Royalty: Royal Generosity

All right, we have kids, if there's any kids here today, you'd like to get downstairs and make your way to the back? Well, good morning, good rainy, Sunday morning. Who's glad to be here today? Man, come on!

We got a reason to shout, we got a reason to be excited. We know the hope of all hopes, the King of all kings, like he lives in us. Like there's no reason not to be excited today. There's no reason not to be thankful today.

There's no reason not to give him glory today. Like every single day, every breath, every heartbeat. Like you're alive. Like yeah, I got aches and pains too.

I'm alive, I live in a fallen world, but I have unlimited resources laid up for me in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Like so often, I was talking to Pastor Svelin, and Seth, we were talking to the poor church about that, so like all that God has prepared instead of side for us, like in our bank account in heaven, that we don't draw from. Like don't be as scared to write a check. That check will never bounce.

Like it's good, it's a good check. If you need healing, healing is there. If you need deliverance, it's there. Whatever you need, you need forgiveness.

It's there, God loves you. Well, hey, we're doing a series, Pastor Svelin came up with this, it's called royalty, and the subtitle is the Manor of the Kingdom. So that comes from 1 Samuel 10, verse 25, if you remember that Israel wanted a king, and it wasn't that God didn't want a king for them, it was that it wasn't the time for a king. Because if you'll remember the promise he gave Abraham, he said that I will bless you, you will be a blessing, all nations of the earth will be blessed through you, and kings will come out of your loin.

So that God's plan was to have king. It's just that his timing was not when the children of Israel were asking for one. And so they had judges, and of course they had prophets, and Samuel, when the Asper King, God says, you have rejected you, they rejected me. He says, but go ahead, make Saul the king.

And so since they never lived in a kingdom, like he had to explain to them what that meant. And so in 1 Samuel 10, 25, it says that he took, and he wrote in a book, and he read it to the people, but the translation I think Seth uses the King James, which is kind of like, like, maybe inside of me. Although I'm a new King James, God. But the King James says, he explained to them the manner of the kingdom.

I like the new King James because it says he explained to them the behavior of royalty, the behavior of royalty. Anybody ever watch, like when the English people call it, like English people, English people, like those people in England, like those people, like you ever watch when they do stuff, right? They crown a king, they have a wedding. It's all the very prim and proper, right?

There's a certain behavior that royalty has. And so we watch these things on TV, whether it was 30 years ago, maybe it was Princess Diana, or maybe it was who was the Queen Elizabeth. It just had a magnificent reign of, I don't know how many years, but she acted a certain way. She carried herself a certain way.

She had behavior befitting of royalty. You are kings and queens. You have royal blood running through your veins. Your behavior should match your nature.

Like there's too many people that are walking around, that are kings and queens on the inside, but living as poppers and beggars on the outside. Or your behavior does not match your nature. And so today I want to look at a topic of generosity. I want to look at generosity.

Don't let that scare you. Don't be scared by generosity. Generosity, let me tell you that the front, generosity is not about money. Generosity includes money.

Money's a piece of it. But generosity is about the heart. Generosity is about the heart. So I want to look at what it means to live with and have the behavior of royal generosity today.

Let's look at what the word generosity means. It means the quality or condition of being generous. That's like duh. I want to look that up.

I thought, well, that's duh. So what does generous mean? Generous means showing a willingness and readiness to give everybody, say, more of something than is necessary. It's giving more of something than is necessary or required.

It's going above and beyond. It's like this is what's needed and this is what's given. And it could be money. It could be health.

It could be time. It could be service. It could be anything. Because it's not about just money.

It includes money. But generosity comes from here. We look at the verse in next slide. In 1 Kings 10, 13.

So this is not the story we're going to talk about today. But I want to show you this term, royal generosity, in the Bible. It's Solomon. And if you remember that the queen of Shiva, she brought her whole entourage and comes to see Solomon because she had all these hard questions that she wanted to ask him.

And said that the stories that she heard about him paled in comparison to actually the reality of what existed in his kingdom. And it said when she saw all that he did and the way the people acted and the way things were appointed, it says she had no more spirit left in her. It literally took her breath away. And as she's leaving, look at this.

It says, King Solomon gave the queen of Shiva all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. He gave what she asked, and then some. He gave her what she needed and added to it, according to the royal generosity. And so did you see what's in parentheses about the word generosity?

