SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Silverdale.
SPEAKER_00: It's so exciting to see all of you here worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_00: I like to welcome all of you at our Bonnie Oaks campus, but also want to welcome all of you at all of our campuses and all of our venues and those of you that are worshiping with us online.
SPEAKER_00: Our church at Silverdale is one church in multiple locations.
SPEAKER_00: And so whatever location you may be at, we're so thankful you're here.
SPEAKER_00: If I haven't had a chance to meet you personally, I'm Tony Walliser.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the pastors here at Silverdale, and I have the privilege today to share with you God's word, because it is always a privilege when we study God's Word together.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what I encourage you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Go and take your Bibles and open up in the New Testament to the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: You can turn to Philippians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Also, if you got a smartphone, you got a Bible app on your phone, you can turn to Philippians 4 there as well.
SPEAKER_00: And then do this.
SPEAKER_00: Take out these Bible study outlines that we provide for you.
SPEAKER_00: We give you these outlines so you can follow along and take notes as we study God's word together.
SPEAKER_00: As most of you know, we've been working our way as a church through this incredible book, the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_00: It's written by the Apostle Paul while he's in jail, and it's a book on joy.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've been learning all these different ways of how do you experience joy despite the difficult circumstances that we have gone through.
SPEAKER_00: Well, today is the final message in our series through Philippians, which I'm sort of sad by that, but it's because it's been such an amazing book.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul ends by talking about how do you have joy in your finances?
SPEAKER_00: How can you have joy in your finances?
SPEAKER_00: How can you invite God to be in the financial realm of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Now I know that many times whenever you hear a pastor says, okay, we're gonna talk about money, everybody's like, grab your wallet, what's gonna happen, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so we sort of think that, you know, maybe there's some alternative motives or whatever for why we're teaching on this.
SPEAKER_00: But the reason why we're talking about this is because the Bible talks about it.
SPEAKER_00: This is the next passage that Paul teaches on.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible talks about money a lot.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, did you know that Jesus talks more about money and your possessions than he does heaven and hell combined?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he knows this is where we live.
SPEAKER_00: And he knows what is competing in our heart for him.
SPEAKER_00: And so if we're going to find joy in every circumstance in our life, we've got to learn to have joy in our finances.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because 75% of Americans say they feel stressed out about their finances.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that 57% of people that go through divorces will say a major cause is because of finances.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've got to say, okay, Lord, how can you bring joy in an area that brings so much stress into our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Well, in the passage that we're going to study today, the Apostle Paul, he gives us one of the most amazing promises in the Word of God that God promises that He is going to take care of our financial needs.
SPEAKER_00: Check it out.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this passage with me.
SPEAKER_00: It's Philippians chapter 4, verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what God's word says.
SPEAKER_00: And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means the God of the universe, with all his riches and glory, are going to take care of your financial needs.
SPEAKER_00: That's an incredible promise.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to know there's always a context to a promise like that, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, so many times people would pull a verse out and go, okay, I'm going to claim that promise.
SPEAKER_00: And they don't look at the context.
SPEAKER_00: You see, that promise is conditional.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says some things before he gives that promise.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you and I, we want to experience joy in our finances, we've got to apply all of these principles together.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to jot this down.
SPEAKER_00: First thing, first principle is this your giving creates a partnership.
SPEAKER_00: Your giving actually creates a partnership with God.
SPEAKER_00: When you give to God's kingdom, you enter into a partnership with Him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you know what a partnership is, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's just say that I'm going to start a new business and I've got a certain skill set, but I don't have any money.
SPEAKER_00: And you got the finances, and the two of us get together and we start this new business.
SPEAKER_00: Now, neither one of us could do it independently, but when we partner together, suddenly we create this new business.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God says, when we give to his kingdom, to his church and his ministry, then guess what?
SPEAKER_00: We enter into a partnership with Almighty God.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how Paul says this in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only.
SPEAKER_00: Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: He's a missionary.
SPEAKER_00: He's literally spreading the gospel all over Europe in the first century.
SPEAKER_00: And so he needed churches to partner with him to help him do that ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But he said early on there was only one church.
SPEAKER_00: The church at Philippi was the only one.
SPEAKER_00: And so it didn't matter where Paul went, they would send him a care package.
