WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.710 --> 00:00:05.009 If you want God's blessing on your life, you're gonna 2 00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:09.169 have to learn to live by faith. Because everything God 3 00:00:09.230 --> 00:00:12.250 does in you, through you, for you, and to you, 4 00:00:12.589 --> 00:00:15.890 he does because you put your faith in his grace. 5 00:00:16.350 --> 00:00:20.530 God always moves according to your faith. The Bible says 6 00:00:20.570 --> 00:00:23.609 without faith it's impossible to please God. The Bible says 7 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.640 according to your faith it will be done unto you. 8 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.160 The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God. 9 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:33.899 It says whatever is not of faith is sin. The 10 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:38.409 problem is everything in this world focuses against you to 11 00:00:38.469 --> 00:00:42.329 keep you from living by faith. That's why this weekend 12 00:00:42.369 --> 00:00:44.189 in this series, I want us to look at being 13 00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:50.030 faithful in a faithless world. In Luke chapter 18, Jesus 14 00:00:50.250 --> 00:00:54.219 said this. He said, when I, the son of man, return, 15 00:00:54.340 --> 00:00:56.979 and Jesus is coming back one day, when I, the 16 00:00:57.020 --> 00:00:59.880 son of man, return, how many will I find on 17 00:00:59.939 --> 00:01:04.629 earth who have faith? Why is it so important? Well, 18 00:01:04.650 --> 00:01:07.969 the Bible tells us three things about the importance of faith. 19 00:01:08.019 --> 00:01:10.579 I want you to write these down. Number one, the 20 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:14.920 Bible tells us that God is looking for faithful people. 21 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:22.120 God is physically, visibly, actively taking the initiative to look 22 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:25.909 for faithful people that he can bless. God is looking 23 00:01:25.969 --> 00:01:27.870 for people that he can bless. And what he looks 24 00:01:27.930 --> 00:01:32.530 for is people of faith. Second Chronicles 16, nine says this, 25 00:01:33.189 --> 00:01:35.890 For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth 26 00:01:35.930 --> 00:01:40.489 across the whole world looking for people whose hearts are 27 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:43.549 perfect toward him so that he can show his great 28 00:01:43.670 --> 00:01:46.549 power in helping them. This has been one of my 29 00:01:46.629 --> 00:01:49.709 life verses. That God is looking for people to use. 30 00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:52.689 And if you get usable, he will wear you out. 31 00:01:54.569 --> 00:01:58.060 If you get blessable, he will bless your socks off. 32 00:01:58.090 --> 00:02:01.760 That's why I don't wear socks. And God says, I 33 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:04.560 will use you if you will be usable. God is 34 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:09.009 looking for people, faithful people that he can use. Number two, 35 00:02:09.069 --> 00:02:12.050 the second thing the Bible teaches is that faithful people 36 00:02:12.289 --> 00:02:17.810 are hard to find. They're actually quite rare. People who 37 00:02:17.930 --> 00:02:20.349 trust God with all their heart and soul and mind 38 00:02:20.430 --> 00:02:23.569 and strength are actually quite rare. Faithful people are hard 39 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:27.370 to find. The Bible says in Proverbs 20, verse six, 40 00:02:30.909 --> 00:02:34.409 Everyone talks about how faithful he is, but it is 41 00:02:34.509 --> 00:02:38.319 difficult to find someone who really is. A lot of 42 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:41.340 people talk the talk, but they don't really trust God. 43 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:44.300 They don't really believe God. They're trusting their credit card. 44 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:48.060 They're trusting everything else. They say they believe in God, 45 00:02:48.099 --> 00:02:49.719 but they don't really trust him when it comes to 46 00:02:49.750 --> 00:02:52.949 their finances, their health, their job, and these other things. 