The word hands. Some translations say bounty. Here's my say that. It's actually the Hebrew word hand.

It's not generous. It's not bounty. It's actually the word hands. So it reads that he gave her all that she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal hand.

Oh my god. I wondered what was going on. I could sense my prophetic ears where I could actually not. Like there's something going on there.

I didn't know what it was. Thank you. I got to say, as a hand, that was well played. Yeah.

Well played. Can I give you a hand while you're talking about hands? Yeah, sure. It means hand.

Remember I said earlier that generosity has to do with what? Heart. But when King Solomon gave, he says he gave all the time. He said according to the royal hand.

I was praying this morning early. And as I'm praying in the Spirit, praying out loud, and then all of a sudden I begin speaking in English. This comes out of my mouth. I hadn't heard it.

But the Lord said this. He said the demonstration, when we say, back up, the spirit of faith is demonstrated in the connection between the heart and the mouth. All right. Now that's nothing new because we know that the apostle Paul writes the Corinthians.

He says, we all have the same spirit of faith. We believe, and therefore we speak. And he also says in Romans chapter 10, he says, if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be safe. And Romans 10, he talks about this heart and mouth connecting.

We know that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So this is what the Spirit said. I mean, this morning, he said that the demonstration of the spirit of faith is found in the connection of the heart and mouth. And in the same way, the demonstration of the spirit of generosity is found in the connection between the heart and the heart.

So the same way the spirit of faith is connected heart and mouth, the spirit of generosity is connected heart and hand. And as we read this passage today, I want you to see the heart and connection. I want you to see how the things of the heart, when it comes to generosity, actually are demonstrated here. I'm getting ready this morning just a few minutes before I left for church.

And I'm wondering, the Lord was that you? Was that me? Was that accurate? And my wife, I told you guys I was married two weeks ago, 30 years, right, two weeks ago.

My 30th anniversary. My wife got me this ring. Like, yeah, if you see me wearing two rings, I'm not that kind of guy. But now I am.

He got me this ring that actually it's like a Fitbit. So instead of wearing a watch, this ring actually monitors my sleep, my heart, my workouts, my activities. It's super cool. And so it's all built right in there.

And so God spoke to me right because I was leaving. So look at the ring. I'm like, yeah, it's pretty cool, really neat. It's tacky.

He said, I want you to be reminded of generosity every time you look at that. Because that thing on your hand is monitoring what's going on in your heart. So I want you to remember the heart hand connection today. So we're not going to look at the story of Solomon, because if you read through Proverbs, where did Solomon get most of his learning from his parents?

And so I want to look at David Solomon's father and how David handled this thing of generosity. We're going to look at probably one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I've never actually preached a message from it. I've referred to it.

I've quoted scripture from it. I've never actually preached through it. We're going to look at first chronicles. Chapter 29, verses 1 through 18.

So a little bit of scripture to cover today. I'm going to break it up in segments. We're going to take verses 1 through 9, and we're going to take verses 10 through 16, and we'll take verses 17 through 18. But three things I want you to see today, I want you to see about David.

I had to spend more time cutting the message this week than preparing for it, because there's so much in here. But three things are passion, perspective, and prayer. Passion, perspective, and prayer. Three things as we look at these passages, I want you to take home that will help you walk in your royal identity.

Oh, as I was looking up, I forgot to mention, I like to look up where words came from. And the word generous came from the Latin word generosis, which means by noble birth. Imagine that. The word generous from the Latin word that means by noble birth.

And that you actually have a noble birth. You actually have, if you remember the series we did beginning of the year, 23 and me, you have the DNA of Jesus on the inside of you. And so the most generous person in all of the universe is who? God, Jesus, I'm going to say it.

God is the most generous being, the most generous person in all of time, all of space, in all of eternity, in all of the universe, known and unknown. You have his DNA in you. And to struggle with the concept of generosity is actually to struggle with your identity in Christ, because you have a generous DNA in you. And so when you fight against this thing of generosity, and you really struggle with being generous, you're actually struggling with who you are in Christ, because the nature of generosity flows from the Father into you.

It's already in you. And so we're just going to learn how to walk in it today. Good? OK.

All right, David, number one passion. David said his affection on the house of God. So we're going to read a few things here. Well, I think I want to read the first five verses.

