Jesse Duplantis Full Sermons - Living Life Without Deficits

Second Samuel chapter 24. I give you the verse I want to read. David has had some problems. King David doing some things he shouldn't have done, and other people doing it, and people were being judged for sin. And David had to do something. He wanted to make a sacrifice unto God. I want you to plant that in your mind. So David is going up to meet a man named Araunah, that he might offer a sacrifice to God, so he could be a blessing to the Lord. I want you to remember that.

Now I want to make this statement. I want everyone to listen to me. By a worldwide internet, in 28 years of full-time ministry, I have never had a deficit. That's almost unheard of in the secular world, and it's totally unheard of in the ministry world. Never have I had a deficit, ever. Meaning this, that everything God told me to do, I've done. I've said that several times during my course of ministry, and some ministers got a little angry at me. And I think they have a right to be angry because they've struggled and beat their brains out to pay a church, in order to buy a church van, or or whatever, you know. But in 28 years of full-time ministry, I've never had a deficit.

Now, when I first started out, I might I might have got two dollars for preaching. But all I needed was a dollar and a half, and I'd have 50 cents to burn, or I could put 50 cents into the ministry. And a lot of people began to ask me why. Some people said I was lucky. No, luck belonged to the devil. I live by faith, not by sight. Title of this message this morning is "Living Life Without Deficits." Write that down. This is going to be good. Living life without deficits. Deficits are not fun. Deficits means lack, struggle. Out of that comes worry, fear, anxiety, trouble. Deficit spending in the world today causes a lot of trouble in life.

So in prayer, the Lord spoke to me. He said, "Jesse, do you want to know why you haven't had a deficit? Do you know why?" And I said, "Well, Lord, I well, I live by faith and not by sight, and you know, I've obeyed you at least, you know, most of the time. I made mistakes in my life, don't misunderstand me, but not intentionally." I said, "Lord, well, I guess it's because of my faith." He said, "No, it's not because of your faith. He says, because you adopted the David principle." I said, "The David principle? What's the David principle? I never heard of that." The David principle. And David was the only other person to say that I've never seen the righteous forsaken or received bread. Said that on his deathbed. And the David principle is this: In second Samuel chapter 24, let's read verse 22.

"And Araunah said unto the king, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here the oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. And all these things that Araunah said unto the king, give unto the king." And Araunah said unto the king, "The Lord thy God accept thee." And one is looking for an Araunah, somebody to give you something. See, there's nothing wrong with that. This man said, "Listen, King, I want to be a blessing to you. You want to offer a sacrifice to your God? Amen. Here's the, here's the, here's the meat, here's the oxen, here's the wood. Just offer it." Praise God. "I give it all to you."

And the king said, in verse 24, "The David principle. No, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price, neither will I burn offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which does not cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Title of my sermon this morning or today is "Living Life Without Deficits." I said, "Lord, why have I not having had deficits?" He said, "You've never offered me something that didn't cost you something." Now, I don't know about, I'm not being critical of expenses. But anytime I go preach, whether it's overseas or here, I pay all my own expenses. Which, if you invite a guest, and we invite many guests here to Covenant Church that come, we pay for their hotels, and my correct for you, their food, their airplane flights, and all that kind of stuff, whatever it takes. Plus, we give them a great offering. And whatever you give, and then we add to it. And I've had a lot of guys say, "Well, why don't you just give them what comes in?" Well, I will not offer God something, or offer you something, that doesn't cost me something. That's called sowing and reaping. Do you see that?

Now, I've had a lot of mentors said, "Brad, Jesse, the offering was one. Why would you add to it?" Because it must cost me something. Now, I adopted that principle. But most people said, "Well, I can't do that. I don't have nothing." Didn't I start out with nothing? That one niche I just made in my mind. Bless God. I don't care what would happen if you don't get my money. And you stall. Well, I'll lose some weight. I'll just call it a fast. I'll just call it a fast. Now, I didn't realize I had adopted that principle, the David principle. I would not offer God something that doesn't cost me.

We have had, I mean, Joyce Meyer, when she came, and she got a wonderful offer. We added to it. Most people would have never. Joe added that. She had a monster. She had a big offer. I said, "Can I say, Elizabeth Mink? I said, "Let's go. Let's give her some more." Why? Because it's got to cost something. You see, when you give, then I look at Corp, Covenant Church, or JDM, as another entity to be a blessing, even over over what you give, not to show off. People say, "Oh, he's all he did doing that show." I could show off more with that money in my pocket than I could with that money in someone else's pocket. Come on. The David principle. And because I adopted that into my life, I haven't had deficits. I've never had to worry about expenses. When Kathy did her women's conference, she said, "Well, Jesse, you know..." I said, "Don't worry about it. Go do what you want to do. Do whatever the Lord tells you to do. We'll walk by faith and not by sight. But I'll tell you one thing, if it all comes in, that's great. But we're going to even add to it. It must cost us something if we're going to live life without deficits. That's the David principle. I will not do something for God which doesn't cost me nothing."

I write this down. If a man's feelings be of God, he will rebuke all thoughts of cheapness. Oh, I lost a few. You ready? Oh, that's good. If a man's feelings be of God, a person's feelings be of God, he will rebuke all thoughts of cheapness. That which costs nothing is worth nothing. Why do things that cost a lot of money last a lot longer? You know, you go buy a beautiful suit, and you pay a bunch of money for it. Lord, gee, you almost got to throw it away. It almost goes out of style. But you go down to that dollar store, a couple of people hug you there, goes your shoulders on your suit. How many of y'all went to Payless and walked out? Paid less. But before you got the car, you had to pay more because the things were flapping on you. Is that true? Does that make any sense to anybody? That which costs nothing is worth nothing. Notice when you pay for something good money, you normally take care of it. See? Why? Because it costs something. You know, I mean, take care of that.