47 00:02:53.689 --> 00:02:59.090 Psalm 53 says this. God looks down from heaven at 48 00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:03.069 the children of man to see if a single one 49 00:03:03.129 --> 00:03:07.000 is wise and seeks God. But he says all of 50 00:03:07.020 --> 00:03:11.280 them have proven faithless. Circle that word, faithless. They've all 51 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:15.139 proven faithless. They've all been corrupted by the world. And 52 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:20.039 not one of them always does right. Faithful people are 53 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.259 hard to find. God's looking for people to bless, but 54 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:26.240 he can't find people who are blessable, who are gonna 55 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:28.939 live by faith. Now the third thing the Bible says 56 00:03:29.030 --> 00:03:34.430 is this. Faithfulness is the key. to blessing, to victory. 57 00:03:34.949 --> 00:03:38.590 It's the key to victory in your life over all 58 00:03:38.620 --> 00:03:40.960 of the problems in your life, and it's the key 59 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:45.139 to blessing in your life, just being a faithful man, 60 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:49.340 a faithful woman. The Bible says this in 1 John 61 00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:54.330 chapter 5, every child of God can defeat the world. Remember, 62 00:03:54.370 --> 00:03:57.909 we're in this battle called the invisible war, and it 63 00:03:57.990 --> 00:04:01.639 is our faith, circle that, our faith that gives us 64 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:04.680 the victory. That's how you're gonna overcome your problems. Not 65 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:08.650 by intelligence, not by money, not by creativity, but it 66 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:11.319 is by your faith you're going to be able to 67 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:16.230 overcome difficulties, distress, despair, things like that. Every child of 68 00:04:16.290 --> 00:04:18.310 God can defeat the world and it is our faith 69 00:04:18.370 --> 00:04:21.329 that gives us this victory. No one can defeat the 70 00:04:21.389 --> 00:04:27.509 world without having faith in Jesus as the Son of God. 71 00:04:28.529 --> 00:04:32.009 And the Bible says in Proverbs 28 20, A faithful 72 00:04:32.089 --> 00:04:38.620 man will be richly blessed. I want your life to 73 00:04:38.629 --> 00:04:42.360 be richly blessed. But in order for you to have 74 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:46.180 that blessing, you're gonna have to learn faithfulness. You're gonna 75 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:49.220 have to learn how God tests it and you're gonna 76 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:52.639 have to learn how God grows it. So let's look 77 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:57.639 this weekend at the six tests of faithfulness and how 78 00:04:57.699 --> 00:05:00.810 God uses these things in your life to grow your 79 00:05:00.889 --> 00:05:03.649 faith so that then he can bless you. Let's get 80 00:05:03.689 --> 00:05:07.100 right into it. Number one, the Bible tells us that 81 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:13.379 God uses little things to test your integrity. God uses 82 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:18.019 little things to test your integrity. Now we often think, oh, 83 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:21.500 it's the big things in life that create a leader. No, 84 00:05:21.779 --> 00:05:25.899 the big crises in life reveal leadership, but leadership is 85 00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:28.600 built not in the big things of life, it's built 86 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.699 in the small things of life. That's where integrity shows up, 87 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.620 in the stuff nobody sees, in the stuff behind the scenes, 88 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:42.029 in the small, unseen, unspectacular moral choices of life where 89 00:05:42.069 --> 00:05:44.540 you do the right thing and nobody's ever gonna see it. 90 00:05:45.550 --> 00:05:50.629 God tests your integrity in the little things. And faithfulness 91 00:05:50.850 --> 00:05:56.490 requires integrity. Faithful people reveal their integrity in the small, 92 00:05:56.509 --> 00:06:00.769 the unseen, and the unnoticed acts that nobody ever knows about. 93 00:06:01.490 --> 00:06:05.649 Luke 16, verse 10, Jesus says this. Whoever is faithful 94 00:06:05.790 --> 00:06:10.290 in small matters will be faithful in large ones. And 95 00:06:10.329 --> 00:06:14.279 who is ever dishonest in small matters will be dishonest 96 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:18.300 in large ones. Now what is he saying here? He's 97 00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:23.399 saying your public blessing is determined by your private integrity. 