Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If you're
Speaker 1: joining us for the first time or you've been listening
Speaker 1: every day for ten years, we just want to say welcome,
Speaker 1: We love you, and we pray for you every day.
Speaker 1: So we're continuing with this series called Daring Faith the
Speaker 1: Key to Miracles. And in this series you're learning how
Speaker 1: to have a bold, unshakable faith that gives you courage
Speaker 1: to impact the world around you. And if you're like me,
Speaker 1: you'd really like to be more bold and have more
Speaker 1: courage to share your faith in Christ. All right, let's
Speaker 1: jump right in with Pastor Red with a message called
Speaker 1: Daring to be Generous.
Speaker 2: If you want the blessing of God on your life,
Speaker 2: if you want the power of God in your life,
Speaker 2: if you want the anointing of God through your life,
Speaker 2: you must build your life on three things to the
Speaker 2: blessing of God. Integrity, humility, and generosity. Integrity, humility, and generosity.
Speaker 2: These are the three great antidotes to the three great
Speaker 2: temptations in life. I don't have time to get into
Speaker 2: it today, but this, if you build your life an integrity, humility,
Speaker 2: and generosity, you will set up for yourself a barrier
Speaker 2: to the three greatest traps in life that cause people
Speaker 2: to fail in life. Now, in the Bible, there are
Speaker 2: about seven thousand promises of God. These are blank checks
Speaker 2: for you, and God says, if you do this, I'll
Speaker 2: do that. With every promise, there is a premise. God says,
Speaker 2: there's a condition for every one of the promises of
Speaker 2: God in your life. Promises for success, promises for satisfaction,
Speaker 2: promises for fulfillment, promises of blessing. It's over seven thousand
Speaker 2: promises of God to you, but every promise has a premise.
Speaker 2: In the Bible, the number one thing that God has
Speaker 2: promises about is connected to generosity. There are more promises
Speaker 2: related to generosity in the Bible than any other subject.
Speaker 2: And when I say generosity, I'm not just talking about money.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about being generous with your time, being generous
Speaker 2: with your energy, being generous with your praise, being generous
Speaker 2: with your talent, being generous with every area of your life.
Speaker 2: It is becoming an unselfish person, and more promises about
Speaker 2: that than anything else. So what is generosity? Why is
Speaker 2: God so interested in generosity? Why is He's so interested
Speaker 2: in us learning how to be generous? That he gives
Speaker 2: all these kind of rewards and promises more than any
Speaker 2: other thing. And the answer is because generosity is love
Speaker 2: in action. You can give without loving, but you cannot
Speaker 2: love without giving. You cannot be loving without being generous.
Speaker 2: If I tell my wife that I love her, but
Speaker 2: I'm not generous with my wife, I don't really love her.
Speaker 2: If I'm not generous with my kids, I don't really
Speaker 2: love my kids. Because love gives. God so loved the
Speaker 2: world that he gave. And as I said, it's all
Speaker 2: about generosity is simply love in action. And if I'm
Speaker 2: not a generous person, I'm not a loving person. I
Speaker 2: may think i am, but I'm not. Because love is
Speaker 2: all about giving. It's not about getting a lot of
Speaker 2: songs on the radio. They're not love songs. They're lust songs.
Speaker 2: Lust is about getting you make me feel like a
Speaker 2: natural woman. You know, you make me feel good. That's lust.
Speaker 2: That's not love. Love is giving. Lust is about getting.
Speaker 2: Now interesting. I did a study of the major words
Speaker 2: of the Bible. Keywords of the Bible. The word believe
Speaker 2: we all know that's important is used two hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy two times in the Bible. Believe to hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy two times. Pray. That's an important word. We that
Speaker 2: is used in the Bible three hundred and seventy one times,
Speaker 2: three hundred and seventy one times. The word love obviously,
Speaker 2: we know that's an important world where it is used
Speaker 2: seven hundred and fourteen times in the Bible. But the
Speaker 2: word give is used two thousand, one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: two times. Why Because God is a giver. Everything you
Speaker 2: have in your life is a gift from God. If
Speaker 2: God was not generous, you would have nothing. Your heart
Speaker 2: would stop beating right now. God is a generous God.
