Last week I was reading about vitamin A. Vitamin A is good for you. In the right dosage, it's good for your eyesight. Your skin? Your immune system It's like helps with the antioxidants and fights off cancer.
Vitamin A is good for you. But I read this. Vitamin A Overload? Vitamin A in the wrong dosage can kill you. Did you know that?
It can destroy your organs, it can eat up your liver, it can make you lose all your hair, it can destroy your bones, it can destroy your joints. It's a good thing. In the right dosage. In the wrong dosage. In the extreme, It's bad for you.
There are four theological I don't say theological, four practical biblical concepts. That as your pastor, I have stayed away from. Most of my ministry. Because I have seen how these doctrines have been abused and misused. And honestly, I gotta apologize.
To you for that. I was wrong. These are good doctrines. But I allowed the abuse that I've seen on Christian TV. I've allowed that to make me nervous about preaching on them.
And so I've stayed away from these four things. I was wrong. Kind of. I want you to see that there is a good biblical balance when it comes to these four doctrines. And again, I keep saying doctrines, it's not really theology, it's not doctrines, it's more practical Christian living.
And let me give you those four. Items that I have stayed away from because I have seen. an unhealthy overload. One is the hyper faith message. You ever heard of that?
Hyper faith message? Hyper faith message says You got enough faith, you won't be sick. We had years ago There's some members of our church. Had a child, five. Fighting For his life, fighting cancer, little teeny tiny baby in the hospital, and some well-meaning but stupid Christian came up to that mom and dad and said, If you had more faith, your kid wouldn't be in the hospital.
That's overload. I, 7,000 of your brothers and sisters in Nigeria have died this year alone for being followers of Jesus Christ.
Somebody actually said, Well, if the faith message had been preached there in Nigeria and they had faith. this wouldn't have happened. That's wrong. That's an unhealthy dosage of faith. But here's what I've done wrong: because I've seen some of these extremes, I've just really stayed away from the faith message altogether, and I was wrong on that.
Here's a second. teaching. It's the um Honor culture message. Have you heard of this? The culture of honor?
You honor the pastor. Because he's the man of God. I was reading about one church where When the man of God, quote unquote, comes and preaches at that church. The visiting preacher demands $150,000. For one sermon, and they pay him $150,000.
See, y'all don't realize what kind of bargain you're getting with me here across assembly. And he's got to have first class or a private jet. and stay in the nicest hotel in the city. Why are they doing all that?
Well, because he's the man of God, and we honor the man of God. That's an unhealthy extreme. I've literally seen Churches Where they had sweat. Wipers. The pastor's preaching, he gets sweaty, and the sweat wipers come up, and it's an honor to wipe the pastor's sweat off his face.
Why? Because he's the man of God. That's unhealthy. Our pastors went to the church. They went to a church to visit to kind of get some ideas.
And that church has a big school of ministry with a bunch of young people. And they said, Chad, it was crazy.
So we're at that school of ministry. And every time the pastor walks in the room, All the young people are expected to stand and clap in unison. That's like Kim Jong-un North Korea kind of stuff.
Okay. That's the honor culture gone crazy. And as a result, I have never talked about all of the things. Honoring the man of God, honoring pastors, honoring preachers. Why?
Because I've seen it abused, so I'm not going to talk about it.
Well well that was wrong. Let me give you a third teaching. That has been abused, and that's the word of faith message. The the power of words. Name it and claim it, blab it and grab it.
I had a guy in our church that said, Pastor Chad, I've got a... a printout of a brand new Corvette that I put on my refrigerator. And every time I walk by that picture, I put my hand on it, I verbally claim it in the name of Jesus, I'm going to have that Corvette. That's borderline new age. There's a big concept now called manifesting or the law of attraction that's not biblical.
You understand? But here's the problem. I've taken that abuse and I said, I don't want to talk about the power of words because I've seen how people have abused it and I've over-corrected and I don't talk about that. And I can I'm convicted. Because there is power in the words we speak.