98 00:06:24.819 --> 00:06:29.779 Did you hear that? Every time a politician has a scandal, 99 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:32.740 you can always count on his defenders to come out 100 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:35.600 and say this. It really shouldn't matter what a guy's 101 00:06:35.660 --> 00:06:37.949 private life is like. Have you ever heard that one? 102 00:06:39.050 --> 00:06:41.329 It really shouldn't matter what a guy does in his 103 00:06:41.389 --> 00:06:43.629 private life. It hasn't had anything to do with him 104 00:06:43.810 --> 00:06:46.870 as a leader. It has everything to do with him 105 00:06:46.910 --> 00:06:50.180 as a leader. Because if a man lies to his wife, 106 00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:55.759 he'll lie to his constituency. Believe me, if he'll lie 107 00:06:55.819 --> 00:06:58.740 to his best friend that he said till death do 108 00:06:58.819 --> 00:07:02.279 us part and be dishonest and he'll reject and cheat 109 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:07.079 on her, he will cheat on you, voter. Count on it. 110 00:07:08.230 --> 00:07:12.649 Count on it. My public blessing as a leader comes 111 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:18.350 because of private integrity that nobody ever sees. Your public 112 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:23.500 blessing as a person comes from your private integrity that 113 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:27.220 nobody will ever see. God uses little things to test 114 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:29.899 my integrity. Not only that, notice the next verse. Jesus 115 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:35.139 says this. And if you have not been faithful with 116 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:40.019 that which belongs to somebody else, who will give you 117 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:45.279 what belongs to you? Now he's talking here about the 118 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:49.430 concept of apprenticeship, that before God gives you something, he 119 00:07:49.449 --> 00:07:53.449 will often loan it to you. He'll often see how 120 00:07:53.509 --> 00:07:59.290 you work in somebody else's. For many centuries, the only 121 00:07:59.329 --> 00:08:01.310 way you learned a job skill is you became an 122 00:08:01.350 --> 00:08:04.519 apprentice in somebody else's job. If you wanted to learn 123 00:08:04.540 --> 00:08:07.600 to be a shoemaker, you apprenticed to a shoemaker who 124 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:10.430 mentored you. If you wanted to be a mechanic, you 125 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:13.569 apprenticed to a mechanic and you worked in his mechanic 126 00:08:13.629 --> 00:08:17.589 shop before you got your own. The problem today is 127 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:19.970 we have many people going out and starting things and 128 00:08:19.990 --> 00:08:22.490 they've never apprenticed under anybody else and they get in 129 00:08:22.529 --> 00:08:26.040 all kinds of trouble. He says, before you get your own, 130 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:30.980 you need to serve in somebody else. As a pastor, 131 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.750 I believe apprenticed under many other ministries before I was 132 00:08:35.809 --> 00:08:38.750 given my own ministry. I served as a youth pastor 133 00:08:38.789 --> 00:08:41.840 under a guy's ministry in Norwalk. I served as a 134 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:47.200 Christian teacher in a college under somebody else's ministry. I 135 00:08:47.259 --> 00:08:50.419 served as an associate pastor. I served as a writer 136 00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:54.279 in a Christian organization long before God gave me my 137 00:08:54.460 --> 00:08:58.059 own ministry. He says, if you're not faithful with somebody 138 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:02.230 else's job, who's gonna give you? Are you as faithful 139 00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:06.980 particular with somebody else loans you something. Somebody loans you 140 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:08.639 a car. Do you treat it as nicely as you'd 141 00:09:08.659 --> 00:09:11.259 treat your own car? Somebody loans you their home to 142 00:09:11.299 --> 00:09:13.679 go on vacation. Do you treat it as nicely as 143 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:16.440 you would your own home? You see, I learned a 144 00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:19.110 long time ago this principle. I don't have to own 145 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:23.509 it to enjoy it, but I can take care of 146 00:09:23.570 --> 00:09:26.870 it even though it's not mine. And so I don't 147 00:09:26.909 --> 00:09:30.110 have to own stuff for people to, you know, this 148 00:09:30.169 --> 00:09:33.789 week a guy, uh, I had to fly over to 149 00:09:33.850 --> 00:09:37.289 Phoenix to speak at a convention. And the guy said, Rick, 150 00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:42.029 why don't you get your own plane? I said, absolutely not. 151 00:09:42.149 --> 00:09:44.490 You will never hear me get my own plane. Now, 152 00:09:44.710 --> 00:09:49.629 if you want to buy one, I'll use yours. I'll 153 00:09:49.669 --> 00:09:51.450 be happy. But I don't have to own it to 154 00:09:51.529 --> 00:09:54.149 enjoy it. He said, but you fly all around the world. 