Michael Todd -Are Your Ducks In A Row Ducks In A Row Part 1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, is anybody excited about the word today? Hey, listen, man,
I am so excited about what we are about to
get into. This is week one of a series that
we are calling ducks in a row, and I need
you to get out your notes and your smartphone or
your dumb phone, whatever you have, because we're gonna walk

(00:23):
progressively through really probably one of the most life changing
subjects that have changed the trajectory of this church, changed
the trajectory of me and my family's life, and change
the trajectory of so many families. We're gonna talk about
stewardship and generosity. Now. Now I know in two thousand

(00:44):
and nineteen, these are not sexy words. Stewardship, It don't
even sound sexy, stewardship and generosity. But I found all
through God's worth. These are two cornerstones for God to
do everything that he wants to do in a believer life.
It's gonna take stewardship and generosity. Just say the word

(01:06):
with me. Say stewardship. You don't even say it right,
say stewardship and generosity. So we're gonna talk about these things.
And what I'm asking you to do is to lock
in with me for the next five weeks, like, because
this is the series that if any series you could
be taken out of, this would be the one because
the truths that are gonna be expounded upon through God's

(01:29):
word in this series are the ones that break generational
cycles of poverty as well as the truths break generational
cycles of selfishness. Oh yeah, because you thought it was
just about getting more. And God says, why would I
give you more? Because You're not a river, You're a reservoir.
When I give you something, it stops with you. But

(01:50):
God says, I want you to be a river. I
want to be able to give you so much that
it flows through you that you're blessed to be a blessing.
And that's what we desire for our church, is that
we would give, just to give and not to get.
And let me go ahead and give you the disclaimer
for all the people like I knew I should in
the Camemy to die because I'm gonna be talking about money. Yes,

(02:10):
we're gonna be talking about money, but I'm gonna do
it from a very delicate standpoint because i know the stigma.
The church just wants me for my money. We don't
want you for your money. What we're telling you in
this series is to relax. Everybody, say, relax, We're not
taking any second offerings. Okay, there's no campaign that we're
raising money for right now. As a matter of fact,

(02:32):
because of the generosity of people who've already bought into
this Blessed Life attitude. Because of that, this four weeks
coming up, we are giving away to organizations and people
who are doing ministries and partnering with all kinds of stuff.
I cannot wait for you to see every week what
we're gonna be doing. We're gonna give away over two

(02:52):
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in four weeks. Can we
give God? Oh, come on, y'all, can we give God
for that? Now? Now? That's a different bend than a
lot of people have in with money and in church.
And the reason that this is coming to us, and

(03:13):
I'm so passionate about it, is because when I started
pastoring this church about four years ago, my second sermon
series ever was called The Blessed Life. And we did
this based off of Robert Morris who's down in Dallas, Texas,
and they have a church down there where he has
this revelation of generosity and stewardship and all this other stuff.

(03:33):
And because I'm a transparent leader, I can never get
up here and talk about nothing that I haven't been
through or I don't know. And so I stood up.
It's so crazy when you talk about representing. I stood
up at our church and I said, hey, guys, God
told me we're supposed to do this series on generosity
and stewardship, and I don't know enough about it yet.

(03:54):
So instead of me getting up in here and faking
for four weeks and trying to teach you something that
I don't know, We're gonna play these videos from Pastor
Robert Morris, and he's white and dry and has the juice.
You hear what I'm saying. And this is when our
church was predominantly African American and more expressive and all
this other stuff. I said. But I don't want to

(04:15):
get up here and tap dance for you for four
weeks and you don't get transformed. And I'm telling you,
I said, instead of me trying to do that, I'm
gonna sit right here on the front row. And I said,
in that seat with my wife and for four and
a half, for five weeks, we sat and learned the
principles of the blessed life together. I want to just
teach you I will never be a leader that gets
up here and tries to fake the funk. I'll bring

(04:37):
in the people who actually got the funk. Do you
hear what I'm saying? Because we don't have time to waste,
and people are really struggling with situations. And so when
we learned about this blessed life, it changed everything, y'all.
It changed this church and it changed my life. And
today I'm telling you we're not doing this series because

(04:58):
the church needs more money. We're doing this series because
God wants you to live a blessed life. Everybody say
blessed life. Say it like you mean to say blessed life.
That's what He wants for every person. And so we're
gonna have to walk through some principles. So today it's
gonna be very introductory, very basic, so we can get

