Amen. Amen. Well, good morning, Hope City. Come on, one more time. Good morning, Hope City. Come on, let's give God a hand clap of praise if we can. Amen. It's so good to be here, to see you on this holiday season. Everybody wearing their scarves and their nice colors, and the worship team. I must have got the memo that I was wearing browns today because everybody, the staff and the worship team was all, "Make sure I get my picture today, okay? I need one picture today." But you guys, look, I'm going to be there. You're looking good. God is good, excited. Who's that springtime? Who's that springtime? Okay.
Excited about today because, of course, we do something we do once a year, and that's what we normally call our legacy offering, but we've changed that name recently to our overflow offering. It's that one time we, as a church family, come together and collectively give one sacrificial offering to help us prepare for what's going to take place in 2025, or that upcoming year, and in this case, 2025.
I just want to share a scripture with you before we go into the final worship song and just talk a little bit about legacy and overflow, and just some of the things that have happened in 2024, and that also, that we're looking forward to happen also in 2025. I'll share a little bit now as we go into the offering, and then the rest of it in my overall message. So I'm going to start my message now as I talk about the overflow offering, and then I'll finish that message as we go into the final part of the sermon after the final worship song. I just felt like it would be good to share some of this information prior to you giving on today.
But I just want to read a scripture to you found in Exodus chapter 36, verse 1. It says, "Then wrought Bezalel and Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded." It says, "And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it."
And they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary to make it withal. And if you know the story, prior to this chapter here, God had made the commandment that Moses was to get them and to build a sanctuary. And this is how the sanctuary is supposed to look—the length, the breadth, the height, the exact materials to need. They knew what they needed to bring in order to build the sanctuary. So God gave specific instructions on what to build it with and how to build it.
And it says, "And they brought yet unto him free offerings, or freewill offerings, every morning. And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary came every man from his work which they made." It says, "And they spoke to Moses, saying, 'The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make.'" And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary."
It says, "So the people were restrained from bringing, for the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it and too much." It's just an amazing testament of how God had a vision to build a sanctuary a certain way and the extravagance of how it was supposed to be built. The people free willingly brought not just what was needed, but they brought more than enough to accomplish the vision. So much so they brought so much that they had to be stopped from bringing any more.
Now, just think about over the past nine years, soon to be actually 10 years, soon to be 11 years that we will receive a special offering at the same time every year. We don't teach that much on Sunday mornings in the auditorium on the area of giving outside of what we teach in small groups, our new members class, and things like that. But we designate at the end of the year one series just on what the Bible teaches and says about giving. This year started that series a few weeks ago called "Blessed to be a Blessing." And I hope you've been blessed by that series as we speak. We'll end that message on today or we'll end that series on today.
And this idea of teaching this is important because our generosity, our giving is an act of worship. So in just a moment, we're going to all have an opportunity to worship God as we do every Sunday with our regular tithing offering. But today we're going to be worshiping God through our giving by giving what we call our overflow offering. We didn't ask you what to give. The request was to pray, ask God, you know, what should you give? What can your family give? And let's sacrificially sow on today.
You know, when I think about when we started this church almost 10 years ago, came here to Savannah with an idea of vision. Actually, a vision in our mind, my wife and mine. It was an idea that we had, but it turns out to be a vision from God. I thought about the first service that we had today and the people that were there. They were a part of that vision. Looking at the second service on today, you are a part of that vision. Then we're going to go into the third service on today and do the same exact thing that people that weren't here, that we did not know any souls here in Savannah. And just because we came here, we showed up, you showed up. And that's all a part of the vision that God saw what happened here in 2012, ultimately launching it in 2014, that you would be here at Hope City Church on this particular day.
Can you give God a praise just for that on today that you're standing, you're sitting in an idea, you're sitting, you're standing in a vision, you're sitting, you're standing. And what was a thought back in Jacksonville, Florida, almost over almost 11 years ago. Now, you are the manifestation of that. Now, just think about some of the things we've done over the years, but even more so just this year alone, as we focus on doing local missions here at Hope City, we've done a lot of local things, whether it's serving with the Girls of Purpose, one of the local groups that we support here that's doing an amazing work with young girls, whether it's single mothers' outreaches that we support this year, whether it's the Boys and Girls Club, the Frank Kellen Boys and Girls Club that we supported for almost 10 years now, whether it's even the little stuff that we do when it comes to hurricane relief efforts.
