Transcription
Welcome to Fountain Gate Fellowship. We're so glad you're here. We pray that through today's sermon, the Holy Spirit would enlighten your heart and help you fall more in love with Jesus. Thanks for joining us.
Dive into this. Dom heard me share, we shared, well, some of through a few of us were on a Wednesday night that I shared this and he said, "Man, let's do that on Sunday morning." I said, "Okay, Simon accepted." So, here we go. Y'all ready? Oh, y'all are excited. Three of you are really excited right now.
This is just so revelational to me. The truth is, while your tithes and while your offerings are important and they are in terms of the local church being able to carry on what it is called to do. Uh, we've how many of you know we have a beautiful facility. We really do. Uh, we're blessed right now in Clyde. We're in the pro preached there last Sunday. We're in the process of uh getting our new building built in Clyde. Uh, so thankful about that. We've got a wonderful staff, wonderful team here. Bills have to be paid and your tithe helps to do all that. We have missionaries that we support. Uh, I just had the opportunity to go to Belize, Central America and just was able to bless uh folks there from just your generosity uh and being part of that and and we we do that all the time here and all of your tithes and offerings go into those things.
But there's a more important reason why we encourage you to give and it's in this passage. Turn to Philippians chapter 4, verse 15. Hope you have your Bibles. I hope you take notes. I want you to follow along here because there's some very important things you're going to hear today. Philippians 4:15. This is Paul writing a letter. You have to understand the epistles were just letters and they were very intimate, very personal. And you see that in the words of Paul toward the Philippians. He says, "You yourself also know Philippians that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia, no church, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. For even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once for my needs."
Now, verse 17 is what I want to lock on and and look at here. Verse 17. "Not that I seek the gift itself. See that? Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account." Did you hear that? Not that I seek, not that Fountain Gate seeks the gift itself for what we have to do here. The greater desire in my heart and Pastor Dom's heart and this elder team here. Our greater desire is that we are seeking for the profit that comes to your account when you get a revelation on giving.
I love Jerry. Jerry is back. Wave at me, Jerry. You see me? Wave at me. Jerry and I had a talk before the service started. And he said, "What are you talking on this where?" I said, "I'm talking about tithing." He said, "Can I tell you something?" And it'd be better coming from him. But he just basically said, "When I got a revelation on giving and tithing, it changed everything." And I said, "Me too, Jerry. Hey, listen. I don't want to keep that to myself. I want to share what happened to me and share the blessed life I've lived so that you can have and do the same." Amen.
So, that's where we're going. This message really changed my life. The principle of the first, it's a great Dr. Seuss quote. Y'all love Dr. Seuss? He says, "What's first is first. What's first can't be last for that might lead to an unfortunate past." So, you have the opportunity today. Let me say this. With your giving, whatever you give to, you have the opportunity to worship someone with the first fruits. Say, first fruits.
First fruits. That's a key word. The first fruits of your increase. Now, in modern day language, the first fruit is the first You're going to laugh at me when I say this. The first check that you write. I just dated myself. How many of you still write checks? Well, look at that. About a third, not even a third, maybe an eighth of us still write checks. Uh, we get that. But let me say it this way. It's the first debit that comes out of your account when there's been an automatic deposit made into your account after you get paid. What's the first thing that comes out of your account? Now, if it's to pay Mastercard, how many of you know Mastercard is not Jehovah Gyra? In fact, the Bible says the borrower will be slave to the lender. Anybody been slave to a Mastercard or a debit or to a credit card? The rest of your lying. Most of us have at some point, right? No, master. I listen, I'm not going to worship master. I'm not going to make that the first thing I do when I get paid. The first thing I do when I get paid is I give my first fruits to the Lord.
First thing. Now, here's what you got to fight through this morning. If you struggle with any of this, you got to fight through any feeling of me trying to be legal with you. Okay? I'm not going to get legalistic. If you feel like I'm getting legalistic, then you got a problem with legalism.
Okay? I better let that go.
Y'all with me?
All right. So, when you receive your pay, your paycheck, who do you monetarily thank for those finances? So, who do you worship? Whom do you give the first fruits offerings to?
Now, this is a great story. We're going to be all over the word this morning. Go to Exodus chapter 13. This is the context of this is that the children of Israel had just uh been delivered and set free by Moses into the wilderness. And this is the first bit of instruction given to them by the Lord about what they needed to do to kind of stay in right relationship with him. Exodus 13, verse 1. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Sanctify me," or what's the word sanctify mean? It means to set apart for me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb and among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast, it belongs to me." Who does the firstborn, the first offspring belong to?
