Matt Hagee - The Currency of The Kingdom

Church, let me begin by saying that I am thrilled, considering the world that we live in today, that I am a part of a kingdom that is not of this world. I'm ecstatic that there is not a red kingdom and a blue kingdom, an elephant kingdom and a donkey kingdom. There is a kingdom that is represented by the lion of the tribe of Judah, and that kingdom is coming to this earth. And when that kingdom comes, there shall be no end. The reason I rejoice in that is because the harder men on earth try to solve the problem, it seems the worse they make it. But Jesus Christ, when he was on the earth, spoke of a kingdom that he was a part of that had not come to earth yet.

This is what he preached in the gospels, "The kingdom is at hand". This is how he taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done". He told Nicodemus, the pharisee, in John 3, "Unless you are born again, you cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God". Peter, James, and John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all gave their lives to the cause of the kingdom. The Kingdom of God is the kingdom that powers and principalities cannot stand against. The kingdom that Christ proclaimed said that the gates of hell would not prevail. You and I have been taught by the word not to be a part of this world, but to conform our thinking and be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we can be a part of a kingdom that's not on this earth.

Now, why do we wanna be a part of that kingdom? Because in that kingdom, sickness and disease has been conquered by the King of kings. In that kingdom, powers and principalities have been put on display as our king has triumphed over them. In that kingdom, he has removed the sting of death and the victory of the grave. Jesus Christ is the king who has conquered death, hell, and the grave, which means he owns the real estate on both sides of the river Jordan.

That means that when you breathe your last breath, you'll be holding hands with Jesus on this side, and he'll wipe the tears from your eyes on that side. He's the king that mends broken hearts. He's the king in whose presence is the fullness of joy. He's the king who has said he would supply all of our needs according to his riches and glory. He's the king that has given his angels charge over you. He's the king that said, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you". He's the king that said he'd give you houses you didn't build, wells you didn't dig, vineyards you didn't plant. He's the king that said speak to that mountain and he'd move it. He's the king that said open up the windows of heaven and he'll pour out upon you blessings that you cannot contain. There is no God like our God. There is no king like our king. There is no God who has promised you all of the riches of heaven. Give him praise and glory in this house.

But what you need to know about this king and his kingdom is that in order for you to be a part of it, you have got to have the currency that his kingdom honors. When you go to a foreign land, you try to exchange your currency for their currency so you can buy what they have. But whenever you go into the heavenly places of the kingdom, you've got to have kingdom currency in order to receive the promises that the king provides. And Jesus Christ, in the teaching of Mark 12:30 tells us what that currency is. First, let's look at what that currency is not. That currency is not gold. Yes, the Bible talks about managing your material possessions. And it talks about who you are as a steward of your wealth and what you should do with it.

The Bible teaches it is better to give than to receive, but it's not limited simply to gold, to currency, to material possessions. God has yet to look at the bank account of any human being drawing breath and been impressed. We look at resources as a way to gain influence. You don't even have to use first names, just say names like Soros, Bezos, Gates, and immediately people go, "Oh yes, they're powerful". Why? Because they've got money. When they get to heaven, God is going to take everything that they've done, and if it wasn't done for him, it's going to go up in smoke. But he's going to look at every one of his children who did anything in exchange with kingdom currency, and that's going to be tested by the same fire, and it's going to be pure as gold.

So, the currency of the kingdom is not material possessions. The currency of the kingdom is not good deeds. Some people say, "Well, I go around doing good deeds and surely God will give me blessings in my life because of good deeds". There's no amount of good deeds that you can do to move the heart of God. As a matter of fact, he said, "All of your righteousness is as filthy rags". And if you understood the biblical definition of a filthy rag, you would know that that's not a figure of speech, it's nasty. Kingdom currency is not knowledge. Some people wanna pride themselves on all the things that they know about the Bible and theology, and doctrine and the Word of God, but God is not impressed by your knowledge. He knows everything. You're not gonna tell him anything.