And as much as we gave out to support people in need in the community for the recent hurricane, one of the things I really loved about that same time, there were members within Hope City Church as the power was out for days. And we just reached out and said, "Hey, is there anybody in the church who's in need of food?" In my mind, I'm thinking, "Well, maybe it'll be about 15, 20 people reach out and say they need some food." But it turns out a little bit over $10,000 worth of food we had to purchase to support families in need. And we not once had to call and raise a special offering for that because of your generosity and what you do throughout the year. So can we give God a praise just for that?
I even think about the fact that we're getting ready to launch the Pooler Campus here in just four or five weeks. Normally, churches do big fundraising. We just raise extra money to get those things done. But if you notice, we didn't do a special offering. We didn't have a building fundraiser for that because of what you already do in the middle of the year. It makes it possible for us to do these things. Can we give God a praise for that on today? It's just a mere fact, just 10 years old now as a church, and you just never know who you're sitting next to. You know, we come all dressed up and fancy and everybody is not on the same financial level, echelon, whatever you want to say. People come from different experiences, different levels, just getting started, have a lot to give, have none to give.
So whatever stage of life you are on, all of us in a collective way in 2024 alone, with that being said, gave over $1 million to what we're doing here at Hope City Church. And again, we can't do that without your faithfulness and your commitment. And to be exact, $1,068,772. And so that's because of your generosity and your faithfulness. I think about just when it comes to our national missions, starting with the ARC. We started this church a little bit over 10 years ago, as I said. ARC Church Plant number 376 is about 1,100 churches now. That shows you since 2014 where we're at right now, how many churches have launched since we started. And this year alone, there were 35 churches planted through the ARC. And every time you give, you support the planting of other life-giving churches across this country here.
So 35 churches were launched, and those 35 services on their launch day had a total of 13,000 people in those services on day one. And they're just, amen. Amen. And looking forward to see how many people show up at the service that would take place on January the 5th in Pooler. And again, we're able to do this because of your faithfulness and your commitment. Your support doesn't just keep the lights on here at Hope City. It doesn't allow us just to do stuff here. Your $10, your $100, your $1,000, your $10,000, whatever level of God has blessed you and you're able to give is doing more than just here.
So when you see us going to Africa and stuff like that, you may not physically go. But guess what? You did that. When we showed the video next week of a house that's being built right now for a widow woman who was married to a husband who was a pastor who passed away. And she took over the church to keep the church going. She had nowhere to live. She had to move into the church. I stood in where she stayed at in the house. And we shared that with Hope City a few months ago. And in one service, we raised the money to pay to have her house built. That's literally being built as we speak. And it's almost done. And again, we can't do that without your faithfulness and your commitment and your generosity to here at Hope City.
I can go on and on. I share more as we go as I go into the message. But as we prepare our hearts to give on today, know that we support local missions, national missions, international missions, our Savannah Leadership Foundation, and just the stuff we do here at Hope City Church. So as we prepare for our final worship song, our ushers will come forward. And I'm going to place the buckets right here on the altar as we did in the last. And just randomly, for those that will be giving physically, their offerings physically in their service on today, at some point in the worship song, I want you to come and just place that offering in the offering bucket on today. Those that will be giving online, you can do that online still. But see your worship today. See your giving, even the more so today, as a form of worship. And it is.
And as you bring your offerings to the altar, as you send that offering on today, see it as you're giving your sacrificial offering unto God. Come, let's stand to our feet, bless our offering, and let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to give and to sow, not just today, but in the many times we've done prior to this moment. God, I pray today that as families, as individuals give according to the way you bless them, that God, we give sacrificially, Father, on today. We pray that this will support the works and the needs of Hope City Church going into 2025. That vision will be fulfilled, missions will be accomplished, and we'll be able to help people, not just here locally, not just nationally, but even globally around the world.
Father, I pray that every seed will be blessed. Those that desire to give but cannot give for one reason or another, I pray for favor over their life, that business opportunities will open up for them. Give them favor with the banks. Give them favor with men. Whatever they're pursuing in the area to start that business, whatever they need, give them favor with men. I pray for them. Those that are looking for employment, I pray that the right job will open up for them, and I believe they will remember you in their season of prosperity. Bless these offerings on today. Bless this overflow, sacrificial offering that's been made today. We honor you now. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Let's worship, and let's give.
