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[00:00:00] Hi, Beatty. I’m so looking forward to carrying on our conversation today. For those of you who were not with us last week, we will be talking more about my medical plan. We’re going to be naming Beatty Carmichael next. I guess I was calling you Beatty master Barber. The creator of Dominator is one of the marketing experts in the real estate field. And Beatty, I’m just really looking forward to hearing this discussion. No, I’m fine.
[00:00:35] Yes. And again, just as a quick disclaimer, if you’re coming to this call to learn about real estate marketing, this is one of our radical faith calls. We’re not going to talk anything about real estate. We’re all gone. We’re going to be talking about Christian principles and living your life for Christ. So if you don’t want to listen to this one, go on and turn it off and go to the next podcast. When it comes out. So. Yes. So last time we talk about ties today, I want to talk about offerings because ties and offerings go together because they’re both our treasure that we usually hold on to because it’s our money. But before we do, I wanted to clarify or actually correct one thing from the last session, if I may, Penny more in the last session we talked about no longer under law, but under grace and I talked about it no longer under the Mosaic Law. Well, after the call, the law kind of convicted me, said you better research that, because that may not be exactly accurate. So I went back to Romans 6 and Romans 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 and realized, no, it’s not. The mosaic clocks that were no longer under it is the law that then Moses wrote down. But it’s not. All of the light of the Mosaic Law are the do’s and don’ts of all the little action items that you do. But I want to clarify what scripture says is the difference between underline under grace. So real quickly, I’m just going to go through a bunch. This is in Romans 6, 7, 8 and 9. I just want to pull out some some things if you go through it.
[00:02:23] Paul is making a constant comparison between law and grace, but he starts to use different terms. I think as I run through these, you’ll start to see the difference. It’s not that galore. We’re no longer supposed to do what the law says. That’s not what. No longer under law, but under grace means we still do it. It’s just that we do it from for a different reason. So Romans six 13 is where it says we’re no longer under law, but under grace then enrollments six, 17 and 18. It says that we went from slaves of sin to slaves of righteousness. So now we start to see that under law, you’re a slave to sin, under grace, you’re a slave to righteousness. Then we move to Romans seven. Twenty nine. And and Paul says that I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. So you’re still talking about under a law? Under grace. Under grace. I serve the law with my mind. Under law, I serve the law of sin with my flesh. Then we move into Romans a wine. And it says, The law of the spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Still going back to no longer under law, sin and death, but under grace, which is spirit of life. Romans age six to set the mind on the flesh his death. But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. So we’ve gone from law slave to sin, which is flesh, which is that grace is slave to righteousness, which is mine. And the spirit which is life is. Are you following me on this, Penny?
[00:04:12] Okay.
[00:04:14] And the end of the final thing is Romans nine thirty and thirty to the Gentiles have attained righteousness by faith. But Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not obtained it because they pursued it as if it were based on work. And so here is basically what it means and not no longer under law, but under grace. It’s two sides of the same coin. So we have a coin. In that coin is God’s spiritual law. This is what we were talking about last time. We were going to talk about this time. Last time, the spiritual always focused on tithing. This time we’re going to focus on offering. But on the law side of the coin, you have to do the works. Works could never get you there because it says in Romans 7 the law is spiritual, but the flesh cannot comprehend the law cannot do the law. So it is always the law of failure and therefore sin and death. But on the other side of the coin is still the spiritual law. But on the other side, it’s grace, which is by faith. I’ve been saved by grace through faith, say by faith. Through grace. I think it’s grace through faith. I’m not no longer myself. But the work of Christ that has worked within me. Okay. So it’s we come at it from a different perspective. I’m a slave to righteousness because I’m now righteous as opposed to I’m a slave to sin because I’m central. That’s no longer under law, but under grace. So that’s the clarification. All right. So let’s jump in to financial stewardship really quick through this. I want to look at a couple of things. So if you’ve got your Bible handy. I’m going to have you look it up. So we’re going to start in Second Corinthians Nine so you can just kind of turn there. We’re going to start with first six in just a moment, but I want to lay the groundwork for what we’re doing. OK.