Us trying to impress God with our knowledge is like a kindergartner asking you, "How do you spell Mississippi"? Just because they learned something new doesn't mean that you're impressed by their knowledge. And this is the conversation that Christ is having in Mark 12. He's having it with a pharisee. A pharisee who studied the Word of God all of his life. A pharisee who prays several times a day. A pharisee who prides himself in all of the religious things that he does, and he's trying to stump the chump. He doesn't look at Jesus as the word made flesh. He doesn't look at Jesus as the incarnate Son of God. He looks at Jesus as a hillbilly from Nazareth who has a carpenter's job and is wearing a preacher's robe. And he elbows his friends, he says, "Watch," he says, "I'mma trip him up with this one. What is the most important commandment? Let's see what he says".

And Jesus quotes Deuteronomy. He says, "Behold, o Israel, the Lord our God is one". And then, Jesus gives him some insight into how he should live if he truly believes that commandment. He says, "And the second one is this, 'and you shall love,'" say that with me. "And you shall love the Lord your God". And then, he gives him five accounts where this kingdom currency is to be exchanged. He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength". You cannot escape the fact that the currency of the kingdom is love.

What Jesus was telling this arrogant pharisee is that, "If you truly believe that God is one and he is the only God and there is no other God, then you should love him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. If you say it and you don't behave like that, then what you say is a lie". And in this, Jesus gives us the Revelation of what the currency of the kingdom is. God's currency is love. Everything that he's ever exchanged with us, he exchanged in love. "For God so," what? "Loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life".

If you believe in Jesus, you have exchanged in love with him. What is the kingdom of heaven looking for you to do with the exchange in this currency? Not look for ways to improve your life. That's a byproduct. But heaven wants you to use the kingdom currency to win the lost. Jesus said in his earthly ministry, "What should it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul"? In heaven's scales, he said, "One soul is worth all of the world". So, when you have heaven's currency, when you have the love of king Jesus in your heart, what should you be doing with it? Trying to get as many souls as you can to know who Jesus is. And yet, we live in a world where there's a lot of people who don't do that as much as they should. When you find a true follower of Christ, not a "Christian", 'cause really, not all "Christians" are followers of Christ. But when you find a true follower of Christ, you find somebody who is passionately pursuing souls.

What did the disciples do after Jesus left with the great commission? They passionately pursued souls. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, what did he do? He got 3,000 people saved. Not because they were watching him perform, but because he was pursuing souls. What did Paul and Silas do after a night in prison? The guy who locked them up, they got him saved. Why? Because followers of Christ passionately pursue souls. Why? Because that's what Jesus came to do, to seek and to save the lost. And if you love him, you'll do what he did. You don't love God because he blesses you, you love God because he redeemed you and he saved you. So, why don't people passionately pursue souls? They make up all kinds of excuses. And one of the main excuses is, "Well, I don't wanna offend anybody with my beliefs". Why not? You offend everybody with your other opinions?

So, what is it that keeps you from sharing your true and beliefs in Jesus Christ? Don't tell me that it's your concern about other people's feelings. That's not true. You need to be willing to tell people who Jesus is and what he's done for you. And if that offends them, so be it. They didn't die for you, he did. They didn't set you free, he did. They didn't take stripes for you to be healed, he did. They didn't wear nails so you could find liberty, he did. Whom the son sets free is free indeed. They didn't die and be buried in a grave and then rise again so that you could look at death, hell, and the grave with keys of victory, but Christ gave you those keys. So, if it bothers them, let them be and give God the glory he deserves.

God wants to know, do you love him enough to tell the world who he is? Do you love him enough to tell the world what he's done? And if you love him, will you love him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength? How do you love the Lord with all your heart? The Bible tells us that where a man's treasure is, there his heart will be also. Now, when we hear the word "Treasure," we think about, again, our natural resources. And some people treasure their financial wealth greatly. However, there's all kinds of things in this world that we treasure. Some people treasure their hair. Just look how much they touch it and flip it. If I had enough to flip, I would.