See, if a man's feelings be of God, he would rebuke all thoughts of cheapness. That which costs nothing is worth nothing. See, you are what your motives say you are. See, David's motive wasn't, he wasn't looking for God just to give him something. Nothing wrong with giving people something. Don't send stuff. Not a thing wrong with that. But what I'm saying was, he said, his motive was, "I am going, if I go, I'm, I'm not going for God nothing that doesn't cost me something. I just got to be a blessing somewhere." Come on. I got to do something somewhere, somehow. See, that's a giving heart. That's a cheerful giver. That's a voluntary gift. And God loveth. He doesn't like it. He loveth. So I've lived life without deficits.

Now, I made a lot of missions. Man, I've had some of the biggest missions. I said, "I can't say that." Well, I know that because you're always dealing with a budget, and budgets cost you something, and vision brings you something. I didn't come here to raise an offer. I came here to raise a vision. Once you understand vision, then you can complete your destiny and reach your destination. Do you understand what I'm saying? You want a new house? Let me say something. It's got to be built in your spirit before it ever be built on a lot somewhere. You've got to see this thing. You've got to face it out so it'll come to pass. You have a look. It's gonna cost us. When those things are going to cost things, that's not the issue. You got to give God a job. And if you notice this, if you're barely getting by, maybe that's all you're giving God a job to do is barely get by. Give only what you think you can afford. You ever thought about giving something that you can't afford? I'm not talking about backing your bills up. I'm not talking about I'm out because I believe you ought to pay your bills. Don't misunderstand. But I'm talking about cut yourself a little bit once in a while and say, "You know what? I'm gonna be a blessing. I'm gonna do something I ain't never done before. But I'm gonna do it." All of a sudden, it costs you something. And if it costs you something, you can take it to the bank. You're gonna get God's attention because the Bible said, "Well, a man's heart is is where his treasure is." So you are what your motives are. Your gifts to God must carry a feeling and express a desire and a purpose. I'm not just what I call a sloppy giver. Everything I give, I give uh according to purpose. "Every man according as he purposed in his heart." I'm a purpose-driven person. Another one. I don't just do something just to do it. And just because I got money to do something doesn't mean I'm going to give it. Because you see, I realize something. Everything must be thought out. Everything must be a planned in your mind at least. So your gifts to God must carry a feeling and express a destiny, a desire, and a purpose.

So I desired to be a blessed. Jesus said, "If you delight yourself therefore in me." See, that's the person first part. You have to delight yourself before God. He will give you the desires of your heart. When you delight, desire comes. Now, we see when you delight yourself before the Lord, after a while, you forget your desire. There's a lot of times I forgot what I was wanting because I wanted to be a delight to God. So I forgot about uh wanting this particular thing. I just, "Lord, I just want to bless it. It's just so good. It's just such a blessing." All of a sudden, my desire came because I was into the light. And when I got into delight, I got into desire. My God gave me desire, which was more than just need. See? So things doesn't cost you something, it's not worth anything to you. He said, "I adopted to David principle." And you that are watching today by telling me that a ministry, that's what you need to do. Nothing wrong with uh somebody paying for your expenses. If somebody invites you, you know, and they won't pay your hotel, your food, your airplane tickets, and all that. Nothing wrong with that. That I'm not being critical of that. But me, I ain't gonna happen to me. Am I telling the truth, Jessica? You might find. Who am I? I'm telling you. Bless God. We put out cool, lots of money that I could actually get back. How many times people have come in to give us bills? They give us this, that, this. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I said to him, I said, "Lord Jesus, that's why they struggle so much. They don't realize that everything they must do must cost them something."