[00:06:13] So when the Lord has us, he has our money. If he doesn’t have us, he doesn’t have our money. As I mentioned on the last session, you can look at someone’s checkbook and their calendar and say pretty much exactly what they really believe in. OK. How do they spend their time and spend their money? So when we talk about ties, we talked about it being a spiritual law of tithing and it’s holy to the Lord. But tithing is 10 percent. OK. It’s the first tenth is what God says it is. So the next thing we want to talk about is this thing called offering, because offering now takes us above the time in real simple terms to kind of put some terminology when we earn money. A tenth of it automatically belongs to God and the 90 percent of it belongs to us to handle it in a way that God wants us to. Now we know that God owns it all, but from a spiritual law standpoint, the first tenth is holy and set apart to God. The rest of it is ours to do with as we choose within levels of righteousness and how it would please him. Follow me so far. OK. So now we want to look at is what is this thing called offerings and how is is expressed. And so in Second Corinthians 9, Paul is talking to the Corinthians on financial giving, but he starts to use some really interesting terms. So read Second Corinthians 9 6.
[00:07:57] 0 farmer or a small crop, but the one who won a general crop.
[00:08:07] Ok. So right now, Paul is using an agrarian term to express financial truths, because this agrarian term actually is a spiritual law. It’s a law that seed always reproduces after its own kind. The seed of man produces man. The seed of a fruit tree produces another tree of that same fruit. The seed of sin reproduces sin. The seed of righteousness produces righteousness, the seed of God. It says that Jesus was formed that from the seed of God, essentially. And that he had no sin in him because his seed was righteous. And so we have this concept that a spiritual law that seed reproduces after its own kind. And now Paul is talking in financial terms as a seed. Okay. So then let’s read the next next first verse 7.
[00:09:14] All right. We must decide in your own heart how much to go and don’t get reluctantly or in response to peer pressure. God was the person who gets cheerfully right.
[00:09:28] So we have a couple of things here that you must do. My translation says, Lady, each one do justice. He is purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. So it just takes fewer words to say the same thing. So the first step is it’s a heart thing. It’s not a mind thing. It’s a thing of the heart. Okay. If you only do what’s required, it’s under compulsion. What your. Your version says peer pressure.
[00:10:02] I think you can go beyond peer peer pressure and say, well, the Lord requires it. So let me give it right. And that’s not what the Lord is looking for. Let me have you. I want to show you something real interesting. Do you remember Cain and Abel?
[00:10:18] They are all OK and they both offer sacrifice or in offering up to the Lord, God accepts one and rejects the other.
[00:10:26] Remember that war? Do you remember why?
[00:10:34] I think it was the heart, the heart behind it. One of them gave cheerfully and knew that what he had been given was the laws in the first place. So he was happy to return it to the Lord or to offer it to the Lord as a sacrifice, cause he knew where it came from. And then the other one. I feel like it was a jealousy thing in his heart. That was a heart issue.
[00:11:00] The jihadist who must turn their traditions genesis for verses 3, 4 and 5. For Genesis 4 versus 3, 4 and 5.
[00:11:12] Would you marry that? Yes. All right.
[00:11:15] When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift. The best portions of the firstborn lands from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift. But he did not accept Cain in his gift. This made team very angry, and he looked dejected.
[00:11:38] All right. So tell me. Look at the look at what he just said. What is the difference between the two offerings that Cain and Abel made? What is the scripture? Tell us about how it describes those offerings.
[00:11:53] Cool presented some of his crop. He took a portion of what he had or horrible as a gift to the Lord. This all part of it doesn’t it doesn’t specify which part, says some partners. All Moore brought the very best course. The first part.
[00:12:16] Yeah. So. So that this is the difference. Cain brought his gift under compulsion. I got to bring this offering to the Lord. Let me just swipe some of my fruit and I’ll come bring it to you.
