You are invited to examine what treasures you are holding onto and surrender them to God, knowing He desires your heart more than your money. Take the step of obedience today, trusting that the supernatural is on the other side of your sacrifice. Embrace the freedom that comes from declaring Him Lord over every area of your life.
You can have that for your 20 25. No more decisions from the flesh. You just gotta get sick of your flesh decisions enough to be able to say it like I say it. If you're not "sick of them" enough, then you'll just kinda keep doing them a little bit. But boy, once you get sick of them, it's like, I'm done.
You can hear it. It's that grit in the voice. Right? Let me finish Hebrews-11:6. It says, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder or that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
I've got 2 sons, Isaiah and Judah. Isaiah, if he he wants to hang out with daddy, all's we gotta do, I just have to be doing a job. He wants to come and do it. He will see how I'm doing it. He'll learn it.
He'll do the whole thing perfectly, and that's his reward. He That's all he needs. Judah, on the other hand You know, Isaiah learned potty training when he was just a little over 2. It was the easiest thing ever. We showed him how to do it once, he did it.
It took 1 day. He was potty trained. Judah's 3 and some months, still struggling because Judah's a little free spirit running around, walking around. Say, Judah, go to potty. He's like, He never makes it.
Okay, Judah, walk towards the potty. You know? It's like, okay. But when I realized he likes reward, I said, Judah, come here. Let me show you this.
Big old bag of M and N's as big as his whole body. I'm like, you want 1 of these? He's like, yeah. And I'm like, okay. If you go poop on the potty, you'll get a treat.
Next thing you know, he's like rattling off. I'm like, Judah, what do you do? He goes, I poop, I wipe, flush, wash, throw away old diaper, get a new diaper, get a treat. I mean, you will rattle it off, because the boy is motivated by treats, by the reward. And some of you can relate to that.
Not everybody, but I can relate to it. You know, people get up here and say, you know, it's not about the reward, you know, it's not about that. We just do it because we love God. I'm like, says you. I mean, I love God, but I love a reward.
And God ties it with faith. He says, it's actually it's actually a part of faith. So why do I bring up rewards? Because just like pastor David said, where your treasure is, there your heart is also. Okay?
And so if we're gonna talk about faith, and we're gonna talk about finance, we're gonna start to see that God might have to peel your little grip back off of your finances because that's where your heart is, and it's treasure, and it's close to you. Right? You worked for that money, but you better remember he's a **rewarder of those** who are obedient to him. The supernatural on the other side of obedience is a reward, and it is good for you. Right?
This is why we pay tithes. Every time a check comes in, you might not believe you do this, you might not think you do it, You might say, no, no, no. I don't care. That's fine. But when a check comes in, your heart's entangled because wherever your treasure is, there your heart is.
So treasure just came in, your heart's there. And that's why it's a regular practice where we say, okay, every time I get money in, it's it's like God is saying, hey, do I have your heart? Do I still have your heart? Do I still have your heart? And your little 10% is saying, yes, God, you have my heart.
I will not take what is yours. That's why he instituted it. *God* will never need your money. He does not need your money. He owns the cattle on 1000 hills.
He owns the whole earth. Just like Pastor David said, 90% is yours, is his as well. He doesn't need your money. He want He's after your heart. Somebody say this.
He's after my heart. He's after my heart. Amen. So let's do a quick review of faith. There's 2 sayings.
You might as well memorize these. 1 is this. We say these we say these around here. Faith comes by hearing, you don't have to say it, requires believing, and is completed by obedience. That's saying number 1.
You should memorize it. Saying number 2, the supernatural is on the other side of obedience. Okay? So faith comes by hearing. We hear God.
*Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. That's where that scripture comes from. Right? So if you hear if you didn't hear it from God*, it was never faith. So I'm like, why do I keep preaching about faith?
Well, because I know you, little saints, little beloved ones of the Lord. I've heard. I've had conversations with you, little little apples of God's eye, little bride of Christ. Some of you forget what faith is, and it's really important. You know, I hear things like, I had all the faith in the world, but then it didn't happen.
No. Don't tell me I didn't have faith. Don't don't say we didn't have faith. With our you can't tell me with all the faith in the world. You can't tell me I didn't have a mustard seed sinus of faith.
