Transcription
Welcome, YouTube family. My name is Joanna, and thank you for tuning in today. If you haven't already, please subscribe to our [music] YouTube to stay up-to-date each week. We believe God has a powerful word for you today. So, [music] let's dive into this amazing message.
If you guys are taking notes, the title of my sermon is "Mirroring Money." Mirroring Money. And, um, what that simply means is, in life, you will always mirror money. So, if you ask the question, why does the Bible talk so much? Why does the Bible talk so much about money? Why does Jesus talk so much about money? Uh, why are we even in a series on money? It's because we mirror money. You mirror money. Which means that money doesn't make you something that you aren't. It just magnifies you and it makes you more of what you are. Which means whatever you are when you get money, that's magnified. If you're stingy, you're going to be hyper stingy. If you're generous, you're going to be ridiculously generous. Money mirrors, and we mirror money. And that's good news, and it's bad news. The bad news is, if you use money unwisely, you're going to mirror it. But the good news is, if you use money wisely, you will mirror it.
So, the Bible talks a ton about money. And over the last couple of weeks, we learned a ton about money. We learned how to manage it. We learned how to master it. And we even learned how to make it. Somebody say, "Praise the Lord for that." But we also must know that we mirror money, which means we have to be careful how we use it. And today, I want to show you spiritually why God talks about it so much, why it, why it's so important to God, and what it has to do with your spirituality and your spiritual life. So, we're going to kind of dig in today. I'm going to use a ton of scripture because I'm going to show you the word of God. So, you know, it's not my opinion, but it's God's word. And, uh, we're going to see how money is a metric for our life.
Also, we're going to look at one of the biggest questions I had when I became a Christian because before I was a Christian, I was what you would call a skeptic. And I'm not proud of that, but I was a skeptic. I was very skeptical. Skeptical of everything. And, you know, there wasn't a lot of things I liked in life, but my money was one of them. And I didn't want to come to a place that asked me for it. So, I was very skeptical when it came to the money side of church and giving. And I couldn't understand why would God ask us to give money? Like, if you're God, I'm sure you've got more important God things to do than to be asking me for money when I'm trying to ball out and live my best life. You know what I'm saying? And today, maybe you're, maybe you fall somewhere on that spectrum. Why do I need to give? What's so important about it? Why does God ask me to give?
Uh, one of the practical reasons that God asks you to give is secondary, is because the church of Jesus Christ has survived because of the generosity of Christians. Which means that if there was no giving, there would be no church. Because the generosity of Christians allowed us to build buildings, allowed us to have a place to gather, allowed us to have ministry, allowed us to serve, uh, the, the needy and do outreach, allowed us to send people on missions and, and do beautiful, beautiful things. And, and your money can go places sometimes that your feet can't even go. There's going to be people when you give to missions and when you give to the work of God, they're going to be in heaven, and they're going to be welcoming you in. You're going to be like, "Who are you?" They're going to be like, "I'm the recipient of that $50 you gave. That's who I am." And that money gave fuel to a missionary to be able to come to my village and share the gospel with me because of your generosity. So, one of the things your giving does is it powers and it fuels the church so the mission can continue. Which means that without generosity, Radiant Church, we wouldn't be able to be here. We wouldn't have a place to gather.
Well, do you need a building to gather? No. But you need us to have one, 'cause if we was outside in this cold, you wouldn't be here this morning. So, you need us to have a building. I'll preach in the cold, but you might not come. Barely hearing the heated building. So, um, so, so it, it fuels the mission. But even with that, that's still not the primary reason why God asks us to give. It's secondary. It benefits His church. It's brilliant. It's a brilliant model. His church is strong. It's alive. What the, what the disciples did over 2,000 years ago, we are the recipients of their faithfulness and of the ministries that they built. But that's still not the primary reason why God asks us to give.
The primary reason God asks us to give is because giving does something supernatural and powerful to our hearts. If you have your Bibles, go to Genesis chapter 2, and I'll introduce this concept to you. So, the concept I'm going to introduce to you is the tithe, what it is, and how it came about, and even what was God doing before the tithe. We hear about the tithe a lot, but we don't really hear about what it is, where it came from, and why it's important. Genesis chapter 2, verse 16, and it says, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'"
So, this is the first time where we're introduced to a prototype of the tithe. Um, this isn't the tithe. And the reason why it's not the tithe is because tithe means tenth, which means a tithe is 10%. So, this isn't the tithe because it wasn't 10%. But is it a pro? It's a prototype. It's a concept of the tithe. So, here God created this earth. He created it beautiful. He created it plentiful. He created it fruitful. And He gave us every tree in the garden to freely eat. I mean, just imagine you could freely eat. I ain't never been into a place in my life where I could freely eat. I've been a gunker. I got a, I was getting so many places, they started looking like, "You want another one, Mr. Jo?" Like they looking even at my own house, I start freely eating too. My wife come in, "You going to eat another Twinkie?" "Uh, yeah, Paul, I don't think you need no more today." Like, I ain't never been to where I could freely eat. But in the garden, they could freely eat, except for one tree. And God said, "Don't eat this tree. Don't eat of this tree."
Now, my question would have been for God is, you know, how your boy get down. Why you going to put a tree here if you don't want me to eat it? Because I wanted to develop discipline in them. And in order to develop discipline, I have to have don'ts. So, I put a don't in the garden. And the reason why I have to have don'ts is because a don't gives you an option to disobey. And you have to be able to disobey. Because if you can't disobey, you can't obey. And if you can't obey, you can't love, because He said, "If you love me, you will obey me." Which means you cannot love God without a tree in the garden you couldn't eat from, because you was forced. Yes, I'm obedient 'cause I don't know how to disobey. Disobedience starts when God gives a don't. So when God says, "Don't eat of that tree," that's the point that you can disobey and declare your independence from God. So God put this tree there.
And the reason why God put the tree in the garden is because He wanted you to know that though you're in this garden where you could freely eat, that tree is the Lord's. It's God's. So God said, "I'm going to create you. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to give you dominion. I'm going to sit you in the middle of provision. And in the middle of your provision, I'm going to have a tree there that's mine to remind you that I am King. To remind you that I am Lord. To remind you that I AM GOD. To remind you that even though you could eat it, you won't eat it because you respect me and you honor me."
So right here, we see this concept, this prototype of the tithe. It wasn't the tithe because it wasn't a tenth, but God put the tree there because God said, "You could freely eat of everything, but leave that one for me." And God did the same thing in our lives. He blessed us. He gave us provision. He provided for us. He gave us the, the power to get wealth and, and the activity of our limbs and the breath of our lungs. He gave us everything and He said, "You can freely eat [screaming] all of your income, but the tenth leave for me." Don't eat that because it reminds you that you respect me. It reminds you that you honor me. It reminds you that I come first. You can freely use your income, but a tenth is for me.