[00:12:31] Abel says, I won’t give the Lord the very best of the very best. So he’s not only the first. It says that he gives of the first born of his flock, but he gives the fat portions of the firstborn. So the fat portions are the best of the best of that animal. And so he gives the best of the animal of the best of all of the animals. Do you see the difference? Yeah. And so one was giving under compulsion. The other was giving cheerfully out of a heart of love. That’s what God looks for. He honors the heart, not the action. Simply to give and to give more doesn’t do it. And this goes back to it’s a spiritual thing. It’s not the action that we go through. It’s the heart in which we go through. In fact, James talked about this. He said. You say you have faith. I have work. And I’ll show you my faith by my works. In other words, the actions emanate from the heart. And that’s what that’s what Paul is talking here. In Second Corinthians 9 7, God loves a cheerful giver, not one who gives under a compulsion.
[00:13:48] Ok, so let’s go back to Second Corinthians 9, and that’s why.
[00:13:54] So let’s go now to the next verse. Verse 8. OK, so real quickly, Sade reproduces after its kind. God wants us to give from the heart out of a cheerful heart, not any compulsion. And now we’re in verse saying, let’s see what it says there.
[00:14:13] All right. And God will generously provide all war. Well, will all come every single point we love to share with others.
[00:14:24] God will generously supply all you need. Does that sound like it’s a maybe or it’s a fact?
[00:14:34] Welcome back.
[00:14:36] Well, now for those more literal translation is out there. You’ll read an ESB or an ISP and it says, well, hold on, it says God is able to make all grace. How are you getting this? God will do it. OK, we’ll generously give. So. So let me talk on this. This is really cool. So my version, NAACP says and God is able to make old grace a bounty. So, Penny, when you and I use the word able, like I say, hey, Penny, are you able to grab that chicken out of the oven for me?
[00:15:21] Are you OK?
[00:15:23] What does that mean that you will or does that simply mean that you physically are able to if you choose to?
[00:15:35] If I ask them, how are you able, what are thinking about how I grew up in school?
[00:15:41] Me that means I’m physically able to make them do it.
[00:15:46] You can do it. Exactly. So that’s not how this word is used, because the actual Greek word that says that’s been translated into the English table actually means is powerful, mighty and will very emphatic. Just like your translation says he will generously give. Okay. So the key point here, one of the key points. Is that God says that he will generously give back to you. Rick, you read your your version again. I love the way it reads.
[00:16:25] God will generously provide all your stuff for you.
[00:16:29] Oh, God will generously provide all you need. My version and God is able. Will is powerful, mighty, and will make all grace a bounty. So they’re saying the same thing will generously provide all you need.
[00:16:47] Ok, now continue.
[00:16:51] Then you already have everything you and you left over.
[00:16:56] Always does that sometimes. Part of the time or all the time. All the time.
[00:17:02] Always have everything you need. Does that mean there going to you know, you’re going to run out of money and can’t pay your bills?
[00:17:11] No, that’s everything.
[00:17:13] Everything you need. All right. And then what’s the last part of that verse?
[00:17:16] And plenty left over to share with others.
[00:17:20] Ok, so now for the really deep questions. You ready?
[00:17:28] Ok, I hear that hesitancy.
[00:17:31] Ok, so the last time we talked about the tide being 10 percent, because that’s technically what the tide is.
[00:17:38] That’s what God says. The first 10 is mine. So an offering is everything above the tide. Are you following me?
[00:17:50] Ok, now we’re supposed to give the tides cheerfully and not earn a compulsion. But regardless of how we give it, it’s supposed to be given.
[00:17:58] Ok, so but the offering is purely what’s called a freewill offering. It’s from the heart. So if I give 12 percent of my income, technically what that says is I’m giving tithe plus 2 percent offering. Follow me so far. OK. Does God God’s word ever lie?
[00:18:24] Now, is it completely true?
[00:18:27] 100 percent.
[00:18:29] Ok. So based on this passage, Second Corinthians 9 8.
[00:18:35] If I cheerfully give 12 percent of my gross income. Does this mean that guy? Can and will meet all of my needs and everything at all times.
[00:18:53] Absolutely.
[00:18:55] All right. If I give 14 percent of my income. Does this mean that God will generously meet all my needs in everything at all times?