155 00:09:54.169 --> 00:09:56.549 I said, no, no, I'm not gonna buy a plane. 156 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:58.360 First place, I don't think it's good for pastors to 157 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:02.580 own that kind of stuff. But I said, I don't 158 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:04.320 have to own it to enjoy it. If somebody else 159 00:10:04.340 --> 00:10:07.100 wants to provide, you got a plane, fine, I'll use it. 160 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.659 But don't worry about having to own something in order 161 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:15.639 to enjoy it. God will often entrust you with something 162 00:10:15.659 --> 00:10:22.860 that somebody else's before he gives you your own Number two, second, 163 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:29.720 very important. God uses my talents to test my unselfishness. 164 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:38.049 God uses my talents to test my unselfishness. Now you 165 00:10:38.070 --> 00:10:40.870 have to decide in life who or what you're gonna 166 00:10:40.889 --> 00:10:43.269 live for. And you've really got two choices in life. 167 00:10:43.710 --> 00:10:49.029 You're either gonna A, live for yourself, a self-centered, miserly life, 168 00:10:49.450 --> 00:10:53.049 or B, You're gonna live for something greater than yourself, 169 00:10:54.149 --> 00:10:58.570 which I highly suggest. The kingdom of God, live for 170 00:10:58.629 --> 00:11:01.509 Jesus Christ. You're gonna live for yourself or you're gonna 171 00:11:01.549 --> 00:11:06.059 live for something bigger than yourself. Faithful people don't live 172 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:09.519 for themselves. They realize that the talents God gave them 173 00:11:09.940 --> 00:11:13.500 are not for their own benefit, but to make the 174 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:17.730 world a better place. Do you realize this? That when 175 00:11:17.889 --> 00:11:20.460 God made you, he gave you all kinds of gifts, 176 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:24.120 all kinds of talents, all kinds of abilities. We call 177 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:27.500 it your shape if you've taken class 301. Your spiritual gifts, 178 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:31.340 your heart, your abilities, your personality, your experiences. These five 179 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:33.759 things make you you. And God made you you and 180 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:35.730 there's nobody like you in the whole world and he 181 00:11:35.779 --> 00:11:39.690 wants you to be you for his glory. Now, God 182 00:11:39.830 --> 00:11:42.850 shaped you to serve him. How do you serve God? 183 00:11:42.889 --> 00:11:45.509 There's only one way to serve God, by serving other people. 184 00:11:46.690 --> 00:11:49.210 On this planet, you cannot serve God directly because you 185 00:11:49.230 --> 00:11:52.450 can't see him. So the only way you can serve 186 00:11:52.490 --> 00:11:55.830 God is by serving others. And when you serve others, 187 00:11:55.889 --> 00:12:00.320 you are serving God. And God shaped you to serve him. Now, 188 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:05.480 faithful people realize that their talents are not for their benefit. 189 00:12:05.820 --> 00:12:08.100 You know those talents you got? I'm sorry, they weren't 190 00:12:08.139 --> 00:12:11.960 given for your sake. You were given the abilities you 191 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:15.610 got to help other people. One of my gifts, one 192 00:12:15.629 --> 00:12:18.429 of my talents is I have a talent at teaching. 193 00:12:19.350 --> 00:12:22.529 But God gave me the teaching gift not to benefit me, 194 00:12:22.750 --> 00:12:27.279 but to help you. My gift helps you. In the 195 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:31.139 same way, God has gifted you. And your gift was 196 00:12:31.179 --> 00:12:35.279 meant to help me and to help other people around you. Now, 197 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:38.259 if I don't use my gifts, my talents, you get cheated. 