Giving

Let me ask you a question that I know will hit home. Do you trust God with your money or just with your prayers? Because how you handle your finances is one of the clearest reflections of your heart. Matthew 6, 21 says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. Again, for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. You cannot say Jesus is the Lord over your life while holding back the one area most people refuse to surrender, their money. Let's be clear. This teaching is not about manipulation. It's about honor. Giving is not a church strategy. It's a kingdom principle. It's not about paying God. It's about worshiping Him. Are there many churches that are just ran like a business or a corporation that are all about the money? Yes, but a true church of God, where God's presence is, where He dwells, where it's His actual body part, like the church is actually the body of Christ, and that one building is where a body part meets together, an ecclesia, a fellowship. A true church of God is not about the business. They're about kingdom business. You see, God doesn't need our finances.

It's a form of worship. A true church of God is always gonna be taken care of by God because it's His church, just like us in our lives. He's Jehovah Jireh over everything, our lives, our church, our finances, our wife, our kids. He's the provider. So let's talk about three biblical categories of giving. And before I get into these three categories, I just wanna say this. The Bible says three things we're supposed to do in private. There are three things. And let me tell you something. If I was to ask you a Christian who doesn't pray, are they really saved? You probably would say no. If I said a Christian who doesn't fast and doesn't believe in fasting or doesn't wanna fast or wanna pray, what would you say about that Christian? He's probably not filled with the Holy Spirit because if you're filled with the Spirit, you're gonna wanna pray. You're gonna wanna fast, right? Now, the third one, if I was to say a Christian who doesn't tithe, offer, first fruits, give unto the house of God, are they a real Christian? Some of you will say, yes, they're a real Christian. It doesn't matter. They can give how they want. They can give to the point you'll manifest. But Jesus said to do three things in private.

Give, fast, and pray. Read the Scriptures. He said what you do privately is how God will reward you openly. We don't do these things for reward. We pray because we miss God and we love Him. Intimacy, we fast because we wanna get closer to God. Not that God is far away, but to beat down our flesh so we can hear and be sensitive to the Spirit of God even more. And the third way, we give as a form of worship as well to get closer to God. Yes, it's a tool, money, unrighteous mammon, but it's your heart that God's looking at. So when you give the one thing that people love, which is money, unto God, and it takes a lot of faith because you gotta understand that it's really God's house. That's when things start getting exposed, when it's something like money that a lot of people are enslaved to. The Bible says you can't serve God and mammon. You'll hate one and love the other. So when you love God, you're not gonna be tripping about money, but you might go through a little stronghold breaking from poverty in your bloodline, from striving and being greedy in your bloodline, and a familiar spirit or stronghold that God wants to break. And for some of you, He's even gonna break it right now.

Giving is so important. It's an act of worship from your heart. And the Bible gives us the formula. He gives us, the Scriptures give us the formula or the instruction on how to fast, on how to pray, and also how to give. And some of you will say, well, giving is not part of the new dispensation, but look, Abraham tithed unto Melchizedek before the law was even established. If you wanna go deeper, before the 613 Mosaic laws, laws were given to Moses, Abraham tithed a 10th of the enemy's spoils unto Melchizedek, which is a Christ type, had no father, no mother, right? The King of Salem, the Prince of Salem, the Prince of Peace, Salem means peace. That's a whole nother study, but what I'm trying to say is, Abraham had this revelation of tithing in his heart unto God. He understood it, and he was blessed because of it. So let's break up the three biblical categories of giving. Number one is the tithe. And the word tithe means 10th. And according to Malachi 3.10, it says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house and try me now in this, if I will not open up for you the windows of heaven.

