Have you ever heard a minister say that Sin is Sin and that no sin is greater than another; they are all an abomination in the eyes of God?
I have heard this since a child and believed it true. But had never understood why and had always thought there might be some mistake in the translation. Because, after all how could God look at the sin of telling a white lie the same as the sins of someone like Jeffrey Dahmer; (homosexual, cannibal, serial killer). I knew what the Word said, but how could this be true? Do we really have a God that is so narrow minded that He can’t see the difference between doing something that may only hurt yourself and someone doing something that destroys the lives of countless people. How could stealing a gum ball from the Quick-Mart be looked at the same way as what Hitler did in Germany to millions of God’s people?
This question plagued me for a long time and when I would ask pastors about it they would respond that God can’t look at sin, no matter what it is. Sin is Sin. However, this seemed contrary to common sense.
James 2:10 says “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Well, that is pretty clear.
This bothered me for a long time until I received the following revelation. It was one of those (Ohhhh!; now I get it moments.) Thank you Jesus that you came to fulfill the law and brought us under Grace!
Stay with me till then end here because this is going to get a little deep …
Did you know that when Jesus shed his blood and submitted himself to die on the cross, that act of atonement was sufficient to wash away the sins of the world? Not only did that wash away the sins for believers, it washed away the sins of the non-believers too. Sure it did. 1 John 2:2 says, “And he is the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for our sins: and not for ours only (the born again believers), but also for the sins of the whole world.” When Jesus died on the cross, his sacrifice was so great that it covered the sins for everyone, until the end of time.
Did you know that when God looks at us, he doesn’t see our sin? He sees us white as snow through the blood of Jesus. He sees you as an heir and child. He sees you as so clean that you may come to him boldly in the Holy of Holies. This is cleaner than the high priests in the Old Testament. The high priests were worried that they were going to be found unclean and would tie a rope around their waist, so that in case they were killed in the presence of Jehovah, they could be pulled back outside. God sees us as perfect. When he sees us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, he sees his pride and joy. That is the Grace of Jesus.
Now here’s the part that is hard for our religiosity to receive, He sees the lost people the same way. Jesus’ atonement was for the world, not just for those born again. He washed their sins too. Now before you send me hate-mail, please read on and open your heart to what I am sharing.
The only sin that God sees is the sin of Unbelief…
What have you done with the knowledge of the sacrifice God made for you in His son, Jesus. Have you believed in the Good News of Jesus’ atonement and received that revelation into your spirit? Have you believed that he is that is the Messiah and is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world? If you believe, he will make you a new creature, in him.
Unbelief is the sin that will keep you out of heaven. That is the sin that the Holy Spirit came to convict the world of. John 16:9 says that the Holy Spirit came to convict the world of sin … of sin, because they do not believe in me. God’s problem is with Unbelief. The Holy Spirit is here to bring us into fellowship with Jesus.
So since God sees us white as snow through Jesus’ atonement, what is the problem with sin?
The problem with sin, is that it brings us out of fellowship with Jesus. This is the case with all sin regardless of severity. And, this is why, in God’s eyes, all sin is the same. You see, when you are making a conscience decision to do what you know is wrong, you are distancing yourself from God. You give Satan the opportunity to start planting seeds into your mind that distance you even further from God. For example, he will shoot thoughts into your head of … You’re a sinner. You’re ashamed to come back into fellowship with God, because you’re embarrassed. You’re powerless to change. You’ve committed the unpardonable sin! God’s ashamed of you. You let Him down. He doesn’t love you now. These are lies from the devourer himself.
The truth is, that even though you sinned and failed to meet the expectations that you have for yourself, in your self-righteousness, God has not changed his opinion of you. He still loves you. He knew you were going to mess up. His desire for you when you mess up is to get right back into fellowship with him. He wants you to receive, in your spirit and visualize in your conscience, that you are righteous and spotless. He wants you to come back boldly to the throne and take your position as heir.
He wants you repent (change your mind about sin). He wants you to come to him boldly and say, Abba Father, I am sorry that I missed the mark. I thank you that you have provided the atoning blood of your Son to cleanse the sins of the world so I can stand boldly in front of you spotless. I receive the sacrifice you made for me, Jesus. Holy Spirit, thank you for guiding me down the path of righteousness. I will strive to be your light in this dark world. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice.
You know King David was a big sinner, but he was God’s pride and joy because he had a heart for God. Moses … sinner. Abraham and Sarah … sinners. But, they knew how to reestablish fellowship with God.
