WEBVTT

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So I'm going to jump in. We've got a fair amount of material to cover, and there's something special the Lord wants to do at the end.

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So I'm going to jump in and get started.

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We are going to, and if you can give me the PowerPoint, we are going to be talking about extravagant giving.

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And we haven't been on this series since July 27th, so it's been two months.

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So I'm going to pick it up, and I'm going to complete the series, not this morning, but we're going to complete it here in the next couple of three Sundays.

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And I want to explain to anybody who's new here since July 27th or any visitors or so forth.

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This is the fourth series, and the series we're in is tithing.

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We're talking about tithing. It's one of those series you don't hear a lot about nowadays.

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It is one of the most powerful gifts that was given to Christians, to believers.

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It's one of the most powerful things if we will wield it correctly.

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What we're talking about this morning is in that series.

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There's four parts of the whole thing that we started a little over a year ago.

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We opened with prosperity and dealt with that quite thoroughly.

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11, 12 messages, something like that.

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And there is so much misunderstanding of prosperity that if that makes you twinge at all,

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when I say, well, we dealt with prosperity, if that makes you twinge, please go and listen to that series.

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It's online. That's why we did it is because there's so much misunderstanding in that realm.

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And we want everybody to understand the true nature of prosperity and that God is a God of prosperity.

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And what we are taught online and social media with the little clips attacking prosperity

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is not a good way to learn what the Scripture has to say.

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So I just request go listen to that because it's not what you have been taught it is

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if you're still twinging about prosperity. This must be one of them prosperity churches.

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Yes, it is. God is a prosperity God, but you've got to understand what that means.

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And then secondly, we talked about the spirit of increase and let me go back here just for a second.

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There it is. See time and harvest and then this is the fourth in that series.

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This will be the last in that entire layout, tithing and financial giving.

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So I'm going to, since it's been two months, I'm going to do a bit of a review,

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but I'm going to go quickly. I put a lot of slides together again for the purpose of these are always available with the message online.

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So once Kevin is done editing the message and he puts it up, it's up there tomorrow or Tuesday.

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If you go to the message, not the live stream, if you go to the message and bring it up at the bottom,

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there will be a PDF of everything that comes up on the screen today.

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And you will be able to take notes or review yourself or whatever.

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So I put a lot of slides together for the purpose. I'm just going to kind of breeze through these without stopping and discussing too much.

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It's just to get us, oh yeah, that's right. That's what we talked about.

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So giving in and of itself is a love issue, no matter what form of giving.

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Love is the core or the base of all giving. Whatever we love, we give to.

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Doesn't make any difference if it's a person, if it's a vehicle, if it's a project, it makes no difference.

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If we love it, if we're involved with it, we will give to it and it involves all realms of giving, including money.

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Tithing is a love issue.

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The word tithe means ten percent. And that's what God asked for it, ten percent.

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And the actual definition of the word means that.

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So what is the purpose for tithing? What is the purpose of this?

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To return to God, what is actually His? It doesn't belong to us, belongs to Him.

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And again, I'm not going to stop and explain all this because this is the seventh message in.

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Again, there's a lot of material. Just go back and re-listen to it or listen to it for the first time if you haven't.

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But the first purpose is to return to God what's His.

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Second is to supply for God's work on earth.

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Test our hearts. Do we love Him? It's a hard issue. It's a test.

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And to provide a way that opens an avenue of blessing and prosperity for believers in every area, including finances.

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Believers are not just Christians.

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There's people who are non-Christians who live by the tithing principle because they know what it produces.

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So it's not necessarily tied to you have to be a Christian to benefit from tithing.

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It doesn't work that way.

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There's people who are not Christians who benefit from this.

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God looks at our financial giving as a test to see the sincerity of our love for Him.

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It's a proof of that love. And there's the scriptural references that we gave for that where Paul flat out says it.

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Testing the sincerity of your love.

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So that's one way God looks at us to see if we love Him.

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What is the second way that God looks at us? Scripture, second way God looks at us to know if we love Him.

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Obedience.

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If you love me, you'll obey me.

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So it's not how loud we sing. It's not if we're exuberant in praise and worship.

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It's not how often we attend church.

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It's not if we read the Bible every day.

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I mean, these things are all good for us.

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But what He looks for to know if we love Him is are we tithing and are we obeying Him?

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That's what Scripture says. That was in the first message.

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Second message, we were talking about Abraham's covenant because Abraham's covenant is the beginning of tithing.

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It goes back to Melchizedek, the priest of God, king of Salem, king of Jerusalem.

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We described all that.

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What was Melchizedek celebrating with Abraham when he met him?

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What was Melchizedek celebrating with Abraham when Abraham and Melchizedek met?

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The defeat of Abraham's enemies.

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Getting lot back.

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How were they celebrating that victory?

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They were doing it with bread and wine. Melchizedek brought bread and wine.

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Bread and wine always speak of covenant.

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They're the symbols. They're the types where you celebrate covenant.

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It's communion.

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And in the celebration, blessings were spoken by Melchizedek over Abraham.

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Because of what God had just done.

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Melchizedek said, God gave this into your hands.

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You're blessed and I speak blessing over you.

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And the reciprocation of that covenant blessing being active, Abraham gave a tithe or a tenth of what he had profited from that excursion, that little war that just took place.

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That is a principle that flows through all of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament.

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We showed you the scriptures on it.

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When we receive spiritually, we are obligated to return something physically.

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It's just a principle. It's the way God thinks. It's the way God works.

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Tithing hasn't changed since Abraham because it comes out of his covenant.

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Tithing does not come out of the Old Testament law.

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It was developed on, it was opened up.

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Like, here's how it works, here's what it's about, here's how you do it.

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But it started with Melchizedek and Abraham in the acknowledgement of that covenant.

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Abraham initiated tithing.

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Message number three.

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We took Abraham's covenant and brought it into the New Testament.

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And we showed you...

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Yeah, that didn't come out well.

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We showed you something that looked better than that.

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What that's trying to show us is that Moses' covenant stopped with Jesus' covenant.

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Abraham's covenant, which was before Moses' covenant, is still in existence.

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And Noah's covenant, which was before Abraham's covenant, is still in existence.

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So starting from the bottom, you've got Noah's covenant as the foundation.

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You come up and that still goes because we've got the rainbow.

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You've got Abraham's covenant, which is still in existence because he is our spiritual father.

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If you are a believer born again, you are referred to in Scripture as Abraham's children.

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Goes back to Abraham's covenant.

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Then you've got Moses' covenant, which was put into place up until the seed or Jesus.

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At that point, Jesus fulfilled it and now Jesus' covenant is going and that continues to go.

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The Old Testament, all three covenants that are operating, apply to us as Christians.

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The Old Testament law no longer applies to us.

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And not everything in the Old Testament is the law.

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So it doesn't mean you just take the whole thing, throw it away.

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But the law portion of the Old Testament no longer applies to Christians.

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Tithing flows from Abraham's covenant.

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And it continues under Abraham's covenant.

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Melchizedek is in the order of, I mean Jesus is in the order of Melchizedek.

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So Melchizedek representing Jesus back there.

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Jesus being the fulfillment of the picture of Melchizedek.

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Jesus is the priest who came in that order.

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Jesus is the one in Hebrews who now we refer to as being the one who is living.

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He is living. He's alive.

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That's important here in a bit and I'll show you why.

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So let's look at a couple of scriptures here just to remind ourselves.

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There should be one here that I'm not seeing.

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So let me just read it to you before we go to the one in Hebrews.

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Genesis 14, verse 18.

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Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought bread and wine.

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He was the priest of God, the Most High.

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And he blessed him and said,

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Blessed be Abraham of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.

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And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hands.

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And he, Abraham, gave him a tie the wall.

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There's the beginning of it.

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Now let's read the New Testament version of it.

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Melchizedek was king of Salem, priest of the Most High God.

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He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him.

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And Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

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And that's the principle that flows there.

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And I gave you a number of other scriptures that goes with that.

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First, his name means king of righteousness.

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That's Melchizedek.

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Melchizedek's name means king of righteousness,

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then also king of Salem or king of peace.

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Melchizedek was without father or mother, without genealogy,

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without beginning of days or end of life.

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Like the son of God, he remains a priest forever.

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So either this guy was the first immortal, whoever lived among humans.

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Or this was a pre-incarnate visitation of Jesus himself.

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I leaned... and there's controversy.

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If you go study that, there's controversy in that.

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Which one is it?

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And they'll try to explain it away.

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I think it's very simple. I think Jesus himself visited Abraham.

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Because Jesus is the king of righteousness.

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And Jesus is the king of peace.

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And I think it's a pre-incarnate visitation of Jesus.

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But it's not a salvation issue. You can believe whatever you want on that.

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Next verse. Just think how great he was.

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Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth.

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So think of how great Melchizedek was.

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Because even Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder.

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Abraham is the covenant holder with the father.

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Abraham is carrying a very important position here.

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And yet Melchizedek outranked him.

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And Abraham gave Melchizedek the tithes.

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This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi.

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Yet he collected a tenth from Abraham.

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And blessed him who had the promises.

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Without a doubt, the lesser person, Abraham.

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I put Abraham in there. It's not in the original text.

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I just put it in parentheses.

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Without a doubt, the lesser person, Abraham,

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is blessed by the greater, which was Melchizedek.

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So here's the verse we've been leading up to.

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In one case, the tenth is collected by men who die.

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That was the Levites.

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But in the other case, by him who is declared to be living.

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In one case, people who die collected the tithes.

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But in the other case, the tithe is being collected

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by him who is declared to be living.

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Remember that. That's really important.

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Here, mortal men receive tithes.

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There, he receives them.

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Of whom it is witnessed that he lives.

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So as we receive tithes here, as mortal people,

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in reality, it's not about us.

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It's about him who is alive

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receiving that tithe.

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Jesus.

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Jesus, in the order of Melchizedek,

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is the one who is currently receiving the tithes.

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Now, there's something that's very big here.

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It's the word receive.

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Here, mortal men receive tithes.

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But there, he receives.

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Not received.

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Receives them.

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Because he's alive. He's still receiving them.

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So I'm not going to go through all of this.

