Kerry Shook - The Window of Heaven
We’re in this series I’m calling «Windows of Opportunity.» I have some windows on stage because God wants to unlock the window of His blessing in our lives. Now, when we think of the word «blessing,» what do we normally think of? Financial blessing, right? Usually, we think of financial blessings, but in the Bible, blessing means so much more than that. It includes financial blessings, but it goes way beyond that. The word «bless» in Hebrew literally means «how very happy.» So, the window of blessing God wants to pour out on you is true happiness and genuine fulfillment.
Now, financial provision is certainly a part of that, but the main reason the financial part is important is because what we do with what God gives us determines whether or not we unlock the window of God’s blessing in our lives. I want us to look at an obscure book in the Old Testament today: Malachi. Just a little book. And in this obscure book is an obscure prophet by the name of Malachi. This was a time when God closed the window of His blessing on the people of Israel. But God, in love, confronts the people through the prophet Malachi, and He tells them how they can again unlock the window of His blessings in their lives, and He wants to tell us how we can unlock the window of God’s blessing in our lives.
So, would you stand in honor of God’s Word? Malachi 3, beginning with verse 7. God says this: «Return to me, and I will return to you,» says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. «But you say, 'How should we return? ' Can a person rob God? You are indeed robbing me. But you say, 'How are we robbing you? ' In tithes and contributions, you are bound for judgment because you’re robbing me. The whole nation is guilty. Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,» says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, «to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out blessing for you until there is no room for it all.» You can be seated. Did you know heaven has a window? Now, the doorway to heaven is Jesus Christ. When you open the door of your heart to Christ, He will open the door of heaven for you in the future. But there’s also a window to heaven that extends from heaven to earth, and it’s the window we can open in the present.
And God reveals to us in this passage the one thing that opens the window of heaven, and it’s giving. It’s not taking; it’s giving. It’s just the opposite of what our culture says. The world says the more you get, the more you’ll be filled. God says the more you get, the emptier you’ll be. But the more you give, the more you’ll be filled. The problem comes when we look through the wrong window. One of the most common windows that we look to that never produces in our lives is what I call the «window of wanting.» It’s where we’re always wanting more. We lift the window of wanting; we open the window of wanting, and we look through the window of wanting, wanting what it has to offer, or what we think it has to offer. We’re always wanting what we don’t have or what someone else has, instead of being grateful for what we do have. Instead of looking to the window of heaven, we get stuck at the window of wanting.
Now, Jesus didn’t say it’s wrong to have wealth. The Bible doesn’t say money is the root of all evil. A lot of people misquote that verse. The Bible doesn’t say money is the root of all evil; it says the love of money is the root of all evil. Money is not evil; money is not good; it’s neutral. It can be used for good or bad. Material things aren’t good or bad; they’re not good or evil. It all depends on how you use them. But the Bible says even though money can be used for bad or good, it can never fill the emptiness in your soul. It can never fill that window to your soul. When you look to the window of wanting for your happiness, it will leave you wanting. The window of wanting always leaves you on the outside looking in.
Have you ever had an experience in your life where you found yourself sort of on the outside looking in? You kind of felt left out? You felt like you were looking at where you wanted to be, but you weren’t there, and others were? Twenty years ago, the Astros made it to their first World Series ever, and it was a big deal. I mean, it doesn’t seem like a big deal anymore after going to four World Series and winning two of the last eight years; we’re spoiled. The World Series has sort of become something we almost expect of them. We’re really spoiled, and we get really frustrated at them when they don’t go to the World Series. But back then, it was huge. It was the first World Series ever played in Texas. So, I was determined to get tickets so I could take my kids because we wanted to be part of history. My kids were in grade school and junior high at the time, and I wanted them to be part of history. So I was at the window of wanting, wanting tickets desperately.
I entered the lottery in hopes of winning a chance to buy some tickets, and somehow we won the chance to buy four tickets at the normal rate. The next day, I came into the office, and I told everyone I saw, all the pastors and everyone, «Guess what? I’m going to the World Series! We won the lottery for tickets, and we’re going to the World Series!» Everyone was saying, «That’s amazing!» because we don’t know anyone who entered and won. We all entered, and we didn’t win. I said, «Well, I guess God loves me just a little bit more than you. I don’t know, maybe I’m a little more spiritual; maybe I pray a little more. Who knows?» All of them were at the window of wanting, on the outside looking in, but I was on the inside.
