SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road by Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: So listen up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about needs being met, but here's what he said.
SPEAKER_01: There is an account that I'm excited that you gave to me, Philippians, even though I was in prison.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you gave, it's not that I had to have what you gave me, it's that there's an account that you gave that God's gonna bless you with.
SPEAKER_01: You have a spiritual bank account in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I read that years ago, I took it to mean this.
SPEAKER_01: That every time I give time, energy, and money to the kingdom, I'm building a spiritual treasure house in heaven that I'm gonna have to draw from.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: All right, turn to Malachi 3.
SPEAKER_01: That's the last book of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: We have been looking at Refiners Fire for a few weeks.
SPEAKER_01: This week and next week, we're gonna finish up Refiners Fire.
SPEAKER_01: And if you want to hear the first two messages, if you want to hear Vince's message last week, you can go online and you can listen to it.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna repeat too much of what I've said in the past about this idea of refiners fire, but we're studying refiners fire because God's been speaking that to our church and he's been speaking to individuals in our ministry, many of our families.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you are under fire right now?
SPEAKER_01: Anyone under fire?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Well, this refiner's fire is God's way.
SPEAKER_01: It is always God's way of purification in our own lives.
SPEAKER_01: And it's really hard.
SPEAKER_01: And it's really tough.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what the temperature is?
SPEAKER_01: To refine silver.
SPEAKER_01: To raise the temperature to such a level that the dross, the impurities that are within that silver would be driven out of the silver and actually flowed up to be skimmed off the top by a silversmith is 1,764 degrees.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're at 1,763 degrees, you're not hot enough yet.
SPEAKER_01: It has to be 1,764 degrees.
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty dang hot.
SPEAKER_01: That's hard.
SPEAKER_01: That's tough.
SPEAKER_01: And yet it's the love of God and his compassion for you that he's making you and forming you into the beauty of his son.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's when we're the most joyful.
SPEAKER_01: That's when we're the most at peace.
SPEAKER_01: Is when Christ in his presence is in our life.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what he says in Malachi.
SPEAKER_01: Being said to the whole nation, Malachi is prophesying to the nation of Israel, he says, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
SPEAKER_01: Even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: But who can endure the day of his coming?
SPEAKER_01: And who can stand when he appears?
SPEAKER_01: For he is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap.
SPEAKER_01: He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.
SPEAKER_01: He will purify the sons of Levi, purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when I read this, it reminds me of Hebrews 12.11, which we covered a couple weeks ago, where it talks about the chastening of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He talks about the chastening and the New American Standard says the discipline of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Seven times in those verses there, he talks about God disciplines those he loves.
SPEAKER_01: And then at the end it says, those who have practiced this discipline are those who bear the fruit of righteousness in their life.
SPEAKER_01: And here he says that as we are purified, we begin to give unto the Lord an offering of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what does it mean by righteousness?
SPEAKER_01: Well, turn to verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: So just follow Malachi 3 to verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them.
SPEAKER_01: Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: But you said, In what way shall we return?
SPEAKER_01: So he talks about this turning that men and women is our responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: God hasn't gone anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know that?
SPEAKER_01: God has not gone anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: He's still here.
SPEAKER_01: His presence is still with you.
SPEAKER_01: He is still your good shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: He is right there.
SPEAKER_01: His presence is with us.
SPEAKER_01: We're the ones who stray.
SPEAKER_01: And he calls us back and he said, if you'll turn your heart back toward me, I will turn my heart back toward you.
SPEAKER_01: And so this righteousness that Christ is speaking of to us here through the Word is right choices and right decisions.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, right relationships.
SPEAKER_01: That's what righteousness is.
SPEAKER_01: We tend to think of righteousness as religious.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the moral codes that we live and our outward behavior, and yes, it is that.
SPEAKER_01: But that is motivated, as Christ told us in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 in the Sermon on the Mount, with a direction of our heart.
SPEAKER_01: It's a heart change.
SPEAKER_01: You see, for the Pharisees, for the Pharisees, it was all about outward actions.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus threw the whole Pharisaical system on its head because he said, I'm not as interested in your outward life as I am in your inward heart.