(05:19):
your heart open so that we can be able to
do surgery in this series. So what I need everybody
to understand is two words that we're going to look
at because Proverbs chapter eleven, verse twenty four is gonna
give us some groundwork. I want everybody to write down
this scripture because it wrecks me every time I read it.
It says, the world of the generous gets larger and larger,

(05:42):
and the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.
That's some good Bible right there, because at the end
of the day, it doesn't matter how much you have.
It's about your heart posture. He says. People who have
a heart to be generous, he said. I can give
them more and more and more and more, he said.
But people who hold back, even what I give them,

(06:04):
he says, it keeps taking away from them. And this
is what I believe at Transformation Church. This is the
year of what Release, and we believe that because we
are walking in this God doesn't just want us to
be healed in our emotions and healed in our bodies.
He wants us to be healed in our finances. And
there's a lot of people. I counsel so many people,

(06:25):
and I know there's some boogie people thinking about pessor Mark.
You don't know how much I have in my account,
but your heart is ugly. It doesn't matter about amounts.
God's going after hearts right now. And so as the
lead shepherd of this house, I have to bring to
you the things that are gonna help our hearts. All
I'm saying to you today is that we want God

(06:46):
to release everything he has for us, the more the expansion.
This is not a prosperity gospel. This is a gospel
that says God does have more for you. But you
have a part to play in this thing and what
God has ordained for all of us, He wants to
release it to us. But the prerequisite to get what

(07:06):
jabas prayed for enlarge my territory. When we pray stuff
like that, he says, Oh, that can only happen with
the motivation of generosity. Let me help you. You have
to know that when God blesses you, it's for the
first reason to be a blessing to somebody else. And

(07:29):
I know, I know, because everything tells you to hoard it.
But God says, I want you to be a blessing.
Everybody just declared this by faith. Say I am a blessing.
Just say it one more time, say I am a blessing.
What happens when you walk into your job and you
are a blessing when you're not there, something's missing. What

(07:49):
happens when you're not at the family dinner. The joy
is not the same. Like I am a blessing, Somebody
just say it one more time. I am a blessing.
And until you believe that, you walk around beneath what
God has called you to be. And so through this series,
I'm gonna allow you to recognize and I hope the
Holy Spirit reveals to you see revelation. All it is is,

(08:12):
it's revealed truth. Something that's there but you can't see
is revealed. And I'm believing that the scales will fall
from our eyes and generational things that have been over
us as far as finances, will be shattered as God
gives revelation to us. And so this is where we're
going to start today. We titled the series Ducks in

(08:32):
a Row because number one I like ducks. Number two,
number two, it gives us a picture. It's a colloquial
how do you say colloquialism, quolla. It's a saying that
we have, like, hey, we need to get our ducks
in a row. When I look this up in the

(08:52):
Urban Dictionary, I love it. It says to be well
prepared or well organized for something that is going to happen,
Like I feel like God wants to do something and
it's going to happen. My question is how prepared are you?
What have you been doing with what you got? How
are you handling what's in your hands? And that's why

(09:15):
I said, if we're gonna be that type of church
that won't just give two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
away in one month of generosity, but God could possibly
trust us to be a church that gives that type
of money away every month, and for that to happen,
that means he would have to bless your business and
have to bless your life and bless your family. And
if he's gonna trust us, God say, you ain't even

(09:37):
preparing for what I'm about to do. You're not even
handling what you have been given the way I want
you to do. So I need you to write down
these two words because they're gonna be very pivotal to
us understanding this concept of a blessed life. It's preparation
and stewardship. Again, I'm saying these words over and over
because I want them to drill into your consciousness. They

(09:58):
are not sexy, but they are signify And while you're
writing right now, write down the title of today's message?
Are your ducks in a row? And I'm not gonna
answer that question for you. You will because I know
you know, you comeing to church and people be trying
to nudge you, like, see, you shouldn't have done that,
and see no, no, no no, keep your shoulders to

(10:19):
yourself and your elbows to yourself. Okay, but I need
you to answer this question today. Are your ducks in
a row? Are you prepared for what God wants to
do in your life? Are you prepared for what he
wants to do in your finances? Are you prepared for
what He wants to do so that you can be
a blessing? And today I'm gonna allow you to be

