 Hello David Diga Hernandez here. Welcome to Spirit Church. Today you're going to be blessed. I'm talking about finances. I believe this is your season, your time, your moment for a financial breakthrough in your life, in your life, in your ministry, in your business. The message today is from frustration to fruitfulness and I'm going to be talking about the three biblical keys to moving from the frustration of lack into the fruitfulness of God's provision. God's will for you is prosperity. God's will for you is blessing. And we're going to look at the three keys to getting there. The first, Stephen Moctezuma, is going to lead us in some worship. Every new right spirit within me. Oh we can see it creating me again. Creating me a clean heart. New right spirit within me. Oh create, creating me a clean heart. New right spirit within me. And cast me not in thy presence, oh Lord. Take not the Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Every new right spirit within me. And cast me not, and cast me not away from thy presence, oh Lord. Take not the Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Take not the Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Every new right spirit within me. Every new right spirit within me. I think it's important that you recognize the importance of finance. You know the Scripture talks a lot about money and I'm going to talk to you about money today. And I used to apologize for having these types of conversations because I didn't want to be labeled as a certain type of evangelist or you know name it, claim it, blab it, grab it, prosperity type preacher and really I'm not one of those types of preachers but we do have to acknowledge that the Scripture addresses money. The Scripture addresses finance. The Scripture addresses blessing and it addresses lack and it addresses prosperity and it addresses poverty. Really poverty cannot be God's will. Poverty causes starvation. Poverty causes disease. Poverty causes death. Poverty causes depression. Poverty causes discouragement. How can that be God's will? How can poverty be God's will when everything we see in heaven is reflective of who God is? In heaven there is abundance. In fact there is so much abundance in heaven that you walk on gold. There is so much abundance in heaven that everything that was created is for our pleasure and if that's how it is in heaven there's feasting and there's abundance and there's joy and there's peace and there's provision and Jesus said pray that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's everything that there is in heaven. Everything as it is up there so it should be down here. Poverty cannot be the will of God. Poverty is not a godly trait. Poverty is not something that God will give you as a reward necessarily. Now Paul the apostle did say I've learned how to live a base and I've learned how to live in abundance. I've learned how to obey and to abound. In other words he's lived in poverty and he's lived in abundance but poverty itself in and of itself is not necessarily godly and we need to move away from that type of thinking and instead of putting out a message a whole defense on why prosperity is God's will. I mean I've written articles on this on my blog and I've written several papers on it but that's a different message for a different time. I want to talk to those who already know in their heart after reading the word that prosperity is God's will and I'm not saying that everybody is going to be super rich and have a gigantic house that you can see on television where they come and feature your home. I'm not saying that everyone's going to have this tremendous wealth that you see in the one percent type of the United States but I do believe that God wants to give to each of us enough to provide for our needs and more so that we can be a blessing to others. That to me is prosperity to have my needs met, to have provision met and more abundantly above all we can ask a thing overflow. It's in the nature of God. In Proverbs chapter 10 verse 22 the scripture says this and it's such a powerful verse this is what the Bible says. It says the blessing of the Lord makes a person rich and he adds no sorrow with it. You see in the world when you obtain riches and prosperity in an ungodly way really riches obtained in an ungodly manner can never be considered prosperity because prosperity is a wholeness. Prosperity has to do with every aspect of your life so if I obtain riches in an ungodly way in a deceitful way in an ill mannered way then it cannot be prosperity because it's not from God because it's not godly because it wasn't rooted in the character and the nature of Christ so anything that is received outside of the character and nature of Christ can never truly be counted as prosperity but you have to realize that it is God's will to prosper you. It is God's will to bless you. You need to be convinced of that. God wants to bless you. This is the reality. This is the truth. You want to be blessed and God wants to bless you. So how do you move from the frustration of poverty and lack the frustration of being unable to do things to the fruitfulness of prosperity because really when you have an overflow you can fund the church. When you have an overflow you can fund ministries and orphanage projects and missionaries. I mean everybody wants to be in that place and God wants you to be there. You want to be at the place where your needs are met, where your family is taking care of, where you can bless your family, you can bless others and you can bless the kingdom. That's not a bad thing to want. In fact Matthew chapter 6 verse 21 says that where your treasure is, there where your heart be also. Money is a good gauge for your heart. Now listen, listen, this is important. Money is a good gauge for your heart. Why? Because it's so necessary. You say well preachers all you ever talk about is money and some people might be offended that I'm talking about money on this video. I don't