And can we say that, Father, as a whole church, you are my everything? Come on, lift your voices. You are. You are. Let me say this here real fast. I know the year 2024, May, was a rough year for you. I don't know the specificity of what this year has been like for you. Maybe you've lost some things. Yeah. You've lost some things, but he's still your everything. Maybe certain dreams and goals did not actually come to pass. He's still your everything. When you put your hope, your trust in God, everything around you may not be the way you want it to be, but it's okay because he is your everything. You may be in a valley right now, but he can be your... You could be even on a mountaintop right now. It doesn't matter when you have acknowledged and you have identified, you are my everything. You're the all-sufficient one. Come what may, you are my... Can we declare that as our anthem for the rest of the year, that you are my everything? Come on, let's say that one more time. Not that relationship. God, you are. Not that dream. Not that goal. Not that vision. Not your money... God, you are.
Father, we just declare that you are our everything. We thank you for the stuff that you've given us. We thank you for the resources. We thank you for every opportunity, every privilege that we've been able to experience here on this earth. But God, we have reconciled with ourselves that some stuff comes, some stuff goes, whatever it may be. God, you will remain. And because you will remain, God, our hope, our trust is not in the stuff that you give us, but it is in you, God. So we thank you, God. We acknowledge, God, that you are our everything. Someone may be in pain today, but God, let them realize you are their everything. Someone may have lost something this week, but God, they declare, they amplify to the condition, they amplify to their circumstances, God, that you are their everything. Someone may walk out on them. We honor you in this place on today, God, that you are our everything. On the mountain, you're our everything. In our valley lows, you are everything.
"Cast not away your confidence, for it has a great recompense of reward." Come on, let's... Amen, amen, amen. Well, good morning, church. Good morning, church. Good morning, Church of God in Christ. Good morning, Church of God in Christ. It is good to be here today. St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. Amen. And St. Episcopal Methodist Church, we welcome you as well. And we also welcome you also to Church of God by Faith. And the Southern Baptists, we welcome you too. And the Missionary Baptists, we welcome you too. Now, come on, somebody. Somebody said, "What kind of church is Hope City?" We are non-denominational. Come on, somebody. You just come as you are. You want to get loud with your praise? Get loud. You want to be quiet with it? Be quiet with it. Come on, somebody. Just come and worship the Lord.
Okay, I don't know how to get back in line here now because I'm all jacked up. Amen. But it's, yeah, God is good. God is good. And all the time. Well, y'all are ready. Well, y'all are ready. Y'all are ready this morning here. God is good all the time. Literally, and that's a true statement. And for some of you who really haven't owned that and leaned into that, he is good all the time. I don't care how dark, how ugly the circumstance may be. It doesn't take away from the goodness of God. You know, the Bible tells us in this world, you will have tribulations. And a lot of those tribulations have nothing to do or had nothing to do with God. It's just that in this fallen world that we are in right now, we have issues that are here. But a good thing about God is he has a way to make all things work together for the good of them that love him and who are called according to purpose and to his purpose.
I want to just jump into my final part of the message on today. I kind of just shared some at the beginning. The whole goal today for me was to, of course, to speak on this overflow giving, but to do it through our act of worshiping God through our giving, but also doing some physical worshiping in our body as well. And I believe we did that today. And I do believe the Lord is pleased with our worship and the Lord is pleased with our praise. I want to just give a few more things here. I'm excited that on this coming Saturday here, we'll be doing our annual Giving Hope Mall that we've been doing now for several years. So I'm excited to be doing that.
In the third service, you guys are blessed to not have to worry about this here. But in the third service, when the service is over with, I'm literally going to ask everybody at the end of the service, if you don't mind, can you take those chairs and stack those chairs up, please, so that we can get them out of here? But we're literally going to be transforming this entire place into a shopping mall so that we'll be able to be a blessing to some kids this upcoming Saturday. Hundreds of families signed up. So many gifts that have been donated by the Hope City Church. Remember, number one, that's a blessing already. This past Friday, our missions team was able to drive down to the military base we partnered with, Toys for Tots, and they gave us tons of toys to support what we're doing here. And so all of that, that's a huge support. Amen. All of that, that's a huge support in ensuring that we have an amazing Giving Hope Christmas Mall this upcoming Saturday. So excited about that.
