BANKING ON IT | OPEN HEAVEN | Pastor Chad Veach

0:00 Hey, what's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for joining us for this week's message from Zoe Church. We're starting a brand new series today called Open Heaven, Living Under God's Provision, Protection, and Divine Supernatural Overflow. We're going to jump in in just a moment, but make sure that you hit the subscribe button so that you don't miss out on future messages. Also, I want to say thank you to every person that gives tithes and offerings. If you'd like to give today, you can go to our website and give right there. Thank you for partnering with us to help get the message of Jesus out around the world. Go to Malachi chapter number three. We're starting a brand new series today. We are talking about an open heaven. I want to talk to you about living under God's provision, God's protection, and getting into that divine supernatural overflow.

0:55 So I'm going to teach you how to get these three things in your life. Provision, protection, and tapping into that divine overflow. So we're going to be talking about money. And you say, well, why are we talking about money at church? We're talking about money at church because we've got to talk about money in the Bible. In fact, in the Bible, there are 500 verses on prayer. In the Bible, there are 500 verses on faith. There are 700 verses on love. But in the Bible, there are 2,000 scriptures about money. God talks about money in the Bible. Why? Because God knows his main competitor. A lot of times, God doesn't want money. God wants you. And usually, it's money that has you. So God addresses money in the Bible so you can understand how we're to view it, think about it, and approach it. Come on.

1:51 Somebody say amen. So God's talking about money, but we got to learn about it. And I just like this because God, he knows his competition. Like Nike's competing with Adidas. Like Coke's competing with Dr. Pepper. Almost like Ford is competing with Toyota. Like State Farm. You know Jake from State Farm. Like Jake from State Farm is competing with Progressive. Don't become your parents. God is competing with money. God does not want your money. God wants you. And money always promises what it cannot deliver. Money promises you freedom. Can't deliver freedom. Money promises you happiness. Can't deliver happiness. Money promises it'll solve your issues or solve your relationships. Can't do that. Money promises what only God can do. Only God can free you. Only God can heal you.

2:42 Only God can satisfy. Oh, come on, everybody at home. Clap with us. I got to know what God says about money. Because a lot of us are like, I need more money. Shoot, more money, more problems. You don't need more money. In fact, if you got more money, you don't know how to handle it. So you don't have a money problem. You got a you problem. You got a trusting God problem. And so let's go to the Bible to learn. Malachi chapter three, it says this, I, the Lord, do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you. Let's just pause there real fast. The Bible says in the book of James that if you draw near to God, God will draw near to you. Prodigal son gets on that gravel road, goes running back home. What does the father do? Doesn't stand on that porch, runs down the road. So he says, if you return to me, I'll return to you. This is the promise of God, says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, how are we to return? Verse eight, will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, God, how are we robbing you? And he replies in tithes and offerings. You are under a curse. Now let me just pause there. We believe that because of the sacrifice of Jesus, if you're a believer in Jesus, you can never be cursed again.

4:17 Come on, don't clap like it's, oh yeah, I knew that. Yeah. Jesus reversed the curse. So I'm blessed by God. Somebody say amen to that. He made him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He says, you are under curse, your whole nation, because you are robbing me. Verse 10, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Anybody, where the food lovers at? Any food lovers? Yeah, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Faith and food. Come on, somebody. And just for my guys today, faith, food, football. Let's go.

5:12 That there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty. see if I will not throw open the windows or the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it's ripe, says the Lord Almighty. Then all them other nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord almighty. Write down the title of today's message is called banking on it. Banking on it. And my prayer for our church is that you could bank on the promises of God. Let me just say this about God. God is not a man that he would lie. He's not a liar. Anybody believe that today. In fact, when the devil speaks, he only speaks in lies. And when God speaks, he only speaks in truth. And God is not a man that he would lie. And we like to say it this way. He's a promise giver. He's a promise keeper. So if God gave you a promise, you can bet your bottom dollar. You can bank on it. It's true.

6:27 so i want i just want to tell you this stuff's true and this is my prayer my prayer for you is that you'd walk in this because i'm telling you nothing will change your life like jesus and getting your money right wait till i give my money right I had a dream that God is good.

