Joshua 1:1-3

Sometimes good is the enemy to being your best.  You have to be in a place in which you know what to do when its your turn.

After the death of Moses, Joshua found himself in a place in which he did not know what to do. God had to remind Joshua that Moses was dead and it was now his time to step up to lead.
Its time to transition to the place where God wants us.  Transition only comes after death. You have to die to yourself and your ways if you want to experience the transition to the next level
John 12:24

Don’t be afraid to take the step toward freedom. That step requires you to die to yourself.

Joshua was then told to cross the Jordan River.  Historically the Jordan river was dirty and murky.  Ironically there was no other way to the promised land other than crossing this river.  You too must cross your Jordan river. You must confront your dark, dirty, hidden place, in order to get to your promised land.

God is looking for people that are faithful in their time, talents, and finances.

Mark 10:29-31
Matthew 24:45-51
Luke 19:11- 24
Matthew 6:19-21

We must become busy for God.  Don’t look at your own abilities. Trust that God will have your back. We must be good stewards of everything that has been given to us by God.  God desires to use someone just like you.  He knows our faults and deficiencies. All God wants from us is faithfulness in our time talents and finances.  When we are faithful in our time, talents, and finances then God’s blessings will flow in all areas of our lives including our finances.

Deut 15:8-16

These particular verse of scripture shows God talking to us about giving.  The reason we started this series on giving was to engage the people of God in a real conversation on giving. We must understand that giving is not an investment scheme.  You give because you have a heart for lost people.  You give because you want to help advance Gods kingdom.  God shows in these verses the different types of givers and the different types of attitudes that people have with regards to giving.

A Selfish Heart:  Deut 15:8-9

We have to learn to love each other enough to make sacrifices.  To open our hands wide to those in need. We have issues with this because we would rather show off what we have then give it away.  Selfishness becomes the sin that traps and destroys our lives. A selfish heart will never be blessed.

A Grieving Heart: Deut 15:10

God says that we should give, and that our hearts should not be grieved when we give.  We only grieve when we distrust that God will do what he said he would do.  God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).  The purpose of this series to to get us to stop allowing money to be our God. Money should not control your peace and joy. A person who grieves when they give is a person whose God is MONEY. Give and trust God. Be an excited giver.

Selfishness attacks us before we give, and grief attacks us after we give.  We must keep the correct perspective regarding money, “It belongs to God”. This is hard for the unbeliever to accept because the unbeliever hasn’t given to God what belongs to Him…their heart.   A person who has given their heart to God has no problem giving anything else to Him, including money.

A Liberal Heart: 15: 14

In order to have a liberal heart you must have a mind change. (Romans 12:2)  Most people don’t ask what can I do, rather, they ask what can I get? We were born with a selfish nature.  The enemy gT knows this and uses selfishness to destroy our lives.  We have to become liberal givers. Not just of our money, but also of our time talents and love.

A Grateful Heart: Deut 15:15

Be grateful for what God has done for you. For the unbeliever,  this is hard because they have not experienced the grace and love of God. Those of us who have tasted the grace of God must continue to display a grateful heart. A grateful heart naturally becomes a giving heart.

Todays worship songs
I belong to you/ I give myself away-William McDowell
All I need is you-Hillsong

Luke 6:27-38

Our motives must be right in our giving. Jesus teaches us how to give from a Christian mindset.  We don’t give to get back. We must live our life as a Christians. 
The “give and it shall be given” principle should be our reward not our motivation.

Proverbs 16:2-4
There is nothing wrong with the principle of giving.  Where we go wrong is when we give from bad motives.  Your motives are weighed by the Lord.  Think of the widow who gave her last penny.  Jesus said she gave the most because she gave from her heart.  She was doing what Christians are supposed to do, which was live a Christan life with the right motives.

If your heart is committed to giving to God instead of just getting more, then you will succeed.  If your heart is committed to giving to get stuff instead of giving out of love for God then you will always fail.