Some people treasure their relationships, their friends and their family. It doesn't take much to find out what somebody treasures, because usually that's what they'll talk about. If you engage in a conversation with me, it's not gonna take me very long to start talking about my family. You're gonna hear me tell stories about my kids. And if that bothers you, go talk to somebody else. Because we're gonna be chatting and I'm gonna tell you, "Oh, Joel did this. Oh, and then jw did that. And oh, Hannah's doing this. And oh, Madison's doing that". And you're gonna wonder, "Why does he talk about those people so much"? Because I treasure them. Now, when you know what you treasure, how do you love the Lord with all of your heart? You give God your treasure.

Whatever it is that you treasure, you say, "God, I don't love this more than I love you, so I'm giving you my treasure. I'm giving you my children. I don't want my will to be done in their life, I want your will to be done in their life. I don't want my hand to be upon them, I want your hand to be upon them. If I can give them to you and you use them for your glory, then God, you use them for your glory. Because when you need somebody, I want you to call on my kids. When you are looking to change the world, change the world through them. When you need a servant, ask them because they belong to you. You gave them to me and I'm giving them back to you so that you can use them for your purposes in their generation".

You say, "Okay, that's you and your kids". What would God do if you gave him your business? "Oh, well, I mean, uh, wait, wait, wait". No, what would happen if you just said, as a businessman, "God, I'm giving you this business". You get a choice today. You can walk outta here holding on to things that you are struggling with, or you can walk outta here saying, "God, I love you enough just to see what you can do with it". When you love God with all of your heart, whatever you treasure, you give to God. When you love God with all of your mind, whatever God's word says you do. Why? Because the mind is the place where we are in constant conflict with the king. The Bible says that the carnal mind is at enmity with God. That means it is absolutely opposed to God. The carnal mind wants to live by reasons. God's word is a Revelation.

So, when you love the Lord with all of your mind, whatever his word says you do, because his word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path, and it will not return void. But oftentimes, rather than love the Lord with all of our mind, what we do is we read God's word and we say, "Hmm, let me think about that". Or we read God's word and instead of doing what God's word says, we say, "Well, I was taught". Well, if what you were taught was in contradiction to God's word, what you were taught was wrong. That's a real easy thing to solve. So, when you love the Lord with all of your heart, whatever you treasure, you give to God. When you love the Lord with all of your mind, whatever you reason, you allow the Revelation of God to lead you.

This is what Proverbs 3 says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not to your," what? "Own understanding". That's where your mind gets engaged and says, "God, wherever you take me, that's what I'll do. That's where I'll go". And then, when you love God with all of your strength, that means whatever abilities and talents he's given to you, you give back to him. This is where you actively serve in the kingdom. Not wait to be served, but actively serve in the kingdom. And when you do it, do it in love. Do it because you want to, not because you have to. How did Cornerstone Church become a church that impacts the world? Ninety-seven nations tuning in to watch this ministry right now.

How did that happen? It started decades ago with just a few dozen people who said, "God, we don't have much, but what we have, we're gonna serve you with it". They took their talents, they took their skills, they took their abilities. They didn't have much financial resources, but what they had, they served God with. I could tell you stories for days and weeks at a time about how these individuals dedicated themselves to serving in the house of God, how they built the first church with their own hands. Why? Because nobody would loan the church any money and no contractor wanted to do the job. So, dad said, "I'll be the contractor". And they said, "We'll be the crew".

And I'm so glad we don't have to build buildings like that anymore. No offense. He's glad too. But we still need individuals who are willing to serve. Why? Because that's your opportunity to exchange in the currency of the kingdom. I can't tell you how many times I've heard of people who started to serve the Lord somewhere, and the second that they started to serve somewhere, God started working in other places in their life. They started ushering and God started moving things around in their business. Before they started ushering, they came up with the excuse, "I just don't have time. I'm so busy doing all of these other things".

And the second they said, "God, I'm just gonna serve you. I'm gonna help people find a seat in your house". Doesn't sound like much. Trust me. I don't wanna offend any ushers, but it don't take much to usher, just a little willingness. And the second that they started doing something simple like that, the problem that they were fighting with over here at work on Monday, it got solved. Now, how did it get solved? You say, "Well, I don't know that there's a direct correlation". It don't matter. It got solved.