Everyone knows what Adam and Eve’s big sin was right? They ate the apple that they were forbidden to eat. Not exactly, the sin that Adam and Eve committed was that of Unbelief. They believed what the serpent said over God. They fell out of fellowship with God because they believed the lie that God was hiding something from them that was in their best interest. They fell out of fellowship with God and hid themselves naked and ashamed. The original sin was unbelief. Nothing has changed with human nature since the beginning of time. We still have the same vulnerabilities and Satan still uses the same tricks to foul us up.
When we sin, God doesn’t want us to wail and cry, “Oh, I am so unworthy. I am nothing but a lowly sinner. I deserve to be cast into the pit of hell for my sin. Oh God, please find mercy and grant me, just one more time, forgiveness. I promise I will never do it again.” How insulting is that to God. You are telling Him that the sacrifice of his Son wasn’t enough to wash your sins. You’re asking him to make another atonement for you because the first wasn’t good enough. God is looking at you saying, you are my child. You are spotless. You have been given access to the Holy of Holies and My throne. You are my heir. Stand up and come to Me boldly and say, Abba Father.
All you need to do is cast the devil off your shoulder and get back into fellowship with God. Don’t believe the lie for another hour that you are not worthy. Don’t believe for another minute that God is ashamed of you. Don’t distance yourself one step further from God saying you’ll get right with God tomorrow. Just stop what you are doing and say, Jesus your Grace is all that I need. Thank you for making me a new creature in you. I receive your Grace. Teach me how to be more like you.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Revelation
About five years ago, God gave me a powerful revelation that changed my life spiritually forever. I came from a Baptist/Nazarene background and knew of, and believed in, the Trinity since before I can remember. However, at 35 years old, I could not tell you much about the Holy Spirit other than you are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I was hungering for knowing more when I ran into Andrew Wommack’s teaching. I was listening to a series called “The Positive Ministry Of The Holy Spirit”. While listening to the second CD, “The Comforter”.( http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1020 ), I had an experience where the Holy Spirit witnessed to my spirit some truths about Jesus.
It was an experience that I have had since, but not anywhere near the same in magnitude. I have not effectively been able to clearly communicate all that I experienced and felt , although I have tried many times. When I do try to explain the content of the revelation and the feeling of assurance that I received, I get reactions from people like “you didn’t know that?”, or “didn’t they teach you that in Sunday School?”. So I share one more time, more for myself so I never forget, and also so that it might be of some benefit to anyone else who hungers.
I always understood (from Sunday School) that Jesus was man and God. However, I always believed that Jesus had so many more advantages over man because of His Deity. I believed that he suffered on the cross, because it was painful, but he was God, so he knew how everything was going to turn out. He was God, so He had to know that this was going to happen and that it would only be for a short time and then He would rise in victory. How bad could it have been? I saw the temptation of Jesus in the Desert by Satan the same way. He was God, how tempted could he have really been. He was God, he just touched people and the power flowed through him and he raised the dead and healed the sick and cleansed lepers. He lived a perfect life and never sinned; yeah but He was God. He couldn’t have sinned if He wanted to. There are many others, pick a Bible story. This bad seed had worked it’s way into my understanding of who Jesus is and had diminished the sacrifice and cheapened the love He had for me.
Wommack was reading and expanding on scripture I have read and heard before when something bore witness to my spirit. Wommack started talking about how Jesus was a man, almost just like me (ok, I’ve heard it before). He was different because he was born without a sin-nature (Again, been there, understand that.). Jesus had to perceive everything through faith just as I do (wait a minute!!!, Woosh!!! A wave of revelation!). Jesus had to perceive through faith that he was the Messiah (What! He didn’t know he was the Messiah because he was ½ God? Woosh!!!). Jesus had a body, soul, and spirit just as I do. He had the Spirit of God indwelling in him at a time when the Spirit primarily only walked among people. He had the same Spirit of God inside of him, just as I do now as a born again believer. (The same spirit of God? Woosh!) He had to perceive revelation from his spirit-man into his conscience, just as I do (What, Jesus didn’t know everything? Woosh). He had to pray and believe by faith that laying down his life, as he did, was to fulfill prophesy and would be essential for the future of the Kingdom (Woosh!). He had to perceive and have faith that the spoken word of God through his lips had the power to heal, forgive sins, raise the dead, deliver from the demonic, and to fulfill messianic prophesy(Are you kidding me? I have to perceive this through faith also! Woooooosh!! )
All this hit me over and over again, as in waves the stories in the Bible all started having new meaning and clarity. I felt the love Jesus has for me and more clearly understood the sacrifice Jesus made for me. So many different parts of the scriptures were making more sense. Here I am, hungering to get a better understanding of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is saying ‘You want to know about me, let me introduce you to Jesus’. The Comforter will always bear witness of Jesus and bring revelation to His Word. Oh, we have such a good God in Jehovah.
