Poverty for Abundance

Good morning, church. Good morning, good morning. It is a good morning, isn't it? And I'm glad you're here.

We are today closing out the Exchange Life Series. We've been in this for nine weeks. And can you believe we're wrapping it up here today? Like I said last week, though, remember, summer is in full swing around here.

If you can't tell by just the numbers, you know, it kind of ebbs and flows this time of year. And that's OK. You might come to church some Sundays, and it feels really jam-packed and full. And then sometimes it doesn't.

People are going on vacations and travel and all kinds of good things. And we love that. We celebrate that here at Grace. And like I said last week, our commitment to you is we're going to give 120% around here.

From your worship team to your pastoral team, to the counseling team here, to any of your leaders at Grace. Our goal, our purpose, we're going to do everything with excellence. Amen? And that includes, and there's those summer vibes around here.

We're just going to go for it, all right? And all that we ask in return from you, church family, I think it's pretty reasonable. You tell me is that we're going to give you our very best. And when you're here on any Sunday, come in with the same enthusiasm, the same excitement, just like it was February or March or October, it doesn't matter.

Sometimes we get into a routine in the fall and spring semesters. I get that. But in the kingdom of God, we do not take breaks from what he's doing in our life, what he wants to do in our life. And so may this be a house of joy and enthusiasm every single Sunday.

Amen? No summer doldrums around here. You all good with that? Sounds like a good plan.

Amen. Well, like I said, we're going to finish this series out today. But before I get there, let me say this as well. Kind of give you a preview for where we're going this summer.

As you all know, every summer, I say, as you all know, if you've been coming here for any length of time, you know that every summer we take a book of the Bible and we work through that just very systematically, chapter by chapter verse by verse. And sometimes that takes one summer. We can make our way through a book. Sometimes it takes two.

And beginning next Sunday, June 14, we are kicking off Ephesians. That's going to be our summer study. We're going to walk all through the book of Ephesians, created for good works. Amen.

And man, I am just thrilled to get the break open this book of God's Word with you. It's going to be an 18 part series. That's a big one. If you're thinking 18, is that the most we've ever done?

Yes, I think it is. That probably takes the gold right there for being the longest running series we'll do. It's going to take this summer. We're going to do nine this summer and then nine next summer of 2027.

And let me just say this. If you're thinking 18 parts, done Ephesians have like six chapters in it. You're right. But I want to tell you this, that little book of the Bible, six chapters.

If we took this and we walk through it systematically and really tried to get everything out of it from September to May, it would not be enough time. There's that much in this book. I mean it. And so over 18 weeks of this, this summer next, we're going to be booking it.

We're going to be pushing really hard. There is that much good stuff in there. And I'm excited to tell you all starts next week. You're all excited about that?

It's just a great time of the year to take this and work through it. And we're going to have a blast with that. So today, we are finishing out the exchange life. And let's jump right into it.

Nine weeks ago, we started this series looking at nine different exchanges that Jesus Christ made at the cross, their own Calvary for you and I. And here we go for number nine, the ninth exchange we're looking at. What Jesus did for you? What He did for me?

Here it is. Christ endured our poverty. So we might share His abundance. Jesus endured your poverty, He endured my poverty.

Why so that we might share in His abundance. And oh, I want to tell you something. This is a powerful truth for those this morning that have ears to hear it, to see it, to receive it, and to take it and make it part of your life. Church, what I want to do today, my goal by the time we're done here, is that you will see, hopefully the next 45 minutes or so here.

You're going to see just how anti-God, this idea, the subject of poverty really is. The idea of poverty is completely anti-God. God did not send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for you and I, so that we could live in a life of dire poverty. Can I just tell you this morning?

That did not happen. It did not happen. A poverty-stricken people is not who God made us to be. That was not the heart.

That was not the intent of the Father. In sending His Son, Jesus, to make this exchange for you and I at the cross of Calvary. Now how do we know that this is true? Come with me and let's look at Scripture here.

That is always the best thing to do. It's not always good to break this open and look at it from God's Word. And here we find it in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9.

And here's what it says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor. Now stop right there, what's that speaking about? When did Jesus Christ become poor? At the cross.

At the cross this exchange was made for you and I. So that you, through His poverty, might become rich. Oh wow. Now let's not turn this first head on.

