Good morning, CLC!
How's everybody doing today? Are we excited for a finance series? Some of us? I see some of you brothers holding on to your wallets like, "Why did I come to church during a finance series?" I promise it's going to be a blessing for you all. We're going to have some fun!
So, we are in the finance series, "No Dough, No Bread," and this week we're going to talk about "No Investment, No Harvest." Last week, Joe Sangle discussed with us what it means to sow a seed and to reap a harvest. So, we're going to expound on that a little bit more today.
Joe talked about if you sow a pumpkin seed, you're going to reap a pumpkin. You didn't know this was going to be interactive! You're going to sow, and you're going to receive a harvest of a pumpkin, right? If you sow a green bean seed, you're going to get a string bean. Is it string beans or green beans? It's really close to Thanksgiving, and I need to know!
So, my wife sent me to the grocery store to get green beans, and I was looking for string beans. The Jolly Green Giant didn't have any packages that said string beans. I called my wife and said, "What? I can't find anything!" She's like, "What are you looking for?" I was just all wrong. It was terrible.
If we participate in the practice of paying our tithes, we receive... Ah, you don't know the answer to that one! We receive God opening the windows of heaven and pouring us out a blessing where we won't have room enough to receive it. This is the essence of seed and harvest. Jesus says it best, and He always says most things, or all things, best.
Jesus says, "Give, and you will receive." Now, wait, wait, wait! I know you know the rest of it, but if Jesus only said that, I would be completely satisfied. But how many of you know Jesus is good, and He keeps going? Your gift will return to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more—not just what you gave, but He wants to make room for more, running over, and poured out into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.
So, this can be positive and negative because if you sow a seed of love, you surely will get back love. But if you sow a seed of judgment and criticism, you will get back pressed down, shaken together—well, men pour judgment and criticism back to you. If you invest in the kingdom of God, the return that you get is a new understanding of God's provision in your life. You will see Him come through for you in ways that you could never imagine.
See, we have a lot of desires and dreams and visions for our lives—dreams of a job or a business for our family—and that desire comes from God. That's a harvest of a seed that needs to be planted. But sometimes we get so focused on the desire that we fail to connect and have a relationship with God. Psalm says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."
You see, there is an action that creates a reaction—an investment that generates a return on investment. There's a seed that produces a harvest. So, your dreams will be birthed out of something you need to do now.
So, the question we got to think about as we go through this is: based on the amount that you are sowing, what can you reasonably expect to receive as a harvest?
Seed time and harvest is a universal spiritual law that God has created from the beginning of time. Genesis 8:22 says, "As long as the Earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." Seed time and harvest will not stop as long as the Earth endures. This is a law that is fixed by God for all of us throughout all time on this Earth. That's something that is guaranteed by God.
So, when we talk about investing in the Kingdom, there are a few concepts that we got to understand. There are some characters or some players that are a part of this process, and each one of those characters or players has a role or responsibility for earthly investing. Like in your 401k or in a business or with real estate investing, you have the investor, and then you have the investee.
You see, the investee is the person that either creates or manages the investment strategy. So, they're the person that controls the mechanism for the money or the thing that you're investing in to grow. Then you have the investor. The investor is the person with the money, with the goal of making a profit. That investor gives the money to the investee, hoping for growth.
When I was about 30 years old, my wife and I went to our financial planner. At 30, we had wild hopes and dreams. We talked to our financial advisor and said we wanted an investment strategy that allows us to retire at the age of 50. Our financial advisor looked at our income, then he looked at us, and then he looked back down at our income. Then he looked at us and said, "How about we change your retirement age to 60 plus?"
Because you see, his responsibility is to build a strategy to meet our goals, but he told us that there was no legal investment strategy that he could do that could get us to retire at 50.
When we look at this from a kingdom perspective, there are two characters involved in seed time and harvest. Anybody know who those two characters are? You didn't know this was going to be a quiz! God and us! Yes, not just me—Pastor Brent, you too! Us!
God and us! Each one of those people has a responsibility, right? So, God's responsibility is to provide the means of investment. His responsibility is to provide the investment opportunity, and then His other responsibility is to ensure a profit or harvest for that investment.
God's responsibility is the majority of the process of seed time and harvest. He pretty much covers the entire process of us receiving a harvest for what He has given us to invest.
The first thing that we need to know about God's responsibility is that He owns it all. He owns everything. What's the definition of all? All! Come on, somebody! Psalms 24:1 says, "The Earth is the Lord's and everything in it; the world and all its people belong to Him."
