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[Music] god we worship you come on come on [Music] who breaks the power of sin in darkness whose love is mighty and so much stronger the king of glory knocking above our kings who shakes the whole earth with holy [Music] [Music] this is amazing grace come on this is [Music] set free [Music] that you've done for me [Music] [Music] shines like the sun in all love is brilliant [Music] this is [Music] [Music] worthy is the king [Music] worthy is [Music] is this is amazing grace [Music] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] i want somebody give a prize who's ready to continue worshiping our god tonight come on in the presence of my enemies i raise a hallelujah [Music] my weapon is a melody yeah i raise our hallelujahs heaven comes to fight for me come on [Music] [Music] with everything [Music] [Music] darkness [Music] [Music] hope will arise [Music] [Music] is [Music] sing a little louder sing a little [Music] sing it louder [Music] louder [Music] yay [Music] is come on raising up to jesus [Music] come on somebody give god praise right there come on if you know he's good give him praise we love you lord jesus [Music] let's just keep worshiping him let's raise our hands [Music] before i spoke a word you are singing over me you have been so so good to me before i took a breath you breathe your life in me [Music] you have been so so kind [Music] oh and i don't deserve it still you give yourself away [Music] reckless [Music] thank you for your love [Music] you have been so so good to me when i felt no worth oh [Music] oh we thank you [Music] [Music] tear down coming after me thank you god there's no shadow you won't light up mountain you won't climb up coming after [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Music] coming after me [Music] [Music] coming after me oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] never it's [Music] just praise the lord right now father we come before you lift up your voice whether you're with us online whether you're right here in this room lift him up father we praise you you are our hope you are the god that is from age to age you are the ancient of days you are the everlasting king you are the one that spoke this world into being you are the one that reigns supreme over every power over every nation over every principality there is no force that has ever been or ever will be that is greater than you you are the one that has the way you are the one that has the answer so we call upon your name we look unto you for where our hope comes from we look unto you and know you are the god that will make a way where there seems to be no way awaken your church o lord awaken your people let us not be caught looking to the left and looking to the right but let us set our hearts upon the mountains where you dwell let us call upon the name of the most high god and know that you are the answer for our need you are the answer for our world today we are perplexed and we are beaten down but we say lord jesus we know that you are the savior of the nations of the world we cry out for america god moved by your holy spirit on this land we're not looking for a political answer we're not looking for some person to rise up we're saying holy spirit of god move upon the people of god move above the far and reaching places of this land awaken us humble us begin to stir us to know that we need you god we cry out awaken your church pray for the church in america today god get us out of human solutions turn us into you jesus turn us the baptist the methodist the presbyterian the the black the white the hispanic all across the board god move among your church we pray move in the people of god in america god you say you're looking for a remnant you're looking for those that know where our answer comes from connect them bring them together jesus and bring a spiritual revival in america we pray in jesus name amen amen amen hello focal point online thank you for worshiping with us today i'm billy the campus director here and i would love to know where you are tuning in from go ahead and type it in the chat i would love to connect with you for those watching with us for the very first time i am so excited that you are here and if that's you i invite you to be part of our focal point online community to get you started we created the focal point challenge the focal point challenge is a way for us to help you make church attendance a normal pattern in your life for three weeks you will attend our online service and type in the chat which week of the challenge it is for you and along the way we will get to know you better as you get to know us better to start simply scan the qr code to register and once you've completed the challenge we'll send a focal point online t-shirt straight to your home and we also encourage you to visit our facebook group where you will find information on upcoming events bible verses and connect with the online hosts and members of our church today in our service we are specifically highlighting the act of giving giving to god is such a special way to worship god in fact it is one of the very few instances in the bible where god says to test him in doing this giving our first 10 of our income to god is not a duty but a privilege the fact of the matter is that god gave us everything we have so to show our gratitude and thankfulness towards him we have the ability to give back to the kingdom of god so if you would like to give today you can do so by heading over to focalpointchurch.com and select the giving tab then under tithes and offerings choose the online campus now let's pray as we give our gifts today father thank you so much for all that you have