I don't want to get real bogged down here, but there's so much bad teaching out there. There's so many bad ideas floating around there that this needs to be spoken to. I thank God, and I praise God, that this is a really healthy church. We do not subscribe to this kind of teaching.

You have never found that at grace. You never will find this at grace. But understand that there's a lot of bad teaching circulating out there around 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. This verse and others.

And that's what's known as the prosperity gospel. Anybody know that term? And what the prosperity gospel teachers and preachers that are out there today, circulating this garbage, circulating this junk, what they teach in preachers is that surely what the Apostle Paul meant here in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is all about money, wealth, riches, getting stuff in a physical sense, becoming materially rich. And so people, they will go way off into this ditch, way out in left field, name it, claim it, blab it, and grab it, all this good stuff.

That's what the Apostle Paul meant. We're going to get rich, baby. My bank account's going to be overflow and come Monday morning. That's again.

We start waving our hankies and we get all excited. That kind of garbage is out there. But I want to tell you that the message of the prosperity gospel and any form that you find it in, whoever you hear it from, that is a message that is inherently self-centered. It has everything to do with you and me, and it has nothing to do with the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's all about what I can get. It's all about what I can get, how I get consumed with getting, and getting, and climbing the ladder, and getting, and receiving all these things that I can do in my own strength and that I can become. It has nothing to do with the message of the cross. There's just nothing that could be further from it.

And so what they will do, these teachers, these false preachers and teachers that are out there today, these churches that propagate this kind of nonsense, they take 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, and they say, since this scripture obviously means that Jesus was materially rich in heaven, and he became materially poor on earth, then, their logic is that material wealth must be what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote those words, we might become rich through Christ's poverty. Can you see where that might make sense, right? But they say, again, that's what he has to be speaking to. But I want to tell you that if the Apostle Paul, think with me for just a minute, let's use some common sense this morning, okay?

If the Apostle Paul actually meant that you and I, the Church of Jesus Christ, his sons and daughters, we would become materially rich because of Christ's material poverty, then we got to wonder why the Apostle Paul wrote this statement only about three chapters later in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Here, the same guy, same letter, the Apostle Paul speaking, here's what he says, 2 Corinthians 11, 27. I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Church, can I just tell you what I believe is this, if Paul meant back in 2 Corinthians 8, 9, that Christ became materially poor so that we could become materially rich, well, we got a problem here, okay?

Because Christ's intention, if that should be his intention, it is most certainly not being realized in the Apostle Paul's life right here. I mean, look at that, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, often without food, cold exposure, what kind of hypocrite would the Apostle Paul be to say that, oh, that's what he meant, but yeah, this is what my life looks like. So, look, I hope we can all agree this morning, Paul did not mean that Christ became materially poor so that we could become materially rich on this earth. That is simply not what he is saying there.

Can we just all stop and say amen to that, please? We got that, okay, good. Look, Church, what Paul meant is that you and I, as a result of Christ taking on our poverty, your poverty and my poverty, what he means when he says that we become rich is that we become spiritually rich. Inheritors of the promise, inheritors of the kingdom of God, that's what he's speaking about and he's affirming that straight from scripture, that literally means to be rich towards God, that's what he's saying, that you and I become rich towards God, it's the exact same expression that Jesus used back in Luke 12, 21 when he says you're rich in heaven, remember when he's speaking and he says all of your, don't worry about earthly treasures and earthly things, store up for yourselves riches in heaven.

That's speaking of the riches in heaven, eternal things, things that no man can take from you. Life and bring what it may, things can come and they can go, but we are storing up for ourselves eternal treasures and this again is what the Apostle Paul is speaking about. Now, Charles Spurgeon, in his commentary on this, in this very scripture, he says it this way. And I hope that if you're saying that that's pretty clear to me, but I'm not quite there yet, read this with me by Spurgeon, I think it'll really turn the light bulb on you, you'll see this.

He says the reason why Christ died was that we through his poverty might be rich. There it is, our key verse, right? He became poor from his riches that our poverty might become rich out of his poverty. Brethren, we now have a joyful theme before us.

Those who are partakers of the Savior's blood are rich. Oh, come on, do you feel rich this morning? Can you say it, say I'm rich? I'm rich because of Jesus.

Amen? I'm rich because of him. All those for whom the Savior died, having believed in his name and given themselves to him are this day rich. Still feel rich?