6:57 Nothing. In fact, let me say this way. Nothing indicates to God where you're at in your faith more than how you view money. So God talks about this because he wants you to, to understand what he believes about it and you approach it correctly. So here, I'm going to give you three things to write down today. Here's the first one. I want you to live under an open heaven. That's my prayer for your life, that you get divine provision in your life, open heaven. I'll never forget when we first moved here 11 years ago. If the church is 10, that means we moved here 11 years ago. 11 years ago is one of them August, September's where it's mad hot, like crazy hot, like record hot. 11 years ago, record hot, like kind of how it's hot right now, but just like a little bit, like three, four more degrees, like just hot. And we rented a house on the west side. I love the west side because the west side's got a little breeze. All you that live in the valley, we are praying for you. You might as well live in Palm Springs. I don't know what you're doing. Or Rancher Cucamonga for all that matters. But we live on the west side. On the west side, you got a breeze. So I'll never forget, I've discovered people on the west side do not believe in air conditioning. So the house we got had no AC. So I couldn't wait for the sun to go down so we can open up the windows and get a little breeze. Anybody like to open the windows at your house, get a little breeze coming through. I'm telling you, the Bible is saying to you, when you give your tithe, what is the tithe? It is 10% of your income. And most importantly, it's the first 10. So I don't give AT&T my first dollars. I don't give rent control my first dollars. I give God my first dollars. Somebody say amen to that. Oh, come on. Everybody got a clap.

8:42 So, when I do that, God says, I will open the windows of heaven and pour out more blessing than you are able to handle. I'll open the windows of heaven. And my appeal to you today is, trust me, if you're going to make it in LA, you need the windows of heaven open in your life. There ain't nothing worse than feeling like those windows are closed and you're not getting the blessing of God. Let me say it this way. God can do more with 90% that's blessed than you can do with 100% that's not. And God says, if you bring that tithe into my storehouse, I'll trust me. I'm going to open the windows of heaven and I'm going to pour out more blessing than you are able to handle. What is he saying? They're able to handle. He's saying, I'm not just going to bless you a little bit. I'm going to bless you a lot a bit. I'll bless you so much. You, you won't just be blessed. You'll be able to send them a Venmo. You'll be able to take them out to dinner. You'll be able to help that family in need. You'll be able to help those fire relief. Come on, clap if you want. I got enough and then some. Listen, let me say this to you. He is not the God of enough. He's the God of more than enough. God never just meets your need. He supersedes your need according to his riches and according to his glory. Let me just say this. God is not in need of anything. God is not in need of money. My God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The earth is the Lord's and all that's within it. Somebody clap and thank him today. That's how much God has. This is not for God.

10:21 God has enough. This is for you so you have more than enough. So he says, test me. I like that. This is the only area of your life that God says, test me. It's the only area of your life that God says, I like that. It's kind of gangster that he's like, test me. Because this is what I say to my boys at night when they try and come out for their fourth glass of milk. Test me. test me. And God says to you, listen to the invitation. He says, test me, test me in this area and see if I won't throw open the window. I'll open, I don't know how you open your windows. We got these latches that got to get undone. And then we got this little crank, not just cranking that thing, cranking that, we're just cranking that thing. Now finish that one. Next one.

11:11 God says, test me. And see if I won't open the windows of heaven and I'll pour out so much blessing, you'll go, I got enough to help somebody. I got, well, my needs are all met. What can we do to help somebody else? Anybody want to live this way? My prayer is that you live under an open heaven. put it on the screen. Tithing connects me to heaven's supernatural supply. He's got a supernatural supply. He's got resources you don't know about. I'll never forget. By the way, next Sunday, we're going to celebrate one year of being in this building next Sunday. Is that amazing? And I'm telling you last year, about this time, my eye twitched. I was like, we need money, Lord. we need money here. We need you, Jesus. He's the miracle, God. But I'll never forget, even though we needed money as a church to move into this building, I'm telling you, I slept like a baby. My heart was at peace. You know why? Because I know that God is not a man that he would lie. God is not a man that he changes mind. We're living, come on, Zoe, we live under an open heaven. You want to know why? Because out of everything that comes into our church, we give away 10%. We give it away locally. We give it away nationally. We give it away globally. So I know that God is going to open that windows open over our house. That windows open over my family. I'm just telling you personally, when I get paid, the first thing I do, I've been trying this thing this month and the month of September, I'm trying to challenge myself.

12:51 I'm trying to run a hundred miles in the month of September because I'm fighting my dad body. and so I've got all these challenges one of my challenges is I'm trying to not touch my phone an hour before bed because you know most of us when we go to bed just doom scroll and so I'm putting it away I can't wait to get up in the morning to see what happened somebody text, you know, like, and I don't know what you do in the morning. In the morning, I check all my stuff, like all, all my account, you know, like, you know, how are we doing? And when I see I'm on Wells Fargo, when I see that Julie and I got paid, the first thing I do is I tithe first thing, because I don't want no money in my account. That doesn't belong to me. God is so clear the tithe belongs to him he said will a man rob God and everybody's like hold on we robbing you yes you've robbed me in tithes and offerings so I'm just telling you I don't want anything in my account that doesn't belong to me the tithe belongs to the Lord clap if you agree with that today it belongs to him I don't want it in my account if it's his And so the first thing I do is I tithe, and I know that when I do that, the window of heaven is open over my family. And I'll tell you this, God, you give it one way, it comes back to you in every way. Peace on your pillow, joy in your spirit, innovation, creativity, relationships.