(10:39):
able to assess that through God's word. I want us
to go right now to Matthew chapter twenty five, verse fourteen.
Are your ducks in a row? The truth is some
of our ducks is just floating. Some of our ducks
is just floating away. Some of our ducks we only
have enough of them. Some of y'all, like Pastor, I
don't have enough ducks to put in a row. You

(11:00):
hear what I'm saying. I ain't got no money. I
don't have any resource. And I'm not just talking about money.
I'm talking about time. How are you prioritizing what God
has placed in your hand? I'm talking about your giftings
because some of us have giftings that we have not
done anything with. And God says, are your ducks in
a row? Some of y'all trying to figure out what

(11:22):
the duck is going on? I had to use it anyway.
The church people over here, they're like, Oh my God,
So we're gonna see how we can get our ducks
in a row through a parable that Jesus is telling.
This is Jesus telling, and you may have heard this before,
but we're gonna take it from a whole different We're
gonna represent this scripture. It's the story of the men

(11:44):
with the talents. Let's look at it. In verse fourteen
of Matthew twenty five, it says, and again, the Kingdom
of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a
man going on a long trip. The man right here
represents God. He said, he called together his servants and
entrusted his money to them. What did he entrust to them?
What did he entrusted them. Say it in every service. Oh,

(12:06):
everybody that's watching. What did he entrust to them? He
could have used any example, but he decided to use money.
Do you know that money and possessions is talked about
in the Bible over eight hundred times, the second most
talked about topic in the Word of God. Now, it's
so funny when I say that. So many people want

(12:28):
to look to the economic system and government for financial practices,
but they are trillions of dollars in debt. The problem
is maybe the system was created by someone more intelligent
than anybody that's here. And maybe, just for these five weeks,

(12:48):
could we allow the word of God to be the
standard of how we look at finances? Can I get
one big yes? Okay, let's go. So he said. It
was like a man that went on the line trip.
He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them.
While he was gone. He gave five bags of silver
to one, two bags of silver to another, and one

(13:09):
bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion
to their abilities. Oh, I love the word of God.
God's not dumb. See so many people. No, He's not
done at all. So many people are frustrated right here
off the gate because it's like, God's so unfair. Why
would he give one, five, one, two and one one?

(13:33):
Like matter of fact, I'm the one with one. I
don't even believe that. But but we always look at
what God gives us compared to somebody else. Uh oh,
We're always looking at how they started and what school
they got to go to, and how their parents were
set up and how this was. And we're all doing that.
But I want you to notice the last sentence, the

(13:54):
last part of that sentence, it said that God divided
it in proportion to their You have what you have
because that's what you can handle. Uh huh oh, you
have what you have because that's what you can handle.
Let me put it like this, the next season of
ability is dependent on the last season of responsibility. Oh

(14:17):
that's good, Heason right there. See you so mad because
God gave you this, and he said, just work what
I gave you, he said, but you're so mad about
how little or how insignificant or it's not like there's
that I'm not gonna do nothing with this. And God said,
that's why you're still at the same level of influence.
That's why You're still at the same level. You're at

(14:38):
a different job, but the same level of influence. You're
in a different sphere. You're older now, but it's the
same level, he said, because you were not responsible with
what I gave you. And today I need you to
see in this text that Stewardship says today matters. Everybody
say today matters. See Stewardship says, what I do today matters.

(15:03):
How I use my money today matters, how I prioritize
my time today matters. What I say to people today matters,
How I love today matters. Because when you deal with today,
this is the thing you have to understand about today.
Today will always show up tomorrow. Uh huh, Like like

(15:25):
what you do today is gonna show up tomorrow. How
many of us, and I'll say us, know that you
need to work out? Come on, hands lifted all over
the place. Okay. Now, now let's be honest when it
comes to this whole thing about working out for your boys.
Some of y'all are experts out here. Okay, But as

(15:47):
you can see, there's some areas that I'm believing God
for a miracle, you hear, Nah, But the miracle's never coming.
The miracles never coming because it's going to require stewardship.

(16:08):
So could it be what you're praying for is not
on the way because you're praying for the outcome of
something you actually have to do. Oh yeah, I know.
I amen myself before I got here today because I
knew y'all was gonna be acting funny. But this is
what I'm saying to you, Like, stewardship is what I

(16:31):
do today matters. So some days I'll be like, man,
I need to go to the gym today. I need
to go to the gym today, like I got to.
And then it'll be tomorrow and I'm like, you know
what I'm going today? Today is Jim Day? But not
just did I not go to the gym that day?