Come on, yes you are, yes I am. And yet I have some of you here who cannot call the foot of land your own. Here's Spurgeon, he's speaking as a pastor, right, to his congregation, to his flock. I have some of you here who cannot call the foot of land your own.

You have nothing to call your own today. You know not how you will be supported through another week. You are poor. And yet if you are a child of God, I do know that Christ's end is answered in you.

You are rich. No, I did not mock you when I said you were rich. I did not taunt you. You are.

You are really rich. You are rich in his possessions. You now have in your possession things more costly than gems, more valuable than gold and silver. Each, if you were rich when your granaries were full, but those granaries have been empty.

Israel was far richer when they could not see the granaries, but only saw the man a drop from heaven day by day. And Christian, that is your portion. The portion from the fountain always flowing, and not of the granary, which is soon to be empty. But remember, O Christian, that your wealth does not all lie in your possessions at the present moment.

Man, can we just read that line one more time? Remember, O Christian, that your wealth does not all lie in your possessions at the present moment. Meaning what you have right now, what I have right now, that's not real wealth, right? Remember, you are rich in promises.

May a man never be so poor as to the money he has. Wow, Spurgeon's got away with writing, doesn't he? May a man never be so poor as to the money that he has. He can say without reservation, I have no gold in my purse.

But here is an eternal note, I know the signature. I can trust the firm, I am rich. You see, you and I are rich because of what Jesus Christ did, not because of these present earthly riches and things that we have, right? That really doesn't make a hill of beans in the long run.

It doesn't, now are nice things nice to have? Sure they are. Let me say again, sure they are, okay? Who would not like to have nice things?

Nice things though, they come and they go. And whether we have them or not, we have this promise. There is an exchange that Jesus made, that you and I do not live in poverty anymore. We are not materially rich, we become spiritually rich.

Oh come on. What I'm telling you is it's not a matter of how big is your house. Ooh, you got a 2500 square foot house, wow. Ooh, they've got a 7800 square foot house, wow.

You got a bow and oh man, that's awesome. And you got a second vacation home and she goes there and she goes there and you got a great big collection of guns and now I've gone to meddling because in Texas, we love our guns, right? That's a fishing poles and all these things. It's not about any of that.

It never has been and it never will be. Those things don't matter, right? I'm not against owning nice things. I'm not against having nice things, please don't hear what I'm not saying.

You want to dress nice, dress nice. If you own a nice home, then take pride in your home that the Lord has given to you. If you drive a nice car and I get you, so what's a nice car? I don't know.

We drive salvage title vehicles. We love them. They're nice cars. We're good with that, right?

Cars and homes and big. It doesn't really matter. Listen, you do you. Here's where I've landed scripturally after all these years.

You do you, all right? If you're going to dress away, drive a car. Hey, you do you, but you do you according to God's word. The understanding is a tremendous responsibility that all of us have with what we've been given, with what you have been given.

It has been given to you. People want to say, well, I have this home, and I have this car, and I have this money, and I can take these vacations. I can do these things because I made it happen. No, you didn't make it happen.

There's a good giver behind the good gifts that you've been given. Come on, somebody's saying, man. And so they say, well, how'd you go on that vacation? I paid for it, OK?

Let's run it all the way back up the ladder. How'd you get the money to pay for that? Because I work at a job. And how do you have that job?

Because I am good at that job. No, somebody made you good at that job. God gave you the giftings in town. Come on.

We can fight this, debate it from any angle. But the simple truth is that you have what you have, I have what I have because God has blessed you with it. And one of the strangest things that I think you will ever see happen in the body of Christ. Certainly this happens outside the body of Christ.

But let me tell you, it can happen inside the body of Christ, too. One of the weirdest, strangest things you'll ever see is Christians measuring up against other Christians based on what they have or they don't have. As if the amount of stuff you have somehow makes you more godly or highly favored by God or you walk closer to him, and that's why you have what you have. Ooh, he has two motorcycles.

He is blessed and highly favored of the Lord. I mean, come on, give me a break. And you'll see people do this. Has anybody ever read the book, You Are Mine by Max Locado?

Anybody about Punch and Yellow and the Winix? Does anybody ever read that book? First service, we didn't have a lot of hands either. Some here.

If you've never read that book, I want to tell you, it is a children's book. We were just reading it last night to our kids. Max Locado is an amazing writer. If you don't know that name, you need to start reading some books by him.