David said his affection on the house of God. OK, first chronicle is 29. It says, furthermore, oh, setting. Who wants to know what the setting is?

So you remember David. David had the plans for this temple. David, we knew David's a man after God's own heart. And so there's a lot of things people will say, well, what does that mean?

Well, he's the person of repentance. He was a man of faith. He was a prophet. He was a lot of things.

I think his number one focus in life was the presence. It was the pursuit of the presence of God. He devoted his life to get the Ark of the Covenant back and have a place for the Spirit of God to dwell. He actually wanted to have a house for the presence of God to dwell in.

And he killed a lot of people in order to make that happen. And so his assignment was that he was a man of war, but God said, hey, I know you want to build a house. You've got great plans. I've given them to you.

You've prepared everything, but your son is going to be the one to do it. Solomon is going to be the one to build a house. And people will have rest on every side. Solomon's name means peace.

And he said, so you kind of laid the groundwork, but your son's going to do the actual building of the temple. And so as we look at these things today, and it says that David had set his affection on the house of God, you got to remember that as we look at the Old Testament, we need to see the prophetic types and shadows of really what it's talking about. So the house of God in the Old Testament, we had the house of God that Jacob, and Catherine in Genesis 28. When he has the dream of the latter, he's dreaming of the rock, and he sings angels ascending, descending, he wakes up, and he says, this is none other than the house of God, the gate of heaven.

The Lord was here, and I didn't even know it. And so we have the first type and shadow of the house of God in Genesis 28. And then we have Moses, who built the tabernacle in the wilderness. And then we have David, who builds another tabernacle at the same time the tabernacle, Moses was up, and then we have Solomon's tabernacle, and then we know that Jesus says that Jesus came in the flesh, and he dwelt that word is tabernacle among us.

So Jesus becomes, when he was here, it was the tabernacle of God on earth. And then now we, as believers, are what? We are the house of God on earth, and that we are living stones, being built up into a spiritual house. Paul says, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that he dwells in you?

And so all these things about the house of God in the Old Testament pointed to us today, and the Ark of the Covenant that was overlaid with gold, wood overlaid with gold was Jesus Christ Himself, the humanity and divinity and all those things. So when we look at David having an affection for the house of God, it should point to our affection for what God is doing, putting Christ in the center, and building his kingdom and building his body today. That says this, what he does, we're gonna look at what he did to prepare, but if you read 1 Chronicles 22 through 29, he actually is the end of his life, David range 40 years, and at the end of his life, he's turning things over to Solomon. And so from chapters 22 to 28, he tells about all this stuff that he prepared, he prepared the finances, and he prepared the musicians and the Levites and the singers and the priests, and he prepared the administrators and the gatekeepers and the military and everything, the craftsmen and the artisans, has it already, and then he turns it all over to Solomon.

And so chapter 29 is where he's really dedicating this thing to Solomon. He says, furthermore, King David said to all the assembly, my son Solomon, whom God alone has chosen, is young and inexperienced. Now, like what a coordination ceremony, right? You think he would say, here's my son, he's awesome.

But he said, here's my son, whom God has chosen who is young and inexperienced. Paul would tell us in the Corinthians, he would say that God chooses the foolish things to put to shame the wise. He chooses the weak things to put to shame the strong and the mighty and the base things to bring to not the things that are. And can I tell you today when God chooses you for an assignment, your natural abilities don't matter.

Like it says that he chose Solomon, Solomon was young and inexperienced. I believe Solomon was raised in a godly home, but he didn't have age on his side. He didn't have experience on his side. You know, I think David could understand that.

Do you know that David, I know Pastor Seth talked last week about David and how he came and saw the kingdom was taken for him. Did you know that David was not God's first choice? In 1 Samuel 13, Seth read these verses last week, and you can read this, 1 Samuel 13 verses 13 through 14. Saul makes an offering which was against what he was allowed to do.

He didn't wait to seven days for Samuel. As soon as he makes it, Samuel says up and says, right now, because of what you just did, the kingdom has been taken from you. And had you obeyed, your kingdom would have been established forever. But now, because of what you did, God has sought for himself a man after his own heart, had Saul fulfilled his assignment, we never would read today about the sure mercies of David.

We wouldn't read about the house of David. We wouldn't read about it. It would be the sure mercies of Saul. It would be the house of Saul.

