Wait ‘Til I Get My Money Right (Part 1)

0:43 And can I just go ahead and give you a spoiler alert? The title, Wait Till I Get My Money Right, it's just bait. We just threw that out here for all the people, you know, like Kanye and all the people. We just threw it out there because honestly, it doesn't matter how much money you have. If your heart is not right, it doesn't matter. Like like if you're going to do finances god's way if you're going to steward and be generous the way god has called you to It doesn't matter how much finances you have if your heart is bankrupt That's how people with 50 million dollars can commit suicide It's not because they didn't have things or stuff. It's something in their heart was sick And so if you don't get anything else that i'm about to say I want you to realize that god doesn't want you to have a blessed wallet. He wants you to live a blessed life Do you hear what i'm saying? It's not about money. It's about the life He said that i've come that you might have life and life to the full So if I could give you my first point, I want you to realize when we talk about finances When we talk about giving when you talk about stewardship, it's all about the heart. Everybody say that with me It's all about the heart See, if you realize that right now, everything gets real easy when it comes to giving.

2:01 I want you to go to Matthew 7 and we're going to start at verse 1. And I'm going to read this and I want to show you something in the scripture that you may have never seen before. Matthew 7 verse 1, it says, Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Let me ask you a quick question Was the word money mentioned anywhere in that verse? Money was nowhere in that. Okay And I want you to see the context of this verse was judging So if you judge people the measure you judge people is the measure you'll be judged back. Okay I want us to go to the parallel passage of this in luke 6 But I want us to commit to short-term memory. Just these two phrases. I want you to repeat after me I want you to say judge not and you will not be judged With the measure you use it will be measured back to you Okay, we're going to say it one more time like we drank coffee this morning, okay?

3:03 Judge not and you will not be judged. There y'all are. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Go to Luke 6 verse 37 and look at the first sentence of this passage and the last sentence. It says, judge not and you shall not be judged. Condemn not and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Watch this. Verse 38. Give and it will be given to you. good measure pressed down shaken together and running over will it be put into your lap for with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you now this may shock you but the word money is nowhere in that verse either yet every time we hear luke 6 38 it's that offering time give and it will be give it back to you good measure shake your nookie come on somebody shake and like that we do all of that I've done it before. Okay. But money was not mentioned in that verse. It's because I think God is trying to teach us a bigger principle that that giving is bigger than just giving finances.

4:32 Giving is the cornerstone piece of the Christian life. And so what we do is we relegate it. Come let's think about it anytime we think about giving we think money like that's the first thought like we want to give like oh they want money again lord jesus but what happens is i believe the enemy has distorted or perverted this word giving just to think of money so that we automatically check out or we automatically say you know i don't got enough of that or you already know where it is and so we distance ourselves from a key of the kingdom that will allow us to reach purpose because we automatically think it's just talking about money. But this scripture is not talking about money. A pastor was being interviewed and the person interviewing asked him, Pastor, how much do you speak? How often do you speak on giving?

5:24 And the pastor said every week. And the reporter said, you speak on giving every week? He said, yes. He said, I think what you meant to ask me is how much do I speak about giving money? not giving because I cannot talk about grace without talking about giving because for God so loved the world that he I can't speak on having a healthy marriage without giving because you cannot have a healthy marriage if you don't have two people that are constantly giving to the marriage. And see what happens is our thought process about giving has been dumbed down or numbed because we have relegated to money. So college students, when they talk about finances, you don't even stop thinking your brain stop working. because you think about all the money you have you owe people and you're eating ramen noodles and all this stuff and and then people with finances and six kids and sports and a mortgage you stop thinking because when they say give it's like oh that ain't me he ain't talking about me you know we ain't got nothing to give over here sit down don't don't don't look husband don't look wife and god is saying no i want you to open your heart again and realize that giving is more than just your money. It's your time. It's your talent. Some of you are so hoarding and keeping away the gifts God's given you. And he said, I need you to give everything that God's God I've placed inside of you. Because when you do that, you begin to form my heart in you.

6:57 And church, again, giving is all about the heart. Look what Matthew 6 21 says, because a lot of people don't realize they say this in passing, but there is so much power in this verse right here. It says for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. Let me break that down. Your heart follows your treasure. Your treasure does not follow your heart. So a lot of people would be like, you know, if I really love it, I'll give to it lies. If you give to it, you'll really love it.

