The Church of Eleven22 - A Disciple Stewards All That He Has - Follow Me - Wk 2

Episode Date: May 4, 2025

God doesn’t need your money, but He wants your heart. God is first and everything we have belongs to Him. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to bring their first and best to Him, not our leftovers. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen and amen. How are we, church, doing good? Hey, you look good. If you love the Bible, you're going to love this sermon. We're going to be in many, many, many places. So grab your Bible's Matthew 6, Genesis 4, Malachi 3, will be three of about 10 places that we're going to be. Hey, I also want to say, once again, what's up to our Marion new campus, really?

There's about 110 guys worshipping with us at Marion Correctional right now. We love you guys. As well as Union, as well as Columbia. I mean, so it's all kind of places. So we are in this series called Follow Me, because what we are in as the church, we are in the disciple-making business, okay? And like I said last week, Easter was awesome.

We had 44,000 people live and a bunch of other people watching online. But we're not in the show-up-one-time business. We are in the disciple-making business. And so if you've been around here, you've seen this discipleship journey, the triangle thing. We'll throw it up on the screen a little quick for you to see. And what my job is to help you be more like Jesus.

That's why I exist on this planet. And so what we are here as a church, and we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And the Bible says that when you put your faith in Jesus, the spirit of God begins to conform you into the image and likeness of his son. And so what I want for you in this series is for you to be more like Jesus, for you to love all people through serving and sharing. And by the way, last week, 500 new people signed up to join the 6,000,

current serve staff people. So for you 500, way to go. For you 60,500, thank you. For the other 20,000, what's wrong with you people? Okay, that's why we got a long way to go. Also, we'll skip over to deepen. We deepen our relationship with Jesus by deepening in the faith family.

You'll spend a week on that. By deepening in our faith, we'll spend a week on that. And then we discover our identity in Jesus. Ultimately, through salvation, that we can't save ourselves, but he saves us. And then what we're going to talk about today is stewardship. Disciples, stewards, all that he has.

Okay, you can take that down. Now, that means we're going to talk about money. There we go. Praise God. Guess who's not nervous? Me and this lady right here. You know why? Because generous people don't get nervous when you talk about money.

And maybe, you know, and for sure, stewardship means time, talent, and treasure. But when we've talked about serving, we talked about time and talent. That you should give your time to the Lord, and you should figure out. how God has wired you in order to serve his kingdom. But today, we are going to talk about treasure. Now, there's a lot of churches that don't teach on this because they're afraid to make either fringe people or new people nervous or upset, all right?

Now, let me tell you why I teach on it all the time because I refuse to starve the sheep in order to entertain the goats. That's not what we do around here. And if you're an unsafe person there, are you calling me a goat? Yeah. It's what Jesus called you.

So I would hope by the end of the service today, you'd switch on over and be a sheep with us and follow with the good shepherd. So if you're not a believer, I'm actually not talking to you about being generous whatsoever. I don't care if you give anything. I want you to give everything to Jesus. I want you to give him all, all of your heart and all of your sin and all of your shame and all of your guilt. Everything I want you to bring to him. One time in the lobby some guy asked me, says,

Let me get this right. If I follow Jesus, it's going to cost me 10%. Heck no. It's going to cost you 100% of your life, but you're not sacrificing anything. It's like sacrificing thirst for a cold glass of water. It's like sacrificing hunger for a delicious meal that you're going to lay down your life, which isn't working now, and you're going to take up eternal life in him. So that's what we're going to do.

So there is this theme in the Bible, okay? from the very beginning to the very end. There's two things the Bible talks about a whole bunch. Not the only things, but it's very, very important. And if I don't teach you these things, you will never be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. The first thing is the preeminence of Christ that God is first.

He's not even just like first on your list, like some of you old heads, you heard this back in the day. And you mean well by saying this, it's just dumb, don't ever say it again. They'd be like, the order of my life is God, family, country. Like, stop it. I know what you mean, and you mean well, okay, but you still know what you're talking about.

God is like the paper on which you would write the list, and then you glorify him in the way that you love your family and serve your country. It's not like you ever get done with number one. Well, I'm done with God. Now family, here we come. That's not how it works. It's every aspect of our life. And so from the very beginning to the very end, one of the things that the Bible teaches is the preeminent. of Christ. Another thing that the Bible warns about in the Old Testament and the New Testament

is the reality that money competes for the throne of our hearts. See how quiet it gets? Because all of us are like, oh no, he's going to talk about money. And the more defensive you are, the less likely you will be able, and I will be able, to hear the voice of the good shepherd. and he only wants you to invite you to take steps of obedience in regards to stewardship that lead to the abundant life that he has for you and every single time we say nah i don't think i'm going to go my own way i think i'm going to go the way of this world i think i know better than god when it comes to money it will lead to death and destruction and misery every single time So in order to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, that's what this whole series is about.