And the beautiful thing that God did here is God never asked us to give a tithe. He never said, "Give a tithe." The Bible says, "Bring the tithe." You can't give a tithe because it's not yours. It's God's. You can't give what's not yours. You can only bring the tithe. So the Bible says, "Bring the tithe to the storehouse." You can't give the tithe because it's not yours. And I want you to know that the tithe isn't an act of generosity. The tithe is an act of obedience. You can't be generous with what's not yours. I can't give you somebody else's card and be generous. That's not mine to give. You can't be generous with the tithe because it's not yours. You can only be generous with an offering. You can't be generous with a tithe. An offering is what's yours. It comes out of the 90. But the tithe is what's God's. You can't be generous, but you can be obedient and you can be honorable with the tithe. [applause]
Now, I'm really going to start cutting this up. This is going to all make sense. We're going to go deeper. Can I go deeper? So, in hermeneutics, it's just, it's just a fancy biblical word. You have this word, "first mention," and first mention means the first time that a concept is mentioned in the Bible, it sets the precedent, the foundation, and the framework for that concept. So, in the Bible, we have Satan first mentioned, and he is inside of the serpent. And the first thing he does is attack this couple concerning provision. He attacked them concerning provision. He didn't come and try to get them to harm nobody, to murder nobody, to steal anything. He came to get them to eat what was God's.
Wow.
His first attack on humanity was, "I'm going to deceive you into eating what belongs to God." And He came and He deceived Adam and Eve, and He got them to eat what belongs to God. And some of you guys will say, "I can't believe Eve would do that. How can she be so stupid to be deceived? How can she eat what was God's?" Be careful judging Eve because a lot of you guys do it every Sunday. You eat what's God's? The tenth is God's. The tithe is God's. And when you don't bring it to God, you're being like Eve in that moment. You're eating what belongs to God. And Satan will always tempt it. He will always fight it. The first attack He declared on humanity was to fight provision. And I'll show you why provision was so important to fight as we begin to dig up through this sermon. But He wanted to attack provision. He wanted her to eat what belonged to God so she could declare her independence.
And the reason why it was so, so important, here's why the tithe is so important. The tithe is so important because everything else you do that's godly can actually come from a humanly place. Let me break it down. If you go and give towards outreach, maybe to feed the, the people that don't have much to eat, you can give money towards that just because you love people. You worship in church. You can lift your hands in worship just because we've got an amazing band and the music is good and you got chill bumps. You can sit and take notes during the sermon because you're like, "Hey, I could throw the God out, but there's some good stuff here that applies to my life." You can be holy because you just don't want to go out and, and be sinning all over the place. You cannot do drugs because you just don't choose to do drugs. Every righteous act, there's people that don't believe in Jesus that do those acts. If you even look at someone like a Mother Teresa, she would do most of the things that would be holy. Even other religious, most of the, the practices and the obedience that we walk in as Christians. Um, there's people that's doing that without Christ.
True.
So, what the tithe does is different than any other act of service. It's directly pointed back to God. You can give to the church. You could even say, "Oh, I'ma give an offering because I like that preacher and he's cool. He's different than other preachers." Or, "Oh, we like that church there. That's a, that's a cool church. It feels different. Yeah, we give an offering, but, but that's to the church. Maybe you like what we're doing. You can even give an offering to what you think we're doing over there. They're doing a good job." But when you give a tithe consistently, that's to God. I've seen people fake serving. I've seen people fake worshiping. I've seen people fake preaching. But I've never seen no one fake tithing. [applause] Because the tithe is such a godly thing. You, you, you don't get no credit for tithing. Literally, it's between you and God. Which means right now, if you didn't tithe, no one knows. No one pats you on the back. No one gives you an applause. The only person that truly knows is God. He's the only one that holds you accountable for it. So, it's easy to not do it. And it's like, if, if you went outside, it's like, "Hey, we got someone, you know, you see these on Facebook all the time. Hey, someone needs money." And everyone's coming in to give money because it's like, "Hey, I'm a good person. [laughter] Hey, how y'all doing?" "I'm good. See, I help people." When you give your tithe, only He sees that.
That's good. That's good.
And if I kind of believe in Him, maybe it's okay if I don't give it. Wow. If I'm kind of devoted to Him, maybe it's okay if I don't give it. If I kind of, if I kind of lead into, if I, if I kind of, you know, I'm, I'm kind of in the kingdom a little bit, maybe I don't give it. So, the tithe is something that directly goes to God. It, it shows. So, so, so here's what God's saying. God's saying, "Yeah, you can talk about me all in the garden. You can walk around. But when you see this tree with food on it and you don't eat it, it's you saying, 'I honor You.'" Amen.
So, what the tithe did, it did something supernaturally because where God couldn't physically be, He appeared through the tithe. So, basically, God wasn't in the garden, but His tree was. And as long as you didn't touch the tree, you acknowledged God's presence even when it wasn't physically there. So, when I have my income and there's a tenth I set aside to bring to God, I'm saying, "God, You're in the midst of me, even though I don't physically see You." This is what the tithe does.
Now, if you don't tithe or you can't tithe, don't feel convicted right now because it's actually not about the money. It's not about the money. It's not about the money. Some of you guys in this room, you just can't tithe, and that's okay. You can, you can. When, when I couldn't tithe, I said, "God, I can't tithe because if I tithed, I'll be on the street somewhere because I've mismanaged my finances. I'm going to give you 4% of my money consistently. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to automate my obedience because I can't be trusted." When I couldn't be trusted, I automated my obedience. I said, "God, I'm going to put it on automation and I'm going to build my life and reconstruct it until I can tithe." God's not worried about the money. He's worried about the heart posture. He says, "I want you to set something aside to acknowledge me." And just like they had a tree in the garden, you have a tenth in your wallet that goes with you everywhere you go in your garden, in your spirit provision to remember the Lord and to not eat what belongs to God, but to bring it to Him. Oh, can we give Him a shout of praise? [applause and cheering]
Now, now, now watch this. Now, now watch this. Satan could have attacked them with anything, but he started here. And why did he start here with the tree? Is because the tree is a form of money. It's a form of provision. And he started with the tree because the way to introduce evil is not to bring a massive amount of evil. It's just to bring a little seed and a little root. The love of money is the root of all evil. So what happened was Satan came to her and he was like, "Hey, you see that tree? See, you would be like God, knowing good and evil. There would be a wisdom and a revelation that you would get if you ate of this tree." And what he did was he made her trust in provision instead of the creator. So he said, "You're going to become something. You're going to gain something. You're going to know something if you eat." But to get wisdom and to become something and to gain something comes from obeying God. You would never become something by disobedience. You become something by obedience. So what he did was, she was living trusting God for her provision as long as she didn't touch that tree. But he says, "Your provision is actually in the tree. The wisdom that you desire is in the tree." And he deceived her 'cause she went and ate of the tree. And instead of her getting wisdom, she actually got awakened to shame.
