Living Beyond Blessed
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Living Beyond Blessed
Living Beyond Blessed
We are launching a new series today called “BEYOND BLESSED”
What do you mean beyond blessed? If you’re blessed, you’re blessed, right? How can you be beyond blessed?
Meaning that God so blesses us so that we can be a blessing. So that we can bless others.
Now, I’m not speaking about MATERIALISM - not preaching a prosperity gospel message.
PROSPERITY MESSAGE is a truth, not the truth
The truth of the gospel can be preached anywhere - can’t preach prosperity everywhere
Not some prosperity gospel...
Prosperity Gospel preaches a God whose ability is dependent upon me when the opposite is true – I DEPEND ON HIM! – this is the foundation
Prosperity Gospel - God’s ability is based on my ability to give or release
Now to Him who is able...
Another thing I want you to see today, is when we’re talking about Living Beyond Blessed - BLESSED LIFE – not a blessed wallet or bank account
This principle of honoring God first and living as a conduit releases a blessing into every area of my life, not just my bank account. God’s blessings are not limited to my wallet. In fact, they are uncontainable.
As we dive into this series, First and foremost:
Romans 8:1 “no condemnation”
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Everything we’re going to say in this series, there’s no shame, no guilt, no condemnation.
Probably will be some conviction at some point – that’s the Holy Spirit speaking to you
I’m not trying to guilt you into giving or living generously. What you do with your giving is between you and God.
I also want you to know, our church is doing great! Even in the midst of a pandemic, we’ve been blessed!
We’re not up here because the church has bills to pay, we’re up here because you have bills to pay – you need the blessing of God on your life. And we want to bring this series to you to HELP you live beyond blessed.
So, I want you to open your heart to receive the word because I want you to be blessed – the greatest gift of any teacher is to see a student succeed.
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
Not just in terms of money; but WHOLE LIFE to be blessed; catch the revelation of living blessed and even beyond blessed!
Again, supernatural blessings permeates every aspect of a person’s life – health, relationships, work, family, emotions and thoughts.
How many of us can say, “I need every area of my life to be blessed”
When we honor God with everything - He blesses us - scriptural promises
So our value is increased in every area of our life
“The trap the enemy wants us to fall into is worshiping the blessings rather than the Blessor.”
But, society has twisted it so that our value is based on our income or our money
So we begin to value money over God - and it’s the LOVE of money that is the root of all evil
So we go in debt to gain more value - when in fact; debt is not a tool, it’s a method to make banks wealthy not you - the borrow truly is slave to the lender
By trying to add value with more money, we really decrease our value
Are you going after a high standard of living? or a high quality of life?
We want a blessed LIFE...
Money, if done properly is a tool, not a master
Why Talk About Money?
Why Talk About Money?
We’re gonna talk about money in this series; unlocking the blessings of God
Why does the church talk about money?
Why not? Jesus talked more about money than any other subject.
16 of Jesus’ 38 parables are about finances or possessions
There are over 2,800 scriptures on money and generosity in the bible. And this is huge.
Many of us probably have more fear for finances than faith. We have more fear of running out than faith in running over. So how, do we change that? How do we increase our faith?
Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word
You can’t pray for more faith, you’ve gotta read the word to increase your faith
Abby Illustration
Struggling financially because we’re weak in this area because we know no scriptures on giving, no scriptures on generosity
We need to get the Word in us, open our heart, don’t close your heart, open your heart to receive the Word and open blessing in your life
Giving is complicated because we complicate what we don’t understand
Know the Word of God
Reference book – The Blessed Life, Beyond Blessed
Read during this series! “Readers are leaders”
We want you to become better as God makes your life bigger
Why? To be a blessing...
Open your Bibles to Genesis 12:2 ; 1 Chronicles 4:9-10
Read scripture:
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
The New King James Version (Chapter 4)
9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.
There’s a similar theme to both of these passages:
God tells Abraham He will bless Him to be a blessing.
I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing.
Jabez asks God to bless Him so that He, too, can be a blessing.
Bless me indeed that I may not cause pain.
Jabez - meaning pain; outside of God’s work and blessing, he could not be a blessing
This made him more honorable - adding value to others
In both of these passages we see God wanting to bless people through His followers; through His children. But, it comes in two parts:
It takes Two Legs
It takes Two Legs
The blessed life is comprised of two components: generosity and stewardship.
When we are obedient to His Word, we want to bless others because God has blessed us. He has the supply to answer our need.
Illustration - one without the other; walking in circles, no growth or progress
God will not bless just one leg:
giving without stewardship - you can’t manage it right
You will learn to manage money, or the lack of it will manage you. - Dave Ramsey
good steward but not generous - (tight, penny pincher) why would God bless you?
