Number one in your notes. Write this down. Taylor Swift is not the only one who has eras. You know the eras tour. Okay. There are four eras of giving in scripture. Let's talk about eras. What I'm about to do, and I gotta do this as fast as I did it all day, I'm gonna blaze through this with you is let me help you understand. It's just like Star Wars. There's the prequels, then there's the Star wars series, then there's the new trash ones that Disney made that we don't like. So there.
Amen. So there's eras of Star Wars. And then you find out, wow, Anakin turned and he wasn't always evil and blah, blah, blah. So in the Bible, there's eras like that, and you can trace the lineage. Okay, so let me help you, because you all have a spiritual lineage. Father Abraham, any sons, and many a. I'm just kidding. All right, all right. That's how we did it. So Father Abraham. Why do we call him Father Abraham? Because it was credited to him righteousness.
When he chose to abandon paganism, the gods of his father, to actually go serve the Hebrew God. And as he went into a direction he knew not. That's what the Bible says. It was credited to him, righteousness. And he became the father of many nations. So if you accept Christ Jesus, then you trace the lineage of Jesus to David and from David to Abraham. Are we all on the same page? So those are eras. So I'm gonna take you through the eras. Now. Take a look at my Bible.
And this Bible is the Protestant Bible. This is the true Bible. Okay, Now I'm gonna tell you it's true because there are 66 individual books that teams of scholars over the eons have scrutinized and determined that the 66 individual books are all inspired by God, which means they came through human hand, but they were written through a human hand, but inspired by God. And they compiled the 66 individual books to create the Bible. Does this make sense?
And so anything in addition to this is not scripture. But this is scripture. And when you go to the book of Genesis and you read it all the way through the book of Revelation, you are essentially reading four eras. Okay, that's the way to thinking of it. So let's go faster. Pre Mosaic era. This is the first era that you see in the Book of Genesis. This means before the law of Moses. So this is before the law of Moses. This is the pre, meaning before Mosaic, meaning Moses.
So this is what was happening before the law of Moses. Now, I'm going to read this to you to illustrate a point. Genesis, the 14th chapter. It says, and Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought out bread. This is intentional. Bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram, by God Most High, possessor of heaven and the earth. And blessed be God Most High who. Who has delivered your enemies into your hand. Woo. That's powerful. And Abram, this is.
And this is the cause and effect Abram gave him. Who's him? The priest of God Most High. Who's the priest of God Most High? Melchizedek. A tenth of everything. Okay, we gotta break this down because this is very foundational. Who's Melchizedek? Trick question. We don't know. Biblical scholars all offer different explanations, but I'm going to give you some clues. This mysterious priest shows up and he shows up with bread and wine. Who do you know that shows up with bread and wine? Yeshua.
He shows up with bread and wine. What does the bread represent? His body. What does the wine represent? His blood. What does his body being broken and his blood being spilled represent? Covenant. Covenant. So Jesus shows up like this. So you have this mysterious priest named Melchizedek who shows up with bread and wine, and he is the priest of God Most High. I have a high priest who prays for me. Okay, come on, don't get me started with a praise break. We're already going over.
I have a high priest who prays for me. Who's our high priest? Jesus. And Jesus has the ability to give you what God has for you. Am I right? He's an intermediary. He's an intercessor. And he is able to transact from God to you. So here's you. Here is Jesus, the intercessor. And here is God. So Jesus is interceding between both of you. And God wants to destroy you. But Jesus died for you, covered you with his blood. And then you receive the approval that Jesus received over him. Over you.
Because when God sees you, he sees his blood. Are y'all with me? Is this good? And that's called the gospel. Okay. Are you with me? Let me ask you this. Is God poor? Does God lack anything? No. And if Jesus is the intercessor, then you're here and you're in relationship with Christ and you've been saved. You have come into covenant. With who? With God. And covenant means? Come on, women, let's talk about marrying a rich man. Oh, I heard the new V1 locations off of Wall Street.
I'm going to the V1 Manhattan. Come on, somebody. Don't we understand that when you make a vow and you come together in covenant, whatever I have is yours and whatever you have is mine. Legally. Don't we understand that? Okay, so you get married to God. And it's almost as if you're saying, listen, you're getting a Sallie Mae bill, three credit cards, two of them are hidden. I'll tell you about those later. And you're giving to God. But then what happens is he has an unlimited supply.
So you come into covenant with him, and you are the bride of Christ. And may I submit the idea to you that it makes God look good for you to be blessed if you are his bride. Cause Jesus ain't gonna have no busted bride. Jesus is gonna take care of you. Because when you look good, he looks good. Can somebody shout? I am the bride of Christ. Can somebody shout? He takes care of me. See, this is a revelation. Melchizedek, Christ represented bread and wine, covenant.
The priest of God, a broker for covenant and blessing. But then what does Abram do? He gives away a tenth. Let's talk about 10th. Oh, no, I get it. He's gonna make me give all my money today. This whole service is a hijacking. Listen, I'm Italian. There are easier ways to get your money. I would have just jumped you on the street out there. I wouldn't be standing up here giving speeches if I wanted your money. And by the way, you just moved to New York so you can make money.
This is the worst place to start a church and try to become a megachurch pastor. Go to Tulsa, go to the Bible Belt. Go where the cost of living is lower. You don't go to the most expensive region in the U.S. i am here not for what you can do for me, but what God can do for you if you will get out of your own way. And I'm trying to help you understand the word tenth. Okay, tenth is this. If you got a hundred dollars, What's a tenth? $10. If you get $1,000, what's a tenth? A hundred dollars.
Okay, so this is what happened. Look at what Melchizedek said. I'm gonna deliver the enemies into your hand and I'm gonna bless you. And the response was, I'm gonna give you a tenth of everything. Abram said, I'm gonna give. Who told Abram to give a tenth of everything? Nobody. Lie, Number one. We don't have to tithe because Jesus came and he ended the law. And we're under the New Covenant. Wrong. Biblically illiterate hundreds of years before the law.