blessed us with thank you for this brand new year father i pray that this year will be amazing for every person that is watching this right now and for every single person that's going to watch us on demand later and so god we bless you we honor you and we thank you it's in jesus mighty name we pray all god's people said come on put in the chat a amen now get your notebooks and bibles ready and meet me in the chat right now be sure to share your praise hands and tell us what part of the message stood out for you now here's pastor mark with today's message now we have been in a series called built strong i've called it build strong many times throughout this series but it says built i believe right yes built uh and the reason why we're doing that uh is because the parable jesus told about two builders uh one was foolish and one was wise that they faced storms and one really focused on building a foundation that was strong and one didn't and so we've been looking at how can we build a strong foundation and i i really hope you understand we're still going to be facing intensity facing storms so we talked about reclaiming our calling getting in and serving because we all got pulled back and what happens it's almost like the future is still a bit unclear so you can begin to feel like what's the motivation what is god really wanting to do with me and we said we need to get back into calling serving even if you're online how can i serve the purposes of god as you're here how can i serve i have people telling me hey how can we do this outreach and it's like we're still working to get people serving so that we can then begin to reach out more and more we all need to do that i pray every day into my calling now because i felt my calling attack so much in the last three or four months because it's like it's not clear how we even go forward to carry out any burdens that we even have on our hearts so we also talked last week about restoring our connection and whether you're alone or whether you come to a group on zun we need to get connected into our groups of people that we can work together pray together help each other and we said we've got to do this and we had i think 25 or 30 new people sign up for groups but we're i'm really hoping for a lot of people that are in a group but they've not been regular that you'll get regular this time we've got to do some things to build strong the last what we're going to talk about we have one more week after this what we're going to talk about today is strengthening our peace how can we strengthen our peace i'm calling it calm in the chaos how can i find that peace remember the storm where jesus spoke and it calmed how can i find calm in the midst of the chaos that is all around me so let's have a word of prayer father in the name of jesus we come here we pray and ask you to lead us as we come into your word let the word of god let the truth of god let the wisdom of god let the counsel of god be freely released into our spirit and let god you begin to show us how to apply it walk it live it and stand on it in the name of jesus we pray amen amen amen thank you i want to look at how to find peace in the midst of the circumstances we're in and the financial challenges that we're in because we're living in a time where everything is uncertain it's changing and there's tension and conflict on every side i don't i know you know but you feel like there's a a higher level of tension not just because of all that's going on in the political world not just because of all that's going on with the pandemic not just because of all the changes everybody's having to live within but the combination of all of that is just creating an environment where you feel like people can get offended people can get discouraged people can get combative and it just feels that way i i watch something where well i don't even want to go into is this where the road rage that i saw people were having in florida in a certain spot it's like this is crazy but stress is all around us how do i find peace even when it seems like other people aren't looking for peace how can i still walk in the peace of god the the second thing is about our finances because a lot of us are feeling financial strains like i've got a job but it's not a great job or i've lost a job or i'm not sure if the job is going to remain through the times in which we live my savings is gone how do i get caught up with things then the future of our financial things is uncertain so we have all of this stress how do we find peace so we're going to look at how do i build a foundation that can stay strong in the lord in the midst of this chaos now i want to read this the first part what we'll look at if you have an outline i hope you can look at it there if it's online you can see it there and follow along and of course we'll have it up on the screens but in in this one how do i find god's peace in this chaos the first verse i want to read is john 16 33 he said i told you all this so that you may have peace in me here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows but take heart because i've overcome the world jesus is saying here i'm offering you peace in the midst of a world that does not have peace i'm offering you peace in the midst of a world where you will face trials and where you will face sorrows but i've already overcome the world i'm already victorious i've already gained the position of victory so i can help you no matter what you're facing and he talks many times about the peace that he offers because remember he is the prince of peace he talks about his peace he says my peace is not like the world's peace and you say what's the difference peace in the world like you talking