Everything we have comes from God. Anything you can think of, tangible and intangible, belongs to God. The job that you have, the money that you earn, the kids that you want to give back to God—all belong to God. Everything on Earth—there's nothing that has been made that does not belong to God, including your tithes and offerings.
When God talked to the Israelites, He said, "You've robbed me." They say, "Where have we robbed you, God? All this stuff is ours! Where have we robbed you?" He says, "In tithes and offerings." When you don't pay your tithes, when you don't participate in tithes and offerings, you rob God because it belongs to Him. Not just the tithes, but the measure of generosity belongs to Him.
It's only a blessing that He has given us the ability to manage what already belongs to Him. And you're looking at me like, "Carlton, that theory is better said than done in practice," and I know very well.
So, I like cars. When I first started working here at CLC, God blessed me to give me a harvest of debts so I could buy a car. I bought a Chevy Malibu. They had just changed the body style. It was red, black leather interior, sound system—it was beautiful! It was the bee's knees! I thought I was in heaven.
For me, it was my car, and me being a good steward, I said, "No one's going to touch this car. No one's going to drive this car. I'm going to be a good steward because this is my car." Then God said, "Can I drive your car?" I said, "God, you don't have a license in the state of Illinois, so there's going to be a little problem with you being able to drive my car."
He said, "It's your car, but can it be a kingdom car?" I said, "Um, sure. You never know a guy what that means. He could total the car. I have no idea what test or what..." He says, "Can it be a kingdom car? Can the car belong to the kingdom?" I said, "Okay, God, you've humbled me. You got me because I don't want Him to take the car away from me. You got me, so yes, the car can be used for the kingdom."
Not two seconds later, does Pastor John kick in my office door and say, "Hey, C! Can I borrow your car? I need to go to the hospital to pray for somebody." I'm like, "What?" I'm thinking that John picked up the phone slowly on the other line. You remember when we had landlines, and your parents would pick up the phone while you were talking to your girlfriend or whoever you were supposed to be talking to, and they would listen in? I'm like, "John, did you pick up the other line and listen to my conversation with God that I had in my head?"
He's looking at me like I'm crazy because he needs to go do ministry work, and I'm looking at him like he's crazy. He's like, "I just need the car, man! I don't know what you're talking about!" I'm like, "Man, I'm like, all right, here are the keys."
John takes the car. In my head, Pastor John is doing donuts in the parking lot, he's picking up people, he's eating—there's food everywhere in the car! I'm just thinking, "Man, God, you really tested me!"
Now, John comes back with the car. I go out into the parking lot—the car's fine! I don't even think he moved it. It doesn't look like anything happened. But the theory of me believing that everything belongs to God, including my car, and the actual practice of the theory had two different emotions.
Yeah, and so we got to really understand and not just say it in practice or not just understand it in theory, but we also have to do it in practice that everything we own belongs to God.
So, the second thing that we need to do when we're thinking about the responsibility that God has in seed time and harvest is God uses what He owns to provide the means of your investment. God uses His stuff to give you the seed to invest.
Philippians 4:19 says, "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs." All your needs, including the seed that you need to invest for a harvest from His glorious riches, which has been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Do you know how to get the money that you need to invest? It comes from God! It comes from His glorious riches that He has given to us. What He has given us is the seed that we need to sow to reap a harvest. But we have an issue—we like to eat the seed.
Any good farmer will tell you, "Do not eat the seed!" Because you're not just eating the seed; you're eating the harvest. You remember that $20 that you found in your purse about a month ago? You remember? You thought that was a harvest! You were praising God, you were waving that $20 around, you were telling people how you were going to go to Harold's and get something to eat because you received a harvest from God.
And God is looking down from heaven like, "What are you doing? That's your harvest! That's what you were believing me for! $20? That was a seed because an investment opportunity was coming!"
We got immigrants who need sleeping bags, but you took the seed that I blessed you with, and you ate it. Part of the seed that we have comes in the form of our income, and that seed is labeled in your budget because you have a budget.
What happens is when we don't pay our tithes, we eat the seed. But you're telling me, "Carlton, I can't afford to tithe." I'll say you can't afford not to tithe! Right? Because when you have 100% of your money, how much do you have? 100% of your money! When you have 90% of your money, how much do you have? 90%! Plus the windows of heaven!
That 90% is just a representation of all that God has. Stop thinking that 90% is 90%! 90% with 10% as your seed that's gone because you sowed it is all that God has to provide for you.
That's good! I got a question for you: how many trees could Adam and Eve not eat from? One! You guys are on fire today! How many trees could they eat from? How many? How many trees on the Earth? All the trees, right? An enormous amount!
When you eat the seed, not only do you sin against God, but you hinder the potential harvest that God has for you.