We were on the inside. When we got inside the ballpark for game four of the World Series, I told the kids, «Now, these aren’t going to be the best seats; they’re in the upper deck, but I’m sure they’ll be great.» We began to walk up to our seats, and we kept walking. We kept walking. I was worn out. We kept walking. I mean, we got about as high as base camp at Mount Everest. Then I discovered that row 22 in section 406 was the last row in the ballpark -literally the last row in what used to be Minute Maid Park, now Dynegy Park. It was all the way over to the very corner of left field. I mean, it was the last section as far as you could get. Yeah, I got a little altitude sickness; I didn’t realize that was even up there. Fortunately, you may have never been up there, but there’s a fence that keeps you from falling out, and you’re kind of leaned against that.
Have you ever seen the building that’s right outside the ballpark in left field? That’s when the roof of the stadium is open. People used to go up on the roof of that building to watch the game. Well, those people were just a little bit closer than we were-not much, not much. Our seats were okay; they were just a little bit closer. We got up there. We started going down the row to go to our seats, and we came to a lady who was standing right next to my seat. She said, «I was hoping you guys weren’t going to show up.» I said, «Well, why?» She said, «Because my seat is gone.» There was just an empty space where her seat was supposed to be. My first thought was, «I need to give this lady my seat. You know, what would Jesus do?» But my second thought was, «This is the World Series, and she didn’t recognize me. She doesn’t know I’m a pastor.» So, I proceeded to sit down in my seat, and boom! My seat broke-literally just broke. It broke right off! Her chair was stabilizing my chair; I didn’t realize it. Since hers was gone, the bottom of my chair just broke off.
So, I’m on the last row of the stadium with no seat. The national anthem is starting at the World Series. The head of the maintenance crew came up, and he said, «Hey, we’re really sorry about this, but last night several people stole seats because it was the first World Series game ever played in Texas. Now they’re selling them online.» I said, «How in the world did they get out with them?» He said, «Well, way up here, we can’t really see what’s going on. So they came up with all their tools, set up a construction site, took the chairs down, and put them under their shirts and walked out.» I said, «That’s pretty smart, really.» He said, «But don’t worry about it; by the third inning at least, I’ll send someone up here to fix your seat.»
So, I’m standing up there looking through the window of wanting. Now I’m on the outside looking in, wondering what it would be like to be sitting behind the dugout, wondering what it would be like to be sitting behind home plate, wondering what it would be like to just be sitting. That would have been great-wondering what it would have been like if I had been home, sitting on the sofa, actually being able to see the players' numbers and the baseball. You see, I thought I was going to be on the inside, but I was on the outside looking in. And that’s the way it is with the window of wanting. Even if you get what you want, you find yourself on the outside of fulfillment looking in. Even if you get what you desire, what you’ve been wanting, you’ll be on the outside of genuine happiness, just looking in.
Now, I want us to break down Malachi chapter 3, and I want us to look at what God says to the people in Malachi 3:7: «From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my laws and have not obeyed them. Return to me, and I will return to you,» says the Lord of all. «But you say, 'How are we to return? '» The people of Israel here had experienced a downturn in the economy. Things were getting tight. Things were at a place where many of them stopped giving back to God. Then all of them stopped giving back to God. They stopped obeying God’s command to give the first part of their income to show that He was in first place in their lives. And God says, «You stopped trusting me. You’ve disobeyed me. You’ve walked away from me.» But He goes on to say, «In my love, if you return to me, I’ll return to you.»
The people are surprised; they’re saying, «How have we walked away from you?» They were stuck at the window of wanting. They were wanting what they didn’t have, and they were probably praying to God, wanting God to bless them. So they’re at the window of wanting, «God, we need you to bless us! God, we want you to bless us!» But they’re at the wrong window, and they’re saying, «How can we return to you if we never left? We don’t get it.» And God says, «You’re blatantly disobeying my command because you’re not putting me first in your finances. You’re at the window of wanting. You’re wanting me to bless you, but it’s in taking the steps of obedience that you step into the window of heaven where I can bless you.»