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I referred to it in the last message,

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pointed it out briefly,

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but I thought I need to really emphasize this,

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because this is the last nail in the coffin

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of those who say tithing is not for today.

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I think by now we should see it's for today.

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But if not yet, this is going to kind of

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make life difficult for you if you're struggling with that.

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So I gave you research on this.

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I don't want to read it all.

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It's on the PowerPoint. It reads very easily.

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You can read it through yourself.

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I want to point out some things.

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Here's the third slide in the research.

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The word receive appears twice in this verse.

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Technically, it appears once.

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It appears as the first one.

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The second one in your King James version is italicized,

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which means it doesn't receive,

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but it's inferred because of the first one.

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The researcher said, no, this isn't my words.

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It appears twice because of how it's written.

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The first instance refers to mortal men,

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the Levitical priests.

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The second refers to he, Melchizedek, in context.

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The question about what's the tense of the word receive.

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So here it talks about the identity of that Greek word.

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Step two, in Hebrews 7.8,

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the verb that is translated receive or receives

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appears in two forms corresponding to the two instances of receive.

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Number one, mortal men receive tithes.

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Notice the definition.

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The verb is, whatever that Greek word is pronounced as,

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it is a present, participle, active verb.

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We don't have that in English language.

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Greek does.

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What it means is tied into what kind of verb it is.

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The present participle indicates an ongoing or continuous action.

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Hasn't stopped, not in the past.

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In this context, it suggests that mortal men,

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the Levitical priests, are continually or habitually receiving tithes.

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So mortal men, I took up the tithes this morning.

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I'm a mortal man.

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That verse says that needs to continue

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because it is a present participle, active verb.

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It never ended.

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Read on.

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For he receives them.

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That also is, the verb is, a present participle, active verb.

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Same kind of verb.

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Like the first instance, this is a present participle.

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Indicating an ongoing or continuous action.

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It implies that Melchizedek, or the one referenced,

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who is the one referenced that continues to live.

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Jesus, he came in the order of Melchizedek.

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He's fulfilling that picture.

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It implies that, let's just put Jesus' name in there,

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is continually receiving tithes

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in the context of what we're looking at here.

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In both instances, the of receive in Hebrews 7, 8,

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it's the same word.

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It denotes ongoing, continuous, or habitual action.

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Neither instance is in the past tense.

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Wow.

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So let's go to the end.

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Final answer.

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The word receive in Hebrews 7, 8, in both instances,

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mortal men receive and he receives.

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He being Melchizedek, or the one who has fulfilled his place,

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which is Jesus in the order of Melchizedek.

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It's a present participle in the Greek text,

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indicating an ongoing or continuous action.

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It is not past tense, but reflects a habitual or timeless action

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in the context of the verse.

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So the same way when it says, Jesus said,

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ask, seek, and knock.

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They are also that same verb.

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Ask and keep asking.

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Seek, keep seeking.

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Knock, keep knocking.

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Oh, we quote that and say, well, God tells us to ask and keep asking

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and seek and keep.

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We have no problem with that.

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Well, in Hebrews 7, 8, he says tithe and keep tithing.

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It's the same verb.

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So the whole concept of...

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it's passed away?

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Yeah.

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That one's kind of tough to defend.

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Not once you know what the word actually says.

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So I just wanted to nail that down firmly.

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Amen.

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It's nice to know that you know that you know.

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Message number four.

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New Testament scriptures on tithing.

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Now we gave you a whole bunch of them.

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We dwelt on this one, 1 Corinthians 9, 13 through 14.

20:40.500 --> 20:42.120
How is the church supposed to get its money?

20:42.120 --> 20:46.740
There Paul explains how ministers and the establishment

20:46.740 --> 20:48.660
is supposed to get... how it's supposed to get its money.

20:48.980 --> 20:55.000
It's based on the Old Testament picture in Numbers 8.

20:55.120 --> 20:56.340
Well, not picture, command.

20:56.860 --> 20:59.100
Numbers 18 and Deuteronomy 18.

21:00.000 --> 21:05.100
That is the basis that Paul referred to

21:05.100 --> 21:07.660
in 1 Corinthians 9, 13, and 14.

21:11.120 --> 21:13.280
So we dwelt on that quite a bit.

21:13.440 --> 21:15.300
Won't go back and review that.

21:15.820 --> 21:19.160
It's just in Paul's mind it was expected.

21:19.380 --> 21:22.900
Remember he was kind of upset because churches were not tithing.

21:23.700 --> 21:30.180
And he laid it out and he said those that preach the gospel

21:30.180 --> 21:34.400
should live thereby and the provision comes through the altar

21:34.400 --> 21:36.280
and what is presented at the altar.

21:36.960 --> 21:37.880
Remember all that?

21:38.340 --> 21:40.460
Okay. That's the point.

21:41.480 --> 21:44.380
And we gave you six other passages besides that

21:44.380 --> 21:48.880
and we just gave you Hebrews 7, 8 which is in my mind irrefutable.

21:49.380 --> 21:51.340
I mean if you're going to look at that honestly it's irrefutable.

21:52.000 --> 21:53.520
So that was message number 4.

21:53.640 --> 21:55.280
Message number 5.

21:57.140 --> 21:58.820
Let's get to message number 5.

21:58.980 --> 22:00.280
Tithing produces prosperity.

22:00.860 --> 22:05.360
Of course you've got Malachi 3 which really no longer applies

22:05.360 --> 22:09.860
to us directly because we're in a new covenant.

22:10.100 --> 22:14.100
However it is a foundational picture of what Paul develops on

22:14.100 --> 22:17.420
in 2nd Corinthians 9, 6 through 11.

22:17.860 --> 22:22.700
And 2nd Corinthians 9, 6 through 11 is actually better than Malachi 3.

22:23.780 --> 22:25.680
And we looked at that at length.

22:25.820 --> 22:26.740
I'll just remind you.

22:27.100 --> 22:27.780
Remember this.

22:28.080 --> 22:29.960
Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly.

22:30.080 --> 22:32.040
Whoever sows generously will reap generously.

22:32.360 --> 22:34.200
Each man should give what he has decided

22:34.200 --> 22:37.760
in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion

22:37.760 --> 22:39.260
because God loves a cheerful giver.

22:39.720 --> 22:42.540
So if you're going to be a tither you have to decide to do this

22:42.540 --> 22:45.860
and you're going to have to decide if you're doing it on the gross, on the net.

22:46.340 --> 22:48.500
If you're going to do it after your tax return is done

22:48.500 --> 22:49.920
and you look at the bottom line there,

22:50.340 --> 22:51.820
you're going to have to figure that out.

22:52.000 --> 22:52.960
You're going to have to decide.

22:53.560 --> 23:02.500
But remember how you decide to give is deciding how you will reap.

23:04.720 --> 23:09.260
How we decide to give decides how we will receive.

23:09.740 --> 23:11.340
And that's his point there.

23:12.360 --> 23:13.720
And this is not just tie.

23:13.960 --> 23:16.840
This is applause to all forms of giving.

23:17.880 --> 23:21.960
And then here is the New Testament concept of opening the windows of heaven.

23:23.160 --> 23:24.460
2 Corinthians 9.

23:24.660 --> 23:26.960
God is able to make all grace abound to you.

23:27.920 --> 23:29.940
See, that's way bigger than Malachi 3.

23:31.120 --> 23:37.380
So that in all things, at all times, having all you need

23:37.380 --> 23:39.300
doesn't make any difference what you need.

23:39.620 --> 23:43.160
In Malachi 3 he says I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes.

23:43.740 --> 23:44.800
Well, that's great.

23:45.740 --> 23:48.620
But having no matter what I need

23:49.320 --> 23:52.940
and being able to abound in it is way bigger.

23:54.040 --> 23:55.920
So we set our faith to that.

23:55.920 --> 23:57.180
Message number 6.

23:58.880 --> 23:59.780
This morning is number 7.

24:00.060 --> 24:00.880
So we're almost there.

24:02.520 --> 24:03.100
Covenant.

24:06.020 --> 24:07.000
Covenant exchange.

24:08.180 --> 24:10.660
When we exchange in covenant with God,

24:10.740 --> 24:13.200
and this thing we're living in is not a contract,

24:14.000 --> 24:17.300
this thing is a covenant that we have with God.

24:17.420 --> 24:20.180
Jesus said this is the new covenant in my blood.

24:21.140 --> 24:23.480
He established a new covenant.

24:23.480 --> 24:25.240
Hebrews makes that really plain.

24:25.340 --> 24:28.520
The whole book of Hebrews kind of dedicated to the fact

24:28.520 --> 24:30.060
we're in a new covenant here.

24:31.560 --> 24:34.020
Covenant exchange means everything.

24:34.240 --> 24:35.880
Covenant doesn't mean 10%.

24:36.370 --> 24:37.440
Covenant means everything.

24:38.520 --> 24:40.820
When I'm in covenant with my wife,

24:41.940 --> 24:44.580
everything I am, everything I have,

24:44.880 --> 24:48.060
everything I ever will be, all goals, plans, decisions,

24:49.700 --> 24:51.260
everything is hers.

24:53.480 --> 24:55.380
And everything she is, is mine.

24:57.140 --> 25:00.320
And we revolve around each other that way.

25:03.680 --> 25:06.080
That's covenant. We exchange everything.

25:07.940 --> 25:10.820
A covenant exchange is such a huge principle.

25:11.520 --> 25:14.300
Once we understand the power in covenant,

25:15.180 --> 25:18.200
the tithe or the 10% seems like a very small thing.

25:19.260 --> 25:22.260
Once you get what God is actually after,

25:23.180 --> 25:25.520
the tithe is like, well, it's just a token of the covenant.

25:26.100 --> 25:27.640
And that's exactly what it is.

25:28.220 --> 25:30.320
Now I've heard teaching, and this is very popular,

25:30.500 --> 25:32.340
so I just have to address it someplace in the series,

25:32.460 --> 25:32.940
so I'll do it here.

25:33.400 --> 25:34.460
I've heard teaching that says,

25:34.520 --> 25:36.480
well, God doesn't require us to give 10%.