Let me give you a fourth one, and that's the prosperity message. Have you seen that? If you've watched Christian television, you've seen the prosperity message. Send in money to my ministry, sew into my ministry, and God will bless you. And when you see these high-pressure Christian telethons on Christian TV, they go crazy with this stuff.
And you sow, and God will bless you. And I don't want to have anything to do with that.
So I've really not talked about that that much. Here's the problem with that. The Bible does teach very clearly. That you step out in faith and honor God with your first fruits, and God will bless you. But see, I stayed away from that teaching.
Because of how I've seen it abused. And today as I read Um 1 Kings 17. I want you to see that every one of these teachings are right here in 1 Kings 17, but they're here in biblically healthy doses. And this past week, as I've been reading this, I've been convicted.
Now, this might be one of those sermons today. I'm preaching to myself. I'm not preaching to you. I may preach today, and this goes in one ear and out the other because you have all this. That's fine.
God has been convicting me about this.
So, where we left Elijah last week is he is in a canyon by the brook of Hereth or Cherith. Ravens have fed him. And now the brook has dried up.
So now, Elijah said, Now, God, what do I do? There's no more water. God says, I'd take you to do, I want you to walk 100 miles north to a village. In fact, look up this sub, this thing. He's in the Cherith Ravine.
Go 100 miles north, Elijah, to the town of Zarephath. Do you see that? And Zarephath is not even in Israel, it's right over the border. Into modern-day Lebanon. In fact, Zarephath is modern, Seraphaned Lebanon.
And so Elijah. Gets up. Leaves where he is at the Terath Ravine. And he goes to Zarephath. Here's what it says: verse 8.
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.
So he arose and went to Zarephath, And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, Please get me a little water in a jar that I may drink. If she was going to get it, he called to her, he called after her, and he said, Hey, and bring me a piece of bread in your hand. But she says, As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar. And behold, I'm gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it, and then we're going to die.
Do you see that? We're so malnutritioned. that we're malnourished, that we're gonna eat this and then we're dead. Then Elijah said to her, Don't fear. Go.
Do as you've said. But I'm just reading it, verse 13. Here's what the greedy preacher says. But make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me. And afterward, you may have Make one for yourself and for your son.
For thus says the LORD God of Israel, The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth.
So she went. And did. According to the word of Elijah. And she and her household ate, watch this, for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted, nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke through Elijah.
Hey. Number one, This passage preaches the very thing I've been nervous to preach it about, and that's the power of faith. Elijah. Had to manifest faith. I want you to understand this.
Faith And risk. are so closely related, they're practically synonymous. Faith. And risk. And Elijah had to step out in faith.
You said, where do you see faith?
Well, I want you to look at this in verse 9. God tells Elijah this. Once you go 100 miles north, you go to this little village called Zarephath, and a widow is going to provide for you.
Now, that might not mean a lot to you, but in those days, there were no such thing as rich widows. Widows were indigent people. They didn't have anybody to provide for them. They have no 401k. Widows are poor.
So here's what Elijah is saying: Go to this village, and an indigent person is going to provide for you. That'll be like God saying to you: I know you're starving, I know you have nothing.
So go downtown Blunt Street and find this homeless guy, and he's going to provide for you. And he does it. And God honors it. That takes faith. And I want you to see this: the location of the town, verse 9.
The town is called Zarephath. It's governed by a king. See, this is not an Israeli town. This is a pagan town. Zarephath, where Elijah goes, it is run by a king called King Ethbaal.
King Ethbaal, King Ethbauel has a whack job daughter. Do you know what her name is? Jezebel. And in 1 Kings 18, we find Jezebel is pulling out all of her resources to find Elijah and kill him. God tells Elijah, I want you to go to the backyard of the very woman who's trying to get you killed.
That takes faith. Took faith with a widow. The widow has just a little bit of food left. That's all she's got. And she has to step out in faith and say, I'm going to give it to this man.