Speaker 2: He gives you air, sunshine, a mind to think, and
Speaker 2: everything else in your life is a sheer gift from God.
Speaker 2: Even the ability to earn is a gift from God,
Speaker 2: and God wants us to learn to be like him.
Speaker 2: This is what happens in you every time you are generous, okay,
Speaker 2: number one. First thing that happens. Generosity honors God. Generosity
Speaker 2: on the God giving as an act of worship, and
Speaker 2: it's a recognition that everything you have is a gift
Speaker 2: from God. The Bible says in the Second Corinthians chapter nine,
Speaker 2: you will be glorifying God through your generous gifts. Your
Speaker 2: generosity will prove that you are obedient to the good
Speaker 2: news of Christ. Proverbs fourteen thirty one says, whoever is
Speaker 2: generous to the needy honors God. It honors God. Number two,
Speaker 2: Generosity draws me closer to God. Generosity draws me closer
Speaker 2: to God. Why because whatever I invest in is what
Speaker 2: I'm interested in. If I invest my time in something,
Speaker 2: I invest my money in something, I invest my energy
Speaker 2: in something, whether it's golf or a new business plan.
Speaker 2: Whatever I invest my time and money in shows what's
Speaker 2: important to me. And when I invest in God and
Speaker 2: his work, it not only honors God, it draws me
Speaker 2: closer to because wherever my money in time is what
Speaker 2: attracts me. The Bible says this proverb fourteen twenty three.
Speaker 2: The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always
Speaker 2: put God first in your lives. We give the first
Speaker 2: part of our income first time percent on the first
Speaker 2: day of the week. Say God, you're really number one.
Speaker 2: It all came from you. Matthew six verse twenty one.
Speaker 2: Jesus said, your heart will be wherever your treasure is.
Speaker 2: So wherever you put your money, that's where your heart's
Speaker 2: going to be. And if you want to be closer
Speaker 2: to God, put some money there. It'll draw you closer
Speaker 2: to God. Number three, Generosity makes me more like Jesus.
Speaker 2: Generosity makes me more like Jesus, because the most generous
Speaker 2: person who ever lived, of course, was Jesus Christ. He
Speaker 2: sacrificed his own life. The Bible says, we have been
Speaker 2: saved because of the generosity of Jesus. Every time you
Speaker 2: give time, money, energy, anything, you become more like Jesus.
Speaker 2: Every time you give, your heart grows bigger. Every time
Speaker 2: you give, you become more like Christ. Now, the Bible
Speaker 2: says this Proverbs twenty one, twenty six. The greedy always
Speaker 2: want more, but the godly love to give. And the
Speaker 2: more godly you become, the more generous you are. And
Speaker 2: it also works in reverse. The more generous you are,
Speaker 2: the more godly you're going to become, the more godly
Speaker 2: you are. The more generous you be, the more generous
Speaker 2: you are, the more godly you'll be Luke eleven forty one.
Speaker 2: Purity is best demonstrated by generosity. In other words, to
Speaker 2: live a holy life is to be a giver. It
Speaker 2: makes me like Christ. You know when I see this
Speaker 2: verse reminds me an old story Bob told me. One day,
Speaker 2: Bob took his young son, who's sitting in his car seat,
Speaker 2: to McDonald's and to buy him some French fries. And
Speaker 2: he takes him to the drive through and he gives
Speaker 2: his son sitting there, the French fries, and he says,
Speaker 2: as he was driving back home, it smelled so good.
Speaker 2: He said, I just reached over and took one of
Speaker 2: my son's French fries. He said. My little son said, Dad,
Speaker 2: you can't have any These are my fries, Bob said.