If you have ever hungered to know more about the Holy Spirit, what His role is, why He is here, and why it is important to have a relationship with Him, please let me know. Bishop Jerry Pruitt has been teaching on The Holy Spirit for weeks now at Faith Builders on Wednesday night. You ought to join us one night. Also, the sermons for this series are free and available online at http://www.fbimaz-media.com/ . Another great place to get free downloads on the Holy Spirit is on Andrew Wommack’s website (http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1020 ) If this is really new to you, as it was to me, you might want to listen to a foundational series first called “Spirit, Soul, and Body” ( http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1027 )
It was an experience that I have had since, but not anywhere near the same in magnitude. I have not effectively been able to clearly communicate all that I experienced and felt , although I have tried many times. When I do try to explain the content of the revelation and the feeling of assurance that I received, I get reactions from people like “you didn’t know that?”, or “didn’t they teach you that in Sunday School?”. So I share one more time, more for myself so I never forget, and also so that it might be of some benefit to anyone else who hungers.
I always understood (from Sunday School) that Jesus was man and God. However, I always believed that Jesus had so many more advantages over man because of His Deity. I believed that he suffered on the cross, because it was painful, but he was God, so he knew how everything was going to turn out. He was God, so He had to know that this was going to happen and that it would only be for a short time and then He would rise in victory. How bad could it have been? I saw the temptation of Jesus in the Desert by Satan the same way. He was God, how tempted could he have really been. He was God, he just touched people and the power flowed through him and he raised the dead and healed the sick and cleansed lepers. He lived a perfect life and never sinned; yeah but He was God. He couldn’t have sinned if He wanted to. There are many others, pick a Bible story. This bad seed had worked it’s way into my understanding of who Jesus is and had diminished the sacrifice and cheapened the love He had for me.
Wommack was reading and expanding on scripture I have read and heard before when something bore witness to my spirit. Wommack started talking about how Jesus was a man, almost just like me (ok, I’ve heard it before). He was different because he was born without a sin-nature (Again, been there, understand that.). Jesus had to perceive everything through faith just as I do (wait a minute!!!, Woosh!!! A wave of revelation!). Jesus had to perceive through faith that he was the Messiah (What! He didn’t know he was the Messiah because he was ½ God? Woosh!!!). Jesus had a body, soul, and spirit just as I do. He had the Spirit of God indwelling in him at a time when the Spirit primarily only walked among people. He had the same Spirit of God inside of him, just as I do now as a born again believer. (The same spirit of God? Woosh!) He had to perceive revelation from his spirit-man into his conscience, just as I do (What, Jesus didn’t know everything? Woosh). He had to pray and believe by faith that laying down his life, as he did, was to fulfill prophesy and would be essential for the future of the Kingdom (Woosh!). He had to perceive and have faith that the spoken word of God through his lips had the power to heal, forgive sins, raise the dead, deliver from the demonic, and to fulfill messianic prophesy(Are you kidding me? I have to perceive this through faith also! Woooooosh!! )
All this hit me over and over again, as in waves the stories in the Bible all started having new meaning and clarity. I felt the love Jesus has for me and more clearly understood the sacrifice Jesus made for me. So many different parts of the scriptures were making more sense. Here I am, hungering to get a better understanding of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is saying ‘You want to know about me, let me introduce you to Jesus’. The Comforter will always bear witness of Jesus and bring revelation to His Word. Oh, we have such a good God in Jehovah.
If you have ever hungered to know more about the Holy Spirit, what His role is, why He is here, and why it is important to have a relationship with Him, please let me know. Bishop Jerry Pruitt has been teaching on The Holy Spirit for weeks now at Faith Builders on Wednesday night. You ought to join us one night. Also, the sermons for this series are free and available online at http://www.fbimaz-media.com/ . Another great place to get free downloads on the Holy Spirit is on Andrew Wommack’s website (http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1020 ) If this is really new to you, as it was to me, you might want to listen to a foundational series first called “Spirit, Soul, and Body” ( http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1027 )
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Christianity 101 - Tithing
Quite a few people, over the past years, have asked me for a copy of a little mini-sermon I gave at Scottsdale First Nazarene in 2006. I ran across it today and thought I would share it. It starts off a little slow and audience specific, but gets good. Some of the information is outdated, but God's word never changes. Enjoy.
I’d like to talk to you today about a very difficult topic: Money
Let’s get right to the point:
• Our church has not been taking in enough money to pay our bills for the last 10 months.