SPEAKER_01: Because if I know I get your heart, I'll get your life.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of religion in Colorado Springs today.
SPEAKER_01: And that is that we learn, I mean, you don't have to be an evangelical for more than about a year before you learn evangelically.
SPEAKER_01: Before you can speak the language, say all the right things, and act all the right ways, but if the direction of our heart hasn't been transformed, we go back to the old ways.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what happens when you do that?
SPEAKER_01: Is now you have to cover it up.
SPEAKER_01: Now you have to go secret.
SPEAKER_01: And as you cover it up, you become what Jesus said, a hypocrite.
SPEAKER_01: Because we lose our integrity because it's not the direction of our heart.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Jesus could say to a Pharisee, you're a whitewashed tomb, but then he could say to a sinner, a woman caught in adultery, I'm not going to cast a stone.
SPEAKER_01: And if any of you are without sin, you shouldn't cast a stone.
SPEAKER_01: Because the difference was he saw that the Pharisee on the outward behavior looked to be closer to Jesus than a prostitute.
SPEAKER_01: But the difference was the direction of the Pharisee's heart was away from Jesus and the direction of this beautiful woman of God that God was working in, her heart was toward Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus looks at the direction of our heart, not just the outward behavior of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, return to me.
SPEAKER_01: This is what the refiner's fire does.
SPEAKER_01: It is that I will return to you if you will return to me in heart attitude, in transformation of the heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he begins to talk about something that every pastor I know is uncomfortable talking about.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're a guest with us today, you need to understand I do not talk about this every week.
SPEAKER_01: We don't even take an offering here.
SPEAKER_01: We have offering boxes in the back, and you can give online.
SPEAKER_01: But as I studied Malachi, I realized the refiner's fire is really about what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount when he says, Where your treasures are, there will your heart be also.
SPEAKER_01: So God looks at us and he says, I know who you are by where your heart is, and I know who you are by where your treasures are laid.
SPEAKER_01: So he says to the nation of Israel, and when I read this, I was like, oh my goodness, this is why God has not yet judged America.
SPEAKER_01: This is why, with all of our immorality and all the stuff that's happening in America, and all the greed that's a part of our country, even as churches are bursting at the seams right now all over the country.
SPEAKER_01: Do you realize that church is still the most popular?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me say I shouldn't say still, in the last 25 years, the local church has become the most popular institution in the United States.
SPEAKER_01: When you put the numbers together in the NFL, the NHL, MLB, all the major sports you put together pales compared to how many people are in church on Sunday in America.
SPEAKER_01: The most church nation in the world, more people going to church in America than ever in the history of our country.
SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus speaks to us in this day and age, something that is for our nation and also for us as an individual.
SPEAKER_01: So look at this rhetorical, this rhetorical question and answer that Malachi uses throughout the book.
SPEAKER_01: He says here, return to me and I'll return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: But you said, in what way shall we return?
SPEAKER_01: So he asked a rhetorical question, and now he answers how we return.
SPEAKER_01: And men and women, this is for us.
SPEAKER_01: This is for us at the road, too.
SPEAKER_01: Will a man rob God?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that the most interesting statement right there?
SPEAKER_01: Rob God.
SPEAKER_01: Like he needs anything, like he has everything.
SPEAKER_01: He's in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Can we rob God?
SPEAKER_01: Yet you've robbed me.
SPEAKER_01: But you say, in what way have we robbed you?
SPEAKER_01: In your tithes and offerings.
SPEAKER_01: You're cursed with a curse.
SPEAKER_01: For you have robbed me.
SPEAKER_01: Even this whole nation.
SPEAKER_01: Bring all the tithes, and by the way, tithe means 10%.
SPEAKER_01: Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.
SPEAKER_01: And try me now in this.
SPEAKER_01: Some of your translations say, test me in this.
SPEAKER_01: Only place in scripture where you can test God, where you're told to test God.
SPEAKER_01: Says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: Church had never thought of this before.
SPEAKER_01: It never occurred to me until I read this like the tenth time.
SPEAKER_01: Verses eight and nine.
SPEAKER_01: He's speaking to the nation of Israel here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Look, you guys, you're robbing me.
SPEAKER_01: You're not generous with all the blessings that I've given you.