SPEAKER_00: And here's Paul in jail, and they're still taking care of him, even in jail.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, that is an amazing partnership that we have together.
SPEAKER_00: I've gone, but you supplied the needs that I've had.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as a church, we know how important it is to be in ministry partnerships.
SPEAKER_00: Our church, we have 27 missionaries that we support that are around the world.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And we support them, and many of them are right, came right from our church, left here, and they're serving around the world.
SPEAKER_00: We also have 25 local ministry partners that we are connected with.
SPEAKER_00: And so our church believes a lot about partnerships.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we're a very generous church.
SPEAKER_00: We give away almost$2 million every year to mission and ministry causes here and around the world, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because we believe in partnerships.
SPEAKER_00: We know how important those are.
SPEAKER_00: But what's interesting about our church is God has strategically worked in our church and um to help us in this region to actually plant other church campuses.
SPEAKER_00: And so this started a little over ten years ago that we started right here at our Bonnie Oaks campus.
SPEAKER_00: We have three worship venues that are going on right now.
SPEAKER_00: Here and two across the creek, right?
SPEAKER_00: And they're all full, and God's blessing every one of them.
SPEAKER_00: We actually have eight weekend worship services here at our Bonnie Oaks campus, including our Hispanic um church Gracia.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's here at the Bonnie Oaks.
SPEAKER_00: Then God gave us a facility in St.
SPEAKER_00: Elmo.
SPEAKER_00: It was a church that was going under, and we acquired that facility from them, and we've renovated it, and now Pastor Travis is there.
SPEAKER_00: They have two weekend worship services and our St.
SPEAKER_00: Elmo campus, and we also have another Hispanic congregation that meets there as well.
SPEAKER_00: Then we planted our North Utawa campus.
SPEAKER_00: And North Utawak campus, Pastor Randy is there, and it has just taken off, and they now have three weekend worship services, and they are just maxed out and they need a lot of parking.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're parking all over the streets.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and then a couple of years ago, we planted another church campus in Appeson, and it has taken off and grown like crazy, and now they have three services there as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so every weekend our church has 16 weekend worship services in all these different locations, and we average about 7,000 people in worship every weekend at all of our church campuses.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say, to God be the glory, great things He's done.
SPEAKER_00: He has done amazing things.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just very thankful that God, in a culture where it seems like Christianity is declining and churches are dying, God has his hand on our congregation.
SPEAKER_00: I don't understand it, but God is working.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we knew because you know, you look at our 9 30 or 11 o'clock hours, all of our campuses are maxed out.
SPEAKER_00: And so we started praying a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Lord, where should our next campus be?
SPEAKER_00: And so we have about 800 people that live in North Georgia that drive to one of our campuses right now, and so it just made sense, okay, our next campus probably needs to be North Georgia.
SPEAKER_00: And so all last year we were just praying, God, would you please provide for us?
SPEAKER_00: And He has.
SPEAKER_00: And so we now have acquired 10 acres in North Georgia right off of Battlefield Parkway.
SPEAKER_00: It is literally between Interstate 75 and Highway 41 in Ring Gold.
SPEAKER_00: Um is a church that um was closing, just like our St.
SPEAKER_00: Elma campus.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're like, okay, Lord, what do you want us to do here?
SPEAKER_00: And so we purchased that from them.
SPEAKER_00: We wanted to redeem that space for a new generation.
SPEAKER_00: And it is in a prime location, one of the fastest growing areas.
SPEAKER_00: There's over 58,000 people that live in a five-mile radius of where that new campus is gonna be.
SPEAKER_00: There's over 40, I mean 8,500 homes with children that in that area as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so God has given us this amazing place.
SPEAKER_00: But it's an older um facility and it's run down, and so there's gonna be take a whole lot of renovations to bring it up to um, you know, where we can use it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so um, here's a picture of what we're hoping the new entrance of that facility is gonna look like.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna look like a lot of our other campuses that we have around the city.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and Lord willing, we're gonna open that North Georgia campus um, you know, the fall of this year.
SPEAKER_00: And you go, well, how how do we acquire it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we've been saving up money for a couple of years for this, so we were able to pay the 10 acres, uh, we paid$2 million for the 10 acres and the property and the buildings that were there.