about i just need some peace have you ever said that i just need some peace you have a rough day and you come home and you basically are telling everybody leave me alone i need some quiet but the world's peace is more based on everything going well that's how i have peace everything's going well it's short-lived it's temporary and it's infrequent but jesus is promising a peace that is greater than that that is different than that he you know we think of the world's peace is the absence of noise or conflict or negativity but god's peace is not focused on the absence of something it's focused on the presence of him with us and he's saying because when god is with you what does it matter who's against you what does it matter what challenge you stand in front of i don't need to even be disturbed because i know he is with me and he's saying i'm giving you a peace that will be with you so it's it's like saying the world is saying you can have peace when everything's going your way and god's saying i'm giving you a peace that'll hold you even when everything's falling apart the world says i'll give you a peace when the storm is over and the world is saying i'm giving you peace the lord is saying i'm giving you peace in the midst of the storm in isaiah 54 10 it says the mountains may disappear the hills may come to an end but my love will never disappear my promise of peace will not come to an end says the lord this is how powerful god's peace is in our lives he said it's solid it holds you steady it is going on and he's saying i will be with you in the midst of any trial or sorrow and i'm saying to you we should not expect oh this is such a hard year oh we've got all these challenges therefore we should live with this disturbed heart we should live with this chaotic thinking we should live with this aggravation that we're no jesus christ is saying i'm offering you peace no matter what's going on out there so how can we strengthen if our foundation if we can calm down and walk in peace i'm telling you we can tap into the lord's strength we can tap into the lord's wisdom but when we're chaotic we literally find it hard to even hear god's voice so how do i find god's peace in this chaos number one we need to receive peace as a gift god's promises are a matter of believing and receiving not earning and all of that the part of it is believing but then you need to personally receive it look at this verse in john 14 27 i'm leaving you a gift peace of mind and heart and the peace i give you is a gift the world cannot give so don't be troubled or afraid he said you and i are trying to get peace we're trying to get it through our circumstances or we're trying to get if we can just get some other people to cooperate we can get peace we think that kind of thing but he's saying no if you're trying to get peace that way you won't get it jesus saying i'm giving you peace that is solid and strong so what is our battle to receive peace he's saying i'm giving it to you you receive it so why are we struggling in this receiving a lot of us think our struggle is our family you know our children or our spouse or our co-workers or our circumstance that we're currently in and jesus didn't say that he said your problem is a troubled mind you have a troubled heart or you're afraid he said he said in here so don't be troubled or afraid many times we think it's people or circumstances that's robbing our peace and jesus said no it's an internal issue it's about a troubled heart or in a fearful fearful heart these are the two enemies of peace they're what steal the peace that jesus is giving we have to deal with the worry and the fear if we're going to keep peace in our lives the key to having peace is asking jesus to calm our fears and to really release our burdens to him and trust them with him somebody say amen i mean you're if you're waiting on peace for everybody to cooperate and not disturb you it will never happen i honestly i used to i told you i had discouragement for the first uh eight years when i was in florida and i was applying to pastor a church because there was always somebody fussing or somebody quitting or somebody being negative or somebody doing this or somebody doing that and i would focus on and i would get discouraged and i'm like how can we ever achieve the purposes of god if people keep doing this and doing that and doing this and so it would knock me down and i would lose my peace and all and i would get so weary and i get so tired and i remember several years later i realized everybody in the bible had situations that were not peaceful but they kept moving because they kept their focus on god moses had a lot of things that were difficult but he still walked through all the things of egypt walked through the parting of the red sea walked through all the struggles in the desert led the people to where he did because he kept his heart before the lord so i realized this is a me issue not a you issue so how do i keep my heart at rest before the lord how do i keep fear from coming in and taking hold of me there's a story in the bible where jesus was on a when a boat with his disciples and a storm came up and i'll read it it's in mark 4 39 and it says and he awoke and rebuked the wind and this and said to the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm and he said to them why are you so afraid do you not have faith now every miracle in the bible was not just to show god had power it was to teach us things in this here he's teaching us what he can do in our hearts he can stand up in the middle of our storms and pete and speak peace be still to our emotions to our like our noisy thoughts he can speak unto your heart peace be still some of us are facing storms