See, Jesus could, God could have sent Gabriel to die for you, and Gabriel would have done it. And God could have said, "Michael the Archangel, to die for you," and Michael would have. But God gave his best. He gave something that cost him something. His most, his only begotten son. Do you see that? How many I want to live life without deficits? Listen to what I'm saying here. Immediately begin to change your way of thinking. Now, Tommy's here today. Tommy did some work for me. We asked him to change some doors around. They told me that you didn't take any money. Oh, Jesus. Tommy, get ready to get blessed. I don't mind telling you. We ain't broke, you know that. But now, you see, it costs you something. It costs you some time, some effort. It costs you something. See, God was well pleased with that. I'm not just saying that so you can do some more again because I don't mind paying anybody. That ain't that's not the issue. I think the Labor's worth of is higher. I don't like this cheap preacher stuff, or you know, he won't do it for the church, or you, you would stinking tight preachers waiting for somebody to pick up that food bill. That's why you're so stinking fat. Don't shout me down when I'm preaching good. It irritates me. Should we give a tip? Did that lady serve you? Oh, I'm getting hard now. I'm a, Lord Jesus, did that lady serve you? Yeah. Yeah. You ought to give a better tip than anybody else that walked in there because the glory of God ought to be on your life. You see my point? I've had preachers tell me, "Best guy, when you go out to eat, then just keep your hands in your pocket. Somebody pick it up." That's why you struggle. Not irritates me. You can tell that aggravates my. I make my righteous indignation get vexed because it ain't right. Never ask how little you can do, but how much you can do. Sometimes I've given a tip. Kathy goes, "Excuse me, Jesse." Jesse, I said, "What?" "You know, that's more than 20 percent." Yeah, I can count. Why? Somebody got somebody got to make a living. I would like to be a blesser. I said, "The next time we come in this restaurant, we won't have to wait." And when we walk in and go, "Oh, Reverend, come on." [Applause] I said, "Come on, Kathy. Come on." [Applause] Kathy counts my tips. One time she took a couple of my tips and put it in her pocket. [Applause] Don't talk to me, woman. Don't talk to me. Don't talk to me. You can do it next Sunday when you preach. Glorious. Yeah. Never ask. Not somebody want to buy your meal. Don't misunderstand. Don't misunderstand. That's that's a wonderful thing. If I go out and eat with Pat and Luis, and then we, we normally fight over the bill. You see, Pat and Luis, Luis really get shot. She'll go, "Oh, no." He said, "I'm trying, Mama. I'm trying." Well, you know, that's a wonderful thing. We always, because we always want to be a blessing to each other. It's not the issue that we, when am I showing off here? You see, because when you do that, and your friendship is worse them. How many times you've had friends? Don't lift your hand up. Every time you go out and eat, you pay. Hold your hand up. Come on. Come on. Hold your hand up. Come on. Look at that. Yeah. That was aggravating. This thing in the world, you don't mind paying. That's not the issue. You don't mind paying a good Lord. It's called being right. She doesn't live in life without deficits. It makes no difference how blessed I am. Every time I do something for God, it's going to cost me something. I must. Why? I do like living without deficits. I like being able to go to the mall with Kathy and not be sweating. I like being going to a restaurant and eat what I want without worrying about how big. Have you ever seen people say, "Let's, oh, this is a great restaurant." They start over here and they go, "I never forget one of them." I had a preacher's wife says, "Uh, can I have lobster?" I said, "Sure, you could have lobster." "Are you sure?" "Well, how much is the lobster?" "No, I didn't say it." I said, "Yeah, you want lobster or the lobster?" "Are you sure?" Then I got to think, "I wonder how many times they've asked that before." "Could I hold a lobster?" Nope. [Applause] I'm gonna make you think a little bit here. You know what I'm saying? If it's the size of a crawfish, you can order it because you buy lobster about a pound. I said, "Yeah, eat what you want." "Oh, but Jesse, that's so expensive." "Yeah." Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. You see, I didn't pay for that lobster a long time ago when I blessed the Lord, and I got on the lobster factory. You see my point? I don't mean that arrogantly, frightfully. What I'm saying was, I want to be a blessing. Now, you know me, I I'm not really a picky eater. I eat, you know, I like cholesterol. But like a lot of times, we might go to Popeyes. And Ricky, I'll be with Ricky. Ricky, hold your hand up. My history. And Ricky said, "Hey, Jess, you buy an all-time corner." Ricky reach out and got his pocket. Now, when I go to Pastor, Pastor get his money out. I guess. Come on. Just let me buy. Come on. Let me buy. You always buy myself. I said, "No, let me be a blessing." No, no, no, no. But, you know, what I don't like is people going, "You know, I left my wallet." You've been leaving your wallet for 37 years. Boy, Pastor, pull his money out. We, we're in the Popeye lines, okay? We like chicken. No, no, I'm gonna get that. And oh, Ricky, you know, I said, "No, no, let's just be a blessing." That's nice. How many of your parents at times, your children said, "We're Bahrain?" [Music] One. It's nice when they do that. Your Jody has done that. Jody took me out Father's Day one time. She said, "Daddy." I said, "Listen, I'm about to know you. Anybody you, my Daddy, and I'm buying it for you." But see, the anointing of increase is on me. So when we ask for the bill, someone already had purchased it. I said, "Jody, you're blessed. This is a double seed." Someone twice. Someone's seed. Gee. He said, "I will not offer God something that doesn't cost me something." You must ask yourself, what modes or methods are in your power to do in order to honor God? Do you know every time I give to God, it's an act of honor? Honor the Lord. Let me say it again. You must ask yourself, "Jesse, what modes of methods are in my power to do in order that I might honor God?" I made it. You know, in the first person here. Let me put it in the third person. You must ask yourself, "What modes of method are in your power to do in order to honor God?" You see, when I'm doing something for you because my heart is right, I'm actually honoring God. And so the person that's being, is receiving that blessing, is being blessed. And the person that's watching that blessing is being blessed. And God says, "That's my kid. That's my child. Look at that." Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it wonderful when your children share? It's a little embarrassing when your kids go, "Mine!" and just take a hunk out of a kid. But what's so nice is when they share. Now, Jody used to get mad at me because I'd always make her share of ice cream. She wanted ice cream, and I was always, "She..." And you know, the little swirl on the top when you do an ice cream cone, always said, "Dad, I want the swirl." I would, "Oh, no." And Kathy said, "Don't you eat the top." Well, if I wait to eat the bottom, there will be none left. But sometime when Jody, I take it to the ice cream shop, just me and her. I said, "What you thinking, Jody?" "Oh, damn." It's amazing what children think. If you've got enough time to sit there and listen to them. I don't forget Jules. He's the head of our television department. He came over. His mom and daddy brought him on me and Kathy. We're going to take care of Jules. Must have been what, three years old, two years old, three, three years old. Say, sitting like this with his hand at the table. So I'm thinking he's missing his mama or something like that, you know. I said, "Jules, what you thinking?" Jules says this, "I'd rather keep it in my mind." Remember that. I never forgot that in my life. Okay. "I'd rather keep it in my mind." I still don't know what he was thinking. He probably can't remember now himself, and he's in his 30s, I guess, or 30, whatever it is. Yeah. But when we do something, we want to do it as an act of honor. You must ask yourself, "What modes of methods are in my power to do in order to honor God?" To give him the best is necessary fruit for every believer. To give him the best. I try to give God the best. If you look at this place, we have the best in here. That's not to show off. God's house, as long as I'm in it, it's going to be a place of excellence. Think twice. If I see something wrong, forget about the weekends or something wrong with God's thing. I'm gonna call Ricky, or I'm gonna call Rick, or somebody, uh, or David, uh, why? This is God's house, and we want to honor him. We don't want angels flying around to help people. They fly by God's. I said, "You think God lived there?" Oh, they don't know how God lived. Look at that piece of trash. They could at least cut the grass.