Right? And then I asked, did God say that that was what he was going to do? Well, no. Then it wasn't faith.
That's right.
It was maybe hope. Maybe you believed it really hard, but he never said it, and if he doesn't say it, it's not faith because Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by his word. So that means if we're gonna do something like Jesus, we have to do what we hear. We have to do what he's saying, not what we just assume he's saying. That's right.
Okay? *Faith* requires believing and is completed by obedience. I wanna talk about obedience real quick. *James-2:20* through 24 says this, But do you want to know, o foolish man, that faith without works is dead? So we're talking about works that's just the same as obedience.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that the faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled, said, believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So that scripture was fulfilled. Okay.
That scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, comes from Genesis when Abraham is around 80 years old. Abraham's around 75. God comes to him and says, I'm gonna make you a great nation. Then then, let's say 5 years goes by. It's around 80.
We don't know for certain. But he's around 80. Abraham's saying, well, what's going on with that, Lord? Like, I only have a servant. I don't have a son.
So God gave him a word, and he's waiting now for 5 years. Nothing has happened. Right? And then when he's 80, God comes to him again, gives him the same word. He says, actually, no, you will have a son.
And then he takes him outside and says, look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can count them. Then he says, so shall your offspring be. And that's when it says, believed God, and it was accredited to him right then. It was accounted to him right then for righteousness. So he heard the word, and he believed it.
But where's the obedience? Because faith is completed by obedience. Right? Well, James says that it was completed when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac. And that's when the faith from the word So he says he says, the scripture was fulfilled that Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness.
Abraham sacrificed Isaac when he was 115, 120. So he had a word from God, and something happened in between when he got the word at 80 and when he did the the only work of obedience that was required to fulfill the word at 115. Something happened way back here at 86, and it's called Ishmael. Abraham birthed Ishmael. If you guys don't know the story, Sarah comes to him, his wife.
They've got this word. Hey, we're supposed to be the father of nations. Why don't you go into my servant girl, sleep with her, impregnate her, and we'll have babies. Guess that's what we're supposed to do. Right?
Did God tell her to do that? It's like like I say to my kids, no. No, he didn't. He didn't. So she jumped on ahead.
There's this scripture in *1 Samuel-15:23*, And it says this, Samuel is saying this to Psalm. He says, for rebellion is as the sin of divination or witchcraft, and *presumption* is as the iniquity of idolatry. Rebellion and presumption. Rebellion is doing anything that is not doing anything that God told you to do. Right?
So if I tell my son to do something and he doesn't do it, he rebelled against me. *Presumption* is doing something that God never told you to do. And presumption is, the Bible says, as the iniquity of idolatry. So do you know what that means? It means when God told Abraham, he told him a high level word, a vision word.
It's like, hey, look. Look at the stars. Vision. Here's your vision. This is where you're going.
But he didn't tell him any action word. There was nothing like do this, do that. It was just vision. Believe. He was on believe step.
He was not on obey step. But when he presumed to take it into his own hands and say, well, I guess I gotta do this, it's this as the sin of idolatry, because what happens is you want something so bad that you're not willing to wait and ask God and wait and let him give it to you in his timing. Come on. And so you say, alright, well, me just I guess I gotta make this happen. That's good.
And I'm telling you that was my 2024, and I got so exhausted by it, and that's why I say, I am done with that, and I am only living by faith, and you can join me. Who's with me? Alright. Alright. Good.
Good. Because now is time for my message. Let's go. Here I am. That was the clap.
Why don't you guys stand with me? Because I got a message for us now. That was that was all just intro. I hope you're ready. Say this, the *supernatural* The supernatural.
Is on the other side Yes. Of obedience. Obedience. Wanna talk about the supernatural and your finances. Oh, and I have a title.
You wanna hear the title? Yeah. Is the title of the message. A "simple and easy life" of supernatural, obnoxious, overflowing, **promised land* abundance* that cannot be contained. And somebody's gonna say, oh, is this a "prosperity gospel"?
Well, I'm not preaching poverty. Let's just put that out there. No, I'm not gonna say, hey, sow 1000 dollars and you're gonna be blessed, because that would cheapen the gospel. Right? Okay?