But he has a beautiful style of writing. Just the analogies, the depth, the biblical depth, it's really, really powerful. And in this book called You Are Mine by Max Locado, he walks through the Winix. The Winix are these little wooden people.

And they've been made by the woodworker, the master. His name is Eli. And the Winix that live in Winixville, all these people, it's a picture of us as people. And then Eli is Father God.

That's the imagery. And what happens is the Winix become consumed with accumulating stuff. And you'll see that in all these wooden people, all they want to do is they want to sell their possessions and buy these pretty boxes and these colored balls. And it's about how many balls can buy the store and how many boxes.

And I put all those together and they carry around their big load. And the more boxes and balls that they have, the more prestigious they are. And people say, oh, that's a good Winix. And so that drive for Punch and Yellow is the main character, is to get more and more and more.

And I'm not going to spoil it for you, because it's very powerful. As an adult, it will bring you to tears to read his book. The pursuit of things and how we measure each other up and stack our possessions, things that the good gift-giver gives to us. And we say, that makes me more or less than.

Where do we get off of that? God gives good gifts to his people. And we need to make sure that we walk that out with great responsibility. Amen?

It's not about what I own or don't own. It's not about what I have or don't have. Ultimately, it is about the wealth and riches that I have in the Lord. That's something that no one can ever take away.

Amen? Everybody good with that? OK, good. That needed to be said.

Hopefully, it's not a detour, but it's a good path for us to take. Now, here is the truth that hopefully every single one of us will also agree on this morning. And that is this, that poverty is a bad thing. Can we all agree on that?

I'm going to say, yeah, poverty is a bad thing, OK? Poverty is a bad thing. Remember, Jesus didn't die so that you and I may live in poverty. That's not true.

Now, let me say this. There are some Christians today that voluntarily choose poverty. They do. They are few and far between, but they're out there.

And I would say, in my perspective, we actually might have had more of them in years past than we have today. Any man or woman that, a follower of Jesus Christ, that voluntarily chooses a life of extreme poverty, extreme hardship, in service to their Lord. Let me tell you where I land. I respect and I admire those men and women so much.

I have read their stories since I was young. I could just tell you, story after story after story. Stories that powerfully impacted me. People that walked away from all the creature comforts, all their money, all their everything, and went out and served the Lord, many of them paying ultimate price with their very lives.

I mean, there are just 100,000 of these stories out there. And I respected and admire every single one of them. I remember growing up in our house, me and my four brothers and sisters, like the most extreme thing that we could think about and what my parents, Miles and Sally, used to tell us. They would say, Matt, Kate, Susanna, Daniel, and listen, if you need to do whatever God's called you to do.

And wherever He's called you to serve, we hope that you live in the same town as us. We hope that you all live down the same street from us. But whatever God calls you to do, you make sure that you do it. And what we would say, the most extreme thing was, even if God calls you to be a missionary in a mud hut in Africa, that was like a worst thing at home school we could think of.

We're gonna wind up in a mud hut in Africa somewhere. And that was our, even if that should happen, we were taught, we were raised, that's not a bad thing. If God calls you to give your life and service in a mud hut in Africa, then you know where you should be in a mud hut in Africa. That means that that is the only place that you're gonna find real fulfillment, real satisfaction, real service to the master.

You're not gonna find it, I won't find it. If God called me to do that, I'm not gonna find that living in my air conditioned home in Brendan Pexas. I'll always feel empty, I'm gonna be missing it. So whatever God calls us to be and do, and you will see some people that choose a life of absolute poverty.

But the honest truth is that very few people choose poverty. I mean, would you? If a genie in a bottle came out and said, here you go, you know which one, extreme poverty or extreme abundance? Which one are you gonna take, right?

Well, probably abundance, right? And here's the truth for us today. In most all cases, please listen to me very carefully here this morning on this part. In most all cases, poverty is not a case of choice.

It is a curse. It is a clear biblical curse. And you're gonna see this as we unpack this today. We understand that the alternative to poverty is what?

Riches, that's obvious, isn't it, right? What's the alternative to poverty? Riches, better said biblically though, it's this word, abundance. That's biblical, right?

And abundance simply means I have more than enough. I have more than enough. God offers you and I abundance, church. And he offers it in exchange for our poverty, for our sin nature, for our grubbling in the dirt.

He says, I'll take all of that. And in exchange, I will give you my riches, my abundance. Here's a good definition of what abundance means. You wanna break it down real simple.