Tithing isn't generosity, it's obedience. It's returning to God, what already belongs to him. It's how we honor him with the first portion of all he gives. The tithe goes to your local church, the place. that feeds you spiritually. And for some of you, you're at this international group that you're part of, just as either, you know, collectively watching sermons and being part of the telegram. This might be your church right now, but I encourage you to find a local church eventually to tithe into. But until then, we can be that church. Look, it's obedience. And I'm not saying it because we want your money. That's not about, that's not the reason why. It's because it's obedience that blesses you. Anything you do in obedience, as we spoke about it, will bring blessings in your life. And again, it's returning back to God what's owed. Some of you will say that was a Levitical law, a 10%. That's not for today. Let me tell you something. The Old Testament has revelation that we can bring into the New Testament. That's why the Apostle Paul mentioned a Mosaic law saying, you should not muzzle an ox.

Those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. Why did he reference not muzzling an ox, which was an actual Mosaic law? It was one of the 613 laws. He brought revelation from the Old Covenant. He brought revelation of a New Covenant, a New Covenant understanding, which is that the ox now who's plowing is those who preach the gospel, those who are in full-time ministry. And what you reap is what you sow. When you support God's work, when you support pastors, local churches, where the presence of God genuinely is, make sure you're giving onto an altar or a church that truly is of God, and you'll know by his presence. Not perfection, because no church is perfect. No human's perfect. We all are flawed, but you'll know by their fruit. We spoke about it. Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, right? The obedience, repentance, confession, truly building a relationship with God. If your church is doing that and you know he's there because you know his presence, make sure you give your tithe. It's obedience. The place that feeds you spiritually. And again, the rock might be a place that feeds you spiritually.

Make sure you give your tithe. And I'm saying this just so you can be in obedience to what God is saying in his word. It allows ministry to function and expand and expand and continue. And I always believe, I'm a firm believer in this. God doesn't need our money. I've seen God move in supernatural ways. I've seen how, you know, we started off, you know, with a lot of young people, and we still have a lot of young people who are still growing in this. And God, even though locally we don't get what we need to keep the church functioning and running sometimes, internationally God can even send people in or have people come and visit and just give what we need to pay the rent, to pay the full-time staff, to keep the church going. There's a lot that comes into it, but God makes sure we're good. So you're not giving because, oh, I feel bad. I want the ministry to continue. No, you're giving to God as a form of worship, knowing it's gonna continue regardless, but you wanna partner with what God is doing in a form of worship, which is sowing. And more importantly, again, it positions your finances under God's protection and provision.

According to the scripture, he'll protect your finances. He'll overflow you in the timing that you need. For some of you, God is working that spirit of poverty or that fear of mammon out of your heart. The fear of mammon is one of the biggest attacks for Christians. I'm being straight up. Nobody wants to give up your money. You know that saying, your money is where your mouth is. Nobody wants to give up money. That's the one thing people die over, fight over, families split up over, divorces happen over, is money. The Bible says in Luke 16, it's unrighteous. It means it can't give you right standing with God. It's just a tool that's used here. It's just flesh, it's carnal. But God says that we can use it to make friends, to build the kingdom. There's different things that the Bible talks about, how we can use and adapt to use money to expand the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven, hallelujah. Money's not in heaven, but what I'm saying is to expand the kingdom, to bring the saving of souls is how you expand the kingdom, disciples being made. The Holy Spirit dwells in people. The Bible says that the spirit of God is the restrainer, keeps chaos from taking off in this world. You know, one day the restrainer will be lifted

and there'll be great tribulation. But what I'm saying is right now, the church, the spirit of God that lives through us, the body of Christ, the people who are saved is what keeps everything on this earth in order, hallelujah. And so your finances are under God's protection when you sow onto his church, onto him continuing to advance the kingdom. It's just partnership. Again, he don't need your money, but you need to be obedient. Let's talk about first fruits, number two. We talked about the first one, which is tithing. Let's talk about first fruits. First fruits, not the same as a tithe. While the tithe is a tenth of your income, first fruits is a special offering, often from the first of something new. For example, the first paycheck of the year, a new business increase, a new opportunity. Proverbs 3.9 says, the Lord with your possessions and the first fruits of all your increase. Let me tell you something, if you don't wanna give, and let's say for the rest of your life, you're like, I'm not tithing, I'm not offering, I'm not giving first fruits, I'm gonna give whenever I feel it. Does that mean you'll end up in hell? No, but I'll tell you something,