And it’s obedience that unlocks the window of heaven and my blessings in your life. He goes on to give them some great news. He says in the next passage in Malachi 3:10: «Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,» says the Lord Almighty, «and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.» So, God says, «Here’s how you unlock the window of my blessings: obey me and give your tithe.» Now, this is the principle of tithing. The word «tithe» just means tenth or 10%. Now, some Christ followers don’t really understand that. They’ll say, «You know, well, I gave my tithe,» and it may be because they brought some leftover clothes down to the clothes pantry or some food to the food pantry, and it’s like, «Hey, I tithed.» No, a tithe means 10%! It’s giving back the first 10% of all I make to God. It’s the first 10%, not the leftovers of all I make, back to God.
Now, why does God command us to tithe? Look at Deuteronomy 14:23: «The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.» God commands me to give back the first 10% because it shows that He’s in first place in my life. Because if He’s not first place in my finances, then He’s not first place in my life. It shows that He is the most important to me. It shows what’s important in my life. It’s not the money that God needs; it’s what the money represents. It represents your heart. That’s really what God wants-He wants our hearts. Your giving reveals a window to your soul. They say that eyes are the window to the soul. But the Bible says your giving is the window to your soul. It reveals what’s important to you.
In Matthew 6:21, Jesus put it this way: «For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.» Jesus said, «Your giving shows where your heart is.» People give to what they love. They really do. When Chris and I first fell in love, I was always giving gifts to her. I couldn’t keep any money in my pocket; I was always giving to her. Always giving to her, because I fell in love with her. And I still love giving things to her because I love her. You give to what you love. If you really love God first, you’ll give to Him first. You’ll put Him first in your finances. So, He commands us to tithe to show that He’s in first place in our lives. He also commands us to give back 10% to show that we are grateful-to show that I recognize 100% comes from God. He just asks us to give back the first 10% to realize that it’s His and He’s in first place in my life.
Use the rest, enjoy the rest, be grateful for it. But God says, «The first is mine,» and it shows that I recognize that everything I have comes from God: my ability to make money, my health, my very next heartbeat-and God can take those away instantly. It’s really all from God. Then the third reason God commands us to tithe is because He wants to bless us. That’s God’s heart. He says, «If you’ll give back the whole tithe to me, the first 10% of all you make, then I’ll open up the window of heaven and pour out blessings on you that will overflow.»
You see, when it comes to the window of wanting, we open the window of wanting from our side, and it ends in wanting more. Or maybe we get what we want, and it still ends in unfulfillment; it doesn’t bring happiness. But when it comes to the window of heaven, only God can open the window of heaven. It opens from the other side. And God opens the window of heaven when we give back to Him what’s rightfully His. And God says, «Test me in this to see if I’m real.» I always keep my promises. «Test me in this to see if I’m real.» God wants to bless you! God wants to bless you so you can be a blessing-a conduit of His blessing to build His kingdom for His glory.
When He sees someone that He can trust with His blessings-someone who is putting Him first in their finances-He pours out His blessings upon you. Now, the Bible says God reigns on the just and the unjust. That means God brings His blessings on the good, bad, and the ugly. I mean, none of us deserve God’s blessings. God pours His blessings on all of us, even though none of us deserve it. But He’s looking for people that He can trust with His blessings, so He can pour them out to overflowing because you’ve proven that when He blesses you, you bless others. You’ve proven that when it overflows your life, you’ll be a greater blessing to make a difference in the lives of others for eternity to build God’s kingdom that will last forever.
God wants to bless you! God wants us to give back the first 10% so that we can see Him work in our lives. It’s really a test of faith, and that’s why God says, «You can test me in this.» We’re never allowed to test God in anything else but finances-in our tithing. I think it’s because God knows how important that is to us. But it’s also, the Bible says, God says, «Test me in this because I want you to. Please, please, please test me in this because I want to bless you.» Test me in this, and you’ll be blessed, and you’ll know that I’m real.
Some people trust God with their eternal salvation, but they don’t trust Him with their finances. It makes no sense! You know, it’s just logical that you ought to test to see if God’s real now before you trust Him with your eternal salvation. You ought to test, «Now, is God real or not? Are His promises true or not?» When we test Him in this and He comes through, it just builds our faith. If you’ve never experienced God working miracles in your finances and meeting your needs in such an important area of your life, you’ve really missed out on what Christianity is all about. I mean, if Christianity doesn’t work in our finances, it doesn’t work, because that’s an area that really affects all our lives.