Abram's most natural intrinsic response to being blessed by God on high was to give him a tenth of everything and nobody had to tell him to do it. And that means that when you experience the blessing and favor of God, what should happen if your heart is in the right condition, is you want to give back to him what's already his. Okay, let me break this down even deeper. You make wages. What is a wage? A wage is when you get what you earned. So I work 40 hours. You better give me my check.
That's how they talk on the job sometime. Am I right? That's a wage. For the wages of sin is death. So you know what you get for everything you did? Death. For the wages of sin is death. I'm trying to help you. Wages is when you get what you deserve. But what is a blessing when you get what you didn't deserve, but the blessing of God? The gift of God is what? Salvation. So here's what I'm saying. Let's say you work a job, and for your 40 hours of work, you get $1,000. How much do you tithe?
$100. But the thing about it is, if. Okay, oh, Lord, help me, Jesus. If you believe that you're the reason why you got that thousand dollars, then you don't understand how this whole thing works. Because guess what? Your heart is beating involuntarily. You know who's controlling it? Sovereign God. And let me just tell you, for those of you who have a past, can I remind you that when you were strung out on drugs, you should have never even got to this day.
Can I just tell you, when you were drunk and you were high and you were sleeping around, you dodged death many times, but you didn't save yourself. You were saved by the Savior. And you don't even have the ability to live on anything other than grace. And so when I give God a 10, what I'm simply acknowledging is God, the only way I'm able to work this job is that you give animation and life to my body. And I'm going to bring you back what's already yours. Because without you, I am nothing.
That's what Abraham said. 10% of something I never should have got is a good deal. Tell your neighbor that's a good deal. 10% of something you were never supposed to get is a pretty good deal. Am I right? Okay. Tithing existed before the law. Everybody say before the law. But here's the key. It was voluntary. Nobody told Abram to tithe. It just was the natural thing. It was intrinsic, which means internal. He just knew to do it like your kids. Have you ever been doing the dishes?
And all of a sudden, one of your kids comes up to you, and they're like, mommy, can I help you with the dishes? And you're like, oh, you're such a good child. And then that other kid comes up, and while you're doing the dishes, they have a bowl full of cereal, they dump the whole thing in there, and they walk around. Shut up, Mom. I'm just kidding. Only white kids do that. Okay, I got your attention. I got your attention now. So what is the. Come on, don't get hung up on it.
What is the difference between kids? One of them never had to be taught to help you. But something internal told them I should help. Because there are some people who are born helpers, then there are other people who are born takers. And the born helpers need to learn how to be served sometimes in life. And the born takers need to learn how to serve in life. And so both of them have a benefit and both of them have a burden. Because we have what's called inborn personality. Does this make sense?
And so I got two girls, and one of them I have to teach to give, and one of them I have to teach to allow somebody to serve them. But that's their inborn personality. Are we all on the same page? So it was almost as if Abraham didn't need any training. Because when he got encountered by God, the most normal thing to him was to do what? To reciprocate. Reciprocate. Now, let's blaze through this. Then Jacob made a vow. Everybody say vow. Okay, when you get married, what do you do?
You say your vows. And when you say your vows, you are making. Are you making a commitment? No. You are making a covenant. Okay, you're with me. Go back to Elizabethan times back in Shakespeare's day. They believed in the power of words and vows so much that you wouldn't even say a wedding ceremony amongst actors, because they would believe that to say the wedding ceremony would make it true. And you would end up accidentally marrying that person because that's how much your words matter.
Isn't that mind blowing? You wouldn't even going back to their time. That's why when you read all the Shakespeare plays, you'll never see a real wedding ceremony conducted. It's only insinuated because the actors were like, I Can't even say pretend vows to you because there's no such thing as pretend vows. That's the way people believed just hundreds of years ago, not even thousands. Now our words mean nothing. Hey, I'll see you there at seven. Psych. Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'll be there for load in at 6:00am Psych. What? Y'all must be young. They don't remember. Psych. I'm from the 90s, y'all. And we used to say psych all the time. Psych. What that meant? You like that? You're like, man, he's wilding out. What did he drink before service? Listen, our words. Why do our words not mean anything? I want to live a kind of life where if I say it, I'm going to do it. I want to be a man of my word. We need to be people of our word. So Jacob made a vow.
And he said, if God, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way, that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing. Clothing to wear so that I come again to my Father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house. And all that you give me, I will give a full tenth to you. This is the language of covenant. He's making a vow. Can I give you a quick side note?
Your children may have left the faith, but Jacob is the grandson of Abram. And Abraham's encounter was not good enough for Jacob. How many of you know every generation has to have their own encounter? And let me just tell you, for some of you, you've been living off your grandma's prayers, and you need to get in the prayer closet. Let me speak to some of you young people. Your mama prayed you through some situations, but it's time that you take the prayer mantle from your mama.
It's time for you to learn how to pray like your mom used to pray. You used to make fun of the way your mom prayed. But, homie, you're about to pray like your mom. It's time to take a mant. Jacob had something in his lineage, but he needed an encounter with God for himself. It was not good to hear about Granddad's encounter. He needed an encounter for himself. We have a generation that needs an encounter with the king for ourself. And this is what he's doing.
Look, Will, Will, Will. He's saying, if you will, I will. How many of you have ever heard preachers talking about making a deal with God. How many of you have ever make a deal with God? Come on, you're on the toilet. Lord, if you save me from this, Lord, I promise, if you get me out of this, Lord, my guts are turning inside out. Come on. I've heard some of you, that's the only time you pray. We've all been in that situation. Oh, Jesus, I serve you all the days of my life.
Now, why am I being funny? I'm putting a gas mask on you so I can cut you real deep. Because let me tell you, even watch this. My friend, Daniel Chand, Evangelist Daniel Chand. He's all over the United Kingdom. He's a renowned evangelist. He was a boxer that was facing a trial. He was going to jail. And he literally cried out to God and said, God, if there's any way, God, if you can save me from this, I will serve you. All the days of my life I will give.