Huh? Say it again. It belongs to God. Right? Then you skip down a few verses. Go to verse 12. This this kind of gets a little crazy here, but it's kind of cool when you see the revelation of it. Verse 12, "You shall devote to the Lord the first offering of every womb and the offspring of every beast that you own. The males belong to the Lord, but every offspring of a donkey." Always think of Eddie. What's his name? Eddie Murphy saying donkey. Y'all saw the movie, right? Shrek. Okay, just want to donkey. "You shall redeem." What does it say? "First offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. But if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem." It's like, what in the world are you talking about right now? Here's the principle that's been described in this passage. Stay with me and I think you'll get it. The first offspring of a donkey, which was unclean, had to be redeemed by a lamb, which was clean. Okay, you all right? If this doesn't happen, the unclean's lost. In fact, the unclean is cursed. So he says, break its neck. So the firstborn must be either sacrificed or redeemed, right? It's like, dude, we lost an hour of sleep last night. What? Where are we going? Stay with me. Watch this. The clean animal had to be sacrificed. The unclean animal had to be redeemed. Now, the way the unclean was redeemed was that it was bought back with the sacrifice of the of the clean animal. Does any of this kind of sound familiar?
Of something happened for us? We'll get into that. I think a lot of people don't understand the power or the importance of the principle of tithing. You're like, well, what does this have to do with tithing and how important this still is to God? It's very. I'll say it again, but this is very personal to God. Truth is this. It was instituted a hundred years at least before the law. Many are like, well, listen, you know, and there'll be some here today that struggle with tithing. I've had some conversations. No condemnation, no shame. I'm not going to put that on you at all. You have your conviction, and that's fine. But there are some that would argue that tithing is a something under the law. We'll talk more about that in a minute, but I want you to kind of just set that aside for a minute. But when you look at it, it was even a principle that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. We'll talk a little more into that as we go to the passage in Genesis in a minute. But think about it. God said this. You have every tree in this garden except one. That one tree is mine, right? Just like the tithe to us today. The tree was a test that was put before Adam and Eve, was it not? The test for us is you have to accept the fact that the first 10% of your increase, the first fruits of your increase, it's not ours, it's His. Okay? You see, the tithe, the the 10%, the tithe, the 10% is the Lord's. Therefore, it's clean and must be given or sacrificed in order that the other 90% your money that it might be redeemed. I just love this. This is I wish y'all could stand up here and look at you. This is great. I mean, you guys are great. I mean, you were like soaking this in. You're getting it. So, the firstborn must be sacrificed if it's clean or redeemed if it's unclean. Again, that's why it's important to God.
Let me ask you a question. Here's a question. Were you born clean or unclean?
Unclean. Right. I listen, we have five children and and they were all two years apart. And there were a few times that Kim and I made the mistake of taking all five of them into the grocery store and then walking down the cereal aisle. And the little ones especially, and even the older ones, there were times, especially the little ones. Remember one time, I mean, Parker might have been Emily, your your first lady here now, fell on the floor, lost her mind because she did not get the cereal she wanted. And I'm watching this unfold in front of God and everybody in the aisle, thinking, I didn't teach this child that. I didn't train her how to lose her mind if she didn't get what she wanted. Y'all out there, are you comes by that natural? She comes by that honest because we are born unclean. We are born right with a sin nature. Here's the other question. Was Jesus? Is not a trick question, obviously. Was Jesus born clean or unclean?
Of course he was born clean. He was without sin. He was a priest that was tempted by all things were tempted, but he didn't give way to those temptations. He understands us, but he was clean. He never sinned. He never gave way to temptation. So, he was the perfect lamb of God. And I had never heard this before. Pastor Robert shared this in this series. He said this, "Therefore, Jesus is God's tithe." I've had some people that get offended over me saying that he's a lot more than that, yada yada. No, but here the here where I'm at in the context of what I'm talking to you about. Does that make sense to you at all?