*James 4:1-3

Lust is never satisfied. Giving out of a lust for pleasures separates you from God. It creates enmity (deep seated hatred) towards God. 

Matthew 6:31-33.

When it comes to giving, the basic principle to adopt is “BE A CHRISTIAN FIRST” it starts with just doing what the Bible teaches us to do.

Today we begin our series on money.  YHere are over 800 scirptures dealing with money.  We should be able to talk about money in a respnonsible way.  There are two extremes when it comes to money.

1. Hireling
John10:12-13.  There are alot of preachers that are nothing more than hirelings.  They are here to make money. They manipulate scriptures to get the church to fill their pockets.  These types of preachers are able to do this because people will not read the word for themselves.  People are content with allowing the preacher to tell them anything, never reading the word for themselves. 

2. Fearful 1 John 4:18
There are some people who would rather be nice than Christian.  They don’t want to hurt anyones feelings or chase them away so they avoid preaching on money.  If speaking on money chases you away or upsets you, then you were not connected to God anyway. 

Alot of people say they don’t give because they don’t have anything to give.  We have a habit of making sure we take care of ourself first, then we decide if we will give to God.  Peopel who live and give in that manner are outside- in christians.  They start with there physical pleasures and relationships first.  Once those are taken care of, they consider giving.  We are required to serve God from the inside- out which means we give to God first.  Next comes our bills and finally ourselves.  We must be inside out givers.

1.  The Law Of The Firstfiruts:  Genesis 4:3-5.  Leviticus 27:30-31 Exodus 13:1-2
This is a law to test your faith.  Without faith it is impossible to please God. This is not a call to give your first paycheck of the year to the church as some preachers will claim.  This is a test of your faith to see if you will give God his first.  What is God’s?  Look at the example of Able.  He gave the firstfruits. This is the same principle in the garden of Eden.  God gave Adam dominion over everything.  God’s one requirement was that Adam not eat from the tree.  God says 10 percent of all you have is Holy to him.  The rest belongs to you.

Proverbs 3:9-10  Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the firstfruits of all your increase., so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow withe new wine.

2.  We give it first PERIOD. Romans 5:8
God gave his son to us first.  He did not wait to see if we would believe, or trust in Him.  Instead, before we loved Him he gave us his son.  We must adopt this same principle and give to God FIRST.  We trust that God will work it out before we see it worked out.  We don’t decide if we have enough to give to God.  We trust that after we give, our God will supply ALL our needs according to his riches and glory.  This means you may have to curb your spending habits.  God gets our firstfruits PERIOD.

3.  The Tithes Does Not Belong To Us.  Deut 26:12-13 Malachi 3:8
We must uderstand that the tithe does not belong to us. As inside out Christians we should not use out tithes to satisfy our needs. When we do that we are robbing God and telling Him and the World that we don’t trust in God’s word.

Would you want to live with 90% of something thats blessed or 100% of something that is cursed?

The message for todays service was presented by our care pastor Byron Wilson. 2 kings 6:15-16
The prophetic word was given today in power and authority. 

What are you gonna do when chaos surrounds you?  What are you gonna do when you don’t have an answer? Seek God Connect to God.  Although you may feel uncertain, know that God sees you.

God responds to you’re uncertainty with the powerful words  “Don’t Be Afraid.”  The story has already been written for your life. All we have to do is stand on His word.  God wants to get
us to a place in which we know  longer see ourselves but instead  see God. 

1. Connect to God
2. Connect to others
3. You must have a prayer life.
4. Serve God

Psalms 4:3, 34:7, 55:16-17
Acts 27:21-24

Today Pastor John concluded his Inside Out series.

The whole process of inside out is to get us to look below the surface.  Remember the iceberg illustration.  Only 20% of the iceberg is seen. 80% of the iceberg is below the surface.  Generally we are good at hiding our issues below the surface.  Our above surface issues are exposed as a result of not dealing.with our hidden below the surface issues.
If you don’t deal the below the line issues then your above the line issue will continue to surface. 