I had a conversation with a man one time who was asking me about tithing. And he said, "Pastor, I want you to tell me why I should tithe". And I went to seminary, I've read books. I'm relatively intelligent. Regardless of what you read on the internet, I'm kind of smart. And the most educated answer I gave him about why he should tithe, I said, "Because God said so". And when I said it, I went, "What"? I mean, I'm supposed to start with Abraham and Melchizedek and work my way all the way through to Luke, but apparently, "Because God said so" is all that I can ecumenically offer at this moment. And this man was an educated man himself. And he kinda looked at me like, "Well, that's profound".

A week later, he calls me, he says, "Hey". He says, "I tried tithing". And I said, "Okay". I said, "How's it working"? He goes, "Well, it's working out great". I said, "Tell me what's going on". He said, "Well," he said, "You know, I've got three children that are all in their twenties and they're all living at home". And he goes, "And my wife and I have been praying about how to motivate them to kind of start being productive and get their lives going". And he said, "You know, I've been tithing". And he said, "Guess what"? He said, "Two of 'em came to me and said that they're gonna start a business, and the third one came and said, she's getting ready to get married". He goes, "If all of these things take place," he said, "You know how much of a raise I'm going to get when they move out"?

Now, I'm not saying that there's a correlation, but I am saying that one of 'em got married and two of 'em moved out. The point is, God's ways are not our ways. God's time is not our time. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are the ways of God from our ability to understand or comprehend. That's why Ephesians says, "Above all that you could ask, above all that you could think, above all that you could imagine". But how do you get there? You've got to have some kingdom currency. You've gotta exchange with him. And what he wants to exchange with you is one thing, love. Whatever you give, give it in love. Whatever you do, do it in love. Whatever you say, say it in love. Whatever you sing, sing it in love. Whatever you think, think it in love. Because whenever you're doing it in love, God says, "I'll take that and I'll give you what I have in your life".

Would you stand to your feet? With every head bowed and every eye closed, you're in this place today and you say, "Pastor, I need to increase my currency in the kingdom. I've been struggling in my strength, but I need to move forward in God's. I've been working on situations and problems in my own understanding, but I need his wisdom, his knowledge, his power". Whatever it happens to be, you need to know God already understands it. He knows all about it. He's just waiting for you to turn it loose and allow him to do it.

"You see, pastor, I haven't been loving the Lord with all of my heart, with all of my soul, with all of my mind. I haven't been serving him with my strengths, my gifts, my talents, and it's time that I do that". The way that I want to end this service today is by giving you the opportunity to increase the account balance with God in heavenly places concerning how much you love him. So, right where you are, I just want you to lift your hands and raise your voice. And don't thank God for what he's given you. Just thank God for who he is.

Father, we thank you today because you are the Creator of heaven and earth. We thank you today because in your grace and in your mercy, do we live and do we move and do we have our being. We thank you, praise, because you've given us the strength to stand in your sanctuary today and to open our mouth and magnify you with praise. We thank you, praise, because you promised that when we gathered in your name, you would be in our midst. And we're honored by the fact that Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords is in this sanctuary today.

Father, I thank you that there's not a need in this room that you cannot meet. There's not a mountain that is present in spiritual places that you can't move. There's not a door that's closed that you can't open. But praise, we're not asking for the mountain to move. We're not asking for the door to open. We're not asking for the miracle to be done. We're just here to say we love you. We thank you, we glorify you, we magnify you. We build a throne upon our praises where you can sit and not only be blessed by what you hear, Heavenly Father, but feel welcome in the presence of your children. We're not here because we have to be, we're here because we want to be. We're not here to do traditional things, we're here to receive from king Jesus in this place today. So, God, we're thanking you for who you are and what you've done. Jesus, we glorify you because you are our Savior. You are a friend who is faithful and true. Holy Spirit of the living God, you are welcome in this place today.