SPEAKER_01: Church.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what your political views are.
SPEAKER_01: I really don't.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what we can all say: America is the most generous nation in the world.
SPEAKER_01: It is unbelievable what we do around the world to give to other nations.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just made a quick list of this.
SPEAKER_01: It's phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01: We build hospitals, we fight infectious diseases, we find cures for illnesses, we lead the world in adoptions from all other nations.
SPEAKER_01: We spend more money in disaster relief than the entire gross national product of all of Europe.
SPEAKER_01: We build nations back after war and devastation.
SPEAKER_01: We single-handedly rebuilt Western Europe, Japan, and Korea after World War II and the Korean War.
SPEAKER_01: We have militarily protected most of the world from communism and wiped out fascism around the world.
SPEAKER_01: Christian missions and missionaries pour out of the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: to other nations, the greatest mission-sending nation ever.
SPEAKER_01: One time by per capita, Canada was higher, but now I think we've succeeded them.
SPEAKER_01: We lead the world in the fight and the cure of HIV positive and AIDS epidemics.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: It's because of the generosity of America and what we've done around the world that God hasn't judged this nation yet.
SPEAKER_01: It says here that the refiner's fire, one of the first things he says is that I know that I've got the purity of your heart when you're giving, when you're tithing, when you're giving offerings to me, because I know that that's important.
SPEAKER_01: Solomon said, money is the answer to everything.
SPEAKER_01: That's in scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's the new living version.
SPEAKER_01: But money is the answer to everything.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you wouldn't say that you thought about money this week.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you thought about money in the last 48 hours.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you thought about money in the last 24 hours.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your money if you thought about raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: It's important, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: It's a big issue.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus comes to a rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: Rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember the story?
SPEAKER_01: We won't go there.
SPEAKER_01: But the story is this guy was doing everything religiously correct.
SPEAKER_01: He followed all the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_01: He did it all.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus says to him, Go and sell everything you have and follow me, and he can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Jesus identified where his real treasure was.
SPEAKER_01: His treasure wasn't the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: His treasure wasn't the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_01: His treasure wasn't obedience to God.
SPEAKER_01: His treasure was in his money.
SPEAKER_01: Then he's going down around Jericho and he's a little guy.
SPEAKER_01: I like this story because I've always been a little guy.
SPEAKER_01: And there's this little guy who climbs a tree, and his name is Zacchaeus.
SPEAKER_01: And what is Zacchaeus?
SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus is a thief.
SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus is a Roman mafiasso.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so he's a tax collector.
SPEAKER_01: And he steals from his own people.
SPEAKER_01: He rips them off, and he's probably got this beautiful estate, all the money he's made off the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: And he's got, he's in the hip pocket of the Romans, and this guy is a shmo.
SPEAKER_01: And he climbs up.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus tells him to come down.
SPEAKER_01: Why did Jesus identify him?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're going to find out later.
SPEAKER_01: What happens is he goes to his house.
SPEAKER_01: First thing Zacchaeus does, he sells everything that he has.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give everything back and more for all the people that I've ripped off.
SPEAKER_01: What's going on there?
SPEAKER_01: You know what's going on there?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus saw the direction of his heart.
SPEAKER_01: He saw where the treasure of his heart was.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted Jesus and he wanted the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So listen.
SPEAKER_01: Outward behavior, Zacchaeus.
SPEAKER_01: You know, rich young ruler, outward behavior, religious, he's the man.
SPEAKER_01: God is interested in our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: So don't miss this gang.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this church.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the refiner's fire is about.
SPEAKER_01: It's about your heart.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we go through stuff that's really, really tough.
SPEAKER_01: And it's really, it just rips us apart.
SPEAKER_01: But God is refining our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: He wants your heart.
SPEAKER_01: He wants greater intimacy with you.
SPEAKER_01: So then he goes on.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know, and I was 23 years old, man, I discovered this.
SPEAKER_01: I've been walking in this a long time.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not 24 years old.
SPEAKER_01: When I read this at 23 years old, it changed my life.
SPEAKER_01: That's the reason I love giving this message.
SPEAKER_01: Bring verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.
SPEAKER_01: And try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Try me now in this.