Speaker 2: I immediately had three thoughts, he said. Number one, I
Speaker 2: realized that my child had forgotten that I am the
Speaker 2: source of all fries. He would have no French fries
Speaker 2: if it weren't for me. I brought him here, I
Speaker 2: drove him here, I bought the fries, I paid for
Speaker 2: the fries. I handed him the fries. He would have
Speaker 2: no fries in life if it weren't for his father,
Speaker 2: and the only reason he got any it was because
Speaker 2: of me, he said. The second thing I realized is
Speaker 2: that my child doesn't realize that I could take them
Speaker 2: all away if I wanted to. I could take the
Speaker 2: whole thing away, say no more until after supper, or
Speaker 2: no more right now, that's all you can eat. I
Speaker 2: could take him away instantly, or on the other hand,
Speaker 2: I could go back and buy him a truckload of
Speaker 2: fries if I wanted to. I was totally in charge.
Speaker 2: He was not, and he said Third, I realized that
Speaker 2: I really didn't need his fries. That if I had
Speaker 2: wanted fries, I could have bought him for myself. I
Speaker 2: had plenty of money I could have taken. I could
Speaker 2: have bought him for myself. I could easily get my own.
Speaker 2: I just wanted my young son to learn unselfishness. I
Speaker 2: wanted him to learn how to share. Those are the
Speaker 2: same three reasons God wants you to learn generosity. God
Speaker 2: does not need your money. It all belongs to him anyway.
Speaker 2: It wasn't yours before you're born, it's not going to
Speaker 2: be yours after your diet. He just loaned it to
Speaker 2: you while you're alive. It's all his. He is the
Speaker 2: source of all fries, everything you have in your life.
Speaker 2: If God didn't love you and be generous with you, you
Speaker 2: would have zip not of nothing. He could take it
Speaker 2: away from you instantly and he could give you ten
Speaker 2: times that a mount instantly. He just wants you to
Speaker 2: learn how to be unselfish. Why because God is a frygiver.
Speaker 2: God is generous, and it makes me like Christ. Number four,
Speaker 2: Generosity is the cure for materialism. Generosity is the cure
Speaker 2: for materialism. Materialism is all about getting, get get, get, get, get,
Speaker 2: get get get, get, get all you can and can
Speaker 2: all you get. And materialism is about taking in and
Speaker 2: acquiring and hoarding, and I gotta get more and more
Speaker 2: and more and more. The only antidote, the only antidote
Speaker 2: to materialism is giving. You may say I'm not materialistic,
Speaker 2: but if you're not generous, you are. You are because
Speaker 2: the only antidote. Every time you give, you break the
Speaker 2: grip of materialism in your life. You break it. You
Speaker 2: stop being a materialist. Now. The Bible says this. Jesus
Speaker 2: said in Matthew six twenty four, you cannot serve both
Speaker 2: God and money circle the word cannot. Notice. He didn't
Speaker 2: say you should not serve both God and money. He
Speaker 2: said you can't. It's impossible. You can't have two gods
Speaker 2: in your life. You got to decide what's more important
Speaker 2: to you being rich or serving God. What's more important
Speaker 2: to me? Is God number one in my life? Or
Speaker 2: is money number one in my life? He says, you
Speaker 2: can't have two gods. You can't serve both in your
Speaker 2: life and in a consumer driven call culture, and especially
Speaker 2: in the good life of Orange County, it's pretty hard
Speaker 2: to fight materialism. Everybody agree with that. It's very easy
Speaker 2: to get caught up in being a consumer and thinking
Speaker 2: that my life, that my net worth determines my self worth.
Speaker 2: It does not. Your values are not your valuable and
Speaker 2: your net worth and your self worth are not connected.
Speaker 2: But daily you are bombarded by advertising. And Satan has
Speaker 2: a little tool he likes to use to make you
Speaker 2: a materialist. It's called catalogs. And when you look through
Speaker 2: a catalog, man, I didn't even know they made that,
Speaker 2: but I got to have it. Now. Where was I
Speaker 2: without that? First Timothy, chapter six, verse seventeen and eighteen says,
Speaker 2: this command those who are rich. By the way, everybody
Speaker 2: listening right now, Hey tell you this. You're rich. You
Speaker 2: may be unemployed, but you're rich. The poorest of the
Speaker 2: poor in America are richer than most of the rest
Speaker 2: of the world. Most of the world would love to
Speaker 2: have the problems of people who or poor in America.