And it's so funny how many I got chills even getting ready to say this. How many stories have you heard great men of God say where they made a deal with God and God actually honored it? Do you want to know why? Because when people are making a deal with God, they're speaking the language of covenant. If you do this, I'll give you my whole life. And the Lord says, come sit at the table. I'll do a deal. See, because God is attracted to the language of covenant.
God doesn't want to be your side chick. God doesn't want to be your boyfriend. God doesn't want to be your sugar daddy on the side. And there are some people that use this tithing message for the prosperity gospel so they can make him instead of Father God, sugar daddy. No, you have to commit to him.
And then you got to go beyond the commitment to covenant to say God, in good days and bad days, when I'm up in the mountaintop or down in the valley, though you slay me, yet will I praise you if I get what I want? And if I don't get what I want, you are sovereign God and I will worship you no matter what. He's looking for a job. He's looking for Job. That's the language of covenant.
When Job had his friends, all these idiot friends around, and some of you got Job's idiot friends, you haven't blocked yet, telling him stupid stuff. And Job was like, though he slayed me yet will I praise him in the good or the bad? I'm covenanted to God. I didn't serve him because he gave me a huge family. I didn't serve him because he gave me all of these material things. I served him because of who he is. He is worthy of all worship. He is matchless. He is holy. He is God alone.
And he demands my worship. And because of that, he ended up getting double. This is the depth of it. Look at this language. Some of you have never covenanted with God. You've made agreements, you made commitments, but you never made covenant. And that's what this looks like. But everybody say full tenth. Okay, what is a full tenth? This doesn't even really make sense to me, and let me tell you why. Because mathematically it doesn't. It's, it's paradoxical. A tenth is 10%.
So when you use the phrase full tenth, that sounds crazy. Let me help you. It's a heart posture in agricultural society. If you had 10 sheep and you said, well, how many would you give if you had 10 sheep? One. So a 10th would be one. So if you gave one sheep, you have a choice. Maybe I'll give God the one that's maimed and crippled and can't procreate. Maybe I'll give God the one I don't want. Maybe I'll give God the one that already cannot multiply itself.
So you technically gave a tenth, but you didn't give a full tenth because the. Okay, watch this for your notes. Here's what a full 10th looks like. Oh, 10th. Here's what it looks like. Watch. What's first plus what's best. This is the equation in the spirit. See, in the natural realm. You could say, oh God, I gave you a tithe. I gave you a tenth. No. Did you give what was first and did you give what was best? That is the true definition of full tenth.
And by the way, I didn't say this in the other services, but we're just doing a very deep Bible study right now. Melchizedek shows up and declares the blessing. Did Abram wait until he was blessed to give the tithe? It's almost like the first thing he did was tithe. Jacob is here now making a covenant. Did God actually enact his end of the covenant yet? No. So did he tithe before or after? See this? Because that requires what? This message is a life changing message. It requires faith. Watch.
Oh, I feel something. I'm about to speak into the core of your wound. I'm about to speak into the core of your wound to give a tenth of everything before he upholds his end of the bargain. Reveals that you trust he is eventually going to do it. But to a group of people who have been burned by other people. Your trust has been fractured, and you're treating God like man, that's the wound. Thank you, Holy Ghost. I figured it out. It took me seven years. It took me seven.
I literally figured it out on this stage right now. That's the problem with the Northeast is you've been broke. Your trust has been broken by politicians. Your trust has been broken by pastors. Your trust has been broken by spirit spouses. Your trust has been broken by employers. And you are now treating God like you treat man. That's why the Lord told me. Where's Bella? Bella, remember we had that conversation about hope versus faith? This is the meaning of it. Remember that?
I am getting my mind blown. The Lord loves y'all so much. You have no idea. I was walking around the other day, and the Lord says, mike, you operate in faith, but you need to learn hope. And I've always looked at hope as a lesser value than faith. But how many of you know the scriptures talk about hope and faith? Faith and hope. Here's the difference. Hope is when you actually believe. You have an expectation that God is going to fulfill his promise.
Faith is when you believe it, but hope is when you expect it. Oh. Faith is when you believe it. Oh, yeah. God will do it. But hope is when you say, oh, I'm so excited. Cause it's already on the way. I know that he cannot lie. And I'm gonna go ahead and give a 10th now because he's always gonna fulfill his end of the bargain. And he's gonna bless me so much greater than this 10th. Anyways. I don't just have faith. I also have hope. Somebody shout hope. Oh, come on.
This thing was generational Abraham Tithe and then his grandson. Man, I believe one day I'm gonna have a grandson. And I believe my grandson is gonna carry on the lineage. And my grandson's gonna say, my grandfather came to New York City with nothing, and he ended up dominating this place for the kingdom because he believed in the tithe. And I have Father Abraham, and I'm gonna be J. Come on, somebody. I am not gonna patronize a mighty God with a little tip.
I'm gonna and say, lord, you've already given me the nations for my inheritance. If only I would ask for them. I want to be that kid walking around with a holy, righteous God. Oh, yeah. You know what's funny? As the Lord changed my mind, I didn't realize that when there's signs up for real estate. My whole life, I never even thought I could have them. So I didn't even notice the signs. But when I started launching Church Across America, when I saw a for sale sign, my mind changed.
Because I believe I can. I will shall. There are things that you believe you can't have. Who told you you can't have them? Who said that? I remember walking around and it's so funny how little our prayers are. But I was off of in Palmetto, you know, with that whole Ridgewood area, and I remember prayer walk in Ridgewood, and I saw this little office space, and I would. Jericho Mart said we couldn't even afford the $2,500 for that little space. And Lord, I need a. I need a space.