And again, I'm just sharing all these little, I'm just dropping all these nuggets on today just to show you, share you what generosity is all about as we do this final message on today, or from the Blessed to Be a Blessing series. Have you been blessed the past few weeks just hearing this message here? Awesome. So let me just go ahead and get started so I can, I want to land this plane much earlier today than I would normally land it. But I want to just give you three ideas or three thoughts to close this series on today. This Blessed to Be a Blessing and how God blesses us with more than we need so that we can be a blessing to others. Say that with me. Say, "God blesses us with more than we need so we can be a blessing to others."
You know, so I'm going to come back to that in just a moment here, but I'm just reminded of how we, our local missions efforts that I shared at the beginning of the service on today, that just the many things that we've done this year here to help out with nonprofits. And one thing, if you don't know about Hope City Church, we may not put our name on stuff because we just don't, I just don't feel the need to have Hope City Church name us on everything that when we support the efforts happening in the city here. There are some amazing nonprofits here in this city here. They got the vision. They understand the homeless community better than we do. I just believe that if we can get behind them with finances and volunteers, we can support what they are doing.
We stopped doing a big Thanksgiving, even though we did a feeding on Thanksgiving Day with 50 volunteers at the local missions here, but we stopped going downtown feeding people on Thanksgiving Day with tons of food because we realized on Thanksgiving Day, everybody is trying to feed the homeless. And I remember one particular time that when we did this, maybe about four years ago, right before COVID, walking under that bridge with tons of food, and I'm walking under that bridge with our team, all I could see before I even get over to the homeless people were just pans of food that had been dropped off by other organizations. And I knew in that very moment when I saw that, that would be our last time doing it that way because you can only eat so much food in a certain span before it spoils.
So just finding the organizations and whatever we're supporting, whether it's things with girls, just ensuring that they have a tool to be the best girls they can be as they become full women by supporting organizations like the Girls of Purpose. We don't have to start every initiative here at Hope City Church. Let's find those as we are finding organizations in our cities and we're partnering with them. And so when you give, as I said earlier, you're just not giving to what's happening here Sunday mornings at Hope City Church. You are making a difference in a lot of nonprofits in our cities, even when we're coming to planting churches around the world. Can you give yourself a hand clap of praise just for that?
As I mentioned on today, I'm going to run through these numbers here one more time quickly. This year here alone, Hope City Church, for the first time as a church in 10 years, we broke over a million dollars in people giving to the work of Hope City—$1,068,772. Come on, that's weak. With 30, we planted 30 through the ARC. We helped plant 35 churches this year alone, and on those 35 services that happened throughout this year here, a total of 13,000 people showed up in the service as well. Over 890 gave their lives to Christ for the very first time—almost 900 salvations. And we're just looking for it now that same organization, the ARC, is going to support us and push us as we do the same thing here five weeks from now in Pooler.
And not just in Pooler, but do it downtown somewhere, Richmond Hill. I met with an Asian couple a couple of weeks ago, and just to show you just how interesting God is—and I say that being funny—that as our city, if you're in Pooler, you see it a lot, the Asian population here is increasing dramatically. I mean, I go to my gym, I see more people that's not white or black. I see more Asians. And I'm okay with it. I'm like, come on, bring it on. Come on, do a hostile takeover. Come on, at the gym, I go to Publix everywhere. And immediately, y'all know me, I'm a visionary. I'm thinking, how can we support? How can we help?
We randomly have families who are Asian who come through our services right now. We had the thought, let's buy some headsets so they can understand what I'm saying. And I thought that was good. Then I was like, no, we didn't do that. Now we ain't going that route. Why not just open our building up one day if I find a pastor who speaks the language and let them hold the building and they create their own service in the same space here? And I bumped into a couple who was going out, and they were just saying just how much they love the service. And I've done this several times with those individuals who walk through, "Hey, if you know a pastor who speaks your language, who just moved here, who's looking for a place to worship, who needs some help, who needs some support, let me know."
I've always had a vision to do this with a Spanish couple. But if you know anybody, please let me know. I've done that at least five times with someone who walked in this building over the past few months of that nationality. And I shared that same story, and I think you were with me. I'm standing there, Malcolm was there with me, and I said to the couple, I said, "Hey," as they were just saying how much they love the service, I said, "If you know anybody who's a pastor and who's looking for a place of possible worship or to get some support, I said, 'Hey, if you know anybody who's a pastor, connect with me, please let me know.'"