SPEAKER_01: I was raising support.
SPEAKER_01: I was raising financial support to be a missionary with Campus Crusade.
SPEAKER_01: And I was, yeah, and it was a lady that I was, it was, I was staying with a woman and her husband, and I was struggling with my financial support, and she challenged me about tithing.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know anything about it.
SPEAKER_01: She explained it to me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember if she gave me this verse or not.
SPEAKER_01: I just remembered I discovered this verse and I read it and it said, try me now.
SPEAKER_01: And I think my I was in a New American Standard back then.
SPEAKER_01: I think it says test me.
SPEAKER_01: And I, you guys, anybody got an NAS in here?
SPEAKER_01: New American?
SPEAKER_01: What does it say?
SPEAKER_01: Test me.
SPEAKER_01: It said test me.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just looked at that and I went, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Then I didn't tithe all through college.
SPEAKER_01: I never tithed for four years in college.
SPEAKER_01: Had a full ride scholarship in athletics.
SPEAKER_01: And so I didn't, I had all this money that I was going to use for college, but I didn't use for college because I had the scholarship.
SPEAKER_01: And so I went back four years and I clocked how much money I'd spent, and then I figured out how much I owed on the four years.
SPEAKER_01: So really I started 18 tithing, even though I didn't learn about it until I was 23.
SPEAKER_01: And then I took every cent that I had, every cent that I had, and I just gave it to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty weird.
SPEAKER_01: Even that lady said, You shouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: You should not do that, Steve.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I can do that because you're feeding me.
SPEAKER_01: So I started trying God in this.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the picture I have is like weightlifting.
SPEAKER_01: If you're weightlifting or something and you can bench press 300 pounds, and some of you can't bench press 300 pounds.
SPEAKER_01: No, I can bench press 300 pounds.
SPEAKER_01: No, you can't.
SPEAKER_01: Prove it.
SPEAKER_01: And if a guy can bench press 300 pounds, or let's say he can bench press 350, and all you do is put on 300, it's like a piece of cake.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, prove me now in this.
SPEAKER_01: Test me now in this.
SPEAKER_01: So I took him up on it.
SPEAKER_01: And I have for all these years, and it's been glorious.
SPEAKER_01: It's been glorious.
SPEAKER_01: So turn now to Proverbs 3.
SPEAKER_01: So keep your finger in Malachi.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs is in the middle of your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Just turn to the left and keep going.
SPEAKER_01: If you get to Psalms, turn right and go back to Proverbs.
SPEAKER_01: So Proverbs 3.
SPEAKER_01: Love this passage.
SPEAKER_01: Love Proverbs 3.
SPEAKER_01: And we only quote like part of it.
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, but uh, but the refiner's fire is flowing, gang.
SPEAKER_01: And when the refiner's fire comes, we get set free.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 3, 5.
SPEAKER_01: This is a verse we love 5 and 6.
SPEAKER_01: We just don't like the rest of it, so we don't quote it.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, I said about heart?
SPEAKER_01: Heart?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody look at me?
SPEAKER_01: Heart.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're talking about, is heart.
SPEAKER_01: And lean not on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, if you can understand what God's telling you to do, then it wouldn't be supernatural.
SPEAKER_01: So don't lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Everything I'm gonna tell you today, it really applies here.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna not, you can't lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: It made no sense when I was 23, and in some senses it makes no sense now.
SPEAKER_01: It just works and it's kingdom counterintuitive.
SPEAKER_01: It's kingdom counterintuitive and it's supernatural.
SPEAKER_01: He says, look, don't lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
SPEAKER_01: So he's saying, if you will not lean on your understanding, you'll trust God with all your heart, you'll follow what he's doing, he will then direct your path.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be wise in your own eyes.
SPEAKER_01: That's our biggest problem, is we think we're wise, we think we're smarter than God, especially with finances.
SPEAKER_01: Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's pretty interesting because that's the theme of Malachi.
SPEAKER_01: The theme of Malachi is fear the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's the phrase that's repeated the most in Malachi about the refiner's fire.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what the refiner's fire is teaching us is to fear the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by fearing the Lord is that you fear being out of his will.