Wow.
So she went and ate what belonged to God. And she didn't get wiser. She got shamed. How do we know she got shamed? Because she realized she was naked and she covered herself. Because here's what money and provision will always do. It will always give you a promise that only God can keep. Money makes a promise that it cannot fulfill and cannot keep. Money makes a promise that only God can keep. Satan lied to her. The tree can make her wise because only God can make you wise. Provision can't bring you anything. Only the creator can. And so many times we trust in our money only to fall empty, only to fall more hurt, only to fall more broken, only to fall more lost. Why? Because money will always make a promise that it can't keep. And it did the same thing to Eve. It promised her wisdom and it awakened her to shame.
Can I go a little deeper?
So then we drop down to the next generation because the Bible says the love of money is what? The root of all evil. So shortly after provision and money was tainted, just, just one generation, their children Abel went and brought an acceptable offering to God, and his offering was favored. Cain brought an offering to God, and his offering was rejected. Now, there are some, there's some gaps in the Bible here because their parents had this tree to not eat. But now Abel is bringing offerings and Cain is bringing offerings. There's no law here yet. There's no teaching anywhere in the scripture on offering. So why are they already bringing offerings, the second generation? It's because the tree was a prototype of the tithe. And now they were taught that's what it was. So now they're responding with what they've been blessed with. And now they're bringing to God because they were taught this is how we honor God.
Wow.
But one of them had an acceptable offering and then one didn't. And the one with the unacceptable offering, he didn't get favor from God. And what do people that don't have favor from God do? They try to kill people that do have it. And now Cain went to kill his brother because his brother had a favor with God that he didn't have. Now, my question is this. Let's look at God's character here. Would God reject his offering if he didn't truly know how he was supposed to give it? Would God reject it? Let's think about the God we know. Why would God reject his offering? It's because God must have set up, either directly or through their parents, how the offering was supposed to be brought. Because why would God reject something without first instructing you in what He's rejecting? Which means that whatever Cain did, he didn't do it right. And what Abel did, it was just the posture. You look at the posture. He gave God the first of his increase. In other words, he says, "God, I'm putting You first. I'm bringing You the first of my increase. I'm not, I'm not winging it. I'm not a winging it giver." See, a lot of Christians, we wing giving. We come and based on how good the, the preacher speaks or, or based on how we feel the goosebumps, we give based on that. No, no, no, no, no, no. I, I'm not giving by winging it, I'm calculating that. I'm spending a week. I'm looking over my finances. I'm looking over my budget. I, I am setting aside. I'm not waiting till I get in church to decide what I'm giving. Why? Because I'm calculated. Because when you wing your giving, you're not giving God first. You're giving Him last. And He shows you with Cain that He rejects last giving. He don't want you to just throw Him some scraps. He wants the best of your produce. And, and, and yes, the percentage is the same, but He wants to be prioritized. Which means when my wife and I, when we get paid, the first thing we do is we cut God His first. We cut God His first. We don't bring God scraps. We don't bring God leftovers. We don't bring God fragments. We bring God the best because we want to give God an acceptable offering. And it's not about amount. It's about posture and it's about honor and it's about respect. [applause]
And you may say, "This ain't a big deal." Okay. But the boy that got his offering wrong, shortly later became a murderer. Oh my God. He shortly became a murderer after. Because the Bible says the love of, see, he, he was loving his money, which distorted the way he gave it, and then he opened himself up to sin. And now, because he had a root of sin, that root grew into murder. Satan will always attack provision. And I'm going to break it down in a second. You might be like, "Okay, preacher." No, no, no. I'm going to make it plain. Give me a second. But He will always attack provision because when He attacks this place of provision, it's a breach between you and God. He uses the love of money to breach you and God. Because at that point, you dishonor God and it opens you up to roots of sin. So, what He needs to do is, He comes to put a breach between you and God. And now He can start working sin and cultivating sin in your life. And what the tithe was designed to do was it was designed to keep you and God connected and keep this honor and keep this posture. Because let's be honest, when you're living a holy lifestyle, you're more likely to tithe. But when you're not living holy, you're like, "Oh, I'm not going to tithe." And now you have a bridge between you and God. And everything else just starts to unravel from that point. But the moment you start tithing, you're like, "Well, if I'm giving my money, I'm, I'm going to give my praise." Amen. If I'm giving my praise, I'm, and now everything else starts stacking 'cause, 'cause where your treasure is, your heart is. When you start giving God money, well, I'm going to read my Bible. I didn't give my tithe now. And, and everything else starts to follow. But the moment you breach the finances, you just begin to breach everything else. And then the next thing you know, like, hey, and he's not murdering. And maybe it ain't murder for you, but maybe you're a liar. Maybe you're a thief. So, he just starts with a breach between you and God. And he starts here with provision. And then he does it all throughout the Bible.
Now, can I go a little deeper?
So, the tithe. So, there's a lot of wisdom that, that goes on in the world. And I'm going to show you. And this is, is demonic. It's demonic. And, and I used to believe it. The tithe is Old Testament. It's done away with. We don't have to tithe no more. That was Old Testament. That was under the law. We're free from the law. Come on. You all heard it. Well, how I know you heard it? Because the devil's going to make sure you hear it because he wants to breach you in God. I'm going to show you that the tithe. First of all, we're looking in Genesis at Adam and Eve. Then we're looking at Cain and Abel. And the law wasn't even inaugurated until Moses. So, here you have them giving first fruits, leaving a tree to God. And then here's where the tithe is introduced. Somehow Abraham, I don't know, it doesn't say how he did it, but he met a man named Melchizedek, who was a king-priest. He was a foreshadowing type of Christ. And the first thing Abraham did was he gave Melchizedek a tenth of all his income. That's the first place we see in the tithe in the Bible. The next time we see the tithe is Joseph. He gave a tenth of his income. We're not even at the law yet, which means that giving to God, setting some aside, putting God first, and then even the tithe, all of these was inaugurated before the law.
