WEBVTT

NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Prosperity Gospel 3
Publishing Date: 2022-09-25T06:00:44-07:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/prosperity-gospel-3/

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I'll share what happened with him when he went to Wally.

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And he said, how long should I take?

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I said, when I stand up, you know your time is done.

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And if you don't, I'll start playing the guitar.

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And if that doesn't work, I'll start praying.

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When you know I'm praying over you, you know that.

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You shouldn't go further.

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Yes, so Ben, I'm gonna go sit down.

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When I stand up, your time is done.

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Yeah.

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How old are you?

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How old are you?

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Okay.

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Hello, everyone.

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Hello.

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I got the chance to meet some of you.

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It's on?

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Yeah.

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All right.

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Yeah, so I got the chance to meet some of you

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over the, since Friday.

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And I just wanna say thank you to each and everyone

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for welcoming me.

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You know, I felt so at home,

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even though I'm so far away from home.

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I felt so at home.

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Thank you so much for your welcome, for your love.

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And I made so many memories, you know,

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that I will take home with me.

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I am married.

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I have a wonderful wife and a 16-month-old daughter.

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And I know Jacob through my wife's family.

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And the story goes that she went to Jacob

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before we got married while we were talking.

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I'm so glad that he told her,

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he didn't tell her not to marry me.

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Otherwise, I would have lost, you know, my love and my life.

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So thank you for that.

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But anyway.

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You're not doing anything.

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Yeah.

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Anyway, so I kept hearing about Jacob for last,

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I would say seven years, actually, through my wife.

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Every now and then his name would pop up

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in our conversation.

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So it was kind of like a mythical figure for me, Jacob.

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But, you know, couple of months ago, he came.

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I'm sure this was a good idea.

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No.

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No, no, no.

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He came to Houston and I got the chance to talk to him.

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And I only talked to him briefly for 30, 45 minutes.

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And I could tell there's something different

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in this man of God.

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You know, it's like nobody else I've ever met.

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The first thing that came to me is how carefree he was

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and how down to earth he was.

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Because remember, I had heard a lot about him.

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So who he was in reality and who I had in my mind

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were two different people.

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That was just so refreshing for me.

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But the real reason I am here today is to talk to you

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about what happened Friday night.

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When we went to Wally with some of our brothers here,

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Derek, Don, and all those guys, we went out there.

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So Friday morning, I'll start from Friday morning,

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I was, I'm by myself, right?

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So I'm just going downtown Vancouver,

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seeing this beautiful city.

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And I'm just, in my mind, I'm thanking God,

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thank you Lord for this opportunity

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to see this beautiful city.

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You know, in the beginning of the year,

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I was telling Jacob, I would never have thought

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that I would be in Vancouver in September.

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It's just a beautiful city.

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But then I kept telling God,

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Lord, this is not what I'm here for.

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You know, if this is all there is,

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I'm gonna go home disappointed.

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And then, you know how Jacob is, right?

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He won't give you a plan or anything.

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He just, hey, by the way, you're doing this, right?

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I kinda see how it works now.

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But.

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So I went back to his place, and he told me,

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hey, by the way, there's an opportunity

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for some ministry today.

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And I'm like, yes, now you're talking.

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Now, you know, I can go and see what these guys do.

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So Friday evening, we met at Wally.

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They have a rented office space there,

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and they were praying.

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And so before we went out to the streets,

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they were praying.

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This is like no other prayer meeting I've ever been to,

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right?

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Every other prayer meeting I go to,

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there's a lot of people speaking to God.

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You know, most of the time,

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one person will say something.

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Later, another person will say the same thing.

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They ask for the same thing in different words.

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And I've always wondered how God would feel.

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Like, he's hearing the same things from different people.

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But this place, I'm telling you, these guys,

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I don't know if anybody prayed out loud.

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But what Derek said, he spoke from the word a little bit.

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He had us read the part in Acts

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where Philip goes to the eunuch.

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And basically what he was saying,

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that is the Spirit of God gives you

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clear, specific directions, okay?

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Yeah, it's one thing saying that,

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but it's another thing actually seeing it in action, right?

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So I'm sitting there, these guys, like I said,

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everyone's praying in their hearts,

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but Derek said, listen, listen to God.

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And if you hear anything or if you see anything,

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just speak it out, just say it out loud.

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That takes a lot of courage to do that, right?

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So one by one, these brothers and sisters

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are saying what's popping up in their minds.

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And I won't go around and say everything,

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what they said, even though I remember it.

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You know, but one of the brothers here,

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this brother right here said,

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I don't know your name, sorry.

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Oh, Dylna, okay.

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I thought that was a girl's name.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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Sorry, brother.

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Sorry.

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Sorry.

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So, yeah.

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So, yeah.

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Sorry about that.

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Sorry about that.

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I wasn't expecting that, but yeah.

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He said, he said he saw the number 102,

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something 102, and Derek wrote it on the board, 102.

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And Don saw, he saw a guy with a black cap

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and a black hoodie and a little bit of stubble

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and white skin, okay, he was fair in complexion.

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And then, and there's some guy,

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someone heard the name Lucas,

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and someone heard the name Caroline, okay.

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Whole time I'm sitting there, man, this is so weird.

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What is going on?

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Because I've never experienced this, right?

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And I've been talking to Jacob,

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and I come from a Pentecostal background, right?

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So, this shouldn't be weird to me, but.

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But.

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But.

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But.

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But.

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But.

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But.

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But.

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But.

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But over time, I got kind of disillusioned with that,

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and I started learning by myself,

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and then I ended up in a place where I believe

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that God can only speak through scripture, that's it.

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If he speaks to you,

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he's gonna remind you something you read,

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so that is why you need to read your Bible.

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Okay, that's my understanding,

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and this is, I told Brother Don also later,

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what happened there is completely alien to me.

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So anyway, they wrote these things on the board,

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and we all took pictures of it.

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I have that picture with me.

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And then we, there were 12 people,

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so the director will split into three teams of four,

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and I got put in a team with James, Don, and Jeremy.

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Yes, and then we got in the car,

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and remember the brother had saw 102,

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so Derek told us, why don't you guys go to 102?

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And there was a street nearby,

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I believe it was called 102A, I might be wrong,

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but when we looked at the neighborhood,

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it's just a tiny little street.

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So anyway, we drove over there.

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Now when we got there, we parked,

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and I saw this beautiful four soccer fields under light.

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Okay, for some of you, that probably doesn't mean anything,

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but I'm a huge soccer fan,

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and I love seeing stadiums, not huge stadiums,

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but soccer fields, especially under lights.

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And then, that was so overwhelming to me,

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because I started thinking, what are the chances

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that I get put in this car,

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and that car comes to this street, right?

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So when we got off the car,

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I felt compelled to talk to the brothers,

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and I told them, guys, this is amazing,

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I love seeing this, and I feel like God brought me here

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for a purpose, so he's just talking to me like,

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hey, this is real, you know, he's just confirming it to me.

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So then we kept walking those streets,

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and remember the two names,

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we saw was Lucas and Caroline,

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so every guy we would see, we would ask,

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is your name Lucas?

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Nope.

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And any woman that would walk by, or a girl,

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we would say, hey, is your name Caroline, by any chance?

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No, no, no, Caroline.

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And then at one point, we saw a guy with a black hoodie,

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and I don't think he was wearing a cap,

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but anyway, it was black hoodie, right?

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He was on his bike, and he just zoomed past.

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And then Don said, okay, if he comes back,

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we'll talk to him, so he came back,

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and then he went to try to talk to him,

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but he didn't stop, he just looked at us weirdly,

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and then just rode off, okay?

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So, man, then we just keep walking for like,

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it must have been an hour, I don't know,

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but we keep walking, walking, I'm like,

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God, what's going on?

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Maybe because the skeptic is walking with them,

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nothing's happening.

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But I was like, Lord, come on,

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with all my faith, I'm believing,

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because I want to see something happen, right?

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And then by that time, I'm walking with James,

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and James kept saying, don't worry,

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sometimes it's like this,

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the important thing is that we obey, we're obeying,

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so we kept walking.

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And I was like, wow, that's a good thought.

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That made me feel a little happier,

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at least we're obeying, right?

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So it might happen.

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And then he said, some nights, we come out here,

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and things happen, everything's happening,

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some nights, it's like this.

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I was like, wow, okay, hopefully something happens.

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And so we walked around,

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at one point we got a little bit lost, I think.

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By this time, we were so far away from 102,

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we even took a trails, like a shortcut.

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It was, guys, I'm telling you, I'm telling you guys,

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it was pitch dark.

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And then Dawn was leading us with the cellphone light.

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I'm like, what?

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And I said, guys, this is an example of walking by faith.

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Not by sight.

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And then they started saying,

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Ben is saying, why did he ever come to Vancouver now?

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But anyway, we come out the right side again,

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and now we're again at the soccer fields.

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And at that point, they felt like, hey,

00:11:11.920 --> 00:11:14.440
maybe we came here just for Ben.

00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:17.960
So Dawn had a soccer ball in the back of his car,

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so we started kicking the ball,

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and the brothers started praying for me,

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and they all spoke words to me

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that mean a lot to me that I cherish.

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The basic gist of what they all said was that

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I need to come back to the simplicity

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of just being a son, going back to his father,

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and just loving the Lord.