And they started to cry and said, "I got chills because I am a pastor." Come on, somebody. My point is, when vision—when God gives vision, as we're working here at Hope City Church, you're not just giving into what's happening here in this space here. You're expanding, you're extending the kingdom of God in so many ways. And I need you to see the value in every seed you sow. Every time you give here at Hope City, every gift you may give that may not be a financial gift, but it's a financial gift, you are making an eternal difference.
You ever go to hospitals and on the walls or on the building it said, "This building was donated by the so-and-so family"? Why? You know that that family obviously was very well off, and they wanted to somehow leave a legacy for generations and forever, if you would. And how many of you know that every time you give, you're doing the same thing? Your name may not be on that wall, but certain things would have never happened. That house that's being literally built in Africa right now would not be built if it wasn't for what you're doing right now here at Hope City Church. Can you give God a praise for that one there as well?
I just want to read one scripture here in Zechariah 8, and then I'm going to give you those three points. Zechariah 8:4 says, "This is what the Lord Almighty says," and this comes to mind when I think about the Savannah Leadership Foundation. "Once again, men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there."
So this was a real state of Jerusalem at that time, and this was a vision that Zechariah said that's going to be a day where the older people are going to be able to have their canes in their hand and live, and kids are going to be able to play in the streets. And when I read that years ago, it reminded me of just how many cities in our country that kids cannot play in the streets of fear of getting shot, that an older person cannot, after they retire, cannot sit on their porch in their rocking chair with their cane and just enjoy the cool breeze of fear of someone going to jack them, rob them, or whatever it may be.
And so by helping out in our community in a real tangible way, by doing outreaches and projects and supporting people, this is our way of doing the same thing, seeing the same vision that Zechariah saw, that these children going to these failing schools here in Savannah. We got kids who cannot even read at a certain grade level. And so when you think about what the future is going to look like, you think about who's leading stuff right now in Savannah. If we don't help out in some of these weak areas, that's the future. That's the future. And some stuff, you can't faith it away. You have to work it away. The Bible says faith without works is dead.
So I don't think it's a lack of faith for us. It will be, are we putting in the work? Are we putting in the volunteer hours? Are we creating mentorships and mentors? Are we offering scholarships when we find children who want to excel, who want to get out of these spaces that really technically, just like me as a kid, if my dad did not tell me, "Yes, I could move from Jacksonville to Miami," there's no telling where I would be at right now. But because he said yes to me when I asked him, "Can I move with you in Miami?" I saw no hope. I saw no way out in my area, in my city.
And he said yes to me. That got me out of my toxic environment into a new space. And that gave me help. Every child doesn't have that. The question is, what ways are we creating means for those kids who are in the crowds, who really got something on the inside of them, who really want out? What things are we doing to make sure if they want out, they can get out? And these are some of the things that we are doing here at Hope City Church.
God blesses us with more than we need so that we can be a blessing to others. Here's the first thing I want to give you here. We have to know what the more is for. We have to know what the more is for because some of us eat our more. Some of us are putting our more on. Some of us are going to buy another car. You already got five, but you say, "I got more. Let me buy another car." You got to learn in 2025, pause, when God blesses you, because as I shared weeks ago, the promise from God is, "Abraham, I'm going to bless you and make you a blessing." He said that to Abraham in the Old Testament, but he also fulfilled it through Jesus Christ so that it falls on us.
The promise made to Abraham, he said, "Jesus had to hang on a tree so that the prophecies, so that the blessings that were on Abraham were going to come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus." So some of you are standing in your blessed position. You are blessed. You have made it to a place where your life is taken care of. You can pay all your bills. All your needs are met. You don't struggle. You are blessed. But the next level is, you have to be a blessing. You have to be a blessing. You have to be a blessing. The next level is, he wants you to be a blessing.
Now, let me go back a little bit here. Some of you are saying, "I'm not even blessed yet. I'm still over in the place that, how do I fulfill that promise that God said, 'I'll be blessed and I can be a blessing?'" And this is the reason why it's important to be in small groups, to get help, to get support. So whatever happened to you prior to you knowing Jesus or getting messed up, because some of our credit got messed up before we knew right. You got that first credit card in college and you thought, "Oh, I'm going to be a blessing." Well, it is on right now. And ever since then, the credit has been messed up. And so you can't even get in the blessed state yet where everything is safe and secure.