It would have been the city of Saul, because Saul was God's first choice. David was actually plan B. Now, we think we talk about David after man, God's again, all that, but had Saul fulfilled his assignment, David would not have been necessary. Let that sink in.

If you read, if you go back to chapter 13 of verse 1, chapter 13 of 13, it'll have an end up here. And depending on your translation, when that happened, that was in Saul's second year of his reign. I want you to, what year was it? The second.

If you go to Acts chapter 13, verse 21, it will tell you that Saul reigned 40 years. David became king when he was 30 years old. David didn't become king until Saul's 10th year of reign, because Saul reigned 40 years. When God was looking for a man after his own heart in year two, David was eight years from even being born.

Think about that. God actually sought him out and chose him before he was even conceived. Eight years after Saul says, God is sought for him a man after God's own heart. Eight years ago, by him, David is born 30 years from then, he'll become king after Saul dies 40 years of reign.

The Apostle Paul says that God separated me and set me apart from my mother's womb, knowing, like when God separated Saul from his mother's womb, he actually knew that Saul would kill Christian. I don't know why I'm spending so much time here, but somebody needs to hear this, because God has chosen you for an assignment. Maybe you think you failed, and maybe you've screwed up so bad that God couldn't use you, but when God chooses you, the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. And you still might have an unfulfilled assignment on the table.

Don't let your mistakes, don't let your experience, don't let your age, don't let your lack, don't let your weakness, your foolishness, anything else keep you from walking in what God's called you to do. All right, we better get moving, sorry. I feel like somebody needed that today. My son, Solomon, whom alone God has chosen is young and experienced in the work is great, because the temple is not for man, but for the Lord.

Now, for the house of my God, I prepare with all my might. Once you remember that, gold for things have been made of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance. That's all the stuff that he put together. We're gonna look at it in a minute.

Moreover, because I've set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, look at this, over and above. Generosity is giving more than what is required or expected. He says, I've given over and above all that I've prepared for the Holy House, my own special treasure of gold and silver. So David, out of the money of the kingdom, prepares for the house.

And then beyond that, above and beyond that, he gives out of his own special treasury. 3,000 pounds of gold, the gold of over, 7,000 pounds of refined silver to overlay the walls of the houses, the gold for things of gold, silver for things of silver, for all kinds of work to be done by the hands of craftsmen, who then is willing to consecrate himself as the state of the Lord. Then the leaders of the fathers, the houses, leaders of the tribes of Israel, captains of the thousands of hundreds, with the officers over the king's work offered willingly. They gave for the work of the house of God, 5,000 pounds in 10,000 dairies of gold, 10,000 pounds of silver.

Next slide, 18,000 pounds of bronze and 100,000 pounds of iron. And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury, the house of the Lord, into the hand of Jehil, the Gershenite. Then the people rejoiced for they had offered willingly, because with the loyal heart, they had offered willingly to the Lord and King David also greatly, the joys. So it says that King David, he says, because I've set my affection on the house of my God, I have given over and above that, which I prepared.

He said he gave 3,000 pounds of gold and 7,000 pounds of silver. Well, let's just talk for a minute about how much money that is. Because it's not about the money, it's about the heart, but you got to understand. A talent of gold, a talent is a weight.

It's a measurement in weight. A talent of gold or a talent of silver is about 75 pounds. So if you do the math, if he gives 3,000 pounds of gold times 75 pounds and then times 16 ounces in a pound, and the gold right now is about $2,000 an ounce, his personal gift of gold was 7.2 billion with a B billion dollars of gold. Just gold, 7,000 pounds of silver times 75 pounds per talent times 2,000 pounds per per, I'm sorry, 75 pounds times 16 ounces times silver is about $23 an ounce, was just about $200 million in silver.

Above and beyond, more than required, almost $7.5 billion in gold and silver in today's money. Now, if you've done any construction, that's just materials. How much is the labor? Because you got to have somebody to, like they're just not stacking gold bricks.

They're melting the gold, they're crap. You got some craftsmen that have to do something with it. Usually, labor is equivalent to the material. And beyond that, there was iron, there was bronze, there was wood, all this stuff.

But he said, I've given above and beyond. Well, if that was the above and beyond, how much did he prepare? This will blow your mind, all right? Look at this.