God gave Jesus, that which was clean, to us in order that we might be redeemed. The unclean might be redeemed. This is so personal with God. Then when you're talking about tithing, he takes it very personally what we do in regard to that first 10%, our first fruits before Him. Let me tell you why he's God's tithe. Because he gives Jesus first. You see, you don't wait until you have enough left over and then give to God. You just don't do that. Can I tell you there's no faith involved with that? Well, well, pastor, you know, you're not in my shoes right now. You have no idea the pile of bills that are stacking up on my desk. And I've done the math. I've crunched the numbers. If I give 10% of what my income is, there's no way at the end of the month I'm going to be able to get all my bills paid. I'm telling you, I know some of you are sitting there thinking that right now, and I'm not a mind reader. I just know that because I've had that thought when I've probably in one month maybe had more bills than normal. I'm thinking this is a lot of money. I feel like I'm right here with my tithe. But you kind of press in and you give it by here's the key word, faith. Without faith, come on y'all. It's impossible to please God. So by faith, it's the greatest principle when you talk about the tithe. By faith, you give it and trust that somehow at the end of the month. And Jerry said this to me a while ago, at the end of the month, it's just there. It just I don't know how it got there. It but I just was able to get my bills paid. I don't have a lot left over, but I'm okay. I'm not having to go to debtor's prison. I'm all right. You know, they used to have that long ago. They used to have a debtor's prison. That'd be crazy. A lot of us in prison, right? But Come on. God is faithful. You've You've got to When you give it at the first versus waiting till the end to see if you have enough to give, that's not faith. God gave Jesus first. I love this. The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, God sent His Son. Let that soak in for a minute. God didn't wait to see if we would repent first or if we'd clean up first. He gave Jesus the first fruit offering. He gave Jesus by faith.
He had no guarantee that we would walk with Him or not. And many don't and many do. Sadly, the road to heaven is a lot narrower than the road to hell. More don't than do. And yet He gave the most precious gift that could ever be given in Jesus on the premise that as I give this, I'm believing by faith that this will bring salvation to mankind. Golly, when you put those two together, it just it it gives me chills. I mean, it just causes me to go, "Wow, there's so much power in the understanding what it is to tithe." God gave Jesus as a first fruits offering. And a matter of fact, we see in 1 Corinthians 15:20. You might jot that down. 1 Corinthians 15:20, Jesus is referred to as first fruits. Did you know that? Colossians 1:15, Jesus is referred to as firstborn. So the firstborn had to be sacrificed or redeemed. The firstborn is the redemptive portion. Here's what's God. Here's what the Lord is saying. If you'll give me the first one, the rest will be redeemed. The rest will be blessed. Right? So, would you rather, here's the question, go through life with 100% of your money with the potential of a curse being on it versus 90% of your money because you're faithful with the first fruits and seeing a blessing on it?
I think the latter should be our answer, right? The way you get the 90% blessed is you give the first portion to God. Now, again, it boils down to the heart. It's the heart. It's a heart matter. Are you willing one? And are you trusting enough and have faith enough to give God the first part to what is His, knowing that it's not yours? See, it takes faith to give the first 10%. Now, I want to ask you something. If God said to you, now just think about this. If He said this to you, "If you'll give me the first 10% of your income, I will bless you so that you'll one, actually live in financial blessing. In fact, I'll open the windows of heaven over you and two, I will stand at the door of your house and rebuke the devourer for you." If you heard that question, if God asked you that, you'd be like, "I'll take that."
You're going to open the windows of heaven if I'll bring my first fruits. You're saying you're going to open the windows of heaven for me and then you're going to stand at my door and rebuke the devourer on my behalf. That's a pretty good deal.
I mean, when you think about it, Malachi 3, y'all know the verse. Verse 10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse." If you call Fountain Gate your church home, this is your storehouse. Amen.
I look, don't look at me funny. I wrote I didn't write this. God wrote this. I I'm just communicating what's in here.
Is that okay?
Don't get all worked up with me. All right. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. If Fountain Gate is your home, this is your storehouse. So that there may be food in my house and test me." Now, in this, God, one of the few times ever really, maybe the only time you really see God saying, "You know what? Test me." The beard translation is, "I double dog dare you." Doesn't that just when somebody dares you like, "Okay, I'll show you." I think that's what God's trying to do. He's trick not tricking us, but He's just saying, "I I dare you. Test me. You watch. Test me in this." Now, says the Lord, "If I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows." Verse 11, "Then I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground, nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the Lord of hosts.