you're probably not bearing a fruitful life. You're probably not seeing God moving your life like he could, because this one area of your heart, you're not surrendering to God. You'll fast, you'll pray, but when it comes to giving, you have all these issues, all these objections, and now you've created your own doctrine, even though the scriptures are very clear. First fruits is real, it's a revelation from the Old Testament that we can bring to new covenant and have revelation and do it from a place of love. When I tithe, I don't do it because I must do it or else I do it because I love God. The scriptures say that when we tithe, when we give a tithe and offering, that he'll overflow us, it does talk about that. That's something to say, yes, praise God about, but at the end of the day, we do it in obedience because we love God. That's the new covenant revelation, that we're not doing these things from a legalistic perspective, like I must do this or I am in sin. No, that's a robot. We do it now because we have revelation of who Jesus is, we've been born again, we know him, and we do it from a place of love. We see the church being expanded through local churches and online ministries. We love what's happening.

We get plugged into a local ministry or maybe even again, the rock that might be your, this might be your actual ministry until the Holy Spirit brings you to a church. For some of you, there might not be any churches near you. You might be in, I don't know, Antarctica or China or somewhere, and this might be your ministry. This is a great place to tithe and give your first fruits. First fruits is about trust. It says, God, before I touch anything, I acknowledge you as my source. Let's talk about the offering. Offerings are anything above and beyond your tithe. So the Bible says in Malachi 3, your tithe and offering. So let's say, for example, you make $2,000 a month. Your tithe would be 200. Now let's say you give $220. That $20 is an offering. And then let's say in that same month, you get, you know, let's say you get a check from, I don't know, from the IRS that they forgot to pay you for $500. You'd give your first fruit. It might be a portion or the full thing to God, saying, God, I'm giving you generously. I'm giving a first fruit of my increase. It's just, it's biblical, bro, and it's how you stay blessed. I'm telling you, I don't do it to stay blessed, but I know that's what it births.

Because the Bible says, God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he's gonna reap. So when you sow trust in God in your heart with your finances, you're gonna reap abundance so you can give to more, because he'll trust you with more, because he knows you'll take care of other people. He can't trust somebody who's stingy. He can't trust somebody that's all about themselves. He trusts those he knows will give to others. When you give out of love and joy, not pressure, it moves the heart of God. Giving to the poor is very important, almsgiving. The Bible says that Cornelius, because of his alms and prayer, had a monument in heaven that brought salvation to his whole household. This is biblical in the book of Acts. Go look it up. Giving to the poor is extremely important. Those who take care of others will be refreshed. You give to the poor, God, he'll take care of you. I'm telling you, it's biblical. When you walk past a poor person, you should ask yourself, Holy Spirit, what do you want me to get them? Every time I go to the 7-Eleven or a gas station, you know, I'm always looking out for that. And when I see those people, I ask Holy Spirit. He'll say, don't give them money, go get them some water.

Go get them some food, and I'll ask them. I'll get them cookies. I'll get them a pizza. I'll take care of God's creation, because he loves them, right? And offerings, again, maybe is above anything that you tithe, and this could be to give to missions, blessing someone in need, sowing into revival, or helping a family that struggles. For some of you, you might be part of a local church where you tithe, but you're also blessed by the rock. There's ministry, and might wanna give your offering to the rock. That's okay. Your tithe goes to your local church that primarily feeds you, and that might be the rock, but your offering goes to anything above that. So you might give an offering onto the rock. You might wanna help a brother or sister out in the church. That's an offering, and you might pull up to a remnant revival event, and you give an offering. It's really important to know what an offering is, and a tithe, and a first fruit. Offerings is where generosity flows. Second Corinthians 9, seven. Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. Two words, grudgingly and necessity. You don't give because you're scared