We've got to know whom we're following. And so I've taught on this several times. So for some of you, this will be brand new. For some of you, it's a reminder. If you're taking notes, you just write this down. God is first. God is first. God is preeminent.

He did not begin at the beginning. He began at the beginning. He created all things. He initiated all things. He is first. The Bible says, we should love the Lord of God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. because He is, the Lord our God is one or Akhad. It means that he is preeminent in our life.

Here's some text. Colossians 1 says this, beginning in verse 15. He being Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. I love it. There's some invisible stuff that he created. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authority, all things were created through him and for him.

So how did you get here? You were created by who, him, for who, him? And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And yet we live in a world where, if we're honest, and I know this is church, no place for honesty, but there will be some things that will creep up into the first place slot in our life.

It happens all the time. It's just human nature. John chapter one starts his gospel this way. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God, and the word was God, he was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made, and in him was life. And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And so if we look for any kind of life outside of Christ, we will not find life.

We will only find shadows of life. And this is just true, regardless of what you believe, you know, your beliefs do not change reality, right? C.S. Lewis says that a crazy man scribbling darkness in a cell has no impact on whether the sun comes up tomorrow. And so the God of the universe will be preeminent in your life. The God of the universe will be first in your life. He will either be first as your judge or your savior. But he will. The Bible says that every knee will bow.

So you've got two options. You can bow or you can bow. Those are your options. And what's incredible, the grace part of this is if we bow our knee to Christ on this side of judgment, then he will be first as our Savior. But if we refuse him, then we will bow when he shows back up. I think it's adorable when people talk about what they're going to say to Jesus when he returns. Like, I got a few questions.

Ha, ha. You're going to fall on your face, pee yourself a little, and just try not to die. And then you're going to die. That's what's going to happen. Okay. So that's just, this is the Bible. All right. Sorry. So the first thing is that God is first. It's just who he is. And because he's first,

God always acts within his character and nature. He can't, I don't even know how to say it. He can't or won't act in any way outside of his character and nature. The reason that God is gracious or shows grace towards us is because he is grace. The reason that God speaks truth is because he is truth. The reason that he loves us first is because he is first. Okay, so the first thing is that God is first. From the beginning of the end of the Bible.

Another reality is that everything we have is God's. It's all his. Now, I know we're obsessed with personal property, but it's just kind of a myth. You realize that? We don't own anything. We just are managers of it for a short time.

You know this to be true. If you don't know this to be true, go by Hope's Clause. You know how many dead people's things are in there. Lots. Now we get to hang out with it for a while. We got our name on our checking account and all of that, but it all belongs to God. Deuteronomy 1014, behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, whatever that is, the earth with all that is in it. It all belongs to God.

Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. So not only does he own everything, all the people are. his. James 1, 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of Likes with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Now, I get it. I get it. As Americans, we really think we're something. We think we pulled ourselves up by our brute straps. We think I'm a self-made man. That's adorable. Like with, you're like, no, I did this. Do you remember when you were deciding who your parents were going to be? Remember that?

Do you remember choosing your hospital in which you would be? be born, so you'd be raised. I'm not saying you didn't work hard and you didn't leverage all kinds of things that the Lord had made available to you, but everything you have is a bloodbought grace gift from him. It all belongs to him, and it's by his grace that he lets you mess with it for a little while. That's just true. So God is first, and everything is God's, and God goes first. And the reason that God goes first is because it's in alignment with who he is. This is such good news. In our salvation, aren't you glad that God's not waiting to judge you to see if you get it right, and then if you can be good enough, then he might put his love on you? That's not what the Bible says at all.

The Bible says, for God so loved the world. Have you seen the world? Is it lovable? It's terrible. and yet God decides to place his love on us and he so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 1 John 410 says this. This is one of my favorite verses. In this is love. Not that we have loved God that we did not initiate this relationship,

but that he loved us and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin. And propitiation means a payment that, my heart is warm, thank you very much. a payment that satisfies, that God goes first because he is first, and he initiated his love towards us, like Romans 5-8s, a great verse to memorize. He demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. This is just who he is.

Now, so far so good, right? Everybody likes that part of the sermon. Like, oh, man, we even talk about money. This is great. God's really into me. Well, he is, but it's because of him, not because of you. You're not awesome. Okay.

So another truth in the Bible from beginning to end, and you live with this every day of your life and you know it. That what we're supposed to do as disciples is that we follow God's lead by bringing our first and best back to him. And part of the reason I say bring is because, now listen, in the English language, we use the word give a lot, but you actually can't give God anything. Do you realize that?