So the question is, why don't we do it? I I hate to report to you, the average church in America uh of tithers in that church, it's typically below 10%. This is true. I got good news for Fountain Gate. We're well above that average. You We've got a lot of tithers in this church. And I appreciate that. Come on. That's good. Amen. Maybe 20, 25%. But we still have 80 to 75% that still aren't tithing. Are you looking at my tithing? Are you looking at my giving? No, I'm not looking at your giving ranks. We just know by doing simple math. Come on. Come on. Just think about it. If everyone here were committed with if 100% here were committed to bringing the first fruit offering to the Lord in your tithe, can I tell you we would be we got we're blessed. We got great, but I'm tell one of the visions for for having a place like we have here and the way the Lord provided it's a long story, but we got this for pennies on a dollar. We were very uh good stewards on what we've done to build that out. How we staff because we've kept a real low, in a business sense, a real low overhead so that we can even get more money away from us to to bless the kingdom of God.
And we're able to do that in ways that are just blow your mind. But can you imagine if the other 80% of you were faithful in your tithing of what we could do? Amen.
Oh, you're just going to you're just going to increase Pastor Dom's salary and we're just going to Oh, well, you know what? We might give him a raise because he deserves that. I know what he's making right now. And when based on the size church we are, it's not where he needs to be. He'll get there, right? You're just going to take the money and and No, you know what? We're just going to be good stewards with what God gives and brings in this house like we've been for 33 years. Amen.
When the Lord told me to move to Abilene, He said, "Lord, why are you sending me to Abilene? What? There's a church on every corner in Abilene." And the Lord said to me, so clear as I was in an audible voice, but as clear as I can hear the Lord, He said, "You know what, son? Just pay your bills on time." That seemed really strange to me because what He was saying in effect was, if you'll be a good steward with what I bring you, you pay your bills on time. Watch what I'll do with this little church. Watch how I'll bless you. Watch how God will give you favor in this city and community. Has that happened over 33? You better believe it's happened.
Come on, Fountain Gate. We walk in a lot of favor. God has powerfully used us and literally not just in a big country, but all over the world. What's God saying? He wants us to do things with her. You can trust that whatever comes in here, it's going to be used for the purpose of His kingdom. I'm looking at Angie Van over there right now. I'll tell you what, Angie, she looks real sweet and she smiles. She's just so sweet. But I can tell you one thing, she's a bulldog when it comes to making sure the money's spent right in this house.
Listen, you bet. Amen. Go ahead, give her a hand because she deserves it. Hey, you better get your receipt to her or you're going to hear about it. I know looks can be deceiving. There's a bulldog underneath all that cute, sweet, little nice voice. Just every No, I look, I know her. Come on, Joey. Joey sitting there like, "Oh, yeah. Come on, y'all. You with me?"
So, why don't we do it? It's human nature to hoard. It's human nature to be afraid. Elijah, remember the story Elijah told the widow, "Look, I'm hungry. Give me a cake. Give me something to eat." She said, "If I give this to you, that's the last thing I have. My son and I, we will die." There's a positive confession. Elijah said, "Give it to me anyway." And so, she had to by faith give her the give him the last cake she had. And we know the rest of the story, right? Miraculously, the Lord filled all her vessels with oil and she had all the food she'd ever need for probably the rest of her life.
Come on.
It's throughout the word. Why don't we do that? Human nature. Human nature to hoard. Human nature to be afraid. Question at this point is, if you have the understanding that the tithe is not yours in the first place, then would you have a hard time? Why do we have a hard time giving if it's not yours? Let me make this statement. And and this is really, this was one of the statements that really changed me and you want to write this down. The truth is this. We don't give our tithe, we return it.
Because a tithe is not yours. Oh gee whiz. I have u I get accused sometimes of ADD. My mind goes everywhere and I just had this crazy thing hit my brain. I got to get it out of my brain. Kim and I had planned on going to eat for lunch afterwards and I didn't bring my checkbook. I didn't bring cash, nothing. I need about $60 so that we could Can somebody help me with $60 just so that we can go eat lunch? Wow. Pastor, that's $60. Come up here. Tell me $60. I You know, you just gave it.
Still there.
Yeah. He It's like he just got up.
Suddenly. Look, James.
What? Look at this.
Oh. $100. We're going to get to eat for $160. Now, James just out of the goodness of his heart did this. And but and out of the goodness of your heart, you did it. But I what I was amazed at and kind of the same with James is that you were so quick to give it. I mean, it's like you didn't have As soon as I said it, you're like, "Oh, that's a no problem." You just came, you gave it to me. It's like, "So, why did you give it so quickly?" Say it real loud so everybody can hear you.