25:36.480 --> 25:37.900
That's, you know, it's Old Testament law,

25:38.040 --> 25:39.260
which, of course, they're wrong in that.

25:40.240 --> 25:43.200
And God, they are right on the part of God doesn't require it.

25:43.320 --> 25:45.340
He did, under the law, require it.

25:46.040 --> 25:47.740
But He no longer requires it.

25:49.980 --> 25:51.940
He's doing it to see if we love Him.

25:53.240 --> 25:58.860
You cannot love and serve both God and money.

25:59.460 --> 26:01.280
Mammon is King James word, money.

26:02.420 --> 26:05.020
So you're going to have to choose what you love the most.

26:05.640 --> 26:07.460
And where your treasure is,

26:08.320 --> 26:11.220
there your heart will be also.

26:11.540 --> 26:13.080
So if you love money the most,

26:13.200 --> 26:14.200
your heart will be there.

26:14.600 --> 26:15.140
And guess what?

26:15.140 --> 26:17.680
He's no longer Lord and now we have an eternal problem.

26:19.220 --> 26:21.000
It's not the tide that determines that.

26:21.140 --> 26:23.100
It's where we're putting our treasure.

26:23.600 --> 26:25.000
If we love Him the most,

26:25.360 --> 26:26.860
then our heart will go there

26:26.860 --> 26:29.660
and that resolves a lot of other issues.

26:30.300 --> 26:32.360
But tithing is actually a small thing

26:32.360 --> 26:33.600
in comparison to covenant.

26:34.060 --> 26:34.920
So the whole thing of,

26:35.000 --> 26:36.420
well, we don't have to give 10%.

26:36.420 --> 26:39.240
And it's taught that you just give

26:39.240 --> 26:41.040
what you feel God wants you to give

26:41.040 --> 26:42.060
and in the end of the year

26:42.060 --> 26:44.340
you'll have given way more than 10%.

26:45.940 --> 26:47.460
Well, cool, if it works that way.

26:48.500 --> 26:49.980
And if it does work that way,

26:50.780 --> 26:53.920
if you're actually giving 15, 18, 23%,

26:56.020 --> 26:57.580
why are you fussing over 10?

26:59.680 --> 27:00.760
10 should be nothing.

27:01.060 --> 27:02.600
It's like, well, yeah, I give 10%,

27:02.600 --> 27:03.840
I give 23%.

27:03.840 --> 27:05.560
So 10 is not an issue.

27:09.000 --> 27:11.300
But here's what I've discovered.

27:12.840 --> 27:15.500
If there's not something definitive

27:15.500 --> 27:17.700
for me to measure myself against,

27:19.700 --> 27:22.340
the old flesh will try to slip away,

27:22.680 --> 27:23.700
anything that's godly,

27:23.960 --> 27:27.160
will try to slip away as far as it can

27:27.160 --> 27:29.020
and not go there.

27:31.520 --> 27:32.880
It's just the way it works.

27:36.280 --> 27:38.420
So if you're a believer in that other,

27:38.640 --> 27:39.380
that's great.

27:39.640 --> 27:40.980
Then out of your 23%,

27:40.980 --> 27:42.320
just give 10% to the church

27:42.320 --> 27:43.840
because that's where Scripture says it belongs.

27:44.300 --> 27:44.880
That's what Paul said.

27:46.780 --> 27:48.720
And take the other 13%

27:48.720 --> 27:49.980
and give it an offerings or alms.

27:50.060 --> 27:50.620
Do what you want.

27:51.680 --> 27:54.200
But in covenant, the 10%

27:54.200 --> 27:57.240
is actually just a token of the covenant.

27:57.400 --> 27:59.700
It's a financial reciprocation

27:59.700 --> 28:01.340
of the actual covenant.

28:02.200 --> 28:04.860
In true covenant exchange,

28:05.640 --> 28:07.860
God gets 100% of us.

28:08.920 --> 28:10.500
Not 10%.

28:11.340 --> 28:12.840
Now when we say us,

28:13.380 --> 28:15.660
that is our entire life.

28:17.820 --> 28:18.980
Not just money.

28:19.780 --> 28:21.060
Our entire life.

28:21.360 --> 28:22.880
And he can rightfully ask

28:22.880 --> 28:24.640
for any good godly thing

28:24.640 --> 28:27.080
and we have no right

28:27.080 --> 28:29.100
of refusal on him

28:29.100 --> 28:32.360
because we're in covenant with him.

28:34.800 --> 28:37.340
And vice versa is also true.

28:38.560 --> 28:41.840
We can ask any good godly thing

28:41.840 --> 28:44.940
and if we are in covenant with him,

28:45.320 --> 28:47.160
he has no right of refusal.

28:47.440 --> 28:49.380
And I gave you a few examples on this.

28:49.940 --> 28:52.020
I did that with Jess when he was a baby

28:52.020 --> 28:53.280
and had spinal meningitis.

28:54.260 --> 28:55.100
I went to covenant.

29:00.260 --> 29:02.780
I did that with Jacks

29:03.720 --> 29:05.200
when he got run over by the car.

29:05.460 --> 29:06.420
I just felt to do it.

29:06.700 --> 29:08.880
Not knowing it was the predecessor

29:08.880 --> 29:11.960
of doing it for my wife

29:12.560 --> 29:14.580
when she had stage 4 cancer.

29:18.620 --> 29:20.780
It's a 100% exchange.

29:23.060 --> 29:25.940
And when we are in that 100%

29:25.940 --> 29:27.440
covenant with him,

29:28.260 --> 29:31.980
we can ask any good godly thing

29:32.680 --> 29:34.300
and he will not refuse

29:35.600 --> 29:36.680
because it's covenant.

29:37.040 --> 29:38.040
That's how covenant works.

29:39.760 --> 29:41.620
So in my mind,

29:41.780 --> 29:43.600
and you'll see this by the end this morning,

29:44.280 --> 29:45.100
in my mind,

29:45.280 --> 29:47.460
living in full covenant with God

29:47.460 --> 29:50.100
is that top level on that chart.

29:50.300 --> 29:51.420
I won't show it this morning,

29:51.440 --> 29:52.520
but we've showed it many times.

29:53.440 --> 29:54.380
The martyr level.

29:55.380 --> 29:59.120
Because to live in full covenant with someone,

29:59.660 --> 30:03.220
you have to die to everything you are.

30:06.500 --> 30:07.500
You have to.

30:08.900 --> 30:12.140
And the other person dies to everything they are.

30:12.220 --> 30:13.700
It doesn't mean they lose their identity.

30:14.160 --> 30:16.200
It doesn't mean they lose who they are.

30:17.020 --> 30:21.100
But they now place you first

30:22.100 --> 30:23.340
above it all.

30:24.540 --> 30:27.840
Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

30:28.620 --> 30:31.600
Well, does that mean we can't do anything

30:31.600 --> 30:33.720
for any other kingdom like America?

30:34.000 --> 30:35.420
You can't be involved with America

30:35.420 --> 30:36.760
and helping America at all

30:36.760 --> 30:38.660
because the only kingdom we can seek

30:38.660 --> 30:39.420
is the kingdom of God.

30:39.500 --> 30:40.360
It's not saying that.

30:40.960 --> 30:43.260
It's saying his kingdom has to be first

30:44.200 --> 30:46.440
then everything else falls in underneath that.

30:47.680 --> 30:49.600
That's how covenant works.

30:50.300 --> 30:51.960
God has to be first

30:52.560 --> 30:53.560
to us.

30:54.540 --> 30:56.060
And if we will make him

30:56.060 --> 30:59.420
if we will reciprocate on that relationship

31:00.080 --> 31:01.760
we become first to him.

31:02.160 --> 31:03.340
That's why it's called the Great Exchange.

31:04.200 --> 31:05.760
It's just an exchange.

31:06.560 --> 31:08.600
It's a partnership of exchange.

31:09.280 --> 31:10.580
So with that as the basis

31:10.580 --> 31:13.780
now we got to go keep making some tracks here.

31:15.480 --> 31:18.080
This is not a message on tithing this morning.

31:18.340 --> 31:21.060
This is a message that flows out of covenant

31:22.540 --> 31:24.660
Extravic and giving flows out of covenant

31:24.660 --> 31:27.480
and it goes hand in hand with covenant.

31:28.580 --> 31:30.680
So it needs to be brought in here.

31:31.100 --> 31:32.760
And let me also say this.

31:33.180 --> 31:35.540
This is not a fundraiser message for the building

31:36.420 --> 31:38.640
because we're going to make some applications to it

31:38.640 --> 31:39.560
because we're talking money.

31:40.720 --> 31:42.260
Make some applications

31:42.260 --> 31:44.280
give some hopefully answers

31:44.280 --> 31:45.840
to some things people have been asking.

31:47.380 --> 31:48.540
But it's going to fit

31:48.540 --> 31:51.140
and it's all going to come together

31:51.140 --> 31:54.820
but I'm not doing it as a fundraiser message.

31:55.340 --> 31:57.920
So let's briefly review.

31:58.500 --> 31:59.960
Scriptural kinds of giving.

32:01.360 --> 32:02.480
Tithe giving

32:02.480 --> 32:04.580
and we've given you a lot of scriptures in that already

32:04.580 --> 32:05.420
so I didn't list any.

32:06.040 --> 32:08.600
That's the main one we've been looking at

32:08.600 --> 32:10.500
in this portion of the series. Tithing.

32:11.660 --> 32:12.720
Offerings giving.

32:13.440 --> 32:14.660
There's a number of scriptures

32:14.660 --> 32:16.840
and I just gave you New Testament scriptures there.

32:17.640 --> 32:20.880
Tithe is a 10% that goes to the local church

32:20.880 --> 32:23.860
for the advancement of the kingdom.

32:24.420 --> 32:26.500
Anything beyond that 10%

32:26.500 --> 32:27.960
either falls under offerings

32:27.960 --> 32:30.260
or it falls under alms.

32:31.720 --> 32:33.980
Offerings is giving to other ministries

32:33.980 --> 32:36.100
giving to other projects, giving other places.