I don't know him, but something tells me he represents God. And it took faith for her to give everything.
Now, listen to me. I want you to say next. Just about everything we're called to do as followers of Jesus Christ, it takes faith. In just a few minutes, we're going to have people come forward, and we're going to pray for them to be healed. That's a risk.
They may or may not get healed. See, faith and risk are synonymous. Praying for the sick. Takes faith. When you witness to somebody.
That takes faith. They may accept your message or they may reject it. Hey! Even getting saved. Takes faith.
You actually, I want you to think about this. You actually have to trust that the spirit of a man that was executed 2,000 years ago is still alive today and that he can save your soul from the devil's hell. That takes faith. Everything we do as followers of Jesus Christ takes faith.
Now, I want you to listen to me right now because you're looking at a man that likes to play it safe. Honestly, that's how my flesh is. I like to play it safe. I've now come to the realization. Maybe I'm wrong on this.
God doesn't like people who play it safe. You can be born again. Yeah, look, you're still born again. You're still going to heaven. You're a child of God.
He loves you. I don't know that he really is stirred by you that much. And I got scripture to back it up. Isn't it good that when your ideas. Is rooted in the scripture.
And so here's an idea I have that's rooted in the Word of God. I'm going to say it again: God loves people who step out in faith. God's not impressed by people who play it safe. Hebrews 11:6 says this: Without faith, You ain't gonna please God. That's in your Bible.
Did you know that? Hey, there's a story that Jesus tells of a man that was blessed by the master, and instead of stepping out in faith and investing that money and risking that money, he buries it in the ground. And the master doesn't say, Good, you played it safe. He condemns this man. I don't know, church.
God loves me. He blesses me. It's a great church, but I wonder if God is kind of sitting back and saying, Because here's what's going on in my mind.
Now, I probably shouldn't share this. I'm just going to share it with y'all. And the 5,000 people watching online, and the 10,000 people watching on TV. All right, I'm just going to share with you. I'm now getting to that age.
Where I'm thinking another 10 15 years I can retire I can kick back. Take it easy. Go sit on Myrtle Beach. Drink one of those drinks that has a little umbrella in it, non-alcoholic.
Okay, but I... I can get a. Play it easy and and kind of roll on into glory. That does not Honor God. Moses sends twelve people out into the promised land to spy it out.
Two come back and say, we can do it. I know there's giants. I know there's obstacles. I don't care. We can do it.
Ten said, no, no, no, let's play it safe. We can't do it. What are the names of the two? It says we can do it. Joshua and Caleb.
Name me one of the ten that said we can't do it. You can't do it, can you? Because they're lost to history. Because God honors those who step out in faith. And in fact, in that story, he even says, those two, they have a different spirit than everybody else.
I don't know, church. I'm tired of of tame Predictable Christianity. I want to step out in faith and see signs and wonders and miracles and the kingdom of God advance. I want us to do some big things for the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is taught in this passage.
And then secondly, this passage Okay, now look I never okay. This is going to be self-serving. I understand this. I've never preached on this before. But this passage does talk about honoring men of God.
She only has a little bit of resources left. And look at Elijah says, I would have never done this. I wouldn't have done this. Here's Elijah says.
Okay, you all got a little bit left?
Okay. Don't fear. Do as you've said, go make some bread. But give me some bread first. Why?
in the world would Elijah say that? I wonder if the Bible's trying to teach us something. That Elijah represents more than Elijah. He represents the work of God. Pastor Chad.
represents more than Pastor Chad. He represents the work of God here at Cross Assembly. Is the Bible teaching in this passage that there is some kind of connection between honoring the work of God and honoring the workers of God? Is there a connection there? You say, well, that's Old Testament.
Okay, that's Old Testament. Let me give you a couple New Testament passages. 1 Thessalonians 5:12, Paul says this. He's talking to the church at Thessalonica, and he says to the church at Thessalonica, But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you in the church. And have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction.