How do you get to the place in which you can deal with your deep issues?

1. Surrender: Determine that you will follow God no matter the cost.  Get to a place in which pain, physically or emotionally doesn’t cause you to give up. 
Matthew 16:24-26 Acts 20:23-24.

2. Safety:  You MUST connect with
other Christians.  Connecting with Christians is a tool God uses to help you grow.  There is safety in fellowship with others.  Don’t connect just for the sake of connecting.  Connect to people who will challenge you and hold you accountable.
Ecclesiastics 4:9-12 1Peter 5:6-9

3. Sensitivity:  Ask God to make you sensitive to yourself.  Sometimes we fail to realize how much our behavior affects others.  We think people should understand our attitudes, rudeness, anger etc…  We excuse this by saying ” that’s just how I am”.  The truth is that your attitude, rudeness, and anger is not acceptable behavior.
Hebrews 4:11-13. Hebrews 12:5-11

Worship songs today:
Friend of God, To Worship You I Live, Because Of Who You Are, Draw Me Close To You.

1 Corinthians chapter 13-14:1 (The Love Chapter)

Continuing the inside out series, we shift our focus to Love. We usually love people according to how much they satisfy our needs. That’s not a pure love for one another. A rewarding pursuit of God allows us to love people the way God requires, in a pure way.

It’s not easy to be in the midst of pain and still pursue God and love people, but it’s what Christians are supposed to do.

We withhold love to protect ourselves from ever being hurt again. Remember, when relieving pain becomes more a priority than doing Gods will, then you have left the path of seeking God.

In speaking about the tribe of men who killed her husband Elizabeth Elliot said: “The fact that Jesus died for all makes me interested in the salvation of all. The fact that Jim died for this tribe intensifies my love for this tribe.”

Love can truly conquer all. Your love for others matters. It draws others to Christ, and also adds power and purpose into your life. Love is not blind to others faults, it sees the faults clearly. Those faults however will not pose a threat to you. Love admits disappointment but it forgives and continues to be warmly involved. Love is concerned about the welfare of those who treat you wrong.

Don’t ask people to provide more than what they can give. Change your expectation. Remember people who are hurting, hurt other people. Love regardless, in-spite of, in addition to any hurt, frustration or bad attitude that may come your way. Your job is to love them until they are healthy enough to get past their hurts. Love from the inside out.

Our worship songs today were. You hold my world, Moving Forward, and, Oh how he loves.

Today’s message, a continuance of our inside out series focused on two specific problems Christians are facing today…

1). Problems in the world: We can’t do anything about our problems because this is a sinful world. The more you find comfort in this sinful world, the more likely you are to face the consequences of that sin. John 16:33.

James 1:2-4 There will always be problems in this world until you die. Problems should not shake your faith causing you to doubt God. When we focus on the problems of this world it brings:

2). Pain in our hearts: Bitterness and anger begin to fill our hearts which ultimately begins to control our actions. 1 Peter 1:6-8
We make the relief of pain our goal instead of an inside out relationship with God. Because the pain never goes away it changes the way we serve God. Now our relationship with God changes from a healthy pursuit of Him to now living an Christian life trying to ensure we never get hurt again. Relationships deteriorate, ministries fall apart, and worship becomes a chore instead of an experience.

Pain is not the problem, our determination to relieve the pain by any way possible is the problem. “When relieving pain becomes the priority the you are not seeking God”. (Dr. Larry Crabb)

Pain will drive you to pursue the cross or run from the cross. Pain makes you seek God more or go deeper into self protection.

How do we act when problems and pain come? Some people begin to:

Sin in their behavior…which leads to a sinful nature. 1 Corinthians 5:5
Only true repentance and forgiveness can stop the sinful behavior. God is calling us to demonstrate holy conduct.

You can’t control the problems of the world or the pain you feel but, you can control your conduct. 1Pet 1:15-16

Uncheck sinful behavior produces a sinful heart. Matthew15:15-20