And Lord, I claim this space. This is my space. Lord, I pray. Thank you. We're gonna have it, this little office space, and then, boom, before you know, it's given to us, then I start streaming out of this place. And I kid you not, this is what happens. In my comment section. A guy says, I recognize where you're at. It's the basement of a place that was where you rent videos, and that was the pornography section.
And I was literally breaking the spirit of lust and perversion from the basement of a space that had a history of being the porn horn section of a rental space. Isn't it just like God? How many of you know that there are buildings in New York City that we already own? The deed just hasn't been transferred. Oh, come on. You got. This is. This is. This is hope. I have an expectation. Why would I not? He will store up the wealth of the wicked just to transfer it to the righteous.
Oh, that's prosperity gospel. Show me the poverty gospel in scripture. Show me Jesus starving. Show it. Show me his disciples not having enough. Show it to me. Show me the. Show me the poverty gospel. Show me where Abraham had to. I love. Prophet Randall said this last week. This is the biblical definition of wealth. Never having to say no to God again. That's the definition of wealth. Never having to say no to God again. How many of you want to be wealthy? That's the definition of wealth.
I don't have to tell God no. See, because we're operating in these principles, let's blaze through the last bit of it. Let's talk about Mosaic law. Moses under the law, Leviticus 27. Every tithe of the land. Everybody say every land. Say land. Seed. Say seed. Okay. Say fruit. Okay, look at this. The concept is the tithe is Total. Is that how you say total? Total. Praise God. I'm incrementally. In another 60 years, I'll be fully bilingual.
Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit, is the. Who is it? But I thought it was mine. It's my land. It's my, my. No, no, no. It's the Lord's, because you were never getting it without him. And so 10% of it reserved for him. Next. The tithe belongs to God. See, this is the word everything is hinging on. This word belongs. If you think that it's yours, you're never going to give it. But it belongs to God.
And it's actually, from a biblical standpoint, it's not generosity, it's actually obedience. Because the Mosaic law said, hey, the law is intended to help you understand God's heart. And because of that, what God's saying is, the 10th is mine. So you're not being generous, you're just bringing it. So this is a key watch. Bring. You could write this in your notes. Bring, bring versus give. And I gotta correct something. Theologically, when you give a tenth, you are actually not giving.
You are bringing beyond. A tenth is giving. So when we talk about this is the giving portion of service, the assumption is, you've already brought. And then according to the Holy Spirit, and you're trying to say, okay, now what do I give? That's the way of thinking about this, because the tithe belongs to God. Okay, I can sense the skepticism. Oh, Pastor Mike, we're not under the law anymore. Well, neither was Jacob and neither was Abram. They didn't need it.
Then what was happening when Moses was on Sinai receiving the tablets written by the finger of God, having a burning bush experience with an elevation worship song playing and I'm just joking. When all that stuff was happening, what was happening down below? Golden calf, am I right? It was financial gold. Let's melt down our gold. And there's a financial component to it. So they stepped out of obedience and they started serving themselves.
Isn't it amazing that at Wall street, there's a big golden bull? Do you know that historically, the golden bull, do you know what God that was for baal? So on Wall street, there's BAAL worship. That's literally the same idea. If you brought in a BAAL worshiper and you walked them through Wall street and stopped them at that bull, they would literally start worshiping. They'd say, this is baal.
This is our God. Did you know that Tim Keller did a study and discovered that historically in America, for almost half of our existence, the highest point in every town was almost always a church with a cross at the top. And then this invisible line happened and it turned into the McDonald's arches and then eventually skyscrapers. And what that's an indicator of is we went from one nation under God where our highest value was God, to now, our highest value being consumerism and materialism.
Because the highest point of every. Okay, I wish I could, Lord, please give me five more hours. So when I go to Sicily and retrace Paul's apostolic journeys, the Greeks would always build their pantheons in the highest point. They. So you would see, when you go to Sicily, you see, they did not build them down below. They built them at the highest point because they were trying to interact with the heavenlies. The highest point always represents a supernatural experience.
That's why I believe partly God has called me to Manhattan to bring down every false thing so that Christ would be resurrected or not resurrected, Exalted. Above all, we need to lift the cross above consumerism and materialism. And it doesn't seem strange to me that God would put V1 church on wall street because above the dollar is the king of all kings, the one who owns it all. And we are lifting up the name of Christ over all that f foolishness. I'm almost done. The Levites.
I've given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance to return for their service. What they do their service to the tent of meeting. Okay? The law established that the tithe comes into the tent of meeting and then it is distributed to do the temple worship, including amongst the Levites. Let me detonate a lie from the enemy. I'm not giving to this church because I'm not gonna help that pastor have a better car than me. And I'm not gonna help that pastor have a better house than me.
And I'm not gonna help them buy these LED walls and buy these new cameras. No thank you. I'll just give to a nonprofit where it can go. I'll give to the guy on the street. No, no, that's biblical illiteracy. Because in both testaments, old and new, when you gave the tithe, you didn't give it to a non profit, you didn't give it to whatever you didn't designate and say. I'm gonna give you this money. Make sure you buy a new furnace. Make sure you buy what I want you to buy. You gave it.
And the Levites were in charge of disseminating those funds and determining It. So when people come and say, oh, I'm not giving to the church because I have it designated, look them in their eye and say, you're in the wrong tribe. You're not a Levite. As a matter of fact, I've been to other churches where the finances have been misappropriated. But when you read the Bible in the New Testament, it says, when you tithe, it's as if you give it directly to Jesus himself. And so here's the thing.
Even if the church does the wrong thing with the money, you did the right thing. And the blessing and favor of God is upon your life. And you don't have to worry about getting into manipulation and control because God's already in control. Ananias and Sapphira lied about what they did with money in the New Covenant and they got struck down dead. Who had to do their church discipline? Nobody. You think God's gonna let you take care of the church better than he would? Who do you trust?