The value of a gift greatly depends on the self-denial for which it finds expression. I found that when you give something that costs you something, you deny yourself. Do you know that the root of all sin is selfishness? The root of adultery is not pleasure with another woman or another man. It's selfishness. You could care less but about yourself. Let me say it again. The value of a gift greatly depends on the self-denial for which it finds expression. See, I didn't realize, uh, the devil always made me feel when I first started giving that I wasn't giving nothing. Me and Kathy would give out McDonald money. We'd go, maybe let's get going on a Saturday, and they said, "It's only eight dollars or ten dollars or twelve dollars." You ain't giving nothing. But what I was, was I was we were denying ourselves of something we enjoyed. And maybe it wasn't a lot of money, that's true. But that it was actually, it was an ex, I was I was expressing God, my love by denying myself. I don't let Jesus carry his cross along. You see my, you see what I'm saying? And I, and those little things begin to take place in my life, not realizing what I was doing, that it was actually more than what I was thinking, that God was saying, "Look at that. Look at that. They don't have to do that. They waited all week." I never forget. We had a guy, I don't, he doesn't come to this church, years and years ago at Victory. We used to go to Victory Fellowship. That's the name of that church. Picked, uh, and make a long story short, his name was Dean. Y'all remember anybody remember Dean? Y'all know D. If you remember, you have a meeting. You will never forget Dean. I never forget. And the pastor and them will believe in God. This is when was the Transcontinental Kawani? This is when the pick of this were out there and all that kind of stuff. And they wanted to get another church, which I think went on Napoleon at that time. I think I may be wrong now. I think that's right. And Dean, he had a 1957 Chevrolet, which I love old cars. You know, I like all kinds of great, any kind of old car. I just like them. Uh, not an old trashy one that runs. Classic cars. Old classic cars, you know. And I, now forget, man, if we come walking, service was over, and we were walking. A guy says, "I'll tell you what, some man, I didn't know who he was." He said, "Man, we're going to eat. We're going to go today and buy some food, and we're going over here by this man." And Dean turned around. The guy said, "What about you, man? You know, we're trying to build a church here. Give that money to the God." That's how Dean talked. Blessed God. Don't you agree, brother Jesse? And I seen the guy, he was saying, "The two was a lot bigger than both of us could kill us both." I went, "Amen." I said it real small. Mother, that got to wipe me out. You know, I've never forgotten that because that was right. Dean was denying himself to be a blessing. And whether you liked him or not, ain't got anything to do with that. That was a, that was a godly act. I'm not talking about doing it every day of your life. I'm not talking about these people. I'm gonna go to a monastery and and just never go nowhere, just and just never have nothing. You know, that's completely unscriptural. She said, "Go to the world, preach the gospel." Some of that. Oh, Lord, I better watch this. I mean, some of that. Some is only thinking of self at times. Listen, when the world's preached at two, and everybody said, "Go to your monster." And that's what I'm going to him. I said, "Don't take that out of context. Don't send me no ugly letter because I like Catholic people and I believe in Catholic. I'm Christian and confirmed to Catholic. Don't give me remember two songs." Hey, I understand. And I think that's a great sacrifice. They say they call it sacrifice to give themselves to God. But think of that person. Now, this is the way I think. Think of that person who has the willingness to do that. Oh, Jesus. Put him on a mission field. If they're willing to spend 50 years in Aroma, think what they could do outside the room with that kind of tenacity, with that kind of commitment. My God, they can circle the world preaching the gospel. They sleep on a cold stone floor because they love God. That's a wonderful thing. But my point is, think what could happen with that kind of ability, which you could do with the gospel around the world. So giving the, the value of a gift greatly depends on the self-denial for which it finds expression.

Now, let me get to this point. Giving must not be trust to impulse. Write that down. Giving must. How many I want to live a life without a deficit? Now, I'm teaching here. I want you. I'm no, I want to preach this so bad, but I gotta. I'm gonna break this down slow. Teach it so because I don't want you to be deficit in your life. Giving must not be trusted to impulse, but must be carefully regulated by principles. The key to a person's life is principle. Giving must not be trusted to impulse, but must be carefully regulated by principles. Listen, they've got some slick Willies that can talk that money out of your pocket and make you give by impulse. And then you go home, and you don't get blessed, and you say, "You see that giving man? It's that prosperous." Doesn't know what they just did for the money. Well, that may be true. But see, you, you gave by impulse instead of giving by principle. Do you see what I'm saying? So giving must not be trusted to impulse, but must be carefully regulated by principles. Whether you're rich or poor, it ain't got anything to do with it. You see, poor people usually have a more heart to give than rich people have. You noticed that? So those are the ones that are easily attacked and easily, uh, get conned over because their heart's right. But I don't care if you don't hardly have anything. Whatever you want to place in someone in someone's hand, whatever, make sure it's not trusted to impulse, but trusted to principle. God says, "Give every man according as he purposed." And he's also, "Let him give not grudgingly." What's that? He'll be mad about. Nor necessity. Even though there's a need, you give because of purpose. That's principle. That's regulation. You've regulated yourself not to trust your impulses or your feelings. You see, when I first started doing this, my mind preaching, you know, everybody tried to get me away from the David principle. They said, "Brother Jesse, don't do that. You don't starve and never make it in the ministry if people don't pay you expenses." There's nothing wrong with that. I don't expenses. But see, I wanted to go to a higher level. I wanted to come up hither. I want to get to a point that if I needed a boat, got to get me one, or I'll start walking on the water. Now, how do I do that? How do I get to that point? I wanted to give more than five dollars. So I began to believe God by faith to give a hundred dollars, and then a thousand dollars, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand, then a million dollars. Lord Jesus. Don't worry. But yet giving a million, it's not what people that must have been real hard. It wasn't hard. It wasn't that hard. Why? Because it was just actually, it was the same way as giving a dollar because that's all I had. That's all I had. I, the feeling was the same in a sense, if you want to call it a feeling. So I, I regulated myself. I wouldn't let the, uh, slick Willies just get me. And then people were trying to be nice to me would get it, trying to get me away from the David principle, thinking they doing me a justice because they saw that kind of car I was driving, the kind of suit I was wearing. But boy, you know, that's my opinion, expensive. You might be able to buy a new suit. Yeah, I'll get a new suit. That'll come. What they actually would do is asking me. They were actually to me to disobey what I knew was right in my heart. I said, "No, sir. Thank you. I appreciate that." Now, if you want to add to this offer, and you can add to it. People said, "I said, but I'm not going to put it toward the expenses." Because you see, if I just get my expenses back, listen to me, preacher. At, let me help you so you won't be indefinite. If you're just trying to raise your budget, and gentlemen, that's your seed. If you get your seed back, you don't have a harvest, do you understand? If you just get back, you see, there's no harvest. That means two months down the road, you're going to be struggling. I never put money toward my expenses when I go preach somewhere. That's my seed into those people's lives. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Why? Because I need a harvest. God love. But tell me to believe for a million bucks. Well, if I don't have a harvest out there, David, I can't get a million dollars because nothing will come back unless there's a seed been sown. But they were trying to do me right. They were trying to bless me because they saw how poor I was. Said that the lining and the coat that I had in those days was all told. I couldn't do that then. Did oh no, forget that. Now, that don't work. Um, because it was no lining, Ron. It was nothing. You know, I mean, I had one suit. That was it. Black. Thank God it was black. You can wear anything black. Black will go with anything. At my, at my wedding, when I met Kathy, we had 22 people on the altar. We all had black. We all have black tuxedos and black shoes, except one man, Ricky. He had a black tuxedo and brown shoes. He said, "I like my brown shoes. I'm wearing my brown shoes." I said, "Okay." I didn't care. It didn't make no difference to us. I don't think anybody noticed. You know, when I noticed when I got the pictures, okay, wearing brown shoes. But in those days, you had one pair of shoes. You had your dress shoes and your tennis shoes. And if you had them U.S. kids tennis shoes, you was rich. If you had one in blue stamps, oh Lord, son, that's something.