imagine that this video on average because of comparing it to the average spirit church videos. I don't imagine this video is going to be even over an hour. We say I would be wrong for talking about this for 30, 40 minutes, maybe an hour. Yet you work for money almost eight hours a day. Money itself is not wrong. Let me tell you why people don't like people talking about money. People don't like people talking about money because it touches at the very heart of the issue. It's easy to say praise God I'm a Christian. Praise God I'm with you. Praise God I believe. But when you demonstrate it with your finances then you're really in. Then there's really sacrifice. Then you're really giving of your time. You're giving of your resources. You're giving of the effort that it took to acquire the finances that you have. When you sow into the ministry when you sow into the gospel you're not just giving paper. You're giving your hard work. You're giving your effort. You're giving your skill. You're giving your time. You're giving what will cause you to have provision. You're giving what could be used to buy food to buy shelves to buy clothes to buy things that your family needs to buy things that your business needs to buy things that things that your ministry needs. And so this is why Jesus talked about it because it touches right on the heart of the issue. People don't like when we talk about sin but I talk about sin. People don't like when we talk about money but I talk about money because you need to hear it. And really the ones who get offended that you talk about money are the non-givers anyway. The people who say oh you shouldn't talk about that they're the ones who aren't going to give. They're the ones who are in the back saying well let me just kind of give as I you know just kind of awful whim and there's no discipline that they're giving there's no sacrifice and they're giving and at the same time there's no blessing on their life because they're not giving to the gospel. They're broke and they criticize the preachers for talking about money. I mean think about the prophet Elijah who asked the widow for all that she had left. I mean my goodness how audacious of the prophet to do so. Yet it was the instruction of God because God touches at the very issue. God touches us in the place where it requires our faith where it requires sacrifice where it requires us to step out into the unknown with uncertainty fully trusting in his word that's where he needs your need. So I'm going to talk about money and I'm not going to apologize for talking about money. This is something that the body of Christ needs to hear. I mean think about this the world is funding their agenda. I mean you think about all the false religions. You think about the evil political agendas. You think about the evil cultural agendas. They all have people backing and funding. Where is the church? When are we going to show up and start supporting what we believe in. When you support a ministry. When you support the gospel. When you support the kingdom. You are sowing into the gospel and you are causing the message that transforms lives and hearts to propagate around the world. So you want to move from frustration to fruitfulness. You want to move from lack or maybe you're in a good place and you want breakthrough. You want to go to a different level. I'm going to show you how to do it. Faith is the bridge between frustration and fruitfulness. I'm going to say that again. I want you to let it settle in your heart. Faith is the bridge between frustration and fruitfulness. So you shouldn't be ashamed to ask God for things. You may say well there are so many other more important needs out there in the world. Well God's not broke. God doesn't have lack. God doesn't have to take from someone else to give to you. In fact when God gives to you you're able to provide for the needs of others out there. When you're in a position of provision. When you're in a position of prosperity. You could do more for the kingdom than you can in poverty. And that's the truth. So I'm going to share my experience. It's my story. I'm not ashamed of what God's done in my life. You look at this ministry. It's fruitful. We're doing worldwide television international events. We have global discipleship programs such as this spirit church that you see. We have people on staff. I'm a full-time evangelist. That's because of our partners, our donors, our supporters that know that everything, every penny that comes into this ministry goes to the spreading of the gospel. Goes to touch lives all around the world and they know that their gift is leverage. But it didn't start that way. I want to tell you a story here. I began in ministry when I was around I must have been around 10, 11 years old is when I first really began to serve in the church. I still remember to this day I was standing in the Sunday school room in my church. I was it was eating one of those. What are those breads called those like that Mexican bread? I mean I'm Hispanic. I should know. You don't know either. You don't know. You don't know. So I was eating this bread and I remember me and my friends were there and I saw Pastor Eddie Vargas. Many of you have heard me talk about him for he's a spiritual father to me. He helped to mentor me from the time I was a kid to a preteen to a teen to a young adult. Even to this day he's helped me and some of you have read about him in different writings of mine. But Eddie Vargas was very key and he was one of my dad's key guys in the church. He was one of the Bible study leaders in the church at the time. He was also the head of the worship. And this was back in the day when you remember this this back in the day when we had what was the predict it was overhead projectors to where you put the slide in not the digital computers that you see. I mean we're talking this was back then. It's amazing how far technology has come. But we used to do the overhead projector and I