198 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:41.629 If you don't use the gifts and talents that God 199 00:12:41.649 --> 00:12:44.750 gave you, I get cheated. Now, you may have a 200 00:12:44.809 --> 00:12:47.340 talent for art and you say, well, why do I 201 00:12:47.379 --> 00:12:49.559 do art? Because I just love to do it. Well, 202 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.500 that's nice, but that's not a good enough motive because 203 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:54.750 God didn't give you artistic ability just so you can 204 00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:57.429 love to do it. He gave it to you so 205 00:12:57.490 --> 00:13:00.149 you can use your art in some ways to help 206 00:13:00.230 --> 00:13:04.830 other people. Some of you have an ability to fix things. 207 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:07.049 Some of you are good at mechanics. Some of you 208 00:13:07.090 --> 00:13:08.929 are good at math. Some of you are good at 209 00:13:09.009 --> 00:13:12.289 closing deals. Some of you are good at music. Some 210 00:13:12.330 --> 00:13:15.509 of you are good at organizing. And you can organize 211 00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:17.679 something really quick. And some of you are good at 212 00:13:17.820 --> 00:13:20.820 trimming and gardening. And you know what? God made us 213 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:25.179 all different so everything in the world gets done. If 214 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:27.240 we all like to do the same thing, there'd be 215 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:30.769 a lot left undone. So God made us all like 216 00:13:30.809 --> 00:13:35.129 to do different things. Now, those things that God gave 217 00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:38.149 you are not for your benefit. They are given as 218 00:13:38.210 --> 00:13:42.200 a stewardship. And God is watching you to see if 219 00:13:42.269 --> 00:13:46.320 you use what he gave you effectively on earth. And 220 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:50.220 if you use it effectively on earth, listen, he's gonna 221 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:55.620 give you more responsibility in heaven. There's a whole lot 222 00:13:55.659 --> 00:13:58.480 of teaching on this in scripture. Jesus told many parables 223 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.090 about it. that God is studying your faithfulness. Have you 224 00:14:02.110 --> 00:14:04.110 ever thought about, why didn't God just create us and 225 00:14:04.129 --> 00:14:06.470 take us to heaven? Why does he put us here 226 00:14:06.529 --> 00:14:09.049 on a broken planet for 80 years or 90 years 227 00:14:09.090 --> 00:14:11.659 or whatever? He puts you here because life is a 228 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:14.779 test and life is a trust and life is a 229 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:17.940 temporary assignment. And he's watching to see if you are 230 00:14:18.019 --> 00:14:20.600 faithful with what he gave you here on earth to 231 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.799 bless other people, he's gonna give you greater rewards, greater 232 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:30.269 responsibility and greater roles in heaven. This is a test. Now, 233 00:14:30.409 --> 00:14:34.879 the Bible says this, 1 Peter chapter four. Each one 234 00:14:34.889 --> 00:14:39.120 of you should use whatever gift he has received to 235 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:44.379 make a ton of money. Retire and die. No, no, no. 236 00:14:44.580 --> 00:14:49.230 He says to serve others faithfully, circle that word faithfully, 237 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:54.049 faithfully administering. You're a manager and you're a manager of 238 00:14:54.090 --> 00:14:58.470 the talent you've been given. Faithfully managing God's grace in 239 00:14:58.549 --> 00:15:02.289 its various forms. God gave you talents and he's watching 240 00:15:02.309 --> 00:15:07.070 to see if you're faithful with them. Now, one of 241 00:15:07.110 --> 00:15:09.779 the principles we know is if you don't use it, 242 00:15:09.870 --> 00:15:14.149 you lose it. Talent is like a muscle. If you 243 00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:17.850 use muscle, it gets stronger. If you don't use your muscle, 244 00:15:18.090 --> 00:15:22.120 you lose your muscle. If you don't use your talent 245 00:15:22.340 --> 00:15:26.559 because of fear or laziness or anything like that, God 246 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:28.899 will take it away and give it to somebody else. 247 00:15:30.019 --> 00:15:35.000 Whatever you use wisely, God gives you more of. Would 248 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:40.659 you write that down? Whatever I use wisely, God will 249 00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:44.340 give me more of. If you use your time wisely, 250 00:15:44.580 --> 00:15:47.039 God will give you more time. If you use your 251 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:50.509 energy wisely, God will give you more energy. If you 252 00:15:50.710 --> 00:15:54.289 use your money wisely, God will give you more money. 