Like if my daughter Reagan, who's a ninth grader, was like, Dad, this year for your birthday, I'm going to give you a boat. With whose money? She's not generous if she uses my money to buy me something, and we've already established everything we have is the Lord's, and it's just on loan to us. So what we are commanded to do is bring back our first and our best. And the Bible teaches this clearly, and your experience in mine are the same,

and that money has a tendency to have a grip on the human heart, and God wants your heart. And we live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day to get us to buy into the materialistic lie, that the stuff of this world, that our money, our checking accounts, or new pants, will bring us security and satisfaction. And it will not.

Matthew chapter 6, this is Jesus' most famous sermon. It's called the sermon on the Mount. And occasionally, not you, you guys are the best, honestly. I rarely get complaints for you, but sometimes I'll get like, why do preachers want to talk about money so much? I actually, I had our team, like, count how many money sermons I have done, and I am about a tenth of the amount of time talking about money as Jesus talks about money.

So if you're like, why don't we just talk about Jesus? You would have hated the teaching ministry of Jesus. like over, like about 40% of every word that came out of his mouth was about money. Why? Because he wanted people to be saved. And one of the primary grips on the human heart is the temporary things of this world. So with that in mind, he says this in the sermon on the mouth, Matthew 619. He says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

He's like, you dummy, don't spend money. like you're going to live here forever. Wouldn't that be silly? Let's not to travel all the time. I got to get rental cars all the time. Can you imagine if I got in my Hertz rental car and then ran it by the dealership? I was like, hey, can I get some new rims and tires for this? And they're like, it says Hertz on it. Like I know, but I can't just be riding in standard. Look at me, man. I need some like dubs, like old school. Think Snoop Dog, you know? How about some hydraulics? I want that thing. Like, y'all don't know what that is. Snoop was an evangelist back in the day. anyway.

Anybody put premium gas in a rental? No. Why? Because why would you make that kind of investment at a car you're going to give back in 48 hours? Seems like an awful waste of money for such a short amount of time you're going to have it. Jesus is like, that's how some of you live.

That's how some of us live. We act like we're going to live here forever and we're not. He says, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. I love this so much. So let me ask, what can you send to heaven? Can you send money to heaven?

The only two things you can send to heaven or take to heaven with you, people and praises. That's it, man. People and praises. And everything that we have been given financially one day will either bring us great regret or great reward. And so he's saying, why don't you live your life as if this is not our forever home

but we're going to spend forever there. And the only thing that will matter in 100 years when you look around heaven is how did I leverage my life and my resources to get as many people up here with me forever and ever and ever. That's the only thing that we can take there. Then, this verse is going to scare you to death.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We think it goes the other way. We think that your money lags behind your heart. That's all what Jesus says. Jesus says that your heart lags behind your treasure. You know this to be true, okay? If I were to take somebody's wallet on the front row, I don't know who I would take.

You look like you got some money. If I took yours, okay? I mean, you got on khakis and no socks. That's bold, okay? So if I took yours and I took this brother's wallet and I put it in my pocket, guess what? This brother is going to listen to my sermon more than he's ever listened to it. He ain't watching the screens.

Not when I walk around his head's going to turn. And if at the end of the sermon, sermon. If I left back off the stage, this brother right here who's on the care team, which is cool, he'd be like, hey, I need to see pastor for a minute. But you need prayer? No, I need my wallet. He'd be very concerned. This is just true. This is kind of a weird verse. Like, this is kind of a weird verse for today. Verse 22, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. Here's what they mean. In the first century, they believed they could tell the entire health of your body by looking at your eye. They were saying the single indicator on whether you were full of light or darkness, whether you're healthy or unhealthy is the condition of your eye. Jesus is saying the single biggest indicator of your walk with Jesus is not how high

you raise your hands in a worship service. It's what you're doing with the money that God has trusted you with. I mean, that's intense, isn't it? Then he says this, because no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. The number one competitor for the human heart, according to Jesus, in the devil, it's not the secularization of America, it's not backmasting music, it's none of that. The number one thing to watch out for is the stuff that we think we grab onto, but then it gets a hold of us, is what Jesus says. And, And God doesn't, listen, God doesn't want your money.

What's he going to do with it? Buy pants? He doesn't have legs. See John chapter 4. He was going to get a truck. He doesn't need a ride. He's already there. Like what, but what he wants is your heart.

He wants you. And he knows that there's two ways to live this life. There's the abundant life that the good shepherd has for us. And he wants you to be able to walk in the kind of way that you live in this incredible freedom. And you are overwhelmed with gratitude with every gift. good and perfect gift from above, and that money is a great tool to be used so that you can love God and love people and love the people that you love and do fun stuff and go on vacations and eat good food and make memories but not be consumed by it.