So, the third thing we need to think about when we think about the responsibility that God has when it comes to seed time and harvest is God is the source of both the opportunity of kingdom investing and the profit of kingdom investing.
Deuteronomy 8:18 says, "Remember the Lord your God; He is the one who gives you power to be successful in order to fulfill the covenant He confirmed to your ancestors with an oath." He's responsible for your success—so much so that He signed a contract with us promising us that we are going to be successful through Him. He did this with an oath with our ancestors. We have a covenant with Him—a contractual agreement with God that He is going to provide our success.
But not only does He provide our success, but He also provides the opportunity to invest in the kingdom of God. You see, we have immigrants that need sleeping bags, and we have homeless people that need food, and we had women in India who needed shoes. There are so many missions partners that need things and ministry projects that God provides us good soil for us to sow a seed.
This is the opportunity to invest in the kingdom. He's given us a local church—your church, Christian Life Center—is good soil because we believe in teaching the word of God. We believe in reaching the nations. We believe in reaching our neighbors. We believe in changing lives. We believe in discipling people. We believe in showing you how you can get freedom, how you can have purpose, and make a difference.
God is giving us an opportunity to invest in the kingdom so that we can reap a harvest. And yes, the investment into the kingdom is for the kingdom, but it's also for us.
We remember the story of Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings. The prophet Elijah represents the kingdom, and God was providing for the prophet Elijah. He was sending him a raven who was giving him bread and meat to eat, and then God gave him a brook so that he could receive fresh water. God was taking care of Elijah.
Then one day, God stopped the raven from coming, and He shut off the brook, and He told Elijah, "I have someone in Zarephath, in the town of Zarephath, who is going to take care of you." You see, God building an opportunity of investment.
So, Elijah goes down to Zarephath, and he meets a widow. He tells the widow, "I think this is a God moment for you. You have to invest in me by giving me something to eat." The widow says, "But all I have is a little oil and flour—just enough for me to eat and my son to eat, and then we are going to die." That's how little she had! She didn't even have enough to sustain their life.
But you see, God stopped the raven and the brook so that she could have an opportunity to invest and get a harvest for herself. God could have picked anyone in Zarephath to provide for the prophet Elijah. I'm sure there was somebody there in that town who had way more means than her who could give out of their abundance.
But you see, God wants us to give out of our need. He creates a kingdom opportunity of investment so that we can receive a harvest.
So, the woman does what Elijah tells her to do, and she gives out of her need because God provided an investment opportunity. In 1 Kings 17, it says, "She went away and did as Elijah had told her, so there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family, for the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah."
Not only did Elijah eat, but she ate, and her family ate, and her inventory of harvest never ran out. God creates investment opportunities so that the kingdom can thrive, so that you can thrive, so your family can thrive, and so your cupboards and your vats will never run out.
So, let's recap God's responsibility: God provides the seed for us to sow. He provides the opportunity for us to sow that seed, and He secures the harvest. Compared to our responsibility, which we're about to go through, God's responsibility is grand. His responsibility is like 99% of the process.
This usually happens with God when we try to—when we bring people to salvation, our responsibility to that is so small because the Holy Spirit has already been working inside that person. The Holy Spirit opens up that person's heart and mind to be able to receive the word of God. It's our job just to share the love of Christ.
When we want healing and deliverance, our responsibility is very small compared to what Jesus has already done for us on the cross. By His stripes, we are healed. He was beaten and wounded so that we can be healed and made whole. His responsibility is great; our responsibility is just to believe in Jesus for our healing and deliverance.
And in the same way, seed time and harvest—our responsibility is minor compared to God's.
So, let's talk about our responsibility, shall we? Oh, come on, Pastor! I felt the anointing!
Our responsibility—the first part of our responsibility is to be good stewards. Everyone loves that, right? Proverbs 10:4 says, "Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth." If you don't have a budget, I didn't write this—it says lazy hands bring poverty!
This is why a budget is important because when you have a budget, not only can you make your first fruit, the tithe, the first line of your budget, but you also see the hand of the Holy Spirit move your money around. For those of you all who do a budget, you know what I'm talking about!
When I have a budget on my phone, on my Google Sheets, I update it every 30 seconds or so, even though nothing has changed. I just look at it, and I stare. Come on, Pastor Jason! I stare at my budget, and I stare at it, and I stare at it. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I promise the Holy Spirit moves things around!
I promise He does! You can tangibly see the Holy Spirit working in your budget when you create a budget. He reminds you of things you've budgeted for that's not happening, and all of a sudden, money shows up! Things happen! Calculations are like, "I know 1 plus 1 is 2, but in God's kingdom, 1 plus 1 is 2.1 and 2.2 and 3!"