32:36.900 --> 32:38.060
Alms is that

32:38.060 --> 32:40.440
don't let your left-hand know what your right hand is doing

32:40.440 --> 32:41.440
it's done in secret

32:41.440 --> 32:43.440
and it's when you're helping someone.

32:44.680 --> 32:45.840
You walk up to someone

32:45.840 --> 32:47.240
and you slip $100 bill.

32:48.740 --> 32:49.240
Alms.

32:49.720 --> 32:52.010
You're giving to the poor. You're giving to them

32:52.560 --> 32:53.500
if they have a need.

32:54.220 --> 32:55.240
That's alms giving.

32:56.400 --> 32:57.940
And there's scriptures on that.

32:58.720 --> 33:00.520
Then this one we didn't talk about much

33:00.520 --> 33:01.680
we just brought it up enough

33:01.680 --> 33:03.480
to reference it. First Fruits giving.

33:04.680 --> 33:06.360
It's an Old Testament concept.

33:07.100 --> 33:09.020
I don't find it in the New Testament

33:09.020 --> 33:11.140
because Jesus and

33:11.140 --> 33:12.800
reciprocating down a little further

33:12.800 --> 33:13.980
we are the first fruits.

33:15.240 --> 33:16.460
He is the first fruits.

33:16.780 --> 33:17.980
First one back from the dead.

33:18.820 --> 33:20.780
We fall in underneath that

33:20.780 --> 33:22.520
as being the first fruits of the harvest

33:22.520 --> 33:23.600
of his sacrifice.

33:24.820 --> 33:26.280
But the concept was

33:26.280 --> 33:28.900
if you grow tomatoes, take the first few

33:28.900 --> 33:31.340
and offer it to the priest

33:31.340 --> 33:32.180
or to the minister

33:32.660 --> 33:33.700
as an offering.

33:34.620 --> 33:35.720
And that's fine.

33:36.180 --> 33:37.820
It's all good. You can still do it if you want.

33:37.920 --> 33:39.860
Just make sure your tomatoes aren't rotten when you give them.

33:44.480 --> 33:45.640
This one's bad anyway.

33:45.640 --> 33:46.680
Give that to Pastor Igor.

33:47.480 --> 33:49.040
No, don't do that.

33:49.840 --> 33:50.760
First Fruits offering.

33:51.120 --> 33:53.300
If you go back and study it

33:53.300 --> 33:54.800
it says you have to give the best.

33:56.260 --> 33:57.440
Not the discards.

33:58.400 --> 33:59.780
And then there is this giving

33:59.780 --> 34:01.560
which comes out of covenant.

34:02.800 --> 34:04.720
And we are going to talk about that this morning.

34:05.460 --> 34:06.580
And to fully understand

34:06.580 --> 34:07.700
extravagant giving

34:07.700 --> 34:09.460
you have to understand covenant.

34:09.780 --> 34:11.880
So we are going to quickly go through this

34:11.880 --> 34:13.840
because the big impart is at the end

34:13.840 --> 34:16.120
of the message and I want to leave time for that.

34:17.940 --> 34:19.000
In covenant

34:20.440 --> 34:22.960
trying to gain some understanding here

34:22.960 --> 34:24.620
in covenant

34:24.620 --> 34:25.880
everything is His

34:26.640 --> 34:28.240
and everything is ours

34:28.240 --> 34:29.620
by covenant or inheritance.

34:29.900 --> 34:31.080
Everything that is ours is His.

34:31.280 --> 34:32.300
Everything that is His is ours.

34:33.560 --> 34:35.000
God made us stewards

34:35.000 --> 34:37.120
or servants over everything on earth

34:38.600 --> 34:39.200
because

34:40.680 --> 34:41.780
the things

34:41.780 --> 34:44.340
that we think we actually own

34:44.340 --> 34:45.680
belong to God.

34:49.240 --> 34:50.120
We are

34:50.120 --> 34:51.560
stewards and servants of God

34:51.560 --> 34:52.440
taking care of it.

34:53.640 --> 34:54.800
That's why

34:54.800 --> 34:56.940
He has the right

34:57.760 --> 34:59.540
to ask for it.

35:02.010 --> 35:03.510
Because it's not ours.

35:04.210 --> 35:05.530
We're the managers.

35:06.010 --> 35:07.230
We're the ones over it.

35:08.170 --> 35:09.010
As believers

35:09.910 --> 35:11.410
He owns everything

35:11.410 --> 35:13.570
including Christians or believers.

35:14.830 --> 35:16.170
You've been bought

35:17.670 --> 35:19.230
not with silver and gold

35:19.910 --> 35:21.790
you and I have been bought

35:21.790 --> 35:22.970
by

35:23.950 --> 35:24.890
the blood.

35:25.430 --> 35:27.430
So if we've been purchased

35:28.770 --> 35:29.990
He owns us.

35:30.870 --> 35:32.470
You are not your own.

35:33.350 --> 35:35.270
That's what Scripture says.

35:35.870 --> 35:37.330
We're legally His servants.

35:38.590 --> 35:41.130
I mean, scripturally, that's what it says.

35:42.110 --> 35:42.990
And God

35:42.990 --> 35:44.850
chose to restore the rights

35:44.850 --> 35:46.510
of a son to us

35:46.510 --> 35:47.450
as His servants

35:47.450 --> 35:49.950
and restore the kingdom to us.

35:51.610 --> 35:53.050
Under Abraham's covenant

35:53.050 --> 35:54.150
and under Jesus' covenant

35:54.150 --> 35:56.090
everything we are and have is God's.

35:56.810 --> 35:58.110
Tithing is a token

35:58.110 --> 35:59.130
of that covenant.

36:00.010 --> 36:01.650
It's not the full expression

36:01.650 --> 36:02.390
of that covenant.

36:03.870 --> 36:04.910
What is this?

36:06.730 --> 36:07.750
Besides the obvious.

36:07.750 --> 36:09.910
Master, it's a ring. Okay, I got that.

36:10.950 --> 36:13.590
This is a token

36:14.470 --> 36:15.190
or a

36:15.750 --> 36:16.010
signifier

36:17.370 --> 36:19.490
of the covenant I have with my wife.

36:21.790 --> 36:24.210
I'm glad we don't do it like they did in the old days

36:24.210 --> 36:24.570
where they

36:25.250 --> 36:26.870
cut their hand and mingled their blood.

36:28.830 --> 36:29.870
But the concept

36:29.870 --> 36:30.610
was the same.

36:31.450 --> 36:33.650
When you see me come with this

36:33.650 --> 36:35.630
you know I'm in covenant with somebody.

36:37.890 --> 36:39.090
When they came

36:39.910 --> 36:40.750
and greeted

36:41.590 --> 36:42.770
and they had a scar

36:42.770 --> 36:44.590
or two or three or five

36:45.910 --> 36:47.890
it's saying, oh, this person is in covenant

36:47.890 --> 36:48.490
with somebody.

36:49.410 --> 36:51.290
That's why it was such a visible place.

36:52.190 --> 36:53.250
Hi, how are you doing?

36:53.410 --> 36:55.470
First thing they would look for is this guy in covenant with anybody?

36:57.010 --> 36:57.450
Especially

36:57.450 --> 36:58.850
if they're trying to rob them

36:58.850 --> 37:00.730
or take advantage of them.

37:01.310 --> 37:03.990
Because see if they're in covenant with, who is he in covenant with?

37:05.670 --> 37:07.270
What if he's in covenant with someone

37:07.270 --> 37:08.730
bigger and badder than he is?

37:09.810 --> 37:10.910
And I robbed from him

37:10.910 --> 37:12.090
now in covenant

37:12.090 --> 37:14.430
that person is obligated to defend

37:15.250 --> 37:15.730
me.

37:16.690 --> 37:18.730
And I'm in covenant with that person

37:19.270 --> 37:21.330
it always makes the one looking in

37:21.330 --> 37:23.030
who has mischief in mind go

37:24.170 --> 37:25.610
I don't know if I should do this.

37:27.750 --> 37:29.490
For those of you that know my wife

37:29.490 --> 37:30.390
it's the same effect.

37:33.950 --> 37:35.570
I couldn't help but throw that in.

37:36.270 --> 37:38.490
You pick on me, she's coming after you.

37:40.190 --> 37:41.230
You don't want that.

37:44.910 --> 37:45.970
And vice versa.

37:47.530 --> 37:48.830
I better not be the dish cloth.

37:48.990 --> 37:49.570
Husband that.

37:50.430 --> 37:50.870
Oh, sorry.

37:51.130 --> 37:52.230
Sorry babes.

37:52.830 --> 37:54.610
I ain't doing nothing. You figured it out.

37:58.550 --> 37:59.510
The covenant

38:01.650 --> 38:02.130
is

38:03.410 --> 38:05.070
100% here.

38:06.230 --> 38:08.090
This just tells you

38:08.090 --> 38:09.190
there's one in existence.

38:10.110 --> 38:11.470
That's all that is.

38:12.810 --> 38:15.230
The covenant I have with God

38:15.230 --> 38:16.990
is 100% here.

38:17.910 --> 38:20.070
The tithe just tells you

38:20.070 --> 38:21.770
this is the token of

38:21.770 --> 38:22.850
I'm in covenant with somebody.

38:25.490 --> 38:27.010
But the covenant

38:28.090 --> 38:29.670
he owns it all.

38:29.870 --> 38:31.470
He owns us all.

38:31.990 --> 38:32.690
100%.

38:32.690 --> 38:34.610
Everything and anything.

38:35.290 --> 38:36.670
And a lot of Christians go

38:36.670 --> 38:38.530
I believe that until it touches

38:38.530 --> 38:39.250
our pocketbook.

38:40.410 --> 38:42.670
And since this is in the tithing series

38:42.670 --> 38:44.130
I'll dwell more on that.

38:44.990 --> 38:46.450
We could talk about all kinds

38:46.450 --> 38:47.930
of marriage things this morning

38:50.950 --> 38:52.550
because covenant touches

38:52.550 --> 38:52.990
it all.

38:54.470 --> 38:55.050
Touches everything.

38:56.150 --> 38:58.810
But we're talking about giving this morning.