They preach the Word of God to you. And that you, now watch this, esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
Now I want you to see those two words very highly. In Greek, that's only one word. Have I told you Paul does this a lot? The Apostle Paul, he is so smart and so confident. The Apostle Paul sometimes will be writing letters and he'll be preaching.
And there's not a Greek word to describe what he's trying to say.
So he'll just make up a group. He just makes up a Greek word. Those two words vary highly. That is a made-up word of the Apostle Paul in the Greek language, and it is a combination of intensive words.
So, really, what that could be translated as is: look, esteem your leaders above. beyond, more intensely, and more outrageously than you can imagine. That's not me. That's powerful. I want to tell you something Jesus said.
Now this is going to blow your mind. Y'all know who I'm talking about, Jesus, right?
Okay. Let me tell you what Jesus himself said. Matthew 10:41. I'm not quite sure what to do with this, but Jesus says in Matthew 10:41, he who receives a prophet. In the name of a prophet, shall receive A profit's reward.
Now what do you do with that? I can tell you what Jesus didn't mean. Profit? Go charge $150,000 to preach at that church. I can pretty much assure you that a simple peasant carpenter from Nazareth was not preaching $150,000 honorariums for preachers.
I can guarantee you that. But I'm not quite sure what he means beyond that. What does he mean when he says, when you receive a prophet, A preacher? Because they represent me. You honor a prophet.
You'll be rewarded.
Now look. I think in analogies, and I want to give you an analogy that's probably, every analogy breaks apart at some point.
So don't push this to the extreme. And I've not really thought this thing through, but here's what I wonder if Jesus is saying. I was listening to a salesman one time, and this salesman said, I uh. I got in to see a CEO. to sell a product.
and a big corporation. And he said, when I got through talking to the CEO and other salesmen found out that I've met with him. It was like, man, how did you do that? He said that CEO he does not meet with salespeople. How in the world did you get in?
to see that CEO. And this the salesman said, well, the key was the janitor. That's what do you mean? He said, I know for a fact that CEO is very protective of his employees. And he said, these janitors that you salesmen would ignore when you went to visit him?
Those are the guys I would talk to. I connected them. I treated them with dignity. And one day one of these janitors Was in the office of that CEO cleaning up, and he said, You know, maybe you ought to give the salesman a chance. he treats us with dignity and respect, and opened the door.
Now, I want you to understand: we pastors, there's nothing special about us. We're not better than you, we're not greater than you. We are God's janitors. But I wonder at times if God says, I see how you treat my employees, I see how you treat my janitor, and when you honor them, you have access to me. I don't know.
I don't know. Odd no is Honor culture is taught in the Bible. He's a Netherlands. I have not been talking to you about the way I should have, but it's all over the place. This passage teaches the power of your words.
Look, Elijah doesn't say to this widow, I know. How could a loving God make us go through all this kind of stuff? I'm really questioning my salvation now. I'm questioning God. This doesn't make sense.
I'm so miserable. You know what Elijah says? Here's what he says, verse 14. He says, I know, honey, I know you're upset and you're worried that you're about to lose everything. But let me tell you something.
For thus says the Lord God of Israel: the bowl of flour will not be exhausted. Nor the jar of oil be empty. Until the day that God sends rain on the face of the earth. Do you hear what he just said to that lady? I now speak.
You will not starve. You will not go hungry. In fact, you will not have lack. My God will supply all of your needs. You say, well, he was able to say that because he had a word from God.
You have a word from God. I'll say it again. My God will supply 90% of your needs. Is that what it says? All your needs.
Greater is he who's in you than he who's in this world. I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor God's children begging for bread. That's what your word says. And beloved, I've been doing a little experiment for the last week here.
Now again, I said look, this is autobiographical. I've been so convicted about the words I've been using. Spirit of God about a week ago, a little over a week ago, convicted me of that. And I have changed. The words I speak.