Next slide. This is, no, so first Chronicles 22 says this. Indeed, I've taken, everybody say much trouble. I've taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord.

So he gave 3,000 talents of his own money, 100,000 talents of gold, one million talents of silver in bronze and iron beyond measure for itself and I've prepared timber and stone also. 100,000 talents of gold, when you do the math, I'm 75 pounds per talent, I'm 16 ounces per pound, I'm $2,000 per ounce, is $240 billion. Where's that today? I don't know.

The silver at a million talents amounts to 200, I'm sorry, $26 or $28 billion, it's collectively those two together, about $268 billion, just in gold and silver and it says the iron and the bronze are so abundant I can't even weigh them. Like so we don't know. But do you see the first part of that? It says with much, what can I say you say?

With much trouble. The word trouble in the Hebrew is the word poverty. It's the word affliction. With much poverty, I prepare.

With much affliction, I have prepared. We always think of David as the wealthiest person that ever lived, but he didn't grow up wealthy. He grew up as a shepherd with a sling and some stones and a bone that he would kill, he didn't grow up wealthy. When I read this, I read this that David gave when it wasn't convenient.

David gave and he prepared for the house of the Lord because that's where his affection was when it was difficult, when it wasn't easy. See a lot of people will say this, oh, when I get enough money I'll start giving to the Lord. No you won't. You really won't.

If you don't give out of your lack, you will not give out of your abundance. The parable in Luke chapter 16 says this, he that is faithful in the least is faithful in the much and he that is unfaithful in the least is unfaithful in the much. See if you can't steward the little that you have now, if you can't prepare for the house with what you have now, you won't prepare when you have more later. It just won't happen.

It's like when people say, hey, you got any kids yet? This is like my own kids. I'm praying, I'm blessing my daughter and her husband with kids. They're content to raise cats.

I'm not content to be a cat, grandparent. That's not gonna happen. But yeah, I've talked to people and I'll say, hey, you got any kids? Well, no, we're waiting.

We have enough money. You never have enough money to have kids. You just gotta have them. Like in our case, we had ours by accident, the first one was a big accident.

And then we thought, well, we already started why don't I stop now? And then after three, I said, yeah, we're stopping now. But David prepared when it was hard. He didn't just walk in one day and give a $260 billion gift.

He started with a dollar and $2 and one talent ago. And he started preparing for the thing that he was passionate about before he was able to actually, I think in his heart, he always wanted to give big, but you gotta start small. Now, go back to that. There's more over there, workmen with you in a buzz.

Wood men and women in abundance. Yeah, that would have been Solomon, right? That was Solomon. And that was 1,300 wives and 700 concubars.

Wood's men and stone cutters and all types of skillful men for every kind of war, gold, silver, bronze, and iron there is no limit. That struck me this week. David is a type and shadow of Jesus Christ. David was a man of war in bloodshed that defeated the enemy so that the future generations could live in peace.

Jesus Christ, when he came to the earth, shed blood defeated the enemy so we could live in perfect peace. He became poor so that we could participate in all that he had. And even this past week, even for me in business, where I'm starting to think, oh, you know, there's not enough, there's not enough. God's out of the gold and the silver and the bronze and the iron.

There's no limit of the forgiveness. There's no limit of the healing. There's no limit of the grace you need in your life. There's no limit.

All of our limitations are right here. God doesn't even know the word, like, he doesn't know limit because he's infinite. He's eternal. Like, limit, like, he doesn't, the only time God lived with limitations is when he laid aside everything and became a man.

Other than that, 33 years, he lives without limits. That's your royal DNA. There's no limitation. David says this, because I set my affection on the house of God, I gave above and beyond.

Jesus actually says the opposite. He says where your treasure is, there your heart will be. So David says because my heart was here, I gave. Jesus says where your treasure is, there your heart is.

It's like a big circle. See, my heart has an affection for the things of God, therefore I give. And that's where my treasure is. And since my treasure's there, now my heart's there, too, because where do you pay attention to where your money goes, right?

Like, if you're, do you know people have money for what they want to do? Well, I don't got no money, but then you're off the NASCAR race. Like, this is no joke. I want people come in one of our stores to buy a car, right?

And let's just say, for argument, the payment is $250 a month. Oh man, I'm like, John says, can I get in on that deal? Yeah, this one. Oh man, I can't afford to do $50 a month.