• Earlier this year, we came to you and asked you to step up your giving because we have some maintenance projects that we have to get complete, leaky roof, air conditioners … We stepped out in faith that the congregation would be obedient and that God will provide a way to pay for these. To date, we have received around $500 on a $40,000 bill designated as building fund. We still have faith that God will find a way.
• Some say, “well you need to cut the fat”. We have already cut the fat. This church operates very leanly and we have worked hard to find very creative ways to make ends meet.
• We have been living on our savings from last year and it is almost depleted.
Where does this leave us? We are praying for an Act of God.
• It would be awesome if God would drop a miracle in our lap and give us a check for $40,000. That would certainly take care of our immediate needs, but it is not a Godly long-term solution.
• The Act of God we need is ... a heart change.
I’d like you to look around the room.
• Make eye contact with about 13 people. These people are your friends, family, love ones, associates, and neighbors. You have known many of them for years … some your lifetime.
• Consider momentarily their lives. God is faithful in blessing them isn’t he? They may have great kids, they may have a good job, they may have a nice house, an awesome spouse.
• Yet statistically 1 of those 13 stands out. Whether you know it or not, that person is getting God’s blessings poured out onto them until their cup overflows. Why only 1?
• Statistically only 1 of those 13 people is bringing God’s tithe and offerings to the storehouse. Those rest of them are ROBBING GOD.
Don’t shoot the messenger, they are not my words, they are GODS.
• In Malachi 3, the Israelites are feeling far from God. They are run down and their lives seem cursed. They are asking God, why are you so far away from us. God says, you are not right with me. If you want to get right with me, STOP ROBBING ME.
• He says, if you continue to rob me, I will curse you with curses.
• He says, bring your tithes and offerings into the storehouse.
• Then he says something amazing. This is the only place in the Bible that we get permission to test the Almighty God. He says, “Test me in this, See if I don’t open the windows of heaven and pour down blessings until they overflow”
• This is one of the ways that you show that God is Lord of all; you STOP ROBBING HIM.
• That is what we need in our church and in our lives. We need the blessings from heaven to over flow into our lives, into our church, and into our community.
So you think that is Old Testament; You want to hear it in the New Testament?
• Luke 6:38 “Give and it shall be given back to you, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will it be put in your lap.”
• 2 Corinthians 9:6 “The one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, the one who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.”
You see, God wants to bless us out of our socks.
• He is waiting patiently for us to be faithful and obedient and he will open the windows of heaven until we can’t contain all the blessings.
• He is faithful; all we have to do is make and profess Jesus as LORD OF ALL.
o Lord of our time.
o Lord of our money.
o Lord above all.
o He is worthy!
o He is sufficient!
• If we do that, he will bless us on Earth and in Heaven with more blessings than we can contain.
• That is indeed GOOD NEWS.
God wants more than just our stewardship; He wants us to delight in giving to God.
• Continuing in II Corinthians 9:7 “Each of you MUST GIVE as you have made up your minds, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a CHEERFUL GIVER. God is able to provide you with EVERY BLESSING in ABUNDANCE, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
• God wants you to get JAZZED about giving.
• He wants you to get ON FIRE about building His kingdom on earth.
• God delights when we delight in building His kingdom. Isn’t that amazing, that we can make the almighty God delight.
Some people say that we shouldn’t think about what we will get in return when giving. I say, if that is what it takes to get you JAZZED about giving to build God’s kingdom; GO FOR IT.
• God tells us over and over again. Give and you shall receive. Give and you will be blessed. Sow and you shall reap.
• If God didn’t want you to think about the harvest, he would have never have made the promises.
• Get excited; tell God when you come with your offerings that you’re excited to imagine how God is going to use the offering to bless His kingdom and your life.
Getting excited about giving to God is what will set you free.
• It will break the shackles that Satan has bound you with.
• Profess that you have no other Gods but the God Almighty;
o Jehovah Jireh – The lord our provider
o El Shaddai – The lord who is sufficient
o Jehovah Adonai – The Lord our Sovereign
• I am no longer going to make my bed with Satan.
• I am no longer going to eat the forbidden fruit.
• I am no longer going to be stealing from You God and I am putting You high above all, because you are worthy.
• Take heed; Satan will come and tempt you, but stay strong. Rebuke him. Rejoice in God. If you have a drought and your harvest is small at first, stay strong in faith.
• God says rejoice, for those who suffer for my sake, great will be their reward.
When you put God first and high above all and bring your tithes and offerings to the storehouse, powerful, amazing things begin to happen.
• Not only does God start flowing the blessings out on you but a miracle happens similar to the feeding of the 4000 and you get to be a part of it.