that I'm not obeying the word of God. I'm gonna go to hell, or I'm gonna have poverty. That's not good. That's not a revelation of love. Just like I don't say I'm gonna fast, or I'm gonna have a demon, or I need to pray. If I don't pray, God is gonna look at me like he's, no, I don't do that. I pray because I love God, and I wanna talk to him. fast because I want to beat down the flesh and be in the spirit just like I give because I love God and I worship him for my giving the one thing that people don't want to give up so not of not grudgingly or of necessity grudgingly is doing it with regret some people do it in the church they're like oh here goes the offering message oh there goes your money that's grudgingly you won't be blessed when you give God is looking at your heart it's not about how much you give it's how you give and God loves a cheerful giver so if you're not cheerful when you give your tithe your offering or your first fruit or to the poor is it a God problem it's a you problem you need to get deliverance you need to break those strongholds with the word of God meditate on the scriptures do your research get in the word study to show yourself approved and you will see Abraham tithed to Melchizedek before the law Paul brought New Testament revelation of Old Testament principles or Old Testament laws you'll see the muzzling of the ox the preacher of the gospel this is all real things and when you give out of love it does move the heart of God and let's be real money reveals trust you can't say I trust God with my future while refusing to trust Him with your paycheck it's just the truth how are you going to say that giving doesn't make you saved but it shows your surrender it's not about how much you give it's the posture of your heart so here's why here's what I challenge you to do tithe consistently that means go get your monthly statement with you alone with your spouse your family know how much you guys make monthly you have jobs if you don't need to get one you know how much comes in at the end of the month calculate it you should be doing this already proper stewards of your money because it's not even your money it's God's God is allowing you to steward it's not your life anymore it's His it's not you who lives but Christ who lives in you look guys we're not here about us anymore

so our money's not even ours anymore either our children aren't ours our spouse aren't us we're stewarding this but God owns it all so tithe consistently at the end of the month know how much you made budget and some people will say I'll tithe after I pay my bills no your first bill is your tithe because it's on to God what's more important all the other bills your phone bill your light bill your water bill oh God who pays your bills so you give your tithe oh is it before after taxes if you have to even ask that question you need to go pray ask the Holy Spirit man but you give that 10 that's to your local church to the ministry that's feeding you you do it first and let's let's create that that lifestyle of tithing and watch how blessings start rolling in I'm telling you we don't do it for the blessing but it's the truth it's what the word says some people will fight me for this because they're fear they have fear of mammon because because they're dealing with that that spirit of poverty God doesn't want his children to be broke he wants his children not to lack he wants us to advance the gospel number two another challenge sow first fruits whenever increase comes in your life a tax return a settlement something so a first fruit a portion or if not all of it and watch what God does give offerings with joy and not guilt so when you're in the church service instead of being when the offering message comes be like praise God come on and then your heart genuinely be excited to give to God every time and we don't give like we're gambling or like it's a stock so I don't give saying oof it's coming next no oh my blessings coming no I give without expectancy and obedience because God knows who he says he is just like I don't pray thinking okay I prayed my blessings are coming that's transactional oh I'm I'm fasting because I want to I want to catch breakthrough so I can marry that person transactional nothing we do in Christ is transactional it's all about worship from your heart connecting your heart so give offerings with joy study the scriptures get your freedom break the strongholds some of you caught breakthrough from this video yourselves catch this let the Holy Spirit guide your giving and don't give out of prayer give out of pressure give out of purpose whenever people start saying bring a hundred dollars to the altar or a thousand dollars here I don't I don't agree with that I don't agree with that at all I say ask Holy Spirit the Holy Ghost to tell you what he wants but what he what he wants you to give onto the church of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit brings glory to the son and sometimes he might tell you something that you don't like will you do it it's obedience obedience is better than sacrifice so because when when you trust God with your finances you invite him into your provision your decisions and your future let's walk in kingdom economy not worldly

fear let's walk like we're already citizens of heaven I'll see you in the next lesson God bless