But we are to sell all that we have to buy a field of great price. Okay? And we did it. When we came into Christ, you see, the prosperity that I'm preaching is already in you. You are prosperous.
You're as wealthy as they can be. You have the whole of heaven inside of you. The 1 that has a cattle on 1000 hills, he's in you. He's in you already. What I'm preaching is the open door for you to open your eyes and see what's in you, and then behave like you believe it.
And it's when we behave outside of if we believe it, that's when we get into trouble. But it's all in you already. It's a prosperous gospel, let me tell you. It is a prosperous gospel even in finance. Don't let them kid you.
Don't let them kid you. Pull up that scripture. We'll read the scripture, and I'll let you sit down. We'll read the word of God. This is our scripture for the day.
*Deuteronomy-11:10* through 12. Let's read it together. The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for.
The eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. Father, I thank you for this morning, God. I thank you for the beginning of this service right up until now, that it churned up our hearts enough to receive the implantation of this seed, this word, the word of faith that can live inside of our hearts, and bear much fruit, God. I pray that we would open our hearts, receive what it is you have for us this morning, and make your kingdom glorified on this earth. In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Alright, have a seat. That scripture comes from Moses. They're right on the edge of the promised land. Okay?
And in the old testament, the Egypt to promised land story, it's a representation of our life right now. Okay? Egypt and the life in Egypt symbolizes what we were in our dead trespasses before Christ. This is our pre life with Christ. The promised land is where you stand now.
You are in the promised land. You're not taking the You're in the promised land. When you receive Jesus, the day you receive Jesus, you're in the promised land. The problem is you still think like a slave. And so we need to put to death the ways of Egypt in our mind so that we can live out the reality that we are in the promised land.
Okay? So I'm gonna explain a couple things. Let's take this 1 x 1. Vegetable garden. You know, I just so happen to be dismantling my vegetable garden boxes this week.
I didn't even notice. It was like, it's totally prophetic, is the Lord. I have 2 4 x 8 boxes. I'm breaking them apart because I'm done with them, and I'm doing something different in that area. And I'm preaching this message, I look up, and I'm like, I'm dismantling my vegetable garden.
Amen. How many of you guys are gardeners? Gardening is good. I love gardening, actually. It's fun.
But I'll tell you something. I have never gotten more out of a vegetable garden than I've put in. Yeah, too. Like, not even close. Like, I think I took 20 bags of dirt hauling in, you know, to the backyard, filling it up, wood from Home Depot, cutting, just drilling it all, built this box, planted all my things, you know, finally, sweat on my brow.
Water. Oh, water. Gotta water it. You forget 1 day in Florida, and it just immediately punishes you. Half your garden is dead.
Okay. Great. Water. Try to water the the 1 plant that remains. You get like 3 green beans.
You pull them in. It's like the old cartoons. You get a fork and knife, alright, here you go. Salt, pepper. It's like not really very filling.
And I put a lot of work into this. And I'm telling you, is that not how life feels like sometimes? That you're putting more in than you're getting out and you're just trying to make ends meet and that you're just hoping that the bill's paid and you're just trying to get from 1 week to the next. That's vegetable garden living. It's not for us.
It's not for us, kingdom people. It is not for us. Let's be done with it today. The promised land is completely different. See, the water's the supernatural part, and this part's really interesting because I used to think that you went through the wilderness and God feeds you manna.
Right? That's what happens to the Israelites. And it's like every day, you get your manna, you eat it, you don't get more than enough, you just get that day's worth. And then, you know, he's training you to depend on him so that when you come into the promised land, there's all this abundance, a land flowing with milk and honey, and there's all this abundance. And then you, you know, now you don't need him, but you just have to remember that he's the 1 that provided it to you.
It's like kind of how I used to think of it. Like, now that you have all this abundance, you don't really recognize from him, but because you went through and trained yourself, now you know it's from him and you can thank him. Not so. Not so. That's not how it is.
See, the water is the supernatural part. Okay? In Egypt, you watered your garden by hand. That means you were responsible from beginning to end for that thing's success. And you did the and you did the and you did the watering part.