Speaker 2: Command those who are rich, that's all of us in
Speaker 2: this present world, not to be arrogant, nor to put
Speaker 2: their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to
Speaker 2: put their hope in God, who richly provides us with
Speaker 2: everything for our What would you circle that word enjoyment?
Speaker 2: Did you know that everything God created is for your enjoyment?
Speaker 2: God wants you to enjoy life, not just endure it.
Speaker 2: God created it for your enjoyment. That's the kind of
Speaker 2: generous God. He is everything provided for our enjoyment. Command them,
Speaker 2: that's us, to be generous and willing to share, and
Speaker 2: in this way they will take hold of the life
Speaker 2: that is true life. You don't know what you're really
Speaker 2: living for until you break the grip of materialism in
Speaker 2: your life. Number five, Generosity demonstrates my faith. Generosity every
Speaker 2: time you give, it demonstrates your faith because it shows
Speaker 2: that you're trust in the promises of God. It shows
Speaker 2: that what kind of what you believe. It shows that
Speaker 2: you believe that God will take care of you if
Speaker 2: you obey him. Tewod Corinthians says, this you're giving proves
Speaker 2: the reality of your faith if I leave in one
Speaker 2: six says you are generous because of your faith. By
Speaker 2: the way, that's why I've been trying to build your
Speaker 2: faith for the last nine weeks. You're generous because of
Speaker 2: your faith. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. I don't really
Speaker 2: believe that God can take care of me. I don't
Speaker 2: believe that if I give this away, I'll have enough
Speaker 2: for myself. That's a worry. That's anxiety, that's a fear,
Speaker 2: that's an unbelief. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. You're generous
Speaker 2: because of your faith. In Malachi three ten, God dares
Speaker 2: you to trust his promises. He says, this, bring the
Speaker 2: whole tie that's ten percent into my storehouse. What's the storehouse,
Speaker 2: it's the temples wherever you worship. Test me in this
Speaker 2: and see if I will not throw open the flood
Speaker 2: gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that
Speaker 2: you won't have room enough for it. God says, I
Speaker 2: dare you. This is the Pepsi challenge test of the Bible.
Speaker 2: I dare you. This, by the way, is the only
Speaker 2: place in the Bible. It says, you can prove there's
Speaker 2: a God. When I was in seminary working on my doctorate,
Speaker 2: you know, we learned the philosophical arguments for the existence
Speaker 2: of God, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the ontological argument,
Speaker 2: cons moral argument, and all the others. But in the Bible,
Speaker 2: it says, the way you prove that God exists by
Speaker 2: tithing and see if He doesn't bless you more. It
Speaker 2: demonstrates my faith. Number six, generosity reveals my character. In
Speaker 2: other words, it shows what kind of heart you really have.
Speaker 2: It shows do I have a selfish heart or do
Speaker 2: I have an unselfish heart? Do I have a generous heart?
Speaker 2: Do I have a stingy heart? Giving generosity shows what
Speaker 2: my heart is really like. In fact, the Bible says
Speaker 2: that God uses money to test what's really inside of you.
Speaker 2: And he uses money to test and see if he
Speaker 2: can trust you with more. And he says, if you're
Speaker 2: faithful with little things, I'll give you more things. And
Speaker 2: the Bible says, if you're faithful in that which is
Speaker 2: not your own, what I loan you where on earth,
Speaker 2: I will give you greater blessing in eternity. You may
Speaker 2: not realize this, but the rewards and The responsibilities that
Speaker 2: you have in heaven are going to be based on
Speaker 2: how you manage your money. Huh. Look at this next verse.
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ said it. If you are untrustworthy with worldly wealth,
Speaker 2: you don't manage your money, well, you're not generous with it.
Speaker 2: If you're untrustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you
Speaker 2: with the true riches of heaven? And the answer is nobody,
Speaker 2: God won't. Your responsibility and rewards in heaven are going
Speaker 2: to be built on how you handled what God gave you.
Speaker 2: Right now, what did you do with what you were given?
Speaker 2: All right, let's look at some promises. Number seven, Giving
Speaker 2: our generosity brings God's blessing. I could give you one
Speaker 2: hundred verses on this in the Bible. Generosity brings God's blessing.