14:18 Come on, anybody believing today that God will give you more than you could ever give yourself? So my prayer over you is that you live like Zoe under an open heaven. Write down number two. It protects you and it transforms you. Oh, I like this reality. It protects you and simultaneously it transforms you. Look at verse 11. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, says the Lord. Put it on the screen. I like it this way. God doesn't just bless me. He also protects what I have. This can look like fewer unexpected expenses, wisdom in decisions and favor and opportunities. See, this is what I love about tithing is I don't just get provision. I get protection. I don't know how you run wifi in your house. In our house, we were connected to this system that kind of make sure all the rooms have strong wifi because ain't nothing worse being in the back bedroom trying to connect.

15:17 You know what I'm saying? So, but every week, every week I get an email from this, uh, company that breaks down how many threats it blocked in my house. How just my neighbors trying to use my wifi, you know what I'm saying? Just, I ain't gonna lie. My neighbors, you know, and I wonder if you realize that your money when you tithe is protected by the almighty this is an agriculture term that he's using he is talking about locusts and worms he is talking about the harvest being destroyed John 10 10 the verse that our church is built off of is John 10 10 it says this the evil one comes to steal kill and to what destroy you want to know what the devil wants to do to your money. He wants to steal it. He wants to kill it. He wants to destroy it. When I give my tithe, I am protected by the almighty. My crop is protected. My harvest is protected. My life is protected. My children are protected. Come on. Anybody want protection?

16:22 We live in this nest cam ring cam, ADT protection era. And in fact, I just saw this video. One of my favorite people in our city, Pastor Erwin McManus from Mosaic Church, just a legend been serving LA for three, four decades. Come on, clap for Pastor Erwin. What a legend.

16:47 And he put up a video this last week that somebody broke into their house. And thankfully, his wife heard him and yelled, and they ran. And he said in the video, you want to know who steals? Cowards. You don't think that that little snake isn't a coward that will come and mess with your money? When I give to God, it protects my house. He says, I will not let your crop be destroyed. I will rebuke the devourer. Come on, clap today if you want some divine protection over your life. Thank you. See, it's not just the provision of the windows of heaven. It's the protection from God almighty that says, I will rebuke the devourer for you. And I'm praying today that you get some ADT up on your finances. You get some ring cam on your money and say, you know what? I worked hard for this harvest.

17:42 I'm not going to let it get spoiled by the wicked one. I'm going to let God be God in my house. Come on, clap if you agree with that today. so it it protects me but it also transforms me matthew chapter 6 verse 21 listen to jesus for where your treasure is there your heart will be also so watch it it protects me it changes me. When I give to God, guess what breaks? Greed. Selfishness. Living for myself. It just breaks right off. So I'm protected and changed through giving. And I'm believing for us that that greedy spirit, that selfish spirit is going to die in us. And I'd love just to give once and go, I am so not selfish anymore. But as my marriage will tell you, I still struggle.

18:46 By the way, Julie and I are getting ready to celebrate next week, 17 years of marriage. Two weeks. Two weeks. Sorry, two weeks. Sorry, two weeks because it's September 21st. Do you remember the 21st night of September? I was singing. and there's a selfish person in me like there's a selfish person in you. And when I give, do you want to know what I'm breaking? I'm breaking how the world works and the kingdom of this world so I can walk in the kingdom of God. Look here, put it on the screen. I love this thought right here. This is such a truth. Tithing breaks greed and cultivates trust. Obeying keeps my heart aligned with God, reminded me that everything I have comes from him. And when I don't give, I think, I produced this.

19:43 I made this happen. I worked so hard. I created this income. I've got the intellect. I've got the creativity. I've got the relationships. When I tithe, I recognize you're my source. You're my strength. You're my provider. Come on, clap today like you understand. Jehovah Jireh. When I give, I'm saying he's the miracle, not me. I understand. I didn't make this happen. You have been blessing me. You opened the window. You opened the opportunity. And I start to realize I'm a nobody. You're the somebody. I'm just the hands and feet, but you're the supplier. You're my source. And so I'm protected and I'm transformed. And I don't know about you, but I need some of that in my life. That's why I'm telling you when I get up in the morning right now, I can't wait to see what's on there. Get that Wells Fargo. We got paid, man. I can't get the money out of the account fast enough to give it to God because I know I'm protecting my home.