Now, when you come to the promised land, God takes care of the watering. You still do the tilling, the sowing, and the harvesting. That's right. But you do not do the watering. And let me tell you, if you try to do the watering, you'll screw it up.
That's the life I'm talking about when I'm trying to run ahead of God, and I'm trying to make it happen. I'm trying to do There's a point where I cross a line into his territory, and he doesn't want us to do that. He wants us to stay and do what we were told to do and not a not a penny more. And then he's gonna do the watering. *James-5:7* says this, See how the farmer waits for the "precious fruit" of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
See, this is interesting. You never had to wait in Egypt. Right? We don't have to wait if we're in control. But if he's going to do the watering, we've to wait for him.
And we've got to put our seed in the ground, which is scary, by the way, because you could have ate that seed, but you instead chose to put it in the ground. And then you wait, and you let him do it. Yeah. And you wait on him. And that's a totally different paradigm.
It's something we're not used to. We have to put to death this thing where we we are gonna try to make it all happen. He's gonna bring the water. Now, something interesting about this field. Now that I don't have to water, I could do a whole lot bigger field.
Like, I can't water a big old field by hand, but if I but if I do a huge field now, he's gonna do the watering, so as big of a field as you're willing to plant, he's willing to water. That's how that works. Just chew on what I'm saying for a minute. There's a certain kind of prayer that I've seen that God absolutely loves.
And
it's it's something I didn't understand. I'm like, why does he love this? Because he answers it right away, and I could tell. And there's something about the prayer that's almost a little offensive. There's a there's a man named Lester Sumrall.
He was a he was a traveling preacher. He was traveling overseas. This was in like the 19 twenties. Nobody had money at the time. Okay?
He was going completely by faith. And he preached at this church in England. And they assumed that he was wealthy, so they didn't take up an offering for him. It was like totally lame. As lame as it gets.
He doesn't say that. I say that. It's very lame. It's not kingdom at all. But so he gets no money.
He goes back to his hotel. He's out of money. He has 0 money left. He needs to go from there to the next town. He needs a "train ticket".
He doesn't even have money for the train ticket. And he's crying out to the Lord, and he says, you know what, Lord? I'm not leaving. He says this, if you want me to preach, you can pay for it. But I'm not going down to that train station and saying, hey, does anybody have a ticket?
And so he packed up his things, he got dressed, and he sat in his hotel room and waited for checkout. Knock, knock, knock on the door. Somebody comes just before checkout and says, hey, I was in that church that you preached at, and I know you're wealthy. And he and he interjects in the story, he says, if anybody ever thinks you're well mistakes you for wealthy, don't correct them, which I love. I practiced that.
Because you are wealthy. So he says, I know you're wealthy, but I didn't know why God was telling me I had to buy these train tickets for you. And then it dawned on me, you're an American, and you don't know how our train system works. You have to buy these 2 tickets. He he thinks he has the reason why.
Esther says, wow. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. It's about time for me to go. There's something I mean, this is a story, but it's a real story that really happened to a real man, and these are the stories that there's something about I've noticed this prayer where it's like, you draw a line in the sand because what happened I was talking with Pastor David about it, he said it, and I figured it out.
It's that you're willing to let the thing even die before you will step over into God's territory. I will not try to have *idolatry* to say, I'm gonna try to make this happen. There is a moment when God says, Stop. Do no more. And you know it in your spirit, and the moment you step over, you lose all peace, you lose all joy, you get frustrated, you're running around like crazy, and you gotta go back.
And boy, he loves it when you hold that line. And it even sounds obnoxious because he says, I'm not going down there, Lord. You can bring it to me. And it's called faith. Yeah.
And God's like, done. Done, son. I mean, it is cool. You know, I called Aaron back in January. I was on a prayer walk, and I called him, and he was I I I was just I was fired up on some of the stuff that the Lord was teaching me, and God and and God told me to call him.
And I called him, and he's spent all the day applying for jobs, and he was all frustrated. And he's like he's like, I've applied for, I don't even know, 50 jobs, whatever. And he was frustrated and disappointed and exhausted. He's like, nobody's even calling me back. And I'm like and I just laughed, and I said, so so you're upset that God won't let you have a job you don't even want?