right now and we need the lord to calm our fears and begin to release the troubles of our heart it's a matter of believing that god cares about us and it's like releasing them i mean honestly it is like giving him the burden i realized for a long time that i thought i'm responsible to fix the things in my life i'm not i don't have that power i can't open blind eyes that people have inside their hearts why they're not going forward i can speak and speak and speak and change nothing it's god who is the savior it's god who's the deliverer it's god who's the waymaker it is god who does those things that i was trying to do his job so i was troubled and i was anxious but it's him who said to me i'm your partner release your burden to me and trust me that i will lead you through it don't wait until you see the victory trust that i can lead you and bring you to the victory and so many times he has there are things almost daily that are going to come to you in the uncertainty where we live with where you're going to have to make a choice am i going to put my eyes on god and trust him with this or am i going to carry it and let my heart be troubled because if you want peace you're going to even though you don't have the answer yet even though you don't know how the victory is going to be won even though you aren't certain you know that he said cast your cares upon me because i care for you you matter to me and if he was willing to give his life what good thing would he withhold from you nothing it's a gift that he wants to give you so don't hold your troubles and your fears the second thing is you give god your burdens it's a gift we receive god i receive your peace over the situation i give you my burden it says in john 14 1 do not let your hearts be troubled you believe in god believe also in me john 14 27 peace i leave with you my peace i give you i do not give to you as the world gives but do not let your hearts be troubled do not be afraid our hearts are not supposed to be in fear anxiety and turmoil they are to be at rest in the love of the one who died for us honestly if you really put as the place i'm supposed to live is at rest in his love instead of i'm that's just the way we are all my family is just always worried no it accomplishes nothing he says don't live that way he is our redeemer do you realize our worry and our fear is really unbelief that he is who he said he is that he it will do what he said he will do we are meant to live in the peace of god the reason we don't is because we carry our problems ourselves they create stress and noise and fear and trouble inside our hearts anytime i feel my heart troubled and feel the noise of just problem solving figuring fretting going on inside of me i go before the lord and start asking god what am i caring that i need to release he says philippians 4 6 and 7. do not be anxious about anything i love that he didn't say don't be anxious about most things but the really big stuff yeah i get it go ahead and go with that he says but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to god he's simply saying present your burden to god he loves you he died for you he is not going to withhold from you you matter to him he's proven it more than anybody in your whole world has ever proven love to you god has proven love to you by laying down his life and redeeming and reconciling you he said here's here is how you deal with worry and anxiety and find peace he said release it to me don't be anxious don't let your mind run down that track pray about it release your burden to me there's no gain in worry discouragement fear doubt it's only torment of the devil it's just a trap of the devil to to steal from you set your mind on christ ii thessalonians 3 16 says now may the lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way i wish you had said in there i am supposed to be at peace that's the way i'm supposed to live i can trust god now i can't stay there on my own i need christ to stay there that's the reason i pray daily that's the reason some days even though i prayed in the morning i'll come home and pray at night because i've had some battles that day and my peace is being robbed and i need to come back to the lord set my focus cast my cares give him my burdens third focus your thoughts on jesus i love this passage isaiah 26 3 you keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because he trusted you i feel like god gave me something early when i started really surrendering the control of my life i was terrified now anybody i find there's two things that are hard maybe three control is hard to surrender to god your heart is hard to surrender to god and the people you love those three things are hard to surrender to god but he loves those people more than you love them he knew them before they were even born and he entrusted them to you he's got bigger plans for them than you ever had and your heart nobody will take care of your heart like he will take care of your heart he'll be your defender in control he's the only one that knows the future you holding control is only keeping you back from the things god has for you and as i was wanting to release the control to him he kept telling me trust me trust me because i kept being afraid are you going are we going to get there you know are you moving what about this what about that and it's like release the trust to me you can't get us there i'm the only one that can take us there he said i will keep in perfect peace those that really trust in me my daily experience of peace determines whether i where i set my trust is my trust in me working out my problems is my trust in my circumstances looking good or is my trust in the lord god almighty he's telling