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Not being bogged down with all these doctrines

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and dogmas and all that,

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but just to approach him with the simplicity of heart

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that I had as a child and I somehow lost along the way.

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And then while they're saying it,

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I don't know if they understand what they're saying,

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but it was crystal clear to me, the word of the Lord.

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And I took it.

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And if that was it, if the night ended there,

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I would go home happy, you know?

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But it's like the infomercial, wait, there's more.

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Listen, all right.

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So we go from there, right?

00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:21.680
By the time it's getting late,

00:12:21.680 --> 00:12:23.880
I think Derek might have called them,

00:12:23.880 --> 00:12:26.600
so we decided to go to the Walmart there.

00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:29.240
I think the place is called Surrey.

00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:31.840
Man, that place was full of drug addicts.

00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.440
I have never been in a place like that.

00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:36.280
I saw people taking drugs.

00:12:36.280 --> 00:12:40.000
I saw people overdosing on drugs.

00:12:41.160 --> 00:12:44.120
And basically, we're in that Walmart.

00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:45.520
I'm looking at all these things,

00:12:45.520 --> 00:12:47.520
but we keep walking past.

00:12:47.520 --> 00:12:50.160
And it was a little university.

00:12:50.160 --> 00:12:53.960
I think it was called Steven Fraser University or something.

00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:56.400
It was Simon Fraser, yeah.

00:12:56.400 --> 00:12:59.920
It was this small courtyard.

00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:02.400
And then we kept walking there.

00:13:02.400 --> 00:13:06.840
And by that time, again, I'm with James and Dawn and Jeremy

00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:08.040
are a little bit ahead of us.

00:13:08.040 --> 00:13:09.760
They kept walking.

00:13:09.760 --> 00:13:11.840
And then we got to this building.

00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:16.840
And James said, let's just wait here.

00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:18.800
Let them go, let's just wait, wait.

00:13:18.800 --> 00:13:21.440
I said, okay, maybe God is speaking to him.

00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.120
Let's just wait, right?

00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:25.520
And then I look up at this building.

00:13:25.520 --> 00:13:26.680
I couldn't believe my eyes.

00:13:26.680 --> 00:13:28.920
It's a 102 Avenue.

00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:34.000
I told James, I'd say it's 102 Avenue over there.

00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.360
And then James said, well, then that's the guy.

00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.440
And lo and behold, there's a guy there with a black cap,

00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:44.840
a black hoodie, and he's just pacing back and forth.

00:13:44.840 --> 00:13:46.760
And so we went to him.

00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:51.720
James said, can I pray for you?

00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:53.600
And the first thing that came out of his mouth,

00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.600
I remember is, I am super high.

00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:58.920
I don't want to say anything inappropriate.

00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:03.240
And I felt, wow, I didn't expect that.

00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:05.120
I was actually expecting some more stronger,

00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:09.000
colorful language, but it was so kind actually.

00:14:09.040 --> 00:14:10.440
And then we prayed for him.

00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:14.760
And man, by this time, I'm telling you, I'm feeling bold.

00:14:14.760 --> 00:14:17.080
I'm feeling so bold like I've never felt before

00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:20.520
because I just saw these things happen, right?

00:14:20.520 --> 00:14:25.400
And I feel words coming up in my spirit to pray for him.

00:14:25.400 --> 00:14:27.560
But at the same time, I don't want to be that guy

00:14:27.560 --> 00:14:29.600
taking over, so I'm letting James pray.

00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:32.720
And James is praying, and in the middle of his prayer,

00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:35.600
he kind of stops and he says, do you want to pray, Ben?

00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:36.480
And I say, yes.

00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:38.400
And I started praying for him with all my faith

00:14:38.400 --> 00:14:40.960
and praying for deliverance from his addiction

00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:41.800
and all that.

00:14:41.800 --> 00:14:44.400
And by that time, Don and Jeremy come back

00:14:45.560 --> 00:14:47.080
because they had just gone a little farther.

00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:48.640
Now they're coming back.

00:14:48.640 --> 00:14:51.000
And Don told us, did you guys tell him

00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:53.080
why you're talking to him?

00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:57.080
And I think we actually forgot to tell him, right?

00:14:57.080 --> 00:14:59.720
We knew, but he didn't know.

00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:04.520
And Don told him, hey, we knew that we would talk

00:15:04.520 --> 00:15:07.320
to a guy in a black cap and a black hoodie.

00:15:07.800 --> 00:15:10.120
And we just talked to him, we prayed for him.

00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:16.000
We asked him if he has a place to sleep at night.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.640
And then he said he has a tent downtown.

00:15:18.640 --> 00:15:20.240
And then I heard from these guys

00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:22.800
that downtown is really far away from there.

00:15:22.800 --> 00:15:25.280
So the chances that this guy would be there

00:15:25.280 --> 00:15:27.480
are very, very slim, okay?

00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:29.480
It was just amazing.

00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:32.680
And then we asked him if he wants anything to eat.

00:15:32.680 --> 00:15:36.440
And he said, because of what he took,

00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:38.560
he can't eat anything.

00:15:38.560 --> 00:15:40.440
But he said he wants some lemonade

00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:42.240
and some protein drinks we bought.

00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:45.560
We took and brought it to him.

00:15:45.560 --> 00:15:50.560
And it was just surreal experience, man.

00:15:51.400 --> 00:15:52.920
I'm digesting this all the way.

00:15:52.920 --> 00:15:55.120
And then we go down and.

00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:00.120
Yeah, I'll stop right now.

00:16:00.560 --> 00:16:02.840
And then on the way, I see a guy,

00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:04.280
and Don is talking to me about

00:16:04.280 --> 00:16:06.000
how he saw someone overdose

00:16:06.760 --> 00:16:10.000
and almost die at this very location.

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.280
As he's just seeing it, a guy falls over

00:16:13.280 --> 00:16:15.240
right on the side there.

00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.800
We go over to him, he's not moving, he's not breathing.

00:16:18.800 --> 00:16:22.080
And we start praying, and all of a sudden he stands up.

00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:23.600
He just gets up and walk.

00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:24.520
And I was just praying,

00:16:24.520 --> 00:16:27.080
Lord, I have made so many good memories.

00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:29.760
I don't want the visual of a man dying in front of me.

00:16:29.760 --> 00:16:32.000
I wasn't ready to see it.

00:16:32.040 --> 00:16:36.080
And God, thank God he made it.

00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:39.040
And the point of what I'm all saying is that

00:16:41.560 --> 00:16:42.800
we need to remember the guy.

00:16:42.800 --> 00:16:44.920
The guy's name was Jesus, okay?

00:16:44.920 --> 00:16:49.240
I sincerely wish that when these brothers go out again,

00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:51.360
that they will see him again

00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:53.720
and that you keep in touch with him.

00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:55.600
We can do everything to bring that man

00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.600
because God saw him, right?

00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:00.320
God saw him, it wasn't a mistake.

00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:01.680
It wasn't just so I know.

00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:05.800
It was for that soul, and hopefully he will come back.

00:17:05.800 --> 00:17:08.720
And I just once again just want to say thank you

00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:10.760
before Jacob prays for me.

00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:13.360
Thank you so much, guys.

00:17:14.360 --> 00:17:15.200
Do do do.

00:17:16.520 --> 00:17:17.440
Live?

00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:18.260
Okay.

00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.200
All righty, guys, so this is the third part

00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:23.760
of Prosperity Gospel.

00:17:25.320 --> 00:17:29.680
So like I said last time, last week,

00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:30.960
if you don't,

00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:35.480
if you haven't heard part one and part two,

00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:38.240
some of the things that I'm saying in part three will be,

00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:42.840
will not have continuity or won't have context.

00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:45.840
So you may have to go listen to part one and part two

00:17:45.840 --> 00:17:50.400
to have a sense of continuity.

00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.120
And I'm trusting that this is a concluding part

00:17:53.120 --> 00:17:57.560
of this series, but I have a feeling I won't finish it

00:17:57.560 --> 00:17:59.120
because Ben took too long.

00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:03.280
And I'll try to wrap up by one o'clock

00:18:03.280 --> 00:18:07.160
and then we'll have communion and go home.

00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:08.560
So let's see how far we get.

00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:12.960
So today we want to talk about Prosperity Gospel,

00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:14.880
the principles of giving.

00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.920
The principles of giving.

00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:18.440
The principles of giving.

00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:22.320
So the first part was the false Prosperity Gospel

00:18:22.320 --> 00:18:25.400
that is being circulated in Christendom

00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:27.120
for the last 20 years.

00:18:27.120 --> 00:18:29.160
The false Prosperity Gospel.

00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.880
Why is it so unbiblical?

00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:33.400
What is it based on?

00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:35.680
And we talked about the lack, the fear of lack.

00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:36.640
We talked about greed.

00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:38.320
We talked about those things in part one.

00:18:38.320 --> 00:18:43.320
Part two was, so who is God when it comes to blessing

00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:45.360
and prospering his people?

00:18:45.360 --> 00:18:46.800
How do we relate to him?

00:18:46.800 --> 00:18:50.360
How we see him allows us then to connect with wealth,

00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:53.760
him and others around you in a way that is kingdom.