7:33 I'll prove it to you. Some of you, like there's a heart string connected from your heart to your wallet. Because as soon as God asks you to give something that hurts, you start moving. Let me prove it to you. You put money in a stock. And you didn't check on that stock or that investment ever before. You're checking it every day. Why? Because you put treasure there. And where your treasure is, your heart is. You're watching the stock go up. You watching it go down. Some of y'all check y'all bank account more times than you check on your kids. Do you understand what I'm saying? You didn't it didn't change. You get paid on the first and the 15th, but you're just checking. Why? Because where my treasure is. That's where my heart is. And so when you start asking that, a lot of people are asking God to allow their heart to line up with somewhere they have not put their treasure. Can I talk to married couples? You stopped investing in your marriage after the wedding. and so you wonder why the love is fading and it's not the same you stop putting your treasure there you don't buy her gifts anymore you won't spend no money on dates you won't do it and so where your treasure is that's where your heart is some of us are in a place where we have shut our heart down but god says you want to open your heart back up in an area you want to go put your treasure there what are you saying to me pastor mike because i know a lot of you are thinking right now that i see i knew it the church just wants my money the church just want my money that's why i told you i wasn't going to go to that transformation church because i just want my money let me help you no the church doesn't want your money. God wants your money. Why are you saying God wants my money? Because if God gets your finances, he has your heart. See, what you got to realize is God does not need your finances to do anything. You need to give your finances so that you have placed your heart in God's hand. And when he has your heart, he can change your habits. And so that's why a lot of people are realizing, like I said, the salvation prayer and like, I keep coming to church and I'm serving, But you're not giving and it is the mode which god uses to test your heart

9:43 And and this is the thing that I say all the time when we're when we're giving the altar call and inviting people to the family of god I say this all the time. I said if god can get your heart he can change your habit Let me and I believe that with all my heart, but let me take it a step further If god can get your finances, he has your heart And that's where we try to play jehovah jireh and superhero in our own life We try to provide for ourselves. We try to keep everything together and I know this is tight, but it's right I know your booty is squeezing together. I know you're thinking about all of the things that you could be doing But I promise you if you get this revelation today things that has been held up for you I just see god prophetically holding back things until he gets your heart He said you can't handle it yet because but if I get your heart I can release the floodgates He said you are not a pharaoh through you're not somebody I can get things through you've become a dam That when I give you resources you hold it all up He said and so when I look at you I give seed to the Somebody I can get it through but you have become a reservoir And not a river and god is challenging us today that maybe we need to open our heart again and say you know what everything that i have is god's anyway maybe i can actually become a river again maybe some of the things that i've stopped doing because i thought i was getting taken advantage of or maybe i'm gonna i'm gonna start giving again and i want you to say it out loud just in a prophetic way Somebody say, I will live a blessed life.

11:23 I'm telling you, this is God's plan for you. I do not care what you came from. I do not care what your family line was. I do not care how broke you are right now. God's plan for you is to live a blessed life. And I need to speak that into somebody because you've just seen all the figures and you've seen all the numbers and you've seen all the doubt and you've seen all the fear. And God says, if you give me your heart, I can change the habits that have literally been passed down from generation to generation. And I want you to see that this scripture is talking about giving and receiving. And it's a principle. Once you receive this principle, you can apply it to any area of your life. When you sow a seed, you don't get back a seed. When you sow a seed, you get back a tree that has more seeds in it. You get back more and God's saying, would you trust me with the laws of just the earth?

12:19 Like you can literally plant a tomato seed right now and you can have tomatoes for your salad after some time. But why do we come to God like, Lord, I'm gonna give you this and I just don't, I do not know. Oh, Jesus. And we're standing over one seed every day like, it ain't growing. it. And the Bible tells us a farmer doesn't plant one seed and look over it. He keeps just throwing it out there because we never know what seed and what day is. Oh, y'all don't hear me. You keep giving from a generous heart, knowing that God is Jehovah Jireh, my provider. So if he can get me to keep giving it, he'll keep giving me the seed to sow. But let me help you. It's not about figures. it's all about the heart and and can i can i can i help you because i've never heard this scripture really taught how i really think it should be taught because remember this scripture is talking about judgment and condemnation it's saying like the measure you give judgment is the measure you getting judgment back good measure press down shaking together and running over will judgment be given back to you? Will gossip be given back to you? Uh-oh, y'all, uh-oh, y'all, y'all. Will backbiting be given back to you? It will overflow. This is a principle. And so can I help my parents just for a second? Some of y'all be like, my kids are just disrespectful. They're mean. They just talk crazy. Could it be that the seed you've planted in them is coming back to you? Good measure.