Wherever you are standing right now, know we have to know what the more is for. Is the more for me to get out of debt so I can be blessed? And then now that I'm out of debt, I'm secure, I'm safe, and now God's going to now get me ready to show me how to be a blessing. He's going to get more resources, more resources in my life. Now I need to know what the more is for. Do I eat this? Do I save this? Do I invest this? Do I give this away? What is the more for? Some of y'all know now as I'm talking right now, you're feeling convicted because you know you're wearing the more. You're like, "I knew I needed this dress. I was supposed to give, you know, whatever that thing is. I didn't need nothing else to eat today. I was supposed to buy somebody else something to eat today."
We have to know what the more is for. Genesis 12:2, as I already said, "I will bless you and you will be a blessing." Number two, when we bless others, God takes care of our needs. When we bless others, I've seen this over years, over my own life, that when you bless others, God is going to take care of you. The most generous people are the most blessed people. And here's the thing about those people. Many times you don't know how much they have in life because they don't wear their wealth and their prosperity on their chest. But they're generous. They're always willing to give and to support, whether it's financially, whether it's of their time, of their skill set, they are freely willing to give it away when they see a need.
When we bless others, God takes care of us. And this is the reason why they are constantly being generous and constantly being blessed because they are experiencing the blessing of God in their life that they are—God is favoring them and they're now favoring other people that's around them that is in need. When we understand what the more is for, when we bless others, God will take care of our needs. Is there a dream or vision in your heart? Is there something you're pursuing? Is there something that you are wanting? I would challenge you to sow a seed, not per se to me, to Hope City, but that person, that thing, help somebody out, do something.
When we bless others, God takes care of our needs. You want to see your kids get to a certain level? Go help somebody else's kid out. Come on, somebody. Go be a blessing to someone else. Luke chapter 18 says this here: "I guarantee this here, anyone who gives up anything for the kingdom of God would certainly receive many times more in this life and will receive eternal life in the next world to come." So forget about eternal life moment. He said right now, he said, "Those who are generous now and who are always giving, he said, you're going to help more than enough, not in the future, but in this life."
Because too many of you are waiting to get to heaven to be blessed. No, I want to be blessed right here on earth. I'm going to live too long to be waiting to get to heaven. I got another hundred years to go. Yeah, thank you for that one. Yeah, yeah, I got another hundred years to go. And I want to experience the blessings of God right here on earth. And that's the will of God. He said, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." God wants us to experience heaven on earth. Listen, there's almost nothing God won't do for the person who wants to help other people.
There's almost nothing God would do for that person that wants to help other people. I'm going to say it again. Again, that was really good. Thank you. There's almost nothing God won't do for the person who wants to help other people. When you get that mindset and you get that heart that you just want to help people out, when you sacrifice your time, when I look at my entire life, one of the most memorable things I'll never forget is when I got out of college and I was—I'm sorry, high school—and I would spend literally four or five days a week for a series of months at a local nursing home in my city.
And after I was done with my work, I would go spend several hours at that nursing home. If some of y'all believe I like young people better than I do, like, yeah, younger people than I do older people. Actually, I don't. I don't. I actually like hanging around older people than I do younger people. And it's always been that way for me. I enjoyed being in that nursing home. I enjoy going room to room, pushing them out of their room into the entertainment room. I remember one time where there was no other volunteers that showed up. It was just me. Me and the director. And there was a certain meeting taking place in the big room. And she and I was the only one going from room to room, getting those patients into that room for that entertainment that day.
There's almost nothing God won't do for the person who wants to help other people. I think you are here because I, Pastor T, we want to help. And because we want to help other people. Look, God sent you here to be helped. Give yourself a hand clap for that there. There's almost nothing God won't do for the person who wants to help other people. Here's the third thing that I'm doing for today. We have to know what the more is for. When we bless others, God takes care of our needs. And I hope some of y'all move into that position that really own that number two. That when we bless others, God's going to take care of me.
That's living life based on faith. That God, whatever I give, God, whatever I give away, you're going to get it back to me, pressed down, shaken together. I'm not going to fear what I give out. Am I going to be taking it? God got me. That has to be. The more generous you become at what God gives you, I'm telling you, and for some of you, it is hard to believe because you come out of poverty. And I know how poverty is. I was in it myself. I was raised in that. I was on the welfare system. I remember the peanut butter. I remember the lemon jelly in the silver can. I remember the powdered milk that we did, the powder that we turned into. I remember all of that. I remember when food stamps was real food stamps in paper.