00:18:53.760 --> 00:18:57.080
Today we talk about the principles of giving as Christians.

00:18:57.080 --> 00:18:58.960
So that's where we start off.

00:18:59.800 --> 00:19:01.160
And most of the things we're gonna talk about

00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:04.080
are gonna come from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

00:19:04.080 --> 00:19:05.600
Most of it.

00:19:05.600 --> 00:19:07.520
So go home and have a good read of that

00:19:07.520 --> 00:19:10.160
because almost all the things we're gonna talk about

00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:12.600
will come from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

00:19:12.600 --> 00:19:13.440
Yeah?

00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.480
So here's the first thing we wanna talk about.

00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:17.360
Sowing.

00:19:17.360 --> 00:19:20.520
We already established the fact last week

00:19:20.520 --> 00:19:24.800
that sowing and reaping is a secondary principle

00:19:24.800 --> 00:19:27.280
because Jesus said, look at the birds of the air.

00:19:27.280 --> 00:19:31.960
They neither sow nor reap, yet my father provides for them.

00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:33.560
We've got to understand that

00:19:33.560 --> 00:19:36.120
because the prosperity gospel, the false one,

00:19:36.120 --> 00:19:39.000
is based on the principle of sowing and reaping

00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:40.880
as the primary way of operating.

00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.840
And so, preachers use it to make you sow

00:19:43.840 --> 00:19:45.240
and tell you that you will reap

00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:47.000
and usually the preacher reaps.

00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:52.000
So we gotta understand that the primary principle

00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:55.680
when it comes to money is God is a father, he provides.

00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:58.960
And he provides so that our needs are taken care of

00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:00.480
and he provides so that we can take care

00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:01.680
of other people's needs.

00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.600
That's the primary principle.

00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:07.560
He provides so that we can be taken care of

00:20:07.560 --> 00:20:08.840
and he provides so that other people

00:20:08.840 --> 00:20:11.480
can be taken care of through us.

00:20:12.840 --> 00:20:15.640
So sowing and reaping is a secondary principle.

00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.720
So God provides, and this is from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:20.600
Here's the strange thing.

00:20:20.600 --> 00:20:24.120
God provides seed for the sower

00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:29.360
God provides seed for the sower

00:20:29.360 --> 00:20:32.880
and he provides bread for food.

00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:36.720
And guess what he multiplies?

00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:40.440
He multiplies seed.

00:20:43.320 --> 00:20:45.440
We'll revisit that again.

00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:47.080
But understand this, that God is the one

00:20:47.080 --> 00:20:49.640
who provides me bread for food

00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:52.160
or bread for my needs for consumption.

00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:55.320
But he's also the one who provides seed for sowing.

00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.440
God does this.

00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.640
It's best that we imitate him.

00:21:02.560 --> 00:21:07.240
And what he multiplies is not bread, he multiplies seed.

00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:08.720
And when seed is multiplied

00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.760
and it's not distributed, it rots.

00:21:14.520 --> 00:21:16.600
Well, the prosperity gospel says this,

00:21:16.600 --> 00:21:18.720
sow this so that you may have this.

00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.200
And God is saying,

00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:25.320
now I provide you this and I provide you this.

00:21:25.320 --> 00:21:28.000
What I want you to do is take this and I'll multiply it

00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:31.640
so that you can distribute it freely, generously

00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:32.960
into people's lives.

00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:33.960
He does both.

00:21:38.520 --> 00:21:40.720
The second thing he says when it comes to sowing is,

00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:44.920
stinginess, I'm taking it from different versions,

00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:49.920
stinginess keeps, a stingy sower reaps a meager harvest

00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:56.520
a stingy sower reaps a meager harvest,

00:21:56.520 --> 00:21:59.640
a stingy sower reaps a meager harvest,

00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:04.640
a generous heart reaps an abundant harvest.

00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:15.600
A stingy sower or stinginess reaps a meager harvest,

00:22:15.600 --> 00:22:18.480
a generous heart reaps an abundant harvest.

00:22:20.080 --> 00:22:21.720
That's the second thing he says.

00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:27.200
And always remember guys, where stinginess comes from.

00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:31.280
Stinginess doesn't come from your parents,

00:22:31.280 --> 00:22:35.560
stinginess doesn't come from your national or local

00:22:35.560 --> 00:22:38.720
upbringing, stinginess doesn't come because you're in need,

00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:43.720
stinginess comes because of a fear of lack.

00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:49.720
It's a fear of lack and that's what makes me stingy.

00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:52.720
So a guy who's very generous, very liberal can go

00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:57.720
into stinginess pretty easily when the fear of lack comes in.

00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.720
And the only way then you can free yourself from it is

00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:10.720
you can free yourself from the fear of lack.

00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:14.720
The only way you can free yourself from it is the way

00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:18.720
it's said in the scriptures, keep your lives,

00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.720
it's strange eh, Hebrews chapter 13,

00:23:21.720 --> 00:23:25.720
keep your lives free from the love of money and be content.

00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:26.720
Based on what?

00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.720
Look at what God is saying, hey Jacob,

00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:32.720
keep your life free from the love of money and be content.

00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.720
But how, Father, what's that based on?

00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:38.720
That I will never leave you nor will I abandon you for the rest of your life.

00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:41.720
Therefore keep your life free from the love of money.

00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:46.720
Keep your life free from the love of money and be content

00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:51.720
because I will not leave you, I will not abandon you.

00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:55.720
We use those scriptures in different contexts but what we

00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:58.720
don't see is that context was specifically with regard to

00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.720
the love of money and the fear that you have.

00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:07.720
Hebrews chapter 13, verse 6 or 7 or 8, it's there.

00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:12.720
Keep your life free from the love of money and be content.

00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:13.720
Based on what?

00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:16.720
Based on the fact that I will never leave you,

00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.720
I will not abandon you.

00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:23.720
That's what it's based on.

00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:27.720
And then he goes on to say, therefore now with great confidence

00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:31.720
I will say that the Lord is my helper.

00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:33.720
I will not be afraid.

00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:35.720
What can mortal man do to me?

00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:37.720
Again we take the scripture out of context.

00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:40.720
It's perfectly okay to take the scripture out of context by the way.

00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.720
Jesus did that all the time, Paul did that all the time.

00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:48.720
You can take it out of context and apply it to different places.

00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.720
But when you do that, tell people you're taking it out of context.

00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:57.720
So, that's where we mess up.

00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:00.720
We don't tell people we're taking it out of context.

00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:05.720
The actual context of the scripture, the Lord is my helper.

00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:07.720
I will not be afraid.

00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:09.720
What can mortal man do to me?

00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:13.720
It's connected to the confidence that one has when one is not in love with money

00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:16.720
but is in love with God because he knows that he will never be forsaken,

00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:18.720
never be abandoned, that the Lord is his helper.

00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.720
What can mortal man do to me?

00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:22.720
What can your boss do to you?

00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:30.720
Strange how the scriptures are connected in Hebrews chapter 13.

00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:45.720
And if you think you do not have the fear of money.

00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:50.720
And Jesus said in 2 Corinthians 8, he says,

00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:53.720
hey guys, you excel in so many things.

00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:56.720
Why don't you excel in the grace of giving?

00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.720
Why don't you excel?

00:25:58.720 --> 00:25:59.720
Excel.

00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.720
These are commands by God, excel.

00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:03.720
It ain't enough.

00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:14.720
Ten percent is not excelling.

00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:26.720
We got to take a hammer to this tithing thing.

00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.720
It's not excelling.

00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:39.720
He said excel in the grace of giving.

00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:51.720
Since you excel in so many ways, I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.

00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:52.720
So how do we give?

00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:53.720
What's the attitude?

00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:55.720
And then after that you can ask questions.

00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:56.720
How do we give?

00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:00.720
What's the attitude?

00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.720
I love the fact that the Bible has taken care of this entirely.

00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:04.720
So here's what it says.

00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:07.720
You should give what you've decided.

00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:15.720
You should give what you've decided.

00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:16.720
You should give what you've decided.

00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:18.720
2 Corinthians 8 and 9, read it.

00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:20.720
You should give what you've decided in your heart to give.

00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:23.720
You should give what you've decided in your heart to give.

00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:26.720
If your heart can give 100%, give 100%.

00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:29.720
If your heart can give 2%, give 2%.

00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:36.720
And then change your heart nextayan month if you're giving 2%.

00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:42.720
So give what you've decided.

00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.720
You've got to take a hammer to tithing.

00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:47.720
Not because it is not a scriptural principle.

00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:49.720
Not because God did not command it.

00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:52.720
Not because it's not a great principle to follow.

00:27:52.720 --> 00:28:00.720
But because it is so blooming, limiting.

00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:03.720
It's like telling your child, listen I'm sending you to school.

00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:09.720
I don't want you to get through.

00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:12.720
I mean, the child doesn't need help with that anyway.

00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:13.720
Because that's what happened to most of us.

00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:19.720
Look at Don. Look at Derek.

00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:28.720
Manoj is the only one in that group who made it somewhere.

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:31.720
So you should give what you've decided.

00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:34.720
Second, it says you shouldn't give if you don't want to.

00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:37.720
You shouldn't give if you don't want to.

00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:42.720
This is in the Bible. You shouldn't give if you don't want to.