13:59 press down shaken together and running over is your seed giving you disrespect how you gave it to them all i'm saying is this principle works and so if giving anything brings a return i should probably give good things i i come on even if people are hating i'm giving compliments because what i want to come back is compliments press down shaken together and running over when people backbite me i love them and give them grace because that's what i want and that's why i'm saying maybe this thing of giving is more important to the kingdom of god than just giving finances it's being able to have the heart to give period but can i help you define this the way that god tests your heart is through finance so this is where like huh he i don't He doesn't need my finances, but that's the way he tests my remember Where your treasure is not where you promise it'll be Don't tell me you love God. Show me your checking account Now look at y'all. Someone's like, oh god, please don't but honestly, some of us, we trust Visa with our provision.

15:18 We trust the mortgage company. We trust Fannie Mae. And God's saying, if you honor me, I can work in your life like you've never, ever thought possible. So we have to develop a generous heart or a heart of generosity. So how do we develop a heart of generosity? I'm going to give you four things that I believe the word says in Deuteronomy 15. Go there in your Bible. And a cool thing that we have for everybody, because I know sometimes I'm talking fast and you got to run it back on rebroadcast. But on our app, if you go to Transformation Church app right now, all the notes are there right now. And so we're high tech. We're trying to go to the next level. So visit it right now and you can get it and you can type it in and put your notes. Pop your column. We on the way. Deuteronomy 15. Okay, and we'll start in verse 7 because there's a story and I want to help you understand the children of Israel are in this season where God has set up an economic system where every seven years that every debt is forgiven. so no matter how much debt you have every seventh year the year of jubilee they they literally cancel all debts quick question how many of you would like god to reinstate that financial and economic structure i glory to god fix it jesus and so the children of israel are in this moment and then there's this story that is told and i want you to look at it. We're in Deuteronomy 15 verse seven. He says, Hey, listen, if there's anybody among you, like a poor man, a brother of yours, and he's within your gates and in your land and the Lord, your God is that the Lord, your God has given you notice who gave you the land, the Lord. Okay. You shall not harden your heart. Remember it's all about the heart. Don't harden your heart, nor shut up your hand from your brother. That's a whole nother message, but your heart and your hand are connected. When your heart is hard, your hand is closed. When your heart is

17:25 moldable, your hand will be open. You'll give whatever God wants you to. It says verse 8, but you shall open your hand wide and give to him willingly. That has to do with your heart. Lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. The first point I want to give you is that if we're going to live a generous life and we're going to be generous givers, we have to deal with a selfish heart. See, today's going to be a heart check. We got to deal with the selfish heart, the one talking included. Look at verse nine. It says, beware, watch out, hold up. Let's there be a wicked thought in your heart. Look where the thought is wicked. It's in your heart.

18:09 Saying the seventh year, the year of release, the year where we don't have to pay back anything, the year that the debt is forgiven, it's at hand. And my eye is evil against the poor brother and you give him nothing. And he cry out to the Lord against you and it becomes sin among you. Let me, let me break this down. See, God is saying, if you have in your heart selfishness, it's wicked. And that wickedness turns into sin. Let me remix this passage. Let's say you got a friend named Rufus and Rufus is not the most dependable person, but, but Rufus comes to you and he says, yo, my crops were bad this year and I need to borrow some money. You know, Janice, we got these 10 kids, not much to do without cable. And you understand like we're sitting over here, but this was a bad, bad year. Can I borrow some money to be able to get through this? And God says, you're supposed to open your hand and lend to him generously and don't think, hold on, what month is it? It's only six months to the year of release. That means if he don't pay me back, roof if he don't pay me back in six months i gotta forgive his debt no i ain't i ain't messing with him god says don't think like that that's selfish he said in that type of selfishness is wickedness and turns into sin in your heart and this convicted me because i know there are tons of homeless people i have walked past and i said in my heart i ain't giving him nothing he making more money than me standing on that corner asking for money and God says when you give it's not about what they do with it when you give it's about your obedience to me and many of oh yeah I see look at people tight right now ask you around the mouth I'm coming for you because what has happened is our hearts have become hard because we're we're projecting what what people are doing well they're just going to go and buy some alcohol or some cigarettes or maybe God's testing their heart and he's working on them and he's asking them to do the things, but it does not matter what people do. If God asked me to give, he's not judging me based on what they do. He's judging me based on