• God will take your gift and multiply it.
• The church will use it for its ministries to touch souls and create disciples. They evangelize and more souls and more giving and more disciples and more evangelize and more souls, and so on, and so on, …
• That’s the KINGDOM OF GOD, folks and you can be an active part of it.
While all this is going on, God is starting to pour down the blessings “EVERY BLESSING IN ABUNDANCE”
You want to know what the blessings are he is talking about:
• Deuteronomy 28:
o He will bless you in the city and in the field.
o He will bless your children.
o He will bless your finances.
o He will defeat your enemies.
o He will bless the work of your hands.
o He will bless your house.
o People will see God working in your life.
o He will make you abound in prosperity.
o You will lend but not borrow.
o You will be the head and not the tail.
• Do you want some new testament blessings: How about Galatians 5:22
o Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
o How would you like more of that in your life?
• Get right with God and ask for it.
o If a boy asks his father for an egg, will the father give him a scorpion? Of course not. How much more will the Heavenly Father, whom loves you, give you the Holy Spirit to those whom ask?
All this starts by getting right with God. Making him LORD OF ALL. Joyfully giving him back what he asks.
FOLKS, IT IS CHRISTIANITY 101. It should be taught right along with salvation.
We need to get excited about this. If we become a tithing church:
• Our ministries will explode with success.
o We will not be able to house the children’s ministry.
o Our women’s ministry will see 10 fold the success they are seeing now.
o Our food for thought program will ignite and bring in the community.
o Our Mops will begin to touch more Mothers than imaginable.
o We will need to start holding 2 services just to minister to the masses in the community that will be knocking at our door wanting to know the mighty God we serve.
o Spiritually, our congregation will be ignited; your spirit will be on fire.
o You will begin successfully touching the hearts of your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors for God’s glory.
o You will get jazzed about going to church on Sunday morning just so you can give your tithe and offering.
o God will start taking care of your every need and your stress levels will diminish as you learn to believe that God’s word is as strong as a rock.
Do you know what I like to do? I do not pay my tithe and offering by check. I bring cold cash. I am telling you, this gets Satan’s attention. He comes and tries to tempt you into keeping the money; he whispers how much you need the money and how hard you worked for it. That is moment that I wait for all week.
• I rebuke him for God’s glory.
• I hold the cash in my hand and say
o “This is God’s money; not mine or yours”.
o You no longer have any power over me. Jesus has broken the chains that bound me and I am free.
o I will never again give you the power to control any aspect of my life.
o I will never again place anything higher than God Almighty.
o I wave the cash in his face in contempt.
• You want to feel the power of the Holy Spirit pumping through your veins, rebuke Satan to his face holding the main source of his control over you in your hand and give it to God with a joyful heart.
• You’ll feel like Superman and Satan is just an insignificant annoyance. Like a pimple on your butt (pardon the expression).
I give offerings as well. This is money over and above what my financial debt is to God.
• You see, God will bless your socks off when you bring him what is His.
• But voluntarily and joyfully giving an offering above 10% REAPS BLESSINGS BOUNTIFULLY.
• Jesus said, your giving is an index of how much you realize I have forgiven you, because my forgiveness will provoke your grateful giving.
• I pray, “Lord I bring your tithe to your storehouse because you are worthy and I have no other Gods but you. I also bring an offering exceeding what I owe you because I love you and want to see your kingdom grow. Bless and multiply the offering and use it bless your kingdom for your glory.”
• Then I pray for special blessings that I want God to focus on that are aligned with His will and promises. (example, my children, wife, family, business).
Judges 6-7:
In one of the stories of Gideon’s life, he rallies an army to fight off an enemy invader. He starts off with 32,000 people and then God whittles the army down to only a tiny force. He ends up with defeating this invading army with only 300 Godly, Faithful men.
You see, God didn’t need any help to win this battle. God could have just snapped His fingers and declared victory. He used 300 men that joyfully wanted to serve Him and participate in His victory. Can you imagine what it would have been like to be one of those 31700 men whom faithlessly left and didn’t get to participate. Or imagine what it would have been like to be one of the 300 men that could stand proud and say, GOD USED ME TO BE A PART OF THAT!
Closing
You see, God can build His kingdom with our without us. The fate of the Kingdom doesn’t hang in the balance of whether we want to be involved. Because God will raise up a group of people whom want to participate and do it JOYFULLY. The only question is, will we get the privilege of being part of it or will somebody else get the privilege.
I am here to tell you that I don’t want to miss out on that.