Ooh. Who do you trust? The very first person that I hired for this church was not myself. This is a true story, and I'm proud of this story. The very first person I ever hired for this church was a non blood related, independent CPA who did all of our bookkeeping. And I was like, lord, I am not gonna let one penny come through my hands that's used in the wrong way.
When we went to go buy the buildings in Indiana and Long island, the lender that we work with literally told me to my face, I have never seen church financials this clean before. Because I. Not because I fear you, but because I fear God. I'm not. I fear the Lord. I actually believe there will come a day where I will stand before God and he will say, I have brought all this money through you. What did you do?
And that is going to be the moment where I'm going to say, come on, God, you know what I did. Come on, y'all. Why are you playing like that? You know exactly what I did. Come on, tell them. Tell them, God. Tell them what I did. Like, that's how I want to live my life before the Lord financially on Judgment Day. I'm sitting there smiling. Yeah, tell them. Tell them, God. Show them what I did. And if you can't say the same about your finances, today's the day of freedom.
Today's the day of breakthrough for you. Okay, so the tithe does not go to a nonprofit. I am sick and tired. Send this to all your entrepreneur friends who try to say it's a biblical principle. The biblical principle does not work without covenant to the one who wrote the Bible. And you have to understand, you don't give to a nonprofit because the tithe doesn't belong to you to designate. It belongs to God. So you got to bring it back to his storehouse. The tithe supported the house of God.
Casa de Dios. See? Did I say that right? Will man rob God yet? You are robbing me. But you say you that. But. But have we robbed you in your tithes and contributions? We're gonna go fast. Tithe and contributions? Why is this separated? This is. I'm trying to teach you something. Tithe is separate than contributions because the tithe belongs to God. The tithe. Watch, watch, watch, watch. The tithe is what you bring back to God, and then the contribution is what you give. See? It's even separate.
And Malachi. Well, you know, prophets are always angry. You know what I mean? My friend Jeremiah Johnson, he's always mad. You know, all my friends who are real prophets, they're always angry, but, you know, because they have a sense of justice. You know, prophets are like that. This is wrong. I'm gonna make it right. I'm gonna set it right. So Malachi, the book of Malachi is important because this prophecy is going forth and the justice of God is saying, hey, hey, hey, hey.
You think you're doing the right thing, but the Lord sees you, and you're actually not giving a full tithe. And what it says is, you're cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me. So the prophet is literally using the word me to denote. This is God speaking through me right now. And it's saying, bring the full. Everybody say full tithe. But why wait? Almost slapped you on accident. Didn't Jacob say the same thing? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Didn't Jacob say, I will bring you a full tithe?
Didn't the book of Leviticus say the same thing? I will bring a full tithe. See? Do you see the concept? So what happens is people's heart always bends towards. What can I get away with? We always bend towards the minimums when the gospel is demanding that we bend towards the maximums. Y'all with me still? Oh, I know you know this because when you go to five guys, you're like, I don't want a baggie of fries. I want fries in the big bag spilling over, and I want fries in the little baggie.
Am I right? Oh, don't act like you don't want that. We in America. Come on. I Want fries so bad I haven't had carbs in weeks. Lord Jesus. But in America, we don't want what we paid for. We want more because we're consumers and sometimes we go to God. How much can I get? Oh, Lord Jesus, how much can I get from you? And how little can I give in return? Isn't that what happens when we go to a restaurant? How much food can I get for the least amount of money?
Stop treating God like a fast food restaurant. Stop treating God like a. Oh, come on. Consumerism is always, how much can I get for how little can I give? But it's the opposite. In the kingdom, I'll give everything if I get nothing because he's God. This is called worship. You feel the atmosphere shift, but this is how good your God is. Covenant. When you do this, he says, I'm actually gonna go above and beyond. Now watch this. Where's it at? Where's it at? There will be food in my.
Oh. And thereby put me to the test. Oh, this is one of my favorite scriptures. It's one of the most loving scriptures. It's like he says, I know you're scared. I know that your family comes from multiple generations of poverty. I know that you have been. Your trust has been broken. You can't test me on whatever you want, but on this, I know how deep the pain goes. So put me to the test. You have permission to test God. That's a big deal. Look what it says and put me to the test. Says who?
Who says it? The Lord of hosts. Who's the hosts? See, you're skipping stuff. Are you doing your daily growth journal? I can, I do. Julie, I do need to preach for two hours every Sunday to get you all caught up through the week. Who's the host? The Lord of hosts. He's saying, all of the angel armies, I command them. All of the supernatural realm, I command them. I am the Lord over all, the host. Everything is under my dominion. And I'm giving you permission to test me in the 10th. The tithe.
A partial tithe is no tithe at all. That's what we learn from this. But I also got good news for you. Two types of blessings come, material and spiritual. And let me just because we're ending, we're ending. We're about there. Anybody who says that the material blessing is not something that should be emphasized when you're preaching the word of God has not done a close enough reading.
And they are over correcting out of faith, fear of man, and some bogus bunk whack theology they heard from another church. Because when I look at this book, I see provision and prosperity and overflow, and I see God's people being richly blessed, and I see them being able to shake the nations. As a matter of fact, when you get to the New Testament, there are no needs amongst each other because there's so much generosity flowing that they met all their needs.
They don't need food stamps, government cheese, welfare, rent subsidies, because they have the kingdom of heaven coming into the earth, and it's flowing with so much power that there's nobody poor among them. That's what I'm looking for. That's the kind of church I'm going to, Pastor. I'm going to pastor the kind of church where we are given. We're like. I call Mayor Eric Adams Mayor. We don't. We're good. We don't need the grant money because we've got generosity. Oh, we're good. We're good.
We don't need this. See, there's something about when we take our rightful place as royal priesthood and we say, God, I have everything through covenant, then guess what's gonna happen? We are gonna begin to operate in a level we've never seen before in the earth. And there's gonna be nobody that can stop us. How many of you believe it? Wait a second, Pastor. But Jesus came to nullify the tithe. Wrong. Biblically illiterate.