253 00:15:55.330 --> 00:15:58.629 I have found that if you use your influence wisely, 254 00:15:59.070 --> 00:16:03.470 God will give you more influence. But if you're faithful 255 00:16:03.590 --> 00:16:07.070 in little, then you'll be faithful in much. So if 256 00:16:07.190 --> 00:16:10.940 I take my talents, if I use my talents wisely, 257 00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:15.919 God will increase my talent. And I'll get better at it. 258 00:16:16.379 --> 00:16:18.679 And I'll get more better at it. And better and 259 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:23.529 better and better. Because God gives to people who use 260 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:26.730 what he gives them effectively. Look at the next verse. 261 00:16:27.269 --> 00:16:30.710 Now it is required that those who have been given 262 00:16:30.730 --> 00:16:35.730 a trust must prove what? That's what we're talking about 263 00:16:35.769 --> 00:16:38.970 this weekend. God is watching to see, do I use 264 00:16:39.029 --> 00:16:43.419 my time, my money, my influence? Do I use my intelligence? 265 00:16:43.779 --> 00:16:46.940 Do I use my brain wisely? Then he's gonna give 266 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:50.340 you more. Whatever I use wisely, God will give me 267 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:52.419 more of. There are two great themes in the Bible, 268 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:56.870 two great themes. One is salvation and the other is stewardship. 269 00:16:56.909 --> 00:17:00.360 They're taught from cover to cover. Salvation is, have I 270 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:04.740 trusted Jesus for my forgiveness? Stewardship is, what are you 271 00:17:04.859 --> 00:17:08.839 doing with what you've been given? And God is looking 272 00:17:08.859 --> 00:17:11.700 at both of these major themes in your life. Number three, 273 00:17:12.220 --> 00:17:16.200 the third test. And if you pass this test, then 274 00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:19.160 God gives you more blessing. And this test will be 275 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:23.230 on and on. Number three, God uses tough times to 276 00:17:23.329 --> 00:17:30.880 teach me persistence. God uses tough times to teach me persistence. 277 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:37.480 The difference between faithful people and unfaithful people is unfaithful 278 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:41.369 people give up at the first sign of difficulty. Faithful 279 00:17:41.410 --> 00:17:46.130 people keep on keeping on. Faithful people are determined. Faithful 280 00:17:46.170 --> 00:17:51.089 people are diligent. Faithful people are persistent. Faithful people don't 281 00:17:51.150 --> 00:17:54.599 know how to quit. Do you know how a little nut, 282 00:17:54.779 --> 00:18:00.470 an acorn becomes an oak tree? An oak tree is 283 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:04.900 just an acorn that refused to give up. And it 284 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:09.140 just kept on keeping on. And you just never give up. 285 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:11.779 I'm not that smart, but I do have one thing, 286 00:18:12.099 --> 00:18:15.559 is I don't know how to quit. It is always 287 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:19.359 too soon to quit. You are never a failure till 288 00:18:19.380 --> 00:18:22.680 you quit, and it's always too soon to quit. God 289 00:18:22.819 --> 00:18:26.319 uses tough times to test us. my persistence. You know, 290 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:29.259 when we started Saddleback with just Kay, I preached the 291 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:32.779 first sermon to one person, my wife. She thought it 292 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:37.900 was too long. It's been downhill ever since. 