20:17 what I do. And some of us are sitting here right now and we've generationally been passed down this thing of selfishness where we have not allowed our hearts to be open to giving to people. And so we see people and we judge them instead of being the ones to help answer their prayer. God checked me earlier this year. He said, Michael, I want you to stop just praying for things to happen. I want you to be the answer to people's prayer. That's why God wants us to live a blessed life. That's why he wants you to be and do more than what you've seen is because he wants to his kingdom to be built through you but he gives you a promotion and you're more stingy than you were before he gives you more relationships but you won't share your contacts he allows you to walk in the doors and you won't bring nobody with you he said maybe because it's you still have a selfish heart and he's saying lend to your brother Don't don't start thinking selfish. Don't start thinking like your dad Don't start thinking like your uncle. Don't start thinking like your grandfather. Don't start thinking what is in this for me?

21:33 Say give And if you can give to people he said i'll always supply you If you will always be be conscious of my heart for people for my children for my babies who are lost for those neighbors and friends and family members. Some of y'all are so stingy with family members. Well, they've done me wrong in the past. Yeah, but we've done God wrong in the past too.

22:00 How many of us have made a promise to God and gone back on it? Everybody's hands should be up. But he still loved us and he still cared for us and he still looked beyond our faults and he saw the need. And he met that god's saying if you're gonna be like me if you're gonna be like the example You have to deal with a selfish heart god's saying I want you to be generous like i'm generous I don't want you to be selfish anymore. I don't want you to just think what do I get out of this? See, I have a question for you. Why do you think god created giving? Like honestly because he invented it This wasn't just like something he made everything but he invented giving And most people that i've talked to or i've i've said something to they're like well He created giving so that his so that his work could be provided for that so we could provide for god's work And my response would be really You really think god created giving?

22:59 So that we could provide with our money for god's work We're talking about the god who breathed life into us We're talking about the god who uses gold for gold for the streets in heaven Did the light bill in heaven get too much for god? No He developed giving not for his sake He developed giving for our sake That if we would ever get the concept of generosity that we could get into a place where we could live a blessed life And that's why i'm telling everybody with no manipulation and no gains I don't want you to start giving because somebody's gonna promise you something That's why it's so busted about so much of this teaching that's going on because they're teaching give and you'll get Give you'll get give and you'll get and it's basically like a good business deal A dummy would do that if I put ten dollars in and I get a hundred dollars back I'm doing that all day. It don't take faith to do that and god says that's wrong I want you to give because I gave. And when you give, I want you to believe me. And I see some people like, well, that doesn't make sense. Nothing in the kingdom does. See, what God wants you to do is trust him. And he says, that's when I start clowning people. When I give, when you give, and it just seems like, why is nothing happening? And then God brushed up the windows of heaven and pours out a blessing that you don't have room enough to receive. And that's why God wants us to deal with a selfish heart. And I'm challenging you because God has been wrecking me on this.

24:38 He says, Michael, will you give that? And there's some things right now if God asks me to give. it take everything in me because my treasure is there and where my treasure is my heart is there but if he asked you to give the car would you give it if he asked you to give the home would you get if he asked you to give the shoes you know the shoes would you give it and for many of us if the answer is no we may be dealing with a selfish heart now ladies i want to help you real quick because there's an area of giving that that that men will never ever grow up and and start um functioning right in we do not want to share our food and y'all seem to not understand that's why we asked you at the drive-thru. Do you want anything? No, I'll have some of yours. No, you won't. If you want some, you might want to say something because all of these fries are mine and the fries at the bottom of the bag are mine. Can I get an amen from all the fellas? Amen. Y'all pray for us because we do need deliverance. But we got to deal with the selfish heart. If we're going to become generous, point two, you need to deal with a grieving heart, a heart that grieves after you give.

26:04 Look at Deuteronomy 15 verse 10. It says you should surely give to him. We're going to give to Rufus. OK, and your heart should not be grieved. So we should give and we shouldn't be like, oh, I shouldn't have done that. See, because when you give to him. This thing, giving with the right heart is what it's talking about. When you give with the right heart, the Lord, your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hands. I want to help you understand when you give with the right heart, you get a Midas touch. Y'all ever heard of Midas touch where everything you touch turns to go? God says when you give with the right heart, you'll give over here and something you do over here just works. You'll give over here and you're thinking it's going to come from this way. And God says, no, you don't even got to worry about that because you gave with the right heart. When nobody saw you, when you touch this, it's going to work. That's why God's trying to work this in us to be generous.