SPEAKER_01: You fear Or disobeying him some area of your life because you're not going to have his blessing anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, depart from evil.
SPEAKER_01: It will be health to your flesh.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, physically you'll get healthy.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll follow my dictates, if you'll follow my guidance, you'll be healthy, and it'll bring strength to your bones.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase.
SPEAKER_01: First fruits.
SPEAKER_01: Underline, circle, first fruits of all of your increase, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.
SPEAKER_01: Sound familiar?
SPEAKER_01: To me, as I look at this, Proverbs 3 and Malachi 3 are almost saying exactly the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: He says, first fruits, which by the way, in an agricultural society in which this was written, that would be your best fruits.
SPEAKER_01: Those are your best fruits that you're getting.
SPEAKER_01: So he's talking about gross, not net.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about gross 10% tithe, not net.
SPEAKER_01: He wants your first fruits.
SPEAKER_01: And so at 23, man, when that first salary came in, that I raised all the money for, which is really interesting.
SPEAKER_01: The way it worked in Crusade, and you that are missionaries here, some of you with acts and different ministries and stuff, you raise your support, then they give you a salary.
SPEAKER_01: But I always, for 37 years, first thing, 10%, boom, goes to church.
SPEAKER_01: Now, watch this.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody watch this if you're still with me.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you might have checked out, but I'm not seeing anybody.
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking around.
SPEAKER_01: Where's the checked out group?
SPEAKER_01: Nope, nobody's checked out.
SPEAKER_01: Good.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, look at Philippians 4.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you don't know where that is, you just waited.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get it for you.
SPEAKER_01: But it's Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to go to the right, and it's in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sorry, because of my hunting trip, I didn't get all this up on PowerPoint.
SPEAKER_01: But Philippians 4 is a very interesting passage.
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys remember when we were talking about contentment?
SPEAKER_01: When we were doing the book of Philippians, I talked about contentment.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, I said there was this dilemma with Paul, where on the one hand, he says, hey, look, you guys, I'm not really into your gift that you gave me, but I'm so glad you gave it because I wouldn't have eaten if you hadn't given it to me.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01: But I knew God was going to supply all my needs, and I'm content even if I'm hungry or whether I'm fat, whether I have a lot or whether I have a base and I don't have anything, I'm still content.
SPEAKER_01: But thank you.
SPEAKER_01: But do you remember what he said, thank you about?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: It's really important.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know you have a spiritual bank account?
SPEAKER_01: Do you know you have a heavenly kingdom bank account?
SPEAKER_01: Now I know I'm treading on some thin ice on this one.
SPEAKER_01: But listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: I am not a health and wealth preacher, but I am a prosperity preacher.
SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by that is I believe everyone of us in this room should be prospering in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean you have mansions, it doesn't mean you're driving a BW.
SPEAKER_01: I drive a 2006 Tundra that's the best vehicle on the road.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely gotten me out of more scrapes than you can imagine.
SPEAKER_01: And if you'd been with me this weekend, you'd have said, that is one darn good truck.
SPEAKER_01: So listen up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying do you do this for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm talking about needs being met, but here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: There is an account that I'm excited that you gave to me, Philippians, even though I was in prison, because when you gave, it's not that I had to have what you gave me, it's that there's an account that you gave that God's gonna bless you with.
SPEAKER_01: You have a spiritual bank account in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I read that years ago, I took it to mean this that every time I give time, energy, and money to the kingdom, I'm building a spiritual treasure house in heaven that I'm gonna have to draw from.
SPEAKER_01: I will have to draw from.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Paul's doing.
SPEAKER_01: So I tell you, I have been in so many fixes, in so many situations with septic tanks and houses and vehicles and financial situations that I didn't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And I think I told you this recently.
SPEAKER_01: I've walked down the dirt road in my house out there in Black Forest and said, okay, Lord, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: I tallied it up.
SPEAKER_01: And you've got over a million bucks of mine that you gave me, but I gave back to you.
SPEAKER_01: Deposited in the spiritual bank account, and Lord, I need some right now.
SPEAKER_01: I need some right now.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the problem for some of you.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't got no money in the account.
SPEAKER_01: You don't.