Because you gave it to me earlier. Hey, it was easy for him to give me that $60 because it wasn't his in the first place. It was mine.
Y'all give Daniel a hand as he the $100. James, come get your $100. Take it back, brother. No, I come on.
And and it's really cool because James the same way. He didn't hesitate. Yeah.
That you know, you recognize, listen, how many you know, 100% of it is His.
Right?
He allows us to take the 90 and do whatever we have to do with it. But He's like, "Look, that 10 is mine. It's not yours." The tithe is not something we give. The tithe is something we return. I'm already thinking my mind where I'm going to go to lunch today. This is $160. This should be good. I'm thinking crab. I don't know. And steak or something. Come on. Amen.
Look. And I told you we'd go here. We're not going to be a ton longer. Look, I am doing great. It's just 11:15. Genesis chapter 4. Turn to Genesis 4, verse 1. And let's talk about the first family and the principle of the first that's exampled with the first family. Genesis 4, verse 1. "Now the man had a relationship with his wife Eve and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, 'I've gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.'" And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the flocks. But Cain was a tiller of the ground. Abel a rancher, Cain a farmer. Verse 3. "So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord, an offering. Now notice that he brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel on his part brought the firstlings." Say, firstlings.
Of his flock and of their fat portions. Now, I I'm going to come back to this idea of fat portions in a minute. It says, "The Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard." So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
Now, I love what the Lord says in verse 6 because the Lord is full of grace. He's full of compassion. He's full of mercy. He's a second chance, third chance, fourth, fifth chance kind of God. Amen.
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you so angry? And why is your countenance fallen?" He's given him another chance. He says, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door. Man, listen. Don't do this. You're going down a path that's not good and its desire is for you, but you must master it." Cain didn't listen. Verse 8. "Cain told his brother, his told Abel his brother, and it came about when they were in the field that day that Cain rose up against his brother and killed him."
So, an interesting some facts about this story. We most theologians would agree that probably Cain and Abel were were twins because it mentions nothing of Eve conceiving again. Now, we don't know that for a fact, but just kind of some conjecture there. So she delivered Cain and then if twins, then delivered Abel next. Cain a farmer because he he brought a first fruit offering. Abel a rancher brought the firstlings of his flock. Recently, there was a discovery. I love Discovery Channel. Just there's some interesting shows. I get a lot of sermon ideas off Discovery Channel. And it was a story about they were talking about Cain and Abel. And the commentator kind of went on to say, 'No one really knows about why God was so pleased with Abel's offering and not Cain's.' I know why. I think you know why. Because why? Because Abel brought the firstlings, the first fruit offering, while Cain brought what was left over.
Obviously, Cain, there was something Cain's heart that wasn't good. Something though in Abel's heart was there that honored God. Cain's heart. Two things and this is what we got to check in our own heart and have to ask the Lord today. If it's there, then we need to repent of it and get it out of our hearts. Cain was greedy and Cain was a was rebellious. Greed and rebellion are the two key reasons why we don't tithe. Cain's attitude was, "I'll give what I want, and I'll give when I want. Ain't no preacher going to tell me when to give. If I got a little I can give, I'll give it. But don't stand up there and force me. Don't make me do anything." Right? See, you got to again, you got to love the heart of God. Because even in Cain's rebellion, come on. God gave him a second chance. Why are you angry? Come on. Why are you angry? If you'll do well, if you'll do right, you can turn all this around. Instead, Cain continued in his in his bitterness and his greed and his rebellion, and it ended up him murdering his own brother. The thing about the heart of Abel, just think about Abel's heart for just a minute. Abel's heart wasn't greedy or rebellious. It was one of faith. In fact, in Hebrews 11, Abel is listed in the hall of faith. The hall of faith. Y'all know that chapter, all the different ones, they're listed. It says that Abel gave, it doesn't just say a gift, he gave gifts plural. And I was saying I was preaching this pastor Dom wanted me to share this in Clyde Sunday and there's a really cool guy in our church now in Clyde that he gave me his card after the service. He on his card it says he's a forensic theologian. Whoa. So I want to find out more about this guy. And he gave me an insight to the passage I read out of Genesis 4 where it says that Abel brought his firstlings, the firstlings of his flock, and then he brought his fat portions. And then you see confirmed in Hebrews 11 that Abel didn't just give one gift, he gave plural gifts. Can I say to you, the tithe is just the beginning of where God wants to take us. And I know there's a lot of you here that you've been faithing your tithe for years and years, but you go well beyond your tithe into the fat portions, your offerings. I'm convinced. I'm telling you, you cannot I I love There was a man at Christ for the Nations years ago when I was attending there named Wayne Meyers. Wayne had a saying. He always said this and it's always stuck with me. He said, "Live to give." So simple. Live to give. Come on, church. You just double dog dare you. You cannot outgive God. You can't outgive Him. Well, is the motive of your heart. Come on. Is the motive of your heart to is to give to get? Absolutely not. Now, will that happen? Yeah, it's a principle. It'll just happen. But that shouldn't be our motive. Our motive when we give and bring the tithe and bring those things that are offering is worship unto the Lord. Come on. It's an act of worship. It's a sacrifice we make before the Lord to say You are worthy. We give this as a picture of what You've given. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth not perish but have everlasting life. I'm giving this because You gave me the very best in Your first fruit offering in Jesus.