You know, it’s been said that 50% of all divorces-the number one reason-is over finances and financial arguments. Listen, 64% of arguments in marriages are over finances. God wants to bless you, and God wants to work in your finances to take away the stress so that you can be blessed. God wanted to bless His people, but the people of Israel had locked the window to heaven. They didn’t even realize it. Let’s look again at Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3: «Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How are we robbing you? ' in tithes and offerings. You’re under a curse, your whole nation, because you are robbing me.»
God tells them, «You’ve locked the window to my blessings. You’ve locked the window to my blessings because you’ve stolen from me what’s rightfully mine-the first 10%. So I’m going to get it back in other ways, and God always does. You know, maybe at the end of your life because you can’t take it with you, but usually, it’s before that. You see, hundreds of years before this, God had given the people the principle of tithing, but they stopped obeying God. They stopped putting God first in their finances. Now, if you ask the people of Israel at that time, „Do you believe in tithing?“ they would have said „Yes, we believe in tithing! I mean, God commands us to tithe. Yeah, we believe in it.“ But they weren’t doing it, and it was locking the window of God’s blessing and fulfillment in their lives.
When Chris and I were first married, we decided that we were going to tithe. We were going to follow this principle of tithing. We knew about it; we believed in it. We knew it was important in our marriage and our relationship to God. So we made a decision that we were going to tithe. But after a while, we noticed we started arguing about finances. We started really struggling financially. Then it hit us. As we looked at it, we went back and really looked it over: we weren’t really tithing! We would give when we felt like it; we would give when we thought about it; we would give when we had it! If you would have asked us back then, „Do you believe in tithing?“ we would have said, „You better believe it! You bet we believe in tithing! Tithing is so important! God commands it!“ But as we looked at it, we weren’t tithing.
We weren’t giving the full 10% of all we made back to God. We were living at the window of intention. Sure, we intended to tithe; we thought we believed in it. But we hadn’t consistently taken those steps of obedience to find the window of heaven. We were just giving when we felt like it, whenever we remembered it. Sometimes we would forget; sometimes we thought we couldn’t afford it. We were just struggling, and we recognized the problem: we weren’t putting God first in our finances. And sometimes Christ followers say, „I believe this,“ or „I believe that.“ Many Christians say, „I believe this with all my heart,“ but they don’t do it.
So, they don’t really believe it because you only believe what you do. You only really believe what you do. We made a decision to start tithing whether we felt like it or not, whether we had it or not. It became a discipline-a weekly discipline. You know, every time we got paid, we tithed the first 10%. God got paid before anyone else! And I want you to know it changed everything. It changed our whole perspective. It’s been a guiding force in our family through the years. We just made a decision: we’re going to do this not because we feel like it, not because of anything else, not because we’re moved. We’re going to do it because it’s a discipline.
And to be a disciple, there are some disciplines of the Christian faith. There are some habits of obedience, and then the feelings come. Then the joy comes. Then the fulfillment comes. Because you see that God is real, that He cares about you, and He fulfills His promises. He cares about something that’s important to you. It’s obedience that opens the windows of blessing. Many Christians just give when they really feel moved to give, so they rarely give because it’s not about your feelings. It’s all about obeying God’s Word. And it’s obedience that brings blessing.
Now, in Malachi’s day, there’d be a family who would go to the marketplace and they would buy things for their kids or they’d buy things for their house. I mean, they would, you know, try to make it through. There were all these things that they needed. Then they would get overextended. Then at the end of the month, there wouldn’t be any money left, and they would think, „Yeah, I know God commands us to tithe, but we can’t afford to right now. We didn’t have anything left over, and you know kids are expensive, and you know prices are going up. This is tough!“ And they wouldn’t give the whole tithe.