But woe to you Pharisees, for you do right to tithe on mint and rue and every herb. Look at that word. Every. See, this is the same way Genesis talks. This is the same way Malachi and Leviticus talks. And now here we are in the book of Luke. Why? Because these are Jewish people under the Jewish law, which means this was normal for them to think about this. Okay, let's talk about Goya. Adobo. Sasson. Am I doing good? Green spice. Sofrito. I felt the anointing. Sofrito. What else? What else?
Somebody help me out in the back. Obey, they said. Obey last service. Praise God. I felt the anointing on that. I have a very multicultural stomach. Can you tell? So here's my point. This is basically what was happening. Jesus sees these Pharisees and he's watching them and he's observing them, and he's saying, hey, you've done well to tithe on everything.
Imagine going to the grocery store and you get your sofritos, you get your Goya, you get all your stuff, and you dump it all out on the table, and you divide A tenth of all of it and say, this is for the Lord. And instead of Jesus saying, yo, yo, yo, yo, you don't have to do that. I love you. I'm your buddy. Give me whatever you want to give me, just give. God loves a cheerful giver. Give me $5. Give your money to the homeless person. Jesus does not talk the way American church pastors talk.
He literally said, hey, good job tithing. You should tithe on everything. But don't neglect justice and the love of God. If Jesus was ever gonna have an opportunity to say, let's not tithe anymore cause I'm here, that would have been the moment. But he does the opposite. He literally tells them, good job for tithing. You should tithe, even. Cause mint is really little, herbs are really little.
And what Jesus was saying is, you've done a good job tithing, even on the most minute things, good job, but also love God with your heart. Does this make sense? So when people say, I don't have to tithe, why did Jesus not tell us to stop? It's, you can't. Because whether you're gospel coalition, reform, community, double predestination, Calvinist, John Piper, Tim Keller, they actually believe the same thing. I'm telling you right now.
What they believe is that 10% is the minimum and that we shouldn't be having an argument over this. And I know that this offends people, but I'm telling you, I've preached in Anglican churches, Baptist churches, Methodist churches, I'm serious. Liturgical churches, high church, low church, and every church unanimously has had the same belief that 10% is a basis of a minimum, not a maximum. And it's weird because Christians very rarely unite on anything.
But the one thing that I've seen theologically is they unite over this. Now, why do I say that? Jesus acknowledged and he affirmed tithing. The issue is not just tithing, but it's also loving God. And others do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but fulfill. Everybody say fulfill. Okay, as we come to a close, the word fulfill is very intentional here. See, everybody thinks that Jesus abolished, but he actually fulfilled.
What's the difference? When I encountered my son Abram and I blessed him through Melchizedek, he responded by giving me a tenth of everything. Two generations. When I came as this mysterious angel of the Lord and wrestled Jacob and I blessed his life, he responded with covenant. The question is, now that he is encountering you, do you understand how to Respond with the covenant as well. The other way to say this is, hey, before I was saved, my heart couldn't do this.
But now that I'm saved, my heart can do things my heart never did. Raise your hand if after you accepted Jesus, you were able to do things that you were not able to do before. I'm being serious, okay? Because when you accept Jesus, when someone's like, I get it, you go to church. No, no, no, I'm not a churchgoer. No, I get it. You're going to all these events all the time. Oh, I get it. You listen to Christian music. No, no, you don't understand. It's not about that.
I wasn't bad and now I'm good. I was dead and now I am alive. This is the thing. I'm trying to help you understand. This Speedy Du Santo could help my heart. Forgive my abuser, forgive my tormentor. I can bless those who curse me. I can actually pray for my enemies. My heart, my Sicilian Italian heart couldn't do this. But my regenerated gospel heart can do this. And the things that I didn't have power to do, the Holy Ghost gave me power to do. That is the gospel.
So when people are like, I can't give perfect love, cast out all fear, it's the gospel. So he came to fulfill it. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple? And those who serve at the altar share in the sacrifice sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living finances from the gospel. Doesn't this sound just like Leviticus? This is the thing.
Anybody who would try to argue me on any of the points I've made, when you look at all four eras of the Bible, they talk to each other. They're redundancies for each other. They say the same things. This is the apostle. And the apostle is speaking to the church at Corinth. And now Jesus has resurrected and ascended to heaven. And Jesus literally says, you should tithe. You're good to tithe.
Then Paul shows up, and Paul's like, hey, do you know how the pagans have temple worship and they receive money so that they can carry on the work of the temple? And he was echoing Leviticus also, the people who provide the temple worship for the house of God should receive finances to continue the work of God. And the reason why he had to say it to the church at Corinth is because over the last 2,000 years, we have the same problem as the Church of Corinth.
We need a reminder that we are not giving to the house of God for the work of God. We are giving to God himself. And he is administrating the work of God. His own will is being worked out through it, and we got to learn how to trust. The point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give, must give as he has decided in his heart. And if you're looking at this word heart, this is everything.
We're gonna end on this exercise, not reluctantly or under compulsion. What's that alluding to the law? It's alluding to the law. For God loves a cheerful giver. This is identity. What happened when you got saved? You got a new identity. So what? This scripture is used. It's actually abused. And I want even all of my pastors to hear this. All my campus pastors, all of my ministers, all of my V1 college students, all of my congregates.
I am sick and tired of this scripture being misquoted and misinterpreted as an excuse to come below the tithe. Because people who have the fear of man, they'll use this scripture to say, you don't have to give under compulsion. Just give. God loves a cheerful giver. But see, what they're actually doing is they're taking an ancient scripture that was actually inspired by God, written through a Jewish man, and they're listening it through modern ears and distorting it.
Let me break it down a little bit deeper. Think about this, okay? Before I even break it down and for real, we're done. How many of you as a teenager were ever grounded for a really long time? Anybody? Okay. A lot of you. Man, we got some bad kids at this church. Okay, Too many of you raised your hand. Now I'm a little scared.