And he's like, yeah. That's funny. And and we agreed. How about don't apply for another job unless he tells you to? And he says, I commit to that.
And 5 days later, John Panu, in the back, calls him up. Next thing you know, Aaron's working with John, blessing the socks off of John's business, doing all this for him, doing what he what comes alive out of him, and still, he's just serving other people. God's got something better for you, right, than you trying to make it happen yourself if you'd let it go, if you'd sacrifice the thing and say, I'm not stepping over the line. You bring me the job, God. Fine.
You bring me the job. You obviously don't want me applying, so you bring me Just gonna go slow, man. I'm gonna go slow. So now, however much you plant, God will water. You cannot lose.
You cannot lose. There's no limit to the abundance available when you operate in heaven's ways. *Matthew-13:13 8 says this, all their seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a "hundredfold", sixtyfold, and thirtyfold. Think about this. 30, 60, and a 100 seeds back for every seed, for every seed that you sowed*.
I have that in my wallet. I have 30 I have 30, 60, and a 100 because I'm remembering it. It's imprinted in there. I think about it. If you sow it, you're gonna reap it.
*Galatians-7:6 or 6 7 says, do not be deceived. This is 1 of my favorite scriptures. God is not mocked*. Whatever a man sows, that he will reap. That's right.
That's right. That means if you sow a little bit, you're gonna reap a little bit. If you sow a lot, you're gonna reap a lot. If you could sow carrots, you're gonna reap carrots. If you sow the wind, you're gonna reap the whirlwind.
That's what the scripture says. If you sow justice, you're gonna reap justice. If you sow money, you're gonna reap money. That's how it works. *2 Corinthians-9:6* says this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. There's "no limit to the abundance" available in heaven when you operate according these ways, but there's also no limit to the amount of money you can lose doing a vegetable garden. So you gotta know what faith is. Yeah. Yeah.
And you gotta stay on that line of faith. Don't do more than he told you to do. That's right. Don't do anything you didn't hear him say.
That's right. Yeah.
Okay? I'm gonna get practical really quick. There's 3 things that you do with a harvest. Okay? Because I've talked kind of a lot of symbolic language.
Pastor David already touched on it, but there's 3 things you do with the harvest. First of all, when money comes in, the first thing you do is tithe. Okay? The first thing you do is give God his back. I already explained why.
What if we were a whole church that tithe? Do you know what the statistics are? Do you have any idea on average tithing in church?
In America, usually the amount or the percentage that that give or that tithe shows the maturity, the spiritual maturity of
the church. We should be at I want a 100% of us to tie, and it has nothing to do with I don't care about the money of the church. *God doesn't need your money. I want a 100% of you to be blessed. I want a 100% of you to move into this realm of just beginning to operate by faith*, is the tithe.
If you're not paying the tithe, this entire message, condense it down to God is calling me to pay the tithe, then I'll either obey or not. And and make that decision. Okay? Because that's the first step. When it comes in, God's asking, do you does he have your heart?
Alright. So let's assume you are tithing, and he has your heart, and you've paid it. Okay. So now you got 90 left. Now you just have 2 options.
Eat it or sow it. **Eat it or sow** it. Eat it means consume it, and it means to use it in a consumptive way. Right? And this is not a bad thing.
This is a good thing. And we are also called to do this by faith. We're also called to hear God on how we eat it. Like, should I buy this x y z thing? There was a while there See, I I actually struggled on the flip side where I didn't really spend enough on us.
I was like so obsessed with sewing, I'm like, so so so. God started speaking to both Mariah and I, it's like, we need to start taking care of ourselves a little better. I would always buy the cheap earbuds on Amazon, those the $20, and I'd be throwing them away. I buy cheap sunglasses. I bought I bought cheap sunglasses, so much, $10 sunglasses, so much, I think I lost 4 pairs in like a month.
It was something crazy. I was losing them all the time, breaking them all the time. Then I got 1 thing of Ray Bans. They were like $200 sunglasses. And I still to this day, I have not scratched them, I have not lost them, I know right where they are.
They have a case, I take care of them. And God was teaching me something simply about how I spend, and how I take care of my own home, and principles that it's like, you reap what you sow. Don't be fooled. You buy a $20 thing of junk earbuds, they're gonna break. Like, don't be fooled.