31 years later, 293 00:18:37.940 --> 00:18:43.319 she's still saying it's too long. Over the next, I 294 00:18:43.339 --> 00:18:45.099 thought when we started the church, we'd get a building 295 00:18:45.140 --> 00:18:51.150 real quick. We went 15 years without a building In 296 00:18:51.190 --> 00:18:54.799 the first 13 years of this church, we used 79 297 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:59.000 different facilities. Do you know how many times I felt 298 00:18:59.019 --> 00:19:03.559 like giving up? Just every Monday morning. But I don't 299 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:06.920 know how to quit. And we said, God said, Rick, 300 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:09.509 if I never give you a building, will you still 301 00:19:09.569 --> 00:19:14.470 serve me? I said, absolutely. Saddleback grew to over 10,000 302 00:19:14.470 --> 00:19:18.400 people before we built this first building. How would you 303 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:20.769 like to set up and take down a church for 10,000 304 00:19:20.769 --> 00:19:23.849 people every week? There's not a lot of glory to that. 305 00:19:23.930 --> 00:19:28.069 It's just hard work. God says, I use tough times 306 00:19:28.390 --> 00:19:33.660 to test your persistence. Notice this verse. You're going through 307 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.940 tough times right now. This verse is for you. 2 308 00:19:35.940 --> 00:19:41.759 Corinthians 4. This is why we never give up. Though 309 00:19:41.859 --> 00:19:45.589 our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 310 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:50.410 For our present troubles are quite small, and they won't 311 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:56.170 last very long but they will produce for us an 312 00:19:56.259 --> 00:19:59.759 immeasurably great glory that will last forever because when you're 313 00:19:59.779 --> 00:20:05.059 going through tough times you're growing in character so he 314 00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:08.859 says we don't look at the troubles we can see 315 00:20:08.900 --> 00:20:11.299 right now In other words, we don't keep our eyes 316 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.839 on the problem. Rather, we look forward to what we 317 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:17.880 have not seen, the reward for persevering. For the troubles 318 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:20.640 we've seen will soon be over, but the joys to 319 00:20:20.740 --> 00:20:28.220 come will last forever. You see, there's something God is 320 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:31.920 more interested in than what you do. God is more 321 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:35.440 interested in who you are than what you do. He's 322 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:38.549 more interested in what you're becoming than what's happening to you. 323 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:44.839 And God often allows trials, troubles, tribulations, problems, persistence, you know, 324 00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:49.309 in your life to teach you the diligence, determination, and character. 325 00:20:49.670 --> 00:20:54.769 The problem you're going through right now, this is a test. 326 00:20:56.910 --> 00:21:00.269 It's easy to serve God when things are going great. Now, 327 00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:02.470 if you're going through a tough time right now, and 328 00:21:02.630 --> 00:21:06.279 almost everybody is, the next verse you need to memorize. 329 00:21:06.579 --> 00:21:09.119 So put a star by it. Go home and write 330 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:12.160 it down on a card and memorize it this week 331 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:18.410 for encouragement. Galatians 6, 9. Don't get tired of doing 332 00:21:18.650 --> 00:21:22.990 what is right. You will, circle will, not might, you 333 00:21:23.069 --> 00:21:27.890 will be rewarded when the time is right if you 334 00:21:27.950 --> 00:21:30.990 don't give up. I want us to read that verse 335 00:21:31.059 --> 00:21:34.859 aloud together. Read it with me. Don't get tired of 336 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:39.910 doing what's right. You will be rewarded when the time 337 00:21:39.990 --> 00:21:43.269 is right if you don't give up. You need to 338 00:21:43.309 --> 00:21:46.450 memorize that verse because God uses tough times to test 339 00:21:46.490 --> 00:21:53.650 your persistence. One of my great spiritual lessons I learned 340 00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:59.819 from that theologian, Forrest Gump. Everybody remember the story Forrest Gump? 341 00:22:01.539 --> 00:22:04.839 In Forrest Gump, there's a story of a hard time 342 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:09.369 that they go through which a hurricane, tsunami, comes into 343 00:22:09.410 --> 00:22:14.059 the south part of America, okay? And all of the fishing, remember, 344 00:22:14.339 --> 00:22:18.619 Forrest Gump has a fishing boat, Bubba Gump Shrimp, okay? 345 00:22:18.779 --> 00:22:21.859 He's got a fishing boat. And all of the other 346 00:22:22.059 --> 00:22:25.420 fishing boats say, we got a storm coming in, so 347 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:27.960 we're gonna play it safe. We're not gonna be out 348 00:22:28.059 --> 00:22:31.000 fishing during the storm. We're gonna pull into the harbor. 