in the Bible that illustrates this truth like the principle of the tithe. Think about this for a minute. I think the concept of the tithe is a mind-blower. And it literally predated Mosaic law by 400 years. So look at what scripture. You can't says, the prophet Malachi wrote this in Malachi chapter three, scripture says, bring the whole tithe, meaning the first tenth of your increase or your income, into the storehouse. What's the storehouse? It is the Old Testament temple and is the New Testament local church. Bring the whole

tithe into the storehouse. That there may be food in my house. It matters to God that there is resource in the local church. And then God says something he's never said before. Test me in this. Test me in this. Wait, doesn't the Bible say you shouldn't test the Lord your God? It does, except when God says, test me, then he calls us to test him. Test me and this says the Lord Almighty and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour so much blessing on you, you would not have room enough to contain it. Have you ever thought about why did God choose a percentage rather than an amount? Like if God's primary concern was there being resources in the local church,

why didn't he say bring the whole $20,000 into the storehouse? I mean, that would supply for a lot of the mission, but that would rule a lot of us out from experiencing the miracle of God. God's provision. Because everybody can give 10% of something. Your seven-year-old gets to experience the miracle of God's provision on their allowance. And why 10% and not 90%? Because we already said it. God often chooses to do the extravagant through that which seems insignificant. You might say, well, Pastor Chris, I work at Chick-fil-A. I sell Christian chicken to the world. I am selling Born-again poultry, and I'm making minimum wage. And 10% of minimum wage is nothing. Your nothing is often God something. When you plant it,

when you put it into the ground, when you bring it into the storehouse, it is more than what it is on the human level. This is how God often works. He often does the extravagant through that, which is significant. That is why it is so important that you do not diminish what he's given you because what you have is more than enough in his hands.

Last principle of provision is this. God's abundance often follows your faith. God's abundance follows your faith. So here she is. She's got this nothing amount of oil. She's got a room full of jars. And she just begins to pour. I'm pretty sure I only had like six ounces in this thing. But it's just, it's not stopping. And the next thing you know, this first jar is full. Like full full. And so she did what the prophet said. She set it aside and the kids brought another one. And she just started, she started pouring. And did that one got full?

And then verse six, scripture says, when all the vessels were filled, she said to her son, bring me another vessel. And her son answered, there are none left. And then the oil stopped. She went and told the man of God who said, actually, let me stop there. She went and told the man of God,

meaning the prophet chose not to be in the room, when the miracle was occurring. Why? Because if he was there, she would probably have credited the prophet for the miracle, but she was behind closed doors with only her kid and only her God. And this was a miracle of personal provision from God to us. That is key. That is key. This is personal. This is God. Your God in heaven saying, I see what you're going through. I see it. I'm with you. Just trust me. And with the last vessel was filled and there was not an empty one left, the oil stopped. And the prophet said, go sell the oil and pay off your creditor.

And with what remains, you and your children can live. We tend to get this backwards. You want to be generous. You want to live this life. And so we have this attitude of God, of God, if you could just give me more. And God's like, love to have the faith to first pour. But wait a second, God, if you'll just give me more, then it doesn't work that way with God. Because if we did not have the faith to first pour, then we're going to think that this is actually for you.

And it's actually destructive for us to collect a life of things and be tied to a life of materialism. And God loves you enough to not subject you to that. And so he will patiently wait until you have the faith to pour and did the God who created all things. is the one who brings about more. Parable of talents. God trust you with more when you've been faithful first with a little. Look, I did not grow up with much. I was the youngest of six kids in a two-bedroom, one-bath house.

I did not sleep in a bed bed until I went to college. I literally slept in a cot in the laundry room my whole high school growing up years. And mom, if you're watching this, I'm fine. You did not scar me. I'm better for it. Built character. I'm good. But I honestly grew up with a poverty mentality.

And I was like, I just have to hold on. I've got to hold on. I've got to hold on. Anything I get, I've just got to hold on. And I tend to categorize my life in financially speaking in one of two seasons. There's the season where I had to wonder how much could I afford to put in my car when I needed gas. And there's the season of I never have to. to think about it, I just fill it up. For those of us that are currently living in this second season

where you don't really even have to think about it, you just fill the car up, I'm just going to be really honest with you, it is harder for you to pour in this season than it was in the other. And here's why. When you didn't have much, there is nothing to lose. All you have is faith. But then as God begins to bless your life, and as you start to put him first, and you start living, out of this abundance. When you look at what you have in your jar, now it's actually not nothing. Now it's actually something. And it becomes a battle between, am I going to continue to live out of this faith to pour? Or am I just going to start like maybe, God, I'm going to just give you this little tip because you've been so good. Here's a, here's a tip, God, but I'm actually

not going to pour. I'm going to, I'm going to store. And if you are living here today, the challenge. challenge is that I have for you is that what you possess actually now possesses you. What you own now actually owns you. And there is one path, there is one remedy, there is one antidote to this prison of materialism. And it is to find an empty jar and pour your life out. Just pour your life out. Whatever you. you have, and this is bigger than money, this is your time, this is your prayer, this is your compassion for those who are hurting, just begin to pour. Every time I have gotten spiritually stuck, it is because I have started loving and living for the things of this world, and I have