Okay, no big deal, I understand. And then they go about a quarter mile up the street and they get a four-wheeler and they pay $400 a month for it. But you don't have money for the car, but you got money for the four-wheeler. So you always have time and money for the thing that you're passionate about.

The thing that you set your affection to award, you'll find a way to find a way. And David said, because I set my affection, I gave above and beyond. And Jesus says where your treasure is, there your heart is, and then your heart's there, then you're gonna give more, and you're gonna have your heart there. It's just like a never-ending loop.

David asked the people this, he asked him this question. At the end of our six or five, he says, who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord? Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord? Who then is willing, so David gave, he never said, hey, I'm giving you gotta give.

He was an example of what passion for the house of God looked like. And he said, okay, I've given, who's willing? Does anybody want to get in on this? Who's willing to look what the word consecrate actually means?

Now we think of one thing when we think of consecrate. The word consecrate in the Hebrew means that word means to fill, and where it's translated himself is the word what? Who then is willing to fill up their hand? Who then is willing to fill up their hand?

It starts here with a willingness. It ends up here with a full hand. Unfortunately too many believers today, they asked this question how much, or how little can I give and still live blessed? See, that question even in itself is a form of legalism.

Remember a couple weeks ago I said that we don't give to get, so if you're saying I give to get blessed, no we give because we have been blessed. But we don't give to stay blessed either. It's just a lesser form of another version of legalism. Because if I'm giving to stay blessed, it's like me doing something to maintain my righteousness.

I'm made righteous by faith. I stay righteous by faith. Paul asks the Galatians, he says, who has bewitched you? You've been made perfect in the spirit, and now you're trying to perfect yourself in the flesh.

And we do the same thing with our giving. How little can I give and still stay in God's grace? It's got nothing to do with it. That's by faith.

It says that, I said, who's willing to fill your hand? Like we got money for what we want to do. We got time for what we want to do. We've got all the resources.

Oh, I'm not knocking anybody here. I don't want to. I'm this isn't for you. I just want to say that.

Because the only thing I can think of right now, my kids in sports, oh, I've got a full hand for that. I want to go travel. Oh, I've got a full hand for that. Oh, I want to go out to eat.

Oh, I've got a full hand for that. But we come here at the house of the Lord, like Tyrannosaurus Rex, right? It's like when I was up on the pulpit that one day. But yeah, man, I just can't seem to reach.

I'm keeping my hand in my heart really close. Go back to that. No, no, I'm not done there yet. It says, the people rejoice.

See, when you're generous, it ought to make you happy. Like there is like when you're generous and you go above and beyond, like it makes you happy. Do you realize that when Jesus died, that when he paid for your sin, you're in the hole, right? He didn't just bring you out of the hole.

He didn't just forgive your sin. He made you righteous. He took you out of the red and brought you into the black. And it said for the joy set before him, he endured the suffering.

See, when you give above and beyond, there's joy in that. It says the people rejoiced because with a loyal part, that word is the same word as perfect, they offered willingly to the Lord. There's a verse in Second Chronicles 25 verse 2. It's about King Amaziah.

It says in verse one, it says, Amaziah was 25 years old and he began to reign. And he reigned 29 years. And it says his mother's name, I don't remember her name. But in verse two, it says this.

You gotta read this because this is shocking. It says, Amaziah did everything that was right in the sight of the Lord. Everything, but not with a loyal heart. He did everything right, but not with a loyal heart.

In first Kings, the same story says this. He did everything right in the sight of the Lord, but not as his father David. See, motives matter. Your attitude matters.

Doing the right thing is irrelevant if it's not right here. See, you could do the right stuff all day long and do it with the wrong heart and have the wrong motive and the wrong attitude. Do you realize they're coming a day and we'll stand before the beam of seed of Christ? Second Corinthians five says this, it says that every man will give account for the things done according to the things done, which means that you give account for the things you do and also the motive for the reason why you did it, that your works will be judged and your attitude will be judged.

And so if this isn't right, forget this, forget it. Matter of fact, if somebody ever asks you, manipulate you, guilt you into giving, don't do it. Dude, like don't give. See, manipulation is not giving willingly.

The Bible says, Paul says in Romans 14, he says, whatever is not of faith is sin. So it would be bad, just keep it. Like I never, ever, ever want anybody here to give out a compulsion, to give because you've been manipulated to, keep it. But when you realize what Jesus has done for you, I want you to give.