Wise, so you ain't talking to somebody who don't know what it means to be without. I know what that looks like. I know what it looks like to be in a bedroom with two bunk beds and two of us sleeping in each bed. Come on, somebody. I know where it is. But I also know that when you see another way, when you're exposed to better and to more, once you see it and once you want it, it's like, man, how do I get what they have? And that's what happened to me when I left one city and went to the next. I saw how I lived one way and I saw what they had there. And I said, "This is what I want."
This is—I want to go to Jamaica. Come on, somebody. I want to... because they was going to Jamaica. They was working every day. I said, "This is what I want." And it may take you a little time and a little work to get there, but it can happen. It can. Listen, if you put in the time, put in the work, the vision, the dream that you see somebody else doing, you're like, "Man," and it's in your heart to want to do it as well, not because you're just coveting what they want, but it's there because I know I got that potential too. I never saw it in my world, but now that I've been exposed to it, I want that as well.
I'm telling you, put the work and the time in. You will manifest that in your own life as well. Well, can we give God a praise for that? We have to know what the more is for. When we bless others, God takes care of our needs. And then thirdly, the more God blesses us, the more he expects us to bless others. The more God blesses us, the more he expects us to bless others. Luke 12:48 says, "Much is required from those to whom much is given, for their responsibility is greater." I think about just as our church, Hope City Church, we're not just a church that's taking care of the members of Hope City Church.
And if you haven't gotten this by now, this church is responsible for supporting other churches. To whom much is given, much is required. God requires more of Hope City Church to be a blessing to other people in our city, other pastors in our city. Other pastors reach out to us for wisdom and direction and insight. My staff, they may be our admin here, they may be our finance director here, they may be our children's pastor here, but I'm developing them in such a way that as they bless this house, now how can you go help other churches as well? Because watch this here, you think that this is happening everywhere, but what's happening at Hope City is not happening everywhere.
And there are some pastors that I know in our city because I talk to them that are struggling with their lives, and I talk to them that are in pain right now. And guess what? Because of what God has—the weight that God has on this church, on this ministry, much is required from those to whom much is given. So not just in our giving of our finances, but our talents, but the knowledge that we have. "How did you do what you did in 10 years? How are you planting another campus right now? We can't seem to get past 20 people. How we—we got this."
Why would we not support? And so watch this here. So the more that we go up, and specifically now referring to the staff, the more that we go up, guess what? God is requiring you to go up. You thought you came to Hope City Church because you just a member, you like the word here, you get you some worship, go to a small group, and you done. No, God set you up. He set some of y'all up because there's gifts, there's talents on the inside of you, there's callings on the inside of you, and he set you in this house for a purpose.
To whom much is given, much more is required in our mission team and in our gifts and in our talents. Deuteronomy 21:17 says, "He must acknowledge the son." And I wish I would have read this verse last week. "He must acknowledge the son as the firstborn by giving him a double share." Remember I talked about the power of the first last week? "He must acknowledge the son as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him."
Hebrews 12:22, "You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven." Last verse, Ephesians 3:20, "Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that worketh in us." Watch this here, it's about to get good. "Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages." Don't miss this here. Throughout all ages. Paul wrote this over 2,000 years ago. He prayed for Hope City 2,000 years ago. I need y'all to get this here.
He said, "Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout not just his age, throughout all ages to come." When Paul wrote this letter, he was praying for even future churches that were—he was talking about legacy, overflow, generational impact, generational influence. We're still reading right now something Paul wrote 2,000 years ago about dispensations and ages he would never see, but he sowed seed way back then so that we will walk in it one day. And now we sow the future ages can walk in what we're talking about today, and we won't even be here to see it, but they'll be talking about you. Come on, somebody.
"Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly with the more you have." You think you can do a lot with it, but when you ask God, "What do I do with the more?" God said, "You can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can think or even imagine." And that's a reason why it's important that you consider God when he gives you more. Don't just whimsically jump up and go and say, "Oh, I got more. Let me go." No, God, you know what? You blessed me with more. What is this more for? Why did this more come in my life for this particular moment right now?
And I'm telling you, when you acknowledge him with that, he'll make sure it will be exceedingly used, abundantly used, above all that you could ask or even imagine. Let's give God a praise for his word on today. Stand to your feet and let's pray. I pray this message bless you on today as we close out this "Blessed to be a Blessing" season. Let's be generous, let's be kind, let's be merciful as we finish these last few weeks up. You got two pastors in the city that we want to bless this week. I don't even know a gift is coming for them. I don't even know a gift is coming for them, the family. We want to be a blessing because of you.