SPEAKER_00: And um we anticipate that it's gonna take about another$2 million to renovate it and get those facilities up so that we can use them this fall.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where you come in.
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't have two million dollars lying around.
SPEAKER_00: If you got two million dollars lying around, you come see me after church, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But most of us don't have that kind of money, and so we're like, okay, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're asking you.
SPEAKER_00: Just pray and just ask the Lord, okay, Lord, over the next 12 months, what can I give?
SPEAKER_00: What sacrifice can I make?
SPEAKER_00: God, what do you want me to give so that our church can plant another campus in North Georgia?
SPEAKER_00: And whenever you give, what is the promise?
SPEAKER_00: The promise is you are partnering with God in his kingdom ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's real interesting is when as soon as Paul talks about this partnership, he then gives us the benefits of partnership.
SPEAKER_00: Check it out, look with the next verse, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what Paul's saying?
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, hey, you Philippian church, you have provided for my needs.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means the fruit of my ministry is now being credited to your account.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Final judgment, you have the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna receive so many amazing awards, rewards from the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's gonna be amazing what he's gonna receive.
SPEAKER_00: Tens, hundreds of thousands of people have come to faith through his ministry, and guess what?
SPEAKER_00: The Philippian church, because they provided for him all that time, all of that fruit, Paul says, is credited to their account.
SPEAKER_00: That's a pretty cool partnership, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Think of it like this, okay?
SPEAKER_00: If in 1980 you took$100 and you bought some apple stock, what would that$100 be worth today?
SPEAKER_00: It would be worth$250,000.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, I missed that one, right?
SPEAKER_00: But can I tell you something?
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you partner with Almighty God, it's better than Apple.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God's dividends are a whole lot better.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to imagine, okay, our North Georgia campus.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen this at all of our campuses.
SPEAKER_00: We plant it, it takes off.
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds.
SPEAKER_00: We we see every year, hundreds of people coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it's gonna be the same way.
SPEAKER_00: In North Georgia campus, hundreds of people are gonna come to faith.
SPEAKER_00: Every week, hundreds of people are gonna hear the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see transform lives, transform families.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we said, God, we believe what you're doing, and we're gonna plant this new campus.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, when you give, that's credited to your account.
SPEAKER_00: I really believe that's what Jesus was referring to.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever he talked about money in Matthew 6, Jesus said this do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's typically what we do, right?
SPEAKER_00: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's ultimately what God wants.
SPEAKER_00: God wants your heart, right?
SPEAKER_00: And God knows if I can get your money, I've got your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Because your heart follows the money, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says, what we're supposed to do is not store up treasures on earth.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to be stored up treasures in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You go, how can you store up treasures in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: You gotta send it on ahead, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when you die, you're not taking anything with you.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've never seen a you know, a hearse pull in a U-Haul trailer, right?
SPEAKER_00: You can't take it with you.
SPEAKER_00: When you die, that's it.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing you're gonna have in heaven is what you've sent ahead, right?
SPEAKER_00: One person put this epithet on their tombstone.
SPEAKER_00: What I spent, I lost.
SPEAKER_00: What I saved, I left.
SPEAKER_00: What I gave, I have.
SPEAKER_00: And so God says, Will you trust me?
SPEAKER_00: Will you enter into a kingdom partnership with me?
SPEAKER_00: And God says, I bless that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So that's the first thing Paul says will change the joy of our finances when we realize we're partnering with God.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing that Paul does is this.
SPEAKER_00: Jot this down.
SPEAKER_00: Your giving pleases God.
SPEAKER_00: Your giving actually pleases God.
SPEAKER_00: Your pleasing, your your giving is an act of worship.
SPEAKER_00: And this is really the highest motivation of why we give, because it honors God.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how Baal puts this in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I have received full payment and more, and I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how he describes these gifts: a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul says, Hey, I've received this gift, and then he describes this gift with really strange words.
SPEAKER_00: You go, what in the world is he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: A fragrant offering?
SPEAKER_00: Did they send perfume to him?
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
SPEAKER_00: An acceptable sacrifice?
SPEAKER_00: What is that all about?
SPEAKER_00: Those are all language, imagery from the Old Testament temple.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you, you know, you came to worship in Jerusalem and you came to the temple to worship, what would you do?