CALL FOR USHERS
Just before we have the ushers come up today to take the offering, I want to give you a brief testimony. I won’t share it all, as I know you didn’t come here today to hear me speak. But if you would like to hear more later, I would be happy to share what God has done in my life with you in more detail.
Testimony
I am ashamed to say that I was brought up and lived most of my life as a NON-TITHER. Yes, my mom gave me money to stick in the Sunday School offering plate. But my parents never passed down and taught me the discipline of faithfully tithing. Although I knew I should, I never did much more, as an adult than, then to help a needy cause or every once in a while throw guilt dollars in the plate when it came around. I am sad to say, that I failed to pass down tithing discipline to my children as well. I pray that I can right that wrong and that my grandchildren will be known in the church community as fanatical tithers.
I ignored the spirit talking to me about giving back what belongs to God. Yet God still blessed me day by day. With an education, an awesome family, a great job, lots of money. But I kept keeping all that I worked for as my own.
When I stepped out in faith to open my business, I quickly burned through all my savings and went into significant debt within the first 6 months of opening. My brother, Matt McLamb came to me and shared with me (from sunset to sunrise) the message that have I tried to give to you in the past few minutes.
It changed my life forever. I started tithing and making offerings even though I didn’t have enough money to keep the shop open or pay the bills at home. God started blessing my life.
I started out slow and tested God. I greedily calculated how much I needed to pay and even cheated a little. Low and behold, I started being able to pay the bills. But every Sunday, I would be plagued with guilt about my tithe. God told me I needed to stop robbing him and get away from all my loopholes and technicalities that I used to justify not giving as much as I should.
I started tithing on every sale that came into the shop even before the bills were paid. This is before I pay payroll or the bills. I have been doing this for almost 1 1/2 years now. When I look at the books from the bookkeeper and calculate how much money I need each month to pay the bills verses how much money is left to pay them, I get depressed because it shows me going far in the red every month. Yet miraculously, I have always had enough money in the bank to pay the bills.
The analytical side of me does not know how it works and I have given up trying to figure it out. The faith side of me has taken over and I know without doubt that God will always take care of all my needs as long as I make him LORD OF ALL.
Can the ushers please come forward to take the offering?
I would like to pray with you today that you can hear past my ramblings and hear Gods Word and calling in your life. Please pray with me.
PRAYER
I’d like to talk to you today about a very difficult topic: Money
Let’s get right to the point:
• Our church has not been taking in enough money to pay our bills for the last 10 months.
• Earlier this year, we came to you and asked you to step up your giving because we have some maintenance projects that we have to get complete, leaky roof, air conditioners … We stepped out in faith that the congregation would be obedient and that God will provide a way to pay for these. To date, we have received around $500 on a $40,000 bill designated as building fund. We still have faith that God will find a way.
• Some say, “well you need to cut the fat”. We have already cut the fat. This church operates very leanly and we have worked hard to find very creative ways to make ends meet.
• We have been living on our savings from last year and it is almost depleted.
Where does this leave us? We are praying for an Act of God.
• It would be awesome if God would drop a miracle in our lap and give us a check for $40,000. That would certainly take care of our immediate needs, but it is not a Godly long-term solution.
• The Act of God we need is ... a heart change.
I’d like you to look around the room.
• Make eye contact with about 13 people. These people are your friends, family, love ones, associates, and neighbors. You have known many of them for years … some your lifetime.
• Consider momentarily their lives. God is faithful in blessing them isn’t he? They may have great kids, they may have a good job, they may have a nice house, an awesome spouse.
• Yet statistically 1 of those 13 stands out. Whether you know it or not, that person is getting God’s blessings poured out onto them until their cup overflows. Why only 1?
• Statistically only 1 of those 13 people is bringing God’s tithe and offerings to the storehouse. Those rest of them are ROBBING GOD.
Don’t shoot the messenger, they are not my words, they are GODS.
• In Malachi 3, the Israelites are feeling far from God. They are run down and their lives seem cursed. They are asking God, why are you so far away from us. God says, you are not right with me. If you want to get right with me, STOP ROBBING ME.
• He says, if you continue to rob me, I will curse you with curses.
• He says, bring your tithes and offerings into the storehouse.
• Then he says something amazing. This is the only place in the Bible that we get permission to test the Almighty God. He says, “Test me in this, See if I don’t open the windows of heaven and pour down blessings until they overflow”
• This is one of the ways that you show that God is Lord of all; you STOP ROBBING HIM.
• That is what we need in our church and in our lives. We need the blessings from heaven to over flow into our lives, into our church, and into our community.
So you think that is Old Testament; You want to hear it in the New Testament?
• Luke 6:38 “Give and it shall be given back to you, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will it be put in your lap.”