38:59.690 --> 39:01.290
So I want to give you some examples

39:01.290 --> 39:02.470
of extravagant giving

39:02.470 --> 39:03.750
or giving out of covenant

39:03.750 --> 39:07.350
and then we're going to make some application to it.

39:08.890 --> 39:10.710
Building the Old Testament

39:11.030 --> 39:12.490
Temple, Solomon built it.

39:14.110 --> 39:15.030
This is

39:15.030 --> 39:16.950
mind-staggering.

39:18.210 --> 39:19.230
They estimate

39:19.230 --> 39:20.990
the cost of that temple

39:20.990 --> 39:22.310
in today's dollars

39:23.210 --> 39:23.930
520

39:23.930 --> 39:25.210
billion.

39:29.040 --> 39:30.740
How did that get funded?

39:30.740 --> 39:34.560
How did that temple get funded?

39:35.880 --> 39:35.920
How did that temple get funded?

39:36.380 --> 39:37.400
People gave

39:37.400 --> 39:38.780
but I'm going to point something out.

39:39.840 --> 39:40.700
Was it dropped

39:40.700 --> 39:42.020
into the people's heart?

39:42.520 --> 39:44.620
Whose heart was building a temple for God

39:44.620 --> 39:45.360
dropped into?

39:46.440 --> 39:46.800
David.

39:48.940 --> 39:50.740
It was dropped into David's heart.

39:50.820 --> 39:51.920
One man

39:53.780 --> 39:54.620
It was

39:54.620 --> 39:55.800
dropped into his heart.

39:56.520 --> 39:57.800
We have to build

39:57.800 --> 40:00.080
We got to get past this tabernacle thing.

40:00.340 --> 40:01.460
We have to build

40:01.460 --> 40:02.940
the temple

40:03.600 --> 40:04.500
or a temple.

40:05.700 --> 40:06.300
Okay?

40:08.580 --> 40:09.900
So how did that

40:09.900 --> 40:10.560
get funded?

40:13.000 --> 40:13.980
520 billion.

40:14.520 --> 40:15.260
Well, that's interesting.

40:15.900 --> 40:17.180
Well, let's look at some verses.

40:18.460 --> 40:20.140
First Chronicles 22 14

40:20.140 --> 40:21.680
Indeed, I have taken much

40:21.680 --> 40:23.960
trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord.

40:24.200 --> 40:25.580
This is David speaking.

40:26.600 --> 40:27.960
And he lists

40:27.960 --> 40:30.380
the amount of things that he made

40:30.380 --> 40:31.020
available

40:32.040 --> 40:33.340
to prepare

40:33.340 --> 40:35.380
for the building of the temple.

40:36.580 --> 40:37.860
Now, there's controversy

40:38.220 --> 40:39.220
whether that

40:39.940 --> 40:41.800
contribution was solely

40:41.800 --> 40:42.840
David's

40:43.580 --> 40:45.020
or as king

40:45.440 --> 40:46.960
when they did all these wars

40:46.960 --> 40:48.620
and conquered all these countries

40:48.620 --> 40:51.740
when the gold and the silver and all the stuff would come back

40:51.740 --> 40:53.100
as king he said

40:53.100 --> 40:55.560
this chunk I'm setting aside

40:55.560 --> 40:56.260
for the temple.

40:57.080 --> 40:59.620
Next war, this chunk I'm setting aside

40:59.620 --> 41:00.240
for the temple.

41:01.560 --> 41:02.480
Either way

41:03.100 --> 41:04.920
the money that came

41:04.920 --> 41:07.160
for the temple was directed

41:07.160 --> 41:07.840
by David.

41:09.420 --> 41:11.160
Now most feel that

41:11.160 --> 41:13.140
size of a contribution

41:13.140 --> 41:15.280
was the monies

41:15.280 --> 41:16.600
that David had set aside.

41:18.060 --> 41:19.080
Some say, nope

41:19.080 --> 41:21.260
he said I did this

41:21.260 --> 41:22.560
so it was David.

41:24.100 --> 41:24.380
Well

41:26.140 --> 41:27.780
the amount of money

41:27.780 --> 41:29.300
listed there

41:29.300 --> 41:31.980
if you convert that into

41:31.980 --> 41:34.000
today's value of gold and silver

41:34.000 --> 41:35.580
and some of the other things

41:37.480 --> 41:38.700
comes to that.

41:44.920 --> 41:45.920
463 billion

41:47.700 --> 41:48.940
was set aside

41:48.940 --> 41:50.920
of the 520.

41:51.720 --> 41:53.240
In addition to that

41:53.240 --> 41:55.220
in 1st Chronicles 29

41:56.900 --> 41:58.240
this was where David

41:58.240 --> 42:00.820
just said, well bring me my piggy bank

42:00.820 --> 42:02.420
I'm going to rate it a little bit

42:03.780 --> 42:06.260
and this is directly attributed

42:06.260 --> 42:06.700
to him

42:06.700 --> 42:08.120
12.75 billion

42:10.020 --> 42:11.060
David directly

42:12.060 --> 42:13.220
so now we're

42:13.220 --> 42:15.220
at about 475 billion

42:15.220 --> 42:17.820
of basically the gold and the silver

42:17.820 --> 42:19.180
they didn't even calculate the other

42:19.180 --> 42:21.200
because it never said how much was

42:21.200 --> 42:22.980
given it just said

42:22.980 --> 42:25.100
all the iron all the

42:25.100 --> 42:26.840
timber all the stuff was given

42:27.720 --> 42:29.180
then the leaders got

42:29.180 --> 42:30.960
involved and they gave

42:30.960 --> 42:32.580
21 billion

42:33.880 --> 42:34.960
which is

42:34.960 --> 42:36.260
a sizable amount

42:37.440 --> 42:39.300
what's interesting is David

42:39.300 --> 42:41.220
alone rated his piggy bank

42:41.220 --> 42:43.340
and gave more than half

42:43.340 --> 42:44.440
of what

42:45.040 --> 42:46.360
all the leaders gave

42:47.920 --> 42:48.640
21

42:51.640 --> 42:58.660
So, now we are pushing 500 billion. Solomon gave some, but it doesn't say how much he gave.

43:00.580 --> 43:06.480
And you have got all the iron and all these other things added in. That is how they came

43:06.480 --> 43:15.900
up with the 520 billion. That is why Scripture says, God told David, you are a man of war,

43:15.900 --> 43:19.420
you have blood on your hands, you can't build a temple. Your son Solomon is going to build

43:19.420 --> 43:28.020
a temple. But when Scripture reveals who actually provided for Solomon to do it, it always says,

43:28.300 --> 43:34.760
doesn't say Israel built the temple. It doesn't say the leaders built the temple. It says

43:34.760 --> 43:43.380
David built the temple. One man is credited for building the temple. Now others were

43:43.380 --> 43:49.300
involved and others gave. But one man was credited for building the temple. Let's look at some

43:49.300 --> 43:55.540
other extravagant giving in Scripture. Here a government gives, which actually, if you

43:55.540 --> 44:02.340
break it down, it is Cyrus and Darius, two men who rebuilt the walls and the temple

44:02.340 --> 44:10.100
of Jerusalem. Extravagant giving, to get that done. Jesus requested a person to

44:10.100 --> 44:15.580
give extravagantly. Rich young ruler. If you read that story, he says, go sell everything

44:15.580 --> 44:22.760
you've got. Give it to the poor. There's the project. Come follow me. I'd call that

44:22.760 --> 44:29.140
more than the tithe. What gave Jesus the right to ask for everything? Jesus owned it

44:29.140 --> 44:36.140
anyway. He just needed to check if this young guy was willing to give it. Which he

44:36.140 --> 44:44.120
wasn't. A person who gave extravagantly, the widow who put in two copper coins, the

44:44.120 --> 44:49.820
widows, you know, she's called the widow and her two mites, two copper coins, worth

44:49.820 --> 44:56.080
about a half a cent. That's what she put in the offering. The project was the

44:56.080 --> 45:01.300
church. And Jesus said, she gave more than all these people came with bags

45:01.300 --> 45:05.120
of gold and silver and dropped them in. Why? She gave extravagantly. They

45:05.120 --> 45:11.240
gave out of their excess. She gave out of what she needed to live. Extravagant

45:11.240 --> 45:18.200
giving. Individual extravagal giving. Selling lands and houses to get the

45:18.200 --> 45:26.580
new church community up on its feet. Acts chapter 4. People and churches

45:26.580 --> 45:35.000
extravagant giving. Paul said they gave beyond their ability for an offering

45:35.000 --> 45:41.680
there's the project to help the poor. Beyond their ability. Extravagant giving

45:42.200 --> 45:47.760
to help the poor in Jerusalem. So I've had some questions come in over the

45:47.760 --> 45:53.700
series. This one I want to address. That one right there because it was one

45:53.700 --> 45:57.220
of the questions that came in. Someone asked me could this be God?

45:58.760 --> 46:04.860
Pastor, would God do this? Is this God? I feel like he might be asking me to

46:04.860 --> 46:10.500
sell some of my property and put the proceeds in the building fund. Could that

46:10.500 --> 46:17.880
be God? Can God rightfully do that? Would God do that? Well, about all

46:17.880 --> 46:25.080
scriptures we saw. You already know the answer to that. Even in the New

46:25.080 --> 46:34.840
Testament. Extravagant sacrificial giving is not the dollar amount. I want to

46:34.840 --> 46:43.060
tell you one. We have, it affects our extravagant giving. For instance, when, and

46:43.060 --> 46:47.040
I've told you this story, when Mary and I in Colorado were in a bad spot

46:47.040 --> 46:52.060
financially and we needed a miracle, we had 400. I think it was, I believe it

46:52.060 --> 46:59.860
was $402 in some sense to our name. We had rent due in two weeks. We have to

46:59.860 --> 47:07.400
eat. We have all kinds of things. And God specifically said, and this is the key,

47:07.860 --> 47:10.680
don't just jump out and do something. It won't work for Pastor Burn. I'm going to

47:10.680 --> 47:21.140
make it work for me. Nope. God specifically said, give that $400. So

47:21.140 --> 47:29.060
you're trying to bankrupt me. Good, good father. Trying to bankrupt me. Trying to

47:29.060 --> 47:39.800
get me down. You say $400. I got more than that in my wallet right now. That means

47:39.800 --> 47:44.120
if you gave 400, it wouldn't be near as extravagant as it was for us to give

47:44.120 --> 47:52.460
400. Because we gave our living. Just like the woman with her two coins. We

47:52.460 --> 47:56.960
gave our living. Well, why would God ask for that? I don't believe that's

47:56.960 --> 48:01.500
God. No, that is God. He shows us that throughout Scripture. Why would He do it?