(16:51):
I hate McDonald's that day. I hate Chinese food. That
day they had the third out of the blue at
my job. And what I did today showed up tomorrow?
Are you it showed up tomorrow. I'm using a practical
example for me because this applies to every area of

(17:14):
your life. God's calling us to another level of stewardship.
What is stewardship taking care of something that's not yours?
See some of you don't understand stewardship because you think
you own your life. You think you earned that job.
You think you were giving those gifts and talents so
that you could own them. Where did they come from? Yeah?

(17:35):
I know you went to school, and I know you
you prospered some with what was given. But who gave
you the natural ability? Only God? And the reason that
many of us don't know how to steward is because
we think we're owners instead of managers. And God called
us the reason we got to get our DUTs in
a row, because the Master has given us everything and

(17:57):
we're supposed to manage over and he's gonna ask us, Hey,
what y'all do what I gave you? And so that's
where we pick back up in this story. In verse sixteen,
the servant who received the five bags of silver began
to invest the money and earn five more. The servant
with two bags of silver also went to work. I
just need to stop. What did he do? He went

(18:17):
to work? Let me just stop right here. If you
don't have enough grind in you to take care of
your responsibilities and work on your passion, you're out of
line of the will of God for your life. I'm
just over here. I'm a creative bro I'm just trying
to make this thing happen. You're gonna be broke. And

(18:41):
what you gotta do is you gotta be responsible in
a season so that you can be able to do
what you love to do in another season. And this
man went to work. And I know this is something
that people don't like to hear about today, but in
this environment of everybody doing what they feel, God's very
clear about us using what we have in this season

(19:02):
stewardship to create a better season for it. So I
just have to do this because I got a lot
of millennials that are watching right now and that are
a part of my church. You gotta work because it's
developing something in you that will prepare you for what
you're supposed to do. And this is the thing that
I got you to get you to understand. If you
see somebody that's lived over half of their life and
they're still not working in their passion, it's because in

(19:23):
the time that they were supposed to stewart over their gift,
they did not, and now they are forced to work
in a different season of their life. I'm coming to
encourage you everybody who's not married and don't have kids.
You have more time today than you will ever have.
And can I get some amens for married people and
people with kids? Amen? And you I have so much

(19:45):
to do. You don't no. I'm trying to tell you
because I was blind to it, like I didn't even
understand it. This is the time where you get on
your grind. This is the time where you do the
things that don't impact a child and a wife for
a husband. This is the time where you fully sell
out to what God has called you to do. Some
of you our praying so hard to be married. But

(20:06):
you need to sit in your singleness for a second
and get your stuff together. Excuse me, get your ducks
in a row so you can be and do everything
God has called you to do. My rant is over. Amen.
And so it said. The servant with two bags of
silver also went to work and earned two more. But
the servant who received the one bag of silver dug

(20:30):
a hole. Isn't it crazy that all the way back
here they use the language that we use today to
talk about how people get into debt. I dug a hole,
and I'm trying to get out of this hole. Trying
to pay back these student loans, trying to pay back
this Macy's card, trying to pay back like they done.

(20:51):
And it literally parallels this man's situation. He said. He
had a little and so instead of using what he
had to multiply and to do what's right with it,
he dug a hole in the ground and hid the
master's money. After a long time, their master returned from
his trip and called them, Hey, y'all, I need y'all
to tell me what y'all did with my money, he said.

(21:12):
The servant to whom he had entrusted five bags of silver,
stepped up real proud. He said, Master, hey, you gave
me five bags of silver to invest in broh here
five more. And then the Master was full of praise.
He said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You
have been faithful in handling the small amount. Now, this

(21:33):
tripped me out this time that I read it, because
this is the guy that got the most. But in
God's eyes, it was a small amount. Like what you
gotta understand is God is not caring about amounts. He said,
this was just a test. The job you have right
now is just a test, no matter how much you think, Oh,

(21:55):
I'm living the greatest life. We're blessed, I have no worries.
God said, that's my amount, that few hundred thousand, that
few million. That this is the idea you have to
get that God is not bound by our small thinking.