[00:19:09] Yes.
[00:19:11] If I give 20 percent of my income. Will he still meet all of my needs and everything at all times?
[00:19:20] Yes.
[00:19:22] So here’s the big question. At what point is God unable to do that, to meet all my needs? At what point of my giving is God unable?
[00:19:35] I think about the fact that his nature and his character is not. It’s not possible for his nature and his character not to meet a need. Does that make sense? No. I came out right, but I just I’m thinking about his nature and character. It’s actually it would go in complete opposition of who he is as a father to not me to meet.
[00:20:01] I might qualify that statement because there are some technicalities there. There are people who have need of healing that don’t get healed. Would you agree? When there are people in financial struggles that aren’t getting out of financial struggles. Would you agree? Well, OK, so that statement is true within two caveats. Number one, that we’re living and acting by faith and that there is a legal opportunity for the law to act in that direction. Say when we sin, we give the enemy a legal right to attack us. And when we have unrepentant sin, that legal right remains. God may want to relieve us of the attacks, but legally, until that sin is repented, he is not able to release that legal. That legal right from the enemy. I don’t know if that makes sense. Am I right? I don’t want to get too far in that direction, but.
[00:21:07] Okay. Okay.
[00:21:09] So. So there is God at the heart of God. And then there is the spiritual laws that God is put in place. And he wants us to follow his spiritual laws.
[00:21:25] And when we followed them by faith, forgive those who have trespass against you. And and we have repented of our sins. We’ve denied ourselves.
[00:21:37] When we do all of these things, the more we operate in unison with the father, the more the father can bless us fully as his son.
[00:21:50] But the less we operate in unison with the father, the less the Lord can bless us as his son.
[00:22:00] Did I lose you or is.
[00:22:02] No, I’m just thinking, yeah, and I totally agree with that. Okay. So, yeah.
[00:22:07] So I just want to qualify your statement because it’s not quite so black and white. But generally speaking, it is, yes. So. If so, back to this topic. If there is no point in giving that we can give guys ability to meet all of our needs and take care of us and provide an abundance. Then here’s a simple statement that we can pull from this Scripture. You cannot give God’s ability to provide for you as he has promised.
[00:22:45] Would you agree with that statement or or.
[00:22:49] Ok, so now let’s look at another passage. We can go back to Malachi 3, verse 10. So last time we talked about verses 8 and 9. Which says because you haven’t been bringing in your ties into the storehouse, as is my spiritual law, you are Kirst with a curse. And he’s talking to the Levitin, the priest of which we are royal priesthood.
[00:23:17] So he’s talking to us. But then he says something really interesting right after that. And so now we’re going to go to Malachi 3 10 and read that verse.
[00:23:29] Ok. Bring all your tie into the storehouse. So there will be enough food in my temple. If you do that as the Lord in heaven. Amen. I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing. So great you won’t have room enough to take it and test me in there.
[00:23:52] Try it.
[00:23:53] Perfect. Did you hear that last part? Test me. Where have we put something else? We’ve heard in the Bible about testing the Lord. Anything come to mind?
[00:24:03] Oh, for sure. Old Testament.
[00:24:07] Do not test the Lord, not just the Lord, but yet hear the Lord’s suggestion.
[00:24:14] How do we reconcile those two statements? Jesus even told us. Satan says no, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And yet here the Lord says test him. What is the difference? This is important to understand the difference.
[00:24:34] That’s a good question. Yeah.
[00:24:38] All right, so let me let me make it real easy. All right. When your child disobeys you, are they testing you?
[00:24:47] Yeah. Okay. That’s.