me focus on me and i'll give you peace a peace that will protect you i will secure you i'll never leave you i'll surround you with unfailing love i will lead you through i am your covenant partner your battles are my battles your needs are my needs i will not forsake you as much even as you as a parent would give good gifts to your children how much more will i take care of you don't worry when things shake because i know how to get all the way through trust me look to jesus proclaim who he is you look at jesus how he trusted the father people were attacking him people lied about him people picked up stones to kill him but he's just trusting he knows his time has not yet come he knows they can't do anything to him until it's time that the father declares the father is in control i don't have to fear these people many times when you understand that god holds your destiny your boss doesn't hold your destiny nobody else in your family holds your destiny put your trust in god he even though people shut doors god can open doors they haven't even seen yet god's in control i can trust him it's sweden he even says he said when you see these wars when you see these people groups rising against each other when you see people hating you because of my name don't fear don't fear these are just birth pangs i'm still in control put your heart in me jesus was attacked he was disappointed by his disciples i mean i'm sure he had to think in a human mind will these guys ever get it but he set his focus upon the lord and he kept carrying it out people left him people turned on him even in the garden he's weeping so much that he's sweating drops of blood but he never lost the peace of god god gave him peace no matter what chaos was around him during this pandemic there's been times in which all i can't even describe i know you face challenges nobody in here knows but there's times in the midst of it the chaos can get you it can get you you get your eyes get off the lord you get discouraged you start feeling hopeless you start wondering how it's going to work out some some frustrating feelings or discouraging feelings or negative feelings can begin to creep into your heart you're not at rest and there's times that i felt lost but i knew where to go i've got to get my eyes back on jesus there's times that the angst i mean you just feel like i feel like the bait the enemy's drawing is you want to counter what that other group is saying because you see the absurdity of it or you see this of it and you want to counter it and i fell into that even if it was internal at times but i realized my eyes are leaving jesus and i'm starting to get lost and i'm losing peace and i'm losing a sense of direction i've got to get back and get my eyes on jesus there's so many unknowns in front of us there's so many uncertainties you can get discouraged is it ever going to change will this ever be different when can we start doing this again when can we go forward again and you need to stop fearing and get my eyes back to the shepherd of my soul jesus christ colossians 3 15 said and let the peace that comes from christ rule in your heart that means lead in your heart i need to be focusing on christ i'm going to ask you in a minute because we're doing a call to action and we're really wanting to put things into practice i'm going to ask you in a minute will you contend for peace daily because we're living in very chaotic times and if you do not contend for peace you will find peace fleeting and the only way you're going to be strong is if you contend for it but what about peace with our financial challenges there's a lot of uncertainty with finances and jesus talked a lot about money even more than he did heaven or hell why because money has a very big impact on our lives you get very stressed out about money how to save it how to get it how to spend it the fear of losing it how to give it how to invest it how to protect it and god promised to take care of our needs that he wants to bless us but i tell you i've never lived in a time where the uncertainty of money has felt the way it does right now and the question i put up for here on your outline is how do i find god's peace in financial uncertainty and i put in there by following god's financial laws his principles and i was really wrestling with this because god speaks clearly about how you can have a healthy mind how you can have a healthy soul how you can have a healthy family life how you can have a healthy finances and on and on and i and i was looking at this i really believe friends if we will practice these things we can find peace even though it's still uncertain out there so what are god's financial laws the first one is the law of ownership remember that god is my source he says i will supply all of your needs this is a critical cornerstone of what it means to trust god with the uncertainty in the chaos that the the financial world is in if you forget this then you're putting your job as your source and if your job shakes you shake you're putting your savings at your source if your shaving starts getting depleted you start getting panicked inside we put the the way that things look in the economy if they look good then i feel hopeful if they start to decline or shake then i get panicked and worry oh no what if we have another this what if that happens you must put your security in something that can't be taken away or you'll never find security your salary is not the source of your financial stability god is the source just like i said a minute ago even with your destiny if you put your destiny in one person's hand it's my pastor he's going to see my anointing he's going to open the doors for me if you put it in that then you're