remember I was sitting there with my standing there with my friends and Pastor Eddie Vargas comes into the room and he's looking around the room and he's doing this jolting glance back and forth. And I knew from the moment that I saw that look on his face I thought this guy wants something. He's looking for someone to do a favor for him. Well it wasn't just me who caught this note on Pastor Eddie's face but the two friends of mine beside me also caught this note on Pastor Eddie's face. They realized he was looking for some help. So he turns and he says I need a favor. My friend on the left went over to my left. My friend on my right went over to my right and they were both gone and left me standing there and I was eating the bread. I couldn't say no because I was chewing and I felt like I was it was like honed in on me. I was like a deer in headlights just captured in the moment. I had no escape from it. Pastor Eddie looked at me says I need you to run the overhead projector. Now you have to understand that me I'm the type of person that needs details. I want to know so I'm I'm already thinking okay well how do I do this do I flip this song in just seconds after they begin to sing that verse or do I flip it in seconds before they begin singing the verse if I bring it in before am I going to cause them to sing the song before it's too early to sing the song if I bring it in too late I'm going to cause the whole where should we throw it off I'm already spinning these things in my mind I have all these questions I want it done perfectly just right I need all these details doesn't matter it's minutes to spare he says here's the list here's the songs flip them as we go and I said oh no I'm going to mess this up I did okay I was fine but that day that's the day I became a tv evangelist you see everything that I have right now in the ministry God gives favor God gives blessing God gives responsibility as you're good with what you have if you're a good steward over what you have right now God will bless you with more number one the first key is stewardship and I remember finding that place of stewardship in fact you remember the parable of the talents the scripture says that a man went away on a long journey and he gives a certain amount to each individual and the first two individuals that received their amount had doubled their amount after he had been away on a long journey he says well done now good and faithful servant he says I'm going to give you more and he gave to each of those first two more but the third servant who had one bag of silver however the amount was interpreted he only had one of what they had several of and he says lord I was afraid I hid it in the ground and the master says couldn't you have done something couldn't you have put it in the bank to collect interest you should have done something with what I had given you he says you're a wicked and lazy servant then he takes from that servant and he gives to the ones with more than he says the ones who have will be given more and the ones who have little that will be taken from them too and given to the ones with more talk about opposite of what politics say today I mean today we say take from the rich spread it out among the poor but that's not the biblical way that's not how God does it the reason people have much is because they're good stewards of what God has given them and so this was my first ministry my first ministry was it was flipping songs on an overhead projector and I remember I got so good at that I took pride in what I did I remember I had the timing down just right I had all the songs lined up if they if the worship team were to spontaneously go into another song I knew in my filing cabinet exactly where that song was I have it up within seconds I gave my all to that and then we graduated a newer technology we got the laptops and the projectors and now I was pushing a button but I made sure that I pushed that button on time every time in fact I went through all of the slides and I corrected all the grammar all the spelling I made sure that it was just a few sentences per slide and not a whole chapter so you're looking for the words while you're singing the song it helped to create that worship environment where we could focus on the Lord more and I said I'm gonna do my best with what I've got and I gave my all to being the projector guy that's all I did and I did that for like three years before I preached my first sermon now I was a steward and again I'm just sharing you my I'm not bragging I'm sharing my story with you I'm hoping it'll inspire you I was a steward of what God had given me I gave my all I went to the worship practices to make sure I had my timing right on the songs and I gave God my all I said Lord as I do this I'm doing it unto you and it was from there that God brought me to a different place so number one good stewardship you have to get practical okay so you're talking about blessings you're talking about the supernatural there are many people praying Lord take me out of debt Lord help bless my finances yet your spending is way off you're asking God to bless you and you're not managing your finances well you have more than you think you do you're actually more blessed than you think you are but you're not managing the resources right you're you're and again I know this is not everyone some of you do manage well but I'm making the point to those of you who you know this is convicting you I'm talking to you you're asking God for blessing yet you mismanage yet you buy things on credit that you don't need to buy on credit I mean that's just a little tip right there I don't want to get too practical in the finances but we're going to keep this as spiritual as possible so when you're a good steward of what you have you're cooperating with God's supernatural desire to bless you when you're a good steward of what you have you're cooperating with God's supernatural desire to bless you so some of us are saying Lord