[00:24:51] The type of tests that God says, do not put me to the test, do not test me like a disobedient child. But the Lord also has put certain promises in place and he wants us to test those promises. In other words, to prove those promises, true. Here’s a picture, an illustration. I build a chair out of wood and I want to make sure that it’s going to hold you up. I want to make sure it’s strong. So I have to test the chair. I’m gonna get on it. Stand, jump, jump up and down. I’m gonna find the biggest, fattest, heaviest person I can find. Or two or three of them say, y’all sit in the chair all at the same time, jump up and down on the chair, and the more they can stress the chair and the chair doesn’t break and the chair has passed the test. Does that make sense? So what the Lord is saying in Malachi 310 when he says test me now and this he is saying, this is my promise if you’ll bring the whole time. And we know that he’s actually talking about ties and offerings because the verse right before is talking about ties and offerings. So to bring the whole tied into his storehouse. He will open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. That’s my translation that it has. And he says, test me now in this. And prove it true. So here is the cool part. If we go back to Second Corinthians 9.
[00:26:29] God says there is no limit to how much you can give cheerfully, and I not only cannot but will not generously provide even more for you so that in everything and at all times you will have an abundance.
[00:26:50] But then he says here in Malachi, test my promises and let me prove them true to you. You see the connections here. So now what do you think the implication is now that we see what God’s word says? What do you think is the implication?
[00:27:13] Overflowing, blessing, abundance, always having what we need.
[00:27:18] All right. What’s the implication for?
[00:27:23] Us personally.
[00:27:30] Well, if we’re testing a promise that the Lord has given us, and he tells us that the command test, when I read that it’s a command to me, he does put me to the test. Yes. Then I have to have faith and believe that when I do put him to the test, that he is going to fulfill the promise that he just gave me.
[00:27:51] Yes. The implication is, number one, we have to test him. And we need to test it by faith and trust him and see what happens. So let me share a story. I want to share several testimonies on this because it’s cool. So. We go back to 1988 for some of you listening to this. You go, oh, my gosh, are you really that old? Yes, I am. And others, you’re going. I remember that, you know, 1988 wasn’t all that. I don’t want to ask you if that’s old for you or not.
[00:28:25] Good.
[00:28:27] So at this time, I was out of college, I had a class, a job. And and I started to prior to that, I I realized that the, quote unquote, required giving the spiritual law, you know, God’s ties. What was his was 10 percent. So I gave 15 percent because I wanted to be sure I was giving cheerfully. So I gave over and above what was required. And that’s where I found myself in 1988. And I read a book called Trust God for Your Finances. And in this book basically hones in on these two passages in Second Corinthians 9 and Malachi 3. And I was convicted in my heart that I needed to test God’s word because that’s what his words said. Now, is that what his words said? But his words said, there is no way you can give my ability to take care of you. So. This was my prayer and this is no embellishment. This is exactly as I remember it. The heart and even the words make it the words wrong. But the heart is there. All right, God. So pure, that big of a God. Prove it to me. If you if you if you can take care of me. Improve it. I’m going to triple my giving from 15 percent to forty five. Oh, I forgot to tell you last part of the story. Every month. I only had twenty five dollars left over after paying all my bills I had. I mean, I was month to month on my cash. And so I said, if you can if I cannot, I’ll give you. Prove it to me. Show me you’re that big.
[00:30:16] I’m going to triple my giving for 90 days and I’m not going to look back until 90 days.
[00:30:22] So I went from 15 percent giving to 45 percent giving for 90 days.
[00:30:30] And guess what happened? You always had enough.
[00:30:35] Yeah. Nothing changed.
[00:30:39] At the end of each month, I had twenty five dollars left over, and then at the end of 90 days I looked back and I thought, wow, I save twenty five dollars a month. Just like before. But I had triple my giving and the Lord providential words and reducing my expenses that allow that giving to go through. But he didn’t increase my income. He didn’t give me more money after his all said and done. He simply made it all work out. Moving forward, I can never see how you can make it work out. Looking backwards when God acts providential, you can always see what how God made it work out. But we always act before we can see that’s what faces and so Faith is acting on God’s word in such a way is that you’re completely out of control. That failure is certain unless God intervenes according to his word. And that’s what he did. And so that gave me this great confidence. I can trust the Lord. So I increased my giving to 20 percent as a way of life. And then fast forward. I’m going to give you a whole little set of testimonies are all focused on trusting the Lord because you’ll see this pattern. Nineteen ninety seven. January 1997.