SPEAKER_01: And then you blame God because you can't get a job, or this thing falls apart, or that falls apart.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, folks, we're breaking a spiritual principle if we don't learn the joy of giving.
SPEAKER_01: It's so exciting.
SPEAKER_01: Woo! I get fired up about it.
SPEAKER_01: Because it works.
SPEAKER_01: It really works.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you are under distress right now as I speak.
SPEAKER_01: You're feeling that pressure in your heart because you know you've never learned the freedom that comes from that.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_01: This is a refiner's fire flowing through our church.
SPEAKER_01: This is this is what our nation was built on.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the most giving, prosperous people were the Puritans and the Pilgrims.
SPEAKER_01: They gave life and limb and everything to come to this country.
SPEAKER_01: I'm studying right now the Revolutionary War with my son Josh, and we're going through, I'm looking at George Washington.
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking at John Adams, and I'm looking at Samuel Adams, and I'm looking at Thomas Jefferson, and these men that are willing to give their lives for this nation.
SPEAKER_01: There is a spiritual principle here at play.
SPEAKER_01: That when we are willing to give from our heart, God's there to mightily bless you.
SPEAKER_01: And some of us are so uptight because we are leaning on our own wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 3, read that, memorize that.
SPEAKER_01: We're leaning on our own wisdom and our own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: And God is saying, don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: I've given you my word, and in my word I've given you the Malachi miracle.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what this is.
SPEAKER_01: This is the treasure principle.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Malachi miracle.
SPEAKER_01: I remember years ago reading a book by Sir Templeton.
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if I've got it here.
SPEAKER_01: My notes, his first name.
SPEAKER_01: Sir William.
SPEAKER_01: Sir William Templeton, who was the founder of the famous Templeton Mutual Funds, at one time, the most rewarded and the most used of mutual fund, successful mutual fund, on the stock market.
SPEAKER_01: Sir William Templeton wrote a book years ago, or a book was written by one of his assistants called The Seven Keys to Financial Success.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: The first key was from Sir William Templeton.
SPEAKER_01: Give away 10% of your first earnings.
SPEAKER_01: Give away the first 10%, because if you do that, you'll be set free to be creative and innovative to make money.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01: So, in other words, if you can't give away just 10% and keep 90%, God's not going to bless you with more because the creativity and innovation of the kingdom isn't at work in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, this is how you get set free.
SPEAKER_01: And as you know, Templeton was a billionaire.
SPEAKER_01: But the thing that's interesting about Sir William Templeton is he took so much of his money and started the Templeton Prize, which is now gives a million dollars each year to the Christian leader in the world that's made the greatest impact.
SPEAKER_01: So he used his money, he put his money where his mouth was.
SPEAKER_01: But look what it says.
SPEAKER_01: So go back to Malachi 3, and this is the part that got me fired up so many years ago, and I still get so excited about it, and that is this blessing, this phenomenal blessing that becomes ours when we're set free.
SPEAKER_01: He says, first of all, verse 10, I will open for you the windows of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So number one, open heaven.
SPEAKER_01: God will give us an gives you an open heaven over your life, over your ministry, you that are in ministry.
SPEAKER_01: He provides an open heaven over you.
SPEAKER_01: He's got your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's got your treasure, so he's got your heart.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to open heaven over you, and an open heaven means there's an intimacy and a trust.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: If you've not been giving 10% of your income to the Lord's work, and you start doing that, yeah, you start budgeting.
SPEAKER_01: You start praying more.
SPEAKER_01: And he gets your heart, and when he does, he said, Look, I'll open up heaven over you.
SPEAKER_01: And I would define an open heaven over our lives as the nearness, listen, the nearness of heaven on earth.
SPEAKER_01: What a beautiful thing that the nearness of heaven on earth would invade your life and your finances.
SPEAKER_01: A sense of God's clarity and thought and of heart and not, listen, you start to break the spirit of the age.
SPEAKER_01: You start to break the spirit of age.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Isaiah says in Isaiah 64.
SPEAKER_01: He said, God, that you would rend the heavens and come down.
SPEAKER_01: How about revival finances?
SPEAKER_01: Woo! What about revival finances?
SPEAKER_01: Why couldn't we be the wealthiest, most giving, most generous church in all of Colorado Springs?