You can tangibly see the hands of God move when you have a budget. You guys think I'm crazy because I like finance, but this is the truth! Do your budget! Start saving! Get out of debt! Start investing!
And we can help you here at CLC because for your convenience, tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. on Mondays for the next six weeks, we have a finance class here at the church. Amen! You don't have to clap for that, don't worry!
All of you all are going to go to the website, and you're going to register because you want to be good stewards, because you want to see God move in your finances. The website is... I don't see anybody writing this down or anything! Go.clc.tv/money!
And by chance you work second shift and you can't get here on Mondays at 7 o'clock, find me! Call the church! We have financial coaching! We have many different resources and tools that we can use to help you budget your money so that you can be good stewards! Amen!
Our second responsibility is to have vision or have purpose. Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." You can't get a harvest if you don't have vision! God has given us desires and purpose. He's given us talents and skill sets, and last time I checked, God doesn't want to waste it!
But we fail to pursue what the vision is and plan is that God has for us in our lives. One of two things happens when we don't have vision: the first thing is God will not give us any harvest because what is God investing in in your life?
If any of us hit the lottery today, the first thing that we're going to do is secure our comfort, right? The second thing that we're going to do is secure the security of our comfort, right? As much as God wants us to be comfortable, that's not a plan for you or advancing the kingdom.
And so you're believing for something that He's like, "I don't know if I agree with that plan." Because the second thing is He's not going to give you a plan because every time He gives you a plan, you turn it into a whack plan! Because He's like, "If I give this person money, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth thing they're going to do is not going to be related to anything regarding the kingdom."
So let's really focus on believing in God, praying to God so that we can receive the vision that He has for us in our lives. Many of you all already have it in your heart because God has put it there. Let's make the plan a good plan—a God plan!
And then the last part of our responsibility is to give. And there is no sugar-coating it or anything—it's giving! There are two types of giving: there's tithes and there's offerings. For tithes, Proverbs 3:9-10 says, "Honor the Lord with your possessions."
First, we have to honor the Lord with everything. It's not just your tithe, even though the tithe is a critical point to your investment in the kingdom—to give back to God what already belongs to Him. But He says, "Honor me with everything you have, with all of your possessions, and with the first fruits of all of your increase, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine."
Honoring God with your possessions and giving God your tithes is not an option; it's a requirement because it belongs to Him. Remember when He told the Israelites, "You are going to rob me?" We have to honor Him with our tithes.
Jesus gives this required instruction best when He says in Matthew 22:21, "Well then," He said, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God." It's not a suggestion; it's instruction! God is not giving you—Jesus is not giving you an option; He's giving you instructions on what you need to do.
As much or more than your taxes is taken out of your paycheck, and you can't help that, even more so, your tithe should come from your increase and give to God as a requirement.
The second part of giving is to give generously above your tithes. Pastor Brent says that generosity starts at 11% because we learn that both the tithe and the offering belong to God, and this is part of our responsibility in planting a seed to receive a harvest.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says, "Remember this: a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop." It's strategic that that's in there! You must each decide in your heart how much to give and don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure.
I know this probably feels like pressure, but it's not! So don't make any action out of the pressure of Carlton McCarthy, okay? I'm just kidding!
For God loves a person who gives cheerfully, and God will generously provide all you need. I love how He just uses "generously" again and again! You give generously, you will receive generously, and God will generously provide all you need.
Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. You will have all that you need, and you will be able to share with others in the kingdom opportunity to invest.
Then the cycle continues! When you give generously, you will receive generously, and then you can give generously again because He's going to give you more than you need. And when you give generously again, He's going to give back to you more generously.
And then when you receive that, you're going to have way more than you need again, and then you're going to be able to bless the kingdom, and the cycle will continue.
So, this goes back to the question that I asked earlier: with the amount that you're sowing, how much can you reasonably expect to harvest?
So, we pray and we pray and we pray and we pray for rain so that we can receive a harvest, and God has given us the soil, right? He's given us the seed, He's given us rain, and He secures a harvest for us, but we don't plant the seed in the ground.
So when God sends the rain for your harvest, all you're going to get is mud!
So this entire concept can be summarized in the parable of the talents. We know the parable of the talents—it's a parable that Jesus taught. There was a master with three servants, and the master owned everything. Everything that the servants used for their lives, he owned it.
The master gave to the servants a denomination of money that belonged to the master. He gave them a denomination of money according to their ability—their ability to do what? Their ability to take advantage of an opportunity to invest.