26:59 Listen to this and write this down. Selfishness attacks us before we give. But grief attacks us after we give. Y'all know that that feeling when you give something like, oh, I shouldn't have done that. And the enemy comes to suggest so loud. And some of us have given a large gift or made a commitment. And as soon as we do, something breaks. Or some of the kid needs something or the tire goes out and we're like, oh, I shouldn't. that's the enemy. And he's trying to tell you, you shouldn't have done that. And you start having grief in your heart. But what you got to realize is God is not concerned about what happens because he's going to meet the need. He's testing our faith when we do that. You know, I just had a crazy thought and I probably should let this thought go away, but I'm just going to say it because I feel like saying it right now. I literally just thought after church, I'm going out to eat, but I don't have any cash to go out to eat. And I'm going to take my whole family and I don't have no cash to get something. What's up, Charles? You going to bless your boy? Man, I appreciate you, bro. You light-skinned and pretty. Go sit down. Man, Charles gave me $100, man. Thank you, man. I was just going to go to Cheddar's, but now we can go somewhere else. Now, let's talk about that. Why when I said I didn't have any cash, did Charles get up so fast and give it to me?

28:26 It's because I gave it to him before service. And so he had no problem giving me what I already gave him he's not grieving right now because two hours ago he didn't have it I gave it to him I asked for it back and he gladly without grief in his heart gave it back to me can I help you that the only reason you would start get grieving over anything God gave you is somehow you thought it was yours Thank you. Yeah, you know, you're unqualified for that job and you know, God provided for you. But when he asked for anything, it's like, God, how dare you? Baby, you know, without me. And see, this is the beautiful thing.

29:21 When God knows that he can trust you, then what he does is he gives it back to you. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm trying to find it. Where'd it go? it's just so much money in here you know and he can give it back to you because he knows that whenever he calls for it again you're not gonna grieve over it you're not gonna have to pray and fast i'm on a 40-day fast to see if the lord told me to give can i help you the enemy will never tell you to give uh-oh some of y'all it's like uh-uh yeah uh-uh what i'm telling you is we have to deal with the grieving heart. Okay. Let me just take it a step further. Okay. Point number three, how are we going to be generous givers? We have to develop a generous heart. See, see the reason that Charles gave me that is because I gave it to him and he remembers what Psalms 24 says. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. That means God does not have a lack of resources.

30:26 if you trust him and he has your heart you can have as much resource as you need and remember i'm not just talking about money see that's what you're thinking like i just have stacks of money god will give you more time to give he will he will increase your gifts so you can give it he will increase your ability to think creatively so that you can give it god is not just concerned about you giving finances are concerned about you giving and many of our purposes stopped up because we've stopped giving. I'm challenging you and asking you right now, when's the last time you gave? Not expecting anything in return. Honestly, you know we can say those fake little things like, oh no, no, I don't want nothing back. Nuh-uh, except follow me on Instagram. Tell everybody that I did this. Like, you understand what I'm saying? And God's saying, I want you to develop my heart of generosity and develop a generous heart.

31:20 Look at Deuteronomy 15, verse 14. It says and you shall supply rufus liberally You should be generous And you should supply him from your flock From your threshing floor from things you have in your closet from things that are in your bank account Let's make it real Because we always like to give away other people money We like to give other people's resources y'all know them friends that'll volunteer your time Yeah, janice she would love to And god said no no, I want you to develop a generous heart by giving of yourself Of what the lord god has blessed you with and you shall give to him See god wants you to be generous and I want to help you understand this that we are born selfish You don't have to teach a kid mine You didn't have to teach me mine like when we come out mine But when you're born again great news, you're born generous You're born again generous. The great news is that generosity is in you You just have to renew your mind. That's why the word says don't be conformed by the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

32:26 That's why we can't look at how the world handles money and try to be diddy and try to be all these other people. We have to do things how God says to do it because then our mind transforms and God says, there's my heart. I see I see it in you now. I see it. And many of us for honestly, we act like how we act with our children. the thing that we have to teach them coming out the womb before they go to kindergarten hopefully share share is that my kid oh lord share because your kid will be playing with something and and and another child will come up and they'll start playing with this like i was playing with that and they'll take it and then the little kid's like okay and they go to play with something else and your kid run over there. I was like, I was playing with that. And you're like, oh my God, that's my seed. And you're teaching them share. That's the concept I believe God's trying to teach us is the body of Christ.