Then there's another way to live, which is called the American way, where you live beyond your means and you think the stuff is going to somehow satisfy you and it will end up killing you. On your heart, man, you ever played musical chairs? I remember the first time I ever played musical chairs. I was a high school student the first time I ever played. You know, we didn't play dumb games like that. We grew up in the country. So I go to youth group for the first time, and we're playing musical chairs.

And I remember walking around that thing, I was like, there's a problem here. There's 20 of us and there's 19 chairs. Somebody screwed. But it ain't me, because I'm a win. Now, I'm not saying I'm the most athletic person ever, but I'm youth group All-American. You understand? And sure enough, I dominated, dominated that game. And it came down to me and this one girl, and she was not an athlete.

She didn't look like an athlete, she didn't talk like an athlete, she didn't move like an athlete. I'm sure she loved Jesus so much, but I was thoroughly convinced I was going to dominate her. To the glory of God. Actually, not to the glory of God. There were cute girls, a youth group, and I was convinced that nothing impresses a young lady. like dominating meaningless games, right? And so there I was. I'm walking around the thing, waddling like I got muscles.

That music stops. And I did my same technique. Even if I didn't get there first, I was going to be there last, because, you know, E equals MC, you off my seat, like, boom, I had left cheek him to the, you know, body check of seventh grader to the music department. That's what I was doing. And then we were walking around, walking around that last one,

and the music stops, and I'm talking about full thrust. Here I come. And that little girl picked that thing up. went swoop and sat on it. And I just said, boom, it just completely wiped it. Now, she cheated. It's supposed to move to chair, but still, I lost. Here's why I tell you this.

In the human heart, any but one throne in the human heart. And at the end of the day, any but two things that just swarm around your human heart. And it's fate through fear. And nothing will indicate who you've invited to sit down, on the throne room of your heart, like what you do with your resources. And you will either worship fear and be controlled by it,

or you will be set free by faith. Now, let's go to Genesis chapter four. We're going to see this play out in the scripture. Genesis chapter four says this. Now, for all you Bible nerds, listen, this is pre-law. Moses has not given the law yet. There hadn't been an order about tithing or any of that kind of stuff. This is baked in to the human condition that we bring our first and best to God.

Genesis chapter four. It says, and Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. Ladies, that's not a verse to memorize. That's not what that means. The Hebrew named Cain is the word got. So they name him, got him.

That's what they named him, all right? So I've gotten a man with the help of the Lord, and again, she bore his brother, Abel. Now check this out. Now, Abel was a keeper of the sheep, and Cain, a worker of the ground. verse three underline these four words

five words in the course of time Kane brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground and Abel also brought up brought of the firstborn of his flock underline those words first born of his flock

and of their fat portions and the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but for Kane and his offering he had no regard so Kane was very angry and his face fell. Now, why? Why did God accept one offering and not accept the other?

Is it because God likes meat better than vegetables? Obviously, that is true. That has nothing to do with this text. Let me ask you this. What vegetable was unleashed with the new covenant? None. After Jesus dies and fulfills the law of Moses, there's no vegetable like, congratulations.

Now you can eat broccoli or whatever. I don't know. But you know what was unleashed? Pork. If you don't believe God is good, have you had bacon? Bro, pre-life death, resurrection to Jesus, no bacon. Post-bacon. I mean, if you want to see the goodness of God, just look at a pig in and of itself.

Nobody would see a pig and be like, I bet that is delicious. I mean, this kind of formless football with a face on one end, but dude, bacon? Are you kidding me? that's how good God is. But it's not about meat or vegetables here. It's about the heart. Here's why Kane failed. Is it Kane was going to bring an offering before the Lord, and here's what he did.

In the course of time, after he had harvested all of his crops, after he had counted him up and made sure he had enough for himself, he just brings some of his leftovers. Says, here you go, God. Why don't you take my seconds? But God doesn't do seconds. because God is first. And Abel gives of his first born. In the modern context, you know what this means?

Abel worked on commission. He had no idea how much more was... It's not like they ran a sonogram over the lamb and be like, well, there's 25 in here. Surely we can give up one. The first one comes out and he trusts God that God will provide him with everything else. And so he gives his first and his best.

He makes a first fruit faith offering and God receives that. This is what we are called to do as disciples of Christ, that we are to bring our first fruit faith offering, not leftovers, because God doesn't do leftovers, but we are to bring him first. It goes on to saying, and the Lord said to Cain,

why are you so angry and why has your face fallen? Here's why, because he doesn't trust God. Here's why, because he's ruled by fear and control. Then he goes on to say, if you do well, will you not be accepted? It's kind of like that song, it is well. If you have learned the secret of being content in every situation, if it was well in your soul, then would you not be accepted?