I'm not trying to get Weird on you here. I'm not trying to get Copeland, Hagen, dollar, well, I'm not trying to do all that. But I'm just telling you something. As I've changed the words I've spoken. I've had the best week I've had in years.
It is amazing. And that should not surprise you. Because Psalm 34, 12 says, The man who desires life and length of days, and you want to have good days, who is that man?
Well, he's the man that keeps his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Do you see that? You want to have a good life? Watch the words you say. Hey, that's not.
This is all over the scripture. Here's another place: Proverbs 18:21. Death and life are in the power of the. Tongue. Ma'am, stop saying that reprobate kid is never going to come home.
Keep saying, in the name of Jesus Christ, somehow, some way, someday, that daughter, she's going to come back home one day. Stop telling everybody how bad your husband is and what a mess up he is, and how you wish he was more like that man or that man or that movie star and say, I thank God he's given me this husband. He's a man of God. He's a man of God in making. He's got some rough edges, but I thank God for this husband.
There's something powerful about the words we speak. And again, I know people have gone crazy with that concept. Um look, James 3. James says, this is James the half-brother of Jesus. He said the words you speak, he said it's like a rudder on a boat.
And it's like a bit in a horse's mouth.
Now, most of us are not equestrians, and most of us are not captains.
So, let me give you a modern-day analogy. He says, Your words are like a steering wheel. You want to go to a negative direction? That's fine. Use negative words.
You want to go in a positive direction? That's fine. You start steering positive words. I'm just telling you something some of y'all think you have the gift of Criticism. That's your spiritual gift.
I've looked in the Bible. There's not a spiritual gift of criticism. I heard a story one time of a prayer meeting where there's a man who's always negative, Brother Smith. And at the beginning of that prayer meeting, the pastor said, Brother Smith, Would you stand and lead us in a word of criticism? Right.
Um I don't know. I shouldn't be surprised because this is all over the Word of God.
Now, listen to me. If you can go. Let me ask you a question. Can you go 24 hours without saying one thing negative?
Now I want you to think about that. Can you personally? You. Go 24 hours without saying one thing negative. Listen, if you can't go 24 hours without a cigarette, you're addicted to nicotine.
If you can't go 24 hours without a drink, you're addicted to alcohol. If you can't go 24 hours without saying something negative, you've lost control of your tongue. And I want to tell you something. There's been this sounds corny. I get it.
This doesn't sound like Pastor Chad. I get it. Okay, but I'm going to tell you something I've done. what I'm trying to implement into my life over the last week. I'll do these one-minute drills.
Where things are coming at me. And it's stressful. And I'm watching TV, and I'm seeing this going on in Gaza, and this and that, and I take a one-minute drill. And I take one minute and I just thank God for things He's given me, things He's done for me, things He's brought me through. And I'm going to tell you something: after that one minute, things have totally changed.
Why? Because there's power in the words we speak. In fact, I was reading, as I was watching this, this is on YouTube. There's a, he's a former Navy SEAL, and now he's an influencer. He's big in the secular world, but he's also a Christian.
His name is Chad C-H-A-D-D Wright. Navy seal, big old beard. And he says this to secular audiences. Forget about Christian audiences. He says this to secular audiences.
They're like, man, how did you get through? You know, Navy SEAL Hell Week, and he now is a coach. He coaches people on ultra-marathon runs, and he kind of gives them some things he uses. He always says this: He's now, I'm a Christian. And I read my Bible.
And I'm convinced that the Bible talks about the power of the words you speak. Even the secular audiences, he says.
So, and I'm training somebody to go on an ultra-marathon. First thing I tell them is: when you're tired, Don't say I'm tired.
Well, I'm worn out. He says something happens. It goes from your brain to your brain. Your body. He said, I always tell people I'm training, be very careful about the words you speak.
And he said, I picked this up in hell wheat. He said, There's all these guys trying to get through this week to be Navy SEALs. He said, I had a friend, one of my best friends. He's stronger than me. He's in better shape than me.