SPEAKER_00: You would bring a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: You would bring either a bull or a ram or a lamb, or if you were real poor, you'd at least bring a dove.
SPEAKER_00: And you'd present that as an offering to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It was unthinkable to come worship at the temple and not have some kind of sacrifice that you'd bring.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we lived in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, it would smell completely different than Jerusalem today.
SPEAKER_00: You go, what did it stink?
SPEAKER_00: No, it smelled amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because every day during either the morning or the evening sacrifice, you'd go there and it smelled like a giant barbecue.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you love the smell of barbecue?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, it was amazing, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you have these sacrifices that are given, and the priests, they sacrifice the animal, they take the blood, covers our sin, but then they do what?
SPEAKER_00: It's a burnt offering.
SPEAKER_00: And so literally, they burn up these animals.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a barbecue, right?
SPEAKER_00: And the smoke goes up, the aroma goes up, and symbolically it's all saying, God, this is our worship.
SPEAKER_00: And God goes, your worship is a sweet smelling aroma, right?
SPEAKER_00: Now we know that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, that was the ultimate sacrifice made.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins in our place, goodness gracious, that is the irreplaceable sacrifice that's made.
SPEAKER_00: And believe me, when Jesus did that, that was the ultimate sweet aroma to Almighty God, because it was the perfect sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: But what Paul's saying here by using these words, he's saying that you and I, we can't do a sacrifice like Jesus for our sins, but we do offer sacrifices to the Lord that are pleasing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And they are an act of worship.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the sad reality, though, is that many Christians today in America, they come to worship and they bring no sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Gallup Paul said that 40% of Christians that worship almost weekly never give anything to the kingdom of God or to church.
SPEAKER_00: That seems strange, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you come, and what's happened is we've had this consumer mindset.
SPEAKER_00: We come to receive, not give.
SPEAKER_00: We've come to what am I going to get out of this?
SPEAKER_00: Not what can I give to the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_00: And we wonder, why does God seem so distant?
SPEAKER_00: Why isn't God working in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe because you're not really offering yourself to the Lord, sacrificially at least, to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You've just become a consumer.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me see if I can illustrate how we typically spend money.
SPEAKER_00: Um, this illustration was sent to me this week, and I thought, okay, this is perfect for what I'm trying to teach on today.
SPEAKER_00: So this loaf right here, this represents our money.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, this is your dough, this is your bread, right?
SPEAKER_00: And it gets deposited into your account, whatever, the 15th and 30th of every month.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing: the world has taught us how to spend this.
SPEAKER_00: We go, this is ours, the world's taught us how to spend it.
SPEAKER_00: And typically, this is what we do.
SPEAKER_00: We go, okay, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Gotta have that mortgage, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, okay, you know, mortgage, big mortgages.
SPEAKER_00: Mortgages take more than one slice.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, you gotta have that place to stay, right?
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, you gotta have utilities, gotta have the lights on in that place.
SPEAKER_00: Sure, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: True.
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know what, you got a car, you got that car payment, and you know, maybe you got two car payments, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you got that as well.
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, well, you gotta eat.
SPEAKER_00: So, okay, hey, you know, gotta go to the grocery store and buy those groceries.
SPEAKER_00: And then, okay, you got kids.
SPEAKER_00: Kids are expensive, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you put that there, and you go, teenagers, oh my goodness, teenagers are super expensive, right?
SPEAKER_00: And then you got other expenses, you got um subscriptions, things that didn't even exist 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you got your Netflix, you got your Hulu, you got your Disney Plus, whatever it may be, right?
SPEAKER_00: You got all the subscriptions that we've got, and you gotta have those things.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're like, okay, hey, you know, um, you know, I um I gotta um pay the Visa bill, and I gotta pay the Discover card, and um let's see um what do I have?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then we go, oh, um, you know, I I've got that medical bill I've got to pay.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a little bit of that, you know, and oh, you know, the kids got that um field trip that they gotta go on, and um, oh, my friends wanted to eat out this week, and um, and so this is what we've got.
SPEAKER_00: And and then you come to church, and Pastor Tony's talking about giving to the kingdom and building a new campus in North Georgia and putting God first, and so we go, okay, let me get that offering envelope out and and let me um put it in there and go, okay, here we go, and here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, Lord, here's my sacrifice, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we think this is including God in our finances, and yet what is it?