Giving must not be trusted to impulse, but must be carefully regulated by principles. I live by principle. That's how I live my life. I regulate myself by principle. You know why I haven't committed adultery? Principle. "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against my God?" And I ain't the ugliest man in the world. I get hit on every once in a while. I'm shocked. And not by an old woman. I'm talking about girls. I could be their daddy because they think I got money. They right. But that's Kathy's money. That ain't your money. That belonged to Kathy. I work for her and my family, not for me. You see my point? Principal keys. That's what kept Joseph from messing around with Potiphar's wife. Had a preacher one time. God is my witness. Didn't get a shot of this. I'm sitting like this, waiting to receive the pulpit. Remember Kathy, waiting to receive the pulpit. At the pastor's over here. They had a beautiful worship team. But there was a husband and wife worship team, plus, you know, the volunteers. This woman was beautiful. This man's wife. But, but when I, when I saw the beauty, then was there was that talent, man. I mean, they, they were just talented people. So I get up like this. I button my coat. They still singing. Everybody's standing. Pastor walks over to me, says, "Don't it's not a mate, isn't that, ain't that the prettiest praise and worship leader you've ever seen in your life?" And I, and I say, "Oh, yeah, she's a very beautiful lady." He said, "Boy, she's worth going to hell over, isn't she?" Am I telling the truth, Kathy? I went. And then he said, "Brad, Jesse, hope is yours. I'm going up there." And I can hear that ringing in my head. And how are these people here were so kind to this pastor? They were trying to do their best in this church, you know. And this guy is lusting after this man's wife. I wanted to turn around and say, "You, you piece of trash, you." [Applause] But I didn't. But I did tell those people, I said, "Do y'all have any inkling to go anywhere else?" They say, "Yeah, Lord's speaking to me." I said, "Do it. You don't need to be here." I'll never forget that. That's been how many years? Got to 25 years, at least 20, 25 years. I never, ever got it. I thought, "My God, here's a woman worshiping God with a husband leading people in worship. This fool is thinking about her in a different total different manner, not even appreciating the anointing and the gift that's on her life." Do not live at random. Beware of thinking that what you do is insignificant. Everything matters. Everything. Be, do not live at randomly. Whatever, no, no. Beware of thinking that what you do is insignificant. Everything matters. I've had so many people, if everybody in my mailing list, everyone's ever come to my meetings, oh God, would give. I'm gonna use bunny because what people connect to a dollar, two dollars. Oh, oh, God, I couldn't live long enough to spend it all. That's how much is out there. Think about that for a minute. But yet, only the obedient ones. Do you know who's gonna get overflow? Those who have been obedient. Obedience is what brings overflow. There must be a devotedness of spirit and a devotedness of life. I'm devoted to my ministry. I'm devoted to my family, and I'm devoted to my life. I had to stop people from trying to kill me, my own family, not realizing it was trying to kill me. Well, you know, heart trouble runs in your family. Oh, a lot of hard trouble with cancer, diabetes. Well, I knew all that, but I refused it. And he all thought I was crazy. But I'm in my 50s today, and I haven't had a heart attack. And all my brothers have. And I'm not bragging on myself, but I've, but a lot of times they said, "Well, if you don't slow down." I'll tell you what. I said, "What are you talking about, man? I'm about to file this business." You understand what I'm saying? I, well, you know, Eve doctor said, you know, you're genetic. I'm not genetic linked up with that family. I'm genetically linked up with the Lord Jesus Christ. I got God in my life. The only deficit I've had in my life that I enjoy is I've been without sickness. That's a good deficit. I'm in deficit column on sickness. Mo, I mean, deficit. That's a blessing of the Lord. And I could plan to stay there the rest of my life. Well, but Jesse, got to die. If Jesus say, you got to die. Yeah, I gotta die. But I ain't got to die choked. I ain't got to die throwing up cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure. I don't have to die that way. You ever thought about doing this? "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." I've had it with Destrehan. I've had it with Metairie. I've had it with New Orleans. I've had it with my family. I'm out of here. I'm going home. Boom. I'm going home. Be a Jesus. That's exactly what the patriarchs did. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. You know, when they died, they didn't die because he's all sick, beat up, busted. Isaac was about the sickest one of them all. But the Bible said when it came time, that time they folded their legs, Lord Jesus, and gave up the ghost. Listen to me. You have that power to live. Death and life's in the power of your tongue. Who you gonna believe? Whose reports are you believe? You want to live long? You want to see your great grandchildren? Or bless God, start confessing it today. And then you can go to your great-great-granddaughter's wedding, and you'll be the star of the show. They can't believe you made it. [Applause] That's what Kathy's Grandma, none. Oh, that woman is now 103, 104. Lord Jesus. Outliving everybody. [Applause] But you always carry here praying and singing. Why? She's got a devoted life. Let me say it again. You must be, there must be a devotedness of spirit and a devotedness of life. Now, you see, fear is is when you're devoted, you have no fear. See, people are afraid of what God might tell them what to do. Let me just say that again. People are afraid they will have to give up too much. Never be afraid of the demands of Christianity. They're so scared that God might ask them. And look, a man asked me, "What would you do?" This man, "What would you do if the Lord told you to give your house away?" You own your house, budget. I say, "I own my house." "What would you do if the Lord told you to give your house away?" "I'm gonna give it away." Do I want to? Now, I don't want to give my house away. Why? Work for it. I like the house. That's not the issue. But if you think I'm going to hell of a house, you living in a dream world. And if I ever give a house away, Lord Jesus, it's going to take 14 blocks to get the house that God's gonna give me. And they don't tell me what I'll have to build in industry. And I love to build a castle. Good Lord. I'm criticized now about this facility. They call it the Vatican on the Bayou. That's what they call it. The Vatican on the Bayou. No, the Lord didn't tell me to get. Do I want to? No. I don't want him to do that. But what are you going to do? Disobey and go to hell? People are afraid they would have to give up too much. Good Lord. Never be afraid of the demands of Christianity. If you're willing to go where God leads, God will see you through your journey. I've said it so many times. I have become a giving addict. I am. I can't help it. I, I'm a giving addict. And God supports my habit. [Music] [Applause] I can't see. I'm saying as friends because we love Pat and Louise. I can't seem to get around them. They always trying to bless us. And I don't even work hard. Louise didn't work hard. If I work hard like hard work, I'm thinking, Lord Jesus. You know. But then I realized the addicts, and they always seem to have something to give. And God supports the habit. One time, Kathy forgot to call the hotel so we could eat. Was it Christmas dinner? Oh, New Year's. Then I can't remember. No, Christmas. Easter. I can't remember now. Kathy doesn't cook anymore. You know, that's okay. She can cook good. But yeah. So we just go out to a restaurant somewhere. Oh, some real nice hotel. So I said, "Cat, did you make that?" "I forgot." "Yes, I forgot." "You mean you're going to cook?" "No, I I no, I ain't that crazy. I ain't no doing that." I'm thinking, "Well, what are we gonna do?" And, uh, and, and Pat and Luis invited us to go eat with them. I was so glad. The Lord met my need. I said, "Glory to God." And the place that I wanted to go to, it was really nice. We had a wonderful time. Praise God. It was just wonderful. That's my point. You see what I'm saying? God, if you willing to walk somewhere, he gonna walk with him. Let me say it again. If you're willing to go where God leads, God will see you through the journey. I'm going where God leads concerning this, uh, this project thing. Now, my mind's saying, "I fear tolerate it. Fake calamity." I will not have that in my life. Why? I'm working on something. It's destiny and destination. Um, I will not offer God something that doesn't cost me something. I don't believe David. Betty, remind me saying this. The Lord spoke to me. I had a gold watch, a nice watch, Rolex Cellini. That's more expensive than a Rolex President. You in Switzerland know what I'm talking about. The Lord said, "Give your watch to Pastor David." I said, "He got a watch." [Applause] He said, "I don't care what he's got. Give me what." Well, the first thing I thought of was, "Well, Lord, if I give David my watch, what about Betty?" You know, most people say, "Yeah, Lord, tell me, give it away. Forget the wife." He said, "We'll buy her one too." Was you there? Oh, because that's exactly what I said. Bro, whoa. Oh, that's the Holy Ghost there right there, brother. Oh, I said, "What?" He said, "I told you to give your watch to Pastor David." I said, "Well, Lord, you know, I'm a nice man. You know, what about Betty?" It's about, I want to do. Think of it. You don't have to buy two. You don't have to buy one. Just do what I said. I said, "Kathy, get in the car." We go over the, the jewelry store. I said, "Do you have the matching woman's Rolex Cellini with the diamond bezel, everything on it that matches this watch?" "Oh, yes, sir. I want it." And I'm invited Dave and Betty with our house. Sitting at the, I think a little breakfast nook. They have a beautiful breakfast nook. They ain't no breakfast on it, but we got a beautiful breakfast. Get no food on that breakfast nook. It looked good though, son. [Applause] Kathy walked into our for you. She told me, "It's just Saturday. This is one fine looking Jesse." We got this thing decorated. I said, "Yeah, but no one ever sees it." We got a beautiful dining room, but we got plates, but we just look at. Kenneth Copeland came to my house like that one time. He said, "Boy, just these are beautiful china y'all have here." I said, "Yeah." He said, "Y'all eat on it?" I said, "No." [Applause] He said, "We have the same thing." This before Gloria built a new house. Now we get to eat that. I mean, just so I provided Dave and Daniel. I said, "David, the Lord told me to give you my watch." Now, David's wrist is bigger than my wrist. I said, "I got some links that..."