And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. And Cain fails. Like what began as the first act of selfishness, I'm just going to give God some leftovers, eventually led him down a path where he kills his brother, and not only that, the kid that Kane fathers is named Lamek, and his name means poor and wanting,

and he brings two things into the world. His family tree brings in revenge and polygamy. And it all starts back with Kane began down a path where he thought he could give God leftovers. And it made him angry because he didn't love God as much he loved his stuff. Now, some of you're like, well, I'm not a murder. I just, maybe I don't tithe.

Give me a break. Okay, cool. Malachi three. Malachi three. The book of Malachi, we studied it a bunch of years ago. The book of Malachi is that God is a good dad and he's got six problems with his kids. His kids are in the nation of Israel and he's pointing them out. And one of them is that they're being greedy with their stuff.

And in Malachi 3, verse 7, the Bible says this, from the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Now, just in case you're new to Bible study, he's not just talking about the nation of Israel, he's talking about me and you. Anybody else in the room prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love? Anybody? Anybody make some promises you didn't keep, or I'm going to do better, and then you don't? Okay, this is us.

This is the human condition. And then God gives us this incredible invitation. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. He doesn't know what's that whatsoever. but he says, I want you to come back to me and good news, like the dad in Luke 15, when we come to our citizens and come home, God the Father runs to us like James promises in James 4-8,

God says, come here, if you'll just draw near to me, I will draw near to you. That's the invitation. And then the people say, okay, how shall we return? Do we go to worship services? Growth track, sponsor some kids, sing louder, and God's going to say this. God says, there's one area of your life,

and if you will prioritize me in this area of your life, all the rest of your life will shape up. And here's the question that God asks. Verse 8, will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you? Now, let me ask you, are you robing God? And I know initially you're like,

how will rob God? Like walk by the offering box on the way out and be like, hey, dick's wings on me, you know, please don't do that. I don't know anybody would do that. You know, make change in the offering plate and take a little more than you put in or something, that'd be weird. When you rob somebody, it's because you have something that doesn't belong to you. According to the Bible, the tide, the first 10% belongs to the Lord. It just is his.

Whether you give it to him or not. So it's either in your account or his account, but it belongs to him. Leviticus 2730, I know you probably read this all the time. every tithe of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's, it is holy to the Lord. And then some people are like, yeah, but isn't that an Old Testament idea? It is. But then Jesus says about the tithe in Matthew 23, 23. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe, mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the way to your matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.

Jesus says you ought to tithe. And then Jesus tells us that our righteousness is to exceed the religious leaders of the first century. So, I got good news and better news. Good news is that Jesus fulfilled the law of the old covenant. But a good place to start in regards to what we call our generosity or being a good steward is at least the old covenant standard. Because we have a new and better covenant. So we would not pray less than the old covenant.

We would not worship less than the old covenant. We would not serve less than the old covenant, and we would not bring less than the old covenant. And so Malachi, back to Malachi, when they say, how have we robbed you? And God says, in your ties and contributions. Now, let's just tell you exactly what this means. Tide does not, biblically speaking, tide does not simply mean 10%. It means the first. It means the first.

The first, in the Old Testament, 10%. Actually, in the Old Testament, the tithe was 23%. That's what it was. because there were three different kind of tithes, all right? But it means the first and the best, like what Abel brought. And ultimately, here's just what's true. We all tithe to something. Something gets your first and best.

And it reveals what is most important to you. And as Americans, what that usually is, it's usually a house or education or cars or a lifestyle. And what God is saying is the problem is, The problem is not cars and houses and lifestyles. The problem is where are you putting your trust? Because when we take our first and best and the thing that we do is say, I got to live here, I got to drive that, I've got to live this kind of way.

What we're doing is we are placing our hope for our satisfaction and our security. We're just putting it somewhere that can't do for us what we wish it would do for us. It can't. And God is saying when you bring that to me, what I promise is that I will give you security. and satisfaction that you will never find in this world. And even for me and my wife, for our house, what we have decided, first and best also means most.

So we bring first, best, and most to the Church of 1122. Here's why. Every year the elders get my tax returns as they see my financial situation, you know. And here, if Jesus says that where your treasure is there, your heart will be also, I want people, if you were to look, if you were to look at my financial situation, I want you to be to say, well, apparently, you know what,

loves most? The Lord. Because the most money that comes out of their account every year is to what we are doing through this church. And there'd be some other things that I love. Oh, cool. Look, he loves camo. Wow. Oh, he also loves pillows and home goods. And I'd be like, actually, I don't, but I love somebody that does. And so we got some of that junk too, okay? And so he says, I want you to bring your ties and offerings. Look at verse 9. You were cursed with a curse for you we're robbing me the whole nation of you. Listen, man, when you're not trusting God with your first and best, I don't want you to be cursed. And here's what this means.