given myself out of being stuck every single time. I just find a way to be irrational and write a check, and I give myself out of being stuck. It's in the Bible. We just start pouring and then the God of more starts refilling. One of my favorite stories that illustrates this in the last two weeks came out of Life Church, Owasso. Someone had given a pretty sizable gift to the church, and Pastor Ritchie wanted to find out who this was just to respectfully say thank you. and his search led him to switch on Wednesday night to an 18-year-old, Josh. And Pastor Richie was like, hey man, I just wanted to say thank you for your gift

and just make sure you didn't accidentally put too many zeros on that check. And Josh laughed and he's like, no, Pastor Richie, that was right and you're welcome. Tell me your story, he said. And J. Y'all said, this church has changed me. I am not the same as I once was. And I've been serving. I've been inviting my friends every Wednesday night. I'm serving life kids every single weekend.

And so notice he's already living a life of pouring. And then God did a miracle of bringing more. He had saved up for years to go to college. and the blessing of an abundant God out of nowhere, he got a full right scholarship. And that weekend he's sitting in church, and Pastor Craig is preaching, and this voice from the Holy Spirit said,

give it all. And this 18-year-olds is leading the way in our church. And he wrote a check for everything that he had saved. If one more person could meet Jesus in this place, of this gift, I will gladly pour out. Here's the thing. Josh has the faith to pour because he is the child of the God of Moore, right? I want you to get this stuck in your brain when you feel like I can't, I can't do it, I cannot afford to. You can't afford not to. I have the faith to pour because I belong to the God of more. This is who we are unapologetically. And in the season that we are

living today church, it is so utterly important that we not live and look like the culture that we are growing up in and raising. We have to look distinctly bizarre and honoring God with the tithe and living out of this irrational desire to find another place to pour out anything that God has given me. That is the life that God has called us to live. That's why the apostle Paul, I believe, wrote this in 2 Corinthians 9. He says, I need you to give joyfully. why? And the God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Look at this. You will be made rich in every way. Why? Not for you. So that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us,

through stories like Josh's and through stories like yours, it will result in thanksgiving to God. there will be people on the other side of eternity thanking you for how you poured your life out. It will result in thanksgiving to God. In light of the Savior, who Paul wrote in Philippians, emptied himself on Calvary's Cross. Guys, how can we settle for a life of acquiring or achieving? Instead, can I urge you? to pursue a life of emptying and allow the wellspring of God to refill as you pour out. There is no other reasonable response than to pour your whole life out to the one who poured

his life out for you. So Father, we come to you acknowledging the tension that we live in. And we ask you to give us the courage just to live differently, to confront our fears with faith. And that we would have the faith, God, to live irrationally generous with our time and our resources and our prayer and our servanthood and everything God that you could use to impact another life. just in a posture of prayer at all of our locations, church online, those of you watching it on YouTube, those of you that are in a posture today say, I need to be set free from this materialism, from this scarcity prison, this fear that there is not enough. God, give me the faith to live my life pouring out. If that's your prayer today, would you just boldly raise your hand with me?

I just want to be in prayer for you, hands all over the place. God, we come to you, just surrendering ourselves, surrendering our ambition, surrendering our desires to accumulate or to arrive or to achieve. And God, we surrender even our finances. God, is a measure to say you are first in our life. And God, as you pour back in, we acknowledge now that it is not for us. not, it is what you want to pour out through us. So use us God to impact those around us and even here in your church. As we continue to pray today, there is a, there's a lot of debt in our world.

And there is no greater debt than the debt created by sin. And I'm just going to be real with you. You can't afford it. You cannot afford it. All have sinned, the Bible says, and fall short of the standard of God. And that separation has a cost. Whenever I miss the mark of God by a millimeter or a mile, it doesn't matter. There is a penalty. There is a cost.

And it is eternal separation from God. It's death. Somebody has to die. I know that's hard to understand in the culture that we live in. but while we were still sinning and while we were in unbelievable debt, according to the penalty of our sin, the good news came from heaven to earth. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. He died on Calvary's cross, not to pay a debt that he owed, but church that you did. This is what we owe, and he paid the debt. There's a lot of us that believe that the forgiveness,

of God is enough to meet the needs of the person next to me, but I don't think it's big enough for what I've done. And can I just encourage you with the Word of God? The cross is sufficient to cover a multitude of sin, but you have to choose. You have to call out on Jesus. So what do you do at all of our locations? If you don't know Jesus, if he is not genuinely first in your life, you surrender your life, you place him first, you repent of your sin. And I'm telling you the Bible says anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you want to make that decision today and pray that prayer, I want you to boldly lift your hand at all of our, just lift it up right where you are.

I want to see you eye to eye right over here. I got you. Others of you, Jesus, I need you. Keep it up for a minute. I want to just see you. I want to just include you in this prayer. I need you, Jesus. At all of our locations, can we pray with those saying yes to the grace of Jesus.

Pray this with me. Father, I need you. I've sinned. I'm asking you to. to save me. Jesus, I believe you died on a cross you didn't deserve to pay for my sin. And you rose from the grave to bring me life. Fill me now with your Holy Spirit that I could serve you always. In Jesus' name, I pray.

Can somebody make some noise and go nuts for those saying yes to the grace of God.