always worried does he even notice me does he even see me no your destiny is not in one person's hands your destiny is in the hands of god that's the source god is the one that says i can open doors for you nobody else can open i can bring the people along that can mentor you that you need follow me and you can't fail to miss why i created you god is your source many of us have lost salaries at times our savings has gone down at times and we've seen god take care of us we've seen god provide for us i remember when i first stepped out i to to plant this church i pastored a church not far from here maybe about 30 minutes from here we came out there's only about 20 people we're going to start a church my salary was cut more than 50 percent i had no clue whether i was going to be taken care of and i read a statistic after i stepped out that three out of four churches that start fail and i'm feeling like if i'm putting my hope in my salary i'm on sketchy ground my hope is in god he will be my provider and then you have story after story of how god made this last longer how god provided this how somebody came and brought that i mean it's just god does he is the source many of us in here if we are looking to ourselves or our salary or our jobs to be the source of our financial security and putting all that weight and pressure on that we're feeling stressed out because those things are beyond our control we're living in times where if you do not look to god to be your source you will be stressed out you will be weighed down and you will be under pressure philippians 4 19 says and my god will meet all say it with me all all your needs according to the to the riches of his glory in christ jesus the bible teaches us clearly god is the source deuteronomy 8 18 says but remember the lord your god for he is who gives you the ability to produce wealth and so confirms his covenant god says i want you to be productive i am the one who give you the ability to produce wealth i am the one i do this out of covenant partnership i am partnering with you i am the source they can fall apart as a business don't worry i still i'm not falling apart i'm not leaving i won't forsake you romans 11 36 says for everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory i remember when i learned this god owns all but he loaned some to me i'm not the owner i'm the steward i learned this with my children because when you have children you feel completely responsible for them but you you try to parent them and you can't always get through you ever had trouble getting through amen you try to get through you're trying you're worried for the direction they're headed you're worried for where this could take them you're worried for these things and you realize that i remember i went to go pray and god told showed me i love them more than you love them i gave them to you for a reason now you've got to trust me because if you don't trust me your fear is going to push them into the thing that you're concerned about you're a steward i've given them to you you are a steward of this opportunity the ministry he gives you the the things he provides for you you are a steward the money he gives you is on loan you get it for whatever the 80 years when you're gone it will go on to other people god is the source and when you understand that you realize he is the one that will provide and take care it takes the weight off when you begin to understand that the second law is the law of tithing which is honoring god first whenever you want god to bless something you put him first if you want god to bless your marriage put him first don't put the person first put god first and watch him do it if you ever want to bless your children put god first let him be the lead the guide and how to parent and go if you want god to bless your finances put him first you want god to bless your time put him first i remember when i thought i was too busy to spend significant time with god on a daily basis no god could do it you remember when you first thought you can't tithe because i don't have enough money then you start tithing and you're saying how do i have enough money to tithe how how is this you put god first and he can begin to make productive your time he can begin to do things in your marriage or your family the promise of tithing i look at this what wrote proverbs 3 9-10 honor the lord with your wealth and with the best parts of everything you produce then he will fill your barns with grain honor god first trust him with your finances and he'll take care of you the principle of tithing was giving ten percent if you make a hundred dollars you give ten dollars i do it because i obey the lord i do it because i know that doing it puts my heart in a position to trust him and i'm going to explain that in a minute i also do it because i believe his purposes are important to invest in we invest in lots of things most of it we invest in ourselves but i want to invest in something that's internal and that can help the purposes of god go forward and i believe god can do more with the 90 percent than i can do with the hundred percent because why he's the source if i'm standing in a place of trusting god saying god i'm giving you my ten percent i believe you're the source and everything is shaking i don't shake because i know god i'm standing where you said to stand and i'm trusting you to be my source or our family source and that's an act of the heart it's not just lip service people can say lord i trust you but it's not really trusting god until you begin to step out and do what he said god i'm putting my trust in you the purpose of tithing is to teach us always to put god first and i think it reminds us that he's the