There were some people in Malachi’s day who were really struggling financially, and the first thing they thought about was, „We can’t afford to tithe now,“ so they cut that out first and tried to make it. And there were some people in Malachi’s day who hit the financial big time. Maybe they got an inheritance; maybe they sold some land. And for whatever reason, they got a windfall, and then they would calculate what the 10% would be. They would do the numbers and think, „Wow! That’s a lot! I’m not going to give all that. I’m just going to give maybe 2% or 3% because that’s a lot more than everyone else gives. That 2% and 3% I mean, you know God can use that — that’s a lot! I’m not going to give Him the whole tithe.“
And God spoke through this prophet Malachi, who didn’t care what anyone thought about him; he just cared what God thought about him. So whatever God told him to say, he would say. He says to the people, „Do you like getting robbed?“ And the people say, „No, of course not! No one likes getting robbed!“ Have you ever been robbed? Maybe you got cheated out of something, or maybe someone stole your identity, or someone made a purchase on your credit card, and you still have to go through the hassle of getting it right, and it’s so frustrating. Or maybe someone robbed your house. I mean, there’s something about someone taking something that is yours. I mean, it’s just wrong. Nobody likes getting robbed! And I’ve never heard anyone say, „You know what? I got robbed, but I’m so grateful! So wonderful! Felt so good!“ No, no one likes getting robbed. And God doesn’t like getting robbed.
Malachi then says, „Do you like getting robbed? Well then, why in the world are you robbing God? Why do you say that you love Him? Why do you sing that you love Him? And yet, you’re flat-out stealing from God Almighty? How can you do that?“ Malachi was saying that the principle of tithing is not really about money; it’s all about the heart. It’s a heart test. It tells you what you love first. If you live for Him, you’ll give to Him. It’s really a test of my heart. But if you pass the heart test, the good news is God says, „I’ll pour out a blessing on you so great you won’t even be able to hold it all! It’ll overflow because you’re blessed to be a blessing.“
I think if Malachi were here today, he would stand up here, and he couldn’t care less what I think about him or what you think about him. He just cares what God thinks about him. I think if he were standing on this stage today, he would look right at you and right at me, and he would say, „Well, church, it’s heart test time! Are you robbing God? Do you say you love Him? Do you sing that you love Him? Do you say that He’s first place in your life? Do you worship Him and tell Him you love Him, but you’re stealing from Him what’s rightfully His? How can you look at the bloodstained cross and the empty tomb and yet flat-out steal from God Almighty who loves you that much?“
But I think he would go on to say, „But the good news is when you pass the heart test, He pours out His blessings on you, and you’ll discover that putting God first changes every area of your life!“ God’s wanting to bless us! That’s God’s heart! He wants to open the windows of heaven. That’s why He says, „Test me! Come on, test me! I’m real! I love you! I will meet your needs!“
I hope you hear from my heart today. I really want you to hear from my heart. You know, I don’t do a message like this but just-you know, very few times a year. I don’t talk about money that much; but did you know Jesus talked about money more than He did love? Jesus talked about money more than He did hope. Jesus talked about money more than He did joy. Jesus talked about money more than He did heaven or hell. Why? Of course, He knew that’s an area that we get hung up on! We get stuck at the window of wanting! That’s an area that holds us back from real fulfillment. That’s an area that holds us back from true blessing. And I just want everyone to experience that! Chris and I learned years ago that before anyone else gets paid, God gets paid. And God always comes through! God always comes through, and you get to see God work in your life! He begins to bless your life and meet your needs.
I want every one of you to learn what so many of you have already learned. I don’t want anyone to miss out! So many have learned this, and you’re just being reminded of how God works and how God is real and how God works miracles and how God provides. But I don’t want-I really don’t want anyone to miss out on this. There was a time, also in the Old Testament, where the people of God were rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and returning, and so many of them were focused on remodeling their houses and making their houses nice, which is a good thing! Nothing wrong with that! They were really investing in that. But God’s house-they weren’t doing anything with God’s house! And God said, „Your priorities are all out of whack! Your priorities are all out of line! And that’s why you’re not experiencing any fulfillment.“
And then He says this to them. It’s in the book of Haggai, another prophet who would speak for God. Look at it with me: „In Haggai 1:6, God says, 'You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but you never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but you’re not warm. You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it.'“ God says to them, „Hey, don’t you get it? I want you to get it! Your priorities are all out of line. And your giving is out of line. Yeah, make your houses nice. Remodel your houses. Do I want you to do those things? I want to bless you in that! But first, it’s my house. First, it’s my kingdom to be built. Your priorities are all out of line.