Why is that important, preacher? It's important because God is showing you His heart. So, there are some things in the Old Testament that, yeah, they're done away with. Maybe the Old Testament in Leviticus says we shouldn't eat pork. You're like, "Well, we eat pork now, so we can eat pork now." Well, then that means that, you know, we don't have to tithe now. No, we change. God don't. Tithe ain't got nothing to do with you. That's the Lord's. We can, we change. There's things that change with us. The tithe is God's. He don't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Now, we're going, we're going, we're going to go deeper. So, we have, we have them, Cain and Abel, and we have Adam and Eve, 2,500 years before the law given. Then we have Abraham giving to Melchizedek a tithe. That's 500 years before the law ever came. The Mosaic law ever came. Now we have Jacob. He gives a tithe 400 years before the law ever came. So, before the law, there was a tithe. Then the law, the Mosaic law came, the tithe came. You have Malachi. "Shall a man rob God? You rob me in tithes and offerings." So, you see it all in the law. So, then the next thing we're told is, we're told that it's all Old Testament. Nowhere in the New Testament it asks us to tithe. It's old. It's done away with. The New Testament doesn't ask us to tithe. It's only the Old Testament. That is a lie. Now, the concept of tithing had got so strong that everyone tithed. They tithed and, and they were tithing. Everyone was tithing. But then the tithe, like the whole law, got distorted. And what happened was the Pharisees got so religious with the tithe. So, so religious with the tithe that it wasn't even about God no more. It's about them outshining everyone else and showing their money and showing how spiritual they are and all the different things. So, when Jesus came on the scene, He started inaugurating this concept called generosity because He actually wanted us to, to up the ante. He wanted to show something greater than the tithe. He wanted to show generosity, but Jesus never dismissed the tithe. He actually strengthened it.
I want to show you something. If you have your Bibles, go to Matthew 23:23. And this is Jesus talking. And this is red letter. So, anyone that told you the tithe is Old Testament, I'm going to show you biblically that it's not. Matthew 23:23 says, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your, from your herb gardens." So, He's saying, "You hypocrites, you're, you're, you tithe even the tiniest income of your herb gardens." He says, "But you ignore the more important aspects of the law: justice, mercy, and faith." Here you go. For all the people that lied to you, here it is. You [screaming] should tithe. This is Jesus in the New Testament. And you didn't know this verse was here because the enemy didn't want you to know it was here because he wanted you to feel like you don't have to do this anymore. Here's Jesus talking. Red letters in your Bible. You should tithe. I'm going to read it again. You should tithe. Yes, but do not neglect the more important things. He's saying, "Yeah, you should tithe." But let's not stop there. The Pharisees, they stopped at the tithe and, and, and, and, and they didn't let the tithe do what it was originally designed to do, and that's to keep them connected with God. It became a religious duty. He said, "You blind guys, you strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat, but you, but you swallow a camel." He's saying that, that you're, you're over here abusing people, mistreating people, and, and you don't want to swallow a gnat and miss the tithe, but you're swallowing camels by missing people. So, He's saying there's even more important things than the tithe. If you're going to just go and mistreat people, like, what's the point? He says, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of the religious law, you Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence." Which, in other words, He said, "The tithe isn't doing what it's supposed to do for you." So, He says, "Yes, you ought to tithe, but you cut off at the tithe and you made the tithe to become this religious thing, and it wasn't what I intended it to be."
So, this is why Jesus didn't talk much about the tithe because these Pharisees was beating the tithe over people's heads because the tithe was designed just to get money, and it was for their own greed, their own self-indulgence. And He was like, "This isn't what it was designed for. It was designed to honor God, to put God first, to remember God, to, to, to send a, a worship up to God. That's what it was designed for, not for you to hurt people or harm people."
Now, here's Hebrews chapter 7, verses 8. I'm going to give you another verse about tithing because they say, "This isn't in the New Testament." I hear it all the time. Tithing is Old Testament. We don't have to tithe. And I just want you to see your Bible. And if you get mad at me, you can get mad at your Bible. I'm just reading it. Hebrews 7:8, here talking about, "On earth mortal men receive tithes, but there He receives them of whom it is witnessed that He lives." It's saying that on earth, mortal man receives the tithe, which means you give it to the church. You throw it in a bucket. You give it online. Men receive it. But then it says, "In heaven, that tithe goes to Jesus, and He receives them." Which means that you don't give tithes to the church. You give it through the church to heaven. So, when you give to the church, you give to heaven.
And again, I, I want to clarify tithe because there's just so many, there's so much teaching on it because we think that, oh, well, we're going to go help, um, a homeless guy on the side of the road, and when we help the homeless guy, that's pretty much like us, us giving a tithe. I remember my wife, when we first got together, I was struggling in this area, and I was like, "Yeah, you know, we're just going to go help people." Because I like to, I want to see what my money doing personally. You know what I'm saying? I don't know what they doing. I want to see it. And she was like, "Well, the tithe goes to God." I'm like, "Well, this is God's word." She said, "No, it goes to God." And she was totally right because in the book of Malachi, it says, "Bring your tithe to the storehouse." You don't get to decide where your tithe goes. You bring your tithe to God. How do you bring your tithe to God? You bring it to, through the storehouse. What's the storehouse? It's the church. You cannot give a tithe outside of the church. You can give an offering outside the church. I encourage you to do it. Go help people. Go be a blessing. The tithe goes to God. It goes to God, and it goes through His storehouse. He said, "Bring the tithe to my storehouse that there may be meat in my house."
Now, why does God want the tithe in the church? Is because the church is God's plan to save the world. If the tithe just went to outreach and it didn't go to the church, there wouldn't be a systematized, sequential organization to keep the gospel and the mission alive. So, God's saying that, "You bring the tithe and you bring it to the storehouse. You bring it to my house. You don't get to just say, 'Oh, someone's hungry. I'm going to give them the tithe.' You give them an offering. But that's not the tithe. You bring the tithe to the storehouse."
Can I go deeper?
Okay. So, so we're going to go a little bit deeper. So, then there are some people that says, "Well, Jesus came and He came to free us from the law, which means we're free from the law and we don't have the tithe." Well, first of all, the tithe was before the law. It was during the law. Now, you see it's even after the law. So, that, that can bash that. But check this out. Jesus didn't come to abolish the law. What did He come to do? He came to fulfill the law. He didn't come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill the law. Which means, let me give you an example. The law says, "Don't murder." And then Jesus came. He said, "That's just the floor. I need to show you the ceiling. Whoever looks at his neighbor with hate in their heart has already committed murder." So, He's saying, "What happened was, because of the law, the law made everybody floor dwellers. Right now, I'm hating you, but I didn't kill you. I'm lusting on you, but I didn't sleep with you. I gave my tenth, but I won't help nobody. You can be dying on the side of the road. I'm going to give you a dollar. I gave my tithe." And He said, "What the law did was it painted a floor for you, and I'm coming to bring the ceiling now."
So, He's saying that when I came to inaugurate generosity, it wasn't me abolishing that you should tithe. It was me upping the ante. It was me saying, "Even though you tithe, you can still bless somebody." There are some Christians, "I'm not giving towards nobody. I ain't helping nobody 'cause I pay my tithes." If that's your heart, you missed it. Because your tithe isn't the ceiling. It's just the floor. God says, "I want you to be generous where you're so generous that it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you give." Yes, God. I'm going to give my tithe. I'm going to set that aside for You because Jesus said, "I ought to tithe." Yeah. But God, I want to live in such a way that that's just where I start. That's where, that's the starting point. God says that I want you to be generous. What was He saying? Generous. You can't give a tithe. You bring a tithe. Which means that when you tithe, you're obedient. But you're not generous yet. You have to give the tithe. Now, you're obedient. Then after that, in offerings is where you become generous.