And I want you to give above and beyond. And I want you to give because he gave to you first. See, we tell people all the time, hey, you're not expected to give. That's between you and God, but I want you to.

See what happened here? David provided, it said what? Where there were no limits with abundance beyond measure. You couldn't even count for what David prepared, but the people gave in addition to a king who prepared without limits.

They didn't do it because they had to. It says they offered willingly. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8, it says, the one who says sparingly, the one who says generously will regenorously, each one must do just as he decided in his heart not rockingly, under compulsion for God loves his year for giver. Sewing and reaping is a fact.

I don't, reaping is not my motivation. Sewing, the purpose I sew is because I love Jesus, because my affection, my passion is for the house of God. So think of it like this, reaping is not the motivation, but it is an expectation. It will happen.

It's just a natural, like sewing and reaping happen. Like you will reap what you sow. Paul says in Galatians says, don't mock God. Whatever you sow, that what you reap.

So spirit, your spirit, life of on it and flesh, you reap flesh. So it's just a natural thing, but you do it as you decide in your heart. Don't let your hand get stuck up here. All right.

All right. These next two will be a little bit less. OK. Perspective.

David recognized that God is the owner and source of all. All right. We're going to go through these fairly quickly. All right.

Next, it says, therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly. And David said, blessed are you Lord God of Israel, Father forever and ever. Yours, O Lord is the greatness. See that says, David blessed the Lord and said.

I said early, like, will we bless the Lord? Actually involved. Same. And now he's repeating to the Lord just what's true of the Lord.

He says, your is the greatness, power and glory, the victory and the majesty. All that is in heaven and earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head overall. Both riches and honor come from you, and you reign overall, and your hand is power and might, and your hand is to make great and to give strength to all.

Now therefore our God, we thank you and praise you, praise your glorious name. But who am I and who am I people that we should be able to offer so willingly as this, for all things come from you, and of your own we have given you. Next slide. We are aliens and pilgrims before you as we're all our fathers, our days on the earth are as a shadow and without hope.

All Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build for you in the house is from your holy name, is from your hand, and with all your hands. Here's what David realized. Everything comes from God. Like he is the source of everything.

He owns everything. Like it's all his. And since it's all his, everything that he had was God. Like God created it, God owns it, God gives it.

Go to the next slide. He says, all that's in heaven and earth is yours. All things come from you, all this abundance we have prepared to build a house for your holy name is from your hand, and all is your own. So what happens a lot of times is, if anybody in the last 6,000 years could have claimed, like could have had a big head about what they had, it would have been David.

It was probably a trillion here. Like you can't give away billions, hundreds of billions of dollars and not have money left over. But no matter what level of success he saw in life, he always recognized, and had the perspective that, hey, it belongs to God, and everything I have comes from God. See what we want to do is like, it's mine because I earned it.

I earned this. I worked hard for this. I busted my butt for this. Okay, who woke you up this morning?

Who put air in your lungs today? Who put blood in your veins today? Who lets you get out of bed today? Who put strength in your feet today?

Who connected you with people to get a job? Who favored you? Who made all the divine connections to get you where you're at today? Yeah, maybe you punched in and punched out, but you didn't do nothing.

Let me see you put air in your lungs. You can't do it. Like you can't do nothing. He says, apart from me, you did nothing, but you're never apart from him because he's always here.

Psalm 24 one says, the earth is the Lord's and his fullness, the world and all his dwells in, the heavens are yours, the earth also the world and all its fullness to your family. David recognized this. He recognized it. He knew that everything belonged to God.

So that's a thing. How many say that Jesus is Lord? Okay, are you saved? Have you ever said that Jesus is Lord?

Do you realize that kingship has to do with authority, but lordship has to do with ownership? And when you ascribe that Jesus is Lord, you actually ascribe the fact that he owns everything. Do we say it flippantly, but do you really believe that? How many people rent?

Rent apartment, rent a house? Do you own the house you live in? Who owns it? The land, Lord?

The lordship has to do with ownership. And if it's his, guess who's it's not? It's not yours. And if it's his, he has the right by his Holy Spirit to direct you what, when, where, how, why, all the above?

Cause on supply, my God shall supply. Don't you love this? My God shall supply all of your need according to his riches. Like he doesn't supply my need according to my riches.