00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:47.720
This is just not what pastors should be preaching.

00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:49.720
Second principle, you shouldn't give if you don't want to.

00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:53.720
Nobody is compelling you.

00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:59.720
You shouldn't give if you don't want to.

00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:02.720
Third, you shouldn't give because you're forced to.

00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:07.720
You shouldn't give because you're forced to.

00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:13.720
You shouldn't give because you're forced to.

00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:17.720
Basically, don't give out of compulsion.

00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:22.720
Don't give out of obligation.

00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:26.720
Don't give out of necessity.

00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:29.720
Don't give out of compulsion.

00:29:29.720 --> 00:29:31.720
Don't give out of obligation.

00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:33.720
Don't give out of necessity.

00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:47.720
2 Corinthians 9.

00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:51.720
Why is this? Why is God saying this? Why?

00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:55.720
Why? Very simple man.

00:29:55.720 --> 00:30:08.720
Because God insists on a cheerful giver.

00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:13.720
He insists.

00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:15.720
He insists on it.

00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:16.720
This is why he's saying,

00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:18.720
hey, I don't want you to give out of compulsion, obligation, necessity.

00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:20.720
Don't give. You don't want to give, don't give.

00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:22.720
Don't give if you're forced.

00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:27.720
Why? Because I don't want anything from you that you don't give cheerfully.

00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:32.720
Don't want anything from you that you don't give cheerfully.

00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:38.720
And if there's anybody who can read your heart, it's him, eh?

00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:44.720
You can come dancing up front and throw money into the basket and dance back,

00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:51.720
and he'll think to himself, my God, miserable heart, joyful dancing.

00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:52.720
Because he knows.

00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:58.720
This is why he stood by the side of that treasury box and is watching a man put a lot of money in it

00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:01.720
and a widow putting her two mites.

00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:06.720
And he knew.

00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:08.720
I love the fact that he knows, eh?

00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:12.720
I love the fact that the intents of my heart are always exposed before him

00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:14.720
and there's nothing I can do to hide it.

00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:26.720
You can fake it, and I'll believe you.

00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:29.720
Any questions before we go on?

00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:34.720
Is it possible that if we do give out our obligation or necessity,

00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:39.720
that we actually kill the seed because we're doing it out of religious...

00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:43.720
Is our seed stifled or...?

00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:47.720
No, the seed is not stifled, but the return to you is stifled.

00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:56.720
The seed... let's say you give me a hundred bucks because you feel compelled,

00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:57.720
and you give me a hundred bucks.

00:31:57.720 --> 00:31:59.720
Hey, the seed is good for me.

00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:02.720
I give you a hundred bucks and I can spend it.

00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:08.720
But what happens is the harvest that's supposed to come into your life gets crushed

00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:14.720
because the soil that the seed came out of is so hard,

00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:19.720
but there is nothing that can happen for you in that.

00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:21.720
What am I talking about in returns?

00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:24.720
Please don't think when I said returns, I meant the hundred will become a thousand.

00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:27.720
I'm talking about the returns of thanksgiving from his heart.

00:32:27.720 --> 00:32:29.720
I'm talking about the returns of being joyful before God.

00:32:29.720 --> 00:32:32.720
I'm talking about the returns of giving something sacrificially.

00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:35.720
Nothing that is not sacrificed will bear fruit.

00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:37.720
Let me take away the double negative.

00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:42.720
Everything that is sacrificed will bear fruit.

00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:45.720
That is where the seed gets destroyed.

00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:50.720
But feel free to give me your money reluctantly

00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:55.720
because I will receive it joyfully.

00:32:55.720 --> 00:32:58.720
There's no problem there.

00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:00.720
Yeah, let there be no...

00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:04.720
Yeah, sorry, any other question?

00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:06.720
Any other question?

00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:13.720
I mean, you think kids buy their mothers and fathers birthday gifts out of their pocket money happily?

00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:15.720
They collected it for an entire year.

00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:19.720
Now the dad goes into this, you've got to buy mom something bigger.

00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:28.720
That's a question that I feel like that's a really helpful reframe on the God of the cheerful paper

00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:31.720
because I normally phrase that in like plus compulsion.

00:33:31.720 --> 00:33:33.720
You have to give, but be happy.

00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:35.720
Yeah, give hilariously.

00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:38.720
Laugh as you come to put the money in the offering.

00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:41.720
Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:44.720
He died laughing.

00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:47.720
Ha ha ha ha ha.

00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:49.720
Yeah.

00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:51.720
Any other questions?

00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:57.720
What principle is it that where anything is sacrificed...

00:33:57.720 --> 00:34:00.720
Jesus put it this way, unless it's the kernel of...

00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:04.720
Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it does not produce anything.

00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:10.720
The seed for increase is always sacrificed.

00:34:10.720 --> 00:34:13.720
What is the purpose if you gain the entire world and lose your life?

00:34:13.720 --> 00:34:17.720
But if you lose your life, you will gain everything.

00:34:17.720 --> 00:34:20.720
So something has to be lost.

00:34:20.720 --> 00:34:34.720
Whenever things fall and die, something comes out of it.

00:34:34.720 --> 00:34:47.720
Okay, basic methods of how to give.

00:34:47.720 --> 00:34:53.720
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16, and he was talking about mission giving,

00:34:53.720 --> 00:34:54.720
but we can apply it to...

00:34:54.720 --> 00:34:56.720
This is what I meant by taking it out of context.

00:34:56.720 --> 00:34:59.720
He was talking about taking a collection for a mission in Jerusalem,

00:34:59.720 --> 00:35:05.720
but I'm talking about how we can do it on a regular basis using this principle.

00:35:05.720 --> 00:35:08.720
Every Sunday, he says, every Sunday.

00:35:08.720 --> 00:35:10.720
In our case, it may not be every Sunday.

00:35:10.720 --> 00:35:15.720
Every Sunday, make a generous offering.

00:35:15.720 --> 00:35:18.720
Make a generous offering.

00:35:18.720 --> 00:35:20.720
I love how God thought of all this.

00:35:20.720 --> 00:35:23.720
By taking a portion, and he doesn't tell you what portion, eh?

00:35:23.720 --> 00:35:25.720
By taking a portion...

00:35:25.720 --> 00:35:26.720
This is New Testament now.

00:35:26.720 --> 00:35:33.720
By taking a portion of whatever God, of whatever God blessed you with,

00:35:33.720 --> 00:35:41.720
of whatever God blessed you with.

00:35:41.720 --> 00:35:44.720
And then Paul goes a little further because it is mission giving.

00:35:44.720 --> 00:35:46.720
He says, keep it safe.

00:35:46.720 --> 00:35:49.720
As in, don't mess with it, don't spend it on a burger.

00:35:49.720 --> 00:35:52.720
Keep it safe.

00:35:52.720 --> 00:35:53.720
Yeah.

00:35:53.720 --> 00:35:54.720
Whatever God blessed you...

00:35:54.720 --> 00:35:56.720
So this is a very simple principle.

00:35:56.720 --> 00:36:01.720
Every Sunday or once every month, make a generous offering.

00:36:01.720 --> 00:36:03.720
That's all he says in terms of how much.

00:36:03.720 --> 00:36:11.720
Make a generous offering by taking a portion of what God blessed you with during the week.

00:36:11.720 --> 00:36:13.720
And set it aside.

00:36:13.720 --> 00:36:18.720
There's such freedom in New Testament giving.

00:36:18.720 --> 00:36:23.720
And without freedom, there is no increase in what goes out of your life.

00:36:23.720 --> 00:36:25.720
Remember that, guys.

00:36:25.720 --> 00:36:28.720
Whenever there's compulsion, obligation, and necessity,

00:36:28.720 --> 00:36:31.720
there's always a limit on what flows out of your life.

00:36:31.720 --> 00:36:38.720
The moment there is freedom, it has the power to increase.

00:36:38.720 --> 00:36:43.720
When I am free to do what I want, it increases.

00:36:43.720 --> 00:36:50.720
You set a child free in an area, and you will see what the child really is like.

00:36:50.720 --> 00:36:52.720
Go ahead, Paul.

00:36:52.720 --> 00:36:56.720
Hasn't he accepted from obligation and from...

00:36:56.720 --> 00:36:58.720
Recognize it first.

00:36:58.720 --> 00:37:02.720
If you see me compelling you to give money, recognize it.

00:37:02.720 --> 00:37:04.720
Now, this guy's putting pressure on me.

00:37:04.720 --> 00:37:07.720
I offer you a sob story.

00:37:07.720 --> 00:37:09.720
This guy's putting pressure on me.

00:37:09.720 --> 00:37:14.720
I tell you out of necessity, hey, you need to...

00:37:14.720 --> 00:37:17.720
Sometimes, yeah.

00:37:17.720 --> 00:37:21.720
Some of these statements, guys, we cannot use it as a blanket statement and apply it on everything,

00:37:21.720 --> 00:37:23.720
but this is a general principle.

00:37:23.720 --> 00:37:25.720
Yeah.

00:37:29.720 --> 00:37:33.720
I just want to make it clear that I'm not against tithing.

00:37:33.720 --> 00:37:35.720
I don't think it's unbiblical.

00:37:35.720 --> 00:37:38.720
I think it's a good principle, but I think it's super limiting.