48:01.600 --> 48:06.420
It's His right to do it. It's His. Well, He's just going to leave you high and

48:06.420 --> 48:10.500
dry. No, see, that's where you don't understand covenant. It's His right to

48:10.500 --> 48:15.240
ask for it because He owns it. He's testing our hearts. And if we will

48:15.240 --> 48:25.460
pass that test of covenant, He now can kick the door of opportunity wide open.

48:29.550 --> 48:35.490
That $400 seemed like life and death at that time. I don't remember if I cried

48:35.490 --> 48:40.930
when I wrote the checkout or not. I don't remember. That was the best

48:40.930 --> 48:51.310
$400 I ever gave in retrospect. But it was spirit directed. You don't just do

48:51.310 --> 48:56.750
something because it's a great idea. When we find extravagant giving in

48:56.750 --> 49:01.010
Scripture, typically surround special projects. It's not the tithe. It's not

49:01.010 --> 49:05.730
alms. David was the temple. Jerusalem Walls in the temple. Cyrus and

49:05.730 --> 49:12.130
Darius. The rich young ruler was the project of the poor. The widow, the church.

49:12.710 --> 49:17.330
People selling land and houses get that newborn baby church up and running.

49:18.130 --> 49:22.310
People living beyond their ability. The project was the poor in Jerusalem.

49:24.150 --> 49:29.130
Scripturally speaking, and this comes from Scripture, when God asks a

49:29.130 --> 49:34.430
project to be done, He typically either has already given the funds to

49:34.430 --> 49:40.770
some people or it's eminent. It's going to show up today, tomorrow,

49:40.870 --> 49:54.220
whenever. In other words, scripturally speaking, the money's already there. Just

49:54.220 --> 50:01.500
let that soak a bit because that's a big one to chew on a swallow. But we have to

50:01.500 --> 50:08.520
go with what the Scripture picture is. If he's asking for a project, the money's

50:08.520 --> 50:15.200
already there. How much do we give to make it extravagant? I like facts and

50:15.200 --> 50:20.720
figures. I like statistics. It's just kind of how I'm put together. So I wanted to

50:20.720 --> 50:26.700
touch this a bit before we're done. The average wage earner in Isani

50:26.700 --> 50:34.900
County, the median household income is 86,000. The annual average household

50:34.900 --> 50:40.460
income is 103,000. So the difference between median and average, median is you

50:40.460 --> 50:44.780
have half the population that makes more than 86, you have half the population

50:44.780 --> 50:48.920
that makes less than 86. That's the middle line, half above, half below.

50:49.680 --> 50:55.300
Average is we have 100,000 households. We take the income of all 100,000, add it

50:55.300 --> 51:01.160
up, and divide it by 100,000. That gives us the average per household. So the

51:01.160 --> 51:07.660
average is always higher than the median. But there is Isani County, 86,000,

51:08.240 --> 51:15.400
103,000. I thought, well, let's take it deeper. Under 25-year-old in Isani

51:15.400 --> 51:21.380
County, the median, or the half above, half below, is about 45,000 a year.

51:23.720 --> 51:30.460
25 to 44 is 112,000. 45 to 64. I thought this was interesting.

51:30.460 --> 51:36.340
Same range, 112,000. And the retirees is about 55,000 a year.

51:38.440 --> 51:51.600
So when God's asking for extravagant giving, the person who's retired and is

51:51.600 --> 51:59.220
living on 55,000 a year, he's going to give extravagantly, but the dollar

51:59.220 --> 52:06.760
amount will be far less than the plumber down the road who has his own

52:06.760 --> 52:13.760
business and he's earning 500,000 a year. For that man to come into the same

52:13.760 --> 52:20.920
extravagance as the one who's making 55, the 55 might be, we can give two

52:20.920 --> 52:26.420
grand. And boy, we're stretching to do it. Two grand to this guy, he spends

52:26.420 --> 52:32.280
that taking his buddies out for a meal, trying to get their business. Two

52:32.280 --> 52:38.080
grand's nothing to that guy. Extravagant to him might be 200 grand.

52:41.490 --> 52:48.970
So extravagant is not the dollar amount. Extravagant is measured to what we

52:48.970 --> 52:54.510
have in our financial means. It's what Jesus pointed out. These guys came

52:54.510 --> 52:57.270
with all their bags of money and they dropped it in and Jesus said,

52:57.270 --> 53:01.630
they'll never miss it. They've got so much, they're not going to miss that.

53:04.170 --> 53:10.330
That woman is going to miss that half a cent she dropped in. That's

53:10.330 --> 53:16.010
extravagant giving. This is not. So if I was going to go by what Jesus says,

53:18.150 --> 53:21.150
if we don't miss it, it's probably not extravagant giving.

53:22.230 --> 53:24.790
We gave a lot. Doesn't make any difference. You got a lot.

53:26.970 --> 53:32.890
Follow me? If you got a little and you give a little, that might be more

53:32.890 --> 53:35.310
extravagant than the person who's got a lot and gave a little.

53:37.290 --> 53:41.890
So I just kind of wanted that pointed out when we're talking extravagant giving,

53:42.450 --> 53:46.390
you can't expect a lower wage earner to give what a higher wage earner gives.

53:47.030 --> 53:53.630
It ain't there. That's why God looks at the heart and sees how that's involved.

53:55.810 --> 54:01.470
So now let's make an application or two. Hang on to your bootstraps.

54:06.720 --> 54:12.500
If you notice, scripturally again, and even in our current day,

54:14.540 --> 54:21.520
many churches are primarily built. I'll just go there with it.

54:21.940 --> 54:28.300
Many churches are primarily built by many things for God.

54:28.540 --> 54:31.560
The temple, the wall was built by two men, Cyrus and Darius.

54:32.220 --> 54:35.360
David was responsible for the finances for the temple. One man.

54:37.300 --> 54:41.940
You come to the New Testament, the people who had lands and houses.

54:41.940 --> 54:43.800
How many were there? I don't know. It doesn't say.

54:44.300 --> 54:46.900
They were the ones who were responsible for funding it.

54:48.280 --> 54:50.980
The people who had nothing weren't responsible for funding it.

54:52.360 --> 54:59.800
Many churches applying to our situation, one person, one family, one or two businesses,

55:00.680 --> 55:06.900
a handful of individuals carry the lion's share of the financial load. They build it.

55:10.330 --> 55:17.350
God expects everybody to be involved, but he will bless certain people to do the job.

55:17.450 --> 55:23.350
Did we not just see that on Scripture? Okay, so let me give you a current example.

55:25.470 --> 55:29.030
And I'm not going to name the name of the organization. It's beside the point.

55:29.610 --> 55:34.870
But there's a Protestant organization of churches in the Twin Cities

55:35.770 --> 55:43.350
that has more than 10 separate campuses. They have multi-million dollar budget

55:43.910 --> 55:51.510
every year, multi-million dollars, not just like two million, to run those campuses multi-million.

55:55.350 --> 56:01.430
They, to this point, have continued to expand and put new buildings up.

56:02.390 --> 56:07.150
Their buildings, from my understanding, range any place from 10 to 20 million,

56:08.530 --> 56:14.490
is what they're putting into their buildings. We're trying to do it the conservative way at five,

56:15.270 --> 56:20.010
four to five. They just know it's going to cost them 10 to 20 million to put up their building,

56:20.390 --> 56:24.890
okay, and they have more than 10 campuses. They have a multi-million dollar budget every year.

56:27.170 --> 56:33.670
One person has funded approximately half of everything they do.

56:37.390 --> 56:42.010
One person. Yeah, I can't be right. That's scriptural.

56:43.990 --> 56:48.270
Oh, why would God make them that much? Give them that much money. Make them that rich.

56:49.130 --> 56:50.690
I just gave you the answer.

56:52.630 --> 56:58.830
He said, I need money in this project. I can trust you to put it there.

56:59.430 --> 57:06.450
I will give you whatever that project needs, not for you for the project.

57:10.340 --> 57:18.640
Even take 10 campuses at 10 million, so go low and low. We're talking 100 million dollars

57:18.640 --> 57:21.460
worth of buildings. They paid half of it. They paid 50.

57:24.320 --> 57:33.240
And every year they're paying half the budget to run all that. That could be another 10, 15 million

57:33.240 --> 57:46.140
a year. Extravagant giving for a person making 90,000 a year is going to look different

57:46.140 --> 57:52.620
than extravagant giving for the person who makes a lot more. So now let's just wrap this up.

57:54.520 --> 58:00.920
Felicia, would you come up for the piano? This all flows out of covenant. That whole concept

58:00.920 --> 58:07.000
of extravagant giving, that whole concept of God picks a person and says, do this,

58:07.620 --> 58:14.520
and then just dumps on them finances. That all flows out of covenant. And this question

58:14.520 --> 58:20.380
always comes in, so I might as well answer it. What determines why God chooses certain believers

58:20.920 --> 58:30.160
to be so overwhelmingly blessed financially, and others are more like the rest of us. More

58:30.160 --> 58:36.340
common in that regard. But there's certain believers that God just sets them up.