(22:15):
He's limited by our small obedience. He's not limited by
by our small thinking. He's limited by our small obedience.
And that's why he's saying, man, if y'all could just
get your dunts in a row and do it my way,
because if you take what you have and work what
you have and give to me and and and and
honor me and and bless other people, he said, this

(22:38):
small amount the best job you ever had, that small amount.
You're four to one k booming that small amount. And
this is the thing that you have to realize. Because
the person with one thought he had so much, and
everybody the five to two and the one. God said,
this was all the precie for what I really want

(23:02):
to do in your life. So that's why we got
to get our ducks in a row. And he said
to the servant with five bags, he said, you gave
me five bags. And mastership was full of praise. Well done,
it said the servant who had received the two bags
Verse twenty two. A sybil came forward and said, Master,
you gave me two bags of silver to invests, and
I've earned two more. Well done, boy, that's what I'm
talking about. You've been faithful and handling a small amount.

(23:24):
So now I'm gonna give you more, not money. Look
what it says, I'm going to give you more responsibility.
Oh hold on, no, no, no, hold on. I thought if
I did it was right with the finances. Usually gonna
give this magic trick more money? He said, No, no, no, no,

(23:45):
he said, the reward of being a good steward is
more responsibility. And this is where people get tricked, and
that's why they think it's a prosperity gospel. Enough, I
give three one hundred and thirty three dollars. God's gonna
be give me three thousand, three hundred No no, no, no,
that he said. When if you honor me, I give
you more responsibility, which gives you the ability to do
more with what I've already given you. It takes the

(24:08):
same amount of work to invest and dig a hole.
Both people gotta work, but one's gonna get an outcome
where they get more responsibility, and the other is going
to get nothing. And so I want you to see
that the reward of our stewardship and our preparation is
more responsibility that God can use in our lives. It says.

(24:30):
So the servant with two bads said, Master, I knew.
Look at verse twenty four. The servant that had one
bag of silver came and said, Master, I knew you
were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant, and
gathering crops you didn't cultivate. So I was afraid I
would lose your money, man, so I hid it in
the earth. So look here, baby, here's the money bag.

(24:50):
But the master replied, look, you wicked and lazy servant.
If you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant, and
gathered crops I didn't cultivate, why didn't you at least
deposited in the bank. The least you could have done
is manage my money how the world tells you to Wow,
I gotta leave it right there. At least I could

(25:14):
have gotten a little interest on what I've given you.
Then he ordered take the money from him and give
it to the one with the ten bags of silver,
to those who use well what they are given, even
more will be given and they will have an abundance,
or they will live a blessed life. And this is
what my desire and my faith is for everybody a

(25:35):
part of Transformation Church, that we would live a blessed life.
Everybody shot at me, blessed life, that's what we want.
But for those who do nothing, even this is so sad.
Even what little they have will be taken away. Now
throw this useless servant into utter darkness, dang God, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And that's

(25:57):
what a lot of our finances look like. We pee
and nashing of teeth. Let me give you a point
right here. Preparation releases prosperity, and procrastination releases poverty. When
you prepare, it sets you up to walk in prosperity.
When you procrastinate, I'll do it tomorrow. I know I'm

(26:19):
gonna get that budget right, I know I'm gonna start.
I'm gonna bring somebody into my finances. That procrastination, it releases.
This is the year of release. It depends what you
want to have released in your life. If you prepare,
it's gonna release prosperity. If you do not prepare, you procrastinate,

(26:40):
it releases poverty. You think I'm making this up. Look
at Proverbs twelve, verse twenty four. It says diligent hands
will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor, like a
lot of people are forced to work. Right now, I'm
not gonna ask you to raise your hand by how
many people hate they jobs? Blink at me right now,

(27:01):
just blink. You should see all the blinkers in the room. Okay,
Like you hate your job, If you hate your job
halfway into your life, it's because you procrastinated in a
season you were supposed to be preparing. No, no, I'm
telling you. There's a preparation season. So every eighteen year old,

(27:22):
don't go quit your problem's job. This is a season
of preparation. But if you're forty eight, fifty eight, sixty
eight years old and you still hate what you do,
that means that in the season of preparation, you were procrastinating.
And I don't nobody like to hear that. And that's
why I have security so I can run out of