[00:32:02] I have a home with a mortgage payment. I have a car with a mortgage payment. If you ever had one of those.
[00:32:10] My wife was a stay at home mom. We had a small Beatty and another one that was coming that year.
[00:32:17] Our number two, we had five thousand dollars in savings and I was unemployed. And I gave the five thousand dollars in savings in the month of January to a missionary. So now we had nothing. And I did 13 different things to make money that year. My adjusted gross income, which is what you actually is, is what you end up keeping out of after any business expenses was eleven thousand eight hundred and eighty two dollars for the year.
[00:32:58] We had no savings and we continue to give 20 percent from every dollar we earned before we lived on anything. So let me ask you a question. You’re a mom to live in. This is nineteen ninety seven. So 20 some odd years ago. Eleven thousand eight hundred eighty two dollars to pay a mortgage payment to pay a car payment to pay off food, all expenses, diapers and everything else. By the way, my wife had to have a root canal that year and it was eleven hundred dollars in cash that we had to pay. So you had to factor that in those eleven thousand eight hundred eighty two dollars, cover all those expenses now.
[00:33:48] And that was the year I got married. No. Okay.
[00:33:53] All right. So let me tell you even more. We never missed a payment on anything that year. We were never so much as even late on a payment. I don’t think we even had a late charge on any payment. How can you do that?
[00:34:15] Looking back, I can see what guy did.
[00:34:17] But moving forward, we live by faith based entirely on his word that says you can out, out, give God’s ability to take care of you when you give cheerfully. He will always provide for you.
[00:34:31] Does that make sense?
[00:34:34] All right. And then I want you to look up a verse, Hebrews ten thirty eight.
[00:34:45] Say ten or thirty eight. And my righteous ones will live by faith, but I will take no pleasure and anyone who turns away.
[00:34:58] Yeah, my version, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, that means turns away. My soul has no pleasure in him. The only way you can please the Lord is to live by faith, which is acting on what he says is true. Anytime you live by sight because you don’t believe what he says is true, he takes no pleasure in you. So what we did that year, not two not boasting on me, but just showing how true God’s word is. We live by faith. We didn’t know how he was going to provide. But we knew he would. And therefore, we lived as if he would. And then he always did. So something else happened that year. In October, I one of the 13 things I did was starting a little business that I didn’t think was going to go anywhere, and it ended up being the business that we still have today. But it goes even further. So that was October 1997 when I started that little business. Two years later. And I think it was October and maybe in September of nineteen ninety nine. In two years we bought a new home and the second most influential suburban city in Birmingham called this debut. And one of the nicest sections of that segment of that area. And we paid it off in five and a half months.
[00:36:43] Wow.
[00:36:46] That’s the increase. Of what God says will come to pass. Whatever you say, so that all seed reproduces after its kind. You cannot give my ability to take care of you. You cannot. Out, give me to meet all your needs at all times and poor. If you go back to Malachi and test me now and this, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
[00:37:18] Ok.
[00:37:20] And so I got to continue this story because it doesn’t always end as nice as you think it might. So we buy our new home. We paid it off in five and half months. I then increased our giving from 20 percent to 40 percent and then I wanted a different house. OK. There is a home that is coming on the market over in Mountain Brook, which is the most influential of financial influentials area of Birmingham. And it was in the nicest section of Mountain Brook.
[00:37:56] And I wanted that house. And and I started to feel this nudge. By the Lord to increase my giving even more. More than 40 percent. And I’m going, no. And that nudge was persistent. Have you ever had one does know just by the law that just continues to persist?
[00:38:17] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:38:19] All right. Advice. Handle it now rather than later. OK. It’s a lie. He’s not gonna give up on you. You’re eventually gonna have to do it. So I kept resisting and resisting. And then we took this trip down to a place called Marco Island, Florida, with a missions group that we’re involved with. And late one night, I went out on the beach and just kind of wrestled with the Lord on this issue. And and basically, here’s the wrestling increase you’re giving. No. Why? Because I want this house. Increase your giving. No. Why? Because I want this house. I want to save up more money so I can buy this house. OK, the spirit versus the flash, right? Law versus grace. I mean, this whole thing I do the things I don’t want to do because it’s a sin in me. As Paul says. And and so. So then God changed his request rather than saying increase your giving. Do you know what he didn’t said?