• 2 Corinthians 9:6 “The one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, the one who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.”
You see, God wants to bless us out of our socks.
• He is waiting patiently for us to be faithful and obedient and he will open the windows of heaven until we can’t contain all the blessings.
• He is faithful; all we have to do is make and profess Jesus as LORD OF ALL.
o Lord of our time.
o Lord of our money.
o Lord above all.
o He is worthy!
o He is sufficient!
• If we do that, he will bless us on Earth and in Heaven with more blessings than we can contain.
• That is indeed GOOD NEWS.
God wants more than just our stewardship; He wants us to delight in giving to God.
• Continuing in II Corinthians 9:7 “Each of you MUST GIVE as you have made up your minds, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a CHEERFUL GIVER. God is able to provide you with EVERY BLESSING in ABUNDANCE, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
• God wants you to get JAZZED about giving.
• He wants you to get ON FIRE about building His kingdom on earth.
• God delights when we delight in building His kingdom. Isn’t that amazing, that we can make the almighty God delight.
Some people say that we shouldn’t think about what we will get in return when giving. I say, if that is what it takes to get you JAZZED about giving to build God’s kingdom; GO FOR IT.
• God tells us over and over again. Give and you shall receive. Give and you will be blessed. Sow and you shall reap.
• If God didn’t want you to think about the harvest, he would have never have made the promises.
• Get excited; tell God when you come with your offerings that you’re excited to imagine how God is going to use the offering to bless His kingdom and your life.
Getting excited about giving to God is what will set you free.
• It will break the shackles that Satan has bound you with.
• Profess that you have no other Gods but the God Almighty;
o Jehovah Jireh – The lord our provider
o El Shaddai – The lord who is sufficient
o Jehovah Adonai – The Lord our Sovereign
• I am no longer going to make my bed with Satan.
• I am no longer going to eat the forbidden fruit.
• I am no longer going to be stealing from You God and I am putting You high above all, because you are worthy.
• Take heed; Satan will come and tempt you, but stay strong. Rebuke him. Rejoice in God. If you have a drought and your harvest is small at first, stay strong in faith.
• God says rejoice, for those who suffer for my sake, great will be their reward.
When you put God first and high above all and bring your tithes and offerings to the storehouse, powerful, amazing things begin to happen.
• Not only does God start flowing the blessings out on you but a miracle happens similar to the feeding of the 4000 and you get to be a part of it.
• God will take your gift and multiply it.
• The church will use it for its ministries to touch souls and create disciples. They evangelize and more souls and more giving and more disciples and more evangelize and more souls, and so on, and so on, …
• That’s the KINGDOM OF GOD, folks and you can be an active part of it.
While all this is going on, God is starting to pour down the blessings “EVERY BLESSING IN ABUNDANCE”
You want to know what the blessings are he is talking about:
• Deuteronomy 28:
o He will bless you in the city and in the field.
o He will bless your children.
o He will bless your finances.
o He will defeat your enemies.
o He will bless the work of your hands.
o He will bless your house.
o People will see God working in your life.
o He will make you abound in prosperity.
o You will lend but not borrow.
o You will be the head and not the tail.
• Do you want some new testament blessings: How about Galatians 5:22
o Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
o How would you like more of that in your life?
• Get right with God and ask for it.
o If a boy asks his father for an egg, will the father give him a scorpion? Of course not. How much more will the Heavenly Father, whom loves you, give you the Holy Spirit to those whom ask?
All this starts by getting right with God. Making him LORD OF ALL. Joyfully giving him back what he asks.
FOLKS, IT IS CHRISTIANITY 101. It should be taught right along with salvation.
We need to get excited about this. If we become a tithing church:
• Our ministries will explode with success.
o We will not be able to house the children’s ministry.
o Our women’s ministry will see 10 fold the success they are seeing now.
o Our food for thought program will ignite and bring in the community.
o Our Mops will begin to touch more Mothers than imaginable.
o We will need to start holding 2 services just to minister to the masses in the community that will be knocking at our door wanting to know the mighty God we serve.
o Spiritually, our congregation will be ignited; your spirit will be on fire.
o You will begin successfully touching the hearts of your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors for God’s glory.
o You will get jazzed about going to church on Sunday morning just so you can give your tithe and offering.
o God will start taking care of your every need and your stress levels will diminish as you learn to believe that God’s word is as strong as a rock.
Do you know what I like to do? I do not pay my tithe and offering by check. I bring cold cash. I am telling you, this gets Satan’s attention. He comes and tries to tempt you into keeping the money; he whispers how much you need the money and how hard you worked for it. That is moment that I wait for all week.