And our giving shows our priorities. It’s a window to our soul. It’s a window to what we love. It’s a window for what’s important. And so God says, „Hey, don’t you get what’s happening? I mean, that’s why you’re struggling. It feels like you’ve got pockets filled with holes, and you’re wondering where it’s all going. You don’t understand! If you’ll put me first, I’ll take care of the rest!“ And then others were very wealthy, but they were wondering why there’s no fulfillment. And He said, „It’s like you’ve got holes in your blessing bucket, and it’s just flowing right through, and fulfillment, happiness, and joy just going right through, and all you’ve got is stress. All you’ve got is just keeping going as hard as you can, but nothing’s fulfilling to you.“
We all have a blessing bucket. God gives every one of us, as Christ followers, a blessing bucket-really, everyone has a blessing bucket because God rains down His blessings on every one of us, and none of us deserve it. But yet God says, „If you’ll look to me in my window of heaven and you’ll obey me, if you obey me and put me first in your finances, then I’m going to open up the window of heaven and pour out blessings on you so great you won’t be able to hold it all!“ It will be an overflow of my blessings in your life! You’ll experience an overflow because you’ll be blessed to be a blessing!
That’s why God blesses us! And so I’m going to bless you in ways that-and things that money can’t buy that are so much more important: fulfillment, genuine happiness, but I’m going to also meet your financial needs! I’m going to bless you financially; I’m going to meet your needs! If you trust me, you’re going to see that I’m real! And so a lot of people have their bucket in front of the window of wanting. And God, you know, I mean, He gives us blessings that we could never deserve or earn. And some people at the window of wanting, they’re getting everything they want, but there’s still holes in their buckets. Fulfillment is passing right through their buckets.
You know, a lasting legacy is passing right through the bucket because it’s all about what they want rather than putting God first. But when you put your bucket in front of the window of heaven and you obey God, it seals all the holes. There are no holes! And so God can start filling up your bucket, and He fills it up to overflowing! Now, sometimes it takes some time; the Bible says as soon as you give, God promises that He’s going to meet your needs. The Bible says, „I will supply all your needs according to my riches in glory.“ God’s going to supply all your needs if you obey Him and give Him back the first 10%. He’s going to supply all your needs according to His riches in glory!
Now, what does all include? Does that include your mortgage payment? Yes! Does that include braces for your kids? Yes! Does that include all? God says, „You put me first, and I’ll meet your needs.“ And sometimes, you know, it takes a while for it to get to overflowing. You keep practicing that habit. You keep that discipline, that habit. You put God first before anyone else gets paid. You make sure that God is first. And when you do that, God says, „Hey, eventually, it’s going to overflow.“ Sometimes you’ve got to wait just a little bit, but He’ll meet your needs right now! As soon as you do it, He’s going to meet your needs and show you that He’s real, that He loves you, and that He wants to bless you.
Then it’s going to fill up! It’s going to fill up to overflowing beyond measure -that’s the promise of God. And so many of you know this! So many of you practice this! I talk to people all the time who say, „Carrie, 10 years ago, you know, I finally-I was nervous about it; I was scared to-I had been balking! But then I took a step of faith! It’s like, 'Okay, God, are you real or not? ' And man, God has come through! God has worked in my life, blessed my business, or He’s just blessed our family. He’s just done all these things! He’s provided for me. God is real!“ I have people come up to me all the time in the church and go, „Hey, Carrie, tithing really works!“ I go, „Yeah, God promised it! You know, yes, it’s changed my life five years ago, two years ago, 20 years ago.“
And so many of you have practiced that habit, and you’ve seen God work powerfully. You’ve seen that God does miracles. You’ve seen that God is real. You’ve seen that God provides. I want you to hear from a couple in our church, like so many who have taken that step and experienced God’s blessing. Just listen to James and Sabrina.
„Without Sabrina’s journey to Christ, like I don’t know how much longer it would have taken me to get there. So long story short, trying to say that you helped me like come back to God. My journey has been long, I guess. My dad passed away when I was 18, and that kind of, we’ll say, shook my faith a little bit. I never stopped believing in God, but I’d say I got angry at God for taking my father away when I was 18, and that was just a lot that I had to work through.
It was really when we moved to Houston and we started coming to Woodlands Church that I felt drawn to God, and I wanted to get closer to God. My parents are Middle Eastern. We grew up Muslim. My sisters and I-we grew up in a Muslim household, so I did not grow up in church at all. Hearing Pastor Chris talk about her journey and how she didn’t grow up in church either really resonated with me. Every service we have, where Pastor Carrie closes out and asks us to receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, I remember, I think the second or third time we were here, I remember praying-like daring to pray that prayer-and that was the day I think we talked about me wanting to become baptized, and I wanted to really-I was all in!