Speaker 2: If you want God's blessing on your life, you must
Speaker 2: learn to not be a miser. You must learn to
Speaker 2: not be stingy. You must learn to be open handed
Speaker 2: with what God has given you, helping other people with
Speaker 2: everything you've got. And the more you give away your time,
Speaker 2: your talent, your treasure, the more God will give you.
Speaker 2: Giving brings God's blessing. Look at these verses Proverbs twenty two.
Speaker 2: Nine generous people will be blessed. Now. You either believe
Speaker 2: that or you don't. But God said it and it's true.
Speaker 2: Deuteronomy fifteen ten. Give generously, then, because of this, God
Speaker 2: will bless you in all your work. You want God
Speaker 2: to bless all your work and in everything you put
Speaker 2: your hand to. You want God to bless everything you
Speaker 2: put your hand to. There's the answer right there. Give generously.
Speaker 2: That's one of those seven thousand promises. Here's another one,
Speaker 2: Tewod Corinthians nine, seven and eight. God loves the one
Speaker 2: who gives gladly, and God will make it up to
Speaker 2: you by giving you everything you need and more so
Speaker 2: that there will not only be enough for your own needs,
Speaker 2: but plenty leftover to give joyfully to others. It brings
Speaker 2: God's blessing. Number eight Generosity increases my happiness. Generosity increases
Speaker 2: my happiness. Everybody knows this, that generosity increases your happiness.
Speaker 2: The only people who don't know it people who aren't generous.
Speaker 2: Jesus said it like this in Acts twenty. There's more
Speaker 2: happiness in giving than in receiving. Now, I will admit
Speaker 2: to you when I was a child at Christmas it
Speaker 2: wasn't all about what I bought everybody else. When I
Speaker 2: was a child, it was all about what I got.
Speaker 2: And as a child, all my joy came from the
Speaker 2: presence I got, not from the presence I gave to
Speaker 2: other people. But that was a long time ago. I
Speaker 2: was immature and I was self centered. Today I'm a grandfather.
Speaker 2: Today at Christmas, it's not about the presence I get.
Speaker 2: My joy comes from watching other people unwrap the gifts
Speaker 2: that I've given to them. Why. Because I grew up,
Speaker 2: I stopped being self centered. It stopped being about me.
Speaker 2: That's called maturity. Unfortunately, some people never grow up, and
Speaker 2: at eighty years old, it's still all about them. What
Speaker 2: am I getting out of this? And they've never learned
Speaker 2: the joy of generosity. Generosity increases my happiness Number nine generosity,
Speaker 2: This will blow your mind. Generosity expands my influence. The
Speaker 2: more generous you become, the more influential you will become.
Speaker 2: Influence comes not from what you get in life. Influence
Speaker 2: comes from what you give away in life. And the
Speaker 2: more you give away, the more influential you'll be. Now,
Speaker 2: there's difference when you being famous and being influential. There
Speaker 2: are a lot of people who are famous who have
Speaker 2: no influence, A lot of selfish people who are famous
Speaker 2: but don't have real influence. When you want to help
Speaker 2: other people, influence comes from generosity. Here's what the Bible
Speaker 2: says Proverbs eleven twenty four. The world of the generous
Speaker 2: gets larger and larger, and the world of the stingy
Speaker 2: gets smaller and smaller. Some one twelve says this verse nine.
Speaker 2: Those who give generously to those in need, you're helping
Speaker 2: the poor. You're helping the unfortunate, will never be forgotten.
Speaker 2: You want a legacy. Help the poor will never be forgotten.
Speaker 2: They will have influence and honor. I have found this
Speaker 2: one to be true in my own personal life. But
Speaker 2: the more generous I became, the more influential I became.
Speaker 2: You know my story. You know my story. Forty years ago,
Speaker 2: when can I got married, we started tithing our income
Speaker 2: ten percent. The end of our first year marriage, we
Speaker 2: raised our giving to the Lord and to charity to
Speaker 2: eleven percent. In the second year, we raised it to
Speaker 2: twelve percent. Third year we raised it three percent, and
Speaker 2: fourth year we keep adding, and even in tough times,
Speaker 2: we would always raise our giving a little bit why
Speaker 2: Because I wanted my heart to grow bigger every year.