SPEAKER_00: This is really we're giving God our leftovers.
SPEAKER_00: If we're honest, let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: We're just giving God our leftovers, and um, we somehow think that that's pleasing.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a sacrifice at all, it's just leftovers.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, what is the apostle Paul saying here?
SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying, no, we give.
SPEAKER_00: When you give to God's kingdom, listen, God doesn't necessarily want the biggest piece, but God wants the first piece.
SPEAKER_00: That we are to honor him with our finances, that we are to seek first Christ in his kingdom, then all these other things are added.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is first, he gets the first and the best.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Lord, this is yours, and then I'm gonna figure out the rest of it after that.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you do your finances.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul's saying that when you give to God's kingdom, what happens?
SPEAKER_00: It creates a partnership.
SPEAKER_00: With Almighty God.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, it's worship.
SPEAKER_00: It pleases God when you do that.
SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful aroma and sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a third thing that Paul says that should give us joy in our finances, and it's this.
SPEAKER_00: Jot this down.
SPEAKER_00: Your giving has a promise from God.
SPEAKER_00: Your giving comes with a promise from God.
SPEAKER_00: And we've already read it.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the most amazing promises in the entire Bible that says God's going to take care of our needs.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it again, verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, right?
SPEAKER_00: Now that's such an incredible promise.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to say it out loud together, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to say a phrase, and I would just want you to repeat this phrase out loud with me.
SPEAKER_00: All of our campuses, let's do this all together.
SPEAKER_00: Ready?
SPEAKER_00: Say this after me.
SPEAKER_00: And my God, and my God will supply my every need, will supply my every need according to his riches and glory.
SPEAKER_00: According to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's an incredible promise.
SPEAKER_00: But as we've already seen, the context, oh, that promise is conditional on the verses before it, right?
SPEAKER_00: See, God hasn't promised to take care of all the needs of all the people around the world.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't even promise to take care of the needs of all the Christians.
SPEAKER_00: But those people that partner with Him and trust Him financially and honor Him in worship and giving, God says, I will take care of your needs.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to care for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's much like what King David said in the Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: He said this, I've been young and now I'm old, but I've never seen a righteous person abandoned, or his descendants begging for bread.
SPEAKER_00: So God Almighty is going to care for you, right?
SPEAKER_00: But what does it not say?
SPEAKER_00: It does not say that my God's going to supply all your wants, right?
SPEAKER_00: Here's my wish list, God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's all the things I'm dreaming of.
SPEAKER_00: Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, God, will you satisfy?
SPEAKER_00: I want to keep up with the Joneses.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
SPEAKER_00: No, last week we just learned about contentment.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, I've learned the secret of contentment, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, we've got to learn to be content.
SPEAKER_00: So God promises, though, hey, I may not take care of all your wants, but I'm going to take care of your needs.
SPEAKER_00: But let me just remind you how Paul addresses this.
SPEAKER_00: According to his riches and glory, our God is not a stingy God.
SPEAKER_00: Almighty God longs to bless his children.
SPEAKER_00: Almighty God loves to give good gifts to his children that trust him.
SPEAKER_00: And so, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You can take this promise and take it to the bank.
SPEAKER_00: You could literally say, okay, I'm going to write this thing down.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to memorize it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to pray it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to claim it whenever I'm overwhelmed with stress from my finances.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to declare this promise.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: God is true to his word.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: I can remember the very first time that I realized God was going to take care of my financial needs in the real world.
SPEAKER_00: I was a new Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I had left Florida to go to Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex to go to Bible college.
SPEAKER_00: I was working as a paper carrier, wasn't making a lot of money, less than$1,000 a month.
SPEAKER_00: But I had made a commitment that I'm going to give$100 a month to my church.
SPEAKER_00: And that was just a commitment I'd made, and things were going great for a couple months.
SPEAKER_00: Everything's working out.
SPEAKER_00: And then I get this bill for my auto insurance.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oops.
SPEAKER_00: And it was right toward the front first of the month.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, I've got this choice.
SPEAKER_00: I can't pay both.
SPEAKER_00: I can only pay one.
SPEAKER_00: What am I going to do?
SPEAKER_00: Am I going to pay for my auto insurance or am I going to pay for, you know, the commitment I made?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give the hundred dollars to church.