Abundance means having enough for our own needs and additional leftover to give to the building of the kingdom and to others in need. That works, doesn't it? How many of you agree with that definition of abundance? Can you just raise your hand?

That sounds right to me. I have enough for my own needs and I've got leftovers to build a kingdom and to give to others, serve others in need. Now let me just say that there is not about to be some surprise offering coming up at him this service. Okay, that's not where we're going.

If you're sitting there thinking, oh boy, he's gonna ask us to pass the plate and we're just gonna take up, we're not doing that. We don't do that here at Grace. If you've hung out here any length of time, you may have found out we don't talk about money a lot. We talk about it head on maybe every three years or so.

That may actually be too far in between, but hey, we don't talk about money. We don't pass plates here. We don't take up surprise offerings. We have two offering, tithe and offering boxes that are at the back of these doors as you leave this room.

And we consider tithe as an offering to be an act of worship. You worship, we worship God through the tithe here. And that's a matter between you and God. So we're not gonna ever force you or coerce you into giving if your heart is not in it.

That's not where you're at. Let me tell you that's not how we do things here. All right? But there's no surprise offering coming up here that there's nothing planned here.

It's not like we need to restripe the parking lot this summer and we can't pay for the AC bill this month. So we really need you to give that. That's not where we're going, okay? If you read that thought, oh boy, leftovers, the church needs, that's just not what we're talking about.

Abundance church, it is something that we each decide to do in our own hearts. Every man, every woman decides what to do with the abundance that God has given to them. Where it goes, how much of it goes, that's all between you and God. Seriously, it is, that's a matter between you and God.

And abundance is not just material things or money either. Oh, come on. We hear giving and, you know, abundance, we just go to money, right? My bank account, my debit card, my credit card.

No, listen, abundance is your time. Abundance is opportunities. Abundance is good actions, indeed. Abundance is having good relationships.

It's all those things. It's not just money. I know, listen, my mind goes there first too. When I hear somebody talk about abundance and you need to give and can't I, we think money.

But when you realize abundance is so much more than that. It is. And the abundance of God is what he intends for you and I. Can you just say that with me this morning?

Say, he intends it for me. God's abundance, that exchange that Jesus Christ made at the cross, his abundance, his spiritual riches are what are intended for you and I. And we see this right here. Second Corinthians 9, 8, come there with me.

Second Corinthians 9, 8. It says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you. So that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Thank you, Jesus, amen?

Aren't you glad that scripture does not read like this and God is able to make some grace abound to you so that in some things, at some times, having some of what you need, you'll abound in most every good work. Come on. She's glad I didn't read like that. It says in all things, in all ways, God's abundance is there.

This is not your typical refrigerator scripture. I get that. OK, but it is wonderful in its truth, church. It is.

And we know that what we have received on this earth, in this life, you have received it. I have received it by God's grace. Amen. Come on, do you know that this morning?

Do you know that what you've received, you received by grace? Not as a result of your own works. Well, come on. Do you know what I'm doing a little nervous here this morning?

Do you know that? Come on, there we go. Yes. It's not what you work to earn.

It's not that you can do anything to earn it. Can't do anything to cheat. What you have, what I have, it is through God's grace and God's grace alone. We are so undeserving.

I am so undeserving. You are so undeserving. But God, in his vastness of grace, his riches of mercy, he bestows good gifts on his. Doesn't he?

He does for his children. Now, let's talk about the curse here for a second, because I know you heard when I said that, it's a curse. What does that mean? What's that all about?

Well, look at this and do the right of me. 28, 45 through 48. Do the right of me, 48 through 48 says this. All these curses will come upon you.

They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be assigned in a wonder to you, these curses, and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, meaning when things are good. Therefore, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you.

He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Boy, that's a curse, isn't it? I mean, that's a curse right there, right? So what scripture tells us is that when you and I fail to serve God, meaning when we fail to walk in his way, to walk in that abundant life, that life that Jesus came and died so that you and I might have, that freely given life, right?

If we're not walking in that way serving the Lord, then guess what? He says four things are gonna happen to us. You see him there highlighted, hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty, right? A need of all things, lacking and all things.

Can you see that? Right, it's really clear there. You put all that together. What do you get?

You get absolute dire poverty. That's what you get. And church, I wanna ask you, connect this with me. What we're reading here in Deuteronomy, can you connect us with me to what happened to Jesus at the cross?