So what happens is, when you're grounded for a long time and you get privileges removed, when you get them back, you appreciate them more because you're like, man, I was sitting in my room, I didn't have nothing. Now you get what I'm saying? It's like somebody who's been in prison for years eating prison food, and then you take them to Applebee's and they're smashing all those half apps like it's the best thing ever happened to them.
Because there's something about restriction that actually makes freedom taste so much better. So what? This is actually Saying is a Jewish man is saying, we've been under the law. We've been under the law. We know that there's consequences for not doing the things according to God. We had to tithe. And I read this tongue in cheek. I read this to say, each one of us must give as he's decided in his heart. But the little wink that he's doing is, you know your heart that Jesus transformed.
You know your heart that the Holy Ghost of God lives on the inside? You know your heart that used to be selfish, now it's selfless. You know your heart that used to be full of fear and malice and distrust, and now it's full of the freedom of the Holy Ghost. Yeah, give what that heart decided to give. It's almost like he's saying, duh, we've all been free, and whom the sun sets free is free indeed.
So, hey, you don't have to give under compulsion, but give what your heart that's fully been set free tells you to give. Only a heart that's in captivity would tip God instead of tithe. So I don't read this as the cause. I am an apostle, and I don't read this as an apostle being like, hey, it's all right. Jesus is your buddy. Just give whatever you feel like. God loves a cheerful giver. Can you imagine being. How many of you have ever been a waiter or waitress?
Can you imagine somebody being so happy to give you a dollar? Oh, wow, you're gonna love this. And you're like, I'm gonna get kicked out of my apartment. Cheerful giver. That term has been so distorted in the American church. What's cheerful is I can give in a way that my fearful heart would have never let me give, and that makes it cheerful. I'm able to do something that my natural mind could never do. Three realms. Mental, emotional, spiritual.
For the history of this church, there's many of you that are trapped in mental. Some of the most stingy people I've ever met are theologians. The higher their iq, the lower their giving. The more they study the Scriptures, the less generous they are. That's what Jesus was pointing out. He was basically saying, you're tithing off of all your spices and stuff, but you don't even love God. And so you just want people to think you're doing the right thing.
Then all of a sudden, the emotional people, sometimes there's Pentecostals, charismatics, and if I tell a whole bunch of good stories about how God blessed, then they'll give out of their Emotions. And then they'll never give again until I make them emotional again. I grew up in churches where if you were preaching real good, they would literally bring up money like you were a stripper and throw it on the stage.
But in that tradition they were like, man, you're preaching good, so I'll give more the better. You preach performance based giving, but then their spirit. Would you stand to your feet for a moment? Somebody say identity. So here's how I want to end. I want to show you how this is the way that God treated you. Because I think we read the scripture as like, you should be a cheerful giver. But how many of you notice that Jesus is God Tithe. He's the firstborn of all creation.
He's the alpha and the omega. So God. Okay, okay, let me give you another one. Remember we talked about 10 sheep? This is gonna blow your mind. His only begotten son. That's tithe language. Then we miss it because God didn't say, I have 10 sons and I'm gonna give you the bad one and he can die for you because I hope he dies anyway. Think about was the language of tithe. I'm gonna give you my only begotten son. And in the beginning was the firstborn of all creation.
He gave you his best and he gave you his first. He bankrupted heaven by tithing Jesus. Now let me read this scripture again. And I'm going to read it as if God is speaking to you. I sowed generously into you when I gave you Jesus, but I will reap generously when you reciprocate. Now see how it says each one must give as he's decided in his heart. I have decided to give you Jesus. Jesus has decided to go all the way through with the cross. Not reluctantly, not under compulsion.
Oh, he didn't have to die. He chose to die. He. In a moment he could have called Michael the Archangel and a legion of warrior angels and said, get me off of this cross and slaughter all these Romans. But the Bible says he willfully gave his life while you were yet sinner. He put his life out on the line and died for you without any promise that you would receive him. So when he asks us to give, this is spiritual formation. This is me discipling you. I'm not asking you to give to the church.
I'm asking you to become like God, your Father. That's what this scripture, the real interpretation of this scripture is. I don't have to do this. I'm not under compulsion. I willfully surrendered my life. For God loves a cheerful giver. Let me rephrase that. For God loves when people, his own children, act like him. Think about how deep this goes when you're a mom or a dad and you see your children mimicking the bad side of you. No, no, don't say the cuss word. Mommy shouldn't have said it.
You shouldn't say it. But then there's other times where I've come into the room and I've seen my daughters praying for each other. See, God delights when we act like God. And this is what this is all about right here, is we are going to become like the one that we behold. So close your eyes and bow your head. I want to remove all the distractions across every location right now. If there's some areas of your heart that you're still like, oh, Pastor Mike, Apostle Mike. I just feel like I can't.
In this area, there's still something. There's fear, there's reservations, there's hurt, there's distrust. Would you just lift your hand with nobody looking? Just show me your hand. Okay. There's a lot of you. Okay, you can put your hands down. Just take a look at me for a second. I started this church with 18 people. I don't know how much any of you give, because I don't want to know. Our pastors and leaders know this.
I've stayed out of it for as long as I could stay out of it because it's between you and God. I didn't launch seven locations because I had ambition to. Just how many churches can I launch? I just wanted to disciple people. This is your discipleship moment. But I will. I'm gonna make you a promise. The Lord says, test me in this way. Right now, we're gonna do two more things real quick, and then you're gonna give an opportunity to test him.
And I promise you, not because of me, but the Lord, that if you step up into this, that God will open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you can't contain. But guess what? You don't have to. This is not a salvation issue. This is not a heaven or hell issue. But I do think that this is an issue of what's next for your life. So if you raise your hand, I want you to pray, and I want all of you to pray together. Just so we don't leave anybody out.