Now, let me show you God in here. And this is what generosity looks like, which I ain't even there yet. And I'm praying for myself. Acts 4:32, because we use this stuff to give less. "Oh, we don't have to give the tithe. I give what God led me to give and, and I just give 20 bucks." And that's okay if that's all you can give. But you use Him abolishing the law so you can do less, not more. God freed you not so you can do less. He freed you so you can do more. And I'm not talking about in money. I'm talking about the posture of your heart.
Acts 4:32. Here's what it looks like to be generous after the tithe. It says, "Now the multitudes of those who believed were one who believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own." That don't sound like the Pharisees. But they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And great grace was upon them all. Now, check this out. Verse 34. It says, "Nor was there anyone among them who lacked. For all who were possessors of land or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that which were sold." In other words, forget a tithe. They were given houses. They were given lands. And, and look how cool God is. All the possessors of land. Isn't it cool that the people that actually had lands and houses were the people that also brought it? Because when you're, because when you're a giver, God will always strengthen you and He'll make sure you have. There's a lot of people that say, "Oh, I can't afford the tithe. I can't afford not the tithe." Because when you can't afford the tithe, then you can't be blessed. But when you say, "I'm going to tithe," then God's going to bless. He's going to make you a possessor of lands and possessors of houses because He knows when His kingdom needs it, you will sell it and you will bring the proceeds to His house. Well, God won't bless me. Why should He? Because if He needed a piece of your blessing, you wouldn't give it. And I'm preaching to myself now. I'm convicted up here at this point. Pray for me. Pray for the preacher. 'Cause if God's like, "Give me your house." I'm like, "Lord, is that you?" I don't think that's you. I need like nine confirmations. I'm like, "Wait, I need y'all to fast, then hear from God and come back. Like, my house? Like I'm trying to, you know what? Where's that tithe thing we were talking about? Let's go back to that. I'm trying to go to the floor, not the ceiling." My God. But Lord, I pray I'm found faithful. Take me to the ceiling, Lord. Take me to the ceiling. [applause]
Look at Joseph. In Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, it says, "Having land, he sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet." He sold his land and laid the money at the apostles' feet. This is what generosity looks like. This is what generosity, this is what God was growing us and developing us into. So, so if God just wanted us to, to free you from the tithe so you can give five bucks and feel like you've done something, then why are these people giving houses and lands? Yeah. And I know this is a tough teaching for you 'cause it's a tough teaching for me. But when you think about it, when you think about it, it makes sense. It makes perfect sense. And I'm going to show you why it makes sense.
Matthew 6:19-21, it says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart will be there also." We're going to dissect this. Um, my brother is funny. He's like, what you call super saved. He's a super Christian. Like, like I just don't understand. He was always this way. He was always kind of weird and odd 'cause he's just, I don't know. He like walks around like Jesus. What's the point of that? I'm like, we're going to have fun. That's the point. Like, I like to enjoy my life. My brother just hovering up, you know, in pajamas. "Why you going to the mall?" "What's at the mall?" "Clothes." "Okay." [screaming] "I'm getting clothes." Like he's just always just like overspiritual, you know. And, you know, my mom, you know, she at the car lot looking for a new car. "It's all going to perish one day." You know what? "Walk." "You walk." Okay. And he's just always doing something. So, we would be in the mall shopping, and this is my brother. I'm in here. I'm buying swag. I'm buying clothes. My brother would walk behind me and he would be like, "It's all going to burn. It's all going to burn. It's all going to burn. It's all going to burn. You burn. I'm getting these Nikes." Okay. Burn or not. [screaming] Okay. I'm getting these Nikes. But the older I get, the more wisdom I see in my brother. Because he's right. And this is kind of depressing. [laughter] Like, one day my vehicles are going to burn. One day my house will burn. One day America will burn. One day this earth will burn. One day the world will burn. So why would they sell lands and possessions? Because they arrived at a revelation: one day, it's all going to burn. [cheering] [applause] Which means that wouldn't it be better used to make sure people didn't? [cheering] If everything I'm going to use my money for is going to burn, why not use my money in such a way that people don't burn? [applause]
So, what they were doing was, they were selling fields and houses that were going to burn because they were trying to make sure the people didn't. Because the only way, the only way to actually do something permanent and eternal with your money is to use it in such a way that it rescues people. [applause] So, let's read it again. It says, "Do not lay for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay for yourselves treasure in heaven, where there's no moth and there's no rust. There's no thieves that break in and steal, or, or it's not going to burn." Jesus is saying that, "Hey, I'm not against you having things, but I just want you to have revelation." Amen. Everything you do here will be stolen. Rust, it will decay. Bugs will eat it, and it will burn. Jesus. Wow.
So, [snorts] at that revelation, I said, "God, will make me a kingdom builder then. Make me a kingdom builder." [applause] Now, I may have some new Jays next Sunday. I ain't going to lie. I ain't going to sit here in front. They going to burn. Like I told my brother, "Back up, homie." [laughter] But, but you better believe that most of my income is going towards building God's kingdom.
[applause] >> I told the Lord, I said, "Lord, years ago, I said, 'Lord, I feel like I'm called to be a kingdom builder.'" And Lord, I told him, I said, "If you make me wealthy, I said, I will always give to the kingdom." >> And I said, "And if you speak to me, I'll give it." >> I may flinch. I may stutter. I may quiver. I MAY BUTTER, BUT I will give it. >> I will give it. I am a kingdom builder and I believe that God's going to bless me even greater than he already has. And I'm going to build his kingdom and I'm going to rescue his people. I'm going to build his kingdom and I'm going to rescue his people. I'm going to build his kingdom. I'm going to rescue his people. And when I gave my life over to that, he started expanding my income because God will give it to you as long as when he gives it to you, he can ask it from you and you will give it back.
[applause] So don't lay up your for yourselves treasures on earth. He's not saying don't invest. Don't be wise with your money. We talked about stewardship. Listen to the other messages. He's just saying that if you're going to be wealth, you have to want to be a kingdom builder. If you want to be wealth and there's not an agenda to build God's kingdom and to rescue people out of heaven and to be ridiculously generous like these people in Acts that will sell lands and possessions to rescue people, then you probably not going to get wealthy from God and you've missed it and you've you've you've laid UP TREASURE ON EARTH. HE'S NOT SAYING YOU CAN'T HAVE TREASURE in earth. He's just saying that one day that treasure is going to burn. But if you lay up treasure in heaven, that treasure lasts forever. Those people in heaven are going to welcome you with gladness because you gave towards their salvation. And then he says, "For where your treasure is, your heart will be there also." And what is he saying? He's saying that your heart follows your treasure.