It changed everything I ever thought about giving. Every time I give now, that's the thought that goes through my heart. Oh Lord, I'm so thankful for what You've done in my and I give this to You as an act of worship. And in fact, I'm so excited. Lord, I see I want to give You the fat portions. Yeah, it's quiet in here. It's because it's so good, right? Abel was a man of faith. Takes faith to give the first 10, y'all. And again, he didn't just give one. He gave gifts. Matthew 6:33. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Can I just say something to you that you're probably going to think I'm a hairy tick after I say this? Heretic. Herety tick. All All these things will be added. All means everything, right?
So, I had some crazy stuff happen this week. This has never happened to me before, ever. You're going to think I'm nuts, but you know, things break right around the house. Yeah, y'all know what I'm talking about. I mean, air conditioners go out and dishwashers and washers like dryers quit drying. I mean, just things break the older they get, right? The older we get, we things break. Amen. And so, I had like two or three things this week that just haven't they haven't worked. One is the washer on my truck, the washer motor. Uh-huh. I Daniel, I was going to get Daniel to order me a a motor cuz my washer motor wasn't because I have this thing when I get in the truck, I want to be able to see out the windshield. That's kind of important to me. And I couldn't I couldn't do the washer because the windshield wipers work great. I put in fact I put brand new wipers on it, but it were no good to me because I couldn't get water on them. So, I would take a bottle of water as I'm driving. I'd splash it up on the wind so I could right I get in the truck and I thought, "What the heck? I'll just try it." And so I did what you do and just water came blowing out of both vents on my both little nozzles on my windshield. I said, "That is so strange." I didn't touch it. Oh, well, this probably just an electrical thing got. It probably was. But then my I have these lights in my yard that shine on my trees and there two or three of them just weren't working. I was fixing to order two lights to go and fix those and replace them, thinking, "Oh, they just burned out." And this out of nowhere, I look out last night and both those lights are working. Seek first the kingdom of God and all
Your landscape lights, all
Your windshield motor wiper water motor wiper thing, all that's just goofy. It probably is. But I just got I started giggling this morning thinking about this. You listen, all these things will be taken care of. God, if you seek first His kingdom, if you'll bring Him your first fruits, if you'll be faithful and loving Him with all your heart, you just don't have to worry about anything. Well, you just don't know my story, pastor. Can I say to you something? Can I just be honest with you? And I know in the world you're going to have tribulation. Things happen. Stuff happens, right? If God never did another thing for us but give us His Son Jesus, isn't that enough?
Isn't that enough?
And yet He still continues to do and do and do for us. Especially when we begin to re get a revelation of what it is to bring our first fruits to Him. The heart of Abel, the heart of God. Again, John 3:16, I just read it. You see, God knew that there was coming a day when He would give His first fruits, His firstborn, to a lost, to a desperate world to save us, to redeem us, the clean given so that the unclean might be redeemed. Jesus, God's tithe to you and I. If you were to translate the the verse John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only firstborn, His only first fruits, His highest and best gift for the world that they might be saved." Come on, simple question. God was willing to give His best for you, then why aren't we willing to give our best back to Him in everything we do? Hey, it's not just your money, it's your life. Can you say amen?
Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to follow us so you can stay connected with all that the Lord is doing here at Fountain Gate. We'll see you next time.