Faith With No Filter: Faith That Shows Up

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Thanks for joining us for this week's Real Life Church Podcast. We'd love to know if God is using this ministry to bless you in some way. And if you'd like to share your story or get connected at Real Life Church, you can visit us online at livereallife.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:18)
Thank you for your generosity. I was, Malachi chapter three tells us to bring all the tithes and the offerings into the storehouse, that there might be room in his house, meat in his house. But more importantly, he says that when you do that, you align yourself with kingdom principles that then release the blessing of God in your life. And he says that the windows of heaven would open up and he'd pour out a blessing that you can't contain. If you look that up, can't contain, it literally means it'd run you down and take you over. Have you ever been chased by a dog? So as a kid, I had a 10-speed, old school 10-speed, one of them ones that you would have the levers up top and you clicked that lever and it's like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, to get it into gear. Come on, some of you know what I'm talking about. Young people was like, well, it didn't, you didn't plug it into the wall and it was electric? No, you actually had to pedal the thing. It was awesome. And so I got, I had the bike, and I remember I was on my way home, and all of a sudden I hear this, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
And so I turn around and look, thinking it's just some dog. Oh no, it wasn't a dog. It was about 115-pound Doberman Pinscher. He'd come around the corner, and I'm telling you what, let me tell you something. I pedaled as fast as I could pedal. And I said some things I probably shouldn't have said. Now that was before Jesus, because I was scared, amen. So that dog was chasing me, and he was trying to chase me, and so I pedaled as fast as I could. I mean, he got this, I mean, he was this close, and I had, ah, I hate you, I hate you a lot. And so I just kind of, you ever tried to pedal and kick at the same time? I think I just threw my back out, praise the Lord. Anyway, and so I was trying to get him on, so I just kept, I thought, well, if I just go faster, so how many know that Doberman had one goal? It was to overtake me. It was to jump on my back, eat me alive. I'd have been a dead human right there in the middle of the street, right? That's the whole goal, he was ready to eat me. It'd take him a while, but he was ready to eat me, amen.
And so, are you with me this morning, 10 o'clock? Come on, somebody, you're with me today. Did you have your caffeine this morning? Come on, I just had my bloom, ready to go, praise the Lord.
And so, that's what the blessing of God looks like. It's like you're just pedaling through life, enjoying life. You align your life with God's principles, and all of a sudden out of nowhere, the blessing of God comes on you because you're in alignment. It's not every season, but some seasons, that it just feels like, wow, he just overtook me in that moment with his blessing. And the scripture says that he would open the windows of heaven. Now, when you think about the windows of heaven, I've taught this before, but the windows of heaven is not like a literal place. Like you're looking for windows, where's it at? Is heaven gonna open up and all this stuff's gonna start happening? No, the window of heaven is you. In other words, God opens you up as the window, and that you become the resources by which the resources, you become the window by which the resources of God can flow into the earth. That's how God gets it into the earth. In the old saying, if he can get it through you, he'll get it to you. And so, as you align yourself with God's word, he'll overtake you and bless you in ways. It's not just financial. Financial is, Jesus talks about finances and material things about 2,000 times in your New Testament. It's the most talked about subject in the New Testament, is finances and material things. Why is that? Because it has the greatest hold on us. They say the last thing to get saved in somebody's life is their pocketbook. What do you mean by that? That means that we just hang tight, right? Well, I tell you what, I believe, and this is between you and the Lord, I believe when you release it to God, God overflows you with blessing, because blessing's never about you. It's never about just getting a better car and a better house and a better vacation home. It's always about you being a blessing to others, that he would open you up, that you could stand between God and earth, and that he would make you a resource by which his blessings flow into the earth. And so thank you for your generosity. Many ways you can give on the screen, you can see it up there, liverelifed.com, in-person giving station. In the back, we don't pass buckets. Father, thank you today for the giving hearts of your people. Thank you for the generosity. Thank you for the culture of generosity. Thank you today, Lord, that you want us to align our lives with you. That, Lord God, as we align our lives with you, you would do some magnificent things. You would open up us as the windows of heaven, that we might be a blessing to those that are around us. Lord God, you definitely want to provide for us, but also you want to make us that window by which your resources flow. So we love you today, we thank you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Come on, give the Lord a good hand clap as we jump into His word today.