bless me and he blesses you but because of your bad spending habits because you're not a good steward of what you have you take all the blessings that God has given you and you've consumed it upon your lust in fact the scripture says you have not because you ask not and you have not because when you do ask you ask a miss because you ask to receive it and just consume it upon your lust he says so you you don't have because you're not asking and if you're asking you're asking in a way that's more beneficial to you and you're just going to take what God gives you and spend it on everything that you want to do you're drilling a hole in the boat it's like you got a drill gun and you're drilling all these holes saying Lord keep my boat afloat and you're drilling holes in it you're causing it to sink while asking him to save it we talk we talk about taking care of what you have you say Lord I want a new car do you take care of the one you have you say Lord I want a new house do you take care of the house you have you so Lord I want nice things do you take care of the things that you have now Lord I need a job promotion how well do you do the job you have now do you show up on time do you take too long of a lunch break do you log more hours than you actually use how are you treating what you have right now are you a good steward of what God has given you we can't expect more if we cannot obey with the little that we have here's what stewardship is stewardship is taking care of what you have stewardship is doing what you're supposed to do with what you have stewardship is treating what you have like it's what you want I'm going to say that again steward is stewardship is treating what you have like it's what you want when you can give and what you have now it's a sign to God that you're ready for more if you're holding back you're saying Lord bless my finance again we say Lord bless me and I'll so God says so and I'll bless you if you can't so out of the little that you have now you're not going to do it when you have more when you so out of what you have right now it's a sign to God that you're ready for more so number one it's good stewardship can God trust you with abundance I want you to really ask yourself don't say yes right away just to be spiritual ask yourself right now can God trust me with abundance take a moment think about it can't he the answer to that question you'll know that by whether or not you give out of need can God trust you with abundance well the question is do you give now do you support the gospel now are you a good steward do you manage it well do you manage the money right you see we get tired we get bored we get used to our surroundings I could have got bored as as the projector guy for three years but for three years I did not lose the passion because I did it as under the Lord because it was the ministry that he gave to me and I valued that so much and I said Lord even if it's just the projector you gave this to me I get to do this for you you serve first and then God raises you God exalts the humble he lowers the proud he resists the proud and he gives grace he enables the humble so number one is stewardship number two is generosity fear grips love releases Luke chapter six verse 38 says give and it shall be given pressed down running over shaking together shall men pour in your bosom so much so that you won't be able to contain it but the scripture says given it shall be given not it shall be given so you can give the initiation is on us I mean you think of scriptures like James chapter four verse seven says draw near to God he'll draw near to you it's on you the ball is in your court God has left the initiation on us now he's given his son he's let his son down the cross he he sacrificed violently his son now it's on us to respond to everything that he's done if we want to receive everything that he has promised so I'm all for the practical but the practical isn't supernatural so you could be so tight with your money you could be so well financed I mean I know people who they just hang on to money like it's their life and here's the truth if you hang on to money tighter than you hang on to your faith in God it's an idol that's why Jesus said you can't serve both God and money you're either going to serve one and hate the other or vice versa you cannot serve both God and mammon the spirit that tells you to grip your finances I'm talking to someone right now you grip your finances and you don't let it go even if it's in your hand to do it you hang on to it I remember a story that a friend of mine had told me his son was turning I think seven or eight you know just he was a young kid and he took his son to downtown Disney and at downtown Disney there's this big store it's a toy store it's a Lego store and Legos as you know is this is a toy that's building blocks and they're just these tiny little pieces that make up these amazing really they're like pieces of art and so this boy goes into the the Lego store with his dad and his dad takes them there and there's this section where kids can play with Legos before they go and buy their set now you know if you've ever bought Legos before maybe I I'm gonna buy some for my nephews and you know they're quite expensive or they can get expensive so there was a particular set that he had wanted I forgot what the theme was but there was a particular theme a particular set he's he's telling his dad dad asked to set I want I want to grab that set and I want to go home with that he said okay we're gonna get that set for you and the son is playing on the table and he's got all these little Legos and he's playing and so finally he sees on the shelf the dad does he sees on the shelf the set that his son wanted the problem is there was only one left and he says look son it's the set that you want he says go get it so his son gets really excited he sees it he runs toward the shelf he looks at the set he turns around and runs back toward his dad because