You don't get to cut the corner and still get this thing. That was how he talked to me. But he'll he'll speak to you on how you consume anything and everything. Should you be consuming this show? Should you be consuming that much food or that little food?
He'll speak to you on everything. Just listen to the Holy Spirit. He'll guide you into all truth. Right? And then there's sowing it, and that's 1 of 2 things.
It's either investing. So think the parable of the talents. Right? God gives you some money. It's his money, but he expects you to go do something with it to make more money.
Okay? So again, I want us to think, what if we were a church that cared about investing? Like, what if we actually practiced the principles enough to have some money to invest, first of all? And what if that investment was not, well, got $20. Let me go and buy a lottery ticket.
Like, no, that's not a good investment. That's a bad investment. What have we learned investing? Like, why is it that the cults have the nice, gorgeous, beautiful buildings? Yeah.
Why don't we? Like, we should have those buildings. So, we need to learn, we need to apply our principles of Godly principles, and take and take stewarding the money seriously. And by the way, I keep saying there's no limit, you'll never lose, you'll never lose. You remember in the parable of the talents?
I was like, why is it that nobody lost money? Have you ever thought about that? 5 talents, 2 talents, 1 talent. I would have thought the wicked guy would have been like, well, Lord, I put my money on black. I I lost it, then I So then I took credit, and now I'm in debt.
3 talents. It's like, that's not the story. Anyone that did anything with the money gained money back. That's how it works in the kingdom. That's how the promised land works.
When you hear God and you obey in accordance with what you heard, you will reap what you sow. Period. That's how it works. You better be certain that God told you because that's what that's what cashes the check. So that's investing.
Generosity, offering, and sowing. This is this is your other form of sowing. So you can eat it or you can sow it. Sowing it is investing, and you and you manage yourself. The other option is sowing it into the kingdom.
And and I want you to say that, like, you're moving kind of up the hierarchy here. The ultimate ROI, that's return on investment, for God's investment with you is souls. Yeah. Is the "great commission". This is the ultimate ROI.
So if you don't think that God is going to reward you, rewarder, with more finances, *reap what you sow*, when you sow to win souls, I mean, that is what God wants. When he sees somebody managing their money in that way, and again, you're hearing him, you're walking with him, but you're sowing in accordance with your faith, in accordance with what you heard, at the level of which you've heard. Don't overreach. Don't try to do more than you should or can, but hear God. And if he calls you to do it, obey.
And I'm telling you, *God* will want you to have more money. That makes a lot of sense. He wants *souls. When you align with his heart, you're gonna realize, that's what my money is after. And so he's calling me on a journey to raise finances for the kingdom*, and that's what I'm talking about.
Okay? What do you guys think? Good? All good. Alright.
Well, I'm gonna close I'm gonna close like this. Let's let's let's stand for a minute. I want I want to talk about something. You can put on a little music. I want to talk about something that you have to do in order to in order to operate in these principles.
Okay? And it's and it goes right back it goes right back to the Abraham story. Abraham offered Isaac. Abraham offered Isaac. That was the thing.
You know, God said to him, he's gonna test him. Take your son, your only son, the 1 whom you love, and give him to me. That's what that's what God said to him. Okay? Because God was after his heart.
When you love something, you know, Pastor David, that was a perfect example. He gave an example where he he treasured, he treasures his family. Like, was Isaac bad? No. No.
Is money bad? No. Is your 4 0 1 k? Is your Roth IRA? Is your savings account?
Is the things that you've you've stored up and saved up, are those bad? No. Not in and of themselves. But you But, what is bad is when they have your heart. And, the way that God deals with that, here's the interesting part.
This is kind of like a hierarchy of value. Right? So, God is always at the top and he has to always be at the top. It's this you shall have no other gods before me. Right?
And then, you can have these other things that you love and you love dearly, but they never get above. And, that's what he said. He said he said, I will not have an idol. You shall have no other gods before me. So, as soon as you put something before God, it's an idol.
And God tests you by asking if you'll give that thing to him. If you'll sacrifice it. Trust me and know that I love you. I'm not taking you to a place where I'm gonna ask you for any money. Okay?