(27:43):
here after service. But if I don't tell you, who's
gonna tell you? But I came with good news. The
God that we serve is a restorer of time. He's
the one that has grace that at the moment we repent,
and all that word means is to turn. At the
moment we turn, He's standing there saying, I will redeem

(28:06):
the time. The Bible says it like this, that the
cankerwork has stolen everything that you thought you lost. He said,
at the moment you turned back to me, I'll redeem
them crazy college years. I'll redeem the time that you
were keeping up with the Joneses. I'll redeem it off.
But somebody has to start by getting your ducks in
u rh. That's why for the next four weeks, don't

(28:29):
play yourself by not coming, because this is going to
allow you to get blessed. So this is what I'm
going to do with my time remaining. I want us
to do an assessment. And I thought this would be
good and very practical for us to do today because
a lot of people don't think they need help that
do need help. How many people know somebody that need help,

(28:49):
but they don't think they need help like you don't. Yeah,
just focus because somebody'll sit next one and so and
so today is a self assessment. It's a ducks in
a row assessment. This is what I want everybody to
write down. D I a R okay, and that stands
for ducks in a row. Put two columns, and I

(29:12):
want you to see the two start contrasts. In this story,
there's two guys who got their ducks in a row,
the one who was given five and the one who
had two. And there was one other guy and he
was the guy that was digging a hole. And I
want you to just write that down because these are
the two types of people we're talking to today. People

(29:35):
who have their ducks in a row are people who
are digging a hole. Let me prove it to you
right here, just so everybody knows that. In Matthew chapter
twenty five, verse eighteen, it said, but the servant who
received the one bag of silver dug a hole in
the ground and hid the master's money. My question to you,
are you continually being in cycles of debt? Are you

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digging hole that you can't get out of in the future.
I had to be very very honest with myself and
I had to come to grips with my shoe addiction.
Oh okay, you want to judge me and my wife
are believing God for a new home. And I was

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about to buy some shoes the other day on the internet.
And it's just so easy because you don't even see
the money exchange. You don't even it's just like boom,
new shoes on the way. And God convicted me. He said,
are you stewarding and preparing for what you want? Are
you about to wear your new doorknob? And it like

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it hit me like a ton of bricks because I
was gonna stun them one time and then put them,
put them in the closet with the with the other
million shoes that I had. He said, why would I
give you more? Why would I bless you with your
asking for? And you won't steward over what I've already
given you. And I'm telling you, I gotta be honest
with where I'm at. I ain't judging you, but I'm

(31:07):
putting my stuff out on the street because maybe, just
maybe there's an area of your life that you're wasting
resources and things that will burn up when Heaven and
Earth are actually passed away. Like and for me, I
was digging a hole when God said, you ain't got

(31:28):
your ducks in a row. And this is where I
want everybody to understand this, because you dig a hole
when you have a certain mindset. And I'm gonna tell
you about the mindset that you'll have when you're digging
a hole. If you're digging a hole or if you
have your ducks in a row, you have faith for
the future. If you're digging a hole, you have fear
of failure. Which category are you in? See look at

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verse twenty five. It says this man with one he said,
I was afraid. I was afraid I would lose, so
instead of doing something with the little bit you gave me,
I played it safe. And I'm here to tell you
that you have to have faith for the future because
this thing that you've been walking in in fear and

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I just gotta make sure I got this much money
saved and this this and this, this and this this
because you're fearful. There's nothing wrong with saving and planning
and all that other stuff, but it's done based in fear.
You have the wrong motivation. And I'm trying to tell
you right now the difference is the guy who was
given five he had faith for the future. Hold on
this master just gave me five. Man, he said, he's

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coming back. What would happen if I took what he
gave me and multiplied that mug and when he comes back,
I'm gonna give him five more. He might let me
keep the five that I had. He had faith for
the future. But so many of us are so paralyzed
by what happened that we're now moving in fear of failure.
So we've dug a hole, we have fear of failure,

(32:59):
and we're standing still in the same place. But I
came to tell you. According to two Timothy verse chapter one,
verse seven, it says, for God has not given us
a spirit of fear, and I love the second part
of it. You ain't supposed to be scared or timid,
He said, no, no, no, no, no, walk up in there

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like God's on my side. Somebody asked me, what's one
of your greatest qualities in your opinion of your leadership?
I said, I divorce the fear of failure, like like
I'm just gonna do it. If I'm fifty five percent
sure is happening. When are you ever one hundred percent
sure about something ninety five eighty? No, if I'm fifty

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five we gonna do it because I've realized who's on
my side, and if God before me, who we serve,
the greatest redeemer in history. He's the only one that
can take a situation that's broken and repair it and
bring it back together again. But the problem them with
the church and the problem with people is we're so

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afraid of losing a little that we won't even step
out in faith. I'm challenging every person in this room
to divorce fear of failure. Statistics tell us that most
millionaires go bank through up at least three to five times.