>> What's that mean, preacher? Here's what it means. Um, if I have a stingy heart, how do I fix a stingy heart? >> Well, I have to I have to give. WHEN MY TREASURE GOES TO GENEROSITY, my heart follows. >> When my treasure goes to helping the needy, my heart follows. >> This is why God asks for a tithe. Because now in offerings, because now my treasure goes to God, guess what happens? My heart follows. Wherever your money flows, your heart will follow. Wherever your money flows, your heart will follow. Which means if you need your heart to go to a place, all you got to do is let your money flow there and then your heart will go there. >> So it didn't say where your heart is, your money will be. >> It said where your money is, your heart will be. >> Which means that money don't follow heart. Heart follows money. >> You love something because you give to it. You love something because you give to it. That's why we love babies. So, God knew when he gave us children, he said, "I'm going to give them to you helpless, hungry, and needy."
>> And what you're going to do when you have a kid for the first, some of y'all like 25 years, supposed to be 18. Some of y'all like 32 years, but for the first 18 years, you have these humans and all they can do is take from you. >> And because you're giving them all your treasure, your heart follows. You love those people more than anybody else in this world and you would give your life for them.
[applause] And God gave them to you in that posture. You know, God so cool. He could have had kids be born grown. >> But I can only DEAL WITH THIS SMART MOUTH AS YOU GROWN CUZ I REMEMBER THAT LITTLE CUTE BABY. >> I CAN GO BACK THERE AND NOT KNOCK YOU OUT HERE. >> HOW YOU KNOW THAT, PREACHER? My mama told me. She told me. She said I WAS GOING TO KNOCK YOU OUT. BUT I REMEMBER THAT LITTLE BABY THAT WAS SET IN MY ARMS. Other than I WAS GOING TO KNOCK YOU. I WAS GOING TO TAKE [screaming] YOU OUT. BUT I REMEMBERED THAT LITTLE BABY. OKAY. In other words, God gives you in a state that your parents just have to give, give, give, and then unlocks their heart. If I came in LIKE THIS, OH, SHE WOULD HAVE TOOK ME OUT. And I don't blame her. She should have. Smart mouth I had. I'm using it for Lord now. But before then, I was using it to get on her nerves. Where your treasure is, your heart will be there also. You want to tre, you want your heart to go somewhere, sing your treasure. >> This is why God wants us to give to the kingdom because when you give to it, you love it. All of a sudden, I start giving to the church. Now I'm invested. Now, now I'm praying. Now I'm reading my Bible. Now I'm locked in. Now I'm locked into the things of God. My treasure, my heart. My treasure, my heart.
>> Can I go a little deeper? >> Okay, let's go a little deeper. So your heart will mirror your money. Your heart will mirror your money. Wherever your money goes, your heart flows. And what you do with money is you use money as a metric. Um, you use money to measure your heart. Uh, here's what I'm saying in this room. All of you with vehicles, do you know you've never seen your gas tank before? Never seen it. As long as you've had your vehicle, you've never seen your gas tank.
>> So, I got a question for you. If you've never seen your gas tank, how do you know when you're out of gas? >> How do you know? If you can't see your gas tank, it's kind of scary to be driving. How do you know you're out of gas? I'll tell you how. Because on your dash you have an indicator gauge. >> And what happens is this gauge reflects your tank. >> And I don't ever need to see my tank because I know the condition of my tank by the posture of my gauge.
[applause] >> Well, a lot like your gas tank, you can't see YOUR HEART. >> YOU CANNOT see your heart. You can't see it. See your chest. You can't see your heart. Which means that your money is the indicator gauge of your heart. >> Which means you look at what the money's doing to know where the heart is positioned.
>> This is why my daughter will never ever date a man that's not a tither. >> Come on. She will never date a man that don't tithe. I refuse. >> We're going to make sure he godly, holy, and he's a tither. When she's when she likes a little boy, I'm I'm waiting for the day. I'm already prepped. I got the script. I'm ready. Daddy, I think I like him. I'm okay. Tell him to come over. Okay. When he coming over with us, ain't no us. When he coming over with me, >> okay, bring him in. I'mma bring him in and I'm going, "Hey, how you doing, sir? Welcome into the house." You know what I'm saying? I'm sure at that point my wife's going to put some shoe covers on him because she don't let people walk in our house with their shoes that's been outside. She put some shoe covers on him. >> Darter ain't going to be nowhere here. Girl, you need to go somewhere. >> I'm going to walk him in and I'm going I'm going to have him come help me clean my gun collection. This is just subliminal at this point. I'm just letting him know what it is. You know what I'm saying? We're going to clean my gun collection. Oh, that's a nice gun collection. Yeah. You should see how good they fire off. I'll tell you [laughter] after we get done cleaning my gun collection, we're going to talk about some godliness and and see where he is. And I'm going to say, "Hey, are you a tither? Do you tithe?" And I'm sure even if he don't, he going to say, "Yeah." He going to say, "Yeah, it's the preacher, man. Yeah, I tithe." And if he goes to our church, I'm going to call the count. I'm going say, "Hey, can you pull this brother's tie? I need to know how many he missed. I need to know. This is my And then if he don't go to our church, I'M GOING TO CALL HIS PASTOR. HEY, this is Pastor KJ from Radiant Church. Jason's trying to date my daughter. I need you to pull his tie. Can you pull his tie? You don't know your daughter might date someone over here. I got you. You have me. PULL HIS TIE. I need to know. Well, Pastor KJ, is it THAT SERIOUS? YES. WHY WOULD I GIVE my daughter to a thief? WHY WOULD I GIVE MY DAUGHTER TO A THIEF?
>> That's it right there. >> The Bible says if you're IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE unrighteous mammon, who would trust you with true riches? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT TRUE RICHES IS? That's my baby girl. She's true riches. >> And if YOU CAN'T HANDLE MONEY, I KNOW YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO HANDLE BABY RADIAN. She a handful. >> YES, WE SURE WILL. I want to know. And when he missed Okay, he missed seven. We see you've been faithful with 300 ties. Why did you miss heaven? We just need to know. We're not here to judge. I NEED TO KNOW WHY. I need to know why you miss. Are you not stewarding? Well, I need to know. >> This is my baby. And here's the deal. WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT TO YOU, PREACHER? BECAUSE it was so important to Jesus.
>> JESUS KNOWS SOMETHING I DON'T. HE KNOWS SOMETHING I don't. And when people mismanage money, he got mad. There's still a verse in the Bible that makes no sense to me that when a man mismanaged money, Jesus threw him in hell. So, I don't know what that means, but I ain't trying to find out. Praise the Lord.
>> So, let's go a little bit deeper. >> Show [snorts] me your bank statement and I'll show you your beliefs. [crying] >> Show me your bank statement and I will show you your beliefs. So, so if he don't tie, I need to know what are you buying that's more important than God? I just need to know.