what are you doing son go go grab the Lego set go it's right there just grab it I'll get it for you and son runs up to the set comes right back and he's really sad and discouraged that's his son what are you doing you got to go grab it and finally this time he did it a couple more times and he's a son why are you not grabbing it and his son looks up at his dad and he holds at his hands he opens his hands and he's got Legos little Legos in his hand he didn't want to grab the set because he didn't want to let go what was in his hand what was on the shelf was much more than what was in his hand but he couldn't get it because he was afraid of losing with what he had and that's some of you you're such a you're a good steward you have that in place some of us were reversed I mean there's two different types of personalities there's a cerebral and there's the creative the creative types are the more you know they're the ones who they're going to give generously but they're also very impulsive buyers so it's hard for them to be a good steward on the flip side they're those who really rigid really good with their money but they lack the generosity because they're more they're relying more on their ability to manage their money than they are the generosity of God and they can't quite compute how is me giving going to give back how is me giving going to be good stewardship of my finances and so there's either side and maybe that's you maybe you are a good steward maybe you have things in order but you grip your money so tightly that you're not generous and you can't give to the gospel neither extreme is healthy we need both good stewardship and supernatural generosity if we're going to move forward so I remember there was a time in my life where God had called me to do more television ministry and this was on this is before we were on international television we were just on a local cable station you remember those days you actually helped film for us when we first launched encounter TV and the cameras we had then were nowhere near in fact I think all three of the cameras and all the old equipment was equal to the price of one camera that we have here now I mean that was it was an older set I think the camera I think total of my equipment was like $14,000 of everything that I had but TV equipment to a TV preacher is like a church building to a pastor it was important it was the basis of our resource and ministry it's how we got out promos it's how we got out our teaching it's how we got to teach people how we got to reach the world even though it was only on internet cable to a local cable television I think it was like 60,000 homes at the time and I remember the Lord spoke to me so clearly because I said Lord we're ready to go to the next level we have an opportunity to do international television we just need better equipment once we get the better equipment we can start broadcasting to millions of homes as opposed to just 60,000 and I'll never forget what the Lord told me he says okay son here's what I want you to do he spoke it so clearly and and and to this day I'm so glad that I listened to him but he spoke very clearly he said son I want you to give away all your camera equipment at the time I said I can't be the Lord that's gotta be the other guy that's that can't be and I was fighting it and I was resisting because I was holding on tightly it was everything that it wasn't practical to give away because had I given away the equipment there was no guarantee we were getting new ones and it had taken me three years to do the fund raising to get that $14,000 worth of equipment three years to raise $14,000 that's that was the start that we had so it tells you things were pretty rough and I said Lord I can't let this go but the Lord you know when his hand rests on you and he speaks his hand away heavy on you and eventually I said okay this is the Lord and I'm gonna do what he told me to and I started giving away all the equipment but I held on to a couple cameras nothing happened and I felt like Saul who had done everything the Lord had told him to but he held on to a few for his own benefit and I said Lord can I just hang on to this just in case the Lord told me so everything you have and I gave away the last camera and I remember I had no camera equipment and I said okay Lord you got to do your thing now I trust you within a month almost a hundred thousand dollars came in to help us buy our new equipment and build a brand new TV studio and that was the last set before this one that we had built that we were on for a couple years and now we're in this even newer set a new phase on even more homes but you see I had to let go of what I had to make room for more and what God wanted to give me that's generosity so generosity releases the flow of God's provision in your life take note of that generosity releases the flow of God's provision in your life prosperity is a river not a reservoir we treat God's prosperity like it's a reservoir where we save and we collect but that's not how it works it's got to be a constant flow it's not about hanging on prosperity isn't gripping it's taking from the Lord and passing on taking from the Lord and passing on you receive that's where you're blessed you give that's where you're a good steward that's where generosity takes place so without generosity the stewardship of your finances requires no faith without faith how can your financial management be pleasing to God it takes faith without faith it's impossible to please God the way you handle your finances cannot be pleasing to God unless it requires faith and if it doesn't hurt it doesn't require faith I know people who tip God I've seen offerings where people throw like two cents in the offering God bless them if that's what their heart was but my goodness the offering envelope cost more than two cents so they end up costing the ministry money by throwing in two pennies and some people I'm not talking about the people who