33:24 Share. Like share what you have. Be generous with what you have. And I believe that if you really start thinking about it after a while of you telling a child to share and they're growing up, the real thing you want to say is, when are you going to grow up? And I believe that's what god's saying to me and all of us when it comes to being generous When are you gonna grow up? I've been providing for you all this time You haven't had to want for anything and I just asked you to share I asked you to help your brother I asked you to give to my church seek first the kingdom. I asked you to do when are you gonna grow up and be like your father? Who loved you so much that he Okay on a maybe with no credit that somebody was going to reciprocate or receive the giving. God gave his son for us. And it's funny because we start teaching these things and me and my wife were teaching our daughter when we did the stride about two series ago.

34:22 I taught a message called less is more. And so God was really working on my heart that we needed to start giving away stuff. So we went in my closet, if you follow me on Instagram, and I gave away tons of clothes and tons of shoes and we gave away tons of stuff. And I said, babe, let's teach Bella about generosity. Let's be good parents. Let's teach her about generosity. And so we brought her in and there was all these toys sitting here. And we was like, Bella, okay. There are a lot of little boys and girls that don't have as much as you have. And we want you to start giving some of it away so other little boys and girls, why do we start talking like that when we talk to our kids? So other little boys and girls. can be able to experience the blessing. And Bella was like, not having it. She's four. She's like, no. And she was finding a reason why to keep stuff. So she ain't played within years. It's like, no, that's my blankie. Like you ain't never called it your blankie. Like what is, what is going on?

35:17 And then her God mom explained it to her again. And she was like, okay. And she put one thing over in the pile and we were like, yay, Bella. And she looked at us and we was like, yes. See, you give room for God to do more in your life and it's better to give. And so she, she did a couple of things is she started getting into it. And then she started giving away stuff we had just bought. and it turned into yay to like hold up hold up and Natalie was like uh-uh she is not getting Bella you are not giving that away we just got that this week Natalie started hiding stuff and and and stuff started happening and and the Holy Spirit convicted me he said Michael your four-year-old daughter is experiencing what many believers have never experienced the blessing that it is to be a blessing. It's more blessed to give than it is to receive. We unlock that four years old, the engine that stopped caring about what she was going to get out of it. But that other boys and girls, she kept bringing things to the pile that her mama stole back and put back in her room.

36:25 I'm telling on you. And this is, this is what I'm telling you. The Holy Spirit said, Michael, I want you to be like my child and have childlike faith because she didn't have to worry would she ever get more. She knew who her father was. So she could give freely, not worried about what her father provide for her. Can I help you guys? God is going to provide for you. You shouldn't be here now. but he did it before and he's gonna do it again come on tight ribbit same god right now yeah same god back hey okay stop what i'm telling you is that god's not slack on his promises but are we faithful to ours and we have to develop a generous heart last point how are we going to be generous givers, you have to develop a grateful heart. Yeah. Look at Deuteronomy 15, 15. And this one messes me up every time. It says, you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord, your God redeemed you. Therefore, I command you this thing today.

37:46 He says, I command you to be generous. And how can you command me to be generous? Because I knew who you were and I've saved you and I delivered you and I brought you from bondage into where you are now. And there are times that we have to remember who we used to be. See, for some reason, some of us are so fancy now that we forgot where we used to be. God has blessed us so much and we got rooms to decide what we want to do with. But some of y'all remember that one bedroom apartment. You really remember eating Roman noodles for real. Like that wasn't an option. That was it. Some of us remember being lost and in change. And what God said is that it's easy for you to be generous and have a heart of generosity when you remember what God has delivered you from.

38:42 And this week I got a reminder. I was cleaning up some papers. And I got a reminder, this paper right here is from August 4th, 2014. And this is from Tulsa County Court System. My completion of community service and the expungement of my record for insurance fraud.

39:09 Oh, yeah, the pastor was riding dirty. but God saw me here when I was still dealing with this. see what you don't understand is I could be in jail but now God's using me to free other people so why can God get anything from me it's because I remember who I used to be why can he ask me for whatever and even if it hurts I'm gonna give it And I told him in the first service, I can feel it already. God's about to ask me to give something big. I can feel it. I'm just like, oh, what is it? And my wife knows when we start talking.