I think there's a natural curse. Every one of us live on a percentage of our income. The average in America is about 110% of what you make. That's why you get upside down and in credit card debt and you're a slave to the lender. You're like, I'm not a slave. Okay, cool. Then tell your money where it's going to go. Take a whole month's paycheck and just give it away.

Give it to some charity. You're like, I can't do that, right, because you're in debt, and it tells you what to do. You're not the boss of it anymore. And I don't want you to be cursed that way. And then there's just the supernatural reality that when we trust God, he puts a little bit of super on that natural, and there's just 10,000 testimony. Anybody ever trusted God with the first and best, and then God shows up in a miraculous way? I mean, honestly, raise it high, like, keep it up, keep it up. Okay, all you untrace, look around at all these people.

And in the lobby after, just be like, hey, tell me your story, okay? And you can give testimony. This is what he says. I don't want you to live cursing. And then he says this, first 10, bring. Not give. Bring. By the way, you notice we don't take up an offering?

Because the Bible doesn't say take. It says that we used to bring to God. So bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. All right, there's a lot here. I want to be very practical. In the New Testament, the local church is the storehouse. In the Old Testament, there was actual food. Our food is the Word of God.

that we feed on every single week. That's a part of it. Also, the reason that God called Israel was to be a light to the entire world. So the centerpiece of gospel advancement around the world is the local church. And what we are supposed to do is bring the tithe to your local church.

Then there are offerings and then there are gifts. The tithe goes to the local church. And then if you want to do more with other organizations like Compassion International or Boys and Girls Club or whatever, and if you want to give gifts to whoever, those are over and above what you were bringing into the storehouse. Now, on sermons and podcasts and all the things, we've added a little spiel at the end where we say, if you'd like to donate to this ministry, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Somebody online didn't like it.

I get it. And they had the right spirit about it. But here's the reason that we put that word, donate there, okay? Because if you are an 11-22 and you're worshipping with us, you don't donate to God. You bring your type. but what I'm not trying to do is get people, y'all, we have a lot of people worship with us and listen to us all over the place, but they are members of local churches in other places, and you people listening, you need to bring your tie to your local church,

and then if you want to donate into this ministry so that we can continuously provide gospel materials for the world, then feel free to do that. But what the commandment, what God wants us to do is bring our first and best to our local church. And then also we are to prioritize gospel giving over general charity. I mean, I get it, you know, when Sarah McLaughlin comes on and sings about the cat's dying, if that moves your heart and you want to donate to a dead cat, I'd pray about that. But that's not the same as tithing. This doesn't all get lumped into one thing.

This is bringing our first and best to the storehouse. And then God says, this is crazy. He says, thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more what's that word knee I don't know if you need a jet ski you know but he promises I'll take care of you and here's the real blessing here's the blessing of all blessings when the idol of money begins to get plucked off of the throne of your heart and you begin to learn the secret of being content in every situation. And then there's also a natural blessing.

The natural blessing of tithing is you learn how to live on less than you make. And if you do that, you will always have enough. Then he says, I will rebuke the devourer for you, that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. In other words, what God is saying is, trust me, I can do more with your 90% than you can do with your 100%. and then all nations will call you blessed,

for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of the host. Okay, so when you bring your first and your best to the local church, like the church of 1122, what we do with that is there is food in the storehouse. In other words, all the ministries that we have to help you walk with Jesus, and then we take the good news of the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation around the world. That's what it's for. New Testament, 2 Corinthians, chapter 9. Paul is taking up an offering.

And he says these words. He says, the point is this. Oh, listen, if you're new to Bible study, can we agree? Paul can be a little hard to understand sometimes. Do you know that Peter says that Paul is hard to understand, and they're both writing the Bible? You understand? So when he just tells you, here's what he's saying.

He's like, hey, McFly, I'm going to put this on the bottom shelf right here, all right? In case you miss it. The point is this. whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart. So at the end of the service, we're not, we're going to close the way we always close.

We're going to bring, we're going to sing, we're going to pray. One of the reasons we don't take up an offering is I don't ever want you to give under compulsion. This has to be an act of worship between you and the Lord. Again, the old covenant law started at 10%. So that's at least a good place to start for the believer. And what we do with our money, when we bring to God, it's an act of worship, and it is a reflection of what we believe about the gospel.

That God, you've been so good to me, you've been so generous to me, that you help, I know, I mean, I felt like I worked hard, but I worked hard with what you have given me. You gave me my parents and my opportunity and my educational situation, and that deal that went through and I prayed, because here's what's crazy, man. Oftentimes we pray and we want God to get involved in this part of our finances, but somehow ignore this part of our finances.