Now, I will say, the response I gave was like, 'I’m already baptized; I got sprinkled.' You know, I said, 'If I’m doing it, you’re doing it too! ' And that really got me thinking about, you know what, I really do want to get baptized — the full immersion way, the way that they do it in the Bible. And it was amazing! It was kind of the beginning of our building that firm foundation together.
I would say as our faith has grown, we’ve worked ourselves up to tithing 10% of our finances, and to me personally, that has been the biggest way that I’ve been able to show my faith in God because we all need the money. Knowing that I definitely have a use for it, but trusting in God, having faith that God will provide for us as a family-to me, is a very big leap of faith, and that’s one that has truly helped me grow closer to God by making that sacrifice. It’s just the most clear sign that I have truly put my life in God’s hands.
So, from a giving standpoint, I think what we have developed through Woodlands Church is the faith that God will provide what we need. That first step-that I convinced myself to do-it was difficult. I kept wanting proof, and eventually, it was just to have faith that God will guide us. Throughout our life, looking at all the key moments that led us to where we’re at, realizing that God played a hand in all those moments. Because you tell me five years ago that we’d be sitting right here? Could not have predicted it! A billion predictions wouldn’t have come close! But knowing that God led us here is powerful for us.“
Amen! Praise God for these guys, the Adams-they’re amazing. And so many of you are doing the same thing in God’s work, and God’s blessing, and your hearts are aligned with Him, and God has opened the windows of heaven-He’s meeting your every need.
It’s so exciting when you start practicing the principle of tithing. It’s also a little scary -that’s because it’s a trust issue. Do I trust God that His promises about tithing are true and that He really will meet all my needs? Yes! It’s God’s guarantee. God says, „You put me to the test; it’s a heart test for you, but you’ve got to put me to the test-to see if I’m real.“ The real test is God’s test, and He always comes through! He’ll meet all your needs-He loves you so much.
But it’s always a little scary at first because it’s a heart test. It’s scary to kind of step out! It’s like, „Ah, how can we do this? God, I don’t know!“ But you step out, and right away, God provides. It’s amazing what God does and how much He loves us and how much He wants to bless us with things that money could never buy, and also finances. He cares deeply about everything you care about because He loves you so much.
But it is a test of faith. There’s no testimony without a test. You can’t be blessed without the test, and it builds your faith in such a huge way! It’s God’s guarantee.
Let’s bow together. Dear God, we thank You that You love us so much! Lord, You love us enough to confront us when we’re not following Your Word. You’ve done that so many times in my life because You want us to experience Your blessing as we obey, and that obedience brings blessing. We thank You, Lord, that You over and over again pour out Your blessings on us when we don’t deserve it; we could never earn it! Lord, even when we’re not obeying, so many times, You bless us anyway.
But, Lord, the real blessings come when we obey! That’s when the blessings overflow, that’s when You meet our needs, that’s when You bring fulfillment-That’s when You bless us beyond measure so we can be a greater blessing for Your kingdom! And, Lord, I pray right now for all those who are doing so-Lord, this is many in our church, who are giving back the first 10% so You’ll bless the rest to show that You’re in first place-that You would just continue to bless them and strengthen them!
Continue, Lord Jesus, to work in their lives in such a powerful way and bless them even greater to be a greater blessing for Your glory. And then, Lord, I pray for those who have never taken that step. And, Lord, they know it in their heart that they need to, because You’re telling them right now. But, Lord, help them take that step-to not miss out, to not miss out, to go through their life never experiencing You being real in such an important area-to miss out on all the blessings that You have for them.
Lord, help them to take that step of faith right now, trusting You, because You say, „Lord, right now, You want to open up the windows of heaven!“ Now, Lord, I know some are scared of it or skeptical of it. Just help them take the step to test You to see if You’re real. Lord, thank You that You’re real. Thank You for all the difference You make in our lives. And I pray for those who have never received You as their Lord and Savior that right now they would just pray and ask You to come into their life and they would just receive Your free gift of heaven one day and ask for Your forgiveness of all their sins and let You be the Lord and give them the strength to grow in their faith to follow You from now on. For it’s in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.