Can you make that jump, make that parallel with me? What do we see and what happened to Jesus at the cross? He's hanging there on the cross, blooded, bruised, and beaten, he was hungry, he was thirsty, he was naked. You see, Jesus was the complete total depiction of absolute dire poverty.

He was the utter realization of dire poverty, hanging there on the cross that day at Calvary. Can you see that? And so the Roman soldiers there, they're intent on ridiculing and humiliating Jesus in every way possible. Yet Jesus, he's hanging there on the cross, perfectly nanned, yet perfectly God, and he has a full knowledge, full understanding of what's going on.

That's the only way he could say Father forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. He can see all time and eternity. He understands this is part of the plan. This is part of why I must die.

It's like he would literally say to those soldiers, guys, you're fulfilling the whole reason that I came. This is part of God's master plan. I'm here to give my life so that they, who is they, us, you and me, I'll take all of their poverty. I'll take all of it.

And in exchange for that, I'll give them my life. Abundance above and beyond. Oh, can you see this? And church today, as a result of what Jesus Christ did to cross over 2,000 years ago at Calvary, that exchange happened.

Amen? It happened. And as a result of that happening, guess what happened? The curse of dire poverty, it's been broken in the name of Jesus.

And we're not here today to be waving our hankings and saying, oh, yeah, now I'm just going to win the mega millions of jackpot. That's what the pastor was talking about. Poverty's been broken. That's, if you're thinking that right now, you have missed a lot.

Welcome to the sermon this morning, OK? Please go back and listen to the last 37 minutes, OK? You've missed a big chunk, a really important chunk. That's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about those eternal riches. Rich unto God, rich into things that really matter. That's what Jesus came and gave to you and I. Amen?

You need to understand, Church, that that curse that's been broken over our lives because of the body of Jesus Christ and that exchange, that curse of poverty, it is broken. And it can never be put on again, that iron yoke that Deuteronomy's talking about. Understand, that will never be put on your in my neck again unless you choose to put it back on, unless you allow that to come back into your life. Now quickly, what I want to do here is I want to show you three different levels of provision, three levels of provision that exist for you and I.

You need to see this. I want you to get it. Why Jesus died? What did he do in this exchange?

Poverty for abundance. Here's the first level of provision, insufficiency. Number one is insufficiency. What is insufficiency?

This level of having provision. This is not making it at all. If you ever, maybe on a first date, you ever, anybody ever, you know, maybe you're taking your girl out for first date, you really want to impress her and you go swipe that debit card and it says, insufficient funds. Oh, the whole world caves in at that moment, doesn't it?

Oh, no. Hey, baby, you got some cash on you? I guess I can't pay for it. Insufficiency is not a good place to be in, right?

All joking aside, insufficiency is not a good place. This is a place of looking at your bank account. Maybe looking at bills. Maybe looking at pass-to-do bills.

They're stacking up. This is knowing that you can't make it at the end of the month. That would be a place of insufficiency. Now let me ask you this question.

Do you think, for even a split second, that the place of insufficiency, do you think, from your heart, really, think with me this morning? Do you think that's what God really has, what he really wants for his children? No, absolutely not. He does not.

If you're sitting out there today and you're in a place of insufficiency, please hear me this morning. You need to know that there's hope for you. And there is hope for you not in the sense when people talk about political hopes and aspirations, not that kind of hope. It's also not the hope again of having some windfall of cash or some rich uncle twice removed that you never knew about dying and leaving you with an oil for you.

I'm not talking about that kind of hope. I'm talking about the hope that comes from this exchange that Jesus Christ made at the cross-free. That's the hope I'm talking about. Your poverty for his eternal riches.

Come on. That's what we're talking about. His life so that you can be set free. That's a pretty good swap.

It's a pretty good deal this morning. It is whether you realize it or not. Your poverty, your sin, my poverty, my sin, what, for his complete abundance. Can we all say amen to that?

That's that first level of provision. Here's the second level of provision. This is where most people find themselves. It's the level of sufficiency.

You see, this is the exact opposite of insufficiency, right? Sufficiency means I can make the ends meet. Somebody in a place with sufficiency, they may say things like this. They may say, well, I can pay all my bills.

My kids are not lacking for anything. They have all that they need. We're covered. And I can take a vacation once a year.

And so I'm OK. Well, you're actually not. OK? Not maybe in the sense of the American dream and the American lifestyle.