He's the guy that's going to make it. I'm the one that's in doubt. And he said, this guy was doing great. And he said, Toward the end of hell week. He said, my friend turned to me.
I'd never heard him say one negative thing. He turned him and he here's all he said. I don't think I'm going to make it. He said, It's like somebody flipped a switch. From that day forward, everything went down, and he didn't make it.
He said, I am convinced what he spoke me. became reality. And so Elijah doesn't speak negativity. to this lady. He speaks the promises of God.
And so, I just want us to be careful about what we say. I'm gonna give you an example.
Somebody asks you. How you doing? Yeah. I'm just making it. Just make it.
How you doing? I'm just hanging in there. Like a bat on the side of a cave. I'm just barely hanging in there. I hope Jesus comes back, because I'm just barely hanging in there.
Now that may not sound like a big thing to you. I I've said And I'm growing my hair back, but I had this little funny thing that would make people laugh. Pastor Chad, how are you doing? Old, fat, and bald. Maybe I shouldn't be speaking that over myself.
Maybe you shouldn't be speaking this over yourself. I was talking to an old A M E Preacher. African-American preacher one time. And every time I'd ask him, How you doing? He'd always say blessed and highly favored.
Have you heard that? Blessed and highly favored. And I kind of thought, well, that's just something you said. Maybe it's just something you said. Or maybe he's read the word of God.
And if you say, I'm blessed and highly favored, you're going to start living like you're blessed and highly favored. And you're going to start thinking that you're blessed and highly favored because there's power in the words you speak. And so This passage teaches the power of faith. Just step out in faith. Church, I want us to step out in faith on this building thing.
Let's step out. Let's just do something great for God. If we go bankrupt, we go bankrupt and we'll start another church again somewhere else and we'll start this whole thing all over again. But let's just step out in faith. And do what God's called us to do.
This passage talks about the power of faith. Secondly, this passage talks about the power of honoring men of God. Third, it talks about the power of words. And then, number four. Like or not.
This passage does teach Blessing in giving. The widow stepped out in faith. And she gave.
Now, I've got some people in this church who are big into the grace movement. And at times, I feel like you think grace means you don't have to do anything. You don't have to do anything for salvation. I get that. You are saved by grace.
But you understand there are still some commandments in the Word of God. And had this widow said, Elijah, I'm not going to do what you've told me to do. I'm not going to do what God has told me to do through you. I don't think what I'm about to read to you would have happened. Verse 16.
The bowl of flour was not exhausted. Nor did the jar of oil become empty. According to the word of the Lord, which he spoke through Elijah. Do you see what happened? It wasn't that she she Gave the rest of her a flower.
And gave the rest of the oil, and then she turned around, and there's a ton of flour now sitting there, and a gallon of oil sitting right there. That's not what happened. Here's what happened. She steps out in faith and gives all she has. And she said, it's over.
I've just poured the last of the oil to make the bread and it's gone. And then she gets there the next morning, she's like, whoa. A little bit of oil on the bottom of this thing. There must have been some stuck on the side that kind of gravity brought back down. I know this is now it.
This is the last. And she poured it out. And the next day she went back and said, whoa. But there's a there's oil there. Same with the flower.
Listen to me. If you're hearing me say you step out in faith and give, and poof, a Ferrari is going to be sitting in your driveway and you get home. That's not what this is teaching. This is teaching that when you are faithful, God is faithful day by day, moment by moment, incrementally, God will look out for you. That's what this is teaching.
And not only was she blessed physically, 900 years later, the Messiah, Jesus, is brought back to his hometown to preach. And in Luke chapter 4, Jesus preaches a sermon. And do you know who he uses as his sermon illustration? That woman, right there. God honored that woman.
Church, listen to me. This is not an Old Testament concept only. Luke 6.38, Jesus says, Jesus says Give and it will be given to you. A good measure. Press down.
Shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.
Now, what in the world does he mean by that? In Jesus' day, when you went to the grain market, you'd sit in a chair, you'd have your bag. And you'd pay for some grain. The stingy guys would pour just enough in your life and say, okay, that's it. The gracious guys would say, Let's pour some grain in here and let's push that down and let's shake this up and push it down some more and let's put some more grain on top of that and let's push that down and let's shake it up and let's push it down and put more.
And he says, Our God is not a stingy giver. Our God is a God who responds to generosity. And when you give, God gives generously, is what he's saying right there. 1 Corinthians 9:6. Because some of y'all will tell me this.
Well, I believe God blesses, yes, but it's all spiritual blessings. That's not what Paul's saying. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 6, this is in the context of financial giving. Paul says, remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. I don't know any other way to read this.
I'm not a prosperity guy, but I'm just telling you, that's in the Word of God. Say when it comes to money in America And I'm almost through. When it comes to money in America, here is our order of operation. Step one: we get our paycheck and we spend it on ourselves. Step one.
Then step two We Pay our bills and save. And in step three, if there's anything left, we give to the Lord. That's the way the world does it. In the kingdom of God, here's the order of operation. You get paid and the very first thing you do is you bring 10% of your tithes into the storehouse.
Step two. Then you pay your bills and save. And step three: if there's anything left, you spend it on yourself and trust that God is going to give you more. And I'm just telling you.
Some of y'all are going to be praying for financial breakthroughs today. We're going to believe that right here. But I gotta tell you something.
Some of y'all are Some of you, I'm not judging, I'm just calling it.
Some of you are in the shape you're in because you refuse to handle your money God's way. And I don't know how God is going to Keep blessing you. God, give me more money so I can keep disobeying you just on a larger scale. I don't know if it works that way. And so, um, I don't know, beloved.
I'm going to wind up the way I started today. This sermon might not be for anybody in this place today. It might just be for me. Because I look at these concepts, these four concepts, And you don't want to hear this. You want to hear a pastor say, I am.
Thriving in all four of them, and y'all need to be more like me. I wish I could tell you that. I hate to tell you this. I only feel good about one out of four of these in my life. And that's the the tithing thing.
I tithe because it's very simple, just tithe. But even that I can grow in, because I realize I tithe. But I'm not as generous as I could be.
Now, I'm trying to learn that from my wife. My wife, I mean, she just... She's like, I said, honey, you gotta stop giving money and stuff. You gotta stop giving away. And she's like, yeah, but they really need that money.
And I'm like, yeah, we really need that money.
So I can grow in that area as well. But I I look at um stepping out in faith. I don't know, man. I'm tired of playing it safe. I just want to step out in faith more.
I like, what's the second one? Honoring men of God. I can do better on that. I've had some conflicts, not inside our church, outside our church. I've had some conflicts with some ministers lately.
Because of some stands that I have taken. And I am right and they're wrong. But I am. But I have I've kind of mouthed off a little bit too much. It's like God is saying, hey Chad.
They're not your employees. Those are my employees. Why don't you let me take care of my men? And you just focus on pastoring cross-assembly. I can do better on that one.
What's the third one? Watching our works. I'm just telling you, I've been trying this. It's tough. This is a hard habit to break, but the more I guard my words and speak blessing, the better my life is.
And then the giving generously thing. You say, well, I can't give 10% of my income to the Lord. We're strapped financially. I can only give 2%. Then, why don't you do this?
Start with 2%, and then next month go to 3%, then the next month go to 4%. And you do what you need to do to get to that 10% level. But I'm going to tell you, on the authority, Chad, what if I go broke? You will not go broke. On the authority of the Word of God, you ain't going to go broke.
I've had so many people give me tithing testimonies lately. I don't want to use the word creepy because that's got a bad connotation and denotation. But It's creepy how y'all been coming up to me. It's like, Chad.