58:38.180 --> 58:46.200
Why? What causes that? So now the answer to that applies, not just to finances,

58:46.200 --> 58:55.220
it applies to any realm of our life. Any realm, doesn't just apply to finance. So when I give the

58:55.220 --> 59:02.100
answer to that, don't just put it to money. This applies to everything. Number one, partially,

59:02.340 --> 59:05.940
and I didn't put this on the PowerPoint, I can put it on for next Sunday so you have a list of

59:05.940 --> 59:14.240
it. Partially, it's their destiny. That's what God, that's why they're here. Major reason

59:14.240 --> 59:20.860
why they're on this earth is to accomplish that. The first church I pastored in had a

59:20.860 --> 59:27.800
multi-millionaire family. It came from Dad, who was grandpa at that point. When I got there,

59:27.820 --> 59:34.300
he was 70 years old. For those of you that know anything about the rural area, especially milking

59:34.300 --> 59:40.520
cows, he's the guy that invented the barn cleaner. You know that little chute that sticks

59:40.520 --> 59:43.480
out the end of the barn and everything comes out and drops on the wagon and they

59:43.480 --> 59:51.400
take it to the field, he invented that whole system. He said, before I really got going on

59:51.400 --> 59:57.440
any of that, he was a dreamer. He said, I had a dream. He said, I was standing at the end of a field

59:58.880 --> 01:00:06.440
and he said, I wasn't grain, it was gold. The whole field was gold. And he said it went

01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:09.740
quite a ways and then it went over a hill and I could tell it just went on.

01:00:11.400 --> 01:00:17.320
And he said, this is what God was telling me. If you'll apply yourself and follow me,

01:00:18.020 --> 01:00:20.400
you can harvest as much out of that field as you want.

01:00:22.200 --> 01:00:26.600
He said, I woke up and I looked at my wife and I said, we're going to be rich.

01:00:30.080 --> 01:00:33.580
They were living, he was a blacksmith by trade at that point.

01:00:34.000 --> 01:00:37.820
They had the building on one end. This was in the depression area,

01:00:38.620 --> 01:00:43.140
time in the 30s when they got married. They had their building with the blacksmith on one end

01:00:43.140 --> 01:00:46.780
and they segmented off a little on the other end that they lived in.

01:00:48.020 --> 01:00:55.160
He said, I was making $5 a week when God said, I will give you that.

01:01:01.240 --> 01:01:07.220
You say, why him? It was his destiny. Why he was here? He had to play a part of it,

01:01:07.220 --> 01:01:12.640
but it's why he was here. So once you understand, oh, this is what it's about.

01:01:14.180 --> 01:01:22.680
You have to make number two, a covenant level commitment to God. A martyr level

01:01:22.680 --> 01:01:27.480
commitment to truly walk in full covenant. You have to make a martyr level commitment.

01:01:27.840 --> 01:01:33.220
What does that mean? Anything he asks of me, I will give it.

01:01:35.180 --> 01:01:39.920
Anything. Now don't just apply this to money or you're going to miss the whole point here.

01:01:40.500 --> 01:01:49.040
This is all of life. Anything he asks of me, I will give it because I am making a covenant

01:01:49.860 --> 01:01:54.740
level commitment to you. What is yours is mine and what's mine is yours.

01:01:55.720 --> 01:01:59.420
Very few Christians understand that level of commitment.

01:02:01.240 --> 01:02:06.740
Because to do it, you have to die daily. That's what Paul's talking about. He said, I die daily.

01:02:07.300 --> 01:02:13.240
Dying to what? All the stuff that tries to creep in to say, I'm not going to give that to God.

01:02:14.600 --> 01:02:19.400
I mean, can't I have one thing for myself? No, you can't have one thing if you're going to

01:02:19.400 --> 01:02:25.820
have a hundred percent covenant between you and God. Everything is his. That's number two.

01:02:26.800 --> 01:02:29.920
Number three, I asked the man, I'm a young guy going in the ministry.

01:02:31.100 --> 01:02:36.020
He's older. It wasn't too many years later. He passed away. I said, okay, he shared that story

01:02:36.020 --> 01:02:40.340
with me. I said, why did God do that for you in your opinion? I said, obviously,

01:02:41.360 --> 01:02:45.680
you followed through on what he asked you to do and you applied yourself and you gave him what

01:02:45.680 --> 01:02:52.180
he asked. And by the way, he tied on the gross. So, you know,

01:02:55.660 --> 01:03:03.720
why did he do that for you? He sat there. We were going to... He had, I don't know, 160 acres

01:03:03.720 --> 01:03:07.880
or whatever that he had built out with fishing ponds in it and stuff that he stocked. And

01:03:08.380 --> 01:03:12.180
we were driving on our way there. He was going to take me fishing.

01:03:12.180 --> 01:03:18.780
And I'm more interested in his story than fishing. But I'll go fishing if I can get your story.

01:03:20.480 --> 01:03:25.700
I said, why did he pick you to do that? He said, well, he picked me. I said, yeah,

01:03:25.720 --> 01:03:31.180
but there's got to be a reason. And he sat and he thought, I bet he thought five minutes.

01:03:31.940 --> 01:03:37.620
He said, I'm going to say it this way. He said, I worked very hard to learn how to

01:03:37.620 --> 01:03:49.580
carry a full cup without spilling it. I worked very hard to learn how to carry a full cup

01:03:50.320 --> 01:03:56.440
without spilling it. In other words, it's another way of saying, everything God gave to me, I treated

01:03:56.440 --> 01:04:04.540
as holy. I didn't just splash it around however, wherever. I treated it as holy. And he said,

01:04:04.540 --> 01:04:17.200
the more I tried to mature in that, the more came. More inventions, more whatever, the more came.

01:04:18.800 --> 01:04:26.660
In other words, when it comes to our souls, we have to work diligently to mature beyond where

01:04:26.660 --> 01:04:36.620
we are now, if we want to live in that covenant level commitment. And he did make this point.

01:04:38.680 --> 01:04:41.940
He said, at some point, you have to decide if you're going to serve God

01:04:41.940 --> 01:04:46.080
or you're going to let what people think dictate what you do.

01:04:49.060 --> 01:04:54.140
To carry that cup without spilling, to live in covenant level commitment with God,

01:04:55.420 --> 01:04:58.460
you can't care what people think.

01:05:01.260 --> 01:05:05.360
You just can't... you do what God asks you to do. You don't care what people think.

01:05:06.100 --> 01:05:10.040
Because when you make a covenant level commitment with God, it's 100% God,

01:05:10.120 --> 01:05:16.120
wherever you want, it's yours anyway. I'll just give it to you. The average person

01:05:18.340 --> 01:05:19.780
is going to think you're crazy.

01:05:22.260 --> 01:05:23.160
You did what?

01:05:25.960 --> 01:05:30.160
The average Christian will think you're crazy.

01:05:31.680 --> 01:05:38.960
And this can apply to anything that God asks of us. So I'm going to apply it to something

01:05:38.960 --> 01:05:45.880
else so we get our head off money here for a second. They're gone so I can talk about them.

01:05:46.720 --> 01:05:53.360
Pastor Igor and Tanya, it is an honor to have them here.

01:05:54.980 --> 01:06:02.160
It is an honor to have them here. And what God will do through them,

01:06:03.460 --> 01:06:11.280
if they can remain on the trajectory of going low, dying to yourself,

01:06:11.920 --> 01:06:16.800
that's all covenant talk. It's not about me, it's about you, whatever you want, you got it.

01:06:17.040 --> 01:06:22.920
I'll give up, I'll make adjustments, I'll do whatever I have to do to give you what you're asking for.

01:06:23.260 --> 01:06:28.700
As long as they can remain on that trajectory,

01:06:31.520 --> 01:06:37.760
what God is going to do through them, not just in this church but beyond,

01:06:38.260 --> 01:06:44.740
what God is going to do through them, they're going to have to look down a long way to see our

01:06:44.740 --> 01:06:54.160
ceiling. They're going to far, far surpass where God brought us to this point.

01:06:55.600 --> 01:06:59.240
As long as they can stay humble, stay dead.

01:07:06.270 --> 01:07:11.290
As long as they keep doing what God is asking them to do,

01:07:13.010 --> 01:07:18.910
that 40,000 square foot building is going to be too small for the number of people who are going

01:07:18.910 --> 01:07:29.170
to come craving a move of the spirit in their life. And those two individuals have the ability

01:07:29.170 --> 01:07:37.710
to wield it and operate in it. It is an honor for me to have that quality

01:07:39.190 --> 01:07:48.310
in the chute to follow me, because they will take this ministry beyond anything of our wildest dreams

01:07:48.310 --> 01:07:57.950
of imaginations. And God is going to gather a group around them. Why? Because both of them

01:07:57.950 --> 01:08:10.730
have covenant level commitment to God. Both of them. Whatever you want, it's yours. 100% that's

01:08:10.730 --> 01:08:18.390
how they live. God is going to gather a group around them who have that same commitment

01:08:19.990 --> 01:08:23.570
and intensify and strengthen that foundation.

01:08:29.680 --> 01:08:34.560
We haven't seen nothing yet. I hope I live long enough to see it.

01:08:39.510 --> 01:08:43.790
Because when you make a covenant level commitment to God, he makes a covenant

01:08:44.510 --> 01:08:52.170
level commitment to you. You give him half your life? Well, the way you measure it,

01:08:52.250 --> 01:08:57.790
it will be measured back to you. So what does a covenant level commitment look like?

01:08:57.790 --> 01:09:01.130
Now I want you to take and start internalizing some of this.

01:09:05.220 --> 01:09:11.640
Covenant level commitment from my observation. This is just me over...

01:09:13.680 --> 01:09:16.920
Well, I started paying attention when I was in junior high.

01:09:18.460 --> 01:09:21.740
First really started paying attention in high school. Freshman probably.

01:09:23.780 --> 01:09:28.340
So over the last 55 years, I have observed some things.

01:09:29.920 --> 01:09:39.240
People who are in a covenant level commitment to God, it always starts with an encounter with God.

01:09:40.760 --> 01:09:50.480
It's always that Moses and the burning bush. It's always Jacob and the angel he wrestled with.

01:09:50.780 --> 01:09:57.920
There is an encounter with God where God shows up on the scene and he says, I want you.

01:09:58.540 --> 01:10:08.160
I want you. And if we're strange to it, it scares us. If we've never seen anything like that before,

01:10:08.340 --> 01:10:13.900
it's like, what in the world is this? Depending upon our background, it can freak us out.

01:10:14.740 --> 01:10:20.660
But because it's God, if we won't give into the fear, it always circles around and we get drawn

01:10:20.660 --> 01:10:27.120
back to it. That was God. That was freaky. That was wild. Dear God, what was that?