40:03 I remember one time I came home on a Thursday and I told my wife, I said, we're moving out of our house and we're giving it to this person. And we were renting the house at the time and it was a great situation. And we didn't have a place to move to. and they said leave all your furniture, paint it, decorate it, and leave everything in it. And that was a Thursday and Johnisha came over and me and John went out of town on Friday morning and they packed up our house because we were going to be out Monday because God asked me for that home. and we came home and we packed up and we moved in with my big brother Gabe. My wife was pregnant with Bella. We moved into an apartment on the other side of town while I was working here, so it cost us something. We had to sacrifice to drive back and forth. We did not have a home.

40:57 She was pregnant, and we moved upstairs into a little apartment. We took away our privacy for nine months because God says, can I have it back? I gave it to you. Can I have it back? And then God opened up a home for us, supernaturally paid for it, did all this other stuff, but it could not have happened if he couldn't have asked for what he gave me back.

41:22 Can I tell you, this is not to set me up because God's going to challenge me again and I can feel it. No, I'm serious. I can feel it. He's going to ask me to give. But the only reason that I know I'll say yes, because he has my heart. Because he tests me every month with my finances. And I cannot keep from God what he gave me. Today, I want to pray for you because I don't know where you're at. You may be dealing with a selfish heart. And honestly, it may be generational. It may be something that was passed down from your great, great, great, great, great. And everybody's been holding, but everybody's been capped. And God says, you're going to break that curse. You might be grieving because God says to give and you're like, but you got to remember it's his anyway.

42:13 You don't grieve over what he's given you. Some of you are going to be developing a generous heart. And many of you like me this week, you're saying, God, I'm just grateful for being here. And I'm grateful that you're using me and I'm grateful that you got me in the first year of college. So you're going to pay for the second year. I'm grateful that you kept my marriage together. So you're going to keep going. Like, come on, y'all. We got to remember that our God is faithful. So when he asked. There's going to be a point when we grow up and say, is that what you want, God? Yes, sir. I'll do it. Because you're faithful. And your promises are true. If that's you in this place and God's just tugging on your heart. I feel the power of God in this place right now because he wants. you live a blessed life but it's all about the heart and remember it doesn't matter how much money you have if your heart is bankrupt if that's you and you want god to do a work in your heart remember we ain't asking for no money there's no offering plates at the end this is so god you don't you don't even have to go to this church whatever church you go to i want you to take this message and become a generous person so that God can use you everywhere you go.

43:31 If that's you and you really want God to do a work in your heart, I wanna pray for you. If that's you by faith, I want you to stand up. If that's you and you just want God to do a work in your heart, yeah, because there's people all over this place that you're saying, you know what, God? I wanna be generous. I don't wanna live bound by this. I'm not there yet, but I wanna do this. Come on, if that's you, even if you're watching online, come on, lift your hands right now. I'm gonna pray for you. I feel the presence of God. Father, I thank you for every person under the sound of my voice. God, right now, Father, you are doing heart surgery. This is a heart check. Father, things that we have, we have been stuck on, how we're going to live our life and what we're going to save. Father, your word tells us not to store up our treasure and things that can fade away. But you tell us in your word, Father, to put our treasure in the eternal depositing place, Father God. And that's in the kingdom of God. And so I thank you right now that every person that's dealing with selfishness, Father, that you would cut it out of our hearts. And you would heal us.

44:25 You don't cut us and leave us. You cut us and heal us. Father, and you make us better than before. Father, if people are grieving right now because they obeyed you or they've been challenged, God, I thank you, God, that they would have hope knowing that they obeyed you. Father, if there's anybody in here that needs more generosity, Father, I thank you, God, that you're welling up a spring inside of them, Father God, to be greater blessing than anything they've ever been before, Father. and I thank you that you would allow us to remember that if it was not for your love and not for your grace, we wouldn't be here today, God. So right now we just say thank you. Come on, I dare you out of your mouth just to thank God. God, I thank you for saving me. I thank you for healing me. Come on, I thank you for delivering me. I thank you for keeping me. I thank you, Father, for changing me. I thank you for trying, somebody's getting happy right now, that God has been good and he is gonna continue to be good. God, over the next three weeks, I thank you that you will help us live a blessed life.

45:27 In Jesus' name, we agree. Come on, say we agree. Let's give God praise all over this place.