SPEAKER_01: Because we've discovered revival finances.
SPEAKER_01: That's asking God to rend the heavens and come down on my finances.
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how many times Liz and I have taken all our credit cards and all of our wallets and we've laid them on the floor.
SPEAKER_01: The kid's there, we laid hands on them, we prayed, God, we need help.
SPEAKER_01: And he shows up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you a few stories in a few minutes.
SPEAKER_01: But that's an open heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing he says.
SPEAKER_01: Open heaven.
SPEAKER_01: I call it revival finances.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
SPEAKER_01: So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So second thing is he God rebukes the devil.
SPEAKER_01: God rebukes the devil over your finances.
SPEAKER_01: He protects what's his.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say that with me.
SPEAKER_01: God protects what is his.
SPEAKER_01: God does not necessarily protect what is not his.
SPEAKER_01: God protects what is his.
SPEAKER_01: Man.
SPEAKER_01: That's exciting.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, and the vine will not fail to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_01: So number three, you'll be fruitful.
SPEAKER_01: You'll be fruitful in what you do.
SPEAKER_01: I dig it.
SPEAKER_01: So just before leaving Japan, we've been in Japan for nine years.
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna go to graduate school and I had no money.
SPEAKER_01: I did have a lot of furniture and an apartment.
SPEAKER_01: Nice furniture.
SPEAKER_01: And then God speaks to me one day at the worship service of the church, Okinaw World Mission Church, where I'm going to church down and tells me to give$3,000 to the church.
SPEAKER_01: I'm making$1,400 a month.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord, this is dumb.
SPEAKER_01: I obviously didn't hear you.
SPEAKER_01: Liz heard the same thing,$3,000 for a building fund that they were doing there.
SPEAKER_01: Gave$3,000.
SPEAKER_01: Then he said, Sell all your uh give away all your furniture, don't sell it.
SPEAKER_01: And I now, Liz, did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: She said no.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well then I might I must have missed that one.
SPEAKER_01: Gave away our furniture.
SPEAKER_01: Gave our furniture.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: All through the years, I had not been keeping up with my finances that much.
SPEAKER_01: I had made some investments when I left to go on the mission field, and then I my mom kind of monitored it for me.
SPEAKER_01: These were CDs.
SPEAKER_01: These were uh CD is not something you listen to music with, but it's actually something you could put in and lock it in for three, five, ten years.
SPEAKER_01: Did CDs, did stocks, did bonds, bunch of different things, diversified a bunch of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Came back and then lit mom sent me the portfolio.
SPEAKER_01: I started looking at the portfolio.
SPEAKER_01: Almost a hundred thousand dollars from seven thousand invested nine years before.
SPEAKER_01: You don't think that was lost on me, do you?
SPEAKER_01: I looked at that and went, whoa, and took care of all my graduate school and the down payment on the house when we came to church plant.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: We had planted Mountain Springs Church there at Montebello, and we were just getting along, and then God had spoken in a dream for us to plant the to build the church out on Woodman, and we were challenging the church to give to give um money toward the building fund, make pledges, and God spoke to me to give$10,000.
SPEAKER_01: So I pledged$10,000 toward the building fund.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it couldn't have been this way to, by the way, this is how it'll work for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you start doing this thing, if you start trusting God with this thing, you're gonna get tested.
SPEAKER_01: So as soon as I started doing this thing with that extra above my tithe, the$10,000, septic tank goes out.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's a lot of things that can go out in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Flat tire, maybe eating out less, but septic tank is sort of important.
SPEAKER_01: And so our septic tank went out and I did my road work.
SPEAKER_01: So I started walking down that road and I reminded God how much he had in my account in heaven, and I said, Lord, I'm not into constipation.
SPEAKER_01: Until I ask you in the name of Jesus, we need$5,200.
SPEAKER_01: $5,200, because we just pledged this other to the church building fund.
SPEAKER_01: Three days later, lady on our street walks up, knocks on our door, and says, God told me to give you some money.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Really?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's$5,200.
SPEAKER_01: I said, hello, come on in, honey.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have a cry session together.
SPEAKER_01: And she got blessed, and we got blessed, and that's what God does.
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.