SPEAKER_00: And so I said, okay, Lord, you said to put you first.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to trust you.
SPEAKER_00: And I gave the$100 to church.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't have a clue how it was going to get taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: A week or two went by and still nothing had happened.
SPEAKER_00: And then the couple that I was living with, she came to me and she said, Hey, Tony, you know, last week my brother was in town.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: He and um she said, Well, he gave me this note and this envelope to give to you, and um I totally forgot about it.
SPEAKER_00: And so I took it to my room and opened up.
SPEAKER_00: He's had a real kind note he had inside that.
SPEAKER_00: And then also it was a hundred dollar bill.
SPEAKER_00: Now I had told no one other than God that need.
SPEAKER_00: And I realized in that moment, wow, God really does see what's going on in my life, and He takes care of me.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you something?
SPEAKER_00: That was 43 years ago, and God has been faithful to take care of my needs from that day forward.
SPEAKER_00: God has never let me down.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you something?
SPEAKER_00: I give away more now than I ever have, and I'm more blessed now than I've ever been.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God provides.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that hundreds of you could stand up and testify.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, I've seen God provide for us in these ways as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what are we asking you to do?
SPEAKER_00: We're asking you to trust God and join us in this ministry to plant a new campus in North Georgia, where five miles from its location, 58,000 people are going to be there.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, imagine hundreds every week hearing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine children coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine families and marriages being restored.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine, you know, the reality of students finding purpose in a purposeless world that we live in.
SPEAKER_00: And it's all because we said, God, we're going to do this.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we're asking you to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And that's literally what we're asking.
SPEAKER_00: We're just asking, would you please pray and ask the Lord, Lord, what sacrifice do you want us to make so that we can give to our North Georgia campus?
SPEAKER_00: In fact, right now, if you're feeling any pressure, it's not from me.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Because I this is not about pressure.
SPEAKER_00: This is about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Because I really believe that if you honestly pray and talk to the Lord and He speaks to you, and we all give what God's prompted us to give, you know what's going to happen?
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be perfect, right?
SPEAKER_00: And can I just tell you something?
SPEAKER_00: I know that many of you, this is a new adventure for you.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, we're living paycheck to paycheck.
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how can we um we give anything?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's gonna require sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: There is going to have to be something that you give up over the next 12 months in order to do this.
SPEAKER_00: But that's I I really believe the reason why God's hand is on our church is because there are hundreds of people in our church.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way they operate.
SPEAKER_00: They say, God, we're gonna trust you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, um, my wife Susan and I, we've been a part of 11 different building projects in our church.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it be a new campus or a new building, we've been a part of 11 different building projects and giving campaigns.
SPEAKER_00: And in every one of them, we've stopped and paused and prayed and said, God, how do you want us to sacrifice and give?
SPEAKER_00: And with every one of them, it's been a little different.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, in one particular campaign, you know, God said, I want you to take the money that you were gonna put into retirement, and I want you to give that to this.
SPEAKER_00: We did that, and guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Stock market crashed.
SPEAKER_00: I would have lost all that money anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Um one time our kids were teenagers, house was outgrown, and we're like, okay, we're gonna we've got to build, we're gonna go buy another house that we can all fit in.
SPEAKER_00: And so we were down the road, about to pull a trigger, and we felt like the Lord said, no.
SPEAKER_00: Be content with what you got, renovate with what you got, and be satisfied where you are and give me the difference.
SPEAKER_00: And we did that.
SPEAKER_00: And God blessed us and blessed the the giving as well.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's been times whenever, you know, we're like, okay, God, will you keep my you know vehicles running for three more years and we'll give you the car payments, right?
SPEAKER_00: There was one time where we were eating out a lot, and we just felt like the Lord said, Hey, why don't you eat at home this next year and give me the difference?
SPEAKER_00: And it's just amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone, God has blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen in our church people just say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: We feel like God wants us to give, right?
SPEAKER_00: And people have sold cars and boats and um land, and people have um, you know, by faith, they've said, God, I don't know what the um, you know, my end of the year bonus is gonna be, but God, here it is.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna trust you.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're just asking you to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that God will speak to your heart, whatever that may be.
SPEAKER_00: As Suze and I, we were praying about this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, several years back, by the grace of God, we were able to pay off our house, pay off our mortgage, and so we don't have a mortgage today.