>> Wow. >> Because if you can't even honor God, how do I expect you to honor my daughter? >> How can I expect you to honor her? >> And maybe you may feel like this is serious. And maybe you never had that rel that revelation. And if you don't tithe, there's no judgment on you. Even if it's not an amount, you can grab a percentage, whatever. It's the concept of putting God first. WHY DO I WHY DO I ENCOURAGE grabbing a percentage? Because what a percentage does is it allows you to give God first fruits. Without a percentage, you're you're being like Cain, you're just giving God scraps and leftovers. You come to church and if you just got a 20, you throw it in the bucket. God don't like to be handled like that. He wants to be he wants something set aside and something prioritized. So you get a percentage and you automate it because it's showing God honor. He wants to be honored and put first. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE AMOUNT. It's about the honor. But again, YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO GET OUT of the amount because the tide IS JUST THE FLOOR. YOU'RE TRYING TO get to the ceiling. God, what do you want me to do? And what do you want me to give? Can we give him a shout of praise?
[applause] And I'm going to tie it all together right here, and I'll get ready to close here in a second. Matthew 6:24, it says, "No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other." You cannot serve God in mammon. Right here in the Bible, Jesus introduces his rival. >> You know, we have an amazing song. God has no rival. He has no equal. He does have a rival. And his rival name is Mammon. >> Mammon is God's rival. And God's saying, you can't serve God and Mammon at the same time. Because if you love Mam, you hate me. But if you love me, you hate Mammon. IF YOU'RE LOYAL to me, you're disloyal to Mammon. But if you're disloyal to me, if you're loyal to me, you're disloyal to me. But if you're But but if you're loyal to Mammon, you're disloyal to me. He's saying you can't serve God in Mammon. What is Mammon? Mammon comes from this. It's He comes from the Assyrian god. It's the Assyrian god of money and riches. That's what Mammon means. It's the Assyrian god of money and riches. And it comes from Babylonian. It's this Babylonian god which comes from the Tower of Babel which was a place that declared their independence and they didn't need God. What Mammon is, it's a spirit that says you don't need God because you have money. You don't need God because you have riches. You don't need God because you have income and it's this spirit of Mammon and it's a rival TO GOD. AND WHAT MAKES MAMMON A RIVAL to God? What makes Mammon a rival to God is Mammon promises what only God can provide. Wow.
>> Man comes to you and say, "Hey, I'll provide for you. I'll keep you secure. I'll protect you. Um, I'll I'll make you significant." See, nobody listens to you and care about what you say is cuz you don't have enough money. If you have more money, they'll listen to you. If you have more money, they'll respect you. If you have more money, they will value you. And mammoth comes and tells you all these things about if you had more money or more of it, how you would be respected and valued. But that is a lie. Mammon makes promises that it cannot keep. I want to tell you something about Mammon. Mammon is a liar >> and Mammon is a spirit. It's a spirit that comes upon people and Mammon comes and it lies. And I just want to share some of the lies that Mammon gives. Mammon promise you promises you security. It promises you peace, identity, control, provision, joy, freedom, and significance. But I want you to know you can only get security from God because God says that you can't even lay up treasure on earth because it gets decay and it gets stolen. Mammon promises to give you provision. But the Bible says mammon adds sorrow to wealth.
>> Mammon promises you status, but status and identity comes from God. It comes from your identity in Christ. Mammon promises you control over your life. But it can't truly give you control. It can't give you control over your problems. Because if you have a problem that money or man can fix, you ain't got a problem.
>> If money or man can fix it, that's not a problem. A problem IS WHEN ONLY GOD IS YOUR SOLUTION. That's a problem. There's people that got money and there's sicknesses that that there's no cure they can buy, but the hand of God can touch them and make a sick person whole.
>> Joy comes from the Lord, not resources. There's people with millions of dollars blowing their brains out.
>> And then people tell you you're free. Hey, hey, you need to get money so you can be free. No, money does not make you free. It can make you financially free, but you can be a slave to drugs and have money. a slave to alcoholism to have money. A slave to lust and have money. The Bible SAYS WHO THE SON SETS FREE IS free indeed. Money can't set you free. Sometimes it'll put you in a bigger snare. And significance comes from God because like we learned everything that we build eventually will burn. And legacy comes from God. How can you not be a giver? Because everything you gave that leads to the saving of souls returns back to you in heaven. I want you to know you cannot serve God and you cannot serve mammon. And every single dollar in your account has a spirit on it.
>> God. >> And you decide it. >> You decide if it has a spirit of mammon >> or if it has the spirit of God on it. >> But how you steward and use your finances. And this is why we give the tithe is because the tithe redeems the 90. >> It redeems it. >> The tide redeems the 90. >> The tide redeems the 90. So Mammon is God's rival. You can't serve God and Mammon. Why? Mammon is a master. And a mammon is a master and he wants to be served. And Mammon, Mammon is the second most powerful spirit on earth. The most powerful spirit on earth is God. Mammon is second. If I ask many of you guys, who is God's rival? You would say Satan. Satan is not God's rival. Let me tell you why. It's because nobody willingly follows the devil. But most people willingly follow Mammon.
>> So the devil uses Mammon as a smoke screen because you'll choose Mammon, but you won't choose Satan. >> And Mammon is trusting and loving in money. The moment you love money, Mammon appears.
>> And Mammon is dangerous. And Mammon is nasty. And he's the second most powerful spirit on earth. LET ME SHOW YOU HOW POWERFUL MAMMON IS. I would imagine if the antichrist came, he would use America or Russia and he WOULD USE THE NUCLEAR POWER to threaten the world to get control.
>> Yes. >> And in our Bible, we see no hint of the antichrist using nuclear power. You know what he does to get you to take the mark? YOU CAN'T BUY OR SELL UNLESS YOU take the mark. HE USED MAMMON TO TAKE THE world over.
>> He didn't need a bomb. He didn't need a gun. HE DIDN'T NEED A NUCLEAR WEAPON. He used mammon. >> He said, "You can't buy or sell unless you take this mark." And they're going to take it by the millions.
>> Because they're GOING TO GET SO SCARED of provision, THEY'RE GOING TO SELL their soul to the devil.
>> He will use PROVISION THE SAME WAY HE DID AGAINST Eve in the garden. IN THE SAME WAY HE DID ALL THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE. HE WILL USE PROVISION TO GET YOU TO DISOBEY GOD because he knows provision is linked with mammon.
>> Want me to tell you why? CUZ IF HE USE SOME PEOPLE I GOT A BOMB TOO. I GOT A GUN TOO. MAMMON. OKAY, we'll we'll we'll get in line.
>> Why? Because we serve >> mammon.
>> And this is why God said you can't serve God and mammon. I'm going to prove it to you. I'll show you a story in the Bible. I shared earlier in the series, the rich young ruler.