We're gonna pray a prayer of confession, and then we're gonna end with one last thing. So repeat after me. Heavenly Father, I plead your blood over my heart, over my mind. I surrender every area for you to change and transform and mold me. Heavenly Father, empower me by your holy spirit to give, to serve, and to live. By faith. I choose to receive a new identity through the gospel, empowered to do the things that the generations before me could never do. It starts with me today in Jesus name.
Now, the word Amen means let it be so. Can somebody say let it be so? Okay, now hold this moment and go take a seat for a little bit longer. And we're about to get out of here, so just take a seat. Now here's we're gonna do. Now this is the next form of warfare. In Malachi, chapter three, it says that when we tithe, he will rebuke the devourer on our behalf. How many of you know that the devil came to kill, to steal and destroy? So we have ushers across every location.
We're where are the ushers Here. And if you are writing a check, they're here. There he is. If you need a pen or an envelope, and then if you have a phone, right in front of you at every seat at both locations right now. Indiana, New York, all over the US Online. What I want you to do is there's a link to give online, but right in front of you is actually an orange disc and it's overflow. That's our giving platform.
Now, I'm going to give you some time, but the Bible says if you will tithe, if you will give a tenth. And I believe that this is something my family's been doing for years, and it's brought us to levels we never could imagine. The Bible says he will rebuke the devourer on your behalf. And I believe that these are principles for all believers. So what I want you to do is this. Take your phone out, I want you to tap the orange disc.
If you have Apple pay, if you have Google pay, you can set it up right now. And this is a holy moment. What does the word holy mean? Separate. Oh, come on, I heard you say it. You're getting it. The word holy, all it means is separate. You set it aside. So when you say God, you are holy, holy, holy, what you're actually declaring is God, you are separate, meaning God, there's none like you. Doctors treat, but you're holy. You heal. You're separate. You're not like them.
Man will abandon and walk out. But you're holy. You'll never leave me nor forsake me. So the question right now, in this moment is. Have you ever designated the tithe to separate your money, to be holy unto the Lord? Separate. Separate. So right now, I want to give you an opportunity with your phone to do that, to tithe and test God. As a matter of fact, I want to make sure I say this the right way. I believe so much in this moment that there's many of you that you can tithe right now.
And I would say, give it some time and come back to me and tell me that God did not work a miracle in your life. There's something about seek first the kingdom, and all these things will be added unto you. When you put it first, everything else comes into alignment. I have no other explanation for the favor that I've seen on my life than my wife. And I have continually tithed. So right now, I see a lot of phones out. So I want to make sure I give you ample time. You just. I'm a boomer.
I'll be honest with you. I still actually use real cards with plastic and checks. I know that's embarrassing, but if you use your phone, I guess that's the thing, people tap their phone. So you can tap your phone on that orange disk and then just take the time to go through and sign up to tithe. And this is a holy moment. This is different than any other moment. Oh, and the ushers are passing the buckets. Thank you.
If you are giving physical now, there's two groups of people right now as we just wrap up the next minute or so. There's people who are disobedient, who are giving an opportunity to be obedient. They're bringing the tithe. Then there are others that are obedient. But now they're going to become generous because maybe the Lord's speaking to you for contributions. And so I just want to give you an opportunity to respond. So step into the tithe or go from the tithe to generosity.
This, I believe, is an opportunity. My wife and I were sitting in a service just like this years ago, before the pandemic. The pastor that was preaching said that he was raising money to buy cameras to reach Muslims with the gospel. And the Lord spoke to me and said, give $5,000 right now. And at that time, $5,000 was near impossible. But I did it. As a matter of fact, I had my phone open just like many of you have your phone open. You're setting it up. And I put $5,000 in the phone.
And my wife nudged me because she was watching me. And she said, mike, the Holy Spirit Told me the same number, and I gave that money. And it was a hard thing to do, but I did it. Did you know that within months, the global pandemic happened? I went online, and then my online ministry exploded. And before that, I was getting two or three likes on everything I would post. I didn't really even care about social media. But something shifted, and here's the principle from that.
You have to sow into the area you want to grow. If you want to grow online, sow online. If you want to grow in ministry, sow in ministry. You sow where you want to grow. So right now, there's an opportunity to go beyond obedience into generosity. If you sow. And there's three voices you hear. You hear yours, the devil's and the Holy Spirit. And I believe that the Holy Spirit is leading you into generosity.
So I'm going to take just a minute more because let y'all wrap up on your phones, and then I want to pray for you because the Bible says he will rebuke the devourer for your sake. Amen, man. Mark my words, over the next several weeks, there is going to be an avalanche of testimonies. A tidal wave of testimonies from this church. I'm talking like you have never seen before. It is about, mark my words.
After today, people are gonna point back to these services this Sunday and they're gonna say, that changed my life forever. Cause there's something about the root of giving. All right, let me. Can I pray for you, Father? I thank you right now for each and every one. Lord, this has been a journey throughout the entire Bible, all four eras of giving. And Lord, we know your heart concerning us. And I pray God that you would rebuke the devourer on our behalf. I thank you for promotions on the job.
I thank you for new jobs. I thank you for doors of entrepreneurship being open. I thank you, God, that even inheritances and unexpected finances and things will come. And Lord, those that were faithful with little will now be made ruler over much. In Jesus name. Can somebody shout Amen? Okay, now we got one last aspect to all this. So stand your feet one more time. I know you're tired. Stay with me. Let's fire up. I'm gonna teach you one last spiritual lesson. Are you ready?
So did Abraham tithe before or after the blessing? Okay. Did Jacob tithe before or after the blessing? Before. So what we're gonna do is take 15 seconds and worship God before the breakthrough, before the financial release. Before. As an act of faith. Come on. Are y'all with me. Come on. Father, we thank you before it happens that we are blessed in the city, blessed in the field. We are the head and not the tail. Come on, somebody. And we thank you, Jesus. Someone shout hallelujah. Come on.