You can put on these links. Cost two, three, four hundred dollars a link, just the links. This expensive watch. David, put my watch on him. I mean, he goes, man, you see blood going to his head, you know. [Applause] It feels good. And Betty was so proud, so glad that we're done. I said, "Oh, by the way, Betty, here's yours." Daddy goes, "Hug me like I broke my shoulders." It's a blessing. I'm not saying that to show off, but what God gave me was, I can't tell you because a lot of you couldn't handle it. I'm telling you, naturally, you saw a watch, you get a watch. You couldn't handle it. Some of y'all would just fall off your couch right there. Only one in the world. Only one in the world. It's not this one. I said, "Lord." He said, "You like that?" He said, "Dave and Betty love their watches. Thank you, Justin." Now, that cost me something. That's okay, but the return is beyond the cost. But I wouldn't, though I know God, what you sow is what you reap. I know, but I wasn't thinking, "Well, what kind of, what kind, what kind of watch you're gonna give me?" I'm not talking about that kind of stuff. I'm talking if you're willing to go where God leads, God will see you through the journey.

So let me go over this again. If a man's feelings be of God, he will rebuke all thoughts of cheapness. That which costs nothing is worth nothing. You are what your motives are. Your gifts to God must carry feeling and express a desire and a purpose. Must be people of purpose. Never ask how little you can do, but how much you can do. Um, I'm believing God one day to give a hundred million in one check. That means I got to get at least a billion. But you'll see me in Forbes one of these days. I'll be in that form. Tonight, Lord, I got, uh, why not? Wouldn't that be a blessing of God to give a hundred million dollars in one check? That's where the Lord said, "Jesse, you're always thinking about what you're going to give me." Yeah. He asked me that one, one time. "What would you do if I gave you a billion dollars?" I said, "Jesus, I'd cut a check for 100 million. That's my time. Then I'm gonna cut another check for 100 million. That's my offer. I still got 800 million dollars I didn't have before." He said, "That's what I love about you. You're thinking about what you're going to give me. You didn't ask me for the building." I said, "But since we're talking, let's get into the building flow." Never asked how little you can do, but how much you can do. And watch this, you must ask yourself, what modes or methods are in your power to do in honor, in order to honor God. See, when I give something to you or Kathy or to God, I'm honoring God all the time. It's an act of honor. It's trying to be a blessing to give him the bestest necessary fruit for every believer. I say, I'm not just trying to get by in Christianity. I want what the Lord said I could have. The value of a gift greatly depends on the self-denial for which it finds expression. That, that needs to get inside of you. You know, when you got inside of you, let me just say it real quick. A lady asked me the other day, we were in California. "Where's David DeLuca? Is he still in there?" David, me and David went to this, did we get blessed, David? Everywhere I go, I get blessed. You fly me all over the world, right? I walk into, I got my money in my hand. You got to pay to go into these, uh, health clubs. They don't just, you know, they got insurance things. And you know, plus I walk and they go, "Oh, Jesse Duplantis." I said, "You don't want people to recognize it." When you swear, they look in the ugly because I don't wear a real nice, uh, workout clothes. Kathy wants me to not me, I wear trash. You sweat in them, you stink in them. I don't care. I don't want to look good and then people leave you alone. I walked in. Oh, I, what did that lady say? "I'm gonna bless you today." Now, David just happened to be with me. He got the blessing too. He got the blessing. The next day I went back, got to bless him again. He got the black. Am I telling her the truth now? While I'm there, people said, "Oh, you just to Duplantis." No, no. I said, "Yes." Oh, who says it was so many? So David has to, I'm working out and people trying to, they come up behind you and touch your back and you're sweaty, you know. But that's it. I won't. And David said, "Well, I can't let too many people get around." If I don't mean that arrogant, but I'm trying to work out here. Oh, but God had two women more. They come walking up to me. "Hello. Are you who we think you are?" I said, "Yes. I'm Tom Selleck. How you doing?" [Applause] They laugh. I laugh. Sure enough, they got on the same treadmill right next to me. That's the closest treadmills I've ever seen in my life. David, I'm talking, there's a person right there and they breathe on you. You are, I'll come to find out this lady's sick, needs some help. So I wound up preaching to him, praying for them, believing God. It was an act of honor. "We're not bothering you, are we?" "No." I said, "We're all walking, but we ain't going anywhere." They're on a religious treadmill. [Applause] Say, to give him the best is the necessary fruit of believer. The value of a gift greatly depends on the self the novel which expressed. So I denied myself and David saw that I saw momentous of these people and I did, and it was a blessing. Here's the other point. Giving must not be trusted to impulse, but must be carefully regulated by principles. That is very important in your life. It's not by impulse. And then this thing, I didn't get real strong in this. Do not live at random. Beware of thinking that what you, beware of thinking that what you do is insignificant. Everything matters. I've had people apologize for giving me an offering and they were giving me their best, but see, they didn't think it was enough. Five dollars, ten dollars, dollar apology. I said, "Excuse me, I have to interrupt you. This is not insignificant. You're giving this from your heart and you're doing your best." Remember Sister Chalubik? Oh God, she's in heaven. To death lady from Poland. I have to say this and I'm gonna close. I went to a house, ladies and gentlemen. These people didn't have no money for food. The cracks on the wall, I'm not exaggerating, but the size of this, uh, glass case. You could go hunting in the house. But deer walked outside, boom, you're shooting right to the house. You didn't see. And she talks like this, but what do Jesse? She was what, in her 80s? 80, maybe 85. It's just a Chalubik, man. What a wonderful person. And her hand shook against me. So she coming to, "I want to be a blessing to the Lord and to your ministry." She gave me 200. Oh, Jesus. I went, "Sister Chalubi." And the Lord said, "Don't you take. Don't you deny her blessing." I knew they were going to eat dog food the next week. I knew they're not gonna have. I know it. It was the hardest thing I ever did. She says, "It's not much." That's all she had. Was not insignificant. I've never forgotten it. That branded me. I will take it to heaven with me. It branded me to see the heart of a real giver. Talk about something now. Oh, Lord Jesus. I'll never forget. Monks have a look. She didn't live in random. She says, "Not much." I