We didn't raise a special offer because you're already doing it. You're already doing it. Whenever you get it, if you gave a dollar, ten percent of that, whatever we do, you did it. Ten cents, you did it. Come on, somebody. A hundred dollars, ten dollars, you did it. Whatever that ten percent, you did it. Let's not measure, "Oh, they did more than me." That's not the point. The point is I gave my best. I gave from here, whether that comes up to ten dollars or ten thousand, it came from here, and it was a real sacrifice. Allow God to challenge me. I allow God to stretch me.
Father, we thank you. Thank you for this tenth overflow, this tenth legacy overflow offering that we've done here at Hope City Church. Father, I pray today that this message will not just set this church up for the future, but God, that families will be set up by understanding what legacy is all about for their own homes, their own lives, and how they can create overflow in their own personal lives, that they can be richly and abundantly blessed—nothing missing, nothing broken, nothing taken away—have all that they needed at all times, can get what they need because they are well taken care of.
So, Father, I just prophesy over this church, over this house, that those that are committed to the teachings and the work of what Hope City is doing, that God, whether they're in position or not, but this will be a place where people are fully becoming mature in this area of not just giving, but when they get past the giving, but God, even having abundance in their life, not because we're preaching a prosperity gospel, but God, we know it's your will, your desire that we have more than enough to meet our needs and enough to meet the needs of others.
And so because of that, we ask for you to bless us richly, bless us with everything that we need pertaining to this life. God, may we not struggle. May we not rob Peter—come on, lift your hands towards heaven—may they not be a people that always have to rob Peter to pay Paul. May we not be a people that always have to go in debt to get to the other side. But God, I pray, I envision a place where we become good stewards, corporately, individually, God, that we manage well what you place in our hands. God, we thank you for it today.
God, we thank you for your grace is sufficient. Maybe someone is saying today, "Pastor Cori, I need to hear this word today. I know church, but I don't know him. I've shaken your hand, but I've yet to shake God's hand. I got good religion, but I don't have a personal relationship with this God you're talking about. I want to get my heart to Christ for the very first time. I want to get my heart to Christ for the very first time. I want to make sure that when I leave this side of the world, this side of life, that I enter into the presence of God, my creator. I want that assurance today that I'm saved, that I'm born again. I never made that decision before today. I want to make it."
And secondly, maybe you're saying, "I've already made that decision, but I need a church home that teaches the word of God in such a way that I can take it and apply it to my life. I believe my faith, my family can grow here at Hope City. I can hear God's voice speak to me in my situations here in my life. I want to make sure that I'm here at Hope City so I can see the things that I have set my hands to accomplish come to pass because of how the messages, the connections, and the fellowship speaks to me."
So if you're in this place, I want to pray for you as well. So with every head bowed, every eye closed, no one's looking around, I'm going to call you up, not going to call you out, but just want to know who to include in on this prayer. You're saying, "Hey, Pastor Cori, you're speaking to me. I want to get my heart to Christ for the very first time or make Hope City Church my church home." With a count of three, let me just quickly see your hand. Just lift it high; you can bring it back down. One, two, three. Will there be one? No pressure, no priming. I see that hand, sir. God bless you. I see that hand as well. Amen. Will there be another? Will there be another?
I don't miss this moment. It's between you and God. No pressure, no priming, no pressure, no priming. You will all over the building lifting hands towards him. Let's pray for those few hands that went up. I say, "Lord God, we believe that you sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins, but I also believe he rose from the grave with all power in his hand. God, I ask you now to forgive me for any and every sin that separates me from your love. I say, God, I don't fully understand what all this means, but I do believe with your spirit, your presence living on the inside of me, I will become the person you desire me to be. So I ask you now to fill me with the power and the presence of your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, you are welcome to live in my heart for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name, I pray."
Father God, your word declares any man being in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are becoming new. I pray for those that prayed their prayer for the very first time in faith, who didn't spiritually know, that spiritually had no connection with God, or just had no connection with the Lord. I pray that everything they lost in that season of separation, of disconnection, that they're moving into a season of restoration and recovery, and everything they lost prematurely that was right for their life, God, you're restoring it back unto them.
And I declare that everything that's been sucking away at the quality of their life, every yoke, every chain, every stronghold, those things are falling off right now. And who the Son sets free, they are free indeed. In Jesus' name, I pray. Come on, if you believe that, celebrate with every decision made in this place on today.
on Dec 09, 2024