Speaker 2: I wanted to be more like Jesus. I wanted to
Speaker 2: be godly. I wanted to be like God. I wanted
Speaker 2: to be holy. Now we weren't doing this to show off,
Speaker 2: because as you know, I didn't tell anybody about this.
Speaker 2: For over twenty five years, we just quietly did it,
Speaker 2: raising our giving from twenty percent to thirty to forty percent,
Speaker 2: to fifty percent to sixty to seventy of You know
Speaker 2: that for the last ten years, Can and I have
Speaker 2: given away ninety one percent of our income and we
Speaker 2: live on nine. Now. We do that because you cannot
Speaker 2: outgive God. And God says, you give to me, and
Speaker 2: I'll give to you. And you know, what I've learned
Speaker 2: is that while my giving went up, so did my influence.
Speaker 2: When I was testifying at the A d C. At
Speaker 2: the Congress, I was testifying before Senate, one of the
Speaker 2: guys took me sid a senator and he asked me
Speaker 2: a question. He says, you know, Rick, I know this
Speaker 2: thing about purpose driven life sold the gazillion copies, best
Speaker 2: selling book in the world. You know, for four years
Speaker 2: it was the best It's the best selling nonfiction book
Speaker 2: in American history. It's in one hundred and thirty seven languages,
Speaker 2: It's in Guinness. It's the most translated book in the
Speaker 2: world except for the Bible, has two Guinness Records. And
Speaker 2: he goes, why do you think God shows you to
Speaker 2: write the best selling nonfiction hardback in all the time?
Speaker 2: I said, Oh, I know, I know why. He said why.
Speaker 2: I said, because God knew he could trust me with
Speaker 2: the money. God knew that I would not spend it
Speaker 2: on my stuff. I wouldn't go buy a bigger house.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't go buy a bigger car. You know I
Speaker 2: wear a watch from Walmart. You know I live I
Speaker 2: drive a fifteen year old Forward truck. God knew I
Speaker 2: wouldn't spend the money on myself. I would use it
Speaker 2: to help more other people. Now, I know a lot
Speaker 2: of people say, well, shoot, if I wrote a gazillion cellar,
Speaker 2: i'd give away millions. Ste No, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't.
Speaker 2: I guarantee you wouldn't. Why Because you're not being generous
Speaker 2: right now? And I was generous when we were out
Speaker 2: of work, and I was generous when I had no money,
Speaker 2: and I was generous when the cupboard was bear and
Speaker 2: I was generous when Kay was holding the job and
Speaker 2: I was trying to put me through school, and I
Speaker 2: had a forty year track record of being generous, and
Speaker 2: God knew he could trust me. And with that generosity
Speaker 2: came additional influence. Number ten, generosity. This is a big one.
Speaker 2: Generosity multiplies my money. This is a big one. Now
Speaker 2: I give you a lot of verses on this generosity
Speaker 2: actually multiplies my money. God has worked out the universe
Speaker 2: in such a way that when I give God ten
Speaker 2: percent of my income that's called tithing, that he makes
Speaker 2: the ninety percent go further than if I had one
Speaker 2: hundred percent on my own. The Bible says this Proverbs
Speaker 2: eleven twenty five, A generous man will prosper. You want
Speaker 2: to prosper? There it is a generous man will that's
Speaker 2: God talking. And he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says the second Corinthians nine, you will
Speaker 2: be enriched circle that word that means you're gonna have
Speaker 2: more than you have right now. You will be enriched
Speaker 2: so that you can be a fat cat and spend
Speaker 2: it all on yourself. Now you will be enriched so
Speaker 2: that you can give even more. God multiplies your money.
Speaker 2: You play this game, God says, you give to me,
Speaker 2: and I'll give to you, and you give to others,
Speaker 2: and I'll give to you, and we'll see who wins.