(34:24):
And how they get millionaire. How they've been a millionaire
five times in your life span and you ain't got one.
Let me tell you they've divorced the fear of failure.
It's inevitable. But when I take an l I turn
it into a lesson. I won't do that again. I'm
gonna do this again. I'm gonna do this, and so

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we have to divorce the fear of failure. And these
are the two things that these men walked in. Let
me tell you something else that happened. What was a
dire assessment for these guys. If you understand this, you
either walk in acknowledging God, or you assume of God.
You either acknowledge God or you assume of God. Let

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me show you. In verse nineteen, it said, after a
long time, their master returned from his trip and called
them all together. And the servant to whom he entrusted
the five bags of silver came forward with the five
more and said. Watch what he said, Master, you gave me.
He acknowledged where it came from in the first place.

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He didn't say I made He said, you gave me.
He acknowledged God even in his prosperity. This is where
most of us make a mistake. Is somehow we think
that we did this, and we made this happen. But
Bible tells us in Proverbs three six that in all
of your ways, acknowledge Him, and he shall direct your path.

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Look at the contrast. One acknowledged God, the other one
assumed of God. Show it to you, it says in
verse twenty four. The servant who had one bag of
silver came and said, Master, I knew you were hold on.
One person acknowledged you gave it all to me, and
the other one says, I know who you are. See

(36:17):
when you assume you know how God wants to bless you.
When you assume that this is all God has for you,
you start walking in a level of pride where you
discount God's grace and goodness in your life. And this
is what the one who was broke minded did. He
dug a hole, he had the fear of failure, and
then he assumed that God was not who he was.

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Can we make a very clear distinction who gave you
the one talent that you had, like who gave you
the one bag of silver? And so he assumes the
very opposite of what he's experienced. And so many of
us do that. God has been so good to us,
He's showed his grace to us over and over. We
should not be in the place that we're in, and

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somehow we assume that He's waiting for us to fail
and messed up and jacket up. Look what the Bible
tells us that I knew you were. And look what
he said, a harsh man. You're talking about the same man.
They gave you a bag for free. You harvest crops
that you didn't plant, and gather crops you didn't cultivate.
I was afraid to lose your money, so I hid

(37:20):
it in the earth. I just think I hear God
saying when he said I knew you were, and he'd
be like, Yo, know me, bro, like you have no idea.
And that's how God has checked me several times. He said, God,
I know you wouldn't do it. He said, Yo, no me.
My ways are higher than your ways. According to Isaiah
chapter fifty five, verse eight, he says, my thoughts are
nothing like your thoughts, and my ways are beyond anything

(37:43):
you could imagine. For just as high as the heavens
are above the earth. So my ways are higher than
your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
All I'm encouraging you to do today is that if
you're in a place where you've been digging in a hole,
and you've been and a fear of failure, and you've
assumed of God, don't do that because when you do that,

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you're limiting God to what he wants to do in
your life and in your family. So let me give
you the last one. It's already on the screen, because
I need you to assess, like check the box where
you're at. If you're gonna dig a hole, have fear
of failure, assume of God. The last thing you're gonna
do is you're gonna use excuses for what you have now,

(38:27):
and if you've got your ducks in a row, you're
gonna use what you have now. What I'm asking you
today is, before we cut into the surgery of the
rest of this series, what's in your hand? What if
you discounted that God's counting on, what gift? What talent? Well,

(38:48):
the tithe of ten dollars is a dollar. I know
they don't they don't have no need of my dollar.
And God said I was I literally factored and everything
based on everybody doing what I asked them to do.
Like I wanted to pour out a blessing that was
so huge. But I don't do anything on earth without

(39:11):
human participation. So I'm looking for some people who will
make a decision that I'm not just gonna dig holes,
have fear of failure, use the excuse of what I
have right now, Assume of God. I need some people
who are going to trust me and get their ducks
in a row. Look at verse twenty nine. It said
to those who use well, everybody say use well. For