>> He said, "I kept all the commandments since I was a boy." I think he was lying.
>> And then Jesus said, "Okay, if you want to be perfect," which means whole, mature in Christ, he says, "Sell all that you have." He says, "Sell all that you have and give it to the poor."
>> And it said the rich young ruler walked away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
>> In other words, he served mamine. Yes, >> he served men and he met the master Jesus.
>> And when Jesus met him, he's hearing all the things he's saying and Jesus is saying, "Okay, you want to follow me?
>> I need you to make A CHOICE RIGHT NOW BETWEEN ME AND MAMMON.
>> I need you to choose." >> And he said, "I need you to sell and give." This is important. Why? Because he didn't try to cast the spirit of mammon out of him. He didn't try to rebuke the spirit of mammon out of him. He didn't try to deliver a spirit of mammon out of him. He said you have to give your way out of mammon.
>> YOU GOT TO GIVE YOUR way out of this spirit. ONLY GENEROSITY BREAKS THE POWER IN THE BACK OF MAMMON.
>> YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T NOBODY LAY HAND. I CAN'T DO ALL THE CALL FOR THIS ONE. WE CAN'T LAY HANDS FOR THIS. WE CAN'T PRAY FOR THIS. WE CAN'T DELIVER FOR THIS. YOU HAVE TO GIVE YOUR WAY OUT of mammon. Wow.
>> My God. >> WOW. >> WHEN HE HAD THE SPIRIT OF MAMMON, JESUS GAVE US THE RECIPE TO MAMMON. SELL ALL THAT YOU HAVE. WHY? BECAUSE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE has mammoth spirit on it. We can't use that money. It got mammon on it.
>> Wow. >> And I need you to give to the poor. And then he said, "You have treasure in heaven."
>> And he said, "No, no, no. I want treasure on earth where thieves and moths and rust breaks in and steal." And he left Jesus to follow Mammon. He chose his master. MY QUESTION FOR YOU IS who do you serve? DO YOU SERVE JESUS OR do you serve mammon? DO YOU SERVE JESUS OR DO YOU SERVE MAMMON? WHO DO YOU SERVE?
[screaming] >> WHO DO you serve? >> And if you serve mammon, >> Jesus is going to meet you at a crossroad >> and he's going to ask you to give.
>> And when you can't do it, you will know who you serve.
>> God, >> you will know who you serve. My God.
>> And this is why he said you can't serve God and Mammon because the boy would have denounced the devil on the spot.
>> Yeah. >> He denounced everything, but he couldn't denounce Mammon. You see these entertainers and all these people in the world.
>> You think they sold their soul to the devil? They sold their soul to Mammon. Then Mammon brought them to the devil.
>> And I want you to know Mammon is wicked.
>> He is evil. He is unkind. He's an unclean spirit. He is no good. and he will use you and abuse you, then he will expose you.
>> I've seen them firsthand. I've seen him break. I I I I've done counseling for people that's dying of cancer on their deathbed >> and I've seen the most miserable thing happen to them. MAMMON IS SO EVIL AND HE'S SO cruel that on your deathbed, he breaks. THE SPIRIT OF MAMMON BREAKS on your deathbed >> and then the scales fall off your eyes and then you start saying stuff like I worked my whole life to get money and what was the point? I should have loved my kids and I I should have spent time with my family and and I should have went to church and I should have followed God and I should have helped people and I should have GAVE BECAUSE MAMMON IS SO CRUEL. He don't want you to die without knowing you was used.
>> He don't want you to die without knowing you was deceived. HE LITERALLY BREAKS the veil off of your eyes SO YOU CAN DIE GRIEVING THAT YOU LET HIM PLAY YOU.
>> THAT IS THE SPIRIT OF MAMMON. HE IS WICKED AND he is evil and he will give you every reason to not give to God.
>> Oh, you don't BELIEVE MAMMON EXISTS? TRY to decide to give to God and watch the things you start hearing. Ah, you don't have enough. Oh, it's Christmas time. Oh, IT'S THE HOLIDAYS. OH, YOU VOLUNTEER. YOU DO SO MUCH. OH, YOU YOU YOU DON'T HAVE TO GIVE. LOOK WHAT YOU DO. AND ALL THESE THINGS YOU START HEARING. IT'S A SPIRIT OF MAMMON TALKING TO YOU.
[cheering] [applause] WHAT'S THE JUSTIFICATIONS AND THE CREATIVITY YOU GET TO BE STINGY? >> OH, WELL, you got to wait. Well, well, YOU YOU GOT YOU GOT TO DO THIS FIRST. And and he gives you all the reasons.
>> He gives you all the reasons.
>> You can't give. You find a percentage. You automate your obedience. And you give and you fight past the lies. You got people that want to give to the church cuz you know all the church do is is want money and then he has all these lies and all they want you for IS YOUR MONEY. THAT'S ALL EVERYBODY wants you for is your money. Only place you can come to for free. It's a lie. But it's from the spirit of Mammon because the moment Mammon gets in your life, it separates you from God.
>> Jesus. >> Mammon made Cain kill Abel.
>> Mammon made Eve eat the forbidden tree. And lastly, as I get ready to close, mammon is the source of all evil in our planet.
>> What is war for, mammon?
>> What is sex trafficking for? Mammon.
>> Well, what is what is all the cruelty you see in the world for? It's all for mammon. I want to show you something. Jesus is in the garden and guess who comes for him? Mammon. Come on.
>> You fasted for 40 days and he says >> God, >> turn this stone into bread.
>> Translation, instead of trusting God for provision, provide for yourself.
[cheering] >> The spirit of mammon CAME FOR JESUS. THEN IT TURNED AROUND AND SAID, "CAST YOURSELF OFF THE PINNACLE." So in other words, he's saying because you're a god, show your supernatural power SO PEOPLE CAN BOW to you and you can be famous and have great influence. Mammon, and we see it all in the entertainment world.
>> THEN LASTLY, HE SAID, I GIVE YOU ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD IN THEIR GLORY, IN THEIR WEALTH, IF YOU BOW down and worship me. Mammon, mammon, mammon is what he offered Jesus. AND WHAT DID JESUS SAY? YOU SHALL SERVE THE LORD THY GOD ONLY, AND HIM ONLY CAN YOU SERVE.
>> [applause] >> WHY DID HE SAY SERVE? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SERVE GOD AND YOU CAN'T SERVE MAMMON AT THE SAME TIME.
>> I will worship the Lord THY GOD AND HIM ONLY SHALL I SERVE. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU'RE BRINGING me another God to serve and I can't SERVE ANOTHER GOD. WHO DO YOU SERVE? DO YOU SERVE GOD OR DO YOU SERVE MAMMON?
>> WOW, what a powerful message. We hope it blessed [music] you. Make sure to share with your friends, your family members, and your co-workers so that they can be blessed as well.