Speaker 2: You're never gonna win the generosity game. I can tell
Speaker 2: you that generosity multiplies my money. Number eleven. Generosity brings
Speaker 2: God's protection. A lot of people don't know this one,
Speaker 2: that it actually brings God's protection on your family, on
Speaker 2: your business, on your own life. Psalm one twelve, verse
Speaker 2: five and six says, this all goes well for the
Speaker 2: generous man who conducts his business fairly. There's two of
Speaker 2: those things, integrity and generosity right there. Such a man
Speaker 2: will not be overthrown by evil circumstances. Now notice it
Speaker 2: doesn't say you don't have evil Circumstance says you're not
Speaker 2: overthrown by them. Everybody has tough times, everybody goes through problems.
Speaker 2: There's no guarantee of a problem for your life. You're
Speaker 2: gonna have evil circumstances in your life. But when you're generous,
Speaker 2: God says, I will make sure you're not blown away
Speaker 2: by them. You're not overthrown by the evil circumstances happen
Speaker 2: in your life. God's constant care of him will make
Speaker 2: a deep impression on all who see it. They say,
Speaker 2: look at that guy, He's blessed even in tough times.
Speaker 2: God is blessing him, even when things are going wrong
Speaker 2: in his life and all around him. Generosity brings God's protection.
Speaker 2: And then number twelve, generosity will be rewarded in heaven.
Speaker 2: It will be rewarded in heaven. The Bible says this
Speaker 2: first Timothy, chapter six, verse eighteen nineteen. Use your money
Speaker 2: to do good. Now, once you circle the word use,
Speaker 2: money is to be used. It is not to be loved.
Speaker 2: It is to be used. You use money you love people.
Speaker 2: If you start loving money, you're going to use people.
Speaker 2: Money is a tool. You might write that down. Money
Speaker 2: is neither good nor bad. It's just neutral. You can
Speaker 2: use it for good or you can use it for bad.
Speaker 2: There's nothing evil about money. It's just neutral. It can
Speaker 2: be used in really good ways, it can be used
Speaker 2: in really bad ways. People say, doesn't the Bible say
Speaker 2: money is the root of all evil? No, it doesn't.
Speaker 2: It doesn't say that. It says the love of money
Speaker 2: is the root of all evil. You're to love people
Speaker 2: and use money, not reverse. So he says, use your
Speaker 2: money to do good, always being ready to share with
Speaker 2: others whatever God has given you. By doing this, you
Speaker 2: will be storing up real treasure for yourself in heaven.
Speaker 2: It is the only safe investment for eternity and they
Speaker 2: that's us. You will be living a fruitful Christian life
Speaker 2: down here as well. Now you can't take it with you.
Speaker 2: You never see a hearse pull in a U haul.
Speaker 2: You can't take it with you, but you can send
Speaker 2: it on ahead. How do you do that? Four times
Speaker 2: this scripture, Jesus says, store up treasure in heaven. How
Speaker 2: do you do that? How do you bank in heaven?
Speaker 2: By investing in people who are going there. That's how
Speaker 2: you do it. By investing in what we're doing in
Speaker 2: daring faith, getting people into heaven, getting them strong, getting
Speaker 2: them growing. He said, that's investing in heaven. He said,
Speaker 2: what you send on ahead, you're going to be able
Speaker 2: to enjoy the treasures in heaven for yourself. One of
Speaker 2: the most important things that Jesus said is this next
Speaker 2: verse Luke sixteen, verse nine. I tell you this is
Speaker 2: Jesus talking. I tell you use your worldly wealth, your
Speaker 2: worldly resources, that's your money, to benefit others, not yourself,
Speaker 2: others and make friends. So what do you mean by that, mate?
Speaker 2: I'll come back to that. In this way, your generosity
Speaker 2: stores up a reward for you in heaven. What does
Speaker 2: it mean to use my worldly resources to benefit others
Speaker 2: and make friends. He's not saying go out and buy
Speaker 2: a bunch of friends. That's not what he's saying. What
Speaker 2: he's saying is this, take some of your money and
Speaker 2: use it to build bridges of friendship to bring people
Speaker 2: to Jesus Christ who are then gonna be saved, and
Speaker 2: they're gonna go to heaven with you. And when you
Speaker 2: get to heaven, then there will be people in heaven
Speaker 2: who greet you and say, hey, you're here, Thank God
Speaker 2: for all you did. You gave some money that brought
Speaker 2: me to Jesus Christ. I'm in heaven because of you.