20:42 I'm getting provision for my home, but I'm getting this greedy, selfish person out of here. Amen. So I want you to live under open heaven. I want you to live under protection. Right down number three. I love this last one. It advances God's kingdom and it ushers in the overflow. It advances God's kingdom and it ushers in the overflow. Luke 6, 38. Give and it will be given to you a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. It will be poured into your lap. If you'd like a translation on that verse, you know what the Bible's telling you? you can't out give God. Give and it will be given back to you. How does it come back? Press down, checking together, running over into your lap. In other words, you give one way, it comes back every way. I give my tithe. Now I'm blessed with peace on my pillow. I got joy in my spirit. I got strength in my body. I've got, come on, I've got relationships.

21:47 it just happens in every area of your life. And so not only does it transform me, but watch this, I get to advance God's kingdom. I get to partner with God's work in the earth. Now let's go back to verse 10. When he says, bring the tithe. If you don't mind, put it up on the screen, put up verse 10 on the screen, bring the tithe, the whole tithe into my house. Why did God say into his house? He could have said, I want you to give away a tithe to non-profits. Find good works on the earth and go give to those that are feeding or go those that are clothing or those that are doing prison work and just find a bunch of non-profits, good people, and give away 10% of your income. But that's not what he said, did he? He said, I want you to bring the 10th into my house. Why?

22:39 Because he wants his house to be blessed, to be a blessing. God will change the earth through the church. The church is God's plan. It's his plan A, and he don't got a plan B. Somebody say amen. So God says, bring your tithe into my house, that my house, my storehouse, is resourced. It's stock full. This is the plan of God that we, Zoe, is blessed to go what? Be a blessing. So when I give, I'm partnering with God. Look at it on the screen. I love this. My tithe helps the church feed the hungry, spread the gospel, support missions, transform communities, and reach the next generation. I just, I mean, call me crazy. I think that's pretty cool.

23:32 My tithe helps missions. Wait, through my giving, I can help reach the next generation? Wait, hold on. I can transform local communities through my generosity? I get to partner with God in the move of God. I get to partner with God in what he wants to accomplish in Los Angeles. I'm a partner. It's so cool. This last week, I got to go to dinner. You know, we're getting ready for South Bay. So I went to dinner with some South Bay guys, you know, just amazing guys. And we were having dinner. And one of the guys I've known, he's been a part of our church for probably about eight years. And I've known him for a long time. And he's a really successful guy. He's a really kind person. And I just don't know his story that well. So I was like, remind me. I know you've done well. remind me of kind of your story of your business. He said, well, you know, when we first started, we were doing about $7 million a year in sales. And then we jumped to 40. And I was like, you're sipping my water. I was like, okay. Yeah, I knew that. He's like, and then we went from 40 to 80 million. And I was like, well, I'm grossly misunderstood here.

24:40 And I know this guy is a faithful tither in our church. And I know where he's from, his hometown. And he said, I went from seven to 40, from 40 to 80. And I was just thinking, you can't out give God. And I said, that's so cool, man. I said, now to accomplish this, how many, this is my first question. How many partners do you have? You know, because I'm thinking this is a big operation. How many partners do you have? And he said, well, up until just recently, I've had no partners. It's just been me. And I was like, well, this panel, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I like that. I've had no partners up until recently. And you know, when you give, you're partnering with God. You're saying, God, I'm in on what you're doing.

25:34 And I'm not just going to watch Zoe do stuff and your church do stuff. I'm on the team. I'm a part owner in the work of God in Los Angeles. And when you do that, you advance the kingdom and you tap into supernatural overflow that happens in your life. You say, well, what supernatural overflow, what does that look like? Did you notice what it said in the last verse, verse number 12? Did you notice what it said in the last verse? It said, then all the nations are going to look at you and they're gonna go, you are blessed. All the other nations are going to look at you and go, 740, 80? Dang! All the other nations. See, in other words, when you're blessed, you don't have to tell people you're blessed. When you're blessed, other people look at you and say, you're blessed.

26:33 Why? Because it's evident your gifting didn't do this, your intellect didn't do this, Your work ethic didn't do this. Your discipline didn't do this. Oh, come on, clap, Zoe. God did this. Ain't nobody walking up in Zoe Church going like, dang, Pastor Chad and Julia built that. No, no, no. Everybody that knows us knows the Lord built this house. And when you give to God and you follow God, the open heaven, the protection of God, and The overflow that will overwhelm your life will be exceedingly, abundantly, far above anything you can ask, anything you can think, anything you can imagine. The heavens will pour out such a blessing that the other people in your world will say, whoa, look at what the Lord has done. Come on, clap and give him a praise.