His purpose is to get the resources to the people who need it.
Think about the need:
all the people who need food, water, gospel, missionaries
Think about the supply:
God owns everything; all the resources
What’s in between? YOU ARE
God funnels his resources through His children.
He’ll bless you, but if it stops with you, He’ll move onto someone else.
He’ll find someone that will be a river, not a reservoir.
This idea goes all the way back to Abraham in Genesis 12:2
Genesis 12:2 (NASB95)
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
Generosity
Generosity
We are never closer to the heart of God than when we give; it is His nature to give
Giving is the ultimate heart test
for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Your heart follows your treasure
Illustration You put money in stock, you will be checking on the stock day and night; something you’ve never done before
You never cared about stock before, but you care no because your treasure is there
You want your heart in the kingdom? You put your treasure in the kingdom!
Not talking give to get; but give to give - constantly living with an open hand
Open Hand Illustration
You actually gain value by what you give away. At the end of your life, people will remember more what you did for them than what you did for yourself.
“If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;
but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
True giving & tithing comes from the heart – not from a legalistic mind
Jacob (400 years before the law) “of all that you give me I will give a tenth back to you”
Out of a grateful heart!
The heart is an issue of trust and obedience.
Obedience is giving. Trust is stewardship.
If God can truly have your heart, he’ll supernaturally bless both avenues: giving, and stewardship.
Stewardship
Stewardship
First, stewardship is not just about money - it deals with every area of your life. Managing every area.
Generosity - multiplication
Stewardship - management
Those who don’t manage money will always work for those who do. - Dave Ramsey
You can’t multiply without managing. You’ll run out of resources without multiplying.
And really,
Stewardship is an exchange of TRUST
its understanding that I’m responsible or in charge of something that belongs to someone else
Beyond money - the Gifts of God (He’s the giver, meaning it was in his possession first - gift illustration)
Spiritual gifts
Children
Material things
When we own something we have this sense of entitlement and we have an attitude when someone asks for it; but God wants to use all of us as a conduit to bless people
probably the most detrimental word we need to lose is “MINE”
childish
use the gifts to bless people - all the gifts.
When you think it’s yours you have a hard time releasing it
illustration: (Grab your wallet – switch with neighbor illustration)
When you’re a renter and the A/C breaks, you don’t fix it, you go to the LandLORD
He is our Lord – we go to Him
If something goes wrong and you act like you own it all God says, “well you fix it” but if you understand and let God be the owner then He says, “I’ll take care of it”
See, we need to build trust with God. He WILL take care of it. When we trust God, God entrusts us and...
Trust cultivates Ability
Trust cultivates Ability
God doesn’t give according to your want, but according to your ability
Trust – firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something
We trust God’s ability, He trusts our ability
Responsibility - responding to God’s ability in and through me
Open hand illustration - When you close your hand to God – He could be pouring but nothing gets in; Give to give; not give to get; it’s a matter of trusting God – God I trust you, I open my hand to you
Prayer should be “God, grow my ability”
Prodigal son – started out “give me” – wanted in a moment what took his father a lifetime to make – blew it all – came back, realized the father is worth more than the blessing - saying “make me” –
The goal is not “give me!” The goal is “make me” and increase my ability!
God is more interested in what you’re becoming not what you’re doing; it’s only when the prodigal son gets through the process of becoming that he encounters the blessing of promise
Because if we get the money without going through the process; google the results of people who win the lottery, they lose it all!
Most 2nd generation businesses fail in this country because parents hand down the success but they don’t hand down the struggle
The struggle is the pathway that lead to success
The process of making - this is the Hand of God on us.
Too many times we want the handout without the handiwork
We must stop asking God for more money and start asking for greater ability! RELEASE
God give me a plan, give me an idea, give me wisdom, give me a greater ability to give!
In other words - MAKE ME A GOOD STEWARD.
It all comes back to the heart.
It all comes back to the heart.
Where is your heart? Attitude
A heart to bless others - like Jabez
Because God loves us, He blesses us. When we are generous to others and are good stewards of what He gives us, He opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings upon us. God implemented giving for a purpose—to be a blessing to others and to bless us.
As we conclude, remember the following:
• God wants to bless us because He loves us.
• He has a plan for giving.
• God’s plan involves generosity and wise stewardship.
• We are to bless others because God has blessed us.
CLOSING
CLOSING
Are you facing a need today? Or perhaps you look around at a world facing countless needs. Take all the needs weighing on you and lay them at the feet of Jesus in exchange for His peace.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6–7