Sure, join the crowd. It's a big one, all right? Join millions of people that live that way. I got enough to make it.

I can take care of me and my family. And again, we can take an expectation. I got a couple. And that's all I can do, bub.

That's it. Listen, if you want to live biblically, and how many of you want to live biblically? OK, hopefully every hand in this room goes up. If your hand is down, I hope it's because you're writing notes.

OK? You should say, I want to live biblically. If you want to live biblically here today, understand you're not OK to live at this place called sufficiency. Answer this question for me.

Do you think God has really called you and I to just make ends meet? No, doesn't sound right, does it? And it doesn't sound right because it's not right biblically. To just barely step over the finish line, do you think that's what God has for you?

No, for your family, your kid. No, that doesn't work, right? How about breaking that finish line with glorious abundance? Oh, yeah.

Absolutely. Now, we can talk in a church like ours where we don't talk about money a lot. We don't make that big deal. When we do talk about it, when we talk about living in a place of abundance and enjoying things, sometimes whether that any of your pastoral to any of us preaching and teaching, we ask you might say, I don't know how to answer that.

I mean, yes, I want that. Yes, I want to live in a place of abundance. And we might feel nervous about that. When we're talking about God's word, that's a different deal.

You will never hear me or anyone else from this pulpit on this age saying, it's all about material wealth. Who wants to get rich quick? Don't ever say yes to that, okay? And the day the pastor met does that, y'all can all throw stones at me and stone me in the parking lot.

We'll be good, all right? That will be the last day that I've preached. But when we're talking about truths and promises from God's word, you say yes, I want that, amen? Yes, that's what Christ died for me to have.

So I want to live in this place. I want to break through the finish line at the end of my days in glorious abundance. That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing.

That's a good thing as we're establishing, right? Sir, I think this is where the majority of people get stuck. They get stuck at this plateau right here. We could call it the great illusion of sufficiency.

It's like a mirage. It looks good, but it's really not, right? People get stuck here because, I mean, I take care of me and my family and I'm good. It's an illusion because it looks like enough.

We get happy about perceived abundance, sufficiency, and we stop right there. But all the while, it's like God's over there trying desperately to get our attention. And he's saying, do you know that I've got so much more for you? That I'm not calling you to just barely make it and take care of yourself and your family.

I've got a lot more for you as my son or my daughter. To bless others, how about that? To be a blessing to other people around you, your coworkers, your family, people you don't even know halfway around the world. Come on, have we ever thought about that before?

Yes, God wants to use us to do that. And you can't do that unless you're living in this place of abundance. And that's a third level of provision that we have. It is abundance.

We've got insufficiency, not making it at all. Sufficiency is making the ends meet and abundance. What's that? All that I need and more.

All that I need and more. Why? So that I can have this big extravagant showy life and wear all the nice clothes and buy new shoes and drive a really fancy car. I just show the world what God has done for me.

No, absolutely not. All that I need and more so that I can be a blessing, as I can be God's instrument. That He can use me however He wants to. Can I tell you what this life, the man or woman that lives in a place of abundance, can I tell you what it looks like?

Real simple, we're packed, what it looks like? It looks like this. When you're in a place of abundance, here, I can pay everything that I owe. I can have time for my life and the people that are in my life.

I can invest in other things. When I see a need in the kingdom, I can give to it. I can meet it. And again, that's not just money that we're talking about giving.

That is your time, your talents. Come on, you're tracking with me. That's what a life lived in abundance really looks like. And if you're sitting there saying, man, I don't know if I've ever had that.

Being able to pay all that I owe, having time for my life, having time for the people, my husband, my wife, my kids, my friends, I don't have that. I can't invest in things. I can't do the things that I'm passionate about. The thing that God put in my heart, you are busier than God intended for you to be.

And you're probably living under a curse, biblically. You're living under a curse. You are in a place of insufficiency. Somebody asked me after first service.

They said, do you believe that? And they said, I agree with all these levels of provision. Insufficiency, sufficient. Do you believe that it's always, it's all or nothing, either your whole life is insufficiency or it's all like abundance?

No, I don't believe that. I think that in some areas, you can have abundance. You can't. And in some areas, you can be insufficient.

You could be doing really well in this area of life. And you could be making a lot of money. You're not insufficient in terms of what's in your bank account. But your marriage relationship with your wife is completely strained.