that's all they have I'm talking about the people who that's all they have in their pocket when they have thousands of the bank they'll just kind of tip God here I'm doing God a favor it's because they don't think big they think small they think oh this is they think it's just like every other ministry that oh just a little street down that ministry down the corner they may think of your ministry that way and those are the small minded people who never step into the provision of God but the people who can see big the people who can capture a vision they become generous because they realize they're attaching themselves to something that's bigger than themselves they're attaching them to something themselves to something that's global that's worldwide that's of the divine that's going to change the course of history they know that and they dig deep and they dig with faith and they sew if it doesn't hurt it doesn't work it does not take faith to tip God see for me at this point in my life I could sew a hundred dollars maybe two hundred maybe a thousand and it won't really require that much faith from me but if God told me I want you to sew five thousand ten thousand into a ministry I'd say oh goodness now see that's going to require some faith to release that that's going to hurt God will test you on the level you are and until you pass that test he's not going to take you to the next level you've been stuck in the same place either because of stewardship and that's where the frustration comes frustration comes because you don't know what to do frustration comes because you feel like your back is up against the wall like you've tried everything but good stewardship and generosity are the bridges in faith from frustration to fruitfulness and you may say lord but I mean I know I have friends who they can sew ten thousand like it's nothing I mean they sew it like I would sew a hundred dollars and they're very wealthy men and they tell me you know what when God tells me to sew even bigger like when they sew the thirty the fifty thousand they say that's when it hurts them and I have I had a friend who was telling me he said God told him to sew ten thousand he said lord why don't you get someone else to do it and God told him fine I'll bless someone else like I blessed you he says no lord I'll do it you see we want the blessing but we don't want the responsibility that comes attached to that blessing are you holding up your responsibility for the blessing that God has given you right now are you saying lord what I have I'm being responsible and obedient if you're not obedient with what you have right now through generosity you're not going to be able to receive what God has for you and it takes faith it takes generosity to go there so if it doesn't hurt it doesn't take faith if it doesn't take faith it doesn't please God so you want God to touch your finances but you won't let your finances touch him be the blessing see we're always praying God send that check in the mail you go to the mailbox hoping that someone you hear these stories right oh I was you hear people say stuff like oh I was believing God for this amount of money and a check randomly came in the mail mysteriously wasn't expecting it and you go where do these checks come from how do they get it who are the people sending these and then you pray Lord send me a check yet when was the last time you randomly just sent a check to bless someone you need to be the blessing that you're praying someone will be to you and that will release the flow of God's generosity in your life it will release them it'll unstop the blockage send that check in the mail that random check you're always hoping to find to someone else so generosity is key number one stewardship take care of what you have and obey with what you have number two be generous don't hold so tightly trust God do we believe the Bible or not see if I were to tell you if I were to sit in a room and have if I held a hundred dollar bill in your in my hand and say hey if you give me 10 dollars I'll give you this hundred dollars likely if you know me you'd say okay and you do it yet God says something very similarly says bless me bless my church bless my people see if I won't pour out a blessing I'm going to cause it to come back to you overflowing and we go about that we trust man more than we trust God we trust money more than we trust God that's the heart of the issue that's why people get so offended when you talk about this because that's the reality they're defensive because they're convicted and they know on their heart they're clinging to tightly to their finances and they love their money too much so I'm here as the man of God the evangelist to say hey let me shake you out of that complacency let me get in your face with the word I love you enough to tell you the truth and this is the truth if you're holding too tightly to your finances that's what's that's what's stopping the blessing of God in your life number one it's either bad stewardship or you're not being generous and then there's the third key faithfulness the scripture says that the master went away for a long time you went on a long journey that means the three men who received of him had a long time to double the efforts that they had been given so let's say there's a train you ever I mean trains are powerful pieces of machinery that go very fast for their size but it takes a while for that train to gain that momentum it takes a while for the train to get going what were to happen if the train when it started to go were to stop and then start to go then stop that's the problem we keep having to start over because we keep quitting faithfulness okay I'll put it to you this way people will so sporadically for weeks months and years they'll give once in a while so here and there they're hit and miss hit and miss hit miss they're giving but they're hit and miss hit and miss hit and miss for years and they call that faithfulness that's not