349 00:22:31.259 --> 00:22:34.289 We're gonna batten down the hatches. We're gonna tie up 350 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:37.609 next to shore and we're gonna wait out this recession, 351 00:22:39.369 --> 00:22:43.049 this storm. Economic tough times are coming. We got a 352 00:22:43.130 --> 00:22:46.109 storm coming in. It's a parable. And so we're gonna 353 00:22:46.170 --> 00:22:48.509 tie up and we're gonna play it safe. We're not 354 00:22:48.569 --> 00:22:51.589 gonna be out fishing. We're gonna wait it out the storm. 355 00:22:52.450 --> 00:22:55.809 We're gonna play it conservative. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Only 356 00:22:56.029 --> 00:22:59.549 one fishing boat is doing what fishing boats are made 357 00:22:59.589 --> 00:23:04.519 to do, fish. And so Forrest Gump is out on 358 00:23:04.539 --> 00:23:08.519 the ocean fishing in the middle of the storm. If 359 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.519 you remember this story, at the end of the storm, 360 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:15.859 every boat that had tied down in the harbor was destroyed. 361 00:23:17.099 --> 00:23:19.559 They had all been dashed against the rocks. They were 362 00:23:19.619 --> 00:23:23.789 completely dominated and broken up and they were all destroyed. 363 00:23:24.470 --> 00:23:31.430 And after the storm, Forrest Gump dominated the market because 364 00:23:31.470 --> 00:23:33.630 he was the only one who didn't play it safe. 365 00:23:36.019 --> 00:23:39.920 Number four. The fourth thing that you need to understand 366 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:46.400 is that God uses shortages to test my generosity. God 367 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:53.190 uses shortages to test my My generosity. Faithful people are 368 00:23:53.250 --> 00:23:57.990 generous when they don't have it to give. Now follow 369 00:23:58.009 --> 00:24:01.430 me on this. Anybody can be generous when you got 370 00:24:01.470 --> 00:24:04.289 a surplus. I can be generous with my time when 371 00:24:04.329 --> 00:24:07.190 I got a lot of extra time. I can be 372 00:24:07.269 --> 00:24:09.630 generous with my money when I got a lot of 373 00:24:09.650 --> 00:24:13.759 extra money. I can be generous with my energy when 374 00:24:13.819 --> 00:24:17.329 I got extra energy to spend. I can be generous 375 00:24:18.109 --> 00:24:20.410 with help when I've got a lot of extra help 376 00:24:20.630 --> 00:24:24.509 to give. It's when I don't have enough for me. 377 00:24:24.529 --> 00:24:28.640 I don't have enough time for me. I don't have 378 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:31.920 enough energy for me. I don't have enough money for me. 379 00:24:32.299 --> 00:24:35.400 I don't have enough talent for me. And I give 380 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:39.480 it away to help others. God goes, this is a test. 381 00:24:40.900 --> 00:24:43.490 And I'm watching you to see if you are faithful. 382 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:48.839 will you be faithful and will you trust me? Now, 383 00:24:48.859 --> 00:24:51.279 a great example of this in the Bible is the 384 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.619 story of the church in Macedonia. Macedonia was an area 385 00:24:55.779 --> 00:25:00.400 of Greece. Alexander the Great, he was from Macedonia. His 386 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:04.789 father was Philip of Macedonia. Now there's a church in 387 00:25:04.829 --> 00:25:08.109 this place called Macedonia in Greece and there's another church 388 00:25:08.170 --> 00:25:11.970 in Greece called the Corinthians. Corinth is a city in Greece. 389 00:25:12.410 --> 00:25:15.190 And Paul writes a letter to the church at Corinth 390 00:25:15.470 --> 00:25:18.950 and he's bragging on the church at Macedonia for them 391 00:25:19.019 --> 00:25:23.380 being generous in the middle of their shortages. Here's what 392 00:25:23.420 --> 00:25:25.640 he says, look up here on the screen. He says, 393 00:25:26.059 --> 00:25:27.859 those people over there in Macedonia, they're going through this 394 00:25:27.940 --> 00:25:32.740 enormous recession. He goes, they have been going through severe trouble. 395 00:25:33.769 --> 00:25:38.529 They've been going through very hard times. And out of 396 00:25:38.589 --> 00:25:43.839 their extreme poverty, these people are flat broke, has flowed 397 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:47.819 extreme generosity and overwhelming joy. What's he talking about? He 398 00:25:47.859 --> 00:25:50.940 said those people over there, they are hurting like crazy. 399 00:25:51.259 --> 00:25:53.500 But they gave a huge offering to help the church 400 00:25:53.539 --> 00:25:57.519 down in Jerusalem that's starving right now. He goes out 401 00:25:57.559 --> 00:26:02.619