00:37:38.720 --> 00:37:45.720
I think we should put it in the inside room, in the store room, where you keep stuff you won't use.

00:37:48.720 --> 00:37:50.720
Yeah.

00:37:50.720 --> 00:37:54.720
Just in case you thought Jacob doesn't believe in tithing.

00:37:54.720 --> 00:37:56.720
Not true.

00:37:56.720 --> 00:37:58.720
Yeah.

00:37:58.720 --> 00:38:02.720
Sometimes, guys, you want to give, but you don't have.

00:38:02.720 --> 00:38:06.720
You want to give, but you don't have.

00:38:06.720 --> 00:38:07.720
Crazy.

00:38:07.720 --> 00:38:08.720
The Bible's taken care of that, too.

00:38:08.720 --> 00:38:11.720
You want to give, but you don't have.

00:38:11.720 --> 00:38:12.720
I've been through times like this.

00:38:12.720 --> 00:38:16.720
I wanted to give, but I didn't have.

00:38:16.720 --> 00:38:18.720
At $60 in my bank, that's all.

00:38:18.720 --> 00:38:21.720
I didn't have, but I wanted to give.

00:38:21.720 --> 00:38:22.720
What do you do then?

00:38:22.720 --> 00:38:28.720
And it says in 2 Corinthians 9, hey, just so you know, if you don't have, express your readiness to God.

00:38:28.720 --> 00:38:34.720
And express your readiness even to one or two people, for it's acceptable according to what you have,

00:38:34.720 --> 00:38:36.720
not according to what you don't have.

00:38:36.720 --> 00:38:43.720
You want to give, you don't have, you go and say to God, Father, I so badly want to give in this.

00:38:43.720 --> 00:38:49.720
Either give me something to give, or just look at my heart and take this.

00:38:49.720 --> 00:38:53.720
And then you go and tell Sheldon, Sheldon, you know, I really wanted to give towards that.

00:38:53.720 --> 00:38:57.720
I just wanted to know because you're my friend that I really wanted to give.

00:38:57.720 --> 00:39:00.720
And then it goes on to say, now that you've expressed your desire to give,

00:39:00.720 --> 00:39:03.720
you give according to what you have, not according to what you don't have.

00:39:03.720 --> 00:39:09.720
But when you get, finish or complete your readiness by fulfilling what you said you would do.

00:39:12.720 --> 00:39:17.720
All I'm doing right now is taking scriptures and wording them in simple English.

00:39:17.720 --> 00:39:20.720
I'm not adding any masala to this.

00:39:24.720 --> 00:39:27.720
According to what you have.

00:39:27.720 --> 00:39:33.720
That's why faith seeds that people ask you to sow a seed in faith.

00:39:33.720 --> 00:39:38.720
Hey, you sow a seed in faith, but don't do it because someone else is telling you to have faith to sow a seed.

00:39:38.720 --> 00:39:42.720
If you got faith for it, you do it, not because someone compelled you.

00:39:42.720 --> 00:39:46.720
But when someone on TV says, if you don't have the money, just put it on your credit card, God will provide for you.

00:39:46.720 --> 00:39:48.720
Don't.

00:39:49.720 --> 00:39:57.720
I watched a guy on TV who said, if you don't have money, use your credit cards because the anointing is here now.

00:39:57.720 --> 00:40:02.720
If it lifts, you won't get the same reward. So use your credit card.

00:40:02.720 --> 00:40:05.720
Do it in faith. That's not faith, man.

00:40:05.720 --> 00:40:08.720
That's daylight robbery.

00:40:18.720 --> 00:40:23.720
What's the outcome when we behave like this? What's the outcome?

00:40:23.720 --> 00:40:32.720
Here's the thing, guys. Some outcomes are not supposed to be the motive, but some outcomes are supposed to be the product.

00:40:32.720 --> 00:40:35.720
Very important. Some outcomes are not supposed to be the motive.

00:40:35.720 --> 00:40:41.720
What happened with the prosperity gospel is they took the outcome and made it the motive.

00:40:41.720 --> 00:40:47.720
Outcomes are not supposed to be the motive. Outcomes are supposed to be the byproduct.

00:40:48.720 --> 00:40:54.720
Because you have a good father. He's the motive. He's the source.

00:40:54.720 --> 00:40:59.720
Everything comes from him, goes back to him, or goes back to his cause.

00:40:59.720 --> 00:41:05.720
He doesn't need your money. To obey is better than sacrifice. I don't need your money. I need your life.

00:41:05.720 --> 00:41:08.720
It's an old Keith Green song.

00:41:08.720 --> 00:41:11.720
Outcome. What's the outcome?

00:41:11.720 --> 00:41:19.720
When one gives generously, when one gives generously, and when one gives cheerfully,

00:41:19.720 --> 00:41:29.720
these are two words that God highly praises because that's who he is.

00:41:29.720 --> 00:41:32.720
You've got to understand why.

00:41:32.720 --> 00:41:39.720
God is the most joyful being in the universe.

00:41:39.720 --> 00:41:47.720
It's so sad that it'll take a while before he'll show us a flashback of when the universe was created.

00:41:47.720 --> 00:41:55.720
One of the scriptures that really grabs me is the morning stars sang when he created the earth.

00:41:55.720 --> 00:42:01.720
As in as he was being created, it must have been one of the most amazing symphonies you've ever seen.

00:42:01.720 --> 00:42:07.720
Things coming together. And it was pristine. It was pure. It was absolutely delightful.

00:42:07.720 --> 00:42:12.720
There was joy. He's the most joyous person in the universe.

00:42:12.720 --> 00:42:18.720
Tearfulness, generosity, it's his core.

00:42:18.720 --> 00:42:35.720
So for us to give anything without that is like pagan. Sorry.

00:42:35.720 --> 00:42:41.720
That's why. But when one gives generously, one gives cheerfully.

00:42:41.720 --> 00:42:52.720
Here's the things that happen. God is able to bless abundantly.

00:42:52.720 --> 00:42:58.720
I find, you know, of all the words in the sentence, the only word that really catches me is able.

00:42:58.720 --> 00:43:10.720
God is able to. It's almost like he's not able to because you will not be able to handle it if these precepts are not met.

00:43:10.720 --> 00:43:16.720
Generous, cheerful giving. God is able to. It's not that God is unable to if you don't.

00:43:16.720 --> 00:43:23.720
He blesses anyways. But God is able to as in he gets to participate in what he's doing with you.

00:43:23.720 --> 00:43:26.720
God is able to bless you abundantly. What does that look like?

00:43:26.720 --> 00:43:38.720
One, and this is again from 2 Corinthians 9, A, you'll have more than enough.

00:43:38.720 --> 00:43:42.720
You can take any one of these things I'm saying with scriptury.

00:43:42.720 --> 00:43:49.720
Two, you'll have more than enough of everything.

00:43:49.720 --> 00:43:58.720
Three, you'll have more than enough of everything at every moment.

00:43:58.720 --> 00:44:14.720
Four, you'll have more than enough of everything at every moment to engage in every good work he planned for you.

00:44:14.720 --> 00:44:17.720
So Jacob, where's the scripture?

00:44:17.720 --> 00:44:20.720
He who sows sparingly, reaps sparingly. He who sows generously, reaps generously.

00:44:20.720 --> 00:44:32.720
And God is able to cause his grace to abound to you so that in all things, at all times, you will have an all sufficiency for every good work.

00:44:32.720 --> 00:44:35.720
Does this principle apply to retirement law?

00:44:35.720 --> 00:44:41.720
Yeah, to anything that is given to you to steward that you invest.

00:44:41.720 --> 00:44:45.720
Anything that's given to you to steward that you can invest.

00:44:45.720 --> 00:44:52.720
Yeah.

00:44:52.720 --> 00:45:04.720
Yeah.

00:45:04.720 --> 00:45:09.720
Yeah, as soon as you recognize that your heart is not willing, remember Isaiah 1, it says,

00:45:09.720 --> 00:45:13.720
He who is willing and obedient will eat the good of the land.

00:45:13.720 --> 00:45:17.720
So whenever my heart is only obedient and not willing, I immediately go and say to him,

00:45:17.720 --> 00:45:23.720
Listen, I'm doing this because I want to be obedient, but I want you to know that I'm not happy about it at all.

00:45:23.720 --> 00:45:26.720
So please help me.

00:45:26.720 --> 00:45:28.720
Yeah.

00:45:28.720 --> 00:45:34.720
And because one of his favorite things is to change hearts, see?

00:45:34.720 --> 00:45:41.720
Yeah, but he cannot change a heart that is not honest.

00:45:41.720 --> 00:45:43.720
It's not that God cannot.

00:45:43.720 --> 00:45:48.720
He doesn't take free will away, guys. That's his biggest problem.

00:45:48.720 --> 00:45:55.720
The one thing, God can do anything He wants, but the one thing He does not do is He does not violate free will.

00:45:55.720 --> 00:46:03.720
Because if He violates free will, He could have the entire earth saved without sending Jesus.

00:46:03.720 --> 00:46:05.720
So He does not violate free will.

00:46:05.720 --> 00:46:13.720
And therefore, one of the things He cannot do is He cannot sometimes work with a heart that is not honest.