Speaker 2: I'm your friend forever. Is anybody going to be in
Speaker 2: heaven because of the way you use your money. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna have tens of thousands of friends in heaven because
Speaker 2: of the way I've used my money. Is anybody gonna
Speaker 2: be in heaven because of the way you used your money.
Speaker 2: Are you gonna have any friends up there? Because people say,
Speaker 2: thank you. I'm here because of you. You bought a Bible,
Speaker 2: you sponsored a project, you built the church, you helped
Speaker 2: the program, you did other things, and through that I
Speaker 2: came to know the Lord. I'm here because of you.
Speaker 2: I'm your friend forever. That is what it means to
Speaker 2: be rewarded in heaven, and those rewards you're going to
Speaker 2: have forever. Everything I spend on myself on earth, I'm
Speaker 2: losing everything I invest in others and in God's work,
Speaker 2: I'm going to gain again in heaven. Where do I
Speaker 2: want to keep my greatest wealth here where I get
Speaker 2: to use it for eighty years, or in heaven where
Speaker 2: I get to use it for trillions of years in eternity.
Speaker 2: It's a no brainer. Generosity will be rewarded in heaven.
Speaker 2: Let's bow for a prayer. Father, I thank you for
Speaker 2: the gifts that have just been given. And I know
Speaker 2: what you're going to do in people's lives, and I
Speaker 2: thank you for that. And Father, maybe even there are
Speaker 2: people here today who didn't participate, but you're going to
Speaker 2: put it on their heart this week, saying I do
Speaker 2: not want to miss out on the miracles in my
Speaker 2: own life, on making a part of history, of being
Speaker 2: part of something bigger than myself. Help them to get
Speaker 2: over their fear, their anxiety, or their unwillingness to trust you.
Speaker 2: And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 1: What a great message today from Pastor Rick. There's something
Speaker 1: I always can use in my own life after listening
Speaker 1: to this show. All right, would you like to step
Speaker 1: out of a life of ordinary existence and into a
Speaker 1: life of extraordinary faith? Then please order the Daring Faith
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Speaker 1: to tell you more.
Speaker 2: How'd you like to have a bold, unshakable faith that
Speaker 2: gives you the courage to make the changes you've always
Speaker 2: wanted to see in your life, your work, your family,
Speaker 2: and in the world. That's not a dream. That's exactly
Speaker 2: what God wants to do in your life. He wants
Speaker 2: you to learn to live by daring faith. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: according to your faith, it will be done under you.
Speaker 2: Now to help you develop that kind of faith, I
Speaker 2: put together a Daring Faith Study Kit and it includes
Speaker 2: a DVD and it includes a workbook. Now there's six
Speaker 2: sessions in the Daring Faith Study Kit, and it'll teach
Speaker 2: you these six things. How to build a life of faith,
Speaker 2: how to expect the best from God, how to stretch
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Speaker 2: do in your life, to expand your vision, how to
Speaker 2: have the courage to take the initiative with your faith,
Speaker 2: how to face your fears with bold faith, and how
Speaker 2: to believe and what to do while you're waiting on God.
Speaker 2: You cannot afford to miss this series. It was one
Speaker 2: of the most important series I've ever done at Saddleback Church.
Speaker 2: And the Bible tells us in Ephesian three twelve, because
Speaker 2: of our faith in Him, we dare to have boldness
Speaker 2: and courage and confidence in coming to God with freedom
Speaker 2: and without fear. I want you to have that boldness,
Speaker 2: that courage, and that confidence when you come to God
Speaker 2: in prayer. I want you to come to Him without
Speaker 2: fear and come to Him in freedom. God will use
Speaker 2: this Daring Faith Study Kit just like He used it
Speaker 2: in the lives of tens of thousands of other people.
Speaker 2: He'll use it in your life if you'll trust Him
Speaker 2: in all things. So get this kit today.
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Speaker 1: We hope you'll join us next time when we look
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