(39:34):
those who use well what they are given even more
will be given and they will have an abundance. That's
the blessed life, where you have so much more you
don't even need it all. Like what happens when you
look at your accounts every month and you say, who
do I get the blessed this week? Who around me

(39:56):
is in need? No? I want you to really imagine yourself,
But I know it's hard to do that right now
because a lot of us have been in this column
for a long time and we just try. Lord, forget
trying to be a blessing. Lord, just let me get
on a solid ground, like no more. I just don't
want to be in the hall no more. But God said,
for a second, have faith for the future. See yourself

(40:19):
walking up to your family members who get on your
nerves right now and being able to ask them genuinely,
not expecting anything back in return. How can I help you?
What would happen if you went into your stressed out
boss and they make more than you on paper? But
God has blessed you so much in ways that you

(40:41):
couldn't even imagine that you're able to walk into them
and say, hey, I bought you this, this SPA treatment
on me, and they're like, hold on. I make more
money than you, but I save a God. You don't
like what what would happen if we were the biggest
blessed around. God would get glory. But it's hard to

(41:04):
be a blessing and be generous when your duck's earned
in a row. Something you got to see in the
scripture that changed everything for me, And why I'm starting
off with this before we go into the rest of
the series. It's because I saw something in the scripture
that I've never seen before, and it changed my entire
view of God. Because so many people think God wants

(41:27):
your money. No he did. He just uses that as
a tool to get your heart. Let me prove it
to you. It tells us in verse twenty eight, it said,
after the one with one told him, I ain't do
nothing with your money. I hated. I was scared. I
dug a hole. Look what he said. Then he ordered

(41:48):
take the money from this servant. I expected that give
me this money, And what I expected God to do
was put it in his pocket because God needed more money,
so he wanted them to all prosper so that God prospered.
Look what God did, I never saw it till this time.

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He said he take the money from the servant and
give it to the one that has ten bags of silver.
Hold on, the whole reason why God wanted us to
be a blessing was not to return it back to
him so his pockets could just be fat. He wanted

(42:33):
them to prosper so that they could prosper more to
bless more people. Hear me, God didn't take the one
and keep it for himself. He took the one and
gave it to the people who were faithful. I'm telling
you our God doesn't need what you think he needs.

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He wants to get to you what you really need.
But today I need you to assess where you really
are pass I'm like, I do not make enough money
to even check into this conversation. I know that's when
some people are thinking right now, I'm on government assistance.
Da da da da. God said, all I'm asking you
to do is be a faithful steward over a little

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and that's when I make you a ruler over much.
Today I want to pray for you because if there's
an area of your life that you've been in this
category today today, not tomorrow. Today, stewardship is about today today.

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I want us to commit over the next four weeks,
we're going to allow God to transform our hearts. And
I don't care how much money you got in the bank,
because some of y'all got money, but you're not acknowledging God.
You're not honoring him with what you have. And today
I believe God's going to show us supernaturally how to
take what we have. Can I say it like this,

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all you have is all you need. God will take
what you have right now and turn it into the
blessing that will be able to bless so many other people.
Let's pray in this build the Father. I thank you
for every person under the sound of my voice. As
a matter of fact, if you're in this room or
you're hearing this right now, and you know there's an

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area of your life that you've been digging a hole,
that you've used excuses for what you have, that you've
assumed for God, like there's an area in your life
where you know you need to get your duction in
a row. Could you just lift your hands right now,
and I want you to. I want to pray for you, Father.
I thank you that right now, Father God, we are
not here to be condemned. We are here Father, for conditioning.

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You're gonna do something in our lives. Father God, as
we open ourselves to you, dead is a name, and
poor spending is a name. But the name of Jesus
is higher. And today I thank you that this is
not just information, but I'm thanking you for impartation of
your spirit. Father God, you have called us to live
a blessed life. Today I declare over every person who

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has had the boldness to lift their hands and say, God,
I need to get my ducks in a row. I
thank you that the eyes of their understanding would be
open and that their heart would be receptives to the truth.
In this series today is the foundation and the start
of something that's going to change us for generations to come.
So today, Father, we're open to you. We give you glory,

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we give you honor, and we give you praise in
Jesus' name. Somebody shout at me. Amen, come on, let's
give God a shout of praise in this fielding