00:46:13.720 --> 00:46:20.720
When you're dishonest about your true condition, I realize it's not a good idea to come up like Ben and expose everything

00:46:20.720 --> 00:46:24.720
and then comment on Dilna's name.

00:46:24.720 --> 00:46:29.720
But go one on one and deal with it.

00:46:29.720 --> 00:46:34.720
Sorry, Dilna, this might come up a few times.

00:46:34.720 --> 00:46:40.720
I'm going to find another victim.

00:46:40.720 --> 00:46:42.720
Go ahead, Betty.

00:46:42.720 --> 00:46:51.720
Is there a window or a gap where I can give this thought, where I give it foolishly, in our thoughts?

00:46:51.720 --> 00:46:58.720
Yeah, one of the things we have to realize is generosity will at some point be foolish.

00:46:58.720 --> 00:47:05.720
But whenever you are foolish and generous, you are falling on the right side of the equation.

00:47:05.720 --> 00:47:11.720
So remember, there's nobody who is generous that will not be foolish at some time.

00:47:11.720 --> 00:47:15.720
You will do it thoughtlessly, you'll do it emotionally, you'll do it reactively, you'll do it impulsively,

00:47:15.720 --> 00:47:18.720
and you'll make mistakes and you'll regret it.

00:47:18.720 --> 00:47:23.720
But at least when you're falling, you're falling on the side of generosity.

00:47:23.720 --> 00:47:27.720
Dust yourself up and say, you'll learn.

00:47:27.720 --> 00:47:33.720
There will be times when you make mistakes because of your eager generosity.

00:47:33.720 --> 00:47:36.720
That's okay.

00:47:36.720 --> 00:47:39.720
How do you define a mistake?

00:47:39.720 --> 00:47:45.720
We won't get there today, but there are hindrances that we have to look at.

00:47:45.720 --> 00:47:54.720
For example, there was a guy, and some of us, Heidi knows about this, and others were there when this happened.

00:47:54.720 --> 00:47:57.720
There was a guy who we were helping with rent.

00:47:57.720 --> 00:48:07.720
And the guy would take the rent and he would go to a casino and gamble it, hoping that he could make a lot of rent.

00:48:07.720 --> 00:48:10.720
Whenever you gamble rent, you never win.

00:48:10.720 --> 00:48:15.720
And so we gave him rent for three months, and three months he went and gambled it,

00:48:15.720 --> 00:48:21.720
and then he had the audacity to tell his landlord to call me to pay the next month.

00:48:21.720 --> 00:48:24.720
That's when I realized, oh shucks, there's something wrong here.

00:48:24.720 --> 00:48:27.720
But we did it out of generosity.

00:48:27.720 --> 00:48:33.720
You will make mistakes out of generosity, but when you make mistakes out of generosity with a person,

00:48:33.720 --> 00:48:38.720
remember that we are not talking about money, we are talking about lives.

00:48:38.720 --> 00:48:49.720
And it is okay to give lives a chance and a second chance and a third chance and a fourth chance before you say, I'm going to stop.

00:48:49.720 --> 00:48:56.720
It is okay to mess up with people who need a break, and you give them one break, two breaks, three breaks, and they're still not making it.

00:48:56.720 --> 00:49:03.720
It's okay. So you lost $5,000. Is it a big amount? Absolutely.

00:49:03.720 --> 00:49:10.720
But it was not money, man. It was a life.

00:49:10.720 --> 00:49:17.720
We can't separate money and life.

00:49:17.720 --> 00:49:40.720
Do you know how many times our parents made mistakes with us, sending us to schools they shouldn't have sent us to?

00:49:40.720 --> 00:49:47.720
The church was so generous, they got me an Oculus thingy which you put on your face and you...

00:49:47.720 --> 00:49:50.720
I think it's with Manoj right now.

00:49:50.720 --> 00:50:00.720
Sometimes you make mistakes with your generosity. It's okay. Someone else benefits.

00:50:00.720 --> 00:50:07.720
Then there's this thing that we want to completely avoid. It's called sacrificial giving.

00:50:07.720 --> 00:50:13.720
See, tithing has nothing to do with sacrificial giving. This is why the church loves tithing.

00:50:13.720 --> 00:50:23.720
Because tithing can keep you happy and content. But there's this thing Jesus presented called sacrificial giving, and it hurts.

00:50:23.720 --> 00:50:31.720
Sacrificial giving, it starts with, again, all the principles of giving start with Jesus Christ and what he did.

00:50:31.720 --> 00:50:35.720
And Paul doesn't leave that out. He just makes sure we get it.

00:50:35.720 --> 00:50:45.720
Jesus Christ, though he was rich, became poor. So that you, by his poverty, may become rich. He became poor for your sake.

00:50:45.720 --> 00:50:57.720
So here's a question. Are you becoming poor for somebody else's sake right now in your present life? Today.

00:50:57.720 --> 00:51:06.720
Are you becoming poor? Not are you giving. Are you giving to the point that you are becoming poor so that someone else can become...

00:51:06.720 --> 00:51:16.720
Not rich, so that someone else can benefit like crazy. Are you becoming poor?

00:51:16.720 --> 00:51:22.720
This is why percentages are brilliant. You just have to handle that 10% thing. You can be happy all your life.

00:51:22.720 --> 00:51:30.720
And you'll get a decent house also in heaven. I'm just kidding about the house in heaven, eh? Please don't think that's my theology.

00:51:30.720 --> 00:51:45.720
All I'm saying is, am I... How best to word it? Am I impoverishing myself for someone else's sake at this present moment in life?

00:51:45.720 --> 00:51:57.720
How do you...

00:51:57.720 --> 00:52:01.720
Say that again? Yeah, yeah. Okay. I get it.

00:52:01.720 --> 00:52:15.720
Hebrews chapter 12. For the joy that was set before him, he sacrifices. So every sacrifice becomes non-sacrificial as long as you do it from this perspective of, I love, therefore I will.

00:52:15.720 --> 00:52:24.720
And it can be two kinds of love. Either, I love God, therefore I will, or I care for Betty, therefore I will. It's one or the other.

00:52:24.720 --> 00:52:34.720
But therefore, now that that is established, it's amazing how parents sacrifice for their kids. I mean, go ahead.

00:52:34.720 --> 00:52:38.720
So when you meet by hurt, is it kind of hurt when...

00:52:38.720 --> 00:52:43.720
It is a kind of hurt where, let's say you earn... When you told me last, you were earning $12,000 a month.

00:52:43.720 --> 00:53:03.720
So... So... So... So... $12,000 a month. How much would you have to give away till you hurt?

00:53:03.720 --> 00:53:13.720
Alright, I take back the question. Let's say... Let's say your hurt level is $3,000. You give more than $3,000, you got $9,000 left. You give $4,000, it begins to hurt.

00:53:13.720 --> 00:53:22.720
Impoverishing oneself to the point where someone else benefits is sacrifice. But you do it because you care.

00:53:22.720 --> 00:53:29.720
Is that kind of giving prevalent in the church? Guys, you may think what you want. You can be denominational in your thinking.

00:53:29.720 --> 00:53:37.720
You can have come out of a stewardship class in some high-faluted Christian thingy. You can say this happened to me in my young age. This happened to me when I did it last time.

00:53:37.720 --> 00:53:41.720
I'm snake-bitten right now. Won't try it again. You can come up with all that stuff.

00:53:41.720 --> 00:53:48.720
But the end of the day, I'm giving you a scripture and I'm giving you the nature of God and you cannot argue against that.

00:53:48.720 --> 00:53:53.720
You don't have an argument. You can have questions, but you can't have an argument here.

00:53:53.720 --> 00:53:57.720
Because I'm not even... I'm not adding a word from what I've said. I've only given you scriptures.

00:53:57.720 --> 00:54:05.720
I could have read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and sent you out, but then we'd have a very short service and that goes against the grain of my thinking.

00:54:05.720 --> 00:54:20.720
So, there's nothing that I'm telling you that you can argue against. You can mold it to fit your thinking, but that's not what scripture is supposed to do.

00:54:20.720 --> 00:54:24.720
Scripture is supposed to mold your thinking, not your thinking mold the scriptures.

00:54:28.720 --> 00:54:34.720
Sacrificial giving. This is a question I ask myself. Jacob, are you impoverishing yourself for the sake of somebody else right now?

00:54:34.720 --> 00:54:45.720
Or are you becoming poorer because someone else needs to get richer? Not to become rich, to get richer because they're in a very difficult situation.

00:54:46.720 --> 00:54:48.720
Can I take a point?

00:54:48.720 --> 00:54:49.720
Yep.

00:54:49.720 --> 00:54:52.720
So, when you're single it's easier.

00:55:04.720 --> 00:55:06.720
When you're single it's easier, huh?

00:55:16.720 --> 00:55:19.720
Sacrifice is the same whether you're single or married.

00:55:20.720 --> 00:55:23.720
But now you're sacrificing for somebody else too.

00:55:23.720 --> 00:55:25.720
In those days, you know.

00:55:26.720 --> 00:55:28.720
Because I can't.

00:55:29.720 --> 00:55:31.720
You can't use your apartment.

00:55:33.720 --> 00:55:37.720
I'm just asking seriously. When it's all me, it's easy.

00:55:37.720 --> 00:55:40.720
But when you have to think about how many people I'm supporting.