01:10:27.120 --> 01:10:35.860
But I'm really curious now. I want to know more about this. It always starts with an encounter with God.

01:10:37.020 --> 01:10:42.380
He swallows you up in his presence. You might be sitting at home. You might be driving down the

01:10:42.380 --> 01:10:48.540
road and you just all of a sudden, the presence of God filled the room, filled your car, and you

01:10:48.540 --> 01:10:54.720
find yourself just weeping. What am I weeping for? God's here. I don't know what's going on.

01:10:54.720 --> 01:11:00.140
God's here. He's encountering you. That's how he starts it.

01:11:02.820 --> 01:11:06.240
Out of that, you will begin to crave and long

01:11:07.860 --> 01:11:14.540
for those moments. Once you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good,

01:11:15.280 --> 01:11:17.780
you don't want to keep tasting. You want to go back and eat.

01:11:19.780 --> 01:11:27.660
I need more than a taste. You begin longing and craving to be in his presence.

01:11:28.860 --> 01:11:32.900
And when you get those times, because it's not, it's like candy. You feed someone candy day after

01:11:32.900 --> 01:11:36.840
day all day long after a while. It's like, yeah, it makes me sick. That's human nature.

01:11:37.500 --> 01:11:42.960
Presence of God's the same thing. There's times he will hold it back just so we know.

01:11:43.600 --> 01:11:47.180
Oh man, I don't know if I can live like this.

01:11:48.620 --> 01:11:56.020
And when he dumps it, it just becomes so much more impactful and anointing in our life.

01:11:56.140 --> 01:12:02.880
We will crave those times. And out of that, you will find yourself abandoning goals and plans

01:12:02.880 --> 01:12:09.100
and dreams and rearranging priorities because you know that won't fit in what he just

01:12:09.660 --> 01:12:16.680
showed you. Because when you encounter God, you see something that you never saw before.

01:12:17.420 --> 01:12:25.400
You may not understand it. You may not be able to explain it. But you were there, you saw it.

01:12:27.700 --> 01:12:33.500
And the more you're in his presence, you begin seeing, yeah, this thing I had planned

01:12:33.500 --> 01:12:41.140
over here, that'll never fit that. That's going to have to go. And your focus will begin to narrow

01:12:41.140 --> 01:12:45.560
on what God is building in your heart every time you get in his presence, every time you're in

01:12:45.560 --> 01:12:51.000
his word, every time you wait on him, every time he says, please do this for me and you obey.

01:12:52.540 --> 01:13:00.200
Your focus is narrowing on your purpose, your destiny, what he wants to accomplish for you.

01:13:01.340 --> 01:13:11.900
And please understand, you will be misunderstood by the people who are closest to you.

01:13:14.440 --> 01:13:19.560
When you have an encounter with God and you decide to go to covenant level commitment,

01:13:20.820 --> 01:13:28.420
the people closest to you will not understand. And they'll try to persuade you a different

01:13:28.420 --> 01:13:39.260
direction. You will be betrayed, made fun of, talked about by people who you actually thought

01:13:40.100 --> 01:13:49.050
were your friends, were your family. And you have to go through that.

01:13:50.410 --> 01:13:57.390
Those are all things that have to happen for us to make him a hundred percent.

01:13:58.850 --> 01:14:04.390
You find it all through scripture. Jesus said, if you have not left father, mother, sons, daughters,

01:14:04.630 --> 01:14:09.410
lands, and he goes on listening to follow me, if you haven't done that yet, you can't be my disciple.

01:14:11.150 --> 01:14:16.770
This is all part of it. Problem is, it doesn't come out pretty. It's ugly when we have to

01:14:16.770 --> 01:14:26.450
leave them many times. There will be days you will question yourself, what in the world

01:14:27.530 --> 01:14:35.050
am I doing? Is this even God? I mean, if this was God, why do we have all

01:14:36.050 --> 01:14:46.310
the noise around it? Why do we have all the garbage, the opposition? What is this even God?

01:14:46.450 --> 01:14:51.590
And you, there will be days you will question yourself. This might not even be God. I might

01:14:51.590 --> 01:15:01.420
be totally deceived. But then there's the moment he pulls you back into his presence.

01:15:04.510 --> 01:15:06.770
And you're overwhelmed and you're surrounded.

01:15:10.140 --> 01:15:18.800
And your heart begins to burn within you. And you know that you know, that you know,

01:15:19.560 --> 01:15:25.320
that you know, this is God. This is God.

01:15:27.840 --> 01:15:33.460
And you will light up from the inside out with the determination, with a focus,

01:15:33.900 --> 01:15:40.040
with a renewed sense of vigor, with a renewed goal. It will light up from the inside of you

01:15:40.040 --> 01:15:44.760
that will literally repel all the opposition that's trying to choke that out.

01:15:46.440 --> 01:15:53.340
But that only, my observation, that only happens for the people who get into the presence of God

01:15:53.340 --> 01:16:00.560
and just lay it all out. Say, God, I can't do this. God, look at me. I'm a mess. God,

01:16:00.640 --> 01:16:05.880
how can I accomplish anything for you? And his presence comes and he reassures,

01:16:06.660 --> 01:16:12.620
here is where you're going. Here is what you're going to do. Quit questioning it.

01:16:13.340 --> 01:16:19.600
Follow me. I will make you whatever you need to be.

01:16:23.960 --> 01:16:31.260
That produces that martyr covenant level of commitment. One goal surfaces out of that.

01:16:34.060 --> 01:16:39.940
God, the only thing I'm concerned about is that I'm pleasing you, that you're happy,

01:16:41.280 --> 01:16:44.380
that I'm doing what you asked me to do. That's the only thing I'm concerned about.

01:16:44.380 --> 01:16:48.020
I don't care what people say. I don't care what people think. My reputation,

01:16:48.400 --> 01:16:53.440
I'm going to be like Jesus. I'm going to make myself with no reputation. The only one I need

01:16:53.440 --> 01:17:03.360
reputation with is you. And with every death you die on a daily basis, love and intimacy with

01:17:03.980 --> 01:17:09.780
God grows. And one overwhelming focus comes to the front.

01:17:15.990 --> 01:17:22.770
And yes, it's Jesus. But you know what Jesus said? He came to restore us to the Father.

01:17:25.730 --> 01:17:33.390
The deeper we get into this, the more the focus gets on Jesus, but the Holy Spirit

01:17:33.390 --> 01:17:40.190
directs to Jesus and Jesus directs on to the Father. For the Father, God so loved the world

01:17:40.190 --> 01:17:45.330
that He gave, Jesus said, I'm here to restore you with the Father.

01:17:48.390 --> 01:17:54.950
And that goal, that focus, and He'll give you a fellowship, a koinonia of like-minded people

01:17:56.890 --> 01:18:01.870
who will walk this with you. And they probably won't be a lot of them.

01:18:03.690 --> 01:18:10.170
He'll gather some around every person. And you'll be like-minded and you'll walk this out together.

01:18:17.080 --> 01:18:23.180
I really believe the Spirit of God is standing in front of us today saying,

01:18:24.120 --> 01:18:29.860
are you going to make a covenant level commitment?

01:18:31.980 --> 01:18:41.280
Are we going to commit to Him in all of our life the way He has committed to us?

01:18:44.200 --> 01:18:51.320
Are we going to commit to Him the way He has committed to us?

01:19:05.010 --> 01:19:09.390
This starts out by something He wrote to the church. He said to the church,

01:19:10.850 --> 01:19:13.630
Behold, I stand at your door and I knock.

01:19:16.450 --> 01:19:18.930
He's talking to the church, not unsaved. He's talking to the church.

01:19:20.710 --> 01:19:24.370
Behold, I stand at the door and I knock.

01:19:26.530 --> 01:19:32.350
If any man will open the door, I will come in and I will commune and I will

01:19:32.350 --> 01:19:40.070
sup within the King James says, there will be a oneness formed if you'll let me in.

01:19:40.330 --> 01:19:48.130
Why would he say that to a church? Because not everybody lives in a covenant level commitment.

01:19:48.850 --> 01:19:53.950
He is worthy of our extravagant giving.

01:19:56.590 --> 01:20:00.270
He is worthy of you making a commitment to Him

01:20:00.790 --> 01:20:07.650
that is so overwhelmingly extravagant that I give you all of me.

01:20:08.830 --> 01:20:12.450
Whatever you lay your finger on, you ask for it. It's yours.

01:20:14.390 --> 01:20:20.310
He's worthy of that. And his question for us this morning is,

01:20:21.910 --> 01:20:28.350
will you make a covenant level commitment with me because Jesus made a covenant level

01:20:28.350 --> 01:20:37.130
commitment toward you? Will you open your heart to that and say, come on in and sit down.

01:20:37.530 --> 01:20:43.990
Let's get the details of this figured out because what you, as you've committed to me,

01:20:44.030 --> 01:20:50.350
I'm committing to you because you're worthy of it. You're worthy.

01:20:53.700 --> 01:20:58.040
That's what extravagant giving comes out of. That mindset,

01:20:58.040 --> 01:21:06.360
that commitment. So if you need to leave, you can. I'm going to encourage you hang around just for

01:21:06.360 --> 01:21:15.380
a bit, at least. You need to answer that question. You need to answer that question.

01:21:17.680 --> 01:21:22.340
You need to find a place of prayer, whether it's the front, whether it's seats,

01:21:22.500 --> 01:21:27.360
whether it's on the floor, and say, God, where am I at with you and my commitment level to

01:21:27.360 --> 01:21:34.780
you? Am I living in full covenant commitment with you or reaffirm it? God, I am living in full

01:21:34.780 --> 01:21:39.820
covenant commitment to you. It's a choice I've made and I will give you whatever you want.

01:21:39.900 --> 01:21:47.200
And if I'm missing it any place, point it out to me and I will sacrifice it on the altar for you.

01:21:49.980 --> 01:21:53.340
Don't leave before you've hammered some of these things out

01:21:56.620 --> 01:22:08.600
because he is worthy. He is worthy of far more than we can ever offer. So Lord, we offer our all.