I'm taking you to a place where your heart is ready to sacrifice Isaac. Okay? Because there's things in our lives, and we just do it we just do it on accident. We do it naturally, and God is regularly tending to to to our garden. He's pruning us back, and he's making sure that we're bearing fruit.
I'm gonna lead you in a prayer of *sacrificing* your finances for the Lord. It's important. It's like super important. You have to do it. You don't get to have an idol and then operate in the principles of God.
You don't get to be blessed when you have an idol. You have to do it. So like, toss the message out if you're not prepared, you know, to do this. But it's it's like, don't do it if you don't mean it though. Like, you don't get to say words like, I give you my 4 0 1 k.
If you're not If you don't got the knife above it, ready to go. Go ahead, God. Say the word, it's yours. It's yours, Lord. And then, it's up to him, and maybe he will say, give it to me.
So you better not say it if if if you don't mean it. But this is the cleansing of your heart. This is how you keep your priorities right, and you realign back and keep God above. Maybe it has nothing to do with money, and I don't wanna box God in right now, because there might be God touching you on something else, something else that you've been holding above him, whether it's your your your your family member or or something, or maybe it's something you're hoping for or whatever. I don't wanna box God in on that.
Don't worry about this music, by the way. It's like This is like kids being, you know, it's no big deal. We just keep going. So I wanna invite you, if you're ready, to pray a prayer of sacrificing anything that could even potentially be an idol, anything. Oh, God, it's all yours.
If you're ready for that, I do wanna open up this altar and say, come on up, and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. *God is a rewarder* of those who diligently seek him. Abraham raised the knife over over Isaac, and guess what? God said, stop. Put the knife down.
And then Abraham looked up and says this, and in the thicket, there's he saw a ram caught by its horns, and he went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. And so Abraham called the place, the "Lord will provide". And to this day, it is said, on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. It's this place of sacrifice that the Lord provides. If you've had it, if you've like, feel like you're never getting that provision, and you're always at the end of your rope, you need to sacrifice.
You need to "take your hands off" of it, and say it's yours God. So I'm gonna lead us in a prayer. Just just just close your eyes and start praying for the Lord. I want you to bring forth the mind, and bring forth the memory. What is this thing that God is calling you to sacrifice?
What is this thing that you just maybe, I'm not even saying you did. But hey, for safety's sake, let's remind God he can have it. Bring that thing before your mind and pray God, you can have it. *Jesus*, you can have it. God, if you ask me for this thing, I will give it to you.
I don't care how big the number is. If you ask me for it, it's yours. I trust you. I call this message a simple and easy life. I didn't call it a simple and easy way.
I called it a simple and easy life because the way is kind of hard. nobody likes dying. Nobody likes sacrificing. It's hard. It kinda hurts.
That's why I'm crying. But once you do, the life is easy. He says, come to me all who are heavy laden and weary and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. My burden is easy.
*Jesus*, this morning we give to you anything and everything that we've held in higher esteem than you, Lord. It is yours. My my my 401 is yours. My savings account is yours. My checking account is yours.
My job is yours. That vote I hope to get 1 day, it's yours. And if I never get it, it's yours. I follow you, Jesus. I **give everything to you**.
You can take anything from me. You have my permission because he won't cross the line. He gives you the permission. It's within your control. You gotta give him the permission.
*God*, take it if you want it. He didn't say I'm taking Isaac. He said offer me Isaac. It's your job to give it to him. Thank you, Jesus.
Put your clothes.
I want you to just close your eyes and begin to "pour out your hard offering" to him everything. Just surrendering to him. I do this often. I treasure my 3 year old little girl, and I treasure her so much that when I'm tucking her in at night, I'm doing this. *Lord*, thank you for River, and she's yours.
*Lord*, use her for your kingdom. She's what I I present her to you. Thank you that I get to be a part of her life. This is surrender. Surrendering the most valuable things to him because he's you're declaring he's more valuable to you.
He's worth it. He's "worth it all". It starts with surrendering your life to Jesus as Lord and then he continues to walk you into deeper levels of Lordship 1 step at a time. And each time he does, there's more freedom. There's more experience of his life in you.
There's more experience of his life through you because he loves you.