00:55:40.720 --> 00:55:42.720
Absolutely true. It becomes more difficult.

00:55:42.720 --> 00:55:51.720
Which is why we are hoping that we can build a family way of thinking around the same principle.

00:55:51.720 --> 00:56:00.720
Because what will happen otherwise is now that I'm married or now that I'm married and have a child, what if I start changing the way I function?

00:56:00.720 --> 00:56:04.720
And suddenly again, I'm taking the principles of Christ and molding it circumstantially.

00:56:04.720 --> 00:56:06.720
I'm not molding the circumstances with the scripture.

00:56:07.720 --> 00:56:12.720
So then that begins the process of, okay, so how can me and my wife begin to think about this?

00:56:12.720 --> 00:56:16.720
How can my wife and I and my 16-month-old baby begin to think about this?

00:56:16.720 --> 00:56:26.720
This is important. The easiest way to avoid it is not to think about it and say we'll deal with it when we have some more money.

00:56:27.720 --> 00:56:29.720
Now.

00:56:36.720 --> 00:56:50.720
Second Corinthians 8 verse 5.

00:56:50.720 --> 00:56:58.720
Paul makes such a cool statement. He's talking to the Corinthian church about the churches in Macedonia.

00:56:58.720 --> 00:57:02.720
And he says, I want you to know that the churches in Macedonia, look at what he says.

00:57:02.720 --> 00:57:05.720
They were going through a time of testing.

00:57:05.720 --> 00:57:09.720
They were going through times of intense trouble and they were poor.

00:57:09.720 --> 00:57:15.720
Despite all that, they still gave more than they could afford.

00:57:15.720 --> 00:57:25.720
And having given more than they could afford, they begged to share in the relief for the saints in Jerusalem.

00:57:25.720 --> 00:57:26.720
They begged.

00:57:26.720 --> 00:57:31.720
And having done that, they first went about it really well.

00:57:31.720 --> 00:57:37.720
They offered themselves to the Lord and they offered themselves to us.

00:57:37.720 --> 00:57:41.720
That's sacrificial giving.

00:57:41.720 --> 00:57:47.720
May I suggest to you that there are very few sitting here that actually engage in sacrificial giving,

00:57:47.720 --> 00:57:50.720
where you become poorer so that someone else may become rich.

00:57:50.720 --> 00:57:53.720
Very few.

00:57:53.720 --> 00:58:01.720
May I also say that that is the threshold that we must reach for.

00:58:01.720 --> 00:58:04.720
What will happen, Jacob, if everybody does this?

00:58:04.720 --> 00:58:11.720
He who has much will have enough and he who has little will be taken care of.

00:58:11.720 --> 00:58:19.720
So that it will be like in the Exodus, where it didn't matter how much manna you collected, there was sufficiency all throughout.

00:58:19.720 --> 00:58:23.720
Poverty will never be endemic in a community like that.

00:58:23.720 --> 00:58:27.720
Poverty will be banished.

00:58:27.720 --> 00:58:29.720
Go ahead.

00:58:29.720 --> 00:58:32.720
Everything you're saying is scripture.

00:58:32.720 --> 00:58:36.720
But when I go out, you're going hard with the stuff all the time.

00:58:36.720 --> 00:58:43.720
You either look at other people's lives or you read or you see from YouTube.

00:58:43.720 --> 00:58:45.720
It's happening all the time.

00:58:45.720 --> 00:58:47.720
It's happening on Christian channels too.

00:58:47.720 --> 00:58:53.720
How do you know this and continually resist?

00:58:53.720 --> 00:58:56.720
Because we're not talking about resisting it for one month.

00:58:56.720 --> 00:59:00.720
How do you resist in the long term, for the long run?

00:59:00.720 --> 00:59:04.720
Five people in this church, if they do it, the rest of the church will catch it.

00:59:04.720 --> 00:59:12.720
Everything that Acts 29 today is, is because three to five people decided that they would stake their life for it.

00:59:12.720 --> 00:59:18.720
Any principle here, you think the idea of the body of Christ in this church happened because of one person preaching it?

00:59:18.720 --> 00:59:20.720
No, because three to five people took it.

00:59:20.720 --> 00:59:24.720
You think hearing that Ben just talked about happened because one person heard?

00:59:24.720 --> 00:59:26.720
No, three to five people got it.

00:59:26.720 --> 00:59:28.720
Anything.

00:59:28.720 --> 00:59:36.720
If we get three to five people in the church to behave like this, I'm telling you, this will happen.

00:59:36.720 --> 00:59:39.720
Because it cannot be practiced in isolation.

00:59:39.720 --> 00:59:42.720
We can have superstars who impoverish themselves.

00:59:42.720 --> 00:59:45.720
What will happen if one person in this church impoverishes themselves?

00:59:45.720 --> 00:59:47.720
One other person will benefit.

00:59:47.720 --> 00:59:49.720
But what if five do it?

00:59:49.720 --> 01:00:09.720
So, Jacob, what's the difference between these kinds of sacrificial giving with the spirit of socialism, where the idea is also to have it?

01:00:09.720 --> 01:00:18.720
Socialism has to be, socialism requires things to be coerced or legislated from outside.

01:00:18.720 --> 01:00:25.720
Socialism does not work if there is no legislative power from the outside.

01:00:25.720 --> 01:00:29.720
There must be a law that makes you share your property.

01:00:29.720 --> 01:00:33.720
There must be a law that takes one of your cars away.

01:00:33.720 --> 01:00:37.720
But when it comes to this, none of this can be legislated.

01:00:37.720 --> 01:00:39.720
None of this can be coerced.

01:00:39.720 --> 01:00:42.720
It has to be because of Christ in me.

01:00:42.720 --> 01:00:45.720
None of this can be coerced.

01:00:45.720 --> 01:00:54.720
The moment it's coerced, we've entered into that socialist idea or we've entered into a cult.

01:00:54.720 --> 01:00:57.720
None of this can be coerced.

01:00:57.720 --> 01:00:59.720
It has to come from within.

01:00:59.720 --> 01:01:03.720
Wouldn't the kibbutz be socialist?

01:01:03.720 --> 01:01:08.720
Initially, when the kibbutz were formed, they were not supposed to be socialist.

01:01:08.720 --> 01:01:12.720
They became that later, but the intent was, can we share?

01:01:12.720 --> 01:01:15.720
Acts 2, 42-45 talks about this.

01:01:15.720 --> 01:01:25.720
Remember, don't for a second think that in Acts when it talks about people brought what they had and placed it at the Apostles' feet, that the idea was everyone was bringing everything.

01:01:25.720 --> 01:01:26.720
No.

01:01:26.720 --> 01:01:27.720
How do we know it wasn't the case?

01:01:27.720 --> 01:01:32.720
Because in Acts 5, Peter says to Ananias, hey, it was up to you how much you wanted to give.

01:01:32.720 --> 01:01:36.720
Why did he have to fake it?

01:01:36.720 --> 01:01:44.720
But there were people like Joseph from Cyprus who was a Levite who was later called Barnabas who sold a field.

01:01:44.720 --> 01:01:48.720
He sold perhaps one field, maybe he had two, and he brought it and laid it at the feet of the Apostles.

01:01:48.720 --> 01:01:50.720
What is the idea of laying it at the feet of the Apostles?

01:01:50.720 --> 01:01:52.720
Something special about his feet?

01:01:52.720 --> 01:01:53.720
No.

01:01:53.720 --> 01:02:01.720
How lovely are the feet of them that bring good news?

01:02:01.720 --> 01:02:02.720
Where to give?

01:02:02.720 --> 01:02:04.720
We won't get there today.

01:02:04.720 --> 01:02:08.720
We'll have to do part four also.

01:02:08.720 --> 01:02:27.720
So the things that we won't get to today, because I'll have to stop in two minutes, are twisted giving, hindrances to giving, and how does one give in church?

01:02:27.720 --> 01:02:31.720
Like what can we, your question, what different things can we give to?

01:02:31.720 --> 01:02:34.720
Because we only think of the offering box.

01:02:34.720 --> 01:02:38.720
What are the different things that the church suggests we give to?

01:02:38.720 --> 01:02:49.720
And remember, when the church suggested that you give to, Jesus wasn't saying, hey, you got a 10% pizza, now divide it into tiny little pieces so that everyone gets a small little crumb.

01:02:49.720 --> 01:02:51.720
He wasn't saying that.

01:02:51.720 --> 01:02:52.720
Because that's what we do.

01:02:52.720 --> 01:02:56.720
We take 10% and divide it so many times that it's like communion.

01:02:56.720 --> 01:02:58.720
Everyone gets a tiny little piece.

01:02:58.720 --> 01:03:01.720
That wasn't the idea.

01:03:01.720 --> 01:03:02.720
So we've got to talk about that.

01:03:02.720 --> 01:03:13.720
Distorted giving or twisted giving, hindrances to a harvest, and what are the different places the Bible prescribes we must give?

01:03:13.720 --> 01:03:20.720
So either I'll do it over Zoom or you'll have to wait three weeks.

01:03:20.720 --> 01:03:23.720
Let's just touch on one last thing and then we're done.

01:03:23.720 --> 01:03:25.720
Please.