[00:39:28] You said give me give me the house. Why do you think he would say, give me the health?
[00:39:37] He wanted you to trust him with it instead of you trying to figure it out on your own.
[00:39:42] Yeah, almost. The house. Was keeping me from obeying him. It was the obstacle. Look with me real quickly, Matthew. Six twenty one.
[00:39:56] Paul?
[00:40:00] All right. Matthew Sick and there’s 21.
[00:40:05] Wherever your treasure. There the desires of your heart will also be.
[00:40:11] That’s right. For where your treasure is there, will your heart also be? My heart was not with the Lord.
[00:40:22] Because my heart was with the house. You make. Does that make sense?
[00:40:27] The house was my treasure and that’s where my heart was. So he said, give me the house. And do you know what I said?
[00:40:36] Yeah, I said no.
[00:40:40] And then he said, give me the house and that’s for a few more times. I finally said, OK, I’ll give you the house. And so in this figurative illustration, I grabbed the house from my left side and I shifted it over and lifted it up to the Lord to my right side. And I gave him the house. And when I gave him the house.
[00:41:06] What followed with it? He know.
[00:41:12] That came later before it followed with It was my heart. Because where your treasure is, there also is your heart. So when I gave him my treasure, my heart went with it. By giving him my treasure, I gave him therefore my heart.
[00:41:29] You know what the law said in. Tell me. Now increase your giving. And you know what I said?
[00:41:41] I hope that is that okay? That’s right. I said, okay, how much?
[00:41:47] You said because you say what happens a lot of times in our world of giving, especially in these offerings. OK. Because these are kind of their freewill offerings is we have obstacles that hold us back because they’re our treasures. It may be school for the kids. It may be this vacation we’re saving up for. It may be a new car. It may be moving to that new house.
[00:42:12] It may be buying new clothes. It may be anything. But when it becomes an obstacle to answering that nudge on your heart that the Lord is directing you to do, to test his words, to live by faith, then that obstacle becomes your sin.
[00:42:31] And it’s impossible to please God with that sin, because now your heart is no longer with the father but with his creation. And he says, don’t worship my creation, worship me. So when you identify whatever it is that’s holding you back and you give that to the Lord, that treasure, your heart goes with it. And when the Lord has your heart, then you’re willing to do anything he asks of you. Are these is this connecting a lot of dots?
[00:43:04] So then I said, OK, how much? He said 60 percent. I said, OK, we’ll give 60 percent. And so for a long period of time, not not today, but for many years thereafter, we gave 60 percent of our income. 60 percent of everything we had. We gave back to the Lord and the Lord continued to sustain us.
[00:43:24] And and you cannot out give guys ability to take care of you. So does this mean that you ought to be giving 60 percent? No. The Lord chooses what he wants everyone to do. The key is to not resist what he’s asking of you. He will let you know as you want to test his word. He will let you know what he wants you to do. The key is don’t resist it. Because he has his best and highest will and desire for you. So just kind of wrapping up a lot of this stuff right now. I know that the Lord because I just know how the Lord works. The Lord is probably talking to you, to whoever is listening to this, that you’ve got to increase your giving because you’ve been holding back, because you’ve been giving by sight and not by faith. And in giving by faith, living by faith starts with giving him your treasure. Okay. Figure out what it is that’s holding you back. And relinquish it to him so that your heart is with him.
[00:44:40] And then you can easily act on whatever he’s calling you to do, so on.
[00:44:47] Maybe just put in maybe just some categories, some people, you know, maybe you need to do a three month test, go way out. I’m doing a three month test right now. That scares me. You know, a three month test back then 15 to 45 percent and giving. I didn’t have a whole lot to lose. I’m doing a test right now for 90 days testing God’s word. And it’s kind of scary because just because of the magnitude of what I’m testing. So maybe do a three month test, just give got a chance to prove his promise is true in a short term test so you can see how he works. Okay. Or maybe others. Lord is just directing you to give increased your giving permanently. Okay.