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, the American dream is okay, you always buy something bigger and newer, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we just felt like the Lord saying, no, don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're gonna do this next year is we're gonna take the money that we would spend on a new mortgage and we're gonna give that.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than building our house, we're gonna build God's house.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're committing$25,000 this next year to go to this campaign.
SPEAKER_00: And we're just asking you, whatever it may be that God's asking you to give, what sacrifice he's asking of you.
SPEAKER_00: We need, you know, all different kinds of gifts, right?
SPEAKER_00: We need somebody, you know, that steps up and says,$100,000.
SPEAKER_00: I had a personal last, you know, um, service, saw$58,000, said we're gonna give one dollar per person.
SPEAKER_00: $58,000.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't expecting that.
SPEAKER_00: Man, praise God.
SPEAKER_00: We need dozens of people to give, you know,$5,000,$10,000.
SPEAKER_00: We need hundreds of you to give thousands.
SPEAKER_00: We need thousands of you to give hundreds.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal it's not gonna be the same amount, but hopefully, it's gonna be the same sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm willing to sacrifice and you're willing to sacrifice and hear from God, then whatever we all give is going to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want everybody to take out this um commitment card.
SPEAKER_00: You receive this when you came in, or it's in front of the, you know, the seat in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody pull this out.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody pull it out, wave it.
SPEAKER_00: I want to see it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, everybody's looking at it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Not all of you's got it out.
SPEAKER_00: Pull it out, everybody, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Pull it out.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: What we want you to do is we want you to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And we just want you to say, okay, whatever God speaks to your heart about, you're gonna write it down on that card.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you, you've already prayed about it.
SPEAKER_00: You know exactly what God wants you to give over the next 12 months.
SPEAKER_00: We want you to jot that down.
SPEAKER_00: You may be here and you're like, I don't know if I feel comfortable doing that right here, but I can do it online.
SPEAKER_00: There's a QR code where you can scan that and you can do this all online.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's a lot of you that are like, be honest, Pastor, we haven't prayed about this at all.
SPEAKER_00: Then this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to take this next week, take this home, and just make this a matter of daily prayer and just ask the Lord, and whatever the Lord tells you to do, put it down.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice this one little note here on the very bottom there.
SPEAKER_00: It says this.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Note, this is a statement of intent and may be altered as circumstances warrant.
SPEAKER_00: You go, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means that you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody knows the future.
SPEAKER_00: This is a faith commitment, right?
SPEAKER_00: So nobody's gonna be coming knocking at your door and going, hey, where's that commitment you made, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: This is ultimately between you and God.
SPEAKER_00: You go, okay, if that it's between me and God, why do we need to turn in these things right here?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the reason why is because as leaders, we need to know the intent of our church.
SPEAKER_00: You see, our church is a debt-free church.
SPEAKER_00: We don't go in debt.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we do is we can only renovate the North Georgia campus based on the intent of the people to give.
SPEAKER_00: And so we need to connect that church to um, you know, the sewer.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: But it's got a bore underneath Battlefield Parkway.
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be expensive.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you don't know if we're gonna be able to do that or not.
SPEAKER_00: We need to renovate some bathrooms.
SPEAKER_00: We're not sure if we're able to do that or not.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we need to add some parking.
SPEAKER_00: We're not sure if we're able to do that or not.
SPEAKER_00: It's all gonna be based on your commitments.
SPEAKER_00: And so we need you to pray about this and talk to the Lord about it, and then um, you know, let us know so that we'll know how to proceed in the days ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So what are we asking?
SPEAKER_00: We're asking for you to pray, hear from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When you hear from the Lord, you put it down, and then you give, right?
SPEAKER_00: And when you give, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00: You're creating a partnership with God and his work, and you're creating beautiful worship to God, and then you can claim this promise.
SPEAKER_00: And my God will provide for all of your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And once you can claim that promise, folks, you can have joy and peace in your finances.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you so much for your word.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, Lord, for our church.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful, Lord Jesus, that you address the heart issues in our life of who we're really going to serve.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, you know every person here, you know their struggles, you know their needs.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, I pray that you would clearly speak to your people here today.
SPEAKER_00: Speak, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We are listening.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.