10/17/10 - The Blessed Life PT2 - Pastor Tony Ashmore

Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "The Blessed Life" with part 2 in this Sunday service.

The Blessed Life Part 2

Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, October 17, 2010

www.mylifegatechurch.com


Sermon Notes:

The Blessed Life…
It’s a Heart Thing

Galatians 3:13-15 “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.”

Deuteronomy 30:19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”

Do we bring our time, talent and resources to the Lord as an offering or are our gifts done out of duty or legalism? 

There are those who do not participate in bringing the tithe because they claim it is part of the law and they are free from the law.  Murder is part of the law, adultery is part of the law, stealing is part of the law.  Is it ok to abandon the teachings of the law in those instances? Of course not.  (Galatians 3:24-25—the law was like a tutor for a child.  Once the principles become part of the child the tutor is no longer needed.  Maturity=A Heart Issue.  A principle becomes part of our “worldview”—only then does it change our world.)

Tithing is an issue of the heart, not a law thing.  Its power to bless flows from the condition of the heart.  If it is done merely as an act of duty, or in response to law, then its power is minimalized.  There are tithers who are not living the Blessed Life because they have heart issues.

When tithing becomes “life” to you, instead of “law”, then you enter the Blessed Life.

Abraham and Melchisidek:  Genesis 14; Hebrews 5 & 7.  Before the law—an issue of the heart.
Hebrews 7:8 “Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.” If the tithe is just a duty, just a response to obligation, then it is received by men.  If it is a heart response it is received by Jesus in Heaven—Heaven invades earth = The Blessed Life!


Cain and Abel.  The “Head Attack”--

Genesis 4:3-5 “When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.”
Cain: obligation, duty—I produced this.  My hard work.  I am responsible.  My gift.  I’m giving God something.  I am in control.
Abel: I am nothing without you.  It is yours to begin with.  You are my source. I am blessed because of you.  I bring you what belongs to you anyway.  I bring it to honor and thank you.

Note Cain’s response to the tithe: A Head Attack—jealousy, envy, strife, murder!

Jesus tells us to never separate the Heart Issues from the tithe.  (Matthew 23:23—“the weightier matters”).  Make it a duty and we rob this principle of its power!


1. Deal with a Selfish Heart

Deut 15:9 “Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the LORD against you, and it become sin among you.”

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.”
God calls selfish thoughts wicked thoughts! He says beware or guard your heart from wicked thoughts!
    •    Selfishness tells us we won’t have enough or God won’t or can’t be faithful. Selfishness is based on a scarcity worldview—there is not enough.
    •    Selfishness tries to manipulate and make deals with God to protect the return!


2. Deal with a Grieving Heart

Deut 15:10 You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.

James 1:6-8 “a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

Selfish heart says we can’t give.  The grieving heart says we shouldn’t have given!
    •    Selfishness attacks us before we give, and then grief attacks us after we give.
    •    You have to guard your heart before and after you give!


3. Practice a Generous Heart

Deut 15:14 “you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the LORD has blessed you with, you shall give to him.”

Philemon 1:6 “And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.”
I was born selfish! I was born again generous. Now it’s a matter of renewing my mind!
§    Be generous: with your time, your talent, your resources.  Be generous with your praise and your love.


4. Practice a Grateful Heart

Deut 15:15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today.”

Colossians 2:7 “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”
    •    Never forget we were a slave and everything we have is by His grace, it will help us to be grateful and generous.
    •    We were lost and hell bound.  He didn’t have to save us.  We didn’t deserve it, but at our worst, He saved us.
    •    He never stops loving me, no matter how I behave.  He never gives up.  The grateful heart wants to bring Him praise in our time, our talent and our resources.


The Blessed Life awaits you.  The principle of the tithe is a foundational principle of that life.  Shaky foundation will equal shaky life.  Inconsistent foundation will equal an inconsistent life.  Uneven, sinking foundation will equal an unequal, sinking life.  Solid, level, consistent foundation will equal a solid, level, consistent life.

2 Chronicles 31:9-10 “Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah the chief priest, from the house of Zadok, answered him and said, “Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left, for the LORD has blessed His people; and what is left is this great abundance.”

Hezekiah was concerned about the people because of the amount they were giving.  The response:  since they started bringing their tithes and offerings as a Heart Thing, they have entered the Blessed Life and abundance has become their way of life.