[00:45:38] You’re giving it X amount and you really fill in those. You need to be giving more and ask the Lord how much. And there’s some of you that are listening to this that probably, hey, you know, all this is old news. I’ve been through this. I’m content. I don’t feel any nudging by the Lord. And that’s great. So I’m just kind of wrapping up what, you know, this whole concept of radical faith. It’s acting on those promises of God, acting on the things he’s promised us, acting on the things that he’s directing us. It’s living with a question that he would ask. Do you trust me? And your answer says, yes. And I’ll prove my trust or my faith in you by doing the work. The actions taken, the direction that you’ve called me to do. And if you don’t do that, remember of without faith, it is impossible to please him. So before we wrap up, Penny, since you’re the only one I can get feedback from or questions, any questions or points of clarity or any comments.
[00:46:46] Before we wrap up this call, actually, does that last little bear that you were just talking about this of speaking to our audience and people that are listening? And I was thinking, you know, there’s a lot of people that that might actually be giving more than their 10 percent like you did for so long, Beatty. And there may be thinking why or to give more than ten. And the thought that popped in my head was sometimes it doesn’t always have to be financial. I know we’re talking about finances right now. So absolutely. But maybe you’re in one of those positions where you already give above plan and there’s something else that you could still give that you’re not sure what it is. And it could be things like your time sacrificing some of your schedule and things like that. I was just trying to categorize for myself personally places where my treasure could be, where my heart could be. And I know that scandal is a big one for us. We’re just in a busy season of life. And so that was something that kind of stood out to me.
[00:47:44] You know, I think that’s great because I’ll just share personally kind of what’s going on with me. And I share part of this. And a radical faith session before with Caroline, not with you. But there are two things that hurt me as you were talking on that. And I just want to share these because these may prompt some people to say, hey, I can step out that way also. The first thing is my quiet time. You know, the Lord says to give him the best of all, we have the first of everything. And so years back, I said, Lord, I want to have I want to honor you. And I want to trust you before I rely on me. And I want to honor you with the best of what I have, so not only financial giving, but I started thing about my time, my most productive time as a business owner is the first part of my day. That’s before the chaos starts hitting. That’s when I’m brightest and clearest and unable to really zone in and focus. So I said, Laura, I wouldn’t give you the first part of my day. Not the leftovers. I’m not going to get up super early for I can barely stay awake. I want to give you that time of the day. That is crazy. To give up because it’s the best time to be productive in the work you’ve called me to do, so my quiet time is in the mornings. You know, it’s typically somewhere between seven and eleven.
[00:49:19] Okay. Plus or minus on those. But isn’t the best part of my working day because I give that up and offer it to him as as my sacrifice for the best of what I have. And then the Lord has been directing me to what I call build his temple, use my teaching ability and my understanding of his scriptures and the things he’s led me through to teach others how this whole radical faith teaching series started. And I have kept putting it off because business is so crazy hectic. It’s always a struggle. Either it’s feast or famine, but it’s never stable. Okay. And and so there’s been a lot of times where this is one of the things that’s important but not urgent. And the Lord finally showed me it’s important to me, Beatty, and therefore it should be urgent to you. So as part of my commitment to him is to take significant time out of my working day over and above what I do on my offering, my my quiet time offering and focus on. Doing these type of this type of work, which has nothing directly to do with business, but it’s the best of what I have to offer him. And that’s the offering sort. So what you’re talking about is not just money. It goes beyond money. But I think most people need to start with their finances at the least, because that’s where most people stand. Yes, but it’s not just finances. It’s much more than that.
[00:51:05] Yeah, every area of our lives, the best with my spouse, the best with my kids.
[00:51:10] Or again.
[00:51:13] All right, well, we’ll wrap up. Hope you guys are enjoying this. We got some other great things coming. All right. Y’all have a great day. See you later.
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FinancialStewardship