01:03:25.720 --> 01:03:31.720
What is the meaning when it says that you'll have to stop?

01:03:31.720 --> 01:03:32.720
Yeah.

01:03:32.720 --> 01:03:39.720
That there's not going to be a day because of the fact that the entire world is not Christian, even in the Christian world we have the poor.

01:03:39.720 --> 01:03:50.720
There's not going to be a day that poverty will be eliminated from here because the fallen nature of the world ends up in wealth being disparate.

01:03:50.720 --> 01:03:52.720
It's not because there's not enough wealth.

01:03:52.720 --> 01:03:54.720
It's not because there's not enough grain.

01:03:54.720 --> 01:04:06.720
It is just because there is no way the nations of the earth, the kings of the earth, the rich people of the earth, and you will take all your wealth and make sure that there is no poor person left on earth.

01:04:06.720 --> 01:04:08.720
Not going to happen.

01:04:08.720 --> 01:04:10.720
Jesus was pretty factual.

01:04:10.720 --> 01:04:16.720
He knew kingdom's truths, but he wasn't blind to reality.

01:04:16.720 --> 01:04:22.720
Is there a place that won't ever define the church?

01:04:22.720 --> 01:04:31.720
He definitely wants the church to change in this so that it is not prevalent in the church.

01:04:31.720 --> 01:04:36.720
I almost feel like saying, hey, who will join me in impoverishing themselves?

01:04:36.720 --> 01:04:41.720
But I won't say it yet.

01:04:41.720 --> 01:04:46.720
Last thing, last point I want to talk about before we break bread.

01:04:46.720 --> 01:04:52.720
When it comes to church finances, there's two aspects that we have to keep in mind.

01:04:52.720 --> 01:05:00.720
One is God wants us to entrust and trust.

01:05:00.720 --> 01:05:05.720
As in 2 Kings 22 verse 5.

01:05:05.720 --> 01:05:06.720
I love this.

01:05:06.720 --> 01:05:12.720
He says, entrust this money to the men assigned to supervise the restoration of the Lord's temple.

01:05:12.720 --> 01:05:15.720
Then they can use it to pay workers to repair the temple.

01:05:15.720 --> 01:05:18.720
But no accounting shall be asked from them.

01:05:18.720 --> 01:05:24.720
You don't need to get a receipt for the money you give them, for they deal honestly and they are honest men.

01:05:24.720 --> 01:05:28.720
That's the standard we want to establish.

01:05:28.720 --> 01:05:33.720
That is the standard we want to establish.

01:05:33.720 --> 01:05:36.720
This is when we got to kind of fight the world.

01:05:36.720 --> 01:05:41.720
So you might say, but didn't Paul say that we are sending trusted men?

01:05:41.720 --> 01:05:47.720
You know when Paul says that, he says that only to the church in Corinth because Corinth was out to get Paul.

01:05:47.720 --> 01:05:53.720
Therefore, in 2 Corinthians 8.20, here's what Paul says.

01:05:53.720 --> 01:06:00.720
He was appointed by the churches to accompany us as we take the offering to Jerusalem because we are taking every precaution against scandal.

01:06:00.720 --> 01:06:04.720
We don't want anyone suspecting us of taking one penny of this money for ourselves.

01:06:04.720 --> 01:06:11.720
We are being careful in our reputation with the public as in our reputation with God.

01:06:11.720 --> 01:06:13.720
That is through the Corinthian church.

01:06:13.720 --> 01:06:17.720
We got to stand holding both these intentions.

01:06:17.720 --> 01:06:19.720
I'm not saying choose one over the other.

01:06:19.720 --> 01:06:28.720
We got to hold it in tension that if I trust Tuni with money, then I will not look over his shoulder to see and I will not demand receipts of him.

01:06:28.720 --> 01:06:36.720
But knowing that the government requires auditing, I will ask Tuni to submit the receipts.

01:06:36.720 --> 01:06:47.720
But it is not, we got to collapse this idea that you have to have a watcher watch the guy who's doing the money and have another watcher behind the watcher who's watching the guy.

01:06:47.720 --> 01:06:51.720
Churches have that. They got multiple people stacked.

01:06:51.720 --> 01:06:55.720
It's not socialism. It's Orwellian.

01:06:55.720 --> 01:07:03.720
Hey, what's the worst thing that can happen if Tuni took money and ran away?

01:07:03.720 --> 01:07:07.720
How far will he get with the money that we have? Brazil?

01:07:07.720 --> 01:07:14.720
Richmond.

01:07:14.720 --> 01:07:28.720
So, guys, remember one thing.

01:07:28.720 --> 01:07:34.720
There is a woman who comes with an alabaster flask of perfume and she pours it on the head of Jesus.

01:07:34.720 --> 01:07:38.720
Do you know the comments around from his own disciples?

01:07:38.720 --> 01:07:41.720
What a waste.

01:07:41.720 --> 01:07:44.720
Wastage lies in the eye of the beholder.

01:07:44.720 --> 01:07:46.720
What kind of beholder are you?

01:07:46.720 --> 01:07:48.720
We are dealing with lives.

01:07:48.720 --> 01:07:51.720
We are not dealing with money.

01:07:51.720 --> 01:07:58.720
You have no idea how much money this church has spent on lives and many of them didn't come back.

01:07:58.720 --> 01:08:01.720
They were like the ten lepers who got healed and only one come back.

01:08:01.720 --> 01:08:02.720
Nine walked away.

01:08:02.720 --> 01:08:13.720
Thousands of dollars, thousands and thousands of dollars spent on people that nobody would give a second chance to.

01:08:13.720 --> 01:08:15.720
And they left.

01:08:15.720 --> 01:08:19.720
Or they walked away. They did not come back.

01:08:19.720 --> 01:08:25.720
You think it hurts me, affects me, makes me angry, makes Heidi angry, makes any of the leaders here angry?

01:08:25.720 --> 01:08:28.720
No, it was worth it.

01:08:28.720 --> 01:08:32.720
Did you know that Judas was stealing from the treasury?

01:08:32.720 --> 01:08:37.720
John 12, verse 5 onwards, Judas was stealing from the treasury.

01:08:37.720 --> 01:08:40.720
Do you know that Jesus knew it?

01:08:40.720 --> 01:08:43.720
How did it get into the Gospels?

01:08:43.720 --> 01:08:47.720
It says there.

01:08:47.720 --> 01:08:51.720
So let's collapse this idea of I cannot trust you.

01:08:51.720 --> 01:08:53.720
I've got to trust you.

01:08:53.720 --> 01:08:58.720
If I can't trust you with mammon, how am I going to trust you with anything, man?

01:08:58.720 --> 01:09:03.720
If I don't trust you with mammon, what am I going to trust you with in the kingdom?

01:09:03.720 --> 01:09:10.720
If you need to be watched with mammon, forget ministry.

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And the other thing is if you give me money that is meant for something and I use it wrongly, you know who's in the biggest trouble?

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Wah!

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So hold it in tension.

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2 Kings 22, and he appointed people to pay for the repairs and he said, the message puts it as, do not ask for receipts.

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Do not put someone to watch over them because they deal honestly and these are honest men.

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On the other side, Paul, we don't want a scandal to affect us.

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Our reputation publicly and privately is important.

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Therefore, let's appoint someone who can watch over this so that nobody can point a finger.

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Why is he doing that, particularly with the Corinthian church?

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Because Corinth had a problem.

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I mean, they were out to behead him literally, spiritually.

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We stand in the middle.

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We hold this because it is important.

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And we hold this.

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And everybody in this church must have a right to look at whatever figures, ask whatever figures, ask questions.

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Everything should be in the open.

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But we hold this intention.

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And remember, the foundational principle is give cheerfully, man, and if you think you shouldn't give, don't give.

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This is just not a good message for an offering.

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This is how we deal with this.

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Mark 14 verse 3 to 5, it will tell you, wasted is always in the eye of the beholder.

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And you see money wasted when you don't see the life being wasted on Jesus being anointed and they cannot see it.

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So did you hear from God that the moment was stopped when he got a ransom, he cannot get away from it?

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Oh, that was easy.

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When I heard he was gambling it at the casino, I confronted him and told him no more.

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Yeah.

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Guys, I was talking to somebody yesterday and this line came up, so I'm going to just say it so we remember it.

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A church budget tells you how much you spent.

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A church budget does not tell you how much you should spend.

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A church budget tells you how much you spent.

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See, a church budget does not tell you how much you should spend.

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Just keep that in mind.

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When there's a lack in this church and every so often we go through this, you know what we do?

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The first thing we do is, and you can check with Heidi, this might sound like a boastful note, but who cares?

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No, that's the wrong way of saying it, but I don't care.

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If this church ever goes through the lack, the first thing that happens is Jacob will either not take what the church wants to give him or Jacob will take less.

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So that's the first thing that happens.

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The second thing that happens is this church will take what is in the bank and will start giving it away.

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Why? Because we refuse to be crippled by lack.

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Whenever church finances are low in this church, we break the back of lack by giving it away.

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Heidi knows it, Chris knows it, many others know it.

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And God has always been able to say, great guys, let me just do what I love doing with you guys.

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Let's break bread. The rest of it we'll do later.

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Hey, while they're going to get the elements, go ahead, Jillian, please.

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Well, I just want to say that...