faithfulness faithfulness is consistently being a good steward and consistently being generous over a long period of time if it's missing good stewardship if it's missing generosity if one of those two is sporadic over that period of time it cannot be faithfulness it's just doing those things sporadically unfaithfully over a long period of time if you're hit and miss with your giving you're an unfaithful giver if you're hit and miss with your stewardship you're an unfaithful steward if you're faithful and consistent with those two over a long period of time you're faithful faithfulness doesn't happen in weeks months or years I've had people who've come alongside this ministry over the years and they quit within years because they don't understand the principles of favor they can't they don't they're not faithful long enough to acquire the faithfulness on their life they're not faithful enough to acquire the favor of God on their life and and they miss out on the blessing I've seen people in churches do that I've seen people they start sewing for a few months and go I see it doesn't work and then they stop and I tell them well it took you years years to dig yourself into the hole you're in you expect God to do it in weeks he can do it but he wants to test you first he's not going to bless you with abundance unless he can trust you so don't start and stop be persistent so where's your heart is it faithfully in the work of God I'm going to close with this there are three levels of giving first of all there's the gift of giving which is a Romans chapter 12 verse 8 I'm not talking about that there's giving out of duty which is a great demonstration of stewardship there's giving out of a need which is a great demonstration of generosity but if you give out of duty eventually it becomes tiring if you give out of need eventually it becomes taxing the third and greatest level of giving is giving out of love because when you give out of love you're a good steward and you're a great greatly generous person when you give out of love you're both a good steward and you're generous and you can do it faithfully because it's love that fuels you and love goes above and beyond think about this my sins are forgiven my heart is filled with peace and joy I want others to experience the same in your hands Jesus I place my trust I place my finances we say God I want to give you my life and that's not consistent if you don't give them your finances here's my challenge to you start tithing to your local church start giving to the work and the ministry even if you don't see the return right away be faithful even if it's going to cost you be generous even if it's hard to be disciplined be a good steward here's the altar column normally I pray at the end but here's your challenge now I pray that God would bless you I pray that God will release his abundance on you but the key that unlocks that favor that causes the floodgates of blessings to open up your life is faith faith causes you to step from the natural into the supernatural power of God you can step out today by sewing into this ministry you can step out today by saying God I'm going to give of myself I'm going to give of what I can I'm going to sew and then I'm going to start sewing consistently spirit church I'm talking to you partners I thank you for your your faithful giving I'm talking to spirit church members who get to start giving and I'm talking to people who who receive from this ministry you can do something help me take the gospel around the world help me continue to do what God wants us to do we want to expand this to even more we have a ministry facility that we're investing in toward the future we're going to move into this thing and we're going to do more than ever before we're going to be able to do larger events than ever before we're going to be able to influence more people than ever before you're going to be on the ground floor of this ministry I believe this ministry can become one of the most influential in the entire world and you can help us get there all to the glory of Jesus and it's already on track for that you can see the favor of God on this ministry come under it receive from that favor for yourself connect yourself with it receive from the favor of God I walk in the provision of God I walk in the blessing of God when I ask for finances I can't I mean I can tell you honestly my personal needs are met above and beyond I don't need to take much from the ministry because I have resources outside of the ministry God blessed me with a business mind and I use that the people on our staff are taken care of by our ministry partners and they work 24 seven to get the gospel out there the events that we do the television broadcast we do this that we do all supported by donors and partners I challenge you step out now and faith I'm believing God for a thousand new partners within the year to come alongside this ministry so I'll give 30 dollars a month I'm also believing that there are a couple people watching God spoke to your heart it's in the thousands and I'm not going to say it because I don't want to manipulate but God spoke to you and you know in your heart what it is go and do it today well that's it for this edition of spirit church I want you to write to me now write to me email me let me know you're watching let me pray with you when you when you join spirit church there's a link if you're watching this on our website if you're watching this in the app you won't see the link you got to go to spiritchurchonline.com but if you're on the website watching this right now you'll see a link that says join spirit church you join that you're going to get a month a weekly email from me personally I send it out personally and I respond to all of those personally send me your prayer requests join the spirit family join with us in touching the world with the gospel that is it for this edition of spirit church until next time remember nothing is impossible with God