had to correct. I said, "It's the greatest gift I've ever received in my ministry." I told her that. Tears came in her eyes. What made her do it? There must be a devotedness of spirit and a devotedness of life. That's devotion. Boy, people are afraid that they will have to give up too much. Never be afraid of the demands of Christianity. That's why even if I get tired traveling, it's all part of it. I'm not afraid of that demand. I don't care what we have to do. I'm willing to meet this challenge, no matter what cost, wherever that may lead me, whatever. Same a point. Yeah. If you're willing to go where God leads, God will see you through the journey. See, so I knew God called me to travel. I mean, I like being home and I also like to travel. Both. But I've traveled more than I've ever been home. Or people said, "We're not, it's pretty easy because you got a still traveling, still gone, still, you know." That's why when I go to Hawaii, it takes me three or four days just to get straight. I'm in the hotel. Kathy has to pull me out the hotel. Come down. Get out that room. Why? Because I'm tired. I just sit in a room and turn the television on. I watch CNN 100 times. I'm probably the best headline news boy you ever saw in your life. I could be a journalist. Why? I'm tired. I'm just tired. And after about three or four days, I begin to get my strength back. And the last time God blessed me so wonderful in Hawaii, it rained every day. It was wonderful. Now, most people were all mad. Not me. I went to bed at seven o'clock at night. Raining. And you can leave you, uh, at this place called the Grand Wailea, there in Maui. Wale, Maui. It's in Maui. You can leave your doors open in a rain. You hit a waterfall. Oh, slept at seven o'clock. 12 hours again. People thought I had a facelift. They said, "Did you do something to your face? You had any work done?" How's that? Every day it rained except for the last day. Kathy, the last day. Kathy was like, "Oh." I said, "Stay white, Mama, stay white." [Laughter] She wants to get a tan. Tan is so stupid because every time you take a bath, it comes off. [Laughter] But you can buy that stuff and put your, rub it all over yourself. I don't know. We'll make it whatever you want. And it was the best time. I needed that rest. And Kathy had to pay the price for it. And I mean, I got up. I felt like a million. But I felt, I thought, my God, man, I didn't realize how much sleep I needed. I slept for five solid days. Finally, when I got fully rested, I went, "I said, let's go walking." The sun came up and went straight to Louis Vuitton. Kathy said, "Let's go to Louis Vuitton." Can't wait to get there. She'd get mad at me when I say that, but she likes Louis Vuitton. And then she didn't buy nothing. And I came out smiling. Thank you, Jesus. Boy, the Lord had blessed me today. This is a miracle of God. We've been to futon and we didn't make button richer, but that's okay. Didn't make any difference. Then all of a sudden, when I went over to Honolulu, then it hit me. I said, "Kathy, you see them shoes?" "Yeah." "Let's buy them shoes." Oh, Lord. Just him to expect. I said, "No, I liked him shoes. I think you would enjoy those shoes." She said, "Do you want me to have it?" "Oh yeah." And we started enjoying each other. I mean, but I was so rested. I'm scared. I must have had at least 10 people tell me, uh, "But does it, if you had a little work done? What kind of work did you have? A little facelift?" I said, "No." You see the cracks right here? When you get sleep, something happens. Some go inside the cracks, kind of push them out a little bit. When you say, I don't know what happens. I don't know how it works. You know, when you get rested, boy, I mean, you just, I said, "No, but I think I need to start sleeping more." Yeah. I must look really bad. Everybody, even my chicken neck raised up a little bit. Kathy slept. She stayed. Catholic is sleeping. I got it. She stayed with me, boy. But she was so hungry. We slept so long. She'd be in the bed next to Jesse. I was gonna buy several bagels and just throw them up in the air. But God should have just eat them. She said, "Take me down to breakfast." I took her down to breakfast. Before she hit that breakfast, like I'm thinking, she hit that breakfast like a wild person. We slept, we ate, we slept, we slept, we ate, we slept, we we slept, we ate. Wonderful. I'm going to Hawaii again. I hope it's raining because I can't go lay out there. So I get burned. She don't get burned. I go out there, man, I'm out there 45 minutes. You're close to the equator. Sun. I come looking like a crawfish. A kid, you want to put me in a pot? You understand? I'm sad. I said, "Hey, this is a tough idea." She's going, "Oh, it's so wonderful. Oh, so wonderful. It's so wonderful." I said, "You're staying out here too long." "I'm gonna stay out here and tan myself." I said, "I'm telling you, it's there." I said, "We're close to the equator. It's gonna burn you more." "Oh, no, you don't know what you're talking about." Yeah. "Go and work out, do what you got to do." I said, "I'm telling you, woman. Listen." This is the man of God talking to you. Woman, listen to me. I know we ain't in church. Gone. [Applause] Man in church. Okay. Okay. 6:30 that night in the hotel room. [Applause] Oh, sleep in the corner like this. I said, "I'm telling you, woman, you're close to the equator. You burn easier here." "Go get me some stuff." "Where you want me to do it?" "I want you to rub it on me." "Oh, yeah, I can do that." [Applause] Now, I should write it. It's cold. Okay. Wait. Let me put in my hand. Yeah. I mean, she broke out with welts. Welt. And they told us some kind of something. I don't know what they call that, uh, over there. If you stay too long, sun poisoning. I said, "See, if you'd have stayed with me, get up when I get up." I say, "I'm the man of God. Listen to me, woman. I'm not trying to tell you what to do." I mean, I can hear the Lord tell a woman to get up, she won't get up. Jesus. "I'm gonna have to heal it." "Well, you're gonna have to heal him." I said, "Don't go way too far. You're gonna have to heal." I prayed for him. She was hurting, man. And do you know, I think that takes five, six, seven days for it to get out of you. The next day, boom. I think it was gone. She got up. She said, "I'm ready to go." And did you know, it wasn't seven to eight hours. I could see her. "I want to go lay out." "When you want to cook the other side?" Now, give yourself a day or two. Rest yourself. Then you're going out there. Stand to your feet, ladies and gentlemen. Kathy's starting to squirm, so I got to quit. Hallelujah. Because I'll be on the grill. Hallelujah. Living life without deficit. I went long today. I apologize. But if you'll accept what I said, how many of y'all know want to have deficits in life? And whatever you do for the Lord, let it cost you something, whether it's spiritual, physical, or financial. And watch God do a miracle that will that, uh, it's amazing. All you that are in retirement, you can live higher than you lived in. I'm telling you, I know what I'm talking about. God will honor you. Your young days, your middle age days, your old days. He will do it. He will do it.