• I rebuke him for God’s glory.
• I hold the cash in my hand and say
o “This is God’s money; not mine or yours”.
o You no longer have any power over me. Jesus has broken the chains that bound me and I am free.
o I will never again give you the power to control any aspect of my life.
o I will never again place anything higher than God Almighty.
o I wave the cash in his face in contempt.
• You want to feel the power of the Holy Spirit pumping through your veins, rebuke Satan to his face holding the main source of his control over you in your hand and give it to God with a joyful heart.
• You’ll feel like Superman and Satan is just an insignificant annoyance. Like a pimple on your butt (pardon the expression).
I give offerings as well. This is money over and above what my financial debt is to God.
• You see, God will bless your socks off when you bring him what is His.
• But voluntarily and joyfully giving an offering above 10% REAPS BLESSINGS BOUNTIFULLY.
• Jesus said, your giving is an index of how much you realize I have forgiven you, because my forgiveness will provoke your grateful giving.
• I pray, “Lord I bring your tithe to your storehouse because you are worthy and I have no other Gods but you. I also bring an offering exceeding what I owe you because I love you and want to see your kingdom grow. Bless and multiply the offering and use it bless your kingdom for your glory.”
• Then I pray for special blessings that I want God to focus on that are aligned with His will and promises. (example, my children, wife, family, business).
Judges 6-7:
In one of the stories of Gideon’s life, he rallies an army to fight off an enemy invader. He starts off with 32,000 people and then God whittles the army down to only a tiny force. He ends up with defeating this invading army with only 300 Godly, Faithful men.
You see, God didn’t need any help to win this battle. God could have just snapped His fingers and declared victory. He used 300 men that joyfully wanted to serve Him and participate in His victory. Can you imagine what it would have been like to be one of those 31700 men whom faithlessly left and didn’t get to participate. Or imagine what it would have been like to be one of the 300 men that could stand proud and say, GOD USED ME TO BE A PART OF THAT!
Closing
You see, God can build His kingdom with our without us. The fate of the Kingdom doesn’t hang in the balance of whether we want to be involved. Because God will raise up a group of people whom want to participate and do it JOYFULLY. The only question is, will we get the privilege of being part of it or will somebody else get the privilege.
I am here to tell you that I don’t want to miss out on that.
CALL FOR USHERS
Just before we have the ushers come up today to take the offering, I want to give you a brief testimony. I won’t share it all, as I know you didn’t come here today to hear me speak. But if you would like to hear more later, I would be happy to share what God has done in my life with you in more detail.
Testimony
I am ashamed to say that I was brought up and lived most of my life as a NON-TITHER. Yes, my mom gave me money to stick in the Sunday School offering plate. But my parents never passed down and taught me the discipline of faithfully tithing. Although I knew I should, I never did much more, as an adult than, then to help a needy cause or every once in a while throw guilt dollars in the plate when it came around. I am sad to say, that I failed to pass down tithing discipline to my children as well. I pray that I can right that wrong and that my grandchildren will be known in the church community as fanatical tithers.
I ignored the spirit talking to me about giving back what belongs to God. Yet God still blessed me day by day. With an education, an awesome family, a great job, lots of money. But I kept keeping all that I worked for as my own.
When I stepped out in faith to open my business, I quickly burned through all my savings and went into significant debt within the first 6 months of opening. My brother, Matt McLamb came to me and shared with me (from sunset to sunrise) the message that have I tried to give to you in the past few minutes.
It changed my life forever. I started tithing and making offerings even though I didn’t have enough money to keep the shop open or pay the bills at home. God started blessing my life.
I started out slow and tested God. I greedily calculated how much I needed to pay and even cheated a little. Low and behold, I started being able to pay the bills. But every Sunday, I would be plagued with guilt about my tithe. God told me I needed to stop robbing him and get away from all my loopholes and technicalities that I used to justify not giving as much as I should.
I started tithing on every sale that came into the shop even before the bills were paid. This is before I pay payroll or the bills. I have been doing this for almost 1 1/2 years now. When I look at the books from the bookkeeper and calculate how much money I need each month to pay the bills verses how much money is left to pay them, I get depressed because it shows me going far in the red every month. Yet miraculously, I have always had enough money in the bank to pay the bills.
The analytical side of me does not know how it works and I have given up trying to figure it out. The faith side of me has taken over and I know without doubt that God will always take care of all my needs as long as I make him LORD OF ALL.
Can the ushers please come forward to take the offering?
I would like to pray with you today that you can hear past my ramblings and hear Gods Word and calling in your life. Please pray with me.
PRAYER
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