So he gave one servant a dollar amount, and he gave another servant a dollar amount, and he gave the third servant a dollar amount. Two of the servants went and took advantage of an opportunity to invest and doubled the money they invested—the money that the master had given them.
The other servant buried the money. The Bible doesn't say that he lost the money or that he got into debt; he just didn't take advantage of the opportunity to invest.
So when the master came back and he wanted an account for what happened to the money—his money that he gave them to steward—the two servants who invested the money said, "We went down and we invested the money, and it grew."
The master says, "That's fantastic! Good and faithful servants!" And then the third servant who buried the money told the master, "I didn't want to lose the money. I didn't want to do anything dumb, so I buried the money."
The master called him wicked and slothful. He called him lazy for not taking advantage of the opportunity to invest what God has given him—what the master has given him.
So what happens at the end of the story? The master takes from the servant that buried the money and gives it to the servants that invested the money.
So when our money's funny, when we make bad decisions with the money that God has given us, when we don't steward correctly the possessions that God has given us to manage, we pray for more money to fix our problem.
But God says, "No, no, no, no, no! Your problem is a heart issue related to your investment into the kingdom. So I'm going to fix that, but in the meantime, I'm going to take from you what I've given you, and I'm going to give it to somebody who knows how to invest in the kingdom."
So let's be the ones that know how to invest in the kingdom!
So let's recap our responsibility—the things that we must do. The first thing is to be good stewards. God has given you His possessions for you to manage. Let's steward it well! You have an opportunity tomorrow to come to class and learn this process.
We have many tools and resources here at CLC. You can contact me, and we'll show you how to be able to steward your money well so you can tangibly see the move of the Holy Spirit over your finances. It's a beautiful thing!
But if you don't see it, if you don't have it for the Holy Spirit to utilize, you're not going to be able to see it.
The second thing that we need to do is we need to have vision. So I encourage all of us to pray and ask God, "What are the plans that you have for me and my life? What's your will for me?"
So when the harvest does come, you are already connected and in line with what God wants for you and His kingdom.
And then the last thing that we need to do is we need to give our tithe and generously our offering so that we can follow the principles of seed time and harvest.
God wants you to have a harvest! He's provided soil, He's provided rain, He's provided the seed. Sow the seed! He's given you a kingdom opportunity to invest. He wants us to partner with Him!
You remember Elijah? God didn't have to stop the raven and the brook from coming, but He created an opportunity so that we can reap a harvest. Amen?
Amen! Let's pray.
God, we thank You that You loved us so much that You created a spiritual principle that not only is a blessing to us but a blessing to the kingdom. You've given us the ability to sow a seed that You have given us and to reap a harvest that You've already provided for us.
Jesus, touch our hearts and the areas of our lives where we are holding back from understanding what belongs to You, Jesus. God, we thank You that You have given us vision and purpose and a will, and You have revealed that to us, oh God, so that we can go forward with the plans that You have for us, Jesus.
So that when the harvest does come, we are completely connected to You, Jesus. And we just thank You, oh God, that You have given us the heart to cheerfully give and to sow into Your kingdom.
We give You glory, honor, and praise in Jesus' name. Amen!
And I can confirm that I am too one of those with the budget on my phone that I look at often, and I have seen the Holy Spirit tangibly show me money that I was like, "Where did that come from?" It's like His hand just manipulated that budget.
And then I have seen the hands of my wife and kids come and manipulate that harvest. But in all seriousness, the reality is that the Bible says that He gives seed to the farmer, to the giver. He gives us that seed.
And so I've seen it in my own life, and I've also seen it in finance—people who follow this principle, whether they're believers or not, it works! Seed time and harvest—it works!
And the difference that we must make is that when we use this valuable principle, we give glory to God when that harvest comes. And if we, His children, don't do it, who will glorify God in the earth? It's up to us!
And so I thank God for that message from Pastor Carlton. I'm going to invite our prayer team up to the front, and if there is anything that you need someone to pray with you about or for you, our prayer team will come forth, and they will pray and be your help and your support in that season.
So I'll ask them to come up, and I remind our guests, please, we would love to connect with you in the Loft. It's right outside the doors to my right, your left, in the raised area. It'll say "New to CLC." We would love to connect with you before you leave.
And I ask everyone to stand, and I will pray a blessing on you as we leave. Again, we are still receiving financial gifts for those individuals that are in Chicago and displaced. You can give via text, or if you wanted to provide gently used clothing or sleeping bags, we will collect that throughout the week. But today is the last day for financial help.
Now let me bless you: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. In Jesus' name, amen!
Please, if you need prayer for any reason, don't be afraid—come up! We'll pray with you and for you.
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on Nov 14, 2023