And he says, no, no, no, I won't all of you. I don't just want some of you. I want all of you. And so he says, each one must give as he has decided in his heart. So I want you to legitimately pray about that. Lord, I want you to lead me. What's the step that I need to take? not reluctantly or under compulsion.

So if you think that this sermon is not edifying you to follow Jesus, but if you think I'm trying to compel you to do something, please don't give. Don't give it all. Just keep it, okay? You selfish, but I'm just kidding. Sort of. But if you're like, you know what, I need this reminder.

I just need this reminder that God is first and God is good and he's been so good to me. And I'm so glad that Jesus didn't tithe his blood, that he gave it all. And that I just want to respond with what he has called me to do. And then he says, another promise, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,

you may abound in every good work. And again, in Malachi, he says, try me on this. So maybe if you don't feel like your life is abounding right now, it could be because you are worshipping at the idol of money, and money's not even actually the idol, fear and control are. And the only way that that grip is going to be broken is very practically you're going to have to do something about it.

So if you're not tithing, I would just tell you, just do it. Just go for it. Just do it. 10% do the math of everything that comes in. the moment you started in, it was like pre-taxed, stop you, Pharisee, it's just 10%, okay? And just do it. Now, here's the thing. If you're like, well, there's no way I could do that, then you realize you have not been stewarding God's resources well, right?

And oftentimes people will think, well, if I just had more money, then I could do this. Well, if you were God, based on the way you've been spending money, would you give you my money? If you gave your kids a bunch of goldfish and your kids didn't share them with anybody, and they were like, mine, what do you do? You know what your problem is. You don't have enough goldfish. No, no, no, no, no.

The worst thing you could do is load them up with more goldfish. So if you don't feel like you could do this, then here are the steps, because this whole thing is about follow me. So here's that. Step number one is you've got to make this a priority. That at the beginning of your week, whether you worship on Thursday or Sunday, I want you to bring your first to the Lord, but you might not be the best yet. But you decide, all right, okay, I'm going to make this a regular habit.

So first is priority. The second is percentage that you're going to pick a percentage to start with. And hopefully it impacts your life a little bit. Hopefully you just drink the free coffee at work and you don't spend the, you know, the $9 coffee and all that kind of stuff, right? You figure that stuff out and say, because I love Jesus more than I love coffee. For some of you, that would be the greatest sacrifice of your entire life, okay? And then you're now the average American gives less than 1% to charity a year but feels very generous. Isn't that crazy?

But don't worry, Christians are way better. You know how much Christians give? 2%. It's really kind of pitiful. It really is. Like if we just did the math of, you know, Church of 1122, we run 20,000 to 25,000 people a week. if you just average annual household income, those kinds of things. The amount of things that we could solve, not just in Jacksonville, but every county,

everywhere we have a campus, if people brought their first and best and it was actually 10%, it'd be unbelievable. I mean, we really could change the world. The church right now, the global church, has all the resources needed to feed every person to preventable diseases all over the world, to make sure every kid has an education and malaria, all the things are there. It's just stored up sitting in the pocketbooks of Christians all around the world, worshiping with their hands up, but not being generous towards the Lord.

So starts as a priority. I'm going to do this every week. Start with a percentage. And if you can't go to 10 at the beginning, start with whatever you can, two or three or whatever, but have a plan to progress over time. And then you've got to make it your regular practice. You're not just going to do it when you show a little. up sometimes. Some of you don't know if you know this. Some people don't come to church every week.

Right. One of the ways you could do it is you could sign up for recurring giving. I don't have a Bible verse about recurring giving, you know. Jesus didn't say a lot about the internet. But one of the ways is just to establish we are making the decision that all the other decisions in my house are going to bounce off of. And I just know every two weeks or every week, however you want to sign it up, first and best is going, but making a regular practice, and then you've got to start pushing yourself. Okay? I mean, Gretchen and I have been tithing for a long time, but we don't feel like that's nearly enough now, that we have made decisions that we can grow and grow and grow in our generosity,

not just grow in our lifestyle. And then the biggest thing is this, and then pray, and then do whatever he tells you to do. And here's the best part for you. and nobody's going to know with you and the Lord. I have no idea what the Lord is leading you to. My job is just to encourage you to be obedient because I want you to be blessed. There's a very, very famous verse in Proverbs 3.

If you've got a grandma or if you are a grandma, this verse is crocheted on a pillow somewhere in the house, okay? And everybody loves it. Like when I read this, you're going to be like, I love that verse. good because you think it's all well you'll see why we love all the verses that we think are about us ready trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding i can't read it in the es v because i memorized it in the niv 84 and so that's what i got to go with ready trust in the lord

with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and then here's what we love and he will make your path straight don't you love that who doesn't want your path to be straight. Anybody want a bumpy path? Anybody want a crooked path? Anybody want an unlit path? No, no, no, no, no. I want God to show me exactly where to go.