Thank God, I got big needs. See, his supply is not based on what I need. His supply is based on what he has. And he has everything.

There's a story about Alexander the Great. Remember here Alexander the Great? Alexander's going by one day with Royal Entourage. And there's a beggar alongside the road and the beggars, hey, can you give me some money?

And Alexander the Great pulls out three gold coins and he gives them to the guy. And the guy that was with him, like his assistant said, boss, why did you do that? The three copper coins would have been sufficient to meet the beggars' need. And Alexander the Great answered.

He said three copper coins would have met the beggars' need, but three gold coins meet Alexander's giving. And see when Jesus gives, he doesn't give based on your need. He gives based on his supply. And finally this, prayer.

David prayed for every future generation to have the same heart. Then we read over this a lot of times. And here, this is probably the only time in David's life that he actually prayed a prophetic prayer for me. David, King David prayed a prophetic prayer for you.

It was so important, royal generosity. He prayed a prayer on that day, thousands, like 3,000 years ago for us. Listen to this. He says, I know also my God that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.

As for me and the uprightness of my heart, I have willingly offered. Again, part hand. All these things. And now with joy, remember what happens when you give willingly?

Joy. I have senior people who are present here to offer willingly to you too. So here's this prayer in verse 18. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our Father, keep this forever in the intent of the thoughts of the heart of your people and fix their heart toward you.

He says, keep this forever in the intent of the thought of the heart of your people and fix their heart toward you. Like, well, that's King David's people. That's the Jewish people. You know that you're God's people?

Like too many people today in church, miss promises, miss prophetic prayers, because they say they, well, that only pertained to Israel. This prayer was for God's people. Paul says this, go to the next line. He says, you are a chosen generation.

You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation, his own special people, who were once not a people, but now are what? The people of God who once didn't obtain mercy, but now have a pay mercy. You're a chosen generation.

You're a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation. You're his own special people, who were, there was a time when you weren't a people, but now in Christ, you are the people of God. And when David prayed prophetically 3000 years ago, he said, this is so important that my people have a heart of generosity, that they have a heart to prepare for the house of God, that they have a heart to give above and beyond, the house of what's required, that even when it seems like it's not necessary, that they continue to give, because they willingly want to do it.

And there's a joy in it. I want people, he says, God, I want you forever to keep that in their heart. And I promise you, if your heart's right, your hand will follow. This is a divine connection, your heart in your hand.

He says, I want you to fix, establish their heart toward you. Remember David's affection was for what? The house of God. He says, I want you to fix.

I want their passion. They're hard to be fixed on you. It's all about him. And when you fix your heart on Jesus, and when you walk in your royal identity, generosity will naturally flow.

You'll give more than enough when it comes to your time. You'll give more than required when it comes to helping people. You'll give more than enough when it comes to your checkbook, or your cash, or whatever. You'll give more when you invite people to your house.

You'll give more. Like generosity is going above what's expected. Don't be settled with just enough. What did Jesus say?

He said, if somebody compels you to go a mile, go to, be an and then some person. Be a person that goes beyond what's required, that does more than what's required, that gives and goes, and serves more. Oh, I just want to do just enough to get by. Well, forget it.

You're already in. Like you're already in Christ. Now serve with the royal identity that you have. All right, let's pray.

I'm going to finish before we pray. I'm going to read this last verse. This is for Pastor Seth. I'm going to read the message.

First Chronicles 29, 18 says this in the message. He says, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this generous spirit alive forever in these people always. Keep their hearts fixed. Seth firmly.

We'll take a little, just a little worship for just a couple minutes. I didn't tell Wiggy what song to pick today. But when I saw this was the song, worthy of it all, there's a phrase in here that says that, all things are from you, and all things are unto you. Right?

This is what David recognized. Everything was from God, and everything was back to God. And so I'm going to be up front if you need prayer today. I'm here to pray for you.

We're just going to take a few minutes and we're just going to enter into just a few minutes of worship. And I just want you to say Holy Spirit. Have I been fighting against my royal identity of generosity? Have I had the wrong perspective on who owns what I actually possess?

Have I been passionate about you and your house? And Lord, would you forever mark me? September 17th, 2023, mark me forever today. That your spirit, your DNA that flows through me would be evidenced in my life.