And you've got nothing. There's no life of God, there's no passion, there's no love. There's no care. You can do all that.

Absolutely. But understand, this is what I also believe. If we have insufficiency in even one area of our life, we have automatically downgraded ourselves somehow, some way. We're not living in that place of total abundance.

And that's the life that Jesus Christ came to give. That's what I believe on the subject. And if this is not the life that you're living, this place of abundance, all you need and more, I want to challenge you to begin living this way today. I want to challenge you to start believing that, because I think that's the first step.

Most likely, if you're in that place today, the first thing, the very first thing that's going to have to happen for you is a mentality shift. Boy, I've been looking at this whole thing wrong. I've been thinking about this whole thing wrong. I need to believe.

I need to see in God's Word and believe with my mind and my heart. Because if you believe in your mind, guess what happened? The heart gets in line. And then action will begin to flow out of that.

And you will kick off that process in your life. And I know many sitting out here today, same thing in first service, just looking around this room at all the faces here. I know so many of us that are living in this place of abundance. You're there.

And you've been there for a long time. Praise God for that. My advice to you, if you're in that place of abundance, you say, I can't identify a place of insufficiency in my life, even sufficiency in my life. I'm really living in the life that Jesus Christ came to give me.

Can I give you some encouragement? Number one, stay there. Don't ever get out of that place. Keep living that life of abundance.

Being a blessing to others. Not living life for yourself, right? Saying that place. But secondly, do even more.

And even higher. Say, God, how can you use me? How are you directing me? What do you want me to do?

God, you direct me. Can I say that that is so critical that we let God direct us when it comes to the abundance that he has given to us? Oh, I say that. Oh, it's huge.

Do you know how many good Christians are at men, women out there today? They're living in that place of abundance. God has blessed them. Maybe it's money.

Maybe it's time. Maybe it's opportunities. Maybe it's this or that. And what they do is they blow those things.

They squander those things. Why? Because they're led by their emotions. They're led by their heartstrings.

You will find them giving to people, places, and things that God never directed them to. I'm like you. I can watch a commercial on TV for something. You think about great organizations like Samaritan's Purse or World Vision.

I mean, we still do those things. We sponsor a child. Those images are gripping, aren't they? Those emaciated bodies of those children that are dying of starvation.

We say it rips my heart out too. And we can say, I want to sponsor every kid that I can't. Can I tell you? There's just simple logic here.

If I act on my heartstrings, if I act on my emotions, you know what happens real quick to the mat? Is my place of abundance will quickly drop down to a place of sufficiency. And if I keep that pattern up just giving, whatever without God leading and directing myself, my place of abundance becomes sufficiency, and that place of sufficiency will very quickly then become a place of insufficiency. Can you see how that will happen?

It's very important that we say in sync with God's word and his leading. Not what our heartstrings and our emotions are. God gives us our emotions. They're good.

But we're not to be led by them. We're to be led by the Spirit. And so we want to make sure that we are not, let's don't be premature. OK, let's not be ahead of God.

Let's be in sync with him. Let's say in step, when God, how do you want me to use my time? Where do you want me to use my time? How do you want me to use the dollars that you've given me?

All these things and so many more. Again, that's speaking of that great personal responsibility that comes with what each and every one of us have been given. Let me ask you this question. Why does God want us to have abundance?

And you may say, that's a weird question. You've been talking about this for 43 minutes. I mean, come on, man. Why does God want us to have it?

Look at this. Acts 20, 35. We're almost done this morning. Acts 20, 35 says, in everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak.

Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, you may have not recognized that verse from the first part of it, but you certainly recognize the last one, right? Because we quote this as a very well-known scripture. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

So what do we learn here? God's abundance that he provides for us is there. Why? Why does God want us to have this abundance?

Because it's not only about receiving. It's not just that. It's about giving. That's what we've been saying this whole time, right?

And let me ask you this. Hard hitting question. Do you really and truly agree with Acts 20, 35? Do you agree with this scripture?

If you do, would you just raise your hand? Yeah, I agree with that. It is more blessed to give than to receive. OK, that was every hand in here that I could see.

Now let me ask you this question. Again, direct, hard hitting question. I want you to think with me this morning. If you agree with Acts 20, 35, you agree with it.

It's more blessed to give than to receive than answer this question. Out of the abundance of your life, when is the last time that you've given? Think about that. Well, yeah, it's more blessed to give than receive.