Okay. I never tied in my life. I did this and all of a sudden this happened. It's like really It's strange how God begins to bless almost immediately when God's people step out in faith.
So can we do this? for the next thirty days. Do I answer this? You do what you want to do. For the next 30 days.
I'm going to start stepping out in faith. For the next 30 days, I'm going to start honoring men of God. For the next 30 days, I'm going to start watching the words I speak. And for the next 30 days, I'm going to try to take my generosity to a new level. And if we come back in 30 days and none of this is working, I'll apologize and we'll go back to the old way of living.
But I don't think you're going to feel bad about it. I think you're going to see God move in your life. And let's start that right now. Stand with me. Do you know that there is a Again, this has been abused.
I get it. I know it, and I'm sorry. But there is a connection. Between faith Miracles An answer to prayer. It's in the Bible.
Incidentally, it's in the Word of God. Jesus goes back to his hometown of Nazareth. And he preaches his heart out. And he tries to do miracles, and here's what the Bible says. Even Jesus could not do miracles in his own hometown.
Why? Because there was no faith there. That's pretty powerful. I want us to step out in faith today. And if you need physical healing, How many of y'all believe this?
Behold, I am God. I changeth not. I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. Y'all believe that? Y'all believe the same God that split the Red Sea open several millennia ago and Jews walked through?
The same God who made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the same Jesus that raised people from the dead. Y'all believe he has changed or is he the same?
So let's start with this faith thing. If you need healing in your body, If you need healing in your finances, You need some kind of breakthrough in your job or in a relationship. You need God to answer. In just a moment, I'm going to have you come forward and we're going to pray. And I'm going to be honest with you.
I'm a Pentecostal preacher. We're not going to do crazy stuff. I'm not into blowing on people. I'm not into pushing people down. I'm not into that.
Stuff. What I am into. Is welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit in this place and letting the same Jesus that walked on this earth 2,000 years ago walk into this room right now and let Jesus touch people.
So if you Need A miracle. Come right now. As we sing this song. This is an awesome thought. Listen to me.
No, no, no, no, no, listen. Jesus is in this room right now. I want you to let that settle over you right now. Jesus is in this room. You come right now.
You come. Hey sing this let's sing this for just a second sing this And then I'm going to lead us in prayer. Just sing this for a second. Come on, Ron. Just sing this song.
Jesus is in. In this world. No prayers yet? Just look at me right yet. Just look at me.
Come, come. Making this place. Thanks a lot. And holy cow, holy cow. All right, listen, everybody down front here.
We got the greatest prayer team in the world. These are great men and women of God. I think the world of them. They're gonna lay hands on you right now. And they're going to pray for you.
You say, why do I need people to pray with me? There's some kind of power in agreement. And what happens sometimes when these people pray?
Sometimes the Holy Spirit, the power of the Spirit, just comes on you, and you can't stand up. That's fine. Sometimes you'll start saying things to Jesus in a word and a language you can't understand. That's fine. Jesus is in this room right now, and He wants to do signs and wonders and miracles.
And so, prayer team, right now, would you just start placing your hands on people and let's just start praying in the name of Jesus? I'm going to ask you this again. Do you believe Jesus has changed, or is he still the same? The same Jesus That raised people from the dead is right now walking right down front. through these people.
The same Jesus. The touch of blind man that had not seen from birth. That same Jesus is right here, right now. And He's going to touch you. He's just going to do it through the hands of these men and women of God right now.
As God is moving down here and as God is ministering down here, those of you who are not down front, you can leave as soon as the Spirit of God tells you to leave. The service is over. You can linger in the presence of God or you can leave, but just be very sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is doing right now through these men and women. Father God, in the name of Jesus. Father, in the name of Jesus.
We have faith, God. We believe, Father. We believe. We believe. You can do it.
You have it changed. You can do it. Do your miracles right now in the name of Jesus. Do it right now in the name of Jesus. Theme leaves.
Strange.