source this passage struck me years ago it says in luke 16 and if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth who will trust you with true riches of heaven if you can't even walk with your worldly goods the way god said how can he give you the true riches when you give ten percent it does three things it tells god i'm grateful for my past you've taken care of me thus far it does the second thing it gives god honor and praise for your present you're the one i'm trusting in to carry me through and third i'm trusting you for the future it opens the door of trust and faith i mean you have the faith to pray for a miracle when you need a miracle you have a truck god i don't know how you'll do it but when you step out on obedience and trust him you have the faith to begin to pray god can make a way and people that trust god financially love to tell you the miracles god has done financially they love to tell you they love to tell you about how something came out of the blue they love to tell you how things lasted way longer than they ever should have lasted they love to tell you how all of a sudden somebody they haven't talked to in 25 years began to give them this they love to tell you but what they're doing is saying when i stepped out and trusted god was faithful and he did what he said he will do when i first stepped out to tithe it was hard this is honest i literally was working in the church and i was a i felt three emotions when i started trying to tie the first one was afraid i was afraid if i give i'm gonna be without i'm gonna lack because i didn't know god was my source and then i was mad because i was selfish and i didn't want to give up any of my money i didn't see i was a steward it's my money and i didn't want to give it up i didn't realize how that selfish heart was going to keep me from being blessed and third i was weak in faith i was worried how things would work out i had not learned how to trust god but it was only as i began to step out that my faith grew that my selfishness gave way to generosity and to love and that my fear began to be pushed back and i began to rise up in confidence so i told you about the purpose of tithing the promise of tithing and now the place of tithing is an act of worship that we do into the house of the lord malachi 3 10 says bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be enough food in my temple if you do says the lord of heaven's armies i will open the windows of heaven for you i will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in try me put me to the test he says bring in your tie to the storehouse to the house of the lord giving to charities a good thing but it's not tithing giving to a family member is a great thing but it's not tithing tithing is an act of worship unto the lord he says test me and see how faithful i am there are more promises about giving than you ever would even imagine in fact i would say it's got to be one of the top things categories of promises he says when you tithe i'm going to open the doors of heaven he's saying i'm going to open the doors of heaven and i will begin to do things that will begin to be miraculous god will begin to move god will begin to open things god will begin to give opportunities i had a pastor friend of mine that would tell one time he was traveling and he saw this guy that he had a need and felt led of god to give him his money and he said but this lord this is all the money i have and so he gave him the 200 that the man needed he was traveling into europe it was before the days of the you know when the credit cards could work in any country and so he's there all of a sudden he ran into a problem in this country in europe that he was in and he said god you told me to give the money will you please bring me and he said within minutes somebody came up and knew english and said how can i help you and then he told him his need and the man handed him 200 and he said lord you can never be denied it could never be denied the best way that we can begin to walk this out is beginning to trust god get in the position of faith in first corinthians 12 16 it says put aside what you've earned and it talks about giving weekly talking about regular giving he's not talking about like i don't know 20 ought to do it no he's saying think about it what did you make set it aside plan it do this don't give god leftovers don't give god second best put it as the first thing you're thinking about god this is our priority we want to put you first one of the things that we even do i i've set up because i honestly i believe this i trust this i've lived this we've walked this as a family forever but sometimes i forget sometimes i would fall behind sometimes i'm like oh no and so i set up the reoccurring giving so i wouldn't do that because i'm saying god i want this to happen i don't want to miss this amen i want to close with this the third thing is the law of sowing and reaping we have the law of ownership the law of tithing the law of sowing and reaping second corinthians nine he says but i say whoever so sparingly will reap sparingly whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully so let each of one of you give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or out of necessity for god loves a cheerful giver and god is able to make all grace abound towards you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work i mean this whole passage is saying and i've seen people use this passage to motivate people to get so they'll to give so they'll get that's wrong that's a wrong that's a selfish motive this what god is saying i want you to understand you don't have to be afraid to give because i'm going to take care of you i want to take away