And then we stop it right there. Because guess what? The first area, Solomon, the writer of this, wants us to test this in. He says, be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Anybody wants some healing flesh? Anybody want their bones refreshed? How about the 50 and older crowd? Can I get a witness? Ooh, let's go. Anybody need some fresh bones? Ooh. God's like, all right, here's how you do it.

Ready? Honor the Lord with your wealth. And some of you're like, well, yeah, but I'm not wealthy. Well, if you've been around, you've heard me say this before. If you're combined annual household income is $35,000 a year, you're in the top 1% of wealthiest wage earners in the world. You're wealthy. You are.

That means if you are a part-time substitute teacher at Fletcher Middle School, I checked it. That's how much you can make. You can knock down 35K. Look there, Sally. You are rich. Congratulations. You're wealthy.

So honor God with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce, not the leftovers. Not like, oh, I feel guilty because he preached about it again, so I'm going to tip on the way out. No, no, no, no. but that you make it a priority, you pick a percentage, you can practice it every single week,

and you bring your first fruits to the Lord, and then God promises this. Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. You hear that, Baptist? I don't even know how you burst the vat with wine, but that's what he wants to do. So here's why I'm teaching us this,

because I want you to walk in freedom. I want you to walk in the abundant life that Christ has for you. I want you, when you think about money, when just the idea of money comes up, it's not stress and anxiety, but it's freedom because we're doing it God's way. Because the disciples stewards all things because they know that God is first and it's all his and he went first. And so we decide I'm going to bring my first and best because he first loved me by giving his best in Jesus Christ. and I cannot worship two masters. And I am declaring that money will not master me anymore.

That stuff will not tell me what to do. But my Lord and my Savior is the one that I'm going to treasure above all things. And then I'm going to receive whatever blessing that is. Honest to goodness, for some people, there will be material blessing that follows. Because when you start doing money, God's way, things tend to go way better. For many of you, the blessing that's even more important than that is this internal blessing that you will learn the secret of being content in any and every situation. And what God uses your money for will become more important than what you want to use your money for. And the car you drive will be less important than the rides you give to your friends.

And the tables you eat at will become less important than who's sitting around the table with you. And the vacations you go on will be less important than the people that you travel with and make. these kinds of memories, and then you will be the one that is truly rich towards God. That's what we want for you. Would you please stand? Let me pray for you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you, and we thank you that though you were rich, you became poor. You stepped off of a throne and became a servant, and you gave it all for us, and then called

us into your kingdom and into your family. and now you are enthroned again with a crown. And God, you have entrusted us, your servants, with some stuff and some influence and some money. And God, may we be the kind of disciples that follows in the footsteps of you. May we not get caught up in the trappings of this world. May we be rich towards you, bring you first and best, because you first loved us by giving us your best in Jesus Christ.

And then God, would our lives in regards to time and talent and treasure be described as free because we are mastered by you and not by the things of this earth? Lord, it's going to take a supernatural outpouring of the spirit of God on your people to turn from what this world teaches and walk in obedience to what your word says in regards to this. So we ask, we ask that you would break chains. of idolatry, rooted in fear and control, in around money and stuff, and that we would trust you,

because you're a good dad and you love your kids. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to sing, and we're going to bring, and we're going to pray. And we're going to sing, worthy of it all. I think that's what we're saying. And that's it, man.

He's not just worthy of like a tip. He's not just worthy of 10%. He's worthy of it all. And I don't want to give God just, you know, attend. I want to give him my whole life. I want to give him all of my hopes and all of my dreams and all of my sin and all of my shame and I want to lay it down at his feet knowing he's a good dad and he invites us to come to him. And we're going to pray. And if you think there's a change that maybe you need to make, then why don't you come and say, God, I'm going to need your

help this week. Or maybe you have been a faithful tither. You've been generous for a long, long, long time. Maybe you would come pray the prayer of like the little boy with fishes and the loaves and you would just come and dedicate, Lord, you know, I try to bring you my first and best every single week. God, I'm just asking you that you would do exponentially more with it than I could ever do with it in my hands. And we're going to sing, we're going to bring, and we're going to pray. And so if you want to bring the way we do it around here again,

there's no special offering or anything like that this week, you can text the word, give to 44, 11, 22, and it'll take you to the place on the website. You can download the app, there's a spot there, or you could drop it off on your way out. But let us respond to the good news of the good news of the gospel of Christ. Let us sing, let us bring, let us pray.

Let us go. The reality is everything already belongs to God. And when we give financially, we're acknowledging that we trust him. If you just watch this and feel led to make a donation, text the word donate to 441122, or visit C-O-E-22.com slash donate. Your generosity is not only an act of worship, but an investment so all people can discover

and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you.