27:25 It's not by power. It's not by might, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. Come on, clap like you want. protection, provision, overflow. Give them a praise today. When the blessing of God overwhelms your life, people look and go, I've known you for 10 years. You are not that smart. How did you build that? How did you buy that? How did you accomplish that? How did you get that following? How did you make that money? It wasn't me. It was God. You keep living in your own strength. You keep tapping into your own power, and what you try and build, you're going to have to sustain. But when you've got the open heaven, God has said, I'll build it and I'll sustain it.

28:13 That's a word for the 49ers. Seahawks, we've already been walking in that. and so and so when jesus worship team come join me when jesus gets ready to feed the 5 000 the first thing that he does before he performs a miracle is he says put them in groups see let me just teach you about god god does not bless chaos he does not bless disorder so god is speaking to you about getting your money in order because a lot of times if your money's in order your heart is in order and your faith is in order. So the first thing Jesus says is put them in groups because God will not bless what cannot handle blessing. and so he says put them in groups line them up put them in groups and then he takes the fish and he takes the bread and he breaks it and he blesses it and he performs a miracle and that day he feeds 5 000 the brotherhood barbecue plus the women her night october 1st and the children clap for zoe kids downstairs praise god so let's just let's do quick math if the men are 5 000 and the women are there we're at 10 plus all the kids if the narayans are there we're at 20 000 easy 20 000 we're at 20 000 right there we already feel crypto right there right And my favorite part of the story is after he breaks the bread and prays for the fish and he feeds all 20,000, the Bible says that there's leftovers.

30:04 Because he is not the God of enough. He's the God of what? More than enough. More than enough. And I just want to tell you today, Zoe doesn't need your money. God does not need your money. God wants you. He's asking you, test me. Test me. See if I won't open these windows. and pour out more blessing than you're ever able to handle. You know, when it says this, I always think God's blessing is so large in my life, I need help stewarding it. I need mentors. I need financial advice.

30:57 You know, they say of Americans that one out of every three people in America admit that they have no idea how money works. Interest rates, mortgage rates, they don't have any clue. So God blessed you. Do you know how to handle it? because we serve the God that gives you five and expects you to turn it into 10. So the God that maybe he's given you two, he wants that to become four.

31:30 So we're never just blessed. So it's like, everybody look at me. Yeah, it's a Garmin, not a big deal, man. It's a Garmin. It's a running watch. I don't know. If you're trying to tell everybody how blessed you are, you are not blessed. You are not blessed.

31:52 Because when you're blessed, people can tell by your spirit, by your countenance, by your relationships, by the peace that exudes from you. You're blessed. You are so blessed. You're living under an open heaven. And aren't you glad that it's not for the few or the elect or the chosen or the rich? Anyone can tithe. Nothing has changed my life outside of salvation, being planted in the house of God, serving like tithing. You couldn't pay me to not tie.

32:43 Now I get up, get that coffee. what happened last night oh we got paid zoe church.org i'm still giving to highland park i don't know what you give i give highland park tithe get that code then I go to Google because every time I give, I give a tithe and an offering. Every time I give, I give a tithe and an offering. Do the math.

33:16 Google's good at math. my son my son came home the other day he's in sixth grade he's like i'm in honors math and i'm like thank god for your mom thank god for her i got google sent it. You know what just broke? Greed. Self-reliance.

33:47 Independence. In fact, I want to end with this. Let me just show you a list of reasons why people don't give. Put it up on the screen. They don't understand how God works. They don't trust. Fear says, if I give, I'll go without. Faith says, if I give, God will provide. Financial pressure. Instead of giving first and trusting God to multiply the rest, most people say, I'll give when I have extra. Wrong view of money. Some see money as theirs instead of God's gift to steward. Past hurt. They may hurt by people or hurt by organizations or apathy. How about this one? People know they should, but they keep putting it off and they live with a someday mentality. You know, someday I'm going to get it right. someday I'm going to start someday guess what the Bible says the good that a man knows he ought to do and doesn't do sins so I don't want to walk in sin I want to walk in truth so if I know I should then I'm going to walk in it somebody say amen to that so my prayer to you is come on let's live Zoe let's live under an open come on stand to your feet again thank you so much for joining us for today's message. Don't miss out on future messages by subscribing to whatever platform you're consuming this message from. And again, we're so grateful for every person that partners with us. We will see you next week at Zoe Church.