the fear not put a selfish motive i've never seen once in the bible that god wants to motivate you selfishly god is saying to us i want you to understand you don't have to be afraid and i think one of the things he's saying here that struck me is that you need to see money as a seed not the way an economy sees it he said whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly but whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully he's focusing on the seed he's talking about now how do you view the money that god has entrusted to you to steward do you see it just as what can meet your needs what can help you get the things you desire or do you see it as a seed when you see money as a seed it doesn't control you you're not afraid of whether i have this or that because you realize that money is a tool that god can use to bless you and to bless other people he says this is a tool when you sow it it's going to bring about a return a harvest you know the law of sowing and reaping you know it like if you sow sin you're going to reap destruction if you sow love you're going to see love come back at you if you sow anger you're going to see it spread around your house it doesn't matter it's this it's temp some people call it karma it's not karma it says you sow you're gonna reap get that and he's saying with money it's the same thing if you sow you're going to get back you're going to receive and he and he says this in a way he says if you sow this then god makes all grace abound to you not just financial grace but he's talking about god makes all grace he's going to pour blessing on you he's going to pour revelation on you he's going to pour encouragement on you he's going to begin to bring people around you it's not going to just come but you're going to see a little bump in your paycheck or see a little boost from somewhere some finances came god's going to begin to move in you he says god's going to sow this is seed you're sowing just like your service is seed when you sow acts of god's love to people it is a seed you are sowing and it will bring back a harvest it will bring back and i love what he said remember what he said i chose you and i appointed you that you're going to bear fruit how do you bear fruit with seed you bear fruit with seed as you serve you've got seed as you carry out what christ cares you've got seed as you begin to give you have seed and he said it's a tool and he says by all of this god is able to make grace abound you how often always when you sow bountifully god's grace will abound to you it overflows it covers you spiritually emotionally financially and all these palmers are directed so bountifully with a cheerful heart don't live in self-centeredness and fear living generosity and faith and god it will be a source that will apply to you i know a lot of times when we you go and you start thinking about giving you think i feel like god's leading me to do this the first thought we have well what about if the water heater goes out what about the roof it's getting old we got to do something with that what about cutbacks at work i don't know how it's going to go what about all these things the first thing we need to remember your money is not your source your sufficiency is god and he's saying listen you just got a little so a little and it will begin to abound to you and i'm telling you when you walk in the principles of god has towards money you have faith that can stand when everything is shaking but if you go into fear and you start trying to hoard and growl and you're afraid you're not gonna have faith to stand and you're gonna begin to feel the shakings that are all around us friends i really want us to get our peace back we can't make all this stuff stop but we can stand in peace because jesus gave us a peace that is not of this world as we continue this series of built strong we are looking at all the ways that we can take practical steps to become fully established in our relationship with jesus and as a member of focal point church pastor mark challenged us today to find calm in the midst of all the chaos that we've been facing and two ways that we can begin to trust god is through our finances and circumstances so today we want you to take a step to help make giving to become a rhythm in your life so today as you give you can set up recurring giving either weekly bi-weekly monthly semi-monthly whatever works for you in your financial situation you could set this up today in a moment we will play a 20-second video to help you set that up now remember to bless someone this week by sharing this message with them it's available on demand on our youtube channel and make sure you hop on the facebook group this week if you're not in it make sure you join now let's close out our time together and then enjoy the video father thank you so much for giving this this wonderful word from pastor mark father i pray that uh this week that we will be blessed that uh this recurring giving god that we'll be able to see your faithfulness through it so jesus we honor you and we praise you it's in your heavenly name we pray amen and amen one of the very best ways that we can make giving a rhythm in our life is by using the recurring giving method to set up recurring giving follow these simple steps first go to our website at focalpointchurch.com and select giving at the top right hand corner you can then type in the amount you'd like to give under frequency change it from one time to regularly you can then select how frequently you'd like to give and on what day your recurring